Posts tagged reading
I’ve been neglecting my reading recently, as you may have noticed. In lieu of a book blog, have a photo of my unread books!
With February just recently having drawn to a close, I present you with my second set of mini book reviews.
What’s Left by Nick Cohen
Non-fiction - 386 pages
Big, unwieldy Marmite of a book. I hated it, even though the subject matter should be designed to interest me. It’s written with such self-regard that one might almost think that Nick Cohen is the only right (as in correct) thinking liberal on the planet and, in fact you might be forgiven for thinking that he’s the only person on the planet who knows the meaning of the word. There was, I will admit, a fair amount to recommend in this book. It took me through a lot of the history of ‘liberal thought’ of which I was somewhat unaware. The author’s tone, however, was one of such sneering ‘look what these people thought; what bad liberals they must have been!’ which, with the benefit of hindsight, is all too easy. The final nail in the coffin though, for me, was that he flatly refuses to accept that anyone can have a reason to oppose the war in Iraq without also supporting Saddam Hussein’s murderous regime; as if international law and politics is always a matter of black and white. So…if you think that sounds like your cup of tea then by all means go ahead and read it but I’d recommend saving your time and reading something much more worthwhile. Like the next two books.
The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams
Fiction - 280 pages
Ah, Douglas Adams, how you are missed. This is effectively an anthology of some of DA’s miscellaneous writings and communications of note, culminating in the first few chapters of ‘The Salmon of Doubt’. That part is amalgamated from various drafts of a new Dirk Gently book and is very unpolished. There is evidence that he had had an interestingly surreal idea but had little idea what to do with it but what’s there is good. The rest of the book gives a fascinating insight into the man behind the writing and it’s clear he was a very amusing man who was troubled by self-doubt and was very unsure of himself in spite of the success he had. All in all a very enjoyable read, which is laugh out loud funny in many places but which ultimately serves no real purpose other than to call time on the career of a talented man who died before his time.
Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
Non-fiction - 219 pages
There’s not actually much to say about this. If you enjoyed Freakonomics then you will enjoy this - it’s more of the same sort of fayre. If you haven’t read Freakonomics then I’d heartily recommend it if you’re interested in looking at subjects in different ways to draw unorthodox conclusions. And that’s it really. Great book, well researched and written and the sort of non-fic I could read endlessly.
I came very close to being able to include a fourth here but February was a month of spending much time with good friends. As such, I don’t feel bad about letting the reading slide, as time wasted with friends is never time wasted!
The last one was a new book and the first two were from my ‘started ages ago and stopped for no apparent reason’ shelf. My favourite this month was Salmon of Doubt and it’s a crying shame that Douglas Adams didn’t live long enough to revisit it and turn it into a proper novel.
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.
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.
It’s official. I have designated 2010 to be a Year of Much Reading (tm).
What?
Well, I recently realised that not only do I not read much in the way of books any more, where once I would read almost constantly, but also I have over 120 books in my possession which are either half- or un-read. And that’s a lot of wasted tree, not to mention ink.
So, to redress the balance in this unfortunate situation, I shall attempt to read significantly more than I have done of late. To this end, instead of wasting time hitting refresh on Twitter and facebook and wondering why my life feels so incomplete, I shall instead spend a large portion of my free time devouring books voraciously.
The two main goals of the exercise are:
The first is more important than the second but I’d like to manage both, or come close. If I manage to exceed the second then I’ll be over the moon, to use a cliché.
“But what, prey tell, does this have to do with me?” I hear you cry in exasperated astonishment. I’m glad you asked. Your punishment for allowing my literature consumption to fall into such a parlous state is that you are obliged to read about the books that I read. I shall keep reviews short, of course, and shall probably update on the subject around once a month. But blog about it I will and, thus, read about it you must.
“But you’re already 12 days into the new year! Surely that means you’re already behind?” I hear you cry with touching concern. Ah well, you see, this blog comes on the back of already having managed three whole books thus far and, hence, I am actually ahead. You shall, of course, discover what those books are in due course (unless you read my tweets in which case you may already know).
So for now, I shall bid you a bon voyage, as I continue upon my own journey of literary consumption, and you can expect updates in due course. I can sense the bated breath from here…
