The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, by Barry Schwartz

REVIEW - THE PARADOX OF CHOICE: WHY MORE IS LESS (3*)

by Barry Schwartz (Harper Perennial, 2005)

I had such high hopes for this book.  I was expecting it to focus largely on consumer culture, and to have some profound 'light bulb' moments that would really make me stop and think.  Not that it didn't try, but unfortunately it never really hit the spot for me.

In actual fact, Schwartz focuses more on the psychological than the sociological, and widens his arguments to cover the choices we make in everything from education and careers to houses and cars to jeans and jam.  The prevailing theme of the book is how the growth of choice in modern society, and the emphasis on the individual as the maker of choices, has taken us beyond freedom and into the realms of tyranny.  Choice no longer liberates us; it spins us into its web and holds us there, stuck in our own uncertainty and fear.  We no longer choose between three pairs of jeans in a store - we choose between ten different fits, three different leg lengths and four different colours.  The same decision, however trivial it might be, now has higher stakes and many more alternatives to consider.  This, Schwartz argues, plunges us into a constant whirlwind of regret, comparison, uncertainty, disappointment and even depression.

I think Schwartz provides a compelling and relatable case against excessive choice, which certainly made me stop to ponder just how much of our time we devote to comparing, researching and choosing between different options in even the most inconsequential areas of our lives.  His eleven methods for reducing the negative effects of choice make sense, though for me as one of his 'satisficers' (people happy with 'good enough', as opposed to 'maximisers' who make their task more difficult by always looking for the best) I didn't feel I really had too much to learn from them.

My main problem with the book was that it was just too long.  There was a lot of repetition - of ideas, anecdotes and examples - and the middle of the book really started to drag.  Cutting the whole thing down by about 50 pages and sharpening the pace would have improved the reading experience without damaging the argument.  I also noticed from the notes at the back that some of Schwartz's examples had been directly lifted from other people's work, without it being evident in the main body of text (the notes aren't numbered), which I thought was a bit sneaky.  To sum up, maximisers and perfectionists might learn something important from this book, but satisficers - I wouldn't bother.  It'd be like preaching to the choir anyway, so use your superior powers of choice to take you on to the next book!

Adam's 2012 TBR Pile Challenge

After a brilliant start to my 2011 challenge, I fell victim to a horrible reading slump in the summer and have ended up trying to cram half my books into the last few weeks of the year.  That said, it's been a great prompt to finally read some amazing books, several of which have been amongst my favourites of 2011, including the genius The Princess Bride by William Goldman, the charming Holes by Louis Sachar, and the mind-blowing The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

With that in mind, I was well chuffed to find out that Adam at Roof Beam Reader is hosting the challenge for a third year!  Basically, the rules are as follows: I have to pick twelve books and two 'substitutes' (in case two of the original titles don't work out so well) before the challenge begins.  These books must have been on my TBR pile/list for at least a year, ie. have a publication date of 2010 or earlier.  Then I'll read all twelve books over the year.  Every time I finish a book I'll come back to this post and turn the title into a review link.  It's that simple!  Now, my selection (which has taken me a good week to whittle down from hundreds of unread books, by the way)...

My 12 Books

1. Case Histories - Kate Atkinson (2005)

2. Spitfire Women of World War II - Giles Whittell (2007)

3. World War Z - Max Brooks (2006)

4. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)

5. Submarine - Joe Dunthorne (2008)

6. The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman (2008)

7. Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Aron Ralston (2004)

8. Keep the Aspidistra Flying - George Orwell (1936)

9. The Real Toy Story: Inside the Ruthless Battle for Britain's Youngest Consumers - Eric Clark (2007)

10. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (1960)

11. The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak (2007)
12. Hunting Unicorns - Bella Pollen (2003) 

... and my alternative choices

1. A Play on Words - Deric Longden (1999)
2. Evermore - Alison Noël (2009) 

Wish me luck!

Practical Magic, by Alice Hoffman

I was going to add a movie trailer to the bottom of this review, but the original one I found on YouTube is horrendously misleading!  Makes the whole thing out to be some fluffy romantic tat, when in fact it's quite a lot darker and more involved than that.  But anyway, my review!

REVIEW: PRACTICAL MAGIC (4*)

by Alice Hoffman (Vintage, 2002)

I'm afraid I ruined this book for myself somewhat by having already seen the film a fair few times.  Back before I'd even heard of Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic was one of my favourite movies!  As so often happens when I watch an adaptation first, I found myself comparing screen to page too often, and inadvertently reading certain parts faster than I should, waiting for the two versions to tie up again.

This, however, is not Hoffman's fault in any way, hence my 4-star rating.  It might even have toppled The Ice Queen from its position as my favourite Hoffman novel so far, had it not been for the movie thing.  Anyone who's read Hoffman before knows what to expect: a beautifully written, wistful novel blending elements of magic (and more subtle magical realism) with strong, unusual characters and an exploration of the bonds we form with places, lovers and family.

In Practical Magic the story revolves around Gillian and Sally, the beautiful Owens sisters.  Orphaned at a young age, they have had a strange upbringing in their aunts' house, where they are simultaneously feared and revered by the local townspeople.  Desperate to escape, Gillian runs away to seek her own path and Sally marries a wonderful man and has two headstrong daughters.  But when Sally loses her husband in a tragic accident, and Gillian accidentally kills hers, the two are reunited at last.  Will Sally's teenage daughters, Kylie and Antonia, make peace with each other and be happy?  Will Gillian and the aunts reconcile their differences?  Will Sally ever find love again?  And will they finally escape the dark and vengeful spirit of Gillian's abusive husband, which casts its bitter shadow across their whole existence?

If you've seen the film, read this anyway - but go into it with a more open mind than I did, because there are substantial differences between the two.  If you haven't seen the film, then I highly recommend the book.  Hoffman is such a lyrical and haunting writer, and Gillian, Sally and their quirky aunts are some of the most appealing and relatable characters I've come across in her books yet.  I still love the movie though!

Notable quotables:

• ""Fourth time's the charm," she says to people who ask her what the secret of a happy marriage is, but that's not the way she feels about it.  She knows now that when you don't lose yourself in the bargain, you find you have double the love you started with, and that's one recipe that can't be tampered with."
• "There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder.  Keep rosemary by your garden gate.  Add pepper to your mashed potatoes.  Plant roses and lavender, for luck.  Fall in love whenever you can."

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Book Challenge 2012

This is one of the most original challenges I've seen around the blogosphere so far this year, so I couldn't resist signing up!  No idea if I'll finish it, because I don't even have all the books - but it's such a great idea that I'm going to give it a damn good try...  It'll be a good excuse to watch the movie again too, I haven't seen it in years!

You can head over to Hanna's sign-up post at Booking In Heels for full details of how to take part - but here's a summary to whet your appetite.  The challenge is based on the movie, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in which a motley group of literary characters are drawn together to battle a criminal mastermind intent on starting a war.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to read your way around the original novels behind each of these literary superheroes. 

I've listed the characters and books below so I can keep track of what I've read and who's still on my list.  When I finish one of the books, I'll come back and add a review link under the 'Read yet?' query for each character.

Allan Quatermain

From:  King Solomon's Mines

By:  H. Rider Haggard

Played by:  Sean Connery

Read yet?  Yes! It was a 5-star kind of pleasant surprise, and my review is HERE!

Mina Harker

From:  Dracula

By:  Bram Stoker

Played by:  Peta Wilson 

Read yet?  Nope!

Captain Nemo

From:  20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

By:  Jules Verne

Played by:  Naseeruddin Shah

Read yet?  Nope!

Tom Sawyer

From:  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

By:  Mark Twain 

Played by:  Shane West

Read yet?  Nope!

Dorian Gray

From:  The Picture of Dorian Gray

By:  Oscar Wilde

Played by:  Stuart Townsend

Read yet?  I'm looking forward to rereading it - it's one of my favourites!

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

From:  The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

By:  Robert Louis Stevenson

Played by:  Jason Flemyng

Read yet?  Nope!

Rodney Skinner

From:  Claims to have stolen formula from The Invisible Man

By:  H.G. Wells

Played by:  Tony Curran

Read yet?  Yes! My review is HERE.

The Fantom

From:  Models himself on The Phantom of the Opera

By:  Gaston Leroux

Played by:  Richard Roxburgh

Read yet?  Nope!

James Moriarty

From:  The Final Problem

By:  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Played by:  Richard Roxburgh

Read yet?  Nope!

So, that's the whole crew!  I'll be aiming to read all nine books over the year (eek!) as well as hopefully acquiring a copy of the movie again to round it all off.  I had it on video so it's long gone!  Anyway, this is quite a lot of classics to get stuck into, but after a miserable year on the classic front in 2011, it should be a firm but fun kick where I need it most!

Wish me luck!

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan

Once again I've been missing out on a great book because the hype put me off for a while.  Poor Percy has been sitting on my shelves for a year and a half now, untouched - and I've been missing out on a treat!  That's been a bit of a theme during my Books to be Read Challenge, actually - loving every page and wondering why the heck I haven't read these things earlier!  Anyway, my review... 

REVIEW: PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF (4*)

by Rick Riordan (Puffin, 2008)

Life is about to get very interesting for Percy Jackson.  Slightly unusual things have been happening to him his whole life - but when he accidentally vaporises his maths teacher during a school trip, it becomes apparent that something much bigger is afoot.  Within a matter of days he has arrived at Camp Half-Blood, met a god, discovered that his best friend is a satyr and his father is Poseidon, and been accused of stealing Zeus's master lightning bolt.  Can he find the bolt and return it to Olympus before the gods turn on each other and ignite a cataclysmic world war?

It's really a very clever premise, and one that would have completely swept me away as a younger teenager.  I'd have been in the library poring over books on the Ancient Greek gods before you could say Apollo.  Now, in my mid-twenties, it was a really fun way to brush up on some of the myths and legends I used to know - and I'm probably more likely to remember who's who on Olympus after reading Percy Jackson than if I'd read a textbook instead!

The story roars along at a cracking pace, with lots of exciting action and adventure and some hilarious little touches - Cerberus, the three-headed canine guardian of Hell, playing catch with a red rubber ball being one of the highlights!  Riordan mixes the modern world with the mythology of the Greek gods beautifully, bringing them right up to date while maintaining their dignity and all-powerful other-worldliness.  I loved it - and needless to say, I'll be ordering more of the series very soon!

BTT: E-volution and E-reading

It's been ages since I did a BTT question, despite the fact that they drop into my email inbox every week, so I thought I'd chime in this time!

E-readers like the Kindle and iPad are sweeping the nation … do you have one? Do you like it? Do you find it changes your reading/buying habits? If you don’t have one, do you plan to?

I am one of the defiant masses who was CERTAIN I wouldn't succumb to the sweet siren song of the e-reader - but of course, I did.  It took a fair amount of internal debate, several pro/con lists and lots of obsessive scouring of the small print, but eventually I plumped for a Kindle and a lovely saddleback leather case by Tuff-Luv.  That was a good few months ago now.

In actual fact, having the Devil's Machine in my house hasn't changed my reading habits very much at all.  I've read part of Jon Richardson's It's Not Me, It's You on it, and part of Dave Bruno's 100 Thing Challenge, and that's it - though I have loads more on there waiting for me.  I started reading the former at the kitchen table while eating soup and garlic bread, just because I knew I could use the case to stand it up and I wouldn't get greasy garlic butter everywhere trying to hold a book open!

I think my problem is that I still have so many paper books waiting to be read that the Kindle tends to just sit on top of my stereo forgotten.  I can't see what's on there and eye up the titles on a daily basis like I can my physical shelves, so I forget what I've got.  My challenge reading for 2011 can all be found on my paper shelves, and working in a bookshop I inevitably end up bringing home paper books at a rate of knots.  My review books from Random House are always paper copies, which are much better for flicking around finding information for the review afterwards.  Often Kindle editions are more expensive, and with non-fiction buying the e-book means missing out on vital images, diagrams and easy access to the notes section.  I can only read on the Kindle at home, because using an e-reader in my own second-hand bookshop would be a massive faux pas and incur a lot of grief from the customers, I'm sure.

I guess for now I've not succumbed completely to the lure of the e-book.  It's nice having the option there, widening my choices when it comes to what I want to read and how much I want to pay, but at the end of the day, if I come across a paper copy for free (at the shop or the library) or for a miniscule £1 or so (at a local charity shop) then chances are I'm going to bring it home that way instead of downloading it...

How about you?  How has your e-reader changed the way you read - or are you sticking with your physical bookshelves for the time being?

My Mixing It Up Challenge 2012

This is my 'base post' for my very own Mixing It Up Challenge 2012!  For more details, and to sign up for some horizon-expanding reading this coming year, head on over HERE where you'll find instructions, a Linky and a complete list (with guidelines and ideas) of the sixteen potential categories you can read from...  How many you choose to tackle, and what book you pick for each one, is entirely up to you!

Personally, I'm feeling ambitious for the New Year, so I'm going for the ALL THE TRIMMINGS AND A CHERRY ON TOP participation level, aiming to read a book from each of the 16 categories.  I've listed them all here, with a few ideas for each one.  Of course I might end up reading something entirely different, but either way, when I complete one of the categories I'll exchange the ideas list for a review link so I can see what's left to read!

~ MY MIXED-UP READING LIST ~

Classics

King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
Exciting adventure classic in which hunter Allan Quatermain sets out with two friends on a quest to find King Solomon's legendary diamond mines.  The fire of the African desert, the ice of the mountains, a brutal tribal war and some huge movie-worthy moments come together in a beautifully written, gripping and evocative novel that is definitely going to be one of my favourites of 2012!

Biography

Not completed yet

Cookery, Food and Wine

Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
Quirky and amusing account of Julie Powell's 'Julie/Julia Project', in which she attempted to give her life focus by cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year.  It occasionally gets a little self-absorbed, but Powell grew on me as the pages went by and I really enjoyed reading about her cookery experiences and how the project brought her and her loved ones closer.  I particularly liked the chapter about her lobster-cooking exploits, it was so funny!

History

Not completed yet

Modern Fiction
Loaded by Christos Tsiolkas
Short stream-of-consciousness novel about Ari, a nineteen year-old gay Greek boy living in Melbourne.  He is conflicted about everything in life - his sexuality, his friends, his future, his traditional parents - and relies on sex, drugs and music to get him through his days in relative peace.  Like a more relatable modern version of Catcher in the Rye - angry, absorbing, passionate, political and dryly humorous.

Graphic Novels and Manga

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
My first ever graphic novel - and it absolutely blew me away!  It is the story of an enigmatic masked freedom fighter known only as 'V', and a naive young woman called Evey, and how their lives become entwined as V sets about systematically taking down the totalitarian government that now runs England.  The striking visual style and the emotionally charged plot fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and the 'musical interlude' a third of the way through is pure genius.  Needless to say, this may have been my FIRST graphic novel - but it won't be my last!  

Crime and Mystery

Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter
The sixth Sara Linton novel, in which a detective is arrested in her home town on suspicion of murder and arson.  Her Chief of Police, coming to the rescue with his coroner wife Sara, uncovers a web of corruption, drug trafficking and neo-Nazi bigotry.  They must fight the stifling claustrophobia of the town and piece together what really happened that night, before they become the next victims of the meth dealers' reign of terror.  My first Karin Slaughter - but definitely not my last!

Horror

The Godsend by Bernard Taylor
A slice of vintage horror from the seventies, using the 'cuckoo in the nest' formula familiar from novels like The Omen and The Midwich Cuckoos.  Beautiful little Bonnie, abandoned by her odd mother and welcomed into the Marlowe family, is deeply loved by her new parents and siblings.  But as his children die off one by one in tragic 'accidents', Alan Marlowe starts to put two and two together.  Can he break through his wife's blind maternal devotion and make her see the truth about Bonnie's manipulative evil in time to save his fourth and last living child?  Deliciously compelling, understated and mercifully gore-free!

 

Romance

Dragon Heat by Allyson James
The first in James' Dragon series, this Berkley Paranomal Romance novel tells the story of Lisa Singleton, a young woman in San Francisco with a golden dragon living in her spare room.  When Caleb turns human to save her from harm, the sparks soon start to fly - but they still have an exiled black dragon, a handful of power-hungry witches and a horde of demons to deal with.  If they can stay focussed that long, obviously... ;)

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Not completed yet

Travel

Not completed yet

Poetry and Drama

Not completed yet

Journalism and Humour

How to Leave Twitter: My Time as Queen of the Universe and Why This Must Stop by Grace Dent
Pithy and amusing little book about the Twitter Experience - how we come to join, how we get hooked, the different kinds of people who inhabit the Twitterverse, celebrity tweeters, the politics of following and unfollowing, conversations, viral videos, jokes, links and all sorts of other stuff.  Great for a social media junkie with a sharp sense of humour!

Science and Natural History

Not completed yet

Children's and Young Adult

Seizure (Virals 2) by Kathy Reichs
The second book in the series, in which a group of teenagers, previously infected with a new strain of parvovirus, attempt to locate a famous pirate's treasure to stop their beloved Loggerhead Island being sold off.  Young Indiana Jones meets Pirates of the Caribbean, I loved it!

Social Sciences and Philosophy

 Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender by Nick Krieger
Fascinating transgender memoir, shortlisted for the GLBTQ category of this year's Indie Lit Awards.  Landing in San Francisco's Castro neighbourhood, Nina Krieger finds herself drawn into the local queer community and, surrounded by an intriguing new group of genderfluid individuals, begins to question and explore her own relationship with her body, gender and identity. Insightful, honest, and thought-provoking.

Good luck everyone - and don't forget to keep an eye on the original sign-up post for updates as the year goes on!  Happy mixed-up reading for 2012!

Beautiful new Lauren Kate covers!

Random House just sent these out this afternoon and I had to share them with you!  I'm a sucker for the stunning covers on Lauren Kate's novels, and these two are gorgeous additions to her Fallen series:

And just for the gratuitous loveliness, here are Lauren's other covers so far.  I've always liked Fallen the best, but I'm not sure if Rapture might not have just knocked it off the top spot!  

What do you think?

Introducing my Mixing It Up Challenge 2012!

Feel like branching out a little for 2012?  Then this challenge might just be for you!

Welcome to my first challenge!  The premise is really very simple.  It's all about mixing up your reading, pushing your boundaries and exploring new genres.  Take a look at the categories below, and choose one book for each category.  It's that easy!  You can choose to try anything from a gentle 4 to the full 16 different genres, and the book you pick for each is entirely up to you! 

Before we look at the boring stuff like Rules and How to Join In, check out...

~ THE CATEGORIES ~

1. CLASSICS

This can be any classic work, from Alcott to Zola.  Always fancied trying Great Expectations, or finally feel like tackling Jane Eyre?  Now's your chance!  From the fun to the frightening, the gentle satire to the all-out swashbuckling epic, there are hundreds of years' worth of books to choose from.

2. BIOGRAPHY

This can be modern or historical, biography or autobiography.  From the latest celebrity autobiography to an academic biography of Henry VIII - it all counts!  Perhaps you fancy a book on your favourite classic movie star, athlete or musician? 

3. COOKERY, FOOD AND WINE

Ideas for this one range from a delectable cookery book to a food memoir (like Nigel Slater's Toast or Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential), a book on wine to the history of marmalade.

4. HISTORY

More scope to indulge a whole range of interests here, including local history, military history or world history.  It might be a biography of Anne Boleyn, a book on World War II aircraft, a study of the American civil war, or something with a much smaller focus, like Bill Bryson's At Home or Mark Kurlansky's Salt: A World History.  Whatever floats your boat!

5. MODERN FICTION

This covers literary and popular fiction, so you can't really go wrong with this one.  From Sophie Kinsella to Haruki Murakami, Wilbur Smith to Isabel Allende, Jenny Colgan to Kate Mosse, you should be able to find something to fit your tastes! 

6. GRAPHIC NOVELS AND MANGA

This will be an entirely new genre for me, but I'm looking forward to hitting the library to see what all the fuss is about!  First on my 'to check out' list will be Neil Gaiman's Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes and Alan Moore's V for Vendetta.

7.  CRIME AND MYSTERY

This category will cover everything from the genteel Agatha Christie and the scrummy Hannah Swensen Mysteries by Joanne Fluke, through Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson, to the gruesome forensics of Martina Cole and Val McDermid.  You could even delve into some gritty true crime if that's more your style. 

8. HORROR

One for Hallowe'en, perhaps!  Maybe a modern writer like Stephen King or James Herbert, or you could turn to the classics with Edgar Allen Poe or the ghostly writings of M.R. James?  Some YA novels would also fit into this category - Darren Shan, or Lindsey Barraclough's Long Lankin - but no paranormal romance!

9. ROMANCE

I'd say the cheesier the better for this one, but it's up to you!  Mills and Boon, paranormal romance, chick lit fluff, whatever.  Personally I'll be browsing our Mills and Boon shelf at the shop and pulling out the trashiest title I can find!  :)

10. SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

Again, plenty of scope here.  From the hilarious characters of Terry Pratchett's Discworld to Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings, Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries to Frank Herbert's Dune, you can go modern or classic, and pick from any number of sub-genres.

11. TRAVEL

The world is your oyster, as it were!  Maybe you're going somewhere interesting on holiday and want to read up on it first?  Rough Guides, Lonely Planet guides, that kind of thing.  You could pick a Bill Bryson (always popular) or choose a book on a particular city, country or continent, like Francesco da Mosto's Venice or one of Michael Palin's books.  Then there are all the delectable memoirs by people who've moved abroad and opened a taverna/olive farm/vineyard!

12. POETRY AND DRAMA

This could be a novelty collection of limericks, a collection by a particular poet, or if that sounds a bit daunting, a single, longer narrative poem.  How about 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', 'Hiawatha' or 'The Waste Land'?  My particular favourite is probably Christina Rossetti's 'Goblin Market', which is more like a simple fairytale that just happens to rhyme.  Or you could choose a play - how about Ibsen, Miller, Shakespeare or the brilliantly witty Wilde?

13. JOURNALISM AND HUMOUR

This one might take a little more thinking about, but it should be a bit of fun!  Journalism collections can range from Nick Hornby's Shakespeare Wrote for Money to Marian Keyes's Under the Duvet, Jeremy Clarkson's The World According to Clarkson to Bill Bryson's Notes from a Big Country.  Anything that's been published in a newspaper or magazine first!  Humour could be a book of cartoons, a novelty joke book or The Wicked Wit of Oscar Wilde!  

14. SCIENCE AND NATURAL HISTORY
Again, this one throws the doors wide open for you to follow your interests.  Always fancied learning more about space?  Are you curious about the life of Charles Darwin?  Or got a lifelong love for a particular animal?  There are some wonderful 'popular science' books around too, including things like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, David Attenborough's natural history books, and the entire works of the brilliantly funny Mary Roach.

15. CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG ADULT
This leaves the way open for pretty much anything, whether it's reading The Hungry Caterpillar or The Magical Faraway Tree to your kids, revisiting the joys of The Secret Garden or Treasure Island, or devouring something from the modern tide of YA.  Lots of dystopian fiction, coming-of-age novels and supernatural shenanigans to choose from!

16. SOCIAL SCIENCES AND PHILOSOPHY
Another wide area!  Books on society and women (Female Chauvinist Pigs, Living Dolls), books on society and children (Toxic Childhood, Nurtureshock), books on how television and the internet are affecting our lives, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World, books on Freud or Marx...

Hopefully that's started a few ideas bouncing around and whetted your appetite for 2012!

~ LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION ~

MEASURING JUG: Playing it safe with 1-4 categories
CUPCAKE MIX: Livening things up with 5-8 categories
MIXING BOWL: Branching out with 9-12 categories
TWO-TIER CAKE: Getting ambitious with 13-15 categories
ALL THE TRIMMINGS AND A CHERRY ON TOP: Going for gold with the full 16!

~ HOW TO PARTICIPATE ~

1. Read one book from each of the challenge categories, using the guidelines above.  Don't use the same book for more than one category!
2. The challenge will run until December 31st 2012, so you can sign up any time during the year.
3. Create a blog post for the challenge, to keep track of what you've read.  Add review links for each completed book so we can see how you're getting on.  My post, for example, looks like THIS.
4. The URL you leave in the Mr Linky MUST be a direct link to your challenge post, not to your blog homepage - I don't have time to comb through several months' worth of posts searching for it as the year wears on!
5. Leave a comment on this post with your blog name (so I can match you to your Linky entry) and your chosen level of participation.
6. Bookmark this post so you can come back later!  I'll be adding links to update posts over the year, plus you'll have the category guidelines handy if you need them!
7. At the end of the year, everyone who has read along and hit their chosen target will be entered into a bookish giveaway.  Prizes to be determined!

** Update Posts!**

Update post #1:  February 2012
Update post #2:  October 2012

My first Wallander novel - and it's a cracker!

REVIEW: FACELESS KILLERS (4.5*)

by Henning Mankell (Vintage, 2002)

I'd already come across Kurt Wallander thanks to the excellent Kenneth Branagh series, but this is the first time I've picked up one of the original novels.  Happily, I liked it so much that I'm all ready to go on a rampage and buy the rest of the books AND the two television series.  I love it when that happens!

The novel opens with the discovery of a horrific murder in the isolated farming community of Lunnarp.  Called in by a terrified neighbour, Inspector Wallander arrives to find a mutilated and bloodied old man dead in his farmhouse bedroom.  His wife is alive, but only barely, with a noose cruelly knotted around her neck.  Armed with a host of confusing clues, uneasy hunches and the word 'foreign', repeated by the old woman on her deathbed, Wallander and his team must pull out all the stops to find the killers before the media storm around the case sparks a national wave of racial hate crime. 

I found the whole novel absolutely fascinating, and it was a great brain work-out.  I couldn't stop mulling over everything that had happened so far, and every time I put the book down I was itching to get back to it again!  I think it helps that the reader is basically inside Kurt Wallander's mind from start to finish, even though it's written in the third person.  He's a thoughtful, clever, kind and immensely human character, with a fierce sense of justice and a touch of quiet vulnerability - the kind of cop every reader will be rooting for!  I also liked that this was very much a procedural novel, rather than a forensic gorefest, and the way the Swedish setting really came to life on the page.  Mr Mankell - you have another new convert!  Highly recommended.    

Killing me softly - with sheer bloody rudeness

I'm really trying to finish the amazing Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell today.  Sadly, I've been distracted by an extremely rude couple pressing their faces to the glass and dissing us. Said we were 'the deadbeat end of town' and that we were obviously one of those expensive places that bought up old book dealer stock, got rid of the dross at charity shops then sold the rest on at inflated prices. Amazing how they could tell all that without ever having set foot inside.

Sitting right on the other side of the single glazing (but just about out of sight), I could hear every word. So could the couple in here browsing. The guy suggested typing out everything they said then holding the laptop up to the window to make a point; the woman walked down the shop giving them the evil eye at each window.  They were still going when they walked off down the street. *sighs* It always makes me die a little bit inside, even if I'm better at hiding it these days...

Note to customers everywhere: Shop assistants are not deaf.  And any small business owner WILL take it personally if you rip them apart for no discernable reason.  Their shop is their baby, and they've usually worked very hard for very little material reward to create a nice place for you to visit.  A couple of nights ago I had a dream where a vile woman brought some horrendously unruly children and a large wet dog into the shop, and I got so angry I leapt over the counter, growled menacingly and SQUISHED her.  Just sayin'...

Look Back in Hunger, by Jo Brand

REVIEW - LOOK BACK IN HUNGER: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY (3.5*)

by Jo Brand (Headline Review, 2009)

I love Jo Brand.  She's down-to-earth, feisty, and always calls a spade a spade.  Happily, unlike the autobiographies of some comics who come across completely differently on the page (Dawn French, I'm looking at you) this book abounds with Brand's deadpan humour and mischievous slant on life.

This is a simple, linear narrative, beginning with her childhood and sweet memories of growing up with two brothers, before moving on to the terrible teens when she became a bit of a wild child, breaking away from family life and heartily embracing the counterculture of the time.  Moving from house to house, job to job, Brand has lived in all kinds of different places, and worked as a carer for physically and mentally disabled people before training as a psychiatric nurse.  Finally, after several years working her way up the ranks at a psychiatric hospital, she at last branched out into her dream career - stand-up comedy.

What I really like about this book as an autobiography is the real every-woman feeling pervading the pages.  It's the same style that draws women to her comedy, I think.  She doesn't try to lay down every detail of her life, or go into gushing detail about people we don't know (Dawn French, that's you again) but instead picks out the memorable moments over the years, the things that have stuck with her - the kinds of moments we all remember ourselves.  Blissful summer days as a child, amazing music gigs, injuries, near misses, bad behaviour, defining moments in her nursing career, the first time she went on stage to perform...  She's also very candid about her less-than-wholesome but entirely ordinary experiences with drugs and alcohol, gently pointing out the negative consequences but never judging.  I found her time as a psychiatric nurse quite fascinating, and as a manic depressive it gave me even more respect for the people who deal with mental health on the 'front line'.

Altogether this was an amusing, gentle, honest and breezy read, which engages with the reader by presenting a non-judgemental romp through a 'normal' but well-lived and interesting life.  Brand comes across as the kind of person you'd have a great laugh with down the pub: funny and intelligent, with plenty of opinions and life stories to share.  I loved it!  Maybe I'll try one of her novels soon...  

#3: An angelic Hallowe'en read

REVIEW: HUSH, HUSH (3*)

by Becca Fitzpatrick (Simon and Schuster, 2009)

I'm really hoping that this is the New Moon of this series: the slower novel that introduces a set of characters and a mythology, setting things in motion for the books to come.  I already have Crescendo and Silence, so hopefully it'll all take off from here (no pun intended!).

Anyway, back to this book.  Nora, a grounded and smart student, is disappointed when her biology teacher mixes up the class seating plan, meaning that instead of her wise-cracking friend Vee she will now be partnered with the new kid, enigmatic Patch.  As the novel progresses strange things start to happen to Nora.  Someone's out to get her, someone's messing with her mind, and she has no idea where to turn.  She's uncomfortably aware that there's something 'off' about Patch, yet her growing attraction to him convinces her that he's not the culprit.  Is Patch more dangerous than she believes?  If not, who else could be out to get her?  Or is she just losing her mind?

If this sounds a little confusing, it's because it is.  I started to get some idea of who was behind it all, but Fitzpatrick does a good job of keeping all of her less-than-nice characters in the 'potential suspect' line.  Unfortunately, this also means that she has to keep veering off on odd tangents and often seems to lose the focus of the narrative a bit as a result.  Towards the end, the chemistry between Patch and Nora increased and things started to fall into place, and that more solid grasp on what was happening meant I enjoyed the last quarter much more.  Nora's a great narrator, and I'm hoping that the storylines are now going to get a bit more angel-focussed and that Patch is going to be developed and opened up more as a character.  Fingers crossed that Fitzpatrick has upped the stakes for Crescendo!