Bobblybear's Book List - 2013

[bobblybear]

Want To Play? - PJ Tracy

In Wisconsin, an elderly couple are found murdered in a church, with the woman’s body mutilated. Meanwhile, in nearby Minneapolis, a serial killer appears to be copying the scenes in a newly created computer game. The games creators - a company called Monkeewrench - must work with detectives to help solve these crimes while also trying to avoid the increasing suspicion levied their way.

I read plenty of crime fiction when I was in my twenties so I admit to not being easily impressed by so many of the genre. While I found this readable, I also found it unremarkable. It was a Richard & Judy book a number of years ago, but I'm not sure why as it is very 'run-of-the-mill', story and writing wise. There is absolutely nothing ground-breaking or original, so I'm a bit puzzled as to the fuss this book received.   Not to say it's bad, it's just .....ordinary. Sometimes you can read a crime thriller with very good twists and turns that have you on the edge of your seat, but this didn’t do that for me.

 

Reading a bit more about the book, apparently the author is a mother-daughter writing team. This book was their debut, and there have been a few sequels. I don't know if I will ever get around to reading them - maybe it they were £0.99, and my TBR has been significantly reduced, then I will give them a go. I don't know why I sound so ascerbic - I think I just expected more, given how much fuss I have heard about them.

 

2/6

[pontalba]

The Enemy - Charlie Higson

 

Set in London, some sort of illness has spread through the country (or maybe the world, we don’t know) which has killed most of the grown-ups. The ones who are left have been turned into crazy, festering monstrosities who now feed on the healthy survivors - which happens to be all children under the age of fourteen. These kids have divided into factions - some staying in Waitrose, and another group in Morrisons - and are now struggling to find enough food for survival.

 

When a young boy stumbles onto the Waitrose camp, he convinces them to come with him to Buckingham Palace where he claims a better life awaits them. The Waitrose and Morrison kids start their journey (only 7 miles or so) to Buckingham Palace, to see if what they have been promised is true.

 

Well, I thought this book was just daft. These children talked, behaved and thought as though they were adults. It was so ridiculous and unbelievable. It’s clearly written for teenagers but I’d be surprised if any of them enjoyed it. The surprising thing is that it has received mostly 5 star reviews on Amazon with so many people raving about how brilliant it was. Que? They must have been reading something completely different, or they must be good friends of the author.

 

It's not that the plot was bad - it was ok, but nothing original. It was the sheer ludicrousness of the characters....the way they talked and carried on was just so far-fetched. I found it quite insulting as a reader that I was expected to find any of it remotely credible.  

 

Wouldn't recommend it, and will most definitely not be reading any sequels (or anything else by the author). Avoid....like the plague.

 

1/6

 

 

Good review, sorry it turned out to be rather bleech.

 

This really, really reminds me of an episode of Star Trek, Original Series, Miri.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miri_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)

Not exactly, but somewhat similar.  In Outer Space, natch!  lol

Edited December 2, 2013 by pontalba

[Athena]

Nice reviews, Bobblybear ! I hope your next read is more enjoyable.

 

I quite liked the Miri episode.

[bobblybear]

Good review, sorry it turned out to be rather bleech.

 

This really, really reminds me of an episode of Star Trek, Original Series, Miri.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miri_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)

Not exactly, but somewhat similar.  In Outer Space, natch!  lol

 

Thanks. I wonder if the author got the idea from that Star Trek episode as there are many similarities. The group of children even call the infected adults 'grown-ups', which is similar to the Star Trek episode. I've never been into Star Trek, but I'm sure it was far better than The Enemy.

 

Nice reviews, Bobblybear ! I hope your next read is more enjoyable.

 

Thanks. It's looking good so far and hopefully will stay that way.

[Kylie]

I have a vague feeling that the Jungle Book might have been a Reading Circle book once upon a time.      The name Rikki Tikki Tavi rings a bell with me.  Is it a mongoose?

 

Yes, I recall reading it as part of a reading circle. I have to say, I agree with your review, Bobblybear. I actually hated The Jungle Book and it has the dubious honour of being one of my least favourite/most hated books of all time.

 

I also agree with your review of the brilliant The Grapes of Wrath. So glad you enjoyed it.

[bobblybear]

Sorry, completely forgot to reply to your post, Kylie.

 

Interesting that you hated The Jungle Book so much. Because it's a classic, I thought the majority of people loved it, but I've just read the Reading Circle thread and it seems that most people didn't enjoy it. Maybe it's just too different for the current time.

 

So, I've just finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt.....and I really need to catch up on writing reviews. I have about four to write up, and the longer I leave it the more difficult it will be (I tend to forget details in books quite quickly after finishing them ).

[bobblybear]

The Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson

The book opens with Allan Karlsson sitting in his room in a nursing home, on the morning of his 100th birthday. Because of his age they are throwing him a birthday party, in which several important people and media are invited. However, he doesn’t want to put up with all the fuss, so he climbs out of the window and makes his way to the bus station. There, a young man asks him to watch his suitcase while nature calls. While the man is off doing his business, Allan’s bus arrives and so he decides to board with this man’s suitcase (as he didn't bring any belongings of his own). This sets off a chain of events which follow Allan (and various co-conspirators he picks up along the way) across the country, and also leads to a recollection of his past, from his childhood to his present.

The chapters alternate between Allan's present and his past. He has been key in some significant historical events, and has befriended many key people – Truman, Churchill, Kim Jong Il, to name a few - and played an important role is many political happenings. It’s all extremely far-fetched (but obviously so) and told with a lot of very, very black humour. His life story is so utterly over-the-top and so tongue-in-cheek, that anything and everything is possible. However, because of the exaggerated nature of the story, I thought it dragged on for too long....it was over-kill and eventually got to be exhausting to follow. I think that kind of exaggerated story treads a fine line between being 'humorous' and 'annoying', and it crossed over to the annoying side for me a few times towards the end, purely because it was just 'too much'. The Kindle version is 480 pages, and about two-thirds through, I began to get restless. I would have enjoyed it more if it had been trimmed (significantly). It also on occasion felt a bit stilted but I think that was due to the translation.

All in all, I enjoyed it, but not as much as I’d hoped I would.

 

3/6

[Athena]

Nice review! I'm sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it as much as you'd hoped, though it's nice you did enjoy it. The book is on my wishlist.

[bobblybear]

Thanks, Athena. It's still well-worth a read.

[Kidsmum]

I must say i wasn't blown away by the 100 year old man. For me the problem was i didn't like Allan right from the beginning, the whole thing with the suitcase put me off him, it was such a horrible mean thing to do. I agree that it was too long as well, the last 100 pages or so were a real struggle to get through. I think it depends on your sense of humour as to wether you like this book or not, there were mixed opinions about it at my book group meeting.

[chesilbeach]

I think you enjoyed it more than me, Bobblybear.  I remember writing my review about a week after I finished it, and as I got further away from reading it, the less fondly I remembered it.  It was all just too far fetched for me and I just didn't find the historical elements credible. It just wasn't for me, and I was disappointed as I had hoped it would be something I would love.

[bobblybear]

For some reason I really wanted to like The Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. I don't know why I wanted to like it, perhaps because it was so quirky.....I think the premise of the story was more interesting than the story itself.

[bobblybear]

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

I have to start off by saying that I’m generally not a fan of the classics, but occasionally I read the odd one to see if I like it. A big part of the reason I don’t like them is that I find them to be hard work to read.

A Tale of Two Cities was what I expected of a classic in a number of ways. The first few chapters were most difficult, and I did struggle a bit to decipher what was going on (though I do think I make things worse for myself by telling myself I will struggle, before I even start reading), before I found my stride with it. I did read a chapter guide at the same time I was reading it to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.

It covers events leading up to and during the French Revolution, in both London and Paris (being the two cities). There are numerous characters, but most of the plot revolves around a former French Aristocrat who has denounced his position, changed his name and married an English girl.

Some passages are beautifully written and there were a couple that I read several times because I was so taken with them. But as I expected, there were big chunks that took a lot of effort to get through, which I found immensely frustrating.

After I finished it, I tried to imagine if it had been written in modern parlance but with the same plot, to see if it was the story or writing that I struggled with, and I don't think I would have rated it any differently (if it were a modern novel). I have a feeling I will probably remember it more fondly than I felt at the time.

3/6

[Signor Finzione]

It's a shame you didn't enjoy the Dickens more. I've had this one on my TBR for ages - I love reading about the French Revolution - and even though I love Dickens I've never got round to reading this one.

 

 

For some reason I really wanted to like The Hundred-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. I don't know why I wanted to like it, perhaps because it was so quirky.....I think the premise of the story was more interesting than the story itself.

 

A shame about this one too . . . the premise really does sound awesome.

[Athena]

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy A Tale of Two Cities as much as you'd hoped, nice review though . It doesn't bode well for my reading of it someday.. I had trouble with Christmas Books by Dickens, not getting on with his writing style. I hope your next read will be more enjoyable.

[bobblybear]

Yeah, I am a bit disappointed that I didn't love A Tale of Two Cities. I had somewhat high expectations as I had heard so many positive things about it. A co-worker said that she had heard that it wasn't the best Dickens to start with (and she had tried it a few times, but given up), but so many other people said the opposite. It hasn't put me off reading other Dickens, but it hasn't made me any more excited about reading his work.

[bobblybear]

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal - Mary Roach

Gulp is the fifth book by Mary Roach, and as the title suggests it is about all aspects of the digestive system - the organs and their processes and functions. Actually, it's not only digestion she covers; there is a rather interesting chapter on prison inmates smuggling objects up their rear-end (it’s quite impressive, who would have thought you could fit a Blackberry phone up there - I’ll take her word for it ).

I really enjoy her books – they balance science with a bit of humour, and rather than asking dry, academic questions, she tends to focus on the subject matter that most people find interesting.

I learned quite a bit from this book. For example, I now know that humans replace their stomach lining every three days, how much it takes to rupture the human stomach (3 - 4 litres, though you can get away with 7-8 litres if you eat very slowly), and that we have taste receptors in the gut, the voice box, the upper oesophagus, but only the tongue receptors report to the brain.

 

Some other interesting tidbits are research into changing peoples gut bacteria (through ‘donor feces’), when they have digestion diseases (which has had a high success rate), the process of testing dog and cat foods, megacolon (if you do a Google Images search of 'Megacolon museum', you can see a picture of an enlarged colon which she discusses in the book), and possible theories on what Elvis died of (megacolon).

I've read all of her books and this one would be my second favorite (after Stiff).

 

4.5/6

[Michelle]

I've just looked up her books, and they certainly look interesting. I've just put Gulp, Stiff and Bonk on my wishlist, but I don't know which to start with.

[bobblybear]

I would recommend Stiff, but I suppose it's which subject matter you find more interesting.

[Michelle]

So it's not going to look good if I go for Bonk?  Actually, I think Gulp looks the most interesting, but it's also the most expensive. 

[bobblybear]

  Well, I didn't find Bonk as readable or as interesting as the subject matter should be. In fact, I don't remember too much about it at all.

 

But whichever one you read first, it will give you an idea as to her style and humour - those are pretty much the same across all her books. Happy reading, whichever one you choose to start with!

[Devi]

Some other interesting tidbits are research into changing peoples gut bacteria (through ‘donor feces’), when they have digestion diseases (which has had a high success rate), the process of testing dog and cat foods, megacolon (if you do a Google Images search of 'Megacolon museum', you can see a picture of an enlarged colon which she discusses in the book), and possible theories on what Elvis died of (megacolon).

4.5/6

This has had some good results for MS sufferers too, I remember reading about it in a new scientist issue once. I must admit, if it would fix my type of MS, I would do it as awful as it sounds.

 

Book added to wish list! I have stiffs on my TBR pile.

Edited January 4, 2014 by Devi

[bobblybear]

This has had some good results for MS sufferers too, I remember reading about it in a new scientist issue once. I must admit, if it would fix my type of MS, I would do it as awful as it sounds.

 

I think it's the idea that sounds awful rather than the actual process. And if it's had a high success rate (around 90%, depending on illness), then they should really look into it more. From what the author was saying, it's not a common procedure yet, largely due to the 'ick factor'.

[bobblybear]

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

I have really struggled to review this, and I have no idea why, especially since I loved it.   But here goes....The story is narrated retrospectively by Richard Papen, and he tells of his time at a Vermont College. The book opens with him confessing his involvement in the murder of a friend while he was at the college, and then details the chain of events (through his eyes) that led to the murder, and it's consequences.

The novel is beautifully written and even though the major plot point is revealed in the first paragraph and the story actually follows a very slow pace, it is still so compelling to read. The characters are very well fleshed out although they still remain somewhat enigmatic at the end. I suppose I would describe this as a character study, because it's the characters that are more memorable than the story (that's not a criticism - it's just that this was a re-read for me, and I didn't remember anything about the plot - aside from the murder - but I remembered a lot about the characters). I also suppose that Richard was fascinated by his fellow students, right from the start and as we were told it through his eyes, we can't help but feel his influence.

 

Even though it was a re-read, I enjoyed it just as much the second time around, and can't really find any faults with it. One of my favorite reads ever.

6/6

[Athena]

It sounds pretty interesting! I'm glad you enjoyed re-reading it . What time does the book take place in (ie. the college part)?