Archive - July 1, 2016

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The 10 Books I’ve Read This Year

The 10 Books I’ve Read This Year

I have read 10 books in 2016. I hope to read at least another 10 before the end of the year. The following books are presented in the order in which I read them. Click on the links to read my reviews.

 

Anna Karenina by Leo TolstoyAnna Karenina

Genre: Classic

Tolstoy’s opus is set against a backdrop of the emancipation of the serfs, the Pan Slavism movement, political change and technological advancement. The story follows three interrelated families…(more)

My Rating: Good

 

Personal by Lee ChildPersonal

Genre: Thriller

When a shot is fired at the French president in Paris, Jack Reacher is recruited to apprehend the rogue sniper before he causes havoc at a forthcoming G8 meeting in London. Reacher teams up with…(more)

My Rating: Intriguing

 

The Rebel’s Sketchbook by Rupert DreyfusThe Rebel's Sketchbook

Genre: Satire

The Rebel’s Sketchbook is a collection of 13 first person satirical short stories. Subjects encompass capitalism, class war, drugs, viral culture, boy bands and zero hour contracts. The compilation’s motif is rebellion…(more)

My Rating: Good

 

Concrete Island by J. G. BallardConcrete Island

Genre: Dystopia

35-year-old architect Robert Maitland is driving along the orbital road, Westway, in London, when he loses control of his Jaguar, ploughs through the barriers and plummets onto an underpass…(more)

My Rating: Okay

 

Brave New World by Aldous HuxleyBrave New World

Genre: Dystopia

Brave New World is set in a society where everything is controlled. The parentless, manufactured, free-loving population are dependent on a state-endorsed hallucinogenic, happiness drug called…(more)

My Rating: Thought-provoking

 

The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. DickMan in High Castle

Genre: Dystopia

After the allies lost World War II America was divided in half. The Germans occupied the east, the Japanese the west. It is now 1962. Robert Childan is the owner of an Americana antiques shop in San Francisco…(more)

My Rating: Interesting premise but convoluted

 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray BradburyFahrenheit 451

Genre: Dystopia

Books are banned in this dystopian world, where firemen are employed to burn them. Guy Montag is a fireman, who lives an unfulfilling existence with Mildred, his sedentary, parlour-consuming wife…(more)

My Rating: Good

 

To The Lighthouse by Virginia WoolfTo the Lighthouse

Genre: Semi Autobiographical

Mrs Ramsay is devoted to her eight children, and her imperious, intellectual husband Mr Ramsay. They are staying in their holiday home on the Isle of Skye in the Hebrides. There is a tentative plan to visit…(more)

My Rating: Tedious & incredibly dense.

 

Make Me by Lee ChildMake Me

Genre: Thriller

Lee Child’s alter ego Jack Reacher finds himself in Mother’s Rest, a dead end, small prairie town on the train line. Our protagonist is curious as to why the town got its name. At the local motel Reacher meets…(more)

My Rating: Not bad

 

Fire In The Hole by Elmore LeonardFire In The Hole

Genre: Crime

This compilation, consisting of 9 short stories, is named after its longest title, Fire In The Hole, the inspiration for the television series Justified. It begins with a Kentucky-based Nazi called Boyd blowing up…(more)

My Rating: Entertaining

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