Category: Genre

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2009 YA

Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins

I loved The Hunger Games, so was really looking forward to reading Catching Fire. Unfortunately I was disappointed. Perhaps because I have been immersed in the Bookers, I was immediately struck by the poor quality of the writing. I don’t remember having the same problem with The Hunger Games, but then I didn’t read 13 Bookers before starting it!

The first half of the book was also quite slow. It has been 6 months since I read The Hunger Games, so I probably did need to be reminded of some of the smaller plot details, but I became irrated by the continual references to the first book. I felt patronised and bored. It took almost half the book before the plot began to take off, but when it did I was again disappointed. Catching Fire just seemed to take all the best bits from The Hunger Games and repeat them in a less convincing way.

There was a point in the middle when district 13 was mentioned that I began to think things would take a turn for the better, but sadly it veered away from this potentially great thread to follow a much more disappointing one. I am sure that the third book in the trilogy will be great, but I don’t think this one was necessary – it felt like they had taken a great two book story and padded it out into a trilogy, as by the end the plot didn’t seem to have made any progression from the first book.

If you loved The Hunger Games then you’ll have to read this anyway, but please be warned that you may be disappointed. Catching Fire is a quick, mildly entertaining read, but the frustration and disappointment I felt meant that I can’t recommend it.

stars3

If you haven’t read Catching Fire yet: What do you hope will happen in it?

I know I’m in the minority with my opinion. What made you love Catching Fire?

Are you more or less excited about the final book in the trilogy after reading this one?

Categories
2008 Audies Audio Book Book Prizes Books for Children Other Prizes

The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman (Audio Book)

 

Winner of the Hugo Award 2009 for Best Novel, Newbery Medal 2009,  Locus YA book of the Year 2009, Audie Audiobook of the Year 2009.

The Graveyard Book seems to have won every prize going in the past year. I haven’t read any of Neil Gaiman’s books before, so was really interested to find out what they were like. When I discovered that The Graveyard Book had won audio book of the year at The Audies, I decided that I had to listen to it straight away.

I was immediately impressed by Neil Gaiman’s narration. It is great to discover an author who is able to skillfully read his own books.

The story begins with a toddler escaping from home after his family have been murdered. The little boy seeks refuge in a graveyard and it’s ghostly residents decide to look after him; protecting him from the killer who continues to search for him.

The plot is quite gentle and although there are some potentially scary scenes, only the smallest of children would be afraid. I think this is a lovely children’s book, but the simplicity of the storyline makes this an unsatisfying adult read.

I enjoyed listening to it, as Neil Gaiman’s narration added to the atmosphere, but I think I would have been disappointed had I read the book. I think even teenagers would find this book too light to appeal.

If you know any 10-year-olds then go and buy them the audio book straight away, but I’m afraid I can’t recommend this to adults.

Adult rating: stars3h

10-year-old rating: stars4h

Did you enjoy The Graveyard Book?

Have you read any of Neil Gaiman’s other books?

Would I find any of them more satisfying?

Categories
2008 Books in Translation

Voice Over – Celine Curiol

Translated from the French by Sam Richard

Voice Over was the latest choice for our book group, but while there was a lot to discuss, it wasn’t an enjoyable read for me.

The central character in the book is an unnamed woman who announces the train times at the Gare du Nord in Paris. The main theme appears to be her struggle to be noticed:

Her voice fills the entire station, soaring over the platforms, the halls, sailing into corners, crashing into glass walls. She is present everywhere, and yet no one recognises her.

She lacks self esteem, and so, in an effort to bring meaning to her life, she ends up in a series of difficult situations.

I felt little empathy for the woman; she seemed to bring all the misery on her self, and the majority of her problems could easily have been avoided with a little forethought. Despite the subject matter of the book, there is very little emotion. I felt distanced from the characters and so never connected with them.

The writing style makes this a difficult book to read. There is no speech and little to break up the writing, so you are often confronted with an entire page of words, which means a great deal of concentration is required. With effort, some insightful passages could be discovered:

Whenever she is in a park, she is always faced with the same dilemma. All those orderly paths overwhelm her. A park should be explored instinctively, without markers. But the walkways impose their fixed itineraries and lead to artificial crossings, which force one to choose different sections of the park over others. The only way to get to know the place is to follow the layout of paths, to explore them all without exceptions. At each fork, however, one of the paths has to be abandoned and might never be found again.

The pace of the book is slow and rambling. It is only 200 pages long, but feels twice that length. I would not have finished this book had I not been reading it for the book group. There are a lot of people who will love this book though – literary fiction fans will enjoy analysing the many layers contained in this book and, due to the number of things left unresolved, it makes a great discussion point.

Overall, I found this to be a skillfully written debut novel, but the lack of a strong plot meant it wasn’t for me.

stars3

 

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Categories
2009 Horror Recommended books Thriller

The Strain – Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

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< ?php echo amazon('0007310250','The Strain’); ?> begins with a plane arriving in JFK airport, New York. The landing proceeds normally, but shortly after touch down all contact is lost. Confused and frightened the airport employees approach the plane to discover what has happened. What they discover is beyond their worst imagination….

This initial section is one of the most chilling pieces of writing I have ever read. I was genuinely scared, my heart rate racing as the story unfolded. The tension was built perfectly – just as the climax was approaching the scene would switch, leading to the  tension mounting all over again.

Unfortunately the book did not manage to maintain the level of fear throughout. Once the cause of the disaster had been identified the book lost much of its appeal to me. I won’t reveal what happens, but I’ll just say that it isn’t very likely to occur and therefore I didn’t find it scary any more. There were still moments of tension, but they were nothing compared to the first few chapters.

This book is very well written and the scientific analysis was accurate and intriguing. I found the descriptions to be very cinematic, but that isn’t surprising given the fact that Guillermo del Toro is the Oscar winning creator of Pan’s Labyrinth. I can picture this book being made into a film without the need to change anything.

One big drawback was that the source of the problem, when it was explained in detail later in the book, did not bare any relation to the events in the plane. This is just nit picking though. The Strain is an amazing book. Perfectly paced, chilling and intelligently written – a perfect choice for Halloween, (or the RIP Challenge!).

Recommended.

stars4

 

NB. This is the first book in a trilogy. It worked as a stand alone novel though, and I can’t imagine how they will make the next in the series as good as this one. I’ll be interested to find out though!!

Are you a fan of scary books?

If you’ve read it – did you think that the events on the plane were related to the rest of the book?

Categories
1950s Short Story

The Victorian Chaise-Longue – Marghanita Laski

  Persephone No. 6

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Claire from Paperback Reader and Verity from The B Files are hosting Persephone Reading Week. I have not read a Persephone book before and so decided to take this opportunity to try one. I admit to searching out the shortest one I could find (The Victorian Chaise-Longue is just 99 pages long), but I think it was a very good choice, as I really enjoyed it and will go on to read many more in the future.

The Victorian Chaise-Longue tells the story of Melanie, a young woman suffering from TB in the 1950s. She recovers enough to be allowed out of her sick bed for the first time and decides to sleep on a Victorian chaise-longue. When she wakes up, she discovers that she has been transported back in time and is now living inside the body of a Victorian woman, who is also ill.

This book is suppossed to be dark and spooky. Nymeth described it as being a

chilling, atmospheric and suffocating novella.

but I’m afraid this book didn’t scare me at all. I think the main reason for this, is that this isn’t very likely to happen. Blindness had a real impact on me, as I can foresee it’s shocking events occurring one day, but I’m afraid I’m not a big believer in time-travel.

I enjoyed reading this book, but I actually found it funny as opposed to scary. The rantings of Melanie trying to persuade the people in her Victorian world that she was from the future just made me smile.

‘You think I am Milly Baines gone mad,’ she said, ‘but I am not. I am another woman. I don’t know where Milly Baines is, perhaps she is in my time and we have got changed somehow, or perhaps I am just dreaming and I cannot wake up. But I do not belong here, I tell you, all my life is in the future, my child, the man I love.

This is a lovely little book, and whether it scares you or makes you laugh, I’m sure you will enjoy it!

stars4 

Am I alone in finding this book funny?

Have you ever found a scary book amusing?

 

 

Categories
Film

The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenger (Film)

I don’t watch many films and tend to wait until they come out on DVD before watching them, but I loved reading The Time Traveller’s Wife so much that I ventured out to the cinema for the first time in four years!

The Time Traveller’s Wife is one of my favourite books and one of the only ones which has moved me to tears. I saw the trailer for this film for the first time a few weeks ago and it affected me so much that it brought tears to my eyes. I have never been so moved by a trailer before, so I couldn’t wait until the DVD was released – I needed to know if they had managed to adapt it successfully to the big screen.

I was very worried about what they would do to such a special book, but I think they did a good job. It was emotional throughout and I think I cried more in the cinema than when I was reading it. Inevitably they changed a few things, but I think these were necessary for the move from text to screen.

There were a few points when the acting didn’t come across as very natural, but I quickly forgot about them as I was swept along by the story.  The switching of points in time occasionally confused me when I was reading the book, but this didn’t happened during the film. I’m not sure if this was because I’d read the book or because seeing the pictures made it more obvious, but my husband who hadn’t read the book, did not get confused.

This film will appeal to women more than men and this was reflected by the large majority of women in the cinema, but my husband didn’t regret seeing it and enjoyed the plot too.

Overall I was very impressed with the screen adaptation. It wasn’t as good as the book, but it gets quite close.

Highly recommended.

stars4h

Have you seen it yet, or are you worried about the directors ruining your favourite book?

Were you impressed?

Is this the best film you’ve seen this year?