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

Life A Users Manual - George Perec

It is fair to say that this book is unlike anything else I have ever read.  Set in a Parisian apartment building it describes room by room exactly what is happening at that moment.  Lots of descriptions and lots of lists of items then but also many many intricate interweaving stories.  Because the whole lot is set right now there is not a lot of narrative movement as such but there is so much history going on that it really doesn't matter.  And then there is all the puzzling and word games and mystery to add in.  The fact that David Bellos has been able to translate this and yet keep so many of the little word plays and games is really amazing.  Oh and then there are the constraints which Perec set himself which really only matter as much as you want them to.  This is one of those books that you could probably read a dozen times and still be discovering more.  Best book I have read in a long time.

9.5/10

Travels In The Scriptorium - Paul Auster

This is a bit more like it.  A man is in an unknown room with no memory and this is about the people who visit him and how he tries to figure out what is going on.  Very self referential, characters turning up from previous books etc.  Kind of clever clever but entertaining none the less.  Not a good starting place if you wanted to start reading Paul Auster.

 7/10

Transition - Iain Banks

This is classic Iain Banks.  The basic premise is that there are many many universes deriving from the same start point but where different things occur in different places.  Some people are able to transition from one universe to another and this story is about the fights they have with one another.  This could easily be an Iain M Banks book and counter acts the impression that his recent mainstream books have been just too mainstream.  I really liked this book not quite a Whit or a Use Of Weapons but definitely not a Steep Approach to Garbadale either.  Also lots of really imaginative ways to torture, kill or have sex with people.  For this reason bizarre unsolved crimes should probably be blamed on Iain B.

8/10

Sunset Park - Paul Auster

One of the reasons I so enjoy Paul Auster is that his style is so readable.  This element is present and correct.  However the twists and wild coincidences that drive the best Auster novels are not really here.  There seem to be too  many points of view and no chance to really get under anybodies skin.  The result is a very readable entertaining enough story that seems to end up not really saying anything.

6/10