Tag: Book review

We are the weather (Saving the planet begins at breakfast)

I am back after a bit of a hiatus, which to be fair, isn’t entirely my fault. My Word Press decided it didn’t want to work anymore and every time I tried to create a new post, it just gave me a blank screen. After giving up for a while, I searched the internet until I found the solution (you need to clear your cookies if it happens to you).

The other reason I have had a bit of a hiatus is that I have been on a reading spree, and I am not exaggerating by spree. This year, I made a resolution to read more and watch tv less, and I am delivering. So far I am averaging two books a week, which seems like madness to me! So far in 2020 I have read 10 books, so who knows what it will be by the end of the year!

One of these books is called ‘We are the Weather’ by  Jonathon Safron Foer. This is one of those books that popped up on a list somewhere of books that will change your life, and anyone who knows me knows how much I love the environment and sustainability, so this one was a no-brainer for me.

In the end, this book was… interesting. I think for anyone who doesn’t know much about sustainability in the modern age and how changing the way you eat can have positive impacts for the environment, and is looking to develop their knowledge a little more, this book is for you.

For me. though, the book didn’t really teach me anything I didn’t know, and I didn’t find the story compelling enough to try and convince anyone to change their behaviours. The storyline felt jumpy, and the whole time it felt like the author was trying not to say what they were actually trying to convince you of. Instead of telling you not to eat meat, he described stories of change including the Holocaust and Rosa Parks, then drops facts about the impact of meat consumption on the environment, and then I don’t even remember what he rambles on about next. Maybe that was his intention, he didn’t want to tell people what to do, he wanted them to get there on their own. All I know is that by the end I didn’t feel compelled to stop eating meat, and I was vegetarian for 2 and a half years, and still don’t eat that much meat myself. So if I couldn’t be convinced, why would anyone else reading that book be?

Again, there was some great facts and for people looking for an intro into the sustainability context of consuming less meat, and I think this book would be great for someone like my boyfriend. But for me, it just really wasn’t emotive enough, or have enough of a clear story throughout. I would be interested to see his other book on factory farming to see how that story pans out, and whether he is able to make a stronger argument there.

This is a book that maybe everyone should read, or a topic that everyone should do some research on at least. I just wish that whoever told this story to the masses was able to tell it a little better.

I give it 3 out of 5.

The Talented Mr Ripley

I am nearing the end of my Blind Date With a Book subscription (boo!) and I just finished up my second last book to come through which is a classic, The Talented Mr Ripley. The name was familiar and I have since found out that there is a well-known movie which might be why, but I haven’t seen it yet which is probably for the best as I normally prefer books to the movies, or at least starting with the book.

On first appearances, it is a relatively small book so I thought it would be a light read. If you are familiar with the storyline you know ‘light read’ isn’t exactly the genre Patricia Highsmith was going for.

To give Highsmith credit though, despite the heavy subject matter, it is a relatively upbeat read. Despite the morbid nature of the stalker/ serial killer protagonist, there isn’t much darkness to the storyline. Despite some very brutal murders, you still remain connected to the protagonist.

This is one of those books though where you don’t know where your sympathy feels, or which character you should be rooting for. None of the characters are particularly likeable or provoke warm feelings in the reader.

I got through the book pretty easily, but I think that might be down to the low page number. I didn’t think there was enough storyline to keep me interested if the book went on for much longer. It was definitely good to try a bit of a different genre, and I would be very interested in watching the movie as well to see how they portray the characters and to see if I feel more sympathy / affection for all of them, but otherwise I wouldn’t rush back to read this book again, or another of Highsmith’s.

Overall, it’s a solid read and I ended up giving it 3 out of 5 on Goodreads. It is probably worth a 3.5 but until Goodreads introduces the half star measure I will continue rounding down to 3. If you are looking for something a bit different then I would definitely recommend it!

Bad Blood

I saw the book Bad Blood pop up on my Good Reads with outstanding reviews so it piqued my interest. Then, once I added it to my ‘Want to Read’ list, my friend also saw it and went out and bought it for herself. She tore through it and after she gave it a 5 out of 5 rating I knew I had to get it off her.

Bad Blood is an expose of Elizabeth Holmes. A young female who was being touted as ‘the next Bill Gates’. She was a university dropout who started her own biomedical technology company, and above all she was a sales person with charisma and charm. Without giving too many spoilers away, she managed to sell the wealthiest and most powerful people in America a product that never existed. She hoodwinked the world, but after reading it you know she hasn’t necessarily done it to deliberately be a liar. She just believed so wholeheartedly in her idea that she couldn’t grasp the reality of what she actually had.

On surface opinion, this book seems to go against my feminist side. This book is a tear down of one of the first female leaders in the tech industry. Elizabeth Holmes was a role model and a leader to so many, and so it is sad to delve into her true character behind the scenes. This book was well written though, and at no point did I get the impression that she was getting targeted because of her gender. Sure, there are times when comments were made about her sleeping with her COO and how unprofessional it was, and how no one else would do that which did make me think, that wouldn’t happen because in current society we don’t have too many females in the C-suite anyway. But apart from that shortcoming the book was well written and truthful. It even made a point of saying that what she did wasn’t uncommon in Silicon Valley, often tech leaders sell a shoddy idea and just wait for the technology to catch up, but the problem is that there is a big different between selling a faulty phone, and selling faulty blood tests. The seriousness of this is dramatically different, which is something that a number of people in her company struggled to grasp.

This type of book could lose you in the technical side of the product, or by not providing enough detail as to what was happening so you might not realise how bad things were, but this book nailed the analogies and explanations. The way that all the medical mumbo jumbo was explained made it so that anyone could follow what was happening, and anyone could understand the gravity of what was happening in this company.

Despite how well this book was written, the winning part of it was the fact that the story was absolutely unreal. As you go through the book you have to think, surely they are going to get caught out soon, how are there so many people that are not seeing through the facade. If I read this as a fictional book I wouldn’t believe it, but I know that this actually happened which is the mind blowing part.

Whilst I won’t give the book a 5 out of 5 like my friend, I think it is definitely close. I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars, and I hope that one day we get a book about a strong female tech leader who is leading the way in inspiring the world, with no signs of foul play.

 

Rivers of London

I have some fantastic friends who know just what I want in my life, and this year for my birthday they treated me to a book subscription with ‘Blind Date With a Book’. For those who haven’t heard of this, the concept is that a book is wrapped in brown paper and on the outside is a few choice words that would describe that book. The idea is that you buy a book based on how it is described in a few words, rather than knowing about it. What my friends got me is just a book subscription version of that, so for the next 6 months I will be receiving a new suprise book every month. The great thing about a service like this as well is that you can choose the genres that you can receive. You can choose up to 5 genres from the list, or just choose ‘Suprise Me’ where you could end up with anything.

When making my choice, i decided to go with the ‘Suprise Me’ option because I figured if the books were going to be a suprise anyway, it might be a good opportunity to expand my reading repertoire and explore some new things.

I received my first book this week, and it was Rivers of London, the first in the series by Ben Aaronovitch. I had seen this book before and had nearly bought it but something about it just didn’t catch me so I decided to leave it so I thought it was great that I would get the opportunity to read it now.

The premise of this series (without giving anything away) is that a young cop gets brought into a world of fantasy and magic living in modern day London. He joins a team that investigates mystical crimes including for ghosts, river spirits, vampires and anything also fantastical that you can think of. It is basically Sherlock Holmes crossed with Line of Duty crossed with Harry Potter.

I think the premise of this book has some merit, however I didn’t love the execution. I think the author was trying to string the author along and allude to things that might resurface later in the book or series without explaining them, but all it felt like to me was that they were trying to drop hints on ideas that the author wasn’t able to explain or properly weave into the story, and it just leaves you feeling unsatisfied and confused about what the purpose of including it was. Having finished the book now, I am sure that a lot of the references were not important, so I think Aaronovitch would have benefited from just not including these hints at all.

Even the things that he did properly include and elaborated on more didn’t make sense. He talks about river spirits and I still can’t figure out how they work or how they are different to normal people or how their family structures work.

At the same time, there was so many storylines going on at once and I had hoped that they would all intertwine in the end and make sense, and Aaronovitch did try and do that in a sense, but in the end, it just felt rushed and forced. I would compare it to when you read Harry Potter and you get to points where you just go ‘A-ha’ and have to acknowledge Rowling’s mastery in that she had that whole thing planned out in her head from the start. This story really lacked that, and just seemed to be lots of things thrown together at the last minute.

I think the premise of the story is good and I obviously enjoyed it enough to finish it in 3 days, but I don’t think I would return for any more of his stories. Maybe this story could become an interesting movie?

I give Rivers of London 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow

Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend is the type of book that is targeted at a young teens market, but is accessible and enjoyable for everyone, no matter what your age is. It came as a recommendation from a friend who told me about how great the storyline was and how the story pulled you in.

Sure, it wasn’t the most intellectual of books but the story was vibrant and fun, and reminiscent of the Harry Potter world. A girl with a sad upbringing gets brought into this magical world she can only ever dream of, where she has a mentor/ parent figure who is hard to get a hold of, is renowned and respected within their society, and who speaks in riddles and only fills her in on half of the story. Whilst the story line might be slightly similar to Harry Potter, the world that is created is very unique, and the writing easily creates vivid images in the readers mind.

I was tearing through this book, getting through it in about a week with ease. It was something that wasn’t hard reading so even if you were a little tired you were still drawn in, but at the same time you didn’t want to put it down once you started. Reading this book was an escape from the boring adult world, bringing you into a world of imagination and fun, and without ever getting too serious.

This book is a series, and I can’t wait to keep going with the next one. I wonder if (like in Harry Potter) the stories will continue to take a dark and twisted turn. I can see the opportunity for it to do so but will need to see which way the author chooses to go with it.

I give this book 4 and a half stars out of 5, no matter what your age is!

The Place on Dalhousie

If you grew up and went to high school in Australia, it’s likely you might have heard of Melina Marchetta. One of her earliest books ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ is an Australian coming of age story, so naturally you are normally forced to study it in English. Normally, any book you have to read in English is automatically ruined by the fact that you had to study it in depth and go over it again and again, but luckily Marchetta’s stories draw you in so much that (for me anyway) I was immune to it and to this day that is still one of my favourite stories (in movie or book form).

I have read most of Marchetta’s books over the years, and her stories are normally pretty high up on my list of favourites. Another of her stories ‘Tell the truth, shame the devil’ is probably my second favourite book of all time, but a review of that book is for another time. Throughout some of her books, there has been some recurring characters, and each book explores another person from that group in depth. ‘The Place on Dalhousie’ is the third in this series, exploring the life of Jimmy Hailler and Rosie Gennaro.

The way Marchetta tells stories is by peppering the story with little seemingly insignificant details which all wrap together in the end to show the inevitability and magic of fate and how some people are just magnetically drawn to each other, despite their directions in life. I won’t say much more about the story, because one of the best things about this story is how the relationships and various sub plots slowly play out and tie together.

Instead, I will just say that this might not be the best of Marchetta’s stories, although I must admit she has set the bar pretty high with some of her previous books. She does however, make the characters so familiar to the reader, that it felt as though I could walk down the street and run into any of them, it might help that I do live in the area where her story is based though.

The characters are all raw, and have faults and at times can be extremely frustrating, but at the end of the day, you’re still invested in their story and their happiness, which to me is the sign of a winning story.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars, but if you’re looking for Marchetta’s best work, I would recommend one of her others (‘Looking for Alibrandi’, ‘On the Jellicoe Road’ or ‘Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil’).

The Cursed Child

This is one that is a little out of the ordinary for me, a Play review. I guess, it is also a book review, but fresh in my mind is the play as I went to Melbourne on the weekend to watch it.

The next saga from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter universe. I read the screenplay as a book years ago, and I remember after reading it, feeling really underwhelmed. the story didn’t hook me, and none of the characters were that great. Even Harry, Hermione and Ron were not the heroes I always thought they were. I had to remind myself that it wasn’t intended to be a book and that’s why it didn’t grab me, and I must admit after watching the play, I was right.

Don’t get me wrong, the storyline still had a lot of flaws and it certainly isn’t as great or as well thought out as the original Harry Potter storyline, but (and without being too corny) this play is absolutely ‘magical‘. There is no other way to put it, th way this play unfolds in front of you is pure magic. The special effects, the music, the set changes, every single thing is so detailed and mindblowing. Without giving too much of the actual story away (#keepthesecrets), seeing some of your old favourite characters back on screen, as well as some new faces was an experience that I will never forget.

And it is an experience!  It is really a whole day affair to do it all. You have to essentially sit through two whole plays with a two and a half hour break in the middle and in some slower scenes during the play you can feel as though they are deliberately drawing it out in an attempt to make more money. It’s a big time commitment (and a very expensive one), but at the end of the day it is a one in a lifetime experience and worth every dollar and minute of my time.

I am not sure what this play is like overseas as well, but all I can say is that having it at Princess Theatre only made it better, because that theatre is one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen in Australia. It made you feel as though you were transported to London, and in the thick of the Wizarding world.

I would recommend this play to anyone and everyone, even if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, or even a fan of plays. I defy anyone to go to that play and not have your mind blown. It is absolutely unreal, and JK Rowling has managed to deliver another key piece of the magical world she created.

Seven Ancient Wonders

I must admit, now it’s got to winter time my reading has really slowed down. It doesn’t make sense because winter is the best time to be cosied up inside reading, but instead I have just been sleepy and lazy and avoided it. Today though I wasn’t feeling well so had the day off work, and decided to smash through the book I have been trying to finish for at least 5 weeks now, Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly. I read another of Matthew Reilly’s books earlier this year (The Tournament) and loved the way the story pulled me in, using historical facts and myths to do so, and I was told repeatedly that this was the next book to look into.

I must admit, in the first few chapters, it did not pull me in as much as The Tournament did. It could be because I wasn’t motivated to read, or maybe it was just a little too detail heavy in the beginning. The places Reilly is trying to portray in his books are hard to imagine as they are places I have never and will probably never experience. There are diagrams to help, but to try and imagine the spectacular settings he is trying to portray requires a lot of imagination and concentrated thought. It’s worth putting that thought in though, because one of the reasons this book is so great is the mystery around all of these places. Similar to Da Vinci Code (in the sense that it is using historical landmarks and religious myth to create a mystery), it builds a world that maybe could exist, or does exist, but noone would ever really know.

The characters were interesting, and at first it was confusing trying to remember who was who and where they were from because of the various nicknames, but you can always remember the key characters, and you find yourself rooting for the team as a whole, being that they are the underdogs.

I liked the Indiana Jones vibe of this book, of traps and adventures through ancient ruins, and I think this book would make a breathtaking movie, I only hope someone wants to make that. Overall I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The People in the Trees

Hanya Yanagihara won my heart in her book ‘A Little Life’ which I read last year. That book deserves its own review, because it is one of the best books I have ever read, but recently she released her next book; ‘The People in the Trees’. It was on my list of books to read for a while, and so I was so excited to get stuck in, expecting the same magic as ‘A Little Life’. Maybe that was an unfair assumption to make, because it is a completely different vibe of the book. I started reading it though and thought that this entire storyline was made up because it was so far fetched, and certainly parts of the story are made up (the immortal humans living on a Pacific Island is the main part) but the book was actually based on Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, which I wish I knew before I started, because that does make the story more interesting.

 

On first impressions, this book is a veryyyyyy slow narration about a Scientist’s journey into an untouched island community, discovering its medical mysteries, the fall of that community due to Western intervention, and then the adoption of these children into the Scientist’s family. Without giving much more away, the book delves into the psyche of Gajdusek throughout the whole experience, although I am unsure whether this is his actual thoughts, or just what Yanagihara expects them to be.

 

Without knowing that this is based on a true person, this is just a very tedious, long book, that I had to force myself to keep reading. I think at one point I got a little hooked but about 20 pages later I was bored again. Similar to ‘A Little Life’ there is so much detail in the stories, that it really draws out the story and you feel like you’re not getting anywhere despite having read pages and pages. The difference with its predecessor, though, is that you aren’t invested in the characters. You don’t feel warmly towards any of the characters, or want to see things turn out well for them. Instead you just follow the story of the villain, even though there are attempts to humanise them.

 

Hanya is a beautiful writer, and she can paint a wonderful picture, but without exploring characters that you’re actually invested or interested in, her writing is just a little too slow for my liking. Again, I wish I knew it was based on a real person to begin with but I don’t even think this would have been enough to make me more invested.

I give this book a 3 out of 5, and I hope that her next book hits the mark just like ‘A Little Life’ did.

The Final Empire (Mistborn Book One)

I used to have this old roommate a couple of years ago, and whilst I love him, he is in the best way a big nerd. He used to read these huge fantasy books that were 600 pages long and part of this intricate and complicated world, and I used to pick on him almost daily about this. I have always loved reading but these books just seemed like the epitome of nerdy books and I always thought they weren’t for me. Then all of my friends started reading these books, and swore by how fantastic they were, so eventually I got to the point where I decided I had to see what all the hype was about.

Enter The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. The sheer idea of this book intimidates me, more than 600 pages long and the first in a much longer series. I was sceptical but I started to dig in. By about page 100 I was absolutely hooked and couldn’t put it down. It got to the point where I had a sick day from work (I was actually sick, I swear), and I read about 400 pages and finished the book this day. I did nothing else.

I don’t know what it is about Brandon Sanderson’s writing, but he has a way of building this extremely complex world with so many sub plots and characters, and yet it is easy to read and follow. You find yourself enraptured by the mystery of what’s to come, and whilst some storylines (I won’t be giving away any spoilers) are slightly predictable, the overall story and ending was not at all. It also had a way of exploring real world issues, like class systems, slavery, discrimination and political systems, in a really though provoking way.

I have a pile of books I need to keep on reading, but I must admit I was close to just buying the second book of this series and keep on going right away, because I am now addicted to this storyline. I haven’t been this sucked in by a book series since Harry Potter, and I can assure you, Brandon Sanderson’s world that he is building seems much more complicated than that world.

So I want to thank my friends for introducing me to these books, but at the same time be mad. I can foresee that I am not going to have much of a life for the next few years trying to catch up on all these books. And the other amazing thing about Brandon Sanderson is how quickly he pumps these books out, I am talking multiple 600 page books a year, it’s really impressive.

 

I give The Final Empire 5 out of 5 stars. If you haven’t read it yet, then what are you waiting for? Start now, you won’t regret it (unless you have a very busy life and like sleep, then you might).