Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter: The Long Earth

Hi again

This review is about The Long Earth; the first novel in the The Long Earth Series; a novel written by Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett.
The book has 425 pages and a very beautiful cover.

 “1916: The Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong, and the wind in the leaves. Where has the mud, blood and blasted landscape of no-man's-land gone? For that matter, where has Percy gone?
2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Police officer Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive--some said mad, others allege dangerous--scientist who seems to have vanished. Sifting through the wreckage, Jansson finds a curious gadget: a box containing some rudimentary wiring, a three-way switch, and...a potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way humankind views the world forever.”

I enjoyed this novel; it's something very different from what I’m used to reading.

I thought it a very absorbing, interesting and easy read. The writing style is absolutely engaging with easy to understand information and lovely references to other cultural works, it’s very accessible. The story itself is quite fast paced.

The authors show us what these Long Earths could mean for families, politics and the world economy. And that’s a fascinating and promising idea that is cleverly worked out in this first novel in the series. It made me think about our existence on Earth and our possible futures.

The different POV’s made the idea behind the novel more real because we could see it from very, very different perspectives. A child doesn’t see the same possibilities as a politician for example. This way we know what’s going on back at Datum Earth and at other Earths.

I didn’t care for the ending but I am very interested in finding out where this series will go.

Happy reading.
Helena

José Saramago: Blindness

Hi again

Here’s my review of Blindness by José Saramago.
I got this novel as a gift from my niece Anneke.
It has 310 pages.

“A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides her charges—among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears—through the barren streets, and their procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing.”

Oh my word. I have never, ever read anything quite like this before.
Reading this novel is a real experience.

The novel is bleak, grim, raw, claustrophobic, brutal and hard.
The narrative changes from stream of consciousness to seemingly objectivity and back again. This made me uneasy, it adds to the sense of loss, of panic and of uncertainty.
There are no names either, making it even more strained.

It’s never boring, it is brutal but it’s also insightful and truly fantastic.

Thank you so much Anneke! I can’t wait to buy another work of his and devour that as well.

Happy reading.
Helena

Sir Terry Pratchett

Hi

Sir Terry Pratchett passed away.

It was my father who got me hooked on this series.
He loves it so much he has every Discworld novel in English and in Dutch; even going so far as to reading them at the same time sometimes.
He used to read to my brother and me before we went to bed. As we grew older we still loved these moments so my father kept on reading to us, but he chose YA or adult novels like Harry Potter and the Discworld Series.
Those moments were my introduction to Terry Pratchett.

Older, I read them myself. By the time I was thinking about my own place with my boyfriend, I realized I would have to leave those novels behind. And that’s when I started collecting them myself.

Terry Pratchett marked the start of my interest in Fantasy.

Thank you sir, for all you’ve given us.
Thank you for those wonderful and hilarious novels with a ring of truth in them.
Thank you for all the hours well spent reading them, away from everything else.

Helena

My dad and me on my wedding day, getting our priorities straight. 

George R. R. Martin: A Clash of Kings

Hi

This review is about the second part in the A Song of Ice and Fire series; A Clash of Kings.
It won the Locus Award and was nominated for the Nebula Award.
The copy I read has 873 pages.
You can find my review on the first part here.

I like the different point-of-views in the story. It’s a big world with a lot happening and because of these multiple POV’s we get to see so much more of it.
But I hated that every time the POV changed to someone else, and then changed back to the first person a certain amount of time had gone by. We missed so much because of that.
And this ties in with the biggest problem I have with this novel. We miss all the action!
A letter arrives to tell us of a battle, there’s talk about a battle that happened, a servant tells us someone disappears. No idea how Robb won his battles because we see nothing of him in this novel. Where the hell does Tywin come from in the end? Oh, we don’t know because we don’t read about him. Stupid Sansa sleeps during the battle.
Well I want to read about the battles. I want to read how they escaped.
The small bit of action we get is over before we know it happens. Renly’s death takes only a couple of sentences for instance.

It’s terribly boring. Very little action, endless talking, food, dress and more talking, going somewhere, hanging out somewhere and even more talking.

We read about too many characters and names we don’t care about and who add nothing whatsoever to the story. Reading ten names in a row serves no-one.

It’s tiresome and tedious in the sense that everything going bad for everyone is tiresome. Not one plotline has some good in it. ‘Everyone always loses’ is tiresome and very, very predictable.

I still stand by my review of A Game of Thrones, so I won’t repeat the problems I wrote about it that review even though they’re here as well.

Happy reading.

Helena

Wrap Up: February 2015

Hi

February was a difficult reading month. Everything started out well, but by the 15^th I reached a Reading Slump and I had a hard time enjoying books.
I couldn’t concentrate on a novel, didn’t feel like reading, wasn’t interested in reading and didn’t feel like blogging.

In the end I read a total of 1990 pages in 7 books.

Here are the novels I read this month:

• Jo Walton: Among Others
• Hugh Howey: Dust
• Margaret Atwood: Lady Oracle
• Richard Yates: Revolutionary Road
• Robert Louis Stevenson: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Nina Sankovitch: Tolstoj and the Purple Chair
• Hermann Hesse: Siddhartha

What did you read this month?

Happy reading!
Helena

Hermann Hesse: Siddhartha

Hi

I bought this copy in a Charity Shop in Brighton. It only has 117 pages.

“Hesse's Siddhartha is the story of a young Brahmin's quest for the ultimate reality. His quest takes him from the extremes of indulgent sensuality to the rigors of ascetism and self-denial. At last he learns that wisdom cannot be taught — it must come from one's own experience and inner struggle. Steeped in the tenets of both psychoanalysis and Eastern mysticism, Siddhartha presents a strikingly original view of man and culture, and the arduous process of self-discovery that leads to reconciliation, harmony, and peace.”

I really don’t know what to write about this one.
It's a unique little book.
Quite beautiful in its own way but not really for me.

Happy reading.
Helena

Nina Sankovitch: Tolstoj and the Purple Chair

Hi

This review is about Tolstoj and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch.
I got it from The Book Depository and it has 240 pages.

“After the death of her sister, Nina Sankovitch found herself caught up in grief, dashing from one activity to the next to keep her mind occupied. But on her forty-sixth birthday she decided to stop running and start reading.”

The novel is a true memoir of Nina’s life. It’s about her family and coping with the loss of her sister, about the insights she gets through reading and through thinking about the words in those novels.

As an avid reader myself; I understand the meaning and the worth books have and how they can change the way we feel, live, see others and ourselves.

It’s not dark, dramatic or sad. It’s a beautiful recounting of the past mixed in with her life during her ‘year of magical reading’ and tidbits about the novels she is reading. Sankovitch gets a bit too sentimental for my tastes. Her sister was perfect and she had no flaws. Like, for real?

It does get repetitive. I loved the first 150 pages, but after that I had to push myself a bit to finish it.

This novel is definitely only recommended for readers. I think non-readers wouldn’t really understand why she would do that and how it could help her.

But books can heal and books can nurture.

I truly believe that.

Happy reading.
Helena

Robert Louis Stevenson: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Hi

This review is about The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The book contains another short novella: The Imp Bottle.
It has 111 pages and I got it at a Waterstones.

 “Published as a 'shilling shocker', Robert Louis Stevenson's dark psychological fantasy gave birth to the idea of the split personality. The story of respectable Dr Jekyll's strange association with 'damnable young man' Edward Hyde; the hunt through fog-bound London for a killer; and the final revelation of Hyde's true identity is a chilling exploration of humanity's basest capacity for evil.”

I wish I could have read this novel without knowing anything about it. But that’s impossible because everyone knows what it’s about. I think it would have been so much more shocking and exciting to read this without knowing the plot.

To me, the novel is about the duality of human nature, but I won’t bore you with more details.
The story is fascinating, haunting, shocking, very fast and so, so exciting.
It is well written, easy to read and descriptive with some beautiful prose.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself reading this.

Happy reading!
Helena

Wine and a book. My kind of evening.

Richard Yates: Revolutionary Road

Hi

This was my second time reading Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates.
It has 338 pages and I got it in the beautiful Vintage edition.

Revolutionary Road is Yates' debut novel and in his own words his best work.
It was shortlisted for the National Book Award.

“In the hopeful 1950s, Frank and April Wheeler appear to be a model couple: bright, beautiful, talented, with two young children and a starter home in the suburbs. Perhaps they married too young and started a family too early. Maybe Frank's job is dull. And April never saw herself as a housewife. Yet they have always lived on the assumption that greatness is only just around the corner. But now that certainty is about to crumble. With heartbreaking compassion and remorseless clarity, Richard Yates shows how Frank and April mortgage their spiritual birthright, betraying not only each other, but their best selves.”

This is such a beautiful novel. I loved it even more than the first time.
It’s not sentimental or melodramatic. It’s a clear, controlled and bleak novel.

Frank and April purport to disdain the traditional American suburban lifestyle where everyone should be the same, have the same, want the same and feel the same.
But in Frank’s case this ridicule is just camouflage for his real fear of being uninteresting and unloved by April, for his lack of confidence in his own masculinity. 
Now he is trapped in a job he didn’t want to prove he can provide for his family and he lives in a house in the suburbs because it is expected. These actions and his constant contempt for this very lifestyle only serve the purpose of making him feel like a real man.
His anti-suburban talk and ridicule has become an empty gesture to make him feel sophisticated and to being in April’s eyes the interesting, stifled genius he once was.
When April proposes a move to France he acts enthusiastic but he fears the change and he fears being imasculated even more. For that reason (being less of a man) and only for that reason he takes the moral position and he convinces April to keep the baby, because her unwillingness to bear his child makes him less of a man and unloved by her.

Man this is a work of a true genius.
I loved it; the beautiful prose, the haunting, bleak story, the heart-rending emotions and the almost real characters.
The novel made me cry the first time I read it. Revolutionary Road did it again this time.
It’s a wonderful and amazing novel.

Happy reading!
Helena

Margaret Atwood: Lady Oracle

Hi

Lady Oracle is my second novel by Atwood; I read The Handmaiden’s Tale about three years ago.
I got it from bol.com and it has 375 pages.

“Joan Foster is the bored wife of a myopic ban-the-bomber.  She takes off overnight as Canada's new superpoet, pens lurid gothics on the sly, attracts a blackmailing reporter, skids cheerfully in and out of menacing plots, hair-raising traps, and passionate trysts, and lands dead and well in Terremoto, Italy.  In this remarkable, poetic, and magical novel, Margaret Atwood proves yet again why she is considered to be one of the most important and accomplished writers of our time.”

To me; this novel is about a woman who is whatever those around her want her to be. She is easily consumed by other people but she doesn’t find happiness in any of those relationships because she’s always pretending to be someone else. She has no idea who she is; Joan needs to figure out her own identity without others around her who she can conform to.
That’s what the maze refers to: the search for her identity.
Aside from that; Atwood shows us how our past can influence our present and our future. This really was nicely done. Everyone has some minor secrets we don’t want to talk about. Or a mistake we don’t want others to find out about.

Lady Oracle is a very intriguing novel. Easy read but still, it made me stop and think at certain points.
It is a bit boring though.

Not much to add to this because it wasn’t anything special. Not fantastic, nor awful. Just a relaxing, easy read.

Happy reading.
Helena

Hugh Howey: Dust

Hi

This review is about the third and final installments in the Silo Series.
I got my copy from bookdepository.com and it has 401 pages.

You can find all my reviews on Howey’s novels here.
There’s not much to add to my reviews of Wool and Shift.

*SPOILER FREE!*

This is basically a rambling of thoughts about the novel.

I really enjoyed this final book in the series.
People learn that meaning well and doing well isn’t always the same thing. Bad people turn out to be good or vice versa. One decision or an instant in time can change everything. Decisions have consequences.
The novel is fast, it never wavers, and it’s always interesting.
The writing style didn’t change; simple, straightforward and absorbing.
A real page turner.
And full of suspense until the end! I had no idea how it would end.
Howey is not afraid to get it all out. Characters die, we learn how evil humanity can be, and we see through people how everything depends on your point of view.

Happy reading.
Helena

What a GLORIOUS night!

Jo Walton: Among Others

Hi

The first novel I finished this month is Among Others by Jo Walton.
It got a lot of hype online and I wanted to find out what it’s all about. It won the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award and it was nominated for the World Fantasy Award.
I got my copy from bol.com and it has 408 pages.

“When Mori discovers that her mother is using black magic, she decides to intervene. The ensuing clash between mother and daughter leaves Mori bereft of her twin sister, crippled for life and unable to return to the Welsh Valleys that were her own kingdom. Mori finds solace and strength in her beloved books. But her mother is bent on revenge, and nothing and no one – not even Tolkien – can save her from the final reckoning.”

Among Others is a lovely novel. It’s absorbing, charming and fun.
Walton mixes the magic into our world in a brilliant way. It seems so real and almost logical that you’re wondering why it isn’t real.
Mori is a wonderful character. She’s smart, she’s without prejudice (e.g. LGBT people) and she is a very strong girl.
This novel is set after the Big Event, after the Climax and Mori has to go on living with the consequences of her actions. She says that it's like life after the Scouring of the Shire.
Nothing much happens in the novel. It’s even quite boring. There’s no suspense or big event and because of that it is a slow novel. But that doesn't really matter.
The moments Mori realizes and anguishes over the possibility of others liking her only because of her magic are truly genius.
So real and so unlike anything I have ever read before. Now I’m wondering what happens after almost every other fantasy novel I have ever read. How the characters are coping etc.
A truly wonderful novel. I loved the style, the feel, the idea behind it.

The amount of reading she does and her opinions on them as a 15-year old is quite ridiculous though.
From the moment Mori gets a boyfriend I became a bit irritated with the novel. Suddenly it’s all about someone’s looks and how nice and sweet he is. I really didn’t care for this part.
The part where her father tries something on her was completely unnecessary too.
And the ending is rather meh. It’s a bit stupid I mean. How is it even possible that all three are there? There was no need for that final confrontation or for what happens with the fairies. Really she should have cut those last 70 pages and written an ending closer to the style of the novel.

When I’ll reread it I’ll make sure to make note of the mentioned authors. Among Others is more than anything else a love letter, an ode to literature.

Happy reading.
Helena

Enjoying this!

Wrap Up: January 2015

Hi

Even though January was a very busy month (the holidays, my husband’s birthday, my birthday and all the New Year’s visits) I managed to read 3004 pages in 9 books which is great.
When you go visit someone you never quite know when you’ll be going home. So you clear the whole afternoon or evening.
Free time equals reading time in my book. :)

Here are the books I read this month.

-    Terry Pratchett: The Wee Free Men
-    H. G. Wells: The Time Machine
-    Brandon Sanderson: The Well of Ascension
-    Evelyn Waugh: Vile Bodies
-    Tatiana de Rosnay: Sarah’s Key
-    Stephen King: Doctor Sleep
-    Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey
-    Nathan Filer: The Shock of the Fall
-    W. Somerset Maugham: Don Fernando

What did you read last month? Anything you’d like to recommend?

Happy reading.
Helena