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Aug. 27th, 2010 01:03 pmIt's book catch-up time again
21 Unbroken - A Story of Survival - Bev Callard
Bev Callard is an actress on Coronation Street. Last year she had a complete breakdown and it took nearly 6 months before she was able to return to work. She even had ECT ("shock treatment") as a last resort, her depression was so severe. It wasn't the first time she's struggled with it either. This is her autobiography, written, as many of the celebs do, partly as therapy for themselves and partly because they hope that their struggles and survival will encourage others in the same position. It wasn't overly rivetting, over all, and the writing style seemed clear that she didn't use a ghost writer but it was ok, and interesting enough if you're a fan of the actress or Corrie.
22 Fourth Estate - Jeffrey Archer
This is about two newspaper and media barons in a battle to best the other and become the top baron of all. It traces their lives from schoolboys to the final confrontation. The book starts with both men facing utter financial ruin and it seems that one of them is about to jump off his yacht into the sea. We then go back to their childhoods, one a poor Jewish boy from Eastern Europe who claws a life for himself using the military, the other a privileged rich boy from Australia who reluctantly goes to Oxford and spends a lot of his life gambling. Both men are workaholics leaving very little time for their relationships. They'd rather conquer the next takeover quest than be there for their families. Standard issue stuff but i enjoyed it well enough.
23 Puppet - Joy Fielding
Amanda Travis is a lawyer living in Florida but she is originally from Toronto where she seems to have had a pretty rough childhood at the hands of a mother who was angry and depressed most of the time and a father who had no time for his daughter because he was looking after his wife. Amanda has two failed marraiges under her belt and enjoys a successful career. She finds out that her mother seemingly shot a stranger in a hotel and is now in prison for the murder. Her mother insists on pleading guilty. Amanda reluctantly returns to Toronto to face her adversarial parent and with the help of her first ex-husband Ben who is a lawyer representing her mother, dig in and discover some things about the case that put Amanda's whole childhood into a new perspective. There's a few little twists here, though most of them are fairly predictable but it was a good read and an easy one.
21 Unbroken - A Story of Survival - Bev Callard
Bev Callard is an actress on Coronation Street. Last year she had a complete breakdown and it took nearly 6 months before she was able to return to work. She even had ECT ("shock treatment") as a last resort, her depression was so severe. It wasn't the first time she's struggled with it either. This is her autobiography, written, as many of the celebs do, partly as therapy for themselves and partly because they hope that their struggles and survival will encourage others in the same position. It wasn't overly rivetting, over all, and the writing style seemed clear that she didn't use a ghost writer but it was ok, and interesting enough if you're a fan of the actress or Corrie.
22 Fourth Estate - Jeffrey Archer
This is about two newspaper and media barons in a battle to best the other and become the top baron of all. It traces their lives from schoolboys to the final confrontation. The book starts with both men facing utter financial ruin and it seems that one of them is about to jump off his yacht into the sea. We then go back to their childhoods, one a poor Jewish boy from Eastern Europe who claws a life for himself using the military, the other a privileged rich boy from Australia who reluctantly goes to Oxford and spends a lot of his life gambling. Both men are workaholics leaving very little time for their relationships. They'd rather conquer the next takeover quest than be there for their families. Standard issue stuff but i enjoyed it well enough.
23 Puppet - Joy Fielding
Amanda Travis is a lawyer living in Florida but she is originally from Toronto where she seems to have had a pretty rough childhood at the hands of a mother who was angry and depressed most of the time and a father who had no time for his daughter because he was looking after his wife. Amanda has two failed marraiges under her belt and enjoys a successful career. She finds out that her mother seemingly shot a stranger in a hotel and is now in prison for the murder. Her mother insists on pleading guilty. Amanda reluctantly returns to Toronto to face her adversarial parent and with the help of her first ex-husband Ben who is a lawyer representing her mother, dig in and discover some things about the case that put Amanda's whole childhood into a new perspective. There's a few little twists here, though most of them are fairly predictable but it was a good read and an easy one.
