The Running Man by Stephen King

"The Free-Vee is killing us".

As a kid growing up in the late eighties/early nineties, my heart had a special place for the books of Stephen King and the action films of Arnold Schwarzenegger. You can imagine, therefore, my enthusiasm for reading the book penned under King's pseudonym Richard Bachman. I'm not really sure how it has taken me this long to get and read a copy, but that time finally came.

Let me start by confirming that the book has very little in common with the movie. No Lycra, no man mountain of a  Lycra clad hero, no definitely no Lycra (as per below).

The protagonist and villain's names and the idea of a killer game show are about the only similarities that I could gauge - let's just say the interpretation was exceedingly loose.

Back to the novel, because that's why you're here right? Well it is a non stop action extravaganza. The short, staccato chapters drip with increasing tension and momentum and the finale is **potential spoiler** devastating.

The novel represents a vision of the nadir of reality tv - where contestants vie for their lives and death is presented as an amusement sport for the viewing public.

While I did miss Arnie's muscular hijinks, the novel is certainly  more thrilling and cerebral than the film's amusing script. This has it all, corruption, drama, love, misery, tension and violence.

 5 out of 5, working up a sweat from all that running

The House Of Dr. Edwardes by Francis Beeding

"The castle must have been impregnable, the only way in being the narrow cleft through which the road ran like an arrow aimed at the heart of it."

In my continuing quest to read the source novels that inspired the works of Alfred Hitchcock comes this gripping thriller. While it may have inspired Spellbound  the similarities are in the minority. The initial impression of Constance Sedgewick is far from that of Ingrid Bergman for a start and the plot continues off in quite a tangent.

 

 

The mood and increasing climate of fear is as seductive as it is intriguing. Who could resist the charming Doctor Murchison? Connie is not the best judge of men, her naiveté could have diabolic consequences. You will have to read it yourself to find out more.

 

4 out of 5 open the gates and stop the lunatics running the asylum.

 

 



 

The Secret River by Kate Grenville

"A tall awkwardly put-together fellow, he had no more idea of farming than the man on the moon, but anyone could make things grow on the river-flats."

I wanted to like this much more than I did. It feels almost un-Australian to feel ambivalent about such a well realised tale of the bloody struggle between the early settlers and the indigenous population. In terms of the way the novel is written, no fault could be found, perhaps I was just not in the mood for an unflinchingly grim tale.

 

On a more positive note, by finishing this novel I completed the Top 10 Aussie books to read before you die as per the First Tuesday Book Club list, but it seems I have a lot more lists to complete before that final (and hopefully far off) death knell.

 

 3 out of 5 crops of corn are a waste of time.



Forgive Me Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

"My classmates are all repressed monkeys."





This weekend has been chock full of fictional tormented outsiders and shocking parents - this & the movie What Maisie Knew  certainly fell into that category. Whilst the movie's saving grace was the delightful Alexander Skarsgård (the stuff that dreams are made of), this book featured a mixed up teen with a seriously horrid mother.

There is something ultimately life-affirming in Leonard's struggle to deal with the traumas of his life and his **spoiler alert** dismissal of his original plans of murder and suicide. This novel is as easy to read and strangely enjoyable as Quick's  The Silver Linings Playbook.

Who wouldn't love a Humphrey Bogart obsessed teenager with a crush on a religious zealot?
In any case, I'd recommend this for someone that needs a hug, because that is the feeling it leaves you with. A reassuring big bear hug of a book.


 5 out of 5, a bad hair cut is always the start of a bad day.
 

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

"When my mother died and was cremated herself, we worried that, acting on instinct, our father might run out and immediately replace her."

I was completely oblivious to the works of Mr Sedaris, but his approaching tour brought his name up in conversation with a true fan. As such, I was prompted to seek out one of his oeuvres. I'll admit I had seen this in a bookstore before and had been put off my the poor English of the title. Reading it, however, proved just how hilarious and apt the title was.

 

 

I think everyone has craziness in their family, in themselves, the world is a 'special' place, and Sedaris' delightful vignettes are proof positive of this assertion. Maybe not everyone has a father that eats hats, nonetheless, I think we are all capable of putting forward a similarly unpredictable anecdote about ourselves or our family. If only we could tell those tales with the refreshing honesty and hilarity of this little offering.

 

 

 5 out of 5, more edible than the unidentified brown object in the bottom of the suitcase.

Don't Look Now and Other Stories by Daphne Du Maurier

"The twins were standing there, the blind one still holding on to her sister's arm, her sightless eyes fixed firmly upon him."

The slight problem I have with considering a collection of short stories is that rarely do they all deliver the same standard of efficacy. It is quite possible that one tale might blow you away, while another might leave you cold.

 

I have long been a big fan of Du Maurier's work, particularly Rebecca, Jamaica Inn,  and My Cousin Rachel. I had not stumbled upon this particular collection previously. When I realised that the author was behind the titular tale and its 1970s cinematic interpretation, replete with a whole lot of Donald Sutherland (and the requisite infamy about its love scenes), I was intrigued  to visit the source material.

 

 

The first tale is rather short and it is quite unexpected, reading it in a vacuum, that its interpretation could warrant an entire film. Having said that, it remains moody and intriguing, while suffering by comparison to the film version.

 

The remaining stories are a bit of a mixed bag, devoid of a unifying thread, but interesting, nonetheless. I particularly enjoyed A Border-Line Case. However there were other tales which were less engaging.

 

 4 out of 5 psychic twins in Venice are a bad sign.



The Road by Cormac McCarthy

"When you die it's the same as if everybody else died too."

I was completely surprised by how much I loved The Road when I take into consideration my dislike of McCarthy's Blood Meridian.

 

An all pervasive atmosphere of fear and dread contrasts beautifully with the familiarity of a father and son rapport in this relentless journey through a ruined world. Travelling the road could be seen as a relentless drudge, fighting off starvation, the threat of thieves and bandits, and yet there is something amazing about the writing that almost makes you taste the hunger at the pit of your stomach and palpably feel the fight or flight senses taking over.

 

One of the strengths of this novel appears to be the depth of detail about the relationship between the father and son, and the strong sense of sensory depiction, contrasted with the vague depictions of the source of the world's problems and clear details of place and time.

 

 

5 out of 5, canned meals are a life saver