The Chocolate Run by Dorothy Koomson

 
It is not that long ago that I reviewed another Dorothy Koomson title and I did not enjoy that much either. Oh dear! I only read this so quickly after the last one  'The Cupid Effect'  as I have promised it to a recently made contact on Bookmooch. 
When I discover for me a new author as I did when I read 'My Best Friends's' Girl in 2006, I often add their back catalogue of novels to my wish-list. This is what I did with Dorothy Koomson as I thoroughly enjoyed the first book of hers that I read. As you can see from my review http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4323986
The next one I read 'The Cupid Effect'  was disappointing as you will see from my recent review here. I will still leave her other novels on my to be read mountain as there might be one as good 'My Best Friend's Girl!
One can but hope, meanwhile this title I was just not very impressed with and I was already two- thirds of the way through before it started to get mildly interesting.  This is only the third title by her that I have read and I still have two more on Mt TBR . As I have previously mentioned I like to loose myself in a book and with this one I was just unable to do so.  Due to me  personally not any fault of the book, which I am sure fans of chick- lit may well enjoy.
The heroine is Amber Salpone  and she has a passion for chocolate, don't we all but not to the extent that this young lady takes it I hope. She compares people to different kinds of chocolate and in shops  feels the need to sniff it! The other characters are, Jen whom she thinks is her best female friend, Matt, Jen's boyfriend and Greg who is Matt's best friend and Amber's platonic friend. At least he was for a good few years, then they become a couple but keep it secret from the other two, bizarre but amusing. Amber's past has left her with both commitment and trust issues leaving her unable to form new loving relationships therefore  avoiding trouble.
I think I can only suggest this is worth reading if you are already a fan of Dorothy Koomson.
Dorothy Koomson's Website

Wordless Wednesday - Lamma Island

 

http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/newhome/2010/05/

 

My previous post mentions Lamma Island!

It was the librarian in me that led me to take this shot.

 

 

Paper Lanterns by Christine Coleman

 

I have really been looking forward to this latest novel from Christine Coleman for some time now, especially as I knew that I was going to be visiting Hong Kong and Lamma Island myself earlier this year. I was at first a little disappointed that it was not in fact launched until after my return. I had been hoping to read this before travelling to Hong Kong as an insight into the places I was to be seeing shortly. One of the pleasures of reading for me is the new places and things I learn about on the printed page before me.   

However that was not to be the case this time and I now actually feel very lucky to have been able to read this after having been in Hong Kong so recently, the whole book came alive on the pages for me.  I can reassure you though that even if you have not been there Christine still writes in such a vibrant manner that vivid pictures will be painted in your mind. It is just that for me there was the extra gravitas of familiarity as I trod the same ground as the protagonist Ann myself, just in March of this year. It was sheer pleasure to retread and relive the sights, sounds and smells of Hong Kong through this author's descriptive writing.

This is one of the many scenes that is described perfectly in the novel
Bicycles on the pier at Lamma Island.

If you are interested in a more visual experience of the places you can read about in the novel please feel free to view my recent photos of both Hong Kong and Lamma Island.  Clicking on the blue link will take you there and volume four is where you will find photos of Lamma in particular. China March 2010

Christine seems to have a talent for taking normal people just like those you come across in everyday life and has managed to weave an engrossing tale around them, that in all feasibility could well have been a real life situation. In fact her inspiration for the novel came from a collection of old letters that came into her possession. Inspiration

A story that covers three different time periods starts with one of the main protagonists Ann planning a trip to Hong Kong to visit her estranged mother, Vivienne. Ann lacking in confidence and plain in comparison has always been in awe of her beautiful mother. Although there has been very little contact between them since Vivienne deserted her family when Ann was only sixteen and she has felt betrayed ever since by the mother she does not think fondly of.  In fact Ann always felt much closer to her beloved grandmother and was excited later in the novel when she was able to revisit some of the places that Granibelle who had also spent some time there in the thirties had done. 

As a side comment of personal relevance I also found these retracing steps interludes particularly poignant as my own father served part of his army national service in Hong Kong and had related many stories to me about his time there. It meant a lot to me being able to imagine him in certain spots all those years ago, just as Ann and George, the only male protagonist, were able to recreate Granibelle's outings in the novel.

It is while in Hong Kong that Ann discovers, from ephemera that she is given to read by her mother, that there are secrets in her family's past that force her to reappraise her own life. As the story unfolds it is the revelations that will keep you reading about the past pains that the women in this family put themselves through and are only now many years later getting the chance to put behind them and understand each other.

I highly recommend that you get hold of a copy of this novel to read if you can. Ok it is not deep and meaningful, but it is a sheer pleasure to read and relax with. I do not think many people would be able to find anything to dislike about it.

Christine Coleman's last novel was published in 2005 and I read it in 2007.

This was before I was trying to write proper reviews, but you can read what I had to say about it here. http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4626249

Christine Coleman also has her own website where you will find a lot more interesting information about both her and her writing. I recommend you take a look.

Christine Coleman Website

Lovereading - Books of the Decade

 

Lovereading - Books of the Decade

Your chance to see and find out more about the Books of the Decade as voted for by you?  Well I voted and am pleased to be able to share the results here with you.

In January I invited you to vote for the best book of the decade at Lovereading - Home Page

Below is the link http://lindyloumacbookreviews.blogspot.com/2010/01/lovereading.html

Out of the top ten titles, I have read seven, two are on my TBR shelf and one is on my wishlist. The two unread ones have now been moved to the top of my to read list and the final missing title I must try and locate a copy soon.

Here is the list plus links back to the original site and my reviews for the titles that I have already read.

Lovereading Top Ten

Number One

The Time Traveler's Wife
Audrey Niffenegger

Voted the Book of the Decade by Lovereading readers. Shortlisted for the RNA Romantic Film of the Year Award 2010. A huge book in every way. The protagonists meet each other at different times throughout their lives and you do...

Released: 06/01/2005                 My Book Review

Number Two

The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini

Voted 2nd in the Books of the Decade by Lovereading readers. Voted as the Penguin/Orange Reading Group Book of the Year 2006 and 2007. This book seemed to come out of nowhere. It was the first Afghan novel to be written in...

Released: 07/06/2004             My Book Review

Number Three

The Book Thief
Markus Zusak

Voted 3rd in the Books of the Decade by Lovereading readers. Shortlisted for the Newcomer of the Year Award at the Galaxy British Book Awards 2008. This is the story of a street of ordinary German people living in the horrors of...

Released: 01/01/2008    On TBR shelf

Number Four

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
John Boyne

Voted 2009 Penguin Orange Readers' Group Book of the Year. Now a major film. Initially it is difficult to believe that the young son of the commandant of Auschwitz is as innocent as he is, then...

Released: 11/09/2008    The one title on the list that I have not yet got a copy of to read.

Number Five

Girl with a Pearl Earring
Tracy Chevalier

Centring on Vermeer’s household in the 1660s in Delft, this speculative historical novel tells of his relationship with a servant girl, Griet, who became his assistant and the model for the painting of the title. Written in a simple style,...

Released: 03/07/2006   My Book Review

Number Six

Chocolat
Joanne Harris

Into a small rural French village comes a mysterious woman, Vianne, her young daughter and the child’s invisible rabbit. They open a chocolate shop opposite the church. It is Lent and a strange war breaks out between the church and...

Released: 02/03/2000    My Book Review

Number Seven

The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold

Related from heaven after a brutal rape, Susie watches her family grieve and disintegrate, watches her friends and indeed watches her killer and the sad detective working on her case. Over the years we live and cry with them for...

Released: 06/06/2003 Read in 2004 before I started reviewing books read.

Number Eight

We Need to Talk About Kevin
Lionel Shriver

Narrated by a mother, Eve, in letters to her estranged husband, this is a truly horrific story of a 15-year old boy’s killing spree but it is more the tale of how he got there than of the crime itself....

 Released: 09/05/2006   My Book Review

Number Nine

The Shadow of the Wind
Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Barcelona, a city of secret police and secret love. In it a bookseller’s son finds a forgotten novel and stumbles upon a mystery as all copies of the author’s books are sought and destroyed by a sinister character...

Released: 02/04/2009     On TBR shelf

Number Ten

Small Island
Andrea Levy

Shortlisted for the Best of the Orange Best 2010 by the Orange Prize Youth Panel. A novel about racism, prejudice and injustice in the post war years in London as Jamaicans, escaping economic hardship, move to the Mother Country. Told from...

Released: 03/09/2009     My Book Review 

I would love to know how many of these you have read and what you thought of them? Did they deserve to make the top ten in your opinion?