Ooshie's Reading List 2013

[Ooshie]

Nice to read your review of the book . I liked the book though I was confused by a few things also. It's been a while since I read it, and I don't really remember much of what you'd put between spoiler tags so I'm afraid I can't help you there. Overall I gave the book 4 out of 5 stars and liked it enough to buy more Iain M. Banks books (glad I did, because I enjoyed ie. The Player Of Games than I did this one).

Yeah, definitely not his best - in fact, it's quite ordinary and, as you say, gets bogged down in places - but some of what follows is great

 

I did enjoy it enough to download The Player of Games, and got about 20% through that last night - liking it much better so far!

[Athena]

That's great to hear! So far that one's my favourite out of his books, but I've only read the first three thus far . Hope you continue liking it .

Edited January 28, 2013 by Athena

[Ooshie]

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

 

Synopsis - from Amazon

 

The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh.  Jernau Morat Gurgeh.  The Player of Games.  Master of every board, computer and strategy.  Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game ... a  game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes Emperor.  Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death.

 

This is the second in Culture series of books, which I started immediately on finishing the first.  If anyone has read the first book and not bothered going on to the second, think again!  It really is much, much better.  I was engaged from the start, and towards the end could hardly put the book down.  Thoroughly enjoyable. 

 

I did get slightly led astray by

the bracelet Gurgeh was given, I had expected it to play a much more significant part in the storyline, but if it did then I missed it!

   That, and the fact that sometimes I wished (even more so with the first book, actually) that the protagonists could be called things like Bob and Jim so that I could keep a proper track of who was who, are my only quibbles!

 

I'm not quite sure why I have only given this 4.5/5, I might go back later and change it to 5/5.  Great book.  I have the short story collection in which a couple of the stories relate to the Culture, so I will finish the books I have on the go, read The State of the Art, and then download the next in the series.  Highly recommended.  Really.  Oh, you had got that already?

Edited February 2, 2013 by Ooshie

[Athena]

I'm glad you liked it! I agree about the names, I felt the same way.

[Ooshie]

I'm glad you liked it! I agree about the names, I felt the same way.

Thanks, Athena.  I'm glad it's not just me who was confused by the names! 

[Karsa Orlong]

Bob and Jim?  Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! 

 

Some of the names he gives the ships in his stories are hilarious    Glad you enjoyed it, Ooshie

[Ooshie]

Bob and Jim?  Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! 

 

Some of the names he gives the ships in his stories are hilarious    Glad you enjoyed it, Ooshie

I do like the names of the ships, they always give me a smile   But do lots of the other names have to be just so different that there is no hope of me ever remembering them?  How about Jimmm - slightly different but gives me a chance!

 

Loved the book, so glad I decided to go on with it.

Edited February 3, 2013 by Ooshie

[Karsa Orlong]

I do like the names of the ships, they always give me a smile   But do lots of the other names have to be just so different that there is no hope of me ever remembering them?  How about Jimmm - slightly different but gives me a chance!

 

Ah well, I'm all for different names, I actually find them more memorable.  Jim (or Jimmm) and Bob mean nothing to me

[Ooshie]

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

 

 

Synopsis - from Amazon

 

'I write this sitting in the kitchen sink' is the first line of this timeless,
witty and enchanting novel about growing up. Cassandra Mortmain lives with her
bohemian and impoverished family in a crumbling castle in the middle of nowhere.
Her journal records her life with her beautiful, bored sister, Rose, her
fadingly glamorous stepmother, Topaz, her little brother Thomas and her
eccentric novelist father who suffers from a financially crippling writer's
block. However, all their lives are turned upside down when the American heirs
to the castle arrive and Cassandra finds herself falling in love for the first
time.

 

I seem to have been reading this book forever and am glad I finally finished it.  I don't know why I have had such trouble getting through it, I would say I enjoyed it, but for some reason I could never read more than a few pages at a time before having to go and read something else instead.  I probably enjoyed the parts which concentrated on the family and where they lived most, once it moved on to

who could get which American to marry them

I definitely lost interest a bit. 

 

[Ooshie]

Ah well, I'm all for different names, I actually find them more memorable.  Jim (or Jimmm) and Bob mean nothing to me

You find them more memorable?  Wow, I admire the way your brain works, Steve! 

[Karsa Orlong]

You find them more memorable?  Wow, I admire the way your brain works, Steve! 

 

 

I'm just used to it, is all

[Ooshie]

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

 

Synopsis - from Amazon

 

Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. Across 1000 miles of Oregon desert
his assassins, the notorious Eli and Charlies Sisters, ride - fighting,
shooting, and drinking their way to Sacramento. But their prey isn't an
easy mark, the road is long and bloody, and somewhere along the path Eli
begins to question what he does for a living - and whom he does it for.
The Sisters Brothers pays homage to the classic Western, transforming
it into an unforgettable ribald tour de force. Filled with a remarkable
cast of losers, cheaters, and ne'er-do-wells from all stripes of
life-and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent,
lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that
beautifully captures the humor, melancholy, and grit of the Old West and
two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love.

 

I am a fan of Westerns, both in book form and on-screen, and had been looking forward to reading this one for a while.  I was a wee bit disappointed, though.  I did like Eli as a character, and there were some particular sentences that I really enjoyed, but overall it just didn't grab me in the way I had hoped it would.  I have quite a lot going on just now, though, and am a wee bit distracted, so maybe at another time it would have made more of an impression on me.  I wouldn't rule out re-reading it at another date, but I won't be rushing to any time soon.

Edited February 17, 2013 by Ooshie

[Ooshie]

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

 

Synopsis - from Amazon

 

Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral Mrs
Alice Drablow, the house's sole inhabitant of Eel Marsh House, unaware
of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. The
house stands at the end of a causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but
it is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black,
at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a
feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in
black - and her terrible purpose.

 

This was a re-read for the Reading Circle and I was a bit worried that, although I had enjoyed it so much before, it wouldn't have the same impact on me second time around.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, though - even though I had to stop reading it for a few days due to a somewhat spooky happening in a house I was living on my own in which made me too cowardly to carry on with it!  (I found a lamp on in a room that I hadn't switched on, and when I unplugged it - it stayed on!)   A short book, but full of atmosphere, and I fully expect to re-read it yet again in years to come.

[Ooshie]

Les Liaisons Dangereuse by Choderlos de Laclos

 

Synopsis - from Amazon

 

Published in 1782, just years before the French Revolution, Les Liaisons
Dangereuses is a disturbing and ultimately damning portrayal of a
decadent society. At its centre are two aristocrats, former lovers, who
embark on a sophisticated game of seduction and manipulation to bring
amusement to their jaded existences. While the Marquise de Merteuil
challenges the Vicomte de Valmont to seduce an innocent convent girl,
the Vicomte is also occupied with the conquest of a virtuous married
woman. But as their intrigues become more duplicitous and they find
their human pawns responding in ways they could not have predicted, the
consequences prove to be more serious, and deadly, than Merteuil and
Valmont could have guessed.

 

For some reason I had expected this book to be much longer than it actually was.  It took me a wee while to remember which character was which (these names again!  I really need to improve my memory) but after I did I got into the rhythm of the book and enjoyed it quite a lot.  It has made me want to watch the film with Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer again, I must look out for it.

[AbielleRose]

Ooh, looks like you've been doing very well for yourself so far this year! <3

[Ooshie]

Ooh, looks like you've been doing very well for yourself so far this year! <3

Thanks Abbie x

[bobblybear]

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

 

I am a fan of Westerns, both in book form and on-screen, and had been looking forward to reading this one for a while.  I was a wee bit disappointed, though.  I did like Eli as a character, and there were some particular sentences that I really enjoyed, but overall it just didn't grab me in the way I had hoped it would.  I have quite a lot going on just now, though, and am a wee bit distracted, so maybe at another time it would have made more of an impression on me.  I wouldn't rule out re-reading it at another date, but I won't be rushing to any time soon.

 

That's reminded me that I have this one my Kindle to read! I must try to get to it soon, but I have so many others to read!

 

 

Les Liaisons Dangereuse by Choderlos de Laclos

 

For some reason I had expected this book to be much longer than it actually was.  It took me a wee while to remember which character was which (these names again!  I really need to improve my memory) but after I did I got into the rhythm of the book and enjoyed it quite a lot.  It has made me want to watch the film with Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer again, I must look out for it.

 

This is to be my next read once I finish my current book. I forgot it was Michelle Pfeiffer in the film - I thought it was Winona Ryder who played the innocent convent girl! Though thinking about when the movie was filmed, she would have been way too young I think.

 

Anyway, I'm glad you say it wasn't too long a book as I am 'nervous' about reading it.

[Ooshie]

Anyway, I'm glad you say it wasn't too long a book as I am 'nervous' about reading it.

 

 

I definitely found it a much easier read than I expected, hope you are enjoying it bobblybear

[Ooshie]

The State of the Art by Iain M Banks

 

Synopsis - from Amazon

 

The first ever collection of Iain Banks's short fiction, this volume
includes the acclaimed novella, The State of the Art. This is a striking
addition to the growing body of Culture lore, and adds definition and
scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The
other stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror,
dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of
Iain Banks's staggering talent.

 

I really enjoyed this short story collection.  As mentioned in the synopsis, some of the stories relate to his Culture series, but others are of a variety of genres.  Really, really good.  I had given it a 4.5/5, but I'm going back to change it to 5/5!

[Athena]

I'm glad you really liked this book . I've bought it but haven't read it yet (it's on the TBR).

[frankie]

 

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

 

 That, and the fact that sometimes I wished (even more so with the first book, actually) that the protagonists could be called things like Bob and Jim so that I could keep a proper track of who was who, are my only quibbles!

 

 

I agree. I'd be much happier with Jim and Bob. Nigel, definitely!

 

 

Les Liaisons Dangereuse by Choderlos de Laclos

 

For some reason I had expected this book to be much longer than it actually was.  It took me a wee while to remember which character was which (these names again!  I really need to improve my memory) but after I did I got into the rhythm of the book and enjoyed it quite a lot.  It has made me want to watch the film with Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer again, I must look out for it.

 

I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the book, can't wait to discuss the book with you and the others!  

 

This is to be my next read once I finish my current book. I forgot it was Michelle Pfeiffer in the film - I thought it was Winona Ryder who played the innocent convent girl! Though thinking about when the movie was filmed, she would have been way too young I think.

 

I'm thinking there have to be at least two different movie adaptations of the book. I've never seen the Glenn Close one, I've only seen the Colin Firth one (and no, not because I'm a fan and chose to go with that one, but because it was on TV years ago and that's, for me, the 'real' one. Just because I saw it first.), but that's called Valmont. The Glenn Close one must be the one that's named by the book.

[bobblybear]

Anyway, I'm glad you say it wasn't too long a book as I am 'nervous' about reading it.

I definitely found it a much easier read than I expected, hope you are enjoying it bobblybear

 

I am enjoying it but a bit puzzled that the new translation is about 200 pages longer than than the previous hideous translation. Maybe it's end-notes, not sure.

 

I'm thinking there have to be at least two different movie adaptations of the book. I've never seen the Glenn Close one, I've only seen the Colin Firth one (and no, not because I'm a fan and chose to go with that one, but because it was on TV years ago and that's, for me, the 'real' one. Just because I saw it first.), but that's called Valmont. The Glenn Close one must be the one that's named by the book.

 

Not heard of the Colin Firth one, but the Glenn Close one is good. I might watch it again once I've finished the book to see what they have changed (if anything).

[Devi]

The State of the Art by Iain M Banks

I like the sound of this one! Added to my wish list.

[frankie]

I am enjoying it but a bit puzzled that the new translation is about 200 pages longer than than the previous hideous translation. Maybe it's end-notes, not sure.

 

What the heck, 200 pages?

 

Not heard of the Colin Firth one, but the Glenn Close one is good. I might watch it again once I've finished the book to see what they have changed (if anything).

 

If you have a chance, check out Valmont, too, I remember liking it

 

Edit: I'm going to keep an eye out for the Glenn Close one, but first I'll watch Valmont because coincidentally it was on TV a few months ago and I recorded it but haven't re-watched it yet. I'm thinking of watching it as soon as I've finished the novel.

[chesilbeach]

We really need to stop discussions Dangerous Liaisons until Friday!!!

 

I've just remembered that someone had mentioned their version was around 200ish pages long, and mine was just over 400, but I'd completely forgotten to post about it, and those 400 pages are *just* the novel itself, not including introduction, notes, foreword, afterword and shopping list (or whatever else they include in these things).