A Country Affair

By Rebecca Shaw

This is the first book in the new Rebecca Shaw-series from the Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital. Unlike her Turnham Malpas novels, I did not find this book to be as predictable.

First we meet Kate as she is about to start her first day in her new job as a receptionist at the local veterinary practice. Kate is 19 and has recently finished her A-levels leaving her with two grade A's and a C in chemistry. It is the C that prevents her from entering college to become a vet, something she has dreamt of for a long time. Working in a veterinary practice is therefore the next best thing for her. It is not long until her new job has given her a boost of confidence and she is able to break out of her two-year relationship with boyfriend Adam. He wants them to get married and does not like the idea of Kate going off to college to study and have a career. It all turns ugly for a while and Kate seeks comfort and protection in the arms of Aussie vet, Scott. He gives her the confidence she needs to try and do something about her C in chemistry, so that she can get the A required to enrol in veterinary college.

It is all a very idyllic story with a few twists and turns but being the first book in the series, the ending still leaves the reader with many unanswered questions. Rebecca Shaw writes in such a way that you cannot help but feel for the characters and wish them well. Based on the first book I think this series might turn out better than her Tales from Turnham Malpas, though it is still very early days yet.

Diary of a Mad Bride

By Laura Wolf

A funny little novel all about the hysteria that comes with planning a wedding. Amy has swore she would never marry but a girl is allowed to change her mind, is she not?!?

Amy has seen her friends plan weddings and get married, but cannot understand what all the fuss is about. That is, until her long time boyfriend, Stephen, all of a sudden proposes her - and in the concession line at a movie theater, of all places. It does not take long until Amy is also wrapped up in pre-marital hysteria. Planning a wedding on a low budget is not going to be an easy ride in the park, not to mention finding the right shoes, which seems nearly impossible...

A very funny novel, which I am sure any bride can relate to. If you are a bride-to-be or maybe thinking of getting married, this book might change your mind. As the title indicates, it is a diary and is therefore also written in the form of a diary, not that it matters because the story is still hilarious! True chicklit at its best.

Animal Husbandry

By Laura Zigman

After having been dumped numerous times by men, Jane Goodall comes up with the New Cow-Old Cow theory: New Cow is short for New-Cow Theory; which is short for Old Cow-New Cow Theory, which, of course, is short for the sad, sorry truth that men leave women and never come back because all they really want is New Cow.

This is basically an all-men-are-bastards book, with plenty of examples of men dumping women and all the excuses they come up. For any woman who has been dumped this must be a very therapeutic book to read. It is very light reading and perfect when on a plane (like I was for half of this book) or in any other surrounding when absolute concentration is not required. Okay reading but nothing more.

The Two Towers

By J.R.R. Tolkien

I am not sure why, but I liked this part of the story better than the first one, maybe because I had some difficulty grasping the plot while reading the first book. There were so many characters and at some point I think I just lost track of them all for a while. However, now that I have seen the first movie, I have more points of reference and so it was not too hard for me to keep track of all the characters this time round. Normally I do not have this problem when reading, but somehow this very complex story (in my mind anyway) made me lose track of everyone…

Like in the first book, so much happens also in the second part that it is almost impossible to write a short summary. Nonetheless, I suppose Frodo and Sam journey towards for Mordor is worth mentioning, as well as Boromir dying while he tries to stop a band of orcs from kidnapping Merry and Pippin, and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, who travel into the land of Rohan to pursue the Orcs. It is on this journey that Aragorn meets an old man, who turns out to be Gandalf whom they all had assumed dead after his fall in Moria.

I think my favourite moment in this book was when Merry and Pippin met Treebeard, an ent who is so enraged by their tale of the evils around that he gathers the other ents to rouse the forest and attack Isengard.

On their journey towards Mordor, Frodo and Sam find Gollum, a creature who once bore the Ring, and who has been following them for some time. Frodo and Sam force him to lead them into Mordor. After a long and gruelling journey they finally arrive at the gates of Mordor. However, Gollum leads them up a seemingly endless staircase and into a secret tunnel where he abandons them and where they are attacked by a spider-like beast. Sam eventually beats the creature away but finds that Frodo is no longer breathing. He takes the Ring to continue on with the quest on his own, while Frodo, who appears to be dead, is carried away by Orcs.

Ohhh… Very exciting ending here, especially since Frodo really is not dead. The poison injected in him by the spider-like beast only makes the victim appear dead, so now it only remains to see if he will be able to escape the Orcs…

Hm… I think I am on the way to becoming a fan here, as I cannot wait to see what the next, and last, chapter of this story has to offer.