Monthly Archives: August 2013

August 28, 2013 · 4:57 pm

Am I A Book Snob?

This week, I found a very interesting post by Amanda Nelson on an awesome website called Book Riot which lists the sort of things that a stereotypical book snob might say and then a “translation” for what they really mean. It’s a very humorous and tongue-in-cheek piece which isn’t meant to be taken very seriously but it got me thinking about book snobbishness and which statements are the sort of things that I might say…

E-reading isn’t REAL reading. = I need my personal preferences about my hobby to be validated as the only right and moral way do to a thing.

Not guilty.  I read printed books and I read eBooks.  As I have said elsewhere, e-readers are great for travel but I still read a lot of printed books. Continue reading →

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August 24, 2013 · 5:34 pm

Under the Skin by Michel Faber

Under the Skin Michel Faber‘Under the Skin’ is a very difficult book to summarise without giving away too much of the plot. Essentially, it tells the story of Isserley, who drives around deserted areas of northern Scotland picking up well-built lone male hitchhikers.  I really don’t want to tell you any more than that and if you’ve already read it, then you’ll understand why.  If you haven’t, then you’ll have to forgive me for being so cryptic.  You’ll just have to trust me when I say that the book is much more intriguing if you read it without any real clues about what will happen beyond the initial set-up. Continue reading →

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August 22, 2013 · 2:28 pm

Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre

bad pharma‘Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients’ by Ben Goldacre exposes the dodgy trial methods and practices behind the $600 billion pharmaceutical industry.  In a nutshell, drug companies regularly hide negative results from clinical trials and exaggerate the benefits of medicines in order to make vast profits.  Even regulators have been known to withhold information and allow ineffectual or dangerous drugs onto the market.  The consequence is that both doctors and patients are unable to make well-informed decisions about healthcare. Continue reading →

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August 17, 2013 · 5:05 pm

Best Book to Film Adaptations

There have been so many mediocre film adaptations of great novels which don’t even come close to capturing the magic of the original story.  But there are quite a few gems out there and even though the book always comes first, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the film adaptations which follow are always completely inferior to the original work.  Here is my list of the best book to film adaptations (where I have both read the book and seen the film).

We Need To Talk About Kevin (book by Lionel Shriver published in 2004, film directed by Lynne Ramsay released in 2011)

We Need to Talk About Kevin

I loved this understated and creepy adaptation of ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’.  The sparse style and atmosphere of the film contrasts with the comparatively “wordy” text of the book but it works.  The casting of Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller as Eva and Kevin were both excellent choices.

Continue reading →

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August 15, 2013 · 5:58 pm

The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín

The Testament of Mary‘The Testament of Mary’ by Colm Tóibín will probably be the only book longlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize that I will definitely be able to read before the shortlist is announced in a few weeks time.  The story is told from the point of view of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is still grieving for her son many years after his death and does not believe that he is the son of God.  Her testament in her old age focuses mainly on her son’s last days before the crucifixion and what happened afterwards. Continue reading →

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August 14, 2013 · 12:12 pm

Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by Artemis Cooper

Patrick Leigh FermorI recently won another book from the Waterstones read and review competition in which cardholders receive a free copy of a book in return for posting an honest review on the website.  This time, it was a pot luck draw and I got a copy of Artemis Cooper’s biography of the travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor.  Again, I am not sure if I can publish my official review in full on my blog but you can read it here under the name Clare90.   Continue reading →

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August 8, 2013 · 5:35 pm

Books I Thought I Would Struggle With But Didn’t

Generally, I avoid picking up books which I don’t think I will enjoy.  However, that doesn’t mean I always have super high expectations for everything I read. Here is my list of books I initially thought I would struggle with but actually liked a lot.

Kundera

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

I wasn’t sure if I would like a book as ‘philosophical’ as this one but I did.  It’s still a pretty weird book and might be viewed as pretentious, but as I said in my review, it’s a very readable sort of pretentiousness. Continue reading →

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August 6, 2013 · 6:02 pm

The Last Life by Claire Messud

‘The Last Life’ by Claire Messud is a coming-of-age story set in the early 1990s about Sagesse LaBasse, a French-American girl whose family own a hotel in the south of France which was opened by her grandfather after he emigrated from Algeria.  The story follows Sagesse as she explores her multiple identities and comes to terms with the events of the past. Continue reading →

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August 4, 2013 · 1:25 pm

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Unaccustomed EarthI am probably not going to have the chance to read Jhumpa Lahiri’s Man Booker Prize longlisted novel ‘The Lowland’ any time soon as it isn’t due to be published in the UK until the end of September so I thought I would try a collection of her short stories instead.  ‘Unaccustomed Earth’ contains eight exquisitely written stories.  The first half of the collection consists of five stand-alone stories while the second half is more of a novella in three parts featuring the same characters, Hema and Kaushik. Continue reading →

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