reading and read

Samantha Hunt, The Invention of Everything Else

4 sentence reviews of things read

The Crow Road (Iain Banks)

Eric Carle, of The Very Hungry Caterpillar fame, once said that novelists start out with a 20 word idea and wind up with a 200,000 word novel, but that picture-book people take 200,000 words and reduce them to 20. Iain Banks had a 20 word idea (which appears around page 330) and made this long loooong book for people to consume at their leisure. It is ideal for a commute because it is broken down into bitesize pieces, unfortunately he does tend to play God with time and leave them in a jigsaw book of misorder; it is up to the reader to find the corners. I did enjoy it, until the ending, which is perhaps not the best review.

Twilight Saga (Stephenie Meyer)

A vampire book for teens sponsored by the American Campaign for Sexual Abstention. I make no apology for devouring these books with heady enthusiasm: they provide good pace and an irresistable male protagonist. Avoid if you are a macho man or a member of the underground supernatural community (Ms Meyer may have got some her facts wrong). If reading on the train be wary of mild disgust from fellow, more high-brow, commuters and unexpected conversation from twi-hards in your carriage.

Everything Must Change (Brian McClaren)

A very well written exposition on why this world is going to hell in a handcart. Takes perhaps ten too many chapters to make everything seem worse and too few explaining how things can change. Excellent fodder for house groups – provided the people who invited you are prepared for some painful home truths. The grey boxes may or may not be useful.

Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)

A thoroughly modern novel for twenty-first century women. Elizabeth Gilbert is clearly a very spiritual woman, who will pray to God and the Universe in equal measure. It is beautifully and engagingly written, but very difficult not to spend the entirety of the book wishing that you too could be paid to spend twelve months indulging in gastronomic, spiritual and carnal wonderment. I still can’t decide whether it’s made me want to take up yoga or not.

Zizek a (very) critical introduction (Marcus Pound)

Looks impressively academic when read in public, but not as short as the number of pages may imply, as the font is small and the sentences long. Excellent introduction not just to Zizek, but to Lacan as well. Provides nice soundbites to be used at dinner parties. Enthuses about the subject matter to the extent that you want to read the many references he cites in full.

The Road (Cormac McCarthy)

For a short book with large type it took a very long time to read. Tears, fear and despair on the night bus home; the same of a morning. This should be read by every man, woman and child that thinks weapons of mass destruction are necessary to sustain a tentative world peace. A bleak portrayal of an earth in the wake of man as God.

The Audacity of Hope (Barack Obama)

President Obama’s manifesto: challenging, compelling and very contemporary. His views on abortion read like a script for Matt Santos in the West Wing. His own faith journey is one steeped in culture and compassion rather than the charismatic – often fanatic – Christianity that characterised the Bush administration. Several hundred pages of proof that Americans have elected potentially one of the most liberal Presidents in their history.