Two book reviews

29 July

I fancied a day off yesterday so I had one. My lappy wasn’t even opened at all. But I’m here for today. However, I should say that I am due at the Walsgrave for my back operation at 7.00am on Monday and I’m likely to be in there for three or four days, but the sooner I can get out, the better for me.

Before staring here today, I have written two reviews of books I finished last night; one a paperback, The Book Thief, t’ther on me Kindle, The synchronicity War Pt2. Here they are …

The Synchronicity War Part 2

Dietmar Arthur Wehr

No matter what others say, I like reading using the Kindle app on my tablet computer; actually, reading is what I use it for mostly. What I can’t do is to read with it when I’m lying in bed reading; no, I much prefer a hard copy. That means that I have at least two books on the go at the same time. So before bedtime last night, I finished part 2 of this terrific series.

It’s ‘space opera’ of the finest sort and has all the usual elements of the good guy Earthlings fighting the and bad guy aliens. Science has progressed so much that even a vague idea can become reality in a short time. Spaceships grow in size and ability. Eventually doing away with human crews and being piloted by AI units that are far faster to us puny humans. That causes resentment within the ranks. Where it’s seen the people concerned are moved sideways out of the way of waging a war that Earth didn’t want but got drawn into anyway. With those people out of the way, the elected people were a lot harder to deal with.

While all that is being dealt with back at home, Space Force personnel are at pointed end and fighting for their lives, as well as the lives of all humanity. To make thing more interesting, Victor Shiloh, now a senior officer receives telepathic visions of the future which cause him to alter his strategy and win battles that would have been lost without them.

An attack on Earth is repelled, even though it is known to be sideshow to another attack on the various colonies that Earth has set up out in the universe. With those colonies destroyed, all the eyes of Space Force turn to a new colony that even the elected people don’t know about. Shiloh becomes its leader and CSO (Commander, Space Operations). At that point Shiloh receives another vision, and that point Part 2 ends.

You can no doubt gather that I am totally hooked on this series, and with Parts 3 and 4 waiting for me, I am looking for the next instalment.

Long live humanity, and long live space opera that tells its story way into the future.                    

The Book Thief

Markus Zusak

This is a strange one and I don’t really like the way the various sections are written. That was why I gave up on it when I first tried it. I bought it from Waterstones when I saw it, solely because of the number of people who said they loved it and how good it was. Therefore, I was disappointed with it, and back on the shelf it went. After nearly a year I decided to give it another go.

I began by re-reading the shout on the back cover. Narrated by Death thinks I, might be interesting, so keep at this time. And keep at it I did and finally got it finished last night. It part tells the story of WW2 and how it effects the poorer part or one small area on the outskirts of Munich, mainly Himmel Street in Molching. A foster girl living with an elderly couple is the thief of the title, who learns to read and has an urge to read more and more, hence the thieving. Along with her best friend Rudy, they get themselves into all sorts of scrapes, but always come out of them with only minor bumps and knocks.

I can’t think of any book that tells of the grinding poverty and fear here within the UK during the same period. Times were grim though, I remember my mam telling me about it; but no full book. In Germany though, there was also the race factor which came into play. German Jews were rounded up, along with Gypsies and disabled people, all because they didn’t fit into the new racially pure German ideal. Informants were a constant worry too, along with the fanatical Nazis living among them. All in all, these people lived hungry and terrified lives until 1945.

And so I stuck with the story, and boy, what a story it is. I can safely say The Book Thief is one of, if not the greatest books I have ever read. Need I say more about it?          

These two reviews are both round 350 words each and can be found on ForReadingAddicts, I hope you enjoyed reading them. Anyway, I’ve tried to read a few book reviews in some of papers, and bloomin heck, the reviews could with a review too, they’re so damned long! I have a feeling though that they are mainly waffle from people trying to justify their rice bowl. (Yes, I know, it’s an Americanism and I don’t really like them.) But these reviews are taken seriously by some people, so who am I to moan? For me, I like them to be short and to give a yes or no to whether the reviewer likes the book or not, and that is what I try to do in my reviews. Anyway, there is a minimum 150 word count on the reviews. To take my review even deeper I would lose the fun of reading, and what’s the point of that?

So today’s photo …

Up he goes …    

Today’s funny …

That Private Williams is a fine shot with a rifle," observed the sergeant. "Yes," said the lieutenant, "but I wonder what was his occupation before he joined the army." "Why is that, sir?"
"It's the way he takes out his handkerchief and wipes his fingerprints off the gun every time he takes a shot."