JK Rowling: Casual Vacancy

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils... Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

After all the reviews and critiques I was keen to see for myself, what everyone was talking about. At times the story is hard to take, especially where Krystal and her family are concerned. But Somehow the book was written in such a way that I was keen to find out more about each of the 34 characters in the book. Very different from Harry Potter, but still a great read in my view.

Todd Burpo: Heaven is for real - A little boy's astounding story of his trip to heaven and back

A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven. 'Heaven Is for Real' is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear. Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how 'reaaally big' God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit 'shoots down power' from heaven to help us. Told by the father, but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready, there is a coming last battle.

Fascinating, sad and gripping and life-confirming, positive. Although it's difficult to believe, the book does provide a new view of heaven and makes you rethink your belief.

Sarah Tucker: Battle for Big School

There are 50 places at The Oaks, the best grammar school in Letchbury, and 1,000 children applying. Competition is fierce and parents are prepared to do everything and anything to get their child one of the coveted spaces.

An easy read, but a little disappointing. It wasn't as gripping and funny as it could have been.

Sarah Herbert Robbins: The Everything Parent's Guide to Raising a Gifted Child

Sarah Herbert Robbins, Med is a curriculum development specialist with advanced degrees in designing programs for gifted children. She currently provides training workshops as well as counseling services for parents of gifted children and teaching professionals. She is a former elementary school teacher with direct experience teaching gifted students in both traditional and self-contained classroom environments as well as gifted programs in public school settings. Sarah currently offers advice, posts news pieces, and shares her methods for parenting gifted children on her website, www.parentinggiftedkids.com.

This book is an absolute eye-opener. Our child has been diagnosed with a high IQ, but we were not aware of how this would affect social and emotional needs and development. This guidebook provides great insight and links to further research and reading, but also some practical ideas to try out at home. This book has certainly helped us understand our child better.

Linda Sonna: Everything Tween Book

A guidebook for dealing with Tweens. The tween years fall between the ages of eight and twelve and can often be a challenging time for both parents and children. This books helps to navigate the trying years between childhood and adolescence and covers serious issues as eating disorders and school violence as well as tolerance for pink and blue hair. The book helps understand the child's psychological, social and emotional needs.

Interesting. Some very fascinating insights into the psyche of young children and pre-teens.

Sarah Tucker: The playground mafia

Meet Caroline Gray: divorcee and newly-single mother. Firmly closing the door on her acrimonious divorce, Caroline and son Ben have moved to trendy Frencham where they join Caroline's long-time best friends, Heather and Eva. Settling into their new life is easy, but nothing has prepared Caroline for the demands of motherhood at The Sycamore, the school the trio's beloved offspring attend. Forget classroom bullies, forget trips to the head's office, this is full-scale adult playground politics. This is battle with the mothers who won't take no for an answer -- the Playground Mafia.

Easy chick-lit. This was quite funny in the middle, whilst the first few pages and the ending weren't that brilliant. The story about bullying amongst mothers on the school playground could have been explored a lot more, in greater detail and in more funny ways. But still quite relaxing...

Patricia Cornwell: Unnatural exposure - 8

Dublin, Ireland and Richmond, Virginia: separated by thousands of miles - linked by murder. For Dr Kay Scarpetta a lecture stint in Ireland provides the perfect opportunity to find out if the murders on both sides of the Atlantic are indeed connected. Five dismembered, beheaded bodies were found in Ireland five years ago - now four have been discovered in the States. But the tenth corpse in Virginia is different. There are vital discrepancies, and an indication that the elderly victim was already seriously ill. A copy-cat killing. Ghoulish, perhaps, but not unusual. And then abject terror grips Scarpetta and her colleagues when the next body is found. The circumstances of death broadcast a clear and horrifying message: the killer is armed with the most lethal weapon on earth - smallpox.

This Scarpetta novel was again a treat. The final twist in the "whodunnit" was not predictable at all and kept me intrigued.

Patricia Cornwell: Cause of death - 7

New Year's Eve and the final murder scene of Virginia's bloodiest year takes Scarpetta thirty feet below the Elizabeth River's icy surface. A diver, Ted Eddings, is dead, an investigative reporter who was a favourite at the Medical Examiner's office. Was Eddings probing the frigid depths of the Inactive Shipyard for a story, or simply diving for sunken trinkets? And why did Scarpetta receive a phone call from someone reporting the death before the police were notified?

Great and quick read.

Patricia Cornwell: From Potter's Field - 6

Christmas is not a particularly good time for Dr Kay Scarpetta. A naked, female body is found propped against a fountain in a bleak area of New York's Central Park. Her apparent manner of death points to a modus operandi that is chillingly familiar: the gunshot wound to the head, the sections of skin excised from the body, the displayed corpse - all suggest that Temple Brooks Gault, Scarpetta's nemesis, is back at work.

This was the most predictable of the series so far. It was very gripping, but I really have preferred the previous novels, where in addition to the forensics there were some unexpected twists, too.

Patricia Cornwell: The Body Farm - 5

Black Mountain, North Carolina: a sleepy little town where the local police deal with one homicide a year and so the discovery of the corpse of an 11-year-old girl sends shock waves through the community. Dr Kay Scarpetta is called in to apply her forensic skills to this latest atrocity, but the apparent simplicity of the case proves something of a poisoned chalice...

I had enjoyed the previous Scarpetta novels, but this one certainly was the best so far. Although some of the forensic details became a little confusing at times, the unexpected twists and turns made this novel a great read.

Patricia Cornwell: Cruel and unusual - 4

The fingerprints say the murderer is the man who's just been executed. At 11.05 one December evening in Richmond, Virginia, convicted murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell is pronounced dead in the electric chair. At the morgue Dr Kay Scarpetta waits for Waddell's body. Preparing to perform a post-mortem before the subject is dead is a strange feeling, but Scarpetta has been here before. And Waddell's death is not the only newsworthy event on this freezing night: the grotesquely wounded body of a young boy is found propped against a rubbish skip. To Scarpetta the two cases seem unrelated, until she recalls that the body of Waddell's victim had been arranged in a strikingly similar position.

Gripping and fascinating, although a little far-fetched at times.

Patricia Cornwell: All that remains - 3

A killer is stalking young lovers. Taking their lives and leaving just one tantalising clue. But when the latest girl goes missing turns out to be the daughter of one of the most powerful women in America, Kay Scarpetta finds herself prey to political pressure and press harassment. As she starts to investigate, she finds that vital evidence is being withheld from her - or even faked. And all the time a cunning, sadistic killer is still at large...

Having read two previous Scarpetta novels, I become more interested in Scarpetta's personal life in addition to the forensic aspects.

Patricia Cornwell: Body of Evidence - 2

A reclusive writer is dead. And her final manuscript has disappeared. Thus begins for Dr Kay Scarpetta the investigation of a crime that is as convoluted as it is bizarre. As Scarpetta retraces the writer's footsteps, an investigation that begins in the laboratory with microscopes and lasers leads her deep into a nightmare that soon becomes her own.

Fascinating, quick, thrilling, gripping.

Patricia Cornwell: Postmortem - 1

A serial killer is on the loose in Richmond, Virginia. Three women have died, brutalised and strangled in their own bedroom. There is no pattern: the killer appears to strike at random - but always early on Saturday mornings. So when Dr Kay Scarpetta, she knows there is a fourth victim. And she fears now for those that will follow unless she can dig up new forensic evidence to aid the police.

A quick holiday read. It was great to get into a series of books as to not run out of reading materials. But I sometimes struggled with the outdated approach to investigations. DNA tests, for example, are new...

Thomas Raab: Der Metzger geht fremd

So ein Toter am Grund des Kurschwimmbeckens kann einem schon ziemlich die Laune verderben. Der Danjela Djurkovic jedenfalls. Ihrem Hilferuf folgt Willibald Adrian Metzger aus seiner Restauratorenwerkstatt ein bisschen widerwillig in die Provinz – und findet unerwarteten Familienanschluss sowie bald auch einen abgetrennten Ringfinger.

Wie immer, der Metzger ist ein untypischer Held mit Ängsten und Sorgen und schlittert mehr oder weniger nur wegen der Djurkovic in eine atemberaubende Familientragödie mit erschreckendem Ausgang. Unterhaltsam und nicht immer vorhersehbar, wenn auch die Haifischszenen ein wenig skurril sind.

Tony Hawks: Round Ireland With A Fridge

'I hereby bet Tony Hawks the sum of One Hundred Pounds that he cannot hitchhike round the circumference of Ireland, with a fridge, within one calendar month'. A foolhardy attempt to win a drunken bet led to Tony Hawks having one of the most unforgettable experiences of his life. Joined by his trusty travelling-companion-cum-domestic-appliance, he found himself in the midst of a remarkable, inspirational and, at times, downright silly adventure.An absurd story of an extraordinary adventure, Round Ireland with a Fridge follows the fearless pair as they battle towards Dublin and a breathtaking finale that is moving, uplifting, and a fitting conclusion to the whole ridiculous affair.

Surreal, but a great read and incredibly encouraging and inspiring.

Christine Craggs-Hinton: The Fibromyalgia Healing Diet

This new edition of "The Fibromyalgia Healing Diet" looks at the latest research on how to redress nutritional imbalances, including information about osteoporosis, the importance of vitamin D, and the correct balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat for people with fibromyalgia. Topics include: what it means to have fibromyalgia; why diet is important in treating fibromyalgia; essential nutrients; substances to avoid; supplements that may help; a simple detox programme; losing any excess fat - and the toxins that may go with it; and, delicious recipes.

For reference and to learn about fibro...

Shelley Ann Smith: The Fibromyalgia Cookbook

The rules are few and basic: no meat, no green peppers, no eggplant. But these simple rules - eating pure foods with no additives, the least toxins, and the most nutrition - can give fibromyalgia patients energy and motivation they never thought possible. This title includes: more than 135 delicious recipes; foreword explaining the nature of the disease and the role of diet in finding relief; glossary clarifying the strengths and dangers of specific foods; and, substitution suggestions.

Another fibro book to learn about what's good and what isn't and at the same time some good recipes to try out...

Victor N. Davich: 8 Minute Meditation: Quiet Your Mind. Change Your Life.

This book is simple, easy and geared to fit your busy lifestyle. In just 8 minutes a day, you can develop a strong meditation practice that can last you a lifetime.

An interesting and inspiring book, but the lifestyle change is still to be seen, as I am still struggling to meditate...

Chris Jenner: Fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome

Written by one of the UK s leading consultants on pain control, this authoritative, yet easily comprehensible book, delivers a high level of understanding and practical advice to the lay reader. Highly recommended. Manage your Fibromyalgia by becoming an expert patient.

Certainly keeps its blurb promises. A good handbook to be read and re-read and re-read again.