Once more I did not win the lottery this weekend so I will have to go into the office again tomorrow. I'll give it another few weeks but I am sure my lucky ticket is out there... somewhere. It just has to find me. When it does, bookshops of the nation beware!
On the reading front things are going ok. Finished a ghost story one yesterday (review to follow) and started a new one as well. It's my second Patterson one and I have a funny feeling Mr Patterson and me are never going to be bosom buddies. Not sure why? Maybe by the end of the book I will have figured it out. Anyway... must get on.
PS: secretly planning a book buying trip for next Saturday but don't tell anyone!
Sunday 29 June 2014
Sunday 15 June 2014
At least I didn't order a book
As I had the laptop on to write the reviews I had a quick sneaky look on Amazon as well... Big mistake! I am now eagerly awaiting the delivery of "the BAFTA-award winning series" In the Flesh (love me a bit of zombie) and a CD with live recordings from The Old Grey Whistle Test. I blame BBC3 and 4 for these purchases. I did refrain from ordering any new books..... It wasn't easy!
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
IT - Stephen King
Mr King rarely delivers a bad book and this one is suitably creepy and if nothing else, can serve as a public health warning for kids not to trust clowns and/or play near drains. It is the story of a group of friends who come together again after almost 28 years to fight the evil of their childhood. One little curve ball.... none of them actually remember what happened all those years ago and how they stopped the evil. Right there is the main bone I have to pick whit this book. If they all forgot about what happened so long ago how did Mike know to contact them all? At the end they all start to forget again and even Mike hardly remembers who his friends are and the ink in his notebooks is fading so soon he will no longer be able to call on it to remind him of what happened. So, Mr King, how did he know who to call at the start of the adventure?? Anyway..... if you get over that it is actually a really good story about childhood friendship, promises, becoming adults and a bit of resident evil fighting thrown in for good measure. Also, if you are one of those who think that clowns are creepy you can take some comfort from this book. It proves beyond a shadow if a doubt that clowns are not from this world. I am never going anywhere near one with orange tufts of hair and a white suit!
So, what's it all about? Well, we have our group of friends who are called back to Derry as the evil of their childhood is surfacing again and this time around they are going to stop it.... just as they promised they would all those years ago. So, they all get a call and they all show up. None of them exactly sure of why they are their or what happened to them all those years ago. I could go through the stories of all the friends to make them come to life more but there are 7 of them, it would take forever to type and to be honest I think the main thing to remember from it all is that they each have a particular quality that make them essential to fighting the evil. Mike seems to be the glue to the group. He is the one that stayed local and has been keeping an eye out for strange things to occur, which things do on a regular basis in Derry. He has found that the time is right to get the old Losers back together and to destroy the evil they fought when they were young.
Mike is the local librarian, the brain and memory of the group. Bill is the leader and the one who seeks revenge for his little brother's death both then and now. Ben is the architect, builder of the lot and Richie likes to do voices, annoy people and pretend things he is not. Eddie is handy to have around as he had a sat nav in his head and can get you a way out of anywhere, even sewer tunnels. Not even a homing pigeon could get one over on him. Beverly is the only girl of the Losers and she has been running away from violence all her life. Not very successfully but she seems to have turned a corner by the end of the book. The one who does not turn up to the reunion party is Stan, he is the one who is the hardest to place. He kills himself rather than have to face the evil again and he seems to be happy to tag a long but is almost convinced that it is a bad dream and he will wake up soon. He is almost like a non-believer and perhaps therefore the most scared if that makes sense. Interestingly enough he is the one who cuts all their hands and makes them swear they will return to destroy the evil if it returns.... strange?! As the friends all get together they piece together the story of what happened all those years ago. Their antics of when they were young are fun to read and in a way sad. They all had their encounters with It when they were young and they all found a way to fight it. It is nice to learn a little of the lives of our friends. It makes you care more about them. They all have their hangups and challenges to overcome and I guess that is part of growing up for all kids. Except these kids are doing something special on the side as well. The thing that unites them is that they were all outsiders, alone, singled out and targeted by bullies. Once they unite, they become a band of brothers and one sister, and they are able to face the evil that haunts Derry (This evil has been there for years, ages as we learn from Mike's interludes). As children being friends is what gets them out of many a bad situation. Apart from It the other evil they have to contend with is a boy called Henry Bowers. He is a real bully through and through, no compassion only hate... pure hate. He has a grudge against each member of our group of friends. Sometimes for no other reason but for the fact they exist. Henry goes out of his way to get them and he ends up being an agent of evil both in the past and present. It takes him out of society for a while but he comes back with a vengeance... and a knife, and a very very strong will to hang on to life.
Bill and his friends have to go back to the places of their childhood to find evil again but not until it has a go at trying to scare all of them away. It uses what they fear most to scare them but now they know this game It is not effective in doing so. The disadvantage for our merry band is that they are all a lot less innocent than they were. They have forgotten to simply believe and how to use their imagination. It knows that and feels It has a fighting chance to scare them off and kill them just because of that. Yet It is also wary of them as they managed to hurt it before and some of the old bond they had in the past is still there. The friends are in the game to see this thing through to the end this time. It all comes to a head in the sewers of Derry in the middle of a enormous rainstorm that sweeps away half the town. The Losers go down into the tunnels and find It. They do destroy it in the end though not without the loss of some lives.
They manage to remember how they defeated it last time and by some stroke of luck they do not all die in the process of recreating that experience (Richie to the rescue!).
I guess this book is a few things rolled into one. It is a cry to the adults not to forget what it was like to be a child. Sometimes being innocent gives you a fresh perspective on things and things learnt when you were young can help you on the way to a better path in your adult life. History does not have to repeat itself with the same outcome every time. You can change it... if you learn from the past! The book is a celebration of friendship and to remind you to treasure the friends you have. True friends will be there for you when you need them and they will come to your aid even if they know that what they must face when they see you will be difficult to do. Then there is Evil... This is everywhere and can come from outside or inside, in big and small packages, be near and tangible or elusive and undetermined. One of the scariest things for me is that there could ever be such a thing as a whole town willingly and unknowingly turning away from seeing the evil and violence that occur in it. That there could be an evil so strong that it convinces people that what they would normally consider wrong or unacceptable is okay and that they do not have to intervene... that is proper scary. And yet... I guess it happens... all over the world. People turn their back on the injustice and corruption they see because, well it is none of their business is it?
PS: I do hope that Ben got all the eggs!!
Title: IT
Author: Stephen King
1116 pages
New English Library, Hodder and Stoughton
ISBN # 0-450-41143-0
Books to be read: 135
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
IT - Stephen King
Mr King rarely delivers a bad book and this one is suitably creepy and if nothing else, can serve as a public health warning for kids not to trust clowns and/or play near drains. It is the story of a group of friends who come together again after almost 28 years to fight the evil of their childhood. One little curve ball.... none of them actually remember what happened all those years ago and how they stopped the evil. Right there is the main bone I have to pick whit this book. If they all forgot about what happened so long ago how did Mike know to contact them all? At the end they all start to forget again and even Mike hardly remembers who his friends are and the ink in his notebooks is fading so soon he will no longer be able to call on it to remind him of what happened. So, Mr King, how did he know who to call at the start of the adventure?? Anyway..... if you get over that it is actually a really good story about childhood friendship, promises, becoming adults and a bit of resident evil fighting thrown in for good measure. Also, if you are one of those who think that clowns are creepy you can take some comfort from this book. It proves beyond a shadow if a doubt that clowns are not from this world. I am never going anywhere near one with orange tufts of hair and a white suit!
So, what's it all about? Well, we have our group of friends who are called back to Derry as the evil of their childhood is surfacing again and this time around they are going to stop it.... just as they promised they would all those years ago. So, they all get a call and they all show up. None of them exactly sure of why they are their or what happened to them all those years ago. I could go through the stories of all the friends to make them come to life more but there are 7 of them, it would take forever to type and to be honest I think the main thing to remember from it all is that they each have a particular quality that make them essential to fighting the evil. Mike seems to be the glue to the group. He is the one that stayed local and has been keeping an eye out for strange things to occur, which things do on a regular basis in Derry. He has found that the time is right to get the old Losers back together and to destroy the evil they fought when they were young.
Mike is the local librarian, the brain and memory of the group. Bill is the leader and the one who seeks revenge for his little brother's death both then and now. Ben is the architect, builder of the lot and Richie likes to do voices, annoy people and pretend things he is not. Eddie is handy to have around as he had a sat nav in his head and can get you a way out of anywhere, even sewer tunnels. Not even a homing pigeon could get one over on him. Beverly is the only girl of the Losers and she has been running away from violence all her life. Not very successfully but she seems to have turned a corner by the end of the book. The one who does not turn up to the reunion party is Stan, he is the one who is the hardest to place. He kills himself rather than have to face the evil again and he seems to be happy to tag a long but is almost convinced that it is a bad dream and he will wake up soon. He is almost like a non-believer and perhaps therefore the most scared if that makes sense. Interestingly enough he is the one who cuts all their hands and makes them swear they will return to destroy the evil if it returns.... strange?! As the friends all get together they piece together the story of what happened all those years ago. Their antics of when they were young are fun to read and in a way sad. They all had their encounters with It when they were young and they all found a way to fight it. It is nice to learn a little of the lives of our friends. It makes you care more about them. They all have their hangups and challenges to overcome and I guess that is part of growing up for all kids. Except these kids are doing something special on the side as well. The thing that unites them is that they were all outsiders, alone, singled out and targeted by bullies. Once they unite, they become a band of brothers and one sister, and they are able to face the evil that haunts Derry (This evil has been there for years, ages as we learn from Mike's interludes). As children being friends is what gets them out of many a bad situation. Apart from It the other evil they have to contend with is a boy called Henry Bowers. He is a real bully through and through, no compassion only hate... pure hate. He has a grudge against each member of our group of friends. Sometimes for no other reason but for the fact they exist. Henry goes out of his way to get them and he ends up being an agent of evil both in the past and present. It takes him out of society for a while but he comes back with a vengeance... and a knife, and a very very strong will to hang on to life.
Bill and his friends have to go back to the places of their childhood to find evil again but not until it has a go at trying to scare all of them away. It uses what they fear most to scare them but now they know this game It is not effective in doing so. The disadvantage for our merry band is that they are all a lot less innocent than they were. They have forgotten to simply believe and how to use their imagination. It knows that and feels It has a fighting chance to scare them off and kill them just because of that. Yet It is also wary of them as they managed to hurt it before and some of the old bond they had in the past is still there. The friends are in the game to see this thing through to the end this time. It all comes to a head in the sewers of Derry in the middle of a enormous rainstorm that sweeps away half the town. The Losers go down into the tunnels and find It. They do destroy it in the end though not without the loss of some lives.
They manage to remember how they defeated it last time and by some stroke of luck they do not all die in the process of recreating that experience (Richie to the rescue!).
I guess this book is a few things rolled into one. It is a cry to the adults not to forget what it was like to be a child. Sometimes being innocent gives you a fresh perspective on things and things learnt when you were young can help you on the way to a better path in your adult life. History does not have to repeat itself with the same outcome every time. You can change it... if you learn from the past! The book is a celebration of friendship and to remind you to treasure the friends you have. True friends will be there for you when you need them and they will come to your aid even if they know that what they must face when they see you will be difficult to do. Then there is Evil... This is everywhere and can come from outside or inside, in big and small packages, be near and tangible or elusive and undetermined. One of the scariest things for me is that there could ever be such a thing as a whole town willingly and unknowingly turning away from seeing the evil and violence that occur in it. That there could be an evil so strong that it convinces people that what they would normally consider wrong or unacceptable is okay and that they do not have to intervene... that is proper scary. And yet... I guess it happens... all over the world. People turn their back on the injustice and corruption they see because, well it is none of their business is it?
It is a good read, a good story with interesting characters and a nice cataclysmic ending.
Title: IT
Author: Stephen King
1116 pages
New English Library, Hodder and Stoughton
ISBN # 0-450-41143-0
Books to be read: 135
A real Dutch treat
The first one that is up for review today is a Dutch book that I remember from when I was young.
Yes - It is a children's book but I found it still reads well for those who are slightly older. It is also in Dutch.
I remember it made a big impact on me as a child but before I re-read it I could not quite remember why. All I could remember that there was a hand on the front cover holding a dagger and it was about a girl dealing with some ghost or weird stuff. I was sort of right about both of these. Finding the book, re-discovering it had been a wonderful trip down memory lane for me. Plus.... being older now, I was able to read it in one Saturday afternoon rather than a week or so. Happy days!
#### SPOILER ####
Het Onzichtbare Licht - Evert Hartman
This is the story of a young girl who goes through some things she does not quite understand and that sometimes scare her. Well, I would not be feeling all to chipper in the morning if I found some guy in a uniform standing at the foot of my bad in the middle of the night so I understand a little bit where she is coming from.
Leny lives in a small village where her parents run a farm. She and her two brothers get along as well as you would expect from siblings and they seem a well adjusted sort of bunch. So far so ordinary. Then we find out that Leny sometimes see things that others don't, knows things that she could have no reason of knowing and gets scared of places that look perfectly harmless.
Coming from any child character but Leny you might think they were in need of a serious chat to a psychiatrist but Leny is such a simple and naive character that it is totally believable that she is as amazed at discovering she is "different" than you are. She is a normal young kid, about 12 or 13 and her life is filled with school, friends, cycling home in the rain and wind and helping out on the farm.
Leny's family seem to have a bit more trouble in dealing with what is happening to Leny. Her mum and dad go from kind of accepting that there may be something going on to blatant denial that the situation warrants some investigating. Perhaps with mental illness being in the family it is a natural reaction to stick your head in the sand but let's be honest here Leny's Dad... it's not gonna help anyone in the long run! And yet, Dad is the one who stands up to the priest and defends his daughter when her sanity is called into question.
Fortunately for Leny she has a very good friend in Esther. Although Esther is not quite sure how to respond to all the strange stuff that Leny keeps coming out with, she sticks with her friend and goes with her to see a man who might be ale to help when she knows it may get her in trouble. For a brief moment little village and church politics threaten to ruin Leny's friendship with Esther but I have a feeling that the two will find a way around that. There is also the rumour that spreads about what Leny has seen in one of her visions which gets her into trouble with the locals and shows that prejudice to being different is something people from all ages are subjected to. Fortunately for Leny one of her teacher is a very clued up and understanding kind of guy and he helps put Leny on the right path to find out how she can deal with all these things that she is feeling and seeing. Turns out Leny even gains another friend in the whole process although this one is more of an internally based friend.
I think for both Leny and the reader, at times it feels like she is on her own with her best friend in getting to grips with this thing that she is going through. I think she will find her way of dealing with it and I think that that is the message the book is trying to send. It may be tough trying to figure out what is going on in your life at times but if you have your friends and your family around you then things are never as bad as they seem.
As I said, I read this book when I was young and I remember being really impressed with it. I had never heard of things like clairvoyance, psychic visions, auras or any of that. This book was probably my first encounter with those things and it opened my mind to many other things to read about that are different and weird yet wonderful in this world. If nothing else I owe it for that.
Needless to say I am very happy to have re-discovered it after all these years. It was definitely worth reading it again. Think it may only be the third book I have ever read more than once!
Title: Het Onzichtbare Licht
Author: Evert Hartman
193 pages
Lemniscaat
ISBN # 978-90-6069-504-6
Books to be read: 136
Books bought: 0 (putting this one in just as a reminder for me)
Yes - It is a children's book but I found it still reads well for those who are slightly older. It is also in Dutch.
I remember it made a big impact on me as a child but before I re-read it I could not quite remember why. All I could remember that there was a hand on the front cover holding a dagger and it was about a girl dealing with some ghost or weird stuff. I was sort of right about both of these. Finding the book, re-discovering it had been a wonderful trip down memory lane for me. Plus.... being older now, I was able to read it in one Saturday afternoon rather than a week or so. Happy days!
#### SPOILER ####
Het Onzichtbare Licht - Evert Hartman
This is the story of a young girl who goes through some things she does not quite understand and that sometimes scare her. Well, I would not be feeling all to chipper in the morning if I found some guy in a uniform standing at the foot of my bad in the middle of the night so I understand a little bit where she is coming from.
Leny lives in a small village where her parents run a farm. She and her two brothers get along as well as you would expect from siblings and they seem a well adjusted sort of bunch. So far so ordinary. Then we find out that Leny sometimes see things that others don't, knows things that she could have no reason of knowing and gets scared of places that look perfectly harmless.
Coming from any child character but Leny you might think they were in need of a serious chat to a psychiatrist but Leny is such a simple and naive character that it is totally believable that she is as amazed at discovering she is "different" than you are. She is a normal young kid, about 12 or 13 and her life is filled with school, friends, cycling home in the rain and wind and helping out on the farm.
Leny's family seem to have a bit more trouble in dealing with what is happening to Leny. Her mum and dad go from kind of accepting that there may be something going on to blatant denial that the situation warrants some investigating. Perhaps with mental illness being in the family it is a natural reaction to stick your head in the sand but let's be honest here Leny's Dad... it's not gonna help anyone in the long run! And yet, Dad is the one who stands up to the priest and defends his daughter when her sanity is called into question.
Fortunately for Leny she has a very good friend in Esther. Although Esther is not quite sure how to respond to all the strange stuff that Leny keeps coming out with, she sticks with her friend and goes with her to see a man who might be ale to help when she knows it may get her in trouble. For a brief moment little village and church politics threaten to ruin Leny's friendship with Esther but I have a feeling that the two will find a way around that. There is also the rumour that spreads about what Leny has seen in one of her visions which gets her into trouble with the locals and shows that prejudice to being different is something people from all ages are subjected to. Fortunately for Leny one of her teacher is a very clued up and understanding kind of guy and he helps put Leny on the right path to find out how she can deal with all these things that she is feeling and seeing. Turns out Leny even gains another friend in the whole process although this one is more of an internally based friend.
I think for both Leny and the reader, at times it feels like she is on her own with her best friend in getting to grips with this thing that she is going through. I think she will find her way of dealing with it and I think that that is the message the book is trying to send. It may be tough trying to figure out what is going on in your life at times but if you have your friends and your family around you then things are never as bad as they seem.
As I said, I read this book when I was young and I remember being really impressed with it. I had never heard of things like clairvoyance, psychic visions, auras or any of that. This book was probably my first encounter with those things and it opened my mind to many other things to read about that are different and weird yet wonderful in this world. If nothing else I owe it for that.
Needless to say I am very happy to have re-discovered it after all these years. It was definitely worth reading it again. Think it may only be the third book I have ever read more than once!
Title: Het Onzichtbare Licht
Author: Evert Hartman
193 pages
Lemniscaat
ISBN # 978-90-6069-504-6
Books to be read: 136
Books bought: 0 (putting this one in just as a reminder for me)
Sunday 1 June 2014
Swap
A week ago I did something I normally never do... I swapped a book I was reading for another one! Reason being that I sort of had the feeling I knew how it was going to end before the story even really got started. I got to page 72 and realised that this was not the book I wanted to be reading. So... I decided to do a swap. I swapped Ludlum for King and I am much happier for it! King got me hooked at page 10 and made me want to keep reading... Ludlum did not. It may be a sad truth but there it is. Not sure if I will ever finish Mr Ludlum. I will keep him on the shelf for now and see how it goes. But King has definitely got me hooked!
One further point to mention is that my fridge is exhibiting some weird behaviour. It is no longer OK according to the little thingy inside the fridge. It seems to be on a lot and seems to be saying the temp inside is too high a lot... even when it has been closed all night and I come to open it in the morning it sometimes tells me it is not OK. Will have to see how it goes.... but not now as Mr King is calling.... IT is waiting...
One further point to mention is that my fridge is exhibiting some weird behaviour. It is no longer OK according to the little thingy inside the fridge. It seems to be on a lot and seems to be saying the temp inside is too high a lot... even when it has been closed all night and I come to open it in the morning it sometimes tells me it is not OK. Will have to see how it goes.... but not now as Mr King is calling.... IT is waiting...
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