Book Beginnings On Fridays (The Girl On the Train)

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and as she says the idea of this meme is for you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. There's a linky list on the website and you can use #BookBeginnings on Twitter.

 

My book beginning is The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins. It's published in January 2015 and I'm reading a book proof from Transworld Publishers. There's a lot of hype surrounding this book and I have to say so far it's living up to it.

 

There is a pile of clothing on the side of the train tracks. Light-blue cloth - a shirt, perhaps - jumbled up with something dirty white. It's probably rubbish, part of a load fly-tipped into the scrubby little wood up the bank. It could have been left behind by the engineers who work this part of the track, they're here often enough. Or it could be something else.

 

 

 

Book Description

To everyone else in this carriage I must look normal; I’m doing exactly what they do: commuting to work, making appointments, ticking things off lists.

Just goes to show.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and every evening. Every day she passes the same Victorian terraces, stops at the same signal, and sees the same couple, breakfasting on their roof terrace. Jason and Jess seem so happy together.

Then one day Rachel sees something she shouldn't have seen, and soon after, Jess disappears. Suddenly Rachel is chasing the truth and unable to trust anyone. Not even herself.

Tense, taut, twisty and surprising . . . The Girl on the Train creeps right under your skin and stays there

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Posts

Mailbox Monday & It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

 

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It was created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books but now has a permanent home here

 

Only one for me this week but it's a good one. The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins isn't published until January 15th next year but Transworld publishers have kindly sent me a proof copy.

 

To everyone else in this carriage I must look normal; I’m doing exactly what they do: commuting to work, making appointments, ticking things off lists. 

Just goes to show.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and every evening. Every day she passes the same Victorian terraces, stops at the same signal, and sees the same couple, breakfasting on their roof terrace. Jason and Jess seem so happy together.

Then one day Rachel sees something she shouldn't have seen, and soon after, Jess disappears. Suddenly Rachel is chasing the truth and unable to trust anyone. Not even herself.

Tense, taut, twisty and surprising . . . The Girl on the Train creeps right under your skin and stays there.

 

 

 

 

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme run by Book Journey and you can mention books you've just finished, are currently reading and any you plan to read this week. You can leave a link to your blog and read other bloggers posts.

 

This week I finished The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. I thought it was a great book, I had to force myself to put it down and go to work, sleep etc. I'm now reading No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill, a horror novel which is due to be published on 23rd October, just in time for Halloween. 

 

 

 

Book Beginnings On Fridays (The Paying Guests)

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and as she says the idea of this meme is for you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. There's a linky list on the website and you can use #BookBeginnings on Twitter.

 

My book beginning this week is The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters, I've now finished it and it was very, very good.

 

The Barbers had said they would arrive by three. It was like waiting to begin a journey, Frances thought. She and her mother had spent the morning watching the clock, unable to relax.

 

 

  

Book Description

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

For with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the 'clerk class', the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be. 

Monday Posts

Mailbox Monday & It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.

It was created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books but now has a permanent home here

 

This week I got two books for my Kindle. The End Is Nigh is a collection of apocalyptic short stories and I also downloaded Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. I managed to get Annihilation when it was free, it's been on my wishlist ever since I saw a tweet by Stephen King praising the series.

   

Famine. Death. War. Pestilence. These are the harbingers of the biblical apocalypse, of the End of the World. In science fiction, the end is triggered by less figurative means: nuclear holocaust, biological warfare/pandemic, ecological disaster, or cosmological cataclysm.

But before any catastrophe, there are people who see it coming. During, there are heroes who fight against it. And after, there are the survivors who persevere and try to rebuild. THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH will tell their stories.

Edited by acclaimed anthologist John Joseph Adams and bestselling author Hugh Howey, THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH is a series of three anthologies of apocalyptic fiction. THE END IS NIGH focuses on life before the apocalypse. THE END IS NOW turns its attention to life during the apocalypse. And THE END HAS COME focuses on life after the apocalypse.

THE END IS NIGH features all-new, never-before-published works by Hugh Howey, Paolo Bacigalupi, Jamie Ford, Seanan McGuire, Tananarive Due, Jonathan Maberry, Robin Wasserman, Nancy Kress, Charlie Jane Anders, Ken Liu, and many others.

If J.J. Abrams and Margaret Atwood collaborated on a novel, it might look something like ‘Annihilation’, the first in an extraordinary trilogy.

For thirty years, Area X, monitored by the secret agency known as the Southern Reach, has remained mysterious and remote behind its intangible border– an environmental disaster zone, though to all appearances an abundant wilderness. Eleven expeditions have been sent in to investigate; even for those that have made it out alive, there have been terrible consequences.

‘Annihilation’ is the story of the twelfth expedition and is told by its nameless biologist. Introverted but highly intelligent, the biologist brings her own secrets with her. She is accompanied by a psychologist, an anthropologist and a surveyor, their stated mission: to chart the land, take samples and expand the Southern Reach’s understanding of Area X.

But they soon find out that they are being manipulated by forces both strange and all too familiar. An unmapped tunnel is not as it first appears. An inexplicable moaning calls in the distance at dusk. And while each member of the expedition has surrendered to the authority of the Southern Reach, the power of Area X is far more difficult to resist.

 

Its Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme run by Book Journey and you can mention books you've just finished, are currently reading and any you plan to read this week. You can leave a link to your blog and read other bloggers posts.

 

This week I finished The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell and you can read my review here. I've also read half of The End Is Nigh (see Mailbox Monday above) and will go back to finish it after my current read, The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters.

 

 

 

 

 

The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell

 

Book Description: 

When the bones of two severed hands are discovered in a box, an investigation into a long buried crime of passion begins. And a group of friends, who played together as children, begin to question their past.

Before the advent of the Second World War, beneath the green meadows of Loughton, Essex, a dark network of tunnels has been dug. A group of children discover them. They play there. It becomes their secret place.
Seventy years on, the world has changed. Developers have altered the rural landscape. Friends from a half-remembered world have married, died, grown sick, moved on or disappeared.
Work on a new house called Warlock uncovers a grisly secret, buried a lifetime ago, and a weary detective, more preoccupied with current crimes, must investigate a possible case of murder.

 

 

My Thoughts:

 

The book description makes this sound like a detective/whodunnit story which it isn't; the murderer and victims are revealed to us early on. I wasn't bothered by this and to be honest I didn't really expect it be that type of book. I have long been a fan of Ruth Rendell's stand alone novels, a lot more so than her Wexford series. I love the way the tension in them gradually builds, secrets are revealed and you are constantly wondering what will happen next.

 

It started well and the part set in the past around the time of the murders had me gripped. After this the story moved on to the lives of the children as adults in their seventies. A lot of people were introduced and it was difficult for me to remember who was who away from the main characters. I found the novel became less interesting in its last quarter, when it became apparent to me that the twists, turns and shocks weren't going to happen, or at least not to the level I was hoping for. However I did enjoy the book despite it not being one of the author's best. It is more a story about the lives of the friends and how the gruesome discovery affects them so if you're hoping for a crime novel then this may not be for you. If you've not read anything by Ruth Rendell before then I suggest you start with one of her earlier novels (and there are plenty to choose from); fans of her work should enjoy this though.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Monday Posts

Mailbox Monday & It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.

It was created by Marcia @ A Girl and Her Books but now has a permanent home here

 

 

This week I received a copy of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel from the publishers Picador. It's published on September 10th and I've been hearing good things about it for a while.

 

DAY ONE
The Georgia Flu explodes over the surface of the earth like a neutron bomb.News reports put the mortality rate at over 99%.

WEEK TWO
Civilization has crumbled.

YEAR TWENTY
A band of actors and musicians called the Travelling Symphony move through their territories performing concerts and Shakespeare to the settlements that have grown up there. Twenty years after the pandemic, life feels relatively safe.But now a new danger looms, and he threatens the hopeful world every survivor has tried to rebuild.

STATION ELEVEN
Moving backwards and forwards in time, from the glittering years just before the collapse to the strange and altered world that exists twenty years after, Station Eleven charts the unexpected twists of fate that connect six people: famous actor Arthur Leander; Jeevan - warned about the flu just in time; Arthur's first wife Miranda; Arthur's oldest friend Clark; Kirsten, a young actress with the Travelling Symphony; and the mysterious and self-proclaimed 'prophet'.Thrilling, unique and deeply moving, this is a beautiful novel that asks questions about art and fame and about the relationships that sustain us through anything - even the end of the world

Its Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme run by Book Journey and you can mention books you've just finished, are currently reading and any you plan to read this week. You can leave a link to your blog and read other bloggers posts.

 

I started Red Rising by Pierce Brown but unfortunately gave up on it just over half way through. The first part was great and had me gripped but it changed direction in the second and I quickly lost interest. It's been getting plenty of good reviews though so think it's not a bad book just isn't for me. I'm now reading the latest by Ruth Rendell, I love her stand alone novels and I'm thoroughly enjoying The Girl Next Door.

 

 

Book Beginnings On Fridays (The Girl Next Door)

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and as she says the idea of this meme is for you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. There's a linky list on the website and you can use #BookBeginnings on Twitter.

 

 This week my book beginning is The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell.

 

He was a handsome man. A handsome boy, his mother called him, because she started praising his looks when he was five. Before that, he received the compliments children necessarily get: 'Beautiful baby' and 'Isn't he lovely?' His father was never there.

 

 

Book Description: 

 

When the bones of two severed hands are discovered in a box, an investigation into a long buried crime of passion begins. And a group of friends, who played together as children, begin to question their past.      'For Woody, anger was cold. Cold and slow. But once it had started it mounted gradually and he could think of nothing else. He knew he couldn't stay alive while those two were alive. Instead of sleeping, he lay awake in the dark and saw those hands. Anita's narrow white hand with the long nails painted pastel pink, the man's brown hand equally shapely, the fingers slightly splayed.'
     Before the advent of the Second World War, beneath the green meadows of Loughton, Essex, a dark network of tunnels has been dug. A group of children discover them. They play there. It becomes their secret place.
Seventy years on, the world has changed. Developers have altered the rural landscape. Friends from a half-remembered world have married, died, grown sick, moved on or disappeared.
     Work on a new house called Warlock uncovers a grisly secret, buried a lifetime ago, and a weary detective, more preoccupied with current crimes, must investigate a possible case of murder.