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John Dies at the End

“John Dies at the End” - by David Wong

My rating: 3.5/5

A book that is quite original in format and voice; it is hilarious at times, thoughtful at others and sometimes both at once. Sadly, the narrative pace and quality of humour both seem to diminish towards the centre, so I did lose interest a little. The ending makes up for this, and the humour resumes with full force while the story reaches its rewarding and creative final pages. There are more penis jokes than you could shake a penis at, and the narrative is filled with completely ridiculous occurrences, but these are for the most part great and help develop believable characters. It’s only when the writing gets tied up in describing action piece after action piece that it tends to trip up. The character work is great, and the voyages into the surreal are mostly vivid and amusing. From the first chapter I thought I’d love every second of this book, the style and irreverent tone of humour immediately connected with me. As it turned out, I didn’t love every second, but it is still brilliant in places, and if you stick with it there are some passages towards the end that really glue everything together nicely.

A delightful reading session after a short hike. Overlooking Rivington reservoir, Chorley, U.K.

A delightful reading session after a short hike. Overlooking Rivington reservoir, Chorley, U.K.

Bright Young Things

“Bright Young Things” by Scarlett Thomas

My rating: 4/5

The dialogue in “Bright Young Things” is great, very British at times, which is natural considering the novel is about six British twenty-somethings who reference their culture so often. While this tends to date the book, it absolutely nails a certain realism and while I’m probably within the last “generation” of people who will know what on earth the characters are going on about, it was a bold move, and remarkably truthful to a point in time. Aside from the late 90’s pop culture references, the emotions feel real; the world views presented will remain relevant for as long as consumerism is the mammoth it is, and for as long as people still ask questions about this unbelievable domain we humans currently inhabit. The character work is fantastic, and juggling six strong main characters is a task that has been handled cleverly, albeit with a few perspectives thrown into the third person narration that don’t seem to belong to anyone in particular. The great characters and entertaining conversations are held together excellently using a mysterious set-up and well timed reveals. “Bright Young Things” is a very fun read, at times quite thought provoking and peppered with moments that really hold a mirror up to life.

Images from the British Library’s “Catalogue of Illustrated Manuscripts” have been scanned and made available under a public domain mark. This is amazing,  and makes a lot of wonderful historic art accessible to anyone who would like to share it, or use it in any way. Check it out here. Thank you to the British Library! I thought I’d use an image from the catalogue of a sleepy panther, and provide it with a new context, imagining the panther is napping after reading his favourite book.

Images from the British Library’s “Catalogue of Illustrated Manuscripts” have been scanned and made available under a public domain mark. This is amazing,  and makes a lot of wonderful historic art accessible to anyone who would like to share it, or use it in any way. Check it out here. Thank you to the British Library!

I thought I’d use an image from the catalogue of a sleepy panther, and provide it with a new context, imagining the panther is napping after reading his favourite book.

HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY!

HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY!

“The Wrong Place” by Brecht Evens.

The Wrong Place

“The Wrong Place” by Brecht Evens

My rating: 5/5

The Wrong Place is a graphic novel unlike any other that I have read before. The format and presentation of dialogue is truly original, using colour to retain the sources of conversation, and banishing any sort of “panel” from the page which might cramp the atmosphere that is so wonderfully communicated. This clever layout design manages to portray multiple conversations at once in a non-linear fashion, catapulting illustrations along with humour and drama directly into the reader’s eyes. Certain parts are hilarious, others are just engrossing; the free-flowing illustrative style morphs into truthful representations of friends gathering, nostalgia, comedy, lovemaking or magic that might appear in the late hours of the day. The excellent portrayal of atmosphere and emotion make this book really stand out, and Brecht Evens delivers a brilliant experience that isn’t so much a contained story, but a vivid snapshot of life. A world continues outside of these pages, and it is our world.

A rare first edition of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.

A rare first edition of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.

The Gods Themselves

“The Gods Themselves” by Isaac Asimov

My rating: 5/5

With three distinct segments, Asimov presents three varying styles of storytelling that combine to tell one intriguing story. “The Gods Themselves” describes a parallel universe with very different laws of physics to those that we experience, and suggests lifeforms entirely alien to us but with emotions and interactions that resound in cleverly human ways. This account of the para-universe is sandwiched between two slightly more familiar situations in our own universe that are just as incredible to read. The novel is completely absorbing and thought provoking, using science to establish realism but not in such a way as to completely alienate those who aren’t rocket scientists. Characters develop wonderfully, and the grand ideas presented, while clever in themselves, don’t drown out the core heart of the book. As always, for me characters are the most important part of a story, and despite Isaac Asimov’s obvious background in science, he has not drowned his characters in a tidal wave of jargon; instead he allows them to flow believably and naturally through a rich scientific world.

Strangers

“Strangers” by Taichi Yamada

My rating: 5/5

Vivid, hilarious and haunting. Taichi Yamada uses punchy dialogue and the perfect amount of detail to create a brilliant atmosphere, populated with fantastic characters and commentary on the relationship between a son and his parents. The narrative is naturalistic whilst surreal, casting rays of believability onto wonderfully unbelievable occurrences. “Strangers” is highly readable; a short novel that is addictive and difficult to fault.

Christmas Winner!

Firstly, I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas filled with family, friends, and piles and piles of books. Mine was lovely, thanks. Secondly, I can announce the winner of the little Maze Runner competition I ran last week. Drum roll please…. it’s levlyb, who, as a matter of fact has a rather cool blog so check her out!

I like the idea of sending out books that I like to strangers, so I’ll probably run some more give-aways soon - and I promise I’ll try to be a bit more creative than “reblog to enter” next time :) 

Yay!