January’s Books
With January just recently having drawn to a close, I present you with my first set of mini book reviews.
Pandaemonium by Christopher Brookmyre
Fiction - 394 pages
What happens if you take a group of schoolkids mourning the death of one of their friends and combine them with a group of scientists and priests arguing about how best to deal with an influx of daemons from a portal into hell? Carnage, that’s what. Very amusing carnage at that. There is no better writer of dark comedy fiction in Britain today than Christopher Brookmyre and this is another brilliant romp through the baser parts of the human psyche.
Thinking Outside The Box by Brad Friedel
Non-fiction - 240 pages
Footballers aren’t usually known for ‘thinking’ be it inside or outside the box but Brad Friedel isn’t an average footballer. The book describes his journey from small town Ohio to being one of the Premiership’s most respected goal keepers - a journey which was beset on all sides by seemingly everyone in the world. Where most would have given up, Friedel knew what he wanted and pursued it until he got it. At times this reads like a motivational book but that’s no bad thing - he has learnt a lot of lessons from life so far and they’re all presented here.
Leaf Storm by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Fiction - 146 pages
Marquez writes fiction in the way that skilled craftsmen weave intricate tapestries. The tale unfolds exquisitely from the starting point of a young child being dragged along to prepare a neighbour’s body for a funeral and slowly but surely we see what has happened to get us to this point. The main bulk of what is a pretty small - but heavy-going-in-places book is the novella, Leaf Storm, and that is then followed by about half a dozen short stories which range from ‘wow’ to ‘huh?’. The book is entirely inconsequential and goes absolutely nowhere but the journey is a delight and it’s well worth reading.
Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
Fiction - 394 pages
Sophie Amundsen arrives home from school one day to find a strange letter addressed to her. And so she embarks on a journey through the history of philosophy through the writings of her personal tutor, Alberto Knox, and soon they find themselves intrigued by the mysterious ‘Helge’ whose life seems to be closely entwined with Sophie’s. A very good read, if for no other reason than it gives a good grounding in philosophical thought through the ages, but beyond that this is a highly enjoyable tale of not-quite-everyday life seen through the eyes of a teenage girl.
So that was January. The first two were ‘new’ books and the second two were from my ‘started ages ago and stopped for no apparent reason’ shelf. My favourite, as you can probably tell, was Pandaemonium but then t’was ever likely to be the case as he’s my favourite author.
If you think you might like to read any of these books, and you live in or near the West Midlands, then by all means ask to borrow them. I’m sure we can work something out.
