Artemis was OK not as good as The Martian and almost as if it was written as a new movie script.
A meh ok for beach/plane 6/10.
Jack Reachersā last book was imho one of the best yet. A dramatically small cut down scale and a very informative read on the massive Opiate crisis in US society and itās impact on relatively normal people. Tom Cruise will ruin it but best read on a long time.
For my upcoming 6 hour no frills B737 flight I had no choice went straight to Dan Brown & Origins. 6 hours in 29" seat pitch and driving at other end I need brain numbing. Made sure it was bearable. So far not as bad as his sequels. Still hate how I get Tom Hanks voice in my head with it though.
My son appeared one day with this book in his hands. It had been given to him by a friend on his bus to school. Theyād passed it around between themselves like a piece of illicit contraband. Yes, just like his father, my son is a bit of a geek.
Anyway, I decided to read it and actually enjoyed it quite a bit although I wondered to what extent the kids whoād read it understood any of the references. Itās a piece of nostalgic, espcapist nonsense, but fun nonetheless.
My son is now badgering me to take him to see the film.
Just finished The Gorse Trilogy by Patrick Hamilton
I enjoyed it but as the three books went on, instead of building to a powerful conclusion it petered out.
We meet Gorse in book one at school in Sussex and watch as he starts to manipulate and abuse the girls and women in his life.
By book two Gorse is a consummate conman defrauding his victims with elaborate stories and invented identities.
Book three follows Gorse as he exploits a young barmaid and her family in London but Hamilton seems to lose his way towards the end as if another book or two were planned and we reach no real conclusion.
Shame really as the first two books were building to tell the story of the real-life conman and murderer Neville Heath that Gorse was loosely based on.
Either of the first two stand alone outside of the trilogy and are worth a read but give book three a swerve.
Iād previously read Hangover Square by Hamilton and was really gripped by it - thoroughly recommended.
An exploration of a man - George suffering from what we would now see as multiple personality disorder. He, by turns, is romantically obsessed with Netta or wants to brutally murder Netta - depending on whether heās āhaving one of his moodsā.
Netta, an out of work actress and good-time-girl is viciously cruel and keeps a throng of men (including George) at armās length to buy her drink and entertain her without every giving them full access to her.
It build and builds and the mistreatment of this slightly slow, gentle giant George gets worse and worse and it ends predicatably but brilliantly.
Think Iāve got Stuart MacBride book lined up next which Iām really looking forward to.
It follows an excruciatingly slow-motion, marriage breakdown and tracks the subsequent decision about where their profoundly autistic son will end up - both in terms of his education and his long-term, post-break-up home.
All of this is set against the protagonistās drink problem, failing business, money issues and the discovery that his father, a Jewish refugee, is very, very ill.
Itās a debut novel but youād never know as itās written with confidence and such a clear voice.
Best thing Iāve read recently is The Gallows Pole, by Benjamin Myers. Which is based around the story of a gang of coiners in Yorkshire in the 18th century; basically a bunch of fellas snipping bits off coins and minting their own money. Itās a fucking brutal story but almost delicious in its brutality, with a load to say about our continued struggle over state approved impoverishment. And the notion that capitalism is basically the vicious barbs of wounded male pride.
And now Iām finally reading Dune some 30 years after starting it as a child, andā¦ itās really good! But you probably already knew that.
Another holiday and a bit of reading. My kindle is playing up so didnāt get through much.
Why Iām No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge (spoiler she hasnāt actually stopped). I can see there are some mixed reviews of the book. I found it to be an interesting and thought provoking read.
part through The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How Itās Broken which is a bit of an eye opener about the legal system.
I have just started Zone 23 by CJ Hopkins and its better than i could have ever hoped.
I will update when finished, but in the meantime hereās someone elseās review.
āZone 23 by C. J. Hopkins is like a head-on train crash between comedian/linguist George Carlin and science fiction writer Philip K. Dick.ā