Most Sundays I buy The Sunday Times and each time, for some unknown reason, I look at the book charts (much like the pop charts but without Fearne Cotton). I really should stop doing this as it irritates me. Why does everyone like Dan Brown? It upsets me that so many people must rush out and buy only his books. How else do you explain the fact that this week in the paperback fiction chart three of his books are in the top ten. His books have been in the charts for 94, 70 and 48 weeks, the longest non-Dan Brown-penned book has only been in for six.

Before people start accussing me of rubbishing something I know nothing about I’d like to point out that I have actually read The Da Vinci Code. It wasn’t bad, in fact the story line was good. What I didn’t like was the very first word: ‘Fact’. The Da Vinci code has factual descriptions of buildings, paintings and organizations. The issue I have with this is that be stating that the descriptions are real it adds more weight to the garbage that comes from dubious interpretations. The line between fact and fiction it too blurred. I object to this because when you purposefully do that people go round believing some of it. An example of a work of fiction set in a historic period that respects fact and where the fictional parts are believable but obviously fiction could be…..well most books by Robert Harris to be honest. [1], [2]. My point is that, the story is good so why try and pass it off as anything more than a story?

Also, whilst I’m on about over-rated books; any book that has won a prize, in my experience, if probably not worth reading. The fact that Ian McEwan wins every single booker prize that has ever taken place is probably testament to that. I’m half way through Brick Lane by Monica Ali and it’s quite hard going, mainly because nothing happens (yes I do get the point of it and the reason why it’s written the way it’s written but I did get that point 150 pages ago and I’m now bored of it and want something to happen). Some of the runners up are sometimes ok (England, England by Julian Barnes is readable but very strange)

So, why won’t I read any Harry Potter books. It’s quite simple. It’s a reaction against the hype surrounding them. They are bound not to live up to how amazing everyone says they are. There will always be th thought that much like prize-winning books and the Da Vinci Code, there are better books out there, and that I shouldn’t be reading this trash.

Fragrant Harbour (sorry can’t remember the author at the moment) follows the stories of several people and how they end up in Hong Kong. The stories span around a century in the colony. It’s well written and kept me entertained throughout. The only flaw I felt was that I was required to remember a seemingly unimportant piece of information from the beginning of the book for the end to make sense. A very good book though.

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson – the one that was recently made into a film. It’s about Joe Simpson and his climbing partners struggle up and down a mountain. The story is quite remarkable as a little way down from the summit Joe breaks his leg, a little later his partner Simon is forced to cut the rope Joe is hanging from and leave him believing he’s dead. Quite a remarkable story of survival. I’d say it was more of a book for climbers as he uses some climbing jargon and talks quite a lot about morraines/other glacial and ice features. I liked it though as it manages to convey some of what it feels like to be in that sort of situation

and finally

Enigma by Robert Harris – I’ve already read and talked about one of his other books, Pompeii and Enigma is much in the same vein. The book follows a man called Tom Jericho who is part of the cryptanalyst team at Bletchly Park where the German messages were decyphered. The story’s interesting and much like Pompeii the historical information is amazingly detailed and (as far as I know) accurate. I didn’t feel the book was as good as Pompeii but that could just be me. If you’re interested in the code breaking during the war this is quite a good novel to read for a feeling of what it was like to be there at the time

So in summary – all three books were good. Whilst I enjoyed Touching the Void I wouldn’t unreservedly reccommend it to everyone unlike the other two. Told you it would be brief. All I have to do now is find something else to read now

The book follows the man responsible for the maintenance of the Aqueducts in the Bay of Naples and takes place in the days and hours running up-to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius (think 24 a la Ancient Rome). The water stops running and the Aquarius must fix the aqueduct, but preying on his mind is the mysterious disappearance of the previous holder of his position and some strange goings on in the area.

What is most striking about Pompeii is the level of detail, and more so since all of it appears to be startlingly accurate. At the end of the book Harris acknowledges his sources (a good few) and thanks those (distinguished) people that gave advice including Dr Mary Beard (someone I’d actually heard of before reading the name in Pompeii). Writing a book set 100 years ago requires some skill to avoid any anachronisms but writing one set around 2000 years ago is some feat. From my (sparse) knowledge of the Roman empire at that time all the details appear to be spot on, each page containing many references to actions performed or customs that must have been researched quite meticulously.

Along with attention to details in the book Robert Harris also includes some historical figures. Whilst the main character is an unknown some notable people take a large role in the book, most notably Pliny the Elder and (to a lesser extent) his nephew Pliny the Younger. What is astonishing is that every single detail about Pliny’s life appears to be correct even down to the description of Pliny the Elder’s demise (not wanting to spoil the end but you should have guessed). As it happens Pliny the Younger wrote an account of his uncle’s death which ties in exactly with the story-line of the book (for the curious Pliny describes what happened to him and his mother after the eruption, not included in the novel, in Book Six, letter 20 of his Letters, the description of his uncle’s death is earlier in letter 16).

Having babbled on about the little yet accurate details it only remains to say that despite the constraints of ‘getting the history right’ and ‘everyone knowing what happens’ Robert Harris still manages to create an enthralling book that really brings to life that period of history. I just wish I’d read it when I was still studying the Roman Empire. Having harped on for quite so long about the detail is seems as if the only reason to read it is if you have some strange long-running obsession with the Romans (ahem) but that isn’t really the case. It’s a very entertaining book, not absolutely outstanding but good, definitely worth a read.

Set for the most part in what is now the Czech Republic the book is formed of several separate sections, each telling their own story with their own characters and very few links between the sections. Very few links except the main theme. The book itself talks about what it is in a very oblique way. In one of the later sections the author talks about his father and a Beethoven’s compositions and the variations on a theme, much like the book itself.

This seven-stories-in-one technique has the effect of creating something that is both dis-jointed and perfectly linked. There isn’t any character development but the themes and ideas grow and develop. This book is half novel and half exposition of philosophy. Whether this is an effective method is another matter. Sometimes the author’s ideas seem a little strange or at odds with each other.

It was quite a cool book but I’m still quite glad most books aren’t written that way. Not one to read for the plot but an interesting read interesting if only for some of the social background

The book is narrated by Susie, who at the age of 14 was raped and murdered by her next-door neighbor and is watching her family and friends grow up from heaven. I could write more about it but I think you should probably make your own minds up about it once you’ve read it.

-1984 by George Orwell – It’s a really cool book, there are also mutterings of Dramsoc doing it next year (assuming it’s proposed and chosen). There isn’t a script for it at the moment but if no one else wants to I think I might give it a bash.

-Alice in Wonderland (and through the looking glass) – When I attempted to review the version of Alice the medics did I realized I couldn’t really as I had only seen the Disney film. This is a poor state of affairs and needs to be addressed.

-The Lovely Bones- It sounds cool, and I’ve heard some good things about it. Also I probably don’t read enough books by female authors.

I’ll let you know how I get on.