Books I Read in March

Total: 8 books.

Past Mortem (Ben Elton)
The Chocolate Run (Dorothy Koomson)
Boy A (Jonathan Trigell)
Concertina: The Life and Loves of a Dominatrix (Susan Winemaker)
Changeling (Melissa Diem)
The Light Fantastic (Terry Pratchett)
Sushi For Beginners (Marian Keyes)
And God Created the Au Pair (Benedicte Newland & Pascale Smets)

Another library read, I borrowed, read and then returned Past Mortem within 24 hours (28/03). I much preferred this to some of Ben Elton's other recent books - it's witty and clever but I did work out whodunnit around halfway through.

Having enjoyed My Best Friend's Girl and Marshmallows for Breakfast, The Chocolate Run seemed like a good bet when it was one of Waterstones half price offers of the week. I started this at Waddow and finished it a few days after I got back on the 27th. A little more traditional chick-lit than the others, I didn't enjoy it as much as My Best Friend's Girl but it was a light, enjoyable read none-the-less. I put it on BookMooch and it very quickly went to PurpleRosebud (UK).

Boy A (22/03) was (alongside Concertina, The Chocolate Run and many, many others) a Waterstones buy. I was feeling a bit miserable and got quite happy with the 3 for 2's. I really enjoyed this book. It's short but easy to read and thought-provoking. I'm hanging onto it to read once more before I pass it on to someone. Boy A has also been made into a film which I'd be tempted to watch if I got the chance.

Concertina: The Life and Loves of a Dominatrix (21/03) was another of my reading at Waddow books. I picked this up in Waterstones, Lancaster because it caught my eye and the combination of food alongside domination seemed slightly odd. Odd it may be but there's not quite as much of a combination as the blurb and comments make out - there are some quite graphic descriptions of both but more of one than the other and rarely interleaved. That said, this is a book with some very beautiful bits of descriptive text (whatever it is they're describing) and is generally quite an enjoyable read. I've hung onto this one to reread again and then I'll decide what to do with it.

Changeling was a "Drop of the Irish" read from the library (celebrating St. Patrick's day I assume). This is a short, moving book which I really enjoyed. I read most of it in one go but then had to hold off on it for a week or so (doing coursework) before reading the last few pages on the train up to my Queen's Guide residential at Waddow (20/03).

The Light Fantastic is the second of my very slow movements through the Discworld series. I had to restart this a couple of times because I kept putting it down for weeks at a time but that's no real reflection on this book. Hopefully I can put Equal Rites down as one of my reads for next month...

I picked Sushi For Beginners up from the library having read (on the backs of far too many trashy chick-lit novels) that Marian Keyes is the author of the genre. Unfortunately I wasn't all that impressed by this book. There's nothing wrong with it as such but it's not at all special and felt a little bit formulaic for my liking. Like most novels of its kind it's pretty easy to read but I'd be unlikely to bother with it again.

Borrowed from the library and read in bed on that day when I was too ill to get up, And God Created the Au Pair is a very easy-to-read book. One of an increasing number of novels written entirely as correspondence there's not a lot else to say about this book.