books

I picked this up at the airport that time we went to Amsterdam in December. At that time, I was a complete Irvine Welsh virgin - had never read one of his books before, or even seen Trainspotting (hard to believe?).

What’s It About?

Bedroom Secrets Of The Master Chefs centres around the rivalry between Edinburgh Environmental Health Officer Danny Skinner and Brian Kibby, a newcomer to Skinner’s department to whom Danny takes and instant irrational dislike.

Danny’s a full-on shit: womaniser, heavy drinker, drug taker, thinks Saturday night’s definitely alright for fighting (he’s virtually a professional football hooligan). All this makes for some pretty spectacular hangovers…

…which is where Kibby comes in. Somehow, in his complete hatred of the clean-cut mammy’s boy, Skinner manages to curse Brian Kibby - and somehow manages to curse Kibby with all his hangovers! Essentially, Skinner can party as hard as he likes and Kibby receives the hangover.

Bedroom Secrets is littered with some very humorous set pieces, set in Welsh’s gritty but affectionate Edinburgh. Interestingly, Skinner’s and Kibby’s lives are linked in more ways than they both know, and the tension between the two boils over into open resentment as the novel reaches its climax.

In Summary

Irvine Welsh manages to create some interesting, three-dimensional characters in Bedroom Secrets, from the protagonists Skinner and Kibby to the bit players like Skinner’s mother and his colleagues Shannon McDowall and slimy Bob Foy.

Skinner himself is a masterpiece of nastiness, delighting in Kibby’s downfall and generally getting up to no good. There’s a scene where he seeks assistance from an old clairvoyant and ends up sleeping with her in ‘payment’. Truly disgusting!

I liked Neil McAllister’s review of Bedroom Secrets - he picked up on a good point, that the ‘curse’ on Kibby is like a perverse Dorian Grey enchantment. Neil’s review is worth a read if you’re interested.

A copy of this review is also posted at PopOpinions.com.

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 // Book Reviews

Let me start by telling you I’m a huge fan of books and movies that involve time travel and /or immortality. The Time Traveler’s Wife steers away from pure sci-fi, instead telling the story of a romance between a girl and a time traveler.

Henry DeTamble is the time traveler - a librarian who inadvertently time travels whenever he’s stressed or excited. Rather than treat the time travel as an oddity, Niffenegger writes the time travel as an illness called ‘chrono displacement syndrome’.

His girlfriend/wife is Claire Abshire an art student from a well-heeled family. The course of Claire and Henry’s lives seem intertwined, as Henry unconsciously time travels into Claire’s life at various stages from his future. Henry also crosses his own time stream a number of times and revisits a traumatic event from his childhood.

The biggest challenge with time travel stories is avoiding confusion. Niffenegger achieves this semi-successfully by reminding us at the start of each chapter of the date and age of the two main characters. The narrative also alternates between Henry and Claire’s viewpoints, which helps to bring the characters to life and helps the reader to empathise more with their situation.

I won’t ruin the story by going into too much detail on the plot, but in short Niffenegger manages to craft a tale that is warm, witty, romantic and above all, human. As a matter of fact, one of my favourite characters in the book is Gomez, a tragic figure who marries Claire’s friend, but secretly loves Claire. Niffenegger deals with Gomez particularly well, letting us know early on about his feelings for Claire, but also showing how his relationship with Henry develops over the years.

In Summary

The Time Traveler’s Wife is a touching tale that uses time travel as a tool to tell the story of two people. So, despite time travel being a central theme in the book, the focus remains on the relationship between Henry and Claire. Initially, I was a little disappointed that the time travel wasn’t the central theme of the book, but the true value of the book is in the human interactions.

When you look at it, The Time Traveler’s Wife covers all the key events in life: teenage life, romance, marriage, family, children. There’s so much to relate to and that’s probably why I found the book so touching in the end. Sruthi has also written a good review of the book, although she walked away underwhelmed.

Perhaps that’s because there isn’t a ‘happy-ever-after’ ending. I don’t know, but I do recommend the book. If you’ve read it, tell me what you thought in the comments. If not, pick up a copy and then come back!

A copy of this review is posted at PopOpinions.com

Friday, March 9th, 2007 // Book Reviews

On the cover of On Second Thoughts… is a drawing of King Arthur and his knights sitting at a square table as one of the group asks if anyone else thinks the Feng Shui is all wrong.

But they say never judge a book by its cover.

Past the cover, On Second Thoughts falls down hard. The books is a supposedly funny collection of “first drafts” that might have happened, described on the tagline as “Bad first ideas and other rubbish from the bins of the famous”.

To be fair, On Second Thoughts has its good moments. There’s a series of spoof library tickets sent to famous people. A chasing letter to Bono for the return of “How To Be Me” by Mother Teresa and stuff like that.

Admitting my ignorance, I’ll also say that some of the references are too obscure for the average Joe. There were whole sections that I just didn’t get. And I consider myself fairly well read, so there.

Another problem with the book is the poor quality of some of the clippings. I know they’re supposed to be mock-authentic items, but the quality is so poor that the pieces are actually hard to read.

Nope folks, give this one a wide berth!

A copy of this review is posted at PopOpinions.com.

Monday, February 26th, 2007 // Book Reviews

I picked this book up for the missus just before Christmas, and decided to give it a quick flick through before I wrapped it. Within half-an-hour I’d read it cover to cover,

Loads More Lies… is the follow-up to the very popular “Great Lies To Tell Small Kids”, and features a variety of warped cartoons. For example, the picture of a Tweenie lying on the ground - dead - with an Uzi by his side as his anguished mate cries “noooooooo!!!” to the skies. Read the rest »

Saturday, February 24th, 2007 // Book Reviews

The tagline to Never Hit A Jellyfish With A Spade is “How to Survive Life’s Smaller Challenges”, and that’s the essence of this book. A series of short articles lifted from Browning’s Guardian column, each focuses on a micro-topic from everyday life: How to…. eat biscuits, mow the lawn, read a Sunday paper.

I remember reading Browning’s column from time to time and marvelling at how he managed to take everyday situations and spin them into something thought-provoking and funny at the same time: Read the rest »

Friday, February 23rd, 2007 // Book Reviews

I was browsing through the book section in a second-hand shop in Ballymena on Saturday, when I came across this bargain:

You’re probably wondering, “How did he resist?” Believe me, it wasn’t that difficult! I wish I’d read the back cover to get a feel for the story, though…

Sunday, July 2nd, 2006 // Observations

If you don’t have the stamina for a book review right now, scroll down to the question at the bottom for an interesting ethical debate!

The last time I read a Dean Koontz novel, he was specifically a writer of horror stories. That was a fair few years ago to say the least, and in the meantime Koontz seems to have transcended the pure horror genre. These days, he seems to be writing in the more modern, more lucrative thriller style.

My cynicism (for Koontz’s motives) aside, the man has not lost his touch. Velocity is a fast-paced crime thriller, but manages to raise some interesting moral and ethical questions at the same time.

What’s It All About?

The plot centres around Billy Wiles, an average Joe bartender in a nameless tavern. Wiles lives a simple, innocuous lifestyle: working at the tavern by day and returning to the house where he lives alone at night. Occasionally he visits his comatose girlfriend in hospital.

Things quickly turn sour when Billy discovers a note on the windshield of his car. The note threatens that if he goes to the police, an attractive young schoolteacher will die. If he does not, an elderly woman will be killed. By his actions, Billy will determine the fate of these women.

At first assuming the note to be a cruel joke, Billy takes the note to a friend, Lanny Olsen who is a police officer and asks his advice. Lanny tells him to ignore the note, only later discovering that a schoolteacher has been killed. This begins a series of decisions Billy is forced to make by the anonymous killer and a tortuous game of cat and mouse commences, with Billy trying to discover the killer’s identity while realising that the end game may have terrible consequences for him.

Not only is the killer planting evidence that will incriminate Billy in the murders, he has his eyes set on Billy’s girlfriend and ultimately Billy himself.

Verdict

Koontz is to be applauded for writing such a compelling and intense page-turner. He keeps his chapters short, ending each with a minor cliffhanger so you read voraciously (sure I’ll just read the next chapter…). The cast of characters is well conceived and each is brought to life vividly by Koontz for the roles they play.

Despite Billy’s attempts to unmask the killer, his identity is only revealed in the last few chapters of the book for a dramatic showdown. Koontz will manage to keep you guessing this one until the end (and I don’t intend to spoil it for you!).

Needless to say, I found Velocity to be an excellent piece of storytelling. I mentioned earlier that the thriller genre was much more lucrative than horror these days. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this appear as a movie some day - it ticks all the right boxes.

Questions

Perhaps the central theme of Velocity is the moral dilemma of being forced to choose the fate of another person, through action or inaction.

If you don’t take this note to the police and get them involved, I will kill a lovely blond schoolteacher. If you do take this note to the police, I will instead kill an elderly woman active in charity work. You have four hours to decide. The choice is yours.

The proposition is a difficult one - your actions will doom an individual, one way or another. I thought the decision to include the word “attractive” when describing the schoolteacher was quite cunning. Would you save an attractive person over a vitruous person? On the spur of the moment, how do you determine one person’s right to life over another’s?

A copy of this review is posted at PopOpinions.com.

Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 // Book Reviews

While looking through a couple of literary sites I came across an amazing site which?I am ashamed to say I had never heard of before. Given that the site boasts over 300 new members each day and that its title has been added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary as a new word I would have thought I would have happened upon it by now.

Many of you are probably already aware of the BookCrossing site, but for those who aren’t here’s what it’s all about.

Basically?next time?you read a good book that you want to pass on, register it with the bookcrossing site. You will be provided a unique BCID (BookCrossing ID number), which along with the website address you use to label the book. You also have an opportunity to write a journal entry on the book. Once this is done, release the book!

Releasing?a book can be done in many ways. You can give it to a friend and direct them to the website, give it to charity, or simply leave it on a park bench or cafe table.

You will subsequently be notified by email each time someone comes?to the BookCrossing site?and records journal entries for that book. Or to make?the book?easier for fellow BookCrossers to find you can create a release note stating where the book was released allowing others to Go Hunting for it.

When I found this site, I was sure it was an American thing. This sort of thing can’t go on in Northern Ireland right? Wrong! Imagine my surprise to find out that Northern Ireland BookCrossers have released 34 books into the wild in the last 30 days.

So tomorrow I am on my way to Queens University Quadrangle and Film Theatre,?I will then be touring the telephones boxes of both Bradbury Place and The Dublin Road and see what treasures I can find. If anyone beats me to it I’d love to hear what you found!

Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 // Book Reviews