Captain's (Reading) Log: Stardate 2013.01-.365

The Damned United by David Peace - A football novel based upon real people and events in the football league in 1970s England written in a stream of consciousness style with intercut flashbacks.

Snuff Terry Pratchett - Commander Vimes brings Goblin equality to the country.

Pure - An engineer from Normandy is commissioned by a French Minister to dig out and remove the bones and bodies that have built up and begun affecting the air in the cemetery of Les Innocents in 18th century Paris. (The site of modern day Les Halles).

Life and Fate by Vassily Grossmann. Grossman's epic, banned after it was written, has been compared to Tolstoy's War and Peace. I would agree that the novel, which spans the months during and after the fight for Stalingrad in WW2, is a brilliant depiction the life of soldiers, commisars, civilians, old Bolsheviks, Nazi commanders, prisoners and scientists. It details the lives, loves, characters, thoughts, flaws and pressures of living under Stalin's regime.

No Country For Old Men by Cormac Mcarthy. A bleak, violent but philosophical novel that challenges the effectiveness of the cowboy/ American icon of the self sufficient, capable and honourable man. The psychopath Chigurh survives the course of the novel with his bleak, nihilistic belief in predestination.

All The Pretty Horses by Cormac Mcarthy. Not as bleak as No Country, or Blood Meridian, but full of brilliant landscape evocations of Mexico with a ripping story. I've never ridden a horse, and I am unlikely to, (though you might be fooled into thinking I had with my bandy legs), but I enjoyed this almost mystical celebration of horses and their relation to people.

Eon by Greg Bear Interesting sci fi with good ideas and a story that keeps you engrossed to the end.

A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr Bernie Gunther - ex Berlin detective co-opted as an investigator into an organisation of judges looking into war crimes - is called upon to uncover and present the mass grave at Katyn Woods near Smolensk as a Soviet Russian war crime in order to boost Nazi standing abroad. Great plot, instructive historical context and ripping thriller. I really enjoyed this one.

The Odin Mission by James Holland. Routine WW2 thriller, though I liked finding out details of the Norwegian campaign.

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Excellent sci fi exploring the unknowableness of an alien nature and its attempts to connect with scientists studying it on Solaris.

The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris. Morris claims in the blurb that everything you think you know about the Norman Conquest is wrong, and so it proves to be. Harold wasn't the rightful King - he was just in a powerful enough position to take the crown before losing it to William. An interesting and enlightening read about the Norman Conquest.

The Winter King by Thomas Penn. I decided to read this because I knew very little about Henry VII and so much more about Henry VIII. What a brilliant example of a king! Grasping, exploitative and paranoid. No wonder his son turned out as he did. This was another interesting volume, and definitely one to fuel latent republican tendencies.

The Penny Falls by Mark Bastable. This book, by our own poster Mark, is funny, packed with interesting observations and has a plot with more twists than that twisty thing Blackadder used to go on about. The narrative structure is complex and interesting, and the characters are vivid and well realised. If you've read any of Mark's comments and conversations on the forum, then you'll recognise his voice in here too - from his use of Amsterdam as a setting, (he's referred to living there on these boards), to the humour. "I'd rather nail my scrotum to a passing train" comes to mind. A very enjoyable read.

Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys. A fantastic premise - Alien artefact discovered on moon keeps killing those who try to explore it - turns out to be a disappointing novel full of psychobabble masquerading as a reflection on death. The exploration part - when it comes - is the weakest part of the book.

Sun Diver by David Brin A hard science sci fi with an intergalactic civilisations, ETs, spaceflight, missions into the sun to meet new ETs, murder, sabotage and tech. An enjoyable sci fi with twists.

The Space Merchants by Pohl and Kornbluth A top advertising exec experiences life as a consumer and revolutionary in this grungy dystopian vision of corporate power. It's vision is relevant and very interesting given it was written in 1952.

Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil A Bombay addict introduces us to a variety of characters associated with an opium den through the 80s and 90s. Their lives are traced through their stories, which are mainly tragic. Thayil seems unnecessarily brutal in this book, which reminded me of 70s pulp novels. There is also a lack of female characterisation, despite the presence of Dimple who is referred to as a woman throughout the book, and seems to represent what female views are expressed, but who is a eunuch.

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spartk
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
In the Red Room by Paul Bowles (short story) That man can write the most disconcerting, yet fascinating stuff.
Shooting an Elephant George Orwell If this man had written the phone book I would read it. My favorites were "How the Poor Die" and "Such, Such Were the Joys," and "A Hanging," followed by "The Prevention of Literature," "Charles Dickens," "Politics v. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver's Travels," "Some Thoughts on the Common Toad," "Reflections on Gandhi." I would hope it goes without saying that of course I love "Shooting an Elephant" and "Politics and the English Language." The former is on of my very favorite essays ever.
Lost Paradise Cees Nooteboom This is a short novel, but one I keep returning to in my thoughts. I recommend it.
I Hunt Killers Barry Lyga A YA novel about a young man whose father is a notorious serial killer. Basically a fairly light read, but it nevertheless ponders what values of our parents we choose to keep and how we are shaped by them-and how sometimes we fight that when the parenting has been really, really bad.
Divergent Veronica Roth Another YA book, this one about a dystopian society set sometime in the future.
Code Orange Caroline B. Cooney Yet another YA novel. This one boasts an extremely likable protagonist, an easy-going high school kid whose suddenly faced with his own mortality and danger to his beloved New York City.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes
Waiter, A Bock by Guy de Maupassant (short story)

16. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis - 6/10 It was pretty good, and although it contains naiads, dryads, dwarves, fauns, satyrs, Cruels and Hags and Incubuses, Wraiths, Horrors, Efreets, Sprites, Orknies, Wooses, and Ettins, they mostly appear only in lists like this and do not have much to do with the action, so it was OK. :D I didn't enjoy it as much as The Magician's Nephew, my only other Narnia book and a book that I really fell in love with, but I was a kid when I read it so I guess that accounts for it.

The Prophecy by S J Parris. 7/10

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. 6/10

The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus 7/10

The Persians by Aeschylus. 7/10

The Widows Secret by Brian Thompson. 7/10 (Book club choice)

Prometheus Bound. by Aeschylus

The Lost World. by Arthur Conan Doyle. 7/10

King John. By Shakespeare

The Voyage Out. By Virginia Woolf.

Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrna. 7/10

Engleby. by Sebastian Faulks. 8/10

Penny Falls. By Mark Bastable. 8/10

Interesting and well written. A very unusual story of brotherly relationships and obligations. At his best when he makes us laugh

The Epic of Gilgamesh 7/10

The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack:
25 Classic and Modern Science Fiction Stories.
Arthur C. Clarke, Nancy Kress, George Zebrowski, Neal Asher, Pamela Sargent, Philip K. Dick, Mary A. Turzillo, C.M. Kornbluth, Samuel R. Delany

A couple of stories I'd read before, a couple of good ones and some that weren't up to much .6/10

Paths of Glory. By Jeffrey Archer.
The semi-fictional story of George Mallory, Mountaineer and Hero of the British Empire. It should've been really good, but it wasn't. I suspect a factual biography of this remarkable man would be more exciting and interesting. 6.5/10

The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Tales of derring a do, a hoodlum is reformed by the love of a good woman. 6/10

Elizabeth and her German Garden. by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
Wonderful, funny, semi autobiographical woman's journal. I have posted a review on the Book Review Thread. An unprecedented 9 out of 10.

The John Carter of Mars series. by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Think Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, James Bond and all that sort of stuff - only even more over the top. Excellent yarn for a twelve year old, I quite enjoyed it 7/10

The Time Machine. by HG Wells . You know the plot . 7/10

The Enchanted April. by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
4 women heal themselves by taking a holiday in a wisteria clad castle in Italy. 7.5/10

Lady Chatterley's Lover. by DH Lawrence.

Lady Chatterley rejects the intellectual and empty life with her crippled husband, to find true love through some down to earth shagging with Mellors the gamekeeper. 8/10

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. by Rachel Joyce

A man walks 600 miles on a whim/act of faith.
I really liked this one, uncluttered and moving . The author instictively knows what to include and what to leave out - A much underated skill. Her characters are believable, their thoughts and outlook are those of real people. So you care. 8.5/10 .

Slaughter House Five. by kurt Vonnegut.
A strange tale of time travel, alien abduction and the Dresden bombing. I haven't read anything else of his, but thought it was written in a -look how clever I am and never mind the story, style. I enjoyed it all the same. 7.5/10

Life and Fate By Vassily Grossman.

Chose this after seeing Paulclem's comments. Too big to really grasp, like a 20th century War and Peace set around the battle for Stalingrad. Grossman is saying that however much the great Monolithic states of Germany and Russia try to control every aspect of their citizen's lives and thoughts, (and their reach extends even into cut off front line bunkers) there is always refuge to be found in the tiny acts of kindness and connections between individuals. And that is what really makes a society. 7.5/10

[QUOTE=prendrelemick;1237618]The Prophecy by S J Parris. 7/10

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. 6/10

The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus 7/10

The Persians by Aeschylus. 7/10

The Widows Secret by Brian Thompson. 7/10 (Book club choice)

Prometheus Bound. by Aeschylus

The Lost World. by Arthur Conan Doyle. 7/10

King John. By Shakespeare

The Voyage Out. By Virginia Woolf.

Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrna. 7/10

Engleby. by Sebastian Faulks. 8/10

Penny Falls. By Mark Bastable. 8/10

Interesting and well written. A very unusual story of brotherly relationships and obligations. At his best when he makes us laugh

The Epic of Gilgamesh 7/10

The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack:
25 Classic and Modern Science Fiction Stories.
Arthur C. Clarke, Nancy Kress, George Zebrowski, Neal Asher, Pamela Sargent, Philip K. Dick, Mary A. Turzillo, C.M. Kornbluth, Samuel R. Delany

A couple of stories I'd read before, a couple of good ones and some that weren't up to much .6/10

Paths of Glory. By Jeffrey Archer.
The semi-fictional story of George Mallory, Mountaineer and Hero of the British Empire. It should've been really good, but it wasn't. I suspect a factual biography of this remarkable man would be more exciting and interesting. 6.5/10

The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Tales of derring a do, a hoodlum is reformed by the love of a good woman. 6/10

Elizabeth and her German Garden. by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
Wonderful, funny, semi autobiographical woman's journal. I have posted a review on the Book Review Thread. An unprecedented 9 out of 10.

The John Carter of Mars series. by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Think Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, James Bond and all that sort of stuff - only even more over the top. Excellent yarn for a twelve year old, I quite enjoyed it 7/10

The Time Machine. by HG Wells . You know the plot . 7/10

The Enchanted April. by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
4 women heal themselves by taking a holiday in a wisteria clad castle in Italy. 7.5/10

Lady Chatterley's Lover. by DH Lawrence.

Lady Chatterley rejects the intellectual and empty life with her crippled husband, to find true love through some down to earth shagging with Mellors the gamekeeper. 8/10

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. by Rachel Joyce

A man walks 600 miles on a whim/act of faith.
I really liked this one, uncluttered and moving . The author instictively knows what to include and what to leave out - A much underated skill. Her characters are believable, their thoughts and outlook are those of real people. So you care. 8.5/10 .

Slaughter House Five. by kurt Vonnegut.
A strange tale of time travel, alien abduction and the Dresden bombing. I haven't read anything else of his, but thought it was written in a -look how clever I am and never mind the story, style. I enjoyed it all the same. 7.5/10

Life and Fate By Vassily Grossman.

Chose this after seeing Paulclem's comments. Too big to really grasp, like a 20th century War and Peace set around the battle for Stalingrad. Grossman is saying that however much the great Monolithic states of Germany and Russia try to control every aspect of their citizen's lives and thoughts, (and their reach extends even into cut off front line bunkers) there is always refuge to be found in the tiny acts of kindness and connections between individuals. And that is what really makes a society. 7.5/10

Night and Day. by irginia Wool. (and my keyboard is aulty again)

A supposed romance by someone who is too interllectual and has too much to say to write a good one. It 'elt 'ery 'ery long. 6.5/10

I'm not going to rate books, but if I feel compelled to make comments on them I will do so.

1. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
I thought the sentimental melodrama of the third part was a chore to read, but found everything before that to be exceptional.

2. How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
Unintelligent analyses from someone with a very juvenile sense of the world. Generalisations heaped upon generalisations. No suprise as dumb books sell big. She is arrogant enough to cast aspersions on feminist academics in the introduction, before commencing four hundred pages of crass ranting. A large part of her analytic strategy is to judge the value of all female activity on whether men do them too, underlined at the end of the book when she declares, 'I just want to be one of the guys, but with really good hair'. As for the comedy, her main technique was to use hyperbolic similes that had the sophistication of a child. I might have found some passages funny had I read the book, but listening to it in audio format made it seem like a bad stand-up routine.

3. Hard Times by Charles Dickens
My impression is that Dickens had a lot he wanted to say in this novel and, at only 288 pages, he had a very short amount of time in which to say it. The result was that the characters were placed efficiently into appropriate archetpyes, but they were not given the time to be fleshed out. David Copperfield shows how well he could write characters. Logic is telling me I should stick to reading his longer books if I want a really engaging plot and cast of characters.

4. Delusions of Gender: the Real Science Behind Sex Difference by Cordelia Fine
In some passages, this book blew my mind and challenged my perceptions in the extreme, and I'm a feminist. Logically, everyone should read this book; even the best of us has a level of subconscious sexism within, and this book makes the reader confront theirs head-on. Scientific thoroughness may be interpreted as repetitiveness by some readers, as she painstakingly tests her arguments from all possible angles, often guiding us to the same conclusions multiple times within a chapter. For me, an unwanted effect of this book is to disempower the individual. For instance, she exposes the futility of gender-neutral parenting, and it's very disheartening to read. Yet she concludes happily that, unbelievably (scarcasm), genes are not defining, and hormones are not gospel! I blame the whole mess on capitalism.

5. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
I liked the first part more than the long middle section. The conflicts with his family, the struggle for indentity in school, the clash of faiths, and colonialism are all very current themes. The middle section was, to me, an overwritten, tiresome slog. We know Pi survives because he wrote the account; there is no tension or suspense. Instead, Yann asks us to finish his book under the assumption that we, as readers, are unenlightened atheists who need to reach the end of his book to find hope and faith in our cold, rational lives. Yann Martel is one of those religious people who cannot tolerate or understand people who have no faith. It's a childrens's book. One good thing it would do is flush out all the anthropomorphic mush filling kids' heads as a result of too much children's television.

6. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

7. And Justice for Some by Wendy Murphy

8. Written on the Skin: An Australian Forensic Casebook by Liz Porter

9. And Then the Darkness by Sue Williams

10. Inside Their Minds: Australian Criminals by Rochelle Jackson

11. Beyond Bad: the Life and Crimes of Katherine Knight, Australia's Hannibal by Sandra Lee

12. The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature by Elizabeth Kantor

13. Contemporary Literature: the Basics by Suman Gupta

14. Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Paulclem

The Damned United by David Peace - A football novel based upon real people and events in the football league in 1970s England written in a stream of consciousness style with intercut flashbacks.

Snuff Terry Pratchett - Commander Vimes brings Goblin equality to the country.

Pure - An engineer from Normandy is commissioned by a French Minister to dig out and remove the bones and bodies that have built up and begun affecting the air in the cemetery of Les Innocents in 18th century Paris. (The site of modern day Les Halles).

Life and Fate by Vassily Grossmann. Grossman's epic, banned after it was written, has been compared to Tolstoy's War and Peace. I would agree that the novel, which spans the months during and after the fight for Stalingrad in WW2, is a brilliant depiction the life of soldiers, commisars, civilians, old Bolsheviks, Nazi commanders, prisoners and scientists. It details the lives, loves, characters, thoughts, flaws and pressures of living under Stalin's regime.

No Country For Old Men by Cormac Mcarthy. A bleak, violent but philosophical novel that challenges the effectiveness of the cowboy/ American icon of the self sufficient, capable and honourable man. The psychopath Chigurh survives the course of the novel with his bleak, nihilistic belief in predestination.

All The Pretty Horses by Cormac Mcarthy. Not as bleak as No Country, or Blood Meridian, but full of brilliant landscape evocations of Mexico with a ripping story. I've never ridden a horse, and I am unlikely to, (though you might be fooled into thinking I had with my bandy legs), but I enjoyed this almost mystical celebration of horses and their relation to people.

Eon by Greg Bear Interesting sci fi with good ideas and a story that keeps you engrossed to the end.

A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr Bernie Gunther - ex Berlin detective co-opted as an investigator into an organisation of judges looking into war crimes - is called upon to uncover and present the mass grave at Katyn Woods near Smolensk as a Soviet Russian war crime in order to boost Nazi standing abroad. Great plot, instructive historical context and ripping thriller. I really enjoyed this one.

The Odin Mission by James Holland. Routine WW2 thriller, though I liked finding out details of the Norwegian campaign.

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Excellent sci fi exploring the unknowableness of an alien nature and its attempts to connect with scientists studying it on Solaris.

The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris. Morris claims in the blurb that everything you think you know about the Norman Conquest is wrong, and so it proves to be. Harold wasn't the rightful King - he was just in a powerful enough position to take the crown before losing it to William. An interesting and enlightening read about the Norman Conquest.

The Winter King by Thomas Penn. I decided to read this because I knew very little about Henry VII and so much more about Henry VIII. What a brilliant example of a king! Grasping, exploitative and paranoid. No wonder his son turned out as he did. This was another interesting volume, and definitely one to fuel latent republican tendencies.

The Penny Falls by Mark Bastable. This book, by our own poster Mark, is funny, packed with interesting observations and has a plot with more twists than that twisty thing Blackadder used to go on about. The narrative structure is complex and interesting, and the characters are vivid and well realised. If you've read any of Mark's comments and conversations on the forum, then you'll recognise his voice in here too - from his use of Amsterdam as a setting, (he's referred to living there on these boards), to the humour. "I'd rather nail my scrotum to a passing train" comes to mind. A very enjoyable read.

Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys. A fantastic premise - Alien artefact discovered on moon keeps killing those who try to explore it - turns out to be a disappointing novel full of psychobabble masquerading as a reflection on death. The exploration part - when it comes - is the weakest part of the book.

Sun Diver by David Brin A hard science sci fi with an intergalactic civilisations, ETs, spaceflight, missions into the sun to meet new ETs, murder, sabotage and tech. An enjoyable sci fi with twists.

The Space Merchants by Pohl and Kornbluth A top advertising exec experiences life as a consumer and revolutionary in this grungy dystopian vision of corporate power. It's vision is relevant and very interesting given it was written in 1952.

Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil A Bombay addict introduces us to a variety of characters associated with an opium den through the 80s and 90s. Their lives are traced through their stories, which are mainly tragic. Thayil seems unnecessarily brutal in this book, which reminded me of 70s pulp novels. There is also a lack of female characterisation, despite the presence of Dimple who is referred to as a woman throughout the book, and seems to represent what female views are expressed, but who is a eunuch.

---

A Dark Summer in Bordeaux by Philip Massie. A slow paced murder/ thriller whose interest lies in the response of the characters t to the Nazi takeover of France in WW2 and the Vichy government.

Uplift Trilogy Book 2 by David Brin Written in the 1980's, this hard science book has a mixed dolphin/ chimpanzee/ human crew searching an alien water world from a hidden spacecraft after needing repairs following the discovery of an ancient alien artefact and attack by other galactic members. An enjoyable read.

[QUOTE=prendrelemick;1241995][QUOTE=prendrelemick;1237618]The Prophecy by S J Parris. 7/10

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. 6/10

The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus 7/10

The Persians by Aeschylus. 7/10

The Widows Secret by Brian Thompson. 7/10 (Book club choice)

Prometheus Bound. by Aeschylus

The Lost World. by Arthur Conan Doyle. 7/10

King John. By Shakespeare

The Voyage Out. By Virginia Woolf.

Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrna. 7/10

Engleby. by Sebastian Faulks. 8/10

Penny Falls. By Mark Bastable. 8/10

Interesting and well written. A very unusual story of brotherly relationships and obligations. At his best when he makes us laugh

The Epic of Gilgamesh 7/10

The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack:
25 Classic and Modern Science Fiction Stories.
Arthur C. Clarke, Nancy Kress, George Zebrowski, Neal Asher, Pamela Sargent, Philip K. Dick, Mary A. Turzillo, C.M. Kornbluth, Samuel R. Delany

A couple of stories I'd read before, a couple of good ones and some that weren't up to much .6/10

Paths of Glory. By Jeffrey Archer.
The semi-fictional story of George Mallory, Mountaineer and Hero of the British Empire. It should've been really good, but it wasn't. I suspect a factual biography of this remarkable man would be more exciting and interesting. 6.5/10

The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Tales of derring a do, a hoodlum is reformed by the love of a good woman. 6/10

Elizabeth and her German Garden. by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
Wonderful, funny, semi autobiographical woman's journal. I have posted a review on the Book Review Thread. An unprecedented 9 out of 10.

The John Carter of Mars series. by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Think Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, James Bond and all that sort of stuff - only even more over the top. Excellent yarn for a twelve year old, I quite enjoyed it 7/10

The Time Machine. by HG Wells . You know the plot . 7/10

The Enchanted April. by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
4 women heal themselves by taking a holiday in a wisteria clad castle in Italy. 7.5/10

Lady Chatterley's Lover. by DH Lawrence.

Lady Chatterley rejects the intellectual and empty life with her crippled husband, to find true love through some down to earth shagging with Mellors the gamekeeper. 8/10

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. by Rachel Joyce

A man walks 600 miles on a whim/act of faith.
I really liked this one, uncluttered and moving . The author instictively knows what to include and what to leave out - A much underated skill. Her characters are believable, their thoughts and outlook are those of real people. So you care. 8.5/10 .

Slaughter House Five. by kurt Vonnegut.
A strange tale of time travel, alien abduction and the Dresden bombing. I haven't read anything else of his, but thought it was written in a -look how clever I am and never mind the story, style. I enjoyed it all the same. 7.5/10

Life and Fate By Vassily Grossman.

Chose this after seeing Paulclem's comments. Too big to really grasp, like a 20th century War and Peace set around the battle for Stalingrad. Grossman is saying that however much the great Monolithic states of Germany and Russia try to control every aspect of their citizen's lives and thoughts, (and their reach extends even into cut off front line bunkers) there is always refuge to be found in the tiny acts of kindness and connections between individuals. And that is what really makes a society. 7.5/10

Night and Day. by irginia Wool. (and my keyboard is aulty again)

A supposed romance by someone who is too interllectual and has too much to say to write a good one. It 'elt 'ery 'ery long. 6.5/10[



Shakespeare. by Bill Bryson.

Excellent read. A biography of the Bard, Bryson sorts the wheat from the chaff. He tells us exactly what is really known and provable about him (very little) and what is just speculation and myth. Then he does a bit more, he tracks the myths down to their origin and uncovers the wishful thinking and predjudices that led to them, and the suprising alacrity with which learned men, who should've known better, took them up. Very readable and good fun. 8/10

The Damned United by David Peace - A football novel based upon real people and events in the football league in 1970s England written in a stream of consciousness style with intercut flashbacks.

Snuff Terry Pratchett - Commander Vimes brings Goblin equality to the country.

Pure - An engineer from Normandy is commissioned by a French Minister to dig out and remove the bones and bodies that have built up and begun affecting the air in the cemetery of Les Innocents in 18th century Paris. (The site of modern day Les Halles).

Life and Fate by Vassily Grossmann. Grossman's epic, banned after it was written, has been compared to Tolstoy's War and Peace. I would agree that the novel, which spans the months during and after the fight for Stalingrad in WW2, is a brilliant depiction the life of soldiers, commisars, civilians, old Bolsheviks, Nazi commanders, prisoners and scientists. It details the lives, loves, characters, thoughts, flaws and pressures of living under Stalin's regime.

No Country For Old Men by Cormac Mcarthy. A bleak, violent but philosophical novel that challenges the effectiveness of the cowboy/ American icon of the self sufficient, capable and honourable man. The psychopath Chigurh survives the course of the novel with his bleak, nihilistic belief in predestination.

All The Pretty Horses by Cormac Mcarthy. Not as bleak as No Country, or Blood Meridian, but full of brilliant landscape evocations of Mexico with a ripping story. I've never ridden a horse, and I am unlikely to, (though you might be fooled into thinking I had with my bandy legs), but I enjoyed this almost mystical celebration of horses and their relation to people.

Eon by Greg Bear Interesting sci fi with good ideas and a story that keeps you engrossed to the end.

A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr Bernie Gunther - ex Berlin detective co-opted as an investigator into an organisation of judges looking into war crimes - is called upon to uncover and present the mass grave at Katyn Woods near Smolensk as a Soviet Russian war crime in order to boost Nazi standing abroad. Great plot, instructive historical context and ripping thriller. I really enjoyed this one.

The Odin Mission by James Holland. Routine WW2 thriller, though I liked finding out details of the Norwegian campaign.

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Excellent sci fi exploring the unknowableness of an alien nature and its attempts to connect with scientists studying it on Solaris.

The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris. Morris claims in the blurb that everything you think you know about the Norman Conquest is wrong, and so it proves to be. Harold wasn't the rightful King - he was just in a powerful enough position to take the crown before losing it to William. An interesting and enlightening read about the Norman Conquest.

The Winter King by Thomas Penn. I decided to read this because I knew very little about Henry VII and so much more about Henry VIII. What a brilliant example of a king! Grasping, exploitative and paranoid. No wonder his son turned out as he did. This was another interesting volume, and definitely one to fuel latent republican tendencies.

The Penny Falls by Mark Bastable. This book, by our own poster Mark, is funny, packed with interesting observations and has a plot with more twists than that twisty thing Blackadder used to go on about. The narrative structure is complex and interesting, and the characters are vivid and well realised. If you've read any of Mark's comments and conversations on the forum, then you'll recognise his voice in here too - from his use of Amsterdam as a setting, (he's referred to living there on these boards), to the humour. "I'd rather nail my scrotum to a passing train" comes to mind. A very enjoyable read.

Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys. A fantastic premise - Alien artefact discovered on moon keeps killing those who try to explore it - turns out to be a disappointing novel full of psychobabble masquerading as a reflection on death. The exploration part - when it comes - is the weakest part of the book.

Sun Diver by David Brin A hard science sci fi with an intergalactic civilisations, ETs, spaceflight, missions into the sun to meet new ETs, murder, sabotage and tech. An enjoyable sci fi with twists.

The Space Merchants by Pohl and Kornbluth A top advertising exec experiences life as a consumer and revolutionary in this grungy dystopian vision of corporate power. It's vision is relevant and very interesting given it was written in 1952.

Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil A Bombay addict introduces us to a variety of characters associated with an opium den through the 80s and 90s. Their lives are traced through their stories, which are mainly tragic. Thayil seems unnecessarily brutal in this book, which reminded me of 70s pulp novels. There is also a lack of female characterisation, despite the presence of Dimple who is referred to as a woman throughout the book, and seems to represent what female views are expressed, but who is a eunuch.
A Dark Summer in Bordeaux by Philip Massie. A slow paced murder/ thriller whose interest lies in the response of the characters t to the Nazi takeover of France in WW2 and the Vichy government.

Uplift Trilogy Book 2 by David Brin Written in the 1980's, this hard science book has a mixed dolphin/ chimpanzee/ human crew searching an alien water world from a hidden spacecraft after needing repairs following the discovery of an ancient alien artefact and attack by other galactic members. An enjoyable read.

Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski A book full of stories and opinions and observations. It is funny and often ghastly, but Bukowski's honesty and outsider perspective makes him, overall, a sympathetic character in a depressing and often brutal world.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Paulclem

1) The Damned United by David Peace - A football novel based upon real people and events in the football league in 1970s England written in a stream of consciousness style with intercut flashbacks.

2) Snuff Terry Pratchett - Commander Vimes brings Goblin equality to the country.

3) Pure - An engineer from Normandy is commissioned by a French Minister to dig out and remove the bones and bodies that have built up and begun affecting the air in the cemetery of Les Innocents in 18th century Paris. (The site of modern day Les Halles).

4) Life and Fate by Vassily Grossmann. Grossman's epic, banned after it was written, has been compared to Tolstoy's War and Peace. I would agree that the novel, which spans the months during and after the fight for Stalingrad in WW2, is a brilliant depiction the life of soldiers, commisars, civilians, old Bolsheviks, Nazi commanders, prisoners and scientists. It details the lives, loves, characters, thoughts, flaws and pressures of living under Stalin's regime.

5) No Country For Old Men by Cormac Mcarthy. A bleak, violent but philosophical novel that challenges the effectiveness of the cowboy/ American icon of the self sufficient, capable and honourable man. The psychopath Chigurh survives the course of the novel with his bleak, nihilistic belief in predestination.

6) All The Pretty Horses by Cormac Mcarthy. Not as bleak as No Country, or Blood Meridian, but full of brilliant landscape evocations of Mexico with a ripping story. I've never ridden a horse, and I am unlikely to, (though you might be fooled into thinking I had with my bandy legs), but I enjoyed this almost mystical celebration of horses and their relation to people.

7) Eon by Greg Bear Interesting sci fi with good ideas and a story that keeps you engrossed to the end.

8) A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr Bernie Gunther - ex Berlin detective co-opted as an investigator into an organisation of judges looking into war crimes - is called upon to uncover and present the mass grave at Katyn Woods near Smolensk as a Soviet Russian war crime in order to boost Nazi standing abroad. Great plot, instructive historical context and ripping thriller. I really enjoyed this one.

9) The Odin Mission by James Holland. Routine WW2 thriller, though I liked finding out details of the Norwegian campaign.

10) Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Excellent sci fi exploring the unknowableness of an alien nature and its attempts to connect with scientists studying it on Solaris.

11) The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris. Morris claims in the blurb that everything you think you know about the Norman Conquest is wrong, and so it proves to be. Harold wasn't the rightful King - he was just in a powerful enough position to take the crown before losing it to William. An interesting and enlightening read about the Norman Conquest.

12) The Winter King by Thomas Penn. I decided to read this because I knew very little about Henry VII and so much more about Henry VIII. What a brilliant example of a king! Grasping, exploitative and paranoid. No wonder his son turned out as he did. This was another interesting volume, and definitely one to fuel latent republican tendencies.

13) The Penny Falls by Mark Bastable. This book, by our own poster Mark, is funny, packed with interesting observations and has a plot with more twists than that twisty thing Blackadder used to go on about. The narrative structure is complex and interesting, and the characters are vivid and well realised. If you've read any of Mark's comments and conversations on the forum, then you'll recognise his voice in here too - from his use of Amsterdam as a setting, (he's referred to living there on these boards), to the humour. "I'd rather nail my scrotum to a passing train" comes to mind. A very enjoyable read.

14) Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys. A fantastic premise - Alien artefact discovered on moon keeps killing those who try to explore it - turns out to be a disappointing novel full of psychobabble masquerading as a reflection on death. The exploration part - when it comes - is the weakest part of the book.

15) Sun Diver by David Brin A hard science sci fi with an intergalactic civilisations, ETs, spaceflight, missions into the sun to meet new ETs, murder, sabotage and tech. An enjoyable sci fi with twists.

16) The Space Merchants by Pohl and Kornbluth A top advertising exec experiences life as a consumer and revolutionary in this grungy dystopian vision of corporate power. It's vision is relevant and very interesting given it was written in 1952.

17) Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil A Bombay addict introduces us to a variety of characters associated with an opium den through the 80s and 90s. Their lives are traced through their stories, which are mainly tragic. Thayil seems unnecessarily brutal in this book, which reminded me of 70s pulp novels. There is also a lack of female characterisation, despite the presence of Dimple who is referred to as a woman throughout the book, and seems to represent what female views are expressed, but who is a eunuch.

18) A Dark Summer in Bordeaux by Philip Massie. A slow paced murder/ thriller whose interest lies in the response of the characters t to the Nazi takeover of France in WW2 and the Vichy government.

19) Uplift Trilogy Book 2 by David Brin Written in the 1980's, this hard science book has a mixed dolphin/ chimpanzee/ human crew searching an alien water world from a hidden spacecraft after needing repairs following the discovery of an ancient alien artefact and attack by other galactic members. An enjoyable read.

20) Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski A book full of stories and opinions and observations. It is funny and often ghastly, but Bukowski's honesty and outsider perspective makes him, overall, a sympathetic character in a depressing and often brutal world.

---

21) Tau Zero by Poul Anderson A hard science sci fi which follows an exploration team's attempt to colonise a planet, but which, with damaged engines, travel far further and longer into the universe. Anderson is good on the human stress and strains in the context of potentially catastrophic conditions.

1) The Damned United by David Peace - A football novel based upon real people and events in the football league in 1970s England written in a stream of consciousness style with intercut flashbacks.

2) Snuff Terry Pratchett - Commander Vimes brings Goblin equality to the country.

3) Pure - An engineer from Normandy is commissioned by a French Minister to dig out and remove the bones and bodies that have built up and begun affecting the air in the cemetery of Les Innocents in 18th century Paris. (The site of modern day Les Halles).

4) Life and Fate by Vassily Grossmann. Grossman's epic, banned after it was written, has been compared to Tolstoy's War and Peace. I would agree that the novel, which spans the months during and after the fight for Stalingrad in WW2, is a brilliant depiction the life of soldiers, commisars, civilians, old Bolsheviks, Nazi commanders, prisoners and scientists. It details the lives, loves, characters, thoughts, flaws and pressures of living under Stalin's regime.

5) No Country For Old Men by Cormac Mcarthy. A bleak, violent but philosophical novel that challenges the effectiveness of the cowboy/ American icon of the self sufficient, capable and honourable man. The psychopath Chigurh survives the course of the novel with his bleak, nihilistic belief in predestination.

6) All The Pretty Horses by Cormac Mcarthy. Not as bleak as No Country, or Blood Meridian, but full of brilliant landscape evocations of Mexico with a ripping story. I've never ridden a horse, and I am unlikely to, (though you might be fooled into thinking I had with my bandy legs), but I enjoyed this almost mystical celebration of horses and their relation to people.

7) Eon by Greg Bear Interesting sci fi with good ideas and a story that keeps you engrossed to the end.

8) A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr Bernie Gunther - ex Berlin detective co-opted as an investigator into an organisation of judges looking into war crimes - is called upon to uncover and present the mass grave at Katyn Woods near Smolensk as a Soviet Russian war crime in order to boost Nazi standing abroad. Great plot, instructive historical context and ripping thriller. I really enjoyed this one.

9) The Odin Mission by James Holland. Routine WW2 thriller, though I liked finding out details of the Norwegian campaign.

10) Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Excellent sci fi exploring the unknowableness of an alien nature and its attempts to connect with scientists studying it on Solaris.

11) The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris. Morris claims in the blurb that everything you think you know about the Norman Conquest is wrong, and so it proves to be. Harold wasn't the rightful King - he was just in a powerful enough position to take the crown before losing it to William. An interesting and enlightening read about the Norman Conquest.

12) The Winter King by Thomas Penn. I decided to read this because I knew very little about Henry VII and so much more about Henry VIII. What a brilliant example of a king! Grasping, exploitative and paranoid. No wonder his son turned out as he did. This was another interesting volume, and definitely one to fuel latent republican tendencies.

13) The Penny Falls by Mark Bastable. This book, by our own poster Mark, is funny, packed with interesting observations and has a plot with more twists than that twisty thing Blackadder used to go on about. The narrative structure is complex and interesting, and the characters are vivid and well realised. If you've read any of Mark's comments and conversations on the forum, then you'll recognise his voice in here too - from his use of Amsterdam as a setting, (he's referred to living there on these boards), to the humour. "I'd rather nail my scrotum to a passing train" comes to mind. A very enjoyable read.

14) Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys. A fantastic premise - Alien artefact discovered on moon keeps killing those who try to explore it - turns out to be a disappointing novel full of psychobabble masquerading as a reflection on death. The exploration part - when it comes - is the weakest part of the book.

15) Sun Diver by David Brin A hard science sci fi with an intergalactic civilisations, ETs, spaceflight, missions into the sun to meet new ETs, murder, sabotage and tech. An enjoyable sci fi with twists.

16) The Space Merchants by Pohl and Kornbluth A top advertising exec experiences life as a consumer and revolutionary in this grungy dystopian vision of corporate power. It's vision is relevant and very interesting given it was written in 1952.

17) Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil A Bombay addict introduces us to a variety of characters associated with an opium den through the 80s and 90s. Their lives are traced through their stories, which are mainly tragic. Thayil seems unnecessarily brutal in this book, which reminded me of 70s pulp novels. There is also a lack of female characterisation, despite the presence of Dimple who is referred to as a woman throughout the book, and seems to represent what female views are expressed, but who is a eunuch.

18) A Dark Summer in Bordeaux by Philip Massie. A slow paced murder/ thriller whose interest lies in the response of the characters t to the Nazi takeover of France in WW2 and the Vichy government.

19) Uplift Trilogy Book 2 by David Brin Written in the 1980's, this hard science book has a mixed dolphin/ chimpanzee/ human crew searching an alien water world from a hidden spacecraft after needing repairs following the discovery of an ancient alien artefact and attack by other galactic members. An enjoyable read.

20) Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski A book full of stories and opinions and observations. It is funny and often ghastly, but Bukowski's honesty and outsider perspective makes him, overall, a sympathetic character in a depressing and often brutal world.

21) Tau Zero by Poul Anderson A hard science sci fi which follows an exploration team's attempt to colonise a planet, but which, with damaged engines, travel far further and longer into the universe. Anderson is good on the human stress and strains in the context of potentially catastrophic conditions.

22) The Silent Land by Graham Joyce A ghost story set in the French Alps where two skiers are caught in an avalanche and survive to find the village they were staying in deserted. Well plotted and written with a predictable but enjoyable finish.

The Prophecy by S J Parris. 7/10

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. 6/10

The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus 7/10

The Persians by Aeschylus. 7/10

The Widows Secret by Brian Thompson. 7/10 (Book club choice)

Prometheus Bound. by Aeschylus

The Lost World. by Arthur Conan Doyle. 7/10

King John. By Shakespeare

The Voyage Out. By Virginia Woolf.

Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrna. 7/10

Engleby. by Sebastian Faulks. 8/10

Penny Falls. By Mark Bastable. 8/10

Interesting and well written. A very unusual story of brotherly relationships and obligations. At his best when he makes us laugh

The Epic of Gilgamesh 7/10

The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack:
25 Classic and Modern Science Fiction Stories.
Arthur C. Clarke, Nancy Kress, George Zebrowski, Neal Asher, Pamela Sargent, Philip K. Dick, Mary A. Turzillo, C.M. Kornbluth, Samuel R. Delany

A couple of stories I'd read before, a couple of good ones and some that weren't up to much .6/10

Paths of Glory. By Jeffrey Archer.
The semi-fictional story of George Mallory, Mountaineer and Hero of the British Empire. It should've been really good, but it wasn't. I suspect a factual biography of this remarkable man would be more exciting and interesting. 6.5/10

The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Tales of derring a do, a hoodlum is reformed by the love of a good woman. 6/10

Elizabeth and her German Garden. by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
Wonderful, funny, semi autobiographical woman's journal. I have posted a review on the Book Review Thread. An unprecedented 9 out of 10.

The John Carter of Mars series. by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Think Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, James Bond and all that sort of stuff - only even more over the top. Excellent yarn for a twelve year old, I quite enjoyed it 7/10

The Time Machine. by HG Wells . You know the plot . 7/10

The Enchanted April. by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
4 women heal themselves by taking a holiday in a wisteria clad castle in Italy. 7.5/10

Lady Chatterley's Lover. by DH Lawrence.

Lady Chatterley rejects the intellectual and empty life with her crippled husband, to find true love through some down to earth shagging with Mellors the gamekeeper. 8/10

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. by Rachel Joyce

A man walks 600 miles on a whim/act of faith.
I really liked this one, uncluttered and moving . The author instictively knows what to include and what to leave out - A much underated skill. Her characters are believable, their thoughts and outlook are those of real people. So you care. 8.5/10 .

Slaughter House Five. by kurt Vonnegut.
A strange tale of time travel, alien abduction and the Dresden bombing. I haven't read anything else of his, but thought it was written in a -look how clever I am and never mind the story, style. I enjoyed it all the same. 7.5/10

Life and Fate By Vassily Grossman.

Chose this after seeing Paulclem's comments. Too big to really grasp, like a 20th century War and Peace set around the battle for Stalingrad. Grossman is saying that however much the great Monolithic states of Germany and Russia try to control every aspect of their citizen's lives and thoughts, (and their reach extends even into cut off front line bunkers) there is always refuge to be found in the tiny acts of kindness and connections between individuals. And that is what really makes a society. 7.5/10

Night and Day. by irginia Wool. (and my keyboard is aulty again)

A supposed romance by someone who is too interllectual and has too much to say to write a good one. It 'elt 'ery 'ery long. 6.5/10[



Shakespeare. by Bill Bryson.

Excellent read. A biography of the Bard, Bryson sorts the wheat from the chaff. He tells us exactly what is really known and provable about him (very little) and what is just speculation and myth. Then he does a bit more, he tracks the myths down to their origin and uncovers the wishful thinking and predjudices that led to them, and the suprising alacrity with which learned men, who should've known better, took them up. Very readable and good fun. 8/10

Hotel du Lac. by Anita Brookner

Edith, a writer of romantic novels is in disgrace and is persuaded to take a holiday at the exclusive Hotel du Lac, where she meets characters of a certain type and class. She recounts her experiences and pours out her inner thoughts in letters (not intended for posting) to her lover.

It is well written but tends to meander aimlessly - as does Edith. Her lively interllect and wicked wit is only revealed in her letters, and is unsuspected by almost all who meet her. To students of Lit this would be a classic peice of work, mood, style,plot and character all merge and complement each other perfectly. But that means there is no edge. 6.5/10


The Colour Purple. by Alice Walker.

Life in the deep south is grim for Celie a black girl who has absolutely no power whatsoever. She is beneath the notice of the local whites, but has plenty of abuse from men of her own race. Like the Anita Brookner novel above, we are privy to her inner thoughts through her letter writing - to God and her sister, but unlike the above, the language is completely open and unsophisticated. Her life does eventually get better as the years pass, she endures and learns and overcomes. A very good read. 7.5/10

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spartk
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
In the Red Room by Paul Bowles (short story) That man can write the most disconcerting, yet fascinating stuff.
Shooting an Elephant George Orwell If this man had written the phone book I would read it. My favorites were "How the Poor Die" and "Such, Such Were the Joys," and "A Hanging," followed by "The Prevention of Literature," "Charles Dickens," "Politics v. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver's Travels," "Some Thoughts on the Common Toad," "Reflections on Gandhi." I would hope it goes without saying that of course I love "Shooting an Elephant" and "Politics and the English Language." The former is on of my very favorite essays ever.
Lost Paradise Cees Nooteboom This is a short novel, but one I keep returning to in my thoughts. I recommend it.
I Hunt Killers Barry Lyga A YA novel about a young man whose father is a notorious serial killer. Basically a fairly light read, but it nevertheless ponders what values of our parents we choose to keep and how we are shaped by them-and how sometimes we fight that when the parenting has been really, really bad.
Divergent Veronica Roth Another YA book, this one about a dystopian society set sometime in the future.
Code Orange Caroline B. Cooney Yet another YA novel. This one boasts an extremely likable protagonist, an easy-going high school kid whose suddenly faced with his own mortality and danger to his beloved New York City.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes
Waiter, A Bock by Guy de Maupassant (short story)
On Writing by Stephen King A surprisingly tender, thoughtful memoir-cum-how-to on writing from the king of horror.

1) The Damned United by David Peace - A football novel based upon real people and events in the football league in 1970s England written in a stream of consciousness style with intercut flashbacks.

2) Snuff Terry Pratchett - Commander Vimes brings Goblin equality to the country.

3) Pure - An engineer from Normandy is commissioned by a French Minister to dig out and remove the bones and bodies that have built up and begun affecting the air in the cemetery of Les Innocents in 18th century Paris. (The site of modern day Les Halles).

4) Life and Fate by Vassily Grossmann. Grossman's epic, banned after it was written, has been compared to Tolstoy's War and Peace. I would agree that the novel, which spans the months during and after the fight for Stalingrad in WW2, is a brilliant depiction the life of soldiers, commisars, civilians, old Bolsheviks, Nazi commanders, prisoners and scientists. It details the lives, loves, characters, thoughts, flaws and pressures of living under Stalin's regime.

5) No Country For Old Men by Cormac Mcarthy. A bleak, violent but philosophical novel that challenges the effectiveness of the cowboy/ American icon of the self sufficient, capable and honourable man. The psychopath Chigurh survives the course of the novel with his bleak, nihilistic belief in predestination.

6) All The Pretty Horses by Cormac Mcarthy. Not as bleak as No Country, or Blood Meridian, but full of brilliant landscape evocations of Mexico with a ripping story. I've never ridden a horse, and I am unlikely to, (though you might be fooled into thinking I had with my bandy legs), but I enjoyed this almost mystical celebration of horses and their relation to people.

7) Eon by Greg Bear Interesting sci fi with good ideas and a story that keeps you engrossed to the end.

8) A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr Bernie Gunther - ex Berlin detective co-opted as an investigator into an organisation of judges looking into war crimes - is called upon to uncover and present the mass grave at Katyn Woods near Smolensk as a Soviet Russian war crime in order to boost Nazi standing abroad. Great plot, instructive historical context and ripping thriller. I really enjoyed this one.

9) The Odin Mission by James Holland. Routine WW2 thriller, though I liked finding out details of the Norwegian campaign.

10) Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Excellent sci fi exploring the unknowableness of an alien nature and its attempts to connect with scientists studying it on Solaris.

11) The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris. Morris claims in the blurb that everything you think you know about the Norman Conquest is wrong, and so it proves to be. Harold wasn't the rightful King - he was just in a powerful enough position to take the crown before losing it to William. An interesting and enlightening read about the Norman Conquest.

12) The Winter King by Thomas Penn. I decided to read this because I knew very little about Henry VII and so much more about Henry VIII. What a brilliant example of a king! Grasping, exploitative and paranoid. No wonder his son turned out as he did. This was another interesting volume, and definitely one to fuel latent republican tendencies.

13) The Penny Falls by Mark Bastable. This book, by our own poster Mark, is funny, packed with interesting observations and has a plot with more twists than that twisty thing Blackadder used to go on about. The narrative structure is complex and interesting, and the characters are vivid and well realised. If you've read any of Mark's comments and conversations on the forum, then you'll recognise his voice in here too - from his use of Amsterdam as a setting, (he's referred to living there on these boards), to the humour. "I'd rather nail my scrotum to a passing train" comes to mind. A very enjoyable read.

14) Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys. A fantastic premise - Alien artefact discovered on moon keeps killing those who try to explore it - turns out to be a disappointing novel full of psychobabble masquerading as a reflection on death. The exploration part - when it comes - is the weakest part of the book.

15) Sun Diver by David Brin A hard science sci fi with an intergalactic civilisations, ETs, spaceflight, missions into the sun to meet new ETs, murder, sabotage and tech. An enjoyable sci fi with twists.

16) The Space Merchants by Pohl and Kornbluth A top advertising exec experiences life as a consumer and revolutionary in this grungy dystopian vision of corporate power. It's vision is relevant and very interesting given it was written in 1952.

17) Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil A Bombay addict introduces us to a variety of characters associated with an opium den through the 80s and 90s. Their lives are traced through their stories, which are mainly tragic. Thayil seems unnecessarily brutal in this book, which reminded me of 70s pulp novels. There is also a lack of female characterisation, despite the presence of Dimple who is referred to as a woman throughout the book, and seems to represent what female views are expressed, but who is a eunuch.

18) A Dark Summer in Bordeaux by Philip Massie. A slow paced murder/ thriller whose interest lies in the response of the characters t to the Nazi takeover of France in WW2 and the Vichy government.

19) Uplift Trilogy Book 2 by David Brin Written in the 1980's, this hard science book has a mixed dolphin/ chimpanzee/ human crew searching an alien water world from a hidden spacecraft after needing repairs following the discovery of an ancient alien artefact and attack by other galactic members. An enjoyable read.

20) Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski A book full of stories and opinions and observations. It is funny and often ghastly, but Bukowski's honesty and outsider perspective makes him, overall, a sympathetic character in a depressing and often brutal world.

21) Tau Zero by Poul Anderson A hard science sci fi which follows an exploration team's attempt to colonise a planet, but which, with damaged engines, travel far further and longer into the universe. Anderson is good on the human stress and strains in the context of potentially catastrophic conditions.

22) The Silent Land by Graham Joyce A ghost story set in the French Alps where two skiers are caught in an avalanche and survive to find the village they were staying in deserted. Well plotted and written with a predictable but enjoyable finish.

23) Everest: The Hard Way by Chris Bonnington An exciting chronicle of the British 1975 attempt on Everest detailing the organisation, effort, ingenuity and danger involved. One climber died on the attempt along with a porter, but it is a sobering thought that a number of climbers from the expedition went on to become Everest casualties or to die in other mountaineering ventures.

24) Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov An intriguing low key comedy/ thriller based in the Ukraine. A pre-death obituary writer gradually discovers that his work seems to tally with the death toll of notable political and social figures, whilst he continues to look after a mafia member's child, employ a new nanny and nurture his pet penguin.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by prendrelemick

The Prophecy by S J Parris. 7/10

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. 6/10

The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus 7/10

The Persians by Aeschylus. 7/10

The Widows Secret by Brian Thompson. 7/10 (Book club choice)

Prometheus Bound. by Aeschylus

The Lost World. by Arthur Conan Doyle. 7/10

King John. By Shakespeare

The Voyage Out. By Virginia Woolf.

Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrna. 7/10

Engleby. by Sebastian Faulks. 8/10

Penny Falls. By Mark Bastable. 8/10

Interesting and well written. A very unusual story of brotherly relationships and obligations. At his best when he makes us laugh

The Epic of Gilgamesh 7/10

The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack:
25 Classic and Modern Science Fiction Stories.
Arthur C. Clarke, Nancy Kress, George Zebrowski, Neal Asher, Pamela Sargent, Philip K. Dick, Mary A. Turzillo, C.M. Kornbluth, Samuel R. Delany

A couple of stories I'd read before, a couple of good ones and some that weren't up to much .6/10

Paths of Glory. By Jeffrey Archer.
The semi-fictional story of George Mallory, Mountaineer and Hero of the British Empire. It should've been really good, but it wasn't. I suspect a factual biography of this remarkable man would be more exciting and interesting. 6.5/10

The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Tales of derring a do, a hoodlum is reformed by the love of a good woman. 6/10

Elizabeth and her German Garden. by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
Wonderful, funny, semi autobiographical woman's journal. I have posted a review on the Book Review Thread. An unprecedented 9 out of 10.

The John Carter of Mars series. by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Think Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, James Bond and all that sort of stuff - only even more over the top. Excellent yarn for a twelve year old, I quite enjoyed it 7/10

The Time Machine. by HG Wells . You know the plot . 7/10

The Enchanted April. by Elizabeth Von Arnim.
4 women heal themselves by taking a holiday in a wisteria clad castle in Italy. 7.5/10

Lady Chatterley's Lover. by DH Lawrence.

Lady Chatterley rejects the intellectual and empty life with her crippled husband, to find true love through some down to earth shagging with Mellors the gamekeeper. 8/10

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. by Rachel Joyce

A man walks 600 miles on a whim/act of faith.
I really liked this one, uncluttered and moving . The author instictively knows what to include and what to leave out - A much underated skill. Her characters are believable, their thoughts and outlook are those of real people. So you care. 8.5/10 .

Slaughter House Five. by kurt Vonnegut.
A strange tale of time travel, alien abduction and the Dresden bombing. I haven't read anything else of his, but thought it was written in a -look how clever I am and never mind the story, style. I enjoyed it all the same. 7.5/10

Life and Fate By Vassily Grossman.

Chose this after seeing Paulclem's comments. Too big to really grasp, like a 20th century War and Peace set around the battle for Stalingrad. Grossman is saying that however much the great Monolithic states of Germany and Russia try to control every aspect of their citizen's lives and thoughts, (and their reach extends even into cut off front line bunkers) there is always refuge to be found in the tiny acts of kindness and connections between individuals. And that is what really makes a society. 7.5/10

Night and Day. by irginia Wool. (and my keyboard is aulty again)

A supposed romance by someone who is too interllectual and has too much to say to write a good one. It 'elt 'ery 'ery long. 6.5/10[



Shakespeare. by Bill Bryson.

Excellent read. A biography of the Bard, Bryson sorts the wheat from the chaff. He tells us exactly what is really known and provable about him (very little) and what is just speculation and myth. Then he does a bit more, he tracks the myths down to their origin and uncovers the wishful thinking and predjudices that led to them, and the suprising alacrity with which learned men, who should've known better, took them up. Very readable and good fun. 8/10

Hotel du Lac. by Anita Brookner

Edith, a writer of romantic novels is in disgrace and is persuaded to take a holiday at the exclusive Hotel du Lac, where she meets characters of a certain type and class. She recounts her experiences and pours out her inner thoughts in letters (not intended for posting) to her lover.

It is well written but tends to meander aimlessly - as does Edith. Her lively interllect and wicked wit is only revealed in her letters, and is unsuspected by almost all who meet her. To students of Lit this would be a classic peice of work, mood, style,plot and character all merge and complement each other perfectly. But that means there is no edge. 6.5/10


The Colour Purple. by Alice Walker.

Life in the deep south is grim for Celie a black girl who has absolutely no power whatsoever. She is beneath the notice of the local whites, but has plenty of abuse from men of her own race. Like the Anita Brookner novel above, we are privy to her inner thoughts through her letter writing - to God and her sister, but unlike the above, the language is completely open and unsophisticated. Her life does eventually get better as the years pass, she endures and learns and overcomes. A very good read. 7.5/10

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The Dinner by Hermann Koch

Two couples meet for dinner to discus what to do about their children, who have been beating up homeless people. That is the bare bones of the story, but this book is a fascinating study of group dynamics as the characters vie with each other to be heard, or to dominate - or just try to cope with the resturant manager. Our narrator - one of the group - slowly reveals himself as one of the most unreliable witness you'll ever experience in a book. It is this device that gives it its edge, you can never be sure and settled in your opinion of the characters.

This was not an enjoyable read, but a fascinating one and I can't help but admire the way Koch manipulates the reader. 7/10