A Snowball in Hell
by Christopher Brookmyre
Great read, this one. Although the characters have been developed in previous books, this is very stand-alone, it mattered not that I didn’t know the full history between Angelique, Zal and Simon. The villain of the piece, Simon Darcourt (or maybe even the Author himself?), has a lot of derogative things to say about the cult of “celebrity”, and how some people are famous simply for being famous – I found this highly amusing as a social commentary. It shows just how easy it would be to kidnap a stupid celebrity, tricking them into thinking they’re doing something for charity (which will so boost their publicity), and it culminates with a game of “I’m a Celebrity and I’m Never Getting Out of Here”, in which the viewers must vote to decide which celebrity dies. It’s the kind of thing everyone would want to watch, but not admit to watching. It’s fascinating stuff.
The Road
by Cormac McCarthy
Well. I’ve never read anything like this before. Even compared to post-apocalyptic films, I’ve never seen or read of a bad future quite so terribly bad. There’s quite literally nothing left apart from the road and the odd cache of supplies here and there, which the man and the boy scavenge and make use of. Yes, the main characters are simply called “Man” and “Boy”, but over the course of their struggles their character shines through, their determination to survive is evident. I didn’t realise there was a film version of this until I took the book to Southampton to read on the train and Katie noticed it and asked “is that the book of the film with that guy from Lord Of The Rings in it?”. I’ll probably give it a watch when it lands in front of me. I must admit, most of the flowery prose was lost on me, but nevertheless – I did enjoy this grim struggle of a book.
Jasmyn
by Alex Bell
I found this book absolutely enchanting, the fantasy element felt totally natural – it was an original and very modern fairy tale. That Swan Knights, Ice Princesses and miniature faery horses sit perfectly well with Jasmyn fretting about spending too much money on car rental and restaurants is a triumph. I really felt for her and Ben when that revelation was dropped. The Jasmyn character was totally believable, and reading through her viewpoint really helped us understand the full range of emotions she felt while she was coming to terms with love lost, love stolen, and love reunited. The whole book goes to show how love and rage can cloud someone’s judgement, but spur them on into brave, life-changing decisions. I will endeavour to read Ms. Bells other work.
Life of Pi
by Yann Martel
I had a dream not long after finishing this book, involving being confronted by a Bengal Tiger and going blind. It was the first time I’ve ever dreamed of a book – indicative of the Author’s skill at conjuring up images with his words? It was slow to start, I felt, although the background did go a long way to setting the scene on how a young boy could survive that long on a raft with only God and a Tiger for company. The real crux is this: Which was the real story? Which did the boy invent to keep himself from going insane? I preferred the story with the animals, but I suspect it was not the real one.
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