| "Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?" - Henry Ward Beecher |
Bookshops are dangerous. On-line bookshops like Amazon are even more dangerous. Without some self-control I'd have an empty bank account and a house full of books... Here are some of the books I've recently read, I'm currently reading, and that I'll read in the near future. There are plenty more books on my wishlist...
| Title | Author | Rating | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Common Thread | John Sulston and Georgina Ferry | ||
| The Peppermint Pig | Nina Bawden | Raiding the kids' bookshelves again... | |
| Rupert of Hentzau | Anthony Hope | *** | The sequel to "The Prisoner of Zenda". I read this as an "e-text" on my Palm courtesy of Project Gutenberg. I think it's a worthy sequel; the plot is rather contorted. No chance of a further sequel with the main characters killed off, though. |
| Smoke and Mirrors | Neil Gaiman | *** | A collection of short stories. Rather fun, rather weird. Not necessarily the right thing to read late at night. Favourites: "Troll Bridge" and "Murder Mysteries". |
| Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom | Cory Doctorow | *** | A fast-paced novel set in a reputation-based economy of the future. Excellent reading, and hard to put down. This book is available by free download; I read it on my Palm Pilot. |
| The Hobbit | J.R.R.Tolkien | *** | I've just read this again for the first time in years. The style reads quite differently from how I remembered it; possibly my memories are coloured by having seen all the "Lord of the Rings" films recently. Still a good fun book though. |
| Enigma | Robert Harris | *** | Engrossing, and apparently accurate in the technical details. Has anyone deciphered the message on the dedication page? (QXQF VFLR TXLG VLWD PRUA) |
| Captain Corelli's Mandolin | Louis de Bernieres | *** | Fantastic. This book took me through a whole range of emotions from nausea to the "warm fuzzies". Recommended. |
| Neither Here Nor There | Bill Bryson | ** | I finished this in a couple of sittings over Christmas 2000; it's pretty lightweight but fun. |
| Mother Tongue | Bill Bryson | * | For some reason, I just couldn't get into this at all. It felt like a bunch of anecdotes strung together. I didn't finish it. |
| Op-Centre | Tom Clancy | * | Trashy but quite absorbing. Wasted a few hours. |
| Imposters | Sarah Burton | ** | |
| The Railway Children | E. Nesbit | ** | |
| Follies | Headley & Meulenkamp | *** | Cambridgeshire appears to be rather lacking in follies, according to this book. |
| Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions | Martin Gardiner | ** | |
| C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too | John Diamond | ** | Ultimately rather depressing. John never quite seems to come to terms with his illness. Still a fascinating insight into his life. |
| Babel-17 | Samuel Delany | *** | I was really confused by this until I figured out the "concept" that was driving the plot. Then I loved it. It's very thought-provoking. |
| Decrypted Secrets | F.L. Bauer | ** | By turns heavily mathematical and engagingly chatty. |
| The Glass Bead Game | Herman Hesse | ** | This book has a fascinating premise (the never-described game) but I found it went on for too long. The ending was a bit of an anti-climax too. |
| Gödel, Escher, Bach | Douglas Hofstadter | *** | Intriguing, engaging, not a great book to read in bed because of its size and because I kept wanting a pencil and paper to try things out! |
| Kilo Class | Patrick Robinson | ** | Another trashy thriller. Detailed but a bit cliched. |
| Archangel | Robert Harris | *** | The central plot device is outrageously implausible, but the story built around it is intriguing and atmospheric. |
| Fatherland | Robert Harris | *** | Frighteningly realistic. Of Harris's three novels, this one probably has the best ending. Why is a writer's first novel so often their best? |
| The Multi-Orgasmic Couple | Mantak Chia | My wife bought me this... | |
| Captains Courageous | Rudyard Kipling | ||
| Dragonfly | Brian Burrough | ** | Provides an insight into the workings of the US and Russian space programmes. It reads as though the author is trying not to be biased but doesn't always succeed. |
| The Hurdy-Gurdy | Susann Palmer with Samuel Palmer | *** | Contains a few textual errors but otherwise good all-round coverage. |
| Crypto | Steven Levy | *** | A fascinating description of the development of modern cryptography. The style is somewhat patchy; I think that is because parts of the book were previously published as separate articles. |
| Security Engineering | Ross Anderson | ** | Somewhat inevitably (because of its textbook style) the content feels disjointed and hops around all over the place. Still thoroughly interesting though. |
| Orchesography | Thoinot Arbeau | ||
| The Inform Designer's Manual | Graham Nelson | *** | Now I just have to make time to actually write the adventure game I've been wanting to for years. |
| The Secret Agent | Joseph Conrad | ** | Depressing! But gripping too. |