Before I Go to Sleep - S J Watson

Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love - all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may only be telling you half the story. Welcome to Christine's life.

Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender

On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents' attention, bites into her mother's homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother's emotions in the slice. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother - her cheerful, can-do mother - tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes perilous. Anything can be revealed at any meal. Rose's gift forces her to confront the secret knowledge all families keep hidden - truths about her mother's life outside the home, her father's strange detachment and her brother's clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up, she realises there are some secrets that even her taste buds cannot discern. "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" is a luminous tale about the heartbreak of loving those whom you know too much about. It is profound and funny, wise and sad, and Aimee Bender's dazzling prose illuminates the strangeness of everyday life.

******SPOLIER ALERT***********

Tales of the Madman Underground - John Barnes

Before I Start the review - an Apology. I have left it a while between reading the book and the review, so this is going to be short and sweet, and unfortunately my memory of the story is not as great as i would have liked.

This is a coming of age story, about a teenager struggling to fit into his own skin and grow up. A little bit of a strange kid, with a troubled background. His dad died when he was younger and his mum is an alcoholic. This is a bit of an emotional mixed bag of a story.  Barnes writes with a very witty point of view, mixed in with a sadness and pity for the kid, and with the kid having great grit and determination.

No Turning Back - Susan Lewis

Eva Montgomery is at the peak of her career when she is viciously attacked by a stalker. While still traumatised by the event she makes the biggest mistake of her life - one she can never turn back from. Sixteen years later, Eva has managed to rebuild her life in a way that seemed impossible after the attack. Her home in Dorset, high on the cliffs overlooking the sea, is as elegant as Eva herself, but bears none of the scars. The love she shares with her husband, Don, has become the very mainstay of her existence. Her beloved sister, Patty, lives nearby. To an outsider, Eva's world seems perfect in every way. However, behind the facade there is more tragedy and deceit than even she is aware of. It is when the past starts to invade the present that the greatest betrayal of all shatters Eva's world, over and over. Hurt, frightened and confused, she struggles desperately to put right the terrible mistake she made sixteen years ago and finally break free from a past that nearly destroyed her ...

SPOILER ALERT*************

Does Anything Eat Wasps - New Scientist

How long can I live on beer alone? Why do people have eyebrows? Has nature invented any wheels? Plus 99 other questions answered. Every year, readers send in thousands of questions to "New Scientist", the world's best-selling science weekly, in the hope that the answers to them will be given in the 'Last Word' column - regularly voted the most popular section of the magazine. "Does Anything Eat Wasps?" is a collection of the best that have appeared, including: why can't we eat green potatoes; why do airliners suddenly plummet; does a compass work in space; why do all the local dogs howl at emergency sirens; how can a tree grow out of a chimney stack; why do bruises go through a range of colours; and, why is the sea blue inside caves. Many seemingly simple questions are actually very complex to answer. And some that seem difficult have a very simple explanation. "New Scientist"'s 'Last Word' celebrates all questions - the trivial, the idiosyncratic, the baffling and the strange. This selection of the best is popular science at its most entertaining and enlightening.