#28 Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby (Penguin Group)

Five months into this enterprise, I have yet to give out a 10/10 mark (there hasn’t even been a 9/10), and, in truth, this doesn’t bother me. A book has to be really good to qualify for that rating, and for all the fine books I have read so far, none have seemed quite worthy of such an assessment of excellence.

However, I don’t want to give the impression that such a mark is an outright impossibility, and I was reminded of this when I embarked on Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby, whose first book, Fever Pitch, would probably have received a 10/10 rating had I read it as part of this challenge. It’s a magnificent piece of work.

Juliet, Naked is very enjoyable, without reaching the quality of Fever Pitch. As always, Hornby writes with humour about relationships – this time between a man obsessed with a reclusive American musician and his partner – and there are numerous laugh-out-loud moments and some wonderful observations.

But while the plot held my attention, and the career of musician Tucker Crowe and the ramifications of fame and fan obsession had a real ring of authenticity, I never really committed myself to the characters or their motivations.

In conclusion, then, not Hornby’s finest. But then he set a very high standard in the first place.

So, rating time:

#28 Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby (Penguin Group) - 7/10

Next up: How to Paint a Dead Man, by Sarah Hall (Faber and Faber Limited)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

#27 The Best After-Dinner Sports Tales, compiled by Will Chignell (CollinsWillow)

In the event (see previous blog), I opted for The Best After-Dinner Sports Tales, compiled by Will Chignell, the reasoning being that I could do with a bit of cheering up rather than sinking further into the fount of despair.

Unfortunately, The Best After-Dinner Sports Tales wasn't really the book to provide assistance in this area, with the numerous collected tales decidedly lacking in much cheer. There was the odd chuckle, admittedly, not to mention occasional insight into life as a sportsman and the incidents which take place behind closed doors, but actual guffaws were few and far between.

In some ways, it was a perfect choice. The short excerpts from famous sports celebrities such as Phil Tufnell, Rodney Marsh and Ray Reardon were quick to read and easy to dip in and out of, which was helpful as I tried to erase a particularly annoying spyware programme which had somehow downloaded onto my computer. Indeed, given its unchallenging nature, it was no surprise I finished the book before I managed to delete the spyware.

Times may be changing, but when I picture after-dinner speeches, I have an image of a very male-orientated world, a smoky room (despite the ban - it's my mental image, remember) and a boozy atmosphere. It’s hardly a surprise, therefore, that the majority of the contributing speakers are male, and there is an impression you are never far from an Englishman, Scotsman and Irishman joke.

All that said, I can't be too sniffy about a book which raised thousands of pounds for charity. But it scores much higher in the worthiness rating than in my quality assessment.

So, rating time:

#27 The Best After-Dinner Sports Tales, compiled by Will Chignell (CollinsWillow) - 5/10

Next up: Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby (Penguin Group)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

Depression brought to book

It’s just over two days after the trauma of this season’s greatest disappointment, and in the aftermath, I found myself considering which novelists would best suit my mood.

While I’m probably not at the point of considering the point of living, existentialist giant Albert Camus I know and have read before. Of course, Camus knows what he’s talking about – he was a goalkeeper, so must have been involved in one or two penalty shoot-outs in his time.

I’ve not yet delved into any poetry, so I wasn’t keen on starting with Sylvia Plath, who tragically committed suicide, so I sought the assistance of a work colleague, who is far more literary than me.

Try Philip Larkin, was the suggestion, ‘he’s a miserable sod’, or what about the ‘downbeat’ novels of Jean Paul Sartre or Philip Roth? Failing that, Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) was the final offering. I wonder if they’ve got that at the library…

Of course, I’m not seriously depressed, just a bit down, and depression should be no laughing matter. Indeed, friend and author Charlie Connelly makes that very point in fine fashion on his website (incidentally, fans of Charlie’s work may be interested to know I am actually in his fantastic Stamping Grounds: Liechtenstein’s Quest for the World Cup).

Can I find any consolation in the crushing disappointment? Maybe it’s that I’ll have a bit more time to complete this challenge.

#26 Screen Burn, by Charlie Brooker (Faber and Faber Limited)

This is my third Charlie Brooker book of this year – guess what the Wench got me for Christmas? – and it’s been interesting reading them out of sequence.

Screen Burn is actually his first published compilation, dating back to 2000 and the days when he was solely penning articles on television for the Guardian, before his role was expanded to a further weekly column with a wider remit.

These articles, then, are all focused on the silver screen, and if I had one minor criticism (one that has probably only occurred to me after already reading The Hell of it All and Dawn of the Dumb), it’s that I could have done with a bit more variety.

That’s not to say that Screen Burn isn’t as brilliantly funny as you’d expect, because it is. It’s also interesting to see how his writing style is more or less fully formed from the outset. That’s not to say that Brooker hasn’t developed at all over the past decade, but more that he has produced sustained excellence over a long period.

Part of the fun of Screen Burn lies in his topical descriptions of what are now historical television events, such as the start of behemoths such as Big Brother, 24, Pop Idol and Trisha to the likes of the best-forgotten LA Pool Party, Touch the Truck and much more.

The arrival of Simon Cowell as a TV celebrity prompts a particularly memorable and prescient rant: “…leaving the role of chief abuser to A&R man Simon Cowell, who’s instantly made a name for himself by acting like an unpardonable bastard, unafraid to star a contestant in the eye and overstate their uselessness with the sub-zero precision of a misanthropic character from a Neil LaBute movie. As a result, he looks less like an expert and more like a man clawing at fame with even more sad desperation than the hopefuls anxiously awaiting his judgment.”

While Brooker’s lengthy diatribes are what he does best (that’s only about a third of his analysis of Cowell), he also knows how produce a concisely worded quip (My favourite line: on 24 character Kim Bauer: “Jack’s daughter Kim (hobbies: peril and cleavage)").

Indeed, it wouldn’t surprise me if Sky+ had been invented solely due to the number of laugh-out-load moments produced by Brooker’s columns and books. In my house, I have jurisdiction over the remote control (damn right), and many’s the time I’ve paused whatever has been on to read the Wench the latest section to have tickled my fancy. I imagine it’s quite annoying.

So, rating time:

#26 Screen Burn, by Charlie Brooker (Faber and Faber Limited) - 7/10

Coincidentally, my counterpart (nay rival) in this 100-books-in-a-year challenge, the Friend of the Wench, has just read Dawn of the Dumb on my recommendation. Read his review here.

Next up: Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby (Penguin Group)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

#25 In the Kitchen, by Monica Ali (Transworld Publishing)

Loved the set-up, loved the characters, loved the plot - didn’t like at all how the book progressed and ended.

Despite its critical acclaim, I wasn’t a fan of Monica Ali’s Brick Lane, the novel that catapulted her to national fame in the literary world, but it was enough to pique my curiosity when looking for the book that would take me to my quarter century this year.

In the Kitchen, much like Hearts and Minds, is a story of the seedier side of immigration and London life, focusing on a chef on the verge of opening his own restaurant who discovers a body…

A measure of how much I was enjoying things is that I demolished the first half of the novel in double quick time, reveling in getting to know the traits of the numerous nationalities and their roles in the hotel kitchen and how they interacted with one another.

Add in some unspecified goings on in a bedroom within the hotel and some well observed vignettes regarding the chef’s upbringing and history, and it was all combining to produce the best novel I’ve read so far this year - until the chef (and Ali) loses the plot.

Without spoiling the book by revealing what happens, things start to go wrong very quickly, and having invested so much time in believable characters, it’s a shame when they start to act in increasingly bizarre ways, and my interest quickly waned.

So, rating time:

#25 In the Kitchen, by Monica Ali (Transworld Publishing) - 6/10

Next up: Screen Burn, by Charlie Brooker (Faber and Faber Limited)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

One fine day

It seems I'm still being cursed by the New York Trilogy. Not only did the collection of short stories severely hamper my efforts to complete this challenge, it's now cost me cold, hard cash as well.

Confused? So was I when I returned some books to the library the other day, only to be told I still had one outstanding. Which one? I think you know the answer...

Some other random thoughts.

I've been thinking a lot about Robert Harris over the past few days. Not only has the film adaptation of Ghost recently been released to widespread critical acclaim, but I was reminded of Fatherland when I watched the film Good. Except Good was, well, really good.

Just to keep you abreast of events, the next review will be of Monica Ali's In the Kitchen, I'm currently reading yet another Charlie Brooker compilation (he's just been slagging off Simon Cowell), and on the reading list for future weeks are the following:

How to Paint a Dead Man, by Sarah Hall

Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby

Penguins Stopped Play, by Harry Thompson

The Best After-dinner Sports Tales, compiled by Will Chignell

Tokyo Year Zero, by David Peace

#24 Mankind, by Mick Foley (Harper Collins)

You’re way behind schedule on some bizarre book-reading challenge, you’re busy at work, and you’ve just really struggled to complete a collection of short stories, so what does your friend do as you contemplate your next novel? He gives you a 735-page epic. About wrestling.

The foreword to Mankind, by Mick Foley, makes interesting reading. He says you don’t have to be a fan of wrestling, or sports entertainment as he regularly calls it, to enjoy the book, and he’s right. But it certainly helps.

I’m happy to declare at the outset that my knowledge of wrestling encompasses Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Stone Cold Austin, The Undertaker, The Rock and little more, all of which came to wider public attention and transcended their sport to some degree. In other words, I’m no aficionado, and Foley’s autobiography, titled Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, rewards readers with a greater interest in the ‘business’.

For an outsider, it’s more than a little bewildering, with a dizzying number of acronyms representing different wrestling organisations and the wrestlers themselves constantly changing their names and their stories to generate good box office. I’m no heel - or babyface for that matter (I thought I’d throw in a bit of jargon) – but without any prior knowledge of the scene, it’s incredibly hard to keep track of who’s doing what, to whom and why, in and out of the ring.

It’s not without humour – although there are some god-awful jokes, too – or merit, though, particularly when Foley describes the litany of terrible injuries he has suffered, the technical aspect of wrestling and how to land with the greatest effect and least injury, and talks about his unswerving dedication and drive during his years learning the game.

But the length of the book really becomes an issue when, no matter how Foley paints a picture of the brotherhood and respect wrestlers, promoters and bookers have for one another, there are long drawn out recollections of this memorable bout in whenever and that great tag-team encounter wherever.

There are only so many times the hero can become tangled in barbed wire, fall on a thousands pins or have his ear ripped off, after all. And yes, all those are true…

So, rating time:

#24 Mankind, by Mick Foley (Harper Collins) - 5/10

Next up: In the Kitchen, by Monica Ali (Transworld Publishing)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

#23 The New York Trilogy, by Paul Auster (Faber and Faber Limited)

My intentions were good. I had a busy period at work coming up, and I gave some serious thought as to how I could best continue to read despite spending every waking minute at work.

Short stories were the answer, I thought. What better than to be able to dip in and out of some short stories for the 15 minutes or so spare time I had per day? And who better to read than Paul Auster, the author of two books I’ve already enjoyed this year? And finally, where better to start than his first critically acclaimed work, The New York Trilogy, which was recently republished as part of Faber and Faber’s 80th birthday celebrations.

The idea was good. It all made sense. Unfortunately, I really didn’t enjoy the first of the three novellas, City of Glass. Although just 133 pages long, and full of the questioning of reality and identity that is evident in his other works that I have read, I struggled to get into it and couldn’t manage beyond three pages at a time. Hence the paucity of recent blogs.

All three stories, City of Glass, Ghosts and The Locked Room, are fundamentally detective stories, but are about as far from traditional detective stories as you can get. It’s been described as ‘mysteries about mysteries’, and that’s about as mysterious as you can get.

To illustrate the many confusing layers with which the mind has to cope in this series, City of Glass features two characters called Paul Auster (the author’s name), neither of which is the narrator, while the very first paragraph of Ghosts introduces the reader to confusing characters Blue, White, Black and Brown.

I was pleased I persevered, however, because the final story, The Locked Room, is the best and is really very interesting. It tells the tale of a writer who publishes the work of a childhood friend who has disappeared, and who goes on to take that man’s place in the world, in his family and his life. Given its length - it’s only 114 pages - it has more to say than most novels three or four times its size.

Which leaves me in a quandary regarding my rating. City of Glass would be 3/10, while The Locked Room deserves 9/10, so where does that leave The New York Trilogy as a whole?

So, rating time:

#23 The New York Trilogy, by Paul Auster (Faber and Faber Limited) - 6/10

Next up: Mankind, by Mick Foley (Harper Collins)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

#22 Fatherland, by Robert Harris (Arrow Books)

Well, I’m back. After the trials and tribulations of life - chiefly work - interrupted this here challenge, it’s finally time to chalk another book off the list, and remove the last ‘Mathematics’ post from the top of my blog, where it has been quietly mocking me for the past month.

“Oh, so you’re not doing that badly, are you?” it chides. “Oh, so you’re only slightly behind schedule? Well, you’re miles behind now!” Yeah, cheers for that…

To Fatherland, my second Robert Harris book for the year and somewhat topical, given a film of the first, Ghost, has just been released in the cinemas.

I had heard many good things about Fatherland, the story of an SS officer conducting an investigation in mid-1960s Berlin, after Germany had won the Second World War. It didn’t ultimately live up to my expectations, but it was still a good read.

Where the novel scores is in its historic setting, interweaving the fictional scenario with real places, real people and real events and creating an entire society which is all too readily, and terribly, believable. I didn’t find the central story gripping enough, however, even though it deals with the issue of arguably the greatest crime of all – ‘the millions of Jews who vanished in the war’ to quote an oft-repeated phrase.

Like most detective novels, there are twists and turns along the way, most of which come as no surprise, and it’s a shame Harris was unable to devise a plot, despite some interesting characters, which is able to live up to the setting and the meticulous research he must have conducted.

So, rating time:

#22 Fatherland, by Robert Harris (Arrow Books) - 7/10

Next up: The New York Trilogy, by Paul Auster (Faber and Faber Limited)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

The mathematics

We're coming up to the end of March, and I know what that means: a quarter of the year gone and I should have read 25 books. The pressure is on.

The mathematics of this entire enterprise are quite simple. 100 books in one year, or 8.33 books per month, or one book every 3.65 days. Given there are three more days before the end of March, that therefore means I'm unlikely to get one more book under my belt before then.

Four books behind schedule means I will be almost 15 days, or half a month, short of my latest deadline - not that I'm counting, you understand?

So what can be done? Well, I could probably start with reading some more rather than writing blogs such as these. But one thing I've ruled out is reading shorter or less challenging books. After all, completing the challenge was always a personal mission, with no recriminations or punishments in the event of potential failure.

And given my workload, I’m not doing too bad, considering. The key progress assessment will be at the end of July when, after a long summer, I will indeed be in trouble if I am not ahead of or bang on schedule. We shall see.

#21 Hearts and Minds, by Amanda Craig (Little, Brown)

Hearts and Minds is about immigration. Indeed, the intelligent book is such a compelling study into the moral maze that the subject represents that it’s hard to come away with any other first impression.

Where the book scores is in the way it delves into the lives of the immigrants, the indifference, the incompetence and the racism (both casual and deliberate), the oppression (in England and abroad), and the poverty that they have to endure on a daily basis.

Behind a thrilling tale well told is an underlying outrage at how such a way of life has become a way of life. And while the book is full of the complex hypocrisies that affect real people, it doesn’t forget the easy stereotypes that are as much a part of the questions that the issue of immigration poses.

There are two flaws, of which the first is a litany of coincidences which defy belief. I’ve nothing against theories such as the Six Degrees of Separation, where everyone is linked to everyone else via six easy steps, and I don’t mind a bit of dramatic licence, but some of the connections and quirks of fate are just incredible.

A few years ago, there was a spate of films, such as Traffic and Babel, which explored how a series of characters located in different countries across the world were interconnected, and Hearts and Minds takes that a step further in London. Quick spoiler alert, but is it really possible that the murdered au-pair of human rights lawyer Polly has a prostitute sister whose fellow sex slave is saved by a taxi driver who later stops a terrorist from detonating a bomb at a party attended by Polly (who frequently uses said taxi driver) at the place of work of a women who lives above the sex slaves? And that’s only the half of it.

Without giving too much away, the second problem also involves the bomb. Given the country’s increasingly tabloid sensibilities, where politicians are led by public outcry, I really couldn’t envisage anyone, even an illegal immigrant, being deported after they had just saved some of the country’s great and good from death. The media coverage would have been immense, and although there is a believable resolution of sorts, the fact this is glossed over when such a forensic analysis has been applied elsewhere really lets the book down.

Hearts and Minds is a difficult one to score, and in some ways this is where all ratings systems fall down, because it becomes difficult to compare wildly different books. The Friend of the Wench took issue with my last mark of 6/10 for Eclipse, arguing it was too high, and his point has merit when it comes to judging this novel.

The two books – much like how society treats immigrants - occupy different worlds. Hearts and Minds is a massive step up in quality from Eclipse; it tackles a far more complicated subject, is brilliantly researched, and tells a meaningful tale, while after you’ve finished Eclipse, you just turn off and get on with something else. Such as reading Hearts and Minds.

But while Hearts and Minds is a much better novel, it only scores one point more (having had one point deducted for all the all too convenient coincidences).

So, rating time:

#21 Hearts and Minds, by Amanda Craig (Little, Brown) - 7/10

Next up: Fatherland, by Robert Harris (Arrow Books)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

A novel look

I’ve made a few changes to the blog. I’m actually not too bothered about how it looks, as long as it’s nice and readable, but constantly going back through the postings to update the 1-100 listing was starting to annoy me.

The more observant among readers may therefore notice some new stand-alone pages above this posting and below the blog title and explanation. Give them a go.

It’s nothing too fancy, but I thought if I was adding one new general page, a couple more wouldn’t hurt and might make things a little easier to understand and quicker to access.

Oh, and to the right, there’s now a fancy little slideshow showing the covers of all the books I have read so far. Extra bit of colour and all that.

That’s it.

#20 Eclipse, by Stephanie Meyer (Atom)

If more people read this blog, I might be slightly uneasy about reviewing a novel which seems to have caught the planet’s entire teenage girl population under its spell, much like vampire Edward Cullen and ordinary girl Bella are captivated by each other. Fans of the Twilight books apparently don’t take kindly to criticism of what has become a phenomenon, even if it’s well intentioned…

If you’ve got no idea what I’m talking about, a quick catch-up is called for. Eclipse is the third of the Twilight books (First book Twilight followed by New Moon), and tells the ongoing tale of a High School girl who falls in love with a vampire. Oh, and there’s a pack of werewolves nearby.

Of course, there’s a bit more to it than that, but brevity is the basis of this blog – and I wish the same could be said of Stephanie Meyer.

Let’s be clear. The Wench - whom we established earlier this year was a 34-year-old woman rather than a giggling teenager – loves this nonsense, so I agreed to read the books and watch the films so at least I had some understanding of what she kept going on about.

That said, Twilight the book (and the film, if you must know) was perfectly acceptable fare. New Moon, the book, I liked less, mainly because it was chapter after whining chapter of Bella moaning about her plight and unhappiness. God, did it drag, and that would be my main criticism of the entire series – everything seems to take so long to happen.

However, I can’t deny I was entertained by Eclipse, and things built up nicely to the final battle (I don’t think a spoiler alert is required). And while I could offer many criticisms about the writing – too self-indulgent, a bit basic – at least the author knows her market, it’s reasonably entertaining and I didn’t resent the time spent reading the, count ‘em, 559 pages.

So, rating time:

#20 Eclipse, by Stephanie Meyer (Atom) - 6/10

Next up: Hearts and Minds, by Amanda Craig (Little, Brown)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

#19 The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx (Fourth Estate)

As the Man Booker Prize-winning Life of Pi episode illustrates, I’m always wary of critically acclaimed books, which means my trepidation, like the country’s current threat levels, was set to ‘severe’ prior to tackling The Shipping News.

It’s there on the cover - winner of The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Irish Times International Prize and The National Book Award. It comes highly regarded, to say the least.

I must admit that, like the Newfoundland weather, it took a while for me to warm to the book. Its pared-down prose, with short sentences that sometimes even omit verbs, took some getting used to. Its characters were generally, at first, unlikeable. And the story of a useless man-cum-journalist and his battle to find something of worth in his life was far from engaging.

But I kept turning the pages, I wanted to read more. The reader learns something new, or is given a clue to a secret, every couple of pages and this certainly keeps things interesting, as does the introduction of a completely new set of characters - most of whom are genuinely odd - when Quoyle (the afore-mentioned journalist) gets to Newfoundland. Their life histories are also cleverly drip-fed in stages.

Having started pitying Quoyle, he earns the reader’s respect as well as the respect of others with his successful shipping news column in a local paper and, ultimately, it’s such a heart-warming story that it’s no surprise a film adaptation followed.

So, rating time:

#19 The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx (Fourth Estate) - 7/10

Next up: Eclipse, by Stephanie Meyer (Atom)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

#18 Blacklands, by Belinda Bauer (Transworld Publishers)

It’s not that I didn’t enjoy Blacklands, it’s that I was slightly frustrated it wasn’t as good as it could, or should, have been.

I’m always a bit in awe of a good idea. While my creative juices flow pretty well, I’ve always struggled to come up with ideas I consider to be worthy of whatever project I’m working on: my strength has always been the execution of a good idea rather than the concept itself. This blog, suggested by someone else, perhaps provides a good example (although you’ll no doubt make up your own minds on that…).

Blacklands has at its – black – heart, a great idea. Not good, great. Having a 12-year-old child write to a serial killer and imprisoned paedophile in a bid to find the grave of his murdered uncle, and then tell the cat-and-mouse story more or less from the child’s perspective, is a terrific idea worthy of a great book. But this isn’t it.

For a start, while some sections are believable, others are extremely far-fetched. While the relationship that starts to blossom between the two correspondents becomes almost touching, the code-breaking in the letters which leads to that point never rings true.

The age, or the intelligence, of the boy is also an issue. To properly engage with the book, you have to completely identiify and sympathise with the boy, and while some elements – such as a desperate desire to please and make things good again – are well done, there is no consistency in his character.

There are some nice touches, such as the boy’s frequent ‘uncles’ who never stay long, and his miserable mildew-influenced school life, which demonstrate by their normality what an abnormal enterprise he has embarked upon. But then there are sections such as the prison’s bizarre and illogical response to the eventual escape which let the book down.

All in all, a pleasant read. But one which promised much more.

So, rating time:

#18 Blacklands, by Belinda Bauer (Transworld Publishers) - 6/10

Next up: The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx (Fourth Estate)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

#17 Right as Rain, by George Pelecanos (Orion)

Derek Strange is back (as is this blog), but it’s 30-odd years (not about a month) after I first encountered him in Hard Revolution, and now he’s a private investigator rather than a cop (I’m still a journalist, just in case you were wondering).

To the book - which I finished at the start of the month, but have only just got around to writing about. Which isn’t to say I enjoyed it, because I did.

It being my second book by George Pelecanos and all, it was nice to have a continuation of the story and to pick up on Strange’s life, and see him still part of the same Washington surroundings and community, and still battling against the consequences of drugs in scenarios which are never anything other than completely realistic.

In line with the bleak subjects he is writing about, Pelecanos’ style is gritty, and noir-like. Which makes the moments of wit, usually supplied by the street-educated and commitment phobe Strange, plus two half-wit drug dealers in this particular book, a welcome relief.

I couldn’t help thinking Right as Rain was more tightly plotted than Hard Revolution, and I enjoyed the story – of an investigation into a shooting of one (black) police officer by another (white) police officer – more as well. But I couldn’t find it within me to add another point to its rating.

It’s also interesting to note that this book was the first Pelecanos wrote about Strange and his partner Terry Quinn (the cop-killer mentioned earlier), with Strange’s upbringing and past completed in retrospect (in Hard Revolution). I couldn’t tell, and I have to say that I gained plenty of insight into Strange’s attitude and decisions in Right as Rain from reading the books in chronological rather than published order. Which is quite an achievement by the author.

So, rating time:

#17 Right as Rain, by George Pelecanos (Orion) - 8/10

Next up: Blacklands, by Belinda Bauer (Transworld Publishers)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

The small screen's big impact

Isn’t it strange what you uncover when you try something new? There you are, going about your usual routine, happy and content, and then you take a different path and discover another world you barely knew existed but, given a new light, suddenly becomes interesting.

All right, I’m only talking about reading a few new books, but it’s strange how the mind works.

Readers may have guessed - from my knowledge of the work of Charlie Brooker and Mil Millington, who both first found significant fame in the Guardian – the identity of my newspaper of choice. I particular enjoy the Saturday edition, when I pretty much read the entire issue from cover to cover – apart from the Review section.

Typically, I only glance at the Review section. I like to give it the once over because I’m interested in literature and didn’t want to miss out on anything, but now it’s one of the first supplements I pick up, and although I still might not read it from cover to cover, I certainly pour over it more than before.

All of which is a long-ish introduction to the TV Book Club, which I chanced upon in midweek on More 4 (first shown on Channel 4). Of course, books on television has become fashionable, thanks to Oprah and Richard and Judy’s respective televised clubs either side of the Atlantic, and it’s the mastermind behind the Richard and July version, Amanda Knox, behind this project as well.

As I mentioned regarding World Book Day, anything which tries to encourage reading must be a good thing, although I found the selection of the presenters – comedians Dave Spikey and Jo Brand, actors Laila Rouass and Nathaniel Parker, fashion guru Gok Wan and, in the episode I watched, Richard E Grant – to have been scattergun at best and completely bizarre at worst.

Incidentally, I’m aware that the view above (encourage reading = good) is rather simplistic; that the books which feature on such television shows get propelled to the top of the bestseller lists while others, shorn of the same exposure but perhaps more deserving, founder in their wake potentially to the detriment of the industry as a whole. But that debate’s for another day – perhaps January 1st next year…

Anyway, the series has now been Sky+’d (we’ll wait to see what the Wench makes of that use of the small percentage of memory we have remaining…) and, in topical fashion, the book that was being discussed when I tuned in was the latest from George Pelecanos, The Way Home.

Coincidentally, he’s an author I’d never read before starting this challenge, and I’d actually turned the last page on the second book of his to be included in my 100-book challenge, Right as Rain, just minutes earlier. Isn’t it strange what happens when you embark on a new path?

A birthday surprise

Fate, kismet or destiny. Whatever you believe, it’s all a bit of a coincidence.

It was my birthday on Thursday. I don’t mention this because I’m seeking attention, or presents - although I like presents a lot! – but rather because another major global event was happening the same day which relates to this 100-book challenge.

Yep, it was the 2010 World Book Day, a day of celebrating literature and encouraging children to read more through various initiatives, including the issue of vouchers to schools.

Well, they say ‘World’ Book Day. In fact, March 4th is only World Book Day for the United Kingdom and Ireland, which seems pretty contradictory. The World Book Day website says that in most countries, the celebration takes place in April – so much for a coordinated effort…

Enough about other people, though. It’s my birthday and I’ll read if I want to.

Which means I’m very grateful for two new books I received as presents: Hearts and Minds, by Amanda Craig and Black Lands, by Belinda Bauer. I’ve no doubt they will be featuring on these pages in the near future.

#16 Travels in the Scriptorium, by Paul Auster (Faber and Faber Limited)

Well, this could be the shortest review I write this year, mainly because I wasn't quite sure what to make of Travels in the Scriptorium. I could certainly suggest some theories or put forth some hypotheses – but perhaps not in so few paragraphs.

Let's be clear, I enjoyed it. I liked the confusing nature of the tale of a man who has no identity, few memories and even less idea of what is happening. But, if it's possible, I was even more in the dark.

It's my second Paul Auster book of this challenge, and it's evident how he has earned his existentialist reputation, spinning stories within yarns, and telling tales inside yet more stories, none of which may be true. It's difficult to describe, but it's unique and absorbing writing.

So, rating time:

#16 Travels in the Scriptorium, by Paul Auster (Faber and Faber Limited) - 7/10

Next up: Right as Rain, by George Pelecanos (Orion)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

#15 Ghost, by Robert Harris (Hutchinson)

You wait ages for one book about a ghostwriter, and then two come along at once...

Of the two - Mil Millington's A Certain Chemistry and Robert Harris' Ghost - it's clear which one was the bigger publishing 'event'. The former is a quietly humorous fictional tale which, without meaning to be unkind, will not have troubled the bestselling list overmuch. The latter was by a writing behemoth, a disillusioned acquaintance of Tony Blair and concerned a British prime minister being tried for war crimes. You can guess which one garnered more column inches in the national newspapers.

Not that there is a great deal between the two in quality, however. Ghost starts in fine fashion, and the first 100 pages or so are really riveting as the ghostwriter is hired for the mysterious project and he meets his subject.

Unfortunately, I didn't like the direction the book took and, without revealing any of the plot twists, I just found the central conspiracy - which is pretty evident halfway through - far from convincing.

At times, you feel Harris is trying too hard to make parallels. A prime minister beholden to American interests? Check. A prime minster whose talents lie in style rather than substance? Check. A prime minister whose wife has the greater intelligence (political or otherwise)? Check. Harris might as well have taken out a full-page advert in Tribune.

It might have been better for the book had he done so, because it feels like Harris is trying so hard to make his points on wider issues that he forgets to concentrate on his primary job; writing something believable.

As things near a climax, everything happens at once and the ghostwriter has a sudden, bizarre, code-cracking revelation that stretches credibility to the limit. And it's that impression that remains after finishing Ghost, rather than the impressive start that made you want to read more.

So, rating time:

#15 Ghost, by Robert Harris (Hutchinson) - 6/10

Next up: Travels in the Scriptorium, by Paul Auster

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating