I have taken more than a month to write this book up. And, what’s worse is that it has been more than a month since I have actually finished a book! Can you imagine?! Me?! Oddly enough, I am part way through about 8 books at the moment and I have decided to stop this summer silliness (seeing summer is no
w completely over here in London - it is raining outside, just like it has been for at least a month) and get on and finish some of these books. I have 4 books to read and review which I have been requested to write up, two library books from my reading group that I am determined to finish, plus a couple of books from Goodreads groups which I want to discuss. It’s a tough old life…
Anyway, on to the actual topic of this blog - The Food of Love. I thought this was a delightful, light piece of chicklit with a smattering of Perfume (without the darkness). It wasn’t challenging in any way, and the love story was pretty predictable but surrounded as it was by Italian food of a richness I could never have imagined (and I am not sure I would really want to try in many cases), it made for a pleasant and easy read. Bear in mind, I read this hot on the heels of Kiran Desai and so something light and easy was perfect.
The characters did lean towards being caricatures or definitely stereotypes in many cases. Bruno was so excruciatingly wet at times that you wanted to shake him. Laura was fickle and Tomasso was slightly irritating. But they did manage to come together in a lovely, albeit slightly silly story. One had to suspend one’s disbelief somewhat and a couple of the humourous stories were a bit contrived (ecstacy on the pizza? Hmmm, not so sure) but the book was not written to deliver a deep message or give the reader something to think about. It was pure escapism and because of that, it succeeded well.
My reading group was a little surprised at my reaction to this book because normally I am quite disparaging about flippant, slightly pointless books - but I forgave The Food of Love because it was summer and because I needed something to brighten things up after my previous read.
Rating: 7/10 ISBN: 0-7515-3569-9 Publisher: Time Warner Books Year: 2004 Date Finished: 30 July 2008 Pages: 310 Challenges:
I was asked to read and review Copper Fire by Suzanne Woods Fisher as part of her virtual book tour. This book, as I understood, was a sequel to Suzanne’s earlier novel, Copper Star where we were first introduced to Louisa - one time resistance fighter in Germany during the Second World War - now settled with her new husband and his son in Copper Springs, Arizona. Copper Fire finds Louisa content in her new life until she receives word that her cousin, Elisabeth, is currently alone in a Red Cross camp in Germany and Louisa determines to go and fetch her and bring her back to America.
I found the book very compelling. Even without having read the first instalment, Suzanne made a point to re-craft the characters with care and detail so I never once felt I had missed anything. I took to Louisa quickly, liking her strength and determination in a small town where many of the residents simply had no understanding of what had gone on during the war and what people like Louisa had experienced. It was the kind of book that I found myself thinking ‘I wonder what is going to happen next?’ when I was away from it which meant it was easy to go back to. I do tend to finish books very quickly when I get going (it is generally an indicator of how much I am enjoying it), and this one I had finished within two days of starting it.
I was very surprised that the majority of the story occurred in Copper Springs as I had fully expected it to occur in Germany, but it allowed the characters in the town to develop and a real picture of Louisa’s new life (as opposed to her old life) be drawn. I also found the treatment of the Holocaust and the difficulties anyone who had lived through it were bound to suffer was delicate, honest and well researched. It isn’t often that the aftermath of the war is written into a novel and so it was really good to read about it from a different perspective.
I had expected the underlying religious theme to be more prominent but I was pleasantly surprised that Suzanne didn’t labour the point and as a result didn’t alienate non-Christian readers like myself. It can be difficult when a writer has a passion for something and that then dominates their writing which results in making anyone who doesn’t share that passion feel like they shouldn’t be reading the book. I am pleased to say that Suzanne didn’t do that and as a result I felt like she had considered all readers, no matter what their faith.
The only small criticisms I had were related to a couple of events in the book which didn’t seem to go anywhere and didn’t carry the story forward short of developing the characters a little more. I wondered about incidents such as the argument over Louisa’s pregnancy (sorry for the spoiler) and so was surprised when it didn’t really have an impact on the plot. Rather they felt like snapshots of life, which of course have their own merits, but Suzanne’s plot was very good as it was so I wasn’t sure they were so necessary.
The other minor criticism was I was a little disappointed with the ending - for a book which was so beautifully researched and so fantastically believable, it seemed just a little far fetched. However, I wouldn’t want that to detract from the fact that I enjoyed the book throughout and was really honoured to be asked to review it.
ISBN: 978-0-9815592-0-9 Publisher: Vintage Inspirations Year: 2008 Date Finished: 28 July 2008 Pages: 289 Challenges:
If someone casually mentioned to you that they had discovered the secret to eternal youth and vitality, would you sit up and listen? If they then told you that in order to achieve this, and the rampant sex drive which would naturally accompany it, you may have to undergo surgery, would you ask for more information? What, then, would you say if you were told that this secret required you to go under the knife of an unlicensed doctor, who would slice open your scrotum (or abdomen if you were a woman) and literally drop in to the incision a pair of goat’s testicles (or ovaries), and then charge you half your annual salary for the privilege. Would you run a mile or get the chequebook out?
It seems that thousands of poor souls didn’t run. In fact, thousands were so convinced by the person who I would safely say was the father of spin and PR, that they subjected themselves to this ridiculous procedure (and many died) and happily paid the bill.
Charlatanis the story of one of the most amazing examples of clever marketing I have ever seen. Brinkley was a charlatan through and through.Yet he was also a brilliant ideas man when it came to self promotion, realising that there were ways he could broadcast to hundreds of thousands of people during the Great Depression when his rivals were still standing in county fairs. Brinkley was one of the first people to use radio to self promote. He also used direct mail including psychological tactics to convince people to come and have the procedure. He took the promotion required for running for politics to the next level. And for more than 20 years, he remained one step ahead of the people who knew, and right in front of the poor, stupid and hopeful souls who didn’t.
The reason Brinkely flourished was that he was fortunate enough to be born at a time where medical licensing was haphazard, and quacks and magical remedies were rife. He was also one of the first and being the first meant that the majority of people simply didn’t even think to question his methods. But for almost the whole period of his long career, he was pursued by another, equally as egotistical medico, Morris Fishbein who had made it his life’s mission to bring down the quacks who were threatening the lives of the nation.
Pope Brock has written an incredibly entertaining, journalistic account of the battle between these two characters. His statement “…though perhaps not the worst serial killer in American history, ranked by body count alone he is at least a finalist for the crown” exemplifies his quick, amusing prose and pacy storyline. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this book is that it is as much didactic as it is historical. We may scoff at people doing something so ridiculous for youth and sexual prowess, but when you see the demand for Viagra, the ridiculous pseudoscientific and new age claims for eternal youth, long life and rejuvination, and the aggressive marketing campaigns aimed at making us do and buy anything to hold the wrinkles back for another year, you have to ask whether we are in fact any different? OK, so perhaps not so many goats may suffer in our quest, but Brinkley’s master stroke was identifying a basic human desire, and putting in the average man’s grasp for a fee. I am sure there is many a marketer today who surrupticiously takes notes from ‘Doctor’ John Brinkley, and his unbelievable goat testicle cure for all.
Rating: 8/10 ISBN: 978-0-297-84566-9 Publisher: Orion Books Year: 2008 Date Finished: 24 July 2008 Pages: 305 Challenges:
I am not sure what it is about books chosen for the Man Booker Prize. Yes, they can be beautifully written. Yes, they can conjure up powerful imagery. But sometimes they get so bogged down in their own ‘literary-ness’ that they forget to simply tell a good story. The Inheritance of Loss suffered from this Booker Prize affliction just like so many of the others do. That is not to say it wasn’t a good book, but with a little less emphasis on being literary and a little more emphasis on the story, it could have shifted from being good to being great.
The book follows the life journeys of a cantankerous, intensely dislikeable judge, his cook - a simple somewhat pathetic figure - and his unwanted granddaughter, Sai who comes to live with him when her parents die. Set in Kalimpong, India - a province which is very close to Nepal - the tale jumps from time to time, location to location as the life that all of the characters knew in the villages is swept away by a violent Nepalese uprising. In the meantime, the cook’s son, Biju, is struggling to survive as an illegal immigrant in America. Whilst his father and the other villages maintain ignorantly to one another that America is the land of plenty and Biju is clearly living like a king, the lad scrapes a living working in kitchens and sleeping on a filthy mattress in an overcrowded squat.
This is a story of change. It places the minutiae of every day life in contrast to the massive changes occurring in both India and America. Sai’s love affair with her tutor, Gyan is destroyed by his peer influenced need to join the uprising. Biju’s Hindu sensibilities against eating steak are set against the hardships, discrimination and lack of rights he receives in his new home. The judge’s loss of his dog is comically yet tragically contrasted to the massacre which occurred during the uprising which irrevocably changed the life of anyone within the vicinity.
The characters were all colourful and many incited different kinds of emotion. The judge’s malicious, murderous and totally unjustified treatment of his wife was probably the most powerful. It demonstrated that irrespective of background or birth, there was always someone to look down upon or treat badly. The other incredibly powerful theme was the racism throughout the novel - whether it was the Indian racism towards the Nepalese, the racism the judge received in England, or the class discrimination which existed in the village itself, if this book has one overarching message it seems that there is always someone to fight, someone to blame and something to lose.
The story lacked some coherence and there were ends which were left open in a way which I found very unsatisfying. This is certainly not an uplifting story. I finished it feeling saddened and angry. Perhaps that makes for a prize winning novel, but for me it made for a quick beeline to the nearest book of humour I could lay my hands on.
Rating: 7/10 ISBN: 0-241-14348-9 Publisher: Penguin Year: 2006 Date Finished: 18 July 2008 Pages: 324 Challenges: Booker Challenge
I am a podcast addict as any of you who know can attest. I listen to an awful lot of podcasts about an awful lot of things, but my particular favourites are podcasts dealing with science, scepticism (or skepticism depending on which side of the pond you are from), astronomy, rationalism, evolutionary biology and critical thinking. In all of them, I kept hearing mention one book - The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan. I knew of Sagan anyway, having seen video of him and heard him recorded, but I had never actually sat down to read one of his books. When I finally got my hands on a copy I began to discover what all of the hype was about.
I think it is safe to say that Sagan is one of the fathers of the sceptical movement. But there is nothing about how he writes that suggests cynicism, dismissiveness or arrogance. This book, which deals particularly with the phenomenon of alleged UFO abductions to a large extent, but traverses through witchcraft, critical thinking and the need for education, the wonder of science and the absolutely incredible scope of the universe. Did Sagan know that this was the last book he was going to write? Deep down he may have, as all of us are only on this earth for a short time, but you would never be able to tell. This book is suffused with such optimism and determination, it is as if it has been written at the beginning of his long career rather than at the end.
What I enjoyed so much was the questions he poses throughout the book. They are all logical, reasonable questions which, if faced, would surely show the conspiracy theorists, irrational thinkers and fantasy prone personalities that there was another possibility for what they thought they knew. I didn’t detect any frustration in the questions thought - they were simply a string of things to consider. If there was one point perhaps I did detect the frustration in the author, it would have been in the chapters where he lamented the poor education of children of today. I think he hoped that the children he saw around him would pick up the mantle and ask the same questions that he was posing when he was no longer there to pose them.
The Demon Haunted World cannot be taken in with one single reading. Although I have completed it, I barely scratched the surface. The chapter on logical fallacies alone deserves going back to again and again, but there has been so much included in the pages that a single reading simply could not do it justice. I leave the book sitting by my bed to dip into every now and then, but I will sit down and read it in its entirety several times over. It should be a compulsory text in schools, simply to give children the ability to question. No amount of technology, internet, gadgets or developments can alter the fundamental human need for that if we really are to go forward into the unknown future.
I started writing this review more than three weeks ago and then stopped. I am not sure why, although I do put it, and my reading hiatus, down to a change in routine for me. The problem with coming back to finish a review is the book isn’t nearly as fresh in my mind. Therein lies a lesson, and one which I have constantly considered and never undertaken - take notes when you read so that the thoughts and impressions you get can be referred back to long after you close the cover.
But let me try and get this finished…
Alex Cross is back in his third adventure, and, although I know that there are a stack of books to come, I am not sure where James Patterson is going to go after this one. I mean, where can he go after presidential assassinations and two different murderers running riot in Washington?! I did enjoy Jack and Jill more than the previous book however. Cross seemed a little more grounded, and although there was a love interest (who, sorry for the spoiler, conveniently becomes “available” at the end of the book) it seemed that this one might be more long lasting.
You don’t read Patterson for depth. You read him for pace, short chapters, breathtaking final sentences, twists and several ours of action packed escapism. In this book, you got all of that including the gore of the murders and the twisted minds of the murderers. Running the two murders in tandem made for an interesting storyline. You questioned continuously whether they were related or not or whether Cross was just really unlucky (the Die Hard-like bad day came to mind on several occasions) or really popular with the bad guys. Despite this layering of crime, it remained reasonably believable which I think is a skill in itself. He might not be out to produce literary classics, but I can’t fault Patterson for being able to tell a story.
I was reading about this - the Espresso Book Machine - recently and I have to say that I am completely blown away by this. Blackwells have announced that they are going to be installing these amazing machines in 50 of their stores across the UK and after watching the video of how they work, I just can’t wait.
I love browsing around Amazon and tracking down books which you are unlikely to find in a high street book store, simply due to the lack of space. It is why I am an Amazon Prime member - it means that when I do find my book, as long as it is in stock I generally only have to wait a day for it. However, if it is not in stock… For instance, I recently purchased Carl Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World, however as it was not in stock on Amazon, I had to wait almost 10 days for it to arrive. I know, 10 days isn’t really that long but when you want to read it, well, it seems like an eternity. Similarly, sometimes my Amazon orders arrive by courier and as I am not at home during the day, I invariably have to wait until I can drive out to the depot to go and pick it up. Small things, but if there was a solution, I’d use it.
And, it seems like that solution might be here. Books on demand, while you wait, selected from a list of a million titles. To me, it’s a dream come true. To me, who will resist getting a Kindle for as long as they still produce books from paper, this is a sign that perhaps, as Sam Houston suggests, books aren’t dead after all. I knew they wouldn’t be, and I suspect the manufacturers of this machine knew that too.
Working in Central London, I suspect it isn’t going to take long before one of these machines finds there way to a Blackwells within walking distance of me. I already have a list of books I’d like which are difficult to find and Amazon seem to be out, so I’ll be down there, with my coffee, waiting for my turn to print my book when I want it.
Not long after Dan Brown skyrocketed to success with The Da Vinci Code, there arose a plethora of “Da Vinci Code clones”. You can always tell them because the reviewers comments on the front or back cover usually say something like “a rival to Dan Brown” which suggests that the book is going to involved some kind of ancient religious tradition and a page turning thriller. The Righteous Men was one of these. I am not dismissing it outright, because it wasn’t that bad, but the thriller aspect didn’t quite take my breath away, and the end of the world cataclysm didn’t have me wondering whether it could really be true. It was more a pleasant romp than a breathless race.
The main character is Will, a Brit and a journalist for the New York Times who stumbles on to a series of murders which seem at first to be completely unrelated. When his wife is kidnapped, he finds himself on a two day roller coaster ride through the depths of orthodox Judaism and Christian cults, accompanied by his trusty ex-girlfriend, TC, and a penchant for ignoring advice and getting into trouble. You can start to see the formula already. Of course, the thrilling climax supposedly surprises everyone (I unfortunately had figured it out quite a while before then) and, in true Dan Brown fashion they all live happily ever after.
Yes, it was interesting to find out some of the ancient Jewish traditions around which the whole story is based, but I still wasn’t that excited by it. Oh, how spoilt I have all become! Although I understand why publishers like formulas, and I do love my crime fiction (which is about as formulaic as they come), I do think this theme has run its course. Brown was a phenomenon. Most of those books coming after his feel like they have just jumped on his bandwagon - which sadly has already left.
Rating: 5/10 ISBN: 0007203306 Publisher: HarperCollins Year: 2006 Date finished: 18 June 2008 Pages: 576 Challenges: B in the A-Z Challenge
I received this book as an Early Reviewer on LibraryThing and started it soon after I had come down from the hype of the previous book I had finished. Perhaps it was because of that proximity to my previous read, but what a come down it was. Although I fought my way to the end of this book, it was like trying to swim in treacle for much of it and I found myself wondering whether I could “cheat” and say I finished when I actually put it down halfway. I didn’t cheat - I did finish it, but it was a tough book to get through and I wasn’t sure that I felt it was worth it.
To be fair, The Collector of Worldsis a translation, which can make the writing difficult. The author had chosen the story of the Victorian explorer, Sir Richard Burton, as his subject. Burton had spent his life travelling India, Africa and the Middle East, adopting languages, cultures and religions as he went. He seems to be constantly searching for the new and the different - a trait I admire. However, unfortunately the book turned Burton into a detached character drowning in a sea of extraneous words and excruciating (and not particularly necessary) descriptions and monologues. The book is divided into three parts - the first covers Burton’s early journey to India and his adoption of Islam. It is narrated (in part) by his ex-servant in a manner which I found somewhat contrived. The second describes Burton’s trip to Mecca, explained in part by a number of Turkish officials who were exploring his motives after the fact. The final story finds Burton in Africa, searching for the source of the Nile, and partially narrated by one of his guides.
This tripartite division does little for the coherence of this historical novel. In fact, the switch between each part is jarring. I found the middle part the most difficult to get through - the paragraphs were so dense at times, I found myself skim reading over pages in order to try and pick up the thread of the story again. The disappointing part was that those pages I skimmed were necessary, it seemed, only to demonstrate the author’s erudition. His erudition may be admirable, but as a reader it bored me to tears. This book could have done with a good editor who could have reduced it down significantly from the 450+ pages it currently stands at. Perhaps then the experience of reading it might have been a little more pleasant.
The ending was really odd. I don’t think it is a spoiler to say Burton eventually dies in his old age, but even that was drawn out to an unecessary degree - not Burton’s passing, but the ‘crisis’ of the priest of presided over his death. By that stage, I was desperate to get the book finished and move onto something else. It was the nail in its coffin so to speak.
Were there any redeeming features? I think bringing the story to life in novel form is a good tactic - I know when I first heard the name I could only think of the actor. I also can’t fault the author’s research on the subject and the surrounding context, but rather than telling me everything, tell me enough and keep the story readable.
Rating: 2/10 ISBN:
Year: 2008 Date Finished: 12 June 2008
Pages: 456 Challenges: 4/8 of The Pub Challenge
I was sent a proof copy of this book to review several weeks back, prior to its general release. When I was contacted I received a couple of paragraphs to whet my appetite. Without knowing what to expect, or what kind of book it was going to be, I allowed myself to be sold by the paragraphs – there was something within the intelligent turns of phrase that made me want to read more. The book arrived and I read…and I am still reeling from the experience. The Gone Away World is an incredible work of imaginative fiction which, once I had read the last page, I was sorely tempted to turn back to the front and start all over again.
The Story
The story is set on earth, but it is an earth which has been all but destroyed by a war which has essentially destroyed everything short of a narrow band of the ‘livable zone’, maintained thanks to the looming presence of the Jorgmund Pipe. I was confused by the first chapter, as the book launches at a time when the war has been over for a while, our narrator and his friends are almost renegade heros, and they have been called to save the world (again) as it seems the life giving, or more accurately, the normality giving Pipe is on fire. Chapter 2 jumps back to the childhood of our narrator and his best friend, Gonzo Lubitsch, in a fashion I found slightly jarring. I had so many unanswered questions from the first chapter, that the embarkation on the growing up and coming of age story confused me. However, as the book progresses, and the boys grow up, go to university and eventually join the army, it becomes to come clear. The war that was mentioned in the first chapter becomes a reality, and the whole reason for the earth’s destruction becomes clear.
Because of Harkaway’s chosen genre, the book blends familiar reality with unfamiliar absurdity. As time goes on, the absurdity becomes the norm but in a way which almost seems real. We never know the name of our narrator because he appears not to have a name. I only began to wonder about that when the story finally caught up with the first chapter, by which time I was so hooked I couldn’t put it down. Before long, a revelation occurs which turns the life of our narrator and Gonzo upside down, if indeed that were possible after all they had been through. But Harkaway is incredibly adept at drawing the threads of the story together, of confusing the reader only to have them exclaim “of course!!” when it becomes clear, and of painting it all with a vivid brush of imagery both banal and amazing.
You come across ninjas, mimes, circus performers, executives, martial arts masters and your darkest nightmares, but you take such absurdity in your stride. Because ultimately the world has irreversibly changed in the war, making the unbelievable completely expected. It is a strange but wonderful world he has created – one I didn’t want to leave.
Style
In my opinion, the book falls within the realms of speculative fiction. Science fiction is too old fashioned and inaccurate a term for it. Perhaps I am still old school and think of Isaac Asimov whenever I hear of science fiction, but The Gone Away World was a completely new experience. This is Nick Harkaway’s first novel, and it demonstrates his ability with words and imagery. He writes with a wry humour that only lightly masks the depth of his themes. He clearly loves language and metaphor. He weaves single word exclamations in with multi paragraph descriptions of Tupperware containers to provide a pace that generally avoids getting bogged down. If I were to make a criticism, it would be that perhaps he was a little too wordy. Particularly at the beginning, where I was suffering from confusion as well, I found some of the lengthy descriptions a bit tedious. Yet, I felt it improved as the book progressed. It is a long book and perhaps reducing some of this wordiness could make the book a little more accessible, however I would not wish to be the editor and sacrifice some of Harkaway’s wonderful turns of phrase.
Themes
The theme that struck me most was that of the nature of war. Harkaway’s war is not like other wars. Rather than destruction, the bombs that are dropped in this war obliterate everything. They are Go Away bombs – bombs which remove all of the information from matter and energy leaving absolutely nothing. If you are in the path of a bomb you literally disappear, along with everything else in the bomb’s radius. This kind of weaponry makes the atom bomb look archaic. But the annihilation is total – and once the world has Gone Away, then by virtue of nature, something must take its place. And it is this something which the executives and corporate machine which is left over after the war tries to control and curb. But it is this something which is as much a result of human action as the war itself, and it cannot be controlled.
I loved the comment on the violence and destructive tendencies of human nature, and the fear and distrust of change, even if that change is perpetrated by humans in the first place. Yet amongst that, there are still heroes. People still fall in love, they still form lasting friendships, and they still stand up for the underdogs or the misunderstood. Thus, this is a heroic fairy tale – it has all of the ingredients. But it is a fairy tale which is so relevant to modern society with our ever more powerful weapons and our ever more futile and childish political squabbles. It is a fairy tale which delivers a message of caution, alongside a message of hope as voiced by the narrator, whose life seems to fall right in the centre of it all.
Conclusion
I absolutely loved this book and it has driven me to broaden my horizons when it comes to genre. I would comfortably read more speculative fiction and I will be looking forward to more by this author. Although The Gone Away World may not have the read-on-the-train appeal of some of the trashy fiction which you can get today, for any intelligent reader who has an imagination and a sense of humour, you simply can not go wrong.
Rating: 10/10 ISBN: 9780434018420 Publisher: William Heinemann (Proof Copy) Date: 2008 Date Finished: 4 June 2008 Pages: 532 Challenges:
