Read the science book
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Overall, disappointed. Could do with a decent bit of editing. It’s a difficult enough topic to get across, but to have Illustrations without explanations nor being referred to in the text… unforgivable.
I do like a good post-disaster tale and so when Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road was recommended to me, I reserved it at my local library.
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A week later and it’s here. Just started and intrigued so far. To quote Amazon:
A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece. A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there…
He, as you may know, wrote the book No Country For Old Men, itself turned into a searing and award-winning movie in 2007. The film of The Road is currently in post-production and due out around October 2009. What bodes well is that it’s directed by John Hillcoat, of the stunning and masterful The Proposition fame.
Yes I am reading two books at once. Or that’s the plan at least.
Back around 2000, Ian Kershaw wrote a large 2-volume biography of Hitler. Book 1 (Hubris as per above) is 912 pages. Found an ex-library, hardback version on the web for virtually nothing. Am 60 pages in already and yet Adolf is only 19 and WW1 hasn’t started yet. It’s a very well written text, with references everywhere. I ordered the second book Hitler: 1936-1945: Nemesis from Better World Books. Again a used hardback. It’s arrived and sitting on the To Read shelf. Well, when I say shelf, I mean pile.
Decided to read my first ever Harry Potter book, having seen every film thus far. Given the Half Blood Prince movie is due out in July, the book of the same name was the obvious choice. And I loved it.
Even though it weighs in at 600+ pages, JKR writes so well that you hardly notice the length. As Harry gets older, so does his audience, so the tone of the book is very dark. The final trailer for the movie came out just as I finished and it too is dark.
I’m gradually making my way through all of the Narnia books, trying to do so in ‘reading order’ and not the order they were published. After the most recent one – The Horse and His Boy – I’m not sure if I’m going to make it.
Talk about a struggle. Compared to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and The Magican’s Nephew, this just dragged. It really didn’t seem to go anywhere. I switch off from all the allegory stuff, so maybe I missed the point. But still even if you are going to have metaphors galore, at least wrap it around an interesting, engaging story. If they do make a film of it in a few years, it will probably be direct to BluRay.
The one saving grace is I hear the next book in reading order -The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – is better. Indeed I understand it’s the 3rd film to be made (hence skipping Nephew and Horse) and is in pre-production already. My reading is that it’s the only other book to have all 4 children in it and they are making hay whilst the sun shines on this one. Plus, of course, the actors are getting older.
Overall: nope.
It would have been bad enough to be a convict back in 1822, sent halfway around the world from England to Australia. But for the repeat offenders, the recidivists, it was much worse. They may have found themselves sent (literally) through Hell’s Gates.
This is the name of the entrance to Macquarie Harbour in south western Tasmania. And home to a fearful prison
I’ve just started reading the above new book. It was sitting there in the new books section of my local library. I’ve been fascinated by what the wretched souls went through at the Harbour, so couldn’t believe it when I saw this book. Could it be about this very topic? A quick look at the back cover showed:
In October 1827, nine convicts who had endured years of unimaginable cruelty at the hands of the system opted for ‘state-assisted’ escape. Five terrified witnesses – their hands and feet bound – were forced to watch as the chained convicts seized Constable George Rex and drowned him in the tannin-stained waters of the harbour. When the sentence of death was pronounced upon them, the condemned prisoners uttered just one word in reply: Amen.
For twelve long years between 1822 and 1834, Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour was the most feared place in Australia. Clinging to the shores of the wild west coast of Tasmania and hemmed in on all sides by rugged uncharted wilderness, the environment itself formed the prison walls that confined the unfortunate convict re-offenders who were sent there. But the conditions were so brutal that many went mad, or chose death or a very uncertain escape into the bush rather than spend their time in this notorious place.
Based on detailed accounts from the time, Closing Hell’s Gates contains dozens of personal stories of the harsh and unforgiving life that people were forced to lead, both as convict and overseer, and in so doing reveals some startling insights about human nature when it is pushed to extremes.
(Quote also on the official web site too)
So far, it’s excellent. I feel cold and miserable already – but in an informed way – and I’m only a 60 pages in.
I’m really into Ancient Egypt. But know relatively little about contemporary life in that wonderful country. So when someone suggested the The Yacoubian Building book, I was very happy to find it at my local library.
It did take me a while to get into it. Initially it felt like it was going to be a series of isolated stories, but gradually – in fact quite suddenly – the threads weave together and the quilt jumps forth; both engaging and emotional.
Having a list of main characters names – and their overviews – printed up the front was very helpful. I must admit to flipping back to check and thinking “oh yeah, he’s the aging playboy”
The story is centred around the titular building and it’s inhabitants are used as a clever microcosm of Egyptian society today.
The English translation from Arabic is excellent. It captures the rhythm and nuances very well. Give it a shot, it’s well worth it.
Daywalks Around Melbourne by Glenn Tempest.
Second Edition.
OSP (Open Spaces Publishing)
Available from lots of book stores and the OSP web site
Daywalks Around Victoria by John Chapman et al.
First Edition (2001). Also available from lots of book stores and John’s web site