1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

1Q84
Haruki Murakami
2011, Vintage, New York
9780307476463
1157p.

My review of this book is as follows: Haruki Murakami. That is all.

0.4 by Mike Lancaster

0.4
Mike Lancaster
2011, Egmont, London
9781405253048
273p.

Young adult novel set in a future where there are many digital advancements but not a lot of knowledge of history.  History seems to have been lost in one, possibly cataclysmic, event.  This book is the transcript of some old recorded tapes which purport to explain what happened.

I sat down and read this in a couple of sittings, it it written really well.  I loved the story - post-apocalyptic is one of my favourite genres and this story had a dark yet understated foreboding which was maintained throughout the whole book.  I liked the characters, the setting, the premise, the style.  It's just very well crafted.

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On the Beach by Nevil Shute

On the Beach
Nevil Shute
1957, 1974, Pan Books, London
0330105701
267p.

Nuclear war takes out the whole of the Northern Hemisphere, leaving the fallout to slowly creep down the Southern Hemisphere and kill the remaining people.  This is set in Australia and tells of the last few months of a few individuals.

Emotive, moving story.  Simply heartbreaking.  These characters are written so well ... these people are my uncle, my father, my sisters, and my friends.  I know all these people.  This book is so eerily accurate - I read a fair bit of post-apocalyptic stuff, and this has got to be by far the most accurate as to what would actually happen, how people would actually behave.  And it made me cry.  Quite a bit.

"This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but with a whimper." - TS Eliot

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14 by Peter Clines

14
Peter Clines narrated by Ray Porter
2012, Amazon Audible
audiobook
12 hours, 34 minutes

Nate moves in to a new apartment with extremely low rent.  Soon, strange things begin to happen, and as Nate investigates the reasons why, he becomes entwined in a mystery with long-reaching consequences.

This is the first audiobook I listened to on my Kindle.  It is an amazing story, I love the way it builds slowly and you become enthralled with the mystery.  I also enjoyed the mixture of hard sci-fi, horror and pop culture.

Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood

Moral Disorder
Margaret Atwood
2006, 2007, Seal Books, Canada
9781400025046
284p.

This book tells the story of one woman's life, and of those intertwined with it.  The main theme I got out of the book was that of ageing - of growing up and then growing old.

It has been a long time since I read a 'proper' literature book for adults, I was amazed at how much I missed it!  Atwood is simply fantastic.  She has a way of writing emotionally without being brash.  My favourite part of the book was the section set on the farm; reading about the animals made me smile.

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Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls by Danielle Wood

Rosie Little's Cautionary Tales for Girls
Danielle Wood
2006, Allen & Unwin, Crow's Nest
9781741149302
255p.

A loosely bound collection of short stories dealing with love and loss, growing up and learning life's lessons. 

I loved this book!  It is humorous and often made me smile.  And the words!  The words were beautiful.  Poignant.  Absorbing.  I am sad that it ended.

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Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay
Suzanne Collins
2010, Scholastic, London
9781407132105
455p.

The final in The Hunger Games trilogy.  Katniss continues the rebellion, working for District 13 in their quest to overthrow the Capitol.

This was an awesome final book.  I love the moral questions Katniss has, it's genuinely thought-provoking - this is a mature book for teenagers.  The ending was sad though. :(

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire
Suzanne Collins
2009, Scholastic, London
9781407132099
472p.

The second of The Hunger Games trilogy sees Katniss Everdeen entering a second Hunger Games as the Capitol forces previous winners back into the game.

This book is just as heart-breaking as the first.  I enjoy the increasing tension of Panem and the start of the rebellion.  And that clock-work arena is terrifying!

Quarantine by Greg Egan

Quarantine
Greg Egan
1992, HarperCollins, New York
0061054232
280p.

One night, all the stars in sky go out.  On investigation, it is discovered that a 'bubble' has been placed around the solar system, encasing the Earth with its sun and planetary neighbours.  I can't go into too much more without giving away the plot!

This was amazing - as Egan always is.  Quantum mechanics and neural biology are the main themes.  I LOVED his ideas on eigenstates and the interconnectedness of other worlds. :)  I read this book slowly because it was so good and I wanted to make it last.

The Running Man by Richard Bachman

The Running Man
Richard Bachman
1982, 2007, Kindle Edition, Amazon
0451197968
340p.

Set in the future where the gap between the poor and the wealthy is large, one of the only ways for the poor to make money is to participate in humiliating and often dangerous games which are broadcast on "free-vee". Ben Richards is selected to be in the most dangerous game of all, "Running Man", where he is a fugitive trying to escape killers for up to one month. No one has ever survived.

An excellent book by King - not horror so much but definitely gory! The characters are so well developed, the reader can't help but to be drawn into their lives.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
1932, 2008, Amazon Kindle
0582060168
256p.

A dystopian view of the future where people are genetically engineered and socially conditioned from before birth to fit in to the role which society has ordained for them. Everyone is happy and there is no violence. There's also no art, no truth and no freedom as we define it.

I read this expecting it to be a true dystopia, however, the concerning thing I found was that the society depicted in the novel is very much like the society I find myself in. People are encouraged to not think, to be promiscuous, childhood sexual behaviour is encouraged, entertainment does not tell of truth and beauty but simply tells a story for the sake of itself. Extroverts are thought of as normal and introverts as perverted and weird. If you are feeling unhappy, you must take drugs to fix it, to make the feeling go away. Consumerism is the basis of society (Henry T Ford is God); if something is broken, we replace, we do not mend (the more stitches, the less riches).

So all in all, I found this to be one of the most disturbing dytopias I have ever read.

Damned by Chuck Palahniuk

Damned
Chuck Palahniuk
2011, Amazon Kindle e-book
unnumbered

Madison is the overweight and spoilt 13 year old daughter of a movie star and producer, the only thing is, she's dead ... and in hell.

This was another awesome book by Palahniuk! He's so good, and so, so bad. I loved the character development in this, Madison is a fantastic character. They all are fantastic characters, the dialogue is witty and situation hilarious. I think this is my first 10 star review of the year!

Misery by Stephen King

Misery
Stephen King
1987
e-book
1110p.

This is the first e-book I've read all the way through, and it's also the first book that I've read all the way through in over a month. Book reading rut over! This is a classic King novel about a writer who ends up trapped in the house of a mad woman who wants him to write a novel for her.

I had increased heart rate at times while reading this book. haha. King is very good at taking the reader along for the ride. The character of Annie Wilkes is terrifying.

The Ten O'Clock Horses by Laurie Graham

The Ten O'Clock Horses
Laurie Graham
1996, Black Swan, London
0552996564
256p.

Ronnie Glover is a painter and decorator living in 1960s England and is dissatisfied with his place in life. He begins an affair with a rich married dance teacher.

When I first started reading this, I couldn't get into the writing style. But I stuck with it and when I started to get the voice of the novel I really really enjoyed it and couldn't put it down. The characters are well drawn, and the dialogue is incredibly realistic. The reader can feel the emotions of the characters on a deep level.

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The Simulacra by Philip K. Dick

The Simulacra
Philip K. Dick
1964, Ace Books. New York
no isbn
192p.

A novel of the future about a government system headed by a beautiful First Lady and her simulation husband.

This little novel was multi-layered - there were many different aspects that I really enjoyed. And the science behind it all has not dated, even 40 years later.

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The Stars' Tennis Balls by Stephen Fry

The Stars' Tennis Balls
Stephen Fry
2001, Arrow Books, London
0099727412
484p.

Ned Maddstone is the son of a politician with the world at his feet. He goes to a great school, is captain of the cricket team and has a wonderful girlfriend. Then he is kidnapped by a group of men and his world is turned upside-down.

I really, really enjoyed this black comedy. Fry is a very good writer - I love his way with words; he uses big words without sounding pretentious (unless that is exactly what he wants to sound like!). And the uber-violence is a nice distraction for when you're at work. lol.

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Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss

Eats, Shoots and Leaves
Lynne Truss
2003, 2004, Gotham, New York
1592400876
204p.

This is a book about punctuation. Not exactly a style guide, though it does inform the reader of the main conventions of punctuation, it's more of a educated rant from a literate stickler.

I really loved this: it's proof that I'm not the worst grammar or punctuation Nazi around. It also taught me a thing or two I didn't know about the correct use of punctuation, which is fantastic! Now I just have to remember it all and not slip back into old ways.

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Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison

Make Room! Make Room!
Harry Harrison
1966, 1973, Doubleday, New York
0425040437
224p.

This is the book the movie Soylent Green is based on. It is the tale of an over-populated world at the turn of the millennium.

I thought this was brilliant. I adored the movie Soylent Green, and when I heard that the main premise of the movie didn't come from the book (y'all know what I'm talking about), I was a bit worried that I wouldn't enjoy the book. But I did! The writing style is beautiful for a little science fiction novel, and there is so much humanity in this book. I'm just glad it wasn't prophetic.

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On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

On Chesil Beach
Ian McEwan
2007, Johnathon Cape, London
9780224081184
166p.

Short novella about the wedding night of a couple in the 1950s - about their fears and the cultural restrictions of the time.

This book really resonated with me. McEwan has an incredible way of getting into the minds of his characters and voicing their thoughts and feelings. His writing is descriptive and beautiful. I devoured this book.

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The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson

The Men Who Stare at Goats
Jon Ronson
2004, Picador, London
0330435264
273p.

This book makes the claim that highly placed members of the US military believed that they could kill goats by looking at them and that they could walk through walls. They created a unit called the First Earth Battalion in the 1970s which was brought back during the War on Terror.

When I started reading this book I was totally incredulous. I kept thinking "no way, this is all made up", but then the author related it to something commonly accepted as fact and I was like "well, maybe". It's an incredibly disturbing tale. And quite scary in places, if not downright terrifying to think that things like this could have happened.

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