Books Read
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More Fool Me
More Fool Me by Stephen Fry Published: 2014 Narrated by: Stephen Fry Length: 09:49 This is Stephen Fry’s third autobiography. Some people would say that is two too many, but I’ll keep reading them if he keeps publishing them. I’ve actually listened to all three on audiobook, despite having bought at least one in dead tree format, because I can’t pass up a chance to listen to his narration. I wasn’t in love with his second autobiography, The Fry Chronicles, and when I first discovered this had been released, I was worried about the reviews. The star ratings seemed low, and many of the reviews I skimmed seemed disappointed with…
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The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde Play premiered: 1895 (St James’s Theatre, London, England) Pages: 76 I love the dialogue in The Picture of Dorian Gray, but I started to drift during those few chapters in the middle that were all description. It makes sense then that I’d love Oscar Wilde’s plays, and I thought I’d start with his most popular work. Would you be in any way offended if I said that you seem to me to be in every way the visible personification of absolute perfection? This is an absurd comedy that revolves around two couples, their marriage proposals, and false identities. The readers (or audience…
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I Am Malala
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai Published: 2013 Narrated by: Archie Panjabi (introduction by Malala Yousafzai) Length: 09:55 When Malala was first up for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2013, I saw an interview with her and was amazed at how strong a speaker she was for her age. I got goosebumps listening to how passionately she spoke about women’s right to education. It felt obvious right away that she was someone who, given the time and resources, could really make a difference. She didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize that year, but she was the co-recipient…
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A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle Published: 1962 Length: 211 pages I remember occasionally coming across this in my father’s book collection when I was young. I nearly picked it up to read a dozen times, but I always chose something else. It has a really pulpy cover, so I just assumed it was an old generic fantasy novel. I mean, there’s a Zardoz-esque floating head and a winged centaur on the front, what was I supposed to think? It wasn’t until I was well into my twenties that I discovered this is a young adult science fiction classic and is apparently beloved by many. It’s a shame actually,…
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Trouble With Lichen
Trouble With Lichen by John Wyndham Published: 1960 Length: 204 pages John Wyndham is one of my favourite writers. His novels are beautifully written, and his stories feel fresh and innovative, despite being written half a century ago in a genre that is always building and expanding on itself. Unfortunately, Trouble With Lichen wasn’t my favourite of his. I still enjoyed it, but it didn’t hold my attention the way his novels typically do. I am making my way through the entirety of his bibliography, so I guess it’s inevitable that I’ll come across a few of his novels that fall a bit short for me. The premise is fascinating.…
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The Scar
The Scar by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko Published: 1996 (2012 translation) Translated By: Elinor Huntington Narrated By: Jonathan Davis Audio Length: 15:17 I started listening to this just after I had finished playing The Witcher 2. It’s a game in a series based on The Witcher books by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski and developed by CD Projekt RED, a Polish game studio. It was a great game, but the main character is a uncharismatic misogynistic bore that women inexplicably throw themselves at. The main character in The Scar, Egert Soll, is very similar to this at the beginning of the novel. I, rather narrow-mindedly, was beginning to think this was…
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Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton Published: 1990 Length: 400 pages Jurassic Park stands as one of my all-time favourite movies. I saw it in the theatre three times, and again last year when it was released in 3D, and I’ve seen it countless times on video since. I just love it. It’s just as good today as it was back then, and the special effects really stand up, unlike any of the horrible sequels. I was mainly reading fantasy as a teenager, so I never picked up the novel, despite the endless recommendations to do so. In the last decade, with unfortunate snobbery on my part, I wrote Crichton off…
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Slam
Slam by Nick Hornby Published: 2007 Length: 309 pages I’ve really grown to love Nick Hornby books over the past few years, but this wasn’t one of his best. I believe this was his first attempt at a young adult novel, and while I enjoyed it overall, it felt a little trite. It still has some of Hornby’s hilarious dialogue, and there were a couple of moments that made me laugh out loud, but those moments were spread apart quite a bit. The story is centred around a couple of teenagers who accidentally become pregnant and choose to keep the child. Sam Jones, the male teen and viewpoint character of…
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The Magicians
The Magicians by Lev Grossman Published: 2009 Length: 402 pages Hopefully this is not becoming a theme, but this is another book that I really wanted to love and just couldn’t. People seem to be describing this as ‘Harry Potter for adults’, and I don’t know if I agree. I suppose I took that to imply more depth than Harry Potter, but it seems it’s just labelled as such because there’s some swearing and sex. This is a tricky book to boil down to a basic synopsis, because for the first half of the book there’s very little conflict, and then the second half of the book could essentially be…
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Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Published: 1865 Narrated By: Jim Dale Audio Length: 02:57 I picked this up partly because I wanted something quick and light after The Windup Girl and partly because I was reading The Magicians and had C. S. Lewis on the mind. And until this very day, thirty-two years into my life, I thought it was C.S. Lewis who wrote this book. Wrong Lewis, it turns out. And wrong century. Audiobook fatigue and a case of mistaken identity may not be the best reasons to pick up a book, but I guess that doesn’t really matter in the end. I also picked this up because…