Mesmerising

I've read almost all of Murakami's books and I think this is one of his best. Also a great book to start with if you haven't read any of his books. Highly recommended!

Buy this book and decide for your self!!

The Origin of Species is a great read and of interest to anyone who would like to make there own mind up about Darwinism rather than take for granted some ones else's opinion. Darwin makes this book very readable to the masses I my self am not I Biology student but managed to understand the book with relative ease and Darwin helps this along by using everyday language. This book is also of particular interest to any one who is interested in ideas and philosophies of the period since Darwin frequently referees to the ideas of his peers and fellow"naturalists".

I would also like to say that maybe this book might not have all the up-to-date scientific information in it (after all it was published in the 1850's) and yes it is true we know allot more about evolution than Darwin did but for the average person like my self who has little education the Biology field I can say I learnt allot about evolution, ideas of the time and of Darwin himself.

I urge everyone to read this book whether Atheist, Christian, Buddhist or anything else because this book is not the devilish attack on religion it has been distorted to be over the years but simply an ordinary guy who liked to watch his pigeons and flowers grow and change between generations. He then came up with the idea that creatures and plants evolved between generations to suit there environment and were not all created by god in there current forms. I also believe Darwin to be a very tasteful writer who took care to upset as few people as possible and wrote in a very humble way in fact he dedicates a whole chapter to the problems of his theory.

A great read what ever you believe buy this book and make your own mind up about evolution!!

Carry On Up the Truncheon

What annoys me most about Flesh House isn't so much what's inside its pages, but what's written on the front and back covers. Let's start with Mark Billingham (a personal friend of the author if memory serves), who declares :"Fierce, unflinching crime fiction of the highest order". Sorry, but none of that is true, frankly. A more accurate appraisal might have been"Feeble, uninteresting crime fiction of the lowest order." On the back Val Mcdermid calls it"Ferocious and funny" - well, some of the imagery is pretty grim and unpleasant but the relentless attempts at comedy - and I'm talking about on almost every single page and which rarely raise a smile anyway - totally undermine any dark atmosphere the author was trying to create. Reginald Hill opines"If you're looking for taut narrative, gut-churning incident, strong characterisation, all shot through with savagely dark humour, then look no further." Well, Hill's observations are pure fiction in themselves, unless he had said"look elsewhere" for such objectives.

Let me explain why I say these things. The narrative is not taut, it is amongst the worst I have seen, and one of the reasons for this is MacBrides's continued obsession with mixing the narrative style with the dialogue style such that all the expletives spoken by the characters appear just as frequently in the narrative. That's amateurish, annoying and arduous for those of us like myself who have put up with this 'method' for four consecutive novels. I shouldn't really even mention the word 'prose' here, because there simply isn't any. It's just words. Nothing poetic, nothing beautiful and nothing to admire. Just as grudging a complaint on my part is the mention of 'strong characterisation', which as a description is funnier than any of MacBride's attempts at comedy after four whole novels.

We have, for want of a better word, a central character in the form of DS Logan McRae; really all he represents is the story's moral conscience, the one without personality or comedic parody and consequently the most uninteresting person in the tale. Flesh House reads like a debut novel, but then so did all of its predecessors - there is categorically NO character development at all, as everybody looks, sounds and smells exactly the same as they always did. While it's true a few dramatic events fall the way of DI Insch, I am utterly sick and tired of the references to his physical size; if this book represented his introduction to the series it would have been bad enough (the words big', 'huge' and 'fat' must collectively appear well over one hundred times) but for the many who already knew of his dimensions, it's very wearisome.

Savagely dark humour? Try this extract and see if you agree:-
"She wasn't kidding about Insch's mood - by the time Logan bumped into the inspector, he looked as if someone had stuffed a hand grenade up his bum and pulled the pin. The explosion was imminent. Fire in the hole."
Er - this is not savage, nor is it dark, and come to think of it, it's not funny either. I get the impression that MacBride likes humour best of all, and is trying (very successfully, it must be said) to sell a comedy story in the crime fiction genre. The only line in the whole book that raised a smile for me - because it was subtle, for once - was on P.401 of the hardback when Logan is having a conversation over a cup of tea with the pathologist Doc Fraser. Immediately after Doc Fraser gruesomely describes the means of death (which involved decapitation), Logan calmly replies,"Here you go. Milk, two sugars." A very rare example of what might be regarded as clever humour, but all of the rest throughout the tale is straight from the stage of a corny pantomime or a Carry-On film. The 'horrors' are plentiful but these are totally undermined by MacBride's insistence on trying to be funny, and vice versa.

The only saving grace is that Flesh House is a little better than the one before - Broken Skin - which was a complete shambles. The irony is that I have a feeling that MacBride could do much better than this if he wanted to, but has cleverly assessed the demand from the biggest audience in order to maximise sales. That's writing for money rather than out of passion, but also a sad reflection of the demands and standards of the contemporary British crime-fiction reader who if only they knew, could find much fiercer and more unflinching crime fiction elsewhere (try the first two of Mo Hayder's Jack Caffery series for example), funnier and better-used humour from John Connolly, immeasurably finer prose from R J Ellory and stronger characterisation from Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin or Val McDermid among many others. Flesh House is popcorn crime fiction for the text-message loving populace and little more. There is so much better quality to be found outside of and beyond these pages.

Lacking fizz but won't give up...

Unlike some other reviewers I won't stop reading the series because number fourteen didn't measure up to many of the past volumes. This latest volume is still fun - just not outstanding. To me the writing lacked fizz and felt a bit contrived and forced. It's hard to define what's missing from Fearless Fourteen - perhaps the romantic tension with Ranger and Morelli? For me it has never been the over-the-top humour of Grandma or Lulu that made me laugh. It's the more subtle touches like Plum lusting over Morelli's Wal-mart bunny boxers. Anyway, if you've enjoyed past Plum books then read this, though I wouldn't suggest forking out for a hardback unless money is no object in your life. And if you're new to the series then it's best to start with an earlier volume (at least they're numbered so it's easy to know the order!).

Well worth the money

A really fantastic book. You'll soon start to realise everything you thought you knew is wrong, and you'll end up telling all your friends and relatives all your new-found knowledge!

Everything you'd expect from Matthew Reilly

As Greg said in his review, if you're looking for thoughtful factual realistic stories then you need to put this book down and head for the grown ups books. Reilly writes action adventure for big kids. History is a there to be used as a starting point and where it goes is straight from the imagination.

The plot is completely mad, the action is none stop, the gadgets and getaways are 3 fields to the the left of the left field, but it's fiction not fact and fiction is supposed to be crazy and wierd.

I love Reilly's books I can read them again and again because they are escapist fun

Read this as a child

I read this book when I was in nursery school and 20 years on I still love it, this is one that my children will read. The rhyme is simple yet effective, the pictures are beautiful to look at and enjoyable as you follow the story and find the characters. A must have in every family.

Could not put this book down

I loved this book, gory, and yet funny in places, the humour is a bit dark but still i could not put this book down. I have never been to Aberdeen but the descriptions of places make me want to go.

Logan is a very beleivable character (along with others) who i could really picture. The only character i had a problem with is Miller, i thinks he was a bit predictable and you could see the link between him and Isobel a mile off. The budding romance between Logan and Watson should have developed a bit more.

On the whole a very good read, can't wait to read more from Mr McBride.

400 pages too long

Having read the previous seven books, and formed the opinion this was one of the best fantasy series ever written, it's rather upsetting to look back on the experience of reading 'Toll the Hounds' with such ill feeling. Many of the previous books are based around characters journeying, not only to reach a destination, but to find themselves (and a great deal of life) along the way. 'Toll the Hounds' has many of the same characters, simply traveling aimlessly, for hundreds of pages! By page 450 I was almost ready to give up hope that anything was 'actually going to happen Reg!'. Remember GOTM? And just how mind-bendingly awesome that book was? 500% content overload per paragraph! Remember 'Memories Of Ice'? The best of the series, so far. TTH (tbh) pales in comparison. New, powerful characters are introduced (and by this point in the series, you've learned to get very excited about new characters), that ultimately fizzle out with barely a mention. What what??
OK. So to what purpose? What is this book actually about? To my mind, it's about moving characters on the game board, ready for the finale. Some characters need to go/exit/shuffle off the playing field well before the end, otherwise you'll be saying 'hey, how come xyz didn't turn up with his blah blah and sort all this out, huh?' This is basically what's going on in this book, a character card shuffle. Pity it couldn't have been done in 400 distilled pages rather than 923(yawn) pages. And no QuickBen! I mean, life eh?
Still, I intend to read it again to see if I missed anything important, the first time around, so it can't be all bad.
Finally, please, no more Shakespearian narration. Gives the whole thing the feeling of being a play, rather than raw-edged reality.

the summoning by kelley armstrong

i thought this book was brilliant like all her other books ive bought every one as soon as its out on the shelf i really cant wait for the next my problem is once i start reading thats it im lost in the world and its over to soon kelley really should write faster some times but i guess it takes time to create something so brilliant i must be more pt its so nice to read the begining of powers developed not just straight in there

Beatrix Potter - the Complete Tales: The 23 Original Tales

This is a single boxed book which is truly beautifully presented. The original pictures and stories in all their splendour are laid out with loving care. If like me, you do not have room for the 23 little books in a boxed set, this is simply a wonderful alternative. It would be a fantastic present or a perfect book that will make a great impact on your bookshelves. I maybe 50 and have never read a Beatrix Potter story before, but this has certainly caught my attention and made my day!

Couldn't even finish it.

I'm a wide reader and read from the classics to what his deemed as"trashy reading" however no matter what I am reading I have never been unable to finish a book before.
I loved Labyrinth and it is rated as one of my favourite books so I bought this book eagerly however,I found it impossible to get in to,the americanisms annoyed me,I didn't feel anything for the characters and in general I just disliked the book.It is a shame as its plot is so deceivingly interesting.

Were it not for Henry Wotton this would have been a complete waste of time

For some reason I found myself reading this novel in the style of Stephen Fry, which seemed wholly appropriate in my mind.
Despite this I failed to find any real interest in the story or characters. In my opinion the novel's fame has more to do with its notoriety than actual content. The only character I truly took an interest in was Lord Henry Wotton - though I believe this may have something to do with me imagining him as the literary incarnation of the aforementioned Fry.
The portrait on the cover of this edition also bares an uncanny resemblance to my cousin.

Best so far

Definitely the best of the three books so far but if you haven't read the first two yet, I recommend you do so as this one will feel better if you have. I had worried at the end of the last one that McBride was getting himself into a rut of writing some pretty horrific stuff which can be unpalatable to many [and I mean really horrific!] but this one doesn't have that in the same way. Brutal crimes, yes, but he's begun to handle things differently. Bit more about real people rather than decomposing bodies. Especially good on the mental effect of rape. Still some problems remain however. First, I wish he'd drop sex crimes involving children. Also, he needs to start widening the scope of his characters. This book is good in that he does develop Insch much more and Steel becomes a bit more likeable but he'll need more staple figures if this is to become a long series. I loved the ending!!!!!!!!! Absolutely no give-aways but it lends itself brilliantly to the next novel. Need to know what happens!!!
Not fair, I think, to say he's better than Rankin. Certainly not so far. Rankin's first three or four weren't too brilliant as I recall and nowhere near as good as what he's writing now. Also, don't forget it's Rebus that's retiring, not Rankin!! Anyway, thoroughly recommended. I'm looking forward to the next one.

An enjoyable romp through ancient Egypt

Nefertiti is one of ancient Egypt's most legendary rulers. She was the Second Wife of the heretic king Akhenaten and, as Queen, had just as much influence and status as her husband. Renowned for her extraordinary beauty, she was more than a pretty face -- as this compelling novel by Michelle Moran demonstrates.

In fact, the Nefertiti presented in this book is not exactly the most likeable of characters. She's manipulative, calculating and shrewd. Despite the fact she was chosen to marry Akhenaten because everyone believed she was level-headed enough to tame his erratic, egotistical tendencies, she does the exact opposite. When her husband marks his rule by elevating a minor god, Aten, to a position of power, obliterating Amun and destroying all of Amun's temples, she doesn't bat an eyelid but actually encourages him to make further irregular and unpopular decisions.

And if that wasn't enough, she's riddled by jealousy over the Pharoah's First Wife, Kiya, who has already given birth to a son and heir, and does whatever she can to bed her husband in an attempt to produce the next prince -- with mixed results.

All the while Nefertiti's younger sister, Mutnodjmet (Mutny), is treated like a slave who must obey the Queen's every whim. As she watches Egypt become besieged by religious and cultural changes that she is powerless to stop, Mutny dreams of the day she can escape the clutches of the Royal Family so that she can live a quiet life, growing herbs and other plants in her own little oasis. When she falls in love with the General Nakhtmin, she thinks she may have found her"get out clause", but alas, Nefertiti doesn't exactly see it that way...

This is a dramatic family saga that is full of corruption, intrigue and dirty tricks that kept me on tenterhooks throughout. Mutny is a delightful narrator, patient and wise, who charts her sister's rise from teenage Queen to Egyptian goddess. And while I'm not sure how historically accurate Nefertiti's portrayal is, this book certainly captures the flavour, sights and sounds of ancient Egypt so that it's easy imagining yourself sailing down the Nile, or tucking into platters of honeyed nuts, plump figs and pomegranates, or wandering the altars draped in gold and crowned in myrrh.

The style of story-telling reminded me very much of Anita Amirrezvani's The Blood of Flowers, which is also about one girl's journey from innocence to adulthood, although Nefertiti is less about the subjugation of women and more about the subjugation of an entire race of people, male and female alike.

This is by no means high-brow literary fiction, but it's an entertaining, fast-paced and thoroughly enjoyable romp, with a smidgen of romance, a touch of war and a little bit of double-dealing thrown in for good measure. I found the ending surprisingly suspenseful but despite the 460-odd pages I didn't want the story to draw to close, and I was genuinely sad when I reached the final page.

I had a lot of fun reading Nefertiti and I suspect many others will do so too.

A good education

I found the 14 year olds perspective really interesting. I read this book for G.C.S.E. and loved it! admittedly I had read it several years before and found it O.K. Looking back I think I missed some of the finer points and the more gory bits put me off (I was about 10 and more interested in ponies at the time).

It is true to say that often studying a book can ruin it, destroying the magic of the story. but in my case study enriched the experience and helped me to understand some of the finer points. at the time I loved the way that understanding added new depths to the text.

I have just read it again and I still love it. one of the greatest things about LOTF is its ability to appeal to both a young and mature audience, and I was delighted to find that, like teaching, age also offers new angles of approach and fresh perspectives.

Having sung its praises I do feel that William Golding had an axe to grind when he was writing LOTF and there is an ever-present religious undertone that can get a bit monotonus. I think for this reason the book is better suited to younger readers and will be especially appreciated by those with a bit of nouse, who are able to see but not be dragged in by some of the books (arguably) outdated moral ideals that seem a little un-realistic. Similarly some of the more obvious analytical gems, such as the island as a microcosm of the world and the boys as representations of humanity get a bit dull and repetitive, but a bit of reading around will see you well rewarded.

For me LOTF remains a good story and an excellent introduction to textual analysis that is very rewarding no matter when you read it.

The best book for a holiday

I can't think of a better book to take with you on a holiday. I find incredible that some people considered Catch-22 rather monotonous. It's anything but. The book structure is arranged by characters which means the story never gets boring or monotonous. I can't help laughing every time I think of Milo Minderbinder, he is definitely my favourite. The fact that the 500+ pages of this book are arranged in more than 40 chapters also helps a great deal in getting you through the story, as you can always take a breath between chapters before moving on. I've been reading both A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby and Yes Man by Danny Wallace since I've finished with this one and they look just like silly comedy books for teenagers compared to this masterpiece by Joseph Heller.

a revelation

I have to admit that I wasn't familiar with Brookmyre before picking this up, and all I can say is that I'm off to buy the rest - thoroughly enjoyable, well written and humourous. Lots of nice observations of Scottish society too...

Loved it - can't wait for amazon to deliver some more.

Nauseous

I find the subject very interesting but her style is nauseating, too sycophantic/reverential, the sweetness of her characters is cloying and unreal.