Bridgey's 2021 Reading

Another year another Club Read :)

http://www.librarything.com/topic/107657 (2011)
http://www.librarything.com/topic/129358 (2012)
http://www.librarything.com/topic/148974 (2013)
http://www.librarything.com/topic/162991 (2014)
http://www.librarything.com/topic/185024 (2015)
https://www.librarything.com/topic/210670 (2016)
https://www.librarything.com/topic/244872 (2017)
https://www.librarything.com/topic/280183 (2018)
https://www.librarything.com/topic/305382#n7300360 (2019/20)

I will keep a running book total at the top and add review posts as and when I find the time.

1 - V2 - Robert Harris ****
2 - The Last Ride - Thomas Eidson ****
3 - Hard to be a God - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky **
4 - Cop Hater - Ed McBain *****
5 - The Homesman - Glendon Swarthout *****
6 - The Kon-Tiki expedition - Thor Heyerdahl ****
7 - The Mugger - Ed McBain ****
8 - The Chrysalids - John Wyndam *****
9 - Raft - Steven Baxter **
10 - Common Ground: One of Britain’s Favourite Nature Books as featured on BBC’s Winterwatch - Robert Cowan **
11 - The Pusher - Ed Mcbain ****
12 - Johnny Appleseed: The Man, the Myth, the American Story - Howard B. Means
13 - Flag on Devil's Island - Francis Lagrange ****
14 - Bless the Beasts and Children - Glendon Swarthout ***
15 - The Con Man - Ed McBain ***
16 - The Warden - Anthony Trollope ***
17 - The Birds and other stories - Daphne Du Maurier ****
18 - All God's Children - Thomas Eidson *****
19 - The Red Thumb Mark (Dr. Thorndyke) - R Austin Freeman ****

Happy reading in 2021. Cheers!

>3 rocketjk: Thanks :)

Nice to see your new thread Bridgey

>5 dchaikin: Thanks. It's been a while since I had time to read properly

V2 - Robert Harris ****

My third book by the author, so I kind of know his writing style and have enjoyed the other two books so thought it was time to read another. Harris is one of those authors that seems to be able to turn his hand to most genres, and in a style reminiscent of Jack Higgins, enjoys weaving factual history into a fictional plot.

V2 deals with the German development of the missile of the same name. A weapon Hitler thought may swing the war in his favour even as late as 1944 (novels setting) whilst his Third Reich empire was crumbling around his ears. Harris has written the novel in almost alternate chapters, one showing the German launch sites and the pressures faced to keep an unstable rocket firing, and the other detailing the British agents trying to intercept the missiles and figure out where they are coming from so the RAF can destroy the bases. On the German side we deal mainly with Graf, an assistant to the real life Wernher Von Braun, he is tired with the war and the destruction, longing to return to his love of potential Space travel and disillusioned with his research being hijacked to cause mass destruction. Although a proud man and still wanting to do his best the German war machine is relentless and soon cracks begin to show. Kay Caton-Walsh from the Women’s Auxiliary Air force represents his opposite number, drafted into military intelligence she soon excels at her role despite the selection process being a little less than authentic in her case. Using complex algorithms Kate and a few colleagues must calculate the launch sites within a few minutes of the weapon being sighted based on it's assumed trajectory. Each person must pit their wits against the other without being aware of the others existence.

I enjoyed the factual element of the book, and you can tell it has been well researched (supported by the abundance of source material documented by the author) and that it is a period in history the author enjoys is obvious. The pages rattle by and at times it really does fit the description of 'page turner'. You get a feel of the urgency of the wartime effort, both to destroy lives and to save them.

My biggest issue of the book was that some of the characters were just not fleshed out enough and at times seemed a little unrealistic. This was particularly true of Kate, who seemed to just fall into bed for no real reason, I don't think this really added anything to the storyline and is especially true when you consider the whole book is set over only a few days. I know there was an urgency to live your life in the moment because during wartime it could be snuffed out at any moment, but it just didn't feel something that would just happen when given the circumstances.

I would recommend picking this up if you have an interest in WW2 adventure stories, and whilst I was teetering on either a three or a four star award, it just did enough to fall into the higher banding. I suppose my overall feeling after turning the last page was it came across as almost as a poor man's Eagle has Landed.

The Last Ride - Thomas Eidson ****

This is the second part of the St Agnes trilogy, although after reading both books I can't really see any direct link besides the western theme and point in time. This book was also released under the title 'The Missing' and I believe made into a film of the same name.

The Last Ride follows a dying man's (Samuel Jones) return to a daughter (Maggie) that he abandoned many years ago in the hope of making, if not amends, then a friendship going forward. However, this is not any ordinary return as Samuel has lived his life as an Apache warrior/Indian Shamen and seemingly has many of their powers. Invited into the family home by the husband of Maggie she is initially hostile to allowing Jones into her and her children's lives. This changes when an attack by a crippled Apache sees her daughter kidnapped and husband severely injured. Coupled with her youngest daughter Dot, she must grudgingly follow her ailing parent across the vast desert plains in the hope of finding Lily alive and bringing her home.

There were many parts of this novel I absolutely loved. The descriptions of the surroundings really made you feel as if you were there and I assume Eidson must have spent a portion of his life in this environment to allow such a connection to come across the page. I enjoyed the characterisation of Jones, but even more so that of the animals involved, his old horse trudging loyally with her master through whatever danger shows itself, you really feel sorry and proud at the same time, rarely for me I actually hated turning the page at times to see if she would survive. The other point that draws me to Eidson as a writer is that he isn't afraid to show the violence on both sides of the coin, whether it is Indians massacring the white man or vice versa. These were not the one sided slaughter of innocents that many people would have you believe today, with atrocities committed from all angles.

So what issues did I have? Well firstly I am not entirely sure what genre of book the author is trying to write? The blurb makes it seem a pretty straight forward western, but at times it seemed almost fantasy with magic and second sight guiding Jones. This is ok, but could sometimes be a little bit of a turnoff, especially when you are lost in the reality of the tale. I can see why maybe lovers of books like True Grit may be disgruntled if they read and expect a more straightforward rough and tumble wild west plot.

All in all I really enjoyed the read, and will be buying the third in the trilogy. As previously mentioned, there is no real tangible link to the first book so can be read as a stand alone novel.

Hard to be a God - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky **

My second book by the Strugatsky brothers, and while I didn't really love Roadside Picnic I felt it was good enough to try another before I decided whether to avoid them in future or not. I can safely say this will be my last.

Hard to be a God has a storyline that I really thought would interest me. An agent from an Earth set in the future travels back through time to another world to see how they are developing. He is not allowed to intervene (think Star Trek Prime Directive) no matter how much he may disagree or dislike what he sees around him. Can he continue to keep his origins a secret and not pollute the timeline?

Firstly the positives, I fully appreciate this was a book written under an Iron soviet rule and the plot is a veiled representation of the regime people had to live under. Therefore they were restricted in what they could write to get past the censors and also needed to make the criticisms fairly identifiable but without being too obvious. The plot idea was original for the time written and surely would have created an interest as the world starts to look to the skies and the unknown of space etc.

For some reason, and I fully appreciate I am in the minority as there are many reviews shouting the praises of Hard to be a God, I just hated it. I found the plot irregular, far too many characters and pages and pages of babble. This was one of the rare occasions when I could actually read a full page and be none the wiser about what I had just read. It literally bored me to tears. Confession time, I read around 2 thirds and then cast it aside, so maybe there was some sort of epiphany moment in the last 80 pages, but I will never find out, and if I am honest I pretty much doubt it.

Three new reviews, all new to me.

>7 Bridgey: This is all covered in Gravity’s Rainbow, in likely much greater detail, but less coherent. Wonder if Harris nods to it.

>8 Bridgey: I’m intrigued. I know these plots can become silly, but sounds like this was handled well

>9 Bridgey: oh well. Love the concept. Has me thinking.

>10 dchaikin: I will look up Gravity's Rainbow.

Have you got a link for your this year?

>11 Bridgey: Hi, Bridgey, I don't think we've "met" yet. I gather this is Welcome Back!

Gravity's Rainbow is a difficult book, to me. I like some of Pynchon's writing very well, especially the more straightforward ones, but this one is so episodic. By that, I mean that it tends to little fragments written one after another, involving mostly media's intrusion into ordinary people's lives. It involves some very persuasive product display and envy/awe "look how the wealthier live" reality TV segments. The first two times I read it I found it aversive, and I would have said I hated it. I have since read it, understood it better, and enjoyed it. In some ways it is prescient. I am thinking of how lonely many people feel without their phones, for instance, and how we accept so much advertising as the price of a good life. I think of it as a cautionary tale, I guess. I'll be interested to know your opinion if you read it.

Cop Hater - Ed McBain *****

Last year I read a book called Ghosts by an author I had never before heard of. I enjoy a gritty crime novel so decided to start at the beginning. For some reason I ordered the first book in the 87th precinct series and since then it has languished on my shelf. Feeling it was about time I started at the beginning I decided to pick it up and see just where it all began.

Cop Hater introduces us to Steve Carella, a detective in the precinct that has been assigned the task of hunting down the man who has been shooting cops in apparently random attacks. Armed with only the slightest of clues he must pool all his resources before more of his colleagues end up on the mortuary slab, how many will die before the killer is brought to justice?

I just loved this book, particularly the way there are no heroics or superhuman efforts to find the killer, just good old fashioned police work. The author writes with such a gritty realism that reminds me of the hard boiled detective writers such as Chandler or Cain. The characters are believable and well rounded and McBain allows you enough of the mundane home life and behind the scenes for you to build a picture of the daily grind.

When you consider this book was written in 1956 it has aged extremely well, some the words used are dated and you may have to look a few of the slang terms up but I think it easily stands up against newer books in the same genre, especially these days where science/forensics seems to have taken a forefront instead of old fashioned police work. It is also refreshing to read books without todays ultra PC slant and I am sure some may find certain aspects a little shocking. My only criticism, and this is nothing really to do with the book, is that the blurb on the back was far too revealing and gave away much of the plot before you even had chance to begin.

To sum up, a near perfect police novel told in a matter of fact style. Apparently there are 55 novels in the series... can't wait to try the next.

>11 Bridgey: I’m a little slow, but my thread is here in CR. Direct link: https://www.librarything.com/topic/328037

As for Gravity’s Rainbow (and following in >12 sallypursell: ), I shouldn’t just toss that title about as it’s about the most difficult book i’ve ever read and I needed a guide book to get me through it. There is a lot terrific in the mess, and a lot to think about - like the topic on the German rockets.

The Homesman - Glendon Swarthout *****

Recently I have started reading a few Western Novels, and really enjoyed the landscape descriptions and the fast and hard narratives. I love a book that has a no nonsense approach with no wasted pages on romance and suchlike. A few months ago I discovered Vardis Fisher and was blown away with his book Mountain Man, so when The Homesman was recommended on the back of that novel I knew I had to snatch it up and start reading. The author was new to me, but when I googled him I realised that I had seen a few of the film adaptations of his books, I especially enjoyed The Shootist with John Wayne. Strangely though, very few of his books seem to be now in print and the only way to purchase is to spend a small fortune on Ebay. Luckily this book seems have benefitted from being made into a movie in 2014 and the novel republished as a tie in.

Based on a mixture of real life events (as explained by the author's son in the afterword) we follow the strange tales of four women who have moved to the territories with their husbands. Each has had an upset in their lives which has caused them to lose their minds and must be transported back East to the city where they can be cared for either by family or a lunatic asylum. The only problem with this is that someone must take them across the perilous desert, this is usually chosen by the husbands drawing lots and the 'loser' being the 'homesman' (the person designated to lead the trip). However, the man chosen refuses to accept responsibility and a single woman of means, named Cuddy volunteers to undertake the journey alone. On the way to collect the women she encounters a claim jumper who has been left astride his horse with a noose around his neck so that he may hang himself. Securing a promise of his help if she saves his life the journey begins.

There is so much to like about this book, the hardships endured by the settlers are really brought home, the life we think of when new settlers arrived is usually one of joy and plenty but the reality seems to have been a life of toil, illness and a real threat of starvation and survival of the fittest. Swartout really loves the country he describes and the research must have been a labour of love. As others have pointed out, this is almost an 'African Queen' set in the desert, but I much prefer the rough character of Briggs to that of Allnut, he seems so much more real. The term page turner is used far too much, but this really was worthy of that title, and the twists when they came were very unexpected and left me wondering where the tale would next take me.

Easily recommendable and when you consider this book was written in 1988 (thirty years ago and 130 years after the plot setting) it still has an authentic feel. A brilliant introduction to both the author and the genre. My only regret? There wasn't a sequel.

The Kon-Tiki expedition - Thor Heyerdahl ****

I am a massive fan of the adventure novel and man against nature outside of his comfort zone, books by Hammond Innes and his like are littered throughout my shelves. I suppose that because of the vast selection of fiction written over the decades we often overlook the true tales of history when men have completed heroic feats.

In order to try and prove that the journey from South America to the Polynesian Islands was possible by raft and to explain how the Islands became inhabited centuries ago, Thor Heyerdahl decides to undertake the trip himself along with 5 other adventures. The raft is built as an exact replica of the early vessels, even going so far as to source the wood from the same forests and tie using the same bindings.

A really interesting book and the author is a natural storyteller, although I have to admit I preferred the first half where the preparations and early voyage take place, particularly how they had to find the balsa logs.The second half dragged a little, but how much can you say about being stuck on a raft in the middle of the pacific for weeks? Definitely worth a read for those fond of adventure and history.

>16 Bridgey: a lot of mythology about Kon Tiki. Cool that you read it. Enjoyed your comments

>17 dchaikin: Just picked up another book by the same adventure called the RA expedition :)

The Mugger - Ed McBain ****

The second book in the mammoth Precinct 87 series, and I have to admit after finishing this I am definitely hooked on the little world McBain has created. Although part of a series this can easily be read as a stand alone novel with only minor references to the preceding book (such as holidays, promotions etc).

The mugger follows two separate storylines, the first details an almost gentlemanly mugger named Claude who is terrorising the city. After mugging his female victim he bows and thanks them, although he isn't adverse to roughing them up if they do not play ball to his demands. There is a precinct wide effort to capture the man and restore peace to the streets, but when a body is recovered that has all the hallmarks of a Clifford mugging things suddenly take a turn a turn for the worse as the police now believe they have a far more dangerous felon on their patch. Meanwhile, Willis is recovering from being shot in the line of duty, and old school friend contacts him out of the blue after recognising in the local news and approaches him to talk to his young sister in law who appears to be going around with the wrong crowd. Soon Willis is thrown into the murder investigation as she is the body found and attributed to Clifford. Who will solve the case first and does he have any authority to even be intervening?

I really loved this story, the gritty realism and the internal workings of the police force of the 50's really made you feel as if you were there and I read that the author spent many weeks studying the New York Police before writing the first in the series. Some people may find the language outdated these days and sexism and racism are apparent in the storyline but I just feel it is a book of its time and adds to the authenticity. The way the different characters are starting to develop really makes you want to read the next instalment to see what happens next, Mcbain cleverley weaves their personal lives into the story without taking away from the action and suspense. 4 star read, but only because I worked out the twist before it happened, although I am not sure if that was because it has been repeated many times since on tv programmes and I am sure it would have kept the original reader guessing until the end.

The Chrysalids - John Wyndam *****

Science fiction for me is always a fairly hit or miss affair. I have tried H G Wells and not really been that impressed, so when I saw this book I thought I would give it a try but the expectations were fairly low. I couldn't have been more wrong.

The Chrysalids is set in the future following what can only be assumed as some sort of nuclear holocaust. Society has reverted back to one controlled by religion when both the Bible and a newly mantra dictates the lives of everyday people. Although life has managed to survive the radiation, it is not without difficulties and people are now living in an almost middle ages existence with minimal technological advances. The biggest issue faced in the effect of the radiation, which continually creates 'mutants' whereby plants and animals deviate from the norm, this can be from something as simple as an extra toe to gargantuan abnormalities. Anything found to differ is shunned by society and either destroyed or exiled. A group of children soon learn that being different is life threatening and must hide their 'abnormality' - a telepathic ability to communicate with each other over distances. How long can this secret be kept, and what are the consequences of its exposure.

I loved this book, and it really was so much more than your run of the mill scifi, the plot was realistic and the prose so well written you can see why this is earning the status classic. Real life issues are not glossed over and the story is as much a study of religion and eugenics as it is of a futuristic planet. It seems as fresh today as any other book released despite being written in 1955.

Raft - Steven Baxter **

Not really sure where to go with this review. It appears from other reviewers that many people loved this book, but for me it was just awful.

So what is it about? A spacecraft somehow passed from one dimension to another through a hole in the fabric of space, the new dimension has a gravitational pull a billion times stronger that earth (yes, that's right... a billion.... not just 2 or 3 times). Fast forward a few hundred years and the inhabitants of the ship have adapted to survive in this extremely unlikely environment. However they are split into two societies, those that live on the ship are mostly scientists and live a seemingly luxurious life, whilst the 'miners' live on and around a dead star and earn food from the scientists by mining ore in dangerous conditions, ore that is used for repairs on the ship. This creates a class system and resentment between the two groups. One day Rees, a miner, stows away on a flying tree (yes... trees fly and have pilots and this is the way things are transported) and makes his way to the ship where he tries to fit into the new world. He is accepted and begins to make a

Ok, so forgetting the obviously gaping flaws in the science, which I can usually just go along for the ride with, the book just reads like an utter pile of rubbish. The author seems to have been unsure whether he was writing a book for young adults or mainstream audiences. I understand this is SciFi, but I do like a bit of realism as well, some sort of grounding... so when Rees jumps onto a giant floating space whale that allowed him to just eat its flesh for a few weeks I kind of drifted away. And when, he visits a 'planet' made totally from the bones and rotting corpses of its inhabitants' with the ones lucky enough to make a life having to feed on the jellified flesh and drink putrefied liquid that has filtered to the centre through the mass of decomposition.... it seemed almost palatable compared to forcing myself to the end of this drivel. I could understand if it was marketed as fantasy comedy like Terry Pratchett, and then I would never have picked it up - but it has been reissued as SF masterworks.

Anyway, this is the first book I have read by the author, and I can pretty much say it will also be my last. Although I feel it should really be 1 star (zero?) I will give 2, I decided to award an extra star for the pure genius of the author in managing to pass this off as a real book and getting someone to publish it.

>21 Bridgey: How odd! I have read some Steven Baxter, and liked it very much, but that does not sound appealing. I wish I could remember some standout titles, but that is asking too much of my brain at the moment.

Common Ground: One of Britain’s Favourite Nature Books as featured on BBC’s Winterwatch - Robert Cowan **

I really love nature books, especially those where the author lives in the environment and observes the changing of the seasons, so when I came across Common Ground it seemed the perfect book to read in the midst of the UK winter as we wait for the first warmth of spring to wake nature. I had hoped to find an almost diary of the changing woodlands and based on actual fact, and the reviews seemed to support this. However, it wasn't quite what I expected and therefore I didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would.

Rob Cowan and relocated following a redundancy, his partner is pregnant and he senses a depression starting to come over him. To try and escape he decides to explore the 'edge lands', those areas on the outskirts of the urban landscape - not quite wilderness but far enough away for nature to still have a foothold. As he becomes more at one with the wildlife he notices things that the casual wanderer would miss. Coupled with the development of his partners pregnancy it is these experiences that fill the pages.

I just didn't like the book. I accept that I am in the minority but it was definitely not what I was expecting. For a start I felt like the author was just trying too hard to come across as intelligent and ended up being long winded. It felt as if he wanted you to be aware of his vast vocabulary and it didn't matter if he used twenty words when 6 would do. I wondered if maybe he was a Guardian columnist? My other big issue was that I wanted a truthful account of the animals he came across, no matter how tedious or mundane, for me that is the magic of the nature observation books. Instead we get the author making up his own history and backgrounds, he writes how the fox lived, how it's parents were killed, the routes it takes when not in the woods and the narrow escapes that allow it to narrowly survive. Why? The author doesn't know any of this? If I had wanted a semi anthropomorphic tale I would have picked a Henry Williamson novel and enjoyed it a great deal more.

If I had to describe the book? Well researched, wordy, fictional and self indulgent.

>22 sallypursell: I think this was his first novel, maybe he improved with time ;)

>21 Bridgey: Ouch :) I remember liking it a lot more than you did :) It is not my favorite Baxter novel but I still like it (and that planet was part of the imagination I really enjoyed...) :) Different tastes.

The Pusher - Ed Mcbain ****

The third instalment in the Precinct 87 series and a continuation of the characters we have already met, although as always, the book can easily be read as a stand alone novel.

This time we come across a dead junky, not an unusual occurrence in the neighbourhood, but this time it seems like there was foul play and a murder has been committed. As the investigation gets underway a tale of death and bribery unravels.

This book did seem a little more dated than the two before it, but was still a brilliant read. You can really see that McBain has started building his own little world and you want to become a part of that community , I particularly like that there is no real stand out character like many other crime series. A realistic and gritty view of police life in a big city. Can't wait to read the next.

>20 Bridgey: and >21 Bridgey: Perhaps you had better stay with 1950's science fiction. I also really liked The Chrysalids Enjoyed your reviews.

>27 baswood: I think so :) Struggled with the later books. Maybe they just aren't for me. Strange as when I read the blurbs I always think how brilliant they sound.

Just stopping by to catch up. Enjoyed your last several reviews and the commentary as to what you liked and didn’t and why.