Battle Royale - Koushun Takami

Well this book seemed a logical choice having read Hunger Games.  And I'm very glad I decided to pick it up.  Most people probably know the rough story line; Japanese school class kidnapped put on an island and forced to fight to the death.

The joy of the book is that it keeps you engrossed throughout.  At first it is easy to get lost with the names and working out which school child just died (there are 40 of them after all), but soon enough the main characters come to the fore and you can't help but spot traits familiar to teenagers the world over.

A good read and one that I'll be recommending to people.

El Narco - Ioan Grillo

So after reading several books about teenagers killing each other described in a fun and romantic way I thought it might be good to read something a little more serious and hard hitting.  So I turned to Ioan Grillo's look at the Mexican drug war.

There has been alot of international attention for the Mexican drug war in recent years as the level of violence has peaked leading to piles of headline grabbing corpses and AK47 fuelled shoot outs.  The book paints an interesting picture of how the current situation  came to pass and describes in interesting detail the state of the country at the moment.  Which is a pretty worrying situation with the drug gangs dealing in billions of dollars of currency and arming themselves with the profits.  The killing and corruption at the heart of the Mexican state seems to know no limits.

A fascinating book but in the end another book about teenagers killing each other.  If only this one was a fiction book.

Mockingjay - Suzane Collins

So I pretty much started reading this one 3 minutes after finishing the second book.  Not that I was really keen to see how the story finished or anything.

The final book in the trilogy neatly finishes off all the story lines but doesn't quite hold the imagination in the way the first book did.  In fact, the books are pretty much released in order of how good they are with the first one being by far the best read.  Still it was worth answering the questions the story and characters created by writing the second two books and I did enjoy them.  In fact they are one of those series of books that when you've finished reading them you find yourselves almost missing the main characters.

A thoroughly enjoyable trilogy and I'll be heading to the cinema to watch the film pretty soon.

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

So I went out and bought it the very day I finished the first book.  More of the same as our much beloved heroes go from one life threatening situation to another.  This book continues the complicated love life of the heroine and doesn't answer the which one will she pick question.....which as an early thirties bloke is the most boring part of the book.  But it sure will play well with the teen market.

Enjoyed it again, and ploughed through it in no time.  More to come from the third and final installment.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

With all the hype around the release of the new film and the positive reviews from unexpected sources (broadsheet newspapers giving a teen drama a good score?) I thought I'd check this one out.

And I really wasn't disappointed.  Yes, the basic idea is very reminiscent of Battle Royale. But so what, plenty of books are similar to other stories, the author denies any knowledge of BR when writing this book and I'm inclined to believe her and don't really care either way anyway.

The book is a real page turner and wont take you long to get through.  Its one of those rare books that when you put it down you find yourself eager to get back because the protagonists are almost certainly in some perilous situation and you want to find out how they get out of it.....and they will get out of it.

Really enjoyed it and will read the sequels.

Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C Clarke

Another Sci Fi classics and another great book.  This one from one of the acknowledged masters of the genre is a real joy.  An alien vessel (for want of a better word) is heading towards the solar system and a lone ship is sent to rendezvous with it.

What follows is a fascinating tale of the search through the inside of Rama by the ships crew.  A well paced tale that leaves you wanting more whenever you have to put the book down.  A really good read and I'll be getting the sequels before too long

The Jungle - Clive Cussler

Not proud of this one, but I wanted to read something pretty easy and trashy.  big tick there.

its a fun book for what it is, but its heavy on the cliches and stereotypes.  I'll be reading these sort of things again and I'll continue to enjoy them.  Lets face it, every now and then you just want to read a good old fashioned guns and heroes sort of book.

Brazzaville Beach - William Boyd

This particular book has sat on my families bookshelf since I was about 11 years old and because of the wonderful cover illustration has always enticed me.  I couldn't find the right cover but managed to find the illustration which I think just draws you in.

Anyway, I finally got around to reading the book recently and in quite a rare beginning for me and I imagine most people I started reading the book with no idea what it was about.  All I knew was that both my sister and Dad were fans, it was quite a refreshing change to start a book with no knowledge at all of the story.

It tells the story of Hope and two significant events in her life that have led to her living on the beach of the books title.  AS with other William Boyd novels I've read he sculpts a brilliant story that progresses at exactly the right pace and really conjours up the places and people he describes.

As I've said before, I'm a latecomer to William Boyds writing and I'm very pleased to have finally discovered him.

Non Stop - Brian Aldiss

Another sci fi classic and another good read.  The story is based on a long forgotten space ship, although that isn't immediately apparent when the story begins in a medieval style village.  This is a tricky book to write about without ruining the story for others (not that I need be concerned about my sizable readership being disappointed in this manner of course).

The story unfolds gradually revealing more and more about the world in which the protagonists find themselves and the book maintains an appropriate sense of claustrophobia and the pace quickens as the story progresses.

Not my favourite book, but I enjoyed the read.

Peace and War - Joe Haldeman

Three books for the price of one here...but I've already read the first one (Forever War) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The second book is a continuation of Forever War and features the main protagonists from that novel.  Set 20 or so years down the line from the end of the first book this novel picks up the story with our heroes a little older and a little more cynical.  They decide to so something about it by returning to interstellar space travel and with it time dilation (more of less like travelling into the future).

I wont go into it too deeply but suffice to say the author sets off on a very different tangent to the first.  he puts forward a pretty out there theory for the existence of the universe but as with the first book the story moves along at a good pace and the characters keep it interesting.  not as good as the first one, but still an enjoyable read.

The final book in the collection seems to have no relation to the other two.  this one is set in the not too distant future (2040 ish) and tells of a world pitched into a resource war.  Not the type we're all expecting (water, oil etc), this one is caused by excess resources.  The US has developed machines that can manufacture anything cheaply and easily thus rendering imports useless and turned the economy of the world on its head.

They have also developed the ability to tap into the human brain and link minds with other people.  which makes for a whole new range of emotions and experiences.

Haldeman once again creates a fantastical world that nonetheless feels authentic and compelling.  I'm a big fan of his work and thoroughly enjoyed this book.

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis

Holy shit!  If you'll excuse the french.  This book is FUCKED UP beyond anything I've ever read before.

The graphic sex and violence scenes make for stomach churning but sensationalist reading.

But there is so much more to this book than simple gore and shock value.  As a depiction of the 1980's version of the American Dream its right up there.  And given the modern economic crisis we find ourselves in I couldn't help but draw comparisons between Patrick Batemans disregard for his victims and society at large and the way that corporate bankers from the mid 80's onwards have treated businesses and economies as things for them to do with as they will regardless of the consequences to the rest of the world.

Probably the only book that I have ever turned away from in disgust while reading.  But also one of the most compelling things I've ever read.  A fascinating and wonderfully written book.

All my friends are superheroes - Andrew Kaufman

I was immediately grabbed by this book in the shop.  Quirky cover, good review comments and a synopsis that really piques the interest.

Happily the book doesn't disappoint.  Its a quirky tale about a normal guy who happens to know a lot of superheroes, not your average superheroes but everyday people who have one special ability and not necessarily a good or particularly impressive one.

My reading of the book was that the superheroes are supposed to represent the idiosyncrasies that make people who they are.  How one characteristic can come to define a person and they don;t get to chose what that characteristic is.  But they can chose to change their approach to life and tackle the way they are defined by the world.

A real little gem

How I won the yellow jumper - Ned Boulting

I think the Tour de France is one of the worlds great sporting events.  I follow it every year and have done since first discovering it aged about 10.  So I was always going to enjoy this book as it gave me a glimpse behind the curtain of secrecy around the real tour as opposed to its public face.

But in writing the book in a very conversational and inviting style Ned Boulting has made the book feel friendly and very easy to read.  I'm not sure the book would do much for any non TDF fans but for any cycling or indeed sport fan this is a good read

End of the Year

Well well, its been a little while since I posted last....Christmas, New Year and a load of work got in the way of me reading as much as usual or indeed getting access to the blog.

When I first started this blog one of my goals was to see how much I read in a year.  I've been aware of this throughout the whole year but have made a point of not cheating to get a higher number...no reading short books all year long, I had to read what I wanted when I wanted.  I'm pleased to say I've done that and thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process.  I haven't enjoyed every book equally..there are definite favourites in there and some that while I found them slow in places have made a lasting impression on me.

So the question now is do I carry on.....I've done year and found out that I read a book roughly every two weeks on average.  Not the most exciting revelation but as a bit of a geek and statto I do like to know these things.

I think I will carry on purely because I quite like keeping a record of what I read.  The rest of the world probably doesn't care and  I don't think they really need to.

So 2012.  lets have it.