Brian's Book Log - Ongoing

[Brian.]

Titan Sinking: The Decline of the WWF in 1995 by James Dixon




Synopsis
Throughout the history of the WWF, there have been times of prosperity and times of hardship, cycles that shape the ethos of the company by forcing changes to its infrastructure and on-screen direction. The one constant throughout three decades of change is Vincent Kennedy McMahon, the stalwart puppet-master who captains the ship. Unflinching, thick-skinned, and domineering, McMahon has ultimately outlasted all of his competition and come out on top of every wrestling war he has waged. In 1995, he very nearly lost. Titan Sinking tells the tale of one of the most tumultuous, taxing and trying years in WWF history. Vince was reeling from a nightmare first half of the decade as the year commenced, but having seemingly steered the company through an image-shattering five years, he looked to rebuild his ailing brand and rediscover the magic formula that made his promotion such a juggernaut in the eighties. As each week passed, more and more problems behind the scenes began to unfold, plunging the WWF on the bring of crisis. This book gives the inside story of all of it: with detailed accounts of incidents from Syracuse to Montreal, from the Kliq to he BSKs, Vince's new hope, to his various creative flops and failures. Find out the real story of the year, and learn how 1995 brought WWF to the brink.
(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

I imagine this is a book that won't interest many, if any, members of the forum as it's about the WWF. I have fond memories of watching wrestling with my friends as a kid. At the time it was huge. The characters and the storylines were, on the whole, fantastic and kept us engrossed week after week. What we were largely unaware of, was what went on behind the scenes and this book fills in these blanks.

 

The book is pretty well written but I don't think it will draw in anyone who doesn't already hold an interest in the subject matter. By its nature, wrestling likes to muddy the waters between fact and fiction so parts of the book naturally contain rumours. It would probably have helped if Dixon had managed to interview more people involved but I appreciate that this would have been quite tricky for a number of reasons.

 

There are 3 books in this series and I look forward to reading the next one as it involves the attitude era and wrestlers like Brett Hart, Steve Austin, The Undertaker, etc. This was where wrestling was at its peak in my opinion.

 

3/5 (It was good).

[Brian.]

SeaFire by John Gardner




Synopsis
Sir Maxwell Tarn is missing. The self-made tycoon, mastermind of a global empire that embraces some highly unusual activities, has vanished with the beautiful Lady Tarn - right from under the noses of a crack surveillance team, supposedly in the flames of a dramatic automobile accident. Now James Bond and the newly reorganized Double-Oh section of the SIS must move quickly to discover what really happened to Sir Maxwell and expose him and his operation for what they really are. With Fredericka von Grusse - Flicka - his stunning partner introduced in Never Send Flowers, Bond follows a maze of trails from England to Spain to Israel, and then to a picturesque German village overrun with neo-Nazis. Evidence of a diabolical scheme leads Bond and Flicka to Puerto Rico, where the pair must move quickly both above and below water to thwart Tarn and his master plan before his cache of deadly weapons destroys much more than a few pristine islands in the Caribbean.
(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

The penultimate book in the John Gardner Bond series of books. Fredericka von Grusse, Flicka, is back with Bond and they are very much in love. They plan to marry and so there are a few call backs to his former wife Tracy from On Her Majesty's Secret Service. This is another book where Bond is up against a very rich individual rather than a state sponsored actor. Max Tarn is a tycoon with fingers in many pies, some of which are dubious at best. Tarn is killed along with his wife but Bond has suspicions that all isn't what it seems and is sent to investigate.

 

This is one of Gardner's better attempts at a Bond book but he has definitely fallen into a bit of a formula. This isn't really that surprising considering he wrote 15 books over a period of 20 years but it does get tiresome after a while.

 

One to go.

 

3/5 (It was ok).

[Brian.]

Soldier: Respect is Earned by Jay Morton




Synopsis
With four years in the Parachute Regiment, ten years in the SAS and two Everest summits to his name, no one is better equipped than Jay Morton to reveal what it takes to become the best of the best.
Soldier is Jay Morton’s masterclass in mindset, strategy and excellence. Drawing on his extraordinary personal experience, it provides in-depth, comprehensive lessons and practical takeaways.
Whether serving as an elite soldier, training as a high-level shooter or becoming an expert in HALO (high-altitude, low-opening) and HAHO (high-altitude, high-opening) parachuting, Jay has always strived to be at the very top of the game.
More than most, Jay knows that military service develops skillsets you’d never dreamed of having, and which can be applied to our day-to-day lives. We are prone to underestimating ourselves, but physical and mental endurance and resilience – as well as realising our own full potential – are well within our reach.
(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

I picked this up at my local Waterstones to complete a 'buy one, get one half price' deal. I think the last time I watched SAS: Who Dares Wins was the series when Jay started with the show and was a mole in the contestants group. That was back in 2020 and I only managed a few episodes as I felt the show was getting too dramatic. I think some of the ex special forces guys on the show have come across really well, and some, not so much. Jay was one of the former so I decided to give his book a go.

 

I'll start with some positives. The book is well laid out and written well enough. Jay comes across in an engaging way and drops in stories and anecdotes from his time in the SAS where appropriate. It would be easy to come across as arrogant having performed at an elite level in the military but Jay never does.

 

Now for the negatives. There are a few times where the use of things like 'The 7 M's', and 'The 6 P's feels really forced and unnatural. The biggest negative though is probably a little specific to me. I don't feel like this book brings anything new to the every growing list of self-help books written by ex-members of the military. Someone who hasn't read many of these will probably find value but I thought it was only ok.

 

2/5 (It was ok).

[Brian.]

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire




Synopsis
Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations
No Visitors
No Quests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.
(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

Every so often I go looking for lists of book recommendations. If a book pops up numerous times I tend to add it to my wishlist. This was one of those books but I can't think what lists I was looking at when I found it. I avoid reading any reviews as I want to come to a book without any preconceived ideas so I had no idea this was a fantasy novel until I started it. Fantasy is a genre I have only really dipped my toes into so bare that in mind if you read this as it's not entirely 'my thing'.

 

The story revolves around Nancy, a new arrival at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. Wayward children are those who disappear into parallel worlds for a time and then feel displaced when they return to our realm. The children don't experience the same things when they are 'away' as they visit different worlds. The Home helps them process these emotions. Some children will eventually return to the other world they previously visited while others never will. To revisit their alternate world requires a doorway. The locations of these doorways is a mystery and can appear at any time.

 

Although I am not a fantasy reader I quite liked this book. It's only a short read and I read it in a few sittings. The characters are all unique and developed well enough despite the short length. Quite quickly I realised that this book is aimed towards young adults but still 'adult' enough for older readers. I know why YA exists as a separate genre but I've always felt that if a book is good enough then age demographics don't really matter. The book touches on a range of themes, one of the most important being LGBTQ and self identity.

 

I thought this was a decent read but I probably won't read the next book in series as it isn't really my thing.

 

3/5 (It was decent).

[Brian.]

Cold Fall by John Gardner




Synopsis
The night that Flight 229 blew apart on landing at Washington's Dulles Airport, and the almost four hundred passengers aboard were killed, a mission began that would become an obsession for James Bond. Who was responsible for destroying the British-owned aircraft? Was it a straightforward act of terrorism, an assassination aimed at only one person, or a move to put the airline out of business? For Bond the search for answers has a personal meaning: his former lover and old friend the Principessa Sukie Tempesta is listed as one of the ill-fated passengers. In this white-knuckle 007 thriller, John Gardner sends master spy James Bond on the most complex and demanding assignment of his career. Across continents and through ever-changing labyrinths of evil, Bond follows the traces of clues into the center of an organization more deadly than any terrorist army - a fanatical society code-named Cold, Children of the Last Days. What he finds there could very well spell his own last days.
(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

Book number 16 and the final entry in the John Gardner series of James Bond books. I thought that this completed the series for me but then realised that the collection I bought from a charity shop doesn't include two books that were used as the basis for movies. 

 

This is a decent enough end to Gardner's Bond series but it does suffer from some of his usual flaws. The story gets going and then stalls a few times. There are chunks of the book where nothing much happens and I found these a bit of a struggle to get through. I'm also not a fan of the fact that Gardner's Bond often falls deeply in love with women in his books. This doesn't sit well with the traditional image of Bond and is the reason that his marriage to Tracy always stands out as a huge life event for him.

 

In a change to previous books this one covers years instead of weeks or a few months. This long time frame shift is  handled quite poorly and the passage of time is pretty much covered with just one sentence. There are call backs to previous events in Bond's life including his aforementioned marriage and some of Gardner's earlier characters make a come back. The main 'baddie' is a bit of a shift from previous books and I was left wondering if Gardner opted to do this in the last book in case there was a negative reaction to this.

 

To sum up, this was a bit better than Gardner's usual fare but still suffers from his usual flaws.

 

2.5/5 (It was ok).

[Brian.]

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis




Synopsis
Mere Christianity is C.S. Lewis's forceful and accessible doctrine of Christian belief. First heard as informal radio broadcasts and then published as three separate books - The Case for Christianity, Christian Behavior, and Beyond Personality - Mere Christianity brings together what Lewis saw as the fundamental truths of the religion. Rejecting the boundaries that divide Christianity's many denominations, C.S. Lewis finds a common ground on which all those who have Christian faith can stand together, proving that "at the centre of each there is something, or a Someone, who against all divergences of belief, all differences of temperament, all memories of mutual persecution, speaks the same voice."
(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

I've been dipping in and out of various bits of religious writing over the last 20 years or so in an attempt to come to a personal conclusion on it all. This book is considered a classic in Christian discourse along with some of his other writings. I try to be balanced in my thoughts/reviews when reviewing books on religion although I will admit that this is tricky to do. I try to focus on the writing and not so much on the content unless I find it to be particularly flawed. I did sit down to read this book with the knowledge that it is often cited by people as being behind their converstion/acceptance of the Christian faith.

 

In truth I don't really have a huge amount to say about this book as it left me largely unmoved. There were some thought provoking passages but each time I felt Lewis was building to some kind of meaningful conclusion on a topic it would peter out. I wanted something that would really get my brain working but I just couldn't find it. When I had finished the book I just couldn't see any parts that would have been sufficient to convert someone into a Christian. I am acutely aware that this is probably an unfair position to view the book from as this was never (as far am I'm aware) Lewis' aim. However, it is often cited in praise for the book by other people and sometimes books become something other than they were initially meant to be.

 

I can appreciate a book even if I don't agree with it's arguments if it is presented in a way which makes logical sense to me. I felt this was when I read The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. I disagreed with his conclusion but his case we well thought out if flawed in places. Trying to prove the unprovable is always going to be an immensly difficult task and I should probably change my approach when reading these kinds of books. Fundamentally I will probably never be convinced by any religious discourse which is based on theism. It's a step to far for me without conclusive proof. Proof which has been impossible to provide so far in our history.

 

2/5 (It was ok but it wasn't for me).

[Brian.]

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline




Synopsis
An unexpected quest. Two worlds at stake. Are you ready?

Days after Oasis founder James Halliday's contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden within Halliday's vault, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the Oasis a thousand times more wondrous, and addictive, than even Wade dreamed possible. With it comes a new riddle and a new quest. A last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize. And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who will kill millions to get what he wants. Wade's life and the future of the Oasis are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance.
(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

This is the sequel to Ready Player One which I rated 4/5 back in 2018. I hadn't read anything quite like Ready Player One before and I enjoyed both the plot and the 80's nostalgia. I knew before reading this book that it hadn't been as well reviewed as the first but I hoped that I would still find things I liked about it.

 

At the start of the book we discover that Wade has found a new piece of Oasis technology which James Halliday had hidden. This technology allows oasis users to feel completely immersed in the virtual world as feel everything their avatar feels. There are safeguards put in place to prevent any harm coming to users, one of these safeguards is a time limit on usage. Wade thinks this technology is great and launches it worldwide despite Sam and Ogden Morrow being vehemently against this. With all the power he now has, Wade has turned into a petulant man-child and alienated most of his friends. He has also taken to abusing the admin rights he has in the Oasis including viewing private user details.

 

Wade path for redemption comes in the form of a quest (yes another one) set by James Halliday. Wade's biggest problem is that his main rival in this quest is an all powerful foe that has caught everyone by surprise. Should Wade fail in this quest it could game over for the Oasis forever.

 

I read this book pretty quickly and that is normally a good sign but ultimately I was left pretty disappointed by the whole thing. The quest idea is repeated from the first book but this time Wade isn't a plucky underdog, he's a spoiled rich kid. This makes it a lot harder to root for him. In fact, Wade is one of the weaker characters in the book and I would have much prefered if one of his friends or Ogden Morrow has been the main focus this time.

 

The worst thing by far though is the over the top use of 80's nostalgia. In the first book it felt a little forced but this time a crowbar is used. Any time some obscure knowledge is required Wade can use something called the Gunterpedia to read about it. This plot device means that it constantly feels like Cline is trying to prove how much he knows about 80's pop culture instead of the characters knowing it organically. There is quest involving the musician Prince which drags on for ages and is particularly tedious. Had this appeared earlier in the book there is a good chance I would have abandoned it.

 

At this point you might be wondering why I gave this 2/5 instead of 1/5. I reserve my 1/5 ratings for books that I find offensively bad and this doesn't achieve that. There is also one thing that stood out in a positive way which I did like. There are LGBTQ+ issues which are touched on in the storyline which I found welcoming. These could have been explored more in my opinion and would have made the whole thing more interesting.

 

2/5 (It was a disappointment).

[Brian.]

The Dark Tourist by Dom Joly




Synopsis
Ever since he can remember, Dom Joly has been fascinated by travel to odd places. In part this stems from a childhood spent in war-torn Lebanon, where instead of swapping marbles in the schoolyard, he had a shrapnel collection -- the schoolboy currency of Beirut. Dom's upbringing was interspersed with terrifying days and nights spent hunkered in the family basement under Syrian rocket attack or coming across a pile of severed heads from a sectarian execution in the pine forests near his home.

These early experiences left Dom with a profound loathing for the sanitized experiences of the modern day travel industry and a taste for the darkest of places. In this brilliantly odd and hilariously told travel memoir, Dom Joly sets out on a quest to visit those destinations from which the average tourist would, and should, run a mile. The more insalubrious the place, the more interesting is the journey and so we follow Dom as he skis in Iran on segregated slopes, spends a weekend in Chernobyl, tours the assassination sites of America and becomes one of the few Westerners to be granted entry into North Korea. Eventually Dom journeys back to his roots in Beirut only to discover he was at school with Osama Bin Laden.

(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

In the UK Dom Joly is probably best known for his Trigger Happy Tv sketch show from the early 2000's. In 2006 he did a TV series called Dom Joly's Happy Hour in which he traveled the world to explore the different drinks and drinking cultures. I really enjoyed that series and thought at the time that he looked like someone who likes to explore off the beaten track. This book is a kind of travel memoir but instead of places like Thailand he explores North Korea and Chernobyl.

 

It's been almost 3 months since I read this book and as a result some of the details are a little hazy. I did enjoy this book even if it did feel a little forced in places. One thing I particularly liked was where Dom highlights the political hypocrisy in the way travelers are treated when traveling to or from certain countries. This was an issue for Dom when trying to enter the USA with a stamp from Iran in his passport. Sadly this example isn't unique and can make traveling off the beaten path difficult for those trying to do so.

 

 

3/5 (It was good).

[Brian.]

My reading mojo has been a bit pants recently but I've still got another 7 mini reviews to write. My mojo does seem to be returning albeit quite slowly. As a result I have been reading mainly non-fiction stuff recently.

[Brian.]

The Dark Night of the Shed by Nick Page




Synopsis

Men, the midlife crisis, spirituality - and sheds

A new bike - running the marathon - splashing out on a sports car - having an affair - taking up triathlon - upping sticks and moving to the country - getting divorced - even going into the church...

There's a point in a man's life where he looks around him and asks whether this is really where he wants to be - what he wanted to do with his life. And even if he's achieved all his childhood dreams, maybe that's not enough any more.

Nick Page has been there, and he decided to build a shed. Not to answer the question, but so that he'd at least be able to get some peace to think about it properly. Join him on a journey of discovery, into what the midlife crisis really is, and whether there's a better way to go at it than frittering away time and money trying to pretend you're really younger than you are.

(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

I discovered this book at my local library while browsing the shelves looking for some inspiration. I've always been fascinated, and still am, about what leads people to religion and this book looked like it would touch on this subject. It also covers something which is often ridiculed instead of explored, the mid-life crisis.

 

I found this book to be very easy to read and I ended up reading it over the course of a day. Although it is portrayed as a Christian book I never felt that I had to subscribe to these beliefs to enjoy the book. Since finishing the book I have read some reviews which claim this book is packed with wisdom and insight. I would disagree with that statement. There are some interesting points brought up but I would say they are thinly spread throughout the book. One in particular stuck in my head so much that I made a note of it.

 

Quote

A nation's gods are always indicated by their biggest buildings. It used to be churches, now it's office blocks and banks and luxury high-rise apartments.

 

In the end this book didn't move me in the way I suspect the author wanted but then it probably wasn't written for me. I imagine this would appeal mainly to men approaching or already in mid-life who are already Christians. I did quite enjoy the time spent with this book and would probably sum it up by saying it was nice.

 

3/5 (It was nice).

[Brian.]

Rogue Trader by Nick Leeson




Synopsis

When Leeson was arrested in 1995 for bringing Barings Bank to its knees, it initially seemed as if he had single-handedly crushed the company. Indeed, it was he alone who found himself in the dark confines of a Singapore jail, from where he wrote Rogue Trader . Now updated for the twentieth anniversary of the collapse of Barings, this is his story of a broken system; of a cast of characters blind to anything but profits - whatever the cost.

Leeson's tale of boom and bust is an important reminder of the immense power the banking system held and, worryingly, still holds.

(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

I remember when this story broke in the news but being 14 at the time I didn't really have an appreciation at how big a scandal it was at the time. Skip forward to 2023 and YouTube recommended me a podcast interview featuring Leeson. I watched the episode but felt that there was more to story than they covered so a few minutes later I had Leeson's book on my Kindle ready to read.

 

The book covers Leeson's life but for obvious reasons focuses on his time as a trader on the Singapore stock exchange working for Barings bank. At the time Barings was the one of the oldest British merchant banks still around and was definitely one for richest member of society. Reading the book it would appear that they had been a relatively new player in the securities markets. A bit of googling shows that when Leeson started working for them they had only been at it for 8 years.  This may be one of the reasons why what went on to happen was allowed to go unnoticed for so long.

 

From the outset Leeson is keen to point out that he came from modest beginnings. He was brought up in a council house and managed to leave school with six O levels and 2 A levels. These grades landed him a job working for Coutts, a bank he described as stuffy and very old fashioned. Feeling he was going nowhere he took a job for less money but better prospects of promotion at Barings. He impressed Barings by sorting out a mess in the Hong Kong futures division so much so that he got moved to run the Singapore futures division.

 

Leeson commited fraud by using an 'errors' account to hide losses from his immediate bosses. Errors accounts are used to park a trading mistake (a buy made in error instead of a sale for example) for a short period of time while the error is settled in a way to minimise the losses. Leeson claims he first used this account fraudulently when one the staff under his command made a mistake. He claims that she would have been fired if his bosses found out and he was merely protecting her. He managed to sort out that error without losing any money but started to use the account to make unauthorised trades himself.

 

Initially all went well and he made Barings a profit of £10 million in 1992. This was huge for Barings and accounted for about 10% of the profit Barings made that year. This turned Leeson into a golden boy who it was seen could do no wrong. When Leeson's financial hole eventually reached the point of no escape in 1995 he has built up losses of over £800 million. At this point he decided to go on the run, eventually being arrested 9 months later in Frankfurt.

 

Leeson points out throughout the book that although he was to blame there were meant to be safeguards in place to prevent this happening. These were either ignored or so easy to bypass that his fraud went undetected for 3 years. Having finished the book I was left agreeing with Leeson that he shouldn't have been the only one imprisoned. It would nice to think that the banking industry as a whole has learned it's lesson since then but sadly we see on a regular basis that they haven't. There are stories on a regular basis where they have behaved contrary to regulations to make profits and the only people who end up in prison is the person at the bottom of the ladder.

 

So in conclusion I really enjoyed this book with one massive caveat. Despite agreeing with Leeson on the matter of shared responsibility, I was left thinking that he still doesn't feel as though he did much wrong. He constantly passes the buck on others and claims he used the error account to protect his subordinates when they did something wrong and not to line his own pockets. He also claims that he would have got out of his hole had it not been for the Great Hanshin earthquake tanking the Asian market. His fraud definitely should have been picked up in the early days, and Barings must have known something was off, but ultimately he orchestrated the fraud. As long as you treat Leeson as unreliable narrator this is a good book.

 

4/5 (It was really good).

[Brian.]

A Storm of Sword 2: Blood and Gold by George R.R.Martin




Synopsis

The Starks are scattered.

Robb Stark may be King in the North, but he must bend to the will of the old tyrant Walder Frey if he is to hold his crown. And while his youngest sister, Arya, has escaped the clutches of the depraved Cersei Lannister and her son, the capricious boy-king Joffrey, Sansa Stark remains their captive.

Meanwhile, across the ocean, Daenerys Stormborn, the last heir of the Dragon King, delivers death to the slave-trading cities of Astapor and Yunkai as she approaches Westeros with vengeance in her heart.

(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

This breaks my usual system of reviewing books I have read in the order I have read them. I'm 6 reviews behind and I don't want to leave reviewing this for too long in case I forget what I was going to say.

 

I'm not a big reader of the fantasy genre but so far I have enjoyed this series. Unusually for me I have watched the TV series before reading the books, something I would normally avoid. However, in this instance I think this has helped me during the series because I think I would struggle to remember who all the characters are. I am very impressed how Martin has managed to craft such an involved plot with so many distinct characters. I think if I attempted to do this I would lose the plot very quickly.

 

So back to this book. When I started reading this my mojo was a bit all over the place. I was struggling to get into anything and as a result I would pick this up for half a dozen pages and then put it down again. Whether this was down to the book, my mojo, or a combination of the two, it's hard to say, but I did find the first 100 pages a bit of a slog. Luckily my mojo started to return and I found my way back into the story and would read big chunks at a time.

 

I don't think I can add anything new that hasn't been said before about this book or the series as whole. It's well written, the plot is complex without being impossible to navigate and the characters are all really well developed. Even though I knew when the big moments were coming I was still excited to get to them and it didn't reduce my enjoyment at all. If it wasn't for the slog at the beginning I probably would have given this 5 out of 5 but I think 4 is about right for me.

 

4/5 (It was really good).

[Brian.]

I'm now 10 books behind in my reviews and if I'm honest with myself it's unlikely I'll catch up properly so here are a few ratings and the odd thought.

 

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse (3/5)

A crime thriller set in a remote part of the Swiss Alps. An old sanatorium has been turned into a luxury hotel by an architect with a love of minimalism. The setting makes this a very atmospheric book and the plot is complex enough without getting out of hand. However, I didn't like any of the characters and that spoiled it a little for me.

 

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)

A collection of 11 more tales in the Sherlock Holmes collection. I've been working my way through the entire works and this is another solid group of stories. Nothing really jumped out at me but it was nice to see the Holmes isn't perfect in one of the stories.

 

Gotti by Jerry Capeci & Gene Mustain (4/5)

In a recent crime podcast I kept hearing mention of Sammy Gravano and John Gotti but I realised that I knew little about either man. Gotti is someone I thought I would be more familiar with as he was put in jail at a time when I would have been interesting in these kinds of thing. Perhaps the coverage of his trial wasn't that widespread in the UK at the time.

When I started to read this book it was at a time when my reading mojo was pretty low. This book managed to grab me and hold my attention throughout. It's really well researched and very well written.

 

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker (4/5)

Doing shift work I am acutely aware of how a lack of sleep can negatively impact my day (or night). What I didn't know was the science behind sleep and why it is one of the most crucial things we do each day. Having read the book I now feel a lot more informed. This isn't all positive though as it's clear shift work is having, and will continue to have, a negative effect on my long term health. Sadly, shift work is pretty much a requirement in my field of work so I have little choice in the matter.

 

How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom (1/5)

I was hoping for an illuminating book on literature. Instead I got an extremely dull book were Harold Bloom links everything back to Shakespeare. I got the impression that this book was written to allow Bloom to show his circle just how smart he is.

 

To a Mountain in Tibet by Colin Thubron (3/5)

A travelogue about the author's visit to Mount Kailas following pilgrims from the Hindu and Buddhist faiths. In truth this leans more towards memoir than travelogue but I still found it quite entertaining. The descriptions of the terrain are decent but the best parts are when we learn about the people he encounters along the way.

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)

Holmes and Watson investigate the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville. What makes this investigation stand out is that the chief suspect is mysterious hound said to live on the moors.

I found this a little slow to get going but once it does I really enjoyed it. The setting of Dartmoor really adds to the story and its almost a character in it's own right.

 

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (3/5)

A classic that was a lot shorter than I thought it was. An artist called Basil Hallward is enthralled with the beauty of Dorian Grey so paints a picture of him. Dorian is given the painting and on receiving it wishes that his beauty would stay the same and that the painting will age instead of him. This is what happens and pursues a libertine life of varied amoral experiences.

I quite liked this book but the writing was a little too much in places for me. I should hardly be surprised about this given what I know about Oscar Wilde.

 

Trillions by Robin Wigglesworth (2/5)

One of the best books written in 2021 according to The Financial Times. A book that reveals how investing changed forever when index funds were created and the people behind this change. In my opinion, not quite.

Wigglesworth decided to write this book around the people involved rather than just the nuts and bolts facts of how index funds work. Initially this is a great idea as we learn about people like Jack Bogle and Warren Buffett. Unfortunately what follows are more people but little in the way of actually explaining some of the basics of financial investing. It's not that it's over my head, I do understand a bit about it, it's just not there.

Wigglesworth is very keen to portray active investment fund managers are useless people who charge large fess and always lose their client's money. While this is definitely true in some cases it can't be universally true otherwise active investment wouldn't be a thing. It gets two stars for the early parts of the book but the rest of it misses the mark.

 

The Normal Conquest by Marc Morris (3/5)

More non-fiction. Morris covers the Norman Conquest of England, the rebellions that followed, and the system of administration that resulted. This is extremely well researched and it's clear that Morris knows his stuff. Being an academic helps, but Morris is able to deliver a very readable book despite being dense with information. This isn't always the case with these kinds of book. Morris explains the reliability of the available evidence and also presents opposing opinions were appropriate, somethig other authors sometimes shy away from.

[Brian.]

I've currently got three books on the go. I am considering abandoning And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini though. I really liked the two other books I've read by him, The Kite Runner, and A Thousand Splendid Suns but I can't get on with this one. I think a bit part if that is down to the fact that there are loads more characters that you normally get in a Hosseini book. I think his writing is at its best when he focuses on a very small group of people.

[Hayley]

11 hours ago, Brian. said:

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse (3/5)

I was on the fence about getting this when I first saw it. I’ve seen another review that said the characters were unlikeable. Maybe when it’s on sale 😄.

 

11 hours ago, Brian. said:

The setting of Dartmoor really adds to the story and its almost a character in it's own right.

 

I like that about Hound of the Baskervilles too!

[Madeleine]

I agree about the Sanitorium, however I quite liked the character of Elin, and the next book featuring her, The Retreat, has just come out in paperback so I got it in the supermarket.

 

I also agree about "Hound", a real ripping yarn with a great setting. Once I read it I could appreciate how clever the Benedict Cumberbatch version was, in the way that they adapted it for the more modern world.

[Brian.]

I plodded on with And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini but I didn't give it a rating on Goodreads as I wasn't giving it much attention. The separate stories just didn't work for me and are not a patch on other novels.

 

I read The Red Dwarf Omnibus for something like the 5th time. It was as enjoyable as the first time I read it. I've found this to be a great book to jump start my reading mojo.

 

Carrying on with making my way through the Sherlock Holmes books I finished The Return of Sherlock Holmes. This is the 6th book in the series and another collection of short stories. This was a solid 3/5 and by this point I've found Conan Doyle to be very reliable in the quality of his stories and writing. My favourite from this collection was probably The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.

 

After that bunch of fiction I picked up something non-fiction, Top Gun by Dan Pedersen. Pedersen is the founder of the US Navy's Fighter Weapon School on which the movies are based. I found the book to be really informative and in truth is a memoir of Pedersen's career instead of being focused on just Top Gun. At the end of the book Pedersen talks about what direction he would take the US Navy's aviation wing in which is completely opposite to the current thinking. Although I respect his opinion I think he is too stuck in the past here. A good 4/5.

[Brian.]

Shogun (Asian Saga #1) by James Clavell




Synopsis

This is James Clavell's tour-de-force; an epic saga of one Pilot-Major John Blackthorne, and his integration into the struggles and strife of feudal Japan. Both entertaining and incisive, SHOGUN is a stunningly dramatic re-creation of a very different world.

Starting with his shipwreck on this most alien of shores, the novel charts Blackthorne's rise from the status of reviled foreigner up to the hights of trusted advisor and eventually, Samurai. All as civil war looms over the fragile country.

(taken from Goodreads)


My Thoughts

Every description of this book seems to include the word 'epic' and clocking in at 1125 pages it is easy to see why. This is the first book chronologically in Clavell's Asian Saga but the third in publication order. I have previously read King Rat which was the first published but fourth is chronolgically. Confusing isn't it? Luckily some books can all be read as standalone there are no character crossovers. For years I've been interested in reading Shogun but I've always been intimidated by the sheer size of it. However, over the last few years I've made a concerted effort to read longer books so it felt like the right time to give this a go.

 

The book follows Pilot-Major John Blackthorne who is washed up on the coast of Japan. At this point I should admit that I knew almost nothing about the book apart from the synopsis on the back. I assumed Blackthorne was an aircraft pilot as I hadn't paid any attention on the time period of the book. He is in fact a ship pilot (captain) and is washed up alongside his crew. The fact that the book is set in feudal Japan should have been a clue but I've never paid close attention what a book is about before reading it.

 

Blackthorne initially resists everything Japanese and is determined to escape with his crew as soon as possible. He sees the Japanese as savages with little regard for life. For their part the Japanese see Blackthorne and his crew as filthy barbarians. Blackthorne proves useful to the Japanese lord who commands the area where he washed up as he has knowledge they don't posses and his ship also carries guns and canon. What follows is a vast tale of two opposing cultures learning to deal with each other while tied up in the political and military headache of civil war.

 

I loved this book and it was more than worth the effort. There are a huge amount of characters but they are introduced slowly and in such a way that they remain distinct from each other. The many prominent characters are really well developed. In particular I thought the main Japanese character Toranaga was really well handled. He is one of the main lords involved in the civil war and is a very shrew political operator. Even at the end of the book things happened which he wad steered which I believed was the doing of someone else. I never felt I really knew exactly what he was up to which is exactly how he would operate if he were a real person.

 

If anyone is not sure about reading this due to the size, I recommend going for it. It is really worth the time and I found it very easy to read.

 

5/5 (It was amazing).

[France]

Another of the books I read many years ago when I was living in Hong Kong. I agree, it is amazing!

[willoyd]

On 7/13/2023 at 9:21 PM, Brian. said:

I've currently got three books on the go. I am considering abandoning And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini though. I really liked the two other books I've read by him, The Kite Runner, and A Thousand Splendid Suns but I can't get on with this one. I think a bit part if that is down to the fact that there are loads more characters that you normally get in a Hosseini book. I think his writing is at its best when he focuses on a very small group of people.

 

Funny that.  I was the other way round: I quite enjoyed And The Mountains Echoed, but rapidly ran out of patience with A Thousand Splendid Suns: my notes say that he didn't seem to have the same degree of empathy - that the latter was more melodramatic.  However, I can't remember much detail about either (read them back in 2016).  Neither are books I'd normally go for, but they were both (different) book group choices.

[Brian.]

Time for a little update. I'm in the middle of a role change at work and I'm also studying, or at least trying to, (I swear it never used to be this hard) for a new qualification. All this has meant that my reading as been a bit sporadic but I've still managed to finish 6 books since Shogun.

 

Gypsy King by Nigel Cawthorne (1/5)

Luckily I was given this, if I had paid for it I think I would have asked for my money back. This book is terrible, it’s basically a padded out Wikipedia entry full of endless quotes from pre-bout press conferences. There is little insight into Fury as a person and worst of all the book is full of editing errors and spelling mistakes. It’s no surprise the publisher went out of business if this is the kind of thing they thought was worth printing.

 

Killing Moon by Jo Nesbo (3/5)

The 13th book in the Harry Hole series and the most recent. It is probably unfair but I can't help but compare the Harry Hole series to the Kurt Wallander series. The way the Wallander series came to a conclusion was perfect and I'm starting to think that the Harry Hole series should have ended a book or two ago as well. This isn't a bad book but I find Harry to be predictable and more than a little annoying now. It feels Nesbo is running out of ideas for Harry and it is showing on the page.

 

The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (4/5)

Book 7 of 9 in the complete works of Sherlock Holmes. This is a story split across two time periods. I found the first part to be merely ok where nothing of much note happens. We then jump back in time to explore the history of the crime in the first part. I found this part very enjoyable and particularly well told.

 

Drug Wars by Neil Woods (4/5)

I heard of Neil Woods through a podcast about undercover police work and discovered that he has written a few books. This book concentrates on his experience undercover in the drugs trade. What emerges is a worrying story of corruption that reaches the highest levels of authority. Woods explains how he became seriously concerned for his own safety when working with certain policemen who he believed to be under the pay of the gangs he was investigating. He explains how this corruption works and how gangs pay people to become policemen in the first place who act as 'sleeper' agents inside the force until needed.

 

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (4/5)

I'm pretty sure I've seen the movie but I couldn't remember much about it when reading the book. A woman (Rachel) sees the same couple out of the train window on her daily commute. In her head she makes up a story about their lives to pass the time. One day she thinks she see something happen between the couple and then the news comes out that the woman is missing. Rachel's main issue now is that she seems unhinged, her ex lives a few doors down from the couple, and she is an alcoholic.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would because none of the characters are likeable. The key here is that although they are unlikeable, they are all interesting in their own way. I did get a little frustrated at Rachel regularly deciding to turn her life around only to get drunk again. I think I'm growing weary of the use of alcoholism in the books I'm reading.

 

His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)

Book 8 of 9 in the complete works of Sherlock Holmes. Another collection of short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes. None of these stories really stood out for me but I did like reading them nonetheless.

 

[Hayley]

On 9/17/2023 at 10:47 AM, Brian. said:

I'm in the middle of a role change at work and I'm also studying, or at least trying to, (I swear it never used to be this hard) for a new qualification.

That’s exciting! Good luck with the studying . Glad to see that you’re still enjoying Sherlock Holmes too! 
 

On 9/17/2023 at 10:47 AM, Brian. said:

The Girl on the Train

I did want to read this but I think watching the movie ruined it for me. I’m not sure I’d be able to get into it already knowing what happens at the end!

[France]

On 9/17/2023 at 11:47 AM, Brian. said:

 

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (4/5)

 I think I'm growing weary of the use of alcoholism in the books I'm reading.

 

 

 

I agree with that. it was very common in books written in the early 90s too.

[Brian.]

Update time.

 

Free Fall: A Sniper's Story by Nicolai Lilin (3/5)

I thought that this book was a non-fiction account of a conscript's life in the Russian army. When I finished, I realised this isn't quite the case but more on that later. Nicolai was born and raised in Transnistria, a disputed region in Moldova on the Russian border. When he was of age, Nicolai was conscripted into the Russian army and joined an unusual regiment known as the Saboteurs. Nicolai was a good marksman so trained as a sniper in this regiment.

 

I wouldn't say I enjoyed this book but I did race through it in no time at all. It involves all the horror and gory details of war but is balanced out by the camaraderie between men in very difficult circumstances. From reading the book it is clear that none of the conscripts Nicolai came across were happy being called up. Most of them didn't feel any real pride towards their country due to the corrupt politicians running the show. They knew that running away would result in prison and probably torture as well.

 

When I finished the book I read some of the reviews on Goodreads and disocvered that this is actual a work of fiction. It is based on the experiences Nicolai had while being a conscript but how much is real life we never find out. My bugbear with this is that at no point in the book is it made clear that it is a novel. I think this was done intentionally to sell more books.

 

Eastern Horizons by Levison Wood (3/5)

At the age of 22 Levison Wood decided to hitch hike from England to India through Russia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. His budget for doing this trip? £750. As you would expect, this isn't an account of glamorous travel but a gritty travelogue full of adventure and risk. Wood wrote this book 13 years after the event but you wouldn't know it as it is packed with detail. At the end of the book Wood revisits a few of the people he met on his travels which is really nice touch to finish things off.

 

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)

This is the last book of the Sherlock Holmes stories and finished out the series for me. This contains 12 short stories of mixed quality but another good showing from Conan Doyle. There are a few stories which rely heavily on earlier tales. I don't know if they are reworkings or different drafts of the same idea. Some of the stories feature narrators other than Watson and while they do work I think they are weaker than the ones which Watson narrates.

 

All in all I have enjoyed my time with Sherlock Holmes and I can see myself revisiting his stories again at some point in the future.

 

Getting Started in Amateur Radio by Steve Nicols (3/5)

I know read some pretty niche books but this one may top the list. I've always been intrigued by the fact that it is possible to speak to people on the other side of the world using a radio. In recent weeks I have been watching a lot of videos about the subject on YouTube and I am considering doing my foundation licence. The foundation licence is required to become a radio operator in the UK and although this book doesn't cover what you need to know, it is a good introduction. There are parts which need explaining in a simpler way in my opinion but I still think this is a decent primer.

[Brian.]

It's about time I finished off with my thoughts about the remaining books I have left from 2023.

 

Upgrade by Blake Crouch (4/5)

I've really enjoyed anything I've read from Crouch and this was no different. His Sci-Fi always manages to get my brain working without it being too technical. I enjoyed this a lot but for me it didn't quite reach the heights of Recursion or Dark Matter. The were a few twists along the way but it lacked some of the deeper stuff that some of his other books have.

 

So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport (3/5)

Cal Newport is a computer science professor at Gerogetown University in America. Despite his expertise in computer science his books tend to lean hard towards productivity and concentration away from computers and phones. I think his best book is Digital Minimalism  and this follows similar idea but looks at how to cultivate a career path by taking unusual routes. I thought the core of his arguements are good but as with a lot of authors in the productivity space his examples are outliers. These outliers achieve what most people can't or don't and that makes them poor examples for the everyday person.

 

Soldier Five by Mike Coburn (4/5)

Mike Coburn was one of the members of Bravo Two Zero, an SAS patrol who were compromised on a mission in Iraq. Of the eight men who were involved, 3 died, 4 were captured and 1, Chris Ryan, managed to escape. There have been a few books written about the partol including 2 from people who were there but this is the only one the MOD tried to ban.

I thought this was a really good book and adds some more flesh to a well told story. It is very clear that Coburn feels let down by his treatment from the MOD and their lawyers and I can't say I blame him.

 

I'll have to carry this on in another post as I've got to go to work.