Captive.

I've been neglecting you as I've come into the power of Ipad, which does not yet contain a good app for blogspot damn it! So ive resorted to the old laptop, with its chunky buttons and lack of touch screen. I've come to love this old thing like a step child, its always been here and ive seen it grow old so im fond of it, but ive got a new baby now, and so the inevitable neglect has kicked in.

Anyways, some things i am fond of recently,

the first being John Fowles' 'The Collector'. Pure brilliance.

Briefly, this book was published in the 60's and has a spilt narration of two people. Beginning with our main protagonist Fredrick, who is a withdrawn and in many ways intresting character who collects butterflies. The second protagonist is the beautiful Miranda, with whom he becomes infactuated/obsessed with and proceeds to capture her and lock her in his basement.

 Initially I did think this novel was a little bit tame (in comparison with previous shocking reads as posted) but as this book is so carefully and masterfully written, that the chilling nature of the situation and 'the collector' progresses subtly and actually proceeds to be more affecting than most things I have read. What a classic!

Before reading 'The Collector' I read 'Room' by Emma Donoghue which holds a great comparison to this book. Again a woman is captured, this time held captive in an 11 foot by 11 foot room and is narrated by her five year old son, Jack. I fell in love with this book and the narrative style very easily. I don't want to give anything away so just go read them both, now. :)

'What's your favourite book'?

So, I work in a bookshop, and when people ask me (as they usually do) to recommend a 'good book' the first thing that pops into my seedy little brain is WETLANDS by Charlotte Roche.

Now, don't be fooled by the pretty pink fruity cover...this book is by far one the the grossest books I've ever read (and I do read a lot of twisted fiction) and be warned that you will never want to eat another avocado again in your life.

The novel follows an 18year old girl called Helen Memel who is, ahem.. more than naturally curious about her own bodily fluids. We follow her plight as she undergoes medical treatment for..lets just say and unfortunate intimate shaving accident, and reflects on her sexual promiscuity and unusual hygiene habits in increasingly uncomfortable detail. I don't want to give too much of the story line away so I don't intend to say much about the narrative, however my jaw was grazing the floor from page one until the last sentence, and I seriously couldn't put it down until I did reach the last sentence. Then I set it down and proceeded to re-read the entire books again!

The reason I rate this book so highly is because it's incredibly engaging, not just because of the sheer shock factor of the topics discussed but because the text flows so well you forget your reading and feel

like your almost in the hospital bed with her. This book has sold millions world wide, and has been describes as a 'Marmite' books..i.e love it or hate it. I admire Charlotte Roche as she certainly has massive balls to be able to write about issues that are so taboo in such a blasé, give a shit kinda manner. Furthermore Miss Roche

admitted that this book is semi-autobiographical...which is pretty suprising when you see how fresh faced and innocent she looks.

Over all I'd say this book isn't for the faint hearted. Enough to make Russell brand pink in the cheek region. Grow a pair, give it a go! Let me know what you think.

S x