George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones

I started reading George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones, the first novel in his A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels because I found out that HBO are making it into a new TV series. Plus the added bonus that Sean Bean was playing one of the lead characters Eddard Stark!

The good news is that Game of Thrones is a great read, with lots of interesting characters and a complicated but compelling story. It has been aptly described as, “the Sopranos in Middle-earth".

Each chapter is told from a different character’s perspective. Usually, I find this narrative structure annoying and all too easily used by writers who can’t sustain a proper narrative. But fortunately it works here and Martin is able to create a compelling level of suspense while also giving the reader an overall view of the intersecting stories.

In a very short amount of writing, Martin creates a vast world of believable characters and situations. I also liked the fact that Martin is not afraid to kill of major characters in the book, which makes it exciting!

The bad news is that I didn’t quite make it through the second book, A Clash of Kings. I got mid-way and just lost interest. The story seemed to drag on and as more different characters were introduced it all got a bit too long and laborious. Plus I was distinctly disappointed at the lack of fantasy element in the book ie. where is the magic/dragons?

I’m not sure whether I will try the second book again.......

The series is set to premiere on April 17, watch the trailer video here:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2864422169/

Oh and here's pic of Sean Bean in character:

Shuichi Yoshida's Villain

It’s been a while since I have read any contemporary Japanese fiction. A few years ago, I went through a rather intense period, reading all the books of Banana Yoshimoto and Haruki Murakami.

I recently received Shuichi Yoshida’s Villain as a present from Tseenster. It’s the first novel of his published in English and because of the current popularity for translated crime fiction, he is being marketed as the next Stieg Larsson.

Initially difficult to get into, I found that after a few chapters the book was quite engrossing.

The story is based in southern Japan, where the body of Fukuoka insurance saleswoman Yoshino Ishibashi is found. Soon after the discovery of the dead woman's body, Nagasaki police charge twenty-seven year old construction worker Yuichi Shimizu with first degree murder.

Villain has been described as part “police procedural and dirty realism” , as the focus of the story is not really the actual crime but the affects of it on the all the different players.

The novel is not so much concerned with ‘who did it?’ to ‘why did they do it?’. Like all good crime fiction, that is the more interesting and challenging question.

Structurally the novels shifts from different narrators, some talking directly to the reader in an interview style. This structure works because the strength of the novel is really Yoshida’s insightful and acute analysis of contemporary Japanese society. His able to directly give voice to the conflicts and misunderstandings between the different generations of Japanese society.

Interestingly, I think his most critical representations are of Japanese youth (mid twenties) and their disconnection to the any emotional reality.

Having lived in semi-rural Southern Japan in 2001, doing the usual teaching English gig, I found this Yoshida's representations of provincial Japanese life really spot on. Indeed, one of the main characters in the novel: the spoilt rich brat could have modelled on one of my students!

I am eagerly awaiting the translation of Yoshida's next novel.

The Hunger Game Triology

Two of my best read for 2010 were actually teen/young adults books:

• Patrick Ness’ the Chaos Walking Trilogy
• Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games Trilogy

I stayed up many late nights over the Christmas break reading the Hunger Games Trilogy. One of the reasons I've enjoyed teen/young adult books so much lately is that the plot lines are so sharp and tight; there is a story being told.

Set in the post-apocalyptic world where the Central Government forces one boy and one girl from each district to fight to the death in televised ‘Hunger Games’. Katniss Evergreen volunteers for her sister to becomes a contestant in this 'Big Brother' TV program with a difference:the contestants must kill each other.

The book is a thrilling read with the lots of twist and turns in the plot. And unlike some trilogies the narrative is easily sustained over the three books, with real character development.

With the movie in the pipelines, there has been much debate about who should be cast as Katniss Everdeen. My vote is for Haillee Stendfield who is brilliant in the Coen brother's lastest movie True Grit.

I also have high hope for the movie as Suzanne Collins is writing the screenplay. But we will have to wait awhile as the movie isn’t scheduled to come out to 2013.

Hanging out in the teenage section of the library

I’ve been finding myself stalking the teenage section of my local library lately…..sadly there hasn’t been much of a crowd as it seems teenagers in my area don’t read that much!

The good thing is that the books I’m after are all always available.

Just finished the Chaos Walking Triology by Patrick Ness. The books entitled, The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men tell the story of Todd and Viola as they battle to save the world around them from destruction.

It’s a dystopian narrative, but an absolutely riveting tale that twist and turns. There were a few absolutely heart rendering moments in it too. The whole series has been one of the most thrilling and inventive reads of this year so far.

You know books that you desperately rush to read to the because you need to find out what happens.....all the while also realising that you don’t want it to end either? Well, once you start this trilogy you will not be able to put it down.


Another teenage series I've returned to is Eoin Colfer's fantastic Artemis Fowl series. The latest, Book 7: Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex comes out on August 3rd.

In preparation, I've just re-read Book 5: Artemist Fowl & The Lost Colony.

And would you believe I let one pass me by??!! So just about to start Book 6: Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox.

The books are so much fun! I love the geeky humour in them and the whole relationship between 'mud men' (humans) and the fairies.

So all I can say is visit the teenage section of your library/bookstore - some brilant reads await you!

Page turner - The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

What a rip roaring page turner! I was absolutely enthralled by Wilkie Collins masterpiece of detective fiction - The Moonstone, published in 1868.

Yes that's right, 1868!!! Bloody hell, talk about a novel lasting the distance.

The Moonstone has been called the "first detective novel" and was deemed, in Collins' time, a "sensation novel". It's the classic who dunnit, that created the who dunnit genre: a diamond with a tainted history goes missing in a house full of guest. Everyone one of them a suspect.

Not going to give anymore away but once you start reading it'll keep you guessing right to the end.

And oh yeah it is funny too.

Wilkie Collins kept popping up in a number of books I was reading, from The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher (Kate Summerscale), Drood: A Novel (Dan Simmon) so I thought it was time I read his book.

Collins was best buds with Charles Dickens. Funny thing is I have tried to read Dickens but just could get into him.

Whereas Collins is now my favourite.