What I'm reading

I have started Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, the second book of the Hunger Games trilogy. I very much enjoyed the first book and, with the movie just released, it seemed a good time to crack on. Here's the blurb:

Katniss survived the Hunger Games. Now the Capitol wants revenge. It's payback time, and her chance of survival is even slimmer than ever... After winning the brutal Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta have returned to District 12, hoping for a peaceful future. But their victory has caused rebellion to break out - and the Capitol has decided that someone must pay. As Katniss and Peeta are forced to visit the other districts on the Capitol's Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. Unless they can convince the world that they are still lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying. Then comes the cruellest twist: the contestants for the next Hunger Games are announced, and Katniss and Peeta are forced into the arena once more...

Present Danger - by Stella Rimington

This book was my next Book Club selection, for discussion at our meeting in April. I read it in one sitting - quite a long sitting, as I was on an aircraft for more than 11 hours. Here is the blurb:

When MI5 officer Liz Carlyle is posted to Northern Ireland, her heart sinks at the thought of working in a backwater. From the moment she arrives in Belfast danger follows and she soon discovers that the peace process in the province is precarious. Then a source reports strange activity at a house on the Irish Sea owned by The Fraternity, an organisation Liz suspects of being a front for renegade former IRA men. Its head is Seamus Piggott, an Irish-American with a gun-running past. Then another informant reports that a plot is being hatched against the security forces. Liz and her colleague Dave Armstrong suspect Piggott is involved, along with a former French Intelligence officer. Travelling to Paris, Liz pursues this connection with her counterpart in French Intelligence. While she is away, Dave Armstrong decides to take matter into his own hands. When Dave goes missing, Liz fears the worst, especially when she discovers that the obvious suspects have all also disappeared. The latest in Stella Rimington’s series of spy novels, Present Danger is a compulsive thriller filled with action and suspense.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, which was well structured and paced, with reasonably well drawn characters. In most respects it was exactly the kind of MI5 based thriller that one might expect from the author. I was unsurprised to find that the key character was female, but I was surprised that she was stereotypically so when it came to matters of the heart.

It is important to me that I have respect for a novel writer's integrity. Clearly the author is writing about a subject that she knows well, but a few details niggled. For example, there is a reference to the Arctic being a continent - I am sure it should have been Antarctica. Elsewhere there is a character who had belonged to an "extremist group" called the Weather Underground. Maybe this was a joke, as WE is a well known website, which is a community supported weather site.

However, I think that I am nit-picking and I would read another book by Stella Rimington if the opportunity arose.

Confessions of a GP - by Benjamin Daniels

I expected this to be a fairly light-weigh, easy read and I wasn't disappointed. However, it proved to be much more than just a collection of trivial anecdotes about amusing patients. There were plenty of such stories, but interspersed with much commentary on the work of a GP and the author's thoughts and opinions about the NHS. Having read it, apart from being entertained, I do feel that I have gained a somewhat greater understanding about the lot of a doctor in general practice.

What I'm reading

I have started Confessions of a GP by Benjamin Daniels. I wanted something undemanding and non-fiction, so a biography would be sensible and this seemed to fit the bill. Here is the blurb:

A woman troubled by pornographic dreams about Tom Jones. An 80-year-old man who can't remember why he's come to see the doctor. A woman with a common cold demanding (but not receiving) antibiotics. A man with a sore knee. A young woman who has been trying to conceive for a while but now finds herself pregnant and isn't sure she wants to go through with it. A 7-year-old boy with 'tummy aches' that don't really exist.These are his patients.Confessions of a GP is a witty insight into the life of a family doctor. Funny and moving in equal measure it will change the way you look at your GP next time you pop in with the sniffles.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - by Stieg Larsson

A great read. Like the previous two volumes, it is a big book, but I felt undaunted and kept turning the pages. Towards the end, I had that kind of double-think, where I wanted to know what the conclusion would be, but simultaneously didn't want the [pleasure of reading the] book to end.

I was glad that the book did have a tidy enough ending, even though it kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through the Epilogue. At the same time, I think the author left the door open for further books based on the main characters. Sadly, there will be no more unless someone else takes up the challenge. His style was quite individual and I would have doubts about another author emulating it.

What I'm reading

Time for some fiction and a contrast from the last book, so I have started The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson. I enjoyed the first and second books of this trilogy, so I have enjoyed the anticipation of reading this one. I saw a paper copy earlier today and was taken aback at how big it is. I would be daunted by a book that size and would not want to carry it around airports. The Kindle is my friend. Here is the blurb:

Salander is plotting her revenge - against the man who tried to kill her, and against the government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life. But it is not going to be a straightforward campaign. After taking a bullet to the head, Salander is under close supervision in Intensive Care, and is set to face trial for three murders and one attempted murder on her eventual release. In the third volume in the explosive trilogy that has sold more than 26 million copies worldwide, Lisbeth Salander confronts political corruption from her hospital bed while a killer lurks next door.

Call The Midwife - by Jennifer Worth

The recommendations for this book paid off and I enjoyed it very much. It is a very honest account of life in the East End in the 1950s, a time not long before my own childhood.  She paints a very good picture of the all the characters and their environment.

I was particularly interested to notice how various parts of the story were adapted for TV and felt that all the changes made complete sense. I look forward to reading the other (2?) books in the series.