tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83117687598862886802011-11-27T23:25:05.298ZBook reviewsSHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.comBlogger181100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-61689719263349569302010-11-03T16:02:00.002Z2010-11-03T16:03:55.815Z

Published in 2006, ‘JPod’ is a seemingly sprawling account of Ethan Jarlewski, a twenty-something games company employee sharing a cubicle with five co-workers who, either by some weird computer glitch or the twisted designs of Human Resources, also all have surnames beginning with the letter J. Ethan may come from a statistically average nuclear family but there is nothing average about his

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-16412903807940695242010-04-22T16:58:00.002+01:002010-04-22T16:59:36.901+01:00

Expanded from his BabyBarista Times blog, this first novel from Tim Kevan is an uproarious diary of intrigue, backstabbing and dubious moral attitudes, set in the allegedly morally upstanding world of law courts and Chambers. BabyBarista himself is a Machiavellian young pupil barrister whose early claims of naivety are quickly rubbished when it becomes clear that he will stop at nothing to ensure

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-87327341074384621922009-11-24T11:09:00.006Z2009-11-24T15:00:40.908Z

Can anything new be said about Tolkien's one thousand page epic? Not particularly but familiarty should not breed contempt, especially not when this is one of the most popular novels of all time, and especially not when it is always a rewarding and enthralling read.I was probably sixteen years old when I first read it and can still remember the shock and surprise I felt when it began to dawn on

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-47825687164801211802009-11-19T14:03:00.004Z2009-11-19T14:32:06.559Z

If I were to be stranded in the middle of a (blissfully Ant and Dec free) jungle and allowed only one novel to take to while away the hours until I am eaten by ferocious carnivores, this would be the novel. Not Dickens, not Orwell, not E.M. Forster, but Nobbs. I am fully aware that 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin' is not the greatest novel in the world but it is my all time favourite novel,

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-56724368108337488012009-11-16T18:36:00.004Z2009-11-16T19:11:19.650Z

Published in 1940, two decades before America finally began attempting to dismantle the inherent segregation within the mind's of many of its white citizens, this is a telling tale of a young black man who accidentally murders a wealthy young white woman. Bigger Thomas, twenty year old hoodlum, is offered a job with a rich family who are sympathetic to the problems of black people living in

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-23669510386967523392009-11-13T10:59:00.008Z2009-11-13T11:32:03.933Z

Is it science fiction? Is it a fairy-tale? A fable? Perhaps it utilises aspects of all three but what Audrey Niffenegger's debut novel actualy is, is a love story. Granted it is a love story the like of which there has not quite been before: Henry suffers from a genetic defect which throws him backwards and forwards in time without control or warning; Clare has loved him since she first met him

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-20981954929371775782009-11-11T14:59:00.003Z2009-11-11T15:23:43.495Z

Shorter than some of his novels and bereft of his trademark immersion in supernatural and outwordly events, this is nevertheless a sumptuous and highly satisfying read. The narrator is Toru Watanabe who is remembering the emotional turmoil that was his teenage life some twenty years previously. He thinks of Naoko, his first love who had been the girlfriend of his best friend, Kizuki, until Kizuki

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-53874909497898451402009-11-08T11:48:00.006Z2009-11-08T15:32:39.475Z

You know you love a book when you are in a tearing hurry to find out how it all turns out at the end and yet you never want to have to leave its pages. This final part in the 'Inkheart' trilogy is more enchanting, more exhilerating and more delightfully unpredictable than the previous instalments. Funke seems to enjoy confounding her readers' expectations: just when you think you know how the

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-10565365004855732552009-11-06T14:04:00.004Z2009-11-06T14:17:53.316Z

Somehow Cornelia Funke has managed to make 'Inkspell' even more magical than it's predecessor, 'Inkheart'. I love the way she does not shy away from the gritty or embarrassing realities of life, even though she is ostensibly writing for children. Thus the body-count is much higher than in the previous novel, largely courtesy of a war between rival princes in the Inkworld. And she throws a little

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-75910949194907219632009-11-02T12:07:00.005Z2009-11-02T12:38:29.214Z

Now that 'Inkheart' has been made into a film, the comparisons with the Harry Potter series have become even more frequent. Which is a little unfair to Cornelia Funke as she does not strike me as someone who is trying to emulate J.K. Rowling. She is ploughing her own unique furrow, one which is steeped in the slightly darker, more fantastical, less patronizing traditions of Germanic folk tales.

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-27133562816000313032009-10-28T12:00:00.003Z2009-10-28T12:23:39.943Z

I ignored Nick Hornby's novels for some time but for entirely ridiculous reasons. 'Fever Pitch', his non-fictional account of growing up supporting Arsenal Football Club, culminates in the final game of the 1988/89 season in which Liverpool played Arsenal to decide the league title. Liverpool were favourites and could have actually lost the game by a single goal and still be crowned champions.

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-14812065419921179772009-10-23T13:25:00.009+01:002009-10-23T14:00:07.639+01:00

Considered at the time to be Hesse's greatest work, this poetic novel continues the Jungian search for harmony within the self that underpins much of his work and is most prominent in the two novels which preceded 'Narziss and Goldmund' - 'Steppenwolf' and 'Siddhartha'.The narrative follows the life of Goldmund who arrives at a secluded medieval monastery deep in the forests as a fresh faced,

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-13328861573954109872009-10-14T09:14:00.004+01:002009-10-14T09:42:00.287+01:00

While many consider 'The Grapes of Wrath' to be Steinbeck's finest literary achievement, I have always preferred the economy and pathos of this 1937 novel. The tale of the mentally impaired hulk Lennie and his diminutive friend and mentor, George, takes its title from the Robert Burns quote and, during the course of just over a hundred pages of tense dialogue and rustic narrative, unveils the

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-36477147828597477012009-10-11T18:22:00.001+01:002009-10-11T18:46:30.909+01:00

I have never read Grisham before and, seeing as the cover boasts that he is 'the world's most popular author', I thought I'd give this one a go. I enjoyed the film version but they clearly made some big changes to get it to the screen.Being Grisham, this is a court-room thriller, or rather, it is a jury drama, as most of the focus is on the members of the jury. Nicholas Easter is clearly

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-5626921987189116842009-10-01T12:37:00.006+01:002009-10-06T14:37:01.303+01:00

Douglas Adams wrote endless versions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: initially there was the radio version in 1978, swiftly followed by this, the first novel. A television series and four further novels were to follow, along with various treatments for a film which must have seemed destined never to exist, as far as dear old Douglas was concerned. That it took his sudden death in 2001,

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-24776952730240050292009-09-28T10:41:00.005+01:002009-10-06T10:40:58.156+01:00

This is, of course, the novel which was later filmed by Ridley Scott as 'Bladerunner', and it is easy to see the appeal to film-makers. The post-apocalyptic squalor (characterised by Dick as a relentless build up of detritus, or 'kibble') is a dystopian cinematographer's dream. The theme of a bounty hunter who is suffering doubts about his profession was not new in 1968 when the novel was first

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-57621390087482254882009-09-26T14:22:00.007+01:002009-10-01T11:58:15.183+01:00

Having read several so-called modern classics recently and been rather disappointed (Scarlett Thomas, step forward), I am delighted to have finally got round to reading my first Murakami novel and being swept up in the meandering, bizarre narrative. ‘Kafka On The Shore’ starts out as the story of ‘Kafka’ Tamura, a fifteen year old who has run away from his home in Tokyo to escape the clutches

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8311768759886288680.post-78276936076445589872009-09-21T12:54:00.002+01:002009-10-01T11:56:17.066+01:00

The first thing that strikes me on rereading this 1954 science-fiction classic is how modern it feels. From the diatribe against an education system which equates to 'a lot of funnels and a lot of water poured down the spout and out the bottoms, and them telling us it's wine when it's not' to the recognition that people no longer talk about anything, just mouth cultural reference points at one

SHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17335903472144719688noreply@blogger.com0