Epistle by Max Thompson is the latest in a series of fun cat memoirs written by handsome feline Max, aided and abetted by his human caregiver Karen. I follow Max’s blog and love reading his musings on life as a house cat. I was excited this morning when he announced that the digital version of his latest book was now available from Amazon – hard copy to follow soon – and immediately picked it up and devoured it. This particular instalment was written as a letter by Max (who is now a senior kitty) to his younger self giving his kitten self tips and tricks. What I liked The format. I felt this works very well. The letter to Young Max gives a cohesive structure and approach to the book. It contains a mixture of amusing and practical tips for Young Max, often ways of “persuading” the humans in the household to give him more food, as well as more philosophical thoughts on human nature. I am certain my cat has been talking to Max on the sly as she uses many of the same tricks. He also attempts to educate Young Max in his new role as a house cat…
It has to be said I’ve been slightly disappointed in the books I’ve read recently. I was unable to get into them for some reason. The Blade Itself by Joe Ambercrombie I read this on recommendation by Rick Riordan, one of my favourite young adult writers. I listened to it partly in audiobook and then gave up and read it on Kindle. I don’t believe it was a fault of the narrator; he did a good job, but I just couldn’t get into it very easily. On the positive side, I see that Amazon has enabled Whispersync for Voice for purchases on the Canadian store. It worked perfectly on this book. However, they do not yet offer the price reduction for both items, but maybe that will come. The Blade Itself is very similar to George R.R, Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire in that character development is more important than plot progression. That is all very well, but Ambercrombie can’t compare to the depth of characterization that Martin has reached. None of the characters grabbed me in the manner of Tyrion, Jaime or Arya. In all fairness, Martin has had five books to develop his characters, while I…