Mats2014 Books

Joining late this year, never going to read 50 but aiming for 25, been a busy year studying so well behind the curve. I intend to read Wuthering Heights, a few Roald Dahl books that I missed as a child, the 2nd and 3rd books of Iain Banks' culture series (even though the first left me a little disappointed), Still Alice, The Eagle has Landed, Black and White:The Way I see it and the final part of Ken Follets Century trilogy; Edge of Eternity. Anyway here goes..

1. Consider Phlebas -Iain Banks
2. Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
3. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
4. Matilda - Roald Dahl
5. George's Marvellous Medicine-Roald Dahl
6. Mack the Life - Lee Mack
7. 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
8. A Scandal in Bohemia - Arthur Conan Doyle
9. The Player of Games - Iain M Banks
10. The Stars Like Dust - Isaac Asimov
11. The Eagle Has Landed - Jack Higgins
12. The Handmaids Tale - Margaret Atwood
13. Use of Weapons - Iain M. Banks
14. The Black Dahlia - James Elroy(Audio)
15. City of Sins - Daniel Blake (Audio)
16. Tell No One - Harlan Coben (Audio)
17. Animal Farm - George Orwell (Audio)
18. The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo - Stieg Larsson(Audio)
19. The Welsh Girl - Peter Ho Davies (Audio)
20. The Girl who played with Fire - Stieg Larsson(Audio)
21. The Girl who kicked a Hornets Nest - Stieg Larsson(Audio)

1. Consider Phlebas-Iain Banks - Had high hopes with this after hearing big things about Iain Banks. I didn't find the plot particularly memorable and wasn't really drawn to any of the characters, I am hoping this book is more about setting up the Culture universe for following books as I think there is potential for good sci fi. The stand out part of book is the game of Damage, a gambling game with lives rather than money. I loved the idea of this game and its implications of slavery and people in poverty being taken advantage of, maybe missed an opportunity not making more of it in book but I haven't read other books yet so maybe it will feature again..

2. Robinson Crusoe- Daniel Defoe - Read this a few months back and has faded from my mind quite quickly, remember it being fairly enjoyable and clearly the inspiration for many, many cast away stories since. Good if not great.

3. Life of Pi - Yann Martel - Coincidence that I read this after Crusoe but obvious parallels, I really enjoyed some of the writing, especially in early chapters. The last quarter or so of book stopped this from being a real favourite for me, I found it very predictable and the reasoning for why the finale and explanation will 'make you believe in god' rang very hollow for me at the end personally. However I liked this book a lot.

4. Matilda - Roald Dahl - I am reading the Dahl books that I missed as a kid, I missed one of his best here! This is funny and I loved the clever kid being the heroine, although the magic was unnecessary for me. Although a kids book I felt the end was more abrupt than it should have been but generally I loved this.

5. George's Marvellous Medicine-Roald Dahl - Just for young children I think. Would defo use this to introduce my child to wonderful world of Roald Dahl books.

6. Mack the Life - Lee Mack - One of my favourite comedians, picked this up for £1 hardback in poundland! He uses very entertaining interviews with a psychologist to break up the book which I enjoyed and its full of jokes everywhere he can cram one in which reflects his style. He is obviously very down to earth and aware of the pitfalls and perks of celebrity/tv, and he makes it clear that hard work not natural comedic talent is the key to success. Enjoyable but possibly due to him being so nice and respectful not much juicy info and there are several occasions you just want him to spill the beans on just who he is talking about.

7. 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I really, really struggled to finish this but I try to finish all novels I read as you never know when a book may captivate you, sadly it didn't happen. I read a quote from New York Times critic saying "Dazzling.. You emerge from this novel as if from a dream", I by no measure found this anything like 'dazzling' but can understand the dream reference. It was like remembering a dream, there were lots of random events jumbled together in an order that made no sense and results in an incoherent mess, thrown in together with a family where every male member has such similar names to the point that almost on a paragraph by paragraph basis with any male character you have to check family tree to remember who is who. It also seems as if characters are introduced and you are expected to be interested in them with little or no establishment of their personalities beforehand. I struggle to think of any character with a redeeming quality to empathize with. I suspect this may be a book to be studied rather than enjoyed and i'm sure there was more depth and poignancy to the themes of solitude and insularity than my bored and sometimes confused brain would allow. I am surprised this book is so popular.

Since finishing I have learnt that this book was a metaphor for Columbia in its infancy, without knowing this in advance of reading it (which I didn't)and having some knowledge of Colombia's history I struggle to see how anybody could enjoy it or understand it, but obviously with that knowledge the book probably takes on a completely different perspective, in my opinion making it a pointless exercise reading if coming to the book fresh.

8. A Scandal in Bohemia - Arthur Conan Doyle - Read this earlier in year and have the whole collection to get through, love Holmes' arrogant brilliance, look forward to the rest.

9. The Player of Games - Iain Banks - Second in Culture series and far more interesting than first book. About an expert game player who is invited to play a game with a difference on a newly discovered imperial system, a clash of cultural viewpoints is central and it had a neat ending. I enjoyed this a lot more than first and having a tournament running through the plot kept things moving too. Was lots more sci fi ideas, such as exo-skeleton serving as a mobile prison which was very cool and a planet with a halo of fire revolving around once a year and how it would affect some biology, it was these bits of the book I really enjoyed and will bring me back to more Culture books but the story of this one was also more than decent on its own too.

10.The Stars Like Dust - Isaac Asimov - I picked this up having read and enjoyed the Foundation trilogy books. This is a space conspiracy drama that doesn't quite live up to those Foundation books. Its still enjoyable and I like that Asimov uses the plot to shoehorn in some science, I've since found out that it is the first in the Galactic Empire series and is set in the Foundation 'universe' so am going to read the series in chronological order right through the to the last Foundation novels. Not as interesting as the later Foundation books but enough to set up the next book in this series nicely..

11. The Eagle Has Landed - Jack Higgins - About an audacious plot by the Germans during WW2 to kidnap Winston Churchill. Enjoyed this, was reading at a quicker and quicker pace toward the end as the tension builds, which is a sure sign I like a book, not too much thinking needed just a bit of a thrill ride but a good one with an interesting premise. I also like books which show the humanity of the enemy too, which this does. Also throws up the use of negative stereotypes and prejudice as coping mechanisms during war situations.

12.The Handmaids Tale - Margaret Atwood - An overthrow of society and government leads to a strict religious group reshaping society in a brutal way and effectively making mainly women second class citizens, whose function is to be a surrogate mother to provide children in a world where fertility is diminished,the book is an account narrated by one of these women . I found this thought provoking and it definitely one of those books that has you wondering what would it be like to live through that. One of those books where there is little resolution of characters though which I tend to get annoyed by.

13. Use of Weapons - Iain M. Banks - This was a very good book and I suspect on a 2nd or 3rd reading a great book! The book is written brilliantly, especially the first two thirds, Banks really improves his writing massively in this book. The central character Zakalwe is a military strategist(a weapon) used by the utopian culture as a tool. What follows is the juxtaposition of Zakalwe's methods of using weapons (in all and various means and senses of the word) to win at almost any cost, against the 'civilised' ways of the culture to improve life for all societies. The book is all about Zakalwe's story not the Culture and a stunning big twist is also included. I admit I had to read a few reviews to fully appreciate some of the subtleties of the book as it definitely has a lot of depth. I will definitely read this again and would be very surprised if my enjoyment does not increase with further familiarity. It is also one of those books with many true-isms that you instinctively feel are correct and apply to life in general, which is something that really hooks me too.

14. The Black Dahlia - James Elroy - Good murder mystery, the 40-50s America at this time is quite vividly painted too. The first half is really gripping with a boxing match and some interesting characters, particularly Lee Blanchard. However the story massively loses momentum about two thirds in with loss of a character before the resolution threatens to somewhat rescue it.

15. City of Sins - Daniel Blake - Good thriller with some conspiracy themes running through using the background of Hurricane Katrina.

16. Tell No One - Harlan Coben - Real good mystery thriller this, lots of good twists and turns, would be a great film plot if its not already been done. You really get sucked in to the characters sense of loss at beginning and feel empathy with him which sets up the plot really nicely. Satisfying ending too which I personally find is rare with this genre.

17. Animal Farm - George Orwell - I read this as a pretty immature kid in school, so it was almost completely wasted on me as I was pretty apathetic to most of the themes and ideas. Now its slightly different, I'm somewhat approaching mature haha and I really enjoyed it. Its cynical and defeatist but also has more than a hint of some of the nasty realities of people and how the world works.

Nice reviews! FYI, there was a French language movie version of Tell No One released in 2006. It did get released in the U.S. with subtitles and was quite good, as I remember it.

Thanks, I've just done a search on IMDB and you are right, I will have to lookout for the movie!

18. The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo - Stieg Larsson - Good this, not quite living up to the hype but its definitely got a hook, although I'm finding hard to say why. The female protagonist is cold and unlikeable in many ways, she is somewhere between righteous, heroine, seeker and doer of natural justice to chip on her shoulder, dour feminist. She is definitely interesting though. The plot keeps you guessing(although the opening chapter or two explaining the background of Blomqvist v Venestrom is beyond tedious and nearly had me give up before starting) and keeps the other main characters situation of interest and the level of scumbaggery is pretty shocking too. Book full of varying degrees of unpleasant people in mystery format but its working for me, onto the next..

19.The Welsh Girl - Peter Ho Davies (Audio) - I really couldn't get into this, I found the whole she was the real prisoner of circumstances angle a bit hard to swallow. There were some interesting exchanges between Rudolph Hoess and the psycho analyst but other than that I found it to be a bit like a soap plot. I like the idea looking at how everyday life was affected in a rural welsh community and the prejudices held there and the reaction to newcomers, be it prisoners, English, bbc journalists etc but it just didn't capture my imagination.

20. The Girl who played with Fire - Stieg Larsson - I think this is an improvement on the first as it develops the most interesting character Salander and gives you more of an insight into her formative years and what has made her the 'odd' person she is perceived to be. Like the bad guy who has a very useful congentintal disease to make him all the badder! I thought the ending was a little far fetched after the story begins to lull you into thinking this book is going to be very different from a lot of other thrillers but it got a bit too James Bond escapes the villain in almost ridiculous circumstances for me. Nevertheless very good will get the final instalment.

21. The Girl who kicked a Hornets Nest - Stieg Larsson(Audio) - Really disappointing, in the aftermath of a pretty epic conclusion to the previous book this follows up with an incredibly dull story. There is virtually zero sense of jeopardy as every bad guy is incomprehensibly lacking any common sense or intelligence, (the most dangerous killed off almost immediately which was a very bizarre story arc in my opinion) and Salandar and co seem so competent that there is never even a remote sense of any danger. After Salander spending 3/4 of the book sat in a hospital bed, there is a very straightforward court case where it is very obvious the bad guys stupidity is about to be taken apart and Salander redeemed. There are also seemingly endless dialogues in millennium and involving Blomqvist and his sex life which seem to drift away from the story, meandering down cul de sacs. The final few chapters are incredibly boring and its only the goodwill from enjoying the first two books that really kept me going to the end.