Books

I do my fair share of reading. I wouldn’t necessarily call myself an avid reader, but apart from the datasheets and technical reference manuals that occupy my time at work when I’m not programming, I do enjoy having a book readily available as an alternative to the crap that fills the airtime on television. It’s sad, but even cartoons aren’t what they used to be.

The problem I generally have is finding the next book to read. I often find myself in the 9 – 12 year old section of the bookshop, and sometimes stray to the 12 – 15 section. I rarely go beyond that anymore, and the few “grown up” books I’ve attempted over the years have usually been pretty boring. The problem I’m finding is that, like the copy and paste style sitcoms that clog the airwaves, children’s books are mostly heading down the same path; with many of them sharing very similar story lines and lacking originality. Many books these days seem to be copies of copies of copies of good stories already told. Which is why, I think, I tend to find it difficult selecting the next book. On the one hand I’m looking for something new and exciting, and a departure from what I’m used to, but at the same time I don’t want to waste my money one some copy and paste nightmare that lacks originality or any other redeeming feature (to me at least).

And so I present my book list below. And if anyone can suggest something I might enjoy, please leave a comment below or mail me your suggestion. The list below should give a decent indication of my likes and dislikes. These aren’t meant to be book reviews, just short indications of what I like and perhaps why. And before anyone suggests it, I don’t like Terry Pratchett. So there.

• Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy – There are currently 2 books in the series, the original and the the second book: Playing With Fire. The third is due sometime in 2009. The books make for brilliantly easy reading, they’re fast paced, witty and action packed. The second book is far better than the first in my opinion, but both are well worth the read.

• Harry Potter – Well really, if you don’t know about these you’re not quite up to date are you? I very much doubt I need to provide any sort of information here, so I’ll simply say I’ve read them all and enjoyed them thoroughly.

• The Wardstone Chronicles by Joseph Delaney – These include The Spook’s Apprentice, The Spook’s Curse, The Spook’s Secret, The Spook’s Battle, and the current newest book in the series: The Spook’s Mistake. Now these really are excellently told stories, set around the 17^th or 18^th century with a distinctly dark undertone. Naturally being childrens’ books the gore is kept to a minimum, but there’s sufficient blood cakes, murder and torture to make them interesting. One of the nicest aspects of these books is the style of writing. They feel like old stories, unlike much of modern fiction about times passed which feel more like modern stories told about old times. They all make for brilliant reading.

• Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer – Now these are some of my all time favourites. Eoin Colfer is absolutely brilliant, combining his trademark use of technology in all his stories with a healthy dose of wit, simple story telling and very imaginative story lines. The author’s good enough that I simply buy his newest book, whatever that is, and I’ve yet to be disappointed. Current books in the series include the original Artemis Fowl, The Arctic Incident, The Eternity Code, The Opal Deception, The Lost Colony and The Time Paradox. Every one’s an excellent read.

• Airman by Eoin Colfer – Another excellent story set in the late 1800’s. Much more dramatic than the Artemis Fowl books and considerably less light hearted, but with engaging characters and a thrilling, adventurous storyline.

• The Wish List by Eoin Colfer – A fun story about trying to make a go of things in the afterlife. And despite this being a story of determining the eternal fate of a young girl’s soul, Colfer’s managed to stick in a decent amount of technology here as well. This was my first ever Eoin Colfer novel, and I’ve loved his writing ever since.

• The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer – A sort of futuristic version of Oliver Twist. Probably my least favourite of the Eoin Colfer books, but an excellent read nonetheless

• Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer – A proper detective story told with primary school children. Lots of fun.

• Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle – These include 4 novels and 56 short stories, too many to mention individually here, but each one a masterpiece. About the only thing I really disliked about these books was the very formal writing style which is understandable considering both when they were written and my fondness for children’s books which these most certainly are not. But each story is thoroughly engaging which more than compensates for my dislike of the “not-a-kiddie-book” aspect of the writing.

• His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman – Personally I felt these books were over-written. The collection consists of three books: Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Northern Lights was good enough that I wanted to read the second book which I really thought was great. But by the end of the third book I was just relieved the whole thing was over. The author tries so hard to push Atheism down the reader’s throat that the books just stop being fun. He’s an Atheist, we get it. If only he understood that we don’t care, these would have been much more interesting. It’s really the last book that kills it.

• The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud – These don’t exactly qualify as light reading. The stories themselves are fine, though I found the plot twists at the end of the first and third books to be ridiculously silly. Overall however, they made for very good books and while I wouldn’t want to read them again, I’d rate them a 7 or 8 out of 10. The books in the series are The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem’s Eye and Ptolemy’s Gate.

• The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer – These books are pure cheese. The set consists of 4 books: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Twilight was a difficult read. It’s so amazingly girly that reading to the end of the book was quite an effort. And on completing Twilight, I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue the storyline. However, not finding much else I wanted at the bookshop, I read the rest and was pleasantly surprised with New Moon which, while still qualifying as cheese was considerably better than the first book. Eclipse felt more like a place holder than anything else, and Breaking Dawn ranged from very good to very bad and most things in between. The reviews of these books – not by teenage girls – found elsewhere tend to be pretty accurate. Don’t read them if you’re looking for great quality; but grab a copy for some light, cheesy romance that, by pop-culture standards qualify as a saga.

• The City Of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau – Quite frankly, I wasn’t looking forward to reading this book and only got a copy because it was the best of a bad selection. The story is well told and engaging enough, but just not my cup of tea. Which is to say it was a good book I’m sure many people will enjoy, but not one suited to my personal taste. I doubt I’ll be reading the sequel.

• Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction by Sue Townsend – This book was amazingly good. I picked it up based on a recommendation in the comments section of this page and I’m very glad I did. The story is told as a series of diary entries of a very normal man leading what technically qualifies as a normal life; and details his daily activities. While this may not sound like much of a foundation for a comedic masterpiece, the author has done a fantastic job turning the trivial and mundane into a work of art. Highly recommended for light reading.

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams – If ever books qualified as comedic science fiction classics, these would be it. The movies based on these books were horrid, but the books themselves really are ridiculous works of art and, unless I’m mistaken, were the first four part trilogy which include “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, “The Restaurant at the End of The Universe”, “Life, The Universe and Everything”, and “So Long and Thanks for All The Fish”. There’s apparently a fifth book in the series as well, but I’m quite content with having the story end with book four.

• The Lord Of The Rings by JRR Tolkien – My God these books were horrible. I really don’t understand why people rave about them. The movies were pretty decent, I actually enjoyed them quite a lot. The reason I read through all the books was that after the second movie – which I enjoyed considerably more than the first — I wanted to know how the story ended. So I forced myself to endure something like 1000 pages of torture only to be disappointed by how the story ended. It really was awful. I lent a copy of this book to a friend. I have no intention of ever asking for it to be returned.

• The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown – I remember the hype surrounding this book. By the time it was released I’d already promised myself not to stray too far from the 9 – 12 year old section of the bookstore – I’d learned my lesson from The Lord Of the Rings – but everyone who’d read this book (that I knew personally) insisted that I read it because, they claimed, it was just mind blowingly amazing. Unfortunately after reading this I realised my friends are either liars or have very poor taste. There were about 20 pages in the middle that were really interesting. The rest was just annoying fluff.

• The Alex Rider Books, and the Power of Five Series by Anthony Horowitz – They’re all nice, just not my cup of tea. I’d pick Artemis Fowl over Alex Rider any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.

• Dilbert by Scott Adams – I love Dilbert. I have a ton of the comic collections and I’m usually on the lookout for more.

• The Far Side by Gary Larson – Frame for frame, Gary Larson is probably the greatest cartoonist ever. I have quite a few of these collections as well.

And that’s the short list. I’ve been through other books of course. I’ve found that I’m not a huge Darren Shan fan, I’ve really tried to give Terry Pratchett a chance but I just don’t find him particularly funny for the most part. I usually get that he’s trying to be funny, I just don’t think he’s much of a laugh, though I did enjoy “Good Omens” which he wrote together with Neil Gaimann. I never did finish that. Deciding to give Gaimann another chance, I read Stardust after thoroughly enjoying the movie. I doubt I’ll be reading anything more of his; the book was not good. At all.

And that’s it for now. Given the list above, can anyone suggest something I might like? In the spirit of growing up, I’ve decided to give the book “The Ghosts of Albion: Accursed” a try. I’ve only just begun and I’m not sure yet whether or not I like it; the book’s off to a slow start. Hopefully it will get better.

Leave your comments below please, or mail me here