Just finished reading (3 books) #50, #51, #52

March turned out to be a bit of read fest for me.  I was the star of the boogroup this month having completed 3 whole books, an amazing feat in our post EQ year.  I had such a rich month.  In order

The Book Thief   Markus Zusak

I think I might be the last person in bookland to read this book.  I managed to avoid it for years in bookgroup.  I was put off by the 'narrator is death' thing and the ugly cover.  However, I LOVED this book, just like everyone else I guess.  So much did I love it that I raved about it to Jonty who also read it.  That in itself is a minor miracle. He LOVED it...'the best book I have read in years'.  He seldom reads fiction and I witnessed tears from my husband.  We loved it so much we bought for Jasmine for her birthday.  She is yet to read it, I hope she loves it too.

You can look this book up on a zillion blogs and get a great review.  My reviews are seldom great, more like a reaction statement.  Death as narrator is great as he (?) sees all and is just lovely...just a guy doing a job.  The characters in this book are gorgeous.  Liesel our hero child is stunning and her love for language and stories is heartwarming.  Set in Germany in WW2 it is the story of ordinary people living through an extraordinary time.  Their reaction to war, Nazism, hunger and death are endearing.  The humour is great.  I am not going to tell you anything else about the story.  Give it a go, you wont be disappointed.  It is much better than you can imagine and anyone can describe.  If you want to read a really good review of this book, check out Reading Matters link in my blog roll just of there to the right.

After the Fall - Kylie Ladd

Two couples of young professional people set in Aussie, cant remember if it is SYD or MEL.  Anyway, written from all four of their perspectives we navigate an attraction to an obsession and beyond through the eyes of the four people involved and a couple of friends.  I liked it as a fish eye view of what life in an affair was all about.  Not a place I ever want to be but with no judgement at all because this can happen to anyone.  I really enjoyed it for lots of reasons - the situation, the location, the characters.  Good writing and something quite different from my previous read.

The devotion of suspect X - Keigo Higashino

Another excellent read.  I loved it.  How some people are so bloody clever is beyond me.  We know who is murdered, we know who did it and then we are taken on the tightly written, masterly thought out crime thriller ride as the police try to solve the crime.  Paced just right and with no excessive crap 50 pages that so many other writers just have to add to their stories...a common complaint from me. An ex night club hostess and her daughter, a maths professor genius neighbour, his physics mate and a couple of detectives, one wily and the other a newby are our characters and their story is a triumph of clever story writing.  Just great.  I think it has been made into a film.  A must see.   Loved the setting and couldn't wait to go there every day.  I also wanted to eat Bento every day too.  I will not give anything away as the story line is the key to whole thing.  It is not scary but just very very clever and unexpected.  Thanks Lisa, our Japan-ophile and book wholesaler who buys great books.