Category: B-

403?

Posted on by Greig

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Catherine Clark

The first of four Gilmore Girls tie-in novels. I caved in to my admitted obsession with the show and picked them up dirt cheap second hand from Amazon.
This particular volume recounts events in several early first season episodes solely from the perspective of Rory (including my favourite ever scene).
It’s an adequate read but to be honest if you’ve watched the episodes involved as many times as I have then the dialogue is burned into your brain already.
The writing is good but it’s nowhere near as compelling without the actors’ performances and, let’s be honest, this long after the show ended the book is only going to be for people who are hardcore fans.

Rating: B-

annie?

Posted on by Greig

The Half Life of Stars

Louise Wener

I’ve read a couple of Wener’s books since she gave up being an indie pop star and became a writer instead.
Just like those books this is not the most profound novel ever written but Wener has a pleasant prose style.
Claire’s family have never been the same since her Dad died of a heart attack when she was a kid. Fast forward to the present day and her older brother, Daniel, has gone missing. Her own life in a mess after divorce and financial failure she finds herself following a tenuous series of clues in an attempt to find Daniel and solve the mystery at the heart of her dysfunctional family.
Pleasant read, nothing exceptional. If it sounds like you’d enjoy it – go for it.

Rating: B-

smallpark?

Posted on by Greig

Where the Hell Am I? Trips I have survived.

Ken Levine

Levine is a hugely successful sitcom writer (his resume includes MASH, Cheers and a couple of Simpsons episodes) and this is a collection of short travelogues he initially wrote as emails to friends and family that ended up becoming a staple of his blog (which I recommend reading by the way).
It’s pretty lighthearted jokey stuff but it never really lights the heather on fire.
I got it for nothing, but certainly worth it’s normal low price if you particularly like his blog.

Rating: B-

syringes?

Posted on by Greig

Life After God

Douglas Coupland

This was one of the few remaining Douglas Coupland books that I hadn’t read.
It’s a collection of short stories, each one told in a series of short vignettes.
To be honest these are messy pieces filled with pre-millenial malaise. As such they come across as lazy and self-indulgent.
Coupland’s usual effortless style is the only thing making this collection worthwhile.
Unless you’re a fan of Coupland’s work in general I’d not recommend this particular work at all.

Rating: B-

diary?

Posted on by Greig

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

J.K. Rowling

This second book in the series is the weakest of all the Harry Potter books. It’s too similar to it’s predecessor and feels like it’s treading water in terms of the greater story arc.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s still a fun read and has a couple of great sequences. I particularly love the diary of Tom Riddle and whole Polyjuice potion storyline.
I guess it’s the almost videogame structure of the plot that makes it feel more generic and weak in comparison to the later books. It’s all very linear in a ‘solve this puzzle’, ‘play this sports section’, ‘gather these items’ and ‘face the big bad’ way (Lego Harry Potter is one the best games I’ve played in years by the way). Now the flaw of the later, larger books is that there’s too much in the matter of sideplots and digression. Failing to have any of that makes this book seem kind of perfunctory.

Rating: B-

bungee?

Posted on by Greig

Chuck Klosterman IV

Chuck Klosterman

Chuck Klosterman IVA loose collection of artist profiles, opinion columns and random other bits of writing. Klosterman is a very readable writer but can take some very annoying positions on popular culture.
He’s got a whole more broadminded than thou thing going on, combined with a popular is good except when I don’t like it stance. Like I say, annoying.

Rating: B-

walk-in?

Posted on by Greig

Kitchen Confidential

Anthony Bourdain

Kitchen ConfidentialAnthony Bourdain, thanks in large part to this book, now spends a lot of his time travelling the world making TV shows about cookery. Back when he wrote this he was the executive chef at a successful brasserie in Manhattan specializing in ‘peasant-style’ French cooking.
What he does in this book is tell his life story in terms of how he fell in love with food, how he ended up becoming a cook, how he nearly threw it all away before getting his life in order. He also throws in a few interesting truths about how the catering industry works and what it takes to run a successful kitchen in terms of equipment and attitude.
Sadly this book really doesn’t stand up to a second reading, much of his attitude coming off as false, more of a schtick than his real personality. After all, he comes from a comfortable background, had every educational opportunity and any hardship he went through was largely down to his own sense of entitlement.
If you’ve never read it before, borrow yourself a copy and enjoy it for what it is.

Rating: B-