Absorbing, and with a clever ending, but one of the few books where a film version holds up in comparison (the Will Smith one, I haven’t seen the earlier film).
Category Archives: book review
Rowan’s Rule (Rupert Shortt)
Very interesting, comprehensive and humane biography of the ABC which, whilst not pulling any punches, particularly with regard to his management capabilities, nevertheless conveys an immensely positive portrait of Rowan as a whole. We’re lucky to have him.
Ilium & Olympos (Dan Simmons)
Blends together Homer, Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’ and contemporary sf tropes in a mind-bendingly interesting way. Good stuff, but probably for fans of the genre only.
(One of the benefits of being stuck in bed is the chance to catch up on some reading! I’ve even recovered from being 18 months behind on my TLS.)
Darkly Dreaming Dexter & Dearly Devoted Dexter (Jeff Lindsay)
I really enjoyed the first series of this on TV and I thought I’d pick up the originating novels. Enjoyable nonsense, but with one interesting thread that I might comment on in due course. (Series 2 starts on ITV tomorrow night, so I might have a chance to catch up.)
The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman)
Wondrously magical and highly recommended. My favourite Christmas present.
UPDATE: he’s won a prize for it.
The Gone-Away World (Nick Harkaway)
Awesomely good – intellectually intriguing and creative, extremely well-written and absorbing, and, last but not least, I’d recommend to any philosophy students wanting to know what ‘reification’ means.
With a h/t to Mike Bursell who recommended it to me.
The Political Brain (Drew Westen)
Very stimulating application of contemporary research into the emotions (something I’ve had a long standing interest in – see, eg, here) to the political sphere in the United States. I particularly enjoyed the dissection of the Gore-Bush debates, and the plausible explanation of why Bush “won”. Clearly a big influence on the Obama campaign – let’s hope that Palin reads it too, although she seems to be a natural at most of it. Highly recommended.
Inverting the Pyramid: A history of football tactics (Jonathan Wilson)
Stimulating and illuminating; highly recommended.
The Fallout (Andrew Anthony)
Readable story of political awakening by a formerly left-wing Guardian journalist. His understanding of foreign affairs was mugged by 9/11, and his attitude to crime was mugged rather more violently. As he says, to be in favour of gay rights and free speech now marks you out as a right wing lunatic Islamophobe. It’s nice to have the company.
Faith of my fathers (John McCain)
Picked this up on a whim in the bookshop last week. A fascinating read, with some remarkable passages, but you do have to wonder how far the presentation is being tweaked for electoral purposes. Even so, he has clearly learnt some personal humility from his experiences, and that can only be a good thing. It has made me want to find a really good biography of him, to see how far his emphasis on personal honour etc is reconcilable with the Keating scandal. Well worth reading.
(NB I now plan to read Obama’s autobiography as well, just to be fair!)