Category: Rated

jeremy?

Posted on by Greig

Mrs Frisby & The Rats Of NIMH

Robert C. O’Brien

Mrs Frisby and the Rats Of NIMHThis classic children’s book was one of my favourites when I was young.
I continue to be very glad to this day that I read the book before I ever saw the film adaptation (a typically clumsy Don Bluth animated thing). It’s quite a brief read, but still quite enjoyable.
The story is of an anxious field mouse with a sick child who will not be strong enough to leave the family winter home before the farmer ploughs up the field and destroys it.
After a desperate search for help she’s directed to a group of odd rats living beneath a giant rosebush on the farm. These are the rats of the title and their story is the single best thing about the book.
I have a lot of nostalgia for this little book and it remains a really good piece of kid’s writing and I have no hesitation in recommending it for what it is.

Rating: A-

pious?

Posted on by Greig

Our Band Could Be Your Life

Michael Azerrad

Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael AzerradThe story of the American indie underground in the eighties as told through short biographies of some of the leading lights of the scene.
I really enjoyed at least half of these short bios, as some of the bands had fascinating interpersonal struggles, financial problems and made great music.
However, the author made some odd decisions. Your band is only indie if your records are recorded for an indie label who used only indie distribution? A pointless distinction if you ask me. If, as I suspect, he only did this to avoid covering REM for the millionth time, then why not just say that?
Why, also, decide to not cover the major label careers of the bands that he does write about beyond a brief sneery paragraph or two about how none of their records were as good once they took money from the big boys?
Why spend countless pages wittering on about the idealism of certain bands? Sure they had admirable politics, that’s great, I want to read about the music too at some point though.
Maybe I’m too comfortably cynical about the music business as a whole but the whole concept of indie purity just seems silly to me nowadays. So I’m docking points for his pious devotion to his precious hardcore band’s purity.
Otherwise highly recommended for those with an interest in 80’s underground indie music.

Rating: A-

other half?

Posted on by Greig

Earth, Air, Fire and Custard

tom holt

earth, air, fire and custard The last book of the Paul Carpenter trilogy further illustrates the law of diminishing returns, so much so that the last third of the book struck me as utterly incoherent.
I can only say that it was a reasonably enjoyable ride for all it’s incoherence, but that I’m very glad that he’s stopped writing about Carpenter now and I don’t have to buy any more books in the series. (Being a completist is a bitch).
If you like Tom Holt, have read the first two, and don’t mind the random pointless, incoherent plot twists too much then you’ll probably feel like you haven’t wasted your time reading this.

Rating: B-

blood and snow?

Posted on by Greig

Hogfather

Terry Pratchett

HogfatherI’m a fan of Pratchett’s writing. The man is frighteningly good.
However not every one of his books is a masterpiece. Witness Hogfather.
This book is part of the Death/Susan sequence, which is not my favourite one (only Mort is superb). I’ve never really loved a Susan book, even though on the face of it she should be a really appealing character.
The plot involves a plan by the Auditors of Reality to have the Hogfather (Discworld analogue of Santa Claus) inhumed by a crazed member of the Assassin’s Guild.
I can say that I found it mildly diverting, no more. Which marks it out as rather poor in terms of Pratchett’s output.

Rating: B

Hogfather (Sky One)

This was a 4 hour adaptation of the book starring a host of luminaries from the British acting community. While the art direction lovingly recreated the Discworld, the piece as a whole managed to suffer from poor pacing, confusing editing and a total lack of humour.
Unfortunately the thing was done with rather too much reverence for the source material and not enough of an eye on what would make entertaining television.

crocus?

Posted on by Greig

The Dragon Waiting

John M Ford

The Dragon Waiting By John M FordFord’s masterful alternative history retells the story of Richard III’s ascension in a world where the Byzantine Romans never fell, where Vampires, Wizards and Witches are real.
As hokey as that sounds the book feels grounded in truth, with impressively crafted characters and a beautifully layered and nuanced plot.
Reading it makes you miss Mr. Ford even more.
One of an unfortunately small number of writers who could really write that worked almost exclusively within the realms of fantasy and science fiction his death earlier this year is something that I could have done without.
Anyway I recommend this book without hesitation to anyone with an interest in Fantasy.

Rating: A

paisley?

Posted on by Greig

Espedair Street

Iain Banks

Espedair StreetI’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read this book. I think I first read it about 1988, 1989 back when I was borrowing five books a week from Sinclairtown library.
I loved it then and I retain enormous affection for it now. However the book has dated rather badly and definitely is a work of it’s time.
The book follows a week in the life of a man called Daniel Weir, once the songwriter and bass player of wildly successful band, now semi-retired and living a pointless if comfortable life.
The book follows his drunken adventures with his working class friends and his reluctant meetings with music business colleagues as he looks back over his life to try and make sense of where and who he is. It’s Banks at his most straightforward and nicely different for that.
Recommended for anyone who ever wanted to be in a band who can deal with the fact that the book’s now a period piece.

Rating: B

winger?

Posted on by Greig

Fargo Rock City

Chuck Klosterman

I’ve read this book before (entry missing due to db hacker)
Klosterman’s aim with this book was, to quote, ‘to show why all that poofy, sexist, shallow glam rock was important’. You know what? He totally failed
Klosterman is a talented writer with a witty personable voice that makes it feel like he’s talking to you one on one.
The major flaw with the book is that while he obviously loves his metal, he’s also deeply insecure about how unhip it is to like it.
Maybe it’s his position as a music critic (a profesion full of hipper-than-thou people) that’s made him so defensive, I don’t know. He spends too much time trying to defend the genre with regard to sexism etc., using incoherent, poorly thought out arguments when he should just acknowledge that it existed. Of course it existed. However, a lot of the point of metal for it’s creators and fans over the years has been that it pisses people off. That’s all he really needed to say.
The book works when it acts as a biography and talks about how the music soundtracked his life and he should have spent more time on that.
One point that continues to hack me off is his bizarre snobbery about 80’s underground music that appears in the epilogue. He gets all het up at the notion that you had to be a bit more adventurous to discover the stuff than metal. It’s just fucking true. These bands sold next to nothing, had minimal radio play and ended up meaning a bit too much to the people who loved them. Get over the fact that you liked popular music. Embrace the idea.
I’ve watched two documentaries about the history of metal and the metallica doc recently and this book doesn’t do it’s subject any justice compared even to those deeply flawed projects.
The book is frequently funny, it’s just that it’s frequently wrong-headed too. Go in expecting that and you will get the best out of it.

Rating: C

lancer?

Posted on by Greig

The Final Reflection

John M. Ford

The Final ReflectionMike Ford died aged 49 on September 25, a man of prodigious talent, formidable intelligence and remarkable wit. I only knew him from a few online forums that we happened to both frequent. In my own small way this re-read is my tribute to the man. Other re-reads may follow.
This is one of the most remarkable Star Trek books ever written, being the first written from the Klingon perspective and the first to portray Klingons as more than bloodthirsty warriors.
The book barely qualifies as a Star Trek novel, spending so much time outside of the canon and only spending a handful of pages on the Enterprise with Kirk & co as a framing device.
It’s a thoroughly enjoyable book that makes you wish that men of such imagination were responsible for more of Star Trek’s output – being prone to bland platitudes as it is.
I’d recommend it as a nice piece of science fiction, especially to more Trek skeptical audience and as an eye-opener to how it could be done better to die hard trekkies/trekkers out there.

Rating: B

dover?

Posted on by Greig

M*A*S*H

Richard Hooker

M*A*S*HThe original source material for the film and subequently the very long running sitcom.
Set during the Korean war in a mobile army hospital this book follows Hawkeye Pierce, Duke Forrest and Trapper John as they try to stay sane working as field surgeons.
The book is funny, laugh out loud in places, but also satisfyingly dark at times. The only flaw is it’s brevity.
I’d recommend this one if you find dark humour particularly appealing, or are just curious about the starting point of a cultural phenomenon.

Rating: B+

dora?

Posted on by Greig

Time Enough For Love

Robert A Heinlein

Time Enough For LoveThis is late period Heinlein. That means lots of right-wing libertarian politics, sex and glorification of the pioneer.
This is less of a novel than a series of short stories and novellas about the life of Lazarus Long – an incredibly long lived human being.
It takes in far-future human colonization and the First World War as part of it’s sprawling mess.
It’s quite mental and has no real focus to it, but it’s still one of the more enjoyable reads that Heinlein produced in his later years. I mean in comparison to I Will Fear No Evil it’s a top notch book!
If you loved Heinlein circa The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress then this is something worth checking out. Otherwise I couldn’t honestly recommend it to anyone.

Rating: B+