Ruth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spooky_miss) wrote2010-04-18 08:10 pm
spooky_miss) wrote2010-04-18 08:10 pm
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Books Thirty Two and Thirty Three
Gah I've not been very good at keeping this up to date....but oh well. Here I go again with more books and films. Oh and a gig! :)
Book Thirty Two - Phillip and Elizabeth, Portrait of a Marriage by Gyles Brandreth
This book (as the title suggests!) is about Queen Elizabeth and her husband Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh. It starts with describing their early lives, how they grew up, and then how they met and married, and then goes on to describe them as a family and as the Queen being the Queen. It was very clearly laid out and described, and provides a good background for if you know nothing, or not much, about the couple and want to know more. Theres a good bit of British Royal history in there as well, which is good.
I really liked this book. Although he did name drop quite often (and did admit it!) you really got the sense that Gyles Brandreth did know them, especially Prince Phillip, and had talked to people who really knew them, not just people wanting to create a sensation or sell their stories to the newspapers. It didnt really offer much critisism of them, but I think sometimes you don't need that in a book. Both the Queen and Prince Phillip were portrayed in a positive light, which I think was good, even though it did go over their percieved negative points - Prince Phillips numerous "jokes" for example. I know I am biased because I am a big fan of the Royal Family, but I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone who wants to know about the Queen and her husband in a well researched and non sensationalist way! 9 / 10
Book Thirty Three - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
This is a book which I probably should have read a while ago, but hadn't got round to it until now. It tells the story of Amir and his friend Hassan, who live in Afghanistan. Amir is rich, and Hassan and his father are the servants to the family. They are normal kind of childhood friends (almost, as Amir doesn't treat him as well as he should, even though Hassan will do anything for him), until one day when Amir sees a terrible thing happening to Hassan and doesn't act the way he should do, as a friend would. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but eventually Amir ends up in America, with his father, and builds a new life for himself there. After his father dies, he is asked to come back to Afghanistan by one of his father's oldest friends, who is dying. His father's friend then asks him to look for and after a child, who is Hassan's child, as something has happened to Hassan in the intervening years.
When I first finished reading this book, I hated it. I hated Amir more than any character I had ever read before!! (Wuthering Heights doesn't count, as I hated the characters because I didn't care about them!) But thinking about it, this means that it is a good book, it is very well written, for me to feel that strongly about it. It definately has a story and feel similar to Atonement by Ian McEwan, despite being set in a totally different time and place. I would recommend this book, but be prepared to really dislike the main character. I'm not sure what rating to give it, because I wouldn't read it again, which makes me think it should be a low rating...I think I'll give 8.5 / 10 for the writing, 6 / 10 for the story.
Reviews of I Robot, Labyrinth and Inglourious Basterds to follow in the next entry...and then in the next one after that I'll get round to reviewing Gotham 11 and my fantastic night at Slimelight! :)
Book Thirty Two - Phillip and Elizabeth, Portrait of a Marriage by Gyles Brandreth
This book (as the title suggests!) is about Queen Elizabeth and her husband Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh. It starts with describing their early lives, how they grew up, and then how they met and married, and then goes on to describe them as a family and as the Queen being the Queen. It was very clearly laid out and described, and provides a good background for if you know nothing, or not much, about the couple and want to know more. Theres a good bit of British Royal history in there as well, which is good.
I really liked this book. Although he did name drop quite often (and did admit it!) you really got the sense that Gyles Brandreth did know them, especially Prince Phillip, and had talked to people who really knew them, not just people wanting to create a sensation or sell their stories to the newspapers. It didnt really offer much critisism of them, but I think sometimes you don't need that in a book. Both the Queen and Prince Phillip were portrayed in a positive light, which I think was good, even though it did go over their percieved negative points - Prince Phillips numerous "jokes" for example. I know I am biased because I am a big fan of the Royal Family, but I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone who wants to know about the Queen and her husband in a well researched and non sensationalist way! 9 / 10
Book Thirty Three - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
This is a book which I probably should have read a while ago, but hadn't got round to it until now. It tells the story of Amir and his friend Hassan, who live in Afghanistan. Amir is rich, and Hassan and his father are the servants to the family. They are normal kind of childhood friends (almost, as Amir doesn't treat him as well as he should, even though Hassan will do anything for him), until one day when Amir sees a terrible thing happening to Hassan and doesn't act the way he should do, as a friend would. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but eventually Amir ends up in America, with his father, and builds a new life for himself there. After his father dies, he is asked to come back to Afghanistan by one of his father's oldest friends, who is dying. His father's friend then asks him to look for and after a child, who is Hassan's child, as something has happened to Hassan in the intervening years.
When I first finished reading this book, I hated it. I hated Amir more than any character I had ever read before!! (Wuthering Heights doesn't count, as I hated the characters because I didn't care about them!) But thinking about it, this means that it is a good book, it is very well written, for me to feel that strongly about it. It definately has a story and feel similar to Atonement by Ian McEwan, despite being set in a totally different time and place. I would recommend this book, but be prepared to really dislike the main character. I'm not sure what rating to give it, because I wouldn't read it again, which makes me think it should be a low rating...I think I'll give 8.5 / 10 for the writing, 6 / 10 for the story.
Reviews of I Robot, Labyrinth and Inglourious Basterds to follow in the next entry...and then in the next one after that I'll get round to reviewing Gotham 11 and my fantastic night at Slimelight! :)