What I'm reading ...

I have started Gut: the inside story of our body's most under-rated organ by Giulia Enders. It was time for some more non-fiction and this book was recommended to me. Here’s the blurb:

Our gut is almost as important to us as our brain or our heart, yet we know very little about how it works. In Gut, Giulia Enders shows that rather than the utilitarian and — let’s be honest — somewhat embarrassing body part we imagine it to be, it is one of the most complex, important, and even miraculous parts of our anatomy. And scientists are only just discovering quite how much it has to offer; new research shows that gut bacteria can play a role in everything from obesity and allergies to Alzheimer’s.
Beginning with the personal experience of illness that inspired her research, and going on to explain everything from the basics of nutrient absorption to the latest science linking bowel bacteria with depression, Enders has written an entertaining, informative health handbook. Gut definitely shows that we can all benefit from getting to know the wondrous world of our inner workings.
In this charming book, young scientist Giulia Enders takes us on a fascinating tour of our insides. Her message is simple — if we treat our gut well, it will treat us well in return. But how do we do that? And why do we need to? Find out in this surprising, and surprisingly funny, exploration of the least understood of our organs.

Restless - by William Boyd

Another book that was an enjoyable read. An interestingly complex story, with two timelines that always made sense. I felt that I learned something about history - particularly in the US just prior to their joining in to WW2 - even though the book is purely fiction. If I have any reservation about the book, it is that the two main characters, from whose viewpoint it is written, are female, but the author is male, and I think that shows from time to time. However, this is another author to whom I will return.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Restless by William Boyd. Time for fiction gain and I have not read anything by this author for quite a while. Here’s the blurb:

What happens to your life when everything you thought you knew about your mother turns out to be an elaborate lie? Ruth Gilmartin discovers the strange and haunting truth about her mother, Sally, during the long hot summer of 1976. For Sally Gilmartin is not what she seems at all. Russian by birth, she was recruited into the British Secret Service in Paris in 1939 and spent the war years as a spy. But once a spy, always a spy. Sally Gilmartin has far too many dangerous secrets, and she has no one to trust. Before it is too late, she must confront the demons of her past. This time though she can't do it alone, she needs Ruth's help. "Restless" is yet another tour de force from William Boyd. Exploring the devastating consequences of duplicity and betrayal, it is a thrilling novel that captures the drama of the Second World War and a remarkable portrait of a female spy.

Business for Punks: Break All the Rules - the BrewDog Way - by James Watt

Here's the blurb for this book:

Don't waste your time on bullshit business plans. Forget sales. Ignore advice. Put everything on the line for what you believe in.

These mantras have turned BrewDog into one of the world's fastest-growing drinks brands, famous for beers, bars and crowdfunding.

Founded by a pair of young Scots with a passion for great beer, BrewDog has catalysed the craft beer revolution, rewritten the record books and inadvertently forged a whole new approach to business.

In BUSINESS FOR PUNKS, BrewDog co-founder James Watt bottles the essence of this success. From finances ('chase down every cent, pimp every pound') to marketing ('lead with the crusade, not the product') this is an anarchic, indispensable guide to thriving on your own terms.

---

I got this book because I am a fan of Brewdog's products and I am one of the numerous investors in the company. I have no plans to start and run a business, but I am always interested in views on this topic and people who take radical new approaches are always interesting. 

I read this book very quickly. It has a fast-paced style that keeps the pages turning. The author has very strong opinions and is not afraid to share them. He is very sure that his way is right and that confidence, to the point of arrogance, oozes from the book. He cites his success with Brewdog for the rightness of his ideas and advice. Who am I to say he's wrong?

The book is full of good quotes and one-liners:

"Your brand is the collated gut instinct of the world at large towards your company and everything you do."

"Attitude is the difference between a setback and an adventure."

"Start a revolution, not a business."

And from Estée Lauder:

"I love reading fashion magazines, they show me exactly what I shouldn't be doing."

By then end of the book, I was so caught up in his enthusiasm, that I thought that I should go out and start a business ... 

The Last Anniversary - by Liane Moriarty

Another book by this author has delivered. The story is complex, with multiple threads. Some do not lead anywhere much, but they intertwine to give the whole story breadth as well as depth. At the end, when all the surprises are over and all of the interesting twists and turns are complete, the loose ends are mostly tied up too.

I would not claim that this book is a great work of literature, but it is a darned good read, that could be hard to put down. I will be returning to this author's work.

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty. I have read and very much enjoyed several other books by this author and suddenly realized that I had this one, still unread. Here’s the blurb:

‘I’ll tell you something, something important. Love is a decision. Not a feeling. That’s what you young people don’t realise. That’s why you’re always off divorcing each other. No offence, dear.’ So decrees the formidable Connie Thrum of Scribbly Gum Island. She is the chief decision-maker of a rather unconventional family and her word is law, especially when it comes to the important things in life, like cinnamon toast and profit margins. It’s been over seventy years since Connie and her sister Rose visited their neighbours and found the kettle boiling and a baby waking for her feed, but no sign of her parents. The ‘Munro Baby Mystery’ still hasn’t been solved and tourists can visit the abandoned home, exactly as it was found in 1932. But now Connie has passed away and the island residents ponder her legacy. Sophie Honeywell is looking down the barrel of her fortieth birthday and still hoping for that fairytale ending. Her beautiful new friend Grace, the Munro Baby’s granddaughter, can’t tell anyone what she hopes for. It would be too shocking. Meanwhile, a frumpy housewife makes a pact with a stranger, an old lady starts making her own decisions and a family secret finally explodes on an extraordinary night of mulled wine, fire-eating and face-painting – the Last Anniversary.

The Road to Little Dribbling - by Bill Bryson

I was slightly nervous about reading this book, asking myself: Does Bryson still have it? The “it” being the undefinable skill that results in fascinating and enjoyable books. The short answer is yes. He still has it in spades.

This was a very enjoyable read. His travels took him to places very familiar to me, where it was interesting to see them through the eyes of another. He also went to many places that I have not visited, many of which sounded very interesting. A lot of the writing made me smile and, more than once, laugh out loud; this is not common. Often the source of amusement is his way of describing things and people, but there is also a lot of conversation that goes on inside his head, which is very amusing. As always with Bryson’s books, I was assailed with numerous random facts, as he goes off on long tangents, which are never distracting, always interesting.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an easy, but rewarding, read. I already look forward to more of the author’s work in the future.

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. I have been reading and enjoying Bryson’s books sine the early 1990s and have met the guy a couple of times - he is as charming as he sounds in his writing. He is one of very few authors whose work I simply buy on publication without hesitation. Here’s the blurb:

Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the green and kindly island that had become his adopted country. The hilarious book that resulted, Notes from a Small Island, was taken to the nation’s heart and became the bestselling travel book ever, and was also voted in a BBC poll the book that best represents Britain.Now, to mark the twentieth anniversary of that modern classic, Bryson makes a brand-new journey round Britain to see what has changed.
Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, by way of places that many people never get to at all, Bryson sets out to rediscover the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly unique country that he thought he knew but doesn’t altogether recognize any more. Yet, despite Britain’s occasional failings and more or less eternal bewilderments, Bill Bryson is still pleased to call our rainy island home. And not just because of the cream teas, a noble history, and an extra day off at Christmas.
Once again, with his matchless homing instinct for the funniest and quirkiest, his unerring eye for the idiotic, the endearing, the ridiculous and the scandalous, Bryson gives us an acute and perceptive insight into all that is best and worst about Britain today.

The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less - by Barry Schwartz

This book was a fascinating read and opened my eyes to many aspects of modern psychology, apart from the main theme of “choice". The author investigates every facet of the main subject - how choice affects us from a psychologist’s perspective. This brings in discussions about control [or lack thereof] and much information about depression etc.

Apart from the discussion of the “problem” of choice, the author gives some sound advice about how the reader can handle the glut of options that assail our everyday life.

When I started the book, I was concerned that, being 10 years old, the book would be outdated, but that really was not the case. The book is also very American biased, but I did not feel that this detracted from the enjoyment or usefulness of the book to the non-American reader.

What I'm reading ...

Time for non-fiction and I have started The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz. This book is about a topic to which I have given significant thought. It was recommended by a blogger whose ideas I generally find interesting and aligned with my own. Here’s the blurb:

Whether we're buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401(k), everyday decisions—both big and small—have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented.
As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and perpetual stress. And, in a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression.
In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice—the hallmark of individual freedom and self-determination that we so cherish—becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice—from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, and individual needs—has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. Schwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse.
By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counter intuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. He offers eleven practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on those that are important and ignore the rest, and ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.

A Place Called Winter - by Patrick Gale

By excitedly moving straight on to another book by an author, whose work I had just enjoyed, I was leaving myself open to disappointment. In this case, I was not disappointed. The book has a very manageable level of complexity - enough to make it interesting. Multiple timelines are employed, but not over-used, and they do not result in confusion. The characters are well drawn and, even if I do not like them all [the main protagonist is rather weak and stupid IMHO; another character is really unpleasant] I have a clear picture. Even though it is fiction, because it is based on some facts and I have faith in the author’s integrity, I feel I have learned about Canada of a century ago. Overall, this is an excellent book.

There is the temptation to just forge ahead and read all the rest of the author’s work straight away. But I will resist, saving that pleasure for another day.

What I'm reading ...

I have started A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale. After the last book, I have high hopes of this one. It is very unusual for me to read two consecutive books by one author. Here’s the blurb:

In the golden 1900s, Harry Cane, a shy, eligible gentleman of leisure is drawn from a life of quiet routine into marrying Winnie, eldest daughter of the fatherless Wells clan, who are not quite as respectable as they would appear.
Winnie and Harry settle by the sea and have a daughter; conventional marriage does not seem such a tumultuous change after all. When a chance encounter awakens unacknowledged desires, however, Harry is forced to forsake the home and people he loves for a harsh new life as a homesteader on the newly colonized Canadian prairies. There, in a place called Winter, he will come to find a deep love within an alternative family, a love imperilled by war, madness and a man of undeniable magnetism.
In a dramatic departure from anything he has written before, Patrick Gale boldly projects his own fears and loves to tell the dramatic story of an Edwardian innocent's gradual understanding of his own nature. Based on the real life mystery of the author's own great-grandfather, and drawing on the understanding of psychology and relationships which infused Rough Music and Notes from an Exhibition, A PLACE CALLED WINTER charts the gathering of wisdom of a kind suppressed in most family histories.

A Perfectly Good Man - by Patrick Gale

I was recommended this book very highly, so I started it with optimism. This was not unfounded. The story is not too complex, but has little nuances which I found fascinating. The author leads the reader to realisation, instead of spelling everything out and he does this very skilfully. Each chapter is from a different viewpoint and has a title which is a character’s name and their age. The chapters do not appear in consecutive time order, so the effect of an action may be covered before the action itself. This sounds confusing, but it was not. I was quickly drawn in to th ebook and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I often finish a book and vow to investigate other books by the same author. On rare occasions, I finish a book and feel excited that there is a catalogue of many more books, by the same author, awaiting my attention. This book was one of these rarities.

What I'm reading ...

I have started A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale. It was recommended and my initial impressions are very positive. Here's the blurb:

When 20-year-old Lenny Barnes, paralysed in a rugby accident, commits suicide in the presence of Barnaby Johnson, the much-loved priest of a West Cornwall parish, the tragedy's reverberations open up the fault-lines between Barnaby and his nearest and dearest. The personal stories of his wife, children and lover illuminate Barnaby's ostensibly happy life, and the gulfs of unspoken sadness that separate them all. Across this web of relations scuttles Barnaby's repellent nemesis – a man as wicked as his prey is virtuous.

Returning us to the rugged Cornish landscape of Notes from an Exhibition, Patrick Gale lays bare the lives and the thoughts of a whole community and asks us: what does it mean to be good?

A Man Called Ove - by Fredrik Backman

I really enjoyed this book. It started off rather oddly, appearing to be about a rather annoying guy called Ove. Indeed the book is about him and he would probably be annoying to be around. However, ultimately it is a love story - or a couple of intertwined love stories. And probably the most moving one that I have ever read. After the first 50 pages or so I was totally drawn in; I was very surprised by how emotional the ending made me.

My past (limited) experience of Swedish literature has always been rather dark. I assume that this was originally published in Swedish. I will check out other work by the author for sure.

What I'm reading ...

I have started reading A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. This book was recommended and sounded entertaining. Here’s the blurb:

At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots - neighbours who can't reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d'etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents' Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets.
But isn't it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so?
In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible...

Beautiful Ruins - by Jess Walter

This is a somewhat complex story, with multiple timelines and viewpoints. In at least one place the timelines leapfrog, so that you are aware of the result of an action before you hear about it occurring. However, none of this is confusing and I’d say the book is quite well written. Many aspects of the story are desperately unlikely, but that makes for a good tale. It is ultimately a love story, but succeeds in investigating many other aspects of human behaviour in the process. I am not sure about the technique of including a real person in a fictional story. I guess that’s a matter between the author and the celebrity’s lawyers. The name of the hotel - Adequate View - is genius. And I like th little bits of untranslated Italian, which I think give context without taking away meaning.

I liked the quality of the writing. There are a lot of “one liners”, which I enjoyed:
“What kind of wife would I be if I left your father simply because he is dead?"
“… and a map that looks like it was drawn by a ten-year-old on meth."
“A writer needs four things to achieve greatness: desire, disappointment and the sea.” “That’s only three.” “You have to do disappointment twice."
“But only if you stop wiping your ass on my language."
“Having a baby?” She looked away. “It was like shitting a hen."
He assumed that enough polite post-orgasm conversation had passed, at least it would have in America; he wasn’t sure of the British exchange rate.
“… as if his face had been sculpted in separate pieces and then assembled on-site."

What I'm reading ...

I have started Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter - my next book club book. Here’s the blurb:

The story begins in 1962. Somewhere on a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and views an apparition: a beautiful woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an American starlet, he soon learns, and she is dying.
And the story begins again today, half a world away in Hollywood, when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio's back lot searching for the woman he last saw at his hotel fifty years before.
Gloriously inventive, funny, tender and constantly surprising, Beautiful Ruins is a novel full of fabulous and yet very flawed people, all of them striving towards another sort of life, a future that is both delightful and yet, tantalizingly, seems just out of reach.

Levels of Life - by Julian Barnes

I was not quite sure what this book was about. It turns out that it is about ballooning, photography, love and grief. This sounds like an odd combination, but the author skilfully uses them to express some ideas in a novel way. Although he tells stories of ballooning and photography, he also uses that part of the book to set up metaphors for use later.
I was particularly impressed by the way he talks about thoughts and emotions that I have experienced, but was never able to express in words:

• The idea of a little voice murmuring “I’m free” after the death of a loved one.
• The fact that someone is dead may mean that they are not alive, but it doesn’t mean that they do not exist.

He also abhors the euphemism “pass” used instead of “die”.
All in all I found this to be a very enriching book, which might serve anyone who wants to understand about bereavement and grief. Somehow, it succeeds in this job without being grim or morbid. It is excellent writing, which came straight from the author’s heart.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Levels of Life by Julian Barnes. It was time for non-fiction, probably biography and this little book looks intriguing. Here's the blurb:

You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed…
In Levels of Life Julian Barnes gives us Nadar, the pioneer balloonist and aerial photographer; he gives us Colonel Fred Burnaby, reluctant adorer of the extravagant Sarah Bernhardt; then, finally, he gives us the story of his own grief, unflinchingly observed.
This is a book of intense honesty and insight; it is at once a celebration of love and a profound examination of sorrow.

To Kill A Mockingbird - by Lee Harper

I always have a slight reluctance when I start out reading a book which is regarded as a "classic". It commonly seems that such books are more to do me good than provide me with enjoyment. In this case, any reluctance was misplaced, as I thoroughly enjoyed it from cover to cover.  The story is really quite simple, but the details and nuances were very skilfully portrayed by telling the story from the perspective of a young girl. All the characters were very clearly drawn, which brought them alive for me. Add to that a clear ending to the story, and I was well pleased.

The only remaining question is: should I now read Go Set a Watchman?

What I'm reading ...

I have started To Kill A Mockingbird by Lee Harper. I realised, hearing all the discussion about the new book [“Go Set a Watchman”], that I had not read the classic original. So I decided to put that right. Here’s the blurb:

Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this classic novel - a black man charged with attacking a white girl. Through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Lee explores the issues of race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s with compassion and humour. She also creates one of the great heroes of literature in their father, whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped in prejudice and hypocrisy.

Americanah - by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

An excellent, well-written book, IMHO. The story is quite simple - essentially about Ifemelu going from Nigeria to the US and then returning. As a result, one gains a lot of insight into life in Nigeria and about racism issues in the US. There is also coverage of similar topics resulting from Obinze spending time in the UK. Overall, i found the style of writing engaging, as there is a careful blend of facts, descriptions of places etc. and consideration of feelings. It was good to read something, written in excellent English, but with a “voice”, that is different from British and American authors [a similar pleasure can be found in the work of Indian authors]. I will certainly investigate the other work by this author.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I have been sitting on this book for a while - I think I first heard an abstract on the radio. I thought it would be nice to read something with a non-English “voice”. Here’s the blurb:

As teenagers in Lagos, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country if they can. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America. There she suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.
Thirteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a blogger. But after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face?

How It All Began - by Penelope Lively

I am fascinated by the interconnections and complex interactions between people - 6 degrees of separation and all that. This book is primarily about just this subject and addresses it very well.

There are quite a few characters in the book - necessary for such a story - but not too many. And the author handled their presentation quite well - I felt that I had quite a clear picture of all of them. I even found some of the characters quite likeable [Charlotte, Rose, Marion], though not Jeremy, obviously. The story kept me turning the pages and I found it reasonably credible. The wrap-up at the end was slightly artificial, but the only alternative would be to leave matters hanging, which I would find frustrating.

I will certainly be interested in reading more of this author’s work.

What I'm reading ...

I have started How It All Began by Penelope Lively. First book I've read by this author - book club selection, of course. Here's the blurb:

When . . . Charlotte is mugged and breaks her hip, her daughter Rose cannot accompany her employer Lord Peters to Manchester, which means his niece Marion has to go instead, which means she sends a text to her lover which is intercepted by his wife, which is . . . just the beginning in the ensuing chain of life-altering events.

In this engaging, utterly absorbing and brilliantly told novel, Penelope Lively shows us how one random event can cause marriages to fracture and heal themselves, opportunities to appear and disappear, lovers who might never have met to find each other and entire lives to become irrevocably changed.

Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as told by Christian - by E L James

This book "does what it says on the tin". The story is retold from Christian's perspective. As a result, we learn about where his tastes, fetishes and fears come from. So, it makes for an OK read. His perspective is very different from Ana's and we learn all the details.

Overall, I quite enjoyed what was ultimately a trivial book. I was dismayed to discover, when I got to the end of the book, that it is probably the first of a trilogy...

What I'm reading ...

I have started Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as told by Christian by E L James. I will admit to being swept up by the hype and buying this book [at a reasonable price] a few hours after publication. I do not have high expectations, but having invested time in reading the previous books, I thought that this might be interesting. Here’s the blurb:

In Christian’s own words, and through his thoughts, reflections, and dreams, E L James offers a fresh perspective on the love story that has enthralled millions of readers around the world.
Christian Grey exercises control in all things; his world is neat, disciplined, and utterly empty – until the day that Anastasia Steele falls into his office, in a tangle of shapely limbs and tumbling brown hair. He tries to forget her, but instead is swept up in a storm of emotion he cannot comprehend and cannot resist. Unlike any woman he has known before, shy, unworldly Ana seems to see right through him – past the business prodigy and the penthouse lifestyle to Christian’s cold, wounded heart.
Will being with Ana dispel the horrors of his childhood that haunt Christian every night? Or will his dark sexual desires, his compulsion to control, and the self-loathing that fills his soul drive this girl away and destroy the fragile hope she offers him?

Wild - by Cheryl Strayed

This was a very engaging and thought provoking book. The story is a rich mixture, telling the tale of the actual journey itself, the people she met and the emotional journey that she experienced. The author's lucid writing style gave me a very clear impression of the world and the people around her. I was also impressed with the candour with which she told the very personal parts of the story. I think I'd like to see the movie now ...

What I'm reading ...

I have started Wild by Cheryl Strayed. I was after something serious - something more down to earth - to read. I had heard good things about this book (and the movie) and it seemed to fit the bill. I have read the first chapter, which covers the author's mother's death, and found it very moving. I think that I am in for an emotional ride. Here's the blurb:

At twenty-six, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's rapid death from cancer, her family disbanded and her marriage crumbled. With nothing to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to walk eleven-hundred miles of the west coast of America and to do it alone. She had no experience of long-distance hiking and the journey was nothing more than a line on a map. But it held a promise - a promise of piecing together a life that lay shattered at her feet...

The Reality Dysfunction - by Peter F. Hamilton

At over 1200 pages, I think this must be the biggest book that I have ever read in one go. The author uses the large canvas to good effect, constructing a detailed, consistent universe set a few centuries into the future. The story is wide ranging and kept me turning the pages. I also think that the characters are quite well drawn, regardless of there being a large number. I am always critical of the science in science fiction, but this book is quite credible, overcoming long distance travel using wormholes and introducing some novel ideas like biological starships.

Although it was an enormous book, I got through it quite quickly, as I was pulled along by the story. Ultimately, this led to my one disappointment. The end of the book just arrived. It was not really an end - the book just stopped, with numerous story lines still unresolved. Of course, this is just the first book of a trilogy, so there is plenty of time/space for more development. However, am I up for another 3000 or so pages ... ?

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!

What I'm reading ...

Time for my next book club book, so I have started The Red House by Mark Haddon. Having enjoyed his previous book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, I am looking forward to this one. Here's the blurb:

Two families. Seven days. One house.
Angela and her brother Richard have spent twenty years avoiding each other. Now, after the death of their mother, they bring their families together for a holiday in a rented house on the Welsh border. Four adults and four children. Seven days of shared meals, log fires, card games and wet walks.
But in the quiet and stillness of the valley, ghosts begin to rise up. The parents Richard thought he had. The parents Angela thought she had. Past and present lovers. Friends, enemies, victims, saviours.

Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery - by Henry Marsh

An excellent book. The author maintains a healthy balance between talking about the actual brain surgery, his feelings and views about his work and the rest of his life. It is written with what I felt was great humility. He is proud of what he has achieved, but deeply saddened by his own failings. I am humbled to read about someone working with such skill and expertise, but still caring and modest.

What I'm reading ...

I was after a non-fiction, easy to read book and have started Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh. Here's the blurb:

Do No Harm offers an unforgettable insight into the highs and lows of a life dedicated to operating on the human brain, in all its exquisite complexity. With astonishing candour and compassion, Henry Marsh reveals the exhilarating drama of surgery, the chaos and confusion of a busy modern hospital, and above all the need for hope when faced with life's most agonising decisions.

Middle Watch - by Loretta Proctor

This book is unusual nowadays, as it has a single timeline and is told from a single viewpoint. The language used in the book is straightforward and makes for easy reading. The story, however, does have complexities, specifically the various relationships that Bridie has with the other characters, which is ultimately what the book is about. On a certain level, her uncertainties in this area are resolved by the way circumstances turn out. But I was left wondering whether she was happy to have everything clear or was just living with what was inevitable. The book left me with some questions [which is OK, as I will meet the author in a few weeks], but also with a vague feeling of dissatisfaction. I wonder: and then what ... ?

What I'm reading ...

I have started reading Middle Watch by Loretta Proctor. This is my next book club book, which is particularly interesting, as the author is local to where I live. She is going to attend a meeting of our group in June to discuss writing and answer our questions. Here's the blurb:

Middle Watch is a time when a man alone on a lighthouse in those wee small hours feels he's the only person in the world. A man awake and alone in the darkness of the night has time to think, and sometimes those thoughts turn towards revenge and hate. Bridie O'Neill was taken in as a baby by Dad Joe, whom she adores as if he were her real father. Unfortunately, Joe is away at sea most of the time and Bridie has grown up under the thumb of his mean-spirited wife, Millie, and her two bullying sons. The only joy in her life comes from the beautiful coastline near their home and Joe's occasional visits. When things come to a head between Bridie and Millie, Joe realises he needs to take Bridie - and himself - away from his poisonous wife. He starts a job as a lighthouse keeper at Longships Light. Bridie's life is transformed by this new life close to the wild Cornish seas. There she meets the dark, brooding Ryan, son of the Principal Keeper. The two young people fall deeply in love with one another. But Joe's family are not ready to let Bridie go. She is haunted by the idea that Millie will come after her, and Joe's older son Jim is starting to look at Bridie with a most unbrotherly interest. Wanting to escape the emotional turmoil and prove herself, Bridie sets out on her own to find work in London - but her actions set forth a chain of events that will end in tragedy on a lonely lighthouse amongst the crashing waves of the sea...

The Ruby in the Smoke - by Philip Pullman

Overall I thought that this book was a good read. As I gather it is aimed at younger readers, it is not very challenging to read, but that is not a criticism. The story is somewhat complex, but not baffling. There are quite a lot of significant characters, but I was never lost, so I suppose there weren't too many. It is a thriller, so I guess the fact that the whole story is incredibly unlikely doesn't matter. For a while, I found Sally a rather irritating character, as she seemed intelligent, but clueless. Then I remembered that all 16 year old girls are irritating.

I am not sure that I will read any more books in this series, as I have much competition for scarce reading time, but I would not reject one either.

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman. This is my next book club book, which is annoyingly unavailable on Kindle. I have read other books by this author, but I am fairly sure that I have not read this one. Here's the blurb:

Sally is sixteen and uncommonly pretty. Her knowledge of English literature, French, history, art and music is non-existent, but she has a thorough grounding in military tactics, can run a business, ride like a Cossack and shoot straight with a pistol. When her dear father is drowned in suspicious circumstances in the South China Sea, Sally is left to fend for herself, an orphan and alone in the smoky fog of Victorian London. Though she doesn't know it, Sally is already in terrible danger. Soon the mystery and the danger will deepen - and at the rotten heart of it all lies the deadly secret of the ruby in the smoke...

Talk Like TED - by Carmine Gallo

In some ways this is a typical American business book - it has some fairly basic ideas, which are repetitively addressed in a variety of ways. Having said that, I felt that the ideas were valid and useful and the discussion and background gave them context. I believe that many presenters would learn a lot from this book. I have sat through too many long, boring presentations, so I see room for improvement.

Personally I did not learn a great deal of new stuff from this book, but a number of my ideas about how to make presentations better were reinforced and justified by the author's research. This will give me greater confidence in implementing them myself and advising others.

Bottom line: IMHO, anyone who does presentations - even infrequently - should read this book.

What I'm reading ...

I have started reading Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo. My wife drew my attention to the book, having heard the author on the radio, so I had a listen and my interest was piqued. Then I spotted it was #1 on a best seller list for business books. I figured it might be helpful professionally. Here's the blurb:

TED talks have redefined the elements of a successful presentation and become the gold standard for public speaking around the world. TED and associated Tedx conferences are held in more than 130 countries and are being viewed at a rate of 1.5 million times a day. These are presentations that set the world on fire, and the techniques that top TED speakers use are the same ones that will make any presentation more dynamic, fire up any team, and give anyone the confidence to overcome their fear of public speaking. Communications coach and bestselling author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, Carmine Gallo has broken down the top TED talks and interviewed the most popular TED presenters as well as the top researchers in the fields of psychology communications to get their cutting-edge insights and to reveal the 9 secrets of all successful TED presentations. From 'Unleashing the Master Within' and 'Delivering Jaw Dropping Moments' to 'Sticking to the 18-minute Rule' Gallo provides a step-by-step method that makes it possible for anyone to create, design, and deliver a TED-style presentation that is engaging, persuasive, and memorable. Ideas are the true currency of the 21st century, and Carmine Gallo’s Talk Like TED gives readers a way to create presentations around the ideas that matter most to them, presentations that will energize their audiences to spread those ideas, launch new initiatives, and reach their highest goals.

The Life and Science of Richard Feynman - by James Gleick

This book took a while to read, but it was worth the effort. I was only slightly familiar with Richard Feynman before, but now feel that I know him quite well. The book is an excellent balance between a discussion of him as a person and him as a scientist. The science is covered in a lot of detail at a level that I found accessible and interesting. From time to time the book goes off at a slight tangent and spends a few pages talking about one of his colleagues. As they were always of significance in his life, I found these interludes helpful and interesting.

By the end of the book, I was a little sad that Feynman is less of a household name than some other scientists of the 20th Century, with whom he was associated. Einstein, Dyson and Oppenheimer come to mind. I do feel that the author made a good effort to set the record straight.

Heart of Darkness - by Joseph Conrad

The bottom line is that I did not enjoy reading this book. Even though it is quite short, it seemed to drag on for ever without going anywhere. It reminded me of the description of the play Waiting for Godot: "The play in which nothing much happens. Twice." I had the general impression of Marlow rambling on to his shipmates through the night - long after most had fallen asleep. The style of writing is rather Victorian - very much a case of "why use one word when 12 will do". The character Kurtz is supposed to be "memorable", but I was left with no real impression of him and was mystified by Marlow's string feelings about him. When I [mercifully] got to the end of the book, I felt as if I had read a book, from which a large number of pages had been removed. [But, on a Kindle, that would seem unlikely.]

What I'm reading ...

I have started Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, having put my previous book on hold for a while. This is my next book club book. We have chosen to read two Conrad books because his son used to own my house and we liked the historical connection. Here is the blurb:

First published in 1902, Conrad's story describes intensely and in stark detail how greed can so easily drive civilised and enlightened men to revert to primitive savagery. Set against the background of the European ivory trade in Africa, 'Heart Of Darkness' is narrator Marlow's account of his journey in search of the legendary and mystical Kurtz, the most successful trader of them all, who is now reported to be ill. Marlow's quest becomes both a harrowing journey of self-discovery and haunting description of the brutality of colonial exploitation; while Kurtz himself is one of the most memorable creations in modern fiction.