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Fantastic Mr Fox - Roald Dahl

Fantastic Mr Fox is the tale of Mr Fox who is, like foxes are, terribly clever. Mr Fox steals chickens, ducks and turkeys from three nasty farmers every night to feed his family. Farmer Boggis, farmer Bunce and farmer Bean are fed up with Mr Fox stealing their precious animals and decide to kill him. They try everything to get rid of him, they wait outside his den with guns and even use bulldozers to dig him out of his den. Mr Fox however is too cunning and manages to avoid death. The farmers surround the hill he lives in with armed men and he and his family begin to starve. However, as always, Mr Fox has a plan.

This book is, in my opinion, wonderful. It's simple, funny and the farmers are the perfect villains. It may be for children but it's fun to read even as you get older. Roald Dahl has a gift for story telling and manages to make interesting characters and an exciting story. The rhyme about the farmers ("Boggis, Bunce and Bean. One fat, one short, one lean") manages to stay in your head for several hours and sometimes even days. To sum up, the is the perfect childrens book.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday, is, surprisingly, about just what it says in the title. The improbable story is revealed in a lively mixture of letters, diary entries, emails and interviews.

A fabulously rich Yemeni sheikh, who is a passionate fisherman, believes he can promote international understanding by introducing his countrymen to the sport of angling. A British government research scientist is persuaded to take the idea forward, in unlikely alliance with spin-doctors and property agents. Torday uses enough credible information about the workings of diplomacy, the civil service, and fisheries research to plot what follows, but he does it with a light touch, all in the interests of the unfolding drama.

The book mixes farce and bitter satire in a refreshing way, and as all the main characters’ lives are affected by the project, it also includes satisfying elements of thriller, romance and travelogue with a poignant spiritual dimension.

Divided City by Theresa Breslin

This book tells the story of two teenage boys - one Catholic, one Protestant - who become friends when they play on the same football team, even though they support opposing teams themselves. The author has given a good insight into how sectarianism and its accompanying bias is often passed down through generations - unfortunately it remains a significant problem in Glasgow.

My major problem with this book was the language attributed to the two teenage boys. The author couldn't seem to decide whether they should use phonetic slang or proper English, and the resulting mixture of both did not help the credibility of the characters. One had a parent with a PhD and the other had a lawyer and a dentist for parents - I wasn't convinced that either child would speak in Scottish slang, or that they would use words like lavatory.

The thread about Kyoul, the asylum seeker that both boys try to help, could have been developed more I think. He was little more than a plot device. And while the overall sentiment of the book is admirable (one city, many cultures or whatever), it does seem a bit trite at the end. My own feeling is that the characters just didn't ring true, though many other parts of the book did.

It's an important first however, and I hope that the topic continues to be explored - but it needs to be in a way that is credible to teenagers.

The Book With No Name by Anonymous

Sometimes you read a book that would make a fantastic film, and in this case I wondered whether The Book With No Name had actually been written with a film adaptation in mind all along.

The setting is Santa Mondega, a small town where all strangers are viewed with extreme suspicion, and life revolves around a couple of rough lowlife bars - mainly the Tapioca, which is run by the cowardly Sanchez. Totally reminded me of the bar in From Dusk Till Dawn, or the one in El Mariachi. Five years ago, the Tapioca was the scene of a brutal mass murder, reputed to have been carried out by the mysterious Bourbon Kid, and of which Sanchez was the only survivor (thanks to his habit of cowering behind the bar whenever trouble crops up).

Now, all the signs indicate that the Bourbon Kid may be back in town. Strangers are arriving and asking questions, and there's going to be an eclipse soon. And everyone seems to be VERY interested in a blue stone called the Eye of the Moon. There are Peto and Kyle, the Habal monks who have been sent on a quest to retrieve the stone, and then there's paranormal detective Jensen, who's been assigned to Santa Mondega to investigate some particularly gruesome murders, that may or may not be linked to the Bourbon Kid.

The book abounds with bounty hunters, murderers, thieves, and a beautiful woman or two, and is written in a deadpan way that reminded me of Lemony Snicket (if anyone has a theory on the author, please share!). And finally, of course, there is the Book With No Name. Anyone who reads the book (and they've all checked it out of the Santa Mondega public library from a particularly nasty librarian called Ulrika) is found dead soon after.

This is a real page-turner, with plenty of colourful characters to keep you entertained, and plenty of questions to be answered. On the day of the Lunar Eclipse, everyone in town is in fancy dress, which leads to some very amusing scenes, and it is this mixture of humour and violence and a good mystery plot that kept me reading. Oh, and so far I haven't died yet.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

David is a young boy, who after losing his mother, has to cope with his father re-marrying, a new brother and a move to a strange house in the countryside. War has broken out in Europe and eventually David becomes withdrawn from his family and real life. He finds himself retreating into the books his mother used to read to him, filled with fairy stories and tales of myth and legend. Suddenly the mysterious ‘Crooked Man’ appears and David becomes sucked into a strange and unfamiliar land filled with many unusual characters.

If you can get past the somewhat gory descriptions in the book, this is a great read, evocative of real old fashioned story-telling. Familiar tales from childhood take a spin on the original. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves are nothing like you remember from childhood! It reminded me so much of the irrational fears we experience as children. I loved the way the writer completely sucked me into the thoughts, feelings and fears of our hero David, as the young boy copes with grief and new beginnings, and learns to find himself in a world that is changing. There is a great twist near the end of the book, which I won’t divulge but it gives it a more sensitive and humanistic edge. A very entertaining read.