Irish Ceili (Reels & Jigs) - Various Artists

Advantages: Ecclectic collection, well balanced and very imaginative.
Disadvantages: Some of the characters would warrant much longer stories.

...On a whim I saw the film Chocolat and was aware at the time that it was based on a book by Joanne Harris. I'd never really been tempted by Harris' books because for some reason I was under the impression that they were a bit mumsy. Having seen the film and been struck by the originality, warmth and kind of sophisticated sense of fun of the story, I thought it was about time I reconsidered reading some of Harris' work. Now, I had the joy of working as a Christmas temp at Waterstones a few months back and in the quiet spells was able to read the blurb on the back of books. Jigs & Reels caught my eye so I had a read. I had already heard of the book but wasn't aware that it was a collection of short stories, but what better way to acquaint myself with a writer that to read several of their ideas in one book! So this little gem was... Read review

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Advantages: Relaxing story telling music with a bit of heart
Disadvantages: Too boring

...OK album, with a nice mix of different artist most of which i have never hear of before. As you can probably tell I'm not usually into this kind of music but being someone always looking to expand my musical horizons, I thought i would give it a go but was not too impressed. Most of the songs featured were not too impressive, many of which sounded very boring and generic for the genre. Track 15, Green Fields of France - Furey & Davey Arthur was probably one of the most impressive tracks on the album; this song featured delicately sung lyrics and an impressive story which i think is based on world war 2. Some of the other tracks were almost up to this standard but were too boring and didn't catch my attention.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Nice short stories
Disadvantages: Can't say I found any

...... and get this book! OK then, I decided to get this book a couple of weeks ago as the team I work on got me book tokens for my birthday! Waterstone's wouldn't let me order a month in advance the book I was going to get, so I bought this one and another instead. I've read one of Joanne Harris' other books (Holy Fools) which took me a while to get into but I enjoyed, nonetheless, so when I saw this one I thought I'd get it (made all the better by getting £3.00 off and it was also signed by the author!). Jigs & Reels, to me, is a great little book. It's made up of 22 short stories, which means you can pick it up and put it down or read big chunks at once without losing the plot. Most of the stories are set in the present, with the exception of one or two and all have a twist in the tale at the end. Some of the stories are... Read review

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