1998: Last Days of Summer

Book Name: Last Days of Summer

Author: Steve Kluger

Genre: Epistolary

Year Published: 1998

I've been looking forward to reading this book for a while, due to it being described as epistolary. It has a bunch of different media used throughout, such as interviews, letters and newspaper clippings, which makes you feel like you're really experiencing stuff as it happens. I read another book a while ago which was similarly constructed, but using emails and texts - I couldn't tell you what it was called... I did love the style though, hence my excitement for this one!

So as I picked this solely on the basis of its genre, I was completely ignorant of its actual content, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it was about Brooklyn during the Second World War, and an unlikely friendship between a Jewish boy and a black baseball player.

As someone with zero baseball knowledge, and a low interest in war novels, this is not the kind of book I would have chosen normally. However, the story is compelling, the characters interesting, and the epistolary style immerses you in both the geography and history in such a way that a lack of knowledge is actually not that bad. It is a testimony to Kluger's writing style that I was able to learn a variety of things from reading this novel, about Jews, military terms, baseball, wartime America and so on. 

The way the book is put together using the different media really lends itself to you wanting to keep reading, so I was able to finish it pretty easily, which was almost a shame. I would have loved to have read more about the era, and will definitely be searching out similar books. Feel free to give me some recommendations! I definitely recommend this one!  

Books I Read Inbetween: Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane; The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Other Books I Considered: About A Boy - Nick Hornby; Skellig - David Almond

1965: Dune

Book Name: Dune

Author: Frank Herbert

Genre: Science Fiction

Year Published: 1965

   So... Dune. This book took me about five months to read. It was definitely a new reading experience for me as half of me really wanted to know what happened in the story, and was eager to keep reading. The other half struggled with the science fiction language and premise, something that I've always found difficult to get my head around quickly. I would spend days reading constantly and then struggle to get back into it for a while. 

   The book itself is well written. The premise is engaging and entertaining. Dune covers quite a large period of time in the life of one Paul Atreides, who grows from young teenager to man during the course of the novel, and the story relates to his family's journey to a new planet which his father is placed in charge of. Of course things don't go as expected, and during the course of the novel we are subjected to a ton of storyline concerning family, religion, politics, economics, ecology and much more. 

   It is clear that Frank Herbert put an amazing amount of time and effort into the construction not just of the book, Dune, but of the world it describes also. It is very historically and geographically rich. There is even a glossary in the back of the copy I read to assist with the foreign language terms used during the course of the novel, which I ended up referring to regularly at the start. 

   Overall then, this was definitely a book that required a lot of attention and concentration for me, but I feel like it was worth it in the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the actual story, but I cannot deny that I found it a difficult read. When I finally finished it, I did watch the film for comparison, and as is often the case, I would strongly recommend reading the book as well or instead, if only because I feel you cannot get an appreciation of the depth of the novel Herbert created otherwise. 

  Highly recommend if you already like science fiction, or are looking for a book to stretch your reading horizons!

Books I Read Inbetween: Splinter - Sebastian Fitzek; Fifteen Days Without A Head - Dave Cousins; After Tomorrow - Gillian Cross

1981: The Homeward Bounders

Book Name: The Homeward Bounders

Author: Diana Wynne Jones

Genre: Children's, Fantasy

Year Published: 1981

   I decided to pick this book for 1981 mainly because it was by Diana Wynne Jones, who wrote Howl's Moving Castle, which to be fair, I haven't read, but I loved the anime adaptation of it. So, basically I was intrigued about her other stories, and I'm pleased to say I wasn't disappointed.
   The Homeward Bounders has an interesting premise, which is based on the idea of multiple parallel worlds, which one can travel between using the 'Bounds'. The main characters spend the novel in an attempt to return to their home worlds, hence them being called 'Homeward Bounders'. The concept that I found particularly compelling was that everything happening in these different worlds is controlled by 'Them', in a way that is strongly reminiscent of war gaming. I don't want to go into this too much as it may spoil the storyline, but just to say that as a roleplayer and someone who has at least tried War Games, I really loved this aspect of the novel.
   Despite a relatively complex idea and setting, I found the story flowed very well and it was easy to engage with the characters, although at times I did find them a little annoying. I enjoyed exploring the different worlds alongside them and wondering whether they would be able to get home. I do wonder whether I would have gelled with it so well without my experience of war gaming and roleplaying however. Perhaps if someone unfamiliar with these concepts does read it, perhaps they could provide me with their view?
   Overall, it was a well-written story with a great concept and I think I'll definitely have to read some more of Diana Wynne Jones' works. She was definitely a very talented author, if The Homeward Bounders is anything to go by.

Books I Read Inbetween: City of Lies - Alafair Burke

1973: The Princess Bride

Book Name: The Princess Bride

Author: William Goldman

Genre: Fantasy

Year Published: 1973

   The Princess Bride has been one of my favourite films since I was about 11 or 12. So, er... quite a while. The book, potentially obviously, enjoys many of the same qualities of the film: humour, action, romance, sword fighting, revenge and magic all rolled into one. Even if you haven't watched it, you may recognise the famous lines, "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" It's a film that seems to be well known and well received by anyone who likes films, and so I believe this should also apply to the book. 

   The dialogue is fantastic; I even enjoyed the way the story is broken up William Goldman's discussions of how he chose to abridge the original book by S. Morgenstern. Now, hopefully this isn't really a spoiler, but I feel the need to point out that there is actually no original Morgenstern. The whole backstory is also fiction and is purely used as a framing device. If you've seen the film you'll know that it begins a grandfather reading "The Princess Bride" to his grandson. Occasionally the film is interrupted by discussions between those two, and in much the same way, the book is interrupted by William Goldman. Rather than being annoying though, I felt it added more to the book, and made it feel more alive and more interesting. 

   Coming back to the dialogue itself; I found it flowed really well, and really made the characters come alive. In particular, if you have watched the film, you might find yourself surprised by how closely the book matches it, right down to the speech. The lines in the film are exactly the same in almost all cases, and you may find yourself reading them in the actors' voices! This is largely due to the fact that William Goldman did the screenplay, meaning that the adaptation works much better than other books which have been made into films, with the most common issue being cuts to the storyline. 

   It's hard to say how much I would have enjoyed The Princess Bride if I hadn't been such a fan of the film. Usually I prefer to read a book before watching the film, but in many cases, it doesn't seem to make a difference to my enjoyment of it whichever way round I discover a story. The fact is that The Princess Bride is an excellent story, in both film and book form, and I think that although I might have found Goldman's interruptions strange and perhaps even annoying at first, that the actual story is interesting and compelling enough that I would have enjoyed reading it regardless. It also works well as a satire of a large number of genres, which means it covers most bases for all kinds of readers. I can imagine some people won't like the Morgenstern abridgement aside bit as much as I did, but please, give it a try anyway; maybe you can just skip over those bits if they're bothering you. 

   Now I realise I'm starting to ramble a bit, so please excuse me whilst I go back to pretending to be a swashbuckling pirate.

Other Books I Considered: Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
Books I Read Inbetween: How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell; Ubik - Philip K. Dick; The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett

1951: The Day of the Triffids

Book Name: The Day of the Triffids

Author: John Wyndham

Genre: Science Fiction

Year Published: 1951

   So... Day of the Triffids. This is a book I've certainly heard of, but really had no idea about. I realise I've said that about a few of the books now, but I guess that's why I chose them. There's an awful lot of books out there which I keep thinking, "I really ought to have read that". It's one of the reasons I started this challenge. To force myself to read outside my comfort zone and discover why certain books are now classics and why people still enjoy them many years after they were written. Probably even when I finish this list, I'll still have hundreds more books to read, but at least I'm making a start!

   Now, before reading this book, I had a vague idea that the triffids were plants and I think I was probably expecting a story in which people were chased by giant plants for most of it. Without spoiling the plot too much, I'd like to say it's a lot more in depth than that. In fact the triffids really don't feature as much as I was expecting. As it turned out, it was more horror for me than sci-fi, with the main aspect of the book being the fact that the vast majority of people are blind. 

   Being blind is something that scares me a lot. It's like being scared of the dark, it's not specifically the dark you're scared of, but the fact you can't see properly. Whilst the book focuses on characters who have been spared from blindness, there is a consistent reminder throughout of how deeply this epidemic has affected the populace, as over time society quite literally crumbles. On top of that, the survivors have to deal with the threat of the triffids, who are now infesting the countryside with no-one to control their spreading.

   I love the way Wyndham created this post-apocalyptic world, and how his characters react differently to the chaos they've been thrown into. Their viewpoints on how to deal with having the society they've been brought up in being destroyed produce some very interesting conversations. I particularly liked the way it made me think about what I might do and how I might feel if a similar situation should occur. Would I want to save everyone? Or would I focus on rebuilding the world and saving only a few? I'm still not sure. Either way, I recommend reading it and maybe you can decide for yourselves. Just hope that if it does happen, there aren't any triffids.

Other Books I Considered: The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Books I Read Inbetween: The Rest of Us Just Live Here - Patrick Ness; A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust - George R. R. Martin

1968: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Book Name: 2001: A Space Odyssey

Author: Arthur C. Clarke

Genre: Science Fiction

Year Published: 1968

   Labelled on the cover as "the greatest science fiction epic of our time", 2001: A Space Odyssey certainly had a lot to live up to, and I'm pleased to say it didn't disappoint. Written in 1968 concurrently with the also popular film version, it contains elements which have really stood the test of time when it comes to our thoughts and ideas of what space travel will be like in the future. The brief synopsis is that having discovered signs of intelligent life which existed prior to ours, a mission is launched to investigate the further reaches of our galaxy.

   I had seen the film quite a long time ago but I had forgotten pretty much everything except a couple of images I won't discuss as they are very plot-centric. As such I was starting this book with only a vague notion of what it's about. Whilst the stories are fairly similar between the film and book version, there is one big difference, that being that in the book they travel as far as Saturn, whereas the film only takes us to Jupiter.
   The book is split into large sections which are then divided further into chapters, breaking up the novel nicely. I'll touch on the first section - The Dawn of Man - here, but I don't want to give away the whole plot. 2001: A Space Odyssey actually starts way back in time, when our ancestors first learnt to use basic tools. In Clarke's vision, apes were exposed to a monolith which helped them on their way to intelligent thinking. This idea alone should give you an idea of the level of sci-fi in this book. It's nothing ridiculously complex; in fact all the ideas put forward about future technology, such as high functioning A.I., tablet computers not unlike modern day iPads, and spaceships capable of reaching distant planets, are quite reasonable and believable.
   I think this is what makes the book so easy to read and interesting to absorb. Clearly a lot of research was put into it to help create the lifelike descriptions of the ship as well as space travel in general and it's clear to see. Overall, it is a very interesting what if science fiction novel, with a little action and a lot of thought-provoking material. Highly recommended.

Other Books I Considered: His Master's Voice - Stanislaw Lem; Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick; Escape to Witch Mountain - Alexander H. Key
Books I Read Inbetween: The Art of Being Normal - Lisa Williamson

1961: Catch-22

Book Name: Catch-22

Author: Joseph Heller

Genre: War Fiction; Black Humour

Year Published: 1961

     Catch-22 is a book I've been meaning to read for a long time and just never got around to. Honestly, I didn't even know much of what it was about before I read it, but I'd heard lots of people recommend it and the fact the book title has even made its way into regular English speech was very interesting in itself. As it turns out, it's set in Italy during World War II and deals with a wide range of characters and their experiences whilst serving there.
     Catch-22 as we use it today is basically a dilemma which you can't escape from, because one situation conflicts with another. In the case of the novel's main character, Yossarian, he must be insane if he keeps flying combat missions, but if he requests to stop flying them, he is clearly sane and must keep flying. Thus a large part of the novel revolves around the initial theme of Yossarian trying to get out of the war.

    The way in which the story is written is excellent, particularly the way the chapters centre on different characters and weave back and forth through time, yet without causing undue confusion. Somehow Heller has made it flow perfectly, and it is very interesting to read about a situation from one person's viewpoint, and then to come across the same situation in a later chapter, but recalled by a different character. It is also peppered with dark humour, which I wasn't altogether expecting from a war novel, and which made it very enjoyable reading. 

    Of course, along with the humour, there are less pleasant sections of the book. It is set during World War II after all. Deaths abound, as well as societal issues such as poverty, prostitution and isolation. For every bit in the book that makes you feel like the characters are having a jolly old time, it is countered by a frank reminder of where they are and what is happening around them. It really is an excellent depiction of what the war was like for those involved, especially when you consider that Heller himself served in the war, flying 60 combat missions on the Italian front. 

    Overall, I would highly recommend this book and hope that my description has been fairly accurate - it was a very difficult book to describe! A few parts here and there at the beginning may need to be reread, as I didn't get how the book was laid out straight away and it was a little confusing initially. In the end though, the way it oscillates between humour and sadness, past and present is really what made the book for me. It is absolutely worth persevering though, it only gets better.

Other Books I Considered: The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster; Solaris - Stanislaw Lem; Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein
Books I Read Inbetween: Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights? - Lemony Snicket