Rambling through the undergrowth: 2007

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Recently read

The Picture of Dorian Gray

by Oscar Wilde

tagged: classic and fiction

Perverting the Course of Justice: The Hilarious and Shocking Inside Story of British Policing

by Inspector Gadget

tagged: non-fiction and humour

If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things

by Jon McGregor

This is much more a poem than a piece of prose. The length of a major, heroic poem but without the depth and breadth.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

by Kim Edwards

Thick layers of emotions heavily laid on with a trowel cementing together giant boulders of improbability. The author found Jodi Picoult's recipe book and had a go.

tagged: fiction and own

The Promise of Happiness

by Justin Cartwright

This book was a disappointment. It was written in short staccato sentences. These were repetitive and disruptive. It made the book irritating to read. Even when sentences were longer, they were only thus by the use of the comma, and the str...

tagged: fiction and own

The Weather Book: Why It Happens And Where It Comes From

by Diana Craig

This is a quick easy read. A pleasant book to while away some time. It would be an excellent waiting room ot toilet book as it comprises short chapters to dip into in any order. There is lots of interestinfg information and migth be valuabl...

tagged: non-fiction, own, and self-sufficiency

The Road Less Travelled

by M. Scott Peck

This is a book of two parts. The first part is a reasonably well written introduction to psychotherpay and some general advice on how one may face up to life's challenges as see them as an opportunity to grow and change. This portion in wel...

tagged: philosophy and psychiatry

The Long Firm

by Jake Arnott

This is the story of Mad Harry the 'Torture Gang Boss' told in five first person narratives. It is set in Soho in the sixties and concerns the underside of the swinging sixties; the gangsters, the drugs, the porn and racketeering.

...

An Introduction to Forestry for Young People

by Andrew N. Agnew

This is a surprisingly well written book. A small, concise and informative guide to silviculture. Easy guidance on tree recognition and the first principals of forest management explained.

tagged: non-fiction, own, and self-sufficiency

The True Deceiver

by Tove Jansson

This novella is very deceptive in its brevity. In its short, well written story it tackles the major themes of reason versus emotion, friendship versus obligation and trust versus obedience. The characters are well drawn and realistic and t...

tagged: fiction

Questions answered on how to start a farm.

by Major H. Blair Lund

This book is too dated to be of any practical value. It is too poorly written to give any pleasure and the author is too pompous to allow any humour.

tagged: non-fiction and self-sufficiency

How Much Do You Know?

by Harold Wheeler

This is an interesting little book. It is full of short answers to questions such as "Why is the sky blue ?" or "What is a Jury?".
However, it is very dated and the science and technology it covers stops at the 1930...

tagged: non-fiction

French Demystified

by Annie Heminway

The Day of the Jackal

by Frederick Forsyth

Status Seekers

by Vance Packard

This is less engaging than his other works and has remained more dated. It is as little ponderous at times and the author's ability to predict future trends is less accurate. There is much more attention paid to church and religion than is ...

tagged: politics, own, and non-fiction

Small Holdings

by James Long

Very dated now. Very little of practical value but a useful description of the politics of the early self-sufficiency movement.

tagged: self-sufficiency

Everything and Nothing

by Araminta Hall

A well written psychological thriller. I am waiting for it to be turned into a two-evening TV play. The first two thirds of the book are better than the denouement which is rather short and falls a little flat. However, over all, a good mod...

tagged: fiction and thriller

The End of Everything

by Megan Abbott

This was a surprising good book. In addition to being a "loss of innocence" novel it is also a good and effective psychological thiller. Perhaps less 'who done it?' and more 'what was done?'. The writing is clever and very evocati...

tagged: fiction and thriller

Silas Marner

by George Eliot

This is another classic which I had assumed I had read. I presumed either I had read it by some forgotten cultural osmosis or I had read it in my sleep in it the dark days of my teens and not noticed.

I should have spent mor...

tagged: classic and fiction

I Was There

by Hans Peter Richter

I found this childrens' book when I had no book on the go. I was surprised that it was an engaging read which tackles an important subject well. It gives some useful insight into the generation who grew up under Hitler's tutelage.

tagged: children, fiction, and history

Absolution

by Caro Ramsay

This is a well paced thriller set in central and west Glasgow. The characters are quite well drawn and the plot well structured. However, you do know who the villan is a bit too early.

tagged: crime, fiction, and thriller

The Redemption of Alexander Seaton

by Shona Maclean

Celebrity: How Entertainers Took Over the World and Why We Need an Exit Strategy

by Marina Hyde

This book unfortunately fails. It bemoans the celebrity culture but in essence contributes to it. This book itself is simply a collection of celebrity gaffes atwhich we are encouraged to gawp.

tagged: humour

The Redemption of Alexander Seaton

by Shona Maclean

I never managed to really engage with this story. The characters were well drawn but somehow failed to attract concern.

tagged: fiction

Christian Atheist: Belonging without Believing

by Brian Mountford

This is an essentially slight book on an important topic.

tagged: philosophy

Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at the Table

by Nigel Slater

One of the funniest writers about food and the British. Full of nostalgia and frequent witty turns of phrase.

tagged: cookery and humour

Is There a God?

by Richard Swinburne

Although the author would hope that the answer is a resounding "yes" it fails to support this. It is an interesting, but uncompelling, set of arguaments and while many parts are cogent the whole is a lot less than the sum of its p...

tagged: philosophy and library

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley

I re-read this book on a whim and I am immensely glad that I did. I recall enjoying the book as a 15 year old boy but it is clear that most of it went over my head. I suppose expecting an adolescent male to see the horror in ready sex with ...

tagged: own

The Waste Makers

by Vance Packard

It is surprising how little that this book has dated in the two generations since it was released. The dangers of planned obsolescence remain as important as when he coined the term. We are now all too painfully aware of the risks of our ex...

Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down

by Nicey

Very enjoyable and surprisingly informative. However, it fails to answer the question as to whether the biscuit is simply NICE or whether it hails from the South of France.

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters

by Timothy Keller

This is a well written and engaging book. I was surprised that I enjoyed it and initially thought that it might have relatively little relevance for me. However, he discusses the risks of idolatry very well and places it is the current cont...

tagged: philosophy

The Problems of Philosophy

by Bertrand Russell

tagged: non-fiction and own

You are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto

by Jaron Lanier

This is an easy and enjoyable read. It is often thought provoking and raises a lot of interesting points. The author is a luddite in the true sense of the word in that he worries that new technology will damage jobs in music and the arts . ...

Christian Ethics

by D. Stephen Long

Maigret and the Idle Burglar

by Georges Simenon

Maigret at his best. Humane and gentle and clearly on the side of the poor and suspicious of the intents of the rich. This is almost Maigret by Chandler, but still firmly set in a clearly recognizable Paris.

Tethered

by Amy MacKinnon

Tethered

by Amy MacKinnon

I do not understand the extremely high ratings for this book. It was not that I found it a bad book but rather a rather mediocre book, neither one thing nor another - not really crime, not really supernatural thriller.

The plot ...

50 Big Ideas You Really Need to Know

by Ben Dupré

An ideal bathroom book. Short chapters just long enough for an average visit to the toilet. Basically superficial treatments of the major philosophical ideas but basically sound descriptions.

tagged: philosophy and politics

Robin Ince's Bad Book Club: One Man's Quest to Uncover the Books That Taste Forgot

by Robin Ince

This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. At times embarassingly funny as it provoked laughter that was impossible to suppress - milk through the nose type of laughter

Excellent and also educational, providing a servic...

My Epileptic Lurcher

by Des Dillon

Dya like nugs. Daddymummy like nugs. Nugs doing no no things. Bitey bitey no no. Good writer use all words, biggy big words and wee totty words. Book writer no use all words. He no likey grammer and stuff. This are big bookybook and only sh...

2 B R O 2 B

by Kurt Vonnegut

It is quite difficult to review this short story.It is almost too short and is rather slight, the review could end up larger than the subject. There is also a danger of giving the story away and taking away the little enjoyment if offers.Co...

A Light that is Shining

by Harvey Gillman

This is a good introduction. As others have said there is only a little theology cup it does describe the main strands of thought.

The Invisible Man

by H.G. Wells

I don't usually read science fiction but I did enjoy this. Despite the book's age it has weathered well. The science is just enough, and just plausible enough, for the story. The main interest is in the effect of invisibility and isolation ...

tagged: classic, fiction, own, and scienced-fiction

Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass

by Theodore Dalrymple

For anyone who has read previous works, this collection of essays will cover familiar territory. The writing remains excellent and the wisdom is still there. Many of these are simple anecdotes and thus limited in their explanatory power.

The Artist's Drawing Book

by Moira Huntly

Plays by J. B. Priestley (Study Guide): An Inspector Calls, Time and the Conways, When We Are Married, J. B. Priestley's Time Plays

by Books LLC

Initial fears that this book may be dated by the scene descriptions and the references to topical characters such as H.G. Well or G.Shaw are quickly dispelled as the clear easy writing carries us into an apparent 'who-done-it'. It is best r...

The Selfish Society: How We All Forgot to Love One Another and Made Money Instead

by Sue Gerhardt

This really is a book of two halves. The first half relating to child-development and the second a political treatise.

The first half is well written and well researched. It is lucid and contains a good degree of common sense reg...

The Blasphemer

by Nigel Farndale

This is an excellent novel and can be enjoyed at many levels. It is a well written family saga and also a suspenseful thriller. It covers war, terrorism, love, religion, science, honour and redemption in its broad sweep from 1914 to today. ...

tagged: cookery

Snake in the Grass

by Georgia Blain

This book is slow to start, plodding when it gets going and ultimately unrewarding. The twist at the end can be seen form the first pages and the characters are suficiently unlikeable that we really don't care what happens to the. We really...

Editor's Wife

by Clare Chambers

This manages to be a succesful 'romcom' It is more com than rom but the is a simple romantic tale which is well told. The family history between the two brothers is the greater source of enjoyment and is the source of the humou

Rambling through the undergrowth

Sunday 15 July 2007

On Call