Rating: Solid 3.5 Stars

This was lots of fun, fast-paced, I liked the setting a lot and there were a few unexpected plot twists which was quite fun. However, the ending felt a little abrupt, the love story was quite quick and I probably would have appreciated a family tree towards the end.
Having said that, I'd definitely pick up the next book.

The Quiet American is a novel I started, thinking I would most likely end up hating. It seemed like it was going to be one of those really terrible, abstract books I was made to read at school. Especially since many people hail it as a 'classic'. I thought I was right until 1/2 way through the book. However, then I started to become immersed in the story. It was maybe a little obvious in the end. But it looks at human life and morality in such a stark way, and it was unsettling and thought provoking.

The Quiet American is almost certainly a provocative book that stands in response to The Vietnam War. The reason I was prompted to read this book is because of my current study interests in The Vietnam War. However, this book offered a much deeper exploration of innocence and human behaviour than I expected. It was far more than simply being a book on the Vietnam War. Graham Greene fails to really get into the Vietnam War. Yes, he places the horrors before us, and the brutality, the deaths and the troops. But the novel is placed 1952-5, really before American involvement became big in Vietnam. However, he uses two seemingly non-military combat individuals to examine how it is not necessarily the troops who are creating the war, how the Western influence was damaging to Vietnam and it did not even need to be through the acts of brutal warfare. It makes it easy to see how this book became so controversial.

Considering that I believed this book was going to be a solid three star read, by the end I was hooked, and shocked and a little unsettled. But it's safe to say, more than anything, this book was unexpected in a very fantastic way. It's very rare that I find time or the inclination to read novels on my areas of interest because I prefer to escape reality when I read for pleasure. But I am definitely glad I found time for this one. And I certainly recommend you read it.

Austerlitz is definitely one of those post-modern, unfulfilling texts with the open-ended finish that just leaves you with twenty million unanswered questions.
It's also kind of poetic, in the long narrative that just continues without pause and draws you into what is not necessarily a thrilling story, but one that captivates you and unsettles you all at the same time.
The use of architecture throughout the book to pin spaces to memories and to create memories in these spaces is quite important for this as a piece of Holocaust literature. It's also very much secondary generation style.

Overall, I read this in a day largely because I had to, but it was quite hard going at times, confusing, emotional, disruptive, but something that did keep me reading even when I knew I had to. A difficult book to just suddenly stop with.

What a brilliant book!

Grayson Perry asks all the questions we need to be asking ourselves about society, young delinquents, violence, male suicide etc etc.
He does it with humour and sensitivity, and he really does offer all people (especially men) something to think about. Currently our society is not working, and Grayson Perry's address of the state of masculinity as something that is not progressive, and stuck in a rut is very true. Feminism is forward looking, it is progressive and it wants change. Why can't masculinity have those things too? We need to start talking about these issues.

I also loved the little cartoon art works that broke up the chapters, and were sarcastic and humorous in places.

Overall, a really interesting read, that poses some great questions to make you think. Thoroughly recommend to every man, and anybody interested in gender structures.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed, this book wasn't quite what I expected. Still, Carrie Fisher was an extraordinary woman and this opened my eyes to seeing her, and the initial fame of Star Wars in an entirely new light. Only days before her passing did I watch her on the Graham Norton Show talking about her book, which was something I wanted to read. However, I feel like she passed away before we ever got all of her story, and it was very strange reading something in which Fisher clearly felt like she had years more left too.

I really enjoyed this book. It's one hell of a long book, but there are so many great twists and turns that get brought into the plot that make this book really interesting. It also continues to set the series up really nicely and I definitely need to continue reading and finish the existing series to date now after getting back into it.
Will probably take a slight break from Game of Thrones now with one smaller book in the middle just because they're such long books, but won't be long before I get back into it.

Harry Potter is obviously a classic to many readers. Although, having said that many people state they do not like it believe the writing is poor, they don't like the characters or they don''t like all the hype about it. I don't agree, but I am not here to make an argument; that is just my opinion.

For me readings these books reminds me of when I was growing up and how my favourite past-time used to be escaping into another world full of wonder and mystery.
(I have to admit, fantasy books are still my favourite kind of read because I love everything that is different from this world.)
I think these books still offer fabulous potential for children and really encourage them to be adventurous and offer crazy, wonderful events in a world so different from our own.

The great thing about the version of this book that I just read was that it was illustrated. To me this just makes it so much more exciting and interesting for children. For those who are a little bit younger, but should still get the full, fun experience of Harry Potter. They can see the beautiful illustrations and the funny ways in which the characters are drawn as they are actually described. It was great to see Gilderoy Lockhart not as some 'beautiful' actor--I put beautiful in inverted commas because I absolutely loathe Kenneth Branagh--but they see him as some silly, rather slow and somebody who stages all of their life. The illustrations for me really reflected the true characters. For all adult Harry Potter fans I truly recommend these books, not only are they a great reason to re-read Harry Potter but they are accompanied by breath-taking illustrations.

In regards to the plot line in Chamber of Secrets I had forgotten so many small details that were just a little bit different from the movies. I really enjoyed this story-line and I think it made me realise how much I have underrated Chamber of Secrets in the past. There are so many elements in this book that are developing; relationships between characters are blossoming, overarching plot lines are thickening and the real sense and feel of Hogwarts just emerges as this truly thrilling place.

Overall, I really found my love again for Harry Potter--not that I ever really lost it--and the beautiful pictures only added to that experience.

Not sure I like the direction of this with so many flashes, kind of reduces his status....