Paul's journal

A sign of a good book is how often I pick it up to read. I haven't picked this up in over a week now. That's not a good sign. The actual tale is interesting but it keeps getting interrupted with chapter long travelogue entries of Europe that are much less so.

After the uneven Haunted I was a bit unsure about getting another book told from multiple points of view. But I really loved this. It wasn't exactly what I thought it was when I started and that made it even more enjoyable. Some of the stuff about Rabies made me a bit squeamish while I tried to read this on the train. There's still a few answers I want, I just need to find someone else who's read it!

I was a bit disappointed in this book. There were some nice segments, with more fleshing out of Mma Makutsi, and the main story of redemption was quite strong. An interesting, and I thought ongoing, subplot was developed but was solved in a rather anti-climatic way. This was the last in the box set of four and it actually read like a conclusion, although there being four more books by now so there's more to read.

These two books had many similar aspects and themes, coming out, broken families, and Mexican-American families. So Hard To Say told in alternating first person the story of a young Latina and her crush on the new boy in school. Aimed at 'middle school' which I think is year seven and eight it was a shorter read. Getting It was different from his other books in that it was told from the point of view of only one character and a straight one at that. Both books made me think I missed out on a lot in high school. Myself and most of my peer group never had girlfriends or anything more than that! There were no Gay-Straight alliances, an aspect of both but more prominent in the latter, and well no openly gay students either. I wonder if my high school has changed now? Would my school's library even have these books? So Hard To Say had a brief mention to Rainbow Boys which was kinda nice but stood on it's own.

New Years Resolution #2: Finish all the books on my to read list before the end of the year (because most of them were on my to read list last year).

Reading
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
LoveSmart by Dr Phil McGraw

In my pile of books to read
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Children of Men by P.D. James
World War 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 by John Birmingham
The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
In The Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith
Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith
Hover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly
The Confusion by Neil Stephenson
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Panic by Jeff Abbott
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Star Trek DS9 Companion
Star Trek Voyager Companion
Flatterland by Ian Stewart
The 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom by Alexander McCall Smith
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Completed
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
Lolly Shambles by Tony Martin
Freefall by Judith and Garfield
Reeves-Stevens
Odd One Out by Monica McInerney
Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
State of Fear by Michael Crichton
Alternatives to Sex by Stephen McCauley
So Hard to Say by Alex Sanchez
Getting It by Alex Sanchez
The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith

I'm a little annoyed at myself for leaving the book on the shelf for so long. It was a really great read. The narration style was smooth and conversational it was laugh out loud funny at times and actually a little scary too. Very well done. I find I don't have a lot to say about it, but I feel like giving it to people and saying read this. The DVD-style extras (deleted scene, interview, original (but hard to read) written notes) are a nice touch.

I enjoy reading these books. The turn of phrase and the way of talking are a delight to read. In this book the romance angle between Mma Ramotswe and Mr J.L.B. Matekoni was seriously downplayed, and I liked that because I thought it overtook Tears of the Giraffe. The titular mystery was actually quite short, with more time devoted to another mystery and the move of the agency to the mechannics fleshing out Mma Makutsi quite a lot, but the subplot about her brother was teased and not followed up on. Maybe in the next book?

Odd One Out was the Books Alive free book this year. It couldn't be any further removed from the previous free book, Hell Island by Matthew Reilly. I was kind of expecting a longer Melbourne based treasure hunt than what we got. It was humourous although not really funny. The theme of the story was a bit close to home for me, but the length didn't allow it to get it explored very far. I wanted to know more about the gay brother Sebastian who was sadly not in it enough. It was alright, and a quick read, but I'm not spurred to check out Moira's other books anytime soon. I imagine they might be a bit too chick-lit for me!

A good adventure story and a good sci-fi story. I still think Quicksilver is their better action/adventure novel, but I was happy to strap into with Cory and Mitch again. The first act was probably the best, helped by the fascinating account of the International Space Station. The second seemed a bit like padding as they lay the groundwork of conspiracy and was a bit slower paced. The final act picked up the pace but was a bit too short. There are some really good and original space conspiracy theories in there, but the characters didn't seem to develop a lot more from the first go round in Icefire.

This book took me a while to read because I found the main narrative off putting and hard to connect to. The constant desperation and deprivation of the writer's retreat was a mix of the surreal and the grotesque. The short stories though were really good. Many of these have stuck with me and when passing throwbacks to some of the earlier noes near the end I wasn't sure if they were tales I'd read here or elsewhere. The infamous Guts did freak me out a little (no fainting though). Other favourites included Foot Work, Slumming, Swan Song, Exodus, Crippled, Dissertation, Evil Spirits, and Obsolete.