What I'm reading ...

I thought it might be interesting to read some epic sci fi for a change, so I have started The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton. This is a massive book and the first of a trilogy. I will see how it goes ... Here's the blurb:

In AD 2600 the human race is finally beginning to realize its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature’s boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures. Huge fleets of sentient trader starships thrive on the wealth created by the industrialization of entire star systems. And throughout inhabited space the Confederation Navy keeps the peace. A true golden age is within our grasp. But now something has gone catastrophically wrong. On a primitive colony planet a renegade criminal’s chance encounter with an utterly alien entity unleashes the most primal of all our fears. An extinct race which inhabited the galaxy aeons ago called it “The Reality Dysfunction”. It is the nightmare which has prowled beside us since the beginning of history.

The Girl on the Train - by Paula Hawkins

I read this book quite quickly and, ultimately, enjoyed it. Clearly I am not alone, as I observe that it is the #1 selling Kindle book in the UK at the moment. The story was easy to read, but complex enough to keep me interested, employing 3 viewpoints and 2 timelines. I have to say that the characters are quite clearly depicted, but I did not like any of them. That is OK - I do not have to like the people to enjoy a book. What concerned me was that the main female characters are all rather self-obsessed and the males are testosterone-driven thugs. What does this say about the author and her background?

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. I wanted some straightforward fiction to read. I had heard mixed views on this book, but it has been a best seller, so I thought I'd give it a go. Here's the blurb:

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.
Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.
Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

H is for Hawk - by Helen Macdonald

I was recommended this book, it has won awards and the reviews that I have read have been very positive. So I had high expectations. A memoir about a part of someone's life - someone whom I had never heard of and whose passion is falconry - seemed unlikely to light my fire. However, the author's passion really shines through and, along with the superb quality of the writing, I was sucked in and thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. I would commend it to anyone who likes quality writing, even if for them, like me, birds of prey hold just a very passing interest.

What I'm reading ...

I have started H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. I was after non-fiction and this is well spoken of. Here's the blurb:

From the age of seven Helen Macdonald was determined to become a falconer. She learned the arcane terminology and read all the classic books, including T. H. White’s tortured masterpiece, The Goshawk, which describes White’s struggle to train a hawk as a spiritual contest.
When her father dies and she is knocked sideways by grief, she becomes obsessed with the idea of training her own goshawk. She buys Mabel for £800 on a Scottish quayside and takes her home to Cambridge. Then she fills the freezer with hawk food and unplugs the phone, ready to embark on the long, strange business of trying to train this widest of animals.
‘To train a hawk you must watch it like a hawk, and so gain the ability to predict what it will do next. Eventually you don’t see the hawk’s body language at all. You seem to feel what it feels. The hawk’s apprehension becomes your own. As the days passed and I put myself in the hawk’s wild mind to tame her, my humanity was burning away.’
Destined to be a classic of nature writing, H is for Hawk is a record of a spiritual journey - an unflinchingly honest account of Macdonald's struggle with grief during the difficult process of the hawk's taming and her own untaming. At the same time, it's a kaleidoscopic biography of the brilliant and troubled novelist T. H. White, best known for The Once and Future King. It's a book about memory, nature and nation, and how it might be possible to try to reconcile death with life and love.

The Red House - by Mark Haddon

It's always an issue, reading another book by an author after you have enjoyed something else by them. In this case, I was far from disappointed. I was very quickly engaged with the book and found it hard to put down, which is surprising because, on some levels, not a lot happened - it is just two families on a week's holiday together. The characters are, IMHO, very clearly drawn. The book is written from [at least] eight viewpoints and changes without any particular warning or indication, but I was never lost; the characters' voices are always clear. I was very impressed by the perspectives of the four male characters, as I could identify with so many details. Both the boys exhibit views that I recall from being their age; some aspects of each man resonate with me.

Will I read any more books by this author? Definitely!