Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris

Shakespeare's Landlord...what can I say about Shakespeare's Landlord except that it is amazing, AMAZING! This book uses the backdrop of the little town of Shakespeare combined with our fearless heroine, Lily Bard (A Bard in Shakespeare...hm...) to create a wonderful story I won't soon forget (I'm going to read the rest of the series in the coming weeks, maybe).

The landlord of the Shakespeare Garden Apartments is not particularly nice, I mean, you only hear about him through the eyes of the other citizens of Shakespeare but from what I could infer, he wasn't loved by his tenants and he was kind of an ass. I say was, you can probably infer what happened, it is a mystery novel, and what's a small town and close knit community without a little mystery, scandal and intrigue.

This novel also delves into the dark and painful past of Lily Bard, she moved to Shakespeare from Memphis, the reasons for which become painfully apparent, and she thinks she's safe from her past. She didn't change her name when she moved, despite her horrific past and only a few people know what happened to her. When someone seems intent of threatening her, chasing her out of Shakespeare, she thinks it's the person who murdered the Landlord...but is it?

This book is gripping from beginning to end and no matter what Lily does between classes at the local gym she's always getting into some sort of scrape, but she manages alright.

As for the murderer and whoever was threatening her, that I'm not going to tell you, you're going to have to read on to find out. This book has all the elements of a great murder mystery, love, intrigue, murder, prowlers intent on scaring off the protagonist, but it also has Lily Bard, a fierce gal who can beat anything that comes at her.

I would definitely recommend that everyone reads this book, especially those who are fans of murder mysteries...

That concludes my review today, as always, I'm open to suggestions on what to read next so comment, or message me on Twitter (or Tumblr).

Until next time, (which I hope will be sooner, rather than later), keep reading, writing, whatever it is you do and remember that, no matter how hectic your life gets, alwyas try to find time to do something that you love. :D

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

This is a book about a book club. That much is obvious, it's in the title. But this is a very special book club. For throughout the book, as they explore the works of Jane Austen you begin to see that each person in the book club is similar to a Jane Austen Hero or Heroine. The book club starts out as  5 women and 1 man, one for each Austen novel and each month they get together at someone's house to discuss the current book. In many ways this book emulates an Austen novel (and I'm not just saying that because of the title). Will each one find their way and find what they had lost? You'll have to read to find out.

This book...what can I say...I think it's one of my favourites. Especially if you are an Austen fan this is a must read, I was first introduced to it actually by way of the movie, I caught some of it when it was last on TV and I was going through my books to find something for my book club to read and I thought of it. Last time my book club tried to read an Austen novel we all tried to read Persuasion and none of us got very far, you know, life gets in the way of reading and Persuasion isn't an easy read if you're not used to reading classical novels (We've decided to try again and read Watership Down but that's not important). However, The Jane Austen Book Club is a very good segue into reading the actual novels because, through the book club meeting you meet the heroes and heroines of the Austen world and it actually inspired me to break out my Jane Austen box set and read them all.

Especially if you're a fan of Austen, and even if you're not, or have only seen the movies I would heartily recommend this book, it's a wonderful read and, believe it or not, it's given me other titles to try that aren't Austen. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone in a heartbeat, who knows? It might inspire you to get a group of friends together and start a book club.

Also, I'm not sure if anyone's read it or heard of it or whatever but Val McDermid recently wrote a modern retelling of Nothanger Abbey and I'm definitely adding it my summer reading list, while we're on the topic of Austen.

The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Hey everyone! (I told you I'd post another review tonight, way the by, if you're following me on Twitter and I post a review and you're not around/awake the tweet with the link should be top on my profile (or near the top at least))

Yes I know, I have very strange posting habits, but enough about me, what about the book is what you're probably all thinking. Yes! On with the book!

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency was written by the brilliant and widely prolific Scottish Author Alexander McCall Smith. The setting: Botswana, our detective: Precious Ramotswe.

Throughout the book she take on a variety of cases big and small and has a great many adventures along the way. Between bad men and snakes (like, literal snakes, that slither on the ground and hiss, not the slang for a skeevy guy), from affairs to missing children Mma. Ramotswe is on the case! But is she up for the number of cases ahead of her? You'll have to read the book and find out.

This book is a masterfully written book. Within a chapter or 2 you are thrown into Botswana head first and boy is it ever exciting. If there was ever an author of detective fiction that you have to read, especially if you like mystery novels, it's Alexander McCall Smith. (He has 3 series', this one, set in Botswana, one set in Scotland and the Isobel Dalhousie Mysteries.)

I actually suggested that my book club read this book (or 44 Scotland Street, the first in the Scotland Street series but we haven't actually settled on a book to read first, we tried to read Persuasion last year and we all gave up, we had other things to do and it was just too hard to get into.) This year, I suggested that the book club start up again and that we read something that none of us had read, so I suggested something from my list, I'm still waiting for a verdict.

I would heartily recommend this book, especially to those who are in to detective fiction. (Speaking of Detective Fiction, The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith comes out this month, on a sidenote THE TFIOS MOVIE COMES OUT TODAY!!!!!)

That's all for me right now folks, until next time keep reading!

Dave Cooks the Turkey by Stuart McLean

This is a timeless Christmas tale as told by Stuart McLean of the Vinyl Café. Dave is enlisted by Morely to help with Christmas by preparing the turkey and chaos ensues. From hotels to gravy dripping from the lights it's hilariously funny and definitely worth the read.

For me Christmas isn't complete without hearing the story of Dave and the turkey and it's one of my favourite Vinyl Café stories, second only to, maybe Dave and the duck. From the busy months prior to Christmas to the weeks leading up to the big day to the chaos of the day itself this story is full of mirth and hijinks and will keep you laughing all through. Whether you listen to it on the radio show or read the book version this tale is sure to become a Christmas favourite and you're going to want to listen to it and read it time and time again (even when it's not Christmas). Stuart McLean has a real gift for story telling and while that comes through in all of his tales in this one it really shines. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a Christmas story, or any story really.

Hey guys, I know it's a short review today but what can you say about a short story without giving everything away? I would have posted this sooner but my computer was down for a couple of days, it gave me chance to catch up on my reading (sort of-ish-not really) and another review with be forthcoming tonight to make up for my lack of posting.

I did find out that I need to stay away from bookstores because no matter how big my stack of books to read is, if I go to Chapter's it's just going to get bigger (you'll notice that the list of things to read is actually growing not shrinking (well, not noticeably shrinking)

Despite my ever growing reading list I am always looking for things to read and review so comment, comment, comment! You can also suggest books to me via twitter (my info is at the top of my blog as well as the hastags you can tag suggestions with). Speaking of Twitter, I've decided to start using my Twitter in conjunction with my blog, I'm going to post there every time I review a new book from here on out so keep that in mind.

Oh, by the by, if you do suggest something for me to read keep track of my blog to see when I post it, by all means but again, I'll be posting on Twitter so if you're on Twitter and you miss my blog update, follow me on Twitter and you'll get the Twitter update.

I think that's all for now! Thanks readers!

The Vinyl Café Diaries by Stuart McLean

Hi everyone, I'm back again (I know, I read fast, one of the perks of reading a couple books at once).

This book, one in a series of many written about The Vinyl Café is absolutely hilarious. The book itself is split into 4 sections, Dave, Morely, Stephanie and Sam and each section starts with a letter about each character. It's a riveting romp through University life, school field trips, Christmas, book clubs and much more. It's truly a stellar read and I think that everyone, regardless of whether or not you enjoy The Vinyl Café, would get a kick out of it.

At the end of the book, in the afterword written by Stuart McLean you get to know exactly how the radio show came into being and the things that inspired the stories and characters. If you read the book you have to read the afterword, it's very enlightening and a little bit of a riot. This book is something I might tell stories out of because they never get old and I'll keep coming back to it again and again simply because the stories, not just in this book but in all of them, are timeless, no matter how many times you read them they never stop being funny.

Stuart McLean is one of my favourite story tellers of all time, I look forward to The Vinyl Café every week and if, by some unhappy coincidence, we end up listening to, or watching something else I feel a tad put out (But I get the Podcasts through iTunes so it's all good, I have to catch up on those actually).

I know, this review was a bit short but it's late (or early, depending on how you look at it) and I really should get some sleep. One of my friends has asked me to go the bookstore with her tomorrow and I kind of really want to be awake for that (I like bookstores, but they're bad for your bank account, especially if you're a voracious reader like myself). As always feel free to suggest books in the comments or via twitter or, if you have me on Facebook, via Facebook, I also have a Tumblr you can message (My Tumblr and my Twitter is in my blog description).

As always keep reading and writing and I hope to post again soon! (Of course I have to finish another book first).