Tastes like chicken......

Number (64) on my 1001 Books And Authors List is the debut novel from Michael Faber, Under The Skin. 

Isserly drives the Scottish highlands every night picking up hitchhikers and taking them back to a derelict farm. But she is no innocent sweetheart heading out for one night stands. Isserly is not from our world, has been painfully and surgically altered to look like us and is bringing back "Vodsel" males (their name for our species) to her farm to be fed up and slaughtered like cattle; later to be shipped off to her home world as a rare and extremely expensive meat. Sounds preposterous? Maybe, but instead of just any old piece of imaginative Sci-Fi, what we actually get here is a highly addictive and strangely compelling narrative that aims to subtly undermine conventional society and question everything we thought we knew and often take for granted.

Under The Skin asks some very important questions. If it is okay for us to harvest other animals for food, why is it so wrong for us to feed on each other? Why are some animals more exempt than others? Why IS it okay for us to eat cows, sheep and pigs but not okay for us to feed on dog or cat? Wherein lie the distinctions?

Isserly and her fellow visitors look on us as just dumb animals, referring to themselves instead as human. Often in her travels on the road, Isserly looks upon our race in disdain. And when a high-ranking member of her society pays a visit to our world and the hidden manufacturing plant that processes the meat and asks whether she or anyone else there has ever eaten sheep, Isserly looks on him with disgust. Namely because her race, in their native form, closely resemble sheep in appearance and it would be unforgivable to slaughter something so close to what they think of as human!

This is one of those novels that defy convention. Its style of writing is very much similar to that of Iain Banks and reads a lot like The Crow Road or The Wasp Factory. In the fact that it is mainstream Sci-Fi without actually reading like Sci-Fi means that it has much in common with Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and its ending is as poignant and it is tragic with a climax that will leave you gasping for breath. There is so much to like about this book that a single Blog Post cannot do it justice. It is everything I like to read in a very good novel ~ it has emotion, it has style and it forces you to ask questions both about yourself and the greater world you live in without you even realising you are doing it. I really cannot recommend this enough...which is why it makes the list!

And the list goes on.....

Have thought of a few more entries to add to my 1001 List Of Books And Authors You Need To Read Before You Die.

Number (60) is The Night Pirates by Peter Harris and Deborah Allwright; a children's book all about a little boy who is taken away on a midnight adventure by rough, tough little girl Pirates! These Pirates are stealing the front of the little boy's house as a disguise for their ship when Tom asks to come along and what follows is a simple but incredibly fun tale that has quickly become one of my favourite books to read Emilie at bedtime!

Numbers (61),(62 and (63) are the novels All The Rage, Hosts and The Haunted Air all by F.Paul Wilson which form part of the Repairman Jack series that ties in with his Adversary Cycle that began with The Keep.

Repairman Jack is a man who fixes things. Not appliances, situations. Much like The A-Team, if you have a problem you need sorting and if you can find him, then Jack can deliver! He first appeared in The Tomb, the second of Wilson's Adversary novels but here returns in his own series that continues the story around the events in his other series.....

The basic premise of The Adversary Cycle is thus: there are two supreme forces at work in the universe. One is ambivalent to us and pays us scant notice, considering us as no more than pawns in a colossal game of Chess. The Other is pure Evil and sees us as a weapon to use against ourselves! It takes great pleasure in setting ourselves up against each other and watching us all die and the only reason its opposing number wants to stop this is because sentient life in the Universe is rare and that if we destroy ourselves, then its power will be weakened giving The Adversary the upper hand.

Jack became caught up in this battle when he meddled in matters in the novel, The Tomb, and now is being fronted as some kind of champion against the forces of The Adversary. Each of the successive stories after Legacies, the first independent RJ novel, follow Jack as he tries in vain to fight his destiny as events gather towards one big final battle which takes place in the last Adversary book, Nightworld. I have not read this book yet as I want to read all the Repairman Jack books first but this is a good thing because it was published previously and is now being edited to fit in better with the Repairman novels. The best way to describe these two series is to compare them to Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Although the main events occur in The Adversary Cycle, much as with King, Wilson incorporates lots of minor events into the mix that help contribute to the bigger plot and much of these take place in the Repairman Jack series.

All The Rage, Hosts and The Haunted Air are the best three of the four novels in this series I have read. To my mind, they are much better written and more enjoyable than The Adversary novels though I have only read The Keep, The Tomb, The Touch and Reborn in that series and still have Reprisal and the afore-mentioned Nightworld to read.  These, however, I am waiting to read until I have completed the Repairman books.....

Until laters, see ya

Love Sparky xxxx

Obsessive much...?

Have been thinking again about my 1001 List of Books And Authors To Read Before You Die and have decided to edit it some more as well as adding a few new titles. Instead of having all John Connolly's Charlie Parker novels collectively on my list, I feel perhaps I should list them individually; especially as I am not sure if the last book in the series quite makes the grade to be included! The first truly disappointing entry of them all, I enjoyed The Whisperers but just not as much as the others so far hence why I have decided not to include it!

The newer books that I want to add include Consider Phlebas and Look To Windward, both by Iain.M.Banks. Two of the Culture series, they are both proper heavy-going serious sci-fi novels set in a universe many hundreds of years ahead of our own! The Culture are a collective group of sentient life-forms and planets who have come together to form a coalition with the intent of better enriching the lives of other civilisations. But some see this as gross interference especially when The Culture start dabbling in naturally occurring events and upsetting the status quo of a planet for their own ends! Consider Phlebas is set during a massive war between The Culture and a race called the Iridans who support the right to uphold their own faith and beliefs. It is a bleak tale but also, at times, a righteous old-fashioned good ol' gung-ho space adventure! The characters are beautifully imagined and the whole plot just sweeps you up and pulls you in before you know it until you can almost forget that there is a more serious, almost satirical message, behind the massive plot! As the first of The Culture novels, it sets the scene marvelouslly for the later novels and can easily be compared to such sweeping epics as Arthur.C.Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama series and Greg Bear's Anvil Of Stars!

Look To Windward is set several decades later and is the seventh book in the series but ghosts from the past remain to haunt Agents of The Culture and soon a devious plot is underway to make them pay penance for concieved former War Crimes that they may well have been responsible for! Another epic tale, it left me quite literally breathless with its sheer scope and scale and is another brilliantly classic sci-fi tale!

Banks writes as both Iain.M.Banks and simply Iain Banks; the difference being that the former title is that under which he writes his sci-fi; the latter, under which he writes the more regular novels set largely in our own, more familiar world. Under the name of just Banks, he has been responsible for the likes of The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road, the latter of which was made into an excellent BBC series! This is an author who is truly talented and has many strings to his bow and if you have not picked him up before, may I suggest you do so!

The other books I want to add are Heartsick and Evil At Heart; the first and third books in the Gretchen Lowell series. Gretchen is a serial killer with a so far undisclosed number of victims, Archie Sheridan is the man who brought her to justice but nearly died in the process. Now addicted to prescription drugs and with an unhealthy obsession with Gretchen born from Stockholm Syndrome, Archie is pulled back onto the job as head of The Beauty Killer Task Force to hunt a new killer but is forced to accept having his story re-told at the same time by reporter, Susan Ward. This is an awesome series so far with only four books written ~ the first novel groundbreaking in the way it deals with Gretchen as a Hannibal Lecter type villain whilst still maintaining a sense of humour and even poking fun at the fact that comparisons will be made between the two killers. (In one scene, Gretchen greets Susan Ward in prison with the words "Hello Clarice!")

The third novel, and easily the best of the series so far, takes a long, hard look at America's obsession with serial killers (and not just America) and the Media's bid to make such killers almost celebrities in the same satirical way that Natural Born Killers tried to do on film. Gretchen is on the loose, still playing games, and angry that someone is killing in her name. Archie is in drug rehabilitation and seconded in a mental institute of his own choosing but finds himself slowly being drawn out once again to face his obsessional behaviour and address his addiction head on! Again, this is another brilliant piece of crime fiction that, though fairly easy to read in a P.J.Tracey kind of way, still manages to surpass anything produced by that mother-daughter writing team. Highly recommended!

So the new list reads as follows.....

 1) The Terror by Dan Simmons

2) Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

3) From A Buick 8 by Stephen King

4) Mao by Jung Chang

5) IT by Stephen King

6) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

7) Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

8) Ways To Live Forever by Sally Nicholls

9) Charlotte Grey by Sebastian Faulks

10) Headhunter by Michael Slade

11)Every Dead Thing by John Connolly

12)The collected work of Clifford.D.SimaK

13)Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

14)The Elvis Cole novels by Robert Crais

15)The Quiller novels by Adam Hall

16)Kamikaze by Michael Slade

17)Lost And Found by Oliver Jeffers

18)The Grail Quest trilogy by Bernard Cornwell

19)The Study Trilogy by Maria.V.Snyder

20)The Stone And The Flute by Hans Bremmann

21) Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

22) Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb

23) Ship of magic by Robin Hobb

24) The mad ship by Robin Hobb

25) Ship of destiny by Robin Hobb

26) Fool's errand by Robin Hobb

27) The golden fool by Robin Hobb

28) Fool's fate by Robin Hobb

29) Shaman's crossing by Robin Hobb

30) Forest mage by Robin Hobb

31) Renegade's Magic by Robin Hobb

32) The dragon keeper by Robin Hobb

33) Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb 

34) The Silver metal lover by Tanith Lee

35) Wizard and Glass by Stephen King

36) Mission by Patrick Tilley

37) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

38) The dark tower by Stephen King

39) The rosary girls by Richard Montanari

40) The Chemistry of death by Simon Beckett 

41) Written in bone by Simon Beckett

42) Whispers of the dead by Simon Beckett

43) Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

44) The complete Deathlands series by James Axler 

46) We need to talk about kevin by lionel shriver

47) The book thief by marcus zusak

48) Dark Hollow by John Connolly

49) The Killing Kind by John Connolly 

50) The White Road by John Connolly

51) The Black Angel by John Connolly

52)  The Unquiet by John Connolly

53) The Reapers by John Connolly

54) The Lovers by John Connolly

55) Consider Phlebas by Iain.M.Banks

56) Look To Windward by Iain.M.Banks

57) Heartsick  by Chelsea Cain

58) Evil At Heart by Chelsea Cain.

59) Wild Swans by Jung Chang

As for Lainy's comment on a previous post; Have no fear, there is very little that will EVER stop me reading! I am known in my family as the one who always brings a book, sometimes two, wherever he is going. I am rarely, if ever, found without a book secured somewhere on my person. Obsessive much...? You could say that! I am a true Bibliophile in that I often get a compulsive need or desire to sort through my books. This 1001 list is just the latest in many such lists that I have compiled over the years in my bid to record my favourite books!

As a child, I would list and rate books I had read out of 10 but liked so many, and dis-liked so few, that inevitably everything on my list was getting 8's and 9's so eventually decided to rate just out of 5! At times, I have compiled little chronologies of series, such as EdMcBain's 87th Precint, so that I could keep up with characters and events that followed on from book-to-book and am always sorting out and adjusting my shelves; not just to make more space but also to clear deadwood and lose books I no longer intend to re-read. Bit then, this is a haphazard idea because there are a number of books on my shelves that I have owned several times, having previously decided not to keep them then changing my mind years later!

I suffer a little from OCD, and my main focus of that illness surrounds books. I can tell you where and when I first read certain books or how and where I obtained them. To me, every book tells a story far beyond what is contained within its pages. A little sad? Maybe...but books are my addiction, reading is my life and nothing not even Xbox can come between  me and my obsession!

Can I describe the feeling I get when I discover a gem hidden in a charity shop that I have been keeping my eyes open for ? No, I cannot. Likewise I cannot explain why I feel the need to buy more books when I have so many on my TBR still to be read!

I have been contemplating the purchase of a Kindle, takes up less space ~ books instantly available ~ but have decided to put off said purchase until I clear my afore-mentioned TBR a bit. Hopefully this will give me an incentive to speed up this lengthy process......only time will tell!

But I don't think you should be holding your breath any time soon........

A quick look at the new entries to my 1001 Books And Authors list

Just wanted to take a quick look at the most recent books that I added to my 1001 Books And Authors list because last time though I added them, I diudn't take time to discuss them or why I was adding them and I DO so like to do things properly. First up was Fingersmith which basically can be summed up thus:

"The first of Sarah Waters books that I both read and enjoyed, Fingersmith is a brilliant Dickensian tale of orphans, the seedy criminal underworld of 19th century London and mis-placed identity that has much in common with Oliver Twist to which there are many crafty nods throughout the course of the novel.

Sue Trinder has been brought up an orphan in the house of Mrs.Suckesby surrounded by ne'er-do-well types, screaming babies and the popular fence of stolen goods Mr.Ibbs after her mother was hanged for murder within sight of her bedroom window.

A regular caller, known only as Gentleman, pays a visit one evening with Sue in mind for a devious scam. She will go to a mansion house, out in the country, pose as a Lady's maid and help Gentleman to seduce a young girl under the care of her eccentric uncle with the intention of marrying her and stealing from the Lady her inheritance- a portion of which he will give to Sue and Mrs.Suckesby for their part in his nefarious schemes.

Of course things do not, as they are wont not to do, go as planned and Sue finds herself falling deeply and emotionally for the Lady she is supposed to be serving. Gentleman is determined not to see his plans come to naught and starts to show his more vicious and mean-spirited side and then, at the plans cultimation, events occur which throw everything on its head."  (Taken from my review on Dooyoo!)

 This was a gripping read that I enjoyed from start to finish, though it was not exactly my usual type of reading fare! The only other novel I have read by Waters, Affinity, was nowhere near as good but this was a truly memorable reading experience!

Written In Bone and Whispers Of The Dead continue the story of  Dr.David Hunter as he resumes his career as a Forensic Scientist examining the bodies of the recently dead. For a pair of sequels, both these novels are bloody good with the first seeing the Dr trapped on a remote Scottish island hunting a killer or killers with no means of escape until a vicious storm abates which, despite the cliche plot, really works effectively and the second seeing Hunter returning to the Tennessee Body Farm where he learnt his trade only to get caught up unintentionally, and a little unwelcomely, in a serious Homicide investigation on foreign soil! Both books left me eagerly wanting to read the fourth installment which I haven't yet got hold of!

Finally, there are the Deathlands novels which I briefly discussed in my last Blog post. 

These novels are ghost-written by a series of authors under the name of James Axler after the original author, Lawerence James passed away. Published by the same people who produce the Mack Bolan, Excecutioner series, this epic cycle of books currently runs at a little over a hundred titles. So far, I possess no more than thirty! They are not so easily obtainable over here as they are in the States but thank god for Bookmooch, Amazon and occassionally Ebay!

Set a hundred years after a nucleur war has left America devastated, and now known as Deathlands, the books follow the exploits of one-eyed Ryan Cawdor and his bunch of warrior survialists who travel across Deathlands using secret Matter-Transporter Gateways hidden in Military Redoubts buried beneath what was once the USA. Occassionally, the Gateways take them outside America ~ colonies on other planets and as far-flung destinations as Japan, Russia and the Moon have all been hinted at or featured over the course of the series and even Time-Travel plays a part as one of Ryan's number was "trawled" forward from the Eighteenth Century just before the war by scientists known as White Coats! Some of the titles are better than others with most of the better ones being written by the original author but I enjoy this series so much, that for me it truly is an essential read! 

Though the books can probably best be described as Pulp-Sci-Fi, many of the titles bring up important issues like the futility of nucleur war, the after-effects of such a senseless act and the ramifications for future generations! In one novel, Keepers Of The Sun, in which the group find themself in what is left of Japan, a piece of footage is described of one survivors account of Hiroshima and discusses whether America was right to drop the A-bomb; serious stuff indeed! So you can see that although these books won't be to everyone's tastes, there are important reasons, not just selfish ones, why I include them in my list!

Finally for a new addition to the list, I would like to add (48) Sworn To Silence by Linda Castillo; another crime novel but this time set in and around a small Amish community! 

"Sworn To Silence is the debut thriller of female author, Linda Castillo and is unusual and unique in the fact that it is set entirely in and around an Amish community. Painters Mill consists of two sets of people ~ those who are Amish and those who are not ~ but Chief Of Police, Katie Burkholder, is able to straddle the line between them quite confidently. She used to be Amish before traumatic events shook her world and she chose to walk away from her vows of faith. Now she is back and, as the Head of the local Police Force, is about to discover that some secrets just won't stay buried!!!

When a young girl is found murdered with a set of roman numerals carved in her chest, it brings back painful memories of another serial killer who terrorised Painters Mill several years ago. Only three people still living know why the murders stopped so suddenly and one of them is Katie Burkholder. For reasons known only to her and two others, she is convinced that these lastest attacks are the result of a copycat killer despite simliarities and not the original murderer returned and is determined to solve the case without outside interference. But the local Selectmen think otherwise and, in a last ditch attempt to resseurect a near-disgraced Homicide Detective's career, arrange for someone more experienced to come onboard with his independent perspective.

John Tomasetti is a widower and a drunk who has had his own share of traumatic experiences and has his own personal demons to face. But he is not stupid and soon works out that Kate has something in her past she would rather stay hidden! Slowly the truth comes out and then it becomes a race against time to track down a killer before he can strike again!

Sworn To Silence is an awesome, awesome thriller and one I would not hesitate to reccomend! Inevitable comparisons will be made to Harrison Ford's film, Witness, but in truth, this is nothing like that!" (Taken again from my Dooyoo review!)

My only concerns are that further books in the series will not be as good because just how many serial murders can you have around an Amish community? Not that much surely but only time will tell..... 

Other books that I have been reading lately but that don't warrant inclusion include John Ajvide Lindqvist's Handling The Undead, his follow up to Let The Right One In which is nowhere near as good and never really goes anywhere with the interesting ideas and concepts it explores (the recent dead return to life not as zombies but as troubled souls) and Mo Hayder's Gone which started off well but then all went a bit pear-shaped at the end!

Until next time, laters people

                                             Sparky xxxx