book reveiws

[chris.ph]

we all read a bit on here so how about a SHORT reveiw of wot youve just finished just in case some of us fancy getting a copy

ive just finished "chasing the moon" by a lee martinez, and it was bloody odd but quite fun to read, im not even going to try to describe the plot as im still mulling over wot the hell happened

 

[Tonyblack]

You'll have to give us a bit more than that if we're all going to rush out and get it, Chris.

What's the genre? When and where is it set? Is there lots of blood and snot in it? Is it typical of his other books?

 

[Tonyblack]

Just to add - I think this is a great idea for a thread, but I just want to know a bit more.

 

[chris.ph]

im still trying to work out the genre, its a mix of urban fantasy, sci fi, fantasy and horror its set in a generic city there is loads of blood and gore which then is put back to normallity + there is a demon puppy guarding a door

yes its typical of all his other books they just seem to draw you into their lunacy somehow

 

[pip]

Just finished John Connollys 'Samuel Johnson vs The Devil Pt2 - Hells Bells' the sequel to ' The Gates of Hell are Opening , Please Mind the Gap'

In the states the books are called The Gates , and The Infernals .
Definitely Fantasy genre but strikes me as a mix of Good Omens and Eric if they were to be compared to Terry Prtachett Books.
First Books is set in England where the Devil and his Minions have discovered how to open a gate to a small town by harnessing power from the Haldron Collider. Pardon the pun but all hell breaks lose with demons causing havoc while the General of hells army becomes a cross dresser and a few others discover the beauty of english lager . One becomes addicted to wine gums.
All this centres around Samuel and his dog who try to stop all this.

Second book is based around the cross dressing demons attempt at revenge for how the first book ends . She tries to drag Samuel and his dog to hell but also manages to pull in a pair of coppers , four alcoholic psycho dwarves pretending they're elves, and an icecream van driven by Dan Dan the Ice cream man.
More sentimental than the first book and a little slower paced but with very funny and exciting moments well worth reading.
I was particularly impressed with the characters of The Watcher, Old Ram and The Blacksmith.

First book a 9 out of ten and the second one an 8.5 out of ten.

Really enjoyable and not as dark than his previous 'All Age' book - 'The Book of Lost Things'(which is bloody amazing and a 10 out of 10 book based around Grimms fairy tales) or his Charlie Parker crime novels.
Yes i am promoting a fellow dubliner but seriously worth a look. The link below opens the first chapter of Hells Bells from Johns site which readds quite well as a short story in its own rights
http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/novels-hells-bells1.php

 

[Tonyblack]

They sound really good, Pip! That's a great review.

 

[pip]

No worries. Its a good idea for a thread from Chris.
Aside from the books John Connolly is a real nice guy and does signings every couple of months in my favourite bookshop where he'll chat with everyone for hours on end.

 

[pip]

Book Review - Peter Ackroyd , Clerkenwell Tales

I've been a huge fan of Peters Non Fiction stuff for Years . His London Biography is an amazing book and I recently read London Under which was fantastic. He has published numerous Biographies my favourites being Dickens and Poe but he also publishes Fiction from time to time.
This for me has been hit and miss. Loved his retelling of Frankenstein but found Hawksmoor a tiresome boring Book. The plato papers is a little too odd but The Fall of Troy is brilliant.
Clerkenwell Tales therefore wasn't a gauranteed good read for me. On the other hand the Period its based in and the idea behind its structure were two things that appealed to me so i gave it a go.
Clerkenwell Tales borrows in some ways from The Canterbury Tales and each chapter borrows a name from the various tales and the structure of the book is built around this.
The book is set in london at the end of the 1300s , a massive period of instability with the crown exchanging hands and the seeds of the war of the roses being set.
Ackroyds greatest attribute as a writer of both fiction and non fiction shows through magnicintly in this book. He knows london better than most if not any and paints the Geography of the city spectacularly throughout the story.
The tale itself involves several layers of conspirsacy , sinful monks , nuns and bishops amongst other good characters. Well written , good use of language and London stands out as a great character but the story itself didn't completely grasp me and the ending was a a little too predictable.
Still a good read and i don't regreet picking it up.
I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10
His next book is back to the factual and is a History of England from Foundation which i greatly look forward too

 

[CrysaniaMajere]

I don't know, I just read "Io sono Dio" (I am God) by G.Faletti, and "Fairy Oak, il segreto delle gemelle" (fairy oak, the secret of the twins) by Elisabetta Gnone, but I have no idea if they have a translated version or not. If not, a review is pretty useless.. I tried to ask wiki but am not sure at all. They should always had a line "this book has been in the following languages /has not been translated in other languages", it would be easier.
They should have, especially the fairy oak books, nice kids book that is, lovely (yeah it is a book for kids, but I was curious because it has lovely drawings and read it anyway)

 

[pip]

They seem to be very recent books from the wikis so probably not translated yet. Possibly will be in time though

 

[raisindot]

Just finished Cutting for Stone by Abraham Vergese.

A marvelous novel about a group of multi-national medical practitioners working in a free medical clinic in Ethiopia starting in the 1950s (won't tell you more because that would give it away).

The main narrator is one of two identical twins born of a tragedy that both haunts him and shapes what he will become in life. The other characters are the brother's adoptive parents and the Ethiopians with whom they interact and their life stories are told with great sensitivity.

It's a wonderful multi-cultural story about overcoming adversity, redemption, sacrifice, and the power of family in its many different forms.

 

[pip]

Good Review.

 

[poohcarrot]

(He only copied the blurb on the back cover! )

 

[pip]

Its more than you did

 

[poohcarrot]

The book I finished reading last night was Science of Discworld II.

The science is really interesting and the Discworld story with the elves is far better and deeper than Eric.

And there're 1,000 elephants in it too.

 

[pip]

 

[raisindot]

And since we never seem to stop talking about religion around here, I've been plowing through the more popular books by Prof Bart Ehlman.

He is a professor and religious scholar who was raised as a fundamentalist Christian, got a Ph.D. in theology, and taught in fundamentalist Christian schools for awhile.

But the deeper he started examining the Old and New Testaments, the more he began to doubt his own beliefs. Today, he considers himself an agnostic, no longer considers himself to be a 'religious' person, and specializes in books that examine the various textual and thematic problems he identifies in the Bible. He doesn't do it in a nasty, Hitchins/Dawkins type way; he wishes he could believe in the Jesus and God of the Bible but simply finds their history and construction incompatible with his beliefs. If you like this story of thing, I recommend:

1. Misquoting Jesus: A very interesting history of New Testament authorship, that makes a compelling case that no one really knows what the original "texts" of the gospels were, since the earliest extant copies are dated no earlier than the 3rd century CE. He also provides compelling examples of how later scribes edited and added on to gospels throughout the years, so that what you read today may bear absolutely no resemblance to the original version of Mark, Luke, Matthew or John.

2. Jesus Interrupted: Here he does a "parallel" study of the four gospels to clearly demonstrate the many contradictions and discrepancies between the four narratives of the Jesus story, making a strong case that each gospel author (none of whom were probably alive when Jesus died) had his or her own agenda in creating their particular version, and that these four are only the ones "chosen" out of hundreds of other stories that never made the biblical "cut."

3. God's Problem: Perhaps his weakest book. Here, he makes the argument that he cannot reconcile the Bible's portrayal of a caring and loving god (if you do everything he says, that is) with a god who allows suffering, genocide, disease, war and evil to exist in the world, especially when so many who died were devout Christians and Jews.







Misquoting Jesus, God's Problem and Jesus Interrupted

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Over the weekend on my way down to London, I finished the audio unabridged book of Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, I forgot how good the book was,and a few of the things have more or less come to pass, his take on religion is well done with a few neat twists I can't really do it justice with a short review, for me it's the beginning of the cyberpunk novel and him being the godfather of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash

 

[pip]

Have snow crash sitting on my desk in work. Possibly the next one i read

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

It's really good Pip, he certainly had some foresight.