Modern Fiction Books > D Modern Fiction Books > Haruki Murakami

Advantages: Absolutely original, enthralling if it's your style.
Disadvantages: Something of an acquired taste.

...Personally, I much prefer Dance, Dance, Dance to a number of his other works, it perfectly exemplifies his ability to create a world that's just a little to the left of the one we know and understand, where everything is much more believable than we might necessarily like it to be. I've reread it a number of times, and the sheer pleasure of his writing style always has me captivated. ... Read review

Advantages: Thrilling, Darkly comic
Disadvantages: Distateful in parts?

...88 again. Events of the past and present begin to intertwine. The reunion and his murder investigation seem incomprehensively connected and things begin to get a little bizarre. This is a crime thriller primarily with a darkly comic feel to it and with a romantic theme being almost completely over-ridden by a darker, seedier edge to it. Elton, an accomplished crime writer, manages to keep the interest with alarming ease. His method of engaging ...
...and unerring ability to keep the suspense coming from beginning to thrilling end. To all those used to poking their old school friends on facebook and showing their 'luv' on bebo, this may be an interesting way to get into a crime book. I suspect it would require at least a passing literary interest however. This book is very difficult to put down once you start reading. I personally would reccommend it to anyone that enjoys thriling stories or ... Read review

Advantages: A good read, chapters are not long
Disadvantages: Some American slang, and cheesy in places

...lives in Massachusetts and is the author of thirteen books, including Between Husbands, Friends, and Custody. Hot Flash Club has been published by Piatkus (www.piatkus.co.uk). The story revolves around 4 females who do not know each other at the start of the story - Alice, the businesswoman who believes that she has to prove herself at work even more now that she is nearer retirement than not; Faye, the recently widowed mother of one, who loves ...
...the alternative therapist, who is a bit hippyish. Each of them had a problem in their lives, which they relayed to each other on meeting for the first time at a party. They decided to stick together, calling themselves 'The Hot Flash Club' - they thought that it would be easier to help to solve each other's problems than to solve their own. This book was well written, although cheesy at times - it is one of those books where everything just works ... Read review

Advantages: Interesting read, keeps you hooked.
Disadvantages: Two previous books aren't quite so entertaining.

...not-so-great sequel to accompany it. Eclipse is not one of those books. Being the third in the series, the story begins with a note from Jacob Black, the boy turned non-traditional werewolf (You won't see any moonlit changes here!) with Bella Swan being the receiver of the note, as well as the character in which the story is seen from. As the main human in the book, you can see her emotions for the vampires (Oh yes, plenty of those too!), werewolves ...
...her. Bella's caring personality and the way in which she views the world is appealing to all audiences and ages. Her life in the small town of Forks is an emotional roller-coaster, with laughs and tears all the way. Stephenie Meyer has done a wonderful job in plunging the reader into this thoroughly believable world of vampire covens and were-wolf packs, filled with danger and surprise at every turn. The story is a block of soft romance, to easily ... Read review

Advantages: relatable characters, fun story
Disadvantages: -

It has been a long time since I have had any time to read a book, which is quite ashame as I used to love a good book especially under the 'chick lit' category. Being nearly summer and with me going away soon, I ventured into my nearest Waterstones to have a look at the latest girly reads for the summer, to see what I have missed. I know the saying goes never judge a book by its cover but can't help but pick up books which are pretty colours with ...
...also scan the blurb to see what appeals, after reading the backs of many books, I finally found two worth having a further look at and of these was Holly's Inbox. So, I was unsure at first about Holly's Inbox, because I noticed the author was Holly Denham, so I then thought it was the writer trying to be funny using an alias to make the book seem like a real person's Inbox. It wasn't tell I read the first few pages of thank yous and notes that it ... Read review