3,096 Days by Natascha Kampusch

Most people remember the shocking kidnap of Natascha Kampusch and her eventual escape of her attacker and return into the world in 1996. Kampusch, now a television presenter, has written a book about her experiences - the terror and fear she experienced as a captive of Wolfgang Prikopil who jumped under a train soon after her escape.

It is clear from the writing in this book that Kampusch received help from therapists to understand her experiences, both as an unhappy small child prior to her kidnapping, and as a victim and survivor of the man who subjected her to eight years in captivity. Kampusch is able to write clearly about her experiences and she reflects on them in a useful way throughout the book that I think is extremely admirable. Not many people would be able to go through what she did and come out the other side, but Kampusch has come to understand and reflect on her experiences and her ultimate survival to the benefit of herself and others. As well as this, she rejects the label of Stockholm Syndrome that was imposed on her after she escaped saying it denied her autonomy and reinforced her status as the victim. She was also able to objectively look at the media response which contributed to a form of revictimisation.

This book also highlights the police processes which took place after her capture and it is clear that from the beginning there were many mistakes made. Important leads were also not followed up in the process of the investigation and several opportunities to follow up Prikopil ultimately failed. It seems like the police expected some sort of obvious monster and the failure to find this monster they sought meant they did not take good tips seriously. Then again this was probably an unheard of case at the time and this story could contribute to police efforts in Austria in the future.

Overall this was an absolutely amazing book. Kampusch is an impressive women who is able to recount her experiences with understanding far beyond her years. I would recommend it to all.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

NB: This book is known as both Anna Karenin and Anna Karenina. Both are correct in different dialects of the Russian language



This book tells the story of not only its title character, but also a series of other people in the same society as her. Tolstoy has managed to brilliantly contrast the eccentricities of two very different relationships that are tied together through acquaintance. Anna Karenina leaves her quiet relationship to seek a more tumultuous one with someone she actually loves, Count Vronsky. Anna comes across from the beginning as risk-taker who is ready to do anything spontaneous in order to receive pleasure from life. This makes her one of the more exciting characters, but also eventually leads to her demise. Kitty, who was originally Vronsky's love interest suffers sickness when he runs off with Anna. Levin whose dream is to settle down on his farm and lead a quiet life. Both Kitty's and Levin's development lead to another romance, one less spontaneous and as it turns out more steady. Levin is by far the most explored character and his words as well as actions clearly come across throughout the book.

The book also contains interesting symbolism - trains are a central part of the book. As well as this, it also explores the original discontent experienced by workers in Tolstoy's time that eventually led to the revolution. So not only does this book contain interesting personal stories, but does so with the background of pre-revolution Russia. This is a book I will definitely have to reread as the plotlines are intricate. It touches on several important social issues as well including a woman's freedom and/or reliance on a husband and the above-mentioned protests that led eventually to revolution.

I would recommend this book to anyone, it's not the easiest read - Russian novels never are, but it's well worth it for the wealth within the pages and between the lines.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

This book became more popular after it was turned into a movie starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. It tells the story of a 15-year-old boy called Michael who begins an affair with a train conductor in her 30s. This relationship is to change the course of Michael's philosophy on life and leads him to have unmeaningful relationships and a fear of abandonment for the rest of his life. I've never seen the movie, so I can't draw any comparisons between the book and the movie. I will say though, that the main reason why the movie is not as good most of the time is that books have so much more scope to go in depth. Despite this - and I can't be sure if this is a translation issue or something else - the characters in this book are never explored in much depth. All that we get from Michael is more of the same - his personality doesn't seem to develop throughout the book much either. The same is true of Hanna, who we only can interpret from her actions as a German officer.

The plot of this book has an amazing idea, in that analysis of both the intricacies of youthful experiences as well as the actions of Nazi war criminals were possible. Despite this, the book did not quite live up to my expectations in terms of how these subjects could be explored. The book seemed largely detached at times and a story that could have provoked emotion (as I imagine the movie did) seemed cold and disconnected. Something about the way the story was told just didn't quite ring true to me.

Overall this book has a mighty interesting plot and poses lots of intricate questions. It is a good book to get one thinking, but despite this it seems to lack an element of storytelling.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

This is one of Charles Dicken's more well known and regarded books. It's a coming of age tale in the same way that made The catcher in the rye so famous. Pip at the beginning of his story lives with his older sister and her husband Joe. An early experience leads Pip to question himself and the values he was brought up around. It's hard to go much further into the plot without giving the whole thing away so instead I'm just going to vaguely list what I found to be the assets of this book.

Firstly Pip is portrayed amazingly. Although he depicts himself through his faults, you come to love him through the things he doesn't talk about. The way this is done is actually genius. One would think that the portrayal through words is the most important, but Pip as a character proves that actions speak louder than words to quip. Furthermore, I found the character of Joe extremely endearing, although he's sadly portrayed in a light that he doesn't want further education, he just wants the status quo. As far as Joe is concerned, as long as everything is easy enough, e.g. food and shelter, he can go on as he has before. Despite this seemingly irrevocable view, through Pip, he comes to learn more but never succumbs to the same disease of wealth that Pip does.

Dickens is magical in the way he can portray characters through what is not said, rather than through what is said. He is famous for being extremely wordy and it would be correct to say that his sentences are longer and less punctuated than most. Despite this, his writing has always (with perhaps the exception of Nicholas Nickelby) maintained my interest. His characters are so intricately portrayed and the plot stems from them rather than being independent. The fact of the matter is that Dickens seems to have the idea already so firmly in his head that the story flows so naturally you wouldn't even believe it necessitated inventing.

A great book, not my personal favourite (as Bleak House is my favourite) but still a more than decent read.

Nomad: From Islam to America: A personal journey through the clash of civilisations by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The first thing I would say about this book is that it does not at all measure up to Ali's first book. In her move to America, Ali has embraced Western culture as superior and something for all nations to aspire to. I think Ali puts far too much faith and clout in the practices of Western society without the critique that is also due to it. She also seems to put too much blame on the plight of families like the one in which she grew up, to Muslim culture. This is despite the fact that she grew up in three different countries in the midst of civil war and that there were a variety of other factors that could have contributed to all the horrors of her upbringing.

As well as this, Ali's views seem to have become more extreme over the last few years. Despite being an atheist, she suggests that Christians convert their Muslim counterparts to Christianity. While I agree with her on the point that feminists need to do more to address the high rates of honour killings and other phenomena, her proposed solution falls far short. Not only does it come across as condescending on her part (e.g. I am an atheist but since you are not like me, you should become Christians) but it is also put across as an easy solution, when in reality many people don't actually want to change their religion because the West says they should. The connection between Muslims and terrorism that she puts across is also problematic, in that most Muslims do not advocate terrorist tactics. Moreover, many of the countries that are Muslim in Africa are so poor because of tactics by Western countries and she does not really address this.

All in all, while I can understand why Ali initially took the political viewpoint she did and I think she has bravely survived everything that's been thrown at her, I do not agree with many of her thoughts in this book.

The brain that changes itself: Stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of brain science by Norman Doidge M.D

This book details one of the most important medical discoveries of recent times - that our brains are subject to change in function and structure throughout our lives. This goes against years of thought in the scientific community, which saw the brain developing until late childhood and then declining until death. Doidge, in this book gives us the science behind neuroplasticity (as it is now in common parlance) as well as case examples of people who have come back from seemingly irreversible brain trauma to live relatively normal lives.

This book was effective in its message and the case studies provided real-life examples of how the plasticity of the brain can operate in healing. I do feel that although Doidge admitted there was limits to the plasticity, his tone throughout the book seemed to suggest that neuroplasticity could be used to "cure" any number of things. I can understand why it was exaggerated of course, but I do think this toned down the accuracy of the book a little. I also thought there was far too much reliance on Freudian theory. Doidge rightly points out that Freud theorised neuroplasticity far prior to it becoming a serious scientific idea, however, Doidge talks up Freud throughout the book and there is little concentration on the well documented fact that Freud's own research methods were fraught with inaccuracies.

Overall I think this is a good book. It's fairly well written and it's full of interesting facts. I find the concept of neuroplasticity intriguing and I hope popular writing expands on it more in the next few years.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

This is an amazing memoir detailing the life of a woman that undoubtedly shares parallels with the lives of many women who suffer in silence. Ali has lived in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya. She finally escape to the Netherlands running from an arranged marriage when she was 22. Since the publication of this book and the creation of a movie detailing the plight of Muslim women, Ali has gone into hiding after receiving numerous death threats.

Beginning with her first memories as a child living in Somalia, we are plunged into the reality of growing up in a war-torn society. Taunted by other children for her kintir (clitoris), at the will of her grandmother, Ali received full female genital cutting at the age of five, without anaesthetic. Her grandmother asked her to be brave while she fell into an unconcious state, while her four-year-old sister's howls and struggles caused her to have lifelong scars on her thighs. Her brother also received genital cutting with tears running down his face. After this procedure, the same man came back to inspect them and remove the thread - leaving a thin bumpy scar between her legs. What Ali gives us is the extremely painful reality of a still common practice in many parts of Africa and the Middle East. A young girl is operated on in this manner to preserve her virginity and to remove parts of her considered to be impure. As a result, sexual pleasure later in life is near impossible and the side effects stretch through eternity.

Details like this continue throughout the book with Ali undergoing a vicious beating at the hands of her mother and her Q'uran teacher. This stopped the regular beatings from her mother, but only for a short time. Scenes like this play out in Ali's life. In her teenage years, she became a fairly devout Muslim and started questioning her beliefs about the status of women. When she asked questions about this, which made her unpopular. This all contributes to the bravest moments of Ali's life - where she was finally able to leave her past behind and bravely embark into a life as a refugee in the Netherlands.

There were some parts of this book which surprised me. In the latter half of the book Ali became a politician in the Dutch parliament. Although Ali clearly knows the difficulties of moving from devout Muslim society to a developed country, she seemed to adopt some fairly harsh anti-immigration and anti-welfare attitudes, seeing that if a refugee moved to the Netherlands they should be able to start work immediately - just as she had. While in her experience, this worked, many women in this position would not, I imagine, be able to recreate their lives as adeptly as she did. An obvious example of this would be her sister who moved soon after her and suffered in her new environment. As well as this I am not as anti-Muslim as she became towards the end of this book, in my view obviously there are practices which need to be changed in many parts of the world, but not all practicers of Muslim culture make use of the same extremes she grew up with.

Despite this personal political difference with Ali, I think this is an absolutely astounding book. Ali is a brilliant writer who portrays her life with emotion and bravery. I think this is a gutsy and wonderfully written book.

Sarum: The novel of England by Edward Rutherford

Sarum is the site of the first settlement in England. This novel uses this first area of settlement and its surrounding areas - Salisbury and Stonehenge - as a setting for a history of England. This starts in the Ice Age and goes all the way through to almost the present day. We follow through generations of cave men, High Priests, Roman invasion, Norse invasion and the building of the cathedral that houses the infamous Salisbury spire. Apparently this was Edward Rutherford's first book - his passion for history and the work that has gone into its making is obvious.

It deals well with many aspects of history that are not well-known to many including the Pagan-esque rituals that took place prior to Roman invasion and a detailed account of the suffering of many during the 1300s Black Death. Many interesting characters burst forth through these pages and especially strong female characters (which I am always a fan of). The battle between the Anglican Protestant church and the ingrained Catholic one is also an interesting one that Rutherford expounds with a great wealth of knowledge on the subject. It is interesting to contrast how this religious battle played out in England compared with Ireland and this I was easily able to do having just read two other books detailing Rutherford's history of Ireland.

The only possible complaint I have with this book is that it is extremely long. Like much of history there are points I find particularly interesting and points that I would rather were not covered in much detail. That said, it would be impossible for the author to cater to all interests in this context and the maps and family trees in the preface of the book contain a lot of useful detail. For what it's worth I would definitely recommend this book.

Pathologies of power: Health, human rights and the new war on the poor by Paul Farmer

Paul Farmer is a doctor of medicine. He has worked all over the world with the dispossessed, the sick, the dying and most of all with the poor. Farmer is among the few medical professionals who as well as giving his time to those who are less fortunate than us has set about to attack the institution that keep these "pathologies of power" in place. What Farmer gives us with this book is anecdotes of patients of his from all over the world as well as statistics that put the public health system in these countries to shame, and put the rest of us to shame as well for allowing this to go on.

Throughout this book, Farmer exposes the very institutions that benefit most from a health system that fails literally millions of people. He expresses frustration where an easily solvable problem in medical terms is unable to be solved because the appropriate drugs simply aren't available. Diseases such as tuberculosis, which are curable in the vast majority of cases with relatively inexpensive drugs. It is largely because these drugs are not available that medical professionals have seen a huge increase in the amount of cases of multi-drug-resistant TB. These are especially telling in prison populations, where often a prison sentence can also become a life sentence.

Furthermore, Farmer expands on this to confront why medical ethics courses largely stick to the plight of those with the fortune to be able to access the right drugs or even to be able to sign their rights away. He sees public health as essentially lacking even among organisation such as the World Health Organisation. More than anything this book stands as a call to action for those of us who find it easier to turn a blind eye. It is both personal with a large amount of anecdotes and statistically sound in its reproduction of the plight of people all over the world.

Ireland Awakening by Edward Rutherford

This book following on from Dublin by the same author, beginning in 1597 and going right through until the twentieth century. Much like the last book, this one is centred in Dublin but also includes other parts of Ireland. It is in this sector of Irish history that we see the devastation wrought by Oliver Cromwell in the 1600s in his attempt to convert the Irish to Protestantism. Following on from this, the difficulties in attempting to build a representative parliament and the block-outs of those who followed Catholicism. Moreover, and perhaps more famously the potato famine of the 1800s started by a blight and later leading to mass starvation. Perhaps surprisingly this famine ended not when health was restored, but when England decided it had had enough and told everyone the famine had ended when it had not.

More so than the last book, I found many of the characters in this book entertaining and interesting. Fortunatus, for example of the Walsh family, who was brought up a Protestant unlike the rest of his family and who trains as a doctor rising up to become gentry. Georgiana was also surprising as a strong female character, who eventually is estranged from her son when he forsakes his family. There are several more strong characters which keep the book moving along well.

I think the sequel was definitely an improvement on the first book. It was fairly consistent throughout as none of the periods of history it covered were uncertain ones from a historical perspective. It also links into the context of wider Ireland as well as Dublin which helps move the story along.

Again I would recommend this, but make sure to read Dublin first. Chock full of historical facts and interesting asides, these are both decent books

Dublin by Edward Rutherford

This is the first in a series of books lent to me by a friend. The subject matter of all these books is a place, rather than a person. Many people come and go throughout centuries and although some of the characters are fairly well-developed, it is the place you get to know, rather than any character in particular.

It is obvious a large amount of research went into this book, which details the history of Dublin up until 1550. In this vein, it is largely inconsistent. Obviously, there are large amounts of research on certain periods of history, while others remain uncertain. Because of this, the beginning of this book in hunter-gatherer periods drifts a fair bit, as there is very little Rutherford can be sure actually happened. For this reason, he uses a lot of fairly descriptive language, which is scant in other parts of the book.

In all respects, this book and all those that follow it is chock-full of interesting historical information and Rutherford provides interesting commentary as to the sureness of this information in history books. Moreover, knowing the setting of these happenings well, as you get to throughout the book, assists the reader in understanding and placing events within context. As someone with an interest in Ireland generally, it made for an incredibly interesting read.

It's difficult to put a rating on this book. A lot of things about it could be improved. That said, it is an amazing book in that it contains such a large amount of information in a fairly interesting and acceptable manner. If you have any sort of interest in history or Ireland, it is an incredible book.

Dead Man Walking: An eyewitness account of the death penalty by Sister Helen Prejean

This book is a phenomenal look at the problems of capital punishment in the USA. It is written by a nun and centres around visits she had with two prisoners, both on death row. The basis of Prejean's argument is that capital punishment is extremely harsh and that such a punishment should not be inflicted at all if it cannot be inflicted fairly, which obviously it hasn't been.

Prejean met Pat Sonnier when he was on death row for brutally killing two teenagers. She first began writing to him as she felt that she needed to be doing more for impoverished people as a nun and as a Christian. We hear chilling accounts of the death penalty and its trials and tribulations over the last century. Prisoners who required five currents of electricity to die over a period of over quarter of an hour; incidents of prisoners catching fire in the process; and one failed attempt for a prisoner to be killed by the jolts. We learn that not only is the electric chair an instrument that does not always do its job properly, but that its infliction is often intensely painful.

As Prejean continues her story of visiting Sonnier and sitting through his many appeals up until his death, she continues relating the inconsistencies of the death penalty including differential sentencing procedures based on race, wealth and a multitude of other variables. She also includes statistics from other countries who use the death penalty, which show a high number of juvenile executions (i.e. infliction of the death penalty on someone under 18 years of age) and the death penalty disproportionately being handed to those who society find it most easy to tread on: the powerless. Despite the US Supreme Court's finding that the death penalty was unlawful, many states have overruled this and continue to use it. Although this book is now fairly dated, the statistics remain similar. Amnesty International's website shows that in the USA, the race of the victim is the most reliable predictor of whether or not the death penalty will be received. More recently, an astonishing 1/3 of inmates would have received a life sentence rather than the death penalty if their victim had been white. Furthermore, it is estimated that 5-10% of people on death row have serious mental illness, despite international laws which prohibit the exercise of the death penalty on these people.

Prejean gives us an astonishing look at how much all these variables come into play as she meets a second death row inmate, Robert Willie. She faces more adversity this time and has trouble even entering the prison, despite a guarantee to an inmate of a spiritual adviser if he/she chooses. It is at this point in the book where Prejean also begins to take the families of the victims more into account, after the families of Sonnier's victims expressed upset at being ignored. This leads Prejean to join a victims' rights group and it is here that the political message she is trying to get across becomes clear.

This is a brilliantly written book. It gives an astonishing account of life on death row and provides statistics and information on the practice of capital punishment in the USA. I would recommend it to all.

Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Every year thousands of people around the world apply for entrance to universities of their choice. I'm lucky in that I live in a country with fairly open admission. Going off my school marks I wouldn't have got into a very good university in the USA, yet I have done much better at university than I ever did at school.

This book is a fictional one about a woman called Portia who is an admissions officer for Princeton. That means that for a whole region she makes the decisions about who will enter the hallowed halls of one of the United States' 'Ivy League' universities. Princeton looks for not just the best but people who are the best and have that little something extra. Portia's job is to make initial decisions about students before they go to a board who decides each student's future once and for all. Throughout the book, Portia reads applications, students' essays and recommendations from their teachers and counsellors. Having worked as an outside reader for university applications before, Korelitz shows what the world of a gatekeeper to a sought after university is like.

Through her job, Portia visits a small school that has never been visited by Princeton before. Here she meets a boy she considers to be extremely talented and as the book continues we learn that there is something extremely personal in Portia's connection to this boy. Throughout her 16-year long relationship also hits complications and without many friends or family connections she hits her work in a way she never has to before in order to hide from the truth.

This book has an absolutely amazing storyline and is also an interesting look into the process of North American university applications and how spur of the moment each decision which potentially could change a student's life can be. Despite this, there are in my view several problems which prevent this book from reaching its full potential. Portia's character is not very well developed and the things that cause her very own "admission" to take place are unbelievable. Furthermore, the book reaches a conclusion that the reader has been expecting throughout the book and the last few chapters in this way feel a bit pointless.

Despite its flaws, this book is an impressive one and I woul be interested to read more of Korelitz's work in the future.

List to review

Oh wow I am so behind. Here are the books I have to review:

Admission - Jean Hanff Korelitz

Dead man walking: An eyewitness account of the death penalty in the United States - Sister Helen Prejean

Dublin - Edward Rutherford

The Rebels of Ireland - Edward Rutherford

Pathologies of Power: Health, human rights and the new war on the poor - Paul Farmer

Sarum: The novel of England - Edward Rutherford

Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The brain that changes itself: Stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of brain science - M.D. Norman Doidge

Nomad - Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

The Reader - Bernard Schlink

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

3,096 days - Natascha Kampusch

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

I'm going to aim to do one a day and hopefully can catch up. It's been a long time since I read the first few though so I hope I can remember them well.

Whistleblower: Abuse of power in the church: A New Zealand Story by Louise Deans

We've all heard of the terrible suppression of abuse in the Catholic Church in recent times. All over the world, stories have spilled out about the abuse of children in the Catholic church, and a church hierarchy that failed to act in a way to stop the abuse. This book is about a similar abuse of power, but this time in the Anglican Church in New Zealand.

Deans applied to be ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church in 1982. A priest in this institution is (unlike a Catholic priest) entitled to be married and entitled to be female. As was normal practice, Deans was given a spiritual guide and mentor. This man was to become her abuser and the man she risked everything to expose. Deans was unfortunately not the only victim of this man, as she was to find out women had been assaulted and abused by him before and reported him, but to no avail. Deans and some of the other women made it their mission to make sure no more women got hurt and to make sure the Anglican Church took responsibility to make sure the same thing could not happen again.

This book is a daring one. The man involved is not named - although I believe he has since been outed. Deans aims to show the respect she feels for the church and in the same breath wishes to expose those who would give that church a bad name. This woman is obviously gutsy and to stand up to her abuser like this and to demand change shows a survivor attitude that resonates throughout the book. Deans writes exceptionally well and shows us the battle for recognition she faced, as well as how this battle affected her personal life.

This is a brilliant book about brave survivors taking into their hands a fight and a responsibility, which was to forever change the outlook of the Anglican Church in New Zealand. I would recommend it to all.

Daughter Buffalo by Janet Frame

Janet Frame is one of my favourite authors of all time. It seems she was a modern-day Virginia Woolf. Her way with words is absolutely magical. This was her only book to be set in the United States. The main topic of this book is death. Dr Talbot Edelman, our narrator, is a post-graduate medical student working in New York and researching death. We learn early on that he does this because death has always been repressed in his family; people have died or been dying and have suddenly disappeared and been pushed out of the imagination. Talbot discovers, as we do by reading this book, that death has become a taboo and dying has become the most lonely place of all. He experiments on his dog, Sally, his most faithful companion who he breaks and puts back together, because he loves her and because he couldn't bare to harm anyone else.

Talbot comes to meet Turnlung, an old man who seems to resemble his dead grandfather. Talbot comes to befriend and research Turnlung, an author and a man who has moved to New York, not to live but to die. The existence of Turnlung's existence is quite questionable from his entrance into the story. We wonder if he exists or if he only exists for Talbot.

Above all this book is a critique of the way that Western civilisation deals with death - we brush it under the carpet, we don't talk about it for fear of being viewed as morbid, we ignore it and we brush past it in day-to-day life, it is inevitable but it is completely silent. Talbot's experience with death in his family sets him up for a life of wondering and researching the taboo of death and in his own way his world becomes mythical as he obtains custody of a buffalo in the zoo.

This is an amazing book and I take something new from it every time I read it.

The History of Sexuality Volume One: A will to knowledge by Michel Foucault

I read this book for a class I am taking on sexuality this trimester. Pretty much the entire course is based around Foucault's conception of sexuality so although it's been a long time since I finished it (I am extremely behind on book reviews), I can remember the essence of his argument. Foucault's take on sexuality is in contrast to the one in vogue at the time - that is the repressive hypothesis, which expounded that 'natural' sexuality had been repressed and ignored by all levels of society, in particular the bourgeoisie. The social movements of the 1970s sprang out of this as an opposition to repression that was seen to be taking place. Foucault argues against this belief, indeed his argument is almost totally a social constructionist one. Rather than a repression of sexuality, Foucault saw quite the opposite; an explosion of discourse surrounding the topic of it, beginning in the Victorian age.

Foucault also puts forward in this volume that concept of bio-power. The juridical model of power assumes a hierarchy with those at the top of hierarchy as oppressing those beneath. Bio-power, by contrast involved a range of techniques aimed at controlling the body and populations. This power exists not just at the top, but rather is enabled at every level of society in what Foucault terms cycles of pleasure and power.

Foucault is the most cited social scientist ever. He has overtaken Marx, Freud and Weber in this accomplishment. He has become the beginning of a much larger move towards focusing on a constructed society and a less obvious model of power. There are many critiques people make of Foucault, many of them are fair critiques. I'm not writing for a journal so I'm not going to delve right into my criticisms of Foucault's novel.

I found this work surprisingly easy to read, after hearing people talk about his writing in the same words they talk about Max Weber's. It was a relief to be honest to be able to get through this book and actually understand what he was on about, which is often difficult with other authors. I would definitely be keen to read more Foucault, I just wish I wasn't so bogged down in assignments!

Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens

I am a pretty avid lover of the the few Dickens books I have read, but I have to be honest in saying that I wasn't the biggest fan of this one. The plot centred around the title character who spends much of his time gallivanting around the country saving children from cruel orphanages, acting in theatre extravaganzas, pitting himself against his self-possessed uncle and saving his sister from an unwanted marriage. I found Nicholas' character unconvincing from the beginning and the storyline was a bit too good versus evil for my taste. The female characters had no real strong role to play it seemed, but just served as damsels in distress, so that Nicholas could eventually swoop to their rescue.

There were some interesting characters who surpassed the clear divide described above though. Newman Noggs sides himself with Nicholas and his family, but works as a clerk for Nicholas' evil uncle Ralph. We learn that despite Noggs' good intention, his judgment is often clouded by his addiction to alcohol which fuels his erratic behaviour. John Browdie who starts off disliking Nicholas also has a role to play. He is unaccustomed to the learned nobleness of Nicholas and his contemporaries and in him the reader is able to find some comic relief and a believable character. The book's weaknesses though come through more strongly in the weak female characters, the hometown hero and the evil characters where evil seems to be only for the sake of more evil.

Of the works by Dickens that I have read, I would far more recommend Bleak House or Oliver Twist, both of which have a more realistic depiction of the social commentary that made Dickens' work so famous.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Surprisingly before this year, I had never read this book. Earlier this year, the writer probably made most famous by this novel died and a couple of weeks later I picked up a cheap copy of this book at a local second-hand book shop. I had previously read Franny and Zooey which I would go as far to say that I enjoyed slightly more. Nonetheless, this book remains a classic and it is easy to see why.

It tells the story of Holden Caulfield, a young man expelled from prep school who runs away to spend time by himself in New York, preferring that to facing his parents. We learn early on about the death of Holden's brother which continues to trouble him, as well as his troubling life experiences and propensity to lie. Holden masks his troubled past with a gruff manner as he struggles to get back the innocence he lost when his brother died.

There is no doubt that this is an amazing work of literature. Holden likely stands as one of the most loved fictional characters of all time. Most people are able to comprehend and associate on some level with Holden and his want for the innocence of childhood to return. This is a stellar book with a brilliant character and excellent prose. I'd recommend it to everyone.

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

The first thing I would say about this novel and about a lot of Murakami's work is it's impossible to know how much of it could be lost in translation. It is impossible to know if the beauty that comes through in her writing is also evident in its original Japanese but one assumes it is. The main narrator in this book is known only as 'K', who is a teacher in love with Sumire, a young woman who wants to be a writer and is in turn in love with a wine importer called Miu, who she ends up working for. As K finds himself increasingly cut off from Sumire's life, she takes a work trip with Miu and it is here that she disappears and K is brought over to help search for her.

This novel tells the reader a lot about loneliness. The loneliness firstly of K's unrequited adoration for Sumire and Sumire's own loneliness in her feelings for Miu that causes her to go off into another world. Aside from these two, there is also Miu's loneliness caused by a traumatic experience years before, that causes the colour to seep out of her and is the root of the impossibility she has in relationships and intimacy.

This is the only book I've read by Murakami so I cannot make comparisons with his other work. The crafting of this story is perfect though and the language, one can imagine, preserved well by the translators which builds the slightly mysterious and even paranormal part of this work and entices the reader even more. The plot is never really resolved, but this fits with the mystery of this story. I will certainly be seeking out and reading more of Murakami's work.

Adrian Mole and the weapons of mass destruction by Sue Townsend

I used to read the Adrian Mole books as a kid and I'm pretty sure this was the only one I've never read - it was written fairly recently. The loveable Adrian gives the title to this book when he writes a letter to Tony Blair requesting that he inform a travel company of the danger of the weapons of mass destruction. It seems after all this time, Adrian still hasn't changed. He's still in love with Pandora Braithwaite and he still somehow manages back living with his parents. We see Adrian as a dedicated believer of Tony Blair's mission in Iraq and his slow realisation throughout the book that perhaps something is not right - especially when his beloved Pandora (a Minister in the Labour government) splits from Blair.

As usual Townsend has brought us back a character who has never gotten passe. His potential to embarrass himself and to take himself too seriously is once again evident throughout the book. This is as well as his support for his son Glen who is off in Iraq, a member of the army. Adrian finds himself deep in the credit economy and his debts begin to pile up as he gets credit card upon credit card with no idea how to pay for them.

As usual Sue Townsend has fully delivered on one of the most amusing characters ever to be put in literature - definitely up there with Bridget Jones.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre is a novel written by Charlotte Bronte, whose pen name at the time was Currer Bell. We are drawn into the book from Jane being a child, whose parents died and who lives with her aunt and uncle. We are scared for her when she is locked in a room for getting into a fight with her cousin. Soon after this terrifying episode, Jane makes her way to a school where she stays for years first as a student and then a teacher. From there, Jane makes her way to the house of Mr Rochester to be a governess for a young girl.

This book is absolutely amazing, probably one of the best and more relateable ones from its era. Jane is an amazing character and a believable woman living in a society where women were still regarded as property. Mr Rochester is painted (in my opinion) as less likeable. His rich lifestyle and his past seem to have taught him to think only about himself and to act out when things do not go his way. Despite this, it is Jane who gets the final say about their relationship, which I liked. All of the characters were well developed throughout the book and as Jane becomes a more self-sufficient young woman, we begin to see a real personality come through.

Of all the classics we are told to read in high school, this one will probably ring the most bells for me. The intrigue woven into the story from the start as well as the complex character development makes it a stellar read and the language unlike so many other books of the same era is uncomplicated.

Monster by Allan Hall

On the one hand, I was surprised by some of this book. The cover and the taglines on the cover made me think it would just be rehashing of the undoubted evils of Fritzl's well-known crimes. However, it firstly focused on Fritzl's upbringing and his early involvement with the law, as well as his relationship with his wife and the eventual decline into the story we all know so well. The beginning of the book has a special focus on the contribution that growing up in Nazi-occupied Austria had on the path Fritzl took, as well as his apparent admiration on Adolf Hitler. He offers no evidence or explanation to measure the actual influence of the historical period or "national socialism" in general upon Fritzl's personality or even upon his crimes. However, he continues the comparison to Nazi Germany and occupied Europe throughout and compares the trapping of Elisabeth and her children in the basement to concentration camps. It is obvious here that Hall has taken advantage of the part of Europe where this happened to make a tenuous at best connection.

The author also turns an already shocking story into a narrative from the mind of Fritzl. He was not interviewed for this book and his thoughts on entering the basement he built for the first time would surely not be known to a tabloid journalist. It seems here that Hall is adding unknown, unneeded detail to add excitement to his story. However, the interviews conducted with friends, family members and tenants of the building in which Fritzl and his family left and in which he imprisoned his daughter and their children were a helpful and informative addition.

A point I liked about this book was the focus put on Elisabeth as a survivor rather than a victim. Continually, Hall refers to the amazing fact of her survival and her care for her children who she tried to give as normal life as possible under impossible circumstances. Some of the words used to describe those Fritzl imprisoned range from insensitive to cruel, however, which lends no credibility to the author. His writing is also nothing to be raved about and attempts at best to preserve the image of this book as one about an "evil" man. It is probably one of the worst written non-fiction books I have read in awhile but its subject made it interesting and no doubt a quick seller.

Everything is illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

This novel was Foer's first and at its release was incredibly successful. It tells the story of Jonathan Safran Foer travelling to the Ukraine searching for a woman who saved his father from the Nazis in World War II. He is accompanied on this adventure by his translator Alex Perchov, Alex's grandfather and Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. (the dog). Jonathan goes in search of Trachimbrod, where he believes his family's village was attacked by the Jews. We learn of the history of Foer's family, through a novel written by him (the character Foer) about his ancestors.

In Alex's letters to Jonathan we are given an often-amusing version of the English language. Alex, from Ukraine writes to Jonathan about his experiences, his dreams of moving to America and his troubled life at home with his father. The novel within this novel is filled with experimentation and reads like a manuscript with pages from a dream journal, fragmented words and diagrams. Throughout, Alex offers his own critique of Foer's manuscript in his broken English.

This book was critically acclaimed and while I believe parts of it are fully deserving of the huge amount of praise it received, it also led to a certain amount of disappointment of high expectations. That said, this is the second time I read this book and there were parts of it I didn't remember or understood more the second time around. The broken English of Alex Perchov is the sort of stuff that couldn't be written by anyone except someone with a perfect command of English and it is well done.

I recommend this book; a decent read and an interesting aside from the 'ordinary' novel.

Book of the dead by Patricia Cornwell

I don't think I've ever read a book from this series although I have heard of Kay Scarpetta, the infamous heroine of a great number of Cornwell's novels. Obviously, this means I've missed a lot of the characterisation of Scarpetta, but she does seem to be notoriously unlucky. She is a pathologist, who of course also solves crimes, in this case of an evil serial killer who fills his victims' eyes with sand.

This book tries as hard as it can to be as gory as possible. The dead bodies are described in grim detail, some of the details are almost described almost exquisitely and one would think the dead bodies quite beautiful if he or she didn't know better. Many of the characters in this book are unrealistically emotive. There's Dr Self, the evil and quite possibly mentally unhinged bad gal and the alcoholic old friend Marino, who is slowly more and more becoming a character he does not recognise. Scarpetta's character was the most believable one, probably because there's been several books to build her up in.

The storyline was multi-faceted. Between all the things that happen/have happened to Scarpetta, you begin to wonder how much more unrealistic it can get and then it does. Despite all this, this is not an awful book. It has its good passages and there are some nice sentences in it. It definitely won't be going on my top list though.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

When I was a child we had a video tape called "The Jetsons' Christmas Carol", embarrassingly enough I grew up thinking that the original of this story including the three Christmas ghosts were dreamed up in the head of the creators of the Jetsons. I was corrected a few years later, but I never actually read this book until this year. For a start, for Dickens, it's very short. I read it in a single night.

In it we are told the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a bitter business man who is visited by the ghost of his old business partner, Marley who warns him that unless he changes his ways he will end up a miserable ghost. He is to be visited by three ghosts. The Ghost of Christmas Past reminds him of his innocent, kindly beginnings; The Ghost of Christmas Present (brilliant pun) shows him what is going on by those he knows and the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come warns him what will happen if he continues as he is.

The book is full of Christmas spirit and is likely to fill even the most cynical reader with a sense of eventual joy. It also reminds the reader that greed will never lead to happiness and that kindness to others is one of the best ways to ensure a happy heart.

Read it!

Juliet Naked by Nick Hornby

This book for me didn't quite stand up to the rave reviews it's been getting. It's a good book, definitely well worth a read, but I don't feel like it's particularly memorable and it won't stick in my mind as one of the best.

It begins the story centred around Duncan and Annie - a couple who it feels like never should have been together, but have remained so for the purpose of convenience. Tucker is a die-hard Tucker Crowe fan. Tucker is your typical disappearing rock star. His few remaining hardcore fans try to trace his whereabouts through an online forum. When a new album is released - remixes of already released songs, Duncan writes a rave review which Annie clearly disagrees with. Annoyed by his amazing review, she posts her own and that's when Tucker Crowe emails her.

From here we are drawn into a strange set of happenings, where both Duncan and Annie realise how wrong they are for each other and Annie begins a friendship with a man who her Duncan had been and still is obsessed with. The book had an annoying ending, I know authors love to leave you wondering, but this one didn't really work for me. The characters were believable and identifiable though and the style led the reader through an assortment of emotions. For a book about music, it didn't go into a lot of detail but then I think that was part of the story.

I would recommend it, especially if you have enjoyed Hornby's style in the past, it is a good read.

We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

As so many critics say, this book is probably about every parent's worst nightmare. Kevin Khatchadourian, the narrator's son opens fire on a select few of his classmates a few days before the Columbine shootings. Through Eva (his mother's) letters to her estranged husband Franklin, we learn about the relationship between her and Franklin and the decision to have kids. The book swings back and forth from nature to nurture as both Eva and the reader try to make sense of what caused Kevin to open fire on his classmates.

Eva seems ridden with guilt from the beginning. From a baby son who she can't connect with on any level whose actions throughout his childhood mirror those of a psychopath, as well as her constant suspicion of his motives swings the reader around. We are forced to confront the reality of school shootings and the many victims they leave behind. By alienating the narrator through these letters, we are shown the bare insides of Eva's insecurities, her guilts, her regrets and her explanations for Kevin's actions and we are shown some of his world as well through the visits she takes to the juvenile prison to see him. The reader is also treated to a delightful twist which keeps you guessing to the very last pages.

Of all the fiction written about school shootings, this book rings the most true for me. In a society ridden by needing someone to blame, Shriver opens our eyes to the shameless spiral of blame and some of the most enduring characters for me were the ones who almost seemed too good-natured to be true. Most of the book, these are the people who carry Eva through. Shriver is a talented writer who I would definitely be interested in following a little more. The subject is tackled poignantly and beautifully and the twists and turns leave you guessing to the very end.

The Elegant Universe: Super strings, hidden dimensions and the quest for the ultimate theory by Brian Greene

In this amazing book, Brian Greene presents the intricacies of superstring theory in the same way that Stephen Hawking opened our eyes to black holes with A Brief History of Time. Greene first runs the reader through Newton's theory of gravity, Einstein's theories of relativity and special relativity as well as the beginnings of quantum mechanics and the lead-up to string theory.

String theory proposes that beyond the smallest particles found thus far, that is quarks, there exists tiny vibrating strings which form oscillating loop patterns. Greene talks the reader through the main principles of string theory including tension, symmetry and the energy of strings and their oscillating principles. We are introduced to the first theorists of string theory as well as the original hesitancy of the physics community to accept it firstly as a theory and secondly as a possible candidate for the elusive grand unified theory.

Greene also presents the idea of super-symmetry (which adds the 'super' to string theory). Theorists postulate that every elementary particle can be partnered by a 'super-particle' that differs by half a spin. This proposes a whole raft of new particles that's size and mass can be calculated theoretically but that have not been scientifically proven.

The third major proposal this book puts forward is that of hidden, "curled-up" dimensions, possibly that are so small we cannot see them. That is, we accept the three spatial dimensions and time as a dimension, but the current view of the physics world is now that of ten or maybe even eleven dimensions. Greene himself did some of the foremost research on this comparing the tiny dimensions to Calabi-Yau manifolds. These are virtually impossible to represent on a 2-dimensional page but Greene does a good job of creating these tiny dimensions in the mind of the reader, despite some initial brain fizzle.

I hold high hopes for the ability of the Large Hadron Collider to produce a Higgs boson

I can't really put everything in this book in the review because there is simply so much material. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in physics or in the nature of the universe. A brilliant read.

David and Goliath: The Bain family murders by Joe Karam

The murders of the Bain family occurred in 1994 in Every Street, Dunedin. On the 20th of June, Robin Bain, his wife Margaret and children Arawa (19), Laniet (18) and Stephen (14) were shot in the early hours of the morning. David was later arrested and charged with their murder. His conviction was overturned by the Privy Council in 2007 and a retrial in 2009 returned a 'not guilty' verdict.

In this book by Joe Karam (a former New Zealand rugby player, two main pieces of evidence that eventually contributed towards the overturned conviction are presented. Karam effectively pieces together the events leading up to the 20th of June and analyses the work of the Police who eventually arrested and charged Bain. In an unprecedented case in New Zealand, vital evidence was misplaced and moved. In addition to this, important tests which could have conclusively ended the case right there and then were not run. Furthermore, legal advice offered to David, as well as the evidence presented by his defence counsel in court was insufficient.

As well as outlining the failure of the Police to adequately deal with this case, Karam presents two vital pieces of evidence which he believes exonerate David from guilt. The first has to do with a pair of glasses and a misplaced lens and the second involves a message left on the computer and how quickly David could get back from his paper run. I found the second piece of evidence most helpful and most likely to point to the innocence Karam suggests, but I still don't believe the case is as open-shut as he suggests.

Additionally, Robin Bain displayed many more signs of someone likely to have a meltdown than David. He was about to be outed by his daughter, Laniet for sexual abuse throughout her lifetime, he was living in the caravan out the back of the property and he felt as though his world was falling apart. David on the other hand was doing well performing, had good friends and was doing the best he had in awhile.

Although it is clear that the Police investigation had many holes and that evidence was destroyed it is my opinion that no one will ever know who fired the gun that day. The evidence presented in this book is persuasive, enough so that it would and should have resulted in a not guilty verdict at the outset. But whether Bain will ever conclusively be able to prove his innocence, or whether he will be able to build a new life for himself after so many years in jail is another matter altogether.

I was impressed by Karam's writing. For some reason ex-rugby player didn't ring literary genius to me, but his argument was well presented, worded and would impress most lawyers.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the Bain case.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

This book, like many of Dickens' works is a commentary on aspects of society - in particular in this case the legal system and the Court of Chancery in common law England. In this book, Jarndyce and Jarndyce is a case being heard in the Chancery that has been running for an extremely long time. No one involved in the case, least of all the lawyers seem to understand the legal status or why it has come around in the first place. With promises of pay-outs, it draws in its "wards" who spend their lifetimes and all their money on waiting for their own beneficial results.

The plot is full of uncertainty, almost definitely a reflection of the Chancery process and is centred around Esther Summerson, a young girl taken in by Mr Jarndyce (the only so named in the book who also refuses to have anything to do with the case). The book also focuses on Lord and Lady Dedlock (aptly named), an aristocratic couple living in a huge mansion that is represented as unfeeling. The Dedlocks, along with their many lawyer Mr Tulkinghorn (among others) sit on one side of the suit while everyone else is on the other. Mr Tulkinghorn is represented as a dangerous man, making his fortune off of other people's secrets and living by threat and intimidation. We also meet other characters, including two of Mr Jarndyce's other taken-in children, Richard who is to be enticed into the suit and the love of his life (and cousin)Ada. The young, homeless Jo becomes the object of the book when information comes to him and it is amazing the attention that the rich will direct towards such a human, when it suits them. Throughout the book this is the case, with Mrs Jellyby, mother to Caddy who is the ultimate philanthropist, giving the family's money to Africa while totally ignoring the starvation and mess of her only family and her husband's fading sense of self.

Esther's character serves as a light in the 'bleak' nature of the book. She appears to have a positive outlook and an undeserving view of herself which results in her being well-liked in general by most people in this book, regardless of the suit.

This is one of the best books I've read in awhile. Utterly memorable and completely intricately woven plot that keeps itself through the 800-odd pages and gives brilliant social analysis.

Childhood, boyhood, youth by Leo Tolstoy

This was Tolstoy's first novel, although each section of the book was originally written separately to create a biography. Some say this book documents Tolstoy's own life, although there are obvious differences in some of the biography, a reader feels that a lot of the feelings and actions are resonant to Tolstoy's own experiences. Similarly to Doyles Paddy Clarke hahaha, the first part documents the more run-of-the-mill instances of life as the main character as he moves from care under his mother, to hunts with this father and brother, to life in Moscow. All of this is characterised by first loves, the illness of his mother and new friendships. The second two sections of the book document his education, friendship with his brother and entrance to university.

I found this book different to the typical Russian novel, it didn't have the same dramatics that books like Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. Despite this, it is based on the same view of society - that is with an emphasis on the upper aristocracy. The main character in this book is also not paticularly likeable, although his attitude given his upbringing is understandable. At various times throughout the book, Nikolai shows himself to be self-centred, arrogant and his actions often seem to be performed out of spite. In trying to follow the hefty footsteps of his brother. There is something about Nikolai though which shows a slightly nicer side of his personality, usually when he is being himself rather than acting up to the expectation of his family and friends.

I enjoyed this book although I wouldn't rate it in my favourites. It is fairly unexciting and there is no real plot to follow but it exposes a side of high class society and its effect on someone growing up in that atmosphere. I will need to read Tolstoy's more famous works before I come to a final decision on my opinion of Tolstoy.

Marching On by Sonja Davies

This is the sequel to the book Bread and Roses that I reviewed a few entries okay. It documents the latter part of Sonja Davies' life including the making of the movie Bread and Roses, her entry into Parliament as the MP for the electorate of Pencarrow, her daughter's struggle with Motor Neurone Disease and her eventual retirement to a house in Masterton.

As in her other book, Davies does a remarkably honest and passionate job of representing what it was to be a woman in the largely male world of the House of Representatives, alongside current and former Labour MPs such as Phil Goff (now leader of the Labour Party) and Helen Clark (now Head of the UN Development Council) and against benchmarks of 1980s and early-1990s National politicians like Robert Muldoon (who infamously called Davies Granny) and Labour politicians (like Roger Douglas, now an MP for Act). On top of all this, Davies' daughter was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. It is amazing that Davies who had already lost her husband and then her son was able to survive through all of this with the same determination that she did.

The book also documents her many overseas trips which continued to various conferences around the world and meant she met some of the leaders of women's rights and the various peace and anti-nuclear groups at the time. It is even more amazing to consider that in and among all these various events, her previous experience with TB meant she frequently caught bouts of pneumonia and would be very ill for large amounts of time. Davies retired to a house in Masterton which she created to her liking in the 90s. She maintained interests in gardening and was received regularly by her grandsons.

This is another impressive book by Davies, possibly on par with her previous one and of even more interest to me as it started at around the period I was born. Sadly Davies died in 2005 but even her long life was amazing considering her busy life and the fact that she relied on one lung for most of her life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in New Zealand historical figures and politics.

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle

This was a recent purchase because
1) I love the Irish and
2) I had never read anything by Roddy Doyle before.
This book more or less encompasses what it is to be a boy in the setting. The beginning of the book is written in a style quite similar to stream-of-conciousness and it takes us through Paddy's early exploits and introduces us to his family, specifically in the earlier years, his brother Sinbad who tags along on his adventures and appears to cramp his style. While it seems at the beginning that Paddy is just an ordinary boy, the book expands on his realities and relationships and the family atmosphere he is surrounded by serves as a central part of the story.

Paddy becomes an interesting character for the reader early on in the book. His thoughts on mundane daily activities are exposed to the reader and are continually changing through his childhood. The relationship between his parents gets worse and worse and eventually Paddy takes his parents' problems into himself. He starts to see Sinbad as a fellow listener, but when Sinbad doesn't wish to be involved, his actions towards his brother become abusive perhaps reflecting what he is seeing in his parents.

The writing in the book is flawless, the Gaelic phrases throughout intensified my wish to learn it (but damn it's so hard to pronounce anything). The continued events throughout the book and the slow disintegration of Paddy's family acts as a constant backdrop and shapes the events and his behaviour throughout the book. Not much more can be said without going too deeply into the plot.

A Booker Prize winner, this book is well worth a read.

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

After only previously reading Kerouac's The Dharma Bums I decided to read this which I acquired a fair while ago. I recently did a Facebook quiz that told me of all classic books, I am this one. Hmmm.

This book, narrated by Sal Paradise follows his journey across America and then back across in the opposite direction. A significant portion of his journey is spent with his buddy, Dean Moriarty, a slightly mad, ex-con who does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants, even if it means leaving half wrecked cars wherever he goes. The rises and falls of Dean determine Sal's stop and start journeying throughout the book Through a fog of alcohol, drugs and general craziness; the pair eventually end up in Mexico.

The characters in this book are very believable, their histories are spelled out throughout the book in a semi-detached fashion. I especially liked the description of Old Bull Lee (modelled on the author William S. Burroughs).

I enjoyed parts of this book and its contribution to the "Beat" generation. I also found some parts of it excessively trying. Most of all though, this book is an interesting read about the abyss that occurs between youth and freedom.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

I enjoyed this book far more than others I have read by Atkinson. It tells the story of Ruby Lennox, starting off as a young girl whose state of affairs has been created by generations of her family. The book switches between Ruby's life and her understanding of it back to her mother's and grandmother's generations and how they have impacted on the existence Ruby is offered. There is a lot to be seen from the way the lives of these women are constructed around typical gender roles, while Alice, Ruby's grandmother spent her days cleaning, mending, taking care of the children and housekeeping whily Bunty, Ruby's mother spends her days doing what can only be seen as a mask for what her mother did, which in a different era becomes a conception of nothing. The parts of the book that go into Ruby's genealogy and how her grandmother and mother came to be the women they are is detailed in "footnotes."

We watch Ruby grow into a young woman throughout the book. Seeing the perceived mistakes of her sister who she goes for years without seeing, she constructs an understanding about the world from her experiences as well as the experiences of her maternal family, where it seems male figures have been markedly absent. The book is a reversal of the age-old genealogy through patriarchy as Ruby discovers and understand the world primarily and distinctly through females.

This book is written amazingly, the language is beautifully done and the plot is effectively woven through genealogical history. I far preferred it to two other books I have read by the author and I think this work is a masterpiece.

Bread and Roses by Sonja Davies

No adequate book image sorry.


This autobiography documents the amazing life of Sonja Davies; a prominent New Zealand feminist, trade unionist, member of the peace movement and MP for the Labour Party in the late-1980s to the early-1990s. Davies shares with amazing insight her early life, born as an illegitimate child in 1920s New Zealand brought up by her grandparents in Oamaru. The chapter is entitled "A different childhood" and this conceptualises her life very well. Later on, living with her mother and life as a child in New Zealand at this time is most accurately represented. The book continues as Davies left shcool early to enter the workforce, went to nurses school and eventually became a vital part of the movement for trade unions in New Zealand. Amidst all of this, she marries at 17, before falling in love with an American marine, later killed in the Pacific part of World War II. Giving birth to her first child, she becomes very sick and this begins her years-long battle with tuberculosis. Despite this, this amazing woman came through all of this, married and continued her amazing work as an activist in New Zealand Labour Federations, child care centres and her first political contests.

There is no doubting that Davies had a difficult life, from the very beginning she was different, a 'love child' with a colourful family life. It is made clear here that this woman who thinks she was just one of many was a hero in many ways and definitely a huge figure. This book covers her life up until the 1980s and how she dealt with the many challenges life threw at her. There is nothing innately astonishing about Davies' writing, but it is her firm honesty and compassion to the cause which catches the reader. Her relationships with a wide variety of prominent New Zealand names including Norman Kirk (former NZ Prime Minister), Walter Nash (former NZ Prime Minister), Mary Varnham (former Labour Press Secretary for David Lange) and Sue Kedgley (current Green Party MP). The latter two co-editors of another book I have reviewed which Sonja Davies also had a chapter in. It is also clear that Davies had a deep connection with her environment, living all over New Zealand at various times in her life and appreciating the sights it has to offer.

The one downside I would suggest this book has is its confusing timeline. The subtitles suggest the book is written chronologically, but at many times different things happening at similar times are in different chapters. I can obviously understand why she would want to separate aspects such as her son Mark's tragic death but this did confuse me as a reader and I think it would have represented the many things this amazing woman did even more if they had all been included in the same chunk. A further review of her second book Marching On... will come later.

Overall an amazing read (apparently also made into a movie) documenting the life of one of New Zealand's forthright figures in trade unionism. I would highly recommend it to any New Zealander, regardless of their political stance. It is a highly historical account of New Zealand and growing up in New Zealand.

Sonja Davies died in 2005.

Woman: an intimate geography by Natalie Angier

This is an excellent book on the physiology of the female body. Angier, a well known science writer exposes the world of biology; each chapter explores a different part of the female body from its Darwinian origins to its purpose to some "mutations" as it were of that particular part of the body. Angier's witty voice and stunning prose keeps the reader interested throughout the book.

The book concentrates on how biology (along with many other subjects) looks at the male body as the norm rather than a more gendered look at both male and female biology. While many have dismissed the book as a feminist tirade, the clear transmission of science and the stunning way in which the body is presented makes this read well worthwhile. Angier dispels several common stereotypes about the female body and fully explains the reasons for these stereotypes and the reality. There are also some fascinating case studies of more unusual women and the way they have dealt with the difference in their bodies from other women.

Angier also displays some intelligent writing on the various myths coming out about differences between females and male, she attacks evolutionary psychology primarily for its view of women as monogamous and men as polygamous.

This is the best non-fiction book I have read in awhile and I would highly recommend it to females and males alike.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, possibly the best fiction book I've ever read. Possibly, as I can't think of them all right now, but it definitely rates near the top. The way Tartt manages to weave together so many different themes and still make this book a highly enjoyable read speaks volumes about her talent as a writer.

The story is told by Richard, arriving at Hampden College; a rich upper class university in New England. Richard arrives at this school hoping to be accepted into Greek which he had already begun to learn. What transpires is the Greek professor, Julian Morrow, convincing him to drop all of his other courses (except French) and give himself fully over to the Classics. Richard finds himself in the midst of a sort of clique of strange, mildly friendly Greek-studying students. All of the students have strong characters built up by Tartt throughout the book. I won't try to describe them now, except to say that they all serve a part in this exceptional thriller or tale of misguided rich kids.

Richard finds himself invited into the group and is confused and fascinated by the students everyone else regards as slightly strange. He soon realises though that something is wrong. Thus, the plot thickens.

The story is extraordinarily told, drawing on Greek tragedy enveloped with Ancient Greek practices as well as drinking, jealousy and pressure. Tartt beckons the reader into the seemingly complex cycle of events and you are led not so much by what she says but what she suggests.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Sexual Politics by Kate Millett

According to Amazon, this astonishing book was originally written as Millett's doctoral thesis in 1968 and is now widely regarded as a feminist classic. The book looks at American literature including works by D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, Norman Mailer, John Stewart Mill and Jean Genet. Millett examines in depth the structures and values in the literature and the passages she quotes from each text are truly telling of the argument she puts across. The critique and analysis she provides is amazing and its in-depth look at the politics of sex is supported by the provided literature. While the reader can be stunned at these analyses, we can also see hope in the incredibly telling writings of Jean Genet.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it wasn't the easiest read in the world and more or less put me off at least Henry Miller's books for a good while, but at the same time it was incredibly thought-provoking of an area that has largely been overlooked as influencing public opinion of gender relations and sex.

The book also provided an interesting look at gender relations under the law of coverture in the Western world with excerpts from Blackstone's Commentaries - the foremost legal writings of the time included. It also took a look at sexual politics in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia among others. This part of the book was so interesting I almost changed the topic of an essay plan in fascination over it. But I will leave the eager reader to devour its brilliant contents.

As well as this, there was an entire chapter on Freud, psychoanalysis and general beliefs about women's psychology. The social pretension of the concept of "penis envy" is displayed in what is remarkable from a book of the time, when these beliefs about psychology were still so prevalent.

A stellar read I would recommend to anyone and everyone.

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

This romantic fiction book offers a unique take on the concept of time travel. The book follows Henry as he travels through time and appears, disappears and reappears in Clare's life. His age is ever-changing throughout the book and Clare is forever skirting around what is his past, his future and his present. The reader is left like Clare, wondering where in Henry's life we are entering every time he reappears.

This extremely popular book was all a little too perfect for my tastes. Romantic, perfect and with an interesting twist and a purely confusing chronology; it entices the reader in. Despite all this, the character development leaves a little to be desired. The book also develops very well though, despite the fact we are taken from year to year, from seeing Clare as a young child to a grown woman. The whole concept of waiting for a man for that long sort of annoyed me, especially because Clare never seemed to question her own state of affairs. We also never hear enough about Henry's past, although we definitely know it is troubled. One would imagine that disappearing at random intervals only to appear unexpectedly again would create difficulties to say the least.

So it was mainly the plot and the design of the various intervals that seemed too "perfect" to me and because of the lack of character development inherent in the plot, it was also too easy to believe. A good book overall but it didn't ring true in my mind.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

This dystopic novel follows the life of Snowman (previously Jimmy, seemingly one of the few humans alive who watches over the Children of Crake after a virus has completely destroyed the human population. Along with pieces of humour (New York is now New New York)and the makings of a cautionary story, the book critiques a world which has let itself die out through the vast hopelessness of human nature.

The book follows Snowman as he watches the Children of Crake and reflects on how things came to be this way. Crake was a childhood friend who dreamed of making the world a better place. He was incredibly intelligent and knew it and Snowman reflects on how Crake came to design his perfect race after watching what he sees as the dismal parts of humanity. His "children" have no sex drive except to pro-create and do not eat animals. He also works for a company who makes a whole array of strange and futuristic animals. Oryx, seemingly the love of Snowman's life is a woman who comes from a third world country after being sold as a slave by a desperately poverty-stricken mother. Her open acceptance of her previous life and lack of regret or anger confuse Snowman throughout the book.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as a lot of Atwood's other books. It is similar to many of them in its dystopic element and its critique of humanity and it is told successfully though Snowman's eyes. However, it did not have the same prose I loved so much in several of Atwood's other books. A decent read with a stunning message though.

One-Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriela Garcia Marquez

This famous book spans over one hundred years and the generations of the Buendia family living in a jungle settlement in Colombia. A family tree at the beginning of the book helps the reader to keep track of the many almost-same-named characters and who they are in the scale of things. The Buendias appear from the beginning to have a rich history and the beginning of the book tells of how the (fictional) settlement of Macondo came to be.

The book also has a sort of magical view of time. The family is cyclical in operation. Indeed it seems that many people with the same names have similar attitudes and often similar fates. This appears to be Marquez's way of showing the destiny given to people by their very birth and this is highlighted by the demise of the many sons of Colonel Aureliano Buendia only after they are brought together in the discovery of their common father.

Many of the characters in this book, especially the male ones undergo periods of great despair and speculation and all the male characters starting with the patriarch Jose Arcadio Buendia seek out solitude in their different ways throughout periods of their lives. The women in the book are also given interesting characters, in particular Jose's wife who lives almost to the end of the book and who delivers some of the memorable dialogue about the fate of the family that comes through at the end. The women seem to be firm in their wants and desires unlike the men who almost seem to let emotion dictate their every move a little too much.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is full of blackish humour which perpetuates until the very end. I think it's a must-read for everyone.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

This novella tells the story of two men travelling around together, trying to find a job and to save up enough money to buy their own house. The backdrop of the story is the depression of the 1930s. George is a careful man determined to make a living and to be (eventually) his own employer. His friend, Lennie is a mentally handicapped and exceptionally strong man who sees the eventuality of his own place as a chance to have his own rabbits and to tend for them in his own way.

The book is written with extreme clarity about a time that was difficult for people all over the world. The understanding one gains of the characters from early on creates a new perception of the two characters and more so the protective instinct they hold towards one another travelling around California.

The dreams come tumbling down when the story is complicated by Lennie's skewed perception of his own strength and the story is left with the reader and with George who can see in the future a life of loneliness without Lennie and without self-employment. The experience mirrors that of many during this time - utter despair.

I would recommend this book to anyone, it is a relatively easy read and a clear picture of parts of the 20th century.

Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday

From the author of Wild Swans and her husband comes an extremely widely researched account of Mao Zedong's life starting from his early life growing up in a family of peasants, to becoming a scholar, to his eventual iron-fisted rule of China. The book contains little known accounts from many close to Mao as well as outside critics who saw the side that the Chinese public was barely allowed to think, let alone see. Any readers of this review need to keep in mind that this is one of the first accounts of Communist China I have read which makes it difficult to read critically into a lot of what Chang is saying as I have nothing to compare it to.

One of the first arguments put forward by the authors is that Communist China was largely initially funded by Russia under Stalin. Convicing arguments such as telegrams between the two leaders, Russian involvement in the CCP (the communist party of China) and the beginnings of Russian backing in weapons manufacture as well as the ultimate goal of possessing the atomic bomb which luckily never came to fruition. While I can't comment on the accuracy of these claims; the argument seemed to have considerable backing, much of which is still not admitted by officials in China today. It becomes clear that even during the closing stages of World War II, Mao and his followers were more committed to building up forces against the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-Shek than partnering up to beat Japan once and for all. Despite elements of Russian resistance, Mao was able to recover his own army to overthrow the Nationalist government in 1949.

The book also offers a fresh perspective on Mao's beliefs through a combination of communications with other party members and other countries and his set of aims for his own Communist state and to eventually establish China as a super power. The means through which this was done are perhaps the most shocking. Mao continued to offer around 6% of his country's money to aid to the Russians and to other, smaller communist states. While this happened, the peasants farming the food to send overseas were being worked quite literally to the bone and tens of millions died in famine which was seemingly caused by Mao's policy of increasing exports of food every year until there was not even enough for his own citizens. The famine only stopped when some of Mao's top staff more or less forced him to stop the exports. They did this at the cost to their own lives, however, and Mao was to pay them back for this later.

Chang and Halliday also offer a useful account of the Cultural Revolution which was run through Mao's fourth wife known mostly as Madame Mao. This consisted of a huge clamp-down on books, music, plays and movies where the only books allowed were ones which espoused Maoism. This book has been criticised by many for blaming everything on Mao, but I don't think this is necessarily true; there were many personalities explored in this book such as Madame Mao, Lin Biao and Chou who clearly stayed with Mao through some of the most vicious periods of his rule and Madame Mao is definitely painted as a paticularly outwardly nasty woman who did whatever Mao told her to. Many people are criticised in this book for their role and it becomes clear that without his closest staff, Mao would have been unable to wreak the amount of destruction he did.

One of the things I would criticise about this book is the bits towards the end where Chang uses evidence to sum up what she believed to be what Mao was thinking at certain times. Obviously what he was thinking is something no one will ever know and no amount of biographical reconstruction can show us his thoughts about any one particular time or person.

Despite this, the immense amount of research that went into this book involving a decade spent in China interviewing various people is extremely impressive. This is really the first in-depth reading I have done on this period of China and will definitely be looking for other books to further cement my knowledge. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in China, Mao himself or Communist regimes.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

This is probably one of the more interesting fiction books I have read in awhile. It is a story written in a memoir style in the perspective of a man, Johnny who is recollecting the years of his childhood and early adulthood and particular his best friend Owen Meany. The memoir-like fashion is believable as a real story because the narrator seems to have difficulty setting events out and starts by telling the reader everything and then trying to more realistically separate the story out into parts.

Owen is a dwarf-like child, incredibly small for his age with an incredibly unique voice which is a symbol throughout the book for both his power and what turns out to be his "destiny." Owen throws what seems to be an ill-fated baseball at the beginning with astonishing results and this also becomes symbolic of his role throughout the book in relation to the narrator. As the book progresses Owen becomes more and more convinced of something - that he is the guiding hand of God and that his fate is entirely in the hands of God. The book also contains some useful testimony about religion - Owen does not behave like a monk or anointed one but rather is critical of the presentation of different religions in his hometown and in his experiences.

As the boys grow up into the era of Kennedy and the Vietnam War, Owen becomes more and more convinced of what he is meant to do. An interesting concept emerges - that of blindly following what he believes to be his destiny while believing it wholeheartedly and the question seems to beckon - how can someone have a destiny if there manifests a choice whether to follow it or not?

I think this novel was slightly too long, although it did keep me reading all the way through because of what I knew was coming. The voice of the narrator begs to the very end but in the last few chapters I was beginning to wonder if there would ever be a forseeable conclusion.

An enjoyable read, none the less.

Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies

This amazing memoir is written by Miep Gies who helped to hide the Frank family during World War II. Gies recently died at the age of 101, the last person known of to have actually met the Frank family before they were tragically lost during the Nazi Holocaust. Gies wrote events in this book as she remembered them; Anne Frank as well as her entire family had obviously made a lasting impression of her and their fate through her words becomes representative of the fate of millions.

Gies begins the book with a short account of her life; as a child during World War I and later being adopted by a family in Amsterdam and eventually moving there for good. She then shows her first connection with Otto Frank (Anne's father) and how she eventually came to meet the entire Frank family. Gies has a purely touching writing style which means this book is both easy to read and emotionally understandable. For anyone who has read Anne Frank's diary; this is a version of events from someone who perhaps saw the political situation more clearly than Anne would have at such a young age and Gies does a remarkable job of providing the background to what would become the most famous personal account to come out of the Holocaust. Although she describes her acts as unheroic, it is clear for anyone reading the book that she risked her life in a way many people in the same era would not have dared.

This book has the capability of bringing many people to tears I would think, not only because of the way it is written but also because it is a historically accurate and poignant story.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

This is a book I have been meaning to read for a long time and in one of my fits of materialistic book purchasing at Vic Books I bought The God Delusion. I'm already a pretty stout atheist so I didn't read this from a religious perspective and was just curious as to Dawkins' arguments against God and organised religion in general.

I'll start by saying parts of this book are pretty heavy-handed. I can think of a few people who would put it down in disgust after reading the first chapter. In trying to dispel the notion of religion having a higher place in society, Dawkins attacks the foundations of religion from the very beginning of the book and continues to supplement his arguments with further facts. I thought Dawkins argument was majorly flawed in several respects and his overview of the different facets of religion (in particular fundamentalist Christianity) was skimmed over in not much depth and he tended to assume things about believers that aren't necessarily true. He also from the beginning tended to attack parents who raised their children as a particular religion; while I can imagine this is a significant problem he compared the anecdotal experience of one women and made it fact. He stipulated that religious abuse was just as harmful if not more harmful than sexual abuse by priests and he also seemed to doubt the validity of the trauma of childhood sexual abuse to try to make his argument stronger.

While I agreed with the conclusions Dawkins came to, his way of presenting his points did not read like a logical argument to me. He made atheism into a fundamentalist religion unto itself or presented it as such any way. His more long-winded arguments often turned into fallacies that were spread out throughout the book and his ultimate denial of religion having a place in future society was unrealistic.

I would recommend this book to religious and non-religious people alike, as it does have some interesting insights and facts into theism and atheism but it is perhaps best to keep your critical mind going while you read this book.