Pavb2's Reading Log

Troubles - JG Farrell 7/10
This was as good as some "classics" I've read. Not sure about the symbolism regarding decline of British empire etc. I took the book at face value as said before a fascinating insight to Ireland in those times especially peoples different perspectives.

Also got Siege of Krishnapur (2nd in trilogy) but will read this later,very sad about author who drowned in Cork 1979.

Probably going to read Lady Audley's Secret next

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie 8/10

Someone suggested this on boards so read last week,really easy to read nice atmosphere and good twist at the end. Probably too many characters for me.

Prolific writer so I wonder which of her books are ranked the best?Also got the ABC murders on my bookshelf.

Anyhow back to the Greeks

Blindsighted - Karyn Slaughter 6/10

I like to read different authors and see what all the fuss is about, I thought this was like a written version of Hostel but in reality she isn't graphic or gruesome in her descriptions but leaves it to our imagination.

Too many coincidences and a bit unreal in places for me eg
I won't be reading her next one just yet but an OK read

Guy De Maupassant - The Best Short Stories 8/10

Better than F.O.Connor's. The Necklace is excellent,Boule de Souf good and the Two Friends very moving.

He paints a very colourful world and I'm sure there's more hidden meaning in the satire than I uncovered.

The ABC Murders - Agatha Christie 7/10

I enjoy the odd Christie book,don't analyse the plot too much, a very easy read but too strong a hint given too early as to the identity of the villain.

I find it interesting though the book set in the first half of the 20th century references to the decline in society and how things were better before same stuff talked about nowadays.

The Forgotten Highlander - Alistair Urquhart 9/10

This was a fascinating read about a WW 2 soldier held captive by the japanese recommended on boards. I don't think the written word can adequately describe what Urquhart went through for 3 1/2 years.

Written in a very direct style what struck me was Urquharts honesty. For example he feels let down that the army in the East were left to fend for themselves and bitterness at the muted reaction they received when they got home. Regarding Nagasaki he says.

' I was disturbed by the devastation but felt no sympathy for the Japanese. Serves them bloody right, I thought. How else was it going to end.'

No sucking up to the pc brigade there and he admits he can't forgive the soldiers who treated them so appallingly.

We lose track with the doom & gloom of these times of how truly bad life can be but for an accident of time.This book is a reminder that perhaps were not too badly off and sadly one story amongst hundreds of thousands.

The Haunted - James Herbert 7/10

Read The Rats many years ago really made you squirm when reading and better than others of his more supernatural pieces like Shrine.

Picked up Haunted on front shelf in Easons thought it was relatively new. Anyhow we forget how times change, smoking in a railway compartment using pay phones etc etc I had to check and realised it was written in 1988.

I'm not sure about Herbert's style is he a bad writer? Things like 'David unlocked the door,the investigator went in' make you wonder if he's still talking about the same person.He continually writes like this with the obligatory physical description of each character.

An easy enough read creates a good bit of tension in the last quarter but falls short on a lot of plot elements.

Anyhow taking the critical review hat off not entirely a bad read

Revision A Creative Approach to Creative Writing - Kaplan 10/10

I'd have a bit of an interest in creative writing I think we've all read a book where we thought we could do better than that ourselves. Anyway it is a lot harder than one thinks and a major achievement to get something completed let alone published.

Anyhow this book deals with the whole process from first draft to editing,editing editing and is relevant to both short stories and novels.

I considered editing to be changing a sentence here a punctuation mark here etc but this book explains you have to tear down your piece, look at it from different angles and even if you end up with something similar to the original the whole process should improve your work.

I agree with him that you may (Will) not achieve perfection but get your work as good as you can at that given moment. Very easy to read and as he says re vision (not revision) is looking at your work from a new perspective even if you leave it for months years, even if you never complete the work the process and cupboards (hard drives) of unfinished work are not wasted.

A Criminal and an Irishman - Patrick Nee 7/10

Not sure what to make of this book a lot of names mentioned Whitey Bulger amongst others, but the book leaves an awful lot unsaid such as Nee's motivation as an ex marine to become involved in gun running for the IRA. criminality and his nine year stretch after the event.

He gives a potted history of Ireland, Cromwell, the famine, hunger strikers etc but omits 1798 also driving south west from Mayo to Rosslare made me smile.

His parents, rural Galway people, encouraging and almost demanding that he kills the man who killed his brother was quite shocking.

Interesting stuff about accumulating the arms almost too easy and no disclosure of how they were betrayed.

The book reads like a first draft and very sketchy and you feel it needs 'colouring' in, altogether an unusual insight into the situation in the North from a different perspective. Sort of Brits out, give us the 6 counties back & all will be sorted

His patriotism and love of 'the auld sod' could only be written by someone who hadn't lived here for long.

A Chosen Few Short Stories - Frank R. Stockton 9/10

Another Kindle freebie, The Lady, or The Tiger? One of the best short stories I'd read so delighted to read it again. So did he open the right door or did the princess set him up? The story was written in an attempt to involve his readers but I heard the author was 'the recipient of a great deal of scolding' because of the ending.

Some good off the wall stories here and the characters give a colourful and amusing read The Transferred Ghost, Old Pipes, the Echo Dwarf and the Dryad.

Bounce - Matthew Syed 8/10

I enjoyed this book particularly the first sections 10000 hours to become accomplished at a skill, puts things in perspective.

The book is a great motivator whether it's sport or music etc & some good advice regarding setting a goal just beyond your reach.

I found the last few sections regarding race and drugs very different from the earlier conversational style of earlier, a bit too 'technical' for me.

On balance easy to read &informative

The Palaver Tree - Wendy Unsworth 8/10

Kindle - This was an excellent read for so many different reasons as the author has a great eye for detail and gets this across to the reader most effectively.

The contrast between a sleepy affluent Cornish village and the stifling heat of a poverty stricken African village was really well done.

All the characters were all well drawn but the strength of the story was the way in which the many different characters,sub plots and locations were weaved together.

A slow burner to begin with the story hinted at conflict had elements of mystery and gradually the suspense increased to an action packed ending.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie 9/10

Homicide A Year On The Killing Streets - David Simon 9/10

I think PaddySam recommended this so thanks.

'By the summer with the body count rising in the Baltimore heat I came to realise that I was standing on the factory floor.This was death investigation as an assembly line process a growth industry for a rust belt America that had long ceased to mass manufacture much of anything save for heartbreak itself.'


The above quote sums up my view of the book.

Not a beginning middle and end like a traditional book but a commentary of life on the streets. At 600 pages + this book is the paperback equivalent of the box set.

Characters like detectives Mclarney, D'Addario and Pellegrini stood out for me but you suspect the author held back on some of the unofficial punishments handed down.

The strength of the book lies in the narrative described by the author. He obviously wasn't with the detectives every waking hour but was so close that he managed to make the dialogue and interaction wholly believable.

A great read, and another world, though not unique to Baltimore.

Stella - Peter Wyden 10/10

I was in Berlin a few years ago looking at an exhibition on Prince Albrecht Strasse former gestapo headquarters next to a preserved section of the Berlin wall. The exhibition detailed the rise of Nazism and included the Holocaust.

What stood out on this wall of misery was this picture of a glamorous, impeccably dressed young lady Stella Kubler posing with her boyfriend. Reading the narrative it turned out that Stella a Jew was a 'catcher' for the Gestapo. She sought out and betrayed former Jewish acquaintances hiding in Berlin.

This was something I had never come across before so so bought Peter Wyden's book. He had been to school with her.

Initially the resons for her betrayal were to save her parents from the death camps but after they were eventually sent away she continued her betrayal.

Not only does the book detail her actions but asks questions about the human instinct for survival and Wyden gives a very balanced opinion. Obviously her actions were wrong the more complex discussion involves her motivation.It's easy to judge but no-one knows how they would react under similar circumstances.

I gave this my 1st 10/10 as the subject matter is so tragic and Wyden describes a hitherto unknown chapter to me of WW2.

It seems luck, fate played such a crucial role in many of the lives of these people. Primo Levi talks about something as insignificant as the switching of the points on a railway track the difference between life and death.

Here's her picture there are also videos on the web of a young Stella in class.

The Black Arrow - Robert Louis Stevenson 7/10

Less well known than his other works this was still an entertaining read along the lines of Robin Hood etc

Set at the time of the War of the Roses there were a lot of different parts it almost read like a mini series the main protaganist battling against the odds.

What interested me and I think the book was censored afterwards is the completely ruthless and ammoral manner the hero carries out his business. Stealing a man's ship, killing someone who stood in his way when if written today I think a tap on the head would suffice etc etc.

But for me this is an indication of life Robert Louis times when perhaps life wasn't held in as high regard and moral codes more blurred

I liked the appearance of a youthful Richard of York and the early signs of his cruel personality.

An easy going plot but if you were to see the book literally on film I think it would be quite graphic in its violence.

Jet - Russell Blake 7/10

The wonders of the kindle, I got this as a freebie and it seems Russell blake is a bit of a phenomenon when it comes to publishing e books. 14 hour writing days and 18 books published.

Anyhow Jet was an interesting book about an ass kicking ex mossad female agent who wanted out. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo came to mind but it seems this was the author's intention to write a novel with exotic locations in the Bond, Kill Bill genre.

The story was fine and it was worth the read as it didn't tax the brain too much.

The Riddle of the Sands - Erskine Childers 8/10

A very enjoyable read very much a boy's own type of story.

Written in 1903 the prophetic opinion of the day regarding the inevitibility of war with Germany is quite eerie.

Childers touches on the navies of Britain and Germany, Germany's lack of colonies and Britain's stretched naval resources because of her colonies.

I enjoyed the stiff upper lip style of this narrative almost as interesting as the plot in itself.

Maybe a sign of the times the way books are structured today but the hero(es)
I got a great deal of pleasure repairing to the drawing room in my velvet smoking jacket armed with a glass of brandy and a thick cigar listening to the shipping news playing softly on the wireless in the background.

This was a good read but I think there were probably too many sub plots and superficial characters (win)which weren't sufficiently developed. It would have been good to see some of these from a different POV rather than the main character's.

Some aspects of the story didn't stand up to scrutiny and we're overly complicated
Having said that the first half was enthralling one of those books where you can't wait to find out what's coming next.

Will probably try one of his others The Woods looks like a good story.

I admitted defeat with The Man in The Iron Mask

A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs 10/10

I really enjoyed this story, John Carter a confederate veteran takes us on a very entertaining journey to another world full of imaginative machines, beings and creatures.

This the world of Zodangans,Helium,the Tharks, Thoats and his faithful ally Woola still not quite sure what he is.

This crosses many genres, science fiction, adventure and a new one for me inter planetary romance. The contrast between the old Wild West and the red planet is interesting.

I looked forward to coming home of an evening to pick this book up and wonder if I hadn't seen it so many times on film would I have enjoyed his more famous work Tarzan as much. like APoM Tarzan also hinges on that juxtaposition theme of a character of one world being thrown into another.

She - H Rider Haggard 7/10

One of the problems I had with this book was that every time I went to read it that song by Charles Aznavour kept coming into my head. The one one that goes " she may be the face I can't forget etc etc"

The book was interesting though I think the plot was given away much too early. the first and last action parts were good but in between too much introspective dialogue, too wordy.

This is a quest from Oxbridge England to darkest Africa a mission to unlock an age old mystery

Magellan - Stefan Zweig 9/10

We've probably all heard the name Magellan but in my case didn't really know the detail of his achievement so if you're looking for an overview of the man then this book does the job.

I was quite surprised that the book was written in 1938 as it seems much more modern. The narrative tracks Magellan early history his struggle to find a sponsor for the voyage, through to the voyage and final return. It throws up many avenues for further reading such as the fate of the third ship.
The Victory.
The book is easy to read and flows well with minimal technical references though I do think a few maps would have been helpful.

The author Stefan zweig seems to have lived an eventful life,an Austrian born Jew he was a popular writer in the 1920s 30's leaving when hitler came to power. Zweig and his wife committed suicide in 1942

A

Kolymsky Heights - Lionel Davison 7/10

This was OK a thriller which gave a good insight into the Arctic. The plot revolves around a native American Indian who can speak many languages including Inuit, Korean amongst many others. He's asked to get in to a secret Russian installation in the Arctic to help an old scientist acquaintance.

On the whole there was too much detail for me such as

Malice Aforethought - Francis Iles10/10

I saw this on Amazon and it brought back vague memories of a mini series I watched in 1979 starring Hywel Bennet.

The book is a fantastic black comedy, a dark but very humourous 1930's period piece about a hen pecked husband who plans to bump off his overbearing wife.

No spoiler required as his intent is stated in the opening paragraph which did cause a bit of controversy as people's expectation at the time was that the killer is always revealed in the final denouement.