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.V for Vendetta
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by: Alan Moore, David Lloyd

April 14, 2000
Great. This deserves the hype but not the butchering it received on film at the hands of the Wachowksi brothers. This is really about Thatcher's Britain and nuclear winters and the social control of 'deviant' minorities and the power of dissent. So it has something to say about today. But don't read it as a proxy for political critique. It is a joy for many a reason, of which its anarchist politics is one, but our present predicaments require something less wedded to Cold War models. V for Vendetta is of its time, by which I mean also that it is a classic.
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.The Shadow of the Wind
City Travel Guides > Books > General
by: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

October 05, 2005
'Ah'thought I when I opened the novel and started reading, secure in the belief that here was a masterpiece since more than 200 people had loved it'this is a book I'm going to enjoy'. Well... 300 pages into it and I went back to Amazon to re check the reviews and discovered what I had missed so far, mainly that more than 40 people had hated it, some going as far as calling it drivel. Well, those reviewers may have been a bit harsh but on the whole I had to agree with them.
It starts very well with the wonderful idea of a cemetery for forgotten books where the visitor on his first visit can choose a book , any book ,that he 'adopts' and becomes responsible for. Young Daniel chooses such a book and discovers a wonderful author into whose world he can ... Read More:
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.Moscow Rules
City Travel Guides > Books > General
by: Daniel Silva

July 31, 2008
In MOSCOW RULES, Israeli secret agent extraordinaire Gabriel Allon is minding his own business at an Italian villa restoring one of the Vatican's old painting masterpieces when his former boss at the Office, grouchy Ari Shamron, persuades him to drop his brushes and make contact with a Russian journalist who ostensibly has vital information to share regarding yet another threat to the West and Israel. In short order, Allon finds himself pitted against the Russian Federation's most unscrupulous arm dealer, Ivan Kharkov. (Ivan Kharkov? Is there a book that authors, just as expectant parents, consult to get unimaginative ideas for naming a new creation?)

The first half of this pot boiler fabricates the plot at a pedestrian pace to set up the second ... Read More:
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.Thanks for the Memories
City Travel Guides > Books > General
by: Cecelia Ahern

April 01, 2008
wonderfully brilliant. i really enjoyed this, just excellent. i wnat this to be as movie like ps i love you
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.First Among Sequels
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by: Jasper Fforde

July 24, 2008
There is a whole lot going on in this book, maybe too much. There are several episodes that are totally self contained and seem to be included as padding to make the book longer. I found it quite hard to figure out what this book was all about. There were so many plots, sub plots and sub sub plots that I lost the main thrust of the book. Fforde has so many clever ideas, its a pity he tried to cram too many into one book. It felt like the middle book in a trilogy - the one that sets the secen for the big climax in the last book.
On the plus side, I really enjoyed the scenes with Thursday and her family. The eccentric Nexts have always been a higlight of the series for me and it looks like te next generation of Nexts are going to be a kooky as the last. It ... Read More:
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.Norwegian Wood
City Travel Guides > Books > General
by: Haruki Murakami

May 17, 2001
Like many others on here, this was my first stab at Japanese fiction but I was drawn into the story right from the beginning.
This is essentially a very sad love story. I am not normally a love story person but the character of Toru Watanabe is fascinating. He drinks, smokes and has casual sex but he is also intelligent, charming (without meaning to be) and very sensitive. He is great with words and fantastic at communicating not only what he thinks and feels but also what others are thinking and feeling. Watanabe is a complex and confused character; he makes mistakes, treats people badly and does not always understand his own reactions to situations.
The other characters in the book are just as important as Watanabe and I especially loved the scenes with ... Read More:
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.The Appeal
City Travel Guides > Books > General
by: John Grisham

July 03, 2008
The last year or so have been troublesome as I haven't had a 'generic' John Grisham to read on my holidays. I fell into this routine a decade ago and it became a habit although not last year as I read reviews of the Pizza book and decided I'd avoid. Imagine my utter joy this year when I discover a new 'proper' Grisham book to chill me out in my first few days of holiday - it was a paperback too so that was good! I'm back from holiday now and have finished 'The Appeal'. It is OK but just didn't satisfy in the way all, well I'm pretty sure all, previous Grisham legalpap books have. I associate Grisham books with multiple plot layers that weave, intrigue and conclude well. This is written around an interersting issue but not in a particulaly interesting or attention keeping way. It ... Read More:
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.Emperor: The Gods of War (Emperor 4)
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by: Conn Iggulden

August 07, 2006
I have read all three of the previous titles in thsi set and while th others were intense and gripping, I found this one to be weak in comparison. It seems to end a brillaint saga on poor note considering teh brilliance of the authors other published work. To anyone interested in teh saga of Caesar by all means read the others they are brilliant
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.Stealing Light
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by: Gary Gibson

June 06, 2008
The story is really strong and there are some excellent ideas here. The ending is also very good - I thought there would probably be some sort of 'get-out' but there wasn't - the characters have to live with the results of their actions.

But this book is just so badly written. The continual use of really over-the-top metaphor just reduces the whole thing to almost a pastiche of Flash Gordon - it is so 'gee-whizz' that it really started wearing me down. Yet I got through it - and I got through it because the ideas were so strong.

I think comparing it to early Alistair Reynolds is probably fair - but I actually got through this, whereas I simply gave up on Revelation Space. Give him his due, Reynolds has improved considerably since then. His latest - House of Suns ... Read More:
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.Love in the Time of Cholera
City Travel Guides > Books > General
by: Gabriel Garcia Marquez

August 02, 2007
I found this book lovely, most of all because it engages you so deeply with the characters, especially Florentino. Yes - it does make you wonder how you can feel sympathy for him, since he sleeps with over 500 women (!) while waiting for the love of his life, but I think it's his humanity and romanticism which make you want him to win over Fermina from the start to the end, despite his imperfections. The sweetness of his other habits, such as writing love poems for young sweethearts, and his gentle honesty, made me adore him.

The book will absorb you and give you the feeling you are living under the hot Columbian sun, smelling the smells of the town and walking in the market under the blazing heat, to the extent I almost had culture shock from my bedroom! I read it whilst ill ... Read More:
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