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Mar 28, 2008
Plea Of Insanity – Jilliane Hoffman
This is a courtroom drama with a difference. It is a courtroom drama with a definite purpose. The author actually seeks to teach the reader something and open their eyes as well as entertain them. It was an interesting combination which I really enjoyed, but which could take the average reader who is just looking for a bit of escapism by surprise. Plea of Insanity starts out as a story of a rookie... read more
Mar 18, 2008
All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
I would hail this book as one of the most evocative accounts of the First World War ever written. I was almost speechless when I finished it. There were passages which I found myself reading a second and third time because of their beauty. The story itself is similar to so many others – a young man grows into an old man as he experiences the war. His comrades become his only family and by the end,... read more
Mar 13, 2008
Regeneration – Pat Barker
I studied World War I in my final year at school, and after finishing A Long Long Way, I wanted to continue my reading on it. Fortunately, my book club then selected Regeneration by Pat Barker which gave me another opportunity to read about the same war, from a different viewpoint and with a completely different atmosphere. Much has been written about this book. It is a novel based around fact – in... read more
Mar 13, 2008
Get Into Bed With Google – Jon Smith
This is less a complete book and more a ‘pithy little reader’. It offers no verbosity – just 52 simple rules to remember for optimising websites for the ubiquitous Google. It is a difficult book to ‘review’ so probably just an overview and an impression will do it justice. From a ‘how-to’ point of view (which is essentially the genre it fits within) it does... read more
Mar 8, 2008
A Long Long Way – Sebastian Barry
So many books written about World War I recount the misery, horror and subhuman conditions the soldiers were forced to endure on the Western Front. A Long Long Way continued this tradition, but despite having read a lot about the period, having visited the battlefields of Belgium and having studied the Great War at length, it never reduces the shock and sadness. This story is about a very ordinary Irish... read more
Feb 18, 2008
The Lincoln Lawyer – Michael Connelly
Mickey Haller’s office is the back of his car. He conducts his business as a defence attorney from the back seat of his Lincoln, defending criminals of all shades – drug dealers, prostitutes, rapists and thieves. And then Louis Roulet, arrested for assault, specifically asks for Haller to defend him. Suddenly, the Lincoln Lawyer is forced to question whether he can even spot innocence, and how... read more
Feb 12, 2008
Kiss The Girls – James Patterson
I dived straight into this after finishing Along Came A Spider, eager to carry on with the adventures of Alex Cross. Without doubt, it was a gripping read. Without doubt, I couldn’t guess who had done it until I was nearing the end. Without doubt the story was gory and filled with a marked good guy/bad guy contrast. But for some reason, I didn’t enjoy this book quite as much? Perhaps it was... read more
