Tunn 300's 2013 Reading Log

[tunn300]

i hear world war z is meant to be good! I don't know anything of the other titles though.

 

 

I'm reading World War Z and it's pretty good so far.

 

Thanks for the recommendation from both of you. Going to start this tonight. Look forward to hearing your full review Bobblybear.

[tunn300]

Have made a start on 'World War Z' and am currently 13% in. I really like the style it is written in and am engrossed in finding out more about the start and spread of the disease.

 

I know it has just been released as a film but can't imagine it sticks that closely to the way the book is set up but I could obviously be very wrong.

[bobblybear]

I don't know how you will progress Tunn300, but I find some chapters a lot more interesting than others. I prefer the ordinary person's experience to those chapters told by someone in a political or military position.

 

I can't see the film following the book at all; I think they just took the core idea (which isn't that different to a lot of 'zombie' movies or books) and put a story around it. The movie still looks great though, and I will definitely watch it.

[tunn300]

I don't know how you will progress Tunn300, but I find some chapters a lot more interesting than others. I prefer the ordinary person's experience to those chapters told by someone in a political or military position.

 

I can't see the film following the book at all; I think they just took the core idea (which isn't that different to a lot of 'zombie' movies or books) and put a story around it. The movie still looks great though, and I will definitely watch it.

Well after a fairly good reading session yesterday I am up to 66% now and agree there are certainly some accounts I prefer reading to others. I am still hooked in and desperate to learn more about the virus and how it was eventually stopped.

 

I haven't actually seen a trailer for the film but am certainly intrigued by it.

[tunn300]

Have finished World War Z, review to follow soon. Now trying to pick what to start next. I picked up Knot by Mark Watson yesterday as I really enjoyed his book Eleven last year so may start that.

[bobblybear]

I read Eleven last year (or maybe the year before). I thought it was a pretty good read.

 

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on World War Z.

[tunn300]

World War Z - Review

 

Synopsis - Amazon

 

It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginnings of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse. Faced with a future of mindless, man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality.

 

Max Brooks lives in New York City but is ready to move to a more defensible location at a moment's notice. His Zombie Survival Guide was adopted by all of the world's basic military training programmes during the recent global conflict.

 

Review

 

I bought this book in the Kindle Spring sale as it was only 99p. I hadn't really heard much about it and wasn't aware it was being made into a film but thought the premise sounded interesting. The book is written as a series of interviews with survivors of a global war between humanity and the undead. Some of the interviews are with military commanders, other with every day civilians. The book is broken into chapters that detail the initial outbreak, the spreading panic, the first battles, survival and the fightback. Each extract is fairly short and is introduced by a short synopsis of the interviewees experiences of the war. The interviews take place around the world with many different nationalities. 

 

I have to say on the whole I did enjoy the book, especially the early parts that detailed the outbreak and how different countries dealt with it. There were certainly some extracts I preferred to others but on the whole I liked the way the book was written. As the book continued I did feel it lost its way somewhat as we got more and more extracts from military personal rather than the everyday person and there were also some questions I felt it left unanswered. 

 

Overall I really enjoyed the book but realise it wont be to everyones tastes. 

 

8/10

[bobblybear]

Nice review, Tunn. I agree with you that there were questions unanswered. I would have liked to read more about what happened from a more wholesome/global point of view, rather than bits and pieces here and there. I definitely preferred the interviews with the civilians rather than military personnel. The military ones in my mind all started to sound alike.

[tunn300]

I can't see the film following the book at all; I think they just took the core idea (which isn't that different to a lot of 'zombie' movies or books) and put a story around it. The movie still looks great though, and I will definitely watch it.

 

Well I have just watched the trailer for World War Z and read a couple of reviews of it and I don't think it could be anything less like the book. The zombies in the book are slow and make loud noises meaning it is easy for people to hear them coming and take action however the ones in the clips I have seen run like Usain Bolt!

 

Also the reviews talk about lots of zombies taking over planes and that the final cure is found in a laboratory in Wales none of which happens in the book. I think the rights have only been bought to try and get more people interested in the film as I can't see anything of the book in it at all from what I've seen/read so far.

[tunn300]

It is currently a very busy time at work at the moment. Things should ease off next week but it has slowed my reading a little. I have made a start on 'The Knot' by Mark Watson and am currently about 100 pages in. I'm not really sure where it is going at the minute as the early chapters have all been the narrator of the tales life story but I am enjoying it and again the style it is written in. Hopefully will manage to keep reading a little over the next busy week and finish it the week after. 

[poppyshake]

Ooh I looked at that in Waterstone's. I like Mark Watson so was tempted .. but you never know what sort of writer these TV comedians etc will turn out to be .. especially when they tackle fiction. Be really interested to read what you make of it tunn

[tunn300]

So at the moment my work is kind of taking a back seat to the reading. Am about 200 pages into 'The Knot' now and still not sure where it is going. Am hoping it will turn out to be somewhere great but I am starting to get just a few feelings that there may be a great big build up to nothing... hopefully not.

 

Picked up a couple of books on Kindle over the past couple of days.

 

David Mitchell - Back Story (after reading a thread about in the non-fiction section by Poppy and Frankie I think)

John O'Farrell - The Man Who Forgot His Wife - I have read 'The Best a Man Can Get' before and really enjoyed it.

 

I really must stop buying books now!!

Edited July 2, 2013 by tunn300

[tunn300]

I have finished 'The Knot' by Mark Watson this morning and a review will follow soon. Have lots of very tempting books lying on my TBR pile at the moment but not sure what I'm in the mood for. Hopefully something will grab my interest later today.

[tunn300]

The Knot - Mark Watson

 

 

Synopsis - Amazon

 

Dominic Kitchen is a wedding photographer. Every Saturday since his career began in the sixties he has photographed a bride and groom on the happiest day of their lives, captured the moment they tied the knot forever, and then faded away into the background. But throughout his life, Dominic has felt a knot inside him tighten, threatening his own chance of a happy ever after. And as the years go by, it becomes more difficult to ignore, until the ties that bind threaten to tear him apart…

 

Review

 

I picked this book up at the supermarket after reading Watson's first book 'Eleven' and really enjoying it. I liked his sense of humour in his stand up comedy and felt he also bought that to his first novel. 

 

This book follows Dominic through his life from his very first memories till around his fifties. He is a wedding photographer and the story revolves around his growing love of photography, his job, his personal life and his big secret. The knot in the title refers to a feeling Dom gets in his stomach every time this secret rears its head. Without giving too much away the secret centres on a very taboo subject and one that is very rarely discussed in society. 

 

I found myself enjoying the book as I learnt more and more about Dom and his family and always wanted to read a little more to find out what happens next. Watson has a very easy style of writing to me and one I really enjoy reading. There is humour in there but probably not in the same amounts as in his first book. As the book wore on I did get the feeling it wasn't really going anywhere and to a certain extent I was right. This book simply is a snapshot of the life of a wedding photographer, one who just happens to have one very big secret. Despite this I still enjoyed it and was disappointed when it came to an end. I don't think I particularly liked any of the characters in the book but did enjoy getting a glimpse into their lives. 

 

Overall I found the book enjoyable but preferred his previous novel. 

 

8/10

[Athena]

Sounds interesting, I've added it to my wishlist. Nice review!

[tunn300]

Sounds interesting, I've added it to my wishlist. Nice review!

 

Thanks Athena, I hope you enjoy reading it when you get around to it and I will look out for your review. 

[Devi]

I have also added it to my wish list too, I have his first book sitting on my shelf already.

[tunn300]

I have also added it to my wish list too, I have his first book sitting on my shelf already.

 

Hope you enjoy 'Eleven' Devi. I thought it was excellent when I read it a couple of years ago. As I said in my review don't think this book is quite up to that standard but still a good read!

[tunn300]

Well my busy period at work has finally come to an end, so I will have a little more time to enjoy some reading at last. Plus my holiday is only 2 and a half weeks away!! 

 

I have made a start on "The Crucifix Killer' by Chris Carter as I fancied a crime novel and this is his debut that has been sat on my shelf waiting to be read for a couple of years. 

[tunn300]

Well reading has been going slow but now that I have the summer in front of me I hope to pick up the pace. Off on holiday soon with a long reading list and the hope I will make a big dent in it. I am about 120 pages into the crucifix killer and have found it ok so far. Very gory and in my opinion some poor writing in places but not going to give up on it. 

[tunn300]

Well thanks to a long ferry ride and a very wet first day in France I have finished 'The Crucifix Killer' by Chris Carter (review to follow soon) and I am now about 60 pages into 'Back Story' by David Mitchell.

 

Hopefully I will be able to keep the reading pace up.

Edited July 30, 2013 by tunn300

[tunn300]

The Crucifix Killer - Chris Carter

 

 

Synopsis Amazon

 

When the body of a young woman is discovered in a derelict cottage in the middle of Los Angeles National Forest, Homicide Detective Robert Hunter finds himself entering a horrific and recurring nightmare. Naked, strung from two wooden posts, the victim was sadistically tortured before meeting an excruciatingly painful death. All the skin has been ripped from her face - while she was still alive. On the nape of her neck has been carved a strange double-cross: the signature of a psychopath known as the Crucifix Killer. But that's impossible. Because two years ago, the Crucifix Killer was caught and executed. Could this therefore be a copycat killer? Or could the unthinkable be true? Is the real killer still out there, ready to embark once again on a vicious and violent killing spree, selecting his victims seemingly at random, taunting Robert Hunter with his inability to catch him? Hunter and his rookie partner are about to enter a nightmare beyond imagining.

 

Review

I purchased this book some time ago when it was first released but for some reason I have constantly overlooked it as my next book to read. It is the debut novel of Chris Carter and introduces the character Robert Hunter who now features in three other books by the author. 

 

I haven't read a crime novel in a little while and fancied going back to the genre. This book is a very fast paced thriller that moves along to its conclusion very swiftly. I found the characters a little cliche and some of the chapters written just to try and add back story and intrigue to them. 

 

I found this book very gruesome and some of the murders were really unpleasant and went into quite graphic detail. I also felt I saw the killer coming from fairly early on in the book. Overall it was an ok book. I have purchased the next in the series as it was on offer for 99p on kindle and will read it at some point, hopefully the author will improve over time.

 

7/10

 

[tunn300]

Well my holiday reading has progressed nicely and I have finished two books in the past week, Back Story by David Mitchell and The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. The reviews will follow soon. I only have a couple of days left in France so now need to decide what book to make a start on and then continue back in England. 

[tunn300]

Back Story - David Mitchell

 

Synopsis - Amazon

 

David Mitchell, who you may know for his inappropriate anger on every TV panel show except Never Mind the Buzzcocks, his look of permanent discomfort on C4 sex comedy Peep Show, his online commenter-baiting in The Observer or just for wearing a stick-on moustache in That Mitchell and Webb Look, has written a book about his life.

As well as giving a specific account of every single time he's scored some smack, this disgusting memoir also details:

• the singular, pitbull-infested charm of the FRP (‘Flat Roofed Pub’)

• the curious French habit of injecting everyone in the arse rather than the arm

• why, by the time he got to Cambridge, he really, really needed a drink

• the pain of being denied a childhood birthday party at McDonalds

• the satisfaction of writing jokes about suicide

• how doing quite a lot of walking around London helps with his sciatica

• trying to pretend he isn’t a total **** at Robert Webb’s wedding

• that he has fallen in love at LOT, but rarely done anything about it

• why it would be worse to bump into Michael Palin than Hitler on holiday

• that he’s not David Mitchell the novelist. Despite what David Miliband might think

 

Review

 

I picked this book up as I find David Mitchell very funny on many of the panel shows I enjoy and also saw it recommended on a thread on these forums. The book follows Mitchell as he walks from his home in Kilburn to BBC television centre. Along the way each landmark is noted and reminds Mitchell about some part of his past as we follow his story from Primary school up to the present day.

 

I found the book relatively amusing and it was written exactly as you would imagine Mitchell to say it. Most of the anecdotes were fairly interesting and I did enjoy finding out about his rise to fame. He clearly portrays how hard it is to make it in the tv world and the fact you need a lot of luck as well as talent.

 

Overall I did enjoy the book but not quite as much as I was expecting. I can't really put my finger on exactly why though.

 

7/10 

 

 

 

[tunn300]

The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker

 

 

Synopsis - Amazon

 

WHAT IF our 24-hour day grew longer, first in minutes, then in hours until day becomes night and night becomes day?
'It is never what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophies are always different - unimagined, unprepared for, unknown…' 
What if our 24-hour day grew longer, first in minutes, then in hours, until day becomes night and night becomes day? What effect would this slowing have on the world? On the birds in the sky, the whales in the sea, the astronauts in space, and on an eleven-year-old girl, grappling with emotional changes in her own life..? 
One morning, Julia and her parents wake up in their suburban home in California to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth is noticeably slowing. The enormity of this is almost beyond comprehension. And yet, even if the world is, in fact, coming to an end, as some assert, day-to-day life must go on. Julia, facing the loneliness and despair of an awkward adolescence, witnesses the impact of this phenomenon on the world, on the community, on her family and on herself.

 

Review

 

I bought this book as I was really interested in the premise of the Earth's rotation is slowing and the effect this would have on the planet and its inhabitants.

 

The story is told through the eyes of Julia, a secondary school student living in California. Because of this the book has two main strands. The first is the describing of the 'slowing' and the effect this has on not just Julia but also her community and the world as a whole. The second is a coming of age tale as Julia deals with the issues of growing from a girl into a woman. 

 

Personally I found the parts about the slowing absorbing and left me eager to read on and find out more however the parts about Julia having crushes on boys and falling out with friends I didn't enjoy as much. I feel there are much better coming of age tales out there and this part of the book didn't particularly engage me.

 

The book was very easy to read and I managed it in a couple of days, which nowadays for me is quite something. The style is fairly simplistic as it is told through Julia's eyes and we get her opinion on most things. Through her narrative Julia often hints at world events and what's to come as a result of the slowing without directly talking about them which I found a good device to keep the reader up to speed on its effects. 

 

Overall I did enjoy this book but wold have preferred it to concentrate more on the excellent premise of the world is slowing, our days are getting longer, what do we do? I would still recommend it as a good read read though and I look forward to reading other work by this author. 

 

7/10