Books Read

  • Books Read

    Ship Breaker

    Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi Published: 2010 Series: Ship Breaker, #1 Length: 326 pages I hadn’t realised that this was a young adult novel when I picked it up. I read The Windup Girl a couple of years back, and that is very much not a young adult book, so it was interesting to see the difference in tone between the two. In a way, it felt like the confines of young adult fiction, whatever those may be, may have been good for him. I’ve only read two of his books, but from that sample it seems like Paolo Bacigalupi’s bread and butter is richly-imagined dystopian futures caused by environmental…

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    Gentlemen of the Road

    Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon Published: 2007 Length: 204 pages I’ve been wanting to read a Michael Chabon novel for quite a while now, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay in particular, and just haven’t gotten to it. At the book sale last month, I found this and thought it might be a good introduction to him, mainly because it’s nice and short. Those were the longest 200 pages of my life. My god. The concept was great. The cover promises an adventurous tale of Jews with swords, and I’m always up for some swashbuckling. The two main characters are a giant man with an ax and…

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    The Player of Games

    The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks Published: 1988 Series: The Culture #2 Narrated by: Peter Kenny Length: 11:26 (288 pages) This is the second novel in Iain M. Banks’ Culture series. They apparently don’t need to be read in order, and everyone who has read them seems to have their suggested reading order to follow, but I like rules, okay? I’m following the publication order on these. I knew this wouldn’t be related to the first book, but it’s not just a new set of characters, it’s a complete departure. In Consider Phlebas, it was a story taking place in the war between the hedonistic Culture and the…

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    Annihilation

    Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer Published: 2014 Series: Southern Reach #1 Length: 195 pages A team of four women – a biologist, a psychologist, a surveyor, and an anthropologist – are sent into a mysterious region called Area X. All they know is that there have been eleven previous expeditions. One ending with every member of the team killing themselves, and another with the team all killing each other. Those who managed to returned from Area X had no memory of their time there. The group has been trained to survive and to deal with the unexpected, and each member must keep a journal during their time there. Perhaps my only…

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    Brave New World

    Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Published: 1932 Narrated by: Michael York Length: 08:05 (268 pages) This is about a utopia gone wrong, where science has been twisted to an absurd extreme in an attempt to keep society happy. What makes this novel particularly interesting is how it all makes a sort of perverse sense. The obvious comparison when discussing this book is Nineteen Eighty-Four, both being dystopian futures with a brainwashed populace, and this is like the wacky uncle to that novel. It’s older, doesn’t take itself as seriously, but is clearly in the same family. How do you keep a society happy? Firstly, each citizen must be content…

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    The Fold

    The Fold by Peter Clines Published: 2015 Narrated by: Ray Porter Length: 10:52 (384 pages) I read 14 by Peter Clines last year and really enjoyed it. The book had its flaws, but on the whole it was very entertaining. The Fold is set in the same universe, but he doesn’t describe it as a sequel. It takes place after the events of 14, and if you’ve read that you will catch a few connections, but it’s in no means required. I would still start there, personally, but I like to read things in order like that. The main character in this, Mike Erikson, has an advanced eidetic memory. He…

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    Hide and Seek

    Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin Published: 1991 Series: Inspector Rebus #2 Length: 224 pages I’ve finally gotten to the second novel in the Inspector Rebus series. I enjoyed the first one, Knots and Crosses, but I wasn’t in love, so I thought I should try one more just to see. Since the last novel, Detective Rebus has been promoted to Inspector. It feels like he’s still getting used to the position and is maybe somewhat insecure, because he can act like a complete ass at times, and it seems unprompted and against his usual level nature. He’s also fully in classic detective mode now – living alone and single,…

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    Fresh Off the Boat

    Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir by Eddie Huang Published: 2013 Narrated by: Eddie Huang Length: 07:55 (288 pages) I haven’t seen the sitcom of the same name that was created from this book, but I have seen clips of Eddie Huang’s show on Vice. I wasn’t sure if I liked him then, and now after reading this I’m still not entirely sure what I think of him. Eddie Huang is a restaurateur and a chef, with a successful Manhattan restaurant called BaoHaus that specializes in baozi, which are steamed Chinese meat buns. He became a known food personality after hosting a few shows on the Cooking Channel and, more…

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    The Grapes of Wrath

    The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Published: 1939 Narrated by: Dylan Baker Length: 21:05 (464 pages) I’ve read two other Steinbecks, Of Mice and Men and Cannery Row, and I really enjoyed them both. The subject matter in his novels, typically people struggling to get by in the Great Depression, isn’t really something I find myself craving, but once I start reading I can’t stop. I’ve only read these few novels, but he’s slowly becoming one of my favourite authors. At the beginning of this novel, Tom Joad is let out of jail on parole and returns to his family home, only to find it abandoned. He learns from…

  • Books Read

    The Alchemist

    The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Published: 1988 Translated by: Alan R. Clarke (from Portuguese in 1993) Length: 167 pages I’ve been hearing about this one for a long time now. At first I was excited to get to it, but as the years passed I started thinking it probably wasn’t for me. My girlfriend had a copy, though, and really loves the book, so I thought I’d give it a go. This is the story of a young Shepard who discovers that his Personal Legend is to travel to the Egyptian pyramids to find his fortune. He is met at the beginning of the book by a king who tells…