Brian.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (3/5) Another one that always appears on all the book lists and something I probably should have read a long time ago. This book tells the story of a bunch of adolescent boys who are stranded on an island following a plane crash. There are no adults and so a leader is quickly chosen and the adventure of survival begins. They loosely form into 2 groups, hunters and fire watchers, foreshadowing what will develop as time goes on. Inevitably there is a fracture in this society which soon develops in a huge rift as all morals go out the window. I read this book in no time at all and almost ended up reading well into the early hours despite having to be up at 4am this morning. However, I didn't love it. I can't put my finger on why but I was left feeling like I wanted more. The book raises a lot of interesting allegorical points but I wanted to know more about the boys and their respective backgrounds.

I will be joining the up coming read-a-thon for 2 of the days at least. I’m on my own that weekend so I’ll have no excuses

A few mini reviews for books I have finished this week. Primal Endurance by Mark Sisson (2/5) In 2016 I read one of Sisson's other books, The Primal Blueprint and I remember quite liking his back to basics approach. The book was focused on diet and simple exercise, preferably outside, a message that I think everyone could benefit from. This time Sisson concentrates on endurance exercise and takes aim at 'conventional' coaching in endurance sports. I didn't realise until I read this book that the author had been a decent long distance runner in his younger days. He says that he did loads of miles and was coached to train at a high intensity which caused him a lot of injuries. He says this is all wrong and that we should do the vast majority of our training at a low intensity and low heart rates. He argues this is sustainable and that it can actually help competitive endurance athletes breakthrough to higher speeds. I don't really disagree with any of this but there is one thing Sisson doesn't mention which makes him a massive hypocrite in my eyes. He uses his health as an example of how well all this works and he certainly looks great for someone in their mid 60's. At no point does he inform the reader that he has been taking testosterone boosters for many years, I only discovered this by doing some additional reading. He justifies this by saying he has 'low' testosterone levels but I feel it is something he should have made clear from the very beginning. I also know that getting testosterone prescribed by doctors in certain countries is very easy and has been heavily abused by athletes in certain sports. I wouldn't be surprised if this was true in his case as well. My final criticism is that there is a hell of a lot of repetition in the book which feels like an attempt to pad it out. It's not a bad book but its not entirely honest and should be a lot shorter. 1983 by Taylor Downing (4/5) This is a non-fiction book about how close we came to a nuclear holocaust in 1983. It covers the political maneuverings on both the American and Soviet sides in the 80's and early 90's, and in particular the people who came to be the leaders. Typical of the time there were a lot of military exercises from both sides which were watched very closely by each other. During one these exercises code named Abel Archer, Soviet paranoia and Nato ignorance combined to bring us right to the edge of a nuclear strike. The Soviets were convinced that Nato was hiding their intention of a first strike attack under the guise of the training exercise. Nato ran their exercise willfully ignorant to how the Soviets may react to what could be seen as escalating provocation. This is a really good book which covers all the main points in a good level of detail. Taylor has clearly done a lot of research and ties it all together well and at the same time made it really readable. In my opinion it's up there among the better books about the Cold War.

Despite my best intentions I have managed to acquire some more books this month. Lord of the Flies - William Golding A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce Coming Up for Air - George Orwell Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (The edition I already own is dreadful) My Life in Football - Kevin Keegan Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday Good Vibes, Good Life - Vex King A Guide to the Good Life - William B. Irvine

Back to some non-fiction for me, this time 1983 by Taylor Downing. This is about how we came to the brink of nuclear armageddon around the Able Archer exercise in 1983.

I know what you mean about the textural depth, there seems to be a lot more substance to every sentance. I definitely plan to read Middlemarch soon as I'm not against working slowly through 'difficult' books as long as I like the author/book. I sometimes feel like a bit of a dullard at times when reading the classics but I think I am very slowly picking up underlying themes as the years progress. I find it also helps to read some summaries or analysis on certain classics once I have finished them.

The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi (2/5) I vaguely remember this being on TV in the early 90's, mainly because it had rude bits in it. I had no idea at the time that it was based on a book until I got a copy of the '1001 books to read before you die' and saw it listed in there. The story is based around Karim, a young British Asian growing up and coming of age in and around London. He also happens to be casually bisexual and trying to explore his sexuality while trying to find his place in the world (and the UK). I have read similar books before albeit not from a British Asian perspective, some I have liked and some I haven't. This unfortunately falls into the later category, my feeling towards it are similar to those I felt when I read The Catcher in the Rye. I don't think this is a bad book, I just think I am too old and didn't have the upbringing to identify with the characters. It was an easy enough read and I got through it in a day but it just didn't really work for me.

My name is Karim Amir, and I am an Englishman born and bred, almost. The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi.

I am about to sign up to the Willoughby Book Club for 3 months, I just need to decide whether to go for the contemporary or classic subscription. I'm going to give it a go for 3 months and see how it works out but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these types of book subscription clubs and how you have found it.

Silas Marner by George Eliot (4/5) My plans to read some of the bigger classics this year have rapidly disappeared but I have picked up a few of the smaller ones to keep me ticking along. I saw this in my local charity shop and it was the only thing I found that I fancied reading so I bought it. I knew nothing about the story or the author and embarrassingly I thought George Eliot was a man. Finding out that Eliot was a woman was a nice surprise as I have been trying to read more female writers this year. The story focuses on the life of Silas Marner who starts life in a Calvinist community but is soon expelled after being wrongly accused of theft. He moves to a new villiage and completely shuts himself off from the community resulting in the rest of the village treating him with a lot of suspicion. A disaster befalls him which brings him a bit closer to the village people and then something miraculous happens. (I'm trying to avoid major spoilers here) I really enjoyed this one, it's what I would describe as a really good story. The characters are all surprisingly well formed given it's short length and despite finding the language a bit hard to get in with I had to keep picking it up to see what happens next. This would be a 5/5 book if it wasn't for the hard old fashioned language. It took a lot of concentration and I had to read it in many small doses instead of devouring it in one go.

Up next for me, Silas Marner by George Eliot.

Irresistible by Adam Alter (3/5) At work I mentor a few of our apprentices and one thing I have noticed over the years is how often they check their phones. The intersting thing about this phenomenom is that it isn't a habit restricted to only young people, in fact there are many people from my generation who do the same thing. This habit of constantly checking your phone is something I realised had become part of a few years ago and as a result over time I have gradually deleted all my social media accounts and turned off the 'push' function of my emails. The way modern media, social or otherwise, has seemingly become more and more addictive over the years is something that really interests me. This book was mentioned in Digital Minimalism, a book by Cal Newport that I read earlier this year so I bought a copy to see if it offered more insight. Although it mentions social media, Irresistible focuses more on general screen based habits and how slowly they have changed in the era of smartphones and tablets. Alter explains why we tend to binge watch things on streaming services, how games can become addictive, how social media has us hooked, and what this is doing to society as a whole. The book is well written and has some interesting insights but I also found it be unfocused in places. He skirts over the biggest culprit for screen addiction, social media, and chooses to focus on some slightly more niche ones instead. He also spends a lot of time explaining how and why these habits are formed and how to break them, but then goes on to recommend gamifiying good habits using apps. I much prefer Newport's way of replacing screen habits with hobbies that are technology free. This is a good book but if you are interesting in social media addiction then Digital Minimalism is a much better read. Up next, Silas Marner by George Eliot.

Thanks for the review of We, I've wanted to read it for years but never seem to get round to actually picking it up for some reason.

I started a new book this morning, Irresistible by Adam Alter. it's a non-fiction book about the rise of addictive technology and the business of keeping us hooked.

I definitely felt the same about it being more sad than scary, it's a really well constructed analysis of part of being human.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (2/5) Last October I decided to read a seasonal book for Halloween and picked up a copy of Dracula that had been on my bookcase for years. I absolutely loved it so I decided to do something similar this year and read Frankenstein. Similar to Dracula I had a lot of preconceptions about this book based on the pop culture that has emerged related to the monster. I kind of expected a Herman Munster type character brought to life by lightning. It turns out that I was very wide of the mark but sadly I didn't particularly enjoy the book either. I found it painfully slow and the 'flowery' language made it very hard to get on with at times. It is remarkable that this was written when Shelley was 18 and it isn't without merit but it's not a book I will be re-reading in the future.

This is an awesome giveaway haul Hayley.

I'm working over the weekend but hopefully I'll manage to get some reading in. My spooky read is currently Frankenstein and I may dig out something else Halloween related afterwards.

I'm up to 45 now somehow, I don't feel like I've had a great reading year so far.

Suicide Club by Rachel Heng (3/5) I don't recall where I came aware of this book but I have a vague recollection of reading about it online. The basic premise is that sometime in the future people with the right genetic makeup are given the chance to live forever due to medical advances. Our story focuses on Lea, one of the 'Lifers' who seemingly has everything she could want out of life. All that is turned upside down when she has a chance meeting with her estranged father. This book had so much potential but by the time I had finished reading it I couldn't help but feel let down by it. By no means is it a bad book, it just could have been so much more. I know that we don't need to like a character for that character to be a good one but Lea really didn't work for me. She seemed to go back on everything she believed in (for 300 years) very quickly and her back story is bizarre at best. After this I made a start on Frankenstein so hopefully I will have that fnished by this weekend

While I’m not against the idea of reading other stuff by Christie I cant say I will be in a rush to find more of her books to read.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (4/5) I'll start this mini review by saying that I probably wouldn't had read this if it hadn't been for two things. Firstly, its in the '1001' list, a list that I don't think I will ever complete but I do enjoy working my way through it. Secondly, it always seems to get mentioned on this forum in a favourable light. I can't really think why I have avoided it up to now apart from a bit of bias brought on by memories of my grandmother watching Christie's work on TV and my bordeom brought on by it aged 10. At 200 pages the book is short so I thought it was worth a go as I had nothing to lose. Initially I found it a little slow going and I also found that I had to concentrate while reading otherwise I wouldn't take in what had happened. Despite this, as the book progressed I got really involved in what was going on and constantly changed my mind as to who the guilty party was. By the end I was 70% sure it was who it ended up being but I hadn't picked up on all the clues dropped in throughout the book. I'm away for the next 5 days so have a kindle loaded with reading material. Next up, probably Frankenstein.

I’m about halfway through The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. I didn’t know what to expect but so far I am enjoying it a lot. It’s the kind of book I probably wouldn’t have read if it hadn’t been for the 1001 list and this forum.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is my current read, and so far so good.

I'm glad you liked this so much. Stasiland was the book which really sparked my interest in all things Cold War related.