Books I Read in 2004 - Final List

Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon - finished 12-Jan-04.

Fascinating account of the (potential) future history of humankind over the next few billion years, evolution through 18 different species from the first men (us) to the eighteenth men when man finally becomes extinct (almost through choice), including flying man with wings, telepathic man, and man who can see the past and eventually send this story back through time (could it be true?). Written in 1930 before genetic engineering, this includes accounts of future generations changing our own genetic make-up (no explanation of how this was done, of course) into more adaptable species' for living on Venus and Neptune, as astonomical events force us to abandon the Earth (and subsequently Venus).

Other notable events:

It shows that we (perhaps) will never truly conquer space, because we cannot travel faster than light, and other stars and planetary systems are too distant.

Virtual extinction of the human race on more than occasion.

The deliberate destruction of other (intelligent) life-forms on other planets.

Retrograde evolution when we go back to stone age times, four-legged and rodent sized beings.

The expiration of all fossil fuels and most metals after we have used them all up.

A truly fascinating book, written as a history, extrememly well plotted, but lacking any characters and therefore sometimes a little uninvolving.

The Downing Street Years - by Margaret Thatcher (finished 06-Feb-04).
Fascinating autobiographical account of her years as British Prime Minister, including such important events such as the Falklands war, the miners' strike, the evolution of the European union, and the 80's riots. Also how and who she chose for critical cabinet posts, her relationships with many contempory political figures, and ultimately her leaving the post. Slightly sanitised and one-sided account, but how could it be otherwise. A unique insight.

This Immortal by Roger Zelazny (finished today 17-Feb-04) - this story is excellent, although a stonnger ending would have improved it still further. This book tied with
'Dune' for the 1966 Hugo sci-fi award for best novel.

Greek Conrad Nimokos is assigned bodyguard for a Vegan (from the planet Vega) and encounters several adventures whilst taking him on a tour of Earth tourist attractions in a post-nuclear landscape, when most humans have migrated from the devastated planet to other planets such as Vega. The Earth is populated with many mutant life-forms, such as the boadile (a cross between a giant 12-legged crocadile and a boa constrictor), and a real vampire. But why does he ponder the dilemma of whether to assasinate the alien himself, and how old is Nimokos really, is that his real name, or might he be a legend from ancient Greek mythology, and who else in his entourage might be tyring to kill the alien and why ? All is revealed in this fast-paced novel.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (finished 29-Feb-04). Good story, excellent well-writen interesting and exciting situations, but spoilt by the ending. I would recommend reading the book only if you skip the final chapter, which adds nothing to the story but unnecessarily attempts to set up the sequel(s), introducing new elements which are not credibly described.

If you are like me you will not be able to resist reading the final chapter, but before you start at the beginning resolve to read the final chapter only when a minimum of two weeks have passed after you have finished the penultimate chapter (which is the true ending anyway to this story) - and keep to this resolution. This will give you a chance to enjoy and digest the story before the spoiling, and hopefuly detach the spoiling from your enjoyment.

Finished "Behindlings" by Nicola Barker.
Overlong and unsatisfying. Interesting concept for a story (which is why I bought it), but not quite successful. A group of fairly ordinary people (the 'behindlings') spend their days following around the country a charismatic virtual tramp.

The Liar by Stephen Fry (finished 13-May-04).
Clever and occasionally amusing. I sometimes feel that Stephen Fry tries to be a modern-day Oscar Wilde, and whilst sometimes he makes a pretty good job, but not in his novel-writing. Although Oscar Wilde only ever wrote one novel (The Picture of Doran Gray - one of my favourites), I think it impossible for anyone to ever match it.

Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets by David Simon (finished 03-July-2004) - 598 pages.
Excellent and totally absorbing. The true story of a reporter's attachment to the Homicide unit of Baltimore police department, on which the TV series was based. It almost reads like a novel, including the detectives' dialogue, and as I progressed through the book the (true-life)characters also became engaging - you can recognise some of the TV fictional characterisations from the real ones.

Outwitting the Gestapo by Lucie Aubrac (finished 19-July-2004) - 235 pages.
An interesting true-story, first hand account of Lucie Aubrac's "career" as a key member of the French resistance in the city of Lyon during WWII. A quick and easy read, but not a thriller.

How to Make Money from Property: The Expert Guide to Property Investment by Adam Walker (125 pages)
Finished 26-July-2004. A quick and easy read. The first part ("Making Money From Your Own Home") was very basic - a beginner's guide, but part two ("Buying A Property To Let") was full of useful information, even to someone like me that already has a number of properties let out. I shall recommend this to a few colleagues.

The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson (finished 04-Aug-2004) - 220 pages.
Classic crime. A quick and easy read. First-person story of a cold killer who appears to be a very ordinary policeman in an ordinary town.

Lord Of Light by Roger Zelazny &nbsp (finished on holiday 30-Aug-2004) - 319 pages.
OK whilst I was reading it but not particularly memorable. I finished this four weeks ago and I have already forgotten most of it (senility perhaps). The story of a distant world (?) populated by Buddha, Siddhartha, Krishna, Brahma and others with god-like powers, battling one another for supremacy.

Time and Again by Jack Finney &nbsp (finished on holiday 08-Sept-2004) - 399 pages.
Yet another classic all-time favourite that I didn't particularly enjoy. This is a time-travelling story of a man going back to 1882 that describes incessantly the differences between the New York of the past and the New York of 1970, virtually street by street and building by building in some places, and showing great surprise at many of the changes (I would have been surprised at not being surprised). I guess it might be mildly of greater interest to anyone reasonably familiar with Manhatten. The story itself is an adequate love story, slightly reminiscent of the 1979 Christopher Reeve film 'Somewhere in Time' (based upon a book by Richard Matheson - I don't know which book came first).
What am I missing in these so-called classics? &nbsp

Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln : 21 Secrets of History's Greatest Speakers by James C. Humes
This book contains an excellent method (21 secrets) for making public presentations and speeches from a top presidential speechwriter. &nbspIt is also over-filled with a plethora of anecdotes (both serious and amusing) to include in any presentations.

A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. (finished 26-Oct-2004) - 320 pages.
Fairly good story, but fragmented. The book is split into three sections hundreds (thousands?) of years apart, so the characters are not at all well portrayed, and the book for me is therefore not very engaging.

I highly recommend you The Grapes of Wrath. Just take it from your shelf and read it. Perfect in every way.

Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp (finished 04-Nov-2004) - 182 pages.
Rivetting, hard to put down, except for the last few chapters which started to became a little repetitive and the story becomes less convincing.

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (finished 11-Nov-2004) - 160 pages.
OK. Too short to develop a believable characterisation for the main protagonist, although the story does whizz along. Not much really happens other than a couple of anonymous battles in which he goes from fear and cowardice to bravery, although it seems to me to be a hypnotic disregard for what is going on around him (almost in a trance), whilst firing his rifle.

The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman (finished 18-Nov-2004) - 155 pages.
Good story, moves at a pace, as you'd expect from this author. A Hemingway academic considers forging ('finding') a set of short stories lost by Hemingway early on in his career, but he is continually hampered by an interdimensional being who keeps showing up to stop him by killing him. He then wakes again in an alternative but similar (quantum) universe with a similar plan. Rather limp ending after showing potential for being quite profound.

When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs (finished 21-Nov-2004) - graphic novel - 38 pages.
Graphic novel story of a naive pair of pensioners' reactions to a nuclear strike.
A little simplistic for my liking - attempting to get a very serious message across to adults, but almost a children's book on many levels - not least the cartoon format.

'My Life by Jesus Christ: A story' by Christopher Miller &nbsp (finished 07-Dec-2004) - 197 pages.
Very good, but I hoped to be more moved by the subject. &nbsp The dialogue was fairly limited, and too often a significant event is described as 'this is fully covered in the scriptures so I won't describe it here' (paraphrased, it only happens two or three times, but once is too often by my reckoning), which I thought was incredibly irritating. &nbsp It does include an amazingly fresh perspective on certain aspects, such as the creation ('God and me and the other angels flew around the universe over billions of years and created the galaxies and planets and creatures/life' - again paraphrased - and implying there is life on many other planets). &nbsp Also too short, fully deserving of an epic treatment. &nbsp Overal I enjoyed this, and learned of a 'modern' approach to the subject, but an incredibly fantastic opportunity wasted.

The Cosmic Rape by Theodore Sturgeon (finished 15-Dec-2004) - 160 pages.
Good story, from a short by Sturgeon 'To Marry Medusa' which I do recall having previously read, and a very
satisfactory ending.