If someone put a gun to my head and said I had to pick my favourite book, this would be it. Not my favourite by a long way, I admit it, I like too many books for that to be the case, but if I had to pick one, it would be this one. The ending is phenomenal, quite moving. I've read it half a dozen times now and have thoroughly enjoyed it each time.
Unlike most of the books I read, you could actually study this one. It's got themes and issues, there's a lot of context stuff in there. When the film of this book came out (never seen it), it got banned from a film festival because it was a bit too controversial. It's not the whole themes and issues bit that I really like about it though. It's the characters.
From Fallon, a bitter, cynical man who everyone wants because he was a terrorist for the IRA and who describes himself as 'a corpse walking', to the priest Father da Costa who joined the Catholic Church to get away from the violent side of himself, to the blind girl Anna, Jenny the prostitute who Fallon ends up staying with. And then on the other side of the coin, the undertaker and crime boss Jack Meehan, his younger brother who goes for anything in a skirt, Rupert, they're all created wonderfully, astonishingly realistic. You just don't know how to view Fallon. A cold blooded killer, true, but then he spares the life of Father da Costa who witnesses him murdering a man in exchange for a passport to get away from the country where everyone wants him. You can't help but feel sorry for him, despite the fact that he's a murderer and was a terrorist. He's one of the greatest characters I've ever read in terms of the contradictions in him and yet it all fits together so well. Father da Costa is developed brilliantly too. The little details about him, the way he isn't just your stereotypical priest. Nor is Jack Meehan your standard villain. The funeral business isn't just a legitimate front for him, he enjoys that part too.
The plot itself is great too. The ending is incredibly emotive. Fallon wants to get away from London. Meehan will let him have a passport and money. All he has to do is kill a business rival. But Fallon won't kill the priest who witnesses it. Instead, he goes to confession, admits what he's done to the priest, and the priest then has his hands tied. The secrets of confession cannot be given away. But Meehan is not impressed by the fact that the priest is still alive, determines otherwise. Fallon finds himself responsible for protecting the priest and his neice Anna.
There's action in it, sure, particularly the explosive (literally) last scene, but that doesn't take over the plot. It's not a pure thriller determined to give you the fastest paced read in the world like Matthew Reilly books. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I quite enjoy it, but this one really has good characters. And I mean really good.
I highly recommend it. By Jack Higgins, and well worth reading. I'm using it as my stimulus text for my English Lit coursework, although technically Ash was inspired by Sean Dillon in a series of books also by Jack Higgins. I can see a lot of parallels between my character Ash and Fallon though.
Anyway, this is probably the best book I've ever read. Everybody ought to read it.
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Remote Control
You will be pleased to know that I'm now onto the last of the books I read over half term.
Remote Control by Andy McNab is a very good book. It's the first in the Nick Stone series, but unfortunately I'd already read the third one, so I kind of knew roughly what was going to happen, which is never the best position to be in. You really do need to read this one first, otherwise it kind of gets spoilt and there's a nice tense moment but you already know the answer to it.
Plenty of twists involved, a very interesting book for sure. Lots of good, believable action. Part of the reason I really enjoyed it was because I knew it was accurate--Andy McNab was in the SAS and I've read his account of one of the patrols he was involved in. Really good stuff. It means you can enjoy the book even more, and it has that extra realism that comes from knowing things for sure rather than just guessing at what it would feel like (what I do, I admit it).
So, I'd recommend it, but you need to read this series in order. This is the first one, I've just checked, and it's pretty good.
Remote Control by Andy McNab is a very good book. It's the first in the Nick Stone series, but unfortunately I'd already read the third one, so I kind of knew roughly what was going to happen, which is never the best position to be in. You really do need to read this one first, otherwise it kind of gets spoilt and there's a nice tense moment but you already know the answer to it.
Plenty of twists involved, a very interesting book for sure. Lots of good, believable action. Part of the reason I really enjoyed it was because I knew it was accurate--Andy McNab was in the SAS and I've read his account of one of the patrols he was involved in. Really good stuff. It means you can enjoy the book even more, and it has that extra realism that comes from knowing things for sure rather than just guessing at what it would feel like (what I do, I admit it).
So, I'd recommend it, but you need to read this series in order. This is the first one, I've just checked, and it's pretty good.
Friday, 13 March 2009
Seven Deadly Wonders
I saw complaints on Amazon that this was a cop out, calling the same book by two different names (Seven Ancient Wonders, Seven Ancient Wonders, they're identical). To be honest, I think anyone who buys a book and then complains it's the same as one they've already read and enjoyed is a bit of a twit. If you enjoyed it, surely you'll realise when you read the blurb that it's very similar to the one you read. And then maybe you'll have a little look and realise that 'oh, it's identical, just with a different title'.
Anyway, that little rant aside, this is a very good book. I admit, the character realism isn't always the best (Lily is my main complaint, she's not the most realistic ten-year-old girl ever, but then again, I suppose her unusual upbringing, and her inherited skills would make her a little unusual). But it's more than made up for by the fantastic action. The sheer scale of the book is phenomenal. Matthew Reilly writes the fastest paced thrillers I have ever read. The action is explosive, big scale, great fun. It's not a serious read, it's not the sort of book you sit down and study for English Lit exams. It's the sort of book you pick up to read and enjoy, that you pick up because you feel like getting away from the world for a bit.
It's about a quest to rebuild the capstone to sit on top of the Great Pyramid at Gaza. The complication? Each of the seven pieces is hidden in one of the seven ancient wonders. Clues to their locations have been written in the word of Thoth, a difficult script which gets increasingly complex. The ability to read it has been lost to all but the son or daughter of the Oracle, who develops the ability at the age of about ten. Lily is the child of the Oracle, who died. She's the younger child, the second twin, and the only time that there has ever been more than one child. Rescued by Jack West, they embark upon a race against time to find the golden capstone to save the world from a sunspot that's about to align with us. The extra complication? The older child of the Oracle has been taken by a group of nations from Old Europe, who've set up a powerful expedition force to go find them. And the Americans want in on it too, because whoever recovers the capstone has the ability to rule the world for a thousand years. Jack West is the leader of a group of smaller nations that are determined that the capstone is used only for good, to save the world, to ensure the words of power are not recited over it.
Lots of trap beating, lots of fighting, and a very interesting plot with plenty of nice twists and turns. Oh, and an assault on Guantanamo Bay. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who feels like getting away from the world for a bit. Don't expect complete realism, but the details are often very convincing. It's a book you read to enjoy. So enjoy it.
Anyway, that little rant aside, this is a very good book. I admit, the character realism isn't always the best (Lily is my main complaint, she's not the most realistic ten-year-old girl ever, but then again, I suppose her unusual upbringing, and her inherited skills would make her a little unusual). But it's more than made up for by the fantastic action. The sheer scale of the book is phenomenal. Matthew Reilly writes the fastest paced thrillers I have ever read. The action is explosive, big scale, great fun. It's not a serious read, it's not the sort of book you sit down and study for English Lit exams. It's the sort of book you pick up to read and enjoy, that you pick up because you feel like getting away from the world for a bit.
It's about a quest to rebuild the capstone to sit on top of the Great Pyramid at Gaza. The complication? Each of the seven pieces is hidden in one of the seven ancient wonders. Clues to their locations have been written in the word of Thoth, a difficult script which gets increasingly complex. The ability to read it has been lost to all but the son or daughter of the Oracle, who develops the ability at the age of about ten. Lily is the child of the Oracle, who died. She's the younger child, the second twin, and the only time that there has ever been more than one child. Rescued by Jack West, they embark upon a race against time to find the golden capstone to save the world from a sunspot that's about to align with us. The extra complication? The older child of the Oracle has been taken by a group of nations from Old Europe, who've set up a powerful expedition force to go find them. And the Americans want in on it too, because whoever recovers the capstone has the ability to rule the world for a thousand years. Jack West is the leader of a group of smaller nations that are determined that the capstone is used only for good, to save the world, to ensure the words of power are not recited over it.
Lots of trap beating, lots of fighting, and a very interesting plot with plenty of nice twists and turns. Oh, and an assault on Guantanamo Bay. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who feels like getting away from the world for a bit. Don't expect complete realism, but the details are often very convincing. It's a book you read to enjoy. So enjoy it.
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Dave's Chippy
Went to Dave's Chippy for tea! Yay! Very yummy fish and chips. Moor End chippy in Oswaldtwistle (think that's how you spell it) if you're ever up that way, best fish and chips ever. Celebrating exam results. Good fun.
Day of steps...
Crazy day at college today. Had first lesson as normal--English language. Up on second floor of St Cecilia's, so went up there, which is miles and miles and miles of steps. Not literally, but there's more steps in that building than in any of the others. Then went into town, to pick up my new glasses, stopped off by the car boot and picked up a couple of books. Not the greatest idea in the world, they were pretty heavy. But still. Then down into the basement of St Augustine's to pick up my results. Then back to the main building, down to the canteen. Then up to maths in St Mary's. Then back down again for a half hour break. Then up to second floor of St Cecilia's again. Then down from there, stopped in the library for a bit cos Martin let us go early, then up to sociology, Dave wasn't so impressed with my results, so I'm retaking it. Then finished that early so went down to by the lake with a friend, which was down even more steps. Then back up all those steps and out to top floor of St Mary's. Then down again and hung out outside for a little bit. Then up to second floor St Cecilia's again. Then down all those steps and up to the top floor of St Mary's again. So I'm now kinda knackered. Hardly surprsing I guess.
Exam Results!
Got the exam results from my January modules today. Three A's and a B. 100% in history and maths!!! Really chuffed about that.
Got the B in sociology, which I'm going to retake. I did pretty badly in it to be honest, only just scraped the B. But I did do it straight after my maths exam, so my brain was kinda dead by the time I got to it. Anyway, I'm dead chuffed about getting hundred percent in maths, and especially especially in history!
Got the B in sociology, which I'm going to retake. I did pretty badly in it to be honest, only just scraped the B. But I did do it straight after my maths exam, so my brain was kinda dead by the time I got to it. Anyway, I'm dead chuffed about getting hundred percent in maths, and especially especially in history!
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Winged Escort
Yeh, I've still not finished writing up all the books I read over half term. Never mind. This is one of two that're left. Try to finish this up soon.
It was really good. A bit confusing at first, but I got to understand it after a little while. I never realised they used biplanes in the Second World War, but it turns out they did. Struggled to put it down, had a nice little romance included, and plenty of action. Worth reading for sure, I'm glad I picked it up (just randomly, mainly because of the picture--I know you shouldn't pick books because of the cover, but I like books about airplanes, so I figured airplane picture on the front, can't go wrong really). By Douglas Reeman, made me want to read more of his if I can find any.
It was really good. A bit confusing at first, but I got to understand it after a little while. I never realised they used biplanes in the Second World War, but it turns out they did. Struggled to put it down, had a nice little romance included, and plenty of action. Worth reading for sure, I'm glad I picked it up (just randomly, mainly because of the picture--I know you shouldn't pick books because of the cover, but I like books about airplanes, so I figured airplane picture on the front, can't go wrong really). By Douglas Reeman, made me want to read more of his if I can find any.
Saturday, 7 March 2009
New daily word record!
I've just set a personal best for number of words in a day today. I'm dead chuffed. Even though I'm actually further from finishing When All Was Fair than I was when I started writing this morning, thanks to an unexpected character showing up in Chapter 87...
I managed the grand total of: 12,606 words, in one day.
Now, the reason my poor ever growing, much neglected story When All Was Fair (I started it about this time last year, and have finished several other stories and started about a billion others in the mean time) is now further from finishing than it was at the beginning is the fault of a photographer who showed up to be flown around by Tommy and revealed that Tommy had saved his life during the War. I'd been toying with the idea of putting in some scenes of trench fighting into the story, and Lark gave me a great excuse to go ahead and start weaving in another story line. But I couldn't just have British folks telling their side of the story, because that would be biased and I'm kind of fed up of books that make out the Germans to be evil and the British/Americans to be amazing (although I have to admit I love the Biggles books). So I figured ok, I'll stick in a bunch of Germans on one side of the lines and a bunch of Brits on the other, like I've done for the pilots in Africa. Have used a couple of family connections to tie things together a bit preliminarily, will stick the stories more thoroughly together near the end. One of the aims I had with writing this story was to show both sides as equally good and equally bad, so I have some nasty Brits, some nasty Germans, and a very nasty lady called Erna who flirts with everyone, but I'm not telling you whose side she's working for because that's one of the big shocking revelations :D. Which is why I now have five sets of characters, all of whom are liable to throw random stuff into the mix. I'm also starting to think this might have to just cover one week, or it's going to get unmanageably big. It's nearly hit 125,000 words, and I've covered five days with the three original story lines and added in the first day and a little bit of the new story lines. But I'm thinking two days isn't going to be enough time to tie up all the loose ends I've created all over the place. I still have to let everyone know who Erna's working for for one thing.
But that can wait until tomorrow. For now, I'm just chuffed with how much I've done. And am hoping that it doesn't turn out to be one of these mammoth books that nobody can ever be bothered to read. I can always separate out the trench bit and turn that into another story that's linked in if need be.
I managed the grand total of: 12,606 words, in one day.
Now, the reason my poor ever growing, much neglected story When All Was Fair (I started it about this time last year, and have finished several other stories and started about a billion others in the mean time) is now further from finishing than it was at the beginning is the fault of a photographer who showed up to be flown around by Tommy and revealed that Tommy had saved his life during the War. I'd been toying with the idea of putting in some scenes of trench fighting into the story, and Lark gave me a great excuse to go ahead and start weaving in another story line. But I couldn't just have British folks telling their side of the story, because that would be biased and I'm kind of fed up of books that make out the Germans to be evil and the British/Americans to be amazing (although I have to admit I love the Biggles books). So I figured ok, I'll stick in a bunch of Germans on one side of the lines and a bunch of Brits on the other, like I've done for the pilots in Africa. Have used a couple of family connections to tie things together a bit preliminarily, will stick the stories more thoroughly together near the end. One of the aims I had with writing this story was to show both sides as equally good and equally bad, so I have some nasty Brits, some nasty Germans, and a very nasty lady called Erna who flirts with everyone, but I'm not telling you whose side she's working for because that's one of the big shocking revelations :D. Which is why I now have five sets of characters, all of whom are liable to throw random stuff into the mix. I'm also starting to think this might have to just cover one week, or it's going to get unmanageably big. It's nearly hit 125,000 words, and I've covered five days with the three original story lines and added in the first day and a little bit of the new story lines. But I'm thinking two days isn't going to be enough time to tie up all the loose ends I've created all over the place. I still have to let everyone know who Erna's working for for one thing.
But that can wait until tomorrow. For now, I'm just chuffed with how much I've done. And am hoping that it doesn't turn out to be one of these mammoth books that nobody can ever be bothered to read. I can always separate out the trench bit and turn that into another story that's linked in if need be.
Friday, 6 March 2009
Finished Editing!!!
Yay! I've just finished editing Nutmeg Angel for the last time. Now I only need to sort out the formatting and then it's all done and it's going up on Amazon for everyone to read! Yay! It's only taken me four years from starting it to get to this point, but hey, that's life. I've written twelve other complete stories in the mean time, and started who knows how many million others. So I think that's pretty good going.
Why stories never ever go to plan
Does anyone know? I don't. I wrote a plan for the next part of When All Was Fair, and within about ten minutes of starting to write from it, I was having to change it and realising that various characters were not behaving as the plan said they would. Although technically Lecker wasn't mentioned in the plan. Technically. But yeh. Oops. Never mind. Provided it ends up ok, and I actually finish the thing at some point, that's fine. It's over a hundred thousand words already, and I'm thinking I'm maybe half way through. At the moment I've got the MCs in 1929 living with the wrong people, which needs sorting out. And in the 1916 part of the story, I have to stop Dirk and Strom hating each other. And maybe put Ratin and Strom into the same room. And have Erna found out. And stuff like that. So there's a lot left. I've discovered, while writing this, why historical fiction tends to be quite long, especially when it's set in two different parts of time. It's because the nature of the story makes it so. You have to get in some good detail about the period, you have to do research into it, and with this I have technically three sets of characters: the Germans in 1916, the British in 1916, and the Americans in 1929, which kind of gives me an excuse for making it massive. Anyway. If anyone has any theories about why stories never go to plan, please, tell me.
College
I hardly ever seem to write about college and stuff, so I will tonight. Especially since we've just moved into St Cecilia's which is our lovely new building. With lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of stairs. And I mean lots. Anyway... Had Sociology first thing, did a test on methodology. Not the greatest subject in the world. Oh, I grabbed a lift in with my dad since he left late, so I did a bit of work on Nutmeg Angel before college (my story). Then off to history, via the careers office and the admissions office in an attempt to hand in the stuff to go on a trip to Lancaster for a HE convention. Did a quiz and a mindmap, quite fun really. Especially the mindmap. I made it all fun and colourful this time. Normally mine end up tiny, but I did it in pencil crayons so I couldn't do it really small. Then dinner. Went to the library, worked on When All Was Fair cos I felt like doing a bit more writing. Then Maths. Integration, which I won't go into out of deference to those of you who hate the subject, but I thought it was pretty cool that you can work out the area under a graph between certain points just by adding powers and dividing and stuff that's really quite straightforward. Then I had a trek down the stairs, out St Mary's, across the road, into St Cecilia's and up two flights of stairs for English. But English was fun. We were talking about diversity and stuff. Kind of interesting to be honest. When she said PSHE I just thought 'oh great, that rot again', but it was fun. And we finished our poster with the amazing pirates on it. And then it was home time. And now I'm here. The end.
Thursday, 5 March 2009
The Randomness of the Weather
You can tell I'm British. I'm always moaning about the weather. But it was random yesterdayy. And kind of annoying. I looked out my window when I got up, thought how lovely it looked. Set off for college. Bit chilly, but not so bad. And then it started to snow! Just ranodmly, these massive snow flakes dropping out the sky. I was in my nice white coat, had to put the hood up, but I can't really see with it up. And I got absolutely coated with snow. The aboniable snowwoman, that's me :D.
Monday, 2 March 2009
Quiver
On Saturday, a bunch of us from Fresh Manna (the Fresh Manna youth plus a few extras), went out to Blackpool, in a minibus kindly driven by Norma. As you can see, I'm still alive, so she obviously did a pretty good job. Twas amusing on the drive down, we were in a Variety Club bus (they help special needs children), and we waved to loads of old ladies who didn't quite know how to react. :D
Quiver was a youth event run by Elel (I think that's how it's spelt), and it was really, really good. It was aimed at 18-35s, but Megan and I snuck on anyway. They didn't mind. The worship was very good, and then the speakers were also fantastic. I'll write more about it on my other blog: http://pointofcontact317.blogspot.com. But it was well worth going.
Lukas did a bit of drive-by evangilising on the way back... He shouted out the window at a random passer-by 'Jesus loves you!'. Quite amusing. And a good idea. After all, if people go around with lyrics advertising sex pouring out their cars, why shouldn't we go around shouting 'Jesus loves you'?
Quiver was a youth event run by Elel (I think that's how it's spelt), and it was really, really good. It was aimed at 18-35s, but Megan and I snuck on anyway. They didn't mind. The worship was very good, and then the speakers were also fantastic. I'll write more about it on my other blog: http://pointofcontact317.blogspot.com. But it was well worth going.
Lukas did a bit of drive-by evangilising on the way back... He shouted out the window at a random passer-by 'Jesus loves you!'. Quite amusing. And a good idea. After all, if people go around with lyrics advertising sex pouring out their cars, why shouldn't we go around shouting 'Jesus loves you'?
Tramp in Armour
Another of the books I read on holiday and haven't got round to reviewing yet... I'm not far behind now though.
I've never been all that interested in tanks, but it looked quite interesting, and I'd heard that Colin Forbes was a good author. It's about what happens in WWII, when a tank gets stuck on the wrong side of the German advance. The tank commander determines that he's going to do something about it, once he's worked out what's happened and that his radio is completely useless. There are some nice little action scenes. I thought the last bit was perhaps a little rushed, could've done with more elaboration, and I have no idea what happened to the other guy (sorry about the vagueness, I don't want to spoil it for anyone, this is basically the ending). The characters weren't perhaps developed as much as I would've liked, but they kind of kept dying... I enjoyed it though. The action was good, and it's given me an appreciation of what it was like to be in a tank--it was quite clearly well researched, and there were foot notes at points to explain various things in relation to what was happening in reality at that point. I still prefer airplanes, but tanks are a lot more interesting than I first thought.
I've never been all that interested in tanks, but it looked quite interesting, and I'd heard that Colin Forbes was a good author. It's about what happens in WWII, when a tank gets stuck on the wrong side of the German advance. The tank commander determines that he's going to do something about it, once he's worked out what's happened and that his radio is completely useless. There are some nice little action scenes. I thought the last bit was perhaps a little rushed, could've done with more elaboration, and I have no idea what happened to the other guy (sorry about the vagueness, I don't want to spoil it for anyone, this is basically the ending). The characters weren't perhaps developed as much as I would've liked, but they kind of kept dying... I enjoyed it though. The action was good, and it's given me an appreciation of what it was like to be in a tank--it was quite clearly well researched, and there were foot notes at points to explain various things in relation to what was happening in reality at that point. I still prefer airplanes, but tanks are a lot more interesting than I first thought.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Juggernaut
Ok, this is one of the books I read over half term that I've been really behind/lazy about reviewing. It's about what happens when you take a massive truck through a small African country. Sounds kind of boring. I thought so too, but I figured well, it's by Desmond Bagley, it was 50p, I might as well read it. And I was glad I did. You see, when you add in the fact that this truck weighs about three hundred tons and is as long as a football pitch is wide... Then it starts to get kind of interesting. And when the country breaks out into Civil War and the massive truck gets used as a moving hospital and people start trying to kill each other. Well, then it gets very very interesting. I'm quite amazed at how exciting and amusing (at times) this book could be. It just goes to prove that you can write a book about anything and provided you throw in enough twists and whatever it can be very interesting.
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