SocialBookshelves.com http://www.socialbookshelves.com Short reviews from a book lover. Thu, 26 Nov 2020 04:30:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.3 Michelle McNamara – I’ll Be Gone in the Dark | Review http://www.socialbookshelves.com/michelle-mcnamara-ill-be-gone-in-the-dark-review/ http://www.socialbookshelves.com/michelle-mcnamara-ill-be-gone-in-the-dark-review/#respond Thu, 26 Nov 2020 04:30:25 +0000 http://www.socialbookshelves.com/?p=19540 Title: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark Author: Michelle McNamara Type: Non-Fiction Page Count: 334 Rating: 4/5 This book was pretty hyped up and so for a while I was kind of worried about reading it. Loads of people talk about it on BookTube and in a hugely positive light, and historically that’s been kind

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Title: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

Author: Michelle McNamara

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count: 334

Rating: 4/5

This book was pretty hyped up and so for a while I was kind of worried about reading it. Loads of people talk about it on BookTube and in a hugely positive light, and historically that’s been kind of a red flag.

Luckily, I also had a sort of vibe about it and so I left it on the back burner for a while. By the time that I finally picked it up, I’d opted to go with it as a bedtime book, because reading about rapes and murders is always a good idea before sleeping. I think those factors helped to make sure that I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting.

I think a lot of the hype around this book actually comes from the story behind the story, rather than the book itself. I don’t want to focus on that though, because you probably know all about who wrote it, what happened to her and what eventually happened to the Golden State Killer.

Fortunately, even when you go into the book with that knowledge, it doesn’t hamper your reading. For me at least, most of the enjoyment came from following McNamara’s journey, and if you read this as almost a journal or a series of blog posts, you’re probably going to enjoy it a lot more than if you expect it to be a simple linear story following a single case from start to finish.

But the good news is that McNamara was a decent writer, and it really comes across here. I think it deserves all of the good press that it’s received, and that it’s a generally well-written book with a lot to like about it. I’d recommend it if you’ve been thinking about it, and I’d also recommend it as a good book to give to a true crime fan.

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Tony Hawks – A Piano in the Pyrenees | Review http://www.socialbookshelves.com/tony-hawks-a-piano-in-the-pyrenees-review/ http://www.socialbookshelves.com/tony-hawks-a-piano-in-the-pyrenees-review/#respond Wed, 25 Nov 2020 17:31:43 +0000 http://www.socialbookshelves.com/?p=19605 Title: A Piano in the Pyrenees Author: Tony Hawks Type: Non-Fiction Page Count: 312 Rating: 4/5 This non-fiction book tells the story of what happened when a middle-aged British comedian called Tony Hawks decided to buy a house in France, almost on a whim. He also decided to take his piano over there so that

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Title: A Piano in the Pyrenees

Author: Tony Hawks

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count: 312

Rating: 4/5

This non-fiction book tells the story of what happened when a middle-aged British comedian called Tony Hawks decided to buy a house in France, almost on a whim. He also decided to take his piano over there so that he could finally learn to play the thing.

It was a fun little book, and overall I found it to be a pleasure to work my way through it. My only real complaint would be that the pacing was a little off, in that it felt as though the whole book covered a period of just a couple of months or so.

Other than that though, there were some great little insights into French culture here, as well as a few smatterings of French dialogue that were enjoyable for me as someone who’s slowly but surely trying to learn the language. There were also some great little examples of culture shock or of misunderstandings, particularly when Hawks was trying to navigate the complicated French legal landscape to purchase properties and to build swimming pools, despite being utterly useless at assembling basic flat packs.

I’ve read a couple of Hawks’ other books at this point, and tonality and sense of humour wise, it’s pretty similar to those. That means that if you enjoyed Round Ireland with a Fridge, for example, then you’re probably going to enjoy this one too. Sure, his sense of humour might not be quite right for everyone, but Hawks has always made me laugh and he did so here, too.

There were occasional borderline sexist comments in it here and there, but then I suppose that gave it a certain sense of realness. He was a single bloke surrounded by Frenchwomen, after all. But overall, yeah.

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Agatha Christie – The Body in the Library | Review http://www.socialbookshelves.com/agatha-christie-the-body-in-the-library-review/ http://www.socialbookshelves.com/agatha-christie-the-body-in-the-library-review/#respond Fri, 20 Nov 2020 23:58:58 +0000 http://www.socialbookshelves.com/?p=19601 Title: The Body in the Library Author: Agatha Christie Type: Fiction Page Count: 192 Rating: 4/5 This book basically came about because Christie wanted to write something in which she explores the stereotypical murder mystery device of there being a body in the library. Of course, with Christie, there’s not really any such thing as

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Title: The Body in the Library

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 192

Rating: 4/5

This book basically came about because Christie wanted to write something in which she explores the stereotypical murder mystery device of there being a body in the library. Of course, with Christie, there’s not really any such thing as normal, and so you’re in for a treat if you settle in for it.

I was also in for a nice surprise here because this was a Miss Marple book and Marple is my favourite of Christie’s detectives. I thought I’d already read them all and so to discover that I hadn’t was a nice little bonus, because I’ve always loved Marple and she’s always a pleasure to read.

My only real complaint here is that there wasn’t enough of Jane, but then there never is. Still, the core murder was interesting enough to keep me gripped and I loved the small town vibes of St. Mary’s Mead.

So if you see this going spare in a charity shop or otherwise get a chance to read it, go ahead.

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Isaac Asimov – The Early Asimov: Volume II | Review http://www.socialbookshelves.com/isaac-asimov-the-early-asimov-volume-ii-review/ http://www.socialbookshelves.com/isaac-asimov-the-early-asimov-volume-ii-review/#respond Thu, 19 Nov 2020 15:23:19 +0000 http://www.socialbookshelves.com/?p=19592 Title: The Early Asimov: Volume II Author: Isaac Asimov Type: Fiction Page Count: 240 Rating: 4/5 This book does exactly what it says on the tin, acting as a sequel to The Early Asimov: Volume I and continuing to share Asimov’s early work along with his commentary on each of the stories. Interestingly enough, I

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Title: The Early Asimov: Volume II

Author: Isaac Asimov

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 240

Rating: 4/5

This book does exactly what it says on the tin, acting as a sequel to The Early Asimov: Volume I and continuing to share Asimov’s early work along with his commentary on each of the stories. Interestingly enough, I think the original collection was also published in hardback as a single edition, but it was printed as three separate paperbacks for reasons of (I guess) economy.

Still, you can enjoy it just fine as a standalone if you spot a copy of it going second hand, and the stories are pretty solid here even though they were written towards the start of his career. His commentary is fascinating too, although it always is, and I liked the fact that a few of the stories acted as direct sequels to each other. That’s actually mostly because occasionally an editor would encourage him to do so or to ask for more of the same, and he was only too happy to do so.

This isn’t going to be a good book to pick up if you’re new to Isaac Asimov, although the stories are still pretty good and definitely worth reading. It’s just kind of funny because in his essays he’s talking about some of his classics, and this was what else he was writing around that time.

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Agatha Christie – The Big Four | Review http://www.socialbookshelves.com/agatha-christie-the-big-four-review/ http://www.socialbookshelves.com/agatha-christie-the-big-four-review/#respond Wed, 18 Nov 2020 17:08:36 +0000 http://www.socialbookshelves.com/?p=19588 Title: The Big Four Author: Agatha Christie Type: Fiction Page Count: 160 Rating: 4/5 This is a Hercule Poirot book in which the great detective comes up against a criminal network called The Big Four, which is hell-bent on world domination. It’s arguably one of the books in which the stakes are the highest, and

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Title: The Big Four

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 160

Rating: 4/5

This is a Hercule Poirot book in which the great detective comes up against a criminal network called The Big Four, which is hell-bent on world domination. It’s arguably one of the books in which the stakes are the highest, and I think that in itself makes it interesting.

But I also thought that the story line was pretty good, and I think that it would even be a decent one to go to if you’re relatively new to Poirot. It would make a good movie too, especially if you could get an ensemble cast, and so I’m kind of surprised that it’s not more popular than it is.

Still, there was at least something about it that stopped it from making its way into my top tier of Agatha Christie books. It was good but not great, I guess.

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Philip K. Dick – Time Out of Joint | Review http://www.socialbookshelves.com/philip-k-dick-time-out-of-joint-review/ http://www.socialbookshelves.com/philip-k-dick-time-out-of-joint-review/#respond Sun, 15 Nov 2020 16:28:44 +0000 http://www.socialbookshelves.com/?p=19583 Title: Time Out of Joint Author: Philip K. Dick Type: Fiction Page Count: 192 Rating: 3.5/5 This book presents itself as one thing but is something very different. What we actually have is something a little bit like The Truman Show in which the protagonist slowly starts to realise that there’s something shady going on

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Title: Time Out of Joint

Author: Philip K. Dick

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 192

Rating: 3.5/5

This book presents itself as one thing but is something very different. What we actually have is something a little bit like The Truman Show in which the protagonist slowly starts to realise that there’s something shady going on behind the scenes and his reality is being manipulated.

For me, I found that it the reading experience was a little jarring, because it kept feeling as though reality was fine and then suddenly it was nuts and then it was back to all just fine again. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention, but if that’s the case then it’s arguably the book’s fault anyway.

I just think that some of Dick’s other work was more engaging, and this just sort of felt as though he was rehashing old territory. Part of that might be because Dick has influenced a ton of people, and it’s not really his fault if this felt familiar because it’s been copied a bunch of times. It was still pretty good and worth reading, though.

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Agatha Christie – Taken at the Flood | Review http://www.socialbookshelves.com/agatha-christie-taken-at-the-flood-review/ http://www.socialbookshelves.com/agatha-christie-taken-at-the-flood-review/#respond Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:18:29 +0000 http://www.socialbookshelves.com/?p=19578 Title: Taken at the Flood Author: Agatha Christie Type: Fiction Page Count: 192 Rating: 3.5/5 This was just okay but not great, although I always say that even Agatha Christie at her worst is better than most at their best. I think the issue here is that she did her usual thing of not introducing

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Title: Taken at the Flood

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 192

Rating: 3.5/5

This was just okay but not great, although I always say that even Agatha Christie at her worst is better than most at their best. I think the issue here is that she did her usual thing of not introducing Poirot until towards the end of the story, and that only works if the story and the characters have got you hooked. Here, they unfortunately didn’t.

I did enjoy reading it though, I just can’t say that I enjoyed it as much as the other Christie books that I’ve read, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re a seasoned fan. It’s one of the few times that I’ve been reading a Christie novel and asking myself when it was going to end because I wanted to hurry up and move on to something else.

So yeah, there’s my take on Taken at the Flood, although you should take it with a pinch of salt. Some people like some Christie books and some people like others. So there you have it.

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Isaac Asimov – The Early Asimov Volume I | Review http://www.socialbookshelves.com/isaac-asimov-the-early-asimov-volume-i-review/ http://www.socialbookshelves.com/isaac-asimov-the-early-asimov-volume-i-review/#respond Tue, 10 Nov 2020 12:05:14 +0000 http://www.socialbookshelves.com/?p=19574 Title: The Early Asimov Volume I Author: Isaac Asimov Type: Fiction Page Count: 186 Rating: 3.75/5 As you can tell from the title of this book, it brings together some of Isaac Asimov’s early work. Because of that, it’s perhaps not as polished as you might expect from him, and it’s also not really the

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Title: The Early Asimov Volume I

Author: Isaac Asimov

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 186

Rating: 3.75/5

As you can tell from the title of this book, it brings together some of Isaac Asimov’s early work. Because of that, it’s perhaps not as polished as you might expect from him, and it’s also not really the best place for you to begin unless you see a copy of it going spare and you’re curious.

In fact, for me, what was most interesting was what’s always most interesting, and that was to read Asimov’s introductory essays to the stories and to discover the histories behind them. It offers a unique insight into life as a writer and I think that makes it a must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about the craft.

But of course, even in his early years, Asimov was one of the greats, and it’s cool to read him writing about his experience as a professional writer. There’s stuff that you can learn, if you’re willing to learn it. And the ideas are awesome too.

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Graham Greene – The Living Room | Review http://www.socialbookshelves.com/graham-greene-the-living-room-review/ http://www.socialbookshelves.com/graham-greene-the-living-room-review/#respond Tue, 10 Nov 2020 01:49:34 +0000 http://www.socialbookshelves.com/?p=19570 Title: The Living Room Author: Graham Greene Type: Fiction Page Count: 72 Rating: 4/5 This book was lots of fun because Graham Greene is one of my favourite authors but I’ve been running out of his books. This one is a play, and it takes its title from the fact that a family lives in

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Title: The Living Room

Author: Graham Greene

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 72

Rating: 4/5

This book was lots of fun because Graham Greene is one of my favourite authors but I’ve been running out of his books. This one is a play, and it takes its title from the fact that a family lives in a house where they board up the bedrooms when people die.

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Agatha Christie – Sad Cypress | Review http://www.socialbookshelves.com/agatha-christie-sad-cypress-review/ http://www.socialbookshelves.com/agatha-christie-sad-cypress-review/#respond Mon, 09 Nov 2020 02:48:53 +0000 http://www.socialbookshelves.com/?p=19566 Title: Sad Cypress Author: Agatha Christie Type: Fiction Page Count: 192 Rating: 4/5 This book is pretty typical for an Agatha Christie novel and it contains all of the usual themes that you’ve come to know and love, as well as a healthy dose of Poirot thrown in for good measure. It’s clever, it’s gripping

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Title: Sad Cypress

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 192

Rating: 4/5

This book is pretty typical for an Agatha Christie novel and it contains all of the usual themes that you’ve come to know and love, as well as a healthy dose of Poirot thrown in for good measure. It’s clever, it’s gripping and it’s a hell of a fun read, and definitely one that I’d recommend picking up if you just see a copy of it lying around.

I also thought it was interesting because it typified a lot of what Agatha Christie’s work is all about, even demonstrating a few of the common tropes that she often tapped into. I recently watched a video by Mara (BooksLikeWoah) on YouTube where she talked about how to solve a murder in an Agatha Christie novel, and I think this fit in perfectly with her formula.

Overall, this might not be one of the most famous Agatha Christie novels, but it was certainly good enough and I’m glad that I finally ticked it off. It’s a shame that I don’t have many more of her books!

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