Lucybird's Books 2013

[Lucybird]

A Long Way Down- Nick Hornby

 

Synopsis (from Amazon)
 
'Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?' 
For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: he has, in his own words, 'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve he's going to end it all . . . but not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons.
 
Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices if cold pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living?
 
Review.
 
Previous novels which I've read by Nick Hornby have both been books where I'vd seen the films previously, I'm not entirely sure what effect this has had on my reading of them, I enjoyed both so I certainly wouldn't say it had a negative impact but it did give me some expectations. 
 
I've been meaning to read some other of his novels for some time but was unsure where to go. A Long Way Down probably wouldn't have been my first choice except that it was in the 12 days of kindle deals after Christmas so it seemed sensible.
 
Why wouldn't I have gone with A Long Way Down? Well, my experience with funny suicide novels is not the best. I didn't get on well with A Spot of Bother, and I wasn't that enamoured with The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim either, but I did enjoy A Matter of Death and Life. I did know though that it's Nick Hornby's forte to manage to write light novels about serious subjects.
 
Well as far as funny suicide novels go it was pretty good. It did make me laugh, sometimes to the point that I felt a little bad about laughing, it was absurd but maybe believable. However I did feel it skimped a bit on the emotion. I never felt particularly attached to the characters, or especially emphatic- although my empathy did grow a little as I got to know them better. 
 
There was only one character that I really felt had a halfway decent reason to want to commit suicide, but strangely she was also the one who I wanted to succeed the least.
 
3/5

[Athena]

Hmm this sounds interesting but you didn't think the book was brilliant, I might buy one of his other novels, first. Any particular one you recommend? Nicely written review, btw .

[chesilbeach]

I read A Long Way Down with my reading group a couple of years ago, and I felt pretty much the same as you did, Lucybird. Although I remember the book generally, I can only actually remember details of one of the characters, so it obviously didn't make that much of an impression on me!

[Lucybird]

Hmm this sounds interesting but you didn't think the book was brilliant, I might buy one of his other novels, first. Any particular one you recommend? Nicely written review, btw .

 

I've read High Fidelity and About a Boy. I prefered High Fidelity, but About a Boy is a bt 'meatier'. The first Hornby I read though was a non-fiction, The Complete Polysyllabic (sp?) Spree, which added so much to my wishlist!

 

I read A Long Way Down with my reading group a couple of years ago, and I felt pretty much the same as you did, Lucybird. Although I remember the book generally, I can only actually remember details of one of the characters, so it obviously didn't make that much of an impression on me!

 

I'm just hoping that the film Hornby's aren't the only good ones. I have heard very mixed reviews of Juliet, Naked but not much about his others.

[Lucybird]

2,227 QI Facts to Knock Your Socks Off

 
Synopsis (from amazon)
 


QI is the smartest comedy show on British television, but few people know that we're also a major legal hit in Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Africa and an illegal one on BitTorrent. We also write books and newspaper columns; run a thriving website, a Facebook page, a Twitter feed; and produce an iPhone App and a sister Radio 4 programme. At the core of what we do is the astonishing fact - painstakingly researched and distilled to a brilliant and shocking clarity. In Einstein's words: 'Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.'
 
Did you know that: cows moo in regional accents; the entire internet weighs less than a grain of sand; the dialling code from Britain to Russia is 007; potatoes have more chromosomes than human beings; the London Underground has made more money from its famous map than it has from running trains; Tintin is called Tantan in Japanese because TinTin is pronounced 'Chin chin' and means penis; the water in the mouth of a blue whale weighs more than its body; Scotland has twice as many pandas as Conservative MPs; Saddam's bunker was designed by the grandson of the woman who built Hitler's bunker; Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, it is explicitly illegal in Britain to use a machinegun to kill a hedgehog.
 
1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off will make you look at the universe (and your socks) in an alarming new way.
 
Review
 
This is going to be quite a quick review because I don't really have much to say.
 
Aswith the other QI books I have read this book is full of interesting facts. It's immensely quotable and I did tweet quite a few facts whilst I was reading it. Unfortunately some of the facts repeated what had been on the TV show, and I think the majority of QI readers are probably also QI watchers.
 
I read this on kindle but I think it's probably better as a paper book, simply because it's easier to dip in and out of a paper book. On a kindle you really have to read cover to cover which didn't work well for a book which is basically a long list of facts.
 
3.5/5

[Lucybird]

Life After Life- Kate Atkinson

 
Disclaimer: I was given an advance copy of Life After Life free of charge by the publisher (via netgalley) in exchange for an honest review.
 
Synopsis (from amazon)
 
What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right?
 
During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath.
 
During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale.
 
What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?
 
Review.
 
I really did not want this book to end, it was, just, wow, there's no words! I'm sad that it ended when it did. I have that sort of melancholy feeling you get from finishing a book that's really special. I can't remember the last time I felt that, maybe as far back as The Elegance of the Hedgehog (and that was back in 2010)? In some way it's greater because the story didn't have to end there. The nature of the story means it never really had to end, although I suppose if it didn't end Atkinson would still be writing it and I wouldn't have got to read it at all!
 
How can I describe this book? It's a sort of epic Groundhog Day.
 
It's strange how everything seems sort of inevitable, even though Ursula has lived it before, has knowledge from that former life, even though you know she should fix it you're scared that the same thing will just happen again, and again, and again. You're shouting at her. You know what's going to happen and there's a sadness, and a dread, somehow you don't think she'll fix it. I think that shows something of Atkinson's writing talent, and ability to get you into a story, that your emotions trump your logic, every, single, time.
 
I loved Ursula, when everything changed, however she decided to live that life, she was still, undeniably, Ursula, and that's probably a hard thing to achieve. I enjoyed the whole family dynamic too, and that was something which barely changed.
 
A lot of the story focused around the second world war, which is a period of time I like to read fiction about. It was interesting though because Ursula's different lives meant you could see the war from different angles, and with a sort of hindsight which was built into the novel, rather than from the reader living in a different time.
 
I've never read any Atkinson before, she's known for crime stories, which aren't generally my thing, but I may read more of her now.
5/5

[bobblybear]

I've added Life After Life to my wishlist. Sounds like an interesting read.

[Devi]

So have I!

[julie]

Lucy

The Atkinson book sounds really interesting. I've often wondered if I had life to do over gain ,what changes would I make in my own life ? Would I have made different choices ? Maybe. Probably . How would they have affected my life today ? Would I be a totally different person today ? Hard to say .

 

I like books like that ,that make you THINK a lot ..

 

I'll have to add it to my list too .

[Athena]

I've wishlisted it too.

[Kidsmum]

Great review Lucybird i already have Life after Life on my wishlist, it sounds similar to Replay by Ken Grimwood a book that Steve recommended.Also good to hear that you enjoyed The Elegance Of The Hedgehog as i bought it quite recently on one of my charity shop trawls 

[chesilbeach]

If you want to read one of her other non-crime books, I'd recommend Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Lucybird. It's been years since I read it, but I remember enjoying it a lot.

[lauraloves]

I've added it too, seems like a book that id like. Great review too

[Lucybird]

If you want to read one of her other non-crime books, I'd recommend Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Lucybird. It's been years since I read it, but I remember enjoying it a lot.

 

Thanks. I think my Mum has it so I may have to steal it off her

[Lucybird]

The Snow Child- Eowyn Ivey

 

Synopsis (from amazon)

 

Alaska, the 1920s. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on a fresh start in a remote homestead, but the wilderness is a stark place, and Mabel is haunted by the baby she lost many years before. When a little girl appears mysteriously on their land, each is filled with wonder, but also foreboding: is she what she seems, and can they find room in their hearts for her?

 

Review

 

There was a lot of buzz about this book when it first came out. It was one of the Waterstone's 11, and everybody seemed to be reading it. It was on mywishlist for a long time but I didn't buy it until it was on offer as part of the 12 Days of Kindle.

 

I had a bit of an up and down relationship with this book. It started very slowly and early on I did consider giving up (I need to work out a rule for when I can give up on a kindle book).  I was interested in Mabel particularly which is part of what made me continue. Having no children was so hard on her that she was prepared to move to a rather inhospitable part of the world just to escape the pain.

 

In a way I sympathised with Mabel but sometimes I just wanted to tell her to stop being so stupid. Her thoughts and decisions were so emotion based that she didn't seem to even realise where they might lead her, and when they were just absurd.

 

Once the child entered the story I started to enjoy it however. I think part of it as knowing how much Mabel wanted it, and despite my annoyance with Mabel I did want her to be happy.

 

The imagery of Alaska was rather good too. I liked the contrasts between the harshness and the beauty of the environment.

 

The end for me was rather abrupt. I think it could have ended better earlier or needed to be extended a little more for a more satisfying conclusion.

 

As for the parrellels with the fairy story. It was nice in a way but it was also part of what made me annoyed at Mabel.

 

3/5

[Athena]

I own this book but haven't read it yet. Shame you didn't like it as much as other people though I'm glad you still enjoyed it somewhat. Nice review, I look forward to reading the book sometime and see what I think.

[Lucybird]

I own this book but haven't read it yet. Shame you didn't like it as much as other people though I'm glad you still enjoyed it somewhat. Nice review, I look forward to reading the book sometime and see what I think.

I hope you enjoy it when you get around to it. I'll look forward to finding out what you think.

[Lucybird]

The Specimen- Matha Lea

 

Disclaimer:  book was given to me free of charge by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

Synopsis (from amazon)

The year is 1859. Edward Scales is a businessman, a butterfly collector, a respectable man. He is the man Gwen Carrick fell in love with.
 

Gwen Carrick first meets Edward Scales on a windswept beach in Cornwall. The spark is instant and the couple begin to forge a future together. Seven years on, Gwen’s world has fallen apart and she finds herself in the docks at the Old Bailey, charged with Edward’s murder.

Could Gwen Carrick really murder the man she loved? From country house drawing rooms to the rainforests of Brazil, The Specimen explores the price one independent young woman might pay for wanting an unorthodox life.

 

Set in a Victorian world battling between the forces of spiritualism and Darwinism, polite society and the call of clandestine love, Gwen and Edward’s tale is a gripping melodrama, a romance and a murder mystery that will compel readers to its final thrilling page.

Review

I cannot remember the last time it took me this long to get through a book. It’s taken me a while to write this review too, mainly because my overriding reaction was ‘YAY I managed to finish!’

 

I had fairly good hopes for The Specimen, a bit of a mystery, a bit sciencey, a bit romantic, maybe a little feminist. Sadly I was disappointed. It did have all the elements I expected but not to a satisfying level. To try and order my thoughts I’m going to go through each expectation at a time then add anything I haven’t covered.
 

Mystery, well, I never really wondered who killed Edward. It was basically old from the beginning as if Gwen was guilty. I wondered why she might have done it, and I think I eventually got an answer, which was, to be honest a bit of a cop out of an answer considering other things which had gone on and could have been built to a motive. I had expected Gwen to be married to Edward at the time as well which took away a large chunk of the drama for me.

 

The science was probably the best in terms of detail, but it was also the bit I was anticipating the least. I thought the Darwinism issue would be interesting to read about, but there was less of a debate as a general feeling that everyone wanted to prove Darwin right, and even that was brief. I dud however like how involved Gwen was in her biologist role and how interested she was in the creatures.

At first there was a fair bit of romance in the way Edward and Gwen interacted but this seemed to very suddenly just disappear for no reason, and I was waiting for a moment that showed they loved one another. There was a sort of intensity to the times when the ‘love’ was there which made me unsure of how genuine it really was, and how but Gwen and Edward really knew each other.

Actually the only thing I really did like was that Gwen was quite a feminist. She wasn’t to be able to explore the world in the same way that a male scientist would, and she- most of the time- expected to be listened to the same as a man would be. I respected her for that although I didn’t exactly like her the whole time. She was certainly an improvement over Edward, even before they went away I started to loose any reasoning as why she liked him, and it just got worse.

There was a certain element to the book which was hard to follow. The time kept switching and I was often confused as to how the events fitted together. Plus there were a few sections which didn’t seem to fit in with everything at all.

2/5

[Alexi]

Oh dear! The synopsis sounds excellent, but your review makes me want to steer well clear! I hate it when books don't deliver on a promising synopsis

[Lucybird]

Oh dear! The synopsis sounds excellent, but your review makes me want to steer well clear! I hate it when books don't deliver on a promising synopsis

 

It makes them extra disappointing, doesn't it?

[Lucybird]

The Pearl Savage- Tamara Rose Blodgett

 

Synopsis (from amazon)

 

Seventeen-year old princess, Clara Williamson, lives an old-fashioned existence in a biosphere of the future.

When her sadistic mother, Queen Ada, betroths her to an abusive prince of a neighboring sphere, Clara determines to escape Outside where savages roam free.

 

Clara escapes tyranny only to discover the savages are not the only people who survived the cataclysmic events of one hundred forty years prior.

 

Once Outside, Clara finds herself trapped, unable to return to the abusive life of the sphere while facing certain danger Outside.

 

Can Clara find love and freedom with the peril that threatens to consume her?

 

Review

 

When I was younger I used to make up a story in bed every night whilst trying to get to sleep. It was a story which was basically the same every night, but changed and adapted over time. One thing stayed the same though. A princess who didn't really want to be a princess, or at least not the princess her mother wanted her to be, but the people were important to her so she was looking forward to changing things once she became queen. At first The Pearl Princess reminded me a bit of my story, and I didn't really like that. It was disconcerting and because I knew my story so well this one just didn't meet up. It made it a little difficult to approach the book without a bit of a wonky view point, and early on I did consider giving up, but I did stick with it, and, generally speaking, I was glad that I didn't give up.

 

I didn't find that the writing of The Pearl Savage was particularly good. I found the battle scenes in particular lacked real action and weren't very descriptive. However after a while the plot interested me enough to generally not be too bothered by the less than great writing. Only the battle scenes were really off putting.

 

The end was perfectly open for a sequel, although the books could easily have been closed as it was. It's something that frustrates me a little as it means I want to read to some sort of conclusion but I really don't think I'm willing to pay for a book in this series (the first is free on kindle). There are 4 books so far (with a 5th planned for release this year)and I certainly don't want to be caught in a series trap.

 

2.5/5

[Lucybird]

The Rest is Silence- Carla Guefenbein

 

Synopsis (from amazon)

 

As the adults sit down to gossip over a long wedding lunch and the rest of the children rush off to play, a young boy slips out of sight beneath the table. At twelve years old, Tommy's weak heart prevents him from joining his cousins' games, so he sets his MP3 player to record the voices chattering above him. But then the conversation turns to his mother's death and he overhears something he was never meant to know: that she didn't die of an illness, but suicide.Confused and hurt, Tommy keeps what he has learned to himself and begins his own secret investigation into what really happened. At the same time, his father and step-mother have problems of their own to contend with. Juan is racked by private grief and guilt after the death of one of his patients (a boy of his son's age), and Alma, his second wife, senses an increasing distance in their marriage and gradually finds herself drawn back towards an old flame. As all three withdraw into their own worlds, leaving more and more unsaid between them, their family story moves inexorably, affectingly towards its devastating conclusion.

 

Review

 

This was the first book I read after I finished Life After Life. I really didn't want to read anything, I more or less had to force myself to start something. I was sure that once I'd actually got into a book it would be alright, but starting was a difficult step. Maybe my view of The Rest is Silence suffered because of this, I couldn't help comparing it to Life After Life- at least to a point. And whilst I enjoyed it well enough I didn't find anything special in it either. Maybe I should have chosen something a little more easy going after Life After Life?

 

It wasn't really what I expected. I expected the discovery of suicide to be an important plot point which sustained throughout the story. In fact it was more of a spark that starts a fire. It was referred back to, but it wasn't as much of a key point as I had anticipated, and actually the story may have worked without it (although it would have suffered somewhat if it was taken out).

 

The story switched through different voices. Tommy, the young boy, Alma, his stepmother, and Jaun his Father. The time also jumped around a little, especially in Alma's chapters. This was most obvious at the beginning of the story, and it made things a little confusing, and it did make it harder to get into the book.

 

There were, in effect 3 (or maybe 4) stories running through the novel, one for each character, but another where all the stories interlinked. It was interesting to see the different sides of a story, and the ways the stories deviated showed the fractures in the family.

 

I enjoyed Alma's story best, and I think I liked her best too. There was something quite strong about her, but she almost wanted too much control over her life, she didn't ever seem to just let things happen. Possibly I shouldn't have liked her, but there was something very easy to like about her. I think part of it was that Juan was shown as having quite a hard exterior, and although we saw his softer side he never seemed to understand that sometimes you have to show you're soft side and at others it's better to remain strong. We saw the contrast between the ways he and Alma interacted with people, and Alma came off better.

 

Tommy's story should have been the most interesting, but his voice didn't really work for me. Sometimes it felt like a child's voice, but most of the time it was a bit too adult, without and common sense.

 

3/5

[Lucybird]

Peaches for Monsieur le Curé- Joanne Harris

 
Synopsis (from amazon)

 
It isn’t often you receive a letter from the dead.

When Vianne Rocher receives a letter from beyond the grave, she allows the wind to blow her back to the village in south-west France where, eight years ago, she opened up a chocolate shop. But Lansquenet is different now: women veiled in black, the scent of spices and peppermint tea, and, on the bank of the river Tannes, facing the church: a minaret.

Nor is it only the incomers from North Africa that have brought change. Father Reynaud, Vianne’s erstwhile adversary, is disgraced and under threat. Could it be that Vianne is the only one who can save him now?

Review
 
Chocolat is one of my favourite books so when I heard about a third book in the series was to be released (the second is ]The Lollipop Shoes) I was rather excited. However it was sitting on my shelf for quite a while before I actually got around to reading it, there were challenge books to read, and review books. Despite wanting to read it it’s priority was a little low. I finally decided to finish reading it rather than reading a book for the wishlist challenge last month.

One problem which I have with the Chocolat series as a whole is how spaced out each instalment has been. I first read Chocolat when I was about 16, I read it a couple of times before I read The Lollipop Shoes but still managed to forget a few elements which made links more difficult. I remember more or less nothing from The Lollipop Shoes now, so it made references to things that had happened then rather difficult to understand.

Luckily I was able to enjoy Peaches for Monsieur le Curé as a novel in itself, and the links with Chocolat were rather strong which made it easier to make those links. It did take  me a long time to read, not because I wasn’t enjoying it however, or because it was difficult, but rather because I kept getting too drawn into the books I was reading on kindle (I read Life After Life at the same time for one thing) and because I tend to get less time to read my paperbacks than my kindle books.

I think maybe something that happened  in The Lollipop Shoes may have  been important in that Vianne grew. Last time we visited Lansquenet the priest (Francis Reynaud) was seen as a stubborn, backwards, and unaccepting man. In this we can sympathise with him more, maybe he is a little conceited, and maybe his views are a little black and white, but he is generally well meaning. Poor Francis is rather out of popularity and everything he thought he was doing for Lansquenet seems to have gone wrong, until it seems everyone has turned on him.
 
It is quite a testament to Harris’ writing that she can write about the same person, and even at times the same situation but completely change the reader’s outlook. You can certainly interpret Francis’ actions in Chocolat as being well intentioned, but, probably because Vianne doesn’t see it that way, you don’t. Whereas in Peaches for Monsieur le Curé she sees Francis in a different light, and so do we.

Something I tend to like about Harris’ writing is her skill in setting an atmosphere. The descriptions of chocolate in Chocolat make you want to visit that shop, and in Peaches for Monsieur the atmosphere of  the Muslim area of the village is so well built that you can almost imagine yourself there.

As with Chocolat, Peaches for Monsieur le Curé seems quite pondering but has a great climax, which doesn’t come as a complete shock dur to the elements peppered throughout the rest of the book. However what the climax is does come as somewhat of a shock.

 

4/5

[Lucybird]

The Mine- John A. Heldt

 
Disclaimer: I was given this book free of charge by the author in exchange for an honest review
 
Synopsis (from amazon)
 
Seattle, 1941. Grace Vandenberg, 21, is having a bad day. Minutes after Pearl Harbor is attacked, she learns that her boyfriend is a time traveler from 2000 who has abandoned her for a future he insists they cannot share. Determined to save their love, she follows him into the new century. But just when happiness is within her grasp, she accidentally enters a second time portal and exits in 1918. Distraught and heartbroken, Grace starts a new life in the age of Woodrow Wilson, silent movies, and the Spanish flu. She meets her parents as young, single adults and befriends a handsome, wounded Army captain just back from the war. In THE SHOW, the sequel to THE MINE, Grace finds love and friendship in the ashes of tragedy as she endures the trial of her life.
 
Review
 
Sorry if this review is a little all over the place, I've had a migraine this weekend and my head is still a little fuzzy.
 
The Show is the third book in the Northwest Passage series. It continues where the first book in the series, The Mine, left off. I have not read the second book in the series, The Journey, but it follows a different storyline so it isn't needed (in fact I'm not really sure why Heldt put a random non-joining story in the middle). You could probably even read The Show as an independent story, but I would recommend reading The Mine first.
 
When I first got the e-mail about a sequel to The Mine I was interested to see what happened with Grace and Joel next, and to see how Grace settled into modern life.

However when I read the synopsis I was a little less sure. It seemed that Heldt was trying, unnecessarily to stretch the sci-fi element by making Grace time travel again. In a sense this was true, and I think I would have preferred a book which showed how Grace got used to the new millennium. Having said that there was a certain element of this too the story, and once I got into the story after she had time travelled it didn't really matter to me whether it was too much of a stretch or not.
 
When reading The Mine I had preferred Grace to Joel and it was nice to have a story which was more from her perspective. Also because I already knew Grace from reading The Mine I cared a bit more about her. Her emotions once she lost Joel again were quite well built, and I could imagine myself acting in a similar way, however I think she got over the loss and moved on a little too quickly. It was again a sense of Heldt pushing a story in a direction which didn't seem quite natural. Whilst I did enjoy the plot in terms of a story in it's own right, I didn't really like it as it related to The Mine.
 
There was one this in particular that bugged me about this book. It was only a little moment, not even an important one, but it really bugged me. Especially as it's partly billed as a historical novel. In the book two girls move from England to America. They talk about how happy they are to move to the US because it's so much more liberated than England. As a Briton that grated at me, but I was ready to overlook it. But then they started talking about how women could vote here, but not in England. Which made me think, wait a sec...didn't votes for women exist in the UK before the US? Which yes they did, in fact at the time that the book is based women couldn't vote in most of America.
 
2.5/5

[Lucybird]

Friends Like These- Danny Wallace

 

Synopsis (from amazon)

Danny Wallace is about to turn thirty and his life has become a cliché.

 

Recently married and living in a smart new area of town, he's swapped pints down the pub for lattes and brunch. For the first time in his life, he's feeling, well ... grown-up.

 

But something's not right. Something's missing. Until he finds an old address book containing just twelve names. His best mates as a kid. Where are they now? Who are they now? And how are they coping with being grown-up too?

 

And so begins a journey from A-Z, tracking down and meeting his old gang.

 

He travels from Berlin to Tokyo, from Sydney to LA. He even goes to Loughborough. He meets Fijian chiefs. German rappers. Some ninjas. And a carvery manager who's managed to solve time travel. But how will they respond to a man they haven't seen in twenty years, turning up and asking if they're coming out to play?

Part-comedy, part-travelogue, part-memoir, Friends Like These is the story of what can happen when you track down your past, and ofwhere the friendships you thought you'd outgrown can take you today...

Review

 

I nicked borrowed this book off the boyfriend the other week when nothing on my kindle was inspiring me and I just fancied an easy read. I actually got it  for him for Christmas because he loves the film Yes Man- I wasn't sure if he had read the book the film is based on so I went for another Danny Wallace instead. When he read it he said I should too.

Well I did say after reading Charlotte Street that I wanted to try some of Wallace's non-fiction, and who am I to deny an offer of a book?

 

I'm sure everyone knows the sort of friends Danny is trying to find. Those friends who you somehow lost, never really intending to, but still it happens. So I think Danny's feelings about his friends are easy to relate to (not that most of us have the time or money to find and visit all our friends from primary school).

In a way I liked this more than other similar types of books (i.e. comedian goes on an adventure to find people, or things e.g. Googlewhack, Around Ireland with a fridge, Dave Gorman Vs. The Rest of the World), because it was more real. It was sort of inspirational. Not in the sense of I would go around the world to find people I knew in school, but in the sense of wanting to try and reconnect with lost friends.
 
But it had what those types of books have too. It was funny, and a bit stupid, and a little unbelievable and over the top.
 
4/5