Ben's Book Bonanza, 2013.

[Ben]

I do still have it. I'm not sure how good it is, especially to someone of university standard like yourself (it had been 24 years since I left school when I did GCSE English) - it's probably not detailed enough and I haven't read it for years. I got an A for it so it can't have been too bad! PM me your email address and I send you a copy.

 

Pfft, 'my standard' isn't anything to shout about. I'm sure it's great, I'll drop you a PM in a few minutes.

 

Not at all strange .. weirdly I'm in the same predicament. Sometimes I cross it off lists as read but then I think 'have I actually read it or do I just know it'. Like you I intend to read it anyway .. just to be sure

 

Well.. I've finished it and all I can say is that it's one of those I definitely should have read before now (like oh so many of the 'classics'). It's great, though - so clever how it works on different levels.

 

I know I haven't read it - really must put that right soon! Also added Of Mice and Men to my immediate wishlist!

 

(have had to segregate wishlists now!)

 

Delighted you've added Of Mice and Men to your immediate wishlist. It's such a fantastic little story, can't wait to hear what you think of it.

[bookmonkey]

I'm another who always intended to read Animal Farm but haven't yet.  I've read 1984, but so long ago, that I also intend to re-read that at some point.  Got to put those on my library list so I remember to look for them next time I'm in there.  Also want to read Of Mice and Men, too.

[Athena]

I haven't read either Animal Farm or 1984. They've been on my wishlist for a while but so far I can only find them at somewhat expensive prices so I haven't picked them up yet. I would like to do so at some point though, and read them.

[Ben]

I'm another who always intended to read Animal Farm but haven't yet.  I've read 1984, but so long ago, that I also intend to re-read that at some point.  Got to put those on my library list so I remember to look for them next time I'm in there.  Also want to read Of Mice and Men, too.

 

It's strange because even in my literature classes I know a lot of people that haven't read Orwell, despite him being an established name. I hope you enjoy his works and Of Mice and Men when you get around to them.

 

I haven't read either Animal Farm or 1984. They've been on my wishlist for a while but so far I can only find them at somewhat expensive prices so I haven't picked them up yet. I would like to do so at some point though, and read them.

 

Yeah, you're looking at about £6 or £7 from Amazon over here. Will be more expensive in shops, too. Hope you manage to find them at some stage though - and enjoy them!

[bobblybear]

Have you seen a film adaptation or was this completely new to you? 

 

I really liked Gary Sinise's adaptation. I have seen an earlier film for school but can't remember much about it.

 

Decided to read Zadie Smith's NW - a novel that I picked up in WH Smiths the other day partly because it had the funkiest cover I've seen for a while, and also because I read White Teeth for university this year and thought it was fantastic. This is apparently a bit different, though, so we'll see..

 

I'll be interested to read your review, Ben. I'd like to read it, as I loved White Teeth, but the mixed reviews have put me off a bit. Mind you, I've just looked on Amazon and White Teeth has got the same sort of mixed reviews (both average out at 3.5/5), so maybe I will really enjoy it. I just have my current pile to get through!

[Ben]

I really liked Gary Sinise's adaptation. I have seen an earlier film for school but can't remember much about it.

 

I'll be interested to read your review, Ben. I'd like to read it, as I loved White Teeth, but the mixed reviews have put me off a bit. Mind you, I've just looked on Amazon and White Teeth has got the same sort of mixed reviews (both average out at 3.5/5), so maybe I will really enjoy it. I just have my current pile to get through!

 

I think I'd be quite interested in seeing Of Mice and Men in some sort of theatre format, too. My friend said she's seen it at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and that it was fantastic.

 

So far, NW is different - very different. I can't quite work out if it's for me yet - the language is very lyrical and abstract compared to how she writes in White Teeth. I can definitely see why this has been such a strongly divisive novel though. I didn't realise White Teeth had mixed reviews but I can certainly see why her new novel would. I'll let you know what I properly think when I get more than forty pages in, though..

[Ben]

Decided to read something a bit easier in I am Legend by Richard Matheson while I read Smith's NW. I'm reading so much at the moment that today I've been lacking a bit of concentration, so this - having seen the film - should be a good one to read alongside.

 

Synopsis:

Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth... but he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has become a vampire, and they are hungry for Neville's blood. By day he is the hunter, stalking the undead through the ruins of civilisation. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn. How long can one man survive like this?

 

--

 

Will be interested to see how effectively the book-to-film adaptation was done, and what - if anything - differs. The film for me is utterly heartbreaking and I haven't watched it again since the first time because I'm a wimp    um, for some reason. Looking forward to this.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Ben

[Ben]

'Will be interested to see how effectively the book-to-film adaptation was done, and what - if anything - differs..'

 

So that'd be pretty much everything that's changed, then. At least the character is still called Robert Neville, I guess. I was actually rather surprised to see that the 2007 film adaptation had so many differences (I haven't seen any of the earlier films) and it didn't take long before it became obvious that the novel is leagues ahead. Don't get me wrong, I like the Will Smith-led attempt on screen, but I Am Legend is an excellent little zombie-horror narrative. It isn't difficult to see why Stephen King cited the author as a major influence on his works.

 

Richard Matheson's novel is decidedly an entertaining mini-thriller which bubbles with anticipation and action throughout, as we join our protagonist Robert Neville in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, the soul survivor of a pandemic that has swept the city. Fighting the dark demons of his past - in more than one respect - and attempting to find solace in the bottom of a liquor bottle, he has soon settled into a daily routine of fixing, fortifying, and fighting those pale-faced vampire monsters that arrive each night to torment him so.

 

Yet loneliness still plagues both his dreams and waking hours - his mind is a torrent of conflict and anguish. He flits perilously between suicidal instincts and a need to do something, to act in an attempt to find a cure for the plague that has killed off his family and friends. Robert battles every day for motivation, for inspiration, while he commits unthinkable deeds in order to just survive. One day, in a sighting he takes as a sign that he has finally lost his mind, he stumbles upon a young girl trudging across the field. Despite being cautious and wary, he allows himself to entertain the possibility that he could finally have company - and some answers.

 

Matheson writes with a concise, entertaining touch. His characters are delightful - from the rather comic ex-neighbour Ben Cortman and his practised refrain, to the four-footed friend that comes to embody our protagonist's need for comfort and companionship. The technical, scientific detail is pinpoint, but it never loses the reader, and before you know it the action is right back upon us. Teasingly suspenseful, like every good thriller it's impossible to stop turning the pages.

 

With an important moral message at its heart, I Am Legend bristles with blistering action, nerve-jangling tension, and bloodthirsty deceit.

 

★★★★☆.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Ben

[Ben]

Decided to read Stephen King's Blaze. I've really got to read more King, and I'll get 'round to one of the big 'uns this year for sure, but for now I'm going to dip into this one because it sounds intriguingly good..

 

Synopsis:

Clay Blaisdell is one big mother, but his capers are strictly small-time until his mentor introduces him to the one big score that every small-timer dreams of: kidnap. But now the brains of the operation has died - or has he? - and Blaze is alone with a baby as hostage. The Crime of the Century just turned into a race against time in the white hell of the Maine woods.

 

--

 

I've read Cell and Duma Key but have a bunch of others waiting on the to-be-read pile. Hopefully this will inspire me to tackle them.

[bobblybear]

Interesting that you are reading Blaze so soon after finishing Of Mice and Men. It's been commented in reviews that it must have been influenced strongly by Of Mice and Men. I read it a couple of years ago with that in mind, but unfortunately can't remember a whole lot about it.

[Ben]

Interesting that you are reading Blaze so soon after finishing Of Mice and Men. It's been commented in reviews that it must have been influenced strongly by Of Mice and Men. I read it a couple of years ago with that in mind, but unfortunately can't remember a whole lot about it.

 

I didn't realise this before I opened the book but Stephen King writes an introduction in the front of my copy, and mentions that it's 'an homage to Of Mice and Men - kinda hard to miss that'. When I read that in the introduction I was thinking 'that's a neat little coincidence'.

Edited June 16, 2013 by Ben

[Athena]

That is a nice coincedence!

 

Blaze is one of the Stephen King books I don't have, nor have I heard much about it. I hope you like it and look forward to read your thoughts once you're done .

[Devi]

re I am legend, I couldn't believe how much it differed from the movie either. I read the book earlier this year, and too enjoyed the movie, though the book is better by miles ahead.

[Ben]

That is a nice coincedence!

 

Blaze is one of the Stephen King books I don't have, nor have I heard much about it. I hope you like it and look forward to read your thoughts once you're done .

 

Thoughts coming later tonight..

 

re I am legend, I couldn't believe how much it differed from the movie either. I read the book earlier this year, and too enjoyed the movie, though the book is better by miles ahead.

 

Yes Devi, it certainly is! Wouldn't mind seeing if any of the other adaptations are a little more faithful, but the book's great so it'd take some beating that's for sure.

[Ben]

While I scramble together some thoughts on Stephen King's rather enjoyable little thriller Blaze I've decided to get on with The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. It was on my crime fiction list in my first year of university, but was one of the only books I unfortunately never got around to (we could miss one out for the exam and I was cutting it too close to study this one properly).

 

Synopsis:

Sam Spade is hired by the fragrant Miss Wonderley to track down her sister, who has eloped with a louse called Floyd Thursby. But Miss Wonderley is in fact the beautiful and treacherous Brigid O'Shaughnessy, and when Spade's partner Miles Archer is shot while on Thursby's trail, Spade finds himself both hunter and hunted: can he track down the jewel-encrusted bird, a treasure worth killing for, before the Fat Man finds him?

 

--

 

As one of the pioneers of hard-boiled detective fiction I'll be particularly interested to see how he compares to his contemporary Raymond Chandler, and how their two detectives - Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe - compare. Rather looking forward to this..

[Ben]

Couple of impending reviews coming today (or tomorrow depending on time how lazy I am.

 

Blaze by Stephen King. ★★★★☆.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. ★★★☆☆.

 

In general, I really love this spurt that my mojo is enjoying at the moment. Sixteen books already finished for the month (granted some of them have been shorter novels/novellas) and I've managed to get near enough back to reading schedule for the year. I was about fifteen or sixteen books behind not that long ago, and now I'm only four off the 100-for-the-year pace. Hopefully I can kick on and keep it up over the coming months. I'm excited for more great reads..

[Ben]

In the meantime (the reviews are coming, I promise, I just want to take advantage of my reading spurt) I've decided to read Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper. I've heard of the story (hasn't everyone?) but strangely I've never heard this book come up in conversation anywhere, despite it being canonized. I'm intrigued to see how Twain writes.

 

Synopsis:

'What am I writing? A historical tale of 300 years ago, simply for the love of it.' Mark Twain's 'tale' became his first historical novel, "The Prince and the Pauper", published in 1881. Intricately plotted, it was intended to have the feel of history even though it was only the stuff of legend. In sixteenth-century England, young Prince Edward (son of Henry VIII) and Tom Canty, a pauper boy who looks exactly like him, are suddenly forced to change places. The prince endures 'rags & hardships' while the pauper suffers the 'horrible miseries of princedom'.

 

--

 

Sounds good to me..

[Timstar]

Glad you liked Of Mice and Men and I am Legend, they are both brilliant. I Am Legend film doesn't come close to doing justice to the book.

[Karsa Orlong]

I Am Legend film doesn't come close to doing justice to the book.

 

None of the film versions I have seen do it justice (there have been four attempts now, of which I've seen three).  And all of them seem to forget the point of the book's title.  One of the best final pages to a book I've ever read and it all goes flying out the window when they film it 

[Ben]

Glad you liked Of Mice and Men and I am Legend, they are both brilliant. I Am Legend film doesn't come close to doing justice to the book.

 

Thanks mate! No, it certainly doesn't. I mean I thought the film was okay before I read the book and realised that they had just completely ignored most of the key details and completely gone against what the book is about.

 

None of the film versions I have seen do it justice (there have been four attempts now, of which I've seen three).  And all of them seem to forget the point of the book's title.  One of the best final pages to a book I've ever read and it all goes flying out the window when they film it 

 

Ah that's a shame, I was wondering if the other versions would be any better! Apparently not. I agree wholeheartedly with that second bit, the ending to the book is a much more important message than the whole 'sacrifice' card they pulled in the adaptation. It's a shame, really.

[Ben]

Forgot to mention I finished Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper which was reasonably enjoyable but for some reason didn't blow me away. The concept seemed promising, and I can see why people may love it, but it just wasn't funny or entertaining enough for me. Not a bad read by all means, though - picked up a bit in the latter stages. ★★★☆☆. (May review at a later date - added it tentatively to the 'to review' list).

 

I've still got NW by Zadie Smith on the go, and to be honest  I haven't got much further - I've been strangely tired in the last couple of weeks and have been avoiding it for some of the others I've listed in this thread. In the meantime, however, I need to start The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison (tragically dead now - R.I.P.) - sent from Headline to BCF for review.

 

Synopsis:

 

A chilling psychological thriller about a marriage, a way of life, and how far one woman will go to keep what is rightfully hers.

 

Jodi and Todd are at a bad place in their marriage. Much is at stake, including the affluent life they lead in their beautiful waterfront condo in Chicago, as she, the killer, and he, the victim, rush haplessly toward the main event. He is a committed cheater. She lives and breathes denial. He exists in dual worlds. She likes to settle scores. He decides to play for keeps. She has nothing left to lose. Told in alternating voices, The Silent Wife is about a marriage in the throes of dissolution, a couple headed for catastrophe, concessions that can’t be made, and promises that won’t be kept.

 

--

 

Sounds like a fascinating little read.

[Karsa Orlong]

Ah that's a shame, I was wondering if the other versions would be any better! Apparently not.

 

I think the Charlton Heston version, The Omega Man, is actually a pretty decent film - it just doesn't bare much resemblance to the book

[Ben]

I think the Charlton Heston version, The Omega Man, is actually a pretty decent film - it just doesn't bare much resemblance to the book

 

Well that's fair enough I guess. I might watch it anyway, actually, despite its lack of resemblance!

Edited June 20, 2013 by Ben

[Ben]

So I've finished A.S.A. Harrison's The Silent Wife - due for publication on June 25, and kindly sent to BCF from Headline for review. I'll start on my proper write-up and review tomorrow, but I found this a real page-turner (as is evident by how quickly I finished it). It was intriguing in a psychological sense - seeing how people's minds work in different ways, and what reactions people are capable of. I found all of the characters very different to invest in, but I think there's a purpose in them all being essentially flawed, and I don't dismiss a book purely because me and the cast of characters perhaps wouldn't be the best of friends.

 

All in all, it's an entertaining little psychological thriller that bubbles away nicely and is well worth the read. It's saddening that I recently found out about the death of the author, and that she will no longer write any more books. I think this novel shows great writing skill - a knack for writing entertaining, and also ultimately fascinating prose. I do hope that The Silent Wife manages to reach the large audience it deserves, upon publication.

 

Full review coming tomorrow.

 

★★★★☆.

[Ben]

Really bad news.

 

My Kindle has broken - the screen is just full of blurred lines and things. I think it might just be general wear, because I take care of it and whatnot, but I'm not sure. I've had it a fair few years now, and would replace it in a heart-beat if it's unrepairable - but still.. pretty annoying.

 

Anyway..

 

I've decided to read one of Boris Starling's crime thrillers - his first, Messiah. I've never read anything from this guy, but he comes highly recommended by a friend and seems to be well-received on Goodreads (although that's not a gospel indication of a fantastic writer). Nevertheless, I'm in the mood for this kind of crime book, after getting on splendidly - maybe not quite the right word - with Richard Montanari's novels.

 

Synopsis:

London is in the grip of a heatwave: airless days, strange steamy nights and a killer stalking the streets. Wealthy men are being murdered to some mysterious pattern, with no clues left behind, only corpses with silver spoons in place of their tongues...Set against this merciless butcher is DCI Red Metcalfe, an investigator with a celebrated ability to get under the skin and into the minds of the deranged killers he hunts. But as the city swelters and the body count rises, Red's own tortured past begins to turn against him - and the city is safe for no one. Sometimes, it is said, it takes a killer to catch a killer...

 

--

 

Sounds brilliant.. looks like the perfect immersion to try forget about this Kindle problem (until the morning!).