What to read next?

Having just finished The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K Lee, ( review to follow) I am struggling with what to read next.
My TBR pile grows larger on a daily basis but I can still look at all of the books and think I have nothing to read!
Choosing my next book is a very important decision to make. As my blog header says " So Many Books, So Little Time" and because of this, I don't want to waste time on starting anything that I won't finish.

How do you choose your next book? Do you have a system or do you pick one randomly?
I would love to hear your selection processes and also how much of a chance do you give a book? I find that if the story doesn't grab me within the first chapter then it is cast aside in the search for something better.

I used to feel some guilt about this as I am known as being someone who has a habit of starting things and not finishing them. However, in my blogging experience, I have come to realise that I am not alone.
Steph Su Reads is one such like minded soul. Check out her blog as it makes interesting reading.

OK so I have just taken a brief break from writing this and  have finally chosen my next book " The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". I am probably one of the only people on the planet not to have read this. I usually avoid books where there has been so much hype surrounding them but for some reason I have been drawn to this on my bookshelf. I will let you know how I get on.


Hope you all have a relaxing weekend with plenty of time to read.

Review- Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Sorry I haven't posted for a while but have had  "life" stuff going on which has been taking up most of my spare time. It has also impacted on my reading time and so it feels like I have been trying forever to finish Ken Follett's latest offering.

"Fall of Giants" is the first in Follett's Century Trilogy and at over 800 pages long, isn't for the faint hearted but in my opinion is well worth the effort. I am a huge fan of Ken Follett as he has written two of my favourite novels- The Pillars of The Earth and World Without End and was excited to read his latest saga.

The story takes place before, during and after the First World War and follows the lives of a group of multi-national characters who are all connected in some way. It looks at the conflict from their differing perspectives and the difficult choices they have to make.

 The story is well researched and moves along at a good pace. The characters are interesting, diverse and believable and I found myself caring about what happened to them. 

As always, Follett's pace of writing suits my reading style.In Follett's own words

"My aim in constructing sentences is to make the sentence utterly easy to understand, writing what I call transparent prose. I've failed dreadfully if you have to read a sentence twice to figure out what I meant."

I found this to be true for the majority of the book and if I have one criticism it is that there was perhaps too much focus on the battles and behind the scenes politics and not enough on the lives of those who were left behind.

Having said that, it is only a minor fault and didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. I wouldn't say that I was as captivated by the story as in "Pillars" or "World Without End" but still rank it as an excellent book and would give it 8 out of 10. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy when it is completed.

Review of The Behaviour of Moths-Poppy Adams

Well as promised, here is my review of The Behaviour of Moths. It is the debut novel of Poppy Adams, a documentary film maker for the BBC and Channel 4.
The book made the Costa First Novel Shortlist in 2008 but was beaten by Sadie Jones very successful debut The Outcast.

The narrative is written from the perspective of Virginia Stone (Ginny), an elderly woman living in her ancestral home, Bulbarrow Court in Dorset.
At the beginning of the story, she is waiting for the arrival of her younger sister, Vivian (Vivi), who is returning home after a 47 year absence.

Virginia is both unsettled and excited by Vivian's imminent arrival and it is obvious the sisters once shared a close bond.  However, something happened to change that and as Virginia begins to look back over her life to understand what this was, family secrets are revealed and hidden tensions surface.

I read The Behaviour of Moths on recommendation from a fellow bookworm. From his description, it had many of the elements of stories that I enjoy- a crumbling Gothic house, family secrets and a storyline that moves between the past and the present.

There were many things about this book that I liked. The narrative was easy to read and the descriptions of the house and the Dorset countryside were just detailed enough to bring them to life without losing my interest.
I found some of the references to moths and lepidoptery informative but the story wouldn't have suffered if some of these had been omitted.

I didn't fnd either Ginny's or Vivi's characters particularly likeable, and this perhaps contributed more than anything else to my overall lack of passon about this book.

For me, the ending didn't successfully tie together all the loose ends and so I was left with too many unanswered questions.

Overall I would give The Behaviour of Moths 5 out of 10. I didn't really dislike this book but I wasn't enthralled with it either.

A Brief Introduction

Welcome to "Chick's Lit" Reading Blog.  As you can see, this is my first post and I confess I am just a tiny bit  nervous.  I hope that you will find something of interest to you over the coming months (and hopefully years!) and that you will visit again.

I thought I would begin my foray into blogging by giving a brief outline of what I envisage my blog will be about.
 Reviews will play a major part in my posts and will feature books from many genres.However, I also intend to blog about other aspects of reading and the literary world such as authors, book prizes and characters from books.
I am open to any suggestions you may have about features you would like to see/ not see and any books that you would particularly like me to review.

Currently, I am reading The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams and will be reviewing this shortly.

I look forward to being a part of the blogosphere and welcome your comments.