Imperial Bedrooms - Bret Easton Ellis

All the characters from Less Than Zero are back again but now its thirty years later.  In the intervening years no one has changed all that much, rather everybody has just got older.  This is written the dead-pan minimalist style that you would expect but the big difference is that there is much more story this time.  Less Than Zero was in effect a series of events to create an atmosphere where as this adds a real page turning story line.  Sometimes there were scenes that felt a little bit forced and reminded me of Inherent Vice  which isn't really a good thing and there are a couple of parts that seem to have no purpose other than to be shocking and maintain the authors american psycho reputation.  On the whole though I enjoyed this book.

7/10

Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis

Loads of rich kids coked out of their minds drifting from party to party to a background of MTV and parents who don't care anymore.  The more shocking the events get and they get pretty bad the more the numbness and disconnect of the narrator becomes clear.  What makes this book work is the overwhelming emotional nothingness that it is built around.

8/10

Invisible - Paul Auster

I enjoyed this book at the time but now 1 week later I remember almost nothing about it.  The story focuses on the friendship and then rivalry between two men over the past 40 years.  And incest is involved too although that may not have really happened.  Paul Auster thinks he keeps it all interesting and clever clever by rotating between 4 narrators and by implying that it could be a true story.  It is sort of pretty successful although as I say it really left no lasting impression.

6/10

Decision Points - George W Bush

Whilst George W was president I don't think that I would have been willing to listen to or believe anything that he had to say.  Having read this book I still feel much the same.  Apparently George gets fed up with being painted as a half wit and being called a megalomaniac warmonger hell bent on world domination.  He also likes god a lot and likes to tell us about this a lot.  Well I don't know obviously he isn't as stupid as many would like us to believe but maybe he isn't as pure as he would like to seem.  The best thing about this book is the behind the scenes look at a Whitehouse under attack and it is all pretty well written and keeps moving along nicely.  How much that has to do with our boy and how much is down to editors and ghost writers again I don't know.

7/10

The Box Man - Kobo Abe

This could be the best book I have ever read, it could just as easily be the worst book I have ever read.  I may have understood exactly what was going on but on the other hand the whole thing may have gone right over my head.  The story is about people who walk around wearing boxes and appears to randomly change perspective and its mind about what is happening.  It is all very strange and probably all very pointless but it is also a very interesting examination on the subject of identity and self or you know maybe it isn't.  Overall really hardwork but worth the effort and would benefit from re-reading and since this one wasn't a library book it may well get re-read one day!

8/10