Books and things with words in them!

XAuschwitz by Laurence Rees. I do like to balance my reading occasionally with something more worthy and factual. I have an interest in WW2 - I studied it in college - and you can't get any more "worthy" than this book. I've been meaning to read it for ages but the undeniably grim subject matter always found me pushing it down my pile. But I finally picked it up, started it, and was truly transported back to 1940s Europe. A more stunning book on the war I have yet to read. Entirely enthralling and readable throughout, with a growing unease and dread until full horror towards the end. It's almost so unreal that it just left me feeling how this event could ever have happened. The book is almost rigidly balanced, providing arguments, counter-arguments and describes a horrifically detailed and realistic scenes, helped with first hand accounts from witnesses, survivors and Nazis. The book is thorough. The book does not have a conclusion. How can you summarise the biggest mass killings in the world of over 1million people? Instead it reminds us that as the war begins to fade in time, that documents such as this serves as a reminder of what really happened. Shocking and stunning in equal measure this book has truly left its mark in my heart and in my head. Truly valuable.

Rocks: My Life in and Out of Aerosmith by Joe Perry.

Interesting read and a good addition to go alongside Walk This Way.

Just finished Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It was very surprising as its nothing like the classic Frankenstiwn story we know from movies. It's vastly different and not really in a good way. I found the book to be very dull and morbid. It was hard going in places, but as an examination of acting God and life and death, it's full of morals and philosophy. As a horror and entertainment it failed to deliver and I think the movies do a good job adding to the story.

Wolvieware wrote:Just finished Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It was very surprising as its nothing like the classic Frankenstiwn story we know from movies. It's vastly different and not really in a good way. I found the book to be very dull and morbid. It was hard going in places, but as an examination of acting God and life and death, it's full of morals and philosophy. As a horror and entertainment it failed to deliver and I think the movies do a good job adding to the story.

I love Frankenstein. I studied it at school and fell in love with it. As the starting point for what would become modern science fiction it has a lot going for it.

Just finished London by Edward Rutherford, a true epic of 1300 pages, spanning from pre-human times and the birth of The UK by tectotonic movements to the present day. It's part history book tied to a novel that follows 5 or so families over the centuries. 

It's a grand book - I loved it so much. Although long, it's chapters are split into centuries, with each a different tale, so it's more like a collection of short stories but with linking story elements (the way Roman Londinium links to the modern day is just perfect). But all the way through it the weighty sense of history holds this book up. 

It captures all the best parts of London history - the building of the Tower, the Fire of London, Shakespeare, Henry VIII, the Blitz. I learned so much. Oxford Street is the site of the original Roman road that led through London when it was mostly just one road. How St Pauls plays such a focal point to London, as one of its oldest buildings being made out of wood originally. Reading through the book you sense the development of London and it's growing population. The introduction of government and Westminster, how theatre came about and the differing societies and customs of different centuries. How things just get forgotten over time. And all placed with a soap opera style narrative that's always interesting and enjoyable to see the rise and fall of families and humans. There's so much to this book this post does not do it justice, but if you love London, you must read it.

Read How Music Got Free by Stephen Witt a few weeks ago.

It's about the development of the MP3 through to the rise of the iPod, leaking and the Pirate Bay.

A good read which takes a more human angle, and splits its narrative in to three strands which creates a sort of cliff hanger effect at the end of each chapter. It provides an interesting insight in to the logistics of leaking and the culture of piracy and record labels without either shirking on the techy bits or going too far the other way.

100 Bullets vol 1-4.

Really good read. Unfortunately the Library did not have volumes five and six so I need to track them down before continuing on with the rest.

Just finished Star Wars: Battlefront - Twilight Company by Alexander Freed. For one thing, it's certainly a lot better than the much hyped Aftermath novel. But the Battlefield link is tenuous considering the game doesn't have a story mode! But somehow here's a full on military style novel set after A New Hope. It's entertaining and has a real high point with the battle of Hoth, and various cameos, but it's a huge step down from the epic Republic Commando novel series that was so detailed. I found the main character of this book rather miserable and negative, and there's a very dour feel to the whole book. When you do Star Wars space opera there should be a sense of fun. But it does deliver a passable gritty military take fairly well.

Finished Set Phasers To Stun by Marcus Berkmann, a celebration of 50 years of Star Trek. It's a fans-eye view of the franchise starting right at the beginning, with Gene Roddenberry, right to the reboots with JJ Abrams. It's very interesting, and has a slight deprecating tone to the ridiculous aspects. The author loves Star Trek but not enough to not take the piss out of it when necessary which makes this an also humorous read. My biggest issue with it is that it's only 300 pages long, and almost 200 of those pages are on the Original Series. It's almost too much detail here, then feels like they ran out of time, money or pages and squashed the rest of the franchise into 100 pages. My personal favourite, Deep Space Nine gets only a few pages. And the last chapter, dealing with the reboot, is very out of character with the rest of the book and rants about the movies not being "Star Trek" which really leaves you finishing this on a negative turn. But that doesn't sum up the whole book which on the whole was engaging and fun.

Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis.

His autobiography from 2004, it's an interesting read.

I have read the first two Harry Potter books again and now started the third basically because my girlfriend is obbsessed with it.... I am also reading Charlie Brokers Screen Burn I think its called , basically its all bits from newspaper columns he wrote talking about TV.

Finished Dave Gorman's Too Much Information, a comedic book that writes about the bizarre and silly things in life. Such as bizarre advertising, ridiculous Twitter posts or pointless newspaper articles. It is genuinely funny and makes you realise how much we take for granted and accept but when you look closer don't make that much sense. The downside to this book? If you watched Dave Gorman's Modern Life is Goodish on TV it repeated some of the same topics which is a shame.

Read Disney War by James B Stewart, a behind the scenes look at the company during the 80s and 90s when Michael Eisner was in charge. Following on from the Walt Disney biography I read recently, I've essentially skipped the bad 70s years for the company and picked the story up here, just as Eisner joins and the company's fortune appears. It then builds up to the success of Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. The book does rely on boring financial items too much, as well as boardroom scuffles not as interesting to me as the creative side of the company, so at times it was very much a slog to read, but also at time interesting and full of stories and facts.

Finished the third book in the Stephen King Dark Tower series.

Absolutely loving these books and not sure why I've never read them before. 

Strange they were recommended by my mum!

Finished Gone Girl.

Meh. Started of pants got intriguing and then just went nuts and petered out. I have the film to watch and will most likely watch it one day but it's slipped down the list.

Finished Shoeless Joe by W P Kinsella, a book I was recommended as magical, but is about a farmer building a baseball pitch in his cornfield. I'm not really into baseball. I guess the book does have a magical adventure to it, and is full of nostalgia for the past, but the focus on baseball just bored me and I just couldn't care. Do the same story about F1 though, and I think I would have loved it and the reminiscing about the glory days of F1. So a good book I guess if you like baseball. Not for me.

Finished Inferno by Dan Brown and enjoyed it. Ever since Viscerals Dantes Inferno game I have held an it wrest in this text and its meanings and imagery. This book ties a decent thriller to the poem and was a page turner. Very good. I look forward to the movie coming next month.

I didn't know Dan Brown was still writing.

Think the last one I read was The Da Vinci Code. Thought his earlier stuff was better.

Finished two books recently.

Never Go Back by Lee Child - a more recent Jack Reacher that the new movie is based on. Typical story of Reacher framed for murder and clearing his name. But it moves at such a pace and was a real page turner.

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo. This is an interesting Japanese phenomenon that involved the KonMari method of tidying your home. It sounds boring, but it was also a bit of a page turner as it describes philosophies and the benefits of a clutter free life and also how to do it, that it was quite an interesting read.

Finished The Girl Caught in the Spider's Web.

It's a continuation of the 'Millenium' series which I love but written by a different author. I assume based on some unfinished work from the original author but you wouldn't know.

It felt exactly like the series had never taken a break and I really enjoyed it. Good pacing and level of intrigue as it got close to the end. However, I felt the ending events were a little messy and anti-climactic. A bit rushed which was a shame as the rest of the book was brilliant and the new author captured the feel of the series really well.

Finished Tomb Raider: The Ten Thousand Immortals by Dan Abnett and Nik Vincent. It's set between the two newer games however is more of a sequel to the reboot than a prequel to Rise. It very much continues the story from Tomb Raider and includes a decent plot with Indiana Jones style. But it has a terrible extended action scene for an ending, and not once features any tombs! Still there were a few hints to the new game which I have picked up on while playing.