The Golden Compass Graphic Novel, Vol 1 - Philip Pullman (mini-review)

(mini-review x-post from Instagram)

Title: The Golden Compass Graphic Novel, Vol. 1
Series: His Dark Materials
Author:  Philip Pullman, Clément Oubrerie, and Stéphanie Melchior-Durand

Published: 2015
Pages: 80

Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy has long been a favourite of mine so I quite eagerly anticipated getting my hands on the graphic novel... but, much like the film, I felt it fell flat of it’s potential. It’s not that it is a ‘bad’ graphic novel - just that it pales it comparison. The richness and beauty of the prose has been stripped away in favour of simplicity in language and art.

Recommended Age Group: 10+

Content Warnings: 
- some violence

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The Storyteller - Jodi Picoult

Title: The Storyteller
Author: Jodi Picoult
Published: 2013
Pages: 460
First Line: My father trusted me with the details of his death.

Fiction is like that, once it is released into the world: contagious, persistent. Like the contents of Pandora's box, a story that's freely given can't be contained anymore. It becomes infection, spreading from the person who created it to the person who listens, and passes it on.

It's been awhile since I read any Jodi Picoult novels, a realisation that surprised me as I never fail to enjoy them. 'Enjoy', however, is a word that I find so hard to use in reference to this particular novel.

Following her trademark move of picking hot button issue around which to revolve her story (capital punishment, organ donation, religion), The Storyteller introduces the character of Jozeb Weber, a more-than-model citizen in his nineties who, after befriending Sage, young local baker, confesses to being a Nazi soldier during World War II. What's more, he is asking Sage, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, to forgive him before helping him die. No small ask.

The Storyteller is a layered, multi-generational story, weaving in the narrative voices of Jozef, Sage, her grandmother Minka, and Leo, the DOJ attorney from whom Sage is seeking counsel. The reader experiences the atrocities of WWII and life (and death) at Auschwitz, not only through the eyes of Minka, a then nineteen year old girl, but also through the eyes of the Jozef, a high ranking the Nazi officer at Auschwitz. These overlapping stories are, in turn, heart wrenching and sickening, tear inducing and angering. And through it all you cannot help but feel for Sage and the role she must play in drawing out these stories and finding herself in a position to pass judgement.

I make no claims to be a WWII historian, nor do I descend from family on either side of the war. I say this because I am aware that books dealing with narrative voices from the holocaust often provoke strong reactions in those with real life connections to events. I read this from a point of view of interest and as such, found the book to be a compelling and emotional read. There were points in the book that I had to put it down and walk away because it had upset me so.

I would have to say this this is one of Picoult's best works. While I find all of her novels moving, The Storyteller, undoubtedly because of the subject matter, carried a weight that I was not expecting when I started it.  5/5

Read if you enjoyed:

• The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

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Teaser Tuesday (Jan 19)

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

 

Through the fathomless deeps of space swims the star turtle Great A’Tuin, bearing on its back the four giant elephants who carry on their shoulders the mass of the Discworld. A tiny sun and moon spin around them, on a complicated orbit to induce seasons, so probably nowhere else in the multiverse is it sometimes necessary for an elephant to cock a leg to allow the sun to go past. (5)

Wyrd Sisters – Terry Pratchett

His Dark Materials, Book 1

The Golden Compass Philip Pullman
351 pages; published 1995

"We are all subject to the fates. But we must all act as if we are not, or die of despair...death will sweep through all the worlds; it will be the triumph of despair, forever. The universes will all become nothing more than interlocking machines, blind and empty of thought, feeling, life..."

The roofs and roads of Oxford are Lyra's home; she has scaled their heights in adventurous play, and mapped their length in bitter warfare against the town’s children. It is a life both endearingly simple and unendingly complex, but it is Lyra's own, and she loves it.

But, just as Lyra cannot stay a child forever, her days of raucous freedom must too come to an end. Forced to leave behind her days of dodging the educating attempts of scholars, Lyra is thrown headfirst into a world he barely recognises. A world where no one can be trusted and nothing is safe - not even a child's soul.

Lyra travels with the Gyptians over land and sea in her attempt to rescue her imprisoned uncle, Lord Asriel, but is stopped at every turn by Gobblers, clockwork beetles and armoured bears.

The Golden Compass (originally/also titled Northern Lights) is a book that doesn't diminish, but rather improves with each reading. Lyra's world is such a richly detailed one that each read surfaces something new and delightful.

It is a wonderful blend of fantasy and science fiction (a good example of steampunk for those so inclined - something the film visually represents remarkably well), using a good balance of both to establish the series.

Intended as a children's book (middle grade/YA), it is, nevertheless, one that should appeal to all ages, child and adult alike. Followed by The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy is a must read. (5/5)

Won-der Wo-maaan!

Wonder Woman: Love and
Murder Jodi Picoult, Terry Dodson, Drew Johnson and Paco Diaz 129 pages; published 2007

Over the course of my (self-confessed) nerdy life, I have found myself being compared to the “The Comic Book Guy” on more than one occasion – an amusing, if not entirely flattering comparison. Yet, despite my love of superheroes and whole-hearted desire to have a legitimate reason to wear a cape, comic books are my weak link in my geeky chain.

When I heard that Jodi Picoult had been asked to write the story for an edition of Wonder Woman, however, I was pretty excited. After getting a fifteen-minute primer from my decidedly more comic-book nerdier brother I was set to go. (And yes, I made sure I wore my WW jammies to match!)

The previous collection of comics left Wonder Woman in a sticky situation after taking the law in her own hands and killing the ‘bad guy’. In Love and Murder, Wonder Woman decides to leave this persona behind and become simply Diana Prince, leading a ‘normal’ life as a FBI agent.

However, as is often the case with superheroes trying to catch a break, her old life doesn’t seem prepared to let her go. With the fate of the Earth – not to mention the life of her poor, all-too-human partner – at stake, Diana must consider what is more important, and to what lengths she should go to save others.

I enjoyed reading this graphic novel. The story was engaging and suspenseful despite my limited knowledge of WW – though I was comforted by the appearance of more familiar superheroes – and the artistry was just beautiful. I was aware, while reading the book, that it was part of an ongoing story, but it was self-contained enough to stand alone. A good read for comic book fans – new and expert alike. 3.5/5

Life as we knew it is over…

The Dead and the Gone Susan Pfeffer
301 pages; published 2008

God save their souls, Alex prayed. God save ours. It was the only prayer he could think of, no matter how inadequate it might be. It offered him no comfort, but he repeated it unceasingly. As long as he prayed he didn’t have to think. He didn’t have to remember. He didn’t have to decide. He didn’t have to acknowledge he was entering a world where no one has laid the rules out for him to follow, a world where there might not be any rules left for any of them to follow. (63/4)

Last year I read Susan Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It, a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. So when I saw the sequel, The Dead and the Gone, in the library I practically pounced. What makes this sequel such an interesting one is that it isn’t really a sequel at all but a reimagining of the first story – same situation, different location and characters. I was very much looking forward to seeing how Pfeffer could do this while still keeping the book fresh and interesting.

While Life As We Knew It tells the story of Miranda and her family in the country, The Dead and the Gone relocates to the centre of New York City. When the moon is hit by an asteroid and knocked ever so slightly out of orbit – just enough to wreak havoc – it is high school senior Alex and family this time who we focus on as their lives are upturned. With the whole world up in the air, Alex’s parents just never make it home, and with his older brother away in the Marines, Alex is left alone to look after his two younger sisters. That would be an unsavoury job at the best of times but with little food, less money and no one at all to help, it’s almost impossible.

Like I said, I loved the first book, but this was even better. At first I thought it was just my pre-existing interest in how the story would go, but I truly think it was a more moving story all over. I just felt so bad for Alex, doing the best he could for his sister but just having no hope. There were chapters that made me sob (and yes, my family were a little concerned), and chapters that frightened me. I found certain parts chilling to the point where even now, over a month later, I’m still unnerved by it.

It’s not necessary for you to read Life As You Knew It before The Dead and the Gone, thought the first does give you a little more information on what exactly is happening with the moon. If you have the chance to read either, I’d definitely recommend you take it. 5/5

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A book for every mood…

Book Lust Nancy Pearl
287 pages; published 2003

Reading has always brought me pure joy. I read to encounter new worlds and new ways of looking at our own world. I read to enlarge my horizon, to gain wisdom, to experience beauty,  to understand myself better, and for the pure wonderment of it all. I read and marvel over how writers use language in ways I never thought of. I read for company, and for escape. Because I am incurably interested in the lives of other people, both friends and strangers, I red to meet myriad folks and enter their lives – for me, a way of vanquishing the “otherwise” we all experience. (ix)

Nancy Pearl, librarian, describes herself as being a “professional reader” for over thirty years, and taking one look at this book was enough to convince me of that.

Book Lust boasts ‘recommended reading for every mood, moment and reason’, with books gathered around both general and random topics such as

• Africa: Today and Tomorrow
• Armchair Travel
• Bicycling
• The Classical World
• Mothers and Daughters
• Three-Hanky Reads

For the most part it was a good read: it was well written and the books recommended were a pleasing mix of comforting regulars and never-before-seens. However, I found the format a little off-putting. The premise behind the book is, basically, a big list of books… but the format was not at all list-like, each topic being written up in prose. For some this may be a plus, for me I found that it caused me to skim a lot. 3.5/5

To be or not to be…

Sucks to be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (Maybe) Kimberly Pauley
293 pages; published 2008

My parents are trying to ruin my life. Oh yeah, I know that every teenager says that, but I  really mean it. they want me dead. Or actually, undead.

My parents are vampires. Some people might think that sounds cool, but I’m not talking about those romanticised bloodsuckers, like in novels where everybody walks around in ruffled white shirts and can quote poetry. I don’t know where people get that stuff. Nothing could be further than the truth. My dad couldn’t quote a nursery rhyme if somebody paid him. He likes to watch football and CNN. He wouldn’t know (or care) who Stephenie Meyer was if she came up and bit him. (1)

Mina Hamilton is a normal 15 year old girl. She goes to high school with quirky teachers, she has a best friend she adores, and a speechless-rendering crush on the cutest boy in school. Oh yes, and her parents are vampires.

That’s right, vampires, members of the Northwest Regional Vampire Counsel. It’s not so cool as you might think however. For starters, she can’t actually tell anyone (and who’d believe her if she did?), then there’s the fact that they have amazing hearing, so there’s absolutely no sneaking anything past them, and now (how wonderful) Mina has to decide if she wants to be a vampire too – ah, no!

Turns out he wasn’t really supposed to know about her parents at all, and now she has to go to vampire lessons to help her make an informed decision about her life (or should that be her death?). Her choices: 1) become a vampire and *gulp* drink blood for the rest of her life, or 2) face the possibility of never seeing her family again. What on earth can she do?

I’m curious to see exactly how long the vampire book fixation is going to last. I’m good for a while yet, but the end must be coming soon, right? Still, the parents being the vampires was a nice twist. It was new to me at least – anyone know of others?

I found Mina to be a realistic narrator. I felt sorry for the poor girl. I particularly enjoyed her interruptions of the narration to insert varying pro/con lists or lists about why it “sucks to be her”. What can I say? I can appreciate a character with a list obsession.

Pauley’s take on vampirism was an interesting one – blood bars and vampire pamphlets and ‘sponsoring’ – though I’m not sure how I feel about her transformation process (read it and see). Not the most reinvented I’ve see so far though, that would probably have to be the House of Night series).

All in all a pretty good read. Recommended to any YA vampire lovers. 3.5/5

The Last Lecture

Randy Pausch

206 pages; published 2008

I wasn’t in a suit. I wore no tie. I wasn’t going to get up there in some professorial tweed jacket with leather elbow patches. Instead, I had chosen to give my lecture wearing the most appropriate childhood-dream garb I could find in my closet.

Granted, at first glanced I looked like the guy who’d take your order at a fast-food drive through. But actually, the logo on my short-sleeved polo shirt was an emblem of honor because it’s the one worn by Walt Disney Imagineers – the artists, writers and engineers who create theme-park fantasies. In 1995, I spent a six-month sabbatical as an Imagineer. It was a highlight of my life, the fulfilment of a childhood dream. That’s why I was also wearing the oval “Randy” name badge given to me when I worked at Disney. I was paying tribute to that life experience, and to Walt Disney himself, who famously had said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” (16)

Generally speaking, I’m not a big reader of non-fiction. In fact, with the exception of the occasional book of essays and a biography or two (usually only one or two a year), my reading is almost entirely fiction. Despite this, my cousin (who, admittedly, seems to read more non-fiction than I do) and I both suggested this book for our book club.

The books title, ‘The Last Lecture’ refers to a series of lectures given by respected professors in which they are asked to “consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them” (3). Randy Pausch was one such professor – a computer science professor a Carnegie Mellon University. What makes Randy’s lecture unique, however, is that it is truly to be his last lecture. Having been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Pausch’s took the opportunity presented through the tradition of the last lecture to impart some of his heart-felt wisdom and advice as well as, quite touchingly, preserve a part of himself for his wife and children.

Titling his lecture “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”, Pausch presents his lecture in a manner that is both honest and moving. Part autobiographical, part humour-filled wisdom, he delivers a wealth of common sense knowledge and life-experiences to his audience – yet so comfortably, so familiarly, that one can’t help but imagine the day his children are old enough to listen to his lecture, to pick up this book and read their father’s words.

While reading this book I laughed, and I cried – both in equal measure. Read the book for yourself. It is guaranteed to make you reconsider you smile, to make you think, to make you reconsider the time you have left. Randy Pausch thought he had all the time in the world. He didn’t. This is the legacy he leaves, in lieu of that time. 5/5

Purchase The Last Lecture here.

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Second star to the right...

Posts have been a little sparse lately, sorry bout that. Being on prac, means I haven't really had the time to read (sad) let alone review, but I've got some done, so I'm gonna try to spread them out to cover my time away.

Peter and the Starcatchers
Dave Barry and Ridley Scott
463 pages; published 2006

Peter was the leader of the boys, because he was the oldest. Or maybe he wasn’t. Peter had no idea how old he really was, so he gave himself whatever age suited him, and it suited him to always be one year older than the oldest of his mates. If Peter was nine, and a new boy came to St. Norbert’s Home for Wayward Boys who said he was ten, why, then Peter would declare himself to be eleven. Also, he could spit the farthest. That made him the undisputed leader. (13)

The first in a trilogy chronicling the events before J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Peter Pan and the Starcatchers is a suprisingly delightful read. Why suprising? Well, as a firm believer in the 'original is always best' school of thought, I had not expected this prequel to be both as interesting and charming as it was.

Peter and his band of loyal friends (the origins of the Lost Boys) are wards of London's St. Norbert's Home for Wayward Boys. Taken away from the home in an mystery only achievable by unexplained midnight outing, the young boys are boarded on a ship, the Never Land. They soon learn that they are being tansported to the island of Rundoon, to be slaves to island's ruthless king - a man more likely to feed the boys to his snake than offer them any real or home or employment, let alone kindness.

But even before they get to Runddon things are prety rough. The Never Land's crew runs the gamut from incompetent to downright villainous, their quarters are cramped, and the food literally has things living it - not exactly a luxury liner. The only source of friendship found onboard by Peter is in the form of Alf, a kindly deckhand and the curious secretive young passenger, Molly.

Downtrodden and disgusting the voyage may be, but it doesn't lack for excitement - for it is not long before a pirate ship, captaied by the infamous 'Black Stache', starts to run them down, determined to retrieve a crumbling trunk in the Never Land's cargo.

Why are these pirates so intent on retrieving the trunk? What is inside it? And just how is Molly involved?

As I said, Peter and the Starcatchers was a lovely read - both funny and moving in equal parts. Young Peter and the others were true enough to their original counterparts to be a faithful retelling, yet fresh enough to be of interest. There were times that I felt the story to be a little on the long side - at over 400 pages, it is rather long for the start of a children's trilogy - yet despite this, there was no real dragging of the story.

My only real issue ith teh book - and it was an extremely light one at that - was that the almost ultra-realistic tone of teh start led me to beleive that it was going to be a realistic reinterpretation of the book. It's magical elements returned quickly and, while executed well, I thought it would have been interesting to have it go down the other route.

A wonderful read for lovers of Peter Pan and new readers like. 4/5

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The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Mary E. Pearson
265 pages; published 2008

On the eighth day Father had to return to work in Boston. He and Mother whispered, but I still heard. Risky … have to get back … you’ll be fine. Before he left he cupped my face in both of his hands. “Little by little, Angel,” he said. “Be patient. Everything will come back. Over time all the connections will be made.” I think my gait is normal now. My memory is not. I don’t remember my mother, my father, or Lily. I don’t remember that I once lived in Boston. I don’t remember Jenna Fox.

Father says it will come in time. “Time heals,” he says.

I don’t tell him that I don’t know what time is. (7)

Her mother gave her a box of discs, all labeled. Jenna Fox/Year One ... Year Two ... Year Sixteen. "Watch them," she suggests. "Maybe they'll help you remember."

That's the problem. Jenna doesn't remember. She doesn't remember her mother, her father, even herself. She doesn't remember why her grandmother seems to hate her and she doesn't remember the accident that left her in a coma for over a year. She doesn't remember anything at all. What's more, the little bits that are coming back to her piece by piece are leaving her with the awkward suspicion that something is not quite right.

There is something curious about where we live. Something curious about Father and his nightly phone calls with Mother. And certainly something curious about me. Why can I remember the details of the French Revolution but I can’t remember if I ever had a best friend? (12)

Why is she not allowed to leave the house? Why did they move from Boston to California? How did they time their move to her waking up so perfectly? And, if California is their new home, why does her father spend all his time in Boston, keeping his job at the large bio-engineering research hospital?

What aren't they telling her? What doesn't she remember? 4/5



Also Reviewed Here
Serena


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Life As We Knew It

Susan Pfeffer

339 pages; published 2006

Sometimes I think about how things used to be. I’d never been anyplace, not really. Florida once and Boston and New York City and Washington and Montreal and that was it. I’d dream of Paris, of London, of Tokyo. I wanted to go to South America, to Africa. I always assumed I could someday.

But my world keeps getting smaller and smaller. No school. No pond. No town. No bedroom. Now I don’t even have the view out the windows.

I feel myself shrivelling along with my world, getting smaller and harder. I’m turning into a rock, and in some ways that’s good, because rocks last for ever.

But if this is how I’m going to last for ever, then I don’t want to. (237)

When astromers start talking excitedly about an asteroid hitting the moon, sixteen-year-old Miranda sees it as little more than an opportunity for her teachers to pile on extra homework. Sure, it's not everyday you can the moon being hit with the naked eye, but at the end of the day she'd much rather be watching TV or reading posts on her favourite online message board.

What the astronomers don't anticipate, however, is that the asteroid is much denser than originally thought, dense enough to actually knock the moon slightly out of orbit. Suddenly the moon is playing havoc with Earth's tides, resulting in wipe-out level tidal waves, and the increase of it's gravitional pull is creating volcanoes where there never was before. Life as everyone knew it is over, and the Earth's population is in serious trouble.

I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonalds would still be open. (47)

Chronicling her family's struggles to survive in her diary, Miranda finds her life completely changed. Suddenly no access to internet or television isn't the problem. There is now no heat, no hot water, no phone. There is limited ways of cooking food - and that's if you have food in the first place, and then there's water to consider. Volcanic ash is covering the sky, making it near impossible for any amount of the sun's heat to get through.

Somehow it's harder to focus (though she gives it her all) on the regular teen things like keeping up your grades, dating, and arguing with your mother when you're wondering if you're going to be able to eat tomorrow, or, out of you and your two brothers, which is more likely to survive.

Life As We Knew It was an incredibly moving book; I found myself openly crying in several places, especially towards the end. Miranda's voice was just so real, so completely honest and the things she and the rest of her family have to deal with are just astounding. An excellent read. 4.5/5

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The end of the world...

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

383 pages; published 1990

"This isn't how I imagined it, chaps," said War. "I haven't been waiting for thousands of years just to fiddle around with bits of wire. It's not what you'd call dramatic. Albrecht Duerer didn't waste his time doing woodcuts of the Four Button-Pressers of the Apocalypse, I do know that." -- Armageddon delayed by technical difficulties

Never before has the Apocalypse been so funny. Forget fire and brimstone or Doomsday clocks, when the end of the world is being told by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman you know you're in for a strange ride.

The Anti-Christ has come to Earth. This means the end of the world - it has, after all, been foretold in the 'Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter' (sixteenth century witch and nutball). The final battle between Heaven and Hell will soon be waged and all of it will be brought to head by this one child.

Unfortunately for all involved, there's a slight mix up in the baby-switching operation and the child in question is just an ordinary child, whereas the Anti-Christ, the spawn of Satan himself, is sent off to the quiet little suburban town of Tadfield to live his days as a normal kid and all round rascal.

'Field agents' in this cosmic battle are the demon Crowley (formerly the more serpentine 'Crawley' - the reptilian temptor) and the angel Aziraphale. The pair have been monitoring ("messing with") the state of avairs on Earth - a touch a good here, a slew of evil there - since the beginning of time and, despite their inherent differences, have long since come to a kind of truce, even friendship. What's more, this friendship allows them to come to the reluctant opinion that, inspite of the Great Plan, in spite of the fact that their respective sides have been working towards this final showdown for millenia, well, they rather like Earth.

'We'll win, of course,' he said.

'You don't want that,' said the demon.

'Why not, pray?'

[...]

'...No salt, no eggs. No gravlax with dill sauce. No fascinating little restaurantswhere they know you. No Daily Telegraph crossword. No small antique shops. No bookshops, either. No interesting old editions. No -' Crowley scraped the bottom of Aziraphale's barrel of interests - 'Regency silver snuffboxes...'

'But after we win life will be better!' croaked the angel.

'But it won't be as interesting. Look, you know I'm right. You'd be as happy with a harp as I'd be with a pitchfork.' (47/8)

Putting a plan in motion to monitor the "Anti-Christ", to make sure his natural evil tendencies do not come out in full force, the pair are rather pleased with themselves ... until they lean that it has all been for naught. The Anti-Christ, one Adam Young, is still out there somewhere, the four horsemen (bikers) are riding and the Apocalypse is nigh.

Can Crowley and Aziraphale get there in time to stop it? Can they dodge paranoid witch hunters, aliens, and superiors from Hell (literally) and save the Earth before it's too late?

I normally avoid books written by two authors, I find that more often than not, the two voices jar against one another. But when I saw that Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (two of my favourite authors) had paired up, I just couldn't resist. And I could not have been happier! Pratchett's outrageous humour was not suffocated but cushioned, enhanced, by Gaiman's rich detail; their two styles flowed together beautifully.

Good Omens was just the right amount of serious story telling and nutty commentary. Heartily recommended! 4.5/5

He shoots! But he will not score...

Keeper
Mal Peet
231 pages, published 2003

We won the games three goals to nothing [...] I did not disgrace Estevan's shirt. My father lost ten dollars, and joined in the applause as I walked off the pitch. But my father's pride was no longer enough. I needed the respect of someone much harder to please. Someone who wanted something from me; someone who was waiting. Waiting with the kind of patience that only the dead have, because they have so much time. (p. 117-118)

The man who would grow up to be 'El Gato', the world's best goalkeeper, grew up in a small logging village in the middle of the South American jungle. Like all the boys in his village he played in the afternoon soccor games ... unlike the others however, he was no good. He was tall, and skinny, "the stork".

Expelled from the town games, Gato escaped into the wilds of the jungle, a place with even more stories than dangers. His mother fears for his safety, as does his grandmother, but it is his uncle who understands him best and tells him of the true inhabitants of the jungle: the spirits who are trapped, unable to move on until they find the one thing needed to validify their souls.

It is in the jungle, and with the help of one of these 'lost souls' that the stork become El Gato, "the cat". The Keeper teaches him, training him brutally every day to become the world's best goalkeeper ... and the one thing he and the others need to move on. 3/5

Nothing more dispiriting than looking up the track

Break of Day

Tony Palmer

205 pages, published 2007

"Admire who?" I said. "Who do you have to admire?"

Sid looked down at the freshly filled grave and let his outstretched hand fall to his side.

"The Japs," he said. "They never give up." He looked up at me. "And they never run away."

I held his gaze for a moment. Did he know who I was? I knew how different I must have looked - unshaven and so much thinner than when we'd last seen each other. [...]

"You know what, mate?" he said. "You could learn a lesson from this bloke you just buried."

I hated him. I hated Sid Archer more than I ever had. Half a world away from Hammersley and here he was, still making my life a misery.

"You see," he said, "a coward's better off dead than alive."

A sudden chill descended upon me. Sid Archer knew who I was. (111-112)

The problem with assigned reading is that you're never guaranteed a book that you're going to like. When I picked this book up out of my pile and started reading I was sure I was going to hate it. The first chapter introduced me to the main character, Murray, a young man fighting on the Kokoda Trail ... and having already read several war based books over the past fortnight, this one with its soldier's language and abrupt start ("Bugger it, Murray!...") didn't exactly grab me right away. And so back into the pile it went.

That was a mistake.

Having forgotten all about it, I picked it back up the day of my class, thinking I'd give it a quick read and found myself ploughing through it, reading the whole thing in about two hours.

What appears at first as a somewhat singular war story, is much more the story of a boy's - a young man's - experiences of growing up: his dealings with the town bully, his brother's budding romance with the girl next door, and, most importantly, his ever ongoing search for the truth. All of which come to a defining culmination as all the boys involved reunite on the trail. 3/5

Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents - Terry Pratchett

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
Terry Pratchett

241 pages, published 2001

A Discworld novel intended for a young adult audience, Amazing Maurice is the hilarious story of a talking cat (Maurice), a young piper, and their band of “educated rodents” who move fro m town to town making a living by providing and then effectively removing rat infestations.

A clever, not to mention humorous, retelling of the Pied Piper folk tale, you can’t pass up Terry Pratchett. 3/5

Death Takes an Apprentice

Mort (Discworld Novel 4)
Terry Pratchett
316 pages, published 1987

Terry Pratchett, a gangly-extra-elbowed boy, Death scaring away cats and lots of weird food. What more could you want from a novel? I’m very quickly becoming a proud Terry Pratchett addict – I really don’t know why I held out so long. I love any book where Death himself is a character, but I think that Terry Pratchett’s Death is coming to be my favourite (maybe he and the others I love can battle it out) and as such, this is my favourite Discworld novel to date.

In this book, Death (already established in the series by this stage) decides to take on an apprentice, so much of the story is about him, Mort, rather than Death. But occasionally we’ll see Death going off to the pub, trying out new and extraordinary food and generally scaring each and every cat that comes his way. 4/5

The Dante Club
Matthew Pearl
370 pages, published 2006

Revolving around Longfellow and his collection of poets and authors working on the first American translation of the Divine Comedy, this murder mystery combines cleverly inventive crime fiction and nerdy insights into academia. I can’t really tell you anything else without giving away the plot, but it is highly recommended for anyone who loves Dante or who just enjoys a good literary crime fiction.

I did feel that the book dragged a little towards the end – though to be far, I’m not an avid crime reader and may have just wanted to get to it’s conclusion. Despite this, it was beautifully written and I found several passages over which I hovered. 4/5

Abracadabra!

Equal Rites (Discworld Novel 3)
Terry Pratchett

283 pages, published 1987

Again, you really can’t go wrong with Terry Pratchett and, seeing as I’m working my way through the series, you’ll probably get a few of these.

Equal Rites starts with an elderly and dying wizard coming to a small town to bequeath his staff and all his magic powers to the seventh son of a seventh son – imagine everyone’s surprise when the child turns out to be a girl! Right in the middle of novel battling back and forth between the gender inequalities inherent to both witch and wizarding traditions of magic, our young magic-seeker finds herself having to make her way through the these stereotypes to get where she wants, aided of course by her (ever stereotypical) elderly witch guardian. 3/5

The Light Fantastic (Discworld Novel 2)
Terry Pratchett

285 pages, published 1986

I should have known not to pick up the first Discworld novel (The Colour of Magic) when I did, I should have known I would have gotten hooked – imagine my surprise when I found out there was over forty novels in this series! My God.

Anyways, I loved this book, but who doesn’t love Terry Pratchett? He’s weird, funny, utterly random in his humour and, just when you think he couldn’t get any crazier, he says something so completely profound. The interactions between the two main characters (Rincewind and Twoflower) are hilarious, but it’s worth reading for the descriptions of the Luggage alone. 4/5