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Book Reviews
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Poirot: the War Years: "One,Two Buckle My Shoe", "Five Little Pigs","Taken at the Flood"
Kelly Marsh27 July 2010
This is a good book but I actually liked the film more. Andrea Sachs wants to be a serious journalist but takes a job working at top fashion magazine Runway. At first Andrea looks down on her job and hates her boss Miranda Priestly (who does do some quite outrageous stuff) but she soon gets pulled into the world of fashion and becomes quite over the top and bitchy herself. Not as funny as the film (Andrea is quite annoying here) but still a good read and some good laughs.
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Kelly Marsh27 July 2010
I love all of these Shopaholic books. I got into the books after watching the film and now I have bought them all. Confessions of a Shopaholic is the first book (and is mainly the same story as the film) and is the very funny story of Rebecca Bloomwood, a financial journalist who loves to spend! I love following Rebecca through many shops, funny incidents and the search for love.
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Mike Kenny22 July 2010
I'm not generally a fan of vampire novels and have found the recent mega craze for paranormal romances (Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, etc) to be pretty annoying since it has resulted in there being even less space in bookshops for science fiction but, after seeing Justin Cronin interviewed on breakfast television, I decided to give in to the hype and read The Passage.
The story of The Passage is truly immense (as is the book itself actually) and it is only the first volume in what is apparently going to be a trilogy. I'm anxious to avoid spoilers since this is a very original story but to whet your appetite: The Passage begins in 2018 in a post apocalyptic world where the planet is overrun by vampire-like humans who have been infected by a virus. The virus began its life as an immunity-enhancing drug based on a virus carried by South American bats but it quickly mutated into a far more deadly thing. So far this probably sounds disturbingly like the plot for a Resident Evil game but The Passage quickly expands on this rather overused premise. While the first half of the book deals with the creation and spread of the virus, the second half is set one hundred years in the future and primarily follows a group of survivors living in California. A young girl named Amy takes centre stage in the story as it seems she may be the best hope for destroying the vampires and restoring humanity.
On the whole, I found The Passage to be an excellent book. The plot was complex and engaging and I quickly realised that I had done the book a great disservice by assuming that it was yet another attempt to cash in on the success of Twilight. I thought both halves of the story were very good but would say that I probably preferred the second half as that involved the more original aspects of the story and I really grew to like the characters involved. Even though The Passage is an epic novel, the story was so exciting and engrossing that it actually ended up being quite a quick read. I don't know how long it will be before the next book in the trilogy comes out, but there is also apparently a film version of this novel to look forward to in the future. -
To Kill a Mockingbird (50th Anniversary Collector's Hardback Edition)
Erin Britton13 July 2010
The 11th July 2010 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee's sublime novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. An instant classic that is still being bought and enjoyed in huge numbers today, To Kill a Mockingbird is based loosely on people and events from Lee's own childhood in the American Deep South and primary concerns issues of racial inequality and the destruction of innocence.
The storyline of To Kill a Mockingbird must be one of the most instantly recognisable in the history of American, if not world, literature but, briefly, it follows imaginative tomboy Jean-Louise "Scout" Finch through several illuminating and turbulent years of her childhood. Six-year-old Scout lives with her brother Jem and widowed lawyer father Atticus in the "tired old town" of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout and Jem befriend a boy named Dill [based on Harper Lee's childhood neighbour, the author Truman Capote] who is visiting Maycomb to stay with his aunt. The three children begin a campaign to make their mysterious neighbour, the reclusive Boo Radley, come out of his house. Their peaceful lives of childish games and the way they view their town and neighbours are changed forever, however, when Atticus is appointed by the court to represent Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a truly wonderful novel and its lessons about the importance of tolerance and understanding are just as relevant today as they ever were. As a story, it is by turns humorous and tragic, magical and brutal, while as a piece of social commentary it serves to highlight a deeply disturbing facet of American history. Harper Lee is an exceptional writer, her prose style is elegant and warm and demonstrates a clear love for the people and places of her youth, however flawed they ultimately proved to be. In a way, the huge success of To Kill a Mockingbird did something of a disservice to readers since, without the massive public scrutiny and adoration for her work, Harper Lee would surely have gone on to write further novels, but it would be impossible to deny that the triumph and praise that has been heaped on the book was undeserved. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend To Kill a Mockingbird to anyone who is seeking to read a truly great novel.
As to this particular edition of To Kill a Mockingbird, it is a delightful book to own and read. It is a stunningly designed clothbound, hardback edition released to commemorate the book's 50th anniversary and is beautiful to behold. This would make an excellent gift or special purchase for readers who love To Kill a Mockingbird and would appreciate a particularly fine edition to add to their book collection. -
Editor02 July 2010
This book started with a lot of promise. I really liked the first chapter where Roberta is getting prepared to evacuate her daughter. It was quietly sensitive to the emotions that must have been a very common situation for many at the time. One could easily imagine the sensible stoicism and confidence a mother would wish to impart prior to sending her daughter into unknown circumstances for an unforseable future. I particularly liked Anna's pragmatism and excitement because she imagined she was going to the seaside, and I think Rosie Allison did a pretty good job of travelling into the mindset of a twelve year old girl and identifying the thoughts and feelings from a childs point of view.
Rosie Alison builds up fascinating characters in the Ashtons, and the historical function of Ashton House is particularly evocative. Both Thomas and Elizabeth's perspectives are conveyed well initially. However, whereas Thomas Ashton's emotions are deeply considered,even though he is rather emotionally stilted, it is rather less sympathetic to Elizabeth Ashton. Rosie Alison largely describes Mrs Ashtons temprament and behaviour from the outside looking in, more than she attempts to explain it from the inside looking out. Although this is a novel and doesn't require absolute objectivity, it does need to try to balance its sympathies evenly.
I think the trouble is that Rosie Allison tries to do to much empathetic perspective in the first half of the book with too many of the characters: Anna; her mother and father; the Ashtons; Miss Wier; and both of the Nortons giving a first person narrative, that she just runs out of steam. The characters become flaky and each dramatic twist and turn becomes a bit understated and whimsical, with very little compassion, at times, to very distressing circumstances.
In essence, I think ' The Very Thought of You' has the basis of a very good plot but the execution is poorer during the second half of the book. An OK read if you want something to while away a few hours without making your head bleed, but not the Orange Prize potential that made me first pick up the book. -
Gillian Inglis30 June 2010
Gripping story well told. If you like Twilight, you'll like this wonderful story. The characters are fantastic and the setting is almost magical while being in the real world! Can't wait for the next one to come out!!
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Blah27 June 2010
To be honest, i had never read a King book in my life before i read The Shining. i had no idea what to expect. a lot of people i know have seen the film based on this book and said it was good so i thought: why not read the book?
i have to admit the beginning didn't really grab me. i'm a person that gets easily distracted though so that may have been why but when stuff started to happen in the hotel, i couldn't put it down! i was glued to this book! King has got everything just right in this book. The horror is more of a subtle nature at first, leaving you to think the characters may have just imagined these abnormal events and then as the novel progresses so does the level of noticeable abnormality.
I was a person who didn't believe in the whole 'books are scary' kind of thing because it's been said i 'lack an imagination'! but after reading this, i feel different towards this view! i wouldn't go in a bathroom for the next month without turning the light on before i'd go in!!
So, yeah, i'd take a chance and buy this book if i was you. i'm not exactly known for being a fan of reading or whatever, but i loved this book! -
Chris M24 June 2010
With the South African World Cup in full swing I thought it would be fitting to review a book by arguably the host nation's greatest writer and one of my favourite authors. Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee (pronounced I am informed as "cut-zee-uh") is a complex novel, intricately weaving a soul questioning story line with intuitive undertones of socio-political and racial reflection on post-apartheid South Africa. These factors are coupled with an exploration of sexuality and a moralistic appraisal of middle-age masculinity. Race is obviously one of the key issues in South Africa's turbulent modern history and taking into consideration the other factors explored in the book I think it is worthwhile to note that J. M. Coetzee is a middle-age (at time of publication) white South African male of Afrikaner descent. Born in Cape Town in 1940 Coetzee's childhood and much of his adult existence were spent living in South Africa's apartheid regime. Throughout the book it is clear that Coetzee draws on his intuitive understanding and his own personal experiences of his native South Africa. Gifted with an exceptional literary talent and an arrestingly beautiful eloquence, Coetzee bewitchingly conveys to paper a commentary on the state of a whole country, veiled in the shadow of a Booker Prize winning story...
David Lurie, a 52 year old professor of English at Cape Town University has a penchant for romantic poetry. Unfortunately for his career and his reputation his romantic inclinations consume him when he falls in love (a love all the more alarmingly born of lust) with one of his young students. A lustful creature, his weakness for heart pumping, soul stirring, life engaging romances are interestingly alluded to be conceived of a synchronous acceptance and denial of his own mortality, symbolised by his aging body and his fixed and unchangeable temperament (a mid-life crisis of sorts). Usually David is clinically romantic in the sense that he has his fling and ends it before things get too serious. He cites his two failed marriages as evidence that he is no good at relationships. This time however he is simply unable to stop himself and the romance builds a dangerous momentum, culminating in a sour ending for his life as he knows it. When the girl's parents find out about the relationship they forcibly end their daughter's involvement with David and call for the university to fire him for a gross misuse of his position of power. A tribunal is held and David reluctant to defend his actions and bemused as to why he should have to, pleads guilty to all accusations and puts the whole incident down to unstoppable human nature and the weakness of man. David's refusal to repent combined with a media frenzy forces the university's hand and our protagonist is dismissed in disgrace. Unemployed and his reputation in tatters David travels to the Eastern Cape to stay with his daughter on her small farm. For a while rural life and the company of his daughter suit him and his problems in Cape Town feel a long way away. However the dream like tranquillity of country life is soon transformed into a living nightmare as the pair fall victims of a home invasion by three young black men. His daughter raped and impregnated and himself beaten up and left bald and blistered by burns, David's life dramatically changes course for a second time. For David the horrifying events begin to bring into focus the issue of race and the much changed societal nature of post-apartheid South Africa...
Disgrace is a masterpiece as both a story and a commentary of post-apartheid South Africa, yet the lesson is universal. The book examines the excruciating scenario of a middle-aged man forced to comprehend and adapt to an evolving country at a time in his life where he believes himself too old to change. It questions human nature and the way in which we exploit each other to our own often selfish ends. It challenges our conception of disgrace and our humility in overcoming personal obstacles to forgive ourselves and gain the forgiveness of those we have wronged. Interesting and thought provoking throughout, this is one of the most intelligent yet accessible books I have ever read. Disgrace will enthrall you; challenge your own beliefs and preconceptions; and teach you a little bit about a country which despite its racial divisions of the past, has united together to bring the world a successful and exciting, distinctly African World Cup. -
Erin Britton15 June 2010
As well as being responsible for McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, a truly excellent literary periodical, Dave Eggers' (author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius amongst other novels) McSweeney's publishing house also releases a few, usually exceptionally good, books each year. Michael Chabon's Maps & Legends is one such book.
Maps & Legends is Chabon's first foray into book-length nonfiction and contains sixteen essays, some of which have been previously published. Chabon himself has described Maps & Legends as "a love song in sixteen parts" - the book offers a series of linked essays in praise of reading and writing, with subjects ranging from ghost stories to comic books, Sherlock Holmes to Cormac McCarthy. As well as speaking out powerfully in defence of genre fiction, Chabon argues energetically for a return to the thrilling, chilling origins of storytelling and "rejecting the false walls around serious literature in favour of a wide-ranging affection." A tremendously entertaining treatise on why books matter, Maps & Legends is written with Chabon's characteristic verve and wit and is a wonderful collection of thought provoking essays. -
Mike Kenny06 June 2010
Second Foundation is the third novel of the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov and is best read in sequence as it advances on concepts from the earlier novels. This is yet another excellent novel by Isaac Asimov (in fact, I've never encountered a bad book by him) and is written in two distinct parts.
The first part, "Search by the Mule", follows telepathic warlord The Mule's search for the elusive Second Foundation. The executive council of the Second Foundation is aware of the Mule's search and of his destructive intent but still allows him to discover the organisation "in a sense". It is then up to agents of the Foundation to deal with the threat in the most appropriate way.
The second part, "Search by the Foundation", is set sixty years after the events narrated in the first part. The members of the (First) Foundation are now fully aware of the existence and purpose of the Second Foundation. The original Foundation is embroiled in conflict with the Mule's former imperial capital at Kalgan and wants to avoid the potential threat posed by the Second Foundation. After inventing a device that can jam telepathic powers, the Foundation locates telepaths on Terminus and believes this to answer the question about the location of the mysterious Second Foundation. However, although this is an answer that satisfies, it is not necessarily an answer that is true.
Science fiction that is this good is a rare thing - I would recommend Asimov's Foundation series wholeheartedly.
