As I go through reading the books on the '50 Great Reads List', I will be posting my 1 sentence reviews of each book in this entry!
1. Mr Badger and the Big Surprise by Leigh Hobbs – I enjoyed this book (even if it’s targeted towards kids)!
2. The Hard Light of Day by Rod Moss. Another great book – Moss discusses life in the Northern Territory, as well as his day-to-day interactions with the local Indigenous population.
3. Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks - Unfortunately, I closed the book after reading the first few pages. I just couldn’t get into the whole narrative. However, I would recommend Brook’s Nine Parts of Desire, which discusses diversity within the Islamic world in relation to the status of women and women’s rights.
4. I have just "read" Claude Levi Strauss: the poet in the laboratory/ Patrick Wilcken. I found the book incredibly boring - it is certainly not my cup of tea!
ReplyDelete5. A Little Bird Told Me/Kasey Chambers - Unfortunately, I didn't really get into the book (partly due to the fact that I was stressing about the due date of the item). If you are a fan of her music though, you may find this autobiography interesting.
ReplyDelete6.How it Feels / Brendan Cowell - Sex, Drugs, More Sex - this basically sums up this book. The idea of 18/19 year olds drugging themselves is just gross. And rampant teenage sex isn't my thing. Although I was engaged with the beginning of the plot, I soon hated it. This book is definitely not my cup of tea.
6. The siren's sting / Miranda Darling.
ReplyDeleteI must say, the blurb of this book is really interesting. However, after reading 10 pages of the actual story, I put the book down - it just wasn't for me. Maybe on a good day, I would have forced myself to read the whole novel, but as I was in a foul mood, I was not going to continue reading it.
7. Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero / Rick Riordan
ReplyDeleteHmm...So, I read the first few pages - some school kids are being being rude and unruly - and then I became bored of the book. To be honest, the beginning of the story is tolerable...but tolerable doesn't cut it. On the other hand, kids will probably enjoy this story.
8. Mice / Gordon Reece
The beginning of the book was great...full of suspense. But then, the narrator droned on...and on...and on.... Eventually, I gave up reading "Mice". If it wasn't for the droning, I think I would have actually read the book 'til the end.
9. The Briny Café / Susan Duncan.
ReplyDeleteI read the first 18 pages during my lunchbreak, and not a page more!
10. True spirit : the Aussie girl who took on the world / Jessica Watson.
On the other hand, I found Jessica Watson's sailing adventures to be really interesting. She also had some interesting facts about herself e.g. her parents didn't allow her to watch TV when she was younger. I would recommend reading this book.
11. Bloodlines/Richelle Mead
ReplyDeleteDon't bother - I returned the book after reading the first 5 pages. Plus, I'm not really into the whole vampire craze.
Nick, have you actually read ANY books in their entirety except for the JK one??!! LOL!
ReplyDeleteAnd what exactly IS your cup of tea??!! ;)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would LURVE to write a PROPER review of an actual book I have READ but I'm only allowed to post comments.... arrrgh!!!
ReplyDelete11. Treasure yourself : power thoughts for my generation / Miranda Kerr.
ReplyDelete- THIS IS PART OF THE 50???? Hmmm... As soon as I took the book out, I returned it to the shelves again!
12. Last Chance Cafe/ Liz Byrski
ReplyDeleteThe first few pages showed great promise for a good read, but as whole, the narrative isn't my cup of tea. However, you may very well enjoy this novel.
13. Blood Line / Lynda La Plante
ReplyDelete- Another book that I didn't end up reading.... I found that the beginning of chapter went straight into the problem too quickly - there wasn't an orientation of the plot/setting; the first chapter did not enter into the mystery at a pace that you would find in a Linwood Barclay novel.
14. Without Warning/John Birmingham: The novel started out interesting...but after a while, I realised that I still didn't understand what was happening - so I put the book down.
ReplyDelete15.Life without limits : how to live a ridiculously good life / Nick Vujicic
A really great read. Vujicic was born without arms or legs. In this autobiography, Vujicic takes us on a journey - his ups and downs - and what he makes of life. I found his story to be really inspirational, and would recommend it for everyone to read.
16. Tamil tigress : my story as a child soldier in Sri Lanka's bloody civil war / Niromi de Soyza.
Another great read...though somewhat shocking in the sense that author, a child soldier herself, reveals that child/teenage soldiers are still recruited in certain parts of the world. Her explanation of the cyanide pill that all Tamil Tiger soldiers carry is also chilling.
Unfortunately, I wiped out my last comments...So I'm going to post these two short reviews.
ReplyDelete17. One Day / David Nicholls.
Despite various good reviews of this book, I found the novel neither funny nor engaging. In fact, I only read the first two pages of the book before putting it down.
18. When God Was a Rabbit/ Sarah Winman.
In sum: THE BEST BOOK ON THE LIST. A must read. If I get time later, I'll do a proper review of the book (for the moment though, this will have to do). The narrative is simply about a girl's journey to adulthood, and the interesting characters that come and go in her life. The story is pure genius.
19. That Deadman Dance/Kim Scott.
ReplyDeleteHere is another book that I put down after reading the first page. Despite the good reviews, I just couldn't get into it.
20. Five bells / Gail Jones. - Boring.
ReplyDelete21. The passage / Justin Cronin. Despite an interesting blurb, I didn't find the first few pages engaging.
22. Museum of thieves / Lian Tanner. The book has a tolerable plot. Maybe, if I was in primary school, I may have enjoyed this story more.
23. Past the shallows / Favel Parrett. - A great novel. Poetic, touching, not necessarily detailed, and yet engages important issues relating to childhood and family in ways that chills me. Highly recommended.
24. Rescue / Anita Shreve. Another book that I just couldn't get into...How Webster and Sheila (the two main characters) form their relationship is just unnatural to me.
25. The Left Hand of God/Paul Hoffman.
ReplyDeleteAt first, the narrative was all mysterious to the point that I felt that there wasn't enough information to set up an introduction to the novel. And yet, something just kept bugging me to read on. I did- and boy, what a great read.
In short, the plot centres around a boy, Cale, who escapes a fanatical religious sanctuary to another country - along with other characters - where it is learnt that he is trained in the art of war. The religious fanatics manage to conquer the country that Cale is staying in, and promise to simply leave the country if Cale is returned to the sanctuary.
I like the suspense, suprises and character development that the narrative contains. A negative point is though, at times I felt the world constructed in the novel was fantasy/elvish, and yet there are references to real-life e.g. Norway. Withstanding this criticism, I enjoyed reading this novel, and have placed a reservation on the second book in this trilogy.
26. African Dawn/Tony Park.
ReplyDeleteThe sight of the book, and an average introduction in the narrative, resulted in me putting this book down.
27. In the Best Interests of the Game/Darrell Hair
ReplyDeleteAs I'm not a cricket fan, I didn't bother to read the book.
28. Me of the Never Never/ Fiona O’Loughlin
I tried reading the first few pages, but it lacked something for me.
29. Talking about Jane Austen in Baghdad / Bee Rowlatt and May Witwit.
ReplyDeleteWhile I like the theme of the book (of cultural exchange, and the use of literature), I personally hate the diary-entry format. As a result, I wasn't able to finish reading the book.
30. Prime cut / Alan Carter.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can sense some kind of exciting plotline in this narrative, I found the rapid change of timeframe and location in the first few pages of the book rather annoying.
31. The Snowman/ Jo Nesbo.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that the first time I started reading The Snowman, I became more and more intrigued by its plot. Unfortunately, as someone else had reserved the book, I had to return the novel. When I tried to read the book a second time though, I found that I wasn't as engaged when I first started reading it.