The Chemistry of Death - Simon Beckett ****

"When the bizarrely mutilated body of a young woman is found near an isolated Norfolk village, it isn’t just the fact that she was a friend that disturbs Dr David Hunter. Once a high-profile forensic anthropologist, he was all too familiar with the different faces of death until personal tragedy caused him to turn his back on that life.

Now hidden away as a country doctor, Hunter had hoped his past would remain buried. So when he’s asked to help track down the killer, he’s reluctant to become involved--to do so will stir up memories he’s long tried to forget. But then another woman disappears, plunging the community into a maelstrom of fear and paranoia. No one, not even Hunter is exempt from suspicion and he will need all his arcane skills if the killings are to stop…"

Quite good, unexpected ending after a few late plot twists keep you guessing. I'll look for more by him now.

4/5

Oscars

I'm only going to feature two gowns, one I absolutely LOVE, and the fuggiest I found.


I am in love with Reece's gown.
I covet it. *salivate*
But also really like Anne Hathaway in her Black and White number.
And an Honourable mention to Rinko Kikuchi from Babel. Stunning.
Helen Mirren also, very age appropriate, and fabulous.


We have a winner with this monstrosity from Gweneth Paltrow. I hate this and I think it makes her look sallow and awful. Plus the red lipstick just accentuates the grossness. And the constricting across the waist? And the mid chest cross over thing? What is going on here???

For fug, it was really hard, but honourable mentions to Kirsten Dunst, Faye Dunaway, Jodie Foster for crimes against breasts, Maggie Gyllenhall, Jennifer Hudson (who I honestly think looks like a chocolate bar half unwrapped), Naomi Watts (preggers or no) and Jennifer Lopez (ew).

The Devil's Feather - Minette Walters ****

"Amidst the mire of a bloody war, who will notice the emrgence of a sexual psychopath from the ranks of the mercenaries?

When five women are brutally murdered in Sierra Leone, Reuters correspondant Connie Burns questions the arrest of three rebel soldiers for the crimes. No one listens. In the wake of a vicious civil war that saw hundreds of thousands killed and displaced, the rape and murder of women are of little consequence. And who cares if the child soldiers are beaten into confessing?

With little to go on, except her witnessing of a savage attack on a prostitute, C onnie belives a foreigner is responsible- a man who claims to have been in the SAS and who works as a bodyguard to a Lebanese diamond trader, She remembers him from Kinshasa when he was a mercenary for Laurent Kabila's regime, and she suspects he uses the chaos of war to act out sadistic fantasties against women.

Two years later in Iraq, the consequences of her second attempt to expose him are devastating. Terrifiedm degraded and destroyed, she goes into hiding in England, where she strikes up a friendship with jess Derbyshire, a loner whose reclusive nature may well be masking secrets of her own. See parallels betweeen herself and Jess, Connie borrows from the other woman's strength and makes the hazardous decision to attempt a third unmasking of a serial killer, knowing he wil come looking for her."


Very good book.

4 / 5

Long live Dataceptionist

I have confirmation for you all that have been waiting with baited breath.....

(pretend ok?)

I have a new job!

I will be Data-ing it up for another week but as of next Monday I will be working somewhere else.

Never fear though, I cannot shed Dataceptionist so easily and will continue to blog under this mantle. Everything will be just like normal, so keep on readin!

Manyana!! (round two)

Went away for the weekend just gone, very nice and relaxing. Unfortunately Manyana put up a poor showing for the second time and it rained most of the weekend. It was still good, at one stage as we passed through Ulladulla the rain was pouring down so hard it had flooded the bridge through town and I thought we'd get stuck. I should have taken pics actually now I think about it.
But it was good, don't get me wrong. I got two books read, more to follow on each of those.

Highlights though were multiple kangaroos to view in peoples backyards and I actually got to see my first real life Sting ray and it was huge! That was at Bendalong Beach, and I'm sure if the weather had been less gloomy there would have been more as I hear there normally are.

*Yawn*

So bored today. Kill me.
Or give me a real job.
*sigh*
Had a good weekend, caught up with some old work friends at the Mean Fiddler (not a local haunt for me) whilst there for Re's birthday. A good evening by all accounts.
Sunday we caught up with Tim & Kel and little Ryder and finally got a hold of him. He's so cute, took pics but haven't uploaded them yet.

Doop de doop de doo. *sigh*

In their Footsteps-Tess Gerristsen ***/*

For Beryl Tavistock, the place to ask questions about the scandal surrounding her parents death is on Paris's rain slicked streets. But the answers are proving that old secrets die hard.
Caught in an increasingly deadly search for the turth, she enters a world where danger is spliced with desire-a world where the man she's just met, ex-CIA agent Richard Wolf, seems very much at home. But in this world, friends can be enemies and enemies can be killers....
Good. Not as good as her others but readable.
3.5 / 5

Did the Earth Move? - Carmen Reid ***

Meet Eve:
Four kids, one hectic job
two complicated exes and a lot on her mind.
Like, is sex with the vet better than no sex at all?
Is she too old to shop at Topshop or dye her hair pink?
Are violets the new geraniums?
What the hell is in the fridge for supper?
And, most important of all,
has she let the love of her life get away too easily?
Did the Earth Move?
is a sexy, thought-provoking and wildly entertaining
novel from the best selling author of Three in a Bed.

This was alright, a bit of fluff, easy reading though : ) Not going to rush out and find other books of hers though.

3/5

***late publish, from 12/2/07***

So wrong, but so funny 2

Edwards Bloggers Quit

**Update**
The two Edwards' bloggers who I mentioned just days ago to have been kept on staff, (after Public formal apologies), have both resigned within days of each other, citing amicable splits with the campaign. I think this is sort of sad, but they felt immense pressure that their very existence now compromised the campaign for Edwards.
What I don't understand is why there was such an outcry from their opposition for them to be sacked?
All this indicates to me is that the people seeking their removal felt Edwards is a strong candidate. If you compare this to our politics; imagine the Labor party had a suspicious character on their staff, if the party chose to keep them (as Edwards did) then if you were unhappy with the decision you'd simply vote with your feet and vote for the other party, simple I would have thought? Am I off-base here?

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I know, I'm happy and sickeningly in love and happily married. Sorry to all the single people for my Valentine's rant, but here's a cartoon to which I think everyone can enjoy.

Also, amusingly,
Opposition health spokeswoman Nicola Roxon says Valentines Day is the perfect opportunity to highlight the increased rise of heart disease for people living on their own...."Those already planning to enjoy a dinner today might like to invite their single friends along as well so they can enjoy a nutritious meal.".....
Because quite obviously, if you don't have a partner tonight, there's no way in hell you're going to be able to feed yourself properly. It's all deep fried Mars Bars and cookies and cream icecream, with a side of gravy.

Meanwhile, in the small town of Gulgong, near Mudgee, a man has been shot dead in a Jealous rage at 7am this morning. Lovely.

Are you one of three Australian women that dread Valentine's day? I myself don't recall ever dreading Valentine's day for any of my (20?) single years. I was in nappies or carefree abandon admittedly for a good chunk of that. Oooh, do you guys remember that rose thing they used to do at school? When I think about it they did really well to sell them for $5 or so, I saw single (dodgy) looking roses at Woolies today for $10, and single delivered red roses go for $53.55 on Interflora (holy hell). Ahh the memories.
Give me your Valentine's memories people.

So wrong, but so funny


Sorry they're so small. For more see Cyanide and Happiness

Presumed Guilty -Tess Gerritsen ***

"Someone was sleeping in her bed...
But he wasn't really sleeping. He was dead. Miranda Wood hoped it was just a bad dream, but the man had been stabbed with her knife, in her house. And worst of all, he wasn't a stranger.
So the nightmare began on Maine's tiny Shepherd Island, where all the evidence seemed to point to Miranda's guilt. There was no one who would believe she hadn't murdered her former lover, least of all Chase Tremain, the dead man's brother.
Chase wanted revenge at any price-until he met Mrianda. But when he became a convenient witness to several attempts on her life, he began to wonder....Was she a fresh-faced country girl with whom he could fall in love? Or was she a consummate actress-and a cold blooded killer?"

A good yarn, bit of a departure from her usual stories which she tends to cleverly work in some sort of religious angle, or have a Medical Examiner setting. Also a departure from a group of characters that were a good read, I hope she comes back to them. This is actually two books in one, so I will have to recycle the cover picture, it actually says and IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS in small text under the title. More about that when I finished the second (completely unrelated) story. I thought this was good, but on reflection there are a couple of sub plot holes that didn't quite get tied up I don't think, and neither the main story nor the subplot really got developed enough, almost like reading a draft of the story idea when I think about it, or some of her early writings, except she's not really established enough to be doing a "way back when" type release. Still a good read, but could have been better (or written under a pen name-Bachman?)

3/5

News just to hand....

......I may not be Dataceptionist for much longer.........

Keep you posted..... xx

BAFTA fug

I'm sorry, but not a fan, too 80's for me

Pancake boobs!
At ease Daniel.

Oh dear god. What is she hiding in there?
I think that might qualify as a scrolldown?
**Update-This is Thandie Newton, surprising, she's so pretty.
Currently in Pursuit of Happyness as disgruntled wife
and that horrid Eddie Murphy crap Norbit**

Grammy Fug


What the hell? I'm sure someone knows who these people are...

Mormon Candidate

Well we've got them all, the woman, the black guy, the ex-mayor of New York who saved the town in the wake of September 11, and there's even a rumour of Arnie running. Now we come to the Mormon Candidate, Mitt Romney.
Romney's faith causes large hurdles for him in the campaign, as the Evangelical Protestant sector votes and many American's will not vote for a Mormon. Romney isn't concerned though, as even John F Kennedy had to address the fact that he himself was Catholic, not popular at the time, and he has been studying Kennedy's speeches on the matter closely. I'll say this though, he's no JFK, and even though Mormon's class themselves as Christians, mainstream American apparently sees them as more of a cult than anything.

****Update-Edwards' troublesome bloggers on his staff have retained their positions. Good on him I say for not bending to conservative pressure.****

Blackness?

What the hell is Blackness? I'm not sure, but apparently Barack Obama, doesn't have enough.
There is a certain sector of Americans that are claiming Obama is not black enough. What the hell people. I thought we were trying to overcome racial stereotypes, not step on people who weren't quite in the club. Is it my own personal failing that Obama looks black to me? I mean when we really get down to it, I personally don't really care what colour he is (other than a passing curiosity on how the American public would cope with a Black Prez-given their vastly over-fictionalised prejuidices) and I think that a vast majority {I admit not all} of my generation honestly doesn't see individuals in terms of colour.
So it screams to me of ridiculousness that black people in America would whinge that he wasn't black enough. I mean for godssake, make up your mind would you!
Are you trying to break down racism, or perpetuate it?
This springs apparently from the fact that Obama has a black African father, but white American mother. Well Gee whizz, I would have thought this would have helped his multicultural appeal, but no, it's hurting him instead. Bizarreness!

US Election tidbits


~ US Presidents can only serve two consecutive terms

~Usually when a Prez is leaving after two terms the Vice President will run

~ Dick Cheney, the current VP, has stated on several occassions (2001,2004) that he will never be president, and "...If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve"

~ This is the first election in 80 years where neither the Prez nor the Vice will be running (called non-incumbent or "open seat" election)

~Likely to be the most expensive election ever "estimated that the 2008 race will be a "$1 billion election," and that to be "taken seriously," a candidate will need to raise at least $100 million by the end of 2007."

~ Candidates started to emerge in 2006!!!

~Persons of interest and those registered thus far
Official candidates who have filed with the FEC
Senator Joe Biden of Delaware (Campaign Site) {Dem}
Senator
Christopher Dodd of Connecticut (Campaign Site) {Dem}
Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina (Campaign Site) {Dem}
Former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska (Campaign Site) {Dem}
Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio (Campaign Site) {Dem}
Former Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa (Campaign Site) {Dem}
Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas (Campaign site) {Rep}
John H. Cox of Illinois (Campaign Site) {Rep}
Representative Duncan Hunter of California (Campaign Site) {Rep}

Candidates who have formed exploratory committees:
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York (Exploratory Committee) {Dem}
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois (Exploratory Committee) {Dem}
Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico (Exploratory Committee) {Dem}
Former Governor Jim Gilmore of Virginia {Rep}
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (Exploratory Committee) {Rep}
Former Governor
Mike Huckabee of Arkansas (Exploratory Committee) {Rep}
Senator
John McCain of Arizona (Exploratory Committee) {Rep}
Representative
Ron Paul of Texas (Exploratory Committee) {Rep}
Former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts (Exploratory Committee) {Rep}
Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado (Exploratory Committee) {Rep}
Former Governor
Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin (Exploratory Committee) {Rep}

Candidates who have expressed serious interest:
Retired General Wesley Clark of Arkansas (WesPAC)[6] {Dem}
Reverend Al Sharpton of New York {Dem}
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia (Winning the Future)[10] {Rep}
Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska (Sandhills PAC)[11] {Rep}
Radio Talk Show Host Michael Savage of California (Savage Nation) [12] {Rep}

Other
Kat Swift of Texas (Campaign site) Green Party
Robert Milnes of New Jersey (Campaign Site)
Steve Adams of Kentucky (Campaign Site)
Gene Amondson of Washington for the Prohibition Party (Campaign Site)
Bob W. Hargis of Oklahoma (Campaign Site)
Daniel Imperato of Florida (Campaign Site)
David A. Koch of Utah
Ken Goldstein of California (Campaign Site)
Charles T. Maxham of New Jersey (Campaign Site)

~OFFICIALLY NOT RUNNING
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts
Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana
Senator Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin
Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia
Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee

Source- Wikipedia

Interesting....things.....

*A interesting blog post from Scott Adams, the guy who writes Dilbert. Something I've always wondered about myself-
The Dilbert Blog - Artist Mysteries but with almost 300 comments I wouldn't recommend reading them all, just scroll through a read some.
His blog is pretty interesting in general really, probably something I'd say I aspire to in a way.

*Anna Nicole Smith's orphaned baby is reportedly worth 1.6 Billion $ now. Holy cow. No wonder three guys are all vying for paternity. The most bizarre paternity rumour however, is that Smith's late son was actually the father, which is why he allegedly commit suicide hours after seeing the new kid. I mean come on people, that's more Horror than Hollywood surely.

*Missy Higgins is releasing a new album. As one of only 4 artists I've ever bothered to see live, I'll be interested to see what she comes out with. This ties in nicely with the Blog article above : )
Oh god, apparently Silverchair are also releasing a new album. I say, PUT THE GUITAR DOWN DANIEL!!!
Ooh ooh and as Kyle mentioned on last years Aus Idol final, Katie Noonan (of George) is releasing an album soon which I will definitely want to hear. George feature as one of my 4. lol.
KILL ME-a Cold Chisel tribute album is being put together. Vomit.

LMAO

My worst date when I look back on it wasn't too bad.
I took a now ex girlfriend to my favourite mexican resturaunt where we ate up a storm. I suggested how about I give her some sexy desert back at my place and she agreed.Well here I am down in her nether regions eating a banana out of her when she lets one god almighty burito infested fart out, that sent me green (i believe I passed out for 20 seconds) and I puked my dinner all over her and the banana.So because of her lack of control the date cost me

$52.95 for my dinner.
$27.50 for the wine and my margaritas.
$24.00 for the drycleaning of the dooner.
$1.88 for half a banana.
0.28c for the shower to clean herself up.and
0.40c for the condom I never got to put on.

I have not been able to enjoy a banana split since, so the pyschological damage cannot be measured.

Posted by: havanabanana at February 9, 2007 11:21 AM

on Samanthat Brett's Blog post Worst Dating Disasters "Sam and the City" on SMH

John Edwards and other updates

When I first starting searching for more material about the Presidential Campaign, I saw the name John Edwards and thought "hey ho! We've moved on from speaking to people who've Passed, to Ruling the Known World! *evil laugh*"

But It's ok people! Breathe again! That's John Edward_ (no S)

John EdwardS is actually this disgustingly All-American-without-looking-like-all-I-eat-is-pork-fat guy. And he's running for president.


The most interesting thing I've found about him is that he has two members of staff on his campaign that actually had their own blogs. Now this blog is a bit of fluff, not especially insightful, it's Pink and I write about shoes sometimes. Not your hard-hitting New York Times sort of business. But these women had their own hard-hitting type blogs and when rival staff when trawling through the old posts, they found, *dun dun dun* OPINIONS.
I know, I know, take a breath, it's hard to absorb.
But for merely making opinion known on their blogs, BEFORE they ever became members of Presidential campaign staff there was a media backlash calling for them to be dismissed! Ridiculous.

Live Bait- PJ Tracy ***

CATCH EVIL ANYWAY YOU CAN
Springtime in Minneapolis and with the thaw comes murder: an elderly man executed with a gunshot to the head and another literally frightened to death. But when Detective Magozzi calls on the analytical skills of Grace McBride, it appears not only that the killings might be connected but also that the victims might be something other than they seemed at first. As more deaths follow, Magozzi and Grace must quickly discover what secrets these men shared-- and with whom -- if they are to bait their trap and catch their killer...
*sigh* I'm sick of ranting about blurbs that suck. This one isn't too bad, it's the end that goes all pear shaped, pretending things that aren't there in the story. One could theorise though, that the only people that read the blurb after they've read the book are weirdos like me and every other happy reader wouldn't both because they've already read the book!
That aside now, this is the second book after a very good book written by Mother-Daughter team PJ Tracy (which I always forget until I finish the book). I really enjoyed Want to Play (debut), and it's funny, after picking up this book and beginning it I found myself in a classic case of "That-was-good-what-was-it-about-again-confusion". For those uninitiated, this is where I buy/choose a book without reading the blurb because it's by an author I recognise well enough from a previous read that I know I'll enjoy it. Tess Gerritsen is another of these authors, as is James Patterson and Harlen Coben to name a few. The only Reading Danger with these authors is that I have to check I haven't -
A) read it already
B) if I have more than one on the shelf to choose from that I don't read them out of order as I have found a few niche authors that write with the same characters (they can be read as stand alones but they're quite good when read in sequence too-I've done both).
This book I read and before I started it I had thought I was about to jump back into the lives of "Mr J and Ms X" when in fact it was "Character Y and So&so Q, storyline Z". Not a disaster, just have to readjust.
I discovered as I read that I was actually reading book 2 of the small number Tracy has written, having read 1 (Want to Play) and I think #4 which was also excellent.
Reflecting on this one however I'm struck by the thought that if I had read these in order and this was the second I would have been disappointed by the follow up to the first. As it stands, I've read one further down the line and know it will be ok. As a review on Want To Play so plaintatively states "Writers usually improve immensely on their next novels and so I'm very excited to see what more she has in store for us."
I can't say I think that's what happened here.
Don't get me wrong, it was good, I enjoyed it, but the first and subsequents are better. The two pivotal characters, one a Detective, and the other a neurotic computer whiz are meant to be growing closer romantically, the first book from memory focuses so closely on the MonkeeWrench team but this book is all Magozzi. Like they were experimenting with making Grace the side character, when in fact the subsequent books put Magozzi back on the sideline.
Hmm, it's interesting, but like I said, it's good, and worth a look. But read Want to Play first.
3 / 5

"Australia" Up for Sale


As reported in SMH Today,
they're selling Austrlia in Dubai's Island World Map.
Halvsies anyone? I've got 25c.....

Tattersall's Dancesport Championship 2006

I know it says 2006, I'm not really sure how their weirdo calendar works cos it was only held last night. Weird.
A lovely event, and It was pleasantly surprising to see Dancesport on a night other than Christmas night, which is what our post Chrissy day tradition was, gifts, eat, games, recover and Dancesport. In that order.

Top moment of the event-When a girl in the New Vogue Final lost a shoe, and it lay in the middle of the floor for the rest of the dance (remarkable actually, you couldn't tell at all from her dancing-wonder if she got marked down?)

Funniest moment-Collision on the dance floor!!! Whenever I watch live dance actually I Always always think of that line in Strictly Ballroom "They became boxed in" LOL

*******OMG-Massive aside here as I was searching for the exact quote by "Les"-

Sonia Kruger was Tina Sparkle!!

How did I never know that!! I always thought she was meaningless eye Channel 7 fodder on Dancing with the Stars!!!! Hilarious! I can totally see that it's her now I look thoughAnd Todd McKenney was Nathan Starkey!!! (her old partner)********

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Back to Dancesport though (hosted by Kruger), there was this exhibition couple, Hanna and Victor and while she was very versatile and flexible, she looked like this ginormous leggy cricket thing!! Not attractive at all. The only pics I could find unfortunately she looks much healthier in and not nearly so grotesque. Re can attest to this as I made her flick over from Orange Crap to revel with me. This first pic they did a whole partnered dance but she was en pointe the entire time. Just made her legs look ganglier though I thought.

Hercules! Hercules! Lift me up so I can scan the horizon!

I wish I had a really good picture of her legs, Re described them as "like she's wearing tights with stuff shoved under them" She was painfully skinny, but with these grotesque muscles bulging under her skin. Ew.

Sneezing

You know that thing where if you need to sneeze, you go out in the sun and look up and you sneeze? Its super satisfying and if you're caught with the urge at night, Well Hey ho oh no, a fluro tube just is just not the same.
What is the point of these sneezing musings? This phenomena has a name!! It's a condition!! It affects 25% of Caucasians. LOL.
It's called the Photic Reflex and you can read more by clicking the link to Wikipedia.
Isn't that the most biazrre thing you've heard today! : )

Fashion fun Quotes

Maggie Alderson wrapping up 2006

* "When you're acting, you have to be able to move your face. You have to be able to communicate your emotions through your expression, and I would hate to have that taken away. I've no intention of getting carved up or injected, thank you very much." Kate Winslet.

* "I don't want to look young, I want to look good. Cosmetic surgeons just want to make you look young. I think Botox is poison. And injecting fat into your face makes you look like a chipmunk." Joan Collins.

* "When you walk around New York or LA, everyone looks the same. It's pathetic. The lips all look like duck lips, there's no more wrinkles, the noses are all identical, and everything that made someone beautiful is gone. I know what it feels like to think you need to mutilate yourself. I thought, 'Maybe if I stick some fake breasts on, it will be okay.' But when I hit my 60s I felt so ashamed." Jane Fonda.

* "I make a point to never, ever point out my physical flaws ... This is advice I give to women as often as I can. People don't notice the things we see in ourselves that we hate, so why direct them to it?" Dita Von Teese.

* "It's like planning a dinner party. You need to have the pretty girl, the controversy, and something reassuring." Anna Wintour reveals the magic formula for editing US Vogue.

* "We made a pact to become fat communists." Anne Hathaway's post-filming deal with her Devil Wears Prada co-star Meryl Streep.

* "I'm the sort of person who cuts the label off things. I hate the whole idea of a seasonal must-have bag, of a bag in an ad campaign. I think having clothing that screams its origins to people in the street is uncomfortable in a world where lots of people don't have lots of money." Gucci Group chief executive Robert Polet (who just may be in the wrong job).

* "I design useless Christmas gifts. Don't ask me to be proud or to be interested in what I do. I am so ashamed of what I do, I try to do it the best that's possible." Philippe Starck (as above).

* "I have lots of things, like all these Manolo Blahniks. I have all that and I think it's great. I'm not one of those people like, 'Well, we must renounce ourselves.' No, I have a closet full of shoes and it's a good thing." Oprah Winfrey (definitely in the right job).

* "I love really tight jeans but I'm not so young and I don't want to be ridiculous. So I prefer not baggy, but more comfortable ... I buy them at our store with 50 per cent discount." Stefano Gabbana.

* "[Naomi Campbell] looks like you could snap her in two but she's a tough-ass, kick-ass woman. I would actually like to fight her. I think for all the people that she's beaten up, I think she needs a big 200-pound lesbian to kick her ass." Rosie O'Donnell.

* And, lastly, a remark from the past that will withstand the passing of any number of years: "Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity." Coco Chanel.

Jasvinder Sanghera- An Inspiration

For anyone interested in perhaps further reading about the inspirational woman who told her story in Shame, try here.

Shame- Jasvinder Sanghera *****

"When she was fourteen, Jasvinder Sanghera was shown a photo of the man chosen to be her husband. She was terrified. She'd witnessed the torment her sisters endured in their arranged marriages, so she ran away from home, grief-stricken when her parents disowned her.

SHAME is the heart-rending true story of a young girls attempt to escape from a cruel, claustrophobic world where family honour mattered more than anything- sometimes more than life itself.

Jasvinder's story is one of terrible opression, a harrowing struggle against a punitive code of honour-and, finally, triumph over adversity.


This book was amazing. It was so good, I read it cover to cover in a single day. There is so much that goes on in the world without us knowing, it just amazes you.
A must read as far as I'm concerned.

5/5


*** update-I was so moved by this book I wrote the author a note. I've only done that once before.

01.05.08 ****See this post for Another update to this a year on****
Re said...
Sounds very productive indeed. Bahh Australia Day.....
LOL. Not the best on all accounts!! That would really annoy me yeah, traipsing around trying to find a good time and failing miserably. And sunburn!

Re said....
.....Unless all the lipsticks the world over started developing life....
Indeed, a most insightful suggestion there Re. Interestingly the words "Lipstick Jungle" are written three times. On the cover. On the blurb. On the last page. Way to trivialise and tie it all together with a girly word like Lipstick guys! *woo*!

The Burning Girl-Mark Billingham ****/*

X marks the spot- and when that spot is a corpse's naked back and the X is carved in vlood, DI Tom Thorne is in no doubt that the dead man is the latest victim of a particularly vicious contract-killer. This is a turf warfare between North London gangs. Organised-crime boss Billy Ryan is moving into someone else's patch, and that someone is not best pleased. For Thorne, a tenuous link between two cases becomes two pieces of the same puzzle; past and present fuse together to form a new and very nasty riddle.
And when an X is carved on Thorne's front door, he knows that the smouldering embers of a long dead case are about to erupt into flames...."

Worst blurb in the world. Does it's job, but has the story all turned around. Utter bollocks.

That aside.... Brilliant book. Loved it. Would have been a five star but in retrospect there are a few loose ends I can't remember them tying up actually. I thought it was great however and raced through it in the couple of days since the Long Weekend (reading in the peak hour traffic hehehe). Highly recommend (the book that is-not the traffic) :)
I've read several others of Mark Billingham's and DI Tom Thorne is an oldie but a goodie. A very traditional Cop character in a British sense, and the other characters have good sub plots happening which keeps you coming back. I like reading a book and simply slipping into the characters, not being bludgeoned with the background info (see Baby Sitters Club-1st chapter of every single book). It sort of lost steam toward the end, but I was still really keen on finishing it.
4.5/5

Sidney Sheldon 1917-2007

Sidney Sheldon, the author, has died, 12 days shy of 90.

While this is sad, one of the most interesting things I read was that he actually created I Dream of Jeannie! He was more famous for his books than Jeannie though....

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