by CJ Sansom
This is the last in a series of Tudor crime mysteries featuring lawyer Matthew Shardlake. It is a very easy writing style that carries you along through all 600 pages to a surprising conclusion. The historical detail is good and yet it is not a taxing read. 8/10
Friday, September 25, 2015
The Moor's Account
by Laila Lalami
The story of a Spanish expedition to conquer Florida told from the standpoint of a slave who was never consulted by history. This fictional account starts in Barbary before the narrator is a slave and follows his path through good times to bad times to slavery and his final inclusion on an ill fated trip to Florida and a march across the south to Mexico.
I found it slow moving to begin with but I became more and more engaged and ending up enjoying the story. 7/10
The story of a Spanish expedition to conquer Florida told from the standpoint of a slave who was never consulted by history. This fictional account starts in Barbary before the narrator is a slave and follows his path through good times to bad times to slavery and his final inclusion on an ill fated trip to Florida and a march across the south to Mexico.
I found it slow moving to begin with but I became more and more engaged and ending up enjoying the story. 7/10
Thursday, August 27, 2015
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
Where to begin. This is a long novel at 720 pages. It follows the lives of 4 students who meet at college in their late teens and remain friends through the rest of their lives.
However, it soon becomes evident that the story is really about the elusive Jude who has been severely abused as a child and has been left disabled physically, and mentally scarred as a result.
The story of his life is told in a series of flashbacks that are very detailed and harrowing to read. At one point I had to put the book down for three days and gather my courage to pick it up again.
On many levels this book should not work.
1. It is set in a non determined time frame. It covers five decades and yet they all feel like the present.
2. There is very little contextualisation given. No real life figures or events to allow us to tie the story down.
3. Is it possible that somebody as damaged as Jude could rise to the top of a top flight law firm in New York. If the answer is no then much of the violence depicted becomes gratuitous doesn't it.
4. Could four college friends all rise to very top of their field (art, architecture, acting and law) and still be friends.
5. Would an orthopaedic surgeon take on the case of somebody metodically cutting themselves without referring them to other health professionals.
However, even allowing for the points above this is a gripping novel that raises all sorts of debate and drives you on to the end in a compelling fashion. 9/10
Where to begin. This is a long novel at 720 pages. It follows the lives of 4 students who meet at college in their late teens and remain friends through the rest of their lives.
However, it soon becomes evident that the story is really about the elusive Jude who has been severely abused as a child and has been left disabled physically, and mentally scarred as a result.
The story of his life is told in a series of flashbacks that are very detailed and harrowing to read. At one point I had to put the book down for three days and gather my courage to pick it up again.
On many levels this book should not work.
1. It is set in a non determined time frame. It covers five decades and yet they all feel like the present.
2. There is very little contextualisation given. No real life figures or events to allow us to tie the story down.
3. Is it possible that somebody as damaged as Jude could rise to the top of a top flight law firm in New York. If the answer is no then much of the violence depicted becomes gratuitous doesn't it.
4. Could four college friends all rise to very top of their field (art, architecture, acting and law) and still be friends.
5. Would an orthopaedic surgeon take on the case of somebody metodically cutting themselves without referring them to other health professionals.
However, even allowing for the points above this is a gripping novel that raises all sorts of debate and drives you on to the end in a compelling fashion. 9/10
Monday, August 17, 2015
The Buried Giant
by Kazuo Ishiguro
This book is set in medieval England in a land where peoples memories are being lost and the land is populated by giants and dragons and ogres. A definite departure from Remains of the Day etc but still beautifully told. It is not a genre I particularly like but I did enjoy this. 8/10
This book is set in medieval England in a land where peoples memories are being lost and the land is populated by giants and dragons and ogres. A definite departure from Remains of the Day etc but still beautifully told. It is not a genre I particularly like but I did enjoy this. 8/10
A year of Marvellous Ways
by Sarah Winman
I loved this book. The language was poetic and magical just as the story itself is.
It is set in Cornwall and London just after the second world war and tells the story of an old cornish woman and her meeting with a young London man who has returned belatedly from the war in France. 10/10
I loved this book. The language was poetic and magical just as the story itself is.
It is set in Cornwall and London just after the second world war and tells the story of an old cornish woman and her meeting with a young London man who has returned belatedly from the war in France. 10/10
The Green Road
by Ann Enright
A story of Irish families which Enright does well, and the first of the 2015 Man Booker crop I have read. This tells the stories of four siblings, their lives brought to us in vignettes from the different decades between the 1970's and today. The stories are great and the family have a final get together one christmas when their mother decides to sell the house.
I enjoyed the book up until the end when it sort of fizzled out, but as a master of telling stories about ordinary people in an engaging way, this is a good book. 7/10
A story of Irish families which Enright does well, and the first of the 2015 Man Booker crop I have read. This tells the stories of four siblings, their lives brought to us in vignettes from the different decades between the 1970's and today. The stories are great and the family have a final get together one christmas when their mother decides to sell the house.
I enjoyed the book up until the end when it sort of fizzled out, but as a master of telling stories about ordinary people in an engaging way, this is a good book. 7/10
The Black Ice
by Michael Connelly
The second book in the Harry Bosch series. We get a bit more background on Harry but I found this not as good as the Black Echo. There was a bit more, Harry as superman, rather than flawed cop trying to get through. It was still a good read focused around a drug gang operating between Mexico and LA. 6/10
The second book in the Harry Bosch series. We get a bit more background on Harry but I found this not as good as the Black Echo. There was a bit more, Harry as superman, rather than flawed cop trying to get through. It was still a good read focused around a drug gang operating between Mexico and LA. 6/10
Sunday, July 19, 2015
The Stone Woman
by Tariq Ali
The third novel in Tariq Ali's Islam quintet is set at the end of the nineteenth century as the Ottoman empire is crumbling. The stone woman of the title is a rock in the family home of Nilofer, the narrator of the title who returns home after a troublesome marriage. All the members of the family go to talk to the rock when they need to get things off their chest. The device is a bit contrived at times but the story is great and is peopled with colourful characters who stay with you long after the last page 8/10
The third novel in Tariq Ali's Islam quintet is set at the end of the nineteenth century as the Ottoman empire is crumbling. The stone woman of the title is a rock in the family home of Nilofer, the narrator of the title who returns home after a troublesome marriage. All the members of the family go to talk to the rock when they need to get things off their chest. The device is a bit contrived at times but the story is great and is peopled with colourful characters who stay with you long after the last page 8/10
A philosophy of Walking
by Frederic Gros
A look at the lives and motivations of philosophers and poets who have walked. It may sound dull but it is not. It was fun and insightful. Good read for a long train journey. It will make you want to walk home! 8/10
A look at the lives and motivations of philosophers and poets who have walked. It may sound dull but it is not. It was fun and insightful. Good read for a long train journey. It will make you want to walk home! 8/10
The Black Echo
by Michael Connelly
The first book in the Harry Bosch series. Harry is introduced as a maverick LA cop who is endearing in his own way. The pace is fast as Harry investigates a murder of an old Vietnam veteran Harry served with 20 years before. He falls foul of Internal Affairs and the FBI but as we learn more of his background some of his motivation becomes apparent.
The book was written in 1992 and is noticeable for the lack of mobile phones and the primitive IT used. Good police procedural; I will read more of Harry Bosch 7/10
The first book in the Harry Bosch series. Harry is introduced as a maverick LA cop who is endearing in his own way. The pace is fast as Harry investigates a murder of an old Vietnam veteran Harry served with 20 years before. He falls foul of Internal Affairs and the FBI but as we learn more of his background some of his motivation becomes apparent.
The book was written in 1992 and is noticeable for the lack of mobile phones and the primitive IT used. Good police procedural; I will read more of Harry Bosch 7/10
Communal Luxury
by Kristin Ross
This is a short fascinating take on the Paris Commune of 1871 and in particular a look at why it has become such a rallying point for the political left.
The discussion around Marx and William Morris was particularly interesting as was the sections dealing with Peter Kropotkin. It is a book I will dip back into 8/10
This is a short fascinating take on the Paris Commune of 1871 and in particular a look at why it has become such a rallying point for the political left.
The discussion around Marx and William Morris was particularly interesting as was the sections dealing with Peter Kropotkin. It is a book I will dip back into 8/10
Sunday, June 28, 2015
The Women Incendiaries
by Edith Thomas
A great book about the role women played in the Paris commune of 1871.
Their role was significant and the book produces good evidence to refute the belief that the main role of women in the commune was burning things down.
The question it leaves you with is why it took so long afterwards to give women a strong role in French politics and society. 9/10
A great book about the role women played in the Paris commune of 1871.
Their role was significant and the book produces good evidence to refute the belief that the main role of women in the commune was burning things down.
The question it leaves you with is why it took so long afterwards to give women a strong role in French politics and society. 9/10
The Emperor Waltz
by Philip Hensher
First off, this is a long book. I am not sure that splitting stories up between other stories makes this a novel as opposed to a collection of short stories. That aside these are engaging stories on the whole. I particularly liked the story of Duncan trying to set up the first Gay bookshop in London. I particularly disliked the story of Christian, a student at the bauhaus. He and all the other characters were particularly horrible and the last section featuring them was something in nothing. Throw in some christians being fed to the lions and middleclass kids sniffing poppers while the parents had a very nice party downstairs and you have a good collection of stories. Part of the fun was trying to find a link. I failed to find one. Fun at the time but not a book I would race back to. 6/10
First off, this is a long book. I am not sure that splitting stories up between other stories makes this a novel as opposed to a collection of short stories. That aside these are engaging stories on the whole. I particularly liked the story of Duncan trying to set up the first Gay bookshop in London. I particularly disliked the story of Christian, a student at the bauhaus. He and all the other characters were particularly horrible and the last section featuring them was something in nothing. Throw in some christians being fed to the lions and middleclass kids sniffing poppers while the parents had a very nice party downstairs and you have a good collection of stories. Part of the fun was trying to find a link. I failed to find one. Fun at the time but not a book I would race back to. 6/10
Saturday, June 06, 2015
Reader for Hire
by Raymond Jean
The story of Marie-Claire who has a beautiful reading voice and places an advert in the paper offering to read to people. She gets an odd assortment of takers and this becomes a very funny book as she tells us of her encounters. I really loved the ending 9/10
The story of Marie-Claire who has a beautiful reading voice and places an advert in the paper offering to read to people. She gets an odd assortment of takers and this becomes a very funny book as she tells us of her encounters. I really loved the ending 9/10
Massacre
by John Merriman
This is a very readable history of the events of spring 1871 and the 10 weeks of the Paris commune. These events are made very personal by use of first hand accounts and memoirs, but also takes in the impact that these few weeks have had on subsequent history. He does not hide away the incredible contribution made by women to the commune and what is surprising is that it took so long for women to be given equal rights with men. Many would argue, with some justification that this is still an issue.
This is a very pro communard history but none the worse for that 9/10
This is a very readable history of the events of spring 1871 and the 10 weeks of the Paris commune. These events are made very personal by use of first hand accounts and memoirs, but also takes in the impact that these few weeks have had on subsequent history. He does not hide away the incredible contribution made by women to the commune and what is surprising is that it took so long for women to be given equal rights with men. Many would argue, with some justification that this is still an issue.
This is a very pro communard history but none the worse for that 9/10
The Night at the Crossroads
by Georges Simenon
A really enjoyable Maigret where a man complains about his car being stolen only for it to be found in a neighbors garage with a dead body inside. So begins a long investigation with a number of nice twists, but rest assured, our hero sorts it in the end! 8/10
A really enjoyable Maigret where a man complains about his car being stolen only for it to be found in a neighbors garage with a dead body inside. So begins a long investigation with a number of nice twists, but rest assured, our hero sorts it in the end! 8/10
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Restless
by William Boyd
A novel split between World War II and 1976 as a mother unfolds a hidden past to her adult daughter. This was a really enjoyable read and had me hooked from the first few pages. 9/10
A novel split between World War II and 1976 as a mother unfolds a hidden past to her adult daughter. This was a really enjoyable read and had me hooked from the first few pages. 9/10
Irene
by Pierre Lemaitre
This is the book that precedes Alex but was published in the UK after this.
It is violent to the point of being gratuitous and thereby losing some of its tension. Camille the main investigator in the trilogy is caught uop in a series of brutal murders undertaken by a serial killer who copies scenes from books written at the darker edges of the genre(Ellroy, Brett Easton Ellis etc). The trail leads to a dark and horrific ending.
I did not enjoy this as much as Alex but still an intriguing tale. Some of the tension was relieved by having read Alex first, which gives away the ending to this book. 6/10
This is the book that precedes Alex but was published in the UK after this.
It is violent to the point of being gratuitous and thereby losing some of its tension. Camille the main investigator in the trilogy is caught uop in a series of brutal murders undertaken by a serial killer who copies scenes from books written at the darker edges of the genre(Ellroy, Brett Easton Ellis etc). The trail leads to a dark and horrific ending.
I did not enjoy this as much as Alex but still an intriguing tale. Some of the tension was relieved by having read Alex first, which gives away the ending to this book. 6/10
Arab Jazz
by Karim Miske
A really enjoyable crime novel set between the 19th in Paris and New York. The story follows Ahmed, who has been mentally injured by a crime seen some years before, following the discovery of a brutal murder in the flat above his own apartment. Peopled with interesting characters across varying cultures and backgrounds it sits nicely between the violence of Pierre LeMaitre and the quirkiness of Fred Vargas 8/10
A really enjoyable crime novel set between the 19th in Paris and New York. The story follows Ahmed, who has been mentally injured by a crime seen some years before, following the discovery of a brutal murder in the flat above his own apartment. Peopled with interesting characters across varying cultures and backgrounds it sits nicely between the violence of Pierre LeMaitre and the quirkiness of Fred Vargas 8/10
Sunday, May 03, 2015
Dog will have his day
by Fred Vargas
A dog craps near a tree in Paris, that after rain leaves a small piece of bone, a bone that turns out to be human. This sets Louis Kehlweiler on a trail that leads him and his acquaintances (Marthe and the three evangelists) around Paris and on a trip to Finistere.
A murder mystery develops, complete with the quirkiness we have come to expect from Fred Vargas. Great fun 8/10
A dog craps near a tree in Paris, that after rain leaves a small piece of bone, a bone that turns out to be human. This sets Louis Kehlweiler on a trail that leads him and his acquaintances (Marthe and the three evangelists) around Paris and on a trip to Finistere.
A murder mystery develops, complete with the quirkiness we have come to expect from Fred Vargas. Great fun 8/10
Portrait of the Writer as a Domesticated Amimal
by Lydie Salvayre
A 2007 novel from a winner of the Goncourt prize in France, This is a satire based around a writer brought in to write the biography of a fast food mandate. Against her better judgement she enjoys part of the lifestyle, and who wouldn't enjoy meeting with Robert de Niro! ...... or Bob as she called him. The subject of her biography is called Tobald and he is in all ways obnoxious. This leads to some very funny passages as the foundations of modern society success is examined, and found wanting 8/10
A 2007 novel from a winner of the Goncourt prize in France, This is a satire based around a writer brought in to write the biography of a fast food mandate. Against her better judgement she enjoys part of the lifestyle, and who wouldn't enjoy meeting with Robert de Niro! ...... or Bob as she called him. The subject of her biography is called Tobald and he is in all ways obnoxious. This leads to some very funny passages as the foundations of modern society success is examined, and found wanting 8/10
White Hunger
by Aki Ollikainen
This book is set in 1867 Finland where a failed harvest has led to an appalling winter of famine.
The book is bleak and there is little in the way of happy outcomes and yet the language-even in translation- is beautiful, and helps paint the horrors of the individuals involved. 8/10
This book is set in 1867 Finland where a failed harvest has led to an appalling winter of famine.
The book is bleak and there is little in the way of happy outcomes and yet the language-even in translation- is beautiful, and helps paint the horrors of the individuals involved. 8/10
Sunday, April 05, 2015
The Carter of 'La Providence'
by Georges Simenon
The next in the Maigret series and one I liked a lot. A murder on a trading canal around Paris with a host of suspects and dark pasts. I think the cliché is "vintage Maigret" 8/10
The next in the Maigret series and one I liked a lot. A murder on a trading canal around Paris with a host of suspects and dark pasts. I think the cliché is "vintage Maigret" 8/10
Things to Make and Break
by May-Lan Tan
This series of short stories has everything I like and hate about short stories. You get hooked very quickly to the plot driving the story and then, just as you want to know what happens next, or more about a particular character, its over. End of. If you like short stories these are good. 6/10
This series of short stories has everything I like and hate about short stories. You get hooked very quickly to the plot driving the story and then, just as you want to know what happens next, or more about a particular character, its over. End of. If you like short stories these are good. 6/10
Friday, March 20, 2015
Elisabeth is missing
By Emma Healey
This is a mystery with a twist. The story is told by an eighty two year old narrator suffering with dementia and called Maud. Her current life is full of forgotten words, places, and people. She is convinced her friend Elizabeth is missing and because we only ever hear her confused version of the story it takes a long time to solve the mystery.
However, Maud's long term memory is crystal clear and in these passages she tells us about the events of 1946 when her sister disappeared never to be found.
The two stories intertwine beautifully and the story is at one time intriguing and at another incredibly sad.
Having said that I am not sure the story worked entirely and I was left a little frustrated with the ending. 8/10
This is a mystery with a twist. The story is told by an eighty two year old narrator suffering with dementia and called Maud. Her current life is full of forgotten words, places, and people. She is convinced her friend Elizabeth is missing and because we only ever hear her confused version of the story it takes a long time to solve the mystery.
However, Maud's long term memory is crystal clear and in these passages she tells us about the events of 1946 when her sister disappeared never to be found.
The two stories intertwine beautifully and the story is at one time intriguing and at another incredibly sad.
Having said that I am not sure the story worked entirely and I was left a little frustrated with the ending. 8/10
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
The book of Saladin
by Tariq Ali
The second book in an intended quartet that ended as a quintet of novels about the tensions and conflicts between Christendom and Islam over the ages. This book tells the story of Saladin and his rise to power in the twelth century, and his part in what the english refer to as the crusades.
It is peopled with great characters ranging from the sultan's wife, Jamilla and her various lovers, to Eunuchs, to old retainers and not least the Jewish narrator of the story who is employed by Saladin to write an accurate account of his life.
As with the first book I find I love the characters but the story can sometimes be a bit flat. 8/10
The second book in an intended quartet that ended as a quintet of novels about the tensions and conflicts between Christendom and Islam over the ages. This book tells the story of Saladin and his rise to power in the twelth century, and his part in what the english refer to as the crusades.
It is peopled with great characters ranging from the sultan's wife, Jamilla and her various lovers, to Eunuchs, to old retainers and not least the Jewish narrator of the story who is employed by Saladin to write an accurate account of his life.
As with the first book I find I love the characters but the story can sometimes be a bit flat. 8/10
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce
A thin soil for a plot. Harold gets a letter from an old work colleague who is dying of cancer. He writes a reply and sets off to post the letter and just keeps walking from Kingsbridge in Devon to Berwick on Tweed in Scotland. Along the way he meets an assortment of characters who all help him find himself and come to terms with life changing events in his past. A little like Harold the plot seems to lose its way now and then and, like Harold, could probably have reached the end sooner than it does. The book handles the end well though. 6/10
A thin soil for a plot. Harold gets a letter from an old work colleague who is dying of cancer. He writes a reply and sets off to post the letter and just keeps walking from Kingsbridge in Devon to Berwick on Tweed in Scotland. Along the way he meets an assortment of characters who all help him find himself and come to terms with life changing events in his past. A little like Harold the plot seems to lose its way now and then and, like Harold, could probably have reached the end sooner than it does. The book handles the end well though. 6/10
MadAddam
by Margaret Attwood
The third book in the MadAddam trilogy this book takes the story on beyond the global catastrophe and fills in the backstory on Adam 1 and Zeb as well as several of the other characters. This is a book about endings and beginnings and hope as well as sadness.
I get the felling that the author had fun writing this book. There are some very funny parts such as the story of Fuck and fuck's place in the evolving mythology of the Crakers.
Not as good as the first book in the trilogy I still enjoyed this book. 7/10
The third book in the MadAddam trilogy this book takes the story on beyond the global catastrophe and fills in the backstory on Adam 1 and Zeb as well as several of the other characters. This is a book about endings and beginnings and hope as well as sadness.
I get the felling that the author had fun writing this book. There are some very funny parts such as the story of Fuck and fuck's place in the evolving mythology of the Crakers.
Not as good as the first book in the trilogy I still enjoyed this book. 7/10
Friday, February 20, 2015
The Paying Guests
by Sarah Waters
A novel set in the aftermath of WW1 and a mother and daughter who have lost the men in their family and trying to hang on to their upper middle class standing. With money running out they take in a young couple as lodgers and over the course of a summer their lives become increasingly entwined with disastrous consequences. A new time setting but this is vintage Sarah Waters with drama and tension right to the end, not to mention the odd twist and turn as the story unfolds.
The characters are brilliantly drawn and the detail of life after the war is fascinating 9/10
A novel set in the aftermath of WW1 and a mother and daughter who have lost the men in their family and trying to hang on to their upper middle class standing. With money running out they take in a young couple as lodgers and over the course of a summer their lives become increasingly entwined with disastrous consequences. A new time setting but this is vintage Sarah Waters with drama and tension right to the end, not to mention the odd twist and turn as the story unfolds.
The characters are brilliantly drawn and the detail of life after the war is fascinating 9/10
Saturday, February 14, 2015
The Year of the Flood
by Margaret Attwood
This is the second book in the MaddAddam trilogy and tells the story of God's Gardeners in the years immediately preceeding the waterless flood or plague that is at the centre of the trilogy.
I did not enjoy this book as much as Oryx and Crake. I found the characters hard to identify with and it was very late in the book before I managed to sort out who was who. However, it did keep me wanting to know what happened after the flood. Bring on part three! 7/10
This is the second book in the MaddAddam trilogy and tells the story of God's Gardeners in the years immediately preceeding the waterless flood or plague that is at the centre of the trilogy.
I did not enjoy this book as much as Oryx and Crake. I found the characters hard to identify with and it was very late in the book before I managed to sort out who was who. However, it did keep me wanting to know what happened after the flood. Bring on part three! 7/10
Monday, January 26, 2015
The Shadow of the Pomegranate Tree
by Tariq Ali
The story of one muslim family in Southern Spain at the time of the expulsion of the Moors. The family are very engaging and the portrayal of family life is beautifully drawn against a background of the harsh realities of the time. 9/10
The story of one muslim family in Southern Spain at the time of the expulsion of the Moors. The family are very engaging and the portrayal of family life is beautifully drawn against a background of the harsh realities of the time. 9/10
Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Attwood
A reread of a book I read first over 10 years ago. I enjoyed it much more this time. It is the tale of Snowman formally Jimmy who is trying to survive and make sense of the post apocalyptic world he lives in. Through flashbacks we learn how this came about and the roles that Crake and Oryx played in it. 8/10
A reread of a book I read first over 10 years ago. I enjoyed it much more this time. It is the tale of Snowman formally Jimmy who is trying to survive and make sense of the post apocalyptic world he lives in. Through flashbacks we learn how this came about and the roles that Crake and Oryx played in it. 8/10
Thank you for this moment
by Valérie Trierweiler
The inside scoop on the Francois Hollande love triangle and what really drove him to the croissant on a scooter caper. Very trashy but some interesting insights to life at the top of French politics. One feels the lady doth protest too much however. 4/10
The inside scoop on the Francois Hollande love triangle and what really drove him to the croissant on a scooter caper. Very trashy but some interesting insights to life at the top of French politics. One feels the lady doth protest too much however. 4/10
Money
by Emile Zola
My second reading of this book and still very enjoyable. One cannot help feeling Zola would have loved to have been around in the years following 2008 and have written about unscrupulous bankers and a corrupt financial system. There is nothing new under the sun! 9/10
My second reading of this book and still very enjoyable. One cannot help feeling Zola would have loved to have been around in the years following 2008 and have written about unscrupulous bankers and a corrupt financial system. There is nothing new under the sun! 9/10
Holy Disorders
by Edmund Crispin
A tale of Geoffrey Vintner, church organist, summoned to Devon in wartime by his friend Gervase Fen who has asked him to bring a butterfly net. Murder and mayhem ensue, not to mention a spy ring and very little use for a butterfly net. This is a crime mystery told with tongue firmly in cheek and very enjoyable as a result. 8/10
A tale of Geoffrey Vintner, church organist, summoned to Devon in wartime by his friend Gervase Fen who has asked him to bring a butterfly net. Murder and mayhem ensue, not to mention a spy ring and very little use for a butterfly net. This is a crime mystery told with tongue firmly in cheek and very enjoyable as a result. 8/10
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
The Sportswriter
by Richard Ford
The life of an ordinary American, Frank Bascombe, living an ordinary life. It was interesting but not gripping and I am not sure how quickly I will return to the other books in this series. 6/10
The life of an ordinary American, Frank Bascombe, living an ordinary life. It was interesting but not gripping and I am not sure how quickly I will return to the other books in this series. 6/10
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
The Origins of Totalitarianism
By Hannah Arendt
I worked through this as an audiobook which was not the best format in which to read this book. Having said that the book, which is now over 50 years old was fascinating. A lot of her analysis still holds true despite subsequent shifts in power. Definitely a good -but dense-read 7/10
I worked through this as an audiobook which was not the best format in which to read this book. Having said that the book, which is now over 50 years old was fascinating. A lot of her analysis still holds true despite subsequent shifts in power. Definitely a good -but dense-read 7/10
Suspended Sentences
by Patrick Modiano
This is a book of 3 short novellas whose link is Paris and looking back. This is writing for the soul. Nothing great happens and yet the writing is beautiful and a credit o the translator. This has to be near the top of my favorites list for this year 9/10
This is a book of 3 short novellas whose link is Paris and looking back. This is writing for the soul. Nothing great happens and yet the writing is beautiful and a credit o the translator. This has to be near the top of my favorites list for this year 9/10
Friday, November 28, 2014
Perfidia
by James Ellroy
This is the first novel in a second LA quartet but set in the second world war-ie before the first quartet.
It is a wild ride and I found the slang hard to follow at times. It portrays the unreal world of LA just as Pearl Harbour takes place and is told around the murder of 4 Japanese from the same family.
It is hard to split the good guys from the bad guys-which is a large part of the books appeal. I would recommend you try and read this in big chunks-it is 700 pages long-as that helps get into the language and the staccato writing style. 7/10
This is the first novel in a second LA quartet but set in the second world war-ie before the first quartet.
It is a wild ride and I found the slang hard to follow at times. It portrays the unreal world of LA just as Pearl Harbour takes place and is told around the murder of 4 Japanese from the same family.
It is hard to split the good guys from the bad guys-which is a large part of the books appeal. I would recommend you try and read this in big chunks-it is 700 pages long-as that helps get into the language and the staccato writing style. 7/10
Saturday, November 08, 2014
The Search Warrant
by Patrick Modiano
The winner of the nobel prize so as I had not come across him before had to be worth a try.
The book is simple in concept and very short but I found it absorbing. The narrator sees a newspaper article about a girl who disappeared in the middle of occupied Paris in 1942. He sets out to discover what happened to her. Written in journalistic style it takes us through his investigations over a number of years. It grew on me as I went through it. 8/10
The winner of the nobel prize so as I had not come across him before had to be worth a try.
The book is simple in concept and very short but I found it absorbing. The narrator sees a newspaper article about a girl who disappeared in the middle of occupied Paris in 1942. He sets out to discover what happened to her. Written in journalistic style it takes us through his investigations over a number of years. It grew on me as I went through it. 8/10
The Night Watch
by Sarah Waters
A foray out of the nineteenth century for Sarah Waters as she writes a book about London during world war 2 and its immediate aftermath. The book starts at the end in 1947 and works backwards in 2 leaps to 1941. It is a device I was sceptical of before reading the book but it is brilliantly executed and very gripping. It will certainly satisfy those who always read the last page of the novel to see what happens! The characters are rendered with so much care and I so wanted to know what happened to Kay. A great read 9/10
A foray out of the nineteenth century for Sarah Waters as she writes a book about London during world war 2 and its immediate aftermath. The book starts at the end in 1947 and works backwards in 2 leaps to 1941. It is a device I was sceptical of before reading the book but it is brilliantly executed and very gripping. It will certainly satisfy those who always read the last page of the novel to see what happens! The characters are rendered with so much care and I so wanted to know what happened to Kay. A great read 9/10
Wednesday, October 08, 2014
We are all completely beside ourselves
by Karen Joy Fowler
A family reflection narrated by Rosemary and concerning her parents and two siblings. A quirky enjoyable novel touching on some current issues. It has been shortlisted for the Booker but I would be surprised if it won
A family reflection narrated by Rosemary and concerning her parents and two siblings. A quirky enjoyable novel touching on some current issues. It has been shortlisted for the Booker but I would be surprised if it won
The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien
By Georges Simenon
The third Maigret starts with Maigret performing a swap of a suitcase that leads to suicide. The action then moves from Bremen to Liege to Paris and back to Liege as Maigret uncovers a 10 year old crime. Really enjoyable 8/10
The third Maigret starts with Maigret performing a swap of a suitcase that leads to suicide. The action then moves from Bremen to Liege to Paris and back to Liege as Maigret uncovers a 10 year old crime. Really enjoyable 8/10
The Children Act
by Ian McEwan
The story is of a high court judge in the family division and her long term husband who is about to turn 60 and is having a sexual crisis.
The book interweaves the stories of some of her cases with her personal drama in a compelling way that McEwan as a great storyteller makes effortless. I found the book thought provoking as well as enjoyable if not a little uncomfortable. 9/10
The story is of a high court judge in the family division and her long term husband who is about to turn 60 and is having a sexual crisis.
The book interweaves the stories of some of her cases with her personal drama in a compelling way that McEwan as a great storyteller makes effortless. I found the book thought provoking as well as enjoyable if not a little uncomfortable. 9/10
The Late Monsieur Gallet
by Georges Simenon
The second Maigret novel and a story of hidden identities. Quick and enjoyable caper but not one of his best 6/10
The second Maigret novel and a story of hidden identities. Quick and enjoyable caper but not one of his best 6/10
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
How to be Both
by Ali Smith
This is a book in two halves, one half being about a modern day teenager who has recently lost her mother and the second about a fifteenth century fresco painter. The painter is real but the story is built from the very few fragments that we have. The stories are tenuously connected and I discovered afterwards that the book has been published in 2 versions with the stories placed in a different order in each. I was very frustrated reading the painters tale second as I kept wanting it to return to the other story. I wonder if I would have felt differently reading them the other way around. Now I will never know. Very well written but a frustrating read and an unsatisfactory ending for my tastes 7/10
This is a book in two halves, one half being about a modern day teenager who has recently lost her mother and the second about a fifteenth century fresco painter. The painter is real but the story is built from the very few fragments that we have. The stories are tenuously connected and I discovered afterwards that the book has been published in 2 versions with the stories placed in a different order in each. I was very frustrated reading the painters tale second as I kept wanting it to return to the other story. I wonder if I would have felt differently reading them the other way around. Now I will never know. Very well written but a frustrating read and an unsatisfactory ending for my tastes 7/10
Orfeo
by Richard Powers
The quirky story of Peter Els. At the time of the novel he is a 70 year old composer/retired music professor who in his kitchen has set up an amateur genetics laboratory. By a string of events this comes to the attention of homeland security and suddenly our hero is on the run. During the course of his running he reflects over his life and we see how two sides of his life have converged to produce his current predicament. Very amusing in places and an interesting ending. Should have made the Booker shortlist. 9/10
The quirky story of Peter Els. At the time of the novel he is a 70 year old composer/retired music professor who in his kitchen has set up an amateur genetics laboratory. By a string of events this comes to the attention of homeland security and suddenly our hero is on the run. During the course of his running he reflects over his life and we see how two sides of his life have converged to produce his current predicament. Very amusing in places and an interesting ending. Should have made the Booker shortlist. 9/10
The Long Road to the Deep North
by Richard Flanagan
It is unusual for me to start writing about
a book before I have finished it but this book has evoked strong responses in
me that have varied enormously.
The book follows an Australian surgeon,
Dorrigo Evans, who joins the Australian army at the start of the war and is
captured by the Japanese, ending up working on the Burma railway construction.
Just before leaving for the war he has a short affair with his uncle's young
wife, that has an impact on the rest of his life.
The book ranges back and forwards from the
war years to the current day, following the fortunes of both Dorrigo and his
fellow prisoners and their captors.
The writing is intense and at times almost
poetic with short arresting sentences. At other times any beauty in the
language gets overwhelmed by the sheer barbarity of what is being described. It
is at this point I have to question whether this is gratuitous gore or
something that is necessarily shocking to make us confront man's inhumanity. I
don't know. It is certainly not an easy read and has left no options for a
happy or hopeful ending.
With the last world war so far away for
many of us, it is important that we do not forget the realities of it and the
huge waste of humanity that results but is fiction the way to do this, or is it
just another form of forgetting? I don't know. I will revisit my musings on
this when I finish the book.
So I have finished and I have to say that I
found the end of the book a little indulgent. Did we need a chapter on the
execution by hanging of a Korean guard-especially one ending in a very clichéd mid
–sentence halt as the trapdoor opened. Did the book really need our central
character saving his family from the middle of an inferno in a forest fire? It
was more Rambo than anything else.
The book has made the Booker shortlist but
I would be disappointed if it were to win. 7/10
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Pietr the Latvian
by Georges Simenon
The first Maigret novel and great as a straightforward police novel. Maigret has the most accommodating wife in the world who is always there with a good hot meal when he comes home a week late from work. It is of a certain time but a good light read for a journey 8/10
The first Maigret novel and great as a straightforward police novel. Maigret has the most accommodating wife in the world who is always there with a good hot meal when he comes home a week late from work. It is of a certain time but a good light read for a journey 8/10
The Dog
by Joseph o' Neill
Longlisted for the booker prize and by the author of Netherland which I really enjoyed.
This is the story of an American lawyer who for various reasons ends up in Dubai working for wealthy emiratis. It is very funny in places but the book never quite grabbed me. It may be more engaging if you had lived in the emirates 5/10
Longlisted for the booker prize and by the author of Netherland which I really enjoyed.
This is the story of an American lawyer who for various reasons ends up in Dubai working for wealthy emiratis. It is very funny in places but the book never quite grabbed me. It may be more engaging if you had lived in the emirates 5/10
The Exception
by Christian Jungersen
The story of office politics told against the backdrop of genocide. The story is told by 4 workers in a small office at the Danish Institute for Genocide Research. A death threat is received and as the story passes from narrator to narrator so our view of the truth changes and our certainty decreases the more we read. It is a great thriller 9/10
The story of office politics told against the backdrop of genocide. The story is told by 4 workers in a small office at the Danish Institute for Genocide Research. A death threat is received and as the story passes from narrator to narrator so our view of the truth changes and our certainty decreases the more we read. It is a great thriller 9/10
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
I am not a science fiction fan but this is a remarkable book in many ways. It hints at a future containing many of the things we see today but is at other times rather quaint in assuming things that might still be with us that are not.
The plot, revolving around 2 characters from different castes in the brave new world is moving and funnt at times. Mr. Savage trying to apply Shakespeare to a technical age is fun.
I enjoyed it for being not what I expected 7/10
I am not a science fiction fan but this is a remarkable book in many ways. It hints at a future containing many of the things we see today but is at other times rather quaint in assuming things that might still be with us that are not.
The plot, revolving around 2 characters from different castes in the brave new world is moving and funnt at times. Mr. Savage trying to apply Shakespeare to a technical age is fun.
I enjoyed it for being not what I expected 7/10
Thursday, July 31, 2014
The French Intifada
by Andrew Hussey
This is a good overview of the problems France faces in living with the inhabitants, and descendants of inhabitants, from their ex colonies. It is very compelling reading and certainly set me off looking for further information. It is a shame that the text is littered with errors-words missing or in the wrong order etc. This made it very frustrating to read and so a low score 5/10
This is a good overview of the problems France faces in living with the inhabitants, and descendants of inhabitants, from their ex colonies. It is very compelling reading and certainly set me off looking for further information. It is a shame that the text is littered with errors-words missing or in the wrong order etc. This made it very frustrating to read and so a low score 5/10
Silas Marner
by George Eliot
This is the story of Silas Marner, the weaver and his life in rural England. Having been framed for a crime he did not commit he leaves a large town and comes to a small village where he makes his living as a weaver. He keeps himself to himself and is besotted with his money which he counts every evening. Two key events in succession change his life forever.
This is a great book told by a master storyteller. I loved it 9/10
This is the story of Silas Marner, the weaver and his life in rural England. Having been framed for a crime he did not commit he leaves a large town and comes to a small village where he makes his living as a weaver. He keeps himself to himself and is besotted with his money which he counts every evening. Two key events in succession change his life forever.
This is a great book told by a master storyteller. I loved it 9/10
The Red and the Black
by Stendhal
This was a fascinating book. The style of the author and his dry sense of humour was great, and the book was full of memorable one-liners, such as "The idea which tyrants find most useful is the idea of God" or "After moral poisoning, one requires physical remedies and a bottle of champagne".
My problem was that I hated Julien, the hero of the novel. Everything about him was selfish, including the fact he hogged most of the book! Still apart from that it was a good read 8/10
This was a fascinating book. The style of the author and his dry sense of humour was great, and the book was full of memorable one-liners, such as "The idea which tyrants find most useful is the idea of God" or "After moral poisoning, one requires physical remedies and a bottle of champagne".
My problem was that I hated Julien, the hero of the novel. Everything about him was selfish, including the fact he hogged most of the book! Still apart from that it was a good read 8/10
Monday, June 16, 2014
Mitterand: A study in ambiguity
by Philip Short
Very readable and as the title suggests highlight admirably the glaring ambiguities in Mitterands life from start to finish. Really enjoyable 9/10
Very readable and as the title suggests highlight admirably the glaring ambiguities in Mitterands life from start to finish. Really enjoyable 9/10
Stoner
by John Williams
This film came heavily recommended and although I enjoyed the writing style and the central character, William Stoner, I found the support characters-his wife, Lomax his enemy in the University, his daughter Grace and others a bit thinly drawn and in the case of his wife, Edith, a little hard to believe in.
Stoner was born on a farm, went to University, married badly, had an affair, taught at the University where he had some scrapes and died. Much more interesting than that summary would suggest but not great 7/10
This film came heavily recommended and although I enjoyed the writing style and the central character, William Stoner, I found the support characters-his wife, Lomax his enemy in the University, his daughter Grace and others a bit thinly drawn and in the case of his wife, Edith, a little hard to believe in.
Stoner was born on a farm, went to University, married badly, had an affair, taught at the University where he had some scrapes and died. Much more interesting than that summary would suggest but not great 7/10
The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
A quarter of the way through this book I was ready to give up, it was so heavy going, but I am glad I persevered. the characters are wonderfully drawn and it has a very upbeat ending.
The story of a Southern woman in the early 1900's, Celie, her sister, the jazz singer Shug Avery and a host of other characters is both painful and moving, amusing and sad, and entirely engaging 8/10
A quarter of the way through this book I was ready to give up, it was so heavy going, but I am glad I persevered. the characters are wonderfully drawn and it has a very upbeat ending.
The story of a Southern woman in the early 1900's, Celie, her sister, the jazz singer Shug Avery and a host of other characters is both painful and moving, amusing and sad, and entirely engaging 8/10
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Capital
by John Lanchester
I listened to this on an audiobook and the narrator was fantastic. I enjoyed this book immensely. It is the story of the inhabitants of one London street in the years 2007 to 2008 when the financial crash set in and the story of their lives. There is Roger-a banker directly affected by the crash and various characters in between to old Mrs Letherby who is not affected by the crash in any way but who has her own story that is just as absorbing. All these characters hardly ever interact but are propelled forward by a very thin plot line and the absorbing nature of their own stories. You could argue that many of these individual stories are stereotypical, but the characters are delightfully drawn and I felt genuinely sad to leave them and not know how their stories ended. Was it Poland or Hungary or London? Or was it Poland and Hungary! Ah we will never know. 9/10
I listened to this on an audiobook and the narrator was fantastic. I enjoyed this book immensely. It is the story of the inhabitants of one London street in the years 2007 to 2008 when the financial crash set in and the story of their lives. There is Roger-a banker directly affected by the crash and various characters in between to old Mrs Letherby who is not affected by the crash in any way but who has her own story that is just as absorbing. All these characters hardly ever interact but are propelled forward by a very thin plot line and the absorbing nature of their own stories. You could argue that many of these individual stories are stereotypical, but the characters are delightfully drawn and I felt genuinely sad to leave them and not know how their stories ended. Was it Poland or Hungary or London? Or was it Poland and Hungary! Ah we will never know. 9/10
The Big Sleep
by Raymond Chandler
If you have watched any films featuring Philip Marlowe from the 40's era the book will not come as any surprise. Some of the one liners are fantastic. The story is typical detective fiction but done very well. You know just about what is happening but there is a twist in the final resolution. A great travel/holiday read 7/10
If you have watched any films featuring Philip Marlowe from the 40's era the book will not come as any surprise. Some of the one liners are fantastic. The story is typical detective fiction but done very well. You know just about what is happening but there is a twist in the final resolution. A great travel/holiday read 7/10
Thursday, March 20, 2014
The House of the Spirits
by Isabel Allende
A family saga set in an unnamed but very recognisable country this book is teeming with all sorts of characters from animals-"Barabbas came to us by sea"-children, lovers, tyrants, spirits of the dead and they all combine to tell a story that is magical, strange sad and somehow uplifting all at once. This is not the sort of book I would normally read but I enjoyed it immensely 8/10
A family saga set in an unnamed but very recognisable country this book is teeming with all sorts of characters from animals-"Barabbas came to us by sea"-children, lovers, tyrants, spirits of the dead and they all combine to tell a story that is magical, strange sad and somehow uplifting all at once. This is not the sort of book I would normally read but I enjoyed it immensely 8/10
Beloved
by Toni Morrison
A story set in the American South just after slavery was abolished. A slave who escaped before abolition is never far from the consequences of her early life which drove her to kill(sacrifice? protect?) one of her young children. Is it a ghost story? It is certainly haunting and will live with me for some time. The characters are beautifully crafted and the pain is shared with them. I would recommend this book to anyone who has not read it. 8/10
A story set in the American South just after slavery was abolished. A slave who escaped before abolition is never far from the consequences of her early life which drove her to kill(sacrifice? protect?) one of her young children. Is it a ghost story? It is certainly haunting and will live with me for some time. The characters are beautifully crafted and the pain is shared with them. I would recommend this book to anyone who has not read it. 8/10
Saturday, February 15, 2014
The Black Dahlia
by James Ellroy
A very dark crime thriller. This is a novel set around a real murder in the late 40's in Los Angeles. I found some of the gore scenes too much but was hooked by the whodunnit element. 7/10
A very dark crime thriller. This is a novel set around a real murder in the late 40's in Los Angeles. I found some of the gore scenes too much but was hooked by the whodunnit element. 7/10
In the Darkness
by Karin Fossum
A nordic thriller with unusual characters but a fast moving plot. Quite a short novel but a good read. I will definitely look out for more by her. 7/10
A nordic thriller with unusual characters but a fast moving plot. Quite a short novel but a good read. I will definitely look out for more by her. 7/10
A Wild Herb Soup
by Emilie Carles
This is a great memoir of a woman growing up in the rural south of France. She was born in 1900 and as well as a personal story it reflects the history of France during the 20th century. 8/10
This is a great memoir of a woman growing up in the rural south of France. She was born in 1900 and as well as a personal story it reflects the history of France during the 20th century. 8/10
Thursday, January 23, 2014
An Officer and a Spy
by Robert Harris
A fictionalised account of the Dreyfus affair told from the standpoint of George Picquart, an officer in the French army who, having witnessed Dreyfus's degredation discovered the truth that he had been wrongly committed. The book traces the history of the case in a very engaging way, and is a warning as to what can be buried if the authorities choose to make it so. Question everything! 9/10
A fictionalised account of the Dreyfus affair told from the standpoint of George Picquart, an officer in the French army who, having witnessed Dreyfus's degredation discovered the truth that he had been wrongly committed. The book traces the history of the case in a very engaging way, and is a warning as to what can be buried if the authorities choose to make it so. Question everything! 9/10
Under Fire
by Henri Barbusse
This is a book by a Frenchman which won the prix Goncourt in 1916.
It is a fictionalised account of life in the trenches. Some of the descriptions are breathtaking, others are heartbreaking while others are just horrific. Written by somebody who served in the trenches and written before the war had ended it is a book that still holds lessons for today and asks the question, Why? 8/10
This is a book by a Frenchman which won the prix Goncourt in 1916.
It is a fictionalised account of life in the trenches. Some of the descriptions are breathtaking, others are heartbreaking while others are just horrific. Written by somebody who served in the trenches and written before the war had ended it is a book that still holds lessons for today and asks the question, Why? 8/10
Sunday, January 05, 2014
Old Goriot
by Honoré de Balzac
This is the second time I have read this book but I enjoyed it as much this time around as before. It is his attention to detail and the expansion of a character that draws you in to the story. Great book 8/10
This is the second time I have read this book but I enjoyed it as much this time around as before. It is his attention to detail and the expansion of a character that draws you in to the story. Great book 8/10
Monday, December 23, 2013
The Bat
by Joe Nesbo
The first book in the Harry Hole series and a real page turner that keeps you guessing right to the end.
This is Nordic noir with a twist, not least because it is set in Australia!
My advice, don't get too attached to any of the characters because if you do they are likely to end up dead!
The central dilemma I have with the book is whether I like Harry Hole or not. This may be deliberate on the part of the author but there are times in the book when you think he is an alright guy. There are other times when you feel sorry for him. Then there are others when you just know that he is a total asshole. I think I may need to read another book to clarify my view of him. It was a good crime thriller either way. 8/10
The first book in the Harry Hole series and a real page turner that keeps you guessing right to the end.
This is Nordic noir with a twist, not least because it is set in Australia!
My advice, don't get too attached to any of the characters because if you do they are likely to end up dead!
The central dilemma I have with the book is whether I like Harry Hole or not. This may be deliberate on the part of the author but there are times in the book when you think he is an alright guy. There are other times when you feel sorry for him. Then there are others when you just know that he is a total asshole. I think I may need to read another book to clarify my view of him. It was a good crime thriller either way. 8/10
Sunday, December 01, 2013
Professor Hanaa
by Reem Bassiouney
The professor of the title is an ambitious single-minded single woman of 40. We know this because she tells us on the first page alond with what she intends to acheive-all of which she does fairly quickly. The story unfolds from there and is a beautifully told love story against a background of Egyptian society and clashing values and world views which is equally funny and painful at times. As someone who knows very little of the society this is set in I enjoyed it immensely and still felt I could share the very human emotions encountered. One of the highlights of my year. 9/10
The professor of the title is an ambitious single-minded single woman of 40. We know this because she tells us on the first page alond with what she intends to acheive-all of which she does fairly quickly. The story unfolds from there and is a beautifully told love story against a background of Egyptian society and clashing values and world views which is equally funny and painful at times. As someone who knows very little of the society this is set in I enjoyed it immensely and still felt I could share the very human emotions encountered. One of the highlights of my year. 9/10
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
The Idiot
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The idiot of the title is Prince Muishkin, a young man who has just returned to Russia after being treated in Switzerland for epilepsy. The other main characters are Rogojin-another nobleman he meets on the train, Nastasia Philipovna-a woman they both love and who has a questionable reputation and Aglaya Epanchin-a young woman who Muishkin also "loves" and at one point looks like marrying.
I struggled with this book. I found the characters hard to believe and very shallow-especially some of the supporting ones. I should say this was not helped by the fact I listened to this as an audio book, and the narrator made many many of the characters sound like something out of a Monty python sketch. I also found the book incredibly long with many of the passages being an excuse for Dostoevsky to tell a yarn of some sort. Having said that I did enjoy General Ivolgin "retired and unfortunate" and his tall tales of his exploits in the army and his time as a child with Napoleon in Moscow.
I also thought the explanation at the start of part 4 as to why you cannot write a novel about ordinary people was fantastic. But as a novel I did not like it. 4/10
For a much more positive view see this excellent review by AS Byatt from 2004.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jun/26/highereducation.classics
The idiot of the title is Prince Muishkin, a young man who has just returned to Russia after being treated in Switzerland for epilepsy. The other main characters are Rogojin-another nobleman he meets on the train, Nastasia Philipovna-a woman they both love and who has a questionable reputation and Aglaya Epanchin-a young woman who Muishkin also "loves" and at one point looks like marrying.
I struggled with this book. I found the characters hard to believe and very shallow-especially some of the supporting ones. I should say this was not helped by the fact I listened to this as an audio book, and the narrator made many many of the characters sound like something out of a Monty python sketch. I also found the book incredibly long with many of the passages being an excuse for Dostoevsky to tell a yarn of some sort. Having said that I did enjoy General Ivolgin "retired and unfortunate" and his tall tales of his exploits in the army and his time as a child with Napoleon in Moscow.
I also thought the explanation at the start of part 4 as to why you cannot write a novel about ordinary people was fantastic. But as a novel I did not like it. 4/10
For a much more positive view see this excellent review by AS Byatt from 2004.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/jun/26/highereducation.classics
Sunday, November 24, 2013
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
This book was written over 20 years ago so I am surprised that I have only just come across it as she publishes her third novel.
The book starts with a death and then proceeds for the first half of the book to tell us why it happened; then in the second half of the book, the consequences of it happening to the protagonists. These said protagonists are a greek class at a small exclusive college in Vermont. The book is beautifully written and left me wanting to do a course in greek mythology! However, while knowing some more might of added to my enjoyment, not knowing any of the greek myths did not detract from how enjoyable a read this was. I am still musing over what I felt about all of the characters. They were all flawed in some way but who was good and who was bad is something I will still be thinking about weeks from now. That has to be a good book doesn't it? 9/10
This book was written over 20 years ago so I am surprised that I have only just come across it as she publishes her third novel.
The book starts with a death and then proceeds for the first half of the book to tell us why it happened; then in the second half of the book, the consequences of it happening to the protagonists. These said protagonists are a greek class at a small exclusive college in Vermont. The book is beautifully written and left me wanting to do a course in greek mythology! However, while knowing some more might of added to my enjoyment, not knowing any of the greek myths did not detract from how enjoyable a read this was. I am still musing over what I felt about all of the characters. They were all flawed in some way but who was good and who was bad is something I will still be thinking about weeks from now. That has to be a good book doesn't it? 9/10
Alex
by Pierre Lemaitre
This starts as a kidnapping thriller and is very very disturbing. If rats freak you in any way this may not be the book for you.
However, this is an incredible page turner with numerous twists and turns in the plot. If you like nordic noir then I think this would appeal.
I loved the way that regardless of what you learn about the main character the author manages to leave you always with an empathy toward her. Great writing and great thriller. 9/10
This starts as a kidnapping thriller and is very very disturbing. If rats freak you in any way this may not be the book for you.
However, this is an incredible page turner with numerous twists and turns in the plot. If you like nordic noir then I think this would appeal.
I loved the way that regardless of what you learn about the main character the author manages to leave you always with an empathy toward her. Great writing and great thriller. 9/10
Sunday, November 03, 2013
Expo 58
By Jonathan Coe
This was a very funny book that rocked along at a cracking pace and reminded me of Our Man in Havana. The ending was sentimental but well done. It is set against the backdrop of the world fair being held in Brussels in 1958. Our hero is sent there by the government department he works for. He has varied adventures of the romantic and espionage varieties. Great larks! 8/10
Thursday, October 10, 2013
The Lowland
by Jhumpa Lahiri
This is the story of two brothers from Calcutta. The major "event" of the book occurs very near the beginning and is based in historical facts about a political movement in India known as the Naxalbari.The rest of the book tells the story of how this effected the characters through the rest of their lives. Lives that are very ordinary and yet by weaving backwards and forwards through time and place I became tied up with their lives and cried at the end. At times I felt the characters were so thinly drawn that I did not know then but then I reached the end of the book and found I would miss them. A good read 8/10
This is the story of two brothers from Calcutta. The major "event" of the book occurs very near the beginning and is based in historical facts about a political movement in India known as the Naxalbari.The rest of the book tells the story of how this effected the characters through the rest of their lives. Lives that are very ordinary and yet by weaving backwards and forwards through time and place I became tied up with their lives and cried at the end. At times I felt the characters were so thinly drawn that I did not know then but then I reached the end of the book and found I would miss them. A good read 8/10
Postwar-A history of Europe since 1945
by Tony Judt
Published in 2005 I read this book as an audiobook but thankfully had the book copy to read as well. As an audiobook it is quite dry at times, especially those parts where Judt is listing reams of statistics.
However, this became easier with the paperback copy to refer to afterwards.
The book covers a vast canvas and is a fascinating take on how Europe has developed as a response to two world wars fought on its territory. You might not always agree with what he says or his interpretation of events but I found it raising all sorts of questions that I have discussed with myself and others over the past few months. It was a great read 9/10
Published in 2005 I read this book as an audiobook but thankfully had the book copy to read as well. As an audiobook it is quite dry at times, especially those parts where Judt is listing reams of statistics.
However, this became easier with the paperback copy to refer to afterwards.
The book covers a vast canvas and is a fascinating take on how Europe has developed as a response to two world wars fought on its territory. You might not always agree with what he says or his interpretation of events but I found it raising all sorts of questions that I have discussed with myself and others over the past few months. It was a great read 9/10
We need new names
by NoViolet Bulawayo
I read a review of this book that complained about the way each chapter seemed to deal with a seperate topic and I would rather agree with that. This caused it to lose its narrative flow and by the end it seemed to have lost its way completely. 4/10
I read a review of this book that complained about the way each chapter seemed to deal with a seperate topic and I would rather agree with that. This caused it to lose its narrative flow and by the end it seemed to have lost its way completely. 4/10
Unexploded
by Alison Macleod
This book is set in Brighton during the second world war and tells the tale of a small family falling apart as the husband takes on additional responsibilities for the war and his wife first distrusts him and then falls for a german artist who is held in a detention camp at the foot of the downs. Her husband is the senior civilian at the camp.
She makes it clear that this is fiction and that she has didtorted the truth to fit her fictional narrative. This did not stop Adam Mars Jones slaughtering the book for its factual innaccuracies in LRB recently. I do not understand this response. It reminds me of people getting upset with the Da Vinci Code for making things up. Hello, the clue is in the genre-this is fiction. I don't read novels for historical facts but for the escape into a good yarn. This book was not great but it was a good story. I would give it a thums up 6/10
This book is set in Brighton during the second world war and tells the tale of a small family falling apart as the husband takes on additional responsibilities for the war and his wife first distrusts him and then falls for a german artist who is held in a detention camp at the foot of the downs. Her husband is the senior civilian at the camp.
She makes it clear that this is fiction and that she has didtorted the truth to fit her fictional narrative. This did not stop Adam Mars Jones slaughtering the book for its factual innaccuracies in LRB recently. I do not understand this response. It reminds me of people getting upset with the Da Vinci Code for making things up. Hello, the clue is in the genre-this is fiction. I don't read novels for historical facts but for the escape into a good yarn. This book was not great but it was a good story. I would give it a thums up 6/10
Harvest
by Jim Crace
I enjoyed this book. It is set in an unnamed village in England at a time when life was transitioning from open common land to enclosures. It deals with how we have always dealt with strangers-especially in uncertain times. It has a beautiful language that evokes the rural landscape. From the very first page I felt I could smell the woodsmoke and the loss felt by the village folk as their masters barn burned. It ended in a way that I was not expecting but which made perfect sense when I thought about it. This book is shortlisted for this years booker and would be among my favourites to win. 8/10
I enjoyed this book. It is set in an unnamed village in England at a time when life was transitioning from open common land to enclosures. It deals with how we have always dealt with strangers-especially in uncertain times. It has a beautiful language that evokes the rural landscape. From the very first page I felt I could smell the woodsmoke and the loss felt by the village folk as their masters barn burned. It ended in a way that I was not expecting but which made perfect sense when I thought about it. This book is shortlisted for this years booker and would be among my favourites to win. 8/10
Thursday, August 22, 2013
The Luminaries
by Eleanor Catton
Let me start by saying this was a long book. It also has a very intricate structure set around star signs and astrological charts that I did not fully get.
It has a lot of characters and it took me until well after half way through the book to work out who everybody was.
Having said all this there was something strangely compelling about the book that drew me in to the story. The story takes place in New Zealand at the time of the gold rush in the 1860's. We find out very quickly that someone has died(murdered?), somebody appears to have attempted suicide(but did they) and somebody else has disappeared-all on the same evening. We spend the rest of the book trying to find out what actually happened and why. Definitely a book to read in print rather than on a kindle-I seemed to be forever going back to recall what had happened earlier or which date we were at. 7/10
Let me start by saying this was a long book. It also has a very intricate structure set around star signs and astrological charts that I did not fully get.
It has a lot of characters and it took me until well after half way through the book to work out who everybody was.
Having said all this there was something strangely compelling about the book that drew me in to the story. The story takes place in New Zealand at the time of the gold rush in the 1860's. We find out very quickly that someone has died(murdered?), somebody appears to have attempted suicide(but did they) and somebody else has disappeared-all on the same evening. We spend the rest of the book trying to find out what actually happened and why. Definitely a book to read in print rather than on a kindle-I seemed to be forever going back to recall what had happened earlier or which date we were at. 7/10
Wednesday, August 07, 2013
A tale for the time being
by Ruth Ozeki
This is a fascinating book.
It is the story of a diary written by a Japanese teenager who has returned from California with her family and is horribly bullied at school. Her father is depressed and suicidal and her diary together with the influence of her great grandmother is her only way through her troubles.
The diary is found washed up on the beach by a couple who live on an island in Canada. This is not long after the earthquake and tsunami in the north of Japan and throughout the book we are longing to know how this diary got there and whether its author is still alive.
The book is really absorbing as it moves from the second world war to the dot com crash to 9/11 to the present day, introducing the reader to zen and quantum physics along the way. I can't begin to do the book justice but it made me laugh, it made me sad, it made me think and it has the most realistic cat you will ever find described in a novel! I loved this book 9/10
This is a fascinating book.
It is the story of a diary written by a Japanese teenager who has returned from California with her family and is horribly bullied at school. Her father is depressed and suicidal and her diary together with the influence of her great grandmother is her only way through her troubles.
The diary is found washed up on the beach by a couple who live on an island in Canada. This is not long after the earthquake and tsunami in the north of Japan and throughout the book we are longing to know how this diary got there and whether its author is still alive.
The book is really absorbing as it moves from the second world war to the dot com crash to 9/11 to the present day, introducing the reader to zen and quantum physics along the way. I can't begin to do the book justice but it made me laugh, it made me sad, it made me think and it has the most realistic cat you will ever find described in a novel! I loved this book 9/10
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
The Quarry
by Ian Banks
This is the story of Kit and Guy. Kit is Guy's son and is somewhere along the Asperger's syndrome. Guy has brought Kit up from the time he was left on his doorstep as a baby. He has never told Kit who his mother is, or he has told him many times but each time he is given a different story. Guy is in the latter stages of cancer.
The story is told by Kit and takes place over a winter weekend, when a number of Guy's old university friends have come to visit, with the purpose of trying to find a compromising video tape they made when they were media students at the nearby university, and lived together in this same house.
On this simple plot Ian Bank's crafts a very funny, poignant novel. The characters are few but are brought to life wonderfully in a way that left me wanting the story to continue beyond the ending of the novel. The book is given more edge by the fact that the author died of cancer before publication.
A word of warning. The book makes liberal use of the F-word and C-word, so don't read if this will put you off. Otherwise enjoy! 9/10
This is the story of Kit and Guy. Kit is Guy's son and is somewhere along the Asperger's syndrome. Guy has brought Kit up from the time he was left on his doorstep as a baby. He has never told Kit who his mother is, or he has told him many times but each time he is given a different story. Guy is in the latter stages of cancer.
The story is told by Kit and takes place over a winter weekend, when a number of Guy's old university friends have come to visit, with the purpose of trying to find a compromising video tape they made when they were media students at the nearby university, and lived together in this same house.
On this simple plot Ian Bank's crafts a very funny, poignant novel. The characters are few but are brought to life wonderfully in a way that left me wanting the story to continue beyond the ending of the novel. The book is given more edge by the fact that the author died of cancer before publication.
A word of warning. The book makes liberal use of the F-word and C-word, so don't read if this will put you off. Otherwise enjoy! 9/10
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
The Testament of Mary
by Colm Toibin
I read this as it is on the Booker longlist. It is by far the shortest book at barely a hundred pages.
It is a retelling of the gospel story from Mary's point of view and it borrows so heavily from those works I am surprised it made it to the list. It is written well but I was not very impressed 4/10
I read this as it is on the Booker longlist. It is by far the shortest book at barely a hundred pages.
It is a retelling of the gospel story from Mary's point of view and it borrows so heavily from those works I am surprised it made it to the list. It is written well but I was not very impressed 4/10
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn
A thriller about a woman's disappearance where the clear suspect is the husband. His position is made more untenable by the fact that he tells the readers early on that he is lying to the police.
The story is told in alternate chapters by the husband Nick on the one hand and his wife Amy on the other. The story is further broken up by the fact that the two protagonists tell there story on different timelines so Nicks first chapter is on the day she disappears wheras Amy's first chapter starts 7 years earlier.
The timeframes get closer and closer as the book unfolds and adds to the mounting tension.
It is a pageturner and uses some great devices to arrest the readers attention, but I think the central device has been done better by Sarah Waters.
I enjoyed reading this book but I did feel a little dissatisfied with the ending. 7/10
A thriller about a woman's disappearance where the clear suspect is the husband. His position is made more untenable by the fact that he tells the readers early on that he is lying to the police.
The story is told in alternate chapters by the husband Nick on the one hand and his wife Amy on the other. The story is further broken up by the fact that the two protagonists tell there story on different timelines so Nicks first chapter is on the day she disappears wheras Amy's first chapter starts 7 years earlier.
The timeframes get closer and closer as the book unfolds and adds to the mounting tension.
It is a pageturner and uses some great devices to arrest the readers attention, but I think the central device has been done better by Sarah Waters.
I enjoyed reading this book but I did feel a little dissatisfied with the ending. 7/10
Sunday, July 14, 2013
May we be forgiven
by A. M. Homes
I enjoyed this. If you like Dicken's I think you would like this book. It is peopled with marvellous characters, some more comic than others. It has a young heroine character, a baddy or two and a happy ending. Perfect Dickens territory but set very much in 21st century America.
The narrator is Harold Silver and the story unfolds over a very eventful and wild year from one thanksgiving to the next. The story starts with his sister in law kissing him at the annual thanksgiving dinner, followed closely by his younger and somewhat bullying youger brother being at the wheel of his car when two people are killed. Harold ends up picking up the pieces that leads to further disaster.
There is always something happening which keeps you turning the pages. I felt the last quarter of the book rather coasted to a soft landing but that aside it was a fun read 8/10
I enjoyed this. If you like Dicken's I think you would like this book. It is peopled with marvellous characters, some more comic than others. It has a young heroine character, a baddy or two and a happy ending. Perfect Dickens territory but set very much in 21st century America.
The narrator is Harold Silver and the story unfolds over a very eventful and wild year from one thanksgiving to the next. The story starts with his sister in law kissing him at the annual thanksgiving dinner, followed closely by his younger and somewhat bullying youger brother being at the wheel of his car when two people are killed. Harold ends up picking up the pieces that leads to further disaster.
There is always something happening which keeps you turning the pages. I felt the last quarter of the book rather coasted to a soft landing but that aside it was a fun read 8/10
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
The Third Industrial Revolution
by Jeremy Rifkin
This is a thought provoking book. It maps out a vision for a way through the current climate change problems facing the human race. It does not shy away from the enormity of this challenge and neither does it descent into a doomsday mentality. It is founded in practical case studies that Rifkin is involved with around the globe and the five pillars that he sets out as the bedrock of the third revolution are practical and in many cases well on the way to fruition.
I did have problems with a couple of issues. The first was in chapter eight where Rifkin examines education and changes that need to be made. He suggests that there needs to be a change to collaborative thinking and a working for the common good(my interpretation). There seems to be a belief (hope) that the younger generations will adopt this as a normal way of working. I have trouble reconciling this with my experience which is that there will always be somebody who will see a chance to maximise personal return, albeit at the expense of the majority. I readily accept this may be due to a dose of Calvin in my youth tempered by later Darwin!
Secondly, Rifkin alludes to but did not deal with the problem of the North-South divide. It is a great aspiration to state that the developing countries may leapfrog the developed nations in the roll out of renewable energies etc. but it is hard to see the developed nations letting that happen without a fight. The step back from committment to a green agenda-see recent cuts by the UK and French governments in these areas-suggests that GDP growth will remain the driving force of these nations at any cost.
I applaud the ideas of this book but find it hard to share Mr. Rifkin's optimism for the future of our species. I hope to attend the World forum in Lille later this year and will be interested to hear an update from Jeremy Rifkin on the current state of our planet. I would thoroughly recommend reading this book. 9/10
This is a thought provoking book. It maps out a vision for a way through the current climate change problems facing the human race. It does not shy away from the enormity of this challenge and neither does it descent into a doomsday mentality. It is founded in practical case studies that Rifkin is involved with around the globe and the five pillars that he sets out as the bedrock of the third revolution are practical and in many cases well on the way to fruition.
I did have problems with a couple of issues. The first was in chapter eight where Rifkin examines education and changes that need to be made. He suggests that there needs to be a change to collaborative thinking and a working for the common good(my interpretation). There seems to be a belief (hope) that the younger generations will adopt this as a normal way of working. I have trouble reconciling this with my experience which is that there will always be somebody who will see a chance to maximise personal return, albeit at the expense of the majority. I readily accept this may be due to a dose of Calvin in my youth tempered by later Darwin!
Secondly, Rifkin alludes to but did not deal with the problem of the North-South divide. It is a great aspiration to state that the developing countries may leapfrog the developed nations in the roll out of renewable energies etc. but it is hard to see the developed nations letting that happen without a fight. The step back from committment to a green agenda-see recent cuts by the UK and French governments in these areas-suggests that GDP growth will remain the driving force of these nations at any cost.
I applaud the ideas of this book but find it hard to share Mr. Rifkin's optimism for the future of our species. I hope to attend the World forum in Lille later this year and will be interested to hear an update from Jeremy Rifkin on the current state of our planet. I would thoroughly recommend reading this book. 9/10
Monday, July 08, 2013
Felix Holt-The Radical
by Geaorge Eliot
I listened to this book after thoroughly enjoying Middlemarch and I am not so enthusiastic about this. There is still Eliot's enjoyable humour and her fantastic descriptions of nineteenth century life.
However, my main problem was that I did not like Felix Holt or Harold Transome. Part of me is glad about this but at other times I found it hard to engage with these characters. We were promised so much mystery surrounding Harold that was never delivered upon.
The story is set around the Reform Act of 1832 and the book is a great way of looking at social tensions around at that time however, some, like me, may find that there is a little too much detail on this front. 7/10
I listened to this book after thoroughly enjoying Middlemarch and I am not so enthusiastic about this. There is still Eliot's enjoyable humour and her fantastic descriptions of nineteenth century life.
However, my main problem was that I did not like Felix Holt or Harold Transome. Part of me is glad about this but at other times I found it hard to engage with these characters. We were promised so much mystery surrounding Harold that was never delivered upon.
The story is set around the Reform Act of 1832 and the book is a great way of looking at social tensions around at that time however, some, like me, may find that there is a little too much detail on this front. 7/10
Friday, May 31, 2013
Flight Behaviour
by Barbara Kingsolver
I listened to this as an audio book read by Barbara Kingsolver herself.
The plot revolves around a "small town America" society, and one family in particular that is jolted out of its day to day routine by a natural event triggered by global warming.
It examines one woman's awakening to both her own plight and the larger issues arising from environmental change. I loved the characters and the ending was close to perfect as far I was concerned. This is a thought provoking book that I would read again. 9/10
I listened to this as an audio book read by Barbara Kingsolver herself.
The plot revolves around a "small town America" society, and one family in particular that is jolted out of its day to day routine by a natural event triggered by global warming.
It examines one woman's awakening to both her own plight and the larger issues arising from environmental change. I loved the characters and the ending was close to perfect as far I was concerned. This is a thought provoking book that I would read again. 9/10
Thursday, May 30, 2013
A Delicate Truth
By John le Carre
I really enjoyed this book. It involves the British intelligence services and Cornwall and much in between. As ever you are never quite sure who the good guys are. It moves at a cracking pace and ended too soon 9/10
Saturday, May 04, 2013
The Blind Man's Garden
by Nadeem Aslam
I loved this book. The use of language is gorgeous in places evoking smells, sounds and a sense of place. The story of two brothers in a small Pakistani town near the Afghanistan just after 9/11 is both moving and unnerving as the pain and hopelessness of the individual caught up in a global struggle unfolds. Having said that it is not a book without hope, and as such, is well worth reading 9/10
I loved this book. The use of language is gorgeous in places evoking smells, sounds and a sense of place. The story of two brothers in a small Pakistani town near the Afghanistan just after 9/11 is both moving and unnerving as the pain and hopelessness of the individual caught up in a global struggle unfolds. Having said that it is not a book without hope, and as such, is well worth reading 9/10
Monday, April 29, 2013
Manuscript Found in Accra
by Paul Coelho
I was dissapointed with this book. It read like a book of biblical proverbs-and indeed quotes liberally from the bible. The plot is very thin if existing at all. Like all of his books that I have read the language is beautiful at times and did save the book for me from a premature end. 4/10
I was dissapointed with this book. It read like a book of biblical proverbs-and indeed quotes liberally from the bible. The plot is very thin if existing at all. Like all of his books that I have read the language is beautiful at times and did save the book for me from a premature end. 4/10
The Ghost riders of Ordebec
by Fred Vargas
Another good read featuring Inspector Adamsberg. I like these novels because they are full of quirky characters. This novel is no exception and if anything swings too far into the quirky nature of the Inspector and his team rather than concentrating on the crime that needed solving. It was not the best of Fred Vargas but enjoyable all the same. 7/10
Another good read featuring Inspector Adamsberg. I like these novels because they are full of quirky characters. This novel is no exception and if anything swings too far into the quirky nature of the Inspector and his team rather than concentrating on the crime that needed solving. It was not the best of Fred Vargas but enjoyable all the same. 7/10
A dance to the Music of Time-Spring
by Anthony Powell
This is the first volume of the four part version of Powell's story of 20th century England, consisting of three of the twelve novels in the series. I found myself drifting from wrapt enjoyment to wishing he would just get on with it throughout the story. Some of the characters are really enjoyable. The alcoholic Stringham, the arrogant Widmerpool and the crazy left winger Gypsy Jones spring to mind among others. The narrator, Nicholas Jenkins I found tedious in the way he was so detatched from the story he was intimately involved in.
We move from his schooldays-just after the Great War-to the 1930's, and it is a well drawn picture of a very narrow section of British society during this period. It is comical in places but overall it left me with a feeling of melancholy. Will I read the rest of the series? I think I probably will, but need a break first. 6/10
This is the first volume of the four part version of Powell's story of 20th century England, consisting of three of the twelve novels in the series. I found myself drifting from wrapt enjoyment to wishing he would just get on with it throughout the story. Some of the characters are really enjoyable. The alcoholic Stringham, the arrogant Widmerpool and the crazy left winger Gypsy Jones spring to mind among others. The narrator, Nicholas Jenkins I found tedious in the way he was so detatched from the story he was intimately involved in.
We move from his schooldays-just after the Great War-to the 1930's, and it is a well drawn picture of a very narrow section of British society during this period. It is comical in places but overall it left me with a feeling of melancholy. Will I read the rest of the series? I think I probably will, but need a break first. 6/10
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Hard Times
by Charles Dickens
The only major novel by Dickens I had not read previously. I thoroughly enjoyed this as Dickens lays into nineteenth century capitalism with all guns blazing.
Yes its full of melodrama, and cartoon characters but it is also full of comedy (read the first few chapters to see where Monty Python got there "shoebox in the middle of the road"sketch), and great characters like Gradgrind and Bounderby, Stephen and Rachel.
If you have never read any Dickens, this is not his best novel, but it is short and would be a good place to start. I am biased because I love Dickens so don't be swayed by my score. 9/10
The only major novel by Dickens I had not read previously. I thoroughly enjoyed this as Dickens lays into nineteenth century capitalism with all guns blazing.
Yes its full of melodrama, and cartoon characters but it is also full of comedy (read the first few chapters to see where Monty Python got there "shoebox in the middle of the road"sketch), and great characters like Gradgrind and Bounderby, Stephen and Rachel.
If you have never read any Dickens, this is not his best novel, but it is short and would be a good place to start. I am biased because I love Dickens so don't be swayed by my score. 9/10
The Second World War
by Antony Beevor
I covered this book through a combination of audio book and print. If I am honest, I may not have finished this in print as I am not a big follower of military history, and inevitably there is a lot of description of battles. However, this book covers a lot of the politics and social history as well, and is an excellent overview of a war that changed the face of the world.
The numbers become incomprehensible and the depths of savagery that man can fall too are made very apparrent. I think everyone should make themselves aware of this conflict in the hope that we may never go there again. History is written by the victors and this book is no exception (so for instance bomber Harris is treated far more leniently than he would have been if German), but for all that it tries to be as objective as possible. A chilling book, a depressing book, but with this subject matter, it should be. 9/10
I covered this book through a combination of audio book and print. If I am honest, I may not have finished this in print as I am not a big follower of military history, and inevitably there is a lot of description of battles. However, this book covers a lot of the politics and social history as well, and is an excellent overview of a war that changed the face of the world.
The numbers become incomprehensible and the depths of savagery that man can fall too are made very apparrent. I think everyone should make themselves aware of this conflict in the hope that we may never go there again. History is written by the victors and this book is no exception (so for instance bomber Harris is treated far more leniently than he would have been if German), but for all that it tries to be as objective as possible. A chilling book, a depressing book, but with this subject matter, it should be. 9/10
Friday, February 22, 2013
Waiting for Sunrise
by William Boyd
When your lead character has a name like Lysander Rief, and the book opens in 1913 Vienna with him visiting a contemporary of Freud to deal with a complaint called Anorgasmia (you will have to look it up or read the book), then you know you are in for another great tale from William Boyd.
Lysander is an actor by profession, the son of a famous actor, and we follow him from Vienna to London to avoid a scrape, and into the First World War, espionage and more to boot. Anything I have read by William Boyd is always enjoyable. I enjoyed the twists and turns in the latter stages of the novel but found myself a little disappointed with the ending. 7/10
When your lead character has a name like Lysander Rief, and the book opens in 1913 Vienna with him visiting a contemporary of Freud to deal with a complaint called Anorgasmia (you will have to look it up or read the book), then you know you are in for another great tale from William Boyd.
Lysander is an actor by profession, the son of a famous actor, and we follow him from Vienna to London to avoid a scrape, and into the First World War, espionage and more to boot. Anything I have read by William Boyd is always enjoyable. I enjoyed the twists and turns in the latter stages of the novel but found myself a little disappointed with the ending. 7/10
The Rise and Fall of the Second Empire, 1852-1871
by Alain Plessis
This is a book in the Cambridge History of Modern France series. I enjoyed it because I have an interest in all things to do with the Second Empire in France, and this book is a good backgrounder to the social and political events of that time. Having said that, it could be a bit dry at times and may be better to dip into than read cover to cover. Mind you, it is not that long at 212 pages.
It gives some fascinating insights into a period of significant change in France resulting from the railways and changes in industrial and commercial practices. It also approaches the topic of Napoleon III's reputation and whether he was a force for good or bad, and I think concludes that the jury is still out! 7/10
This is a book in the Cambridge History of Modern France series. I enjoyed it because I have an interest in all things to do with the Second Empire in France, and this book is a good backgrounder to the social and political events of that time. Having said that, it could be a bit dry at times and may be better to dip into than read cover to cover. Mind you, it is not that long at 212 pages.
It gives some fascinating insights into a period of significant change in France resulting from the railways and changes in industrial and commercial practices. It also approaches the topic of Napoleon III's reputation and whether he was a force for good or bad, and I think concludes that the jury is still out! 7/10
A Cold Day for Murder
by Dana Stabenow
This is the first in a series of 20 novels featuring Kate Shugak. She is an ex police officer who lives in the middle of a cold Alaska, where crime is rife and racism is not far under the surface. This case involves an investigation of two missing persons. It is a quick read but I liked the characters and the description of an unknown landscape. Not sure she will be boosting the local tourism economy though. Good relaxing reading if you like crime novels 7/10
This is the first in a series of 20 novels featuring Kate Shugak. She is an ex police officer who lives in the middle of a cold Alaska, where crime is rife and racism is not far under the surface. This case involves an investigation of two missing persons. It is a quick read but I liked the characters and the description of an unknown landscape. Not sure she will be boosting the local tourism economy though. Good relaxing reading if you like crime novels 7/10
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The Cleaner of Chartres
by Sally Vickers
This was not my normal choice of read but I enjoyed it. The descriptions of Chartres and the Cathedral are very good and the plot-while not exactly complex-moves along at an engaging pace. The cleaner of the title has a mysterious past that is unveiled as the story progresses and has a good upbeat ending.
Some of the story line seems a bit unnecessary-do we really need a mother superior running off with a monk in Rome? Still apart from some monor irritations along this line it was still agreeable. 6/10
This was not my normal choice of read but I enjoyed it. The descriptions of Chartres and the Cathedral are very good and the plot-while not exactly complex-moves along at an engaging pace. The cleaner of the title has a mysterious past that is unveiled as the story progresses and has a good upbeat ending.
Some of the story line seems a bit unnecessary-do we really need a mother superior running off with a monk in Rome? Still apart from some monor irritations along this line it was still agreeable. 6/10
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
by Jonas Jonasson
This is a book that lives up to the promise of the wacky title.
It follows the fortune of its hero, Allan Karlsson, following his climb out of the said window as well as going back over his remarkable life.
It follows the fortune of its hero, Allan Karlsson, following his climb out of the said window as well as going back over his remarkable life.
The book is very funny in places but falls into the tallest of tall story categories and is ultimately a feel good story that I was more than ready for by my Christmas break. Apart from the real life historical figures there are a great array of support characters that you cannot help cheering on as the book progresses. 7/10
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