May 08 2007

2001: A Space Odyssey

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 6:37 pm

2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke

OK, if you’ve not heard of this book, I’m assuming you’re either very young, or have been living in a small hamlet isolated from society for the past 40 years…

Just in case you fall into either of those two categories, I’ll continue 😉 Doing a bit of research for this novel, I came across the fact that the book was written at the same time as the film, and actually published after the film. I’d just assumed the film was made due to the success of the book, so I might go and watch the film again soon, to re-appraise it.
The basic plot line is that life on earth was helped along by aliens, who leave a large slab of mysterious material, which can communicate with the monkey/humans around it. The idea of using tools or weapons is then planted in the tribe of early humans, and they can therefore achieve supremacy over the less well equipped tribes in their vicinity.
Fast forward to 1999 (which was of course in the future when this book was written), and we meet Dr Floyd. The link between the two time periods become clear, as another slab has been discovered on the moon. It defies all attempts to measure or quantify it, which obviously peaks the scientists’ interest in it. Once they have removed all the moon dirt from it, a hugely powerful radio signal is produced, possibly signifying that other life forms are waiting for humankind to get to the position of being able to travel in space.
Of course, HAL soon makes an appearance (of ‘I’m afraid I can’t let you do that Dave‘ fame) as the on board computer for a spaceship with a hidden mission.
In the same way that Isaac Asimov often makes use of this plot device, Arthur C Clarke has HAL become confused (read homicidal) due to conflicting basic operating paramaters, which has been used by Hollywood a lot since – think of RoboCop’s prime directives etc.
I won’t say much more, as I don’t want to ruin the experience for people who’ve not yet read the book, but suffice to say that I don’t view this book as over-hyped, and you should probably read it when you get a chance.

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May 08 2007

Something Rotten

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 6:07 pm

Something Rotten – Jasper Fforde

Last (see end of review) book in this series of 4, Jasper seems to have bowed to public expectation, and plays a great deal on the possibilities of what happens when ego-centric fictional characters enter the real world (Hamlet being one, hence the title of this book). Thursday has worked her way up to position of Head of the literary police force Jurisfiction, based in the literary world.
However, Thursday has had her son, and is now itching to return to the real world. She longs to try and rescue her husband from his current state of non-existence and reunite her whole family together for the first time. When she returns to reality though, things are going seriously awry again, and she has a lot of work to do. Goliath have publicly atoned for their previous transgressions, and with a nod to the Church of Scientology, have decided the most profitable business path to go down is turn itself into a religion.
I’m looking forward to the next, and possibly last 🙁 , book in this series by Jasper Fforde which I think is due to be published this summer. I’ll try and find it and write a review when it becomes available.

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May 08 2007

The Well of Lost Plots

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 5:44 pm

The Well of Lost Plots – Jasper Fforde

Yep, you guessed it, this is the 3rd in the Thursday Next series of novels… Here we discover a little more about the life of the inhabitants of the literary world. Previously, we read a lot about the main characters who hog the limelight normally. Now, we get to discover a little about the lives of background characters, those who don’t play a main role in the novel, but without whom, the story would be very empty, with no background detail. Generics are necessarily blank by nature, and are very easy to influence, so Thursday needs to be careful with her interaction with them. The title of this book refers to what happens to books that never make into the public domain – eventually they are broken down and recycled into new books.
The other main storyline in this book is the introduction of a new book system. Although not unprecedented, the technology and restraints possible with ‘UltraWord’ have serious consequences on the average person’s enjoyment of a book. The new features on UltraWord have quite a few parallels with what is happening in our real world – things such as hyperlinking are obviously a good feature, however DRM (Digital Rights Management) appears, and the idea of robots churning out new novels, with no real imagination used could possibly apply to a lot of recent generic Hollywood output.
OK, enough of the politics, if you’ve read the first two books in this series, I’d of course recommend buying this book. If you’ve not yet come across the Thursday Next series, go back and read the earlier reviews, and decide whether this is your cup of tea or not.

May 08 2007

Lost in a Good Book

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 5:10 pm

Lost in a Good Book – Jasper Fforde

This is the second book in a series of four, based around the antics of Thursday Next (see my previous review of The Eyre Affair).
Having successfully rescued the Jayne Eyre novel, Thursday decides to stay in Swindon working as a Literary Detective. However, the Goliath Corporation is still very unhappy with her activities, and is after her.
Rather than just assassinating her, they get quite vindictive, and effectively erase her husband – leaving Thursday as the only person in the ‘real’ world who remembers him. If she agrees to retrieve the evil character she trapped in ‘The Raven’ poem, they’ll return her husband. Probably.
As well as retaining the idea of having the ‘Real’ world and another world where literary figures actually exist, this novel sees the introduction of the concept of people’s dreams containing real figures & consequences.
Once again, there are a lot of references to famous works of literature, one of my favourite sections is where Thursday finds herself in a Kafka style trial, fighting for her liberty.

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May 08 2007

The Eyre Affair

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 2:30 am

The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde

This is the first in a series of 4 novels – The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots & Something Rotten.
The main character is a woman called Thursday Next (I better go and check that, I’ve read a few books since this one).
She ends up finding a portal between the so called ‘real’ world, and a universe/alternative reality inhabited by characters from novels in the ‘real world’.
Mum & John might like this book, as in the real world of The Eyre Affair, Wales is a fully independent state! The other main things that jumps out from my memories of this book is Thursday’s pet – a dodo! There are a lot of literary references in this novel, and although you’ll still enjoy this book without knowledge of past masters of English Literature, it certainly enhances your experience if you can get some of the in-jokes.
Right thats enough for now, more on the other three books in this series tomorrow 🙂

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May 08 2007

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 1:14 am

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead – Max Brooks

Short version of this review – Unless you’re a zombie devotee, skip this book

Longer version – I got this book for free, so wasn’t too annoyed when I found it very repetitive, and although quite short, still over-stretched. There are moments of humour in the book, and the diagrams certainly helped from stopping me just giving up on the book. The basic premise is that everyone should have an idea of how to evade, and if necessary, execute zombies.

So to repeat, like Zombies? Buy this… Otherwise, onto something else.

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May 08 2007

Rising Sun

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 12:15 am

Rising Sun – Michael Crichton

Having not read one of Chrichton’s books in a long time, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up this novel. The basic plot outline is that a woman (most definitely not a lady) has been killed in an office tower, and on the night of the opening party for a Japanese firm. The standard ‘cop-investigating-a-murder’ section starts here, though the Japanese involvement helps to keep the story fresh, without too many clichés. The policeman is assisted by another (ex? its been a while since I read it, sorry) cop who is very experienced with Japanese culture, and is helpful as a plot device, to explain to readers some of the intricacies of the Japanese way of doing business.
If you find unabashed xenophobic writing, even in fiction, distasteful, I’d recommend giving this book a miss. If you are happy to read this novel for the suspense, and not dwell on the Japan bashing, I’d definitely say you should buy it. The writing style is compact, without too much superfluous descriptive paragraphs. Although slightly predictable in places, the plot chugs along nicely.

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May 07 2007

Dave Barry’s Greatest Hits

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 11:31 pm

Dave Barry’s Greatest Hits – Dave Barry

This is the last of Dave Barry’s books that I have actually read. Luckily, I’ve not actually got all his others, otherwise this particular book would have been redundant, as I get the feel that some of these are reprinted either from other books or his US newspaper columns. But then again, that isn’t too surprising given the title, is it 😉

If you want to see if you enjoy Dave’s style of writing, but aren’t sure which subject is most likely to tickle your fancy, this book is definitely a good start. Although it was written in the late 80s, most of the humour has aged well, and unless you have a purtianical approach to humour, you’ll find plenty of mirth inside…

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May 07 2007

Dave Barry’s Guide to Marriage and or Sex

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 1:37 am

Dave Barry’s Guide to Marriage and/or Sex – Dave Barry

No married man would dare to laugh at the title itself with witnesses about, but apart from that one danger, I’d recommend reading this book even if you’re not thinking about getting married any time soon.
Covering many aspects of married life, he does of course mention sex and the complicated rituals that people seem to go through to achieve that glorious union. If you’re more interested in the other issues surrounding long term relationships, fear not, for Dave also gives his wisdom and humour on the subject of families and mother-in-laws particularly. To be honest, I can’t actually complain about mine at all, but I still found this book to be a good read, with quite a few ‘laugh out loud’ sections.

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May 07 2007

Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States

Category: Books — ChrisM @ 12:44 am

Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States – Dave Barry

Sticking to his (commendable) formula of making the book’s title explain what you’re buying, Dave takes a look at American history, analyses it and then decides to write a funny book instead 😉

Although it does help if you know a little USA history prior to reading this, there is still enough humour in it to carry you along. One short quote from the book to give you an idea of the (unsophisticated) humour involved, in this case surrounding the War of Independence “Still, the English were undaunted. ‘Who the hell needs daunts?’ was the English motto in those days.”

If nothing else, by the time you’ve finished the book, you’ll be very well aware of just how pivotal the (fictional) “Hawley-Smoot Tarriff” was in the process all Americans went through at the beginning of their life in their country.

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