Fiction in 2007
Usually I would write a lowdown of the year, pointing out all the highs and lows, but this year hasn't been very eventful, so instead I'm going to do a lowdown of all the books I've read this year.
The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde.
The first book I started and finished in 2007. I
t's a book set in a world where nursery rhyme characters all exist and there's a special devision of the police force in charge of investigating crimes that involve them, led by Jack Spratt. We discover in this book that he is the same Jack Spratt from the nusery rhyme.
What I remember of the plot is simply that the gingerbread man, a psychotic killer who tears the arms off his victims has escaped from a mental institution and is somehow linked to a shooting at the three bears cottage.
Website Story by Robert Rankin.
This was the first book I read by the author and I picked this book after browsing the library and thinking the title sounded funny. The story is set in the future in the town of Brentford, England. (Most of his stories are.) And it's about people who disappear after being infected with a virus that sends them into a computer game type world where they have to play the game or die. A guy who works for the local paper and woman from outside Brentford (forget why she's there) investigate and discover other more terrifying things.
I'm a Beliver by Micky Dolenz.
An autobiography of the musican/actor's life. I've read various things about The Monkees and their time together, but it was interesting to read about Micky's life before and after The Monkees. Apparently if it wasn't for the fact he was quite underweight he would have been sent off to Vietnam at the time the Monkees were formed. Bless the skinny guy. The book was actually older than I orignally thought, it ended when he was still living in England during the 80's.
Reaper man by Terry Pratchett.
There was a time when I tried to read all the discworld books in order of publication, but got bored with Wyrd Sisters. However Death is my favourite character and I saw no harm in reading Reaper man since the books don't carry on from each other so I wasn't missing anything.
Everything must die, including Death, but when he leaves to get a job on a farm and assumes the name Bill Doors people aren't dying and a certain recently departed wizard Windle Poons is not pleased about it. And to make things worse snow globes and self moving trolley's have started to appear all over Ankh-Morpork.
I enjoyed reading this book more than any of the other discworld books and when I get round to it I plan to read Soul Music.
The Devil in Amber by Mark Gatiss.
An interesting book I picked up at the library for no other reason than I liked the cover. I read half of it and then had to return it instead of re-newing it straight away because the computers were down and they needed my card (and it was over due) When i went back to get it it had already been taken out, so I had to wait until it was back in to finish it.
It's about a secret agent, like James Bond only older, without gadgets and set in the 1930's. He's on a mission which leads him to discover nazi's are planning to raise the devil and in the process gets himself suspected of murder.
Valhalla by Tom Holt
Another book I spotted in the library and decided to read based on the title. It's roughly about Odin doing some market research and it involves, Carol, a barmaid, her father. Atila the Hun and another man who's name I've forgotten who all end up in Vahalla. It's an odd story to explain, but it jumps back and forth between these characters and their different experiences within Vahalla. And yes, there are vikings and lots of fighting.
The Witches of Chiswick by Robert Rankin.
This one involved time travel and confused me alot. But the basic plot is alot of modern day devises such as digital watches and rocket ships were invented in the victorian age, but something happened to destroy the technology and in the future there is no mention of it in the history books because witches erased all the evidence. However Will Starling finds a victorian painting with a man wearing a digital watch and for there it's an adventure through time to change the past so the technlogy isn't lost. Along the way he meets mechanical men with Austrian accents trying to kill him and another version of himself from a different future.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling.
The final part of the Harry Potter series and it took me just under a week to read it. Pretty slow really.
Harry's not at hogswart this year, instead he's on the trail of the Horcruxes which leads to break ups and make ups between friends, breaking into both the ministry and the goblin bank and ending with the final battle at the school. There are surprising twists through out and a number of deaths, but then that's what happens during the final showdown.
Who's Afraid of Beowulf? by Tom Holt.
I never quite understood the title of this book, although I haven't actually read Beowulf.
The book is about an archeologist named Hildy who meets a group of vikings who have been asleep in a ship buried under the ground in Scotland for over 1000 years who have woken up to do battle with an ancient sorcerer who has become a rather sucessful businessman. It was funny, but had a kind of anti-climatix ending.
Waiting for Godalming by Robert Rankin.
Yeap, back to him again.
It's a hard plot to explain so I copied this off of Wikipedia
Waiting for Godalming tells the story of the ultimate murder case: God himself has been killed in a dark alley. Lazlo Woodbine, famous fifties' private eye sets out to solve the case. The prime suspects are Colin, God's other son who has been left out of the Bible and Eartha, His wife - who hired Lazlo in the first place to solve the case. The second plot line is about Icarus Smith, who is trying to find out why demons are walking the earth. As might be expected, both lines knot together in quite a surprising way.
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
An author recomended to me by a friend of mine.
It's about a woman named Elena who lives in Canada with her boyfriend and she's the only female warewolf in the world. She used to belong to a pack in New York, but she left them to have a normal life, but when they call her back to help save the pack from annihilation she finds herself being drawn back into that world and she's not sure where she belongs. Despite some parts of it that got on my nerves (mainy cheating on her boyfriend with her ex) it's a really engaging story and very well written.
Stolen by Kelley Armstrong.
Elena is now back with the pack and is appraoched by other people with supernatual powers claiming that they are in danger. While investigating Elena finds herself kidnapped by scientists who want to study her and use her for their sick games.
This one has a very different feel to the last, mostly because it's primarily set in an underground lab, but their's still plenty of action and some rather disturbing moments.
Dead Famous by Ben Elton
I couldn't resist picking this up after reading the blurb.
What if someone was murdered in a reality show where your every move is monitored? The program is called House Arrest and one of the house mates is murdered and the police have no idea who did it. The murder takes place while everyone is in a tent and the murder victim goes to the bathroom, it's too dark in the house to see much and the murderer wears a sheet. Even though the murder is filmed, there's no evidence to suggest who did it and everyone has a motive. It has such a clever ending.
The Anti-pope by Robert Rankin.
Borrowed this off a guy at work.
Set once again in the town of Brenford. It's more or less about a tramp that comes to Brentford and takes up lodgings at the local mission, but the longer he stays there the more sinister he becomes until the whole places is turned into a church and nearly everyone in town is brainwashed. The only ones who can do anything about it is Jim Pooley, his friend John Omally frequent visitors of the local pub and the Professor can do anything about it.
The Brentford Triangle by Robert Rankin.
Based around the same town and the same characters.
Apparently there used to be a tenth planet in our solar system where life existed. While half the popultion went off to fight a war, the other half were forced to excuate the planet before it blew up and come to Earth. Now they're signalling their people to pick them up and destroy earth. Again it's up to Jim, John and the professor to come up with a plan to save earth and get in a few rounds of allotment golf while they're at it.
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
This is a non fiction book that my therepist recomended to me for some reason.
It's about the author's experiences within a concerntration camp during the war and how he searched for meaning behind what was happening and the psychological stages the inmates went through. It was hard to read at times, especially the beginning when he first arrived, but the second half was all about his psychotherepy's which was rather technical.
Happy New Year.
The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde.
The first book I started and finished in 2007. I
t's a book set in a world where nursery rhyme characters all exist and there's a special devision of the police force in charge of investigating crimes that involve them, led by Jack Spratt. We discover in this book that he is the same Jack Spratt from the nusery rhyme.
What I remember of the plot is simply that the gingerbread man, a psychotic killer who tears the arms off his victims has escaped from a mental institution and is somehow linked to a shooting at the three bears cottage.
Website Story by Robert Rankin.
This was the first book I read by the author and I picked this book after browsing the library and thinking the title sounded funny. The story is set in the future in the town of Brentford, England. (Most of his stories are.) And it's about people who disappear after being infected with a virus that sends them into a computer game type world where they have to play the game or die. A guy who works for the local paper and woman from outside Brentford (forget why she's there) investigate and discover other more terrifying things.
I'm a Beliver by Micky Dolenz.
An autobiography of the musican/actor's life. I've read various things about The Monkees and their time together, but it was interesting to read about Micky's life before and after The Monkees. Apparently if it wasn't for the fact he was quite underweight he would have been sent off to Vietnam at the time the Monkees were formed. Bless the skinny guy. The book was actually older than I orignally thought, it ended when he was still living in England during the 80's.
Reaper man by Terry Pratchett.
There was a time when I tried to read all the discworld books in order of publication, but got bored with Wyrd Sisters. However Death is my favourite character and I saw no harm in reading Reaper man since the books don't carry on from each other so I wasn't missing anything.
Everything must die, including Death, but when he leaves to get a job on a farm and assumes the name Bill Doors people aren't dying and a certain recently departed wizard Windle Poons is not pleased about it. And to make things worse snow globes and self moving trolley's have started to appear all over Ankh-Morpork.
I enjoyed reading this book more than any of the other discworld books and when I get round to it I plan to read Soul Music.
The Devil in Amber by Mark Gatiss.
An interesting book I picked up at the library for no other reason than I liked the cover. I read half of it and then had to return it instead of re-newing it straight away because the computers were down and they needed my card (and it was over due) When i went back to get it it had already been taken out, so I had to wait until it was back in to finish it.
It's about a secret agent, like James Bond only older, without gadgets and set in the 1930's. He's on a mission which leads him to discover nazi's are planning to raise the devil and in the process gets himself suspected of murder.
Valhalla by Tom Holt
Another book I spotted in the library and decided to read based on the title. It's roughly about Odin doing some market research and it involves, Carol, a barmaid, her father. Atila the Hun and another man who's name I've forgotten who all end up in Vahalla. It's an odd story to explain, but it jumps back and forth between these characters and their different experiences within Vahalla. And yes, there are vikings and lots of fighting.
The Witches of Chiswick by Robert Rankin.
This one involved time travel and confused me alot. But the basic plot is alot of modern day devises such as digital watches and rocket ships were invented in the victorian age, but something happened to destroy the technology and in the future there is no mention of it in the history books because witches erased all the evidence. However Will Starling finds a victorian painting with a man wearing a digital watch and for there it's an adventure through time to change the past so the technlogy isn't lost. Along the way he meets mechanical men with Austrian accents trying to kill him and another version of himself from a different future.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling.
The final part of the Harry Potter series and it took me just under a week to read it. Pretty slow really.
Harry's not at hogswart this year, instead he's on the trail of the Horcruxes which leads to break ups and make ups between friends, breaking into both the ministry and the goblin bank and ending with the final battle at the school. There are surprising twists through out and a number of deaths, but then that's what happens during the final showdown.
Who's Afraid of Beowulf? by Tom Holt.
I never quite understood the title of this book, although I haven't actually read Beowulf.
The book is about an archeologist named Hildy who meets a group of vikings who have been asleep in a ship buried under the ground in Scotland for over 1000 years who have woken up to do battle with an ancient sorcerer who has become a rather sucessful businessman. It was funny, but had a kind of anti-climatix ending.
Waiting for Godalming by Robert Rankin.
Yeap, back to him again.
It's a hard plot to explain so I copied this off of Wikipedia
Waiting for Godalming tells the story of the ultimate murder case: God himself has been killed in a dark alley. Lazlo Woodbine, famous fifties' private eye sets out to solve the case. The prime suspects are Colin, God's other son who has been left out of the Bible and Eartha, His wife - who hired Lazlo in the first place to solve the case. The second plot line is about Icarus Smith, who is trying to find out why demons are walking the earth. As might be expected, both lines knot together in quite a surprising way.
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
An author recomended to me by a friend of mine.
It's about a woman named Elena who lives in Canada with her boyfriend and she's the only female warewolf in the world. She used to belong to a pack in New York, but she left them to have a normal life, but when they call her back to help save the pack from annihilation she finds herself being drawn back into that world and she's not sure where she belongs. Despite some parts of it that got on my nerves (mainy cheating on her boyfriend with her ex) it's a really engaging story and very well written.
Stolen by Kelley Armstrong.
Elena is now back with the pack and is appraoched by other people with supernatual powers claiming that they are in danger. While investigating Elena finds herself kidnapped by scientists who want to study her and use her for their sick games.
This one has a very different feel to the last, mostly because it's primarily set in an underground lab, but their's still plenty of action and some rather disturbing moments.
Dead Famous by Ben Elton
I couldn't resist picking this up after reading the blurb.
What if someone was murdered in a reality show where your every move is monitored? The program is called House Arrest and one of the house mates is murdered and the police have no idea who did it. The murder takes place while everyone is in a tent and the murder victim goes to the bathroom, it's too dark in the house to see much and the murderer wears a sheet. Even though the murder is filmed, there's no evidence to suggest who did it and everyone has a motive. It has such a clever ending.
The Anti-pope by Robert Rankin.
Borrowed this off a guy at work.
Set once again in the town of Brenford. It's more or less about a tramp that comes to Brentford and takes up lodgings at the local mission, but the longer he stays there the more sinister he becomes until the whole places is turned into a church and nearly everyone in town is brainwashed. The only ones who can do anything about it is Jim Pooley, his friend John Omally frequent visitors of the local pub and the Professor can do anything about it.
The Brentford Triangle by Robert Rankin.
Based around the same town and the same characters.
Apparently there used to be a tenth planet in our solar system where life existed. While half the popultion went off to fight a war, the other half were forced to excuate the planet before it blew up and come to Earth. Now they're signalling their people to pick them up and destroy earth. Again it's up to Jim, John and the professor to come up with a plan to save earth and get in a few rounds of allotment golf while they're at it.
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
This is a non fiction book that my therepist recomended to me for some reason.
It's about the author's experiences within a concerntration camp during the war and how he searched for meaning behind what was happening and the psychological stages the inmates went through. It was hard to read at times, especially the beginning when he first arrived, but the second half was all about his psychotherepy's which was rather technical.
Happy New Year.