New Year
Happy New Year to anyone who reads this - I hope you managed to have a good holiday.
I read a few interesting library books this holiday. These were Past Caring by Robert Goddard The First Casualty by Ben Elton and King Rat by James Clavell.
[you'll notice I have de-amazoned my links, Karin ;) ]
Past Caring is a fairly non-descript historical novel, set around the rather crudely hidden Castle Drogo - near where we used to live on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon. 5/10
Ben Elton is an idiot and a poor excuse for a novellist. However if you can suspend disbelief for some pages, I think Elton has managed to some extent to bring home the horrors of the First World War. Quite why he thought it necessary to pad the story with innumerable unlikely events and pap is anyones' guess. 4/10
King Rat is, I am told, a classic. Which shows my ignorance, as I had never heard of the book nor the author before randomly picking the book up at the library. Set in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp at the end of the second world war, the story revolves around a black-marketeer who seems to magically be able to keep his life together whilst everyone else at the camp is falling apart. 7/10
Over New Year we saw the very sweet Mongolian film Cave of the Yellow Dog which is strong on massive landscapes and beautiful faces.
I read a few interesting library books this holiday. These were Past Caring by Robert Goddard The First Casualty by Ben Elton and King Rat by James Clavell.
[you'll notice I have de-amazoned my links, Karin ;) ]
Past Caring is a fairly non-descript historical novel, set around the rather crudely hidden Castle Drogo - near where we used to live on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon. 5/10
Ben Elton is an idiot and a poor excuse for a novellist. However if you can suspend disbelief for some pages, I think Elton has managed to some extent to bring home the horrors of the First World War. Quite why he thought it necessary to pad the story with innumerable unlikely events and pap is anyones' guess. 4/10
King Rat is, I am told, a classic. Which shows my ignorance, as I had never heard of the book nor the author before randomly picking the book up at the library. Set in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp at the end of the second world war, the story revolves around a black-marketeer who seems to magically be able to keep his life together whilst everyone else at the camp is falling apart. 7/10
Over New Year we saw the very sweet Mongolian film Cave of the Yellow Dog which is strong on massive landscapes and beautiful faces.
posted by Joe at 7:33 AM
1 Comments:
Have I previously made an anti-amazon comment then? Surely not. ;)
Well, your holiday reading sounds very jolly. Perhaps you were having such a good time you didn't want to get too cheerful. :D
Then again perhaps it helped you realise that compared to everyone in the books you were indeed having a really good time.
Hubby has come across Ben Elton's dad and used to know his baby sitter until she died some years ago. Haven't managed to meet Ben himself, though. I liked Black Adder and have been known to laugh at Ben's jokes on occasion, but the book of his I tried I wasn't impressed with either.
Don't know about the other two authors, although Goddard is definitely a name I see on our shelves at work.
Post a Comment
<< Home