The blurb on the back of this book reads "Juno and Juliet are beautiful teenage twins embarking on a degree course in Galway. So beutiful they are, in fact, that men cannot resist them, and the girl spend much of their time fending off the amourous advances of various reprobates, with often hilarious consequences. 1a modern, at time brilliantly ironic reworking of the classical fairytale, with nods to Shakespeare, Austen and Beckett. J+J is an intelligent look at the magical banality of student life which achieve that all too rare sunthesis of piercing observation and the feelgood factor"
When I picked this book up I initially thought I was going to be reading some typical chick-lit with the generics of "Single girl/woman looking for boyfriend, goes shopping, does housework" which I actually happened to be looking for (how is this going to be an eclectic book review blog without some chick-lit?) but I was slightly wrong. Yes it steers more towards chick-lit that your general fiction but it can also appeal to the male audience also.
J+J is written in a first-person perspective which I prefer as it can add more emotion or personal views to the reading. We are introduced to the two twins of the namesake, Juno and Juliet, the former who is considered by the latter to be the cleverer and wittier of the pair, despite them being identical and from the first page we get an insight into the personalities. From here on it flies through a tale of two students in university with the sex, drugs and alchohol playing a bit part to the story with some love and a stalker thrown in for good measure.
The twins are just like you'd imagine where they comfort each other and do everything (bar a few activities) together, very much like the end of the video at the end of this review.
Gough has a skill of writing which I've not read before and it is clear that he writes from experience and with much truth. This helps us to "connect" with the characters better as well as making it hard to put the book down. It is one of those books which you can get completely buried into where the words turn to pictures and you completely lose track of the time and your surroundings. I spent many hours over 3 days sat on my bed buried in this book desperate to know how it would end and would Juliet end up with the person she fell in love with.
Juliet can get a little irritating near the end, but only slightly and not enough to you want to tell her to just STFU(!)
I haven't quite read a novel this well written in a long time and it is one which I'd recommend to anyone interested in reading general fiction. This is a feel good read which, although slightly more feminine, would be good for a male audience also.
I'd rate this book at 4.5/5. It would make it to 5 if the aforementioned issue with Juliette was changed a little.
Tuesday 20 April 2010
Saturday 17 April 2010
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Penguin Classics)
Word of note: The edition I will be reviewing is the Penguin Classics edition so your version may be very slightly different to this.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW
Frankenstein is a book not for the light-minded. By this I mean you have to be willing to read through some early 19th century English, and it's tricky! If you can do that you are on your way to reading in my opinion, a slightly above average book.
The story begins with a selection of letter sent from a sailor to his Sister, Margaret. He goes on about the sea and such like (basically whatever sailors wrote about back then) until he mentions about a strange creature floating of a raft beside the ship. Obviously he takes the man on-board (who, by the end of the book we find out is Victor Frankenstein) and Franky proceeds to tell a story.
We hear of Frankenstein's background, what inspired him to become a (mad) scientist and his family, although I don't recall being given a reason as to why he decided to create another life or how it was brought to life. Maybe my mind skimmed it.
From herein it gets more interesting. We read of Frankenstein being ill and nearly dying (a common occurence/theme throughout) due to the shock of realising what he has created - a monster capable of doing unspeakable things. Nine months of illness and Franky is finally back on his feet again, and reading letters sent from his Dad with information about his sister being found murdered. Instantly our Doctor snaps his fingers (sic) and realises what his creation has done or become.
We're now sent on a journey of searching through snow, wilderness and water until Franky finds his monster. The monster now proceeds to give us a long account of what happened since he diappeared from Frankensteins lab. It is here that we start to feel slightly sorry for him as he is constantly rejected and thought of an evil and grotesque being but this will change in good time.
Our Dr. then takes us on a journey of murder, mayhem and dungeons until he ends up getting married only to have his wife killed by his own creature. Now begins the years long persuits until Frankenstein ends up floting onto the aforementioned ship. The story then goes back to the letters and finishes with Frankenstein dying and the monster being upset and disappearing into the oceans.
When I first ppicked up and opened Frankenstein I was expecting a "thrill of a read". Instead, I was presented with endless dialogue and some boring narrative but it was a good book. Regarding Shelley's writing, I'd have to say it was only average. At points she made it exciting but at others it seems she just wanted to fill up a page. This book didn't reach my expectations, I'm sorry to say. However, I would still recommend it to anyone interested in reading it.
There is one very common mistake when it comes to putting the monster on film: He is not green with a rectangular head and bolts sticking out of his neck; he is made of body parts taken from graves.
Final conclusion: 3/5
WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW
Frankenstein is a book not for the light-minded. By this I mean you have to be willing to read through some early 19th century English, and it's tricky! If you can do that you are on your way to reading in my opinion, a slightly above average book.
The story begins with a selection of letter sent from a sailor to his Sister, Margaret. He goes on about the sea and such like (basically whatever sailors wrote about back then) until he mentions about a strange creature floating of a raft beside the ship. Obviously he takes the man on-board (who, by the end of the book we find out is Victor Frankenstein) and Franky proceeds to tell a story.
We hear of Frankenstein's background, what inspired him to become a (mad) scientist and his family, although I don't recall being given a reason as to why he decided to create another life or how it was brought to life. Maybe my mind skimmed it.
From herein it gets more interesting. We read of Frankenstein being ill and nearly dying (a common occurence/theme throughout) due to the shock of realising what he has created - a monster capable of doing unspeakable things. Nine months of illness and Franky is finally back on his feet again, and reading letters sent from his Dad with information about his sister being found murdered. Instantly our Doctor snaps his fingers (sic) and realises what his creation has done or become.
We're now sent on a journey of searching through snow, wilderness and water until Franky finds his monster. The monster now proceeds to give us a long account of what happened since he diappeared from Frankensteins lab. It is here that we start to feel slightly sorry for him as he is constantly rejected and thought of an evil and grotesque being but this will change in good time.
Our Dr. then takes us on a journey of murder, mayhem and dungeons until he ends up getting married only to have his wife killed by his own creature. Now begins the years long persuits until Frankenstein ends up floting onto the aforementioned ship. The story then goes back to the letters and finishes with Frankenstein dying and the monster being upset and disappearing into the oceans.
When I first ppicked up and opened Frankenstein I was expecting a "thrill of a read". Instead, I was presented with endless dialogue and some boring narrative but it was a good book. Regarding Shelley's writing, I'd have to say it was only average. At points she made it exciting but at others it seems she just wanted to fill up a page. This book didn't reach my expectations, I'm sorry to say. However, I would still recommend it to anyone interested in reading it.
There is one very common mistake when it comes to putting the monster on film: He is not green with a rectangular head and bolts sticking out of his neck; he is made of body parts taken from graves.
Final conclusion: 3/5
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Follow me on Twitter
Never really thought I'd do this but I've set up a Twitter page for this book review blog thing. I won't be using it for personal tweets as I'm trying to keep away from all that social networking rubbish for now but I shall return to Facebook sometime, mainly to advertise this.
Anyone else think Facebook is a bit of a waste of time?
On subject: Next review to come up is Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley.
(www.twitter.com/eclecticreading)
Anyone else think Facebook is a bit of a waste of time?
On subject: Next review to come up is Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley.
(www.twitter.com/eclecticreading)
Sunday 11 April 2010
Emergency - Neil Strauss
After reading reviews of this book on Amazon (after having finished it) I've noticed that many people seem to have thought this book was a survival manual. However, nowhere does it claim to be such a thing. It is quite simply the story of a man's journey of learning how to survive economic meltdown. Now that that's cleared up, lets get to the main bit.
"Emergency" (2009) is the newest book from Neil Strauss, best-selling author of The Game (which I have previously read twice) and "How to Make Love Like A Pornstar" with Jenna Jameson. It is a story of a man who seems to be worried that America is coming to an end, and in a way he is close to being right, what with the recession and many banks going bankrupt etc. This worry inspires him first to try and get a citizenship in another country so he has somewhere to escape to WTSHTF (When the shit hits the fan). Whilst waiting for his citizenship, Strauss spends three years learning how to look after himself in a rural or natural environment as well as shooting guns, wielding knives and slaughtering deers (the latter story isn't really for the faint-of-heart).
Having already read The Game, I already believed that Strauss wasn't exactly with it but then when I finished Emergency, my thoughts were proven to be true. Reading through the book I was thinking he must be a bit crazy to spend thousands of dollars on learning how to shoot a gun in 1.5 seconds or how to slaughter, skin and cook a goat as well as how to build a tent/cover out of twigs and leaves, but he did it and his experience makes a very interesting read.
Emergency definately wasn't as good as The Game but, had I the time, I probably still would have shot through it (damn studying and essay writing). It was interesting, deep, funny and slightly inspiring (although I wouldn't spend 2000 dollars on learning to throw a knife). If you've read The Game in the past I'd recommend this to you. If not then I'd say The Game is the book which should be read first, then move onto Emergency.
Overall: 3.5/5. Not the best book I've read and slightly slow to begin with but when the story got going I spent 5 hours sat on my bed until 2am when I finished the book.
"Emergency" (2009) is the newest book from Neil Strauss, best-selling author of The Game (which I have previously read twice) and "How to Make Love Like A Pornstar" with Jenna Jameson. It is a story of a man who seems to be worried that America is coming to an end, and in a way he is close to being right, what with the recession and many banks going bankrupt etc. This worry inspires him first to try and get a citizenship in another country so he has somewhere to escape to WTSHTF (When the shit hits the fan). Whilst waiting for his citizenship, Strauss spends three years learning how to look after himself in a rural or natural environment as well as shooting guns, wielding knives and slaughtering deers (the latter story isn't really for the faint-of-heart).
Having already read The Game, I already believed that Strauss wasn't exactly with it but then when I finished Emergency, my thoughts were proven to be true. Reading through the book I was thinking he must be a bit crazy to spend thousands of dollars on learning how to shoot a gun in 1.5 seconds or how to slaughter, skin and cook a goat as well as how to build a tent/cover out of twigs and leaves, but he did it and his experience makes a very interesting read.
Emergency definately wasn't as good as The Game but, had I the time, I probably still would have shot through it (damn studying and essay writing). It was interesting, deep, funny and slightly inspiring (although I wouldn't spend 2000 dollars on learning to throw a knife). If you've read The Game in the past I'd recommend this to you. If not then I'd say The Game is the book which should be read first, then move onto Emergency.
Overall: 3.5/5. Not the best book I've read and slightly slow to begin with but when the story got going I spent 5 hours sat on my bed until 2am when I finished the book.
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