It's quite an addictive book, actually. However, I am about 55% of the way through (according to the Kindle) - it's been fairly Jobs-esque thus far, but where I'm up to has spent a bigger proportion than I anticipated talking primarily about Apple.
While not entirely a criticism, I'm hoping for more on Jobs as the book draws to a close. It is however, rather fascinating. There are a lot of Apple haters out there for no good reason, but I feel like I can grasp their mission/objectives a little better now at least!
Frederick Forsyth - The Cobra.
Disgrace - JM Coetzee
Totally gripped by this one, it's all I can do to put it down otherwise I'd have finished it over the weekend. I've been reading mainly non-fiction this year, in fact almost exclusively and I was a little reticent about going back to fiction for some reason. Foolishness. I'm enjoying this at least as much as my favorite non-fiction book this year. I've been getting around to reading it, like so many other books, for years now and I've finally taken the plunge. I'm about two thirds the way through it and I'm sure it's not delivered the last of it's blows to my solar plexus.
There is another trilogy afterwards isnt there? I think written after Ludlums death.
There are a few, I think 8 in total (9 I think a new one has just been released) the franchise was taken over by Eric Von Lustbader. I've heard its good but I always doubt something thats been taken over from the originals.
What I love about the books so far is how different they are to the films, pretty much the only thing is common is the name. Its like two completely different stories. Names, Locations, events even the main plot is completely different.
The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
Second Booker prize winner in a row, shows a paucity of imagination on my part I guess, or a self-conscious desire to either read or be seen to be reading quality literature. I generally choose my reading material quite carefully, eager not to waste time reading something sub-standard, to me at least. Anyway, as much as it's a fine read I cant help finding it a little familiar. It could be the unreliable narrator, well, lets call him unperceptive which reminds me of Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier. It has the feel of a mystery or a puzzle that though fascinating, will finally be either disappointingly translucent or overwhelmingly opaque.
I wonder how much longer I can go on reading only Booker winners. Maybe one more.
Geoff Dyer reviewed Barnes' latest book for the New York Times, he wasn't impressed either.
"This was not one of those years when the Man Booker Prize winner was laughably bad. No, any extreme expression of opinion about The Sense of an Ending feels inappropriate. It isnt terrible, it is just so . . . average. It is averagely compelling (I finished it), involves an average amount of concentration and, if such a thing makes sense, is averagely well written: excellent in its averageness! "
Judging from that I think I enjoyed it more that Mr Dyer, but I know what he means. I almost used the word underwhelming in my comments which is certainly in the vicinity of average. I think they both tell of expecting something a bit better. It's certainly well written but that's really the least you'd expect from Julian Barnes, let alone a Booker Prize winner (or maybe vice versa).
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
I feel like I'm monopolizing this thread but I've just finished this 2009 Booker Prize winner about the life and career of Thomas Cromwell which includes a huge roster of characters from Henry VIII & Anne Boleyn to Thomas Wolsey & Thomas More. A very ambitious slice of historical fiction with dozens of characters painted with painstaking details. I enjoyed the book but found it hard-going at times mainly due to Mantel's way of only using the pronoun he to indicate Cromwell's thoughts, actions and dialogue. This lead to passages where it was unclear who the he in question was, particularly if there were multiple characters in dialogue. This sometimes made it a bit of a slog and at around 700 pages that's the last thing you want.
The BBC & HBO are apparently making a mini-series based on the book.
I feel like reading a bit of historical non-fiction next. Maybe one of Alison Weir's books, anyone read any of those?
The art of war