Week 29 Book 46 : A Promised Land

 

Well written and wryly observed, self serving (though who's autobiography is not?) but still entertaining and not draining despite it's length. Easy to follow and engaging from start to the end of the first term. Might be a while before the second volume gets a try, even though it's not yet out.

Huge improvement on Bill Clintons "My Life" and ... well I have no intention of attenpting anything from the bog orange baby, so this is me for a while on Presidents.

If you have the time and you even vaguely like his tone, make the effort.

Week 28 Book 45 : Why We Sleep

 

Informative, useful and scary all at the same time. Well researched and planned out book that covers all the areas and more. There are plenty of things in there that I knew of, or had read about but having it all in one place and laid out so logically makes it all the more powerful.

Week 27 Book 44 : The Night Circus

 

 

Laboriously long, confusingly strung together, and a mostly good idea, delivered badly. Too much description of the circus and how amazing everything is. Like the author loved the idea of all this and then just wrote, wrote and then wrote some more to deliver a plot that wove through it. 

I could not garner much empathy for the protagonists, and by the end the ridiculous set up of the "game" was so diluted and esoteric that it held no interest and no stakes in anyone winning or losing.

Good idea, just could have been so much shorter, tighter and less worshipful of a concept.

Week 27 Book 43 : The Strangers We Know

 

I thought that maybe this was not my kind of read, but I really enjoyed this. Not exactly trashy, not exactly predictable and just loads of fun to read through quickly. Good narrative voice, a sympathetic character even though I had so little in common with her, still cared about her story and resolution. 

Good enough I may read another. 

Week 26 Book 42 : Mockingbird

 

Unexpectedly great, an author I had never realised I know from his other works, translated to films I loved and now here he is, decades after his death appreciated as one of the unsung heroes of old school Sci Fi. I really enjoyed this book, looking to the future and while out of step with the technology of now, the vision and clarity of experience he has is amazing and on the money.

If you have the time to find his work, you totally should.

Week 26 Book 41 : Naturally Tan

 

Very hard to take anyone seriously who rails, rightfully, against being judged because of the way he looks (Well-dressed, south-Asian, Gay) but then unashamedly judges everyone on their appearance alone. Is it the same? No. Is there some equivalence? No. But does it annoy? Yup.

Lightweight and entertaining, and relatively self-aware apart from the above. Yet his personality annoys mine. I prefer JVN, simple really. 

Week 25 Book 40 : Milkman

 

I can see why it won the Booker, it's densely populated with character and imagery. Enough tragedy to fill a Oscar winning fillum to be sure. The strength is in the omnipresent terror of the troubles, and the omniscient knowledge of gossip in a community. You're never really sure who or what is going on, but slowly as the story reveals itself, those half thoughts in your head fully form and you realise you don't need to know someone's name to know who they are.