Author: Michael @ Knowledge Lost

Culling My To-Read List

Posted May 7, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 0 Comments

My to-read list on Goodreads has always been a dumping ground for books that look interesting and I hope to read some time in the future. But I’ve come to realise that I normally read on a whim and don’t often refer to my to-read list when picking the next book to read. I much prefer picking something that looks interesting at the time and just reading it. I’ve actually got two to-read lists on Goodreads; one is the generic list (which had over 300 books in it) and the other was the to-read on shelf list referring to all the books I actually own and need to read. I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands; my to-read list has now gone from over 300 books to just under 100 books. I was brutal in doing this cull and removed anything I couldn’t remember why I wanted to read it or books that have lost appeal and have past their used by date.

Now that I have under a hundred books on my to-read list, I feel a lot better about the list. It is now a better representation of what I actually want to read and less of a dumping ground. Now my next problem is to tackle my to-read-on-shelf list and reduce the number of books on that list. Currently there are 78 books on that list so I better get reading.

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø

Posted May 6, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Crime / 0 Comments

The Redbreast by Jo NesbøTitle: The Redbreast (Goodreads)
Author: Jo Nesbø
Translator: Don Bartlett
Series: Harry Hole #3
Published: Harvill Secker, 2000
Pages: 368
Genres: Crime
My Copy: Personal Copy

Buy: Amazon (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

When they advertise Jo Nesbø as ‘The Next Steig Larsson’, I’m inclined to pass on this author. But since a lot of people seem to be raving about this author, I thought I better check him out, especially when they class his Harry Hole series as hard-boiled. I’ve found the only reason they are calling him the next Larsson is simply because he is another Scandinavian crime writer; which means some overly graphic murders, Nazis and an expected twist. The Redbreast is the third book in the Harry Hole novel but the first available in English. Hole is investigating neo-Nazi activity which leads him to further explore Norway’s activities on the Eastern Front during WWII.

Throughout the book it switches between telling the story of Harry Hole in 1999 and the man he is hunting Daniel Gudeson during the World War II. I like how Nesbø switched between the two times and characters to flush out the back story that was leading up to a much bigger current day threat. But that is where I stopped liking this book; I just felt this book was generic and too predictable for my liking. I want to be shocked, excited and enjoy myself when reading crime novels; one out of three just doesn’t cut it.

Now to address the genre issue; Harry Hole could be classed as a hard-boiled detective, as he drinks, smokes and seems to be a very bitter man. However, this novel seems to missing some of the elements that makes hard-boiled novels what they are; for starters where was the dark and gritty realism that I’ve come to love in pulp novels. Also the book was missing a femme fetale as well as the strong dialogue with hints of wittiness and/or irony. This felt more like the generic bestseller crime formula and if we are going to call Jo Nesbø ‘hard-boiled’,  we would have to let Michael Connelly in as well; and we don’t want that.

While this was in fact a fun book to read, I went into this book expecting something more pulp like and ended up getting generic. I’m sure there are plenty of people that will love this book, just don’t expect pulp; you’ll be sadly disappointed. If you are interested in knowing more about pulp fiction,  check out my blog entries on pulp for recommendations.

Beat The Reaper by Josh Bazell

Posted May 5, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Thriller / 0 Comments

Beat The Reaper by Josh BazellTitle: Beat The Reaper (Goodreads)
Author: Josh Bazell
Series: Peter Brown #1
Published: Little Brown and Company, 2008
Pages: 310
Genres: Thriller
My Copy: Personal Copy

Buy: Amazon (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

I was recommended this book last year, and while it looks interesting, I kept putting this book off. I’m not sure why I did, as this book was so much fun to read. Think mob book (in the style of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch) meets Scrubs but with a much darker sense of humour. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell tells the story of Peter Brown, an intern for Manhattan’s worst hospital. Dr. Brown is in the Federal Witness Protection Program having previously been a mob hitman named Pietro Brwna. I know, the feds lacked imagination and yet the mob failed to find him until one of them ends up being a patient of Dr. Peter Brown.

The humour alone makes this book worth reading, but then on top of that you have the story of a kick ass doctor in what would make a great blockbuster movie if it was directed by someone like Guy Ritchie or Quentin Tarantino. Having said that there are rumours of this book being made into a movie (New Regency acquired the rights in 2009) or even a TV series (HBO started development in 2011) but both seemed to be interested in Leonardo DiCaprio as the protagonist. I can’t see DiCaprio as Peter Brown; I often imagined him more of Vinnie Jones type character even though he probably isn’t right for the role either.

While I think it would make a great adaptation, I’m not going to hold my breath for one; let alone a good one. Beat the Reaper could be the next sleeper hit; with an increasing cult following, this book was well worth the read. All readers interested in an edge of your seat action novel, or a dark medical/mob read should go out and grab a copy of this book. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book in this series.

Confessions of a Reader

Posted May 4, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 6 Comments

While most people know my story, I wasn’t much of a reader until a few years ago when something clicked and I started reading and wanting to read almost everything in sight. I’ve been playing catch up with everyone else for the past few years. While I claim to be a bibliophile, I’ve still got a lot to catch up on. My name is Michael and these are by reading confessions:

I haven’t borrowed a book from the library in about a year While I love libraries and my local librarians are awesome people, I think I like books too much to borrow them. I don’t think I would want to return them. Plus I’m now more of an e-reader and still waiting for a digital local library.

Short story collections often bore me: While it’s great to read some quick stories, when reading a whole book full of short stories – especially on the one topic – it often gets boring and becomes a struggle. I think the fact that I read it straight through instead of a little at a time is my main problem.

I still groan at the thought of reading some genres: While I do try to keep an open mind to new and recommended book, I tend to avoid or put off reading some genres. I’m not sure if this is simply because I haven’t experienced enough good books in these genres but fantasy, magic realism, romance and paranormal romance novels never seem appealing.

Large books often scare me:  I will try to read them but I don’t like the idea of investing in a long story when I can read two or three books instead. I’ve written a post previously about this same issue.

I’ve never read Jane Austin:  I probably should. I know she is one of the most famous writers but I have so many other books to read and none of her books really interest me.

I read literary books with the hope to look cool: Even though I’ve realised that I’ve enjoyed most of them. My main motivations for reading books like 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and The Shipping News by Annie Proulx in an effort to look more like a literary elitist.

I rarely complete a book series: I can only think of two book series that I’ve read completely through, most of the time I read one of the books just to test the series out and move onto more interesting novels. I haven’t finished The Hunger Game series and I only read the first two books from the Song of Ice and Fire series to keep in front of the Game of Thrones TV series.

Audiobooks have replaced my music in the car and while I do work or exercise. I like being able to listen through a novel during those times where I’m doing mundane tasks. I often have an audiobook and an ebook on the go at the same time. It’s surprisingly easy to read two books at the same times if one of them is an audiobook.

I’m addicted to Goodreads: This is an effect of my reading and a need to keep a record of all the books I’ve read and want to read. I’m now part of a few groups on Goodreads and spend most of my work day on the site.

I own multiple copies of Frankenstein and even a few other books. I love Frankenstein and I need more copies of it, so I can have a copy of the book in every part of the house. Most multiple copies of books are by accident but when it comes to Frankenstein it was intentional.

I’m sure I can keep going with my confessions but I think I will stop with those ten. I would love to know what you would confess about your reading habits.

For The Win by Cory Doctorow

Posted May 1, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Young Adult / 0 Comments

For The Win by Cory DoctorowTitle: For The Win (Goodreads)
Author: Cory Doctorow
Published: Tor, 2010
Pages: 480
Genres: Young Adult
My Copy: Audiobook

Buy: Amazon (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

I’m not sure if I’ve just read a novel or had a lesson in economics. Cory Doctorow’s dystopian novel For the Win tells the story of the exploitation of an online role playing game’s economy. In the running of what could be classed as electronic sweatshops throughout Asia, gold farmers suffer from very poor work conditions in the effort to mine gold and find virtual treasure to sell to first world customers. The novel has a typical ‘unite and rise against authority to improve our lifestyle’ plot but add a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) this book makes for some interesting concepts. While this book is a book about slave labour, gangsters and forming a revolution, this book also dives into the world of global finance in a very educational way.

This book reminds me of Neal Stephenson’s novel Reamde, in the sense that it explores the world of gaming from the perspective of gold farming. While Stephenson focused on all the aspects of creating a MMORPG for the purposes of gold farming and money laundering, For the Win focuses on the concept of the in-game financial system and how fragile global economy can be. The author floods the book with many different financial theories and uses the games economy to help the reader understand just how global finances work. While this novel focuses on the in-game aspects of economics, the theories taught are very real.

Like Reamde, For the Win made me thing of an aspect of gaming that I never released existed. While Reamde hired a geologist to create the world of T’Rain’s mining system; For the Win had an economist working for the game developers. This book was a real eye opener while still making a great story. To begin with I had trouble keeping up with all the characters Doctorow tried to introduce, characters from USA, India and China; but slowly I started to get a feel for which character was which. I don’t think Cory Doctorow spent enough time exploring his characters, I felt like I only got a glimpse of each character and I would have liked more. For the Win is a book for gamers, but non-gamers might also enjoy the thrilling ride this takes the reader on. It is more than just a lesson in economics and it is more than a novel about unionising Gold Farming. While very predictable this ended up being a great read.

Monthly Review – April 2012

Posted April 30, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Monthly Reading / 0 Comments

April has been a great month, not only with the amount of reading that I’ve been able to do but also with the celebration of, firstly, my wife’s birthday and then my sister-in-law’s. Also during the month I was able to take a mini vacation from work, a great chance to recharge and enjoy some reading. In terms of reading, I managed to read more books than I imagined, including some great recent releases, a chilling classic and unfortunately a high amount of below average novels.

Surprisingly, I read a few Magic Realism books with The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey and the massive 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami; while this genre is weird and not really my style, it was good to experience some the genre first hand. I also read a few novels that have recently been adapted into movies in preparation for their releases; The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Overall this month has been a great month of reading for me, knocking out twelve different books.

Highlights for this month included the steampunkish action adventure novel Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway; imagine if Charles Dickens wrote a good James Bondish novel and that is what you’ll find in this book.  Also the dark disturbing story of a woman suffering the effects and after effects of a very unhealthy relationship in Elizabeth Haynes’ brilliant debut novel Into the Darkest Corner. As well as the Henry James classic, a gothic horror masterpiece; The Turn of the Screw.

April’s Books

Light Reading?

Posted April 27, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literature / 2 Comments

Recently my mother complained about my taste in books, calling them difficult or weird books to read. This led to her saying that she wouldn’t trust me to recommend her a book because she wants light and frivolous books. I’ve recommended her two books in the past; one was The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón which was not really light or frivolous but it is just a brilliant story and it has something for everyone in it; everyone except my mother. The other book was a lot lighter and easier to read, it was the exciting debut novel, S.J. Watson’s Before I Go To Sleep; which she didn’t like either. So what do I recommend to someone that doesn’t want to think or feel any sad thoughts?

Light reading is an interesting concept. While some people read too many romance novels that it can’t be healthy (Yes, you know who you are but at least you try my book recommendations), others turn to fantasy, science fiction and thrillers in the hopes to escape reality. Everyone has a different concept of light reading. For me; I think I do a lot of light reading but my concept of light reading normally involves pulp fiction or a dark thriller. Then again I seem to enjoy reading all types of books and find great pleasure in reading literary fiction, classics and others books people might think isn’t light.

Which brings me to an interesting article, found on Book Riot about The Problems of Reading for Pleasure, which talks about people’s favourite books and how they are never the type of books they actually read. The author of this article tries to understand why crime and romance novels are so popular but they never seem to on people’s favourite books list. Also he mentions the fact that maybe diversity in reading will lead to a richer and more diverse reading life. I love this article because it pleases the book snob in me and it also raises a very interesting point.

While I hope people are willing to try new genres and willing to listen to recommendations from fellow bibliophiles, I wonder; do people know a reader like my mother? What do you recommend and do you secretly try to help expand their minds with great literature that may also be light and enjoyable for the reader.

I thought about this for a long time and I think I’ve found some books I would recommend to my mother;

  • Looking for Alaska by John Green
  • The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

The Hunger Games: The Book vs The Movie

Posted April 22, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Young Adult / 3 Comments

Normally I would stand by a simple truth; “The book is always better than the movie” but that is not always true. In the case of The Hunger Games, I’m not going to say the book is better than the movie.   I think they were both great but I can’t pick one over the other. If you haven’t been living under a rock, you would have heard of this book and the movie adaptation but just in case you haven’t, let me quickly sum it up. The Hunger Games is the story of a 16 year old girl that takes the place of her younger sister to compete in the annual televised event ‘The Hunger Games’. This is an event where a young boy and girl are called up randomly to participate in a fight to the death for survival for the entertainment of the rich and powerful.

Katniss is a strong character, with all the normal awkwardness you would expect from a teenager; having to deal with love, death and loneliness in this dystopian world that she lives in. But in the book it tends to focus a little too much on the cutesy teenage girl aspect and less on the darkness of her situation. The movie does have this same element but a lot of this has been cut down to make room for the main plot line.  When it comes to the violence, the book seems more violent and the movie felt a little anti climatic at the end. Also I’ve found in the movie the tributes were very two dimensional and very annoying but when reading the book I didn’t notice this at all. Capital’s fashion was terrible in the movie and I was glad I didn’t have to be subjected to seeing it while reading the book. In the end, the movie slightly departs from the book but it really sets up the next movie (If it gets made) really well.

While I’m talking about this movie, I want to know what was with all the racism with the twelve year old from Division 11? In the book it mentions she had dark skin but people seemed so shocked when in the movie she turned out to be an African American. It shouldn’t matter what colour her skin was all that should matter is that Amandla Stenberg played the role perfectly.

The faults I had with the movie balanced out my problems with the book. I don’t think I can pick one over the other. I’m interested in seeing how the series plays out as a movie adaptation but at the same time I don’t have much of an interest to continue the series. I think as a stand-alone book, it’s fantastic; but if I try to predict the rest of the series and all I can see are love-triangles, fighting authority and a lot more romance. If this isn’t the case, I might read the other books; but at the moment I just think it works better as a single story. Problem is, if they are making the movies I feel inclined to read the book before seeing the movie.

Past The Shallows by Favel Parrett

Posted April 20, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literary Fiction / 0 Comments

Past The Shallows by Favel ParrettTitle: Past The Shallows (Goodreads)
Author: Favel Parrett
Published: Hachette, 2011
Pages: 272
Genres: Literary Fiction
My Copy: Personal Copy

Buy: Amazon (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Past the Shallows tells the story of Miles and Harry, growing up in a remote Tasmanian fishing village with their father. While the book tries to deal with overcoming personal fears, loss of their mother and, more recently, their grandfather and trying to survive their bitter alcoholic father, this book tends to be far too familiar. When I first started reading this book I first thought it reminded me of The Shipping News by Annie Proulx, a glimpse of The Man Without a Face by Isabelle Holland (when talking about George) and  then it moved on to even more familiar territory which seems to be covered in just about every book and movie out there.

One of the main problems I had with this book was that I started off liking Miles and Harry but then, as I kept reading. I began to stop caring about them,  and in the end I really didn’t care about them at all. There were so many characters that could have been good but didn’t appear in the book to fully understand them. Mr Roberts was one example. I also spend a lot of time trying to work out Miles and Harry’s older brother Joe; I wasn’t sure whether to like him or hate him but in the end I just didn’t care. The stand out character for me in this book wasn’t a person but the ocean, the dark deeps that Harry feared wasn’t necessary a typical character but seemed to have the best personality in the book.

The novel seemed to be more a book of the bonds of brotherhood and family. The two boys are confronted with the painful family secrets while having to deal with their dad. Favel Parrett does a great job of turning the word ‘Dad’ into a chilling and sinister word that makes the actions of the father more impacting to the reader. The lifestyle of this small country town, while different to the one I grew up in brings back so many memories; small country show, show bags and farm animals.

Favel Parrett’s debut novel is at times gut wrenching and shocking but I never went away from this book feeling like I had just read something interesting. It all felt way too familiar and that left me wanting to read something new and maybe unpredictable. I adored the writing style in Past the Shallows, it was almost poetic and it just pushed me through this book with such ease; even in the parts of the book I wasn’t enjoying.

Nominated for the Miles Franklin award (an annual literary prize for the best Australian novel) this year I think the book stands a good chance. While I thought it was a decent read, I never felt emotional towards it; but I’m sure there were tears shed and hearts broken from many readers. I think the lyrical poses are enough to make this one of the better literary works in Australia from last year. Having said that the book is up against some other great novels (which I haven’t read yet) including All That I Am by Anna Funder and The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman; so I will be interested to see whether or not this book takes out the top prize.

I will admit that I don’t read nearly enough Australian novels; I’m still trying to play catch up with all the classics and other great literary works; but I do plan to fix that. Maybe when next year’s Miles Franklin short list is announced I will have a better idea of what books are worth reading. But for now I do believe that Past the Shallows is a great debut novel by Favel Parrett.  I’m looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next; hopefully another book that is hauntingly beautiful.

 This book was read as part of my local National Year of Reading program; I also live tweeted my way through this book and that can be found here; http://sfy.co/pJq