Book of the Month: January 2009

Each month I'm going to pick my Book of the Month. Strictly one book, no matter how hard a decision that might be.

This month's choice is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

A classic book that I can't believe it took me so long to get around to reading. It was thought-provoking as all good dystopian literature should be, but it was still a relatively easy read, and I was surprised by how humorous it was.

999 Challenge: Update End of January

Quite a good start to the year. I’ve read at least one book in each category plus I’ve even read a few things outside of challenge.

My reviews are can be read on the 999 Challenge blog by clicking on the titles below.


1001 Books to Read Before You Die
1. Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates
2. Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien


Fiction Authors that are New to Me
1. Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann


Crime and Detectives around the world (each one from a different country)
1. Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg (Denmark and Greenland)
2. Real World by Natsuo Kirino (Japan)


Theme: Dystopia
1. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
2. The Declaration by Gemma Malley


Retro: Beats, Hippies, 1960s and Counter-Culture (fiction and non-fiction)
1. Retro Retro edited by Amy Prior
2. 1968: The Year that Rocked the World by Mark Kurlansky


Around the World (fiction set outside of the UK and USA - each one from a different country)
1. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton (Australia)
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini (Afghanistan)
3. Distant Star by Roberto Bolano


Non-Fiction
1. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson


Complete Works of - T C Boyle
1. East is East by T C Boyle


Themed Titles - Animals (a different animal in each title)
1. The Boy Who Kicked Pigs by Tom Baker
2. White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Book Award Challenge: Update January 2009

1. Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Master - Guardian First Book Award 2005
2. Last Orders by Graham Swift - Booker Prize 1996
3. The Sea by John Banville - Man Booker Prize 2005
4. The Gathering by Anne Enright - Man Booker Prize 2007
5. Boy A by Jonathan Trigell - John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2004
6. Shipping News - Annie Proulx - Pulitzer Prize
7. Whatever - Michel Houellebecq - Impac Prize
8. The Accidental - Ali Smith - Whitbread Prize
9. White Tiger- Arvinda Adiga - Man Booker Prize 2008


Number of book: 9
Number of prizes: 6

The Thrill of the Chase

I love reading. I really do. But I think I enjoy the acquisition of books just as much. The thrill of finding a gem in a charity shop, the atmosphere of the independent bookstore, the swapping process on ReadItSwapIt and the wealth of books for free from the library. All of these are great, but I still love browsing in the large bookshops, even if I rarely buy anything there these days.

Yesterday, I called into Borders on Oxford Street. Just because it was there really. So many books. It was wonderful. I was close to climbing onto the 3 for 2 table and rolling around amongst the books, I was that overcome with joy.

They had such a great selection. But still common sense prevailed and I left empty-handed. I need to reduce the "To Be Read" pile significantly before I can buy anything more.

Although swapping is an entirely different matter...

Charity Shop Watch Part 2

I returned to the shop that had the three copies of "The Five People You Meet in Heaven". No copies of it remained but instead there were three copies of "The House at Riverton" by Kate Morton. Very odd.

Also is it weird of me to feel slightly offended when I see copies of books I love in charity shops? Its not as if I'm the author, but I still feel a bit put out that someone wants rid of something that is a favourite of mine.

For the second week running I didn't buy anything. I was tempted by a copy of "The Artist in the Floating World" by Kazuo Ishiguro, but I'm on a temporary book buying ban, having bought three books last week. I will lift the ban once these are read.

Favourite Passage: "The Boy Who Kicked Pigs" by Tom Baker

(this is a conversation between two reporters on the local radio discussing the huge catastrophe on the road)

"Was there anyone in the cab"? asked David revealing again there wasn't much inside his cab.

Cassandra pushed on. "Well David it seems there were two people in the car, a man accompanied by another man. They were twins, both of them. Twin brothers. At least that's what they told Mr Crump, who is good on details and picked all this up while trying to save the little car. Both the men were of the male sex and aged seventy-three. It would appear that they were on their way to the birthday party of their old headmaster, but as I said their number was up. Their name was on the bullet"

"Oh my God" responded David the brain who would have said the same thing if Cassandra had told him it was raining.

"We rang the old headmaster", said Cassandra, "to tell him of the tragedy and to spoil his party"

"Oh my god" groaned David. "And what did he say?"

"Well, David it seems he was too upset to talk coherently. All he kept saying was the twins were good at geography and nothing like this had ever happened before."

Charity Shop Watch

On my regular Sunday jaunt to what I refer to as the Charity Shop Mile (which isn't anywhere near a mile long, but does have 5 charity shops), I spotted that one shop had three copies of the same book. Clearly a book that was briefly a "must read" book, but is over-rated.

It wasn't the Da Vinci Code, although that would fit my analysis and there is usually a copy of this in the Charity Shop Mile.

The book was:

The Five People You Meet in Heavenby Mitch Albom

I've read it myself a few years ago, that it was only just ok.