Posts from the ‘3 star reviews’ Category

May 9

1001 Book Review: The 39 Steps by Buchan

The 39 Steps by John Buchan
First Published in: 1915
Reviewed by: Jen and Book Worm
Find it/buy it here (free on kindle): The Thirty-Nine Steps

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Richard Hannay’s boredom with London society is soon relieved when the resourceful engineer from South Africa is caught up in a web of secret codes, spies, and murder on the eve of WWI. When a neighbor is killed in his flat, Richard, suspected, decodes the journal, runs to the wilds of his native Scotland in disguises and local dialects, evades Germans and officials.

Book Worm’s Review
Rating: ★★★

Credited as one of the earliest spy novels and set in 1914 before the outbreak of WWI this is the story of Robert Hannay. Hannay, who recently moved to London from Rhodesia is finding life rather dull until the mysterious Scudder turns up on his doorstep and tells him about a German conspiracy to assassinate a key public figure.

When Hannay comes home to find Scudder murdered in his flat, he realizes he is being set up for murder. Instead of trying to explain things to the police and clear his name, he decides to continue Scudder’s work and escapes London for the wilds of Scotland.

Told entirely in the first person, this is a fast-moving adventure story. The only problem is that Hannay is unbelievable as a character. He is too skilled at everything. Nothing fazes him and he is a one man spy network. While this makes for an exciting read, you do need to suspend your disbelief and just go along for the ride.

Jen’s Review
Rating: ★★★

The 39 Steps is a fast-paced and entertaining, but completely unbelievable man-on-the-run, spy novel. Richard Hannay is bored with society life and is saved from his boredom just in the nick of time by a stranger who turns up in his apartment only to trigger a series of increasingly unbelievable events.

In many ways, Hannay is the like the movie version of James Bond (the book version of Bond being much more believable), but without all the spy training — he just happens to be naturally brilliant at handling explosives, disguising himself, decoding military secrets. Mix in a little Sherlock Holmes and you have Richard Hannay. Reading this book, you can’t help but see how it would translate into a great movie. In fact, several film translations exist, including a 1935 Hitchcock version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skPWOPTjsv8

The writing style is rather sparse and typical of the dime novel genre. Buchan worked for the British War Propaganda Bureau and this book, originally published as a magazine serial, was highly popular among men in the trenches during WWI. The Guardian listed 39-Steps as one of the 100 Best novels and Boxall considers it to be one of the 1001 books to read before you die. It’s a relatively short and entertaining read — if you don’t require realistic scenarios in your novels. It’s worth reading simply because of its contribution to the genre.

Want to try it for yourself? Find it (for free on Amazon) here: The Thirty-Nine Steps

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think?

May 6

Non 1001 Book Review: One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night Christopher Brookmyre

One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night by Christopher Brookmyre
Published in: 1999
Page Count: 384
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: 3.5 stars
Find/Buy it here:One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night

Synopsis from Amazon: Like a highball mix of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, Christopher Brookmyre hits you hard and fast. Now Brookmyre is back with his most lethal book yet: One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night. Gavin Hutchinson had it all planned out. A unique “floating holiday experience” on a converted North Sea oil rig, a haven for tourists who want a vacation but without the hassle of actually going anywhere. And what better way to test out his venture than to host a fifteenth-year high school reunion, the biggest social event of his life, except no one remembers who Gavin is. That, and his wife has discovered his philandering ways and plans to leave him with a very public announcement in front of his assembled guests. Throw in a band of mercenaries who crash the party even though they aren’t on the guest list, and you have a wicked farce of a thriller from one of the most original voices in mystery fiction.

Review: I chose to read this book because according to this website, it’s one of the top 10 Scottish novels. While it was not a 5 star read, it was definitely entertaining and well worth reading, especially if you have a dark sense of humour.

This is a story about a school reunion on of all places an oil rig that has been converted into a holiday complex (can you imagine being stuck with former school mates in a hotel with no escape?). Unfortunately sinister plans are afoot and it turns out a reunion in “paradise” is anything but predictable.

I really enjoyed this story, the humour is dark and made me chuckle several times, the writing is fast paced and the story line compelling, which made it an easy read.

Despite really enjoying it, I am only giving it 3 stars as I felt there was nothing spectacular about it. An enjoyable and humorous read but not great literature.”

My favourite quotes;

“It’s so exclusive, big man. So’s scrotes like you an’ myself cannae get near the fuckin’ thing. Like wan o’ thae wee islands, whit dae ye cry them? There’s hunners o’ them. The Endives.

“Maldives, ya fuckin’ eejit. Endives are in salad”

“So that would be thousands of islands then?”

“Aye very fuckin’ funny, Eddie”

“George Eliot? That’s the one whose husband jumped oot the windae on their weddin’ night. She must have threatened tae read him her new book”

“nor were the locals going to flog the Jocks much paella until they’d sussed a way to batter and deep-fry the stuff”

Want to try it for yourself? Find it here: One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night

Apr 26

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Book Review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Published in: 2014
Reviewed by Jen
Rating: 3.5 stars
Find it here: Station Eleven: A novel

A flu pandemic called the Georgia flu has killed off 99.9% of human population. Those who remain have had to learn to survive in a world without any modern day comforts. Apocalyptical and post-apocalyptic novels seem to be all the rage and Station Eleven is no exception. St. John Mandel’s fourth novel made many “best of” lists for 2014 and it was a National Book Award Nominee for fiction in 2014. The novel spans many years and weaves in various time points together from pre-apocalypse events to 20 years post-collapse.

This was an entertaining but not particularly novel idea for a book. I found the twists and turns fairly predictable although I did like how the author connected the various elements of the story together in the end. I have read a fair amount of post-apocalyptic novels and found Station Eleven to be a bit too optimistic and sugar-coated to be believable (or as believable as possible for these kinds of scenarios). Although there was mention of an “evil” prophet and some mild violence, there was no sense of real struggle or adversity that came through in Mandel’s version of the end of days (or beginning of days). Starvation, poverty, and violence were mentioned but often in mild or offhanded ways. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Walking Dead (and granted there are no zombies in Station Eleven), but it all felt just a little too rosy.

Those looking to this book for a good old apocalyptic novel will be disappointed. However, this book will appeal to many who don’t typically read this genre. It’s not really a book about world collapse, it’s a book about human connections, memory, and loss and there are true moments of beauty in storytelling related to these themes.

Have you read Station Eleven? What did you think? What are your recommendations for this genre?

Want to try it yourself? Find it here: Station Eleven: A novel

Apr 23

1001 Book Review: Two Novels by Rebecca West

I had never read any books by noted author Rebecca West. Then in the last month I read two of her books almost back to back for a reading challenge. Rather than post them as two separate reviews, I have decided to combine them here along with a brief blurb about the author.

Dame Rebecca West was a renowned British author, journalist, literary critic, and travel writer. She was born in 1892 and died in 1983. She was incredibly prolific as a writer and her works span many genres. Her books are notable for their feminist leanings and critique of social and political issues. I can also say that the two books I have read are fairly remarkable in their treatment of psychological issues and themes — being ahead of her time in her treatment of these issues.
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Apr 10

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1001 Book Review: Anagrams by Lorrie Moore

Anagrams by Lorrie Moore
First Published: 1985
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by: Jen
Find it/Buy it here:Anagrams (Vintage Contemporaries)

Do you ever wonder how your life and all your relationships could be different by shifting small details around? If so, you might just enjoy Lorrie Moore’s Anagrams.

Until this book, I had never read anything by Moore. Perhaps this is because I generally don’t like short stories. I often feel unsatisfied by short stories. As I have mentioned before, I like to get to know my characters and spend time with them before they disappear and new ones take their place. I guess this was a good book for me since it is a short story collection that follows the same characters throughout the course of the whole book. It has much less of a short story feel than do traditional collections.
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Apr 8

Read Around the World: Botswana

The next stop on our world tour of reading is Botswana. Here are some facts about Botswana (and please feel free to add your own facts in the comments section):
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