OscarWilde87's reading log 2015

Hey there!

This is me again. It's my second year in Club Read and I'm happy to be here. I usually read around 25 books per year and I generally read everything I can get my hands on. I try to read some books off the "1,001 books you must read before you die" list every year.

As for the structure of my thread: This post here serves as some sort of summary and will be updated everytime I finished a book. Below I will post reviews of the books I read this year.

Goals for 2015:
1) Read at least 25 books this year.
2) Read a book with more than 1000 pages.
I had the same goal last year and I liked the challenge.
3) Give Clancy one more (last?) try.
That's the only remainder from last year's goals. I hope I'll get around to it this year.

I decided to go with fewer goals than last year as this gives me more space for spontaneous reading decisions.

Happy new (reading) year 2015,
OscarWilde87


Currently reading:


__________________________
Finished in 2015
#1: Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
#2: 11.22.63 by Stephen King
#3: True Grit by Charles Portis
#4: The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
#5: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
#6: The Giver by Lois Lowry
#7: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
#8: The Physician by Noah Gordon
#9: The Circle by Dave Eggers
#10: Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson
#11: The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy
#12: Legacy: An Anthology by Adria J. Cimino
#13: The Escape by David Baldacci
#14: Developing Minds: An American Ghost Story by Jonathan LaPoma
#15: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
#16: American Rust by Philipp Meyer
#17: Made in America by Bill Bryson
#18: On Writing by Stephen King
#19: The Lemur by Benjamin Black
#20: Hardup by J. Scott Matthews

__________________________
2015
Books read: 20
Pages read: 8,280

2014
Books read: 27
Pages read: 7,164

2013
Books read: 26
Pages read: 11,618

I found this challenge online. I am sure that I will not manage to tick everything off the list, but I find it interesting anyway. So this post will be updated whenever I can tick something off. Anyone care to join?



✔ A book with more than 500 pages
- 11.22.63 by Stephen King
- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
- The Physician by Noah Gordon
- The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy
- The Escape by David Baldacci
- Made in America by Bill Bryson

✔ A book that became a movie
- True Grit by Charles Portis
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
- The Physician by Noah Gordon
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

✔ A book published this year
- Legacy: An Anthology by Adria J. Cimino
- Developing Minds: An American Ghost Story by Jonathan LaPoma
- Hardup by J. Scott Matthews

✔ A book with a number in the title
- 11.22.63 by Stephen King

✔ A book with a nonhuman characters
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

✔ A funny book
- Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson

✔ A book by a female author
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

✔ A mystery or thriller
- Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
- The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy
- The Escape by David Baldacci
- The Lemur by Benjamin Black

✔ A book with a one word-title
- Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
- Hardup by J. Scott Matthews

✔ A book of short stories
- Legacy: An Anthology by Adria J. Cimino

✔ A book set in a different country
- Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
- The Physician by Noah Gordon

✔ A nonfiction book
- Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson
- Made in America by Bill Bryson
- On Writing by Stephen King

✔ A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet
- The Escape by David Baldacci
- On Writing by Stephen King

✔ A book at the bottom of your to-read list
- The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy

✔ A memoir
- On Writing by Stephen King

✔ A book more than 100 years old
- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

✔ A book set in the future
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- The Circle by Dave Eggers

✔ A book set in high school
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

✔ A book with a color in the title
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

✔ A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet
- 11.22.63 by Stephen King

✔ A book by an author you've never read before
- Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
- True Grit by Charles Portis
- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
- The Physician by Noah Gordon
- The Circle by Dave Eggers
- Legacy: An Anthology by Adria J. Cimino
- Developing Minds: An American Ghost Story by Jonathan LaPoma
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
- American Rust by Philipp Meyer
- The Lemur by Benjamin Black
- Hardup by J. Scott Matthews

✔ A book that was originally written in a different language
- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (Well... Middle English... It might be cheating, I admit.)

Happy New Year! Star added.:)

Happy new year! I saw that you teach Mathematics - at what level? My husband is a mathematician, and he sometimes teaches when the job requires it.

I like your goals - are you thinking of any possibilities for your 1000+ page book this year?

>3 NanaCC: Happy New Year!

>4 ursula: Happy New Year, Ursula! I teach Mathematics at high school level, which I like a lot.
I'm not really sure yet about 1000+ page book but it could probably be something by Stephen King. Not sure though.

Looking forward to following your reading again this year.

#1: Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
(310 pages)

Moriarty is a spin-off of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels published in 2014 and written by Anthony Horowitz. Chronologically it is set directly after Sherlock Holmes' supposed death at Reichenbach Falls and covers the time during which Holmes had disappeared from the scene. Therefore, the novel features neither Sherlock Holmes nor his sidekick John Watson. Yet, some of the original characters are included in the book. These are mainly detectives of Scotland Yard, such as Lestrade and Athelney Jones, and, obviously, Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' nemesis. Readers of the orginal Holmes novels might wonder how that is possible as Moriarty is also considered to have died at Reichenbach Falls. But this is something that should be resolved by reading this novel.

The plot of Moriarty is easily told. An agent of the American Pinkerton agency, Frederick Chase, follows the mysterious criminal Clarence Devereux to London in order to arrest him. Devereux wants to build up a large criminal network together with Professor Moriarty, who, however, is said to have died at Reichenbach Falls. Right at the beginning of the novel, Frederick Chase and Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard become acquainted as their paths cross due to the investigation of the Reichenbach Falls incident and the capture of Clarence Devereux, both of which have Professor Moriarty as a common denominator. Quickly, the two detectives join forces and continue to investigate together. They unravel a criminal network in London and things start to become more dangerous as the novel goes on.

While I enjoyed reading Moriarty, there was the issue of the narrator that bugged me from the beginning. I was completely annoyed by the fact that the spelling was British English throughout the novel although Horowitz chose Frederick Chase, an American, as his narrator. My first idea was that Frederick Chase is actually Sherlock Holmes in disguise as I already knew from the original Sherlock Holmes novels that the famous detective had not died. Several clues pointed in this direction. Yet, it turned out to be wrong soon enough. The issue of the narrator is resolved towards the end and I have to say that I was quite attracted by what Horowitz did there. At first I was appalled because I was misled by the narrator but then this is exactly the point that I eventually came to like most about Moriarty. The novel has its plot twists and its fair share of problems that are solved by deduction on the part of Athelney Jones. Yet, in my opinion it is not as good as the original Sherlock Holmes stories and novels.

On the whole, Moriarty is a worthwhile reading experience but nothing all too special. 3.5 stars.

Hey I like your reading challenge list! :) That's a lot of items to tick though. Do you allow yourself to tick multiple items for a single book?
I like challenges of this kind but since I utterly failed at all my challenges last year, I don't feel very much like submitting myself to one this year. It might be fun to pop here now and then to see how many items have been ticked by my "natural" reading. :)

>7 OscarWilde87: I've never been able to read any of the spin-offs of Sherlock Holmes because I love the original so much. And that goes for the newish TV shows too -- I watched one but couldn't get over wishing I was watching the original.

>7 OscarWilde87: >9 rebeccanyc: I got completely hooked a couple of years ago on the Laurie R. King novels of Sherlock Holmes. Hers are the only non-Conan Doyle stories I have liked, and I liked hers in a big way! She sets just the right tone. At worst, they are great escape fiction.

>10 Poquette: Well, that's a good recommendation. I've never read any Laurie R. King.

>8 chlorine: Hi, nice to see you here. The challenge does indeed have a lot of items, but I think I will start by ticking multiple items off for a single book. Maybe I'll change my mind over the year of this proves to be too easy. I'm not sure yet. Still, it's fun, I think. I also won't just pick items off the challenge list. I will just read what I want to read and see how it goes.

>9 rebeccanyc: I was skeptical as well, but in the end the spin-off was fine. I agree, though, that the originals are better.

>10 Poquette: I might check Laurie King out some time if I get to it. Thanks for the recommendation, Poquette.

Welcome over to the 2015 group. Emjoyed your review of Moriarty.

It's been quiet for quite sometime now but I have just finished 22.11.63. My review will be following soon(-ish).

#2: 11.22.63 by Stephen King
(740 pages)

Probably everyone knows about the Kennedy assassination in 1963. It is very likely that it was Lee Harvey Oswald who fired the shots at the first Catholic American president in Dallas, Texas. In 11.22.63 Stephen King sets out to imagine a world in which the assassination can be prevented by traveling back in time and stopping Lee Harvey Oswald. This is exactly what protagonist Jake Epping, an English teacher from Maine, tries to do in the novel. He leaves 2011 behind and travels back in time to the America of 1958. Five years before the fateful day of 11/22/63 Jake Epping starts to enjoy his life in the past and falls in love with a librarian. As the day of the assassination is slowly approaching, the obstacles to the protagonist's mission start becoming bigger and bigger. It seems like the past does not want to be changed.

As I like Stephen King's writing, this is of course something that I also enjoyed in this novel. Generally the plot was very clear right from the beginning so the interesting thing was how King enriched the plot with small events, the characters and their development. At times he manages to enthrall the reader but then again there are also passages that you just read to get on with the novel. The characters were actually quite round and provided much room for good twists and turns.

A very important issue in this novel is obviously time-traveling, the butterfly effect and bringing together separate strings of time. In this respect I had expected a little more depth. King rather focuses on what the world is like and what happens than spending time ruminating about typical questions about time-traveling: What if I meet myself because I will only be born in a couple of years? What if I change the world in a way that I will never be born? Should I go back to the present then? Will I die when I go back? So if you expect answers to questions of this kind, you will probably be disappointed in the book. It is more about showing what life is like in the two different 'worlds' and (re-)creating these worlds with as much detail as possible.

I liked 11.22.63 quite a bit, it was sometimes a little bit too long-winded. For that reason, I'll only give the book 3.5 stars.

It's been ages since I've read a Stephen King book and there are a number that I would like to read.
First on my list is The shining though, not this one.

>16 chlorine: I liked The Shining quite a bit. Although I don't consider it King's best novel. But it might be a good place to start.

#3: True Grit by Charles Portis
(267 pages)

Arkansas in the United States in the years when the west was still wild. Mattie Ross, a 14-year old girl, receives news that her father has been killed by Tom Chaney, one of his employees. She wants to set matters right and have revenge for her father's death. That is the outset of Charles Portis' novel True Grit. While the plot that unfolds is quite simple and contains few surprises, the real charm of the book is the narration. Narrated in the first person by the now old spinster Mattie Ross, the events of Mattie's story are recounted in retrospect. The 14-year old girl looks for someone with 'true grit' and soon finds a marshal by the name of Rooster Cogburn who has a reputation of shooting first and asking questions later. Just the person Mattie needs to get her revenge on Tom Chaney. When Mattie finally manages to employ Cogburn for her services, a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf arrives at the scene, also in pursuit of Tom Chaney. Cogburn and LaBoeuf team up, not wanting Mattie to come along on the hunt for Tom Chaney.

I always try to make out what I like most about the books I read. In the case of True Grit this is the narration. The narrator is Mattie Ross who recounts the events that happened to her in her childhood in retrospect. Portis manages to capture actual feelings and thoughts and makes the reader believe to be part of the story. At the same time the fact that the story is told not by a teenage girl but by a mature woman looking back at her life gives the story more credibility. The first sentence of the novel pretty much captures this and is to me one of the best beginnings of a novel:

"People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father's blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say that it did not happen every day."

Generally, I liked this novel a lot which is partly due to the writing style and partly to the story itself. True Grit is highly recommendable and deserves at least 4 stars.

#4: The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
(504 pages)

While The Canterbury Tales is very well-known by its title, it is probably not that widely read. It is a collection of 20 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century. Apart from a few exceptions these tales are written in verse. This review is based on my reading of the Modern English translation by Nevill Coghill.

The Canterbury Tales are a story-telling contest by a group of people on their way from Southwark to Canterbury Cathedral:

It happened in that season that one day
In Southwark, at The Tabard, as I lay
Ready to go on pilgrimage and start
For Canterbury, most devout at heart,
At night there came into that hostelry
Some nine and twenty in a company
Of sundry folk happening then to fall
In fellowship, and they were pilgrims all
That towards Canterbury meant to ride.
(quoted from The Prologue)

This "sundry folk" includes, among others, a knight, a miller, a reeve, a cook, a prioress, a monk, a clerk, a merchant, a physician, a pardoner and a parson. Probably also known to many is The Wife of Bath.

As it is hard to review such a large collection of stories I will concentrate on the one that impressed me most, which was 'The Miller's Tale'. Following a story of courtly love told by the kinght, 'The Miller's Tale' relates a story of a carpenter who is fooled by his clerks who have sex with the carpenter's wife. What I especially liked about this story is the topic, which is talked about very openly for a 14th century work. What is more, the miller does a magnificent job in telling his tale after he had just told the rest of the group of pilgrims that he was drunk and not to be held acoountable for the story. 'The Miller's Tale' is followed by 'The Reeve's Tale' in which great offense is expressed at the miller's story as the reeve had been a carpenter himself once. This can be seen as an example of the structure of The Canterbury Tales: A story insulting a particular group of persons or a particular trade is usually followed by a response from the offended who tell a tale on their own to set matters right or get back at the previous speaker.

While 'The Miller's Tale' is just one of many stories in The Canterbury Tales it is somewhat representative of what I liked about the book. First, there is the structure that greatly contributes to the overall reading pleasure. Second, there are the tales themselves, which are very entertaining, especially keeping in mind the fact that they were written at the end of the 14th century. To my mind, The Canterbury Tales is a classic that is still highly appealing to 21st century readers. On the whole, 4 stars for a great reading experience.

>19 OscarWilde87: Hi, I'm very belatedly still discovering new threads! Enjoyed your review of The Canterbury Tales. I read The Franklin's Tale a long time ago in school. Maybe I'll get to the others sometime.

Excellent review of Nevill Coghill's translation of The Canterbury tales. As you say it is the structure of the tales as well as the tales themselves that make the book such a pleasure to read. If anybody wants to know what living in the fourteenth century was like then reading the Canterbury Tales will provide an answer.

Chaucer's original English is difficult to read and you really need to work hard to understand it, but I found it added another layer to the tales themselves. The poetry is wonderful.

>20 AlisonY: Thanks. The Canterbury Tales are well worth the time. I know the feeling of discovering new threads. You can really find a lot of great stuff here in CR.

>21 baswood: Thank you, baswood. I did not dare to read the original version of The Canterbury Tales. I thought it might be too hard. But I'm sure you're right in saying that it will contribute to the reading experience.

#5: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
(177 pages)

Who is Jay Gatsby? An Oxford man, entrepreneur, bootlegger, host to illustrious parties, owner of a Long Island mansion, adulterer? Maybe the "Great Gatsby" is all of the latter. Maybe he is not. F. Scott Fitzgerald's work is a character study of a man who is very secretive about his past and has a clear and idealistic vision of his future. In the end, it is all about a girl - Daisy. In The Great Gatsby the reader follows the protagonist in the search of a long lost love right until his death.

One can identify the American attitude towards the past as a major theme in this novel. When the reader gets to know Jay Gatsby through the first-person narration of Nick Carraway, Gatsby's neighbor in Long Island, all that is revealed is the status quo. Gatsby lives in West Egg, Long Island, has a huge mansion, is very rich, wears a suit and throws parties for basically everyone who wants to come. When Carraway finally gets invited to Gatsby's house and Gatsby shows some interest in Carraway, the reader gets the chance of learning more about Gatsby. As soon as Nick starts inquiring into Gatsby's past, Gatsby tells him that he was an Oxford man, had been in the military and was from the Midwest, San Francisco to be exact. That is the first time that the reader gets a hint that Gatsby does not always tell the truth and seems to be very secretive about his past. Putting San Francisco in the Midwest while at the same time claiming to have lived there casts some serious doubts about everything else that Gatsby shares about his past. In the end we learn that not even his name is real. He is actually James Gatz from North Dakota and has been in the bootlegging business. During the time of his military service he fell in love with Daisy Buchanan, now the wife of Tom Buchanan, who lives just across the shore from his Long Island house. Having everything else in life, Gatsby wants to win Daisy back. This, however, leads to chaos and finally Gatsby's death. All in all, Gatsby is a man who seems to live for a future that he imagines can only be a bright and successful one. He tries to conceal his past as much as possible. The Great Gatsby was written in the early 1920s and it can certainly be read as a novel depicting the American Dream with its idealism and future-orientation on the one hand, and its downsides and elusiveness on the other.

There are several reasons why I liked The Great Gatsby a lot. There is, for instance, its theme. And then there is Fitzgerald's way of working with language. He really manages to say just enough and seems to find the right words in every single sentence. What is more, there are the perfectly crafted characters and a first-person narrator with his willing suspension of disbelief that contributes to an overall great story.

To my mind, The Great Gatsby is a powerful novel and might be considered one of the Great American Novels. 5 stars.

Enjoyed your reviews of The Canterbury Tales and The Great Gatsby, both of which I read many years ago. Last year I read some of Chaucer's shorter Dream Visions in Norton Critical Editions which, if you are interested in dipping your toe into Middle English, is a great place to start. There is an excellent introduction plus difficult words and phrases are translated right at the end of each line and in footnotes. This would give you a taste of the poetry that Baswood mentioned and some additional exposure to Chaucer in general.

Yes The Great Gatsby is a great novel. A battle between old money and new money and we know what will win. Class consciousness in America given a brilliant expose. Excellent review Oscar

>23 OscarWilde87: enjoyed your review - you reminded me of parts I'd forgotten and why I loved it originally. I remember my English teacher talking about recurring themes of billowing white and also the colour blue in the novel, but from memory these were very subtly done.

>23 OscarWilde87:. It has been a very long time since I read The Great Gatsby, but I do remember loving it. Thank you for the great review.

>24 Poquette: Thanks for the recommendation. I think both baswood and you are certainly right in that the original Middle English version adds to the experience of the Canterbury Tales. However, I'm not sure if I'll ever find the time.

>25 baswood: >26 AlisonY: >27 NanaCC: Thanks a lot!

#6: The Giver by Lois Lowry
(136 pages)

The Giver is dystopian novel written by Lois Lowry at the beginning of the 1990s. Set in a 'community' in the future, the protagonist Jonas slowly experiences the community's flaws but also its advantages as he grows up to get assigned a very honorable position in the community. To get a better grasp of the setting it is essential to know what the community that Jonas lives in is like. Jonas grows up in a society that cherishes sameness and tries to do away with individualism and differences between people. That is why there are very strict rules in order to protect the inhabitants of the community from anything bad that could happen. Everything follows a pattern and is very structured and organized. Nothing is left to chance. Jobs in the community are assigned to the people, spouses are given to you by the leaders of the community after a long time of consideration. The same goes for children. You have to apply first and then you are given a child if you and your partner are deemed fit. Of course, it is hard to have people living happily in such a community and that is why all inconvenient or impractical memories from the past are taken away from the citizens only to be saved in the memory of one person in the community: the Receiver of Memories.

As one might guess, Jonas is assigned to become the community's next Receiver of Memory. But before he can take on this important assignment he has to be trained by the old Receiver of Memory or the Giver, who gives the novel its title. The training is hard for Jonas because he learns about concepts he has never heard of before as they have been taken away from the community and only remain alive in old memories. Such concepts include love, pain and war but also simpler things such as sunshine, snow and colors. Together with the Giver, Jonas decides that the community should also know about some of those memories in order to be able to feel love, see colors and hence be able to enjoy the world more. This is when Jonas makes a plan to give back memories to the community. But what will the consequences be?

One can read The Giver with regard to many aspects. Apart from the construction of a dystopian society I found the use of language to be one of the most important aspects in the novel. The diction that is prevalent in the community contributes to the overall effect of emphasizing function over feeling and pragmatism over personality. Words like "birthmother", "newchild" or "family unit" and the fact that you "acquire a child" rid the daily life of all possible emotions and stress the function of everyone in the community. The sole purpose of some women is to be a "birthmother", that is to give birth. The "newchild", however, is taken away from its mother and given to a "Nurturer" (mind the capitalization, focus on function again). Getting attached is almost not possible so that the feeling of love is simply irrelevant and nonexistent in the community.

The Giver is a YA novel that I read with my students in high school and it led to some very heated discussions about what is important in life and what is not. Also, the notion of 'society' and what makes a society function but also worth living in was debated at length. To my mind, a novel that encourages critical thinking is always worth reading. Personally, I think The Giver is a fairly good novel with a somewhat disappointing and sudden ending. 3.5 stars.

That's great that this book led to lengthy discussions with your students!
I really liked this book, which I read some years ago. Gathering blue, which happens in the same universe, is currently on my TBR pile.

#7: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
(198 pages)

Melinda Sordino is a student of Merryweather High School in Syracuse, New York. Right before her high school year is about to start there is a party where she calls the cops. But not only in this respect has this party been a lifechanger for Melinda. The protagonist of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak faces a life of rejection and hatred as soon as high school starts. She is ignored by her ex-friends, she is isolated in school as well as at home. Not knowing how to cope with what happened at the end-of-summer party Melinda does not speak anymore. She barely opens her mouth to say anything, even when she is asked a question. Her parents do not understand what she is going through as they have problems in their marriage and their own lives consume pretty much every second of their time. With no family life, no friends and only art to express herself, Melinda struggles through her first year of high school and eventually she breaks her silence.

The title of this novel was aptly chosen. Speaking about what happened at the end-of-summer party before high school is probably the hardest thing protagonist Melinda has ever had to do. Without speaking about it, however, she is not able to deal with the events at the party. She knows that it might help but at the same time is unable to talk about something so dark and terrifying which she only wants to forget. Her first year at high school makes her life only harder as her friends do not know why she does not speak, but only know that she called the police, which ended their party and made friends become ex-friends. If only they knew reason for Melinda calling the police. But that is exactly the root of the problem. The young girl finds herself caught in a vicious circle with apparently no way out.

What I liked about the novel is the imagery, especially the leitmotif of the tree, which is also represented on the cover. Melinda has to do an art project where she has to draw a tree. While she finds this way too easy at the beginning she slowly discovers how hard it actually is to draw a tree that really expresses something. Throughout the novel, the tree can be regarded as a symbol of Melinda's mood. There is the period where she is unable to express herself. Then there is a period where she just draws very dark pictures. The tree is a recurring theme in the novel. It is part of what happened at the party and then it is also part of the solution. When the tree in front of Melinda's house is trimmed so that it can heal and grow again, this reflects Melinda's situation. Needless to say, she speaks up in the end, of course. In that respect she can also start the healing process.

On the whole I thought the book was cleverly written and is a good novel for young adults. I read it with students, most of which would share my opinion. 4 stars.

#8: The Physician by Noah Gordon
(765 pages)

The Physician by Noah Gordon is set in the eleventh century and follows the life of Rob Cole, whose parents die right at the beginning of the novel. Trying to find a place, Rob becomes the apprentice of a barber-surgeon in London and learns to entertain crowds with magic tricks and juggling on the one hand, and curing minor illnesses on the other hand. Intrigued by the latter and driven by the death of his mother, he decides that he wants to dedicate his life to medicine so as to be able to understand and cure illnesses. During his apprenticeship with the barber-surgeon, Rob soon discovers that he has a gift. He is able to tell if a person is going to die by taking their hands into his own. As he sees the limitations of being a barber-surgeon, a trade that is not regarded very highly, the protagonist strives to become a physician. When he hears about a medical school in the far away Persia, Rob sets out on a long and hard journey. Seeing that being Christian makes his life harder, Rob Cole decides to turn into the Jew Jesse ben Benjamin, which eases things at the beginning but also has its disadvantages when he finally arrives in Persia. Once there, Rob manages to get accepted for the training as a physician. As part of his training he becomes acquainted with the Shah of Persia, who develops a special relationship with him that influences great parts of Rob's life in Persia. The protagonist spends a very important period of his life in the eastern world, only to return to London after a several years.

While the protagonist's life is marked by hardships and obstacles, there is also the component of finding the love of his life and eventually happiness. On his journey to Persia, Rob meets his later wife Mary, a Scottish woman traveling with her father in order to buy Turkish sheep. Since Mary and Rob have different destinations, they leave each other shortly after having fallen in love with each other. As fate would have it, they meet again in Persia and Mary becomes Rob's wife and they have children. Having to flee from their home in Persia, they eventually return to London where they part ways again, only to be finally reunited in Mary's Scottish home.

One integral issue in this novel is religion. Rob, the protagonist is Christian throughout his life. However, on his journey to Persia he learns how to behave like a Jew. As part of his training to become a physician he also has to study the teachings of the Quran, which gives him insight into another different religion. While one might be tempted to say that Rob only pretends to have a different faith in order to achieve his goal of becoming a physician, there is also a part in him that is actually very interested in Islam and Judaism. Throughout the novel, Rob compares the different religions, but not in a judgmental way. He is interested in the different commandments and parts of scripture and sees benefits in each of the three religions. This knowledge makes him become a very open-minded character and serves him well in his life. Generally, Rob is presented as a very curious person who takes interest in many things, especially in medicine and religion. Only when science and religion oppose each other in the matter of dissecting human bodies, Rob chooses to further scientific knowledge at the cost of breaking religious rules. The dichotomy of being a physician while at the same time having a profound knowledge of several faiths spices up the plot of The Physician.

On the whole, I liked the exploration of differences between the western and the eastern world. While I enjoyed reading the novel a lot, I have, however, never really felt the urge to devour it. Summing up my reading experience, I have to say that although The Physician was not a real page-turner for me, it was quite an interesting read because of the themes that are explored. 4 stars.

Interesting recent reads - enjoyed your reviews. I think Speak is one for my wish list - hadn't heard of it before.

Enjoyed your review of the Physician

#9: The Circle by Dave Eggers
(491 pages)

What if everyone needed just one online account to do the many things they do online? Social media, online banking, internet searches, sharing pictures, sharing book reviews, rating restaurants and other places, you name it. All with only one single account. What if you could reach out to everyone in the world? What if you had thousands of followers liking the things you do? What if everything was stored online, never to be lost again? The answer lies in The Circle. The Circle is a company founded by visionaries that makes all the things mentioned above possible. And more. They put up cameras all over the globe so as to be able to monitor everything. They provide you with a bracelet to monitor your vitals wherever you are and whatever you do. The Circle explores the consequences of maximum transparency in a society set in the not too distant future. Protagonist Mae Holland lands a job at The Circle, a world-famous company. She slowly starts grasping the company's aim and way of thinking and happily joins a project that makes her become transparent nearly 24/7. She wears a camera around her neck that provides everyone around the world with a video and audio feed of her daily life. Only seeing the benefits and ignoring the warnings by her parents and her ex-boyfriend Mercer, Mae slowly rises to a prominent position in The Circle. And she loves every single part of her job.

Now the issue Dave Eggers explores in his novel is not very new. Seeing that the book was published in 2013, it probably did not take much imagination to come up with the society he created with The Circle. Just take Facebook and Google a little further. Most of what is described in the novel already exists in one form or another. The new aspect here is to roll all those things into one and then see what happens. And this is exactly where I had trouble with this novel. Most of the characters in the book and especially the protagonist are very short-sighted in their thinking and their actions. It requires no small amount of suspension of disbelief in order to follow the characters in their actions. There is this company full of visionaries and none of them sees (or wants to see?) the disadvantages of full transparency and total control in the hands of just one company. Only Mercer, Mae's ex-boyfriend, sees the downsides and he dies when he is chased down by a group of people intending to demonstrate the power of social media. Even when one of the Three Wise Men, that is what The Circle's founders are called, has doubts about closing the circle and going fully transparent, Mae cannot see the obvious. This is at a point where The Circle is just about to include the voting process in their social media platform and actually makes it mandatory to vote in national as well as state elections. The benefits of the secret ballot are simply ignored. I still struggle with those many points where the characters in The Circle do not seem to be able to fully grasp the consequences of their actions. It is not that there is just one or maybe two occasions. No, this happens throughout the book. If Eggers intended for his book to serve as a warning to mankind not to let social media rise to too much power, it worked. But to most people this is probably a given, even without having read the book. As for the few who had not seen the great risks of too much online transparency before, they were probably convinced after the first 100 pages. Too my mind, this novel just states the obvious.

Despite the flaw that I just mentioned, The Circle is actually a fairly good book. I probably would even have given five stars, had it not been for the fact that Eggers seems to treat his readers as a bunch of ignoramuses. I have to say that there was something in the book that made me keep turning page after page. I am not really sure what it was but for me the novel was a page-turner. Maybe I was just desperately hoping to see some characters change. Well, how to rate the book? As I have said, it could have been a five-star read for me, but I cannot give it more than three stars because of its one flaw, that is, to my mind, a major one.

interesting about The Circle and the clueless characters.

I'm catching up from a ways back and just caught your fun reviews of The Canterbery Tales and The Great Gatsby, and of The Physician, which I hadn't heard of. Fun stuff.

>36 dchaikin: Catching up is sometimes really hard around here in Club Read. But I find it is always worthwhile. I will have to catch up on your thread soon. I'm especially interested in the Cormac McCarthy reviews.

#10: Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson
(383 pages)

After having lived in England for about twenty years of his life, Bill Bryson returns to the United States, his home country. He is asked to write a column for The Mail on Sunday and this is basically what this book is: a collection of his articles. Bryson writes about the war on drugs, the sense of the death penalty, traveling by plane, commercials, computers, the laziness of people, post offices in the UK and the US, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and many more topics. On the whole, his articles can be regarded as a collection of witty remarks about the American way of life. While there are probably many books that do the same, the perspective of this one is what makes it special since it is written by an American, who is heavily influenced by British culture and only remembers the America of the late 1970s and early 1980s

While it is easily possible to read and enjoy this book one article at a time, I found myself captured by Bryson's wit and read the whole book in just three sittings. Quite often, I found myself laughing out loud, which is what I liked about the book. Notes from a Big Country is the perfect book for a leisurely read. Although the articles where published between 1996 and 1998, the book does not lose its charm. Having said that, some parts of the book are not completely new and ground-breaking and it may seem that some stories have been used by comedians over the globe for several years now. So, when you read this book you are probably not going to say 'yeah, he's right, I've never looked at it that way'. Yet, the book still makes for some good laughs. 3.5 stars.

Catching up after vacation. Your review of The Physician reminds me that I have the three books in this series on my kindle. I think I'll move them up the list.

This was my first Bryson. I picked it up from the clearance rack, having no clue who Bryson was, while in line at a Borders and read a chapter (maybe the one of on insignificant presidents?) and was so charmed I bought it and read the rest...and several others since. Mine copy is titled titled Neither Here Nor There.

>35 OscarWilde87: This is a fantastic review of The Circle - it sounds like Eggers had a good idea but then chose to belabour it unnecessarily. Adding to the TBR, thanks.

>38 OscarWilde87:: "A big Country" reminds me of Michael Moore trying to find an alternative name for the USA and coming up with "The Big One". Maybe he was inspired by this book!

>39 NanaCC: Oh, please tell me when you read the other two books in the series. I'm not sure whether I should read them...

>40 dchaikin: I wondered about the different titles as well. Probably they have a different name in different countries? I'm not sure why that is... But Bryson is indeed quite good. I liked A Short History of Nearly Everything as well.

>41 reva8: Thank you!

>42 chlorine: Oh, maybe so. I haven't read anything by Moore yet. I've only seen one or two of his movies.

#11: The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy
(1137 pages)

The Bear and the Dragon is the last novel in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series. To my mind, you do not have to have read the whole series up to this point to be able to enjoy this novel. However, you will most likely miss out on some references to events that were related in earlier novels. As this is only the third Jack Ryan novel that I have read - and my third Clancy, for that matter - I have to say that I enjoyed it even without knowing the full background.

Now, what is this novel about? As the title suggests it is about a conflict between Russia, or the 'Bear', and China, the 'Dragon'. The novel starts with two seemingly unrelated events. There is the attempt to murder a high-ranking Russian politician and there is the find of a gold mine and huge oil resources in Siberia. As Chinese trade with the US comes to a halt, China's economy is on the brink of collapse and its government needs to find a source of money. As a consequence the Chinese Politburo eventually starts plotting an offensive on Russia to seize their gold mine and their oil resources. Having inside information into the content of the meetings of the Chinese Politburo, the CIA informs President Jack Ryan. Together they try to prevent a war between Russia and China by inviting Russia into NATO. This plan, however, fails, war begins and a nuclear strike on major American cities by the Chinese cannot be ruled out.

Tom Clancy is one of those authors who do not need an introduction and probably do not need their writing reviewed anymore. Still, after having read The Bear and the Dragon I feel compelled to say something about Clancy's writing. This is the third Clancy novel I have read and I think that Clancy puts a lot of research and information into his works. On the one hand this makes some things - especially military or intelligence-related issues - easier to understand. On the other hand this makes for a lot of padding. This is especially true for the beginning of The Bear and the Dragon where I still felt like being introduced to the setting of the novel after a hundred pages or so. All those lengthy introductions to a huge set of characters, who are not only referred to by their names but also by their military ranks, positions or code names, made me almost put down the book. But once the story started to unfold I was actually quite drawn in by Clancy's writing and the novel became a very interesting page-turner. 3.5 stars.

Clancy is not my thing and at 1100 pages that is a lot of Clancy, but enjoyed your review and the comparison to other of his novels. (I read Red October in high school or soon after, and found it to just have too much military technology for me)

>45 dchaikin: It was a goal I set for myself this year as I was not sure what to think of Clancy. I might give him one more try, but there is so much more I want to read before. Clancy has way too much padding for my taste.

#12: Legacy: An Anthology by Adria J. Cimino
(160 pages)

Legacy is a collection of fourteen short stories by different authors. As such it is hard to review if you are not going to review every story on its own. However, this would be tedious to read and not give an impression of the whole collection of stories. This is why I will try to focus on the big picture by making some general remarks and giving an insight into two of the stories.

The anthology opens with the story 'The Uraniums' by Kristopher Jansma. I found this to be a good start as it made me want to read more and keep on going with the other stories. 'The Uraniums' gets its title from a band with the same name that only has this one concert with 238 viewers. The members of the band come together from different places in the world and go their own ways again after the concert. I liked the allusion to uranium-238 but I will refrain from offering an interpretation her. I have not figured it out quite myself - and maybe there is nothing to figure out - but it got me thinking. I really liked the idea behind the story which interprets legacy as a one-time event so memorable that it leaves a legacy in the minds of each of the 238 people in the audience.

As with every collection of short stories - at least for me it is that way - I did not like every story. Some I just read and did not think about them any further. Others impressed me so much that I had to put the book away and let them sink in. 'Four Days Forever' by J. J. Hensley is a story I especially liked because of the way it was told. The story starts with the narrator pulling the trigger of a shotgun. Then the days leading up to this are related. This, however, is not done chronologically, which I thought to be a very clever idea. For me, it made the story literally outstanding. Other stories I liked were 'Sonny's Wall' by Paula Young Lee, 'Apfelstrudel' by Vicky Lesage, 'How to Raise Cats in a Paris Apartment' by Lizzie Harwood, and 'Two Kinds of Legacy' by Jenny Milchmann.

I received this book via the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program and I am glad I did. The collection of stories definitely provides something for every taste, as the stories, although revolving around the common theme 'legacy', vary in their focus. If you like to read short stories, give the book a try. 3 stars.

Wait, Legacy is the tying theme? Curious. Sounds like you got a nice collection overall.

#13: The Escape by David Baldacci
(671 pages)

The third book in the John Puller series by David Baldacci, The Escape puts protagonist John Puller's family in the center of the action. When Puller's brother escapes the military prison in Leavenworth under more than mysterious circumstances, Army CID agent John Puller is torn between loyalty to his family and loyalty to his country.

Robert Puller is serving a life sentence for treason in the military prison in Leavenworth. However, the details of his trial are only known to a selected few. When there is a power outage at the prison and even the backup systems fail, Robert Puller seizes the opportunity to escape prison in order to set things straight. He wants to prove that he is innocent. His brother, John Puller, is eventually called in to investigate the case, despite being related to the escapee. In the course of the story a plot of deception and lies in the US intelligence community unfolds.

Being a fan of Baldacci's John Puller series, I liked the book a lot. It is just as well written and plotted as the first two books in the series. Baldacci manages to give the plot some unexpected twists and turns which makes for a thrilling read. For me, this book was a page-turner and I can recommend it to anyone who likes the thriller genre. 4 stars.

It's been a while that I posted here, but I'm in a reading slump after my vacation days are over and work just seems to pile up more and more... I will be back with a review sometime soon... Hopefully...

#14: Developing Minds: An American Ghost Story by Jonathan LaPoma
(346 pages)

Developing Minds is an intriguing venture into the American school system. The reader follows Luke Entelechy, who moves from New York State to Florida when he and his gay friend Billy secure teaching jobs in Miami. While Billy manages to get a job at an A school, Luke only gets a job at an F school. While the schools could not be more different, both Luke and Billy struggle with their students. Billy lives in constant fear of being an underachiever and is afraid that people find out that he is gay. Luke enters classrooms full of seemingly unteachable students every single day.
Being a teacher myself, my focus when I read this book was clearly the school system and how Luke manages to get through to his students. I liked reading about his classroom experiences and the small steps that eventually made him become accepted by the students. However, the novel also strongly focuses on the private life of Luke and other teachers. I have to say that I was appalled at first to read about drug escapades and orgies. While this is certainly an important part of understanding Luke's character and some parts are definitely hilarious to read, I found it a bit too much at times. Yet, it gave the story an interesting touch.

The following passage really spoke to me and to my mind gives a good impression of the novel:

Other people seemed content to get up early, and go shopping, and get smoothies with their friends at the new café that just opened up on the corner, and not obsess over how it was designed by some soulless prick from New York who couldn't care less about smoothies or smiles. Other people could ride a bus without hearing the hushed, trembling voices of all those sad souls gripping the rails and holding on for dear life. Other people had friends they could call who, they knew, would never lead them to a rum-fueled orgy. I needed school badly that Monday. I needed to go stand before children and allow their pain and self-hatred to make me feel purposeful.

All in all, Developing Minds was an interesting read and is not your run-of-the-mill teacher-is-not-liked-by-worst-students-in-the-world-but-succeeds-anyway story. 3 stars.

Excellent review of Developing Minds.

Yeah, great review, and great quote.

>52 RidgewayGirl: >53 dchaikin: Thank you! :)

>51 OscarWilde87:

Wonderful review!

>55 AnnieMod: Thank you!

#15: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
(351 pages)

The Golden Compass is the first book in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials. The novel is set in a world where people have daemons, that is spirit animals that accompany them their whole life. While still a child, these daemons can take on any form and change their form quite frequently before the daemons settle on a fixed form when you become an adult. Human beings and their daemons share a special bond and cannot be separated spatially without suffering great pain. The protagonist of the novel, Lyra, is a young girl growing up at Jordan College in Oxford. She is not an ordinary girl, though. She is very curious and spies on a talk between the heads of the college and Lord Asriel, her uncle. There is talk about 'Dust' and people are wondering in how far this 'Dust' generally affects their lives. At the same time, the so-called 'Gobblers' haunt Oxford and many other places, stealing children. Among those abducted children is Roger, a kitchen boy at Jordan College and a friend of Lyra's. Soon, Lyra sets out to find Roger and free him from the 'Gobblers'. Her adventure leads her through many hardships and painful truths about 'Dust', daemons and her family that heavily influence her life and identity.

While this is novel is supposed to be a children's book, I found some passages to be quite disturbing for children. For instance, there is one passage where the killing of a bear is described in gory detail. Additionally, the facts Lyra learns about her mother and father do not seem all too appropriate for younger children. While the hero of the novel is certainly quite identifiable, I found that the novel paints a very bleak picture of children's lives.

What I found to be a strong suit of the book, are the quite vivid descriptions of the parallel universe, the readers find themselves in and also of the people and creatures who live in that world. Generally, though, I thought the book was not fast-paced enough and there was not that much going on on what therefore seemed to be a quite long 351 pages. At the same time, I missed some continuity and some questions were left unanswered or treated only on the surface. Pullman probably leaves those parts open to the readers' imagination. Or maybe they will be answered in the remainder of the trilogy.

On the whole, I was a little disappointed in this book which I had been looking forward to reading for quite some time. Since I bought a copy of the while trilogy, I will still give the following two novels a chance. But my expectations are certainly lower now.
A disappointing 2.5 stars for The Golden Compass.



As a side note, this is one of the rare occasions where I actually like the movie better than the novel.

I read the trilogy a while ago and while the story was OK, I thought the writing was not great. And I got progressively more angry that such a work of religious propaganda was aimed at children. I don't like religions generally speaking, but I despise people who make up their own religion by picking what suits them from official religions. And I think children are already subjected to enough propaganda as it is from their parents, I don't see any need to add to it under the guise of fiction. Especially since the author clearly has a personal feud going against the catholic church. If he had written a fiction for adults about it, I would find this mildly despicable but it wouldn't make me so angry.

I read the whole thing some time ago as well. My memory was that the second in the series was the best - partly because I liked the other 'main' character that isn't introduced until that one better than Lyra. The third gets really heavy handed with the religious content. It didn't bother me particularly as on Pullman's side of that argument but I can see why many would find it distasteful and hadn't really thought about it in terms of intended audience.

>58 FlorenceArt: I did not read it from a religious perspective but I do understand what you mean. Good point, actually.
>59 janemarieprice: I hope that the second book in the series will be better. Otherwise I might not get to the third one.

#16: American Rust by Philipp Meyer
(367 pages)

American Rust tells the story of two young adults, growing up in a small Pennsylvania steel town that has already seen its best years. After the economic decline which sent most of the people living in the fictitious town of Buell into unemployment, life is not the same anymore. As the manufacturiung jobs vanish, the middle class just follows along. The only way to get out of the downward spiral is a good education and leaving Buell. The protagonist, Isaac English, is the smartest kid in town and has all the chances to attend an ivy college and leave behind all the misery in his home town. His sister has already taken that chance which makes it harder for Isaac who remains with his father after his mother's death. Still, the dream to finally leave grows stronger in him with every day he stays at home. Isaac's best friend, Billy Poe, lives on the other, even poorer, side of town. His ticket out could have been playing football, but he, too, does not leave Buell because of family ties. He remains with his mother who only wants the best for her kid - a kid that has problems with being aggressive and violent.

This is the setting of American Rust, a novel about the decline of the American Dream. Right in the beginning Isaac and Billy get into trouble with Isaac ending up killing someone unintentionally. The story then unfolds from different points of view that all contribute their share to advance the plot from a first-person perspective. The way the author places all the bits and pieces is remarkable as it gives the reader an insight into the different characters and their feelings and also creates a bleak atmosphere where both main characters are stuck in a rut and are completely helpless. While Billy Poe goes to jail for what Isaac did, Isaac starts out on a roadtrip that leaves him hungry, dirty and more helpless than ever before. Eventually, both of their stories end where they began. Both return to the dilapidated town of Buell they did not leave when they had the chance to and now do not seem to get out of.

Philipp Meyer writes a very intelligent novel which succeeds in creating an authentic atmosphere that makes you wonder at points whether the book is based on a true story. Perfectly crafted characters, narrative style, choice of words, atmosphere and plot are so much in tune that reading the novel makes for an extraordinary read. It is quite simple to give a recommendation: Read this book and enjoy this book.
4.5 stars.

I remember once thinking I should read American Rust. Enjoyed your review.

>61 OscarWilde87: - hadn't heard of American Rust before. Sounds like something I might enjoy - on the wish list.

>62 dchaikin: Ditto what Dan said.

#17: Made in America by Bill Bryson
(509 pages)

In Made in America Bill Bryson traces the origin of a variety of Americanisms. The chapters are structured in chronological fashion starting with the Mayflower and the beginning of what was to become the United States of America. On its way to present day America, the book touches upon topics such as money and finances, Native Americans and immigration, the concept of the frontier, shopping, food, movies, advertising, the automobile industry, the space race, sex and political correctness.

While the book is overall quite logically structured, a chapter in itself often appears to be a collection of observations that are ordered in anecdotal fashion more than anything else. Bryson seems to have struggled in filtering the information he wanted to use for his book and this makes the reading of some chapters a bit tedious. While there is generally a wide range of information, depth is neglected at some points. This is not to say that Bryson did a bad job in writing the book, but for me, the lack of depth at certain points definitely took away from an otherwise very interesting reading experience.

For someone interested in languages and their development, this book is not a bad choice. As I love the study of languages and as I am very interested in American English Made in America promised to be a great read for me. I have read Bryson before and while I do not agree with him on everything and while I do not always like his humor, I like his books generally very much. However, Made in America was, despite my interest in the topic, just an average read. While some chapters were highly interesting and very well written, others lacked in quality. On the whole, a three star read.

Bryson has a tendency toward trivia overload and I think he's always a bit light. Sometimes he gets it just right for me, but not always.

>66 dchaikin: Just what I often think about Bryson.

#18: On Writing by Stephen King
(367 pages)

The subtitle of Stephen King's On Writing is "A Memoir of the Craft". And that is exactly what this book is. It is part memoir and part thoughts on how to write fiction. Stephen King began to write this book before he suffered major injuries after being hit by a van while taking a walk. He finished it afterwards. The book starts with a chapter King calls 'CV', where he relates parts of his life, most of which have a direct bearing on his writing and how he became a writer. After that, King offers his thoughts 'On Writing' and finishes the book with a chapter 'On Living'. The 'On Writing' section does not provide a list of dos and don'ts that is set in stone. It is rather Stephen King's advice on what to do and what not to do when it comes to basic elements of composition and style. Some advice might be a bit controversial, especially when he suggests to kill all the adverbs. King clearly states that what he thinks about writing is certainly not a guide to becoming a successful writer of fiction. The feeling one gets is more of a 'this-is-what-I-do-and-it-works-fine-for-me'. King also points out that there is not just one approach to writing as there are so many accomplished writers with completely different approaches to their writing. Rather he claims that there is a set of basic components without which writing will not be successful. In the 'On Living' section at the end of the book, King talks about the accident and its consequences for his writing and his life. My copy of the book also included a short story chosen but not written by Stephen King.

What I liked about the book was King's honesty. You would probably not expect someone who wants to sell a book on writing to say that there are those people who have it in them to become a writer and that there are those who will never be able to write a good story no matter how hard they try and no matter how strictly they follow all the advice that is published in books on writing. Generally, I found King to be very straightforward in what he says. He might come off a little arrogant at some points in the book, but he also addresses that fact. And honestly, which writer would not be proud of what he did once he has achieved what King has? King's works might not be considered to be part of Literature (with a capital 'L'), yet he manages to sell millions of copies of his works.

The mixture of memoir and advice on writing was something that I enjoyed a lot. It was this connection that enabled King to put in a pun at some point or other. So even if you are not planning to write your own novel, this book is actually very readable. If you are planning to write your own novel, the title might be misleading as King's work will probably not be enough to tell you everything you want to know or think you need to know in order to write your own novel. In the end, On Writing was an interesting read. 3.5 stars.

>68 OscarWilde87: great review. Have fancied reading this book for a while now, and all reviews of it seem to be positive.

>69 AlisonY: Thanks! It really depends on what you're reading it for. If you want a manual on how to write fiction, you should probably choose a different book. If not, this one might be interesting for the other aspects it covers.

#19: The Lemur by Benjamin Black
(185 pages)

Writing as Benjamin Black, John Banville gives us the short thriller or mystery novel The Lemur. Set in New York City, the novel is about finding out the truth and uncovering long-kept secrets. Protagonist John Glass is a journalist who is hired by his father-in-law William Mulholland to write his, 'Big Bill's', biography. The Irish-American Bill Mulholland is a former CIA operative turned billionaire heading up the Mulholland Trust. Tasked with writing his biography, John Glass hires the researcher Dylan Riley whom he just calls 'The Lemur' because of his appearance. Not even having started writing the book, Glass is called by the 'Lemur' who is found dead shortly thereafter. While suicide is the assumed cause of death, matters look a bit fishy as the 'Lemur' dies of a gunshot directly through the eye. Coincidentally, Charles Varriker, a former colleague and friend of Bill Mulllholland's, died in the same way several years ago. Not so much concerned with the biography anymore, John Glass only wants to find out the truth about those two deaths and what is going on in his family.

With only 185 pages, the novel is rather short and also a real page-turner. Despite its brevity, the story is very interesting and there is not much detail missing. One might have provided many more details and a lengthy backstory but the book actually does quite nicely without such additions. John Glass is a very credible character and his interaction with the other characters in the novel is very natural. The dialogues are well written but are sometimes reminiscent of your typical B-movie dialogue. This did not disturb me very much, though.

All in all, The Lemur is an entertaining story that might disappoint readers who love more lengthy fiction. For all the other readers interested in the genre it might actually be a read well worth your while. 4 stars.

#20: Hardup by J. Scott Matthews
(217 pages)

Hardup is a story - or, more specifically, a comedy as the cover proclaims - about the tech world in San Francisco and the hardships startups have to go through to get funding and the people's attention. Jason and his friends have the idea of providing the world with a completely game-changing invention, a male masturbatory aid. In that respect, the title 'Hardup' invites two possible interpretations. First, and probably more likely, 'Hardup' might be a blend of hardship and startup, and second, it might refer to the actual product that is invented by the startup in the novel, helping the male population, well, to get hard.

Lucky to have been chosen as one of the first readers of this book and even getting it for free, I was actually really looking forward to reading Hardup. I was intrigued by the short plot summary and the cover of the book is actually very inviting and made me want to read the book. This feeling held on through the first chapters, but then it started getting weaker by the page. While the language striked me as fresh and original at the beginning, I started to become really annoyed towards the middle of the book. I did not expect this to be a fully edited copy as it has just been released and is probably self-published. However, I would have expected that it was at least (more or less) free of grammatical mistakes. There seems to be a real problem with homonyms (such as 'their' and 'there', 'who's' and 'whose' and the like) which forced me to read some sentences twice. While I do not generally have a problem with rereading sentences or even whole passages because I did not get them the first time, this only goes for complex sentences or unusual expressions. Grammatical mistakes is probably where I draw the line.

While the startup and tech scene is described quite well for readers who are completely new to the topic, I found descriptions a bit too much at times. Some of the characters are even employed to ask the questions readers might have. And this is done quite openly: 'As I'm not in the marketing business, what's an elevator pitch?' While I am admittedly just paraphrasing here, the actual version is not that much different. Oftentimes those questions are not asked and answered in a subtle way, but plainly and openly discussed. As a reader I had the feeling of being taken by the hand and led through the fantastically complex world of technology. I was actually quite disappointed and felt not taken seriously. This was the point where I started wondering about the intended readership (if there is ever such a thing) of a novel about startup companies. To my liking, more showing and less telling would have been a much better narrative strategy.

Eventually, I will have to say something about the plot. While I find the idea to write a comedy about startups quite refreshing, this novel exaggerates at too many points in the story. One might argue that this is due to it being intended as a comedy, but for a comedy I found there have not been that many funny parts. Right from the start there are two plot strands: one about the protagonist and his startup and the other about the protagonist's former company and one of their executives. While the connection is fairly obvious at the beginning, the next time those two plot strands cross each other is far from predictable. Usually, I find that a good thing in a story, but in Hardup it was again just too much for my taste. As I do not intend to give away the ending, let me just say that the second point at which both plot lines collide (pun intended for those who have read the book), it is way too exaggerated and simply not credible. The ending itself is also somewhat disappointing, which might be due to the fact that Hardup is intended as the first book in a series.

To give the author some credit, I very much liked his idea and there are also passages in the book that are actually very much to the point. However, on the whole, I was a little disappointed in the book. 2.5 stars.



PS: As I got this book via LibraryThing Member Giveaway, I just want to add that I am quite grateful that I could get a copy of this book for free. Also, I love the Member Giveaway idea for authors to get their books out there and get their careers started. That is why I feel a little guilty about my review which does not really praise the book. However, I still think that I should be honest with my reviews, even if that means that I will never win a book in the Member Giveaway group again.

Congratulations on being the first to review Hardup.

>72 OscarWilde87: Shame Hardup didn't deliver. I'm in the early stages of a tech start up at the moment and this could have been just up my street. Will pass...

>72 OscarWilde87:

So how much of the plot and story is influenced by HBO's Silicon Valley? Some of your thoughts on it makes me wonder about that.

>74 AlisonY: Well, maybe it will be interesting for you. But I'm afraid there might be too many stereotypes.

>75 AnnieMod: Oh, I don't know that HBO series, so I can't say in how far it was influenced by it. Would be nice to know, though.

Short Annual wrap-up

2015 is over and it's time to take a look back at what I've been reading. At the beginning of the year I had set some reading goals for myself, so let's turn to those first.

Goal #1: Read at least 25 books this year.
Well, I was not able to meet that goal. I only managed to read 20 books with a total amount of 8,280 pages, which is actually more than last year when I read 27 books. So I guess I read longer ones this year.

Goal#2: Read a book with more than 1000 pages.
I met that goal and it was not that hard to do. Tom Clancy's The Bear and the Dragon with its 1137 pages did the trick.

Goal #3: Give Clancy one more (last?) try.
Did that. The Bear and the Dragon was not a bad book, actually. So I'm planning to read Clancy again.

Well, what else is there to say? I'm a little disappointed with my overall reading progress. The summer was quite great. But after summer vacation my reading slumped. Big time. I hope I can avoid that next (or rather this) year.
It is always hard for me to say which book I liked best. But from my gut I would pick American Rust for 2015. You should certainly give that one a try.

Now all that's left to say I guess is that I'll be keeping track of my reading in 2016, so follow me to my new post in Club Read 2016 if you like.

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