Nollaig

Reviver - Seth Patrick Synopsis: Revivers. Able to wake the recently dead, and let them bear witness to their own demise. Forensic revival is a routine part of police investigation. In the United States, that responsibility falls to the Forensic Revival Service. Despite his troubled past, Jonah Miller is one of their best. But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, he encounters a terrifying presence. Then Daniel Harker, the first journalist to bring revival to public attention, is murdered. Working with Harker's daughter Annabel, he becomes determined to find those responsible and bring them to justice. Soon they uncover long-hidden truths that call into doubt everything Jonah stands for, and reveal a threat that if not stopped in time, will put all of humanity in danger ... *** Review: This book was a little bit of a mixed bag for me - I absolutely loved quite a lot about it, but much of what I loved was ultimately a little too dense or drawn out and resulted in occasional bouts of slight tedium. For the first 50-80 pages or so I was absolutely riveted. I love the premise, I love how detailed and real-world it seems - reading much more like a realistic thriller than a supernatural or science fiction fantasy combo. Having not read the synopsis, I wasn't actually expecting Daniel Harker's fate and was both shocked and intrigued by spending pages learning all about a character who ends up the way he does. Some of the characters are interesting, others (unfortunately including Jonah) are a little bleh and felt much more like narrative vehicles than fully-fleshed out characters. That said, this isn't exactly a character-driven novel and the story and context are really exciting. I did feel that despite everything going on, the progression of the core plot - finding out the nature of the entity Jonah saw (or which saw him!) during a revival - was a bit too slow, lost admist exposition, and about two thirds of the way through the novel I felt it start to drag. Then, it perked up again, when it launched into its final descent towards the end. It teeters on the line between pure science fiction and the supernatural - and I'm still not entirely sure which it is, but I am really curious to find out. Curious enough to pick up the second novel? Wellll I've heard that second one is arguably better than the first, so I might give it a go. Rating: 4/5

Contamination: Book Zero - T. W. Piperbrook Synopsis: The infection starts with Frank, one of the locals at the town bar. In just a few hours, it has consumed the entire town. Dan Lowery, one of only four police officers in St. Matthews, soon realizes he is no match for the impending destruction. Violence and bloodshed litter the streets, and the infected roam freely. No one is safe here—not even his family. Somewhere, someone knows what is happening, and about the horrors to come…but is it too late? *** Review: I flipped back and forth between 3 stars and 3.5 stars on this one. Giving it 3.5 however, I think, would have been due to my own bias in favour of books like this. Realistically, I can't give it more than 3, however enjoyable it was. This novella is a prequel to (apparently) a trilogy of books, which I decided to read as it was available for free for Kindle. (As it turns out, the other three books are free too in a set, so I got them, although I don't know if I will read them.) A quick, easy read, Contamination is a fairly run-of-the-mill 'the zombies are coming' story which reminds me of just about every other one out there. I happen to love stories like this, no matter how generic they are, so I really enjoyed reading this. I will admit the characterization leaves a little to be desired, but I really enjoyed the couple of small twists that are included and am curious about the cause of the contamination. One cause is suggested in the novella, but by the end I'm not entirely sure it is the real reason. The events are fairly exciting - again, nothing mind-blowingly original, but also nothing I outright expected. Then again, I'm pretty easy to lead on! I definitely think, if zombie apocalypses are your thing, this novella is worth a read. It's short and free so will cost you little time and no money, and you can decide yourself if the relatively mediocre standard is acceptable for continuing with the rest of the series. Rating: 3/5

Creepy & Maud - Diane Touchell Synopsis: Creepy is a boy who watches from the shadows keenly observing and caustically commentating on human folly. Maud is less certain. A confused girl with a condition that embarrasses her parents and assures her isolation.Together Creepy and Maud discover something outside their own vulnerability — each other’s. But life is arbitrary; and loving someone doesn’t mean you can save them. Creepy & Maud is a blackly funny and moving first novel that says; ‘You’re ok to be as screwed up as you think you are and you’re not alone in that.’ *** Review: This is one of those books I had been dying to read for ages, after spotting it on Goodreads, but hardcopies are suprisingly expensive (as is the Kindle version). Eventually I caved and purchased the Kindle version. The problem with these elusive books is that I get a little bit too hyped up about how awesome they're going to be (as if expense and rarity is actually an indicator of quality) and I put too much pressure on them to meet my great expectations. To be fair to this one, it did a great job. It reads kind of like a Young Adult novel, boy 'meets' girl through his bedroom window, boy kinda obsesses a little about girl, girl becomes gradually intrigued by boy. But this is quite a lot darker than your average YA novel, and is quite thought-provoking in a fairly unconventional way. Maud has an unusual condition that seems to embarrass her parents, and her condition is not the focus of the novel, but how she deals with it and how other people (mostly, her parents) treat her as a result is. Seeing her home life, quite literally, from the outside, through Creepy's eyes, depicts a very lonely and misunderstood girl. Creepy himself is clearly an intelligent, pensive young man with occasionally quite dark or disturbing thoughts, and his own parents are not the epitome of perfection either, so this book illustrates quite an unusual context where two relatively messed up kids find a little bit of relief, if not hope, from their daily lives in their strange window-to-window communication. Both kids have quite a cynical view of the world, and there is a sense of despondent acceptance that their is nothing they can do about their lots in life - except choose to share them with each other. I would definitely recommend this book, but I'd be reluctant to fork out a lot of money for it. Worth keeping an eye out for at a reasonable price. Rating: 4/5

The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman - Denis Theriault Synopsis: A beautifully tragic and thought-provoking tale that perfectly reflects the elegance and style of Murakami and the skill and plotting of Julian Barnes. Bilodo has taken to stealing people's mail, steaming open the envelopes, and reading the letters inside. And so it is he comes across Ségolène's letters. She is corresponding with Gaston, a master poet.They are writing each other haikus. The simplicity and elegance of their poems move Bilado and he begins to fall in love with her. But one day, out on his round, just as Gaston is walking up to the post-box, he is hit by a car and dies. And so Bilodo makes an extraordinary decision—he will impersonate Gaston and continue to write to Ségolène. But how long can the deception continue for? *** Review: Had I read the synopsis which mentions 'the elegance and style of Murakami', I probably would have run screaming from the idea of reading this novel. I've only read one novella by Julian Barnes, and I adored that, however, so it's a combination that could have gone either way. It went heavily down the Murakami route and as such I, unsurprisingly, am not a fan. I love the premise of this novel. Adore it. It's genuinely awesome, despite the creepiness of Bilodo reading other peoples' mail. I had hoped to discover a character who inspires such sympathy for his lonliness that I would come to find his actions understandable, if no less creepy. What I actually got is a collection of amatuer haikus which were largely tedious to read (and I love a well-written haiku). The plot is largely obscured by page after page of these haikus, which somehow inspire one cardboard character (Bilodo) to fall in love with another, even flimsier, cardboard character (paper, perhaps, she is so thin?) Additionally, the story becomes unforgivably creepy, with Bilodo impersonating a dead guy and moving into his house to obsess over a woman he has never spoken to, let alone met. The writing is quite beautiful, some of the haikus are excellent, and there are a few hilariously witty and sharp lines in the book. But unfortunately, it also came across as quite undercooked, ill-thought-out, and honestly, pretentious. That ending, though. That ending. I might have given the book 3 or 3.5 stars for the writing and few sucessful aspects, until that ending. Hated it. It's surreal and irrelevant to anything else in the book. I've seen quite a few reviews talk about how this book is thought-provoking, but none which have elaborated on the thoughts provoked. If it's supposed to mean anything, I'm afraid its lost on me. Rating: 2/5

The Returned - Jason Mott Synopsis: Harold and Lucille Hargrave's lives have been both joyful and sorrowful in the decades since their only son, Jacob, died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966. In their old age they've settled comfortably into life without him, their wounds tempered through the grace of time ... Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep. All over the world people's loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why this is happening, whether it's a miracle or a sign of the end. As chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited Hargrave family finds itself at the center of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a conflict that threatens to unravel the very meaning of what it is to be human. *** Review: Hrm. This was a strange one. It's well-written and fairly easy to read, so the first section of setup and character introduction and all that, was really enjoyable. I was really excited about seeing where the story would go, what the deal with the Returned would turn out to be... and then nothing happened. The book is almost like an attempted study of the human condition, using the concept of Returned people to instigate a discussion on the concept of a person and the concepts of death and loss. I say attempted, because it never really worked. The entire novel sort of teetered on the fence between a really good horror/thriller, and a deeper look at something philosophical, but it never actually hopped off into one side or the other. I guess the premise, of the dead returning and either coming to terms with that or refusing to accept it can really be them - this does provide food for thought, but no real deconstruction of these ideas occurs in the novel. The characters suffered a similar fate, being borderline interesting but ultimately not sufficently so to generate any real interest on my part, and in the end it was difficult to care what happened to them. Apparently this has been turned into a tv show - the plot of the show must have veered off wildly from the novel because you'd barely get a film out of this, let alone a whole series. Short review, but nothing else to say really. Not bad, but not memorable. Rating: 3/5

I actually had seven waiting to be written I've done five anyway, so here they are.

Friend of mine said it was really good for the most part. I don't think I've ever read anything by Patterson - I just loved the premise of this. Glad to hear it's short chapters and easy to read, I like that in a historical fiction.

Hey I still appreciate the input.... means I know who to blame if I don't like your choice if/when I read it!

Today I got The Jester by James Patterson in the post (a 'very good' copy with it's spine bent as many times as possible across its width!!) and I've started Frost Hollow Hall by Emma Carroll for a wintery read Also just bought another book by the same author for my tablet - The Snow Sister. Sounds very Christmassy!

We had owls and some other birds of prey on campus today! Popped over during my lunch break for a look at them There were six, but I nicked just these two photos off a friend as I (very intelligently) left my phone in my office.

I'll probably read the synopses of them all and choose my favourite premise anyway, regardless of what anyone says

Yeah, that was unnecessarily harsh. Anyway, back on topic:

Oh dear. As long as it's not a regular occurrence, I suppose...? Fairly sure my neighbours have been unimpressed with me a couple of times

Anyone who sees this and has read Atwood, please suggest a starting title!

I feel like I should read A Handmaid's Tale given that it so inspired Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill, which I thought was great. I know nothing about Atwood but she seems very divisive!

Thank you! This is what I got myself for my birthday hehe: It's beginning to look a lot like *mmmm-mmm*! My god, nearly a month since I posted in here again. I've four or five books awaiting review, must get those done and posted.

I finished a couple of books I had had on the go for a while - The Devil's Staircase by Helen Fitzgerald (very enjoyable) and The Curious Life of a Lonely Postman - Denis Thériault, really didn't like it, to be honest. Far too artsy for me. Hated the ending. Now reading Contamination Book Zero, a free prequel I've had on my tablet for a while thanks to (I'd imagine) Anna's suggestion. Enjoying it, not sure will I fork out for the rest, but it's a fun read. Not sure what will be up next!

Just stayed up til 4am watching a livestream of a gig by my favourite musician, Andrew McMahon, in Ohio. Totally worth it, but now I'm buzzing too much to sleep

Yikes, I didn't know that's what pigs-in-blankets are. What a morbid name! Pigs, in blankets... made of other pigs.

Sausage rolls are amazing, seriously. So so good. I really want sausage rolls now.

It's currently both sunny and raining. I don't know what's going on.

That's brilliant, I would have loved something like that when I was a kid. So much work to make one, though!

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

Haven't been around much so it's ages since I posted in here. Sorry to hear about Obi