Enders Game - January 2011

5. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

352 Pages, Borrowed from Local Library

Ender's Game is one of those books that is always in the Top 5 Best Science Fiction Lists.  It won the 1985 Nebula award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo award for Best Novel.

Oh boy, it sure does deserve the recognition it gets! It's a little cracker of a story.

I read this in one sitting, I just couldn't put it down. It sucks you in right from the start and delivers action, suspense and a great ending...actually 2 great endings! (When you read the book you'll know what I mean)

The only problem I had was with the characters of Ender's brother Peter and sister Valentine. I know they have a purpose...but they kinda slowed down the story for me.

Other than that, it's a great read and highly recommended.

There are other "Ender" books...I don't know if I'll read them or not. I don't want to dilute my enjoyment of this classic!

I give Ender's Game 5 "Buggers" out of 5!

P.S. It turns out the author, Orson Scott Card, has a bit of a controversial stance on some topics. Regardless of this, Ender's Game is still a great book..maybe get a loan of it rather than buying it ;)

The Hair of the Dog: And Other Scientific Surprises - January 2011

4. The Hair of the Dog - Karl Sabbagh

304 Pages, Borrowed from local Library

I love science. I love watching programmes about science and I love reading books about science...but not the heavy stuff. Stephen Hawking stuff is just a bit too much of a strain on the brain for me.

But I especially love science that is aimed towards explaining the big stuff to the general audience; Prof. Brian Cox, Cosmos, Through the Wormhole etc.

This book is filled with little tidbits of weird, strange, funny science that makes it perfect for me. the writing is also very easy to read with a lot of humour and tongue-in-cheek stuff to keep it amusing and interesting.

The author also uses these to explain bigger concepts in science so that the reader doesn't get scared off by the idea of deep science.

Each chapter covers a different area which I like as I found just when I was getting a little bored of the world of space science, the chapter ended, and we moved onto Mathematics...and when that got boring the author moved on to Plants and animals...and so on.

If you like science, you'll like this book. 

I give this 5 "Flipping Crayfish" out of 5!

2001 - A Space Odyssey January 2011

3. 2001- A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke

260 Pages, Borrowed from Local Library

Another film related book, this time a much more enjoyable experience!

If you've seen the Sci-Fi classic film by Stanley Kubrick then you'll know it can be a bit hard to follow...to say the least!

It turns out that this book was written by Clarke in conjunction with Kubrick when they were creating their film masterpiece.

I loved the film and having now read the book I find my enjoyment of the film is even greater. The book fills in a lot of the gaps, leaving you with a clearer understanding of what's going on during the dialogue-free sections.

There are a few differences between the book and the film (Different Planet!) but nothing that would spoil things.

In fact, it's such a good book, you can enjoy it without having seen the film or ever needing to see it...although you should because it brilliant!

I give this book 5 "Star Babies" out of 5!

The Princess Bride - January 2011

2. The Princess Bride - William Goldman

336 Pages, bought in Charity Shop

Let me start off by saying I loved The Princess Bride film.

I loved it in the cinema, I loved in on VHS and I still love it on DVD.

That love did not extend to the book.

For me, this is one of those rare cases where the film is better than the book.

"INCONCEIVABLE!" I hear you shout!

I picked up the Anniversary edition which has an introduction by the author, where he explains he didn't write the book, his father merely abridged an older book by a Florentine writer named S. Morgenstern.

All this messing and the authors comments really spoiled my enjoyment of the book. I can't explain why but it really irritated me. And Westley is kind of an asshat on a few occasions in the book too. I won't tell you how but they really did the scenes better in the film.

There's a chapter from the unwritten sequel "Buttercups Baby" which kind of dumps all over the original too.

I forced myself to finish this book but it was hard work.

I then watched the film and my love was rekindled.

I give this 2 "Dread Pirate Roberts" out of 5...only because my love for the film prevents me from giving a 1.

Assassin's Apprentice - January 2011

1. Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb

481 Pages, bought in Charity Shop

What a great book to start off the year! I was hooked from the first chapter, and stopped after a few chapters to go check online to see if there were any more books to follow. I was delighted to see there were 5 more to go! This is the first book of the Farseer Trilogy and then the story continues in the Tawny Man Trilogy.

It's a refreshing, original fantasy covering years of the characters life and not just the usual "let's all go on a quest" stuff that's all too common in the Fantasy genre...not to say I have a problem with that, but it's still nice to read something new.

I give this book 5 "Forged" out of 5!

Welcome to Colm Burke's Books Blog

Hello, and welcome to Colm Burke's Books Blog.

In this blog I hope to share with you my thoughts on every book I've read since January 2011.

I've always enjoyed reading, and curling up with a good read is an experience I try to enjoy every day. I've read hundreds of books over my lifetime but realised that I didn't have any kind of a record of what books I'd read over the years.

Sure, some book have stayed with me since I read them, but many have gone by the wayside of memory lane. I can tie some books to a particular time in my life (Stephen King's IT during the summer I turned 13) or a particular experience that may have happened while reading them (Note: Don't read Angela's Ashes while on a romantic break in Paris!) but many have just disappeared into the ether.

So I decided I'd keep a log of the books that passed through my hands since 2011 and have studiously noted each one over the years in a notebook kept on my bedside locker.

This blog lets me add some more details and maybe will entice some of you to read some books you might not have considered before.

I read fiction and non-fiction, some serious topics and some not so serious ones; Adult, Young Adult and Kids books too.

I'm not a book snob and this will become very obvious as you read through the list.

The list is slightly skewed towards Science Fiction books as I had previously decided to try to read all the great sci-fi classics...but there's other stuff in there too!

I add to the list of books I want to read on a daily basis, I also add to the collection of books I'm waiting to read on a weekly basis.

I normally pick up a book or two from some of the many great charity shops in my town. These are stored under my bed...beside my bed...on my bedside locker...in a bookshelf at the bottom of the stairs...in the sitting room on a table...in a bag in the attic...in my car...etc, etc, etc.

I also have some on Kindle.

I have a problem :)