The Ingenious Edgar Jones - Elizabeth Gardner

It might seem like a good idea to try and force your children to become mirror images of yourself.  Or even to push them to be who you would have wanted to be.  Well this book would argue that this could well end in disaster.  This story is set in a wonderfully bought to life 1850's Oxford.  It tells of the conflicts between Edgar and his father, as Edgar attempts to fulfil his talents and dreams whilst his father tries to push him to what he thinks is right.  Once again this is a book that reels you in and then the end is disappointing.  I did learn an awful lot about iron.

6/10

The Rain Before It Falls - Jonathan Coe

When I was in college I was a member of one of those book clubs where you order 5 books for £1 and commit to buying one a month for the next year at full price.  One of the books I got on the introductory offer was Jonathan Coe's the house of sleep.  I can't really remember about the book but in my memory at least it was wonderful and had a dream like presence which even now I can't quite pin down.  It is against this half remembered book that I compare all other JC books that I read.  The Rotters club and so on are all good enough stories but firmly set in the real everyday world and all too suitible for turning into TV dramas.  This falls somewhere in between it follows the family history format of the later novels but exists with a few toes in the dream world of the house of sleep.  Basically this starts off well but gets sillier and sillier as it goes on piling tragedy on disaster.  Overall a bit disappointing when compared to something which may not have ever existed.

6/10

Beatrice And Virgil - Yann Martel

So Yann Martel thinks that all stories about the Holocaust are the same and all make the same point and he really thinks that he is the man to change this.  This is the point he makes in the possibly autobiographical first section of this book about an authors failure to get his revolutionary novel/essay on the holocaust.  Then along come the donkey, howler monkey and taxidermist and you get all the allegories and bits where Martel  no doubt is being very clever and revolutionary.  But really just because it is monkey and a donkey saying it instead of a person doesn't make what there saying any different.  The main problem of this book to me is that it feels like and intellectual exercise rather than a story with emotional resonance.  Then again that may be the point.  The final Games For Gustav section is excellent and very powerful.

5/10 

The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis

Since this is a Bret Easton Ellis book none of the characters are very nice and all of the stories are either about unpleasant actions or tranquillised numbness.  Needless to say it is also really really good.  All the stories are set in mid '80s LA and many characters turn up in several stories and even some friends from other novels turn up.  The trademark dry dark humour was also present.  I'm glad I read this book and I'm also glad that I'm not any of the people in this story.  And there are vampires in it.

7/10

Amulet - Roberto Bolano

The narrator spends most of this story in a toilet cubicle at the university of mexico city.  This book is about 1000 times more interesting than this. I don't really have anything to say about this book but I did enjoy it quite a lot.  So there.

8/10

Kingdom Of Fear - Hunter S Thompson

To begin with I really enjoyed this book, thought it was hilarious and Thompson was a hero, wanted to read fear and loathing again etc etc etc.  But as I read further I became more and more irritated with his always in the right and on the wrong side of the law folk hero persona.  This book could be hugely improved if he could admit just once or twice to have maybe been wrong or to have made a mistake.

6.5/10

The Greatest Show On Earth - Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins has a style of writing that really really appeals.  He is able to describe complex ideas in a understandable, witty, precise way and in this book he is on top form.  He presents step by step all the evidence for evolution.  If you are reading this book chances are you already broadly believe in evolutionary theories but this explains and clarifies all the bits you didn't quite get.  I always love his asides and digressions which teach me all sorts of interesting facts.  Being Richard Dawkins he can't resist poking and teasing people who don't agree with him but he is fairly restrained in most of this book.

I started this book thinking I was fairly unlikely to make it all the way through but once I got started I didn't look back.  Excellent book which made me feel smart for reading.

9/10

A Universal History Of Iniquity - Jorge Luis Borges

This collection of short stories was the first Borges had published.  The stories are all about crimes and apparently most are based on true stories.  Reading the preface to the second edition it would seem that the author himself did not really like this book for the reason that he was retelling other peoples stories and not creating his own.  Similarly most critics seem to treat it as a prelude to his later 'better' works.  But I really really enjoyed this book, his style of telling the story with out too much 'local flavour' some how made the tales seem all the more real.  As to if Borges' work really did get beter after this I will let you know as I am working my way through all the Fictions : )

8/10

Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim - David Sedaris

I read this book mostly because I liked the title.  I had hoped that it would present a lifestyle manifesto based upon wearing corduroy and denim.  I was mistaken.  It is actually a collection of pieces written for various magazines and newspapers over the years.  Any one of these would be entertaining on its own but a whole book of them with no real connection to one another is a bit wearing.  Most of the pieces are about his relationship with his family and most of the best ones are about his childhood.  Pretty much all the characters have gotten more irritating as they have gotten older.

Really there is nothing wrong as such with this book, it is in fact pretty funny in places, but really I got fed up with it after fifty pages and was pretty glad to finish it.

3/10

Adult Book - Malcolm Knox

This is a very entertaining story about family life as viewed through the lens of pornography and test cricket.  Sometimes funny, always melancholy and sometimes depressing.  Full of moments which ring true even if your not interested in cricket or pornography.

The main problem with this book is that maybe it is slightly too long, it could have said all the same things in less time and not really lost anything.  But on the other hand it is sometimes the longer versions of the game which never really quite resolve themselves which are ultimately the more satisfying.

8.5/10  

The Hunted - Elmore Leonard

Pretty good stuff.  Fast paced adventure in Israel, fugitive being chased down by the mob but soon to be retired marine comes to the rescue.  Nothing too deep but never gets bogged down, just keeps going.  

This is my first Leonard and apparently there are about a billion more some of which I look forward to trying in the near future.

7/10

A Kestrel For A Knave - Barry Hines

If you were looking for reasons to not send your children to school but would rather let them pursue their own interests instead this book would provide you with plenty.  The story telling is in the style of books you had to read in English lit classes but once you remember that you are reading this because you want to not because you have to it is entertaining and inspiring but at the same time quite depressing with a sad ending.  It will also make you really glad that you are not a coal miner.

7/10

The Good Man Jesus And The Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman

Written in Philip Pullman's usual simple style, this is a very entertaining retelling of the new testament story.  Using the ingenious idea of twins call Jesus and Christ he is able to offer rational explanations of many miraculous events but doesn't completely remove the need for the supernatural.

A very enjoyable book and an ideal subject for Pullman since in his story it is often religion's fault.

7/10

The Master And Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

This book has two main stories which it skips back and forth between.   The first set in Moscow and the second in biblical Jerusalem.  It is a satire on communist Russian attitudes towards religion and the arts.  It is also completely bonkers.  To fully understand all the references and allusions of which there are many you would need to be Russian but you can still get a lot out of it with little knowledge.  I found the notes at the end of the book very useful..

This book has been the subject of songs by both the Rolling Stones and Pearl Jam so it must be pretty good.  I enjoyed it a lot but felt that there was an awful lot going on which passed about a mile over my head.

8/10

Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe

I was not really expecting to enjoy this book too much but it is actually excellent.  It draws you into the village's life and is about the impact if the arrival of Christian missionaries.  Apparently this was one of, if not the, first African novel written in English and is very readable but has a distinctly African feel to the story telling.  One of the best and most thought provoking novels I have read in a long time.

9/10

Inherent Vice - Thomas Pynchon

Apparently this is not a typical Pynchon but it was the one in the library so it was the one I read.  It is supposed to be a dark satire on the tail end of the sixties but the main problem was that most of the characters were really really irritating.  However the detective story narrative did grip me enough to be curious enough to stick it out until the end.

4.5/10

The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea - Yukio Mishima

This book would be great if you were 18.  Reminded of the books I used to read because Richey Edwards mentioned them.  An interesting story although you can see what is going to happen a mile off but maybe that just helps to build the tension.  I am definitely going to check out the Sea Of Fertility tetralogy.

Certain shades of A Clockwork Orange which was published a year before this.

6/10

Last Evenings On Earth - Roberto Bolano

I'm not normally the biggest fan of short stories but I really enjoyed this.  All of the stories are about writers and many of them are about a character called B who I guess is the author.  Like all Bolano which I have read which admittedly is not a huge amount you get the impression that he is imparting incredibly important insights to you but in reality could be banal pretentious ramblings.   Which could be the appeal.

7/10