Book 'em!

I miss the train.
(not through poor timing but longing)

For the past week I have ditched my usual walk-train-coffee-book routine in favour of the car-swear-sweat-stress routine.
I have had to be in work at a ridiculously early hour this week, which I'm pretty sure is illegal everywhere except North Korea, which means I have had to drive to the big city each morning rather than the more relaxed train ride.

The thing I liked best about the train was I got to catch up on some reading. I'm a sucker for those 3 for 2 deals in high street bookshops and have a huge pile of unread literature littering the house. It makes me look very well-read. Until someone says: "Oh, I see you've read The Revenge of the Ninja Geisha!* Didn't you find the post-modern narrative an illuminating concept, and so daring of the author to kill off the protagonist in Chapter Two?"

"Mmmm... s'pose," I usually answer, quickly changing the subject for fear they realise I haven't got around the reading it yet.

In the past few weeks, I've managed to remedy the situation and ticked a few books off my list. So, here is a list of the books what I have read recently and what I thought of them. I just thought you might be interested.

Feel free to indulge in a high-brow tete a tete about their individual merits. Or not.

As Used On The Famous Nelson Mandela by Mark Thomas.
I quite like a bit of revealing non-fiction every now and then and it gives me an enormous sense of smugness to know that I now know more about the illegal arms trade than the bloke sitting next to me on the train reading the latest Dan Brown.
Verdict: A shocking eye-opener which you really must read. Don't wait for the film, it could be a while.

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver.
A post-Columbine tale about a mother and her struggle to deal with the aftermath of a high school massacre - by her son.
Verdict: A bit pretentious at times but ultimately a good read.

Saturday by Ian McEwan
One day in the life of a posho neurosurgeon and his posho family, set against the backdrop of the anti-war demo.
Verdict: You'll learn a lot about brain surgery -and posho families.

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
A previous Booker Prize winner, it's more poshos, this time Eighties Tory MPs and their offspring. The protagonist is a young, gay writer who embarks "on a journey of discovery." Bit disturbed by the fact that my mother in-law recommended this one as it contains a lot of graphic gay scenes, particularly "bumshoving" (his phrase, not mine).
Verdict: A good yarn but beware of strange looks from the person sitting next to you on the train, reading over your shoulder.

I haven't decided on what to start next.

Tune in next time to Stark's Book Reviews and find out more...



*Don't look for it, I made it up.