The Idiot ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Idiot is a Prince Myshkin who suffers from epilepsy where he has had it treated in Switzerland.  Returning to St. Petersburg he contacts a distant relative of his - a Princess Myshkin – she was my favourite character, she's very eccentric and has some of the best lines in the novel.

The princess has three daughters the youngest of whom falls in love with Myshkin, but she treats him quite strangley – leaving his feelings dangling much of the time.  Myshkin on the other hand, does love Aglaya but he wants to save Nastassya (a fallen women) and marry her instead to do her a kindness by bringing her to respectability.  But, Nastassya feels that she doesn't deserve his kindness, and wants to be with the dark and moody Rogozhin who truly loves her.  Rogozhin and Myshkin had first met on the train going to St. Petersberg at the beginning of the novel and they commence a dangerous and jealous friendship, with Nastassya being between the two of them.  No-one will win.

The theme is mainly light and dark (Myshkin and Rogozhin) – Christ & the Devil.  Myshkin is benevolent, makes friends easily and takes everything in his stride, but Rogozhin is jealous and will resort to murder. 

There are some very profound moments in the narrative.  One being the description of a man’s feelings whilst waiting to be executed – these are clearly autobiographical and chilling.  The other was a suicide note written by the consumptive Hyppolite and read by Myshkin. 

The tale was unusual, the characters strange, but you are drawn into their world by Doestoevsky’s brilliant writing.  I re-read the last few chapters several times as I did not want to say goodbye to them.

Carry Me Down ~ M J Hyland

This was a novel that I had picked up off the library shelf many times then put it back because I’d not heard of MJ Hyland.

Then I played a website game by Penguin Books and saw that one of the listed books was How the Light Gets In by MJ Hyland.  This sparked my interest.  Finally, I downloaded it on Media Overdrive and found I couldn’t put it down.

Carry me Down is an extremely compelling story.  It is narrated by a boy called John Egan who is Irish, 11 years old (going on 12) but with the body and voice of a man.  John has many issues and these are cleverly exposed throughout the storyline by showing us his lack of emotion and dis-associative behaviours.

John is very sensitive to reading the emotions of those close to him however, which leads him to recognise when they are lying to him.  He gets very angry when he spots a lie, yet through the story he himself tells many.

Convinced that he is a human lie detector he keeps a book he calls the ‘Gol of Seil’ (Log of Lies) and writes to the Guinness Book of Records requesting a chance to prove his talents.

As family life begins to disintegrate around him, John finds himself more alone than ever.  His father is unreliable and his mother has begun to distance herself from her son.  He has no-one to rely on or trust.

There are some very sinister overtones with human understones here, and you wonder ‘how will it end?’. Especially when John tries to smother his mother with a pillow in order to help her sleep!  We find out that John is to enter six months of therapy with a Psychiatrist but that’s it.  The ending was a great disappointment to an extremely vivid characterisation of a boy you won’t forget in a hurry.

The Trial ~ Franz Kafka

This is a nightmare world, where a 30 year old man, Josef K. is arrested and put on trial for a crime of which he is oblivious, his is not told what the charges are, and he has no idea who brought the charges against him.

Free to carry on with his life, but with the threat of the imminent trial, K. seeks help from a gravely ill lawyer and is given advice on the legal system by a painter known as Titorelli. 

K. is a senior bank clerk, but he finds that as he spends more time trying to get helpfor his case, his co-workers are beginning to undermine him.

Towards the end of the story he is duped into going to a cathedral where a priest who is part of the prison system has been waiting for him.  There they discuss the faceless/nameless system and the Priest tells a parable about the law, which was published on it’s own as ‘Before the Law’.

K. comes to a sad end, but as Kafka died before completing the novel who knows what the true ending would have been?

Bizarre and haunting.  I really liked it.

Thank You, Jeeves! ~ P G Wodehouse

Another delightful story where Bertie Wilberforce Wooster finds himself in a precarious situation and is in need of being bailed out by his valet Jeeves.

In this story Jeeves has actually left Bertie for employment elsewhere as he sick of Berties incessant playing of the banjolele.  This however does not prevent his expertise from being utilised – Jeeves is hired by the landlord of the cottage that Bertie has moved into after complaints about his playing from his city neighbours.    

Unfortunately if you add a drunken new Valet, a lovesick American heiress and some roaming minstrels into the mix - Berties bound to get into trouble!

This is laugh out loud stuff and I loved it.

The End of Mr Y ~ Scarlett Thomas

The End of Mr Y is a Victorian novel written by Thomas Lumas.  It contains a recipe for an elixir which transports the drinker to the “Troposphere” (or ‘mindspace’ as termed by the mysterious Project Starlight).  In the Troposhere you can jump into other people’s minds and delve into their memories and secrets.  There are, however, dangers and these come in the form of two blonde American agents from the defunct Project Starlight who want the recipe.

Ariel is a fan of Lumas’  work and finds a copy of this rare book in a second hand book store.  The page containing the recipe to the elixir has been torn out but when packing up her mentor’s office (he has disappeared) the page floats from a book that he had said to forget about when doing her thesis.  Ariel takes this as being a sign.  She makes up the elixir and travels to the Troposphere, but over time she is pursued by the two agents who will stop at nothing to obtain what they want.

I found the first half interesting and exciting but then it just started to ‘blither’ on and I began to lose interest.  Ariel’s narrative voice is that of a whinger and she swears way too  much.  I don’t like her!

The ideas throughout the novel are not all original.  ‘Mindspace’ is like ‘Cyberspace’ and the two agents are reminiscent of Mr Smith and his cronies from The Matrix.

The End of Mr Y had the potential to be a pretty good read, but it became a fizzer. 

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil ~ John Berendt

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was written by journalist John Berendt. Berendt lived in Savannah on and off and the result was this non fiction work with larger than life characters. They always say truth is stranger than fiction, and the people that you will meet within these pages are better than any fictional creation.


The Lady Chabis – is a black transvestite who doesn’t know when to keep quiet. Her banter, innuendo and back chat are hilarious.

Jim Williams - is a self made millionaire who owns the historic Mercer House and who once refused an offer to sell to Jackie O. Jim is on trial for murdering his 21 year old male lover. The trial makes history when it sits for the fourth time.

Minerva – is a voodoo witch and friend of Jim Williams. Minerva needs the help of those long death, along with a good helping of graveyard dirt to try and get Jim the Not Guilty verdict that seems so hard to obtain.

As well as the insights into the inhabitants of Savannah, we are taken on a heritage trail and given some history of the town as well.

I could not put this book down, it is a wonderful read and it’s not surprising that it spent 216 weeks on the New York Times best seller list.

A Tranquil Star ~ Primo Levi

I didn’t enjoy this selection of short stories as much as I had anticipated I would. I think it was the beautiful title that attracted me, but the selection of stories was just too weird.

Levi is best known for his writings on the Holocaust and his internment in Auschwitz, and this collection was published to show another side of Levi. Many of these stories are obviously inspired by the destruction wrought by the Holocaust, whilst others are inspired by his work as Director and Chemist at a paint factory. Other stories are just stand alone, some with a Sci-Fi element to them, some just ramblings and others just plain weird or stupid!

I enjoyed the narrative structure of Bear Meat, which had two narrators and was a story within a story about recklessness and foolhardiness in the mountains. Another story, Knall, was about a new fad akin to the fad of hoola hoops or yo-yos. It was told tongue in cheek like a newspaper report, and it revealed that a Knall is in fact a dangerous weapon no bigger than a cigar which kills instantly upon contact. Bureau of Vital Statistics is another that I enjoyed.

I’m not sure if I would recommend this to anyone, it’s probably more of interest to those who already know of Levi and his work. Despite this, I do acknowledge that all the stories are very well written.

Darkfall ~ Dean Koontz

Overall I felt that Darkfall probably could have been an 'okay' novella.  However, this book is like a bad sequel to a great movie, which is a shame because a bad sequel taints the memory of the original.  Some things should not be messed with, and Lovecraft's creations are one of them.

Koontz needn't have touched on Lovecraft, he's has imagination enough to create his own monstrosities, and he could have cut about two thirds of his awfully corny dialogue.  The ending did lift the story a bit, but unless you are a die hard Koontz fan you wouldn't really want to pick this one up.

However, for me, the highlights were the quotes/poetry from his fictional 'Book of Counted Sorrows'.   If he ever publishes this book, I would definitely be interested.

Solaris ~ Stanilaw Lem

Although Solaris is science fiction, and mainly psychological, it is a beautifully written love story.


Kris Kelvin has gone to station Solaris to find out why there has been no communication from the three scientists working there. When he arrives, one scientist is dead, one won’t leave his room and the other is a paranoid mess.

The ocean of Solaris has created near perfected images from the subconscious of the sleeping scientists and these ‘visitors’ won’t leave them alone.

Kelvin’s visitor is his dead wife Rheya, who had committed suicide a few years before, but as Rheya begins to question her own existence, Kelvin finds himself falling in love with her.

The landscape of Solaris which Lem has created is fascinating, with Symmetriods and Assymetriods, Mimoids etc it’s all very believable and you almost wish it all really did exist.

Translated from the original Polish, I really enjoyed it. I just wish there could be a faithful translation to the screen. One that would focus on the science fiction as well as the love story.

Heart Shaped Box ~ Joe Hill

This was a rather too long story of an aging rocker and collector of occult memorabilia who buys a ghost over the internet, and then spends the rest of the novel trying to get away from it.

The writing style is extremely similar to Stephen King even to the way he brings up music references, baseball references and repeating certain phrases throughout the novel.

A few years ago, I would have probably enjoyed it, however I do feel that Stephen King has done this all before, and that really there is nothing new here.

I think that Joe Hill is the exponent of the short story, rather than a writer of novels.

20th Century Ghosts ~ Joe Hill

This is a selection of short stories from the son of Horror Master Stephen King. Joe’s full name being Joseph Hillstrom King.


I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of these stories. They’re not out and out horror to shock, they are very intelligent, and gradually draw you in, leaving you feeling very unsettled.

Pop Art was my favourite. This story was so sensitively written in it’s own way. It is a story about a young boy’s friendship with an inflatable boy. It was disturbing but quite beautiful and I just loved the last line. I have thought about it often since reading it.

Abraham’s Boys was a little twist on the Dracula theme but was very reminiscent of the movie Frailty. Having recently read Dracula I found the premise of the story a little hard to swallow, but I did think it was cleverly done.

20th Century Ghost tells the story of a haunted theatre, again it was beautifully written and quite sad.

Best New Horror was really good too, it actually reminded me of Coraline crossed with The Chainsaw Massacre!

Stephen King was one of my all time favourite authors when all I read was horror. During his later years, after his accident, I felt that he didn’t ‘have it’ any more. The stories were bland and the shock factor just wasn’t there. These stories do take you that one step closer to the edge, and the quality of the writing makes you want to peer over. Reading these stories has sparked my interest in horror again.

The Third Policeman ~ Flann O'Brien

The TV series Lost sparked a new interest in this novel. It is a truly bizarre but very funny story, told by a murderer. who ends up in an alternate reality in Ireland where people can turn into bicycles and you can visit Eternity via a lift. You can also leave via the lift, but there is a catch—you must weigh the same when leaving as when you first arrived. Which upsets our narrator no end, because in Eternity he had been able to obtain some solid gold bars and thousands of pounds worth of jewels!


In this alternative reality people who ride their bicycles for too long can eventually turn into one. You can tell when this has happened to a person because they need to prop themselves up on counters, or lean against a wall. If they fall over they can’t get up again.

The story runs in a loop, and at the end you realise there is no end. It reminded me of the Alfred Noyes short story Midnight Express in that regard.

There were some rather unnecessary (long) footnotes throughout relating to a fictional character known as De Selby who appears in O’Brien’s other works and they did annoy me, but on the whole I could read this book again, it was brilliant.

Maxine

In a letter to William Saroyan, dated 14 February 1940, O'Nolan explained the strange plot of The Third Policeman:

“When you get to the end of this book you realise that my hero or main character (he's a heel and a killer) has been dead throughout the book and that all the queer ghastly things which have been happening to him are happening in a sort of hell which he earned for the killing ... It is made clear that this sort of thing goes on for ever ... When you are writing about the world of the dead – and the damned – where none of the rules and laws (not even the law of gravity) holds good, there is any amount of scope for back-chat and funny cracks.”

Source: Wikipedia

Note: Flann O’Brien was one of Brian O’Nolan’s pseudonym’s and although The Third Policeman was written between 1939 and 1940 it wasn’t published until 1967 (Sadly, O’Nolan died in 1966).

The Yellow Wallpaper ~ Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Gilman chronicles the descent into madness of a young mother obviously suffering post natal depression which was not recognized as such in Victorian times.


Installed in a room papered with yellow wallpaper where a madwoman was once kept, the delicate young mother spends her time tracing the pattern of the wallpaper with her eyes, making out shapes and trying to find a sequence to it.

She notices that the colour of the ‘hideous paper’ changes when the light changes and she imagines that she can see a faint figure behind it, shaking the pattern, wanting to get out. The hysteria that builds up to the finale is spine tingling.

The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

Considered one of the great ghost stories. The Turn of the Screw relates a governess’s experience with two children in her care, who are haunted by two evil dead servants of the house, one of whom was the previous governess to the children.


At first the children seem perfect and innocent but as time goes by she realises that they are completely aware of the haunting and even try to encourage it.

The subtle changes in the children’s personalities put the Governess on her guard and she fears for her safety. However her duty to her young charges comes first and she is determined to meet the threat head on ……...with unforeseen tragic consequences.

Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

Vanity Fair (a novel without a hero) was a great surprise for me. Published in 1848, it is an epic story of two women who are introduced to us in the first chapter as they leave Miss Pinkerton’s Academy for Young Ladies. Amelia - fair and genteel, and her friend the artful and sly Rebecca.


Thackery relates their fortunes and misfortunes with great wit and satire, from courtship to marriage, through the battle of Waterloo, parenthood, middle age and a reversal of fortunes for both Rebecca and Amelia.

Rebecca and her husband Rawdon teach us how to live well on nothing a year, and the gambling, and credit debt is definitely relevant to our current climate. Rebecca’s character would work well in any modern novel, she manipulates men with ease but the Society women can see right through her in an instant. This anti-heroine is cunning and conniving, however you can’t help but admire her as much as the author does! A very enjoyable read.

Duel - Richard Matheson

A salesman takes on a crazy truck driver on a lonely highway across the desert. The truck driver seems intent on killing him. Clever writing carries this story to it’s explosive ending.

I Am Legend - Richard Matheson

A different take on the Vampire myth. One man is immune to a virus that is sweeping the world. He is determined to find a cure, but he doesn’t figure on what the new vampires are planning..

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

A dark story about a Father and Son’s fight for survival in a post apocalyptic America. Sparse dialogue, deeply moving in places, will haunt you long after reading it.

The Riders - Tim Winton

This is a story that asks many questions, the answers to which you will never know. There is no resolution. On searching the net I found an essay that states that the theme explores the expected roles of males and females in modern

Australian society. Despite the fact that you are left wondering at the end of the novel, it is very well written

Just After Sunset - Stephen King

Not the best collection of stories, however for a real ‘creep-out’ read “N”. 10/10

….. and for a giggle, the tongue in cheek “Stationary Bike” 9/10

The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler

Apparently, one of the longest detective stories ever written, The Long Goodbye takes us on a journey into the seedy side of the rich and famous with down and out, hard drinking, private detective Phillip Marlowe.


I don’t generally read detective fiction, and I thought this book could have finished a good 100 pages before it did, it seemed to ramble on long after the plot had been revealed.

Chandler creates a ‘film noir’ atmosphere with the inevitable damsels in distress, leggy “broads”, and the scarred knife carrying bad guys. Bad feeling is resolved with a “slug” to the face, or a knife in the side. That was part of the problem for me ~ the storyline was unbelievable and the characters stereotyped.

Before reading this novel I didn’t know much about Phillip Marlowe, though he does seem to be a legend in the detective genre, so I was at least pleased to make his acquaintance.

If you like the Sin City style of graphic novel, you would enjoy this as it had larger than life characters and a comic book feel to it.

Written in 1953, there is a kind of innocence to it, which doesn’t quite cater for the more sophisticated reader we have become in the 21st Century. We demand a little more reality when it comes to this genre.

Naked Lunch - William S Burroughs

How this book is on the must read lists is a wonder to me; I have nothing nice to say about it.

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

Not what I expected, set in the Belgian Congo it highlighted the atrocities being committed by ivory traders. A book I could read again.

The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury

Each illustration on a wandering man comes to life to bring you a story of the future, which ultimately bring fear and despair. It seems that mankind really hasn’t learned a thing. Destruction, greed, discrimination… some things never change.

There is one patch of clear skin on the man that will tell you your own future if you care to stare at it long enough……

A wonderful collection of bizarre futuristic stories set on Mars and Earth

Dr Bloodmoney - Phillip K Dick

I was starting to have withdrawal symptoms from lack of reading Science Fiction, and this was definitely a good hit to sustain me.


Survivors of a nuclear event are trying to rebuild their lives and their society, with some measure of success. There is no longer radio or television but the residents of West Marin are able to pick up a transmission from a lonely satellite orbiting in space after it’s failed attempt to reach Mars. Dangerfield, the sole occupant, is spending his time reading the classics to his earthbound audience whilst hoping for a rescue. The classic that he reads throughout this novel is (believe it or not) Of Human Bondage. As I was reading Of Human Bondage at the same time, there were a few plot spoilers in there for me!

The residents of West Marin are unknowingly harbouring Dr. Bloodmoney the main instigator of ‘the event’ that they have just survived and who seems to have attained higher magical powers. However, a phocomelus and a young girl’s twin brother Bill (who is a sentient fetus living inside his sister) must battle the Dr and each other for supremacy.

Not for everyone, but I really enjoyed this.

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

I did enjoy this novel, but more so after reading the forward entitled The Custom House, which explains the inspiration behind the story, and was in itself fascinating. I appreciated all the more the thought that went into creating this love story set in Puritan New England.

After being publicly humiliated Hester Prynne is forced to wear a large red letter ‘A’ to punish her for her adultery. However, the townsfolk eventually do not see the letter because Hester is so admired for her skill in needlework and help within the community.

As time goes by Hester desires to secretly leave New England to start life anew with the tormented man that she loves, and their illegitimate daughter Pearl, but he is being pursued by her estranged husband…...

The First Men on the Moon - H G Wells

A fanciful tale about a bankrupt playwright and his adventures with Cavor an obscure scientist.


Flying to the moon in a sphere, they encounter ‘moon calves’, and strange humanoid ant like beings who live and work underground with their great machines.

Extremely dated, but well written and fun.  (I don’t think I’ll look at the moon the same way again.)

Slaughterhouse Five ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut witnessed the fire bombing of Dresden (by Allied Forces between 13 February and 15 February 1945), and was unable to understand or make sense of it. Eventually he tried to write about it in his novel Slaughterhouse Five or The Children’s Crusade.


The protagonist Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time. He appears to be living simultaneous lives, as a youth in the war, a successful optometrist and family man after the war, and as an alien abductee being exhibited in a zoo on the planet Tralfamdour (along with the girl of his fantasies Montana Wildhack).

There are many novels written about the futility of war (Heller’s Catch 22 for example) but Slaughterhouse Five really brings across Billy’s bemusement at the situation he had no control over.

Bewildering, humorous and poignant, there are some wonderful characters, and Vonnegut cleverly utilises key moments in Billy’s life to accelerate his movements in time.

The scene where Dresden is bombed in reverse (which unfortunately was missing in the movie) will stay with me for some time

True History of the Kelly Gang ~ Peter Carey

Peter Carey’s Ned Kelly is an “adjectival” victim of circumstance.

Poorly educated he nevertheless attempts to set down the true version of events for his daughter, so that she will understand that he is not the monster the police accuse him of being.

Life is cruel, under the rule of the Colonial English but under the tutorage of the notorious bushranger Harry Power, Ned learns the secrets of the valleys and ranges which sets him in good stead when he finds himself the leader of the so called ‘Kelly Gang’.

Ned is torn between his commitments to his brother and friends who make up the gang, his pregnant girlfriend, and justice for his wrongly imprisoned mother.

This was wonderfully written, funny without being ridiculous, and no punctuation in the narration except for full stops accentuates Ned’s lack of education,

The final climatic showdown was written as a newspaper report and ends with Ned’s execution.

I had never read anything on Ned Kelly before and this has inspired me to find out more about him, not to mention the fact it has put me on the path to reading Lorna Doone by RD Blackmore.*

The Boat - Nam Le

A selection of short stories that do not relate to each other in any way. However, each story is completely individual, in location and voice, and 100% believable.


Whilst the writing in itself is excellent, and Nam Le is obviously a major talent, I found most of the stories quite depressing.

Frankenstein—Book 1 The Prodigal Son ~ Dean Koontz

A modern take on the Frankenstein legend. Victor Frankenstein is now nearly 200 years old, and trying to create a master race of humans. These creations are living amongst us with some even working as priests and policemen.


When people are found murdered with body parts missing, Deucalion must come out of hiding and reveal himself to two detectives, and convince them about who he really is, and who they are really dealing with.


I couldn’t put it down! Great fun.

Ethan Frome ~ Edith Wharton

Ethan is a solitary man, a struggling farmer, and married to an older woman who has become a bitter hypochondriac. When his wife’s cousin comes to live and help at the house Ethan falls in love, but is unable to communicate his feelings.


Once Ethan’s wife discovers her husband’s true feelings she sends her cousin away. As Ethan drives her to the station they each make their feelings known and realize that they cannot live without each. The only way out that they can see is to kill themselves. This they attempt by way of an accident, but the outcome is tragic and not what was planned and they find themselves back at the farm house ultimately to be taken care of by Ethan’s wife.

This is a dark twisted love story, but it is well written. Wharton portrays a bleak winter landscape in Massachusetts, a cold grey farmhouse, and then contrasts this bleakness with symbolism such as a red pickle dish—a much valued item of Mrs Frome’s.

The ‘accident’ itself is based on a true event witnessed by Edith.

Frankenstein ~ Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley has conjured up a tortured soul in this classic horror story. The horror does not lie in the monster himself, but in how he became a monster. He did not ask to be given life, but when came into being, he was abandoned by his creator. He tries to learn the ways of man but is met with abhorrence at his appearance and violence. Violence begets violence and the monster seeks his vengeance on the man who had made him this ‘miserable wretch’.


Hollywood totally destroyed the true meaning behind this novel. It needn’t be described as a horror story at all but more of a lesson in humanity and the knowledge even back then that we are the product of our upbringing. The guidance and protection from our parents are a vital part of childhood, without them who knows what we could become?

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Dracula is a genuinely creepy telling of the Vampire legend. The story is actually told by various journals and letters from various characters.


Jonathan Harker is the first to encounter Dracula in his native homeland, and has to draw on all his reserves to face him once again when he is discovered in England.

With the assistance of the legendary Dr Van Helsing Jonathan and his friends follow Dracula’s deadly trail and endeavour to free his tortured soul, and at the same time save Jonathon’s beloved wife who has fallen under the vampire's spell.

There are some genuinely spine-tingling moments in the narration, especially the ship’s log describing Dracula’s passage to England and why a crewman is found dead and tied to the ship’s wheel ~ a real goose bump moment.

House of Thunder - Dean Koontz

Events that took place in a cave system known as ‘The House of Thunder’ come back to haunt an amnesia victim whose boyfriend died there.


The build up to the final reveal was quite frightening and had me looking over my shoulder. Once the plot was realised it seemed a bit over done and silly; but the epilogue to this story did give me food for thought.

Strangers - Dean Koontz

An epic story about a group of strangers who are brought together after they suddenly start experiencing unexplained nightmares and developing frightening phobias. Their one thing in common is that they stayed at The Tranquility Motel ‘the summer before last’.


What suggests to them the idea of a government cover up, over a toxic spill near the motel, develops into a cover up of one of the greatest experiences in human history.

This is one of Koontz’s more ambitious novels, and apart from some of the character names and the usual corny dialogue, I enjoyed it immensely

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

The subtitle to Moby Dick is ‘The Whale’, which is a more apt title as it reads like an encyclopedia on whales, rather than a high seas adventure novel with a mad Captain Ahab (which was what I was expecting).


Melville subjects you to chapters on the phrenology of a whale, his biology, a whole essay on why man is afraid of something that is pure white, along with discussions on Jonah, sea monsters from Greek and Roman mythology and even St George and the Dragon—(though I must admit I quite liked that idea).

The book is filled with shipping and whaling lore, extracts from prose and poetry relating to the whale and whaling ships, and with this in mind it is most certainly a masterpiece considering when it was written. However, as we know so much more these days, it is evident that much of the scientific conjecture is wrong,

The actual whaling sequences are upsetting, though remembering this was a legitimate trade in the 1800’s, they are described with some degree of sympathy by the author.

Overall it could have done with being 400 pages shorter.

Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

Rebecca is as much a story about the house Manderley as it is about the brooding Max De Winter and his young bride. A whirlwind romance and hurried wedding brings our young narrator (who is never named) to the West Country of England as Mistress of Manderley. But her marriage has no chance of happiness until the secret behind the first Mrs De Winter’s mysterious death is resolved.


This was excellent, a must read.

The Strain ~ Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan

A different take on the vampire story. This one is set in modern day America with the mystery ’virus’ being investigated by members of the CDC, an elderly vampire hunter and a pest control expert. A little tongue in cheek maybe, but there were some genuine chills here.

This did read more like a movie, which is not surprising given Del Toro’s background, and it brought to mind various vampire and zombie novels/movies that I have read or seen and I kept thinking of the movie ‘28 Days Later’. There were the usual annoying sequences where a character is in imminent danger and could quite easily get away (and doesn’t) which is frustrating enough watching it on screen let alone reading it in a book.

The ideas may not have been totally original, but the characters were a little different, and being book one of a trilogy I am interested to see where books two and three will take me.

The Death of Bunny Munro ~ Nick Cave

Dark but funny, compelling and moving (though pretty vulgar in places) I could not put this novel down.


Bunny Munro is a sex-addicted door to door sales man who sells beauty products to lonely housewives. When his wife commits suicide he decides to take his son Bunny Jnr on the road with him.

Bunny Jnr realises that his dad does not behave like anyone else's father, but he adores him just the same. Armed with his trusty encyclopedia and accompanied by the ghost of his mother, Bunny Jnr must witness the slow demise of his father to his tragic end.

The father/son sequences are wonderfully handled and are the redeeming feature to the storyline. This is Nick Cave’s second novel written approximately 20 years after his acclaimed first novel ‘And The Ass Saw The Angel”.

Whilst I wouldn’t personally recommend it due to the confronting nature of the subject matter, it did appeal to my ‘dark side’ and I liked the way it was written.

And The Ass Saw The Angel ~ Nick Cave

Euchrid Eucrow, the mute son of a vile drunken mother and a hillbilly father, has fallen into quick-mud and is slowly sinking. Faced with his certain death, he tells us of his birth, the death of his twin brother and the fanatically religious Ukulite townsfolk who have banished him to the outskirts of the Ukulore Valley. Euchrid knows what happened to Cosey Mo, the prostitute on Hoopers Hill, which results in his mad angelic obsession with her daughter Beth who has been nursed and raised by the women of the valley.


Partly written in Euchrid’s southern drawl, this striking novel is like many of Nick Cave’s songs ~ darkly beautiful.

Blasphemy ~ Douglas Preston

Below ‘Red Mesa’ on a Navaho Indian Reservation, a particle accelerator named ’Isabella’ is brought on line. However, the test run takes a turn when a “greetings” message is received from the centre of co-ordinate zero. The stunned scientists power the machine down to trace a possible hacker, but have the scientists, headed by the brilliant and disarmingly charming Gregory North Hazelius, actually been contacted by God?


Preston introduces a mix of interesting characters from the disgruntled Navaho Indians who feel the scientists are not giving back to their community in exchange for the use of their land, a TV evangelist lobbying against the justification of spending $40 billion on a machine that may disprove God as the creator, to a wild card hick minister convinced that the countdown to Armageddon has begun.

Wyman Ford, an undercover operative, is sent in to infiltrate the team and get some answers as to why the scientists have cut themselves off from the rest of the world and won’t release the results of their test run. Ford soon learns that God moves in mysterious ways.

This was an exciting novel that asked plenty of questions with an ending that was very satisfactory. I really enjoyed it.

The Body ~ Hanif Kureishi

An elderly man receives an offer to have his brain transplanted into that of a deceased younger man’s body.  Perceiving certain problems, he is not entirely sure that he will enjoy the experience so he decides on a six month trial.


After an uncomfortable situation when his ‘body’ is recognised by some of the younger man’s friends, he goes overseas to travel and find work where he can.

Whilst traveling and indulging in some youthful excesses he is invited to a party on a yacht.  There he meets up with some other people who have under gone the same procedure, but unfortunately he catches the eye of the host of the party who would like the toned and good looking ‘body’ for his sick brother.

Fearing for his life the old man returns home and, after ‘befriending’ his wife, decides that he would prefer his old body and life back. This however may be a problem…..

A very intelligent story exploring our yearning for eternal youth, and whether we would still enjoy those youthful experiences to the same degree with an older and wise mind.

Oracle Night ~ Paul Auster

There was too much going on in this book for it to be an enjoyable read.


The premise is that an author who is recovering from a severe illness buys a blue notebook from a mysterious Chinese stationery shop owner, and he starts to write a story in it

Auster spends a lot of the novel detailing the outline of this story and when his author gets writers block and gives up, we don’t get to know the outcome. Very annoying!

The author’s wife has a nightmare with similarities to the story…. this got my interest going – but it doesn’t get anywhere. Even more annoying.

Eventually you realise the main mystery is about the author’s wife and the secret she has been concealing. But that story line really doesn’t go anywhere either.

The author character in this novel has a friend whose son assaults the author’s wife. The author writes that he is relieved that his friend had died before the assault as it would have destroyed him. What I did find interesting when finding out more about Paul Auster, is that in real life his own son has been linked with a murder and the surname of the friend character who’s son he was writing of is Trause – an anagram of Auster.

This book has been named as a ‘post modern ghost story’ and also a ‘snow globe of a novel’. I’d agree with the snow globe, it’s quite a mish mash of plots.

Whales for the Wizard ~ Malcolm Archibald

Winner of the 2005 Dundee Book Prize, Whales for the Wizard tells the story of Robert Douglas who is employed by the owner of the steam-whaling ship Redgauntlet. His brief is to try to get mariners to sign articles to work on the progressive whaling ship through legal means, however Douglas finds this to be a hard task, as the superstitious seamen won’t set foot on her, due to the disaster that had befallen her sister ship Ivanhoe the year before.


After a ‘run in’ with a local ‘gangster’ Douglas finds himself crimped and wakes up on Redgauntlet sailing to the Arctic, with a mixed superstitious crew, who believe the ship is haunted.

When a series of events take place which replicate those of the stricken Ivanhoe, Douglas and the ship’s mate ‘Bully’ Houston begin to unravel the mystery of what had befallen Ivanhoe and her crew, and realize that they have a traitor aboard their ship.

Set in Dundee in 1860, and utilising real events in shipping history, Archibald has created a light hearted nauticial mystery, as well as a tribute to the works of Sir Walter Scott.

I really enjoyed it.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith ~ Thomas Keneally

Jimmie Blacksmith is a half caste Aborigine raised by a Mission family to have white man’s goals and ideals – steady work, land, and a white wife. But white man wants Jimmie to fail by not paying fairly for work that he has done, not giving him a ‘fair’ go and eventually by trying to starve him off the land. After years of injustice Jimmie reaches breaking point and reeks a terrible vengeance.


Loosely based on the true story of Jimmie Governor, it didn’t capture my imagination at first but as the story evolved I found I couldn’t put it down.

Reading a critical essay on the differences between the movie, the book and the real story, it was interesting to note that Jimmie Governor had not been a mission child, but had grown up with his family who liked to keep to themselves. Therefore his work values and goals were those of his family, and were not instilled in him by white man.

In 1972, when this novel was written Keneally believed that Aborigines were comfortable for a white man to tell their stories. However, in an article published in The Age newspaper in 2001, Keneally is quoted as saying that "It would be insensitive to write from that point of view now."

A Tale of Two Cities ~ Charles Dickens

This tale of love and redemption set before and during the French Revolution is wonderfully plotted and executed (pardon the pun!).


There are no wasted characters or narration. Everything is relevant and finds its place as the storyline is revealed.

Set in London and Paris, the two central characters are Sidney Carton and Charles Darnay (two personalities of Charles Dickens?) Darnay is a French Aristocrat by birth whilst Carton is a Barrister who has not seen his full potential and finds his life slipping away through drink. But, because of his love and respect for Lucie, Darnay’s wife, Carton will give her the ultimate gift.

There are a lot of comparisons in this novel between light and dark (good and evil), Lucie being the Golden Thread and Madam Defarge, (the main antagonist) casting dark shadows. Even Carton and Darnay are considered to be light and dark versions of the same character.

I thought the ending was very good, whereby the rest of the story is told by a prophetic vision – it was sensitively done and finishes with the wonderful line:

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.”

Wow, what a story teller.

The Big Over Easy ~ Jasper Fforde

Jack Sprat from the Nursery Crime Division of the Reading Police Department is investigating the murder of Humpty Dumpty who has fallen off a wall and shattered.


Apart from the fact that Humpty had a fatal case of Salmonella, there is more to his murder than meets the eye, as Jack realises when meeting a cast of characters who each have a motive for his murder.

Loosely based on Jack & The Beanstalk, this is a well written very funny mystery, with wonderful characters.

I don’t read much comedy, but Jasper Fforde is an author I will be sure to read more of in the future.

Kingdom Come - J G Ballard

Set in the near future, large shopping malls are now the focus of the neighbourhood, with their own TV Channels and Sports Clubs. Violence against ethnic neighbours is hidden in the guise of sports violence and is mostly ignored by the law.


When the protagonist, who is in advertising, is told that his father has been shot dead at The Metro Centre he travels to the motorway town of Brooklands to investigate further. Slowly he finds himself caught up in a community entrenched in fascism and consumerism and very quickly he learns the dangers of irresponsible advertising.

This was an unusual novel but it is very relevant to our times, and we should take note of the warning contained therein.

The Blind Assassin ~ Margaret Atwood

Iris Chase Griffin recounts her life story from a privileged upbringing in a small town in Canada, to a sham marriage, a messy divorce and estrangement from her daughter and grand-daughter, and the truth behind her sister Laura’s death.


The Blind Assassin of the title is a book that is published under Laura’s name, which is the title of the pulp science fiction novel being written by the lover of the novel’s heroine (which as the story develops bears relevance to the Chase Griffin story).

Normally I enjoy books within books type of novels, but I found the pulp science fiction segments too long and a device that I did not enjoy for the plot development.

If it was a true autobiography I probably would have had more interest in it, but it was too long all in all and apart from the real historical events, and happenings in Canada at the time, I actually felt that this book was a lot about nothing and that I had wasted my time reading it.

Looking up on the net Iris Chase Griffin has become a favourite literary figure, so this novel has been enjoyed by others. This novel however, disappointingly, was not for me.

Crime & Punishment ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

A Russian novel written in 1866, Crime & Punishmentt tells the story of Raskolnikov, an impoverished arrogant Russian student, who plans and executes a murder.


Confessing his despicable act to a prostitute, Raskolnikov rationalises his crime by calling his victim a ‘louse’ because she was a pawnbroker, believing he has rid the world of a parasite.

Raskolnikov spends the first half of the book in a delirium, absolutely terrified that he will be found out. He begins to act irrationally going to the police and telling them that he knows that they know he is guilty of the murder. The police laugh at him, blaming his behaviour on his recent delirium. Believing this to be a trap, Raskolnikov waits for them to tighten the net…...

Crime & Punishment was originally serialised in 12 monthly instalments, which does make the full novel a little long winded. However, despite struggling with the Russian names, I must admit that I enjoyed reading this much more than I expected.

Memoirs of a Geisha ~ Arthur Golden

This is not a novel I would normally think of to pick up and read. If it hadn’t have been for our Diary theme I would have missed this wonderful book.


Memoirs tells the story of young Chiyo who is sold by her father to an Okiya where it is hoped she will become a Geisha. Her plans, however, are interrupted by the Okiya’s popular Geisha Hutsumomo. From the start she is aware that Chiyo would outshine her should she succeed.

Hatsumomo has to be one of the best antagonists, she is so evil you almost admire her.

Memoirs is also a love story. When Chiyo is shown kindness by “The Chairman”, she vows that whatever path she takes, it must lead her back to him.

I loved the descriptions of Chiyo’s training, the hard life of a Geisha and the beautiful kimono that they get to wear. The imagery that this book supplies is simply stunning.

Put this on the top of your ‘must read’ list!

A Severed Head - Iris Murdoch

In some ways I was expecting a kind of thriller or horror story, or for some reason a series of short stories when I picked up this title.


I had remembered that a couple of years ago Robyn C. had read this and raved about it.

I did it as an audio book narrated by Derek Jacoby, and he did a wonderful job fully capturing the exasperation of the protagonist Martin who is a wealthy wine merchant and hasn’t much to worry about but loving his much older wife and satisfying his mistress.

One day though, things fall apart in the most desperate manner when Martin’s wife announces that she is in love with their mutual best friend and wants a divorce. Martin is then embroiled in a roller coaster ride of lust, adultery and incest.

A wonderful farce, written just prior to the sexual revolution, that really made me laugh the way it was narrated. This is my first Murdoch and she was most certainly a woman ahead of her time, and a wonderful writer.

The Thirty Nine Steps - John Buchan

The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, first published in 1915 by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh. It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous habit of getting himself out of sticky situations.


John Buchan wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps while he was ill in bed with a duodenal ulcer, an illness which remained with him all his life. The novel was his first "shocker", as he called it — a story combining personal and political dramas. The novel marked a turning point in Buchan’s literary career and introduced his famous adventuring hero, Richard Hannay. He described a "shocker" as an adventure where the events in the story are unlikely and the reader is only just able to believe that they really happened.

Buchan's son, William, later wrote that the name of the book originated when the author's daughter, then about age six, was counting the stairs at a private nursing home in Broadstairs, where Buchan was convalescing. "There was a wooden staircase leading down to the beach. My sister, who was about six, and who had just learnt to count properly, went down them and gleefully announced: there are 39 steps." Some time later the house was demolished and a section of the stairs, complete with a brass plaque, was sent to Buchan

The Tin Drum - Gunter Grass

The Tin Drum was full of disturbing imagery, which repulsed and fascinated me, and made this difficult but compulsive reading.

Oskar is an unlikable character, and his narration very contradictory. On one page he would say that he never saw a certain character again, yet on the next page he describes their next meeting. Written in the first person, it often lapsed into the third person within the same sentence which was very annoying and sometimes confusing.

There were elements that could divide the novel into a series of fables, and individually I did enjoy and appreciate them.

In the end though, I found it dragged on, and I was only reading the last 200 pages for the sake of finishing the story. Once Oskar began to grow, he lost his charm and just became a creepy hunchback who well deserved to be instutionalised.

Magic realism is my least favourite story telling device, yet it crops up again and again in the novels I choose. Certainly it is a story I won’t forget, and it makes sense of the weird and shocking movie I saw years ago, but I can’t say I really enjoyed it.

Ur - Stephen King

Originally written exclusively for the Kindle, I obtained this as a newly released audio book. (A must have for my Stephen King collection!).


Initially it reads like a brown nosing advert for Amazon and the Kindle, but once you get past this, it is quite an interesting story. UR’s are alternative realities that are accessed via a pink Kindle that is received in error by an English Teacher who has ordered one in an effort to catch up with the technological age. One of the UR realities has Ernest Hemmingway living for a few more years and writing more novels—all of which can be downloaded. This is all very exciting until our protagonist discovers a local UR which accesses the future news. The news of course isn’t good and with the help of two friends he sets out to prevent the looming disaster he has seen.

However, having broken the Paradox Laws, he now become a person of interest to the ‘Low Men’ who pay him a visit.

If you are a fan of King, you will relish the tie-ins to the Dark Tower series and Hearts in Atlantis.

Felidae ~ Akif Pirinçci

The story of Francis, a feline super sleuth, who is investigating the murders of various neighbourhood cats.


Tongue in cheek, and informative about our feline friends, this is an ingenious mystery. However, I found it hard to suspend my disbelief when one of Francis’ partners is able to use a computer, and not only that he can also write his own programs!

There is a sequel, but I don’t think I’ll bother.

Felidae was turned into a very expensive Cartoon in Germany, and apparently has a cult following.

The Testament of Gideon Mack - James Robertson

A very human story about a minister who does not believe in God, who covets his best friends wife, and who also spent three days underground with the devil and liked him.


I was riveted by the story of the young Gideon and his strict religious upbringing, his youthful attempts at rebellion and then his slipping into the life that is expected of him by his parents.

Gideon is a good man, who works hard for his parish, but is bothered by his deception of not believing in God. After his wife is taken from him in an accident events start to unfold that will change his life, and his beliefs, forever.

Set in Monimaskit, a small town in Scotland, there are supernatural undertones throughout, but it is mainly about Gideon’s upbringing, his charity work, and the unlikely friendship he strikes up with Catherine Craigie, the local town historian, whose bizarre burial wishes accentuates Gideon’s downfall from the church.

A story about legends, faith and friendship, and the hope that there is something beyond the grave.

An unexpected wonderful read.

The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch

Charles Arrowby is an aging theatre director who has decided to retire to a quiet life in a cottage by the sea. Charles’ lifestyle certainly becomes sedentary, with no London newspapers, telephone or TV. He swims, cooks strange gourmet meals for himself, collects beach stones for his garden and keeps a diary of his daily activities. Through this diary, he provides us with an insight into his previous life in London with his eccentric circle of theatrical friends and of his few love affairs.


This quiet idyll is destroyed when he bumps into a stout 60 year old woman in the village and realises that she is ‘Hartley’, his first and only true love. ‘Hartley’ isn’t too happy about their meeting again, and neither is her husband. Charles, however, becomes obsessed with her and what could have been if she had not run away from him and married someone else. He becomes convinced that they are still destined to be together and in a moment of madness Charles kidnaps ‘Hartley’ and locks her up in a room in his cottage.

Matters become worse when his theatrical friends turn up to holiday at the cottage, along with his cousin and Hartley’s runaway adopted son (who tracked Charles down to find out if he might be his real father). There is an attempt on Charles’ life, and one of his visitors drowns, which brings every-one to their senses and together they talk Charles into returning Hartley to her husband.

This was so well written and heaps of fun. Charles’ madness is contagious and you just have to know what he’s going to get up to next.

Ultimately, it is a comic look at love and friendship, but which contains a warning that ’love is blind’ and you should not use your friends/family or take them for granted.

The Map That Changed The World - Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester takes you on a journey of discovery with the nineteenth century canal builder and fossil collector, William Smith, whose single handed labour led to the birth of the science of Geology.


Smith’s long journey, studying the stratification of England came at great personal cost. His work was plagerised and his contribution to science unrecognised when he needed it most, which resulted in Smith spending time in a debtor’s prison.

Events did turn around in his favour and in 1831 he was presented with the first Wollaston medal issued by the Geological Society of London, the very society that years before had barred his entry because of his low birth.

Bleak House - Charles Dickens

I didn’t enjoy this half as much as I enjoyed A Tale of Two Cities. I felt there was far too much going on, and too many characters. I did enjoy what was known as ‘Esther’s Narrative’, Esther being one of two narrators, the other narrator is unknown telling a parallel story which Esther’s briefly intersects.


Esther’s Narrative is told in the past, whilst the other is told in the present. Esther is a little sickly sweet, and Jarndyce her Guardian is one of those benevolent Dicken’s characters who are too good to be true. The back story of the disputed wills in the Court of Chancery has provided interesting reading outside of the novel with regards to the legal system of that time. Dickens had his own experience in Chancery as a Law Clerk, and when trying to enforce copyright on his earlier work.

Bleak House includes those awful Dicken’s character names such as Mr Turveydrop, Mrs Jellyby etc and also includes a scene where one of the characters spontaneously combusts—something Dickens, at the time, believed could happen.

Considered to be a Dickens masterpiece, I beg to differ.

The Motorcycles Diaries - Ernesto Guevara

Two young men decided to travel the length of South America in the early 1950’s. One of those men was Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, and what he was to see during these travels shaped his future.


Guevara can really turn a phrase, his writing and observations are quite remarkable. One of my favourite passages is when he is in Cuzco and he describes how the Spanish stole the gold and religious artifacts from the Incan temples and installed large crosses in their place. Several earthquakes over the years have destroyed the crosses.

Guevara says:

“And yet every so often, the heart of America, shuddering with indignation, sends a nervous spasm through the gentle back of the Andes, and tumultuous shock waves assault the surface of the land”.

With photographs taken by Ernesto and his traveling companion, Alberto Granado, along with the descriptive writing, you can really imagine yourself traveling with them.

Che Guevara, A Revolutionary Life ~ John Lee Anderson

Never before have I read a biography that I have enjoyed so much.


This is an amazing look into the life of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna. An Argentian doctor and iconic Revolutionary whose life was cut short in Bolivia in 1967.

A devout Marxist, ‘Che’ (so named by his friends for his frequent use of the word ‘Che’ meaning pal) lived and breathed what he believed in. His methods may not have always been right, but you have to admire his unfailing beliefs, which ultimately cost him his life, leaving a wife and five children (one by a previous marriage) to grieve for him.

Che’s meeting, in Mexico, with Fidel Castro was to change his life and the course of history. Castro orchestrated the revolution that was to overthrow the Batista dictatorship, and expel the American Imperialists from Cuba. Che finally had a cause in which to utilize his belief in the ’armed struggle’. Originally, not a Communist Revolution, Che’s Marxist influence was finally accepted by Castro, and Cuba allied itself with the Soviet Block which resulted in much needed financial assistance. However, it also resulted in the Soviets bringing in Ballistic Missiles in 1962, in what is now known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Che was a firm believer in the fundamentals of communism. He worked several ministry positions within the revolutionary Cuban government, however only receiving a basic wage for one of the positions. On Saturday’s those within his Ministry were encourage to join him in volunteer work such as cane cutting. Due to his strong belief in the Revolutionary Man and working for the common good, Che soon became disillusioned by what he saw on his visits to Russia (those in power had privilege) and he started to lean towards Maoist China for his inspiration.

Che’s affinity with China however, became an embarrassment for Cuba, and he decided that it was time to move on. But where? The problems in The Congo created an opportunity to start a Revolution in Africa, however he found the African soldiers were undisciplined and the planned insurgency never got off the ground. Finally it was decided that Che would start a Revolution in Bolivia, and once successful he would then cross the border into his homeland of Argentina…….

This book has been meticulously researched. Anderson uprooted his family to Cuba and spent five years there. He had access to Che’s diaries and books (he was a prolific writer), and was able to interview his fellow revolutionaries, his first wife Hilda, his second wife Aleida, along with his parents and siblings.

This is an incredible portrait of a rebellious, chronic asthmatic who, after traveling around South America in his youth, was so incensed by the treatment and living conditions of the indigenous population that he set about trying to change the world.

Glimpses of the Moon - Edith Wharton

Apparently now out of print, I got this as an audio book from the library.


This is a story of Susy, who is penniless, but has been taken care of by wealthy friends since the death of her parents. She marries Nick, who is also penniless, but is an aspiring writer who moves within the same circle of friends. Their marriage is an experiment. They will live off their friends for as long as they can using the cheques received as wedding gifts and take up the offer of places to stay for their long honeymoon. Susy works out that they can manage for a year, and if they sell Susy’s pearls, then possibly for a bit longer.

As part of the experiment, it is agreed that if the other finds a better opportunity then they will split.

Two months later, due to a disagreement, Nick leaves. During their time apart and their attempts at starting their respective lives again, they come to the realization that although they married for an experiment, they were meant to be together and are very much in love.

The characterisations were very good. I liked Susy very much, and her friend Strefford who wants to marry her after Nick leaves. The characterizations of Susy’s wealthy idle friends would probably be based on those Edith Wharton knew. They are completely shallow and selfish.

Nick is a little misguided and reminded me of Angle Claire from Tess of the D’Urbevilles due to his stubborn high mindedness. Thankfully this tale has a happy ending.

This is my second Edith Warton novel, and I’ve enjoyed both very much.

In a Glass Darkly - J Sheridan Le Fanu

Although the tales in this collection are dated, they do comprise the definitive origins of unsettling fiction.


The stories are listed as case studies of a Dr Hesselsius who was in fact the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Van Helsing.

My favourite story was the Novella The Room at the Dragon Volant. It isn’t a horror story but it is a suffocating descent into a trap that the protagonist blindly wanders into for the love of a mysterious woman. Probably one of the original ‘con’ stories and quite a clever mystery.

Carmilla, the final story in the collection was a little contrived—the protagonist lives in a castle in the woods, but it is however quite creepy and being one of the earliest Vampire stories, it was an inspiration, again, to Bram Stoker.

If you enjoy the Gothic style of horror then this is definitely worth a read.

The Bolivian Diary - Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

This has to be one of the saddest books I have ever read…...to know that this is a countdown to Che’s unnecessary murder was quite difficult.


The diary commences upon his arrival in Bolivia when he was in disguise, and documents the truly awful conditions he and his men faced. After his death, whilst being prepared for the photographic proof, the women who washed the long haired Che’s ematiated body were reminded of images of Christ.

The forward to this book was by Fidel Castro, and he disagreed with comments that Che was a misguided adventure. I however, believe those comments are correct. Che seems to have fallen into situations due to various circumstances. He could have made so much more of his life and that of the impoverished in South American if he had not become involved with Castro and his movement.

The Mating Season - P G Wodehouse

This was a delightfully funny and farcical story starring the famous duo Bertie Wooster and his man servant Jeeves.


A simple invite to a gathering at Deverill Hall turns into a race against time to save a number of relationships. The problematic situation is compounded by the fact that due to circumstances (and Jeeves’ connivance) Wooster is in disguise as the newt fancier Gussie Fink-Nottle whose relationship is first on the list, and Gussie unexpectedly arrives as Bertie with Jeeves in tow.

Jeeves, however, comes up with the solutions when all seems lost in his indomitable style.

I really liked the kindhearted, silly Bertie Wooster, and the jokes he came up with. My favourite, which fell flat at the Deverill gathering was:

There were three elderly men on a train traveling to Wembley. The men were hard of hearing, and as the trained pulled up at the station the first man said ‘this must be Wembley’, the second man said, ‘I thought it was Thursday’ and the third man said ‘so am I’!

Great innocent stuff. I can’t wait to read about more of Bertie’s antics.

Cold Heart Canyon - Clive Barker

Cold Heart Canyon is a tongue-in-cheek look at the underbelly of Hollywood. Todd Pickett an idol of the silver screen is on his way down. In a desperate bid to hang onto fame and adoration he opts for cosmetic surgery, which goes horribly wrong. Hiding in an old mansion from his fans and the paparazzi while he recovers he stumbles across long dead movie stars and the Cold Hearted actress from the silent age Katya Lupescu whose beauty and lust belies her true age and nature. In a city of many addictions non come stranger than the Devil’s Country, hidden in a room in the mansion, and those who are waiting in the darkness to view it again. Can Tammy Lauper, President of the Todd Pickett Fan Club, rescue her fallen hero before he succumbs to the Hunt and loses his soul to Katya forever?


An acquired taste, Clive Barker never fails to amaze with his fantastic imagination, unlikely heroes, beautiful but demonic women and nightmarish landscapes, all interlaced with sexual fantasy.

Not for the faint hearted, explicit at times, a conjurer of words, Clive Barker is a master of this genre.

Sacrament - Clive Barker

Gay photographer Will Rabjohns is obsessed with capturing images of wildlife on the edge of extinction. His obsession stems from a childhood encounter with the mysterious Jacob Steep and his companion Rosa Mcgee. Jacob has a similar obsession ~ he and his knife are the perpetrators of the final extinction of certain species and sketches each image in a journal. These images date back many years causing Will to question the true nature of these two dangerous people.


On assignment Will is attacked by a dying polar bear, and whilst lying in a coma he relives the time in Yorkshire when he and two friends met upon Jacob and Rosa on the Yorkshire Moors. What they are shown troubles them for the rest of their lives, and ultimately causes the death of one of them.

Troubled on his awakening and his knowledge that the animal kingdom remains in jeopardy whilst the two Nilotics roam the earth, and with help from the elusive Lord Fox, Will leaves his AIDS riddled friends in the US and returns to England to seek out Jacob and Rosa to end their murderous ways even if it costs him his own life.

This is not the best Barker book that I have read. He normally writes either horror or fantasy but this book was written in reality on the edge of fantasy and just didn’t capture my imagination. I’m sure there was meant to be some meaning between the extinction of animals and his friends dying from AIDs (‘extinction’?) but it wasn’t quite visible and didn’t really work for me. The story plodded, and became confusing towards the end with no real conclusion. Having an openly gay character and his usual explicit scenes was also a little off putting.

Written in 1996, I’m happy to say he’s written better since.

Abarat - Clive Barker

A.K.A. Candy’s Adventures in the Abarat, where a dazzling array of the weird and the wonderful is paraded before our eyes.


Candy Quackenbush lives in Chickentown, Minnesota when a chance meeting with John Mischief and the assassin Mendelson Shape send her swimming in the sea of Izabella that comes rolling in across the plains. She arrives at the Abarat Archipelego which is made up of 25 islands, 24 of them represent each hour of the day with the 25th representing the past present and future.

To Candy’s surprise and to those that she meets she is not overwhelmed by what she sees and this leads to the question has she been here before?

The evil Christopher Carrion believes that she has. He lives on the Island of Midnight which is also known as Gorgossium and hires The Criss-Cross Man to find Candy, but she manages to elude him with the help of the creature Malingo.

However, there is war on the horizon, Mater Motley, Christopher Carrion’s grandmother is busily sewing her stitchlings, creating the vast souless army that will march on the islands of daylight.

Where wizards are evil, dragons roam the seas and snakes sing the longest word in the world, this is the first book of what will be an epic series.

A mix of Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter but much darker and far wackier. I read the paper back version but will most certainly be buying the hardback which includes original paintings of the Abaratian Archipelago and it’s characters by Clive Barker.

The second book of the Abarat is ‘Days of Magic, Nights of War’; I can’t wait to read it.

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Based on the premise that Jesus married Mary Madgelene, they had a child and their descendants are alive today, The Da Vinci Code is a very different adventure story.


Unjustly wanted for the murder of a curator at the Louvre Museum, Robert Langdon follows a trail of clues with the curator’s grand-daughter and code-breaker Agent Neveu which will ultimately lead him on the age old quest to find the Holy Grail.

With Captain Bezu Fache of the French Police hot on his heels Langdon will discover that Da Vinci’s paintings are not what they seem, friends cannot be trusted, why the Catholic Church has much to hide and the importance of the scared feminine in symbolism and religion.

I found this book fascinating and would recommend that it is read before seeing the movie, as the content is so rich with information, history and detail it will surely be lost in the screen play.

Angels & Demons - Dan Brown

A cylinder of highly volatile Anti Matter has been stolen from CERN in Switzerland and deposited underneath the Vatican in Rome.


Symbologist Robert Langdon has been called in as the anti matters creator has been brutally murdered and branded with the supposedly defunct Illuminati’s ambigram.

Conclave has begun and the ‘preferati’ are being murdered and branded with Earth, Air, Fire, Water ambigrams. We spend one night in Rome following symbols which will lead Robert to the next murder and untimately to save the dead scientist’s luscious daughter before she is brutally raped and murdered.

A silly story from beginning to end. Thank goodness I didn’t read this first otherwise I never would have read The Da Vinci Code which I really enjoyed.

Digital Fortress - Dan Brown

Qui Custodiet Ipsos Custodies ~ Who will Guard the Guards?



The National Security Agency’s TRANSLTR has being trying to break a code for over eighteen hours.

It transpires that the NSA is being held hostage by a former employee and his associate North Dakota, who claim that the code Digital Fortress in impenetrable and they will sell it to the highest bidder who will then make it available to all computer software companies so that the NSA can no longer tap into personal emails and computers. If the NSA come clean to the public that they have TRANSLTR they will give them the pass key to the worm virus that is infecting the databank. If they don’t enter the pass key in time then the NSA is exposed to all hackers trying to access the NSA’s secure data files.

Susan Fletcher the beautiful (of course) and talented Cryptographer is called in by her boss to try to an assist whilst her fiancé the equally handsome David Becker a multilingual squash playing professor travels to Spain to find a ring the NSA believes is etched with the pass key.

Can Susan discovery the identity of North Dakota before it is too late and will David stay one step ahead of the assassin who is dispatching all those who come in contact with the ring?

Although I found the main characters shallow and the story line implausible it was still a good fun read. At times I thought I was reading a Matt Reilly as it is quite fast paced. My main critiscm is that Dan Brown has his characters repeat and explain the scenarios like he thinks the reader hasn’t got it yet which is very annoying.

Cell - Stephen King

Apparently Stephen King does not own a Cell phone, and if you read this book you will understand why!


Those unfortunate enough to own a cell phone and answer it at the time of a particular event called The Pulse are sent into a violent zombie state.

We then follow the adventures of a group of unlikely friends heading north in search of the young son of one of them.

As time goes on it appears that our zombies are settling down and becoming ‘aware’, able to communicate via telepathy and demonstrating the ability to levitate. Using their telepathic abilities they affect the direction that ‘normies’ are travelling in, in an effort to round them all up and infect them with the ever mutating ‘Pulse’.

Can our four travelers escape what seems the inevitable, and will they find the boy?

It is not worth naming the characters as ultimately you don’t really care about them or what happens to them. The beginning is messy and unrecognizable as a Stephen King novel, however if you persevere the story does travel along at an even pace. The ending was unsatisfactory, and if you have not read Stephen King before then this is not a good introduction to a normally gifted story teller.

Dark Visions - George R R Martin, Stephen King & Dan Simmons

“It’s a medical condition. I got allergies, I got asthma, I got a bad back, and I got lycanthropy…….” writes George R.R. Martin in his novella The Skin Trade from the Dark Visions compilation. Willie Flambeaux isn’t your average debt collector, he’s also a werewolf. Together with private investigator Randi Wade (who believes her father was killed by a werewolf) he tries to solve the mysterious murders that are making the headlines. Victims are flayed and found with burn marks from the silver chains that have bound them, and Willie believes he will be next. This is a murder mystery story with a difference, well written with convincing (werewolf) characters.

Reploids from Stephen King is an intriguing story of a ‘walk in’ from a parallel world, though the ending is in King’s usual unsatisfactory style and I needed to look up James Madison on the net to understand the ending which involved an image on a dollar bill. The ending was still was unsatisfactory – but interestingly James Madison was the primary author of the United States Constitution and the nation’s fourth president…..

Sneakers is a tongue in cheek horror story from King about a haunted toilet which worked very well, and gave us some haunting images of dead flies building up around a pair of sneakers that could be seen under a stall in the gents by an employee of a recording studio. Why could only he see these sneakers, was he being ‘contacted’, did ‘sneakers’ want to show him how and why he was murdered…….? Creepy.

The third story from King is Dedication, about a black maid and a successful white author staying in the hotel where she works and the black magic used to make him her unborn baby’s ‘natural father’. It was not popular with the editors of the time due to its unsavoury subject matter, but Kings story telling power overrides this enough to give you the chills you are looking for.

Dan Simmons winner of the 1986 World Fantasy Award with his first novel The Song of Kali is also here with three short stories. The first is written in a style similar to Phillip K. Dick. Metastasis is a rather disturbing tale of a man who following a head injury is able to see creatures give and then feed off tumours. He can’t save his mother, and then his girlfriend becomes infected. It is a truly nightmare vision with a messianic ending.

Vanni Fucci is Alive and Well and Living in Hell gives us a light hearted look at the bible pushers on TV in America with a surprise interviewee from Hell on a religious chat show. A very humorous look at these money spinning shows.

Finally Iverson’s Pits is a horror story on the historical side when a young boy scout, and the elderly Captain Montgomery he is assigned to at the Great Reunion of Civil War Veterans, takes an unscheduled trip back in time to the three day battle at Gettysburg. A story of betrayal, revenge and the horrors of war.

The Island of The Day Before - Umberto Eco

The reason for my choice was that this novel was bought for me by my workmates when I left WA to move to Queensland. I tried to read it a couple of times and couldn’t get past the first page, so it has sat on my bookshelf for nearly ten years. By choosing it I’ve had to read it, and am pleased that I have finally done so.


I did have some problems with it! Firstly, the book is almost completely narrated with even the narrator stating he may not have the story correct, because who he is to know…..? Chapter 34 begins with the narrator reminding us that Roberto has borrowed from the novelists of his century the habit of narrating so many stories at once that at a certain point it becomes difficult to pick up the thread. I agree……. Also the lack of a definitive ending after the hard work of ploughing through all that philosophizing, discussion and lecturing was a bit of a let down.

Nobleman Roberto della Griva due to a series of circumstances is sent to sea on a ship to discover the Punto Fijo – which is the means of unraveling the mystery of longitude. He is ultimately shipwrecked and whilst adrift he comes upon the supposedly deserted ship Daphne anchored just off the reef of an Island. The idea of the Island being on the antipodal meridian and therefore across the dateline was an interesting premise for the story, and brought some humour when Roberto was looking for Father Caspar who had left the ship in his diving contraption to retrieve the Specula Melitensis. Roberto believes the reason he cannot see Father Caspar arriving on the beach is because he is looking at yesterday.

The novel is basically a series of stories. Some of them were immensely boring – the siege of Casale, his time in Paris, the problem of longitude (though historically proven) etc. Some stories were intriguing – The Powder of Sympathy, the wounded dog, the idea of his mysterious twin Ferrante (who I think could have been utilised to a better extent instead of creating the novel within a novel to follow his adventures). Some stories were very humerous, I enjoyed reading about Father Caspar teaching Roberto to swim, and also their experiments together. However, Father Caspar as a character was extremely annoying and I could not help but think of Yoda from Star Wars, as their sentence structure was so similar! It was interesting to read the theories on astronomy, eclipses, religion etc from the 17th century (innocent) point of view and meticulously researched by Eco, but sometimes I felt that I was reading the rantings of a madman, he seemed to go on and on about nothing at all. Roberto wondering if stones could think, and pretending to be a stone…. I mean what was that about? Sometimes Roberto thought far too much, and unfortunately at times this was inflicted on the reader.

However with that aside, and with the irritation of too much narration (for me, I prefer dialogue between characters to tell me the story), the novel was beautifully written, and I can imagine it would be more so in it’s original Italian, and probably much would have been lost in the translation. You were in the seventeenth century, it had that ‘feel’ about it, and I miss that now that I have finished it.

Mary Barton - Elizabeth Gaskell

At times depressing this book really showed the reader the human qualities bestowed to the poor in 1840’s Manchester. We have lost many of these qualities as our standard of living has improved. It wasn’t a case of keeping up with the Jones’s, but helping the Jones’s in times of need and sickness, even though you were in need yourself.


I found the writing style a little difficult to read, having to reread sentences and some passages to make sense of it all. The motto’s at the beginning of each chapter were annoying, and so were the notes as I just wanted to read the story and not keep flicking back and forth for explanations!

I found the first half of the book very interesting as we were introduced to the characters, the middle of the book became a bit of a slog for me but once Mary was in search of Will Wilson I couldn’t put it down. We had a real bit of adventure and heroism going on there.

The “Not Guilty” heading spoilt that particular chapter for me and I thought it could have been better work as we had such a lead up to the advent and it was over before we knew it.

To think when this book was written though, the story line does hold up and it has certainly made me think differently about certain things now – like do I really need that new pair of shoes?

Scarecrow - Matt Reilly

Suspend your disbelief and get ready for another rollercoaster ride with “Scarecrow”.


This time Shane “Scarecrow” Schofield is a target for the Majestic 12’s billion dollar Bounty Hunt.

Scarecrow must race against time to discover the names of the members of the Majestic 12, the reason behind their directives, save himself and save the world. Unfortunately, this time, he can’t save everyone.

Totally unbelievable, the threat of world anarchy and global domination, bounty hunters, state of the art fighter jets, missiles, fast cars, guillotines and sharks. But, if you want sheer escapism, action galore and a sprinkling of humour then you’re going to have a good time with Scarecrow, Fox, Mother, Book II and the mysterious Aloysius Knight.

Apart from a few too many cliffhangers this was still a page turner and heaps of fun.

The White Earth - Andrew McGahan

Set in the Darling Downs, it was great to read a book where you could identify with the area. Not only was it a great family saga, it also explained the issue of Native Title, which was the ‘news of the day’ when I first emigrated and I didn’t really take much interest in it.


Full of unlikeable characters John McIvor, William’s mother, and Mrs Griffith, I worried about William all the way through this book. I found myself becoming very anxious about his earache and imagined all sorts of horrible endings for him. It is so easy to fob a child off when they complain about something and having had a friend who insisted her child’s earache was investigated further only to find she had a brain tumour I felt very angry at his mother and the doctor. Ruth became quietly a wonderful and unexpected saviour for William and felt re-assured that he was in stern but good hands at the end of the book.

The theme of fire was quite strong, and with it’s location and droughts, bush fires are always a major concern. What an ironic ending for Kuran Station, but it would seem the best for all concerned.

Mosquito Coast - Paul Theroux

A journey into madness as seen from the eyes of Charlie Fox. Charlie is the oldest son of ingenius inventor Allie Fox who has an opinion on, and an answer for, everything. When Allie tires of modern America he takes his wife and family of four children to the Honduran Jungle to start a new life free of encumbrance. He creates a type of Utopia in the small community of Jeronimo, eventually building a huge ice making machine ‘bringing civilization to the jungle’.


However, Allie needs more challenges and as time goes by Charlie becomes disillusioned with his father. He battles with conflicting emotions as he loves his father dearly but begins to realise that his mindset is dangerous and that he is leading them to a certain death.

We are introduced to some lovely characters in this book my favourite being Mr Haddy who owns the launch which takes the family to Jeronimo when they first arrive. He reveres Allie at first but soon becomes wary of his ‘spearmints’ (experiments). Although fearful of Allie’s temper he takes it upon himself to look out for the safety of Allie’s wife and children.

We are not told much about Allie’s wife, who is referred to as ‘mother’ throughout the book. She protects her children from Allie now and again, but on the whole she would have followed her husband to the end even if it meant their eventual deaths, which is why it falls to Charlie to make a stand against his father.

A dark thoughtful tale.

Flesh - Richard Laymon

Laymon writes with the sexual mentality of a 15 year old boy, the descriptions of his female characters, their attire and sexual desires, borders on pathetic. However, his imagination within the realms of horror delivered in his trade mark tongue in cheek style make for easy reading thrills and chills.


Most of his books hit the mark (The Stake, In the Dark, Alarums), some below the belt (Quake), and others just out and out horror for the sake of it – Flesh. At first Flesh reminded me of the cult sci-fi horror movie The Hidden (1987) and I was disappointed with its unoriginality. The underlying juvenile sexual theme bored me to tears and the constant descriptions of everything a character did from putting on individual items of clothing to what they did bit by bit in the bathroom just gave me the impression that he was trying to fill the page up with words because there wasn’t much to the story. Incredibly Flesh was named Best Horror Novel of 1988 by Science Fiction Chronicle and also shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award. A huge disappointment for this (closet) fan.

Footnote: Laymon passed away on Valentine’s Day 2001.

The Cellar - Richard Laymon

It takes a book like this one to make you appreciate those really good reads out there. I have many books by Richard Laymon with a ‘blurb’ stating from the acclaimed author of The Cellar or from the award winning author of The Cellar. I had built up this novel to be something of a horror classic. It’s a classic alright but not in that sense. Apart from the dreadful storyline, the actual writing was appalling, and his sentence structure childish and boring. I’m over his juvenile approach to his sexual themes, and really (in my opinion) they don’t belong in this genre.


Part of the storyline involved the discovery of a diary from the early part of the century. The ten or so pages which involved the reading of this diary was The Cellar’s only redeeming feature, it was well written and genuinely creepy.

None of the characters came to any good in the end, which is just a well as they were very one dimensional, and not very likeable and considering Laymon had a daughter at the time of writing (he died 2001) the content of this novel is pretty questionable.

The Cellar spawned two more books to form a trilogy which I will probably read as I have already bought them and can only hope they will be better than this one.

Starship Troopers - Robert A Heinlein

This early and apparently controversial science fiction novel bares little resemblance to the movie of the same name, which for me was very disappointing. The novel concentrate’s on Juan Rico’s journey through a tough boot camp and eventually to Klendathu and the bug wars, but the emphasis is on his training and we are shown very little action until the end.


Some important questions were asked and discussed about the futility of war. But, if you enjoyed the movie then I wouldn’t recommend the book.

Orlando - Virginia Woolf

A biography of an Elizabethan boy who lives for four hundred years becoming a woman halfway through his life and fulfilling his/her dream of becoming a published poet.


We are first introduced to Orlando as a boy living in Elizabethan times. His love for a Russian princess, who breaks his heart, is his undoing and causes him to retreat from the world. Preferring his own company and that of his dogs, he eventually becomes an Ambassador in Turkey and is found one day in a catatonic state. Upon his awaking he notices that he has become a woman and runs away with the local band of gypsies.

Eventually pining for real paper and ink (and the scenery of England) Orlando takes a boat and during her trip ponders her situation. She remembers that as a man she insisted that women must be ‘obedient, chaste, scented and exquisitely appareled’. Distressed she realizes that this could take up most of her day, and that her life of manly pursuits and decisions will now consist of pouring tea as soon as she sets foot on English soil. But she also sees how a woman can make a man look foolish – as demonstrated when a sailor nearly falls from the mast when he spies her ankles. Having been both man and woman she ‘knows the secrets and has shared the weaknesses of each’.

Orlando finds that there are many changes in London since her departure – the plague and fire have destroyed most of what she remembers, Wren has built St. Pauls Cathedral, and an air of culture now pervades.

Through the ages she had found love in nature, but never real love until the day she chases falling feathers onto the moors and breaks her ankle. Orlando is rescued by a horseman and becomes engaged immediately and eventually marries though he seems doomed to spend the rest of his life sailing around Cape Horn.

Finally she bumps into an old ‘friend’ the Elizabethan poet Nicholas Greene who re-reads her poem The Oak Tree (his initial reading three hundred years ago was unfavourable) and insists on arranging for it to be published.

I struggled with this book. I find it hard to accept magic realism or fantasy of this genre for some reason. I can accept that Gandalf in Lord of the Rings can be hundreds of years old because the story is set in another world and time, and I could probably accept that Orlando was somehow blessed with immortality but I couldn’t accept that other characters in this novel (such as Nicholas Greene) could also live through the ages!!

Most of the time I thought the book babbled on about total nonsense and I would find myself drifting away and having to re-read passages which was very annoying, as I just wanted to be done with it. The style is very dated and although you are surprised now and again with a spot of real humour, I didn’t really start to take note of the narrative until towards the end when the changes over the past 400 years come to light – but that was just interesting not enjoyable.

The novel has been described as the longest love letter ever written and was dedicated to Vita Sackville-West. For me it was a waste of valuable reading time.