tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78408276384586451052024-02-19T12:54:59.277+11:00Boy Meets BookA bookworm's blog about great books, not so great books, musings about books and sometimes films too.Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-36406232413787265872015-01-12T16:23:00.005+11:002015-01-12T16:23:49.097+11:00Charles Palliser The Quincunx<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-XvifwvLA0edqg95rM-dIVe9DU-CLGG3itMvSNQyFDDGzYFcKvK7skT1nFKLVBwcpb9GY2aKP5UWLptdiyKLM1OphvJPfMcjwA3I_Q9QnWMvl7FTt8JHJO4WzP4_dpWbs13S7xPdLTF_0/s1600/824986.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-XvifwvLA0edqg95rM-dIVe9DU-CLGG3itMvSNQyFDDGzYFcKvK7skT1nFKLVBwcpb9GY2aKP5UWLptdiyKLM1OphvJPfMcjwA3I_Q9QnWMvl7FTt8JHJO4WzP4_dpWbs13S7xPdLTF_0/s1600/824986.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just finished Charles Palliser’s amazing <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Quincunx-Charles-Palliser/dp/0345371135/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421034476&sr=1-3&keywords=charles+palliser">The
Quincunx</a>* and feeling a mixture of exhaustion, elation and sadness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s been a while since I was so totally absorbed, transported
and obsessed by a book. So much so that the characters were starting to infect
my dreams!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve always been a fan of the neo Victorian novel and loved Michael
Cox’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Meaning-Night-A-Confession/dp/0393330346/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=01D66B7JX0NCYDAKZ2YE">The
Meaning of the Night</a>, and Sarah Water’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Velvet-Novel-Sarah-Waters-ebook/dp/B002C0XQ0M/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8">Tipping
the Velvet</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fingersmith-Sarah-Waters/dp/1573229725/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=09TF5KQ1J5Q2BXTS3N7D">Fingersmith</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I found out about Palliser through the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/10/top-10-neo-victorian-novels-charles-palliser-fingersmith-cold-mountain?CMP=share_btn_fb">Guardian’s
list of Top 10 Neo-Victorian novels</a> and thought: “Great! A big fat juicy
neo-Victorian novel is exactly the perfect read for an Australian summer spent
inside air conditioning?”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The story begins with John Mellamphy, a young boy, living
with his mother in modest conditions in the remote English country side.
John is not sure who his father is, but knows that his mother is hiding a secret document that holds the key to his identity and perhaps fortune.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This sets the scene for John’s amazing journey as he tries
to recover his inheritance and seek justice and revenge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The intricate plot involves five families who are all at
some stage of another trying to seek an</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> inheritance of the one of the largest
estates in England.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John’s traumatic adventures include all the different tropes
of Dickens & Wilkie Collins novels.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/04/books/the-spirit-of-dickens-present.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Michael
Malone</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> notes in his review:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For Mr. Palliser appears to have set out not merely to write
a Dickens novel but to write all Dickens novels: we meet the strange young girl
in a great crumbling estate, the floating prison hulks and mysterious legacy of
''Great Expectations''; the debtors' prison and suppressed codicil of ''Little
Dorrit''; the heir's convoluted name change and presumed death by drowning of
''Our Mutual Friend''; the loathsome father-son business team and the vast
real-estate development scam of ''Martin Chuzzlewit''; the stormy night,
carriage chase and foiled elopement of ''The Pickwick Papers''; the pauper
child of secret parentage kidnapped by a gang of thieves of ''Oliver Twist.'' </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s traumatic and unremittingly grim at times as almost
every disaster possible falling upon John and his mother.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But the journey is so truly worth it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Palliser creates a wonderfully detailed and textured picture of nineteenth century London. You can almost breath the fetid air of the dark and dirty streets of London. So much so that you don't want to leave at the end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was a bit worried about finishing the book as I read some reviews that had found the ending a bit of let down. A big worry when you've been making your way through such a big novel! But I was actually quite satisfied with the ending and provided you with some real resolutions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once you start this book, be prepared to be utterly absorbed and transported to another world.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">* The title ‘Quincunx’ refers to a <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">geometric<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #252525;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;">pattern consisting of five points arranged in a cross,
with four of them forming a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span>square<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #252525;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;">or<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>rectangle<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #252525;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;">and a fifth at its center</span> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincunx">via Wikipedia</a>)</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-86643737935388527362014-09-17T10:09:00.001+10:002014-09-17T10:09:30.180+10:00Latest Jack Reacher - Personal by Lee Child <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvwjopyR4HBL6Im5SRDQN_YHVbr_KgqluzbhXuatBYQrwiG89HGk_CRcgfC7-2sGvqaaPl-5EMObC3qfyXYsyrZGMoyJeJ3JtnDV_7QtHXBuMwm17Xp0PYYz4TEpmyEkHyByv8awqyq11/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvwjopyR4HBL6Im5SRDQN_YHVbr_KgqluzbhXuatBYQrwiG89HGk_CRcgfC7-2sGvqaaPl-5EMObC3qfyXYsyrZGMoyJeJ3JtnDV_7QtHXBuMwm17Xp0PYYz4TEpmyEkHyByv8awqyq11/s1600/download.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve been eagerly awaiting the latest Jack Reacher novel,
</span><a href="http://www.leechild.com/books/personal.php" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank"><b>Personal</b></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So when it came out in September this year I downloaded it pronto.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After a bit of dip, I thought Lee Child was getting his mojo
back and the last one <b>Never Go Back</b> was pretty good. Not quite back to
earlier form, but that’s to be expected after eighteen books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unfortunately <b>Personal</b> left me very disappointed and a little bit bewildered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After a strong start, with the premise being that Reacher is
needed by the US Government on an overseas ‘off the book’ job, the story totally
peters out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We find Reacher jet setting off to France and England with a
cast of international spies, assassins and assorted shadowy government types. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sounds exciting and the all the right ingredients for a great thriller right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That is why I'm so disappointed because all the elements are there and the first few chapters set everything up so well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But then the story becomes really flat and sort of meanders to a rather desultory ending. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While the international element was initially interesting it just wasn't sustained throughout the novel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Plus the secondary characters were all under </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">developed and I was a bit surprised at just how
quickly the story was neatly wrapped up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reacher pretty much deals with the main bad guy in one page or so
and by the end of the major twist reveal had me thinking ‘meh’.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But where the story really falls flat is Reacher’s partner, a
young analyst named Casey Nice who is in the field for the first time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reacher
plays the mentor role her and it just doesn't work at all. In fact, I found Casey Nice an extremely
boring and very annoying character. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She constantly needed reassurance from Reacher that she
was doing okay and it </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">really slowed the story down.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don’t need
to see this ‘caring’ ‘sharing’ side of Reacher, I just want to see him kick
butt! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is probably the second time Child has tried to put
Reacher in a broader environment and it doesn't really work again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The best Reacher novels are what I call the "local stories",
where he is in a little US backwater town battling for the underdog.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here’s hoping, the next one is set in a small American town. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-17394861001435024472014-04-21T15:09:00.003+10:002014-04-21T15:12:29.045+10:00The Giver by Lois Lowry <div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHXgENOa2ElMDrtE2bBvH2Ye6yxEnAN9OABTEsBBGo4GHkKIZ3u8SPsR02h7vjjk6xvlBJeYZgPc-r7kQunoMDUErLNNMve3YhzOdehNcvcL1coRpAa5vpQdBEFBUOg4ML3ghxFMuB1le/s1600/thegiver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHXgENOa2ElMDrtE2bBvH2Ye6yxEnAN9OABTEsBBGo4GHkKIZ3u8SPsR02h7vjjk6xvlBJeYZgPc-r7kQunoMDUErLNNMve3YhzOdehNcvcL1coRpAa5vpQdBEFBUOg4ML3ghxFMuB1le/s1600/thegiver.jpg" height="320" width="187" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">After a run of YA fiction that included Hunger Games,
Divergent and </span><a href="http://marielu.org/books.html" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Legend</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> series, I was suffering
a bit of dystopian YA fiction fatigue and decided to take a break.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The break has not lasted too long as I now find myself
engrossed in Lois Lowry’s YA series the </span><a href="http://www.loislowry.com/index.php?option=com_djcatalog2&view=items&cid=4:the-quartet&cid=4:the-quartet&Itemid=185" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Giver
quartet</b></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">The Giver (1993)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Gathering Blue (2000)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Messenger (2004)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Son (2012)</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I got interested in the books after seeing the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435651/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">preview of the film</a>
(coming out in August 2014). The cast is stellar with Meryl Streep, Jeff
Bridges and Alexander Skarsgard and the story was intriguing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first book in the series, <b>The Giver</b>, introduces us to a
world that on the surface seems to be a utopia – life is ordered, comfortable and everyone is
assigned a role to play. But through the
main character of Jonas, a twelve year old boy who is assigned to become a ‘Receiver
of Memory’, that novel slowly peels away
the layers of this utopia to reveal a brutal reality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The books are short, sharp and gripping. Lowry is a master
story teller and the writing style reminds me a lot of <a href="http://www.patrickness.com/books.html">Patrick Ness’s</a> brilliant <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13047567-chaos-walking"><b>Chaos Walking
Series</b></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Both these series are “Young Adult”, but with an emphasis on
the <i>adult</i>. Indeed, I can’t help but
compare the quality of writing, ideas and storyteller in the Giver quartet and
the more recent examples of this genre: <b>Divergent</b>, <b>Legend</b> series.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">There is no doubt that books like Divergent are
entertaining, but that’s really it. What makes both Ness and Lowry’s books stand
out is their great depth. These books </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">make you think afterwards about the
world around you and the nature of humans to repeat our own history.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I’ve just finished the third book, <b>Messenger</b>, which incorporated really interesting elements of fairy tale and fable genre like the evil enchanted forest. I also loved how the
characters grow and develop 'off stage', we only meet Jonas again in the third book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I'm looking forward to the last book and finding out what happens. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Here's the trailer for the movie:</span></div>
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Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-39225213965011836602014-01-11T15:51:00.001+11:002014-01-11T15:54:11.824+11:00Some reading highlights and disappointments from 2012<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's my list of reading highlights and disappointments from 2012. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Spy novels, thrillers and fantasy featured quite heavily on my reading list. It was a pretty quiet year on the non-fiction front.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Highlights</span></h3>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://danielsilvabooks.com/the-books/" target="_blank">Gabriel Allon</a> series by Daniel Silva </span></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARduPq4mUtanw1kmmPxMs-7M3ZHMLDdKQ4irRwFaHctmIyAciHHdXF-SczUyFP-Yx6STny8COW9l9X5qYLzr29hufa1efPaMcoVB40BWUJYIRGhjBlf_0OS3yCzjc_6iqnINo2HqS36aL/s1600/gabriel-allon-pic1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhARduPq4mUtanw1kmmPxMs-7M3ZHMLDdKQ4irRwFaHctmIyAciHHdXF-SczUyFP-Yx6STny8COW9l9X5qYLzr29hufa1efPaMcoVB40BWUJYIRGhjBlf_0OS3yCzjc_6iqnINo2HqS36aL/s1600/gabriel-allon-pic1.JPG" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the best things about discovering a series so late is the extensive back catalogue. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Daniel Silva’s spy/thriller series focuses on Isaraeli intelligence agent, Gabriel Allon, who also happens to also be a talented art restorer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It’s a great mix of spy stuff, history, politics and also art history that had me totally gripped. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">There are 13 books in this series (yes!) and I read books 1 -6 straight through. While I’m on a mini-break from the series, there is no doubt I’ll be back to read the rest of the books.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Red-Knight-K-T-Davies-ebook/dp/B008PN6I8M/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388968169&sr=1-3&keywords=the+red+knight" target="_blank">The Red Knight by KT Davies </a></span></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEi1QHXRGjyik11BnHQ-ZrhMBciz4UfDPoG1kGjO3WhLx9zi7Xq61-czGLdshWrfugZ3GMrG0hONlgxcfyX-gH6UD6PQxlw5-CM_xumppkZzauzpLMBjko__OVsQQvqsKdKG0VEdHnioML/s1600/red+knight1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEi1QHXRGjyik11BnHQ-ZrhMBciz4UfDPoG1kGjO3WhLx9zi7Xq61-czGLdshWrfugZ3GMrG0hONlgxcfyX-gH6UD6PQxlw5-CM_xumppkZzauzpLMBjko__OVsQQvqsKdKG0VEdHnioML/s1600/red+knight1.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you are after a gritty and compelling fantasy novel featuring a knight in shining armour, who happens to be a woman, than this is the book for you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">KT Davies’ book has it all: knights, dragons, magicians, military battles, a castle siege and a dash of romance. I loved the fact that the knights were both men and women, which really gave the book an extra dimension. The ending was also very unexpected and left me wanting to know so much more about what happens to the characters. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This was one of the most thoroughly enjoyable reads of the year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/the-weirdest-week-of-my-life-terry-hayes-debuts-on-bestseller-list-20130818-2s55h.html" target="_blank">I Am Pilgrim – Terry Hayes </a></span></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP5lG5OJo9_senGjeSM-IvvYA79XvL-ES2Vg50IChYw1sTKgRnTCLsnTMcARzGAasV9TGijAcD_NC_Rmwx7VGTLaJrpcNRNEyQs6JXjvfXbuSK0F9dqLRR7ZVIijD4VY75IbV-xGEd3Jjn/s1600/pilgrim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP5lG5OJo9_senGjeSM-IvvYA79XvL-ES2Vg50IChYw1sTKgRnTCLsnTMcARzGAasV9TGijAcD_NC_Rmwx7VGTLaJrpcNRNEyQs6JXjvfXbuSK0F9dqLRR7ZVIijD4VY75IbV-xGEd3Jjn/s1600/pilgrim.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This first novel by Australian screen writer, Terry Hayes, is a brilliant page turning thriller that focuses on a dangerous cat and mouse game between an US intelligence agent and a terrorist bent on revenge. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The story set in a post 9/11 intelligence world is fast moving and engrossing. I also loved the Australian connections that Hayes weaves into the story. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What really makes this book so compelling is the main character, codenamed ‘Pilgrim’, who is not your usual gung-ho hero type but actually witty and has a real Aussie sense of humour and irony. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It’s one of those books where, as desperately as you want to find out what happens, you also don’t want it end. I am hoping that this is not the last of Pilgrim's adventures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The disappointments</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unfortunately two of my favourite authors disappointed last year:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>The Kill List by Federick Forsyth</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The story was not compelling or engaging and overall, dare I say it, just a bit pedestrian from the Master.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>The Kill Room by Jeffrey Deaver</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was super excited by the return of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sacks but Deaver's latest really disappointed in terms of story and character. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either and far from Deaver's best.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Some books on this year's reading list</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ianrankin.net/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=183" target="_blank"><b>Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin</b></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The return of Rebus - yay!!</span><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spy-James-Phelan-ebook/dp/B00E4MP8PC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389415309&sr=1-1&keywords=the+spy+james+phelan" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Spy by </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">James Phelan</span></a></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Recommended by Lee Child himself - so have to check it out.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Eleanor-Park-Rainbow-Rowell-ebook/dp/B007KLKFSO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389415536&sr=1-1&keywords=Eleanor+%26+Park+by+Rainbow+Rowell" target="_blank">Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell </a></b><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Look's like a great YA book and who can go pass an author named 'Rainbow'?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Goldfinch-Donna-Tartt/dp/0316055433/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389146310&sr=1-1&keywords=donna+tart+goldfinch" target="_blank">The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt</a></b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This one has rave reviews and I absolutely loved Tartt's two previous books - The Secret History and The Little Friend.</span></div>
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Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-78606917964880796272013-07-29T16:13:00.001+10:002013-07-29T20:23:51.725+10:00Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Rich boy meets down to earth ABC (American Born Chinese)
girl in NYC and brings her home to his crazy rich Asian family in Singapore.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cue a clash of cultures, generations and fashions ensues! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kevin Kwan’s delicious romp of a book is best described as Joy
Luck club meets Pride and Prejudice meets Dynasty.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Needless to say the overtop bling book cover totally matches the over top story.</div>
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This hilarious satirical book skewers the tensions and
pretensions between the established crazy rich old families and the newly rich from
mainland China.</div>
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The story begins with Nicholas ‘Nick’ Young, from the
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of the unbelievabley rich in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Nick is part of three intertwined super rich families who
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alley that turns into a catwalk. Cray cray!!!</div>
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Chinese) and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peranakan" title="Peranakan">Peranakan</a>
food.<br />
<br />
It picks up on the obsession with food in Singapore, as the characters argue about where to get the best laksa. I know you'll love these these parts of book <a href="http://tseenster.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Tseenster!</a> </div>
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In between all the high gloss, I liked the way Kwan picks up
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My only issue with the book is that it was just a bit too
long and dragged towards the end. Also one of the main characters, Astrid (Nick’s
cousin), storyline is totally boring.<br />
<br />
But this one minor quibble in an page turning outrageously fun book.</div>
Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-47524978904499234542013-07-22T15:07:00.002+10:002013-07-23T09:11:04.733+10:00A masterpiece: John Le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL1U5qg4BMZE1c9_1888ETh_YeAsXGWjsIqZLtJRpUTg0ejYC9dZCvDiQygj5H1A60aGzZqJLQZG15YPrPZaV3qsu8aewrMXsJvutjEYjXqrFiN2jcSpJUP8Lj5hPOkNAI8NuILGqwIVMY/s1600/spyfromcold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL1U5qg4BMZE1c9_1888ETh_YeAsXGWjsIqZLtJRpUTg0ejYC9dZCvDiQygj5H1A60aGzZqJLQZG15YPrPZaV3qsu8aewrMXsJvutjEYjXqrFiN2jcSpJUP8Lj5hPOkNAI8NuILGqwIVMY/s320/spyfromcold.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">A lot of the
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">John Le
Carré's, <a href="http://www.johnlecarre.com/books/the-spy-who-came-in-from-the-cold">The Spy
Who Came in from the Cold</a> (1963) is a classic of the genre and I thought it
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">I simply couldn’t
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">However,
not to give too much away but the ending is so utterly bleak. It this sense it
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">Finishing
the book I felt both exhilarated and exhausted. I felt such a sense of despair
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">As
Boyd Tonkin notes in his <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/john-le-carr-the-spy-master-2356103.html">Guardian
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">“Inside
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">My
intention was to start reading Le Carré's <a href="http://www.johnlecarre.com/books/the-smiley-novels">George Smiley series</a>
(of which this book is part of) but actually feel the need for a bit of a
break.</span></div>
Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-6304793598188260542013-05-28T14:35:00.002+10:002013-05-28T18:53:22.031+10:00Last Sookie Stackhouse book:Dead Ever After<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4AycEcLZcywpefLsbxw4x5qzVzG9Y9v4spMHaMF3XW81yUoHi8C3MN0liRongaCf9Wh6CcZDbz6nh7NGhKjZT0qhyA3g55YGFR1l6XDV2SF4btV5wUzL4Q9ARIdO5MjBoJAjQCSVbSUCb/s1600/15985348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4AycEcLZcywpefLsbxw4x5qzVzG9Y9v4spMHaMF3XW81yUoHi8C3MN0liRongaCf9Wh6CcZDbz6nh7NGhKjZT0qhyA3g55YGFR1l6XDV2SF4btV5wUzL4Q9ARIdO5MjBoJAjQCSVbSUCb/s320/15985348.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I think any series that goes beyond ten books is really
pushing it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In a <a href="http://boymeetsbook.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/sookie-stackhouse-book-11-dead.html">previous
blog post</a>, I wrote that the <a href="http://www.charlaineharris.com/bibliography/bibliog-sookie.html">Sookie
Stackhouse series</a> really started to go down hill for me around book nine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So I approached the final book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/193700788X">Dead Ever After</a></b>,
with very low expectations. I have such fond memories of the early books that I
felt somewhat obligated to ‘complete the series’ by reading this last book.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dead Ever After</b> follows
the same plot lines as many of the previous books: Sookie find herself in
danger, hunted and defended by various supernaturals and trying to work out who
she really loves.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The only difference is that this final book brings some
closure to Sookie’s romantic life and the whole: will she stay with Eric or go
back to Bill question is finally laid to rest.I was a bit tired for the whole Eric/Bill angsty love
triangle story line and was really glad Harris didn’t invest too much of the
last book on this.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">While it wasn’t a compelling read, it was certainly a nice way
to wrap up the series. And the final book is really targeted towards fans as a
lot of old characters make their way back into the story.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It’s not the best of the Sookie Stackhouse books but it’s
certainly not the worst either, just somewhere in the middle. It’s all sort of
ends with a bit of ‘meh’ for me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So it’s hard for me to understand some of the outrage from
fans about this last book. Maybe it’s kinda hard to get outraged when your
expectations are already so low.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Just a quick glance at the Amazon reviews and significant
number of one star ratings (765) shows that a whole lot fans are ANGRY about
this last book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As this <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/10/charlaine-harris-sookie-stackhouse-true-blood">Guardian
article</a> shows the online vitriol directed towards Harris has been quite
extraordinary. Again, demonstrating the very thin line between fan love and
hate/and also just plain crazy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I believe that you get hooked onto series, like Sookie
Stackhouse, because you get invested in the characters and their lives. This is
through the skill and imagination of the author.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It can be disappointing, frustrating and saddening to see
what happens to characters as a series continues.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But in the end these characters and stories are the creation
of someone’s imagination. So how can anyone stake a claim to control
someone’s creativity and imagination? It’s both unrealistic and totally unreasonable.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I also thought Harris’s acknowledgment of her fans was heartfelt
and gracious as she writes:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“Thanks for sticking with me through the books that
succeeded and the books that fell a bit short of my aspirations.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the end, I think there is a sense of relief from both the author and certainly this reader that we can say a final goodbye to Sookie Stackhouse and her supernatural friends.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4AycEcLZcywpefLsbxw4x5qzVzG9Y9v4spMHaMF3XW81yUoHi8C3MN0liRongaCf9Wh6CcZDbz6nh7NGhKjZT0qhyA3g55YGFR1l6XDV2SF4btV5wUzL4Q9ARIdO5MjBoJAjQCSVbSUCb/s1600/15985348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-58493773285238698752013-05-22T20:18:00.000+10:002013-05-22T20:26:22.678+10:00Dan Brown's lnferno - disappointing and pedestrian.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihY1PaWbZVWjBOdCzhRh0ULTpTz2ZHO6vGnA_YNa3Lrh8yUr7PeYJyUNTNrdYtB1AbExrUkPXXSBKGUyublywbu5L0ISn43WpXWfp4mfjqU03v7GfydxvBaa2kB-Y6FpzcreUMU5MV0EW7/s1600/inferno-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihY1PaWbZVWjBOdCzhRh0ULTpTz2ZHO6vGnA_YNa3Lrh8yUr7PeYJyUNTNrdYtB1AbExrUkPXXSBKGUyublywbu5L0ISn43WpXWfp4mfjqU03v7GfydxvBaa2kB-Y6FpzcreUMU5MV0EW7/s320/inferno-cover.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Our favourite Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, returns
in Dan Brown’s latest book <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_%28Dan_Brown_novel%29">Inferno</a>
(2013).</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Langdon is back doing what he does best: deciphering
symbols in artworks, visiting amazing buildings in Europe and of course, saving the world.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I thought Brown’s first three books in the Langdon series, Angels
and Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003) and The Lost Symbol (2009), were
all hugely fun, entertaining and enjoyable thrillers.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But Inferno is hugely disappointing, lacklustre and just
plain boring.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In its review <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-2324012/Dan-Browns-Inferno-review-Bilge-hell-page-turner.html">The Daily
Mail</a> called it ‘bilge, but one hell of a page turner’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A tad harsh, but after finishing the book I
don’t even think it rates as a page turner at all!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In fact, completing the book became a real chore because I had lost interest midway
through the book.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Let’s face it, thrillers in the genre like The Da Vinci Code all have completely outlandish plots. I think that is fun part of the read, but really if you are going to do outlandish then as least make it interesting, intricate and fun
outlandish.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The story begins with Langdon waking up in hospital in Florence and suffering amnesia after being shot in the head. He is unable to remember why he
is in Florence and why a range of people are seemingly out to hurt him. He is left with a clues found in a Botticelli illustration for Dante's The Divine Comedy.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t want to give too much away but a whole lot of
elements didn’t really work for me and the plot twists when revealed were oh so pedestrian.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In the end I think Brown overreached in his focus
on Dante’s The Divine Comedy and rather than engaging with it a meaningful
way it was just used as simply a plot device.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the biggest grips I have about the book is that a
good portion of it is full of badly written descriptions of very famous religious
buildings like the Palazzo Vecchio and Sophia Hagia. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Oh and the also the fact that Langdon seems to care more
about his Mickey Mouse watch than the potential end of the world.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I must admit reading the various reviews of Inferno have actually
been much more fun and entertaining then the book itself. That really says something!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Some of the reviews are also master classes
in the art of the backhanded compliment. The highlight being Jake Kerridge in <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/10053517/Inferno-by-Dan-Brown-review.html">The
Telegraph</a> who wrote “as a stylist Brown gets better and better: where once
he was abysmal he is now just very poor.” SNAP.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Also from the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10049454/Dont-make-fun-of-renowned-Dan-Brown.html">Telegraph’s
Michael Deacon’s</a> written-in-the-style-of-Dan-Brown “Inferno” review is a
real hoot too.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But in the end I
feel disappointed, because I'm not a Dan Brown 'hater' and I actually wanted to like this book.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I was looking forward to a fun and
interesting page turner, but instead it felt like a rather dull art
history lecture.</span></span></div>
Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-54788826349265649602013-04-21T13:24:00.002+10:002013-04-21T13:32:21.545+10:00From book to film - Jack Reacher fails on screen<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWW1ovZ2LeNwCCL188L8Vk_VZNMkSFRGRzyfeNWHRwx-4UAJWWL7sZNHoyjthYUBKOAYbs35JiQ_Pld0sGiNQk4_bgnoj5OW24ifFe9dVFYDmZtEQe3zlcJV7rNV5Gv2WbQjhxsDJojOCr/s1600/reacher-cruise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWW1ovZ2LeNwCCL188L8Vk_VZNMkSFRGRzyfeNWHRwx-4UAJWWL7sZNHoyjthYUBKOAYbs35JiQ_Pld0sGiNQk4_bgnoj5OW24ifFe9dVFYDmZtEQe3zlcJV7rNV5Gv2WbQjhxsDJojOCr/s320/reacher-cruise.jpg" width="193" /></a></div>
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I<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">’d probably count myself a bit of a Jack Reacher fan.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As I’ve
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7840827638458645105#editor/target=post;postID=8057640387138867409;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname">previously
blogged before</a>, I’ve read all of <a href="http://www.leechild.com/" target="_blank">Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series </a>and really
enjoyed them. </span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The first five or six are standouts in the contemporary anti-hero thriller genre. Reacher is the THE man you turn to when you're in trouble.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So like most fans I’ve got a pretty good mental picture in
my head of what Jack Reacher looks like and it ain’t Tom Cruise.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When Cruise was announced to play Reacher, the <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/21/entertainment/la-et-jc-tom-cruise-jack-reacher-fans-react-20121220">fanbase
went pretty rabid</a> pretty quickly. Oh fandom, such a very fine line between
love and hate. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I’ve finally managed to watch Cruise’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790724/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Jack Reacher movie
released in 2012</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Oh dear, what a complete disappointment! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I tried to approach the movie with an open mind, after all
much to the world and Anne Rice's surprise, Cruise did manage to pull of the role of Lestat in
The Vampire Diaries. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But this just didn’t work at all for me at any level: as
a Reacher fan and also a movie fan full stop. </span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">After the first few scenes I kept reminding myself ‘oh it’s
Jack Reacher not Tom Cruise playing another hero’. At one stage, I almost thought I was watching
another Mission Impossible film. </span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I know movies are about suspension of disbelief, but seriously
Jack Reacher is supposed to be 6 ft 5 in, weigh 250lbs and be tan with dirty
blond hair. Cruise doesn’t physically come even remotely close. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">However, what disappointed me even more than the physical disparity is the fact that Cruise's Reacher is just <i>so bland</i> and one dimensional.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Reacher in the novels
is actually really funny, witty and a real smart arse too. Plus he is also very critical of a lot of things in American society including the military, government and consumer culture. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This is all lost in the film and in fact Reacher's patriotic monologues were some of the most cringeworthy moments of the film. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Oh yeah, don't get me started on the complete lack of chemistry between Cruise and Rosamund Pike. Truly, truly painful to watch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">All I can say is, thank god for Robert Duvall! Duvall chews up the scenery and is the only memorable character in the film. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This is defintely one book to film adaption that failed.</span></div>
Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-12565607783846456262013-02-27T19:54:00.003+11:002013-02-27T20:20:06.775+11:00The Hobbit: movie and book review together<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg16jPuPNGo_qGOIhdNlmoKDfNhcl9cQQljWpEpAK5Cp4mrHvY-mjNDoslnWkoVT1udKJYOzwPg0i7ClbHEpkRHvCqHSCz_11u5_6GrQg_kCYlbiU2eJCInRhXCWghFt0zLQyb2DJn9mI5d/s1600/Hobbit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg16jPuPNGo_qGOIhdNlmoKDfNhcl9cQQljWpEpAK5Cp4mrHvY-mjNDoslnWkoVT1udKJYOzwPg0i7ClbHEpkRHvCqHSCz_11u5_6GrQg_kCYlbiU2eJCInRhXCWghFt0zLQyb2DJn9mI5d/s200/Hobbit.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is my first combo review ever! And it’s a little bit
unusual because I saw the movie first, then read the book.<b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The movie - The Hobbit: an unexpected journe<span style="font-size: small;">y</span> (2012)</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So what to make of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/" target="_blank"><b>The Hobbit: an unexpected journey </b></a>or otherwise
known as Peter Jackson’s very extended love letter to J.R.R. Tolkien?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, first it was really wonderful to be transported back
to the world of Middle Earth with its hobbits, wizards, elves and dwarves. In
particular, it felt like seeing old friends again when Frodo (Elijah Wood), Elrond
(Hugo Weaving ), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Saruman (Christpher Lee) popped up
on screen.<b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It was even great to see Gollum (Andy SIrkis) again!<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I thought Jackson really hit the spot with casting again: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0293509/?ref_=sr_1" target="_blank">MartinFreeman </a>was perfect at Bilbo Baggins and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0035514/" target="_blank">Richard Armitage</a>, nearly unrecognisable
under all that prosthetics, brilliant as Thorin.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Like the Lord of the Rings (LOR) trilogy, what stands out in every
frame of this film is Jackson’s love of Tolkien’s imaginary world. And just
like LOR the detailed look and feel of Middle Earth was amazing.<b> </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While there have been many complaints about the length of
the film, it really didn’t bother me too much. <span style="font-size: small;">This <span style="font-size: small;">was probably </span></span>because
I was in the comfort of a Gold Class recliner with drinks and snacks on hand to
see me through!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">That being said I do think the film would have benefitted
from some tighter editing to create a better sense of momentum in the narrative.
I did find the repetitive battle scenes
were a little bit wearying. But <span style="font-size: small;">my </span>overall pleasure in finding myself transported
back into the world of Middle Earth overcame any of these <span style="font-size: small;">minor issues</span>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The book<span style="font-size: small;"> - </span>J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937)</b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxIXLBKeVYi6EAp5VkSiFOzzGIKJC8W1vXw6BkUZGmMrwQN_uAh1P5x8m8_SX5D60HLxYeY9fu8rXdIOu5LZ7zZ5p4FqIESZ1MVzwdkQI-2zmELuKzSl6CkIIqygJma2xirK_qjaptgf05/s1600/the-hobbit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxIXLBKeVYi6EAp5VkSiFOzzGIKJC8W1vXw6BkUZGmMrwQN_uAh1P5x8m8_SX5D60HLxYeY9fu8rXdIOu5LZ7zZ5p4FqIESZ1MVzwdkQI-2zmELuKzSl6CkIIqygJma2xirK_qjaptgf05/s200/the-hobbit.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Inspired by the movie and wanting to find what happens when
the Dragon Smaug reawakens and of course not willing to wait another year, I
rushed out to read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit" target="_blank">J. R. R. Tolkien’s book</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I attempted to read the Hobbit in high school and can even remember the distinctive cover of a dragon sitting on top of a shiny pile of
gold. But for some unknown reason, I never managed to finish it. Probably because my
teenage self was more interested in the realism of Robert Cormier, Slyvia Plath
and Chaim Potok (that’s a whole other post!)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Hobbit is a really fun read and of course being
a<span style="font-size: small;">i<span style="font-size: small;">med at </span></span>children doesn’t have the levity and depth of LOR.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Hobbit is real </span>'boys own adventure' stor<span style="font-size: small;">y and </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I found myself being happily and easily drawn back into
Tolkien’s world<span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The only disappointment in the book was just how quickly
(Spoiler alert!) Smaug is taken out of the picture. I expected a bit more of a
battle but the dragon was dispensed <span style="font-size: small;">o<span style="font-size: small;">f </span>in </span>only a couple of sentences!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Reading the Hobbit and running into some of the characters from LOR again made me realise just how much I was absorbed by Tolkien's imaginary world and my awe of how one man's imagination could have created such a layered and complex world. A world that you really want to be part of.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I read LOR at a rather difficult time in my life - I had just come back from overseas and was unemployed and broke. I have very fond memories of spending sustained periods of time </span><span style="font-size: small;">reading LOR while <span style="font-size: small;">it seemed like the </span>rest of the world was beavering away busy at work.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">At that point, I realised that no matter was happening in my life and no matter how broke I was, I would always be able to find pleasure and joy in books.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And for that I thank you J.R.R.Tolkien.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </span></span></div>
Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-3003177816894451042013-01-28T21:19:00.001+11:002013-01-28T21:25:11.568+11:00Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlVjzhyphenhyphenr7BXwO0J2UCQFmJw-DRj13XI_slALsYoZAYIHLBOVpYefj9C1eV_XRc7aOanRNQB4MB_3obcbMZtC5ZSscDnZDz5xQd4Il2zcI_54TSMbjiqowHia5dBU-T-55zZGNAe0jedm9_/s1600/quiet-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlVjzhyphenhyphenr7BXwO0J2UCQFmJw-DRj13XI_slALsYoZAYIHLBOVpYefj9C1eV_XRc7aOanRNQB4MB_3obcbMZtC5ZSscDnZDz5xQd4Il2zcI_54TSMbjiqowHia5dBU-T-55zZGNAe0jedm9_/s320/quiet-image.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">After watching <a href="http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/">Susan
Cain’s</a> passionate and funny <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html">TED talk</a>, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her book <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/dp/0307352145" target="_blank">Quiet: The Power ofIntroverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking</a>.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I just had a discussion with friends over lunch about
introvert/extrovert personalities and the Myers Briggs Type testing we<span style="font-size: small;">'ve </span>all
endured as a part of the recruitment process.<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So I was all really quiet prepped and eager to dig into the
issue of introverts.<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I found <b>Quiet </b>an interesting and thought provoking
read. Cain makes some really good points about how our culture rewards and tends
to overvalue extroverted behaviour.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was
cheering big time at her critique of open plan office and the fact that they
are not conducive to actually thinking and working. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Being at the introverted end of personality scale, I found it reassuring
to recognise my behaviour and have it explained and also valued. While not a ‘self-help’
book in the truest sense, Cain’s book does provide a reassessment of the ‘power’
of introverts.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/22/quiet-power-introverts-susan-cain-review">Jon
Ronson writes in his review:</a> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“It's also a genius idea to write a book that tells
introverts – a vast proportion of the reading public – how awesome and
undervalued we are. I'm thrilled to discover that some of the personality
traits I had found shameful are actually indicators that I'm amazing. It's a <i>Female Eunuch</i> for anxious nerds.
I'm not surprised it shot straight to the top of the New York Times bestsellers
list.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But unfortunately I was never really totally absorbed by the
book and I found myself skimming through chapters. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The main issue was the constant and exhaustive
review of the academic research which I was just not that interested in</span><span style="font-size: small;">. Rather than a quick summary, Cain would devote
pages to detailing a journal article and the research it was based on.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I also found the chapter:<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>"Soft Power - Asian-Americans and the Extroverted Ideal' a little problematic<span style="font-size: small;">. I </span>was very </span><span style="font-size: small;">uneasy about some of inherent essentialis<span style="font-size: small;">t arguments and </span>over generalisations being made.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What I enjoyed the most and what makes Cain's book worth reading is where she writes about her personal experiences and talks to other introverts. For example, she writes about forcing herself to attend an Anthony Robbins 'power' seminar and also where</span><span style="font-size: small;"> she ends up going to an introverts retreat and actually hating
all the silence and non-speaking!<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Overall, I'm really glad I read Cain's book and she makes a powerful and eloquent argument for valuing introverts.</span></span></div>
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Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-25306125201278600682013-01-08T14:02:00.002+11:002013-01-09T17:55:37.201+11:00Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSnB4NpU7f-OIw99J-fyxlPmr7ZXo4-zlWQzmSpEXypW3CwQSJx_1Yv3YA2WOG5d8JyPkX6eiv5kA4GrNzJoeRSPDdIgwoxhcf2OZwW5a8CgMdEmsZqlyRVTINtSRLvfIs1-8hIqHe8sx5/s1600/mr-p.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSnB4NpU7f-OIw99J-fyxlPmr7ZXo4-zlWQzmSpEXypW3CwQSJx_1Yv3YA2WOG5d8JyPkX6eiv5kA4GrNzJoeRSPDdIgwoxhcf2OZwW5a8CgMdEmsZqlyRVTINtSRLvfIs1-8hIqHe8sx5/s320/mr-p.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s always a treat to find a book with the all things you love<span style="font-size: large;"> in life.</span> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.robinsloan.com/" target="_blank">Robin Sloan’s</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Penumbras-24-Hour-Bookstore-Novel/dp/0374214913" target="_blank"><b>Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore</b> </a>ticks all the boxes for me. It contains all these elements:</span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">bookstores and working in bookstores</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">set in San Francisco - my favourite city in the world</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">a secret book club filled with eccentric characters </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">fonts – which play an important part in the story </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">detour in New York – my second favourite city. </span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />The story begins with Clay Jannon, an out work web designer, who finds himself working the night shift at an old fashioned bookstore:Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Because of the economic downturn, Clay mourns for a web design career cut short before <span style="font-size: large;">reaching its</span> peak.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;">So in</span>stead off all things digital he <span style="font-size: large;">now </span>finds himself in a world of print<span style="font-size: large;"> and </span>dealing with borrwwing cards<span style="font-size: large;"> and </span>catalogues. Oh and he also get<span style="font-size: large;">'s in</span>volved in a secretive book club.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Clay's adventures takes him from San Francisco to New York<span style="font-size: large;">,</span> with a detour<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: large;">o<span style="font-size: large;">n</span></span></span>to Google’s campus.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Along the way Clay has help from his childhood best frien<span style="font-size: large;">d </span>who is now mega rich and owns a lucrative start up, an attractive Google employee and flat mate who works at Industrial Light and Magic. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />See how much fun it is already<span style="font-size: large;">?</span> This book revels in it’s all its geekiness and I can’t remember a book I have enjoyed so much.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Needless to say, Dungeons and Dragons and sci fi are heavily featured in the story!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />As well as a rollicking adventure book, what makes Sloan’s book a real standout is that it’s absolutely laugh out funny. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">He writes with such a dry wi<span style="font-size: large;">t, taking </span>a very sl<span style="font-size: large;">y, </span>but also endearing take, on the whole tech start up culture in SF and the relationship between print and digital, ‘old knowledge’ and ‘new knowledge’.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
Sloan is a former Twitter employee and I also loved all the details about Google and the way it operates.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/robin-sloan-mr-penumbras-24hour-bookstore,88849/" target="_blank">Kevin McFarland notes in his review</a>, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sloan’s depiction of startup culture in San Francisco is positively dead-on and bitingly funny, and taking the story to Google’s Mountain View campus offers plenty of opportunities to poke holes in the puffed-up egos of the digital behemoth.</span></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the end the book is a passionate embrace of all things digital and print.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As a passionate reader who has embraced ebooks in the past year it also really resonated with me. What have we gained and what have we lost with the shift to ebooks?</span></span>Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-76908368168014986942012-12-29T14:56:00.002+11:002012-12-29T15:05:03.176+11:00Back to fiction: The Sisters Brothers <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In 2012, non-fiction featured quite heavily in my
reading list so it’s nice to end the year by going back to fiction. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's holiday time and I just wanted a great story to take me away. <a href="http://patrickdewitt.net/works.html">Patrick Dewitt’s</a> <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sisters-Brothers-Patrick-deWitt/dp/0062041282">The
Sisters Brothers</a>, </b>certainly did that!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This book is a strange, violent and compelling Western about two
brothers who are assassins.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Yes that is right, I read a Western! I must admit the
Western is a genre that I’m not too familiar with and don’t have much of an interest in.</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Dewitt’s book, described as a ‘revisionist Western’, tracks
the relationship and adventures of the much feared and loathed Charlie and Eli
Sisters who are on a job to kill a gold prospector Hermit Kermit Warm. </span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Set in the 'wild West' of the Gold Rush era, the story is told from the perspective
of Eli Sisters and it’s really his voice that really makes the novel so interesting,
original and at times very poetic.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">An overweight, sensitive, romnatic and philosophical assassin is the
last thing you expect in a Western genre, but Eli Sisters is exactly that. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I’m not sure that The Sisters Brothers has ignited my
interest in Western, but it is certainly a terrific read. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It’s hard to describe this strange, funny, violent and
compelling story but from the first chapter it had me totally hooked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">One <a href="http://open.salon.com/blog/101things/2011/09/29/booker_prize_the_sisters_brothers" target="_blank">reviewer described the book as a bit like a Coen brothers movie</a>, which is very apt as you are either a fan of their type of movies or not.</span> There really is no in between. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'm a big fan of the Coen brothers, so I really enjoy this type of story telling with quirky characters and situations. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It’s a sign of a
great writer when the story and characters stay inside your head long after you
have finished the book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Charlie and Eli Sisters have certainly stayed with me.</span></div>
Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-61919094020228051182012-12-02T17:26:00.001+11:002012-12-02T17:26:20.919+11:00Justin Cronin’s The Twelve<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgABhWXzqiGJddz0OyQF566vLkBo5DUiYkCH4EZ6xlzFP9YUpjTH4oBXtgM1uUJzzdJwor20dYa4krHXWMqSvCVHaWohD4btU4O9AJC16SsqHyiU-dLGofBJAIzhyphenhyphenX9zNrvO9zaB7Bu4dek/s1600/the-twelve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgABhWXzqiGJddz0OyQF566vLkBo5DUiYkCH4EZ6xlzFP9YUpjTH4oBXtgM1uUJzzdJwor20dYa4krHXWMqSvCVHaWohD4btU4O9AJC16SsqHyiU-dLGofBJAIzhyphenhyphenX9zNrvO9zaB7Bu4dek/s320/the-twelve.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Book two finally arrived! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>The Twelve</b><i> </i>is J<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Cronin" target="_blank">ustin Cronin’s </a>eagerly awaited sequel to <b>The Passage</b>,
his best-selling ‘adult’ vampire novel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this novel, especially as
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I was so eager to be transported back to the post-apocalyptic world of virals.</span></div>
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<span class="st"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Where <i>The Passage </i>was a more intense and emotionally
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">But the main problem is that does so in a very slow way. It
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In these sections, you do have to admire Cronin’s ability to
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A lot the set peices are perfect for the <a href="http://www.reelz.com/movie-news/7353/ridley-scott-to-direct-vampire-movie-justin-cronins-the-passage/" target="_blank">Ridley Scott produced movie</a> to come.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The final battle scene is so vivid, with the gore and violence certainly pitched up a notch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">But unfortunately the start of the book did leave me a little bit cold and
I had to really persevere. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For me the book certainly didn’t hit the high notes of <i>The
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Overall, I felt that Cronin just wasn’t able to sustain the epic world
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Here's hoping <b>Book Three: The City of Mirrors </b>(2014-really so long again!!!) brings back some of the spark.</span></div>
Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-33422511938984264832012-11-06T13:02:00.001+11:002012-11-06T13:31:33.677+11:00Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicW_xm02DKzRfp_i1QvAn-KSJicBBTqUK8fex4NNXNf9v2tz9lUjZ8FNZsNihqEMUKBO6Bj49bg4Nm02Fi3a9ftZ1HF9adY53zZpJSgDmbA-TAyheItqJNC1zDNWQlkKHN0HMq8Ses0k9l/s1600/cover-david-quammen-spillover-book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicW_xm02DKzRfp_i1QvAn-KSJicBBTqUK8fex4NNXNf9v2tz9lUjZ8FNZsNihqEMUKBO6Bj49bg4Nm02Fi3a9ftZ1HF9adY53zZpJSgDmbA-TAyheItqJNC1zDNWQlkKHN0HMq8Ses0k9l/s200/cover-david-quammen-spillover-book.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Science writer, <a href="http://www.davidquammen.com/spillover" target="_blank">David Quammen’s</a> new book <b>Spillover: animal infections and next human pandemic</b> focuses
on how diseases pass on from wild animals into humans - a process called
spillover.</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">His account covers such zoonotic diseases as SARS, AIDS,
bubonic plague, Lyme disease, West Nile fever, Marburg virus, swine flu, bird
flu and Hendra virus.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Sounds very dry and boring, but don’t be fooled as Quammen
is a fantastic writer, story teller and funny to boot.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In his <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/books/spillover-by-david-quammen-on-how-animals-infect-humans.html" target="_blank">NYT review,</a> Dwight Garner gives this exampe of Quammen's gallows humour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“Advisory: If your husband catches an ebola virus give him
food and water and love and maybe prayers but keep your distance, wait
patiently, hope for the best — and, if he dies, don’t clean out his bowels by
hand. Better to step back, blow a kiss and burn the hut.”</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This book reads like a thriller as Quammen traces the beginnings
of spillovers, the initial medical responses to contain them and then the often
frantic scientific sleuth work to discover the causes.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">He also interviews an array of imminent scientists and goes on
site with them to capture bats, birds and various other animals. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What Quammen does throughout the book is to emphasis the way in which the increasing human encroachment on what was once wild habitats is a key factor. This is a salient point that he returns to at the end of the book.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I’ll admit there are moments in the book where I struggled with
science and did skim through some of the more technical accounts of DNA and
RNA. Quammen is sympathetic to his reading, noting in one particularly dense paragraph that:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“If you followed all that, at a quick reading, you have a future in biology.” </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I did find Quammen’s explanation of retroviruses very easy to
understand and his chapter on the search for the original cause of AIDS one of the best parts of the book. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Overall, this is a very approachable book and Quammen's writing is wonderfully lucid, clear and compelling.</span></div>
Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-27915501529290854702012-10-07T17:17:00.000+11:002012-10-07T17:20:02.335+11:00Too many books, too little time!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsEPekW5j61hjf9DtDmUuKZxONCJ0X-bXtSx1FnATlbbjm7CbCvAG141O5Mq_3e3cYklu4ZvhnxCa8Ijhc9btBiJfXVqc0R9iqJpzHANBt5uwU5y-BNzkAA3o6_6fEnRtOcEtmJk-SZotX/s1600/parmy-olsen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsEPekW5j61hjf9DtDmUuKZxONCJ0X-bXtSx1FnATlbbjm7CbCvAG141O5Mq_3e3cYklu4ZvhnxCa8Ijhc9btBiJfXVqc0R9iqJpzHANBt5uwU5y-BNzkAA3o6_6fEnRtOcEtmJk-SZotX/s320/parmy-olsen.jpg" width="200" /></a>O<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ne of the best iPad apps I’ve downloaded is <a href="http://longform.org/" target="_blank">Longform</a> which post non-fiction
articles from a range of sources (Wired, Atlantic, Vanity Fair etc). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It’s extremely easy to use and allows you to read long form journalism in an ereader or web format, as well as save it on Readability for
later on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What is fantastic about Longform is that the articles have
often spurred me onto some great books. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So much so, that I’m reading several books on a range of topics at
the same time: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Anonymous and cyber activism: </b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This <a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/ff_anonymous/all/" target="_blank">Wired.com article</a> on how Anonymous picks targets led me to British journalist Parmy Olsen’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/books/we-are-anonymous-by-parmy-olson.html" target="_blank">We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency (2012)</a>. I'm in the middle of this and so far its an interesting and detailed account of some of the key players in the rise and development of Anonymous and LulzSec. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The article also led me to watch the recent documentary <a href="http://wearelegionthedocumentary.com/" target="_blank">We are Legion: The story of hacktivist,</a> which offered a much more positive view of the Anonymous and hacktivism. I thought the analogy that the distributed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack" target="_blank">denial-of-service attack (DDoS)</a> should be viewed as a contemporary form of a 'sit in' is an interesting and worthwile point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">But the best book I’ve read so far is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Underground-Hacking-Obsession-Electronic-Frontier/dp/1863305955" target="_blank">Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier</a> (1997). Written by
Australian academic Suelette Dreyfus, it’s a thrilling non-fiction account of
the early days of hacking and features ‘Mendax’ – Julian Assange. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It took Dreyfus three years of research and although non-fiction, it reads like a complex and ingenious thriller. The cat and mouse game between these young hackers, security experts and later on the FBI and police unfolds like a great drama.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I’m looking forward
to the telemovie, <a href="http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/09/underground-julian-assange-movie/" target="_blank">Underground: the Julian Assange story </a>which is based on Dreyfus' book and screens tonight in Australia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Some other great books via Longform articles:</span></h3>
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<li><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Last-Greatest-Magician-World-Thurston/dp/0399160035/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349588986&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Last+Greatest+Magician+in+the+World+by+Jim+Steinmeyer" target="_blank">Last Greatest Magician in the World:
Howard Thurston Versus Houdini and the battles of the American wizards </a>(2012) by Jim Steinmeyer. This biography tracks the rise and fall of Howard
Thurston and has delicious scenes of the competition and one up-manship between
Thurston and Houdini. This book reminds of Christoper Preist’s brilliant masterpiece <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Prestige-Christopher-Priest/dp/0312858868/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349589872&sr=1-2&keywords=christopher+preist" target="_blank">The Prestige</a> (1996).</span></li>
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</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">American journanlist Katherine Boo's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Beautiful-Forevers-Mumbai-Undercity/dp/1400067553/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349589250&sr=1-1&keywords=katherine+boo" target="_blank">Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity</a> (2012). Boo's book is an “embedded” journalistic account of the life of resident in
the Annawadi slum, located in Mumbai. It's a deeply moving, funny, and painful account of poverty and flaws of human nature. </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Just got my hands on the recently published <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spillover-Animal-Infections-Human-Pandemic/dp/0393066800/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349589706&sr=1-1&keywords=spillover" target="_blank">Spillover:Animal infections and the next human pandemic</a> (2012) by David Quammen. Haven't read it yet, but looks fascinating and got a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/books/spillover-by-david-quammen-on-how-animals-infect-humans.html?_r=0" target="_blank">great NYT review.</a> </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Okay, now it's time for me to get back to reading all these books!</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></div>
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Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-80576403871388674092012-09-16T20:42:00.001+10:002012-09-16T20:48:21.174+10:00A Wanted Man - Lee Child<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I really, really wanted to like and enjoy the latest <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Reacher" target="_blank">Jack Reacher </a>novel: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wanted-Man-Jack-Reacher-ebook/dp/B007UPNA6Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1347792340&sr=8-2&keywords=a+wanted+man" target="_blank"><b>A Wanted Man</b></a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But oh dear, it was quite frankly a complete and utter bore.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I actually lost the will to turn the page (actually tap the page on my iPad!) about mid way through the book. And that is bad, as Reacher novels are usually insanely gripping page turners with lots of plot twist and turns that keep you up all night long. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So this book finds Reacher hitchhiking and finding himself in the middle of trouble again. The plot involves the usual suspects: FBI, CIA, local police...and of course terrorists. The plot twist were very 'meh - is that it?'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The only new thing of note is that Reacher doesn't bed any hot female law enforcement officer this book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As I said, very blah. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">What was majorly disappointing is that we don't really find out anymore about Reacher. It's like character development just stopped. Hell, let's not even bother with development for the rest of the main characters too!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So after sorting out all the troubles, Reacher is back on the never ending road...presumable setting us up for another book of course.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Call me cynical, even for a fanboy this felt very much like a "oh it's time to churn out another Reacher novel to keep the franchise going in time for the <a href="http://www.jackreachermovie.com/" target="_blank">movie launch</a>".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I must admit this is all VERY disappointing and I'm very envious of newish fan <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://tseenster.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Tseenster</a> whose still got a couple of great Reacher novels in the series to go before she hits the wall of mediocrity.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span>Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-69086349400467668932012-07-22T14:20:00.001+10:002012-07-22T14:31:11.446+10:00A killer thriller: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZeIfRIYhUWhKmnX1nqUqGLu5t81n7My8eoOW_u57MdkMD_KRGezlYvS1Q3UeybjZclgr-nRZsc5mOz1WcmsToR6f5FDDFzbBMvfWvikN1S733Q8nJ7oGYGrWAKkspzB-_S26Jlfpekjuk/s1600/GoneGirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZeIfRIYhUWhKmnX1nqUqGLu5t81n7My8eoOW_u57MdkMD_KRGezlYvS1Q3UeybjZclgr-nRZsc5mOz1WcmsToR6f5FDDFzbBMvfWvikN1S733Q8nJ7oGYGrWAKkspzB-_S26Jlfpekjuk/s320/GoneGirl.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Over the past few weeks, I kept seeing rave reviews </span><span style="font-size: small;"> (<a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/07/09/love_gone_girl_read_these_crime_novels_next/" target="_blank">Salon</a>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/books/review/gillian-flynns-gone-girl-and-more.html" target="_blank">NY Times</a>,<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/toxically-brilliant-20120713-220nh.html" target="_blank">The Age</a>) </span><span style="font-size: small;"> of Gillian
Flynn’s new thriller <a href="http://gillian-flynn.com/" target="_blank"><b>Gone Girl</b></a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Let me say that the reviews are right: this is rave worthy book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">It's a smart,funny and thrilling "who dunnit". </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">It’s also difficult to
review properly because there are some brilliant and slightly outrageous plot twists that can't be revealed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In a clever but deceptively simple narrative structure, Gone
Girl begins with the voice of Nick, an all American man, whose marriage to Amy
seems to be in trouble. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Amy then goes missing. Each chapter alternates between Amy and
Nick and between past and present. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The story spirals into a thrilling cat and mouse game between
husband and wife. And ultimately between author and reader, as each reveal brings more uncertainty to the story and shifting alliances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Needless to say the writing is sharp and the characters well developed and believable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This is my favourite type of thriller: it hooks you in
straight away and you know you can’t stop reading until the finish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A deliciously enjoyable read that stays in your head for a bit. In fact I needed a couple of days to properly recover from it all!</span><br />
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<br /></div>Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-14783763639107909632012-06-16T20:18:00.002+10:002012-06-16T20:21:28.874+10:00Poision Flower - Thomas Perry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Poison-Flower-Jane-Whitefield-Novel/dp/0802126057/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top" target="_blank">Poison Flower</a></b> is the seventh book in Thomas Perry’s Jane
Whitefield series. </div>
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I’m a huge fan of the Jane Whitefield books, having <a href="http://boymeetsbook.blogspot.com.au/2009/03/totally-addicted-to-thomas-perrys-jane.html" target="_blank">previously blogged</a> on how much I enjoyed the series and how Perry is a masterful suspense
writer. So I was eager to read about Jane’s latest adventures. </div>
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Overall, I have very mixed feelings about the book and as a
fan felt quite disappointed. The narrative was a bit choppy and the part of the
Jane helping someone ‘disappear’ was dealt with in a rather desultory and
mechanical manner. </div>
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The second half of the book was Jane in ‘revenge’ mode, with
the twist being that instead of making someone disappear she is actively seeking
someone on the run. There was a distinct lack of suspense as the ending was
quite rush and Jane seems to get her revenge in a rather quick and easy manner.
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Some of the violence and torture scenes in the book made me think that I had accidently
found myself in Lee Child’s<a href="http://www.leechild.com/" target="_blank"> Jack Reacher series</a>!</div>
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Plus the main ‘badie’ in the book could have done with some character
development, apart from the fact that he is a psychopath we don’t really
know (or are made to care) exactly why?</div>
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I really, really wanted to like this book, but kept thinking that in
this seventh book Perry has really struggled to keep Jane
developing and growing as a charater. </div>
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I think it gets hard for any author to keep a series consistenly fresh
and a character going after so many books without at some point having them '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark" target="_blank">jump the shark</a>' (see for example of Patricia Cornwell
and Charlaine Harris). </div>
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For me, the only author who has done this consistently is thriller writer
<a href="http://www.jefferydeaver.com/" target="_blank">Jeffrey Deaver</a>. Across his various series (Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance), Deaver delivers books that keep his characters growing, developing and always has original but believable storylines.</div>
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I am hoping that Deaver continues to deliver, as am about to read his latest Kathryn Dance book "<a href="http://www.jefferydeaver.com/Novels_/XO/xo.html" target="_blank">XO</a>". </div>
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When has a series, jumped the shark for you?</div>
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<br /></div>Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-46413292226411369372012-05-13T13:10:00.003+10:002012-05-13T13:12:14.088+10:00All Kinds of Magic: One Man's Search for Meaning Across the Modern World Piers Moore Ede<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Lately my reading has taken a serious turn and a complete world away from Young Adult fiction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Piers-Moore-Ede/e/B001HOWNWQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">Piers Moore Ede’s</a> wonderful book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/All-Kinds-Magic-Search-Meaning/dp/1408809621/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1336876255&sr=8-2" target="_blank"><b>All Kinds of Magic</b></a>, is one man’s spiritual journey to find some sort of meaning in life beyond the material.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Fed up with his life in the London, the book details his travels to India and Nepal, seeking out the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhus" target="_blank">Sadhus </a>(wondering holy men), the whirling dervishes in rural Turkey and the birthplace of Sufi poet Rumi. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Ede also attends some of the largest spiritual festivals in India including the Deepam Festival and finally ends his trip with an exploration of shamanism in South America.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Throughout his travels, Ede struggles with the tension between what he experiences and the rational side of his brain. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I loved the ease of this book, Ede’s writing is beautifully nuanced and he distills the struggles with his own faith and understanding in such a thoughful and courageous manner. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">He is always aware of the often contradictory nature of his journey: a Western white man searching for answers in the East. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I found the book a welcome relief from the often shrill and adversarial debates ignited by Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) et al.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The book also opened up a whole world of spiritual ideas for me, like Sufism and the poet Rumi, to further explore. </span><br />
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<br />Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-8064372020266649432012-04-23T13:33:00.004+10:002012-04-23T13:55:54.381+10:00Seize the Day: how the dying teach us to live<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjARyrnt5_tNthvcV7gaY97j0Kk4TEcMW3PVcyeCAHGmTM7uUGttbPmY8skxwEueCYh1UjGV6GaFayRZKEFeX90b7CuJ35Br6Fbw9LiFpAofowvl_k18ze0TH9LL1spvdRv1ALXz0axVDL2/s1600/seize.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 177px; height: 284px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjARyrnt5_tNthvcV7gaY97j0Kk4TEcMW3PVcyeCAHGmTM7uUGttbPmY8skxwEueCYh1UjGV6GaFayRZKEFeX90b7CuJ35Br6Fbw9LiFpAofowvl_k18ze0TH9LL1spvdRv1ALXz0axVDL2/s320/seize.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5734435284527797394" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ve</span> always read books to not only better understand the exterior world, but also my own interior world.</span><br style="font-family:verdana;"><br style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">In doing this, I tend to read a lot of non-fiction books including biographies, autobiographies and cultural histories.<br /><br />But I usually stay well away from the self help genre as I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ve</span> always found these types of books paint a rather simplistic view of the world.<br /><br />Also, I’m not really interested in the “top ten steps’ to be healthier, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">smarter</span> or more successful etc.</span><br style="font-family:verdana;"><br style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">However, after reading a<a href="http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/scotland/book-review-seize-the-day-how-the-dying-teach-us-to-live-1-2099234http://"> thoughtful review</a> I decided to read <span style="font-weight: bold;">Marie <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">de</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Hennezel</span>’s </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seize-Day-dying-teach-live/dp/1447205774/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2">Seize the Day: how the dying teach us to live</a>. </span><br style="font-family:verdana;"><br style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Despite the title, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">de</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Hennezel</span>’s book <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">isn</span>’t really a ‘self help’ book in the traditional sense and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">certainy</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">doesn</span>’t follow the genre’s standard structure.</span><br style="font-family:verdana;"><br style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Rather it details her experiences as a psychologist working in a palliative care home in Paris. She writes with compassion about her patients, the staff who work there and essentially what drives her to do the type of work she does.<br /><br style="font-family:verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">I found great comfort in this elegantly written book, especially as I was dealing with a recent death in the family that involved palliative care.</span><br style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The patient’s stories are deeply moving and told with great humanity. Moreover, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">de</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Hennezel</span> reveals that despite each person's unique history what connects them all is the underlying theme: the need to accept death as part of life. And it is often the families of the dying patients who struggle with this acceptance.</span> <br face="verdana"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">For <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">de</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Hennezel</span> her role is to just be there for a patient, as a witness to their death but also their life. She writes about these experiences with such a strong, clear and passionate voice.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">This was a deeply moving book that helped me better understand some of my own feelings, experiences and emotions.<br /><br />Like all great books, it doesn't provide any easy answers because there really are no such things in our complicated exterior and interior worlds. </span>Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-82518789850005510702012-04-11T13:34:00.005+10:002012-04-11T14:00:11.267+10:00Young adult fiction reading spreeOver the past month or so, I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ve</span> been really getting into my young adult (YA) fiction.<br /><br />In fact it’s all I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ve</span> been reading, so here are some highlights so far:<br /><br />Started my YA reading with another <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">dystopian</span> teenage book, Veronica Roth’s <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8306857-divergent">Divergent</a>.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcTzHSAu7DFeObQU3PEyBasPtP1EdIb1glvpIxOzxPRp_u7u_9wKMG2Q1R1X2w6Enu31puod4s0q7o6846iOUEU0EdJFge5Gnx63Vr8nINwe6skVfAUAu8R1Kkw8vRGv1R8ZL5QDUjQvN/s1600/divergent.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 183px; height: 275px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcTzHSAu7DFeObQU3PEyBasPtP1EdIb1glvpIxOzxPRp_u7u_9wKMG2Q1R1X2w6Enu31puod4s0q7o6846iOUEU0EdJFge5Gnx63Vr8nINwe6skVfAUAu8R1Kkw8vRGv1R8ZL5QDUjQvN/s320/divergent.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729982306513339426" border="0" /></a><br />This is the first in a planned trilogy, and like the Suzanne Collin’s <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hunger Games</span>, focuses on a female protagonist who lives in a future world where humanity has been split into factions.<br /><br />In this new world, there are five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue: Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent).<br /><br />It's an interesting premise and after a rather slow start it builds up to an exciting storyline. Overall, it is a little Hunger Games-lite but I did find myself involved and will be looking for the second book, Insurgent, out in May 2012.<br /><br />The only disappointing thing is the rather stereotypical romance, but then again I’m not the target audience so I need to hold my cynicism in check!<br /><br />Another great fun series is Rick Riordan’s <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.percyjackson.co.uk/site/pj_main.phpttp://">Percy Jackson series</a>, which is a contemporary retelling of the Greek myths involving modern day teenagers as ‘<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">demi</span>-gods’ – half bloods.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTb7PmerTqHGTI854TWdMmsYcHa2v60GohacWSahVrms6WWtPJmLoMdFPlIMMlPGQkivVawZ_OWi41NvZqG8X_rmo3B9Psm1aY7GyOwP0xtoSxIAKIa914GhfcCrDxDwthZHW4oDs-V5gN/s1600/percy+jackson.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 229px; height: 221px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTb7PmerTqHGTI854TWdMmsYcHa2v60GohacWSahVrms6WWtPJmLoMdFPlIMMlPGQkivVawZ_OWi41NvZqG8X_rmo3B9Psm1aY7GyOwP0xtoSxIAKIa914GhfcCrDxDwthZHW4oDs-V5gN/s320/percy+jackson.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729982992349969010" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It’s got action, monsters, Gods, Goddesses, mythical creatures and yes a bit of usual romance thrown in. So what’s not to like?<br /><br />Plus there is so sly humour running through out Riordan’s novels, like having the entry to Hades being LA.<br /><br />I’m up to the third book in the series, <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Titan’s Curse</span> and it’s really reignited my interest in Greek mythology too.<br /><br />There has been a bit written about why adults are currently flocking to YA fiction, like <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/05/from-harry-potter-to-twilight-the-enduring-draw-of-young-adult-fiction/239639/">Alyssa Rosenberg's piece </a>in the Atlantic Monthly and<a href="http://www.salon.com/topic/young_adult_books/"> Laura Miller's analysis</a> in Salon.<br /><br />For me, one of the main reasons I enjoy YA fiction is that it's a genre that is filled with great story tellers.<br /><br />Put simply YA authors like Suzanne Collins, <a href="http://boymeetsbook.blogspot.com.au/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00:00%2B11:00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00%2B11:00&max-results=4">Patrick <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Ness</span></a>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Eoin</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Colfer</span>, Rick Riordan know how to tell a captivating story filled with memorable characters.<br /><br />Maybe it's the fact that young adults tend to have less attention span than adults and thus far less likely to put up with endless paragraphs of detailed description, character development and scene setting.<br /><br />Sometimes, when I read 'literary fiction' and get stuck on a chapter that is all exposition rather than story telling, a little voice in my head yells 'TELL ME THE STORY, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">pleeeeease</span>!".<br /><br />That being said, my little secret is that I can't stand teenagers in real life!<br /><br />Indeed, I prefer them confined to the pages of book as there really nothing more nightmarish than been stuck on a train with a group of teenage girls.Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-32574125316589586482012-01-21T13:33:00.008+11:002012-01-30T19:59:28.203+11:00Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiSyE4_JVRaQiuNCv0Jpv-3OpwPbQI2x5H2hfVcwkhDGbNPLPZknUbMhwqcun6usTUUqMOUFRr6lw5CS969tgUGntEqUx50y9U8Hy8ZfvsCk8w1buyDwo3S740B7XGWKn7c-j9a7xy-mHx/s1600/steve-jobs.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 225px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiSyE4_JVRaQiuNCv0Jpv-3OpwPbQI2x5H2hfVcwkhDGbNPLPZknUbMhwqcun6usTUUqMOUFRr6lw5CS969tgUGntEqUx50y9U8Hy8ZfvsCk8w1buyDwo3S740B7XGWKn7c-j9a7xy-mHx/s320/steve-jobs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699908292033157602" border="0" /></a>I’m always wary when people who behave terribly, often in the workplace, are described in a slightly forgiving way as ‘complicated’.<br /><br />Aren’t well all complicated human beings? Does that mean we can all behave as intolerable bullies?<br /><br />At times, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1451648537/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327112429&sr=8-1">Walter Isaacson’s biography </a>of the Steve Jobs tends towards this “oh he is complicated’ rationale to explain away Job’s awful behaviour in the workplace and in his personal life.<br /><br />But fortunately, Isaacson as a biographer is able to distance himself from his subject and call Jobs out on his distortions of reality and at times deluded behaviour.<br /><br />This does stop this book from being a hagiography, though it would have benefited from just a little more distance between the author and his subject.<br /><br />Overall, this biography is a fascinating testimonial of how one person completely moulded a company to his will and in doing so forced a whole lot of industries to change.<br /><br />I found the later chapters the most interesting. They focused on the development of the iPhone and iPad and Isaacson provides a detailed account from inside Apple on how Jobs and his team created these game changing products.<br /><br />Isaacson also traces the often antagonistic relationship between the two titans of the tech world: Jobs and Bill Gates. He also clearly explains the divergent philosophies of Apple and Microsoft/Google, that is the clash between the 'closed' and 'open' system.<br /><br />I would have liked more about the relationship between Google and Apple, but I guess that topic could take up another book.<br /><br />This book is worth reading because it not only provides an indepth and fascinating account of one of the key innovators of our time, but also gives you a better understanding of the players in the tech world like Intel, Microsoft, Google and also entertainment industry too.<br /><br />In the end, Isaacsons's biography reveals to us some of the brute realities of the inspiring tale of Steve Jobs, who built a company where 'technology and creativity' intersect.Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-4017351958130609192012-01-02T13:06:00.006+11:002012-01-02T23:32:31.003+11:00Some light holiday reading<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpvTyJkAQRvPI0zMcHwQDQQhXpxHp3GuEjmcdzvNeVL0SLzO_QnuMGe0X0iSbqsGwCpSuWJxukMDbZkiu72P1nr8WLzhdaAMU7aIfVofuqujZgZ_gMYJRHW_VSOaB6QkI01U3NbfBZrkA/s1600/aisforalibi-pb.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 125px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpvTyJkAQRvPI0zMcHwQDQQhXpxHp3GuEjmcdzvNeVL0SLzO_QnuMGe0X0iSbqsGwCpSuWJxukMDbZkiu72P1nr8WLzhdaAMU7aIfVofuqujZgZ_gMYJRHW_VSOaB6QkI01U3NbfBZrkA/s200/aisforalibi-pb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692854543007619250" border="0" /></a>It's holiday time and I'm up for some light fun reading, books that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/oct/19/stella-rimington-booker-diatribe-kgb">'zip along'</a>.<br /><br />But of course, this year I got some pretty heavy reading for Christmas presents, including:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-lady-and-the-peacock-the-life-of-aung-san-suu-kyi-by-peter-popham-6263578.html">The Lady and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi</a> – Peter Popham</li><li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tinkers-Paul-Harding/dp/193413712X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325469696&sr=1-1">Tinkers</a> - Paul Harding (Pulitzer Prize 2011)</li><li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Secret-History-MI6-Keith-Jeffery/dp/1594202745"> M16: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949</a> - Keith Jeffrey</li></ul><br />So with my brain protesting against such a heavy workload, I thought a nice crime/thriller was in order.<br /><br />I downloaded the first in <a href="http://www.suegrafton.com/">Sue Grafton's</a> Alphabet series, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alibi-Kinsey-Millhone-Alphabet-Mysteries/dp/0312353812/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_3">A is Alibi</a>, featuring PI Kinsey Millhone.<br /><br />I've been wanting to get hooked on another series for a while and had often seen Grafton's books around the library and in bookstores and thought it was time I gave her a shot.<br /><br />Overall, it was a good page turner and Millhone is a smart, funny, fiercly independent and likable character. The story begins when Millhone is hired to the find the 'real' killer of divorce attorney Laurence Fife. She encounters a few dead bodies on the way and with a few twist and turns in the plot, Millhone ends up solving the mystery.<br /><br />I found the last part of the novel a bit of a stretch, with an unconvincing shift to the action genre that was a bit confusing. That being said, I did finish the book in a couple of sittings so Grafton is an efffective crime writer.<br /><br />I'm just not sure whether I'll continue with the series, as niether the character or PI genre really grabbed me that intensely.<br /><br />I guess I'll just have to find another series out there to start.<br /><br />I recently discovered a great website for called <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/">Brain Pickings</a>, which is one these cool 'curated' sites that brings together all things literary and cultural. The latest enewsletter featured the 2011's best biographies and memoirs.<br /><br />Playing around on my new best friend the <a href="http://flipboard.com/">Flipboard app</a> on iPad, I've noticed that instead of 'editors' or 'editing' it's all about 'curating' and 'curated' content.<br /><br />So that being said, my latest career aspiration is to be a 'cool curator' on the Flipboard!Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7840827638458645105.post-13494107633489191492011-12-27T20:05:00.012+11:002011-12-27T20:29:44.423+11:00Some notable books for 2011These are some memorable books that I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">didn</span>’t get a chance to blog about in 2011:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://erinmorgenstern.com/the-night-circus/">The Night Circus</a> - Erin <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Morgenstern</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8h7Xm3bPLI8bPuo1scUE6QnWxgSOFBVEol8Dz1Crav3eLsDC7M4_0vjEU_VIo2XU-3hFGQgSM6cIrEtyJ-oZ_jBPcRtwW5YQPU25TB8eFRwr61wfmuPeAe7XIujNgdhDA8kmyCzI34AYk/s1600/nightcircus1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 126px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8h7Xm3bPLI8bPuo1scUE6QnWxgSOFBVEol8Dz1Crav3eLsDC7M4_0vjEU_VIo2XU-3hFGQgSM6cIrEtyJ-oZ_jBPcRtwW5YQPU25TB8eFRwr61wfmuPeAe7XIujNgdhDA8kmyCzI34AYk/s200/nightcircus1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690736123458421986" border="0" /></a><br />Brilliant story of duelling magicians and their <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">protégés</span>: Celia and Marco, who battle it out in a circus that only opens at night. It’s filled with wonderful characters and the feats of magic are always grounded in human emotions. One of the most imaginative and enjoyable reads I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ve</span> had this year.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/07/03/the_interrogator/">The interrogator : a CIA agent's true sto</a></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/07/03/the_interrogator/">ry</a> - Glenn <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Carle</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh41qtk6y8YLkm6nqOyRbjmUugA-0j9lTlwRSkO0MfArAyc_TyLpQiBmiuG5Jx1Qllz7fEvYCcWgafxOP_hCh5OpY1QQAR4TNnI-tm1cubgJx71Z4Vp032y2kuKimKZRQfc79xp2eRILeZc/s1600/the-interrogator-a-cia-agents-true-story.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh41qtk6y8YLkm6nqOyRbjmUugA-0j9lTlwRSkO0MfArAyc_TyLpQiBmiuG5Jx1Qllz7fEvYCcWgafxOP_hCh5OpY1QQAR4TNnI-tm1cubgJx71Z4Vp032y2kuKimKZRQfc79xp2eRILeZc/s200/the-interrogator-a-cia-agents-true-story.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690736327144879106" border="0" /></a><br />Fascinating and riveting insider account of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Carle</span>’s role in the interrogation of potential terrorist suspects. He details the psychology of interrogation and the often compromised operation of US agencies in often hostile countries. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Carle</span> writes with a clear sense of urgency, anger and frustration. It is a compelling account of how ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ were a moral, political and legal failure.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Plague-Emerging-Diseases-Balance/dp/0140250913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324977367&sr=8-1">The coming plague : newly emerging dise</a></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Plague-Emerging-Diseases-Balance/dp/0140250913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324977367&sr=8-1">ases in a world out of balance </a>– Laurie Garrett</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4SAG8NKK2xK91feBU0ChyphenhyphenS4Uu6L00j6jjlRml01yNMeWGVvZtbr4XrxCZKeXNgSXCGLgCyJgN9ivdKbYpzTR9WrhlhZyJ8h8QH6O6PClRaLUkQ_ylofu6G2JE3RxetMZc1EEn8k0abJc6/s1600/books.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 128px; height: 194px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4SAG8NKK2xK91feBU0ChyphenhyphenS4Uu6L00j6jjlRml01yNMeWGVvZtbr4XrxCZKeXNgSXCGLgCyJgN9ivdKbYpzTR9WrhlhZyJ8h8QH6O6PClRaLUkQ_ylofu6G2JE3RxetMZc1EEn8k0abJc6/s200/books.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690736592143430946" border="0" /></a><br />This year I really got into my science books; perhaps making up for my youthful disregard of biology and chemistry.<br /><br />Garret’s book can almost be read as a cultural history of modern science and medicine’s battle with microbes. It tracks the major diseases to emerge in the twentieth century like, Lassa Fever, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Marburg</span>, Ebola and Yellow Fever.<br /><br />Each chapter begins like a detective story, with the breakout of an undetermined illness (often) affecting a third world country. It then traces the doctors, scientist and epidemiologists who go into the field to try and identify the locus of infection. Being a science journalist, Garret is able to clearly and effectively explain complexities of how viruses work and how ‘smart’ they can be.<br /><br />I found this a truly fascinating book and at times very scary, as it seems in the battle between our immune systems and viruses we always seem to be on the losing side.<br /><br />Reading this book, really prepped me to watch Steven <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Soderbergh</span>’s film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/">Contagion</a>. And I’<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">ve</span> got to say the book was far more compelling and interesting than the film.Book Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720972197505895025noreply@blogger.com0