I have recently been thinking about which books I should encourage my non-reading friends to try. I believe that most people would enjoy reading if they found the right book, but so many are turned off by the boring selection found in schools. The problem is deciding which book to recommend to a person without a list of favourite reads to draw from. 

One day I was browsing through some book blogs and noticed a few had posted about their hobbies. There seemed to be a link between the type of pastimes they enjoyed and their taste in books.

Slow Paced Books = Love for Crafts?

People who enjoyed knitting, sewing or painting tended to like quieter books. I don’t have the patience to sit quietly and create things and perhaps this personality trait means that I don’t have the tolerance to work through gentler books. I often find myself becoming bored with books that lack a strong plot and normally abandon them without getting very far. I once tried to knit a scarf and didn’t finish that either!! 

Fast Paced Books = Love for High Adrenaline Sports?

People who enjoyed sports with an adrenaline rush seemed to favour books with a fast pace. I’m easily scared and so would never jump out of a plane (or even go on a big rollercoaster!) Perhaps this is the reason that I often find books with non-stop action over-powering. I like things to slow down occasionally so that I can take a breath, admire the scenery and really get to know the characters. I find that I fly through some thrillers so quickly that I never feel I’m touching the ground – I end the book barely knowing the character’s names, let alone what they look like or why they react in the way that they do. This tends to leave me unsatisfied and is the reason I am very cautious when choosing a thriller to read. 

 

What about me?

I prefer more moderate hobbies – enjoying cycling, canoeing, SCUBA diving and travel to remote places of the world. This means that I tend to favour books with a medium paced plot – some action, but also sections with more depth. I like to get out and see the world without scaring myself too much.

Need to recommend a book to a non-reader?

Look at what they like to do in their time off. Pick a book that has a pace matching their need for speed. Unfortunately this doesn’t help you decide which genre to choose, but it’s a start!!

Do you agree, or are you a skydiver who enjoys Marilynne Robinson?

Does your reading pace match your hobbies?

Have you had any luck persuading a non-reader to pick up a book?

  

Winner of the 1985 Nebula Award and the Hugo Award for best novel in 1986

Ender’s Game is a science fiction classic that divides people. I have recently developed a passion for science fiction and so was keen to find out why this book is talked about so much.

The book focuses on Ender, a six-year-old boy, who was born specifically to help fight against an alien invasion. He leaves his family on Earth to attend Battle school where he is trained to become a ruthless killer.

I have to admit that the synopsis did not appeal to me at all. I have no interest in fighting, especially when it involves six-year-old children, and aliens don’t normally appeal either. I was therefore surprised by how much I enjoyed the first section of the book. I immediately connected with Ender and his conflicting emotions about leaving his family.

“I know you, Ender. I’ve been watching the monitor disks for some time. You won’t miss your mother and father, not much, not for long. And they won’t miss you for long either.”
Tears came to Ender’s eyes, in spite of himself. He turned his face away, but would not reach up to wipe them.

I found the way Ender was manipulated into hurting other people fascinating. It was thought-provoking to see how easily a gentle individual could be changed by a series of small events.

Initially I loved reading about the Battle School, but I found that the exercises became repetitive and I began to lose interest. As the book progressed the fighting intensified and I became increasingly bored. Luckily everything was changed by the ending, which I thought was fantastic.

I found this book very hard to rate. I have a feeling that in a few years time I will have forgotten about how much that middle section irritated me and will only remember the amazing beginning and end sections. They were so powerful, original and thought-provoking that I can see why this book is a classic. I’m sure I’ll remember Ender for the rest of my life and so I’m going to give it a (generous?) 4.5 stars.

This book teaches us important lessons about the fragility of our peaceful society and gives a scary prediction of the future. Recommended.

Have you read Ender’s Game?

Do you recommend I read the rest of the series?

Barbara Gowdy is a Canadian author who is treasured in her native country, but I hadn’t heard of her until I came across some Canadian bloggers. Writer’s Pet was the person who finally persuaded me to read one of her books and I’m really pleased I did – she is so original!

The White Bone is narrated by elephants. The book follows a herd of elephants as they wander across the East African plains. We see their every day lives and then the tragedy of an attack by poachers.

The book is very well researched and I loved learning all the little facts about elephants. I occasionally found that the footnotes ruined the flow of the story for me, but the added knowledge they gave me almost made up for this.

My main problem with the book was the names of the elephants. Each herd was named using a different letter of the alphabet, with the group being referred to as the She-S’s or the She-D’s. It is silly really, but for some reason the names really irritated me.

She-Screams begins to weep out loud, and then all the She-S’s, even She-Snorts, even Swamp, are weeping out loud, urinating and defecating, streaming temporin. The She-D’s step aside from the commotion and are silent until She-Scares recovers herself enough to ask, “How is it that you were spared?”
“We ran,” She-Demands says simply.
“We ran and ran,” She-Distracts sing-songs.

It makes sense for herds to be named in this way, so perhaps I am just too used to reading about humans!

By the end of the book I felt as though I knew what it was like to be an elephant – Barbara Gowdy had managed to explain their way of life in beautiful detail.

The books brings home the shocking way in which elephants are killed for their tusks and the gentle nature of these giant animals.

Recommended to anyone looking for something a bit different in their fiction, especially if you have an interest in elephants.

Have you read anything written by Barbara Gowdy?

Which of her books do you recommend I try next?

If you have any interest in child birth then this is the book for you. Ever since the birth of my son four years ago I have been fascinated by the different approaches to child birth around the world, but this book gave me a new perspective – the way things have changed through time.

The Birth of Love combines a present day birthing experience with flashbacks to Vienna in 1865, a time when thousands of mothers died simply because doctors didn’t think to wash their hands between performing an autopsy and helping with a birth. We discover how Professor Semmelweis, the first man to suggest that doctors should wash their hands regularly, was imprisoned in a lunatic asylum. He was driven mad by his realisation that he had killed so many women by spreading disease between them. 

The book also gives a scary prediction for the future, suggesting that in 2153 no one will give birth – all babies will be grown in special genetically screened baby farms.

There isn’t much plot in this book, but I found the text gripping. The emotions of childbirth were captured perfectly:

She closes her eyes again, trying to sink into the stillness. The suspense is the worst part, being in the middle of something and knowing that it will end, somehow, but not knowing what the ending will be. The hours will flow along, but Brigid longs to escape them, to accelerate to the conclusion.

The period atmosphere was excellent – I was instantly able to tell which time period the section was referring too without having to be told.  The way everything was tied up at the end was equally impressive.

It is amazing to think how much things have changed in the last 150 years, but I struggle to believe Joanna Kavenna’s vision for the future. Can you foresee a time when women don’t give birth? This book would be a fantastic choice for a book group, particularly one containing lots of new mothers – I’d love to discuss her ideas with other people.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the themes of motherhood.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of those classics that I always felt I should have read, but for some reason I hadn’t got round to it. It wasn’t until I started reading the book that I appreciated how much it has crept into our society – the pages were packed with quotes that I recognised.

Dorian Gray is a vain young man enjoying the pleasures of high society. One day an artist paints his portrait and Dorian realises that his good looks will not last forever. Desperate to retain his youth Dorian exchanges his soul for an assurance that the portrait will age rather than himself. Unfortunately other people get a bit suspicious when he doesn’t age and so Dorian starts to experience a few problems!

I never know what to expect from these classics, but I was impressed by how readable The Picture of Dorian Gray was. It had a light, almost humorous tone and I was quickly drawn into Dorian’s life.  I loved discovering all the quotes that I already knew and the countless bits of wisdom:

‘Yes,’ he continued, ‘that is one of the great secrets of life. Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes.’

I lost interest slightly in the middle section, but the plot picked up again towards the end. I thought the ending, although predictable, was very good.

Recommended, if only so you can appreciate how many quotes from this book we use in everyday life.

I also watched the DVD as part of C.B. James’ Read The Book, See the Movie Challenge

Dorian Gray DVD

The DVD had a very different feel to the book. The film was dark and menacing, so the charm of the book was lost under this evil sense of foreboding. Most of the wonderful quotes were not included and so the majority of the things I enjoyed about the book were missing.

The film did benefit from some great Victorian costumes and sets, but spotting some tarmac road ruined the atmosphere a bit for me!

I can’t fault the acting, but some of the casting was a bit dubious. The actors didn’t match up to the pictures I’d built in my head when reading the book – especially Rachel Hurd-Wood. This wasn’t a major problem, overall the actors were probably the best thing about this film.

My main problem was with the ending – it was far too dramatic. Sometimes it is best to leave things to the imagination, but the film showed us everything. It was needless action for the sake of trying to attract a different audience to the film.

Overall I’d say that this is one of those films that just shouldn’t have been made. Some books just don’t work on the big screen.

Have you read The Picture of Dorian Gray?

What did you think of the film?