Another week sees another unscheduled review. Actually finished the book this weekend but had to think about how to write it up.
Brain has now had a chance to mull it over... please see below:
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
I think I can honestly say that this is one of the best books I have ever read.
It is also one of the few that ever made me want to cry at several points, whilst reading it.
The frustrating thing for me is that I am not sure I can find the words to say how incredible the book is. It is brilliant on so many levels; the compelling story, the way Faulks deals with his subject matter, the strong and interesting characters, the mood Faulks manages to create, the language, the rhythm of it. Mentioning all these things still does not do any kind of justice to this book... not by a mile... that is how good it is!
The story that develops is mainly about a young man Stephen who lives and loves his way through the early 1910's and into the First World War. The story about Stephen working in France and meeting the woman he loves is wonderful and weird, raw and filled with emotion and lust. The end up together but it isn't all pink clouds and fluffy bunnies for the two lovers. Isabelle is a complicated character strong and wilful, with a strange sense of wrong and right that crops up at the most inconvenient time. They are only happy for a short time before Isabelle decides to change their future forever. She makes choices that are inexplicable at times and leaving Stephen is only the first in a long line of ill fated choices.
This dramatic, ill fated love story is only one part of what makes Stephen who he is. We meet Stephen again during the war and you can tell he has lost something in his life. Is it a love to live for? Has she destroyed not only his love for her but only his ability to love life and care for others? Either way something is off about Stephen. The description of the war years is perhaps where the greatness of the book lies. It describes the war in all it's humanity, madness, futility and senselessness. The things the Stephen and his men have to go through are almost unimaginably horrid and cruel and yet Faulks easily leads you into their world and makes it real for you. At times it was almost too much to bear to read on as it felt like surely there was no further line of inhumanity that Stephen could cross or witness around him but there was... time after time. The description of what happens on the battlefield and after the quiet of the shelling is heartbreaking. Whether it be the life of the soldiers or the tunnellers, soldiers being on leave and trying to relax or fighting in the trenches, each of these showed us the inhumanity of mankind towards itself, friend or foe. Yet, somehow Stephen survives all the madness. There seems to be some kind of charm on his life although he himself definitely does not see his life as charmed. Who would in his situation? He is man scarred in many ways by the war. One of the supreme moments of irony in the whole things must surely be the fact that at the end of the war Stephen is rescued by those they have been shelling the whole time. How futile must your life feel when that happens? What have you been fighting for? All that hatred and fighting just to find out in the end that the other side bleed exactly the same as you do.
The final strand of the tale is the "present" time where Stephen's granddaughter takes an interest in her ancestors. Elizabeth finds some of his diaries and with some help manages to crack the code and gets an insight into her father's life during the war years. I have to say this is not the most interesting part of the novel but there is a nice parallel in Elizabeth and Stephen's lives. With her being the one who has a married man she is involved with on one side and a man who is ready to take care of her and even marry her after only knowing her for a few months. The tale from Elizabeth seems mainly to serve to tell us that Stephen did find some form of happiness in the end but that it was not the magic Hollywood ending that you might expect in any other novel.
I am going to leave it at this as I could probably talk for hours about this novel and how wonderful it is and still not do it justice.
Suffice it to say, I loved it. Would recommend it to anyone... urge everyone to read it. If it is the only book about the First World War that you ever read.... please please read this one.
Title: Birdsong
Author: Sebastian Faulks
503 pages
Vintage
ISBN# 0-09-938791-3
Books to be read: 132
Hearts torn asunder by novel: 1
Wednesday, 16 July 2014
Monday, 7 July 2014
Surprise post
I know it's a Monday and normally I post on a Sunday and even that is not always the case but I just had to get this one review off my chest.
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Four Blind Mice - James Patterson
I have to say that I did not like it much. In fact, I disliked it so much that it has made me return all my Patterson books to the charity shop. Trust me, I never turn a book away and I have never done this before with any author. I never managed to plough my way through Barchester Towers but it still resides in a box somewhere, stored safely away for the time when I feel I can manage to have another go at it. Not so with Patterson. Two books is enough to convince me I will never get to like or enjoy reading him.
Why? Well, it is a number of things that don't sit right with me. When reading Patterson's books I always feel that he does not care about his readers, the story or the characters he writes. To me it seems that even his main protagonist, Alex Cross remains a one dimensional, predictable, uninteresting character. It also seem that Patterson fobs off his readers with formulaic dialogue and set scenarios. Some parts in this one are strangely familiar from the other one I read. Alex falls in love with a woman and thinking about his future with her. He and his partner have an argument at some point. Alex has a blissful family life and a horrible work life that makes him doubt what he does. Copy, paste, next book.
Another thing that annoyed me was that Patterson's chapters sometimes do not even warrant the name. It is like he just wanted to split the story up to have as many chapters as possible. Or that he thought of something else he might as well throw in there to bulk out the story or introduce someone new. His chapters are not really chapters at times, they are too short and the order of them seems random. He switches from one setting to another when you least expect him to. One moment we are investigating the story, getting to the heart of it and the next we get Sampson romancing a witness. Why? It does nothing to help the story along and it does not give me any insight I want or need into the characters involved. It also seems to me that there is a definite and usually obvious lead up to every chapter he writes. I.e. it is a sunny, normal day at the Cross household and see Alex playing with his son. Ergo - something bad is about to happen to Alex. Cue gunfire. Another one, Sampson get to visit and question a witness on his own. Ergo - he must end up in a relationship with her, especially since he has been asking Alex a few chapters earlier how he feels about relationships and his future with his latest conquest. Cue wedding at the end of the book. I would also appreciate if someone could tell me why we are introduced to the lovely neighbourhood doctor, Kayla Coles? If I have learnt one thing from Patterson is that he will stop at nothing to introduce a character he wants to use later on. Any contrived way will do. For the doctor it seems that she has to be introduced solely to give Nana an understanding doctor to talk to. She first pops up when we have the insane scenario of Alex's son needing someone to save his friend who has been playing around with drugs. Then she pops up again when Nana feels ill and she even ends up at the Sampson's wedding at the end (Yeah, I know, I was as surprised as the next guy that after all those visits to the witness and his talk about relationships that Sampson would get married!). I am not sure why she is there but I am sure if I ever read Patterson's next book she would pop back up. Probably as some kind of bunny boiler doctor that Alex has to investigate in relation to some mysterious deaths in a nursing home.
Anyway, what is this one about? Not a lot really but for those that still care after all the above to put you off... here it goes. It seems that military men are being set up for murders they did not commit (by the way, do we find out if any of them get off as a result of what Alex discovers? NO! Disappointing!). After some investigating and some help from his new friends at the FBI Alex figures out who the guys are. They turn out to be a bunch of former soldiers who were involved in some bad stuff in Vietnam. Naturally, they are the best of buddies, all like shooting guns and killing people for no apparent reason. There is a bit of twaddle about the grey wall of silence in the army but Alex persists (well, he would) and in the end him and Sampson go and confront them. Of course that is exactly what you expect from the ever clever Alex, for him to place himself in a situation where it is almost certain he may get killed. 3 Former soldiers versus one smart (I use the term loosely) investigator and his partner.. wonder what the odds on that one were at the bookies. Ludicrous! Sampson gets hurt in the inevitable shoot out but I wasn't worried about him for a minute, not when he was proclaimed to be in love several chapters before. As if we had not had enough to deal with Patterson also brings is his former nemesis again for no apparent reason than to fill a few pages. The brain behind the operation tuns out to be some army guy who felt that people had to pay for the atrocities they committed in Vietnam. How... by setting them up for crimes they did not commit... of course. To be honest it could have been the local butcher who set them up for all I cared by the end. Naturally when Alex goes to see this guy on his own he gets into a spot of bother. You would think that the files having come from the FBI that those boys would keep a leash on Alex but no. Knowing that Patterson would not kill him off I bravely read on and found that indeed Alex was saved. Hurrah.
So, I think it is fair to say that I did not really enjoy this one. The story was predictable, ramshackle and at times ludicrous. I disliked the fact that there was no development or depth in any of the characters. They are all stereotypes. There are some vague attempts to give the whole thing more depth (e.g. Alex new relationship, the Vietnam back story) but for me it falls flat and does not work. At no point did I get engrossed in the story or really cared about how it would develop. I just kept reading because before I knew it, I was at the end of another chapter and once you get going you may as well finish the thing. There was a twist of sorts at the end (the other nutter Alex met on death row was involved as well) but I did not really care. There was no attempt to make me like the character when he was introduced so why would I care about his motives.
This was the second Patterson book I have read and it was equally disappointing as the first one. Therefore I have decided that this is where mine and Mr Patterson's paths in life diverge and I fervently hope we will never meet again. I am sure Patterson is not bothered... the feeling is mutual.
Title: Four Blind Mice
Author: James Patterson
387 pages
Headline
ISBN# 0-7472-6692-1
Books to be read: 133
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Four Blind Mice - James Patterson
I have to say that I did not like it much. In fact, I disliked it so much that it has made me return all my Patterson books to the charity shop. Trust me, I never turn a book away and I have never done this before with any author. I never managed to plough my way through Barchester Towers but it still resides in a box somewhere, stored safely away for the time when I feel I can manage to have another go at it. Not so with Patterson. Two books is enough to convince me I will never get to like or enjoy reading him.
Why? Well, it is a number of things that don't sit right with me. When reading Patterson's books I always feel that he does not care about his readers, the story or the characters he writes. To me it seems that even his main protagonist, Alex Cross remains a one dimensional, predictable, uninteresting character. It also seem that Patterson fobs off his readers with formulaic dialogue and set scenarios. Some parts in this one are strangely familiar from the other one I read. Alex falls in love with a woman and thinking about his future with her. He and his partner have an argument at some point. Alex has a blissful family life and a horrible work life that makes him doubt what he does. Copy, paste, next book.
Another thing that annoyed me was that Patterson's chapters sometimes do not even warrant the name. It is like he just wanted to split the story up to have as many chapters as possible. Or that he thought of something else he might as well throw in there to bulk out the story or introduce someone new. His chapters are not really chapters at times, they are too short and the order of them seems random. He switches from one setting to another when you least expect him to. One moment we are investigating the story, getting to the heart of it and the next we get Sampson romancing a witness. Why? It does nothing to help the story along and it does not give me any insight I want or need into the characters involved. It also seems to me that there is a definite and usually obvious lead up to every chapter he writes. I.e. it is a sunny, normal day at the Cross household and see Alex playing with his son. Ergo - something bad is about to happen to Alex. Cue gunfire. Another one, Sampson get to visit and question a witness on his own. Ergo - he must end up in a relationship with her, especially since he has been asking Alex a few chapters earlier how he feels about relationships and his future with his latest conquest. Cue wedding at the end of the book. I would also appreciate if someone could tell me why we are introduced to the lovely neighbourhood doctor, Kayla Coles? If I have learnt one thing from Patterson is that he will stop at nothing to introduce a character he wants to use later on. Any contrived way will do. For the doctor it seems that she has to be introduced solely to give Nana an understanding doctor to talk to. She first pops up when we have the insane scenario of Alex's son needing someone to save his friend who has been playing around with drugs. Then she pops up again when Nana feels ill and she even ends up at the Sampson's wedding at the end (Yeah, I know, I was as surprised as the next guy that after all those visits to the witness and his talk about relationships that Sampson would get married!). I am not sure why she is there but I am sure if I ever read Patterson's next book she would pop back up. Probably as some kind of bunny boiler doctor that Alex has to investigate in relation to some mysterious deaths in a nursing home.
Anyway, what is this one about? Not a lot really but for those that still care after all the above to put you off... here it goes. It seems that military men are being set up for murders they did not commit (by the way, do we find out if any of them get off as a result of what Alex discovers? NO! Disappointing!). After some investigating and some help from his new friends at the FBI Alex figures out who the guys are. They turn out to be a bunch of former soldiers who were involved in some bad stuff in Vietnam. Naturally, they are the best of buddies, all like shooting guns and killing people for no apparent reason. There is a bit of twaddle about the grey wall of silence in the army but Alex persists (well, he would) and in the end him and Sampson go and confront them. Of course that is exactly what you expect from the ever clever Alex, for him to place himself in a situation where it is almost certain he may get killed. 3 Former soldiers versus one smart (I use the term loosely) investigator and his partner.. wonder what the odds on that one were at the bookies. Ludicrous! Sampson gets hurt in the inevitable shoot out but I wasn't worried about him for a minute, not when he was proclaimed to be in love several chapters before. As if we had not had enough to deal with Patterson also brings is his former nemesis again for no apparent reason than to fill a few pages. The brain behind the operation tuns out to be some army guy who felt that people had to pay for the atrocities they committed in Vietnam. How... by setting them up for crimes they did not commit... of course. To be honest it could have been the local butcher who set them up for all I cared by the end. Naturally when Alex goes to see this guy on his own he gets into a spot of bother. You would think that the files having come from the FBI that those boys would keep a leash on Alex but no. Knowing that Patterson would not kill him off I bravely read on and found that indeed Alex was saved. Hurrah.
So, I think it is fair to say that I did not really enjoy this one. The story was predictable, ramshackle and at times ludicrous. I disliked the fact that there was no development or depth in any of the characters. They are all stereotypes. There are some vague attempts to give the whole thing more depth (e.g. Alex new relationship, the Vietnam back story) but for me it falls flat and does not work. At no point did I get engrossed in the story or really cared about how it would develop. I just kept reading because before I knew it, I was at the end of another chapter and once you get going you may as well finish the thing. There was a twist of sorts at the end (the other nutter Alex met on death row was involved as well) but I did not really care. There was no attempt to make me like the character when he was introduced so why would I care about his motives.
This was the second Patterson book I have read and it was equally disappointing as the first one. Therefore I have decided that this is where mine and Mr Patterson's paths in life diverge and I fervently hope we will never meet again. I am sure Patterson is not bothered... the feeling is mutual.
Title: Four Blind Mice
Author: James Patterson
387 pages
Headline
ISBN# 0-7472-6692-1
Books to be read: 133
Sunday, 6 July 2014
Some things change, some stay the same
For some reason or other this has been a weekend where I got lots done.
I did all the usual useful tidying up stuff but also managed to have some time for some book related fun and some light exercise.
The book related fun was a book swapping trip to the Age UK bookshop in sunny Wolverton. I decided that life is too short to be reading stuff I don't want to so I have now swapped all my Patterson books for some that I do really want to read. But... more on my attitudes towards Mr Patterson in a later post.
The exercise came in the shape of a bike ride out to Willen Lake, back through Campbell Park and then on to the shop for a little food shop. I realise that this may not sound like much to some but for me it was a major achievement. It was good to go out on the bike again and just see the world around me slowly pass me by. With all the problems with my back I have not always been able to get out much but today's ride was fun and relaxing. It made me realise how much I love to cycle. Still a lot of work needed to get back into shape and fighting fit but at least I am making a start.
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
The Open Door and other Ghost Stories - Selected by Philip Gooden
This was was both a good experience and a bit of a repeat of stories I have read before. I guess once you read so many ghost stories repeats are inevitable and this one had quite a few I had read before. However, some revealed more of their mysteries on a second reading. Maybe this is a sign I should really read slower and pay attention to what I read... I do, but apparently not always?!
Still, the new ones were good to discover and this collection reminded me that I do love a good ghost story before turning in for the night!
The Open Door - Margaret Oliphant
I have read this one several times now and this time round it seemed different than the last time I read it. Last time I sort of missed the introduction of one of the characters and this time round I got where he came from. This cleared some questions up no end!
The story is a lovely tale of a father who will do anything to please his little boy and a wandering juniper bush. Dad is a reluctant believer, the good doctor is the sceptic and we even have a priest who manages to lay the ghost. All in all a cracking line up and some suitably eerie stuff goes on near the ruins of an old house. What more could you want?
The Middle Toe of the Right Foot - Ambrose Bierce
I like Ambrose Bierce and read a whole book of his tales a little while ago. This one is a cracker! It shows that revenge can be very sweet and Hell really hath no fury than a woman scorned. Some guys go through some great lengths to set up a stranger who turns out to have some connection to a lonely house. The stranger gets his just deserts but not in a flurry of bullets. Plain and simple fear gets him.
Schalken the Painter - Sheridan Le Fanu
The Irish Master of the Ghost story. This is another one I read before but it is as good at the second reading as on the first. The tale is dark and gloomy. It seems innocent enough when our young apprentice Godfrey falls in love with the niece of his master but gets beaten to the proposal by a mysterious gent. The Gent turns out to be more of a creepy, weird con man than anyone could have ever suspected and the lady ends up in big trouble and comes to a mysterious end. Dark tale, oppressive atmosphere and creepy characters... perfect!
The Ghost Ship - Richard Middleton
This is another one I read before and it is ok. It seems to not really have a proper point it works towards or a clear line of tension that builds up. Basically there is a village where people are perfectly to live with the ghosts they have and get upset when a ghost ships comes to town to disturb the peace. Then the ship leaves and all the girl ghosts are sad and after a while everyone forgets about the ghost ship and things return to normal. Hmm... ok.. and your point is sir?
Owen Wingrave - Henry James
This one definitely has the sting in the tail. It also seems to be a bit long in getting to the tail but it is an okay story of a young man who gets dared by a woman to prove his mettle. He does and ends up paying with his life. The story is more about a young man making decisions that he knows his family will not approve off and the pressure they put on him than it is a ghost story. Almost as if the ghost is thrown in for good measure to fill out the pages but the tale is nice enough.
The Smallest Ghost in the World - John Fuller
This one is a nice little tale of what mischief an errant thumb can cause. The little blighter belonged to a kitchen hand who had a grudge against our Mr Speedfall. I am not sure I would not haunt the person who ate my thumb so not sure whose side I am on in this one. Nicely told and at the end of it you are not sure if the professor just needs a lie down or if there is something to it all.
A lady of Bayou St John - Kate Chopin
Not sure this one is a really a ghost story? A lady is married but falls for another man only to dump him once she hears her husband has died. Once he is out of the way she seems to live only for him and his memory.... weird, yes... but nowhere does he appear as a ghost. Slightly pointless tale.
Thurnley Abbey - Percival Landon
Not sure why we have the whole story of someone being approached by a stranger to tell his ghostly tale when just the tale itself would have sufficed. Anyway, man goes to stay with friends and has ghost turn up at his bedside. Man beats said ghost to a pulp instead of gently asking it to leave and then finds out that ghost are tougher than they look. This apparently then is a reason to go and accost strangers in boat crossing asking them if you can share their cabin... must remember that one!
The Triumph of Night - Edith Wharton
I kind of liked this one and kind of thought it a bit contrived.
A man is going to stat a new job but gets waylaid at a train station due to bad weather and a forgetful boss. He ends up staying at a neighbour's house and forming an instant friendship with a young man that happens to be picking up guests at the local train station. Before you know it he is seeing things others don't and dismisses them as visions of a tired brain. Yet they disturb him enough to send him running off into the night only to be followed by his new friend who then ends up dying in his arms. The nice touch with this one is at the end when we see our man in different surroundings and by some coincidence finally understanding what the visions were all about only for him to plunge back into despair and insanity again.
The Hanged Man's Bride - Charles Dickens
A man tells his tale of woe of how he is to dwell restless forever. To be honest the guy deserves it. He is cruel, only after money, wills his young bride to die and kills the boy who really loved her. He was hanged for his crimes and is now forced to tell his tale and if only two people will hear it he may be released. However, the young bride has cast her spell well and her revenge is sweet! Perhaps one of the earliest example of real Girl Power.
Man size in Marble - Edith Nesbit
If only in these people would listen to the legends and tales that are being told in these small villages about these cute cottages they move into then there would be so many less ghost stories in the world. In this one a man ignores the tale he hears about statues coming to life. To be honest the locals do their bit to ensure the impending doom is able to play out in full. It all ends in tears as the lovely young bride snuffs it with a cold marble finger clasped in her hand and a look of horror on her face.
Wandering Willie's Tale - Walter Scott
Read this one before as well and struggled with the language then too. But I have to say that despite the dialect that makes it hard to follow what is going on at times this is a really nice tale of a man who goes to Hell and back to gets his receipt for his rent and ensure he clears his name. the story also illustrates very well why monkeys should never be kept as pets... thieving little bastards.
The Upper Berth - F Marion Crawford
Another boat crossing and this time it is a window that will not stay closed and a smelly shape in the top birth that causes the upheaval. Yet our man is not to be messed with, nor is the vessel's captain and they decide to fight the smelly one...bad idea. In the end they all realise that perhaps some times there is nothing that cannot be solved by putting a few nails in a door and never returning to the scene of the horror.
The Open Window - Saki
One of the few funny ghost stories I ever read. It is really more the story of a girl with a wicked imagination but she could not have chosen a more worthy recipient then our Mr Nuttel.
She spins her yarn then sits back and gloats, he runs for the hills and I was left with a smile on my face. Lovely tale!
Title: The Open Door and other ghost stories
Author: Various; Selected by Philip Gooden
245 pages
Phoenix
ISBN# 0-75380-743-2
Books to be read: 134
Books swapped :5
Sunday, 29 June 2014
In it to win it
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!
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, 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...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)