Book Review: Crippen by John Boyne

Rating 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Synopsis:
July 1910, the grisly remains of Cora Crippen, music hall singer and wife of Dr Hawley Crippen are discovered in the cellar of 39 Hilldrop Cresent Camden. But the doctor and his mistress, Ethel Le Neve have vanished., much to the frustration of Scotland Yard and the outrage of a horrified London.

Across the channel in Antwerp, the SS Montrose sets sail on it's two week voyage to Canada. Amongst it's passengers are the overbearing Antonia Drake and her daughter Victoria, who is hell-bent on romance, the enigmatic Zela and the modest Martha Hayes. Also on board are the unassuming Mr John Robinson and his seventeen year old son Edmund. But all is not as it seems...

My review:
This review is for the Transworld book group reading challenge. 

First off I would like to say that if you are in an airport and decide to get an easy read for the plane or for when you are on the beach this would be a fantastic choice! I don't think I have read a book this easy to read in a long long time.  

But... I am kinda in a dilemma writing this review. On one hand like I said it was easy to read. I was able to put the book down to work and be a Mum and then be able to pick it straight back up and get back into the story without a problem. However stereotypical the characters on the SS Montrose were I found them to have faces, shadows and become part of my image of the story... The characters came alive. 
The layout of the book reminds me of a book called 'A Brutal Art' by Jesse Kellerman. Where you would go back and forth in time to show the story of a character. I had no trouble with this in Crippen and found that this was a great idea. Unlike other people who have read the book I found no issue with the focus of Crippen's early years. I just found this part of the build up.

Now my issue. There are quite a few things, details are are just historically wrong which really put me off giving this book any higher a rating. 

In a nutshell, if you want a light read and are not bothered with whether a book has more fact than fiction then this well could be the book for you. If you are bothered with factual content then I think that the historical bloopers in this book will put you off.

NEW BLOGGER DOCTOR WHO BOOK GIVEAWAY COMPETITION

So I decided that I would have a book giveaway! Whoooo. This is a new book and has just been on my bookshelf for a while as I have a double.

My giveaway will run for the whole month and will end @ 7pm 27th November. I will notify the winner within two days and will need to respond within a week. If not I will contact another winner.

The prize... Doctor Who Vanashing point. By stephen Cole.

The Blurb:     Imagine a World where death has a meaning, where God exists and faith is untested. where the people die with the purpose of there made clear to them in blissful understanding. Such a world exists, hidden on the far side of the universe where a battered blue police box has just faded into being...
 This is in the series of original adventures for the Eighth doctor.


HOW TO ENTER...

1. YOu need to be a follower of my blog, or become a follower of my blog.
2. Post a comment saying that you have followed and which of the Doctors is your favourite. (make sure that you tell me how you would like to be contacted if you are the lucky winner! None of your details will be passed on to ANYONE! Also your twitter name if you RT.
3. To get an extra entry. Follow me on twitter @catwomanthegeek and RT.....
"I've entered @catwomanthegeek book giveaway  http://www.catwomanthegeek.blogspot.com/


THE BORING BIT....
After the compeition has finished I will put all the names into a hat, more than likely my son's Star Wars hat (double if you have RT) and get one of my sons to pick out a winner.

Elijah Wood Joins Treasure Island

I found this article on the Sky 1 website. Apparently there is going to be a new Treasure Island adaptation on Sky1 at the end of the year. Staring Elijah Wood and Eddie Izzard.

This looks good.

Treasure Island.

Warner Bro gets Deal for the Hobbit Toys.

Yay!! so there will be toys and merchendise for The Hobbit! Fantastic! Looking forward to collecting the figures. Roll on Dec 2012!

Hobbit merch.

Book Review : Twelve by Jasper Kent.

Rating:
3 out of 5 stars

Synopsis: 

Autumn, 1812. Napolean's triumphant grande Armee continues it's relentless march into Russia. City after city has fallen and now only a miracle can keep the french from taking Moscow itself.
In a last desperate act of defiance, a group of Russian officers enlist the help of twelv mercebarues who claim they can turn the tide of the war. It seems an impossible boast but it soon becomes clear that these strangers from the outer reaches of christian europe are indeed quite capable of fulfilling their promise... and more.

But the fact that so few seem able to accomplish so much unsettles one of the Russians, Captain Aleksei Ivanovich danilov. As Winer closes in, he beings to comprehend the true, horrific natire of the twelve and the nightmare he has unwittingly helped to unleash...

My Review.
This book was given to me and to be reviewed for the Transworld Book club.
This was a book I wanted to read for a while after catching it on a BBC TV show about books that are bought in read in Airports, which was part of a series for World Book Night. Vampres and Historical fiction. What more could Catwoman ask for?

I struggled with this book to begin with. It was slow. I struggled to get any feel for the characters apart from the man character who I didn't particularly like. As for the vampires. A little more discription would have helped.  For the first 200 pages I could barely read 20 pages a time. I physically groaned picking up the book hoping at some point it would actually kick start with something interesting and if it wasn't for that the fact I was given the book to review I would have put it back on the shelf. But if you are thinkig about getting this book. I would recommend but with the advice to persevere!!! IT DOES GET BETTER! The ending has a fantastic twists which does leave it nicely for the next in the series.

Overall the second half of the book is good and I will at some point pick up the second hoping it doesn't start like the first.