Posts (page 2)
I recently stayed in a B&B outside of Manchester for 4 weeks. As there was no internet connection and very little in the way of entertainment, I was pleased to see that they'd supplied a bookshelf full of Reader's Digest Condensed books. I managed to work my way through several of them and I'm going to review them all in one go.
A Curate For All Seasons ~ Fred Secombe
I had no idea that Harry Secombe had a brother, much less one who was a priest or an author! This book seems to be along the same lines as the James Herriot books, except it's about a new priest in Wales, rather than a vet in Yorkshire. The main focus of the book is the people Fred meets, rather than himself and so it makes for an amusing read. It's certainly enjoyable and mostly lighthearted.
Doctor On Trial ~ Harry Denker
This book is about a female doctor who ends up facing a charge of manslaughter and malpractice. One of the main points of the book is that it's a female doctor and a lot of the characters find this a problem so it's obviously very dated. It's not a bad book, but the archaic attitudes towards the female doctor made it a bit hard to take.
Fatherland ~ Robert Harris
This is a sci fi/fantasy book that is set in a world where Germany won the Second World War. It's obviously a bit of a touchy subject but I was curious to see how it would be dealt with. I was actually quite disappointed, it didn't seem futuristic in any way, it could have just been taken directly from the war years rather than 1964 which was when it was supposed to be set. I found some of the 'history' a bit questionable, but I didn't know if that was because I was reading a condensed version or not. It's stated that the Germans found out that the British had cracked the Enigma Code, but there's no explanation as to how. Although it started out fairly well, the plot seemed to struggle and finally ended up with the entire thing coming down to the Holocaust. Although I should have expected that aspect of the Second World War to come into it somewhere, it seemed to be a cheap shot or a copout for lack of a better idea. It also seemed to be really implausible in this particular world.
The Boy Who Invented The Bubble Gun ~ Paul Gallico
I couldn't tell whether this book was aimed at adults or children. It's about a 9 year old boy and is written in a fairly simplistic style so it's probably aimed more at children. It's a strange story though, about a boy who gets on a bus to Washington by himself to patent his invention. It's very obviously dated because it would never happen in this day and age and it's hard to picture a time when a small boy travelling on his own wouldn't have been questioned. He gets taken advantage of quite badly and the ending made me very confused as well as sad. I'm not sure what a child would get from this book, except maybe not to trust any adult at all.
The Memoirs Of An Invisible Man ~ H. F. Saint
This is not the Invisible Man as written by H.G. Wells, and it's easy to get this book confused with that original. It's still a good book and I enjoyed reading it, although I've not read the original so I don't know how they compare. I did get the feeling once I'd finished it that the ending was extremely familiar but I'm pretty sure I've not read this book before.
The Scofield Diagnosis ~ Henry Denker
This is another medical thriller by the same author as the book above. It's also a very similar sort of story where the main factor is that there's a female doctor and no one trusts her to be any good or as good as the male doctors. There's also a factor of child abuse which may have been a new subject for a novel when it was originally written but these days it's not as cutting edge as it probably was then.
The Tower ~ Richard Martin Stern
When I was reading this, it seemed to be a forerunner of sorts to the events of September 11th. It's only now that I've found out the building in the book was based on the original World Trade Centre tower, and also that the book was then the basis for the film The Towering Inferno. It's not a bad book but I found the reasons for the fire were a little lacking. I also thought that there was more emphasis put on finding out how it started and who did it, than rescueing the people trapped at the top. I wasn't all that bothered about them anyway, they were all a bit bland and annoying.
I've read this book before but not for quite a while, and when I had a sudden desire to read it I thought I might as well. It didn't take me very long at all, just a couple of days. I probably could have read it straight through in one sitting if I'd had the time or the inclination, but it took me longer because I was looking for all the places and artworks on Wikipedia. I actually found that quite helpful and interesting; being able to see a picture of the artwork being discussed or the location added to the reading because I was able to understand the relevance or just picture the scene better. I think a book like this which relies very heavily on knowledge or descriptions of a piece of art, a building or town needs some visuals to help the reader.
This book is the sequel of sorts to the The Da Vinci Code. It's not a complete sequel in that the story doesn't carry on or refer to previous events, it just uses the same main character of Robert Langdon. Knowledge of the previous book isn't necessary at all as Robert Langdon's creditials and background are given early on. The rest of the characters in the book are new. There is an awful lot of them and as the story switches between at least three different settings, it can be fairly tricky to remember who they all are. I know I had to refer back in the book several times to find out which was which. One of the downsides to having so many characters - apart from confusing the reader - is that it's hard to make them all seem well-rounded and solid. I think that most of the characters in this book are insubstantial and it's really hard to care about them. Considering that an awful lot of those characters end up dying, there does need to be some kind of connection to the reader. As for the main character, I've always had trouble picturing him as being in his mid-40s as described. It seems to me that someone who has accomplished as much as he has and to have become such a respected and acclaimed expert, it would seem more plausible for him to be late 50s at the very least. Then again, maybe he needs to be younger to make him more attractive and appealing to the reader.
On top of the issues with the characterisation, this book is quite simply appallingly written. The writing style seems to be dominated by a plethora of really short sentences, which may have been a deliberate attempt to express urgency and speed, but it just irritated me. It is also chock full of errors. Within the first few pages I had already picked up on several glaring ones and I found that the best way to progress through the book was just to suspend all beliefs and prior knowledge. It was really quite irritating to have to gloss over such simple mistakes such as mobile phones have dial tones, CERN invented the internet, Michaelangelo designed the uniforms of the Swiss Guard and Winston Churchill was a Catholic. All of these can be verified with a simple search on Google! I have no idea how much research Dan Brown did in this book, but it seems like he didn't do any, especially if he's making such outlandish statements such as "references to all works of art, tombs, tunnels, and architecture in Rome are entirely factual (as are their exact locations)" which is at the start of the book.
The only reason I ever read this book was because I love the idea of hidden messages and meanings as well as having to solve cryptic puzzles. This is the main plot of the book and I think it's that idea that Dan Brown can do well. His manner of executing it and the extent of his research - and wildly inaccurate claims - however, have made him and his works little more than a laughing stock. If you are able to treat this book as pure fantasy, set in a parallel universe where the signal from a wireless camera can not be found in a matter of minutes, then you may find it an enjoyable read. I would recommend getting it from a library though, don't waste your money on buying it.
I had a good sort through all my books a couple of weeks ago, and managed to root out all the books that I don't think I've read yet. I've tried to put them all in the order that I got them, just because I'm pedantic like that. It's a bigger list than I'd expected, but hopefully I should be able to get through some of those at least this year. Of course, I'm hoping again, that I will be able to beat last year's total at least. I'm not expecting to be able to reach the dizzying heights of 2005's total!
Past year's totals:
2005 - 57 books, 2006 - 28 books, 2007 - 36
books, 2008 - 38 books
Books ongoing
Traditional Tales From Long Long Ago ~ Philip Wilson
Boston City Guide ~ Mara Vorhees and John Spelman
Deviant
Strain ~ Justin Richards (eBook)
Waiting to be read
Bart Simpson's Guide To Life ~ Matt Groening
The Beatles Anthology ~ The Beatles
A Hard Day's Write ~ Steve Turner
The Lost Beatles Interviews ~ Geoffrey Giuliano
The 'Beatles': The Only Authorised Biography ~ Hunter Davies
Skywriting By Word Of Mouth ~ John Lennon
Dress
To Kill ~ Eddie Izzard with David Quantick and Steve
Double
The Sorcerer's Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry
Potter ~ Allan Kronzek, Elizabeth Kronzek
The Encyclopedia of Magic and Witchcraft: An Historical Exploration
into the World of the Magician ~ Susan Greenwood
Judaism for Dummies ~ Ted Falcon, Rabbi Ted Falcon
Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish
Religion, Its People and Its History ~ Joseph
Telushkin
Night ~ Elie Wiesel, S. Rodway (Translator)
The Drag King Anthology ~ Donna Troka, et al
Sex Changes: Politics of Transgenderism ~ Patrick
Califia-Rice
Hello
Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Teen Suicide ~ Kate
Bornstein
Dragonology
Handbook: A Practical Course In Dragons ~ Ernest Drake
Working
With Dragons: A Course In Dragonology ~ Ernest Drake
The
Dangerous Book for Boys ~ Conn Iggulden and Hal
Iggulden
Postcards From The Boys ~ Ringo Starr
Bringing Up Baby Dragons ~ Ernest Drake
Tracking And Taming Wild Dragons ~ Ernest Drake
You Know You're A Writer When... ~ Adair Lara
Stand And Deliver: The Autobiography ~ Adam Ant
The Time Traveller's Almanac ~ Steve Tribe
The Book of General Ignorance ~ John Lloyd & John Mitchinson
I did not do as well with the 50 books in a year challenge for 2008 as I'd hoped. It was quite disappointing really, but my final total was at least better than the year before! Despite having a good start, the amount of books read over the summer dropped drastically so that I was well behind by the time I'd got into the second half of the year. I had a bit of a spurt after September, thanks to my new collection of Doctor Who eBooks, but it was a case of too little too late really. I think by the end of December, I'd pretty much given up on 2008 and was already looking forward to starting afresh in 2009. Not a good way to end the year but let's hope that drive will push me to a better final target next year. I finished the year with three books still in progress which wasn't good for 2008, but hopefully will be a good starting point for 2009!
Final total: 38
Books Completed
The Ragwitch ~ Garth Nix
Tales of the City ~ Armistead Maupin
Inkheart ~ Cornelia Funke
Inkspell ~ Cornelia Funke
Landscape of Lies ~ Peter Watson
The
Phantom Tollbooth ~ Norman Juster
The Black Tattoo ~ Sam Enthoven
Mister
Monday ~ Garth Nix
Grim Tuesday ~ Garth Nix
Drowned Wednesday ~ Garth Nix
Sir Thursday ~ Garth Nix
Lady
Friday ~ Garth Nix
Shade's
Children ~ Garth Nix
The Medici Seal ~ Theresa Breslin
Doctor Who: Made Of Steel ~ Terence Dicks
Confessions of a Closet Catholic ~ Sarah Darer Littman
Luna ~ Julie Anne Peters
The World's Greatest Mysteries ~ Joyce Robins
Dragonology:
The Complete Book Of Dragons ~ Dr Ernest Drake
Flatmates ~ Chris Manby
Turbulent Priests ~ Colin Bateman
The Amulet Of Samarkand ~ Jonathan Stroud
Greece On My Wheels ~ Edward Enfield
Across
The Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other
Stories ~ Garth Nix
Butch Is A Noun ~ S. Bear Bergman
The Fall - Garth Nix
The Golem's Eye ~ Jonathan Stroud
Shadowmancer ~ G.P. Taylor
Ptolemy's Gate ~ Jonathan Stroud
The Feast Of The Drowned ~ Stephen Cole (eBook)
The Clockwise Man ~ Justin Richards (eBook)
The
Monsters Inside ~ Stephen Cole (eBook)
Baby Love: An Affectionate Miscellany ~ Rachel Hale
Made Of Steel ~ Terence Dicks
Winner Takes All ~ Jacqueline Rayner (eBook)
Wormwood ~ G.P. Taylor
The Pig Of Happiness ~ Edward Monkton
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West ~ Gregory Maguire
Books Ongoing
Traditional Tales from Long Long Ago ~ Philip Wilson [Michael reading to me]
Boston City Guide ~ Mara Vorhees and John Spelman
Deviant
Strain ~ Justin Richards (eBook)
This was the last month for the 2008 challenge and as I needed to read 14 books this mornth in order to make the 50 target, it was not looking promising. I'm not sure what I was doing this month instead of reading, but it must have been interesting because I only managed to complete two books in the entire month! 38 down, 12 to go.
Books Completed
The
Pig Of Happiness ~ Edward Monkton
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West ~ Gregory Maguire
Books Ongoing
Traditional Tales from Long Long Ago ~ Philip Wilson [Michael reading to me]
Boston City Guide ~ Mara Vorhees and John Spelman
Deviant
Strain ~ Justin Richards (eBook)
Waiting to be read
The Encyclopedia of Magic and Witchcraft: An Historical Exploration
into the World of the Magician ~ Susan Greenwood
The Sorcerer's Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry
Potter ~ Allan Kronzek, Elizabeth Kronzek
Judaism for Dummies ~ Ted Falcon, Rabbi Ted Falcon
Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish
Religion, Its People and Its History ~ Joseph
Telushkin
Night ~ Elie Wiesel, S. Rodway (Translator)
Hello
Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Teen Suicide ~ Kate
Bornstein
The Drag King Anthology ~ Donna Troka, et al
Sex Changes: Politics of Transgenderism ~ Patrick
Califia-Rice
Dress
To Kill ~ Eddie Izzard with David Quantick and Steve
Double
Dragonology
Handbook: A Practical Course In Dragons ~ Ernest Drake
Working
With Dragons: A Course In Dragonology ~ Ernest Drake
The
Dangerous Book for Boys ~ Conn Iggulden and Hal
Iggulden
Bringing Up Baby Dragons ~ Ernest Drake
Tracking And Taming Wild Dragons ~ Ernest Drake
Possibly re-read Deathly Hallows
I'd heard of this book thanks to the popular musical that it has now been turned into, but I didn't know a great deal of the plot. A friend recommended that I read it and so I did.
My first thought when I started to read it, was that there must be very few books where you know already what the ending is going to be before you even start it. Unless you have not seen or heard anything about the film of The Wizard of Oz, that is, and due to the impact it has had on popular culture, that has to be a very small percentage of people. So you know that the Witch dies in the end. It kind of reminded me in a very strange way of the play Evita; she starts the play off dead, and then you see how she got to that point so it's kind of told in reverse.
This is a very hefty book. It does cover a great deal of ground though; it starts from when the Witch is born right up to her final moments, which is nearly 40 years. Although the original Oz series is written for children, this is very definitely not an children's book. This is made quite clear from the start which includes mention of sex, and uses the words tits and cocks. At first, I wasn't really sure that such language was necessary, it seemed to smack rather of 'this is an adult book, so I'm going to use really base language, just because I can!' Especially when the same chapter had the phrase 'the cloven place' which seems to be an outdated term. It wasn't until later on that I realised the author was probably trying to portray how coarse the midwives were to use such terms in their speech, but I'm not sure it came over very well.
The main theme of the story is very much discussion of evil, what it is and whether it's inherent in our nature. It's also the original obsession of the Witch and so it gets brought up a lot throughout the book. Of course, with a title like Wicked, and the main character being a witch, it was bound to be an important factor, but it did get a bit repetitive though and seemed as though the Witch couldn't think of anything else to talk about.
There are lots of characters in this book. Some appear and reappear through the story, others aren't quite so important. The main character of course is the Witch herself. She has been given the name of Elphaba (pronounced EL-fa-ba) which was created from L. Frank Baum's initial, L-F-B. I thought that was a really nice touch and very clever. It also lead to the amusing short version 'Elphie' which of course, is not the kind of name you imagine a witch to have. Elphie turns out to be a really interesting character and is very well written. I was quite surprised to find myself both identifying and sympathising with her and her life experiences. She's a very well rounded character; she's intelligent, sarcastic but protective to those she loves, idealistic and well aware of her faults. With this being a book, rather than a film, I kept forgetting that she is also green which I think actually works in the book's favour. When we get to know a person, we look beyond their external appearance and I think that's why it helps here. I was surprised that the author had decided that green was not a normal skin colour even in Oz, I was expecting that a place which had talking animals would be a bit less uniform in that area.
I did find the book to be a bit heavy going in places and there were time when I just wasn't sure at all what it was trying to say. There's probably a lot in it that I didn't get, and it left me with lots of questions at the end. I didn't understand why there were all the references to Elphaba being 'a girl by nature, if not by choice' (I can't remember the exact quote) and there didn't seem to be any explanation for it. I also didn't understand why Nessarose had to be born without arms, as it was just completely bizarre. The plan of Madam Morrible which was mentioned twice didn't seem to have any point or resolution that I could see and neither was there any reason for Nessarose and Elphaba to be given the completely inappropriate nickname of 'wicked witch'. I don't know whether any further reads of the book would make these things clearer or not but I'm not sure I would actually want to read it again because it was so confusing and heavy going. It's a shame because it was a good book with some really good characters, but just left me rather bemused at the end.
The
Pig Of Happiness ~ Edward Monkton
Until just now, when I was researching Edward Monkton to write this review, I didn't know anything about the author or the books. I'd previously read one of his books, the one entitled Love and I didn't quite get it because there seemed to be some joke behind it that I was missing. Now that I know the author is actually Giles Andreae, the man behind Purple Ronnie; I can now see the similarity in the drawing style of the two creations, but I think that the ideas behind the two entities are quite different. The only reason I happened to pick up this book because it was a present that my sister had received and I was curious about the contents of a book with such a title. I flipped through the pages and within the space of about five minutes, I had read the entire thing.
The book itself is very short. It consists of 32 pages (according to Amazon) but I think that total probably includes the title page and the other pages that don't actually have any of the story on them. The story itself takes up very few pages at all. It has a crudely drawn cartoon style picture on one side and accompanying text on the other. Think of something like a slightly larger version of a Mr Man book, and you'll be on the right track.
It's hard to really comment on the plot of the story because to summarise the plot would be to tell the entire story - it's just that short! There's probably more words in this review than there is in the entire book! It's pretty much a simple philosophical tale, a modern-day parable if you will. At least that's the description from Amazon. It is a nice little story, with a nice inspirational moral at the end and the kind of thing that you could read whenever you need a lift or a bit of a kick in the arse to get motivated. Personally, that sort of book is not really to my taste, but it was a nice little story all the same.
I've not done so well this month, especially considering two of the books I've completed have been eBooks and two others only took me an hour each to read! I still haven't started the big thick library book that I borrowed the other month and it's getting close to renewal time again. I'm considering giving it up as a bad job and returning it instead. Only one more month to go and I doubt somehow that I will be able to read 14 books in it! 36 down, 14 to go.
Books Completed
The
Monsters Inside ~ Stephen Cole (eBook)
Baby Love: An Affectionate Miscellany ~ Rachel Hale
Made Of Steel ~ Terence Dicks
Winner Takes All ~ Jacqueline Rayner (eBook)
Wormwood ~ G.P. Taylor
Books Ongoing
Traditional Tales from Long Long Ago ~ Philip Wilson [Michael reading to me]
Boston City Guide ~ Mara Vorhees and John Spelman
Deviant Strain ~ Justin Richards (eBook)
Waiting to be read
The Encyclopedia of Magic and Witchcraft: An Historical Exploration
into the World of the Magician ~ Susan Greenwood
The Sorcerer's Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry
Potter ~ Allan Kronzek, Elizabeth Kronzek
Judaism for Dummies ~ Ted Falcon, Rabbi Ted Falcon
Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish
Religion, Its People and Its History ~ Joseph
Telushkin
Night ~ Elie Wiesel, S. Rodway (Translator)
[recommended by Michael - not to be read before bed]
Hello
Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Teen Suicide ~ Kate
Bornstein
The Drag King Anthology ~ Donna Troka, et al
Sex Changes: Politics of Transgenderism ~ Patrick
Califia-Rice
Dress
To Kill ~ Eddie Izzard with David Quantick and Steve
Double
Dragonology
Handbook: A Practical Course In Dragons ~ Ernest Drake
Working
With Dragons: A Course In Dragonology ~ Ernest Drake
The
Dangerous Book for Boys ~ Conn Iggulden and Hal
Iggulden
Bringing Up Baby Dragons ~ Ernest Drake
Tracking And Taming Wild Dragons ~ Ernest Drake
The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt Volume 1: Venetian Years ~ Giacomo Casanova, translated by Arthur Machen
Possibly re-read Deathly Hallows
I'd recently finished Shadowmancer which was my book to take to work and as this is by the same author I thought I would read this one too. I'd only read this once, when I first got it, and like Shadowmancer before it, it was similar to reading it for the first time. I had a vague remembrance of the plot, but that was no more knowledge than I would have had from reading the blurb anyway.
The general outline is that there's a comet which is going to crash into Earth, possibly killing everyone. It's set in Victorian London but it's hard to tell if it's our Victorian London or if there's a twist to it, such as a parallel universe or something of that nature. It's kind of our history but not as we would recognise it; it seems to be different somehow.
It's well written but could be possibly more engaging than it actually is. The writing style is not simple but seems to be quite hard work and for some reason any dramatic moments that happen seem to be told in a kind of monotone which makes them less dramatic and exciting than they could be. It's as if the author is detached from the story and has no interest in the telling of it. There seems to be a nod to Dickens with one of the characters going on some kind of mystical journey and awakening in an empty grave in a cemetary early one wintery morning. I'm not sure if the reference was intended or if any of the intended audience of young adults would have noticed it. It took me nearly a month to finish the book because as well as the dull writing style, once the angels and religion started to appear in it, I didn't want to read it any more. It was an effort to continue and I only did so because I don't like leaving books unfinished unless they are absolutely dreadful.
There are quite a few characters to keep track of and some of them have different names which makes it a little confusing. The air of detachment makes it hard to really care about any of them which is another reason why I found it so hard to maintain any interest in it. The ending is quite disappointing. It's totally undramatic, there's very little emotion in it and a lot of it seems to be completely contrived. It's almost as if the author either lost interest in it himself and just wanted to get it over with, or that he'd only got a certain amount of pages and so jumped to the ending because he was running out of space. It finishes with a hook that would seem to indicate a sequel but there was nothing in it that would make me feel the need to know more.
All in all, not a great book in my opinion. I don't think this is an author that I could really get to grips with. I don't like how he seems to bring religion to be the main point in all of his works that I have read, whether or not it would seem to be relevant.
Winner Takes All ~ Jacqueline Rayner
I had high hopes of this book because I'd listened to the audio book of The Stone Rose by the same author and quite enjoyed it. (Although some of that may have been down to David Tennant's wonderful reading of it, but there was an intriguing idea and a good plot anyway!) After my disappointments with the previous Doctor Who novelisations, I thought that I might not be quite so badly let down with this one. And I wasn't. It was much more enjoyable than the other novelisations.
I found the plot quite interesting initially: the Doctor and Rose are back in London and there's a craze for a new video game. People get scratchcards which give them a chance to win a console or a holiday, but as this is Doctor Who, nothing is ever as simple as it sounds. I liked how the use of video games made it relevant to today's culture and then used that as part of the threat. It was similar to the use of mobile phones and their networks which have been used in the actual programmes. Part of the plot required the Doctor to actually play the game and I wasn't quite sure what I felt about that. On the one hand, it was amusing to think of the Doctor doing something like that because it seemed to be so out of character for him, but on the other hand, it was so out of character for him, that I had to wonder if it really worked all that well. The main reason for him doing it was that he is so much more intelligent than any human that he would be the only one able to play the game to the end and win so there really isn't any alternative there, but it just jarred a bit for me.
The baddies here were original to the book. Actually, there were two sets of baddies: the ones that the humans are fighting and then another set that the first baddies are fighting! It sounds confusing, but in the context of the book, it wasn't. I didn't find either of the baddies to be particularly noteworthy and a little disappointing. Towards the end of the book, I began to wonder if the second set of baddies would actually turn out to be all that bad, and there is a twist in that area at the end but I did rather see it coming.
The characterisations were fairly good. The Doctor and Rose were quite decent but I wasn't sure about Mickey. Jackie was not in the book enough to really make an impression - something that I wasn't too bothered about as I didn't like the character anyway. An original character called Robert was an interesting addition. It was a little confusing as he was introduced as being a character in a book, but it was eventually made clear that this was just his daydream and his way of dealing with his life. I quite liked the character although I was never sure exactly how old he was. Sometimes he seemed to be about 10 or 11, but as soon as he started perving over Rose, he seemed to be more like 15 or 16. It was a little odd.
All in all, this was about the best New Series Adventure that I've read so far (not counting the audio book of The Stone Rose because I've yet to read the actual text version).
