Posts by imabookwormy

Mar 27

1001 Book Review: Alamut Vladimir Bartol

Alamut by Vladimir Bartol
First Published in: 1936
Reviewed by: Book Worm & Jen
Find/Buy it here:Alamut

Synopsis from Amazon: Alamut takes place in 11th Century Persia, in the fortress of Alamut, where self-proclaimed prophet Hasan ibn Sabbah is setting up his mad but brilliant plan to rule the region with a handful elite fighters who are to become his “living daggers.” By creating a virtual paradise at Alamut, filled with beautiful women, lush gardens, wine and hashish, Sabbah is able to convince his young fighters that they can reach paradise if they follow his commands. With parallels to Osama bin Laden, Alamut tells the story of how Sabbah was able to instill fear into the ruling class by creating a small army of devotees who were willing to kill, and be killed, in order to achieve paradise. Believing in the supreme Ismaili motto “Nothing is true, everything is permitted,” Sabbah wanted to “experiment” with how far he could manipulate religious devotion for his own political gain through appealing to what he called the stupidity and gullibility of people and their passion for pleasure and selfish desires.

The novel focuses on Sabbah as he unveils his plan to his inner circle, and on two of his young followers — the beautiful slave girl Halima, who has come to Alamut to join Sabbah’s paradise on earth, and young ibn Tahir, Sabbah’s most gifted fighter. As both Halima and ibn Tahir become disillusioned with Sabbah’s vision, their lives take unexpected turns.

Alamut was originally written in 1938 as an allegory to Mussolini’s fascist state. In the 1960’s it became a cult favorite throughout Tito’s Yugoslavia, and in the 1990s, during the Balkan’s War, it was read as an allegory of the region’s strife and became a bestseller in Germany, France and Spain. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the book once again took on a new life, selling more than 20,000 copies in a new Slovenian edition, and being translated around the world in more than 19 languages. This edition, translated by Michael Biggins, in the first-ever English translation
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Mar 22

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Book Review: The Luminaries Eleanor Catton

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Published in: October 2013
Awards: 2013 Man Booker Prize winner
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: 4 stars
Find/Buy it here:The Luminaries: A Novel (Man Booker Prize)

Synopsis (from Amazon): It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men, who have met in secret to discuss a series of unsolved crimes. A wealthy man has vanished, a whore has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely patterned as the night sky. The Luminaries is an extraordinary piece of fiction. It is full of narrative, linguistic and psychological pleasures, and has a fiendishly clever and original structuring device. Written in pitch-perfect historical register, richly evoking a mid-19th century world of shipping and banking and goldrush boom and bust, it is also a ghost story, and a gripping mystery. It is a thrilling achievement and will confirm for critics and readers that Catton is one of the brightest stars in the international writing firmament.
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Mar 12

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Bookworm’s Life in Books: Picture Books

So my obsession with the end of the human race even translated over into my favourite picture book: Not Now Bernard by David McKee

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the book, the storyline is as follows (kids turn away now as this contains spoilers):

1) There is a monster under Bernard’s Bed

2) Every time he tells his mother about the monster he is greeted with the phrase “not now Bernard”

3) Eventually the monster eats Bernard

4) The monster gets into Bernard’s bed

5) Bernard’s mother doesn’t notice

Sounds like a scary book for a child doesn’t it? But it appeals because the mother is wrong and the boy is right. It’s also a warning to parents to make time for their children and to beware of saying “not now” too much.

Bookworm approaching the apocalypse 2 Babes in the wood and 1 Bernard at a time

Mar 10

Blind Date Book Review: Soulless Gail Carriger

I am not surprised that so many of you have joined in the book blind date, I mean it was a totally irresistible idea. I am really looking forward to seeing what you think of the book you were given, so to kick things off here is my review of my book blind date…

Synopsis from Amazon

Alexia Tarabotti is labouring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire – and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London’s high society? Or will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Soulless Gail Carriger
3 stars

I must confess I probably wouldn’t have chosen this for myself based on the cover or the book blurb, but I found myself enjoying it certain aspects of the story, and some points made me laugh out loud.

What I enjoyed about the book:

Alexia Tarbotti is a great character a strong female lead and it made a nice to change to have a book with vampires and werewolves and NO love triangle bonus points! !

The setting Victorian England is a great setting for this type of story with the steam punk elements and the chaste romance.

The situations in the book are amusing, as is the use of a well applied parasol.

What I didn’t like:

The use of racial stereotypes. Alexia is part Italian which according to the author means that her skin is unfashionably dark, she talks with her hands and is opinionated and bossy.

The Scottish werewolf is gruff and hard to understand when excited.

The English are a delightful enlightened people, well of course we are.

The Americans are overly religious and superstitious, you get the idea.

To be fair, the author could be using these stereotypes as being indicative of the thoughts of the time.

Great literature this is not, a good laugh it is.

Don’t forget that the deadline for the Blind Book Date is March 15th. Make sure you send your reviews to Jen (jenlane3@yahoo.com) to be eligible for the prize! We will publish a special Blind book review post on March 16th that will have the compilation of all the books picked and the reviews (along with the reveal of books that were not selected).

Mar 7

1001 Book Review: House by the Medlar Tree

The House by the Medlar Tree (I Malagovia) Giovanni Verga
First Published in: 1881
Original language: Italian
Find it/buy it here: The House By the Medlar Tree (Classic Reprint)

Synopsis (from Amazon)
Realist (verismo) novel of Sicilian life by Giovanni Verga, published in 1881 as I Malavoglia. The book concerns the dangers of economic and social upheaval. It was the first volume of a projected five-novel series that Verga never completed. The author’s objective narrative and extensive use of dialogue to advance the action and reveal character represented a new style in Italian fiction. The action centers on the Malavoglia family, who borrow money from the local usurer against unreceived goods they expect to resell. When the shipment is lost at sea, the family must nonetheless repay the debt. A series of setbacks and losses follow, as the family encounters trouble from every quarter. The house is lost and heroic sacrifices are required of both the men and women until the debt is repaid. At the novel’s end the family retakes possession of the house by the medlar tree.
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Feb 27

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1001 Book Review: Crash J G Ballard

Crash by J.G. Ballard
First Published: 1973
Joint review: Jen & Book Worm

Synopsis: When Ballard, our narrator, smashes his car into another and watches the driver die, he finds himself drawn with increasing intensity to the mangled impacts of car crashes. Robert Vaughan, a former TV scientist turned nightmare angel of the expressway, has gathered around him a collection of alienated crash victims and experiments with a series of auto-erotic atrocities, each more sinister than the last. But Vaughan craves the ultimate crash – a head-on collision of blood, semen, engine coolant and iconic celebrity.

First published in 1973, ‘Crash’ remains one of the most shocking novels of the twentieth century and was made into an equally controversial film by David Cronenberg.

Jen’s Review: Read more

Feb 20

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1001 Book Review: Flaubert’s Parrot

Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes
First Published in: 1984
Reviewed by: Book Worm and Jen

Synopsis (from book jacket): Which of two stuffed parrots was the inspiration for one of Flaubert’s greatest stories? Why did the master keep changing the color of Emma Bovary’s eyes? And why should these minutiae matter so much to Geoffrey Braithwaite, the crankily erudite doctor who is the narrator of this tour de force style and imagination?

In Flaubert’s Parrot, Julian Barnes, who has been compared with writers such as Joyce and Calvino, spins out a mystery, an exuberant metafictional inquiry into the ways in which art mirrors life and then turns around to shape it; a look at the perverse autopsies that readers perform on books an lovers perform on their beloved; and a piercing glimpse at the nature of obsession and betrayal both scholarly and romantic.

A compelling weave of fiction and imaginatively ordered fact, Flaubert’s Parrot is by turns moving and entertaining, witty and scholarly, and a tour de force of seductive originality

Bookworm’s Review
Rating: ★★★

Flaubert’s Parrot deals with Flaubert, parrots, bears and railways; with our sense of the past and our sense of abroad; with France and England, life and art, sex and death, George Sand and Louise Colet, aesthetics and redcurrant jam; and with its enigmatic narrator, a retired English doctor, whose life and secrets are slowly revealed.
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Feb 19

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Book Review The Shining Girls Lauren Beukes

Synopsis

“It’s not my fault. It’s yours. You shouldn’t shine. You shouldn’t make me do this.”

THE GIRL WHO WOULDN’T DIE

Kirby is lucky she survived the attack. She is sure there were other victims were less fortunate, but the evidence she finds is … impossible.

HUNTING A KILLER WHO SHOULDN’T EXIST

Harper stalks his shining girls through the years – and cuts the spark out of them. But what if the one that got away came
back for him?

The Shining Girls Lauren Beukes
First published: 2013
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: 4 Stars
Find it/Buy it here: The Shining Girls: A Novel

So where to start with this one? The book is about a time travelling serial killer. When you say it out loud it either sounds silly or fantastic depending on if time travel is your thing. Guess what? It’s mine, even if the outline sounds silly to you, I would recommend you pick up the book and read the first few chapters. You may find yourself hooked.
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Feb 14

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Valentines Special Book Blind Date & Challenge

If you are reading this, I am betting that, like me, at some point in your life you have sworn that no matter what happens you will not get another book until you have reduced your current TBR pile to a manageable level. And, like me, you know you are doomed to fail. Full of good intentions, I went to the local library to return a book swearing I would not pick up another one (spoiler alert I failed). Just in the doorway I was greeted with this display — could you resist? I mean really? After careful consideration, I chose my blind date: “Fiction Victorian Supernatural Romp” When I got to work I had to share my excitement with the office and it was then that I discovered there are two meanings to ‘romp’…

1) What I thought my book would be an adventure (romp)

2) What everyone in the office thought my book would be sex (romp)

So what is my blind date book…

Feb 12

2 Comments

Bookworm’s Life in Books; Nursery Rhymes

Right so you have read my introduction page (of course you have) so you know that my favourite genres are postapocalyptic and dystopian fiction but how did I arrive at this choice, like everything we learn I believe it started at an early age…

A small child carries a hardcover book of nursery rhymes it has a plain brown front as the dust jacket has been lost, approaching the nearest she asks for her favourite nursery rhyme to be read Babes in the Wood the adults roll their thinking not that morbid story again..

Back in the present day whenever the small child (who has now grown up) mentions her favourite nursery rhyme she is greeted with blank stares and the immortal words “What, never heard of it”

So for those of you thinking “What, never heard of it” and for those of you going I vaguely remember that one here it is; Read more