Month: August 2010

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6000 pages reading reviews

6000 Pages, Scott Pilgrim – Bryan Lee O’Malley (pages 3239-3526)

Scott Pilgrim vol1 (of 6)

So, before I get into the review proper I need to get a couple of technicalities out of the way first.

Firstly, I read all six of the Scott Pilgrim comic books but I’m counting them as one ‘book’ for the purpose of this blog. Since we’re counting pages that’s largely irrelevant but it means you only get one review.

Second, I decided that the page count needed some adjustment. It would be flattering but a little unfair to count the pages as-is given the comic book form. So I added up all the pages and the time it took me to read and came up with a figure that maintains my approximate pages/hour count – which is 4 Scott Pilgrim pages=1 page from a regular book. Anyhow I’m happy with that and since the whole thing is arbitrary…

Scott Pilgrim tells the story of an early-20s slacker and his friends and their respective intertwined love-lives. As the story begins he’s just started dating a 17-year-old and you get the feeling this is because he enjoys the simplicity of just hanging out with someone who likes him.

He’s also in a band and they feature in the story too.

Of course if you’ve heard much about this, particularly the movie, then you’ve probably heard about is his new girlfriend’s “seven evil exes”. Oh when I say “new girlfriend” I mean the one he dumps his highschooler for not the 17year-old herself.

Oh and then there’s the fact that the story is told with the style and visual accompaniments of a video game.

There’s a lot to like here and I did. I think that when I was the same age as the characters I would have absolutely loved it. Anyway, I particularly like the way that despite some visual slickery and surreal story elements, the characterisation and relationships remain resolutely and realistically complicated. So it’s not in any way ‘dumbed down’ just because it uses relatively youthful pop culture references.

I found the pre-ending a little confusing (it’s better in the movie) but the ending ending was fine – hopeful, optimistic but not unrealistic.

8/10 – makes me wish I were young again (and in love/lust)

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6000 pages book reading reviews

6000 Pages, The Rapture – Liz Jensen (pages 2898-3239)

The Rapture - Liz Jensen

The Rapture is a hard book to classify, except to say that as usual, it’s not the sort of book I would have once read. Let’s see if I can make at least an attempt at a summary:

Gabrielle a psychologist with her own physical and emotional challenges, is working in a secure hospital with young dangerous adults. One of these, Bethany, is there because she murdered her mother. However there’s something a little different about Bethany, she has apocalyptic visions of destruction. Given that her father is an evangelical Christian preacher this is perhaps not unexpected. Except that when they start to come true…

I really enjoyed this book. It’s told mostly from Gabrielle’s point of view. She’s in a wheelchair from a car accident and that alone – the perspective of someone with those challenges – made the first part of the book interesting. Add to that the unfolding intrigue of Bethany and her visions. Also there’s a man – Frazer the Physicist – who may or may not be a love interest. Then about half-way through – another growing trend – the plot really kicks in and we’re into a fast-paced thriller-cum-disaster epic.

If this was a movie it would be a cross between One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Day After Tomorrow. In fact I think one of the reasons I liked it so much was that it played like a big spectacular movie in head as I read. But it’s a movie I’ve not seen before. It’s big action blockbuster for sure but it’s not dumb. In fact it’s raising issues to do with climate change and has a global-warming related end-of-the-world scenario that I’ve not heard of before.

There are problems with this book – in particular there’s a relationship-related plot thread that’s pure soap opera or cheesey sitcom. It needed to get resolved a lot quicker as it was too obvious where it was going. And yet I forgave the book that because ultimately it was such a wild ride.

9/10 – the end of the world shouldn’t be so much fun.

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Less is More

Less is More Week 12 – Comparisons

Lost: 2.6lbs
Lost so far: 30.9lbs
Average Weekly Loss: 2.6lbs
Weight: 263.8lbs (18st 11lb)

One of the things about having done this before is that I’m constantly comparing my progress with various points in the past. Like I’m about 3months in, how does that compare with 3months in to Lesamy? Or how does it compare with May 2009 when I was at my lowest? Or when, roughly, did I get back to this weight when I let things slide again? Or when was I about this weight earlier this year when I was trying again, but not really succeeding?

The trouble with all this comparison is that a) it’s probably not that helpful and b) I can never remember what I weighed at all those key moments. Oh I’ve got my old spreadsheets but I usually think about this stuff when I’m out walking, so I’m relying on memory. My memory.

Perhaps the best thing is just not to bother comparing. And just as soon as I figure out how to do that…


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Less is More

Less is More Week 11 – Almost

Lost: 2.4lbs
Lost so far: 28.3lbs
Average Weekly Loss: 2.6lbs
Weight: 266.4lbs (19st)

So almost but not quite under the 19st barrier. Still 2st in 11weeks is still good going. Remember that target for the year is 5st so I’m 2/5ths of the way there with about 1/5th of the time gone.


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6000 pages reviews

6000 Pages, Blacklands – Belinda Bauer (pages 2552-2897)

Blacklands, Belinda Bauer
Blacklands, Belinda Bauer

So, another crime novel and another book from the TV Book Club list.

Having said that, this is not your typical crime novel. It’s the story of a young boy, Stephen, whose uncle, Billy, was killed by a moors-murderers-style serial killer. Understandably this had a devastating effect on his mum, Stephen’s grandma, not least because the body was never found. Stephen’s mum, Billy’s sister, has grown up in the shadow of someone who was the favourite anyway but who she can now never compete with.

So Stephen’s family has some issues and he believes the way to fix things is find his uncle’s body. This leads him to start writing to the killer in jail.

I did really enjoy this book. I think it’s more about the impact this sort of crime has on a family long term rather than the usual trying to catch a terrible killer plot. So in that sense it’s not your normal crime novel. A couple of specific differences stand out: despite being quite gruesome the details of the crimes are not dwelt on as they sometimes are in books like this, also the killer is very definitely clearly “evil”. At first I thought this was a weakness of the book, thinking the characterisation was too simplistic. However as I read on more about his past was revealed and I think the line the author takes is to never make him a sympathetic character, to refuse to compromise on the idea that he did terrible things. Of course to some extent you do at least follow his story, so there’s a little sympathy/empathy there, but it’s very restrained which I think works in the end.

But the character in the book that I most enjoyed following was Stephen. Smart for his age and having had to take on a lot more than he should, you cheer on his efforts even perhaps when they are misguided – like writing to the killer. There’s some stuff about his family that felt it was laid on a little heavily, but overall it was well done.

8/10 – a gripping read. You’ll be anticipating the next letter as much as the characters.

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Less is More

Less is More Week 10 – Not So Bony

Lost: 1.8lbs
Lost so far: 25.9lbs
Average Weekly Loss: 2.6lbs
Weight: 268.8lbs (19st 3lbs)

1.8lbs is a nice respectable loss but I have to admit it feels a little low at the moment. Mind you I wonder if there’s some carry over from last week in there, and if there is maybe next week will reflect some of this week’s hard work.

Whatever. It’s going in the right direction and I’m still ahead of schedule.

Last time I was at this weight I was complaining about “my bony ass” – not something I have a problem with at the moment. I wonder if that’s to do with the fact that I’m not doing the morning sit-ups I was doing last time around. At some point I think I will resume those but not just yet.


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6000 pages reading reviews

6000 Pages, A World Out of Time – Larry Niven (pages 2296-2551)

A World Out of Time by Larry Niven

It’s going to be hard to separate a real review from a personal, autobiographical account of this book. I’ll probably not try.

This is, uniquely since I started 25 books much less 6000 pages, a re-read. I felt I needed something familiar, something I knew I’d enjoy.

There’s a section in Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity where he talks about listening to the Beatles because it’s music that he first heard as a child and it isn’t (for him) associated with love, loss and chasing girls, it’s associated with a more innocent, less complicated time and as such it’s comforting.

A World Out of Time is a little like that for me. I didn’t first read it when I was a child. In fact I was 22. Although…

OK. Let’s go back to when I was a child – 11 or 12 – and first discovered book shops. I knew I loved to read but faced with a choice, my own choice, of what to read I was a little stumped. So I went with what I knew. I knew I liked Dr Who so I figured that meant I liked SciFi so I went to the SciFi section. I’d already devoured HG Wells and some other classics so I wanted something a bit more up to date. What I eventually chose was a book of short stories by Larry Niven. I must have enjoyed them because over the next several years I read most of his “Known Space” books including the Ringworld ones.

Anyway one of the stories was called “Rammer” and was the story of a man awakened from frozen sleep to discover he’s being trained to be a spaceship pilot. A World Out of Time’s first chapter is a slightly modified version of this story.

What I like about this book is its ideas. A lot of science (which may well have been superceded since it was written). It has a huge scope – the main character travels to the centre of the galaxy and back and his story spans 3,000,000 years (though his personal timeline doesn’t due to relativistic time effects). There’s discussion of how in this future the solar system was adapted by moving planets around. Red Dwarf played this for laughs but here it’s done seriously with what looks like a plausible stab at the science needed.

It’s also a rolicking good story. The earlier part of the book is about Corbell’s exploration of the galactic hub and his return to what he believes is earth. The later part is almost one long chase scene. Certainly I found (then and now) that the pace keeps you interested.

The characterisation isn’t much to write home about. Emotionally it’s a little cold I guess. Corbell and the other few characters act mostly in ways dictated by logic. And the logic is applied to these huge events such as what will happen if/when the earth is moved again. But I can forgive it that. I’m not looking for insight into the human condition here. What I get is a good story, interesting scenery and big ideas.

Also – maybe this is not entirely irrelevant – the plot of the later part of the book concerns the hunt for immortality. The scientific secret of which has been found but lost.

I can’t necessarily recommend this unless you have the same set of idiosyncratic tastes as me, but it is a guilty pleasure.

7/10 – good old fashioned ‘hard’ scifi. Full of ideas.

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6000 pages reading reviews

6000 Pages, Sacred Hearts – Sarah Dunant (pages 1816-2295)

Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant

Here’s a book I couldn’t imagine myself reading until I actually did. A story of nuns in 16th century Italy.

But it came highly recommended in two book clubs – the Ship of Fools one and the TV one. I guess I was looking for something a little different and it’s certainly that.

So a bit of a gamble – did it pay off?

Yes. This is a really enjoyable book. It opens up a world I never really knew existed. I knew of course the convents existed. I hadn’t realised that in those days the existence of dowries meant that well to do families could usually only afford to marry off one of their daughters and so convents became dumping grounds for the others – the less good looking, or more independently-minded or intelligent, or generally just less marriageable. Dumping grounds is a little unfair but what it meant was the the convents were full of women who hadn’t so much chosen a vocation as become resigned to a fate.

And it turns out it could be not such a bad one. Inside the walls of the nunnery there was a certain amount of freedom and independence. A fraction of the money that would have gone to a husband’s family went to the convent and this meant they were in some way indebted to powerful families – so that conditions for those nuns at least were kept tolerable.

The shadow in the background is the coming of a tightening of restrictions based as a consequence of the Council of Trent. Santa Caterina, the convent of the novel, has so far avoided this clamping down but the desire not to draw undue attention to itself is one of the motivations for a key character in the book.

For about the first half, the book is mostly scene setting and getting to know the characters. I’ve seen people describe this as slow but I didn’t find it so. We follow Serafina, a new novice, who has joined very much against her will, and through her eyes we learn about the world of the convent. We also follow Suora Zuana – the convent’s dispensary sister. She’s a fascinating character – she has in many ways a more modern, sceptical, rational outlook but she is still a product of her age.

About half way through a major incident occurs and what follows in a gripping thriller, the pace quickening and not letting up until the end.

9/10 – a surprisingly gripping read, and a glimpse of another world.

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Less is More

Less is More Week 9 – Pushing Too Hard?

Lost: 4.4lbs
Lost so far: 24.1lbs
Average Weekly Loss: 2.7lbs
Weight: 271lbs (19st 5lbs)

Well, I lost back all I’d gained plus a little more. Still I had to push myself quite hard to achieve that. Maybe next time I’ll try to not put it on in the first place!