Guards! Guards! (69) ... light relief and plenty of chuckling!

To follow the epic of War and Peace, I treated myself to one of my favourite authors - Terry Pratchett - and book number 69 on the top 100 reads. It's called Guards! Guards! and I read it in 2 days with a great big smile on my face. When Pratchett is on form, boy is he good! This is one of the best of his Discworld books in my opinion, and features The Watch - the much maligned and ignored police force who only work the night shift in the great city of Ankh Morpork. For their own health, The Watch basically ignores the crime that goes on around them. There are less than a handful of them, all with "issues" and their chief is constantly drunk. Into this mix, comes a young innocent lad - name of Carrot - who was raised by dwarfs who discovered him as a toddler in the forest. His adopted father sends him to the big city to learn to be human. Carrot studies all the laws, rules and regulations that The Watch are supposed to uphold, and, much to the amazement of his fellow Watch members, starts to arrest people! As if this wasn't weird enough, a dragon keeps on appearing and burning people to a crisp. Can The Watch save the day and tackle the use of magic which seems to be at work here? Will they accept the help of the Librarian of Unseen University (where wizards learn their craft). Okay, so he might be an orangutan following an accident involving magic, but he does have a bucket load of knowledge gained from years amongst all those books, and has exceptional strength in those long arms. This is such a great read and I laughed out loud on numerous occasions. Great characters, great story telling - fantasy fiction at its very best.

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 416 print pages.
Price I paid: £1.50 (second hand shop).
Formats available: print; audio CD; audio download; multimedia CD; ebook.

War and Peace (20) ... phew, done and dusted!

At long, LONG last, I have completed War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I read the first half as an audio book, and the second half as an ebook. I enjoyed reading by both methods, although it took me a while to get used to the names in the ebook which I'd only ever heard before and not seen written down. This is an epic in every sense of the word. The size of the book puts people off - but it shouldn't. It's not a hard read, but bowls along with plenty of action (both in war and peacetime) and has a good set of central characters - especially the Rostovs and Bezukhovs. The backdrop to the tale is the invasion of Russia by the army of Napoleon Bonaparte and the impact this has on five different families. Initially, the Russians love Bonaparte and think he's a great man and ally - but when relations between him and their own Emperor fall apart, the country starts to realise how ruthless an opponent he is and are puzzled that their own glorious army is apparently powerless to stop him. Over the years, as the action continues, we switch between the fighting at the front, and the people left behind. The two worlds are initially very separate, but they slowly become closer and closer and eventually, all the citizens feel the dreadful impact of events. Love, death, power, loyalty - it's all here. The young men dream of the glory that fighting and dying for their Emperor will give them, without fully realising the real horrors of the actual battles - no-one is left unchanged. Bouncy, playful boys become serious men very quickly, and giggling, fluffy girls become sombre women as the action continues. But it's not all doom and gloom - there is humour and happy endings for at least some of the characters. The book is full of historic facts to help place it in the time and events in which the story takes place. My only problem with the book is when the author starts to drift into his lectures on the meaning of history and power ... he can go on a bit! Overall, a book that everyone should read ... just give yourself the time and space to do so.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 1440 print pages.
Price I paid: £7.99 for the audio section; £0.49 for the ebook.
Formats available: print; audio; ebook.

Brideshead Revisited (45) ... dreamy!

Within one minute of starting this book, I knew I was in safe hands. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh is almost perfect in every way - particularly this audio edition that I have just completed, narrated by the glorious Jeremy Irons! Our voice for this journey through the privileged classes prior to the second world war is Charles Ryder. It opens with him ending up in the grounds of a country house in the middle of the night - only to realise when he wakes next morning, that he's in a place never far from his thoughts, but one that he never thought he'd see again. He begins to relive the events that have taken place there, with all the members of the Flyte family - a dysfunctional aristocratic family whose Catholicism is a central theme. From his days at Oxford University where he falls under the spell of the beautiful, charming but fatally flawed Sebastian, we see him develop as both a man and an artist, as he meets and comes under the influence (to greater and lesser extents) of all the family - Lady Marchmain, Brideshead, Cordelia and especially Julia. It is, at it's heart, a romance not only between people, but also for a time and place that may never have existed anywhere except in our imagination. Charles falls in love with this family, but it's a relationship that is ultimately doomed as the social and spiritual differences cannot be ignored for ever. The characterisation is tremendously satisfying, with fully rounded and believable individuals - of which my favourite would have to be the outrageous, stammering Anthony Blanche. You cannot help but fall for the charm of these people - even though they are all far from perfect - but that's what makes them human. This book transports you into another world that you want to stay in for so much longer than you are given. It is aching in its prose and funny too. An absolute triumph. More, more, more!

My STAR rating: FIVE

Length: 326 print pages.
Price I paid: £7.99.
Formats available: print, audio CD, audio download, ebook.

Brave New World (87) - somebody's paradise

What a book! Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley should be read by everyone. It's a chilling exploration of what the future could hold if the majority of humanity turned it's back on ... well, what makes it "human". This is supposed to be utopia ... no illness, no ageing, no fear of death, no violence, no family and no religion ... well, kind of! Everyone is bred in test tubes, with eggs being divided and redivided to create myriads of twins. Whilst growing up, all babies and then children are conditioned to the way of life they have been bred to live - whether they are "alpha" or "gamma" or whatever. Different types of people are "happy" with their lot, no matter how grim their work - it's what they have been bred and conditioned to think and feel. Ambition is long gone. If people do start to "feel" uncomfortable - then there is a very simple solution - they just drop a dose of "soma" and all is well once again. In effect, everyone is drugged up to the eyeballs most of the time. Whether it's work, play or recreational sex - of which there is plenty - everyone knows their place. Living in this world is Bernard, who doesn't quite fit the mould. He cannot get to grips with his place in the world and is full of resentment. When he happens upon a "savage" - a boy who has grown up in the wild - where people do get fat or sick, but do believe in God or Buddha or whatever, he brings him back to "civilisation" in the hope of glory. The savage makes sense of the world through the Shakespearean plays he has read since an early age, and which he quotes to express his thoughts and feelings. Initially excited and intrigued by this civilisation, he soon becomes disgusted and turns his back on it. This is a great book - it is disturbing, funny, tempting and thought provoking, but a great story too. More books should have this effect on their readers. This will definitely stay with me.

My STAR rating: FIVE

Length: 237 print pages.
Price I paid: £1.00 in a second hand bookshop.
Formats available: print, audio CD or download, ebook

The BFG (56) - oddly dark

So, the last of the Roald Dahl titles on the Top 100 Reads list has just been completed ... The BFG, or Big Friendly Giant, is a bit of a dark tale that didn't sit comfortably with me. There are many dark elements to Roald Dahl books, but this one struck me as particularly so. Sophie, an unhappy orphan, is looking out of her window one night, when she spots a giant coming down the road and poking a trumpet in through a window. Surely, she's imagining this, and if not, what is he doing and where has he come from? But no, she's not seeing things ... the giant spots her, kidnaps her and takes her back to his country, in order to protect himself - as he fears he will be hunted down if people know there are giants. He explains that he uses the trumpet to blow nice dreams into bedrooms for children, and that he loves "human beans" in a good way ... not like the other giants living in his land. They head off each night to different countries for their dinner - which is as many humans as they think they can get away with. The BFG is disgusted by this, but feels helpless to stop them, as they are all twice the size of him. As he and Sophie get to know each other, they come up with a plan full of cunning and bravado, and of course, it involves the Queen! The BFG mixes up words all the time, which did start to get on my nerves. I wasn't too enamoured with the premise of the story either - all but one giant are bad, with absolutely no redeeming features. Far too black and white for my liking. There are some good bits, but not enough. Not a favourite of mine at all - I was quite disappointed I have to admit. 

My STAR rating: TWO.

Length: 199 print pages.
Price I paid: free - borrowed from local library.
Formats available: print; audio; ebook; multimedia CD.

Matilda (74) - a little girl with a big brain

This is more like it ... I feel I'm back on track with another book under my belt this week. It's Matilda, by Roald Dahl (get used to the name, there will be more) which I read in print. This is a great little book about a small girl who is badly treated at home - neither of her parents think much about her, if, indeed, they think of her at all. Her father, who is a dodgy car salesman, has taken a particular dislike to her for some reason, calling her stupid and a cheat on numerous occasions. Despite this poor treatment, she is a happy girl and keen to explore the world about her. As her parents won't do anything with her, or take her anywhere, she decides to take things into her own hands. She wants to read books (having taught herself to read) and one afternoon, when she is left alone in the house yet again, she heads off the library, where she begins to devour all the children's books and then, with the help of the librarian, delves into the realms of authors like Charles Dickens. So, by the time she starts school, she has accumulated a lot of knowledge. Her teacher, Miss Honey, recognises her intelligence and encourages her. But the headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, a veritable demon in a smock and breeches, starts to bully Matilda, her classmates and Miss Honey. Matilda is determined to work out a way to take revenge and, in the process, discovers that she has an exceptional talent! This book made me laugh out loud and you can't help root for Matilda as she takes on a great literary baddie in a classic case of brain versus brawn. I can highly recommend this book - good fun, where good triumphs over evil.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 232 print pages.
Price I paid: free - borrowed from local library.
Formats available: print, audio, ebook.

The Twits (82) - a bit of light relief!

After many, many weeks spent on two books (Gone with the Wind and War and Peace), I felt the need to get a few short books under my belt to keep me on track for my target of having completed 50 of the Best 100 Reads by the end of 2013. On this quest, I spotted a few Roald Dahl books on the list, and decided that this would provide some quick reads as well as a bit of light relief. And so I found myself finishing The Twits within an hour or so. It's the story of a horrible couple (The Twits) who only have nasty thoughts, never seem to wash and the only thing they seem to get pleasure from is playing nasty tricks on each other - hiding worms in spaghetti is one of the classics! Worst of all, they keep a family of monkeys in a small cage in their back garden. They are not treated well, and Mr Twit is "training" them to stand on their heads all day, everyday, and do everything standing on their heads. His aim is to then offer them a s a circus act. The monkeys would love to escape and their chance comes in the form of an exotic African bird who has flown north for the summer. In cahoots with other birds in the area (all of whom would be on the menu if the Twits could catch them), they come up with a plan to not only escape, but pay the Twits back for all the horrible things they have done. Guess what - they come to a sticky end! This is a book that children of a certain disposition will love, and I can see how much fun it would be to read aloud to a small child. For an adult, it made me smirk a few times. It is a light read that whiles away an hour or so and, I suspect if you were read this by a parent in your childhood, rereading it as an adult might well bring back warm and comforting feelings. (By the way - still going with War and Peace).

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 87 print pages.
Price I paid: free - borrowed from my local library.
Formats available: Print, audio.