Fiction
The Lost SymbolISBN-10: 059305427X / ISBN-13: 978-0593054277 / Transworld Publisher (15 Sep 2009) To be honest, I think Dan Brown needs an editor with the guts to tell him when he's being excessive. I really enjoy Brown's mixture of secrets, facts, and fiction, but here he seems to lose believability. I won't say too much, but there are a couple of unnecessary twists and surprises that detract from an otherwise well-told story. In this novel the main character, Professor Langdon, finds himself with only 12 hours to save America! Sounds familiar? There ar eplenty of interesting revealations about the history of the US and its founding fathers, but somehow they are swamped by the race against time. I enjoyed the book until the end, but read it for yourselves or go and see the inevitable movie with Tom Hanks. My rating 7 / 10 |
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Thieve's ParadiseISBN-10: 0451208498 / ISBN-13: 978-0451208491 / Signet Reprint edition (Jul 2003) This was my first book by Eric Dickey and I was impressed by his characterisation. Each of the characters is developed fully and he shows great sensitivity in his depiction of women. The difficult choices that normal people have to make are explored with insight and care. In this world there is no clear division between good and bad; people do what they have to do. One strange thing for me was that African Americans seem to be obsessed with being... well... African Americans. I would find it hard work to keep mentioning my skin colour all the time. Apparently not in the States. So I had better move my white ass on to the next section, because, you know, I'm a white boy, and don't you forget it. In this novel the main character, Dante Black, finds himself down and out after time in juvenile jail, out of work but with bills to pay. Dante is a good man and determined to stay straight, but when an acquiantance offers him a lucrative but illegal way of staying on top, Dante and his good friend, and sometime mentor, Jackson both get pulled into a risky scam. The book is full of fantastic dialogue and detailed descriptions that bring the LA landscape to life. I loved it from start to finish. It's violent and sexy but firmly grounded in a dreadful kind of reality. Glad it's not my reality. My rating 9 / 10 |
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The Sun Also RisesISBN-10: 0684800713 / ISBN-13: 978-0684800714 / Prentice Hall & IBD; Reissue edition 1995 (1926) Many people consider this book one of he most important in the 20th Century. The story of a group of wealthy, drunken, emotionally stunted semi-friends who treat each other badly while drinking heavily in Paris and drinking heavily as they experience the running of the bulls in Pamplona. The story of wasted lives? The reader is asked to judge. The characters are unattractive, full of self-pity, so why does the book attract? For me, there is a morbid curiosity in watching others tear themselves apart. We are voyeurs at heart, and this book asks us to reflect upon our own position on the moral high ground. The writing seduces slowly and completely. Hemmingway's prose is tight, compact and declarative. There is a simplicity which is a sleight-of-hand, because his structure is masterful, weaving together notions about truth, love, friendship, self-sacrifice and solace, in gritty dialogue and structural repetition. The central figure, Lady Brett Ashley, enchants almost every man she meets, but shuns emotional engagement, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. Jake, who truly loves her, is always there to pick up the pieces. The disintegration at the festival in Spain and her relationship with the young bull-fighter is an obvious but inevitable conclusion for people who live lives of self-destruction, too close to the sun. Read this book. My rating 9.5 / 10 |
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Memoirs of a GeishaISBN-10: 0099498189 / ISBN-13: 978-0099498186 / Vintage; Film Tie-in Ed edition 2005 The film based on this book received much criticism here in Japan for using Chinese actresses. The book, however, is a very different beast. This is the story of a young country girl who is brought to Kyoto to enter the closeted world of the geisha. Her name is Sayuri and we follow her training and initiation into a life she could have never imagined. The life of a geisha has its rewards but is arduous and cut-throat for girls still in their early teens. The reason I love this book is its attention to factual detail. Mr. Golden researched well and his descriptions of both the daily life and the professional engagements of geisha are absorbing and evocative. I encourage all Japanese to read this novel as it explodes many myths about the world of geiko and maiko, and educates in a sympathetic way. It does not seek to judge this world, but instead seeks to preserve its rituals and customs, while at the same time entertaining the reader with well-drawn characters and period detail. My rating 9 / 10 |
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The Constant GardenerISBN-10: 0340837098 / ISBN-13: 978-0340837092/ Hodder Paperbacks; Film Tie-in Ed edition 2005 Maybe you saw the movie starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. The book of course offers much more with sub-plots and characters that were not on the big screen. John Le Carre's writing style is at times difficult going, but is rewarding and he creates an intense reality. I love his dialogue, which aids the character development. The main storyline is one of the apparent betrayal by a wayward wife of her career-diplomat husband and his determination to get to the truth of her life after she is murdered. As a fan of conspiracy, I enjoyed a plot boiling with political shenanigans in the UK and Africa, and giant pharmaceutical companies testing drugs on unsuspecting patients. Tessa Quayle held a secret that is gradually revealed in flashbacks. Justin Quayle finally has a chance to be the man he should have been. I enjoyed this serious read, it was the first time I had tried a Le Carre novel and I discovered why he is so popular. A great story. My rating 8 / 10 |
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Dead FamousISBN-10: 0552999458 / ISBN-13: 978-0552999458 / Black Swan New edition 2002 Ben is not only a talented comedian, he is an amazing author and if you haven't read any of his books I suggest you go out right now and buy one. Better still, click on the Amazon link and buy one through this site! His forte is police detectives and here he excels himself. Everyone knows about the reality TV show 'Big Brother' and the tedious assortment of real people who go into the house to be gawped at 24 hours a day. In this book we have a show named 'House Arrest': One house, ten contestants, thirty cameras, one murder...and no evidence! One of the hopefuls is actually murdered in the house but somehow no one knows whodunit! Ben skillfully and hilariously develops characters that we all recognize from the TV and pits them against Inspector Coleridge, another of Ben's misunderstood police detectives. The dialogue is sublime, the comedy comes thick and fast, and yet at it's heart this book is one of the greatest murder-mysteries ever conceived. Brilliant! My rating 10 / 10 |
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The First CasualtyISBN-10: 0552771309 / ISBN-13: 978-0552771306 / Black Swan New edition 2006 Douglas Kingsley is a policeman during the First World War. He is sent to investigate the murder of an army officer. But this is a place where thousands are dying in the mud, piles of bodies shot to pieces. So who cares if one person is murdered? In this case, they think they know the culprit, but is he guilty? And does it really matter if he is innocent and is released, because he is sure to die in the wet trenches of some field in Flanders. Ben's writing is first class and he addresses some fundamental questions about justice and morality in this, his tenth novel. What is the truth? Does it matter when tomorrow we could all be dead? This book pulls no punches in its graphic descriptions of the horror of the Great War. Ben brings to us the realization of how lucky we are to live in more peaceful times. Of course there is humour here, but he seeks to explore some important issues and fully succeeds. My rating 8.5 / 10 |
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Until I find youISBN-10: 0747579903 / ISBN-13: 978-0747579908 / Bloomsbury Publishing 2005 I must confess, I love John Irving's writing. His books are thick and juicy and last a long time - really good value! Solid storytelling combined with inventive characters whose strangeness is matter-of-fact. This book is no different, being rewarding, meaningful, clever and funny. Until I Find You is the story of the actor Jack Burns. His mother, Alice, is a Toronto tattoo artist. His father, William, is an Edinburgh church-organist who is addicted to being tattooed. When Jack is four, he travels with Alice to several North Sea ports - Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, and Amsterdam, in search of his father, who is missing. But Alice is a mystery, and William can't be found. Even Jack's memories are subject to doubt. Jack Burns goes to schools in Canada and New England, but what shapes him are his relationships with older women. Irving renders Jack's life as an actor in Hollywood with the same richness of detail and range of emotions he uses to describe the tattoo parlours in those North Sea ports and the reverberating music Jack heard as a child in European churches. A stunning visual novel. My rating 9 / 10 |
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A Widow for One YearISBN-10: 055299796X / ISBN-13: 978-0552997966 / Black Swan 1999 The main character is another complex Irving woman - Ruth Cole. Described as self-contradictory and difficult, her life is portrayed in three parts, each in some way a critical time. We meet her, aged only four on Long Island in the summer of 1958. Then fast forward to 1990, when she is a successful writer but both personally unhappy and unmarried. The book closes in 1995 when Ruth is forty-one years old, a widow, a mother, and about to fall in love for the first time. This novel is typical for the author, being both funny and deeply disturbing. A Widow for One Year is a multi-layered love story of astonishing emotional force. It brilliantly and memorably depicts the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief. I recommend all of John Irving's novels, and although this is not my favourite, it has enormous depth and resonance. I am a great fan of books about women, and Ruth Cole is a well drawn character. My rating 8 / 10 |
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The Cast Iron ShoreISBN-10: 1862072191 / ISBN-13: 978-1862072190 / Granta Books New edition 1998 Sybil Ross has been brought up by her Jewish furrier father and style-obsessed mother as an empty-headed fashion slave. Only on the worst night of Liverpool's Blitz does she uncover a secret that leaves her disoriented, belonging nowhere. When the war is over, Sybil embarks on a voyage that takes her from Liverpool to New York City, through fashion, jazz, Communism, McCarthyism and love, and ultimately to the west coast and a final choice. The Cast Iron Shore is a beautiful evocation of one woman's journey from the 1930s to the 1990s, combining the personal and political in an outstanding novel. I thoroughly recommend this book. The main character is an interesting, fully-formed woman who really lives her life, experiencing all she can. Her life's ups and downs are echoed in the varying fortunes of her friends and lovers, and indeed in her chosen country too. As she becomes involved in politics and idealism she also becomes involved in sex and drugs, the high-life and low-life drawn together. This book has a pink cover - I think that's a mistake as it excludes many male readers from discovering its many pleasures. Read it! My rating 9 / 10 |
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CorsairISBN-10: 0330443135 / ISBN-13: 978-0330443135 / Pan Books 2008 I don't usually read this kind of historical novel, in this case about the Barbary pirates of the 17th and 18th Century, but I thought I'd give it a try. The attention to period detail and maritime knowledge of the author are to be admired, but unfortunately the book doesn't fully develop the character of the main protagonist - Hector Lynch. This is the first of a series, but I felt simply too much happened to poor Hector too quickly, and we don't have time to explore how this affects him psychologically. I was left feeling an outsider on his journey, not a friend. Maybe the following books will delve into his psyche more deeply. If you love history and/or the sea, you will enjoy this book, it is rich and evocative. I would love to able to go back to the time of pirates and the High seas. However, if you really need to get inside the leading character's soul, you may feel slightly disappointed. Maybe those who continue with the series will be rewarded for their patience, but alas, I won't be one of them. My Dad really enjoyed it - but then he was a seaman. My rating 7 / 10 |
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