Just finished...

...these books since September 5th:

 

Haar naam was Sarah - Tatiana de Rosnay (English title: Sarah's Key)
Another "just read this, woman!" suggestion from Petunia, and as ever she's right.  I loved this book - right up to the part where the 1940 narrative ends.  The last part I found dragging; probably because I didn't like the main character that much, and I would have much preferred to have seen Sarah's story finish.  Still, I can see why this book is beloved by millions!

The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
I actually reviewed it for the store's site, so read there what I thought of the (eventual) 2011 Man Booker Prize winner.

The Sisters Brothers - Patrick DeWitt
And again, click here.

Ramayan 3392 AD + Ramayan 3392 AD Reloaded: Tome of the Wastlands - Shamik Dasgupta, Abhishek Singh and Jeevan Kang
I accidentally read the first one a few years ago, attracted as I was to the bright cover.  I opened it up to have a quick look and found myself closing it a few hours later, everything read.  The story is timeless (based on the Ramayana, which should be obvious from the title :-)), and the art is gorgeous (if somewhat hurried in places), full of swirls and bright colours and irresistible details.
I immediately ordered Reloaded, but instead got 7 Brothers.  I tried it again, with the same result.  A cock-up by the publisher, who had evidently messed up ISBNs.  And then the publisher went belly-up, and poof! went my dream of reading the next part of the only graphic novel that ever grabbed me.  Until I found it on the store's second-hand supplier's site, and gave it a try, with severe misgivings.  But Reloaded came in!  And I enjoyed it, even if the art was less exuberant.  Sadly, there was a third collection announced, but never published, so this will be my graphic novel Firefly.

Pigeon English - Stephen Kelman
Loved this one; it made me cry.  Again, click here.

Pomegranate Soup - Marsha Mehran
I've not read Chocolat, I've only seen the movie, and this book reminded me of that, only rather less well done.  Very light and fluffy, but the author tries to do too much with it.  It could have been quite wonderful if she hadn't tried to add a harrowing back story for the three Iranian sisters.   Instead, I found parts of it fun, but mostly I found it was trying too hard.

Snowdrops - A. D. Miller
Click here (last time, for this post!).

Train Man 1, 2 and 3 (Densha Otoko) - Hidenori Hara
Lent to me by EB, at our BBB meeting (which was on Solanin).  Based on a true story, this is about a nerd who rescues a beautiful girl from a harassing man on the subway, and is sent tea cups as a thank you.  He then, as nerds do, goes onto the internet message board he frequents and asks what he should do, and everyone on the thread encourages him to call her up to say thank you for the gift and to ask her out.  It's a really sweet story of someone finding it within himself (with a lot of encouragement!) to get out of his comfort zone and look for love.  The people on the thread feature heavily in the story, and make for quite a bit of comic relief.  I really liked it.

Snuff - Terry Pratchett
The ARC of this book was thrust into my hands by The Letter I, and I read it during a rather busy week at work (when I should have been reading the last two books of the Booker shortlist, but my head was too full to concentrate).  It's a Sam Vimes story, for those of you that know the Discworld a bit, and though I was never a big fan, I really liked him in this.  And I liked Young Sam an awful lot, too.   Full of the usual mad shenanigans people have come to expect of a Pratchett book, and I found it better than his last, Unseen Academicals. 

First Comes Marriage - Mary Balogh
I'm on a two-week break right now, so I brought along some escapist reading.  This is the first in the Huxtable series, and I thought it was quite good.  A standard regency-era romance, with, as they say, flawed characters.  Don't know if I'll read the rest, but Balogh sells well in my section, and I thought I'd check out why.  If you like Stephanie Laurens and Julia Quinn, you'll probably like Balogh, too.  Sorry I'm not very elaborate at the moment, my head feels like it's full of cotton. 

Sorcerers & Secretaries 1 and 2 - Amy Kim Ganter
Another manga lent to me by EB, this one also really sweet (and no more than 2 volumes).  About a girl whose head is in a fantasy world more than it is on earth, and a boy who tries to be a player but who can't get the girl (his former neighbour) out of his head.  I liked the drawing style quite a lot, and, like I said, a sweet story.