Alex's 2015 Reading Log

[bobblybear]

Nice reviews, Alexi. Elizabeth Is Missing was a very enjoyable read, though that doesn't seem quite like the right word for it. It was painful, what Maud was going through, but I think it was handled and described so well. I thought the story with Maud's past could have been missed from the novel, but I also liked the memory-triggers that Maud had from the present to the past.

 

I will be reading South Riding shortly. I just need to finish The Goldfinch, one other book, and then I will get started on it. Sounds like it's going to be a cracking read.

[Alexi]

I'm so sorry, I have rather neglected this little thread!

 

Thank you for all your comments    I implore all three of you to read South Riding - I don't think you'll regret it. A(nother) win for the English Counties Challenge!

 

I have been rather quiet of late. Still got a few reviews to catch up on, but I've just accepted a new job and am therefore moving house, so everything is getting a little overwhelming at the moment. new job, new house and wedding in 12 months. Good job I'm not planning on children or divorce in the near future, or my stress levels really would be off the charts  

[Alexi]

Paper Towns by John Green

 

Synopsis: Who is the real Margo?

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew... (From Goodreads)

 

Thoughts: I'm really sorry, John Green, but we're not meant to be. It's not you, it's me. 

 

Ok, it's probably you. 

 

Your teenagers resemble no teenagers I have ever met, am likely to meet or want to meet. It makes the book feel forced, unreal and pretentious. 

 

The story starts ok. Teenager loves other teenager, who disappears and they follow a set of clues to try and find her, discovering something about themselves and life along the way. But the ending is a massive let down, the characters are unreal and annoying, and if I had to read one more ridiculous analysis of the poem, Song of Myself, through the main character then I think the book might have gone out of the window. 

 

Plus, Q's infatuation over a girl he barely knows is a tad creepy to be honest. 

 

I ditched my own university graduation to wee off to New York, but to ditch it to go searching for a girl most of you don't like and who doesn't want to be found seems a stretch.

 

I think this may be the end for me and John Green, but I'm aware in a very small minority. Better than The Fault In Our Stars though, which was ridiculous, cheesy, crap. 

 

2/5 (Meh)

[Alexi]

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

 

Synopsis: The story of three generations in twentieth-century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history—a bestselling classic in thirty languages with more than ten million copies sold around the world, now with a new introduction from the author.

An engrossing record of Mao’s impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love, Jung Chang describes the extraordinary lives and experiences of her family members: her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine; her mother’s struggles as a young idealistic Communist; and her parents’ experience as members of the Communist elite and their ordeal during the Cultural Revolution. Chang was a Red Guard briefly at the age of fourteen, then worked as a peasant, a “barefoot doctor,” a steelworker, and an electrician. As the story of each generation unfolds, Chang captures in gripping, moving—and ultimately uplifting—detail the cycles of violent drama visited on her own family and millions of others caught in the whirlwind of history. (From Goodreads)

 

Thoughts: Wow. After Paper Towns, what a return to good, engaging writing with a total rollercoaster of a ride through 600 pages. This is what you call a book. 

 

Chang has the advantage of this being autobiographical, plus the story of her mother and grandmother, taking us through nearly a century of life in a changing China. 

 

Starting with her grandmother, who is sold off by her father as a concubine to a war lord - and she has no say in this whatsoever, we start from the early 20th century and finish up in the 1970s, when the author is able to leave China and establish herself as a naturalised British citizen. 

 

If he grandmother represents the imperial part of China, her parents represent the next section, being committed Communists from before the party gained power in the country but then suffered hugely under Mao. But there lies hope in this story, with the family showing love, honour and courage throughout, and Jung finally completes her university education and makes her own decision to leave China behind. 

 

I know very little about Chinese history, having studied it but oh too briefly, but this book goes a long way towards filling the gaps in the general picture. The author takes as her main thread the family and shows through them the general economic and social history of the country of the time. It is so well done. 

 

What struck me with this book was how her family seemed rather like the 'Forrest Gumps' of China, in that they knew a lot of powerful figures and a lot of the major decisions Mao made affected them. But particularly in the case of the Cultural Revolution, I realised that statistically, it was more likely to affect them than not. This book scared me in parts - her parents helped the Communists into power, at huge danger to themselves in the 1940s, and were then tortured under Mao, losing their homes and livelihoods, and in her father's case his mind. 

 

It's shocking, it's terrible, and all the more so because these atrocities become personal through the prism of the Chang family. The stories of what happens to all of them under the different regimes are terrible, and yet what stands out is the strength of love and the human spirit. 

 

It's fantastic, and easy to see why it's on the 1001 list. I'm definitely glad I read it. 

 

5/5 (I loved it)

[Janet]

I have been rather quiet of late. Still got a few reviews to catch up on, but I've just accepted a new job and am therefore moving house...

Oh wow, that's amazing - congrats on both accounts.    Are you staying in the same field of work and location of home?

 

I did laugh at your review of Paper Towns!    I said after The Fault in Our Stars...

 

"I enjoyed this book but I didn’t love it.  I expected to be quite emotional (I cry at the drop of a hat normally) but I wasn’t – which isn’t like me at all.  I’m not sure why really.  I enjoyed the story but I just didn’t warm to the characters.  I realise I’m in a minority here, but there it is!  I did like John Green’s writing style, and it hasn’t put me off trying another of his, but it just didn’t have that ‘wow’ factor for me."

 

I think, after reading your review, I won't bother after all! 

[Anna Begins]

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

I thought we had read this at the same time, but I guess not  I am glad you liked it though, I loved it.

[Athena]

I have been rather quiet of late. Still got a few reviews to catch up on, but I've just accepted a new job and am therefore moving house, so everything is getting a little overwhelming at the moment. new job, new house and wedding in 12 months. Good job I'm not planning on children or divorce in the near future, or my stress levels really would be off the charts

Good luck with all your new endeavours ! I hope it won't be so stressful .

 

It's a shame you didn't like Paper Towns. Maybe John Green just isn't the writer for you, it happens (I haven't read Paper Towns yet but I do plan to do so). I hope your next reads will be more enjoyable .

[bobblybear]

I implore all three of you to read South Riding - I don't think you'll regret it. A(nother) win for the English Counties Challenge!

 

I've started it and enjoying it so far.

 

Shame you didn't enjoy Paper Towns. I liked it, but all of the comments you made about his characters - I felt that way about The Fault In Our Stars, and couldn't even finish it.

 

Wild Swans is a book I've often thought "I must read that" whenever I see it. I don't think I've heard a bad thing about it, but it seems like serious and heavy reading, so I've always been a bit put off.

[Alexi]

Oh wow, that's amazing - congrats on both accounts.    Are you staying in the same field of work and location of home?

 

I did laugh at your review of Paper Towns!    I said after The Fault in Our Stars...

 

"I enjoyed this book but I didn’t love it.  I expected to be quite emotional (I cry at the drop of a hat normally) but I wasn’t – which isn’t like me at all.  I’m not sure why really.  I enjoyed the story but I just didn’t warm to the characters.  I realise I’m in a minority here, but there it is!  I did like John Green’s writing style, and it hasn’t put me off trying another of his, but it just didn’t have that ‘wow’ factor for me."

 

I think, after reading your review, I won't bother after all! 

Thanks J! Staying in the same industry but moving locations - to a different city about an hour away. So we are selling up to move halfway, although I'm going to commute initially. Excited, yet scared because I've been at my current place for ages now! Still to get natter on about sport though

 

LOL at your Fault in our Stars review! I think my review was quite kind at the time, compared to how I now remember feeling about it. I do seem to be in a minority with John Green, but then there are so many other books in the world for us to read!

 

  

I thought we had read this at the same time, but I guess not  I am glad you liked it though, I loved it.

 

 

Thanks Anna, I thought it was brilliant. I've been meaning to read it for ages, maybe we planned to read it together at some point?!

 

Good luck with all your new endeavours ! I hope it won't be so stressful .It's a shame you didn't like Paper Towns. Maybe John Green just isn't the writer for you, it happens (I haven't read Paper Towns yet but I do plan to do so). I hope your next reads will be more enjoyable .

Thanks Gaia I've read a few great books recently so was due a dud to be fair. Law of averages...

 

I'm trying to do it in the least stressful manner possible by doing as little as possible, but that just seems to be causing more stress down the line. Ho hum.

 

  

I've started it and enjoying it so far.

 

Shame you didn't enjoy Paper Towns. I liked it, but all of the comments you made about his characters - I felt that way about The Fault In Our Stars, and couldn't even finish it.

 

Wild Swans is a book I've often thought "I must read that" whenever I see it. I don't think I've heard a bad thing about it, but it seems like serious and heavy reading, so I've always been a bit put off.

It is serious reading and the subject matter is heavy, but the writing style is easy to read and very engaging so I ripped my way through it, with only pausing to go "oh god...oh god...OH MY GOD THIS IS HORRENDOUS. But it's an excellent book and one that doesn't seem nearly as daunting once you've got going.

 

In my opinion anyway!

[Anna Begins]

Wild Swans is a book I've often thought "I must read that" whenever I see it. I don't think I've heard a bad thing about it, but it seems like serious and heavy reading, so I've always been a bit put off.

Ya don't let it throw you off, it's a wonderful to experience this family's history. 

 

Alexi- Maybe a recommendation from me?? The culprit!   Anchee Min is great too, she wrote Empress Orchid.  It's historical, about China's first empress.  Jung Chang wrote a novel about her as well (Empress Dowager).

[Nollaig]

Sorry you didn't enjoy Paper Towns! I still love it

[Alexi]

Review dump time!

 

Moneyball by Michael Lewis 

 

Synopsis: Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball, had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every other team. Conventional wisdom long held that big name, highly athletic hitters and young pitchers with rocket arms were the ticket to success. But Beane and his staff, buoyed by massive amounts of carefully interpreted statistical data, believed that wins could be had by more affordable methods such as hitters with high on-base percentage and pitchers who get lots of ground outs. Given this information and a tight budget, Beane defied tradition and his own scouting department to build winning teams of young affordable players and inexpensive castoff veterans. (From Goodreads)

 

Thoughts: As if my addiction to sports wasn't enough, this year I started watching baseball as a way to get me through the long summer between (both kinds of) football seasons. 

 

I'm not an Oakland A's fan, but this book seems a good place to start with baseball reading. The story is fairly familiar to me, especially since the new owners came in at Liverpool and tried to replicate the attitude in the Premier League. I'm not sure it works at all in the same way in English football but anyway, that's not the point. 

 

Michael Lewis was granted brilliant access to the A's front office in order to write this book, based on beating teams who can spend a lot more money than the Oakland franchise can. 

 

What appeals about this book is the classic underdog story. The A's don't have much money and are competing with the goliaths of the sport - the likes of the New York Yankees, who simply buy up the team's best players as fast as they can produce them. Regardless of whether you're a fan or not, you're rooting for them to win and find gems others have cast aside. Here are more underdogs, rejected because of the way they look, the way they throw etc. We can all relate to it, whether through other sports or your local corner shop battling against Tesco Extra.

 

Lewis is a good writer - although I think he can occasionally get bogged down in the technical aspects of the sport and statistics. However, he explains exactly what they are trying to do, even if it doesn't always work, and works it into a narrative. He also gives us an insight into the complex character of Billy Beane. 

 

It's not such a good story as made out - they have many failures - but it's pretty good. 

 

4/5 (I liked it)

[Alexi]

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks 

 

Synopsis: Published to international critical and popular acclaim, this intensely romantic yet stunningly realistic novel spans three generations and the unimaginable gulf between the First World War and the present. As the young Englishman Stephen Wraysford passes through a tempestuous love affair with Isabelle Azaire in France and enters the dark, surreal world beneath the trenches of No Man's Land, Sebastian Faulks creates a world of fiction that is as tragic as A Farewell to Arms and as sensuous as The English Patient. Crafted from the ruins of war and the indestructibility of love, Birdsong is a novel that will be read and marveled at for years to come.  (From Goodreads)

 

Thoughts: I had very mixed feelings about this book. 

 

I thought the parts set in the trenches of World War I were simply excellent and saved this book. It was really emotional reading about the realities of war, life and death through the eyes of our protagonist, Stephen Wraysford. The sights and smells of the trenches made for very uncomfortable reading in my cosy house - particularly because I read the book around the time of Remembrance Sunday. 

 

However, the rest of it is where this book fell down for me. We begin in France in 1910 and this love story fairly rips along, yet left me deeply unsatisfied. It suddenly ends and we are dropped into the war without any real resolution. We get more of one during the war years but it all feels a little purposeless. 

 

Then we get into the 1970s with Elizabeth and this just annoyed me. I didn't want to read about her, I wanted to read more about the war years. She seemed very removed from it all - which I know was the point - but I didn't warm to her and I wasn't interested i reading about her. It seemed an unnecessary amount of time devoted away from the more interesting elements of the book. 

 

The first and last bits felt 'tepid' compared to the bits in the middle. And the ending for Elizabeth - Christ alive, what a poor ending. 

 

Frustrating because this could have been so, so good. 

 

3/5 (I liked it)

[Alexi]

The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers 

 

Synopsis: When a disfigured corpse is discovered in a country parish, the local rector pleads with Lord Peter to take on what will become one of his most brilliant and complicated cases. (From Goodreads)

 

Thoughts: I hadn't ever heard of this book before it was chosen for the English Counties Challenge, but have since discovered it is also on the 1001 books list. 

 

I was a little confused by the fact a detective series I hadn't heard of was considered a worthy contender for these lists, but now I see why. From the challenge point of view I thought it gave an excellent description of the area and the villages it was set in - particularly during some memorable flooding scenes which I thoroughly enjoyed for the descriptive writing as much as plot. 

 

And while this may be a 'detective story', there is so much depth to it, with several layers to the plot and denouement. In actual fact, Lord Peter Wimsey is probably the least developed character of the main cast. However, this is the 11th book in the series I believe and this is the first one I have read, so it may be different if I had approached them in the correct order! 

 

There is so much detail for the bellringing that I actually got a little bored of it, given I have no knowledge of the subject at all it got a little overwhelming, but it is easy to see how Sayers brings so much more to the table than a mere detective story. There are so many layers to this and so much to admire. 

 

I love Christie and Sherlock, but I feel I may have to go back and read the Wimsey series now! Another win for the English Counties Challenge. 

 

4/5 (I really liked it)

[bobblybear]

I know a couple of people who rate Birdsong as their favourite book of all time, but I wasn't overly taken with it when I read it. It's one I occasionally consider re-reading to see if I have missed anything.

[willoyd]

 I generally agree in terms of grading, although I took a slightly different view on the relationship between the first two parts (see here).  However, it's interesting what you say about the modern bits, given that the play completely removed them, and I found the play a much stronger proposition - genuinely moving and powerful, unlike the book. 

[Alexi]

That is very interesting - I enjoyed reading your review having read the book.

 

I do feel the book would have been improved on a literary and emotional scale by the removal of the modern parts. Although not overly modern now given it was the 1970s

 

I will look out the play when I can.

[chesilbeach]

Just read your review of Birdsong and I agree with a lot of what you've said.  I've read a few books by Faulks now, and I've come to realise that I find all his characters remote and I fail to connect with most of them, and never come to care about them through the book, so it makes it hard to take the story to heart.  I think the most successful of his books for me was Human Traces, but most others have left me wanting more of a connection with the characters.