Books I read in August - part 1

I read quite a few books in August. Here are some short reviews of them. I've also included links to amazon.com and amazon.co.uk for each, just in case I don't actually put you off reading them! See my website for my amazon bookshop proper though its not currently in a very good shape :-( only the knitting section is half-way done.

Laptop of the Gods (uk or us) - on the uk site its available for 1p plus £2.75 postage and packing - save your money! I returned my copy to the charity shop. But I did read it first. I like the general idea; the Greek/Roman Gods today but I found the whole concept of God as an operating system left too much room for Deus ex machina!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (uk or us). I found this very depressing. I won't give a spoiler here but I wish I hadn't read it. I think JK was expecting the Tories to win the 2005 UK elections, otherwise why the hint of vampirism in the new minister for magic.... At least Harry seems to have got over the totally unable-to-communicate-teen-stage he was in throughout the previous book (uk or us).

Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding (uk or us). This was v.g.! The life of a volunteer in Africa has never appealed to me before but after reading this I could understand how Africa gets into people's blood. She wrote this before Bridget Jones's Diaries (uk or us). And whilst I'm on Helen Fiedling I was recently lent Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination [UNABRIDGED] (Audio CD) (us only - you can get it on tape in the uk) which I enjoyed listening to - worth borrowing!