Alexi
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I've added The Fall of the Stone City to my wishlist. It sounds really interesting, and a time period I seem to be reading a lot about lately.
Also adding Making Sense of the Troubles. I've always been interested in the issues in Ireland, and this book sounds like a really good one to learn about it.
I would definitely recommend Making Sense of the Troubles. I've got a very poor knowledge of the events in Ireland and have now read a few books on the subject - this was the most accessible easily
I've got a bit behind in my reviews again, but book buying never seems to suffer from this problem!
#16 Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman
Eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku, the second best runner in Year 7, races through his new life in England with his personalised trainers - the Adidas stripes drawn on with marker pen - blissfully unaware of the very real threat around him. Newly-arrived from Ghana with his mother and older sister Lydia, Harri absorbs the many strange elements of city life, from the bewildering array of Haribo sweets, to the frightening, fascinating gang of older boys from his school. But his life is changed forever when one of his friends is murdered. As the victim's nearly new football boots hang in tribute on railings behind fluorescent tape and a police appeal draws only silence, Harri decides to act, unwittingly endangering the fragile web his mother has spun around her family to keep them safe.
Thoughts: I was a bit underwhelmed by this. (Someone on here warned I might be but if can't remember who now - poppy shake?)
It's been nominated for awards and my Mum's book club raved about it, but I found it disjointed and slow to get going. The disjointed aspect I'm sure was to reflect the bewildering London landscape Harri found, but it didn't make for a pleasant reading experience.
I also found Harri a bit unrealistic for an 11-year-old. Yes, he's come from Africa to London gangland where kids grow up faster, but I grew up in sheltered middle class suburbia and I'm sure I wasnt quite as 'childish' as Harri's thoughts portray him as here. He seems very naive about certain aspects of life - including the facts of life! It's probably realistic that he knows far too much about chooking - or stabbing - and little about other things, but sometimes he read like a 9 year old to be honest, not a lad adjusting to year 7 in an inner city high school.
However, I did enjoy this book. It did improve and I was drawn into Harri's murder investigation - while screaming at him that he might be wiser to leave it alone! His skirmishes with the older gang are well-plotted, while it is interesting to see Harri's transition from Africa to the socially-deprived tower blocks of London.
It was enjoyable, just didn't live up to the hype.
3/5
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Putting Child 44 on my wish list after such a good review! It sounds fascinating.
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I have The Cry and The Cuckoo's Calling on my TBR so good to read your thoughts on them and see you enjoyed them!
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That sounds really interesting Julie - it's going on my wish list
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Just finished Set in Stone by Robert Goddard for the English Counties Challenge. Enjoyed it a lot. But wanted something completely different for my next read, so now starting The Hacienda: How not to run a club by Peter Hook.
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On the strength if your review I've just downloaded The Unclassed!
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I would definitely blame Kylie
I do read from the library as well as buy! So I am slower to read the TBR
I think the one book bought for three books read is a good rule to stick to though. I overpaid my credit card six months ago so I have had a lot of "credit" on it, and the card is linked to Amazon.... Oop. -
Thanks Athena. He certainly had a more...eventful first year of high school than me
I'm now reading Pigeon English and getting on reasonably well. I'm away a lot over the next few weeks but not sure how much reading I will get done. Roll on summer when work doesn't get in the way of reading so much
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How are you getting on with not buying books Frankie? I'm doing very badly, still buying more than I'm reading
I would like to conquer my TBR one day but at over 200 books it would take at least 3 years I think!
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that's because they are appallingly badly written - like unreadably, and espouse questionable values, maybe as you read more good writing you will come to see this. I think we may well see these books as the nadir of children's literature, or at least I hope so, because please don't let there be worse.
Good God, what a patronising post! Specifically "maybe as you read more good writing you will come to see this". One person's good writing is another person's flowery waffle, no matter how many books they read.
As willoyd has already pointed out, they are clearly not unreadable for a large part of the population, because they are extremely popular! Incidentally, I don't think she will be winning a Pulitzer any time soon, but they are wonderful stories enjoyed by children and adults.
Thirdly, they have got thousands of children reading - I cannot see that as a bad thing. I dislike vampire fiction and think teen fiction has become over dominated by it (as stated above), but if teenagers are reading then great! It's not for me (or you) to tell people what to like, now or in the future.
He's one of my favourite authors, although Nineteen Eighty Four is not one of my favourites by him.
For me it's definitely The Catcher in the Rye which I loathed. I know a couple of people who feel the same way but most people seem to rate it. People have suggested that maybe it's because I read it in my forties and not when I was at school...?
Ha - you know we agree on that one! I know you love Orwell, and as we agree on so much it's part of what makes me keen to try another.
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Aside from the specific authors, I don't think many of those represent books one 'ought' to like based on the definition you used in the opening post, the categories being too wide. Thus when talking vampires, there's a world of a difference between, say, "Dracula" and your average pulp fiction - the former might be regarded as an 'ought to', but I'd suggest that label doesn't apply to the latter (I'm no fan of vampire fiction, or pretty much any form of horror, but loved Dracula!). You imply as much in your comments on Poe.
So, I think you're really talking about specific books?
For me, two jump straight to mind (I'm sure there'll be others): 1984, and Slaughterhouse-5. I struggled with both, and disliked them intensely.
(Of course, there's no book that anybody really 'ought' to like - that's the joy of reading! - but the the rather iconoclastic idea behind the thread is fun!).
I thought I was the only person who didn't really get on with 1984! I will try another Orwell at some point, but really didn't get on with that one.
As an aside, I walked past the teen section in Smiths today and was a bit disheartened - 90% of it was vampires. Obviously it's good people read, but there must be more to teen fiction than that!
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I read this a couple of years ago, and was disappointed considering all the fuss that was made about it when it was released. Hopefully you will enjoy it more than I did.
Reading and loving The Rosie Project at the moment.
I'm finding it a bit difficult to get into so far - I'm about 100 pages in.
I think I'm going to have to get my hands on The Rosie Project after all the positive chat on here!
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LOL at the TBR! Nice bookshelves though - mine are a bit higgledy piggledy but I got rid of a lot of my books in the last few years because I kept moving. It's only in the last two years or so I have been settled enough to own bookshelves! (I need another now).
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#15 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Synopsis: Charlie is a freshman. And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.
Thoughts: I have had this sitting on my kindle for a while but always avoided it, worrying it wouldn't live up to reputation and it wouldn't be "my type of thing'. Once again, I curse myself, because this is one of my favourite reads of the year so far.
Charlie begins writing letters to "friend" on the eve of his first day at high school. One of his friends has recently committed suicide and he doesn't really fit in to what society considers as "normal". Initially an outsider, he befriends Sam and Patrick, seniors who help him come out of his shell and enjoy life.
This book did sort of take me back to my adolescence (with some caveats, such as I did not take LSD!), but the themes are the same - struggling to fit in, coming to terms with sexuality etc etc.
Charlie also has to battle with severe depression - an issue I can certainly relate to.
I had to suspend disbelief on occasions (why would two seniors and their mates befriend a freshman for one thing, would not have happened in my high school!), but I loved reading about Charlie's life and the way he dealt with being a little way off society's definition of normal. In that way, the story being told in epistolary form really works, because you only see what Charlie is seeing and have to work out how others see the same situations. I find that works really well when the character is battling depression/mental illness etc. It makes me very wary of the film too.
The book takes us through one year of Charlie's life as a freshman, and left me wanting desperate to know how his next year panned out. I haven't been able to stop thinking about this book since I finished it, so although it feels an odd sort of book to award full marks to, I sort of feel I have to!
5/5
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#14 The Fall of the Stone City by Ismail Kadare
Synopsis: In September 1943, Nazi troops advance on the ancient gates of Gjirokastër, Albania. The very next day, the Germans vanish without a trace. As the townsfolk wonder if they might have dreamt the events of the previous night, rumours circulate of a childhood friendship between a local dignitary and the invading Nazi Colonel, a reunion in the town square and a fateful dinner party that would transform twentieth-century Europe. (From Amazon)
Thoughts: This counts for Albania in my World Challenge, and it gave a great flavour of the country's history and traditions (I assume, given I knew nothing about either before beginning this novel!).
Albanians in the 1940s and 50s went through the mill a bit! Initially under the control of Italy and Mussolini, that is passed to Germany in 1943 and the invading Nazis. The country then passes into the hands of the communists and Stalian post World War II.
The narrative of these significant historical events is told with two doctors of the same name as the main protagonists. 'Big' Doctor Gurameto is the dignitary who meets the Nazi Colonel on that fateful night - but who is he, why are the hostages (including one Jew) released, and was a white flag waved in surrender?
All of these questions remain central to the story into the 1950s, when Stalin has all doctors arrested due to suspicion over a plot to murder on the operating table. No matter how much you read about communist USSR and the Soviet Bloc, it never ceases to shock and this is no exception as medieval torture implements are used on men without any evidence of wrongdoing.
This is a clever little tale, weaving the historical events of the time through the apparently inconsequential lives of two doctors in Gjirokaster. The mystery of the fateful dinner remains throughout the story until the reveal at the end. That was a bit of a let down, but the book as a whole is well worth getting your hands on to see how the ordinary people of Albania lived through a number of dictatorial regimes, with the population negotiating sympathies between different governments and ideologies.
A welcome return to my World Challenge.
4/5
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Sorry to read this Devi
I hope you can find some relief. -
I know all too well what you mean. For some reason, I've put off and put off reading Steinbeck, but do think I ought to move him higher up the list now. But who to move down?!
I feel like I constantly say "I must move this up the list" after reading reviews on here but then it's impossible to move down what is already there...
Although I must, must MUST read an Austen this year.
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Just finished The Perks of being a Wallflower. Not sure why I have put it off for so long - I absolutely loved it.
Now starting Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman.
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I have rather neglected this challenge recently! But I have now completed The Fall of the Stone City by Ismail Kadare (Albania). Review to allow, but I enjoyed it and thought it gave a good (brief) insight into Albanian culture and history.
33/224 now completed and my map now looks like this:
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So glad you enjoyed it! I reread this recently so I'm not going to reread again. I read the first two volumes as a teenager and adored them, but I'm scared of trying the next volume when he's more of an adult. I really should though!
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That Diana Souhami book sounds great Janet - it's gone straight onto my wish list but at £2.57 on kindle it might be moving into the acquired list at some point soon....
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Glad you enjoyed your first book of the challenge, Hayley! I read The Spy Who Came in from the Cold a year or two ago, and thought it was great too.
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#13 Lanced: The Shaming of Lance Armstrong by David Walsh
Synopsis: David Walsh was one of the few journalists who dared to doubt the miracle of the cancer survivor who came back to win the toughest race in sport. As the years went by, the other reporters largely melted away, feeling that if they could not tell the truth about the race and its winner, they didn’t want to write anything about it at all.
In this book The Sunday Times presents David Walsh’s articles, and a number written by other colleagues on The Sunday Times. They show the tenacity with which the newspaper pursued Armstrong and the drug cheats.
(From Amazon)
Thoughts: After my tangling with Dracula, I retreated to a shorter book of sports writing - my comfort zone, really!
I am a huge sports fan, but cycling was not a sport I could really take a shine to - except at the Olympics where I watch the large majority of sports. I could especially never understand the fascination with the Tour de France - unlike my brother and cousin who have travelled to France together to watch it.
That changed with the revelations about Lance Armstrong. I read The Secret Race, which tells Tyler Hamilton's story of his own doping, in the same team as Armstrong. (It's an excellent read, I strongly recommend it). Armstrong doesn't come across very well.
I then picked up this little kindle ebook when it was free for a time, which has collated the articles written by David Walsh of the Sunday Times, right through from 1999 when Lance won his first tour, all the way through to when he was charged and his victories were rescinded.
It's a brilliant structure, as you go on the journey with David from 1999 - when he has plenty of suspicion but no evidence - all the way through to his interviews with those who knew. This does mean it repeats itself of course, as the articles were written for the paper months apart and have to set the scene again, but they are all well-written and I really had a sense of Walsh's struggle to prove what he knew was true.
Perhaps most revealing, one of the women who worked with Armstrong and spoke out, had to keep her silence about what she had seen with her own eyes due to Britain's libel laws. What she said would be fine in the US or France, but Armstrong could sue her in the UK. For speaking the truth. Mind-boggling really.
I really like Walsh's writing style, and this book has me wanting to know everything about his chase of Armstrong - I will be buying his book about it, Seven Deadly Sins. Job done, Sunday Times.
4/5
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Sounds interesting, Julie. LOL at you having to get the next one immediately!
Alexi's Reading 2014
in Past Book Logs
Posted
Hi Frankie! I would definitely like to read more by Augusten Burroughs, Running with Scissors has really stuck with me in the weeks since I finished it. Ditto with Ira Levin, and I shall add the two you have recommended to my wish list
I have been really lucky so far this year actually, enjoyed most of what I have read and would seek out more work from these authors. Very few duffers!
However, the early nominee for Duffer of the Year (if Willoyd will let me steal his phrase!) is the Bainbridge. But don't let me put you off too much, apparently it is very well thought of in some quarters!
Haha! I was more generous than you with 9, but it definitely grated. I agree with largely with your review too.
In other news I have already acquired 34 books so far this year