a view through my own eyes

This one was a Christmas present from mrspao and I have been looking forward to reading it for a while.

Here Banks takes science fiction and weaves one man and his servant’s quest to get justice for the murder of his father on the micro level with civilizations at war on the macro level.

I sometimes wonder whether Banks plays chess, because he has this utter knack of having everything in front of you from relatively early on and yet he manages to hide everything at the same time revealing things at times of his choosing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, particularly the concept of ‘Matter’ games within games where the games involves lives, civilizations, worlds and even the universe.

The one niggly point for me though was not the changing character of the servant (Holse) but the radical change that takes place.

On the whole though a recommended read for science fiction lovers – the scale is on a level that I have only seen Banks do well.

Yup it is another Dalziel & Pascoe from the job lot, this will be the last for a while as I need a change of scenery. Although I started this one on New Years Eve I finished it a few days ago so it counts as one of this years.

There is a serial killer on the loose, known as The Choker due to the method of killing. Add into the mix a randy bank manager, a dodgy garden centre, the country fair, an aeronautics club, a travelling band of gypsies and fortune tellers offering their services to the police and once again we have a corker of a who dunnit.

I have to admit that I did have suspicions as to the who fairly on but could not figure out the why and that left me confused about the who.

However based on the previous D&Ps that I I have read recently I feel that maybe it is not too difficult to work out the who, not because it is obvious (i.e. Johnson was seen walking away from the body with a hammer dripping in blood) but more because of the way that Hill does not write for that character almost as a way to deliberately leave them on the periphery and so reduce the amount of attention that they receive.

I will try and remember to put this to the test with the next one I read later in the year, for the moment though I am having a change of genre and the current book is a monster.

Mrspao pointed out to me the other day that I had not posted about books for a while, so here is a quick catchup.

After I pointed out that I thoroughly enjoyed Devil May Care, mrspao asked whether I had read Fleming’s own works. I pointed out that I had and that my copies were in a box in the garage and I had not got them out as they are well worn and held together by sellotape. I should point out that they were well worn when I bought them second hand in the late 1970s. A few days later (bear in mind this was mid June just after I had my eye op) a rather large box arrived at home, with every Fleming Bond book in as they had just been reprinted. Fantastic!

14: Ian Fleming – Casino Royale
15: Ian Fleming – Live and Let Die
16: Ian Fleming – Moonraker
17: Ian Fleming – Diamonds are Forever
18: Ian Fleming – From Russia to Love
On the whole they are all pretty good, Diamonds are Forever is probably the weakest but was still enjoyable. Special mention though goes to Moonraker – which thankfully bears no resemblance to the film in any shape or form; anyway it is set primarily in Kingsdown – a seaside village around three miles from where I grew up as a child. As a child reading the tale of a rocket base in the cliffs at Kingsdown was made much more exciting by the fact that the Royal Marines (42 Commando) who were stationed in Deal, had a military base in and around the cliffs at Kingsdown. The other Bond’s are on the shelf awaiting my consumption.

19: David Coulthard – It Is What It Is
Borrowed from DMC (thanks), David’s autobiography – thirteen years in Formula One and David tbh has always come across as a nice guy. Here we get his versions of what happened at McLaren in ’97 and ’98 with the gifted wins to Mika Hakkinen – at last it is good to hear his version (read the book to find out). At the end of the day – hearing what David has to say about his career, his team mates, colleagues and what goes on in Formula One makes me think what a truly nice guy he is. I stand by my belief that he is one of the best GP drivers out there and what stopped him from winning the Championship is the fact that he is a nice guy and believes in doing the right thing even at cost to himself.

20: Terry Pratchett – Making Money
Have had this sat on the shelf for a while. An impending (at the time) recession reminded me that I had not read it, so now we have Terry’s take on money, gold, banking, finance and economy as a whole. Naturally in his way, it is hysterically funny and yet at the same time very true to life. Highly recommended.

21: Evelyn Waugh – Brideshead Revisited
I bought this at a village fete some years ago and have been meaning to read it for quite a while. Having had it recommended to me by a couple of people I finally retrieved it from the back of a wardrobe and got on with it. This is the tale of friendship and love in the 1920s-40s. Set in Oxford, London, New York and the stately home of Brideshead, we see relationships grow and love blossom as the Brideshead family are doomed by their own Catholic faith. I found this book deeply stirring and wonderful to read. My copy is falling apart bought as it was for around 20 pence I do not really care. However if I see a better condition copy at a bargain price I will certainly acquire it.

22: Marina Lewycka – Two Caravans
This is a hysterically funny tale of illegal immigrants in England, firstly employed as strawberry pickers just outside Sandwich and then at a chicken farm between Canterbury and Ashford. This tale is told through the eyes of the immigrants themselves and those of the adopted dog and is one of the few books that has reduced me to tears. What for me makes the book particularly amusing is that the first two thirds are set in the immediate area of Kent that we live. I will not be able to drive visit my Grandma without looking for two well worn caravans next to a strawberry field.

23: Neil Gaiman – Neverwhere
One of Gaiman’s earlier books, this is set in London – specifically London Below rather than the more usual London Above (that we know and love). In Gaiman’s own way London is twisted in ways that you would not normally expect, a floating market whose location changes from landmark to landmark in the middle of the night. Angel Islington is a person, as is Old Bailey and Earls Court is truly medieval. I thoroughly enjoyed this and will not be able to look at London in the same light. Mind the gap!

I think that is most of the consumption of late, it is probable that a few are missing from a leisure point of view (if I recall what they are I will post another day). Other not so leisurely books that have been digested at home include, Bind & DNS, Exim, Squid the Definitive Guide, VMWare ESX – Command Line Guide and a fair few others.

Bond is back! As the cinema posters tend to say every time a new film is released.

This time though Bond is indeed back and in the same style as Fleming. Intended to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Fleming, Faulks has I feel performed an admirable task.

With an utterly mad villain assisted by a lunatic henchman who shows no qualms there are plots afoot to take over the world in a typically dastardly fashion.

Not having read a Fleming Bond book for many years it was a pleasure to pick up Faulks’ book and once again immerse myself into 1960′s world of James Bond: hard living and hard playing. After all who else would have scrambled eggs and a half a bottle of whiskey for breakfast?

In traditional style there is the getting to know you contest with the chief villain, not gambling or golf but tennis this time with the usual twists. Don’t forget car chases, shoot outs, break ins and outs, glamourous girls, a Bentley Continental and the Walther PPK.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and in many ways was taken back to my childhood when I originally read the books which I bought in well worn condition for a few pennies each, I think I still have them in a box in the garage where they are falling apart despite repairs with sticky tape.

Fantastic stuff, Bond is as he should be (unlike most of the films excepting: Dr No, From Russia with Love and Casino Royale) hard, brutal and not overly gadget laden (remote control invisible BMW my arse).

Finally many thanks to my brother for buying this for me.

A Clubbable Woman
An April Shroud
Deadheads
Arms and the Women
Death of Dalziel

Recently I have had a phase of reading Dalziel and Pascoe novels. I am not going to give a synopsis as they can be gleaned from the back covers of the books or Amazon. However over the time period that these were written, the first “A clubbable woman” was a straight forward who/why dunnit and the last more of a why dunnit/thriller. If anything this demonstrates Hill’s desire to to go beyond a traditional who dunnit and explore different ways that he can utilise his characters. For example in the first book Dalziel and Pascoe work together, the second is mainly Daziel (Pascoe is away), the third focusses backwards on who dunnit and why, the fourth is more about Pascoe’s wife and the last about Pascoe himself. If anything this demonstrates to me Hill’s development of the characters that he has created and by deliberately taking them and him out of their comfort zones.

I thoroughly enjoyed most of these, the weakest by a long way, however has to be Arms and the Women as it is not a who dunnit by any means, nor a why dunnit, it is most definately a thriller and I am not entirely certain that Hill succeeds in that format.

Set in 2027 this is the first part of Robinson’s three stories of California – each set at different times with different themes.

In this one Orange County is entirely built over, buildings on buildings with freeways over freeways.

Jim is an angry young man, angry at the world in general, angry at what has happened to OC and angry at his dysfunctional relationship with his father. Eventually he ends up getting in with industrial terrorists who specialise in targeting the defense industry. Jim’s father however works in the defense industry.

KRS specialises in eco-thrillers and this is one portrait of how he envisages Orange County to be in the future, it comes across as a very angry book – clearly KRS is targeting the defense industry as the root of all evil. But also he targets bigotry and greed, this is mostly illustrated through the asides where he gives us a history of OC from the days of the native indians, the colonisation of America by the Europeans and eventually how he sees the future – these sections are fascinating as they provide relief and contrast to the ‘current’ concrete OC.

The book is however a victim of its time, written in the late 1980s (I do not have it to hand) – it continually mentions compact disks, video tape and other common technology found at the time of writing – which for a sci fi author could possibly be regarded as a cardinal sin. However I will let KRS off this one – as the book was such a good read.

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Oh – and no more leisure reading for me for a week or two as I am heading into essay mode and have the pleasure of digesting tomes on the Great War for one essay and tomes on Christopher Hill and other stuff for another essay that I am still vaguely figuring out.

This is a charming little book set in the world of Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.

It is a short story, beautifully presented in hardback with a foldout map and other nick nacks that as the author says may or may not be related to the story.

It is a tale of an adventure of Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon in Oxford a year or so after the events of the previous books.

I do not want to say anything about the story as it is so very short and so enjoyable in the way that the first book of the trilogy was. This though does not have lofty goals and was I think Pulman’s way of saying that he still had things to say about Lyra and her world.

A quick easy read.

Well the first book of the year is finished.

This is an utterly compelling: what was it, who did it and why did they do it.
Set in the period immediately post 11th September 2001 in New York, it follows the lives of a group of friends as they react to a reporters uncovering of events of over 20 years ago and the subsequent death of the reporter.

The story follows the more recent events and through flashback provides the older events that drive the more recent.

I found this book utterly compelling and whilst I worked out the ‘what’ I did not completely work out the the ‘who’ or the ‘why’ and that for me makes the book a success. It is well written and was not hard going at all and if anything is like watching an jigsaw being pieced together with only the full picture being visible as the last piece is snapped into place. This book drew me in, the chapters are short and so it was easy to grab a few pages here and a few pages there, but as I was pulled in to the story I noticed that I spent more time each evening reading the book.

This is the first book of Rozan’s that I have read and I think I may well seek out more.

This is highly recommended.

21. Clarkson – You’ve got Soul
Jeremy Clarkson provides a chapter on each of his favourite vehicles, be it Concorde, the Spitfire or the GT40 etc and explains why in his view they transcend mere machines and instead have a soul of their own. Good entertaining read – ideal for the erm bathroom.

22. Phillip Pulman – the Golden Compass (Northern Lights)
The first in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and to be honest I think it is the best. Pulman gives us an alternative earth which is similar and yet different from our own. I am not going to say any more as there is enough entertainment from the American Catholics being up in arms about it without me giving any clues away. As an individual book I thoroughly enjoyed it, as part of the trilogy it was definitely the strongest part.

23. Pulman – the Subtle Knife
The second part in the trilogy which promises so much as it joins the alternative earth to our own earth and other worlds. Sadly although I like the idea of the crossover and the travel between the worlds I just felt let down. The best written part was a death scene (saying no more for obvious reasons).

24. Pulman – the Amber Spyglass
The final part of the trilogy. I would rename this as the pointless spyglass to be honest. Its clear from the start that Pulman either did not know what he wanted to write or was bored doing it, it did pick up but boy does it plod. Again the promise and ideas are on the whole pretty good, BUT the alternative world was incredibly badly executed, the death of the assassin was to be honest laughable, the spyglass was umm pointless and the temptation bit just did not appear to work. BUT I did enjoy reading the book and the others beforehand, they were on the whole good fun some of the ideas were poorly (I felt) executed, some the of the concepts were a bit ‘oh wow’ because of the downsides I did not feel as satisfied with the three books as a whole as I would have liked.

25. Neil Gaiman – Stardust
I tried to see the film of this on my birthday – sadly we gave up on the cinema that day due to levels of mayhem. The book however is an utter romp through the world of faery in only the way that Gaiman can, as I read it I could easily imagine it as a graphic novel in the style of say the Sandman. Much fun, highly enjoyable and incredibly tongue in cheek. Waiting for the dvd to be released now.

26. Harry Thompson – Penguins Stopped Play
The tales and history of an utterly inept village cricket team as they attempt to play a game on every continent. This book is in moments a travelogue a comedy and an obituary. On the whole its utterly hysterical the tales of British Airways should go down as legend. I thoroughly enjoyed this, but then like the village team in this book – I was utterly rubbish at cricket but not due to lack of effort or enjoyment in the process.

Thus concludes the book consumption of 2007 – not as many as I hoped but then I spent a lot of reading time studying and this list did not start in January. Wonder how many I can manage in 2008.

This is the second book of my holiday reading and was finished near the end of our flight home.

Kostova has taken Bram Stoker’s Dracula and dragged him into the 14th Century, oops 20th Century.

Taking the form of a tour around Europe from Holland, into France, England, Italy and onwards into Turkey and beyond, the tale of the narrator’s own past, her father’s past and that of his mentor along with those of other characters comes out in small snatches of conversations, letters and manuscripts, each pulling you further in.

I expected this to be horror chick-lit to be honest which is why it went on holiday as a disposable book, in the end I finished it on the way back and it will reside on a bookshelf somewhere. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and gained a sense of being in some of the places described as there is certainly a captured atmosphere, which broods and lingers. At the same time it is a horror story so those of you expecting gore of the Herbert or Hutson variety will be sadly dissapointed, and maybe that is why I did enjoy it as much as I did.

One thing I did enjoy about the book was the self belief that it had, the references to Stoker’s work being fiction whereas the protagonists (including the narrator) knew and felt that this was real (to them) and this stood up all the way through and it is that self belief that I think sold the book to me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this.