After pondering about it for a while I have now decided to put the blog on hold.
I am going to allow it to have a little rest and hibernation... wishing I could do the same for myself.
As of today I had two more finished books to deduct from the total, bringing it to 127.
Oh, and then let me not forget the one my mum brought over from Holland and the other 5 I bought while she was here.
Thus I end up on a very respectable 133.
Saturday 6 September 2014
Monday 18 August 2014
Making the best of a bad situation
This one is another Dutch one that I brought back from my recent trip to NL. Now... this one has a bit of a tale attached to it. I thought I knew what this one was going to be about... but as I started reading it I found out that I was wrong. In a way this is good news as this book was a pleasant surprise and it means that there is another one out there that I need to get. Another good thing is that half way through to reading this one I remembered the title of the one I thought this one was going to be! It's on my Christmas list now.
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Oorlogswinter - Jan Terlouw
This is another book which is supposedly meant for young people but I still found it a very good read. Not sure what that says about me... hoping it says a lot about the author, that he has managed to keep the story interesting even if you are of slightly more advanced years.
It deals with young Michiel who is a 15 year old boy who is trying to survive during the final winter of World War 2. For him and his family it is relatively easy as they live in the part of Holland that still has working farms so it is able to sustain the locals and some of the refugees flocking in form the cities. Michiel and his family are finding that they seem to have a lot of distant relatives who come to call and are only to happy to take some food for their journey back to the cities in the west.
Michiel is a young lad who does his best to stay out of trouble whilst scrounging up food and other useful items for his family left, right and centre. He kind of unintentionally ends up getting involved in the war and resistance work when he gets delegated the responsibility of taking care of a crashed and injured English pilot who is in hiding. He even ends up helping him escape. It is difficult for Michiel as he is not sure who to trust and who he can ask for help. People he assumes are safe and to be trusted turn out to be the opposite and those whom he avoids might just be the ones to help him. But... being a young lad Michiel kind of feels his way through the final days of the war by living of his wits and having a fair bit of good luck.
Although some of the things that Michiel experiences are kind of all fun and games there is a very serious side to the work he does and to the occupation of the country he lives. One of his friends gets hurt in a attempt by the resistance to rob a local distribution office and then, to make matters worse a dead German soldier is found in the woods. Naturally with all this going on someone has to pay and the Germans waste no time in rounding up some of the more important men of the village. They initially keep them hostage and let the people of the village know that they want the person who killed the soldier to come forward or else. Unfortunately for Michiel his father is the mayor and he is one of the men who is rounded up. Even more unfortunately for Michiel it is his father, together with some others who is made an example of. It is tough for a young lad to deal with but Michiel has to keep it together and take care of his family and those others who come to depend on him. A tough job for any young lad, let alone one trapped in the final stages of the war.
Michiel makes it to the end of the war alive so in a way I guess, it all ends well. But... he has lost some of his family, friends and most of all a lot of his innocence.
Title: Oorlogswinter
Author: Jan Terlouw
169 pages
Lemniscaat
ISBN# 978-90-6069-118-2
Books to be read: 129
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Oorlogswinter - Jan Terlouw
This is another book which is supposedly meant for young people but I still found it a very good read. Not sure what that says about me... hoping it says a lot about the author, that he has managed to keep the story interesting even if you are of slightly more advanced years.
It deals with young Michiel who is a 15 year old boy who is trying to survive during the final winter of World War 2. For him and his family it is relatively easy as they live in the part of Holland that still has working farms so it is able to sustain the locals and some of the refugees flocking in form the cities. Michiel and his family are finding that they seem to have a lot of distant relatives who come to call and are only to happy to take some food for their journey back to the cities in the west.
Michiel is a young lad who does his best to stay out of trouble whilst scrounging up food and other useful items for his family left, right and centre. He kind of unintentionally ends up getting involved in the war and resistance work when he gets delegated the responsibility of taking care of a crashed and injured English pilot who is in hiding. He even ends up helping him escape. It is difficult for Michiel as he is not sure who to trust and who he can ask for help. People he assumes are safe and to be trusted turn out to be the opposite and those whom he avoids might just be the ones to help him. But... being a young lad Michiel kind of feels his way through the final days of the war by living of his wits and having a fair bit of good luck.
Although some of the things that Michiel experiences are kind of all fun and games there is a very serious side to the work he does and to the occupation of the country he lives. One of his friends gets hurt in a attempt by the resistance to rob a local distribution office and then, to make matters worse a dead German soldier is found in the woods. Naturally with all this going on someone has to pay and the Germans waste no time in rounding up some of the more important men of the village. They initially keep them hostage and let the people of the village know that they want the person who killed the soldier to come forward or else. Unfortunately for Michiel his father is the mayor and he is one of the men who is rounded up. Even more unfortunately for Michiel it is his father, together with some others who is made an example of. It is tough for a young lad to deal with but Michiel has to keep it together and take care of his family and those others who come to depend on him. A tough job for any young lad, let alone one trapped in the final stages of the war.
Michiel makes it to the end of the war alive so in a way I guess, it all ends well. But... he has lost some of his family, friends and most of all a lot of his innocence.
Title: Oorlogswinter
Author: Jan Terlouw
169 pages
Lemniscaat
ISBN# 978-90-6069-118-2
Books to be read: 129
Sunday 10 August 2014
Apples are not good for you!
This next one is by one of my favourite authors and if nothing else it serves to illustrate that fruit can get you killed! This may be true only in fiction but hey... why take any chances?!
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Hallowe'en Party - Agatha Christie
In this one Poirot and his little grey cells are called in to investigate a murder that happened at a Hallowe'en party. It is kind of a heinous little crime, especially as it concerns the killing of a young child... well actually two... Almost three. A friend of Poirot's asks for his help when a murder is committed in the village she lives in so our good friend potters down and gets to work. As usual he does not seem to be doing much of anything, certainly not much relating to the murder that happened and wastes his time talking to people about strange happenings of the past and other deaths and strange occurrences that happened years ago. Fortunately Hastings in not here to get all riled up about it and I could read about Poirot pottering about all day if I had to, so I was happy for the leisurely pace the story developed. The one thing that was a bit disturbing in this one was the fact that it involves children being killed. Innocent, all be it silly children being killed. Both pushed with their heads under water until they drowned. The fact that the killer has to strike twice is bad enough but for both to be children that only get killed because they want to feel important and clever is kind of sad.
But, back to our hero. Poirot, after some wandering about gets to the crux of it! He finds out that the girl at the party was killed for saying she saw a murder. Unfortunately for the killer this girl was not the one who really saw the murder all those years ago and the killer has to strike again to prevent being exposed, killing another child. After all this I kind of had a good idea of who the person was who had really seen the murder all those years ago but not yet what that murder then entailed. This takes some more magical deducting from the master behind the scenes, leaving us as the reader in the dark as usual. He pieces together the life story of two of the characters of the book and exposes them for what they are. Ruthless, criminally indulgent towards themselves and selfish to the max. In the end things get a little tense as Poirot has to resort to some hired hands to stop another murder from happening but we manage to get to the end without a third child dying which is a bonus any way you look at it.
For me in this one there were not so many red herrings brought up as the potential murderer. It seems that most of Poirot's, and our time is spent in getting to grips with the history of the people involved in the story and figuring out what is truth and what not. That is perhaps why the dash for the real murderer in the end is quite nice and comforting.
Title: Hallowe'en Party
Author: Agatha Christie
336 pages
Harper Collins
ISBN# 0-00-712068-0
Books to be read: 130
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Hallowe'en Party - Agatha Christie
In this one Poirot and his little grey cells are called in to investigate a murder that happened at a Hallowe'en party. It is kind of a heinous little crime, especially as it concerns the killing of a young child... well actually two... Almost three. A friend of Poirot's asks for his help when a murder is committed in the village she lives in so our good friend potters down and gets to work. As usual he does not seem to be doing much of anything, certainly not much relating to the murder that happened and wastes his time talking to people about strange happenings of the past and other deaths and strange occurrences that happened years ago. Fortunately Hastings in not here to get all riled up about it and I could read about Poirot pottering about all day if I had to, so I was happy for the leisurely pace the story developed. The one thing that was a bit disturbing in this one was the fact that it involves children being killed. Innocent, all be it silly children being killed. Both pushed with their heads under water until they drowned. The fact that the killer has to strike twice is bad enough but for both to be children that only get killed because they want to feel important and clever is kind of sad.
But, back to our hero. Poirot, after some wandering about gets to the crux of it! He finds out that the girl at the party was killed for saying she saw a murder. Unfortunately for the killer this girl was not the one who really saw the murder all those years ago and the killer has to strike again to prevent being exposed, killing another child. After all this I kind of had a good idea of who the person was who had really seen the murder all those years ago but not yet what that murder then entailed. This takes some more magical deducting from the master behind the scenes, leaving us as the reader in the dark as usual. He pieces together the life story of two of the characters of the book and exposes them for what they are. Ruthless, criminally indulgent towards themselves and selfish to the max. In the end things get a little tense as Poirot has to resort to some hired hands to stop another murder from happening but we manage to get to the end without a third child dying which is a bonus any way you look at it.
For me in this one there were not so many red herrings brought up as the potential murderer. It seems that most of Poirot's, and our time is spent in getting to grips with the history of the people involved in the story and figuring out what is truth and what not. That is perhaps why the dash for the real murderer in the end is quite nice and comforting.
Title: Hallowe'en Party
Author: Agatha Christie
336 pages
Harper Collins
ISBN# 0-00-712068-0
Books to be read: 130
I blame George
I have been meaning to do my reviews for the past few days but my latest music purchase has kept me from getting to work on them.... George Ezra is proving to be quite the little distraction. Well at least, that is what I am telling myself. It is probably more a combination of being busy with nothing in particular and a good dose of procrastination that has kept me from doing my civic duty.
But, not one to be able to bear looking at a stack of books randomly sitting in my table for too long I finally managed to get myself in the writing mood.
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
My first thought after I had finished the book was "I wonder how they managed to make more than one movie out of this one?" I can't say I was really disappointed with it but can't say I was completely bowled over by it either. If I had to break the world record for briefly describing a book I would say this one was Hobbit meets dwarfs (funny), goes on adventure discovers he is a hero, finds a little "precious", does not kill the dragon (disappointing), gets involved in epic battle (chaaaaaarge) and goes home again.
It was good to get to meet Bilbo and to learn a little more about the attitude of the hobbits to travel - they hate it, and about being different - they hate that too. You also get to meet Gandalf, who seems to be doing a lot less magic in this one than he did in the Lord of the Rings. One thing that I did have to remind myself not to do was to see these dwarfs in my head as similar to the ones that are in the Disney movie. Tolkien's dwarfs would have my guts for breakfast if I did. These guys are dyed in the wool fighting machines and not to be confused by the fluffy Disney version... and they are all the better for it.
One of the most fun parts of the book is the chapters where the dwarfs descend one by one on Bilbo, eat all his food, and decide that they will give him a shot as their main Burglar. It seems an unlikely task to be put upon the home-bound hobbit but it turns out Bilbo is a fast learner and ends up getting them all out of a scrape or two. As they set off on their trip to find the Lonely Mountain, Smaug and their gold they get captured several times, almost killed by lots of spiders but also get to spend some time with Beorn and the Elves. Beorn is one of my favourite characters. He is a man built like a bear who has this perfect set up tucked away in the forest where every animal seems happy and no danger could possibly assail the posse. Along the way Bilbo meets Gollum and has a riddles contest with him. Bilbo is quite good at this riddles thing... better than I would be. We also see how Bilbo comes to have the ring (by a complete fluke). Yes - The Ring... the one that launches a three part follow up story). The scrapping that happens on the way to the Lonely mountain is suitably entertaining and you can tell that along the way Bilbo grows in confidence in his role as burglar and escape artist. Although at times Gandalf has to step in and take charge to keep them on track and out of the cooking pots.The dwarfs want the gold but Bilbo is the one that come up with the ideas to get them out of the messes they are in when they meet a new foe. He enables them to succeed. Therefore I found it a bit of a let down that he was not the one to kill Smaug. He finds his way down the mountain to taunt Smaug and he squirrels away some gold without Smaug noticing him but in the end Smaug is felled by a human arrow.
The battle at the end is Epic... with a capital E. Everyone turns up for it; human, elf , dwarf and Beorn. Naturally they conquer evil in the end but it is still nice to have them all fight together to achieve it. I think Tolkien was an eternal optimist of the good in mankind and it truly shows in battle like this. good will conquer evil! Even if he has get every last animal on earth to fight at Good's side.
Bilbo is never the same once he gets back home. I think he has developed a certain kind of restlessness that comes with having great adventures, seeing and exploring new words. New impressions are always needed and things are never quite the same once you get back home. Especially not if you have to get your own family to believe that you are actually not dead and to please give back your furniture.
As I was reading this one I was quite aware that it made sense to read this one before reading the Lord of the Rings. Characters and mythology is introduced that would have helped give more depth to the follow up. However, still think that the Lord of the Rings trilogy holds up well without having read this one. It is a nice addition to it but not essential reading before you plunge into that epic tale... Tolkien might disagree?
Liked it? Yes I did. Almost tempted me to go and read the Lord of the Rings again. If it wasn't for the little matter of about 130 books still left to read I might have.
Title: The Hobbit
Author: JRR Tolkien
280 pages
Harper Collins
ISBN# 0-261-10221-4
Books to be read: 131
But, not one to be able to bear looking at a stack of books randomly sitting in my table for too long I finally managed to get myself in the writing mood.
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
My first thought after I had finished the book was "I wonder how they managed to make more than one movie out of this one?" I can't say I was really disappointed with it but can't say I was completely bowled over by it either. If I had to break the world record for briefly describing a book I would say this one was Hobbit meets dwarfs (funny), goes on adventure discovers he is a hero, finds a little "precious", does not kill the dragon (disappointing), gets involved in epic battle (chaaaaaarge) and goes home again.
It was good to get to meet Bilbo and to learn a little more about the attitude of the hobbits to travel - they hate it, and about being different - they hate that too. You also get to meet Gandalf, who seems to be doing a lot less magic in this one than he did in the Lord of the Rings. One thing that I did have to remind myself not to do was to see these dwarfs in my head as similar to the ones that are in the Disney movie. Tolkien's dwarfs would have my guts for breakfast if I did. These guys are dyed in the wool fighting machines and not to be confused by the fluffy Disney version... and they are all the better for it.
One of the most fun parts of the book is the chapters where the dwarfs descend one by one on Bilbo, eat all his food, and decide that they will give him a shot as their main Burglar. It seems an unlikely task to be put upon the home-bound hobbit but it turns out Bilbo is a fast learner and ends up getting them all out of a scrape or two. As they set off on their trip to find the Lonely Mountain, Smaug and their gold they get captured several times, almost killed by lots of spiders but also get to spend some time with Beorn and the Elves. Beorn is one of my favourite characters. He is a man built like a bear who has this perfect set up tucked away in the forest where every animal seems happy and no danger could possibly assail the posse. Along the way Bilbo meets Gollum and has a riddles contest with him. Bilbo is quite good at this riddles thing... better than I would be. We also see how Bilbo comes to have the ring (by a complete fluke). Yes - The Ring... the one that launches a three part follow up story). The scrapping that happens on the way to the Lonely mountain is suitably entertaining and you can tell that along the way Bilbo grows in confidence in his role as burglar and escape artist. Although at times Gandalf has to step in and take charge to keep them on track and out of the cooking pots.The dwarfs want the gold but Bilbo is the one that come up with the ideas to get them out of the messes they are in when they meet a new foe. He enables them to succeed. Therefore I found it a bit of a let down that he was not the one to kill Smaug. He finds his way down the mountain to taunt Smaug and he squirrels away some gold without Smaug noticing him but in the end Smaug is felled by a human arrow.
The battle at the end is Epic... with a capital E. Everyone turns up for it; human, elf , dwarf and Beorn. Naturally they conquer evil in the end but it is still nice to have them all fight together to achieve it. I think Tolkien was an eternal optimist of the good in mankind and it truly shows in battle like this. good will conquer evil! Even if he has get every last animal on earth to fight at Good's side.
Bilbo is never the same once he gets back home. I think he has developed a certain kind of restlessness that comes with having great adventures, seeing and exploring new words. New impressions are always needed and things are never quite the same once you get back home. Especially not if you have to get your own family to believe that you are actually not dead and to please give back your furniture.
As I was reading this one I was quite aware that it made sense to read this one before reading the Lord of the Rings. Characters and mythology is introduced that would have helped give more depth to the follow up. However, still think that the Lord of the Rings trilogy holds up well without having read this one. It is a nice addition to it but not essential reading before you plunge into that epic tale... Tolkien might disagree?
Liked it? Yes I did. Almost tempted me to go and read the Lord of the Rings again. If it wasn't for the little matter of about 130 books still left to read I might have.
Title: The Hobbit
Author: JRR Tolkien
280 pages
Harper Collins
ISBN# 0-261-10221-4
Books to be read: 131
Wednesday 16 July 2014
A... MA... ZING
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
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
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
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