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Too many Books, Too little Time 2015
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25-01-2015 4:35am#1Another year and more books to read! I intend to read a good few classics this year as I know about them but have never read them. I want to beat last years number of 23 books read so here we go!!
1. The Second Half by Roy Keane
This is a great read if you like football like I do. If you don't, then you will have zero interest! I could not put this down as he is brutally honest and it is a very easy read.
2. Airport by Arthur Hailey
I read and liked Hotel by him last year and I thought this was better than that. All about a busy period of an Airport with lots of things happening at once. Some stuff is a bit dated now and the women characters are all demure and old fashioned!(It was wrtten in 1968) It has a good climax though so a very exciting read !!
3. Robogenesis by Daniel H. Wilson
This is the follow up to Robopocalypse that I have already read and follows on from events in the book about robots turning on humans.It was ok and fun with a few annoyances. He switches between characters with each getting to give their experiences on what is happening but I found all the same as each other.I had to check on the start of the passages every so often to see who was giving the account which was annoying! It read also like a movie script and I'd say he wanted to make it into a movie before he began to write. I found the same with the first book and Steven Spielberg was meant to be doing the movie version but it has been put on hold for some reason.
This book has so much stuff happening it was hard to read but it has some good ideas such as robot/human hybrids that are neither human or robot! On the other hand it has the One that can stop them like the matrix and all other movies like that! Still not a bad read though!
4. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
This is the first in her Hercule Poirot books and even though I have read loads already, I never read this one before. Its a good murder mystery and very easy to read. I was close in figuring out 'whodunnit' but still off by a good bit! I have figured out a few in the past but only about 2 have i got all of Who,How and Why! Sometimes I might know who but not how and vice versa. if you have never read her books before then do so as they are very good and still hold up even though this one written in 1916!! It will bug you until you find out who did it at the end.
One thing she is known for is gathering all suspects at the end in one room and going through the case. Annoyingly the detective sometimes produces evidence that wasn't said earlier and had you known it, you would have solved the case! Other than that minor quibble her books are always fun reads.1
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5. The Final Diagnosis by Arthur Hailey
Another good read from Arthur Hailey. It's not as good as Hotel and Airport but still well written and well researched. A lot of things in it are very dated now and I cringed at some of the outdated language in one or 2 parts.
He refers to a premature baby as "a monkey like creature" and another character is horrified at the thoughts of having sex with a "cripple"
Not only is the word cripple used which I can forgive because of the time this was written but having sex with the person is meant to be weird and not a thing to do which even then shouldn't be strange as they are a person too.
Funnily enough it is the second book where he refers to a woman character with very large breasts!!!
Putting aside the dated language its a very good book. Same formula as the others. The place and characters there are described in detail then it leads to a big climax.
If you like his other books then check this out too.He always makes you feel you are inside wherever he is writing about so I enjoyed this book!!0 -
6. The 39 Steps by John Buchan
This is a classic book that I have meant to read for ages about the hero Richard Hannay who is told about a plot to destabilise Europe around 1914.It wastes no time in getting going with loads of action and stuff happening.He goes on the run trying to uncover the mystery as there is a dead guy in his home. Its a real adventure story that the author described as a "shocker" where the events in the story are unlikely and the reader is only just able to believe that they really happened.
It's considered one of the first man on the run stories that Hollywood uses a lot.There are loads of implausibilities but its a fun read. Park your brain and go with it and its a fun ride! Now I must see the movies that it was made into!0 -
7. Crooked House by Agatha Christie
Another fun Agatha Christie book that the author herself descibed as one of her favourite books that she wrote.Its not a Poirot or Marple one. Its a book about a family that all live in this big house hence the title Crooked House.
The grandfather, Aristide Leonides and head of the house is extremely wealthy and suddenly gets bumped off with poison instead of insulin in his injection.Who did it? Its a large family with servants all living there.
Its set just after WWII and told in first person by Charles Hayward who is visiting there hoping to get married to Sophia who is the grandaughter of the victim.She wont marry him until its all sorted.The old fella was in his 80s and had a much younger wife.Way hey!! So did the wife do it to get his money like everyone thinks????!!!!
I really liked this book and it had me perplexed for a long time. It was only until a vital clue amongst all the red herrings that I realised who the murderer was! I am getting better at the detective work! :pac:
The end and the reveal was probably unbelievably shocking when Christie wrote it but unfortunately with society today its not as shocking now. Thats all I can say without spoiling it!!
Well worth a read if you like her books and she does say in the foreword that its her favourite. I liked the way that there is only about 5 pages left and still no reveal. There's no gathering everyone in one room in this one but it still works!0 -
8. God,No! by Penn Jillette
I liked this book and I suspect if you hope to like it then it will depend on your view of the magician Penn Jillette. If you hate him then this will not change your mind! Penn is an Atheist like me and puts forth his arguments for no god in this book.Its starts and begins about Atheism but the rest is mostly about stuff that has happened to him like a biography. He knows loads of celebrities and the name dropping might get a bit tiresome if you don't like that kind of thing.
Some stories are a bit boring but others are great so its a bit hit and miss.The one about him vising a gay bathhouse was very good! He is not gay but wanted to go check it out! As well as a story about flying high so you become weightless like in space was good as he is a very tall and large guy.
There isn't much point to the book other than being bookended by his stance on atheism and god. If you like him like I do, then go read this book as you will like it but if you don't then I would have to say give it a miss!!0 -
9. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Another classic that I have meant to read for years. Finally reading loads of classics this year. This is a fictional account of a soldier in WWI written by a veteran of the war.The trench warfare was definitely a nightmare and this book is also interesting because its written from the german soldiers side.He shows the camaraderie between them and the effects of being a casualty and most importantly how hard it is to adjust when he goes home on leave.
I can understand why the Nazis banned this book as its very real and shows how war isn't glorious but hard.I really liked this book so check it out if you like war stories. If you have no interest in them then you should definitely avoid it as its not for everyone.0 -
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10. Killing Patton by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
Yet another war book! :pac:
This is the true story about the american General Patton during WWII. He died in suspicious circumstances just after the war.Its really about the end of the war from around the last attack by Germany to drive the allies back called The Battle of The Bulge until his death. Its a very good book with history laid out well and in an exciting way.
If books in school were done like this, there would be a lot more people interested in history! I think you will know already if you would like it or not so if you like history like I do then definitely read this book.
Already up to 10 books read this year! Last year, I only read 23 so I am well on my way!0 -
11. Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
This is a Sci-fi book set in the future where a group of students go on a survival test on another planet. They are meant to be picked up but no one comes so they have to live on indefinitely there.Its very like one of my favourite books "The Lord of the Flies" by William Golding but whereas the kids in that book resort to savagery, the kids in this one set up a society.
I was liking this book at the start when suddenly they go from being kids to having a town mayor and setting up committees! This is meant to be 70 kids left alone and they begin to start town planning!
I thought it was silly but I understand that the author was trying to get across the idea that even when left alone everyone steps up and runs things correctly.
Obviously it was meant to be that humans are resilient and we keep going but the transition was made too quickly, I think.I enjoyed the writing of the book but the story played out very predictably.That sudden change from kids trying to band together to a committee for this and that was very jarring to me so I couldn't help but think "Ah come on" as I read it.
I wouldn't read this book ever again but I will definitely be going back to read "The Lord of the Flies" a lot as I have already.So "Tunnel in the Sky" was poor but not the worst book ever. I wouldn't recommend it unless you have nothing else to read.
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12. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Another classic that I have always meant to read and only getting to it now.I knew this just as the book that moron who shot Lennon, said influenced him when clearly he was just a nutcase.Of course I knew it was a classic book anyway so finally I read it.
And.................................
I hated this book.Not sure why its held in so high regard.It seemed to me like Holden was just a kid who was depressed and acting like a baby.I would have given up on this book only for the fact that it was short and I kept thinking that maybe I missed something and it would all become clear eventually.
I would not recommend this book to anyone even if you have never read it like me before now.Far be it for me to critique Salinger's writing but I didn't even like the writing.Somehow I still ploughed through it, to finish it off.
I'm sure I will p*ss someone off with this review as they will be hardcore fans of the book but thats the way it goes. I went in with an open mind but came out hating it!!!!
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13. Deliver Us From Evil by David Baldacci
This is the second book of Baldacci's Shaw series so its the follow up to The Whole Truth which I have already read.The mysterious Evan Waller has built up an evil empire and Shaw wants to take him down but unknown to the both of them there is also someone else trying to take him down too. She is Reggie Campion and is part of a secret vigilante group that has been quietly killing evil people throughout the world.She knows something about Wallers history that Shaw doesn't and really wants to kill him for that reason.
As the title may suggest, to show the evil involved in the bad guy there is a torture scene that is highly descriptive that I didn't expect so beware of that if you don't like that kind of thing! Its unusual for Baldacci to have that kind of thing as well as a sex scene that prudes may not like! I have no problem with either as it added to the realism of the whole thing.
I really liked this book and would put it up there as one of his best as the story had me hooked and it flies along. Some chapters are literally bite size and only a couple of pages so it was a very easy read and made me want to keep reading it non stop.As usual there is a big climax and it is a great thriller!
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14. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
This is another classic that I had never read before.It is set during the Great Depression and follows the Joad family in the United States as they leave their native Oklahoma and go to California trying to find a better life.I didn't think I would like this book before I started it as I thought of it as a very boring idea for a book but I was wrong!
I really enjoyed the writing and story once I got used to the slang of the southern people. The dialogue is all in the way they talk and takes a while to get used to reading. Once i understood it fully, I flew along the book and found myself really pulling for the family.You really think you are there at that time as everything is described fully from what they wear to how they eat and so on.
Life was very hard for the poor then but the basic goodness of them shines through.All they want is work, food and a home but with the land ruined and the rich not caring then everything is tough.
The drawbacks of the book are every so often there seems to be a few pages talking in general terms of society then and it feels like a thesis or the reader is being lectured.The other thing is that I realised near the end that there wouldn't be a happy ending but that was probably realistic for the time period.If you were poor there wasn't much hope.It takes a cynical view that those in power don't care and just look after themselves.Surely they were not all bad but I dont know!
This book is not for everyone and wouldn't be a light read but I am glad that I read it. It was well written and had me hooked but as it deals with the Great Depression it obviously is depressing itself!!!0 -
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15. God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens
This is subtitled "How Religion poisons everything" so if you are deeply religious you will hate this book! If you are Atheist like me and willing to read anything then this is a great book as he goes through religion step by step and shows there is no need for it and it actually doesn't help.
It's the whole worship me for creating you or else you will go to hell reasoning that always makes me laugh and here he goes through everything. From all the contradictions and all the borrowing that religion does, it all gets laid out in a straight forward manner.
In my opinion this book was very good but I think you will know straight away if you would read this as if you love religion then you won't be reading this (even though you should!) so I will leave it at that!!0 -
16. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
I loved American Psycho so I couldn't wait to read this book as it was the debut novel by Ellis and got him noticed.It was published in 1985 and is set in the early 80s and follows Clay as he returns to his hometown Los Angeles during his college winter break.He is rich and just proceeds to party non stop with old friends.
He takes drugs and sleeps with men and women at parties and doesn't see to care about anyone. And...........Thats about it!
This is one of those books where I was waiting for something to happen and nothing did.He drinks and takes drugs non stop throughout the book and then heads back to college. The End! A book critics will love but nothing for a regular reader.
If this was any other book, I would have stopped reading it but due to American Psycho, I ploughed on.Its a short read too which was in its favour but if you have not read this yet then avoid it.Nothing happens and it felt long even though its a short book.
Very disappointing read!0 -
17. Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie
Another nice murder mystery from Agatha Christie.This is set in Iraq where there is an archaeological dig going on.Its funny reading this now where ISIS have just been trashing and wrecking old statues. A nurse called Amy Leatheran agrees to look after Dr Leidners wife while he is out there. The wife gets murdered and as luck would have it......Hercule Poirot happens to be in the area!!
This is written from the nurses point of view and Poirot comes into it very late.There isn't much investigation and it is solved quickly.The murder happens in a building with only one way in and out that was being watched by guards so we have the murderer is someone within the building type mystery.I solved this very easily as in who and how they did it as it seems very basic and obvious. I had no idea of the motive and when you read it, it is absoloutely silly.Someone in the book realises who the murderer is but doesn't say anything and yes, they get murdered too! How the 2nd person dies relies on something very silly that would be very unlikely to happen.
All in all not great but its worth reading if you are a fan of Christies.Its one that I won't be remembering in a while and I think she only wrote this one as she met her husband at an archaeological site in Iraq.It is a quick and easy read so that is in its favour but not one of her best.0 -
18. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
This is the follow up to Enders Game. I thought Enders Game was ok but a bit silly when I read it so I was hoping this might be better.It is not better at all! Lots and lots of preaching and talking but nothing happens.
If you have read Enders game then you will know at the end of it the hero called Ender defeated the Buggers by wiping them out so there are none left. All, that is except the Hive Queen that he carries around in a duffel bag! :pac: No one seems to know this which made me laugh! Then due to him travelling in the stars, 3000 years have gone by and now he is now a Speaker for the Dead which means when someone dies, he comes along and learns about their life and gives a speech about them.Having Ender still alive seems kind of silly after 3000 years but Card plays it off due to the time differences in space travel.He goes by the name Andrew Wiggin and no one realises he is Ender. The name Ender somehow became bad due to him killing off the buggers even though it was a war!
So he is looking for a new planet to let out the Hive Queen and then he is called to the planet Lusitania.He thinks it might be the place for her.There, we have a race called the Piggies being studied by a few people called Xenologers. Somehow even though they are really in a primitive age, the xenologers know nothing much about them which I found silly.There is a load of stuff about Catholic religion on the planet and the people speaking Portuguese that I found tedious.
Then there is boring philosophy by the page load so Speaker for the Dead following Enders Game is like following Star Wars with an Art House movie.
You might ask why did I keep reading if I hated it.Well, I have the next book in the sequence so I kept going! I would have given up otherwise!!
How this won awards I will never know.A very boring book.0 -
I have completely forgot about updating this log recently
So to catch up......
19. Anne Frank : The Diary of a Young Girl
This was a very good book.Another that I have always meant to read.She was a great writer and we are lucky to have her account. Go read it if you haven't!
20. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet
A classic that was also very good!
21. A Journey to Adventure:Stories I never thought I'd Tell by Pat Falvey
A quick true story for you....
When I was in school they said a guy is coming to give a talk to the class. Everyone groaned! This guy arrived and got out a projector. Everyone groaned louder!! Everyone said I hope he finishes quickly as we had only an hour left of school. Then he proceeded to talk about climbing mountains and meeting remote people. Everyone was spellbound. School was technically finished but no one wanted to leave. He had us thinking we could do the same thing and achieve our dreams by the end of the talk. Who was this man?
Pat Falvey from Cork, who has climbed nearly every mountain in the world. He does motivational speaking as well and it showed that day. I still remember it to this day!
This book is about his climbs. Its very short but has some great photos. This book was a great read so well worth checking out!
22. Courage and Consequence:My life as a Conservative in the Fight by Karl Rove
I wouldn't normally read political books and I'd say this might be the only one I have ever read. I thought it might be good as Rove is known as The Architect and known for being clever.Well worth a read as he goes through all the Bush years when he was his top Aide.Incredibly detailed as he goes through each event in its minutia!
22 books read until now and I only read 23 all last year so I am happy with the year so far
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I am back again with more books to log....:)
23. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
This was about a guy going back in time and trying to stop the Kennedy assassination. It was a complete disappointment. Guy goes back in time and starts messing around and nothing happens. "Go kill Oswald" I said! He doesnt and just falls in love.Then near the end he decides to try and stop Oswald....
Very boring and way too long.Avoid and go watch the Quantum Leap episodes where Sam is trying to stop it instead!
24. Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie
Another great mystery that had me hooked!
25. Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie
A collection of different short stories.Each one ingenious!
26+27 The Innocent and The Hit by David Baldacci
These 2 are in a new series introducing a character called Will Robie that is virtually the same as Baldaccis other main characters!! He is an assassin that can kill easily,highly trained....usual stuff from Baldacci!
The Innocent was quite good until the Deus EX Machina ending that was very silly about 4 pages from the end.
The Hit follows straight on from it but has the usual all powerful agencies up to no good. Robie strolls through high security areas with ease and again it ends up in more silliness.
Even though Baldacci annoys me a lot I still enjoyed them!:D
28. American Sniper by Chris Kyle
This was a very interesting book and very detailed in describing what happened. Well worth reading if you have not yet. Now I can see the movie although I read that is different.
My reading is going well this year! 0 -
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Forgot to update this log in ages but I have been reading away!
40. Homicide : A year on the killing streets by David Simon
A fascinating book about a detective squad in Baltimore. Simon tags along with them for a year on investigations into murders. The main point is that all murders are not like Agatha Christie murders with ingenious plans! Most are very straight forward and to do with either love,drugs or money.
41. The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie
An interesting mystery but not one of her best.
42. Overload by Arthur Hailey
I liked this book and it was all about power supplies in california. Very dated now as it says coal is the best thing and not nuclear! I think nuclear is the main thing in the usa now but I could be wrong. He weaves a good story but I had to laugh as the protagonist was having sex with every woman he met!!
43. Prey by Michael Crichton
Never read him before but I loved this book. Very exciting and a real page turner. Its about a swarm of rogue microbots that escape from a lab that can learn and are self sustaining. How can they be stopped when they can kill humans if they want and they keep reproducing? Great read.
44. The Ice Man:Confessions of a Mafia contract killer by Philip Carlo
A great read about how this guy became a hit man for the mob but killed in different ways every time so he was hard to track down. I thought some things seemed made up by the killer and there was an element of hero worship by Carlo that was a bit disturbing. Richard Kukilinski (which was the hit mans name) seemed to be amazing in his genius for killing according to Carlo! Still a very good read if you like true crime.
45. The Listerdale Mystery by Agatha Christie
12 short stories that were varied in how good they were. A very easy read though
46. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Always wanted to read this book and it didnt disappoint! The first in Philip Marlowe books and it has some great lines. A hardboiled crime novel about a private eye! A classic!
47. Broken Angels by Richard Morgan
This was the second book continuing on from the first book that I read called Altered Carbon.It is sci fi but was not as good as the first.A good start and good end but very slow in the middle. I still enjoyed it though.
48. Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
I read this years ago but had forgotten it. Its a Hercule Poirot mystery and I liked the fact that there was another competing detective there as well! Of course we all know Poirot is smarter!!
49. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
Another great hard boiled crime novel with Philip Marlowe again.
50. A Pocketful of Rye by Agatha Christie
This was a very short read and felt like a short story just padded out a bit. Still a great mystery!
51. The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfield
This is the sequel to book 38 that I read already. I loved the first but I thought this one was even better! All about a bombing that happened in New York in 1920 and a story is weaved around it. The book is based on a true bombing that actually happened so its a great read.
52. The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
An easy to read thriller that starts off great but kind of fizzles out near the end. Only if you are a fan of Koontz is it woth checking out.
53. 1984 by George Orwell
A classic that I always meant to read about a dystopian dictatorship in London. I didn't love this book but didn't hate it.It had some great ideas about freedom and surveillance but the story itself wasn't riveting.I prefer Animal Farm much more!
The year isn't over yet and I have read 53 books so its been going great! Last year I only read 23 and 50 was my target this year. Its good to read classics that I have always meant to read but never got round to them.Hopefully I will get a good few more read!!! I love reading and can now read very quickly again like I did when I was younger!
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