Monkeyshines

Category: Books

  • Present Tense Book Review – Akira: Part 3

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    James
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    (Part Two of this Present Tense Book Review.) Volumes 5 of Akira has already been thrown into the arena of one of my book battles, where I rather obliquely discussed its merits with rather tortuous metaphors. I finished Volume 6 some time ago, and then completely forgot that I needed to write up my thoughts.…

  • Feline Book Review: Binky the Space Cat

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    Binky
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    My hoomins often seem to be almost as interested in ‘books’ as me, which I have never really understood until now. In fact, I have only just worked out what a book is, now that one of my hoomins has bought Binky the Space Cat for me. A lady hoomin called Ashley Spires has evidently…

  • Book Battle 4: The Hare with Amber Eyes vs The World of Yesterday

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    James
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    When I’m off on my travels, I like to read books that are set in my destination. And ordinarily I read fiction, as real pastos (pron: past-ohs) aren’t really my cup of tea. However, in an effort to combat my long-standing antipathy towards History (in the sense of the school subject, rather than the past…

  • Book Battle 3: Akira Book 5 vs Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction

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    James
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    After allowing weapons in the previous battle, it only seems natural for these books to properly tool themselves up. I’ve written about the first 4 Akira books before (part one, part two); they’re written by Katsuhiro Otomo, and volume 5 is the penultimate book in the series. Adrian Mole and the WMD is, clearly, the…

  • Book Battle 2: The Girl Who Played with Fire vs One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

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    James
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    I rather enjoyed my first book battle, so thought I’d stage another bout, with my latest reads, which don’t have much in common other than unfeasibly long titles. If you’ve been living in a popular-trend-proof room for the last few years, The Girl Who… is a thriller by Stieg Larsson, the sequel to The Girl…

  • Book Battle: Fathers and Sons vs Eve Green

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    James
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    I recently read Eve Green, by Susan Fletcher, on the strength of it garnering glowing reviews and having won a major award. I was utterly underwhelmed, and looked to Amazon to see what real people thought of it. Opinion is divided: it’s either a beautiful, mysterious evocation of Wales or a dull trudge through an…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Fathers and Sons: Part 2

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    James
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    (Part One of this Present Tense Book Review.) This is a book that really makes you think about the universality of human nature. It sets before you a series of characters, male and female, from different generations, and different classes, and describes their interactions simply but effectively. And then throws in some musings on the…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Akira: Part 2

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    James
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    (Part One of this Present Tense Book Review.) I’ve recently read volumes 3 and 4 of Akira, and the story has now diverged quite a lot from that of the film (I did wonder how the film plot was going to stretch to over 2000 pages). Much of the action of book 3 was rather…

  • Present Tense Book Review – Fathers and Sons

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    James
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    This week I’ve gone for a classic novel by Ivan Turgenev. I like a little bit of Russian literature every now and then, and this is a good ‘un. The title tells you the main theme of the book, and it thoughtfully explores the characters of men (and the odd lady, which the emphasis on…

  • Present Tense Book Review – One Good Turn: Part 2

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    James
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    (Part One of this Present Tense Book Review.) This was a fun book – lately I seem to be reading a lot of books that are written from multiple perspectives, and this was nicely done here. The characters are believable, and the plot is intricate and surprising. If you read enough thrillers and watch enough…