Colin Marks's Blog, page 4

Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders

I read George Saunders’s Lincoln in the Bardot a few years ago and was blown away by his creativity and narrative style. He takes well-used concepts, strips them bare, then reassembles them into unique and quirky stories. This collection of shorts certainly won’t be for everyone – his inventive use of language and punctuation takes some effort – but if you’re struggling, persevere and you’ll be rewarded! The stories are varied, several from near future sci-fi where humans are owned and manipulat...

Review: Lessons by Ian McEwan

Lessons is more biography than novel. It follows the span or Roland Baines’s life, from his youth in the Middle East to his twilight days in London, and because of the length and slow pacing I felt at times that I was living this in real-time! Every description is huge, passing characters are given full paragraphs describing their lives, long-winded digressions can span many many pages, and that bloat and preachiness often made this a chore to read. The redeeming feature is Ian McEwan’s prose – ...

Review: Upgrade by Blake Crouch

Could you alter genome sequences to give yourself superhuman advantages? Could you run for miles without fatigue, use two computers at once, absorb multiple media sources simultaneously? That’s the premise of Upgrade. This amazingly researched, fast paced thriller often feels like it’s a movie script, and I suspect it won’t be long before someone snaps it up. Interesting, very well written, the plotting was good but could’ve done with a few more twists and turns, and the ending was a bit too Hol...

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Review: Hide by Kiersten White

Hide is how Stephen King would’ve tackled the Hunger Games! An excellent opening with a great setup, then some irritating PoV jumps and ta bloated and over-written ending (I found myself skimming paragraphs), but a fun holiday read. It won’t change your life, but the premise will keep you entertained!

Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review.

See review on Goodreads.

Review: French Braid by Anne Tyler

I’ve loved Anne Tyler’s books for years, including her last, “A Spool of Blue Thread”, which was marketed as being her final novel. Unfortunately, I feel she should’ve stopped there. Her books are always a slow burn – typically following a family over a generation or so – but a focus and a direction drive them forward. This one was so slow I wanted to give it CPR, it wandered and drifted, with a vague theme of you never really know your family, but it took a long time to get nowhere. For a mid-s...

Review: Vladimir by Julia May Jonas

Vladimir is a book of three parts. The first, introduces John and his unnamed wife, literary academics, and the writing is gorgeous. The wife’s wit and intelligence shine – she discusses the #MeToo movement, her husbands need for sexual attention from the younger students, and what it means to grow old and how that shapes her interactions. This section was 5*s for me. Sadly, the plot sharply turned, and I found her character less relatable and definitely less likeable, until the final section wh...

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas

Vladimir is a book of three parts. The first, introduces John and his unnamed wife, literary academics, and the writing is gorgeous. The wife’s wit and intelligence shine – she discusses the #MeToo movement, her husbands need for sexual attention from the younger students, and what it means to grow old and how that shapes her interactions. This section was 5*s for me. Sadly, the plot sharply turned, and I found her character less relatable and definitely less likeable, until the final section wh...

Review: On Opium: Pain, Pleasure, and Other Matters of Substance by Carlyn Zwarenstein

On Opium in an interesting series of essays discussing the use of opium and other hard drugs, both for recreational and medical/pain relieving purposes. Some sections were eye-opening, such as how the decriminalisation of these drugs, as with the alcohol prohibition in 1920s America, causes unwanted consequences and forces otherwise good people into crime and dangerous street drugs, and how misdemeanours are more heavily prosecuted against minority populations.

Worth a listen, but my criticis...

Review: Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street

Excellent book, covering all aspects of recruitment. Very American (UK here) and very boardroom focused, but valuable observations that would work for all positions across an organisation. The fourth chapter, Select, discusses how to structure interviews, and that would be worth reading for candidates and recruiters alike.

See review on Goodreads.