I’ve had many mixed feelings about my decision to list all the books I read in 2010, as well as doing the monthly reviews. It’s hard to keep something like that interesting to read and I started to find myself dreading it a little bit towards the end of each month but I think I might keep it going in 2011 in some form – maybe just reviewing the winner of each month and listing the others, it’s good to keep things fresh.
I will still be keeping a list on my sidebar of each book as I read it though, that’s been interesting and I’m really glad I’ve done it, especially because of my tendency to forget a book as soon as I’ve read it. The 2010 list is going to be kept as a separate page on the blog, for people to have a squizz at if they so wish.
I said that I would pick a book of the year but I should have known really that I’d be unable to – I’m not the Man Booker committee rolled into one person. But I have selected my top 4 books of the year, which I think is marvellously restrained of me. They all offer something a little different but all have stayed with me in one way or another. (The links go back to the original reviews I wrote.)
1. One Day – David Nicholls – I love love love loved this book. It’s not a hard read, it’s probably not going to make you question the meaning of life, but it is a perfect love story without all the romantical schmaltz because the characters are real.
2. The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters – I have forgiven her for the lack of lesbians in this book I’ve decided. It’s just a brilliant ghost story with possibly the best twist in the world that will keep you guessing right up until the end of the book and beyond.
3. A Week in December – Sebastien Faulks – I raced through this, I devoured it like the greedy little bookworm that I am and I have continued to think about it long after I finished going “Oh yeah, remember that bit in that book, when...” Most definitely a rare occurance for me to remember what actually happened once the last page has been turned. Excellent read for a take on today’s society.
4. The Finkler Question – Howard Jacobsen – It’s just an amazing book, and I’ve struggled to really describe why. Maybe it just spoke to me for some reason, but I definitely approve of the 2010 Man Booker Committee’s choice.
Special Mentions
I feel that there needs to be a couple of special mentions however. Those 4 books were chosen out of the 12 that won each month but there were a couple of runners up that deserve an honourable mention.
The Selected Works of TS Spivet. (Reif Larsen) - This really really did almost win and if it had it would have absolutely been one of the books of the year. It’s a beautiful story and hello?! The book has maps and diagrams and drawings in the margins – win! I would, and have, recommend this over and over again.
Nocturnes (Kazuo Ishiguro) – the book that made me reconsider my loathing of short stories and love stories that have continued to haunt me.
And another special mention needs to go out to Wetlands (Charlotte Roche) – for disturbing me beyond all measure. I think I’m a changed person now that I’ve read that. Bleurgh.
Those that got left behind...
There also should be mention of those books that sadly didn’t make it. Although I try incredibly hard not to give up on a book and stick with them to the bitter end there have been three this year that I have had to throw the towel in, hold my hands up and just admit that it’s never going to happen.
Dubliners (James Joyce) – I say this in a tiny voice because if American Boy hears it he seriously might come over here and punch me in the face because he’s all about the James Joyce. That’s why I even had this book, he raved about him and I wanted to have a go too. It’s just awful, I got a few stories in but knew I didn’t have the stamina for the rest.
Awakenings (Oliver Sacks) - This is what happens when you don’t travel with a spare book. I went to see the person that I don’t talk about and I finished my book and this was all he had on his bookshelf that looked vaguely interesting. I saw the film a long time ago (which incidentally is brilliant, you should just watch that) and thought I’d give the book a go. But it is dry. Dry dry dry. Just endless case studies. That all start to merge into one. But you should absolutely watch the film if you don’t know the story because it really is fascinating.
Lark Rise to Candleford (Flora Thompson) – I have read the first book in the series and maybe the second two will be more interesting but I have really struggled with this. I’ve kept going because so many people have told me how amazing it was and I really did enjoy Cranford when I read that and it’s the same kind of era, but it was just so interminably dull and reads like a social history textbook. At some point I could be tempted to pick this up again and give the other couple of books ago but it’ll be a while.
I hope it hasn’t all bored you too much and if you have any suggestions for 2011 in terms of how the book reviews might go (or if they should go at all!) then please let me know.
Showing posts with label books of 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books of 2010. Show all posts
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Tuesday, 28 December 2010
December Book Review
I could bore you all with tales of Christmas and so on but I reckon you've probably all had enough of that. Safe to say my Christmas was like most others - presents were given and exchanged and too much food was eaten. Let's leave it at that.
What I need to do is get in my December book review now because I am swiftly running out of days and still need to get the whole year review out of the way.
Don't worry, there's only 2 books, I wouldn't want to tax your over-stuffed brains.
What I need to do is get in my December book review now because I am swiftly running out of days and still need to get the whole year review out of the way.
Don't worry, there's only 2 books, I wouldn't want to tax your over-stuffed brains.
Instruments of Darkness – Imogen Robertson
Man I would have been gutted if this had been the last book of the year that I had read. It was so so poor. I don’t even know where to begin. I almost don’t want to go overboard on the slating because it was kind of so rubbish I would feel bad beating it to death. Poor characters. Poor plotline. Dullness itself. I kept waiting for it to get good, thinking that any minute it was going to kick in, but sadly it was not to be. I realise I haven’t really told you what it’s about but I’m going to save you time by just saying, don’t bother.
Love in a Cold Climate – Nancy Mitford
Have I mentioned I’m obsessed with the Mitfords? Well I am. I seriously can't get enough of them and am making it my life's mission to read and own anything to do with them. This means reading autobiographies and biographies and books of letters, you name it I'll read it, but what was lacking from my reading list was any of the fiction written by Nancy Mitford.
Have you read Evelyn Waugh? Liked it? You'll love this (hardly surprising seeing as we're talking about the same era and they were mates). It is almost laugh out loud funny, full of over-inflated characters and just a damn good read. Read it. You'll love it. It is not to be taken seriously.
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The winner? Love in a Cold Climate. Obviously.
Apologies, I know these two reviews are not the best but you know what? It's the end of the year, don't worry about it.
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
November Book Review
I am hanging my head in shame. But you will probably breathe a sigh of relief at my next announcement.
There are only 2 books to be reviewed this month. I know, I know. The shame. This is down to a combination of factors, the equation of which would look something like this:
I feel I need to make clear that the books that I review each month are the books that I finish in that month. I don’t want anyone to be under the impression that on the 1st of the month I start reading, I could have been reading a book for a couple of months before it gets reviewed. I just felt a need for transparency, in case it wasn’t clear to anyone.
Currently taking up space by my bed is Under the Dome by Stephen King which I can barely lift let alone carry about with me. This means I’m restricted to reading it in bed and at the moment I’m mostly crocheting/embroidering/cross stitching in bed. Also hanging like a brick over me is Lark Rise to Candleford – who told me this book was good? YOU LIED. It’s a dreary trudge that reads like a social history textbook. It’s awful. But because I’m stubborn I refuse to give up.
Anyway, I’ll shut up and get on with this month:
The Finkler Question – Howard Jacobsen
I’m a sucker for the Man Booker Prize, I always say I won’t buy the book that wins in hardback (or indeed any of the shortlist that catches my eye), I will wait until the paperbacks are out, but I always fail miserably. Sometimes it turns out well, other times, it’s Wolf Hall (I still can’t talk about it without shuddering. Terrible book. Awful.)
Some time ago I was talking to my Dad about a Book Group he’d joined, I asked him what book he was nominating and he said he wasn’t going to nominate the book he really wanted to because he didn’t want people to not like it and rip it all to shreds in front of him (and yes he could probably do with quite a bit of therapy). I never really understood what he meant but now I do. I’m torn between urging everyone to go out immediately and buy this book and hiding it away and keeping it to myself because I know that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and I’ll just get upset if you don’t like it.
I love characters that are not instantly likeable. I’m not a fan of characters that are so dull you couldn’t care less about them, but I am a fan of ones that provoke serious reactions from you. (John Lanchester is a master at writing characters that you would really like to punch in the face but can’t bear to stop reading about.) I especially like characters that are a little bit pathetic because you know what? They’re realistic, there are more slightly pathetic men walking about than there are heroes.
Julian Treslove is a pathetic man. He is unloved and unlovable and desperately wants to belong to someone or anything. He especially wants to be Jewish like his frenemy, Sam Finkler. Or does he? I think it’s less about him being Jewish and more about the comfort and insularity that being Jewish brings with it that Treslove craves. He feels he’s not part of a gang and resents the closeness that Finkler and a mutual friend, Libor have, due to their shared religion.
Finkler belongs but doesn’t want to belong, joining a group of Ashamed Jews. Libor feels alone, having lost his wife and just wants to belong to the same realm as her.
This isn’t a huge tome. It isn’t a door stop of the book. But it is so beautifully crafted and I think it will genuinely stay with me for a long time to come (not least because I’m obsessed with all things Jewish myself, god I hope I’m not as pathetic as Treslove). I want you to read it, I really do but please let me warn you - don’t think it’s a happy clappy story, you will want to grab Treslove by his lapels and shake the life out of him at several times in the book and the ending isn’t one all tied up with a bow, but it is wonderful nonetheless.
I feel the judges have redeemed themselves after last year’s nonsense.
Of Bees and Mist – Erick Setiawan
I have no idea how this ended up on my bookshelf, so I’m inclined to believe it was a Times/WH Smith offer, but however it appeared on my shelf I’m incredibly pleased I finally dusted it off and read it.
This is a proper fairytale for grown-ups but don’t let that put you off. It’s also a tale of having possibly the worst mother-in-law you could ever have. It’s a tale of power and strength and that whoever has one doesn’t necessarily have the other.
Meridia grows up in a house where her parents don’t get along. Her father leaves each day in a cloud of mist and returns in another and her mother is, to put it nicely, away with the fairies. When she meets and falls in love with Daniel she marries him and goes to live with him and his parents, where she discovers that her new mother-in-law, Eva, is not all that she seems, sending plagues of bees into the ears of her husband and son when things don’t go her way.
The story is about love and the lengths that people will go to to protect it or keep it close to them and it is another beautiful story, but in a very different way to The Finkler Question. It was a really brilliant read and kept me incredibly good company on the train to and from London for which I am very grateful to it.
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The winner?
HAS to be The Finkler Question – did you not see how much I wrote about it? And I had to pull myself back from writing more. Buy it, read it and if you don’t love it, don’t tell me because I might have to cry my eyeballs out and that would be terribly inconvenient at this moment in time.
(However, please don’t write off Of Bees and Mist, if this was any other month that would probably have won.)
There are only 2 books to be reviewed this month. I know, I know. The shame. This is down to a combination of factors, the equation of which would look something like this:
Christmas crafting stepping up a notch x Reading behemoths of books this month / general busyness = 2 book review in November.
I feel I need to make clear that the books that I review each month are the books that I finish in that month. I don’t want anyone to be under the impression that on the 1st of the month I start reading, I could have been reading a book for a couple of months before it gets reviewed. I just felt a need for transparency, in case it wasn’t clear to anyone.
Currently taking up space by my bed is Under the Dome by Stephen King which I can barely lift let alone carry about with me. This means I’m restricted to reading it in bed and at the moment I’m mostly crocheting/embroidering/cross stitching in bed. Also hanging like a brick over me is Lark Rise to Candleford – who told me this book was good? YOU LIED. It’s a dreary trudge that reads like a social history textbook. It’s awful. But because I’m stubborn I refuse to give up.
Anyway, I’ll shut up and get on with this month:
The Finkler Question – Howard Jacobsen
I’m a sucker for the Man Booker Prize, I always say I won’t buy the book that wins in hardback (or indeed any of the shortlist that catches my eye), I will wait until the paperbacks are out, but I always fail miserably. Sometimes it turns out well, other times, it’s Wolf Hall (I still can’t talk about it without shuddering. Terrible book. Awful.)
Some time ago I was talking to my Dad about a Book Group he’d joined, I asked him what book he was nominating and he said he wasn’t going to nominate the book he really wanted to because he didn’t want people to not like it and rip it all to shreds in front of him (and yes he could probably do with quite a bit of therapy). I never really understood what he meant but now I do. I’m torn between urging everyone to go out immediately and buy this book and hiding it away and keeping it to myself because I know that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and I’ll just get upset if you don’t like it.
I love characters that are not instantly likeable. I’m not a fan of characters that are so dull you couldn’t care less about them, but I am a fan of ones that provoke serious reactions from you. (John Lanchester is a master at writing characters that you would really like to punch in the face but can’t bear to stop reading about.) I especially like characters that are a little bit pathetic because you know what? They’re realistic, there are more slightly pathetic men walking about than there are heroes.
Julian Treslove is a pathetic man. He is unloved and unlovable and desperately wants to belong to someone or anything. He especially wants to be Jewish like his frenemy, Sam Finkler. Or does he? I think it’s less about him being Jewish and more about the comfort and insularity that being Jewish brings with it that Treslove craves. He feels he’s not part of a gang and resents the closeness that Finkler and a mutual friend, Libor have, due to their shared religion.
Finkler belongs but doesn’t want to belong, joining a group of Ashamed Jews. Libor feels alone, having lost his wife and just wants to belong to the same realm as her.
This isn’t a huge tome. It isn’t a door stop of the book. But it is so beautifully crafted and I think it will genuinely stay with me for a long time to come (not least because I’m obsessed with all things Jewish myself, god I hope I’m not as pathetic as Treslove). I want you to read it, I really do but please let me warn you - don’t think it’s a happy clappy story, you will want to grab Treslove by his lapels and shake the life out of him at several times in the book and the ending isn’t one all tied up with a bow, but it is wonderful nonetheless.
I feel the judges have redeemed themselves after last year’s nonsense.
Of Bees and Mist – Erick Setiawan
I have no idea how this ended up on my bookshelf, so I’m inclined to believe it was a Times/WH Smith offer, but however it appeared on my shelf I’m incredibly pleased I finally dusted it off and read it.
This is a proper fairytale for grown-ups but don’t let that put you off. It’s also a tale of having possibly the worst mother-in-law you could ever have. It’s a tale of power and strength and that whoever has one doesn’t necessarily have the other.
Meridia grows up in a house where her parents don’t get along. Her father leaves each day in a cloud of mist and returns in another and her mother is, to put it nicely, away with the fairies. When she meets and falls in love with Daniel she marries him and goes to live with him and his parents, where she discovers that her new mother-in-law, Eva, is not all that she seems, sending plagues of bees into the ears of her husband and son when things don’t go her way.
The story is about love and the lengths that people will go to to protect it or keep it close to them and it is another beautiful story, but in a very different way to The Finkler Question. It was a really brilliant read and kept me incredibly good company on the train to and from London for which I am very grateful to it.
-------------------------------------
The winner?
HAS to be The Finkler Question – did you not see how much I wrote about it? And I had to pull myself back from writing more. Buy it, read it and if you don’t love it, don’t tell me because I might have to cry my eyeballs out and that would be terribly inconvenient at this moment in time.
(However, please don’t write off Of Bees and Mist, if this was any other month that would probably have won.)
Sunday, 31 October 2010
October Book Review
The Forgotten Garden – Kate Morton
I’ll admit that there was a touch of the book snobbery that went on between myself and this book. Sometimes we all succumb to it and although I have no idea how it ended up on my bookshelf (I tend to suspect The Times/WH Smith book of the week offer for all random purchases on my shelves) I eyed it with some suspicion for quite some time, thinking that it wouldn’t be “My type of book.”
So it was quite nice to be surprised really when I got going with this book and found myself thoroughly absorbed in the story. It tells the story of three women from each generation and their discovery to find out who they are and where they came from, both genealogically and spiritually.
I have to admit that at certain points along the way it felt like the book was really too long and could have been cut down a margin, but it wasn’t that much of a turn-off, and the love story that appears at the end felt a little clunky and actually unnecessary, I would have been more impressed if things hadn’t been so formulaic. Nonetheless, this was a good read and I will be keeping my eye out for copies of The House at Riverton, now that my snobbery has been abolished.
We Are All Made of Glue – Marina Lewycka
I read A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian years ago and loved it and have been meaning to read Two Caravans but have just never got around to buying it (strange seeing just how many books I do get around to buying).
I didn’t love this as much as Tractors (yes that’s right, I can’t be bothered to type out the title again). It has the same kind of warmth and humour in it and I enjoyed reading it but it just didn’t rock my world really. Mrs Shapiro is a wonderful character and really the most likeable person in the book – I think where it fell down was that I couldn’t muster up enough feelings towards the main character, Georgie Sinclair. She’s kind of a sap to be honest and even when she’s not being a sap I just couldn’t care enough about her.
Mrs Shapiro is Georgie’s elderly neighbour – living in a massive crumbly old house with a plethora of cats – and when she has an accident, she names Georgie as her next of kin. Georgie then has to go into battle to defend Mrs Shapiro’s right to live in her house against foes such as social services and hungry estate agents, but on the way begins to discover more of Mrs Shapiro’s past.
It was good, it’ll just never get read again if you know what I mean.
The Piano Tuner – Daniel Mason
I think Jill might have recommended this to me a long while back and I saw it in a charity shop and picked it up for a couple of quid. I like getting hardbacks for not much money, I feel like I’ve beaten the system somehow.
Slightly wimpy piano tuner Edgar Drake gets summoned by the army to travel to Burma to tune a rare piano. The piano belongs to an eccentric Surgeon-Major, Anthony Carroll, who has succeeded in bringing peace to the warring Shan states but is a law until himself.
The book tells the story of Edgar’s journey across from misty London to the jungles of Burma and into the arena of Carroll, who may, or may not, be all as he seems.
The pace of this book is slow. S.l.o.w. Perhaps this was purposely to reflect the slow journey he makes across to Burma (we don’t meet Carroll until half way through the book) or perhaps it’s just a slow book. Who knows.
And whilst you’re wading through the book and wondering if it’s ever going to end, it suddenly shoots off into the distance and the last 50 pages of the book race ahead like some kind of whirligig, leaving you struggling for breath behind it, saying “Whaaaaaaat? What the hell is happening here?” And it continues at this breakneck speed right up until the very surprising end when you go, “My god. Did I enjoy that book or not?”
I’m still not sure to be honest. I felt like I was in a constant battle with Mason, begging him for just a little bit more information. I’m all for having to use your imagination at times in fiction but this was just too hard, I felt like things just never got explained and Wimpy Edgar’s wife back at home never gets a look in poor woman.
Strange would be my overall verdict but kind of worth reading, especially for the ending.
Superfreakonomics – Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
It seems probably pretty standard that I would like this book. I have the degrees and all but I promise you don’t have to an economics geek to appreciate this book and it’s bigger brother, Freakonomics. You don’t have to understand economic principles at all (good thing given that I’ve completely forgotten everything I’ve ever been taught) but you do have to be fairly nosy. Nosiness is an advantage because you will have to natural thirst to try and figure out why people behave in the way that they do.
I had a minor complaint with this book however. It’s a pitfall I guess when you have a suddenly massively popular book like Freakonomics that no-one really saw coming. I got a whiff when I was reading this one that they were trying just a little bit too hard to impress us with their ‘freaky’ ways. Freakonomics was good because it made you chuckle a bit, with Superfreakonomics they have deliberately set out to rock the boat – the subtitle of this book is “Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance” – see what I mean? Deliberately provocative.
But actually if you take that last bit about suicide bombers, this is actually a couple of pages at the end of what is actually an incredibly interesting chapter about behavourial economics and database and profile building. I know they have to hook people, hence the reference about suicide bombers but in a way things like irritated me. But I guess that’s possibly the snob in me.
I love it though, I’m bound to, I’m clearly biased, but it’s honestly and funny, clever and most importantly, easily digestible book which will make you consider the world just slightly differently.
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Book of the month has to be Superfreakonomics I’m afraid. Entertaining and educational? Yes please! Although please check out Freakonomics as well because I actually kinda preferred that one.
I’m also thinking that I maybe need to look back over the winners of each month and perhaps come out with a Book of the Year. (Yes I am thinking that far ahead.) Thoughts?
Thursday, 30 September 2010
September Book Review
I’ve been looking forward to and dreading this post in equal measure. Looking forward to it in that this month has been so much better than last month’s terrible month for books, but dreading it because a week on holiday meant I plowed through quite a few babies this month.
I will try and keep these brief, as there were 5 books read this month.
Salem Falls – Jodi Picoult
I have a stockpile of these books because Culture Friend lent me a load an age ago. I just can’t read them all in one go though, I’ll start to convince myself I’m living a life of mystery and subterfuge. I am trying to battle my way through them though, I’ve had them for an embarrassingly long time.
I liked this one – Picoult goes a little bit edgy with her story about a man recently released from prison after being accused of statutory rape, trying to start his life over again, only to be accused for a second time by a group of teenage girls. Oh and they happen to be practicing witchcraft. Yeah I know.
I did like this one, I got very carried away with it and all kinds of theories about how it was going to end. I was wildly wrong though, mainly because I overshot quite a bit, I went pretty dark with my predictions and found myself disappointed when they turned out not to be true. The main ‘twist’ you can see coming from a million miles away though.
I feel bad because I still continue to kind of dismiss Picoult a little bit and never bother buying her books, but I haven’t read one of hers yet that I haven’t enjoyed and I think she needs to be applauded for covering a whole breadth of scenarios – from dying children to the Amish to rape convicts. Good work Ms Picoult.
Nocturnes – Kazuo Ishiguro
I have a confession to make. I really don’t like short stories. I can’t explain why, I just never enjoy them, I either find them irritating because they end before things have really got going or they’re just incredibly abstract as the author attempts to write a good story in very few words.
I picked this up by accident. I read Never Let Me Go a long time ago and it’s continued to haunt me ever since (and there’s a film due out this year apparently). I saw this and picked it up and it wasn’t until it finally got plucked off the bookshelf that I realised I’d bought a collection of short stories. “Bleurgh.” I thought to myself.
How wrong was I? Each and every story is so beautiful – each a love story but not your schmaltzy kind of love, real love warts and all, black and white and all the grey areas in between. Ishiguro must be quite the master at writing short stories, none of his books are great tomes that you struggle to lift off the shelf, and these stories didn’t feel unfinished and didn’t drive me demented as I tried to understand what they meant, instead leaving me with a pleasant glow and a wish to sit down and read them all again.
Remarkable Creatures – Tracy Chevalier
I have far too many books unread on my bookshelf and so I farm them out to people that I can trust not to destroy them before I’ve had a chance to read them. Sometimes I forget I’ve lent them out – as I did with this one when Culture Friend passed it over the table while we were out to dinner – “Oooh this looks good” I said. “Babe, it’s yours” she replied.
Moving on...
I’ve only just figured it out but Tracy Chevalier’s modus operandi is to take real life people/things and spin a tale of fiction around them. Earlier in the year I read The Lady and the Unicorn which was inspired by a tapestry. There’s the famous Girl with a Pearl Earring which I’ve yet to read and this book concerns real-life lady fossil hunters, namely Mary Anning (working class fossil hunter) and Elizabeth Philpot (middle class spinster whiling away her time finding fish fossils) who strike up a friendship when fossil hunting on the beaches of Lyme Regis. Ladies didn’t fossil hunt in those days you know, it was quite the scandal and Remarkable Creatures tells the story of how Mary and Elizabeth learn from each other, against the wider backdrop of history and society.
AWeek in December – Sebastian Faulks
I love the Faulks you know. He can’t do much wrong in my book. (Apart from Human Traces which really...did.....drag.....on.) How I managed to miss this bad boy I’ll never know but hurrah for The Times £2.99 book of the week a WH Smith (why yes I do keep them in business) who brought it to my attention, just before I set off for France. Perfect timing.
It does what it says on the tin. Taking place over seven days, you become immersed in the worlds of several characters, whose lives all intertwine throughout the book. It’s all very Of The Time – there’s a young radicalised Muslim, planning a terrorist attack, a nasty greedy hedge fund manager, a teen smoking too much dope watching a reality TV programme where people with mental health issues battle for a place in an institution, a tube driver spending too much time on an online game, among others.
The amount of research Faulks must have done is incredible – especially regarding the financial aspects of hedge funds. I’ll be honest, they completely baffled me, I had no idea what he was going on about but I don’t know if that was intentional – was he showing how messed up and tricky to understand it all was or was I really supposed to come away with a deep knowledge of hedge funds?
This book absolutely blew me away, I was completely captured and could not put it down, much to the annoyance at times of my Dad who I think saw it as a rival to the many sightseeing tours he had planned for me.
The thing that potentially worries me though is that this book is so consumed with pop culture that it might not stand the test of time. If you read it now you will love it and you will understand and shake your head and laugh ruefully at all the bits which reflect modern society. If you threw it at someone in 50 years time would they do the same? I don’t know that they would. The brilliant thing about this novel is that it does make sense to you, you can relate to it. Even I picked up on a small thing that I thought was a little out of date – the young Muslim is contacted over the book’s version of MySpace – I thought this a little odd, we all know that MySpace died a death a long while ago. However at the end of the book there’s a small word of thanks from the author and it gives the dates between which he wrote it – when he started writing this book there was a small thing in its infancy. Facebook. It doesn’t get mentioned at all which I suspect is because Facebook wasn’t on his radar when he began writing this.
Or maybe I’m being picky.
I loved this book. And I mean, loved it.
Corduroy Mansions – Alexander McCall Smith
Oh how I rejoice that I took this book away with me. Perfect to read when you have long bouts of travel ahead of you. Especially long bouts of travel that mean you end up missing your train back to Hull and having to wait for an hour and a half in London Kings Cross train station, with little tears sliding down your face because you’re very tired and just want to get home before 11.30pm.
I love the McCall Smith. He writes books which are ridiculously easy to read. I’m a huge fan and can’t really say anything bad about him.
Just one small criticism though...
This book worked for me on many levels because it was easy to read, had funny little characters and tiny little chapters because it originated as a column in The Observer newspaper. But. It’s just kind of the same thing as 44 Scotland Street which was easy to read, had funny little characters and tiny little chapters because it originated as a column in The Scotsman...see where I’m going.
I mean it’s good but it’s basically the same thing set in England. It’s not even a little bit different.
It’s a good job I like him really.
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And now for the winner:
One Week in September – it just has to be, although it is very closely followed by Nocturnes.
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Edited to add: I'm a moron and thank goodness Mooncalf isn't because she managed to spot that I called Sebastian Faulks' book One Week in September, instead of A Week in December, despite having a picture of the freakin' book in front of me. Apologies, I had September on the brain. And I'm a moron.
I will try and keep these brief, as there were 5 books read this month.
Salem Falls – Jodi Picoult
I have a stockpile of these books because Culture Friend lent me a load an age ago. I just can’t read them all in one go though, I’ll start to convince myself I’m living a life of mystery and subterfuge. I am trying to battle my way through them though, I’ve had them for an embarrassingly long time.
I liked this one – Picoult goes a little bit edgy with her story about a man recently released from prison after being accused of statutory rape, trying to start his life over again, only to be accused for a second time by a group of teenage girls. Oh and they happen to be practicing witchcraft. Yeah I know.
I did like this one, I got very carried away with it and all kinds of theories about how it was going to end. I was wildly wrong though, mainly because I overshot quite a bit, I went pretty dark with my predictions and found myself disappointed when they turned out not to be true. The main ‘twist’ you can see coming from a million miles away though.
I feel bad because I still continue to kind of dismiss Picoult a little bit and never bother buying her books, but I haven’t read one of hers yet that I haven’t enjoyed and I think she needs to be applauded for covering a whole breadth of scenarios – from dying children to the Amish to rape convicts. Good work Ms Picoult.
Nocturnes – Kazuo Ishiguro
I have a confession to make. I really don’t like short stories. I can’t explain why, I just never enjoy them, I either find them irritating because they end before things have really got going or they’re just incredibly abstract as the author attempts to write a good story in very few words.
I picked this up by accident. I read Never Let Me Go a long time ago and it’s continued to haunt me ever since (and there’s a film due out this year apparently). I saw this and picked it up and it wasn’t until it finally got plucked off the bookshelf that I realised I’d bought a collection of short stories. “Bleurgh.” I thought to myself.
How wrong was I? Each and every story is so beautiful – each a love story but not your schmaltzy kind of love, real love warts and all, black and white and all the grey areas in between. Ishiguro must be quite the master at writing short stories, none of his books are great tomes that you struggle to lift off the shelf, and these stories didn’t feel unfinished and didn’t drive me demented as I tried to understand what they meant, instead leaving me with a pleasant glow and a wish to sit down and read them all again.
Remarkable Creatures – Tracy Chevalier
Moving on...
I’ve only just figured it out but Tracy Chevalier’s modus operandi is to take real life people/things and spin a tale of fiction around them. Earlier in the year I read The Lady and the Unicorn which was inspired by a tapestry. There’s the famous Girl with a Pearl Earring which I’ve yet to read and this book concerns real-life lady fossil hunters, namely Mary Anning (working class fossil hunter) and Elizabeth Philpot (middle class spinster whiling away her time finding fish fossils) who strike up a friendship when fossil hunting on the beaches of Lyme Regis. Ladies didn’t fossil hunt in those days you know, it was quite the scandal and Remarkable Creatures tells the story of how Mary and Elizabeth learn from each other, against the wider backdrop of history and society.
AWeek in December – Sebastian Faulks
I love the Faulks you know. He can’t do much wrong in my book. (Apart from Human Traces which really...did.....drag.....on.) How I managed to miss this bad boy I’ll never know but hurrah for The Times £2.99 book of the week a WH Smith (why yes I do keep them in business) who brought it to my attention, just before I set off for France. Perfect timing.
It does what it says on the tin. Taking place over seven days, you become immersed in the worlds of several characters, whose lives all intertwine throughout the book. It’s all very Of The Time – there’s a young radicalised Muslim, planning a terrorist attack, a nasty greedy hedge fund manager, a teen smoking too much dope watching a reality TV programme where people with mental health issues battle for a place in an institution, a tube driver spending too much time on an online game, among others.
The amount of research Faulks must have done is incredible – especially regarding the financial aspects of hedge funds. I’ll be honest, they completely baffled me, I had no idea what he was going on about but I don’t know if that was intentional – was he showing how messed up and tricky to understand it all was or was I really supposed to come away with a deep knowledge of hedge funds?
This book absolutely blew me away, I was completely captured and could not put it down, much to the annoyance at times of my Dad who I think saw it as a rival to the many sightseeing tours he had planned for me.
The thing that potentially worries me though is that this book is so consumed with pop culture that it might not stand the test of time. If you read it now you will love it and you will understand and shake your head and laugh ruefully at all the bits which reflect modern society. If you threw it at someone in 50 years time would they do the same? I don’t know that they would. The brilliant thing about this novel is that it does make sense to you, you can relate to it. Even I picked up on a small thing that I thought was a little out of date – the young Muslim is contacted over the book’s version of MySpace – I thought this a little odd, we all know that MySpace died a death a long while ago. However at the end of the book there’s a small word of thanks from the author and it gives the dates between which he wrote it – when he started writing this book there was a small thing in its infancy. Facebook. It doesn’t get mentioned at all which I suspect is because Facebook wasn’t on his radar when he began writing this.
Or maybe I’m being picky.
I loved this book. And I mean, loved it.
Corduroy Mansions – Alexander McCall Smith
Oh how I rejoice that I took this book away with me. Perfect to read when you have long bouts of travel ahead of you. Especially long bouts of travel that mean you end up missing your train back to Hull and having to wait for an hour and a half in London Kings Cross train station, with little tears sliding down your face because you’re very tired and just want to get home before 11.30pm.
I love the McCall Smith. He writes books which are ridiculously easy to read. I’m a huge fan and can’t really say anything bad about him.
Just one small criticism though...
This book worked for me on many levels because it was easy to read, had funny little characters and tiny little chapters because it originated as a column in The Observer newspaper. But. It’s just kind of the same thing as 44 Scotland Street which was easy to read, had funny little characters and tiny little chapters because it originated as a column in The Scotsman...see where I’m going.
I mean it’s good but it’s basically the same thing set in England. It’s not even a little bit different.
It’s a good job I like him really.
-------------------
And now for the winner:
One Week in September – it just has to be, although it is very closely followed by Nocturnes.
-------------------
Edited to add: I'm a moron and thank goodness Mooncalf isn't because she managed to spot that I called Sebastian Faulks' book One Week in September, instead of A Week in December, despite having a picture of the freakin' book in front of me. Apologies, I had September on the brain. And I'm a moron.
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
August Book Review
Don't hate me for being a day late. I'm horrendous aren't I?
Good news is I only read 3 books this month so it'll be a short one. It would have been even shorter if it wasn't for a train journey down to and back from Torquay which gave me a total of 14 hours good reading time. Even better I forgot to take notes like I usually do so I'll be lucky if I can remember anything of them bar the name.
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
I was really looking forward to this, how could I not be given the amazingness that was The Time Traveller's Wife. But I was a little disappointed to be honest.
It took me a long while to get into this one, it was a bit like trying to sprint across the pool in aqua aerobics, I wanted to get to the other side but something just kept holding me back.
Her Fearful Symmetry is about a pair of twins in America who inherit a creepy flat near Highgate Cemetry in London from an Aunt Elspeth that they never met. The only stipulation is that they have to live there for a year and their mother (the Elspeth's twin) isn't allowed to step foot in there.
There is a kind of awkward bloke living in the flat below who used to be Elspeth's lover. There is a kind of awkward bloke living in the flat above who has OCD. None of it really flows very nicely.
Then somewhat bizarrely things take a very strange twist and we enter another realm of ghostly goings on. I shouldn't have been surprised, this woman wrote about time-travelling for goodness sake, but it kind of took me by surprise and I found myself enjoying it. Kind of.
Overall it was okaaaaaaaaaay, but it made me pull a puzzled face. And I found it hard to care about any of the characters which always makes it difficult to feel sympathy for them.
The Rose of Sebastopol - Katherine McMahon
I'm seriously struggling to think about how to write about this book. Which is not a good start.
Drippy heroine. Drippy fiance. Headstrong cousin. Crimean War.
It could have been amazing but it was all a little cliched and I just felt like it didn't go far enough. There were questions which weren't really answered, and not in that very clever, "Oooh I wonder what happened there, let's sit and have a think about it" way, but in an annoying "You couldn't be bothered to explain that properly could you?" way.
I mean I read it. But that's not saying a lot considering I was trapped on a train for 6.5 hours and couldn't be bothered to do any cross stitching.
Blah.
Not a good month.
Good news is I only read 3 books this month so it'll be a short one. It would have been even shorter if it wasn't for a train journey down to and back from Torquay which gave me a total of 14 hours good reading time. Even better I forgot to take notes like I usually do so I'll be lucky if I can remember anything of them bar the name.
I was really looking forward to this, how could I not be given the amazingness that was The Time Traveller's Wife. But I was a little disappointed to be honest.
It took me a long while to get into this one, it was a bit like trying to sprint across the pool in aqua aerobics, I wanted to get to the other side but something just kept holding me back.
Her Fearful Symmetry is about a pair of twins in America who inherit a creepy flat near Highgate Cemetry in London from an Aunt Elspeth that they never met. The only stipulation is that they have to live there for a year and their mother (the Elspeth's twin) isn't allowed to step foot in there.
There is a kind of awkward bloke living in the flat below who used to be Elspeth's lover. There is a kind of awkward bloke living in the flat above who has OCD. None of it really flows very nicely.
Then somewhat bizarrely things take a very strange twist and we enter another realm of ghostly goings on. I shouldn't have been surprised, this woman wrote about time-travelling for goodness sake, but it kind of took me by surprise and I found myself enjoying it. Kind of.
Overall it was okaaaaaaaaaay, but it made me pull a puzzled face. And I found it hard to care about any of the characters which always makes it difficult to feel sympathy for them.
The Rose of Sebastopol - Katherine McMahon
I'm seriously struggling to think about how to write about this book. Which is not a good start.
Drippy heroine. Drippy fiance. Headstrong cousin. Crimean War.
It could have been amazing but it was all a little cliched and I just felt like it didn't go far enough. There were questions which weren't really answered, and not in that very clever, "Oooh I wonder what happened there, let's sit and have a think about it" way, but in an annoying "You couldn't be bothered to explain that properly could you?" way.
I mean I read it. But that's not saying a lot considering I was trapped on a train for 6.5 hours and couldn't be bothered to do any cross stitching.
Blah.
The Weight of Silence - Heather Gudenkauf
Hello The Times/WH Smith book offer, you reel me in again. Good job really considering that I finished the first book on the way down to Torquay and needed something to read on the way back up but man am I pleased that I only spent £2.99 on it.
Two little girls go missing and the story of their absence is told through the voices of the various people connected to them. Totally readable and I raced through it but when it was over I couldn't really work out why I'd read it and what I'd gained from it. I was left going, "Yeah, and?"
It is one of the Book Club's summer reads and I can totally see why. Very easy to read, sucks you in very quickly and as soon as you've read it you can leave it on the beach or at the hotel and never think about it again. I don't mean that as a damning review, more a pat on the back for the people that choose the books for the Book Club, well done them.
...........
The winner this month?
Her Fearful Symmetry.
But it's a bit like picking out the banana that's the least black and mushy out of a bunch.
Saturday, 31 July 2010
July Book Review
After last month's kind of ridiculous levels of book reading I have slowed down somewhat. Not surprising given everything that's happened really. There was only going to be three books in this post but the last one has managed to scrape through by the skin of his teeth.
The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters
Any of you who have read other Sarah Waters’ books might want to prepare themselves for a revelation about this one....
No lesbians!
I think I was a little disappointed in a way.
Waters has again proved that she is the Mistress of Good Books. Her ability to write and to draw and suck you in never ceases to amaze me. This time she’s turned her hand to ghosties and big old crumbling houses.
I don’t want to give too much away about this one, it’s just. Too brilliant. And scary. Seriously I was in bed one night reading this and was seriously terrified, I nearly jumped out of the window when my door very slowly creaked open and was somewhat relieved to discover it was just Maud coming to say hello.
You must read this. You must. And then you have to e-mail me so we can talk about the ending. Deal? (although be aware that I’ll have probably forgotten the ending by the time you e-mail ‘kay?)
Also. WHY did this not win the Booker Prize when the monstrosity that was Wolf Hall did?! You guys needed your heads examining.
The Friday Night Knitting Club – Kate Jacobs
There’s always room for chick lit and this was the perfect antidote to a somewhat stressful period in my life. Dorothy thrust this into my hands on the day that I moved in and it provided a comforting little place to escape to.
Basic premise – single mother owns yarn shop, very independent, daughter similarly so. Lots of women who work/come in to yarn shop, have life crises, father of daughter returns, trip to Scotland, tears, tantrums, laughs, escapades. Shock ending that will make you go “What the?!”
It’s good but like a lot of these books I find myself wishing there was just a little more. Sometimes it’s ok to have less characters and then concentrate on just a few, rather than trying to flit from story to story and ending up with 4 kind of fulfilling stories, rather than a couple.
As they go though, this one was pretty good.
The Silver Linings Playbook – Matthew Quick
I’m a sucker for any kind of recommendation. I’m no snob. I quite liked Richard and Judy’s Book Club so when they disappeared (bad luck with that whole moving to a digital channel guys) and the TV Book Club emerged I was pretty excited. Unfortunately they kept putting the programmes on More4 on a Sunday at 7pm which was just a rubbish time. Kept forgetting about it and only saw 2 episodes.
Nevertheless I will always go and check out their recommendations and have a little read and see if it takes my fancy.
This one’s a quirky little number. Won’t take you long to read at all. Tells the story of Pat Peoples who has come from a secure facility and has moved back in with his parents and is just biding his time until ‘apart time’ with his wife is over. It has more than a hint of the Curious Dog at Nighttime about it, mainly because it’s narrated from Pat’s point of view so everything’s a little skew-whiff and doesn’t feel quite right.
Mostly it’s good although there are more than a few bits that are a little unbelievable.
Mr Rosenblum’s List – Natasha Solomons
Hello Times Book of the Week at WH Smiths – you call to me again! I’m not even going to lie, I bought this mainly because the front cover was so pretty. Yes. I am hanging my head in shame. I judged a book by its cover.
And I’m so pleased I did.
Jack Rosenblum arrives in England as a Jewish refugee from Germany just before the outbreak of the war. Upon arrival with his wife, Sadie, he is given a pamphlet to help aid his assimilation into British life which he immediately takes to heart and begins to expand upon.
Upon discovering that his presence is not welcome at any Golf Clubs, Jack decides to move to Dorset and build his own. What follows is a story of loss and acceptance and woolly pigs.
It’s incredibly charming and well worth a read.
----------------------------------
Winner?
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Without a doubt.
(Even if there are no lesbians in it.)
-----------------------------------
Also. I have a huge apology to make. Last month I complete neglected to mention that the only reason I had the A Debt to Pleasure book was because Jill had sent it to me. She knew that I'd liked some of his other books and was kind enough to send this one on to me. So sorry Jill that I forgot to mention that. Please don't tell my Mum she'd kill me for my rubbish manners.
The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters
Any of you who have read other Sarah Waters’ books might want to prepare themselves for a revelation about this one....
No lesbians!
I think I was a little disappointed in a way.
Waters has again proved that she is the Mistress of Good Books. Her ability to write and to draw and suck you in never ceases to amaze me. This time she’s turned her hand to ghosties and big old crumbling houses.
I don’t want to give too much away about this one, it’s just. Too brilliant. And scary. Seriously I was in bed one night reading this and was seriously terrified, I nearly jumped out of the window when my door very slowly creaked open and was somewhat relieved to discover it was just Maud coming to say hello.
You must read this. You must. And then you have to e-mail me so we can talk about the ending. Deal? (although be aware that I’ll have probably forgotten the ending by the time you e-mail ‘kay?)
Also. WHY did this not win the Booker Prize when the monstrosity that was Wolf Hall did?! You guys needed your heads examining.
The Friday Night Knitting Club – Kate Jacobs
There’s always room for chick lit and this was the perfect antidote to a somewhat stressful period in my life. Dorothy thrust this into my hands on the day that I moved in and it provided a comforting little place to escape to.
Basic premise – single mother owns yarn shop, very independent, daughter similarly so. Lots of women who work/come in to yarn shop, have life crises, father of daughter returns, trip to Scotland, tears, tantrums, laughs, escapades. Shock ending that will make you go “What the?!”
It’s good but like a lot of these books I find myself wishing there was just a little more. Sometimes it’s ok to have less characters and then concentrate on just a few, rather than trying to flit from story to story and ending up with 4 kind of fulfilling stories, rather than a couple.
As they go though, this one was pretty good.
The Silver Linings Playbook – Matthew Quick
I’m a sucker for any kind of recommendation. I’m no snob. I quite liked Richard and Judy’s Book Club so when they disappeared (bad luck with that whole moving to a digital channel guys) and the TV Book Club emerged I was pretty excited. Unfortunately they kept putting the programmes on More4 on a Sunday at 7pm which was just a rubbish time. Kept forgetting about it and only saw 2 episodes.
Nevertheless I will always go and check out their recommendations and have a little read and see if it takes my fancy.
This one’s a quirky little number. Won’t take you long to read at all. Tells the story of Pat Peoples who has come from a secure facility and has moved back in with his parents and is just biding his time until ‘apart time’ with his wife is over. It has more than a hint of the Curious Dog at Nighttime about it, mainly because it’s narrated from Pat’s point of view so everything’s a little skew-whiff and doesn’t feel quite right.
Mostly it’s good although there are more than a few bits that are a little unbelievable.
Mr Rosenblum’s List – Natasha Solomons
Hello Times Book of the Week at WH Smiths – you call to me again! I’m not even going to lie, I bought this mainly because the front cover was so pretty. Yes. I am hanging my head in shame. I judged a book by its cover.
And I’m so pleased I did.
Jack Rosenblum arrives in England as a Jewish refugee from Germany just before the outbreak of the war. Upon arrival with his wife, Sadie, he is given a pamphlet to help aid his assimilation into British life which he immediately takes to heart and begins to expand upon.
Upon discovering that his presence is not welcome at any Golf Clubs, Jack decides to move to Dorset and build his own. What follows is a story of loss and acceptance and woolly pigs.
It’s incredibly charming and well worth a read.
----------------------------------
Winner?
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Without a doubt.
(Even if there are no lesbians in it.)
-----------------------------------
Also. I have a huge apology to make. Last month I complete neglected to mention that the only reason I had the A Debt to Pleasure book was because Jill had sent it to me. She knew that I'd liked some of his other books and was kind enough to send this one on to me. So sorry Jill that I forgot to mention that. Please don't tell my Mum she'd kill me for my rubbish manners.
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
June Book Review
Apologies to those of you who dread these massive long blog posts about the books I’ve read each month. I’ve tried to leave them in the past, I really have but the truth is I made a promise to myself to make a record of each and every book I read this year and damnit I’m going to do it!
So I’m afraid you’re just going to have to grin and bear it when the end of the month comes round.
And you never know, there might just be something in here for you.
This month is ridiculously long. I think along with burying my head in my wool and furiously crocheting, I also found solace in books and this month has been the best yet, a whopping SIX books in one month. Oh how I wish I could read this much every month....
So really I deserve everything I got.
I’ll make no bones about it. This book is shocking. It is shocking from page 1. It is most certainly not for those of a nervous disposition and definitely not for those who are easily offended. It’s pure filth.
I would like to say I was being a clever clogs and decided to read this the same month that the last ever Big Brother came on to our screens, but unfortunately I’m not that suave. This was pure coincidence, I didn’t really know what the book was about.
The story surrounds the contestants of a reality TV show called House Arrest. On Day 27 (I can’t say that without a Geordie accent you know, oh how you have entered my inner psyche Big Brother!) one of the housemates is killed and you follow the police on the outside and the housemates on the inside as they try to unravel who the murderer is.
It’s pretty clever. Even though you know from the outset that someone has been killed, you don’t find out who until halfway through the book as Elton employs the ever glorious flashback technique as we begin to build a picture of the housemates.
Yeah it was good. Yeah I guessed who had done it and how. But it was still a good read.
And yes I think we all wonder how far reality television is going to go to pull in the ratings. Does anyone remember Fight Night from BB5? Epic. But I think the fact that this is the last series of Big Brother shows that we public are a fickle lot, it was yesterday’s news thank you very much and good night.
Oh John Lanchester you are a funny man. I’ve read three of your books now, one quite recently, and you have achieved something remarkable...every single one of them has been completely different. You sir, are a legend.
This is the toughest of the three though (the best? Fragrant Harbour in my humble opinion). Luckily I had geared myself up for a challenge as this book came my way via Gill (give everyone a wave Gill) who couldn’t get into it and noticed that I’d read some of his other work.
It. Is. Weird.
The book is narrated by Tarquin, a rather pompous bloke who appears to regaling you with the contents of a cookbook. He waxes lyrical about how to make aioli, he bangs on about curry. In short it is food food food. Too much food. You’re reading it and thinking to yourself, “Whaaaaaaaaat is he on about?!”
And then suddenly you catch something in the text. In the middle of his soliloquy about cheese you realise that he’s mentioned that he’s had to duck in to a shop to escape someone’s attention. Then he mentions that he’s wearing wigs. Then you realise he’s bugging someone’s hotel room.
As the book progresses, Tarquin becomes ever more dangerous and sinister, this book really reminded me of Sebastian Faulks’ Engleby in that respect. I can’t say more without giving away the premise of the book, but it is bizarre.
To be honest some of the food rants I began skim reading, blah blah blah, as they are a little bit much, but I see that they are kind of essential. You need this kind of intense prose on food because you know what? Tarquin is kind of an intense guy.
I missed out on the whole Dave Gorman Googlewhack adventures here. I’ve never seen any of the programmes he’s made or read any of his other books but I caught a glimpse of the film he made of this journey and knew I had to buy it.
The premise is simple. Gorman planned to travel coast to coast through America without giving any money to The Man i.e. chains. So petrol couldn’t come from Shell, they couldn’t sleep in a Best Great Western motel, couldn’t eat at MacDonalds – get the drift?
This book is the story of that adventure. And it’s hilarious. Dave Gorman has the most brilliant writing style, as you’re reading you feel as if he’s in the room with you, just telling you about what happened, it’s pure genius.
To tell you more would be to spoil it. To tell you if he actually made it would spoil it even more. You should read this, it will make you laugh, probably out loud in public which will be embarrassing. I really want to see the film now.
Brixton Beach – Roma Tearne
I wanted this to be good. I really really did. And the thing is it was good at the beginning. For the first half I was absolutely revelling in it, it was a beautifully told story and Tearne did a fantastic job of transporting me to Sri Lanka. It felt very vivd, I could see all the colours and felt I was living there with them, it was just brilliant story-telling.
And then it just all got weird. And boring. And there were ginormous huge gaps in time which left me feeling a little bit cheated, hang on, what about character development? It seemed a shame, the first half of the book focused on this tiny amount of time in the main protagonist’s life and the next half of the book dealt with the next 30/40-odd years. It was so disappointing. At the end I found myself not really caring anymore, it was like she’d given up. Or starting telling a story and then realised half way through “Oh my goodness this is going to be too long” and just missed massive chunks out of it.
Not terrible and I would recommend it, if only for the first half but I did finish it and feel a little confused about what the message was supposed to be.
A Good Yarn – Debbie Macomber
Someone sent this to me while I was in hospital in May. I wish I’d read it then because it could have stayed there.
It’s just poor, crappy chick lit. The kind of chick lit that gives chick lit a bad name. Hastily and scrappily drawn up characters, two-dimensional, sort of tries to deal with hard-hitting issues but only in an incredibly superficial way.
Just. Bad really.
But if you were in hospital this book wouldn’t be a bad way of getting through the time. But then that doesn’t say much to be honest.
_____________________________
This month's winner? Has to be Unchained America. Man that book was funny.
Yeah I do know that the photos only show the first 4 books but I took those photos BB (before break-up) I haven't had the time to gather all six together for a group shot. Try and not be disappointed.
So I’m afraid you’re just going to have to grin and bear it when the end of the month comes round.
And you never know, there might just be something in here for you.
This month is ridiculously long. I think along with burying my head in my wool and furiously crocheting, I also found solace in books and this month has been the best yet, a whopping SIX books in one month. Oh how I wish I could read this much every month....
Wetlands – Charlotte Roche
Sometimes curiosity can get the better of you and this would be one of those times. I’d heard reviews about this book which had said it wasn’t for the faint of heart. Hell I even read The Curious Cat’s review (In fact there is one comment on that post and it’s from me. I knew I’d end up buying it in the end! And it took me almost exactly a year.) I should have listened to her, I did listen to her, but still I couldn’t reign the curiosity in.
And I just didn’t really get it. Maybe there was some message on a higher level that I wasn’t quite reaching, but for me it just seemed to be an exercise in writing just the most foul book ever written. Maybe that was the higher message? Maybe I shouldn’t be so revulsed when all she’s talking about are bodily fluids and parts of the body that we all (well the female portion of the world) have? I don’t know.
I made the huge mistake of starting to read this at the bus stop. Half way to my destination I realised I was sat with my hand clapped over my mouth and my eyes bulging out of my head. I cannot wait to see someone else in public reading it because I will give them a knowing smile that says “I know. I should have known better too mate.”
Dead Famous – Ben Elton
I would like to say I was being a clever clogs and decided to read this the same month that the last ever Big Brother came on to our screens, but unfortunately I’m not that suave. This was pure coincidence, I didn’t really know what the book was about.
The story surrounds the contestants of a reality TV show called House Arrest. On Day 27 (I can’t say that without a Geordie accent you know, oh how you have entered my inner psyche Big Brother!) one of the housemates is killed and you follow the police on the outside and the housemates on the inside as they try to unravel who the murderer is.
It’s pretty clever. Even though you know from the outset that someone has been killed, you don’t find out who until halfway through the book as Elton employs the ever glorious flashback technique as we begin to build a picture of the housemates.
Yeah it was good. Yeah I guessed who had done it and how. But it was still a good read.
And yes I think we all wonder how far reality television is going to go to pull in the ratings. Does anyone remember Fight Night from BB5? Epic. But I think the fact that this is the last series of Big Brother shows that we public are a fickle lot, it was yesterday’s news thank you very much and good night.
A Debt to Pleasure – John Lanchester
Oh John Lanchester you are a funny man. I’ve read three of your books now, one quite recently, and you have achieved something remarkable...every single one of them has been completely different. You sir, are a legend.
This is the toughest of the three though (the best? Fragrant Harbour in my humble opinion). Luckily I had geared myself up for a challenge as this book came my way via Gill (give everyone a wave Gill) who couldn’t get into it and noticed that I’d read some of his other work.
It. Is. Weird.
The book is narrated by Tarquin, a rather pompous bloke who appears to regaling you with the contents of a cookbook. He waxes lyrical about how to make aioli, he bangs on about curry. In short it is food food food. Too much food. You’re reading it and thinking to yourself, “Whaaaaaaaaat is he on about?!”
And then suddenly you catch something in the text. In the middle of his soliloquy about cheese you realise that he’s mentioned that he’s had to duck in to a shop to escape someone’s attention. Then he mentions that he’s wearing wigs. Then you realise he’s bugging someone’s hotel room.
As the book progresses, Tarquin becomes ever more dangerous and sinister, this book really reminded me of Sebastian Faulks’ Engleby in that respect. I can’t say more without giving away the premise of the book, but it is bizarre.
To be honest some of the food rants I began skim reading, blah blah blah, as they are a little bit much, but I see that they are kind of essential. You need this kind of intense prose on food because you know what? Tarquin is kind of an intense guy.
Good – but you will need to make the effort with this book, it’s not an easy read.
Unchained America – Dave Gorman
The premise is simple. Gorman planned to travel coast to coast through America without giving any money to The Man i.e. chains. So petrol couldn’t come from Shell, they couldn’t sleep in a Best Great Western motel, couldn’t eat at MacDonalds – get the drift?
This book is the story of that adventure. And it’s hilarious. Dave Gorman has the most brilliant writing style, as you’re reading you feel as if he’s in the room with you, just telling you about what happened, it’s pure genius.
To tell you more would be to spoil it. To tell you if he actually made it would spoil it even more. You should read this, it will make you laugh, probably out loud in public which will be embarrassing. I really want to see the film now.
Brixton Beach – Roma Tearne
I wanted this to be good. I really really did. And the thing is it was good at the beginning. For the first half I was absolutely revelling in it, it was a beautifully told story and Tearne did a fantastic job of transporting me to Sri Lanka. It felt very vivd, I could see all the colours and felt I was living there with them, it was just brilliant story-telling.
And then it just all got weird. And boring. And there were ginormous huge gaps in time which left me feeling a little bit cheated, hang on, what about character development? It seemed a shame, the first half of the book focused on this tiny amount of time in the main protagonist’s life and the next half of the book dealt with the next 30/40-odd years. It was so disappointing. At the end I found myself not really caring anymore, it was like she’d given up. Or starting telling a story and then realised half way through “Oh my goodness this is going to be too long” and just missed massive chunks out of it.
Not terrible and I would recommend it, if only for the first half but I did finish it and feel a little confused about what the message was supposed to be.
A Good Yarn – Debbie Macomber
Someone sent this to me while I was in hospital in May. I wish I’d read it then because it could have stayed there.
It’s just poor, crappy chick lit. The kind of chick lit that gives chick lit a bad name. Hastily and scrappily drawn up characters, two-dimensional, sort of tries to deal with hard-hitting issues but only in an incredibly superficial way.
Just. Bad really.
But if you were in hospital this book wouldn’t be a bad way of getting through the time. But then that doesn’t say much to be honest.
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This month's winner? Has to be Unchained America. Man that book was funny.
Yeah I do know that the photos only show the first 4 books but I took those photos BB (before break-up) I haven't had the time to gather all six together for a group shot. Try and not be disappointed.
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