Books I have read from November 2010 – May 2011
The ‘Books I’ve read‘ feature is the least popular feature I have on my blog. Frankly, none of my readers cares at all what tomes I’ve been devouring, so rather than share them with you monthly I’m now going to do a huge round up every couple of months. This is more for my benefit than yours; after accidentally half reading the same book twice (the cover had changed, and if I reread a book it’s intentional) I find this list a good way to reference my reading habits. Here are the latest additions to my reading time, and you’re free to skip right past this and go read about crazy geek watches, or to my article on how to get a refund from the Apple and Android app stores.
{PS; Extra Note- this has been sitting in draft phase for a good while now, and then I accidentally reread the same book AGAIN (they’d changed the cover) so enough is enough, and I’m now back to listing} To make these mini synopsis more palatable to both you and me, they’ll be distinctly shorter, with only the stand out books meriting a paragraph or two.
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
It’s odd to read what’s considered a ‘classic’ book and realize how full of sex, drugs and general frippery it is. The acclaim for the book is not because it is particularly well written or will move you to tears, more that it was shocking for the time, and gives us a modern day Jilly Cooper novel in an era when women were more restrained. It charts the tale of three women. all dazzlingly beautiful, a singer, and actress and a model; from childhood insecurities right up to the pinnacle of their success- and their falls. A nice romping read, ‘Dolls’ are pills taken to enhance mood, a nod to the Dexedrine amphetamine generation. Froth, frippery and fornication blend in a novel that’s every bit as racy as the cover jacket.
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer/ New Moon by Stephanie Meyer/ Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer/ Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Note: The Twilight series ruined me. I read all four books in in one week and afterwards I was left empty and withdrawn. It wasn’t that I wanted more of the story -all teen pathos and way too much female limpness; rather that I’d somehow exhausted my thirst for books, I was sated, quenched, over run by words upon words and I had ten days with no literature other than the daily Metro newspaper. It was an odd time- I’ve never had book exhaustion before, and hope I never will again. I genuinely had zero desire to read, a very strange affair for me. In brief, Bella Swan meets a vampire masquerading as a human, falls in love, gets told they can never be together and pines for him. Over and over for the period of four books. It’s readable, but like reality TV- you can’t turn away and you want to slap every character hard int he face. The one plus point is that the books are better than the movies.
The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris
So sweet, the words wrapped around me like a cashmere cloak of loveliness and the prose sparked something warm and gentle within me. I loved Chocolat, but having read that so long ago, I’d forgotten just how velveteen Harris’s words can be and how neatly they capture sleepy suburbia, magical realism, and the type of indolent laissez faire style that only the French seem to have. Set in Montmarte, this story follows on from Chocolat with a new home for the family and new fiends to combat. This time it’s not the kindly ones, it’s a new witch who uses her powers indiscriminately and who has plans of her own for the sweet little chocolate shop that Yanne has painstakingly created. She changes the way the wind smells, yet forces the family to confront what they want out of life.
Twitchiker by Paul Smith
Take one grumpy freelance journalist, a marriage newly consummated and a love of Twitter and what do you get? One man’s decision to see if he can visit the polar opposite to his house (the other side of the world) getting there on nothing more than freebies from friendly Twitter followers. Can you social network your way round the world- and will the kindness of strangers really stand you in good stead? Paul holds no punches back, from thoughts on how this may affect his relationship to worries that potential Twitter friends are axe murdering Nazi’s. It’s an engaging tale, and one that truly heralds the birth of social media. One of the most poignant examples was when Paul was in SXSW and no one there offered to help his quest- it took a ‘non scene’ Twitter follower to help him continue his journey round the world. Did he make it? Read and find out. Read more…
