fairywhispers's "2009 Bookshelf"

Splinter was a very odd book. If you expected an exciting story of survival, you will be disappointed. Much of this novel is spent inside Hector’s head. The author probably intended some obscure message about the relationship between father and son, the sociology of survival groups, the formation of new religions, or the behaviour of humans in the face of the unknown. If so, I could not find it – perhaps because the book was so boring, I struggled to pay attention. Unless you are a real sci-fi fanatic, I wouldn’t bother reading this book.

This is, in essence, a biography of a cat. Not just any cat, of course, but the most famous library cat in the world. Anyone who has ever befriended or enslaved themselves to a cat will relate to the antics of Dewey. The author tells us that he was charismatic and caring, and one only has to look into his eyes (pictured on the cover) to know that this is no mere exaggeration. The love Vicki feels for this amazing cat (dare I call him a hero?) is evident in every word, and by the end of the book you will love him too. You’ll laugh, you’ll groan and you’ll weep, but one thing you will not do is forget this book, or it’s subject – and what more can author hope for?

A Fortunate Life is a first hand account of events that most of us have only read about in history books. Albert Facey has lived the kind of life that would have broken a lesser man. From the time he lost his father to Typhoid on the goldfields, through his time as an illiterate child working for horse thieves, the Depression and both World Wars, Albert has had more than his fair share of tragedy. Yet all through this book he downplays his negative experiences, focusing on the positive and relaying his life in a fresh, humorous style that is both pleasant to read and hard to put down.. This is a uniquely Australian piece of literature and I found myself disappointed when I came to the end. A Fortunate Life is a must-read for all Australians.

Aldous Huxley first published his novel Brave New World in the 1930’s but the major themes of giving up freedoms through fear, the ethics of test-tube babies and other scientific advances, government control, and thought programming are just as relevant today.

At first glance Huxley’s London seems a Utopia. A world without war. A world without violence. No rape, no jealousy, no street crime, murder, domestic violence, abuse. No conflict. The virtual elimination of disease. No unemployment or poverty. No aging. Universal happiness, peace, contentment. Is this not what we all strive for?

Yet the introduction of our ‘noble savage’ to civilised London shows us just how high a price is paid for this ‘perfect’ society. For, while all the negative aspects of modern society are absent, so, too, are the positives. There is no love – neither the passion between lovers, nor the intense bond between a parent and child, nor the quiet contentment of the aging couple. There is none of that intense satisfaction of obstacles overcome, and no sense of achievement at having striven towards a goal. There is no true fellowship amongst men. The beauty of art and literature are lost. Even the beauty offered by nature can no longer be appreciated. And one wonders just how content the lower classes really are if the loss of a single days soma ration can cause a riot.

This is a question each of us must answer for ourselves – just how much are we willing to give up in exchange for peace and stability?

I’m finding this book very difficult to describe or compartmentalise. At times, I felt I was really enjoying it, at other times I was not. At times I knew exactly what was going on, at other times I was completely lost. Some parts were reminiscent of The Matrix, others of religious mania. About the only thing I can say for certain, is that you will be left pondering the nature of good and evil and the fine line between salvation and damnation.

The Amityville Horror is the purportedly true story (since disputed as fraud) of the terrifying haunting of a Long Island home. Many readers will have seen one of the various movies, but the book is quite different. Reading about the phenomena that terrorised the Lutz family without all the Hollywood hype and exaggeration is certainly a far more chilling experience. Whether you believe the Lutz’s story or subscribe to the theory fraud, this book is an interesting and absorbing read. It is worth noting here that, although ‘haunted’ houses and spiritual activity associated with a particular place or person is far more common than most people realise (or care to admit), this level of malignancy is decidedly rare.

Needful Things, the final ‘Castle Rock’ book, is another great novel from the king of suspense fiction. Like many of King’s work, this book is a little slow to kick off, but it is worth persevering. There are no monsters jumping out of closets or ghostly presences in this novel – the fear is much more subtle than that. Instead, King utilises the undercurrent of petty jealousies and rivalries that is present in even the smallest of towns, adds a seemingly kindly old man and builds a bonfire that is slow to kindle but explodes with deadly force. Definitely worth reading.

When Plague Strikes is a great basic guide to get early teens started in the study of diseases in history. It is not as in-depth as Ziegler’s The Black Death but this is not it’s intention. This book is very easy to read and comprehend without sacrificing relevant facts and histories. The author covers his subjects in a calm, clear manner and relates facts without passing judgement. An advantage this book holds over Ziegler’s The Black Death is the understandable style of the writing (Ziegler constantly refers to statistics and uses large, scholarly language unsuitable for beginners) and the coverage of two other major epidemic diseases, namely smallpox and AIDS. I enjoyed reading this book and did not have to constantly stop and look up words the way I did with Ziegler.

It would be difficult to find a more thorough plague history than The Black Plague by Philip Ziegler. Drawing on both contemporary data and modern studies he creates a compelling picture of the outbreak, spread and long-term effects of the ‘Black Plague’, a pandemic of (it is currently believed) a combination of bubonic, pneumonic and septicaemic plague which tore through the world in the fourteenth century.

Nearly everyone has heard of ‘The Black Death’ and knows that around a third of Europe was wiped out. But how many of us have thought about the social effects of such a high death toll? The plague had horrific short-term effect, it is true. I cannot begin to imagine the terror of watching your friends and neighbours dropping, not one by one, but in twos and threes, from this mysterious new disease, knowing that it could be you or your child or parent who is next. It is understandable, and obvious that there would be some disruption of services, unable to cope with demand or labour shortages.

However, the plagues of the fourteenth century also had more long reaching effects. The fear of death, and the frailty of life, led to a relaxation of social mores. The shortage of labour gave workers more power, contributing to the collapse of the feudal system, and a fairer working wage. From this time, the reverence for and influence of the church began to decline. It is argued that the effects of the plague may even have had a direct bearing on the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381.

My only quibble with this book is the author’s annoying habit of using French phrases without providing translations. We are not all bi-lingual, and when the author tells us that ‘Froissart wrote appreciatively of “le pays gras et plentureux de toutes choses…le maisons pleines de toutes richessus…”’, we are left unable to understand the reference or why he has chosen to include this quote in the text. Even worse is when he uses phrases himself as part of the text, as in this example, in reference to Edward III: ‘He managed to combine the charismatic appeal of a beau chavalier sans peur et sans reproche with the ruthlessness and lack of scruple which every medieval monarch needed if he were to enjoy a reasonable tenure of his throne.’ Such instances distract from the flow of the text as those of us who don’t speak French try to fathom what it means and if it is important to know. Perhaps future editions could include translations for us lay people?

Aside from that, though, this was a comprehensive and easy to follow study and I would recommend it to students of medieval history or those who are simply interested in this troubled period.

The beginning of this book is a bit boring, but it is worth persisting. Unlike typical fantasies which are either set in a whole other world entirely, or in which a her is catapulted back into the past, this is set in the present day. In this book there are two levels of existence – London Above (where all us boring people live) and London Below which contains all the people who have slipped through the cracks, including angels and mythical beasts. And it is to London Below that our hero finds himself drawn after an act of chivalry leaves him unable to live his normal life Above.

This is an engrossing tale with well-developed characters and twists around every corner. It was definitely better than I expected and I would recommend it to all fantasy fans.