Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

In the forth book of the Discworld series, a young man named Mort becomes Death’s apprentice. This had a lot of resonance with me as I considered a similar career path back when I was younger, before deciding to go on and become the lion tamer you all now know and love.

I found the book far more witty and engaging than the previous books in the series. Not that I didn’t enjoy them, because I did, but I thought this level was on a level above them – it was simply better. Though of course, it’s easier to write a great novel when you have an inherently funny topic, such as Death.

In the third book of the Discworld series, a dying wizard passes his staff onto a baby without first checking the gender. As it turns out, Eskarina is a girl. But there are no female wizards. What a to do.

I was a little disappointed in the content of the book I think, I was hoping for a in depth examination of gender roles and the struggle of a female wizard in an otherwise all male university. But most of the novel was about the journey to Unseen University rather than what happens when she gets there.

Never the less, it was an enjoyable read and featured plenty of Granny Weatherwax, which is always going to be a good thing.

I’ve just finished reading the second Discworld book, The Light Fantastic. I can’t work out whether I enjoyed it more or less than the first one.

I found it a bit slow to get doing – Rincewind and Twoflower’s adventures weren’t that interesting to me, but as the book went on, I found the tales of the wizards, and particularly the goings on of Ankh-Morpork drew me in to a to an incredibly imaginative world. I’m hoping this bodes well for the third book, which focuses on the wizards and the witches.

I also liked the increasing use of language tricks employed by Pratchett that made it an even cleverer text than the first.

I had only read one Terry Pratchett book since becoming an adult, which is now quite a long time ago, and I’ve never read any Discworld – so clearly that was something that needed fixing. While some people suggested the first in the series was far from the best, after careful consideration, I decided my OCD was too great not to start at the beginning, so The Colour of Magic it was.

The book starts by unloading a large amount of information at once, and I struggled to put everything together immediately, but as it went on, everything slotted into place and I found myself amerced in a wonderful world, packed with fantasy, magic and ever flowing adverbs.

In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I’ve already made a start on the second book in the series, The Light Fantastic.

Having recently read the first two books in the His Dark Materials trilogy, Northern Lights and The Subtle Knife, I moved onto the final part (as is traditional with trilogies – unless you’re Douglas Adams!), The Amber Spyglass.

While I found the previous book a bit hard going in terms of maintaining my interest levels, I had no such problem with this one. Pullman’s description of their voyage to the Land of the Dead kept me riveted, at least as much as I can be to a book. I also found the end heartbreaking and am very glad that Elina is from the same parallel universe that I am (as far as I can tell anyway).

I would say it’s well worth a read, though you do need to read the whole trilogy for it to make any sense. But if you’re a Harry Potter fan, this is worth a read as well.

I’ve been continuing through Philip Pullman’s triology, His Dark Materials, and recently finished the second book, The Subtle Knife.

I found it slow to get started – I was just bored at first, as the story saw the protagonists running round ordinary Oxford with no fantasy to add some spice to the story. But eventually the stumbled back into the other worlds and the story picked up, it eventually became entertaining and ultimately worth baring through the early chapters.

It’s also clear that this isn’t really a trilogy of books, it’s one book split into three parts – reading one and not the others wouldn’t make much sense, or provide any conclusion to the stories.

I’ve been reading Philip Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials, starting with book one for obvious reasons – Northern Lights.

I enjoyed it, but it felt very much like a children’s book. Obviously that is because it is, but if you take the example of a series like Harry Potter, that has caught the imagination of many adults too, and I don’t feel Northern Lights has the same power.

Having finished the very serious, adult and deep prose of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series recently, I decided it was time to read something a bit more lighthearted. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath seemed a good choice. I had already read Of Mice and Men, which is enjoyable and I would recommend if only so people get my references, and was eager to read his works further.

It’s considered Steinbeck’s seminal work, winning the Pulitzer Prize and being cited as a key reason for Steinbeck being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. It’s easy to see why – the powerful, touching and vivid description of people struggling through the Great Depression is one of the most moving texts I have ever read.

The book tells the family of the Joad family, who lose their farm in Oklahoma, and are forced to travel to California to find work, only to find the grass isn’t so green as they were lead to believe. Or, more accurately, that the grass is greener, but the machinery of society we have build up – the banks, the economics and the systems of government – prevent the poorest from walking on it.

Steinbeck’s vivid language paints a detailed picture of life during the Great Depression, providing a thought provoking insight to the suffering, without dwelling on it any longer than required. The monster of the system we have created is deconstructed in a way still relevant today. As the story goes on, you feel their frustration, their anger and the unfairness of their plight.

Like many for the Great Depression, the novel doesn’t have a happy ending. Or more accurately, an ending. It isn’t an unhappy one – just one without conclusion, as the family are left to continue to struggle on, without much food or money, and with winter on the way.

On a lighter note though, I have fallen in love with the name Rose of Sharon, pronounced Rosasharn. Definitely a contentor if I ever have a daughter.

Recently, I finished reading the complete Harry Potter series. Well, listening in any case.

I had read the first three and a half books as a child, and they were quite entertaining, so when I found out that I could have over one hundred hours of Steven Fry’s voice in my ears, I decided it was definitely worth a listen. That isn’t to say I didn’t agree with Stewart Lee’s take on the whole series.

But having got through them all, I’m now a sold up Potter fan! Rowling’s exploration of the magical world is entertaining, enthralling and all-round good escapism. It seems unlikely that at 26 I’ll be getting my letter from Hogwarts – but I can dream!

While some of the value is certainly lost on the adult audience – Harry’s dealings with the fairer sex for example, most of it was retained sufficiently to keep my entertained through all seven books.

You may be familiar with John Sweeney, a war reporter who has also turned his interest onto the Church of Scientology, making the 2007 Panorama documentary, “Scientology & Me.” Since making that, he received a leaked set of communications documenting how he was followed (the Church denies they are genuine) and spoken to some of the people who followed him, but have since left the Church.

Most of this was retold in a follow up documentary he made for Panorama, but he has now written a book about it too, The Church of Fear.

At a rather bargain price of around £3.50 on Kindle, I decided to give it a read. It comes it an 336 pages, which I checked upon before making the claim “it’s reasonable short” – apparently it isn’t, I just assumed it was because I read the entire thing in two sittings – only having purchased it last night. Instead, I think that provides testament to what an interesting read it is.

One thing that did freak me out a little though – as I put the book down so we could head out for dinner, my phone began to ring. I didn’t answer as I recognised the number – it was the Church of Scientology London.