Hello and welcome to my book blog. Here I intend to post a review for every book I read, for myself and for anyone else who enjoys similar books. I may write about other things now and then too, but books are the main purpose of this page.

I’ve been keeping track of all the books I’ve read in 2008 so far and here is the list. I’ve posted reviews that I’d already scribbled elsewhere for a few but there isn’t one for each book (sorry). From post 02 onwards I promise full reviews though, so please bear with me.

#1 Haruki Murakami - ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’

I love some of Murakami’s books - ‘Norwegian Wood’ especially. ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ began in the same vein as that title, and Murakami’s other less surreal works that deal mainly with human relationships. The narrator, K, is in love with his friend Sumire who herself is a lesbian. In the first part of the novel we learn of Sumire’s passion for an older, married, woman through K and what Sumire confides in him. I loved this part of the story,  most specifically how Murakami’s characters inhabit a world that, although lonely, is teeming with deep connections with people and tragic beauty.

Around halfway through, however, the plot took a turn towards the surreal, and Murakami lost me at that point. The prose became somewhat disjointed, and what began as a believable tale became too unlikely to inahbit in any way. Maybe I just don’t have the imagination needed for even slightly surrealist literature.

#2 Augusten Burroughs - ‘Possible Side Effects’
As a fan of ‘Running With Scissors’ and ‘Dry’ I eagerly awaited Augusten’s first collection of essays which came out a few years ago (’Magical Thinking’) but was sadly a little disappointed. Nonetheless, when I saw a copy of ‘Possible Side Effects’ I had to get it, because I hadn’t yet lost faith in the author’s genius. What a pleasant surprise this collection was! Every piece is unique, funny and somehow meaningful, however mundane it may seem at the outset. The stories that will stay with me are those about Augusten helping to train dogs as a kid, swearing at the grandmother he didn’t like, eating nothing but McDonalds for months on end and staying in a creepy inn with his partner. The perfect antidote to the average working day, Augusten reminds us that there is humour and even delight in the most trivial of situations.

#3 Diana Janney - ‘The Infinite Wisdom of Harriet Rose’
#4 Oliver James - ‘Affluenza’
#5 Elizabeth Flock - ‘Everything Must Go’
#6 Ali Smith - ‘Boy Meets Girl’
#7 Clare Morral - ‘Natural Flights of the Human Mind’

#8 Patrick Gale - ‘Notes From An Exhibition’
My first Patrick Gale book, and I loved it. Loved it despite the fact that I think it didn’t portray bipolar disorder very well (it came over as a straightforward assumption of “mania = feeling great, treating everyone else like crap and being creative; depression = feeling like crap, being crap to everyone else and wanting to kill yourself). I hated how Rachel’s being uncaring towards her children (and basically anyone except herself) was seen as part of her disorder. People with bipolar are still capable of loving relationships, as are artists, even bipolar artists. Nonetheless I loved Gale’s style of prose, and most of his other chracterisation and it has certainly made me keen to read more of his books.

#9 Nick Hornby - ‘Slam’
The tale of a teenage dad-to-be, Slam was a typical Hornby book, casual prose and many a laugh hidden within its more serious subject matter. Not one of his best books in my opinion, but worth the time all the same if, like me, Hornby is one of your favourite authors.

#10 Libby Brooks - ‘The Story of Childhood: Growing Up in Modern Britain’
A nonfiction read this time. Brooks interviewed a selection of children across the UK, all in very different situations, some with serious issues; building on their own stories to discuss wider concerns. I enjoyed the chapters on the teenage mum, the young criminal truant in London and teenager with depression the most (although I felt she didn’t have much sympathy for the girl in question which annoyed me somewhat).

*****

In my next post: Reviews of Catherine Ryan Hyde ‘Pay It Forward’, Janni Visman ‘Sex Education’ and Louise Welsh ‘The Cutting Room’.