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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 A lot of science (which may well have been superceded since it was written).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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6000 pages reading reviews

6000 Pages, 1977 – David Peace (pages 1475-1815)

1977 David Peace

I said when I finished 1974 that I’d wait a while before starting the follow-up because I needed something lighter and I’d heard 1977 is darker.

It is.

Darker. Grimmer. Bleaker. Tougher.

Maybe it’s not that much worse than 1974 but it feels it. Maybe because you get to a lot of the tougher stuff earlier. Maybe it’s because I read it in a day (partly the pace pulled me in, mostly I wanted to read it before lending it to M. who’s asked to borrow it). Maybe because the ending is… not the ending I was hoping for.

1977 is a fictionalised account of the search for the Yorkshire Ripper. Two of the minor characters from 1974 – a policeman and a reporter – alternately narrate chapters of the story. They’re unreliable witnesses but they’re also morally compromised because of their own involvement with prostitutes. As with 1974 a complex web of crime, conspiracy and corruption unfolds.

The thing I remembered about Peace’s writing whilst reading 1977 was the frenetic pace, the surreal, confusing and slightly irritating prose style at times, the fact that you sometimes don’t really know what’s going on or who’s who, the fact that almost everyone is not a nice person and/or (usually and) a victim of human ugliness. All these things were true of 1974 and they were all down-sides but the things that made it worth reading were a kind of morbid fascination with the gruesome crimes, I’ll admit some titillation at unacceptable behaviour (think Life on Mars x100) and, perhaps most of all, the page-turning need to find out what happens next.

Well 1977 has these same strengths too but whilst I’m still fascinated and titillated, I’m also a little weary of the darkness. Crucially also, when I neared the end of the book I realised with a growing sense of anger that I wasn’t going to get all the answers to my questions about the plot. Don’t get me wrong 1977 has a conclusion to its own story, stories in fact – but there are also on-going elements which reach into the next book(s). I think if I’d realised that up front I’d’ve enjoyed it more. 1974 was much more self-contained.

At this stage I can’t see me wading through two more books of such tough material (with the uncomfortable feeling that part of me is enjoying it in the wrong way) just to find out what happens. Maybe – but it’ll be while I think.

So –

6/10 – more of the same is not necessarily a good thing.

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6000 pages reading reviews

6000 Pages, One Day – David Nicholls (pages 1027-1474)

One Day - David Nicholls

When I first started doing reviews on this blog I decided that unless something was very new I wouldn’t constrain myself to not revealing spoilers. However up until now I don’t think I’ve given away anything.

Up until now because I don’t really feel I can talk about One Day by David Nicholls, and the impact it had on me, without talking about the ending. Just in case there is anyone out there who has alighted on this review and doesn’t want to be spoiled I’ll be using the WordPress click-here-for-more thingy.

So anyway – here goes.

I first came into contact with David Nicholls work when I saw the movie Starter for Ten which is based on his book of the same name. I enjoyed the movie – it’s a comedy of love, romance and University Challenge set in the 80s – but never read the book. However when I saw this book in the bookshop I was intrigued and so bought it (although I got the ebook version for my Kindle).

It’s about the relationship between two friends – starting as they’re just leaving Uni in 1988 – told in a series of chapters that take place on the same day of consecutive years. This is a device that works well I think. It gives a structure to the book even if it then feels a little episodic. But like the episodes of a good TV show they have their own stories, things to enjoy, whilst developing on-going plotlines and characters. There’s a sense in which you see these two people grow up and mature. If that sounds a little dull it’s not. I found it both funny and touching – but then (as has been mentioned before) I’m at the right stage of life to be considering things like how my life has developed so far.

If I have criticisms it’s when the current episode isn’t as funny/moving/interesting in and of itself. That may be a sense of humour thing. This could be another of those comedies I like but don’t laugh at.

The characters are likeable – surprisingly so in one case. I felt my sympathy more with Emma, the female main character, rather than Dexter. But Dexter does some terrible things and you still like him – which is how he’s supposed to be.

I dithered about what to score it. On Goodreads I gave it 4/5 stars so I guess it should be 7 or 8. I’m giving it a reluctant 8.

8/10 – might have been higher but for… well see below if you don’t mind being spoiled.

Pages read so far: 1592

Pages in completed books: 1474

Continue reading “6000 Pages, One Day – David Nicholls (pages 1027-1474)”
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6000 pages reading reviews

6000 pages, The Way Home – George Pelecanos (pages 718-1026)

The Way Home is a book I picked because of a recommendation on TV Book Club and because George Pelacanos is one of the writers on The Wire – a show I’ve never seen but heard consistently good things about so often that I probably will one day.

The Way Home is another book about crime that’s not really a crime thriller. It follows Chris Flynn who as a young teenager gets himself in trouble with the law and finds himself in a youth prison. Later as an adult he becomes involved once again with the world of crime but this time attempts to keep away from it.

I enjoyed this book. It builds slowly but by the end I was gripped. What could have been written as a straight-forward crime thriller became a brooding meditation on the effects of crime on young boys and men – and their families.

But that sounds a bit analytical. The thing I enjoyed about this book was that it put a crime story in the context of a person’s relationships. It wasn’t just a question of “what will happen? will they get the bad guy?” it was “what’s this going to do to his mum, dad, girlfriend?”

I did get the feeling there were cultural references I was missing and the street language was unfamiliar to me. Which was fine but left me definitely feeling I was on the outside of this world looking in – as Brit, a white guy, a middle class man who’s never had or been in that kind of trouble. Maybe that was the point – after all reading is about looking through someone else’s eyes into their world right?

The ending’s one of downbeat optimism if that makes any sense – which it may if you read it.

8/10 – interesting read which gets better the nearer to the end you are.

Pages Read so far: 1026

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6000 pages reading reviews

6000 Pages, Small Gods – Terry Pratchett (pages 329-717)

Having read quite a lot of crime, crime-related and horror over the past year I felt it was time for something lighter, so what better time to go back and fill the gaps in my Discworld reading?

Small Gods is the first of those gaps. Actually I’ve read later Discworld books, but at the time this first came out – when I was still devouring each new Pratchett novel that came out in paper back – I wasn’t sure I wanted to see religion so effectively mocked as I was sure it would be. Weird huh?

Anyway I went back to it after – (checks) – 17 years (wow!).

Small Gods follows the story of Brutha a novice monk in a religion that worships the Great God Om, as he starts to hear the voice of his deity. He is somewhat surprised to find that Om takes the form of a small tortoise. What follows is a satire on religion and the usual romp around the colourful lanscape of the Discworld.

Discworld books in my experience fall into one of two categories. The first are very funny, very affecting and can be thought-provoking and even profound. The second are very funny, amiable and a little forgettable. Small Gods is one of the later kind – a chinese meal of a book – fun while it lasts but in a little while it’s left so little impact that you could easily have another.

What’s good about Small Gods is that it does effectively skewer the kinds of religion that deserve it without really attacking sincere faith. It has something interesting to say about institutional religion and how institutions take on a life of their own that can be oppressive and destructive of those involved in them. I also liked the character of Brutha. Pratchett’s good at creating likeable heroes who aren’t necessarily very smart or skillful or charming or charismatic but have … decency I guess.

What it shares with some of the weaker Discworld books is an inability to get to an ending – it’s not quite Lord of the Rings multiple endings drawn out but I did feel that it was basically done about 50 pages before the book actually ended.

7/10 – a weaker Discworld book which means still a fun, light read.

Pages Read so far: 717

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6000 pages reading reviews

6000 pages, The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold (pages 1-328)

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is one of those books that I’d never have read a few years ago. And I’m not even talking about how I expanded my tastes after reading mostly SciFi/Fantasy about 10 years ago. I’m talking about the last couple of years when I’ve tried more ‘literary’ fiction.

However I remembered good reviews of The Lovely Bones and heard that Peter Jackson was making a movie so I thought it might be worth a look. It was.

The Lovely Bones is narrated (mostly) by Susie Salmon, who is 14 and is raped and murdered in chapter 1. She looks down on her family and friends from ‘her’ heaven and watches as the effects of her loss is felt.

The important thing to note about this book is that it’s not about solving Susie’s murder, or finding her body, it is about the relationships and the connections between her family and friends and how they are revealed by their corporate and individual grief. The times when I forgot that, when I felt the ‘murder-mystery’ plot was taking over, were times that I was setting myself up for disappointment.

But I did enjoy the family interaction and the slow coming to terms with Susie being gone.

I’m not entirely sure the device of having Susie narrate the book, with all the metaphysical baggage that requires, added much. Except that without it one of my favourite sections near the end wouldn’t have happened. I can’t be more detailed without spoiling it so I won’t.

7/10 – a good read, but if you’re looking for a murder-mystery, these are not the bones you are looking for.

Pages Read so far: 328

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6000 pages reading

6000 Pages

Something a little more positive.

Up until a couple of days ago I was all set to launch “20 books”. This was to reflect a change in priorities of my reading goals. As I said in the wrap-up of 25 books, last year I wanted to read more widely – hence different genres, authors and so on. This year I mainly want to concentrate on reading a little more, and spreading it out a little more. My idea was to have a target of 20 books but with points for longer books so that overall I read more.

Whilst I was considering writing this up, I realised that a better way to do this is to set the goal for the number of pages. Last year I read just under 5000 pages, so let’s aim for 6000. The reason this is better is also partly to do with my spreadsheet. My 25 books spreadsheet (as well as the 20 books one I had begun) is based on the one I created a couple of years ago for my Harry Potter marathon. I had in effect merely expanded the number of books and the time period. But that was for a specific goal – to read all books by a particular date. It was therefore a good thing to be able to see what page of what book I should be on and how close to that I was.

But applying that to a whole year didn’t work as well. It meant that at any one time I could only really have one book on the go. I had no way of counting reading time for a book I set aside and then later finished. Also once I was reasonably far behind (as I soon was) the ‘target’ figures became meaningless in terms of motivation. Knowing I should be 4 books ahead of where I was it didn’t make much odds which page I was on!(1)

But by making it about pages – and designing a new spreadsheet accordingly – I can count all my reading. I can have more than one book on the go at once(2). I can monitor my targets in terms of pages read, pages/day, days read etc. It’s also much simpler.

The New Rules

So here’s the new scoring rules. They are designed to give me a stretch, to hopefully allow a similar score to last year for a similar amount of effort (so I can aim to ‘beat’ my score, even if the basis is entirely different) and they are aimed at the underlying goals of reading more and more often.

1. Page count – my goal is 6000 pages but my benchmark is 5000, just above last year’s. For every 100 pages above or below 5000 add or deduct 1 point.

2. Days read – last year I managed 71 days. Adding a fortnight to that makes a nice round 85. For every day above or below 85 add or deduct 1 point – upto a maximum of +15 or minimum of -10.

3. Book length – last year my average book was 274pages. I always felt like I was looking for short books that I could finish quickly. That felt a little like cheating. So this year I can gain points for reading longer books. Round up the average page count to the nearest 5 and:

  • 0-250pages – -1 point
  • 251-300pages – 0 points
  • 301-325pages – 1 point
  • 326-375pages – 2points
  • 375-500pages – 5points
  • 500+pages – 10points

Knowing how a few low scores bring an average down(3) I suspect I’ll find it hard to get more than 2 points – but that’s ok.

4. Only one unfinished book counts. I expect this to be the last one. It means I don’t have to race to finish whatever I happen to be in the middle of on 31-dec (unless I want to)

Not really a scoring rule, but a goal is to not get more than 1 book behind on writing them up in the blog. So before starting book 5 for example I really ought to have written up book 3. I use the example of 5 and 3 because I am on book 3 and haven’t written up book 1 yet – but hopefully I’ll put that right tomorrow.

(1) Actually this was a little bit of a problem with the Harry Potter books too. If you remember I wanted to finish book 5 before the movie came out and that meant I needed to be well ahead of where the targets otherwise said I should be

(2) I don’t generally like to do this anyway but it’s surprising how many times I would have liked the flexibility.

(3) Whenever I make the 275mile trip back to my parents, I usually entertain myself by keeping track of my average speed. The journey is 10 miles of town traffic with the rest on the motorways. I’m always amazed by how long you have to go at 80 to raise the average speed to something decent when it’s been affected by the initial stretch (averaging 10-15)

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25 books reading reviews

25 Books – 18 is *nearly* 25 right?

So this is the official “25 books“ 2009 wrap-up post. I nearly wrote it last night but in the end I only had time to collate the stats and work out the points. But we’ll get to that.

As you can see from the title the magic number was 18. I read 18 books in 2009. Not quite 25. Not even 20. But still quite a few more than I would have read and therefore an achievement. Instead of a book every two weeks I read one every three (roughly, on average).

Some Numbers

So since we’re talking numbers let’s do the stats thing. No point in keeping complicated spreadsheets and not doing the stats thing right? In 2009…

  • I read for a total of 98 hours and 23mins, or 16mins a day
  • My reading speed was 50pages/hour
  • I read a total of 4924 pages, or 13 pages a day
  • Since I read 18 books this means the books had an average of 274 pages each
  • I read one book every 20 1/4 days on average but…
  • I only read on 71 out of the 365 days meaning that…
  • I averaged 1hour 23mins on days I actually read
  • I read an average of 69 pages on those days
  • There were long gaps between bouts of reading. The longest was 54days. The next three longest were 40, 35 and 35 days respectively. So there really were isolated but intense periods of lots reading and literally weeks of not.

Enough Numbers What Have You Learnt?

Patience. How about I tell you about how well I did with regard to the “rules” of the challenge? You know the points?

Fair Enough – So How Did You Score?

Here’s those rules:

“1. Read at least 25 books before the end of 2009”

I read 18 books.

“2. No more than 3 (of the 25) can be books you’ve read before. If you read more than 25 can you re-read others.”

I didn’t re-read any books.

“3. You should read at least 3 books by authors you’ve not read before.”

Of the 18, 12 were by authors I’d never read before – Richard Matheson (I am Legend), David Almond (Skellig), W.E.Bowman (Rum Doodle), Stieg Larsson (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), F. Scott Fitzgerald (Great Gatsby), Brian Aldiss (Hothouse),Cally Taylor (Heaven Can Wait), J.D. Salinger (Catcher in the Rye), John Lindqvist (Let the Right One In), (Beowulf), David Peace (1974), Paul Torday (Girl on the Landing)

“4. This should include at least 2 new authors (i.e. not just 3 books by 1 new author)”

See above

“5. At least one book must have been published (for the first time) in 2009”

Heaven Can Wait, Juliet Naked and Girl on the Landing were all new in 2009.

“6. For each of the targets 1-5 deduct a point if you miss it.”

Even though I only read 18 books that’s only one target missed so

-1

“7. If you read a book from a genre you’ve never read before add a point”

I read Horror, Travel Parody, Literary Fiction, Chick Lit., Crime/Thriller, Espionage. That’s six

+6 = 5

“8. If you read a book that you wouldn’t have read but for a recommendation add a point.”

My sister recommended Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I bought and read Skellig because it was on a display advertised as “recommended by Nick Hornby”. Rum Doodle was a secret santa present I wouldn’t have bought for myself.

+3 = 8

“9. If you read a book that can only be bought second-hand add a point.”

Hothouse is out of print.

+1 = 9

“10. If you read a book first published more than 50 years ago and still in print add a point. For books first published more than 200years ago add 2 points. For books published more than 500 years add 3 points and for books written over 1000years ago add 4 point.”

Beowulf dates from somewhere between the 8th and early 11th century. 1026 is the latest date associated with the manuscripts. I’m going to go with the probabilities and call it a 1000+ book.

+4 = 13

I had no 500+ or 200+ books. (Though I would have had if I hadn’t set aside Persuasion) but I had 4 50+ ones – Great Gatsby, I am Legend, Rum Doodle and Catcher in the Rye.

+1 (x4) = 17

So I scored 17points. Which is a fairly meaningless number without something to compare it to.

Speaking of Scores…

Almost forgot, the average score a book received was 7.0 – which means I basically enjoyed most of the books. That’s a little higher than I expected. I guess I remember the few low scoring ones.

So Any Conclusions?

I’ve learnt that given where I am right now, it makes more sense to read stuff I know I’ll enjoy rather than try to force myself to expand my horizons too much. Having said that I also learn that I enjoy genres I didn’t think I would like crime and horror. I also learnt that I tend to read a lot in little bursts – a few hours a day for a few days. I’d like to spread that out a little but honestly I think some of that coms from the way reading works – if you get into a good book you want to read it more.

All in all I feel pleased. By setting myself targets I read more that I would otherwise I and enjoyed most of what I read. I also read things I might not have considered.

I was going to wrap this up by setting out goals for 2010 (no, they’re not the same) but this post is long enough already.

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25 books reading reviews

25 Books, Book 18 – Dead Long Enough, James Hawes

I first read James Hawes when I first started to break out of the limited SciFi/Fantasy list of authors that I used to read. I picked up a double edition of A White Merc With Fins and Rancid Aluminium at a WHSmiths at train station (looking for something to read for the journey) and found I enjoyed both books a lot.

That was over ten years ago and Dead Long Enough had me wondering whether those were better books or whether my tastes have changed dramatically. Perhaps I was so ready for something different back then that Hawes seemed fresh and interesting. Perhaps in the 8 or 9 years between buying and reading this book I’d gotten too old for its themes.

Perhaps, but then again perhaps not, I think more happened in those other books.

Harry is a trendy “young” TV archaeologist who has an annual ritual of celebrating his “fake birthdays”* with his friends. This year, as they are all nearing or just past 40, they take a trip back to Harry’s native Dublin and discover something about his past, including why (and who) he left.

As you might have guessed I didn’t particularly enjoy this book. I found it a struggle to finish. Unlike my memory of his two previous books there seemed to be an awful lot of tell and not show, and an awful lot of both was very repetitive. There were long passages waxing lyrical in different ways essential on one thing – it sucks to get old. It took at least 2/3rds of the book for the action to really start. The first part is basically the introduction and backstory of the characters, their meeting up in a London pub and journey to a Dublin pub and then party. Meanwhile we get lots of ruminations both as narration and dialogue on what it means to hit middle age. I found it tedious.

When things finally did start to happen I didn’t feel like they made a huge amount of sense. As you know I’m not normally picky with plot holes – but when I am it’s because I stopped caring about the characters and story and started unravelling things. Here I never really started to care.

4/10 – long enough and dead boring.

(*He lies about his age for his job and so celebrates the birthday of the age he claims to be.)