Mad About the Boy is Helen Fielding’s return to her heroine Bridget Jones after a break of 15 years. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to review Mad About the Boy without including spoilers, so if you have not read the book and do not want to be spoiled, please go away, read the book and come back later. We’ll be waiting.
I hope you enjoyed last week’s guest post from Azrael, but now it’s back to regular programming. The books I have read in the last few weeks have all been worthy of full reviews, so expect to see them in the next few weeks. This week I started listening to Steelheart of which I have heard the first few chapters a few weeks ago when Audible released them early, free of charge. I do enjoy Sanderson’s writing so I’m really looking forward to this one. I’m also reading an ARC of Paul S. Kemp’s The Godborn. Expect reviews of these two soon. Added to my library this week One series I love listening to on Audible is the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. I used an Audible credit to add book 5, Death Masks, to my library. I’m looking forward to this, but it will likely be a few weeks before I get the chance to listen to it. One of the books on Audible’s daily deals this week was The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. This is a very interesting tale, and I was happy to add it to my library for the couple of dollars that…
During my reading for the recent BookTubeAThon in which I compared classic works of literature with more modern novels, I realised fairly early on that there is usually a very good reason why “classics” continue to be read year after year and why they have stood the test of time. It seems to me that what they have in common is a combination of exploration of universal themes, interesting characters, entry into a fantastical new world, understanding of the human condition and/or a witty and engaging writing style. 1984 explores the theme of government control, and Big Brother is a pretty dominant “character” in the book. Pride & Prejudice has Jane Austen’s wonderfully witty narrative combined with the eternal quest for true love. Naturally it made me wonder which of today’s novels will become tomorrow’s classics. Looking at Amazon’s 100 top selling books, there are several I see there that I don’t believe we will still be reading in years to come. I’m sorry E.L. James and Dan Brown, but I really doubt people will even remember Fifty Shades of Grey or Inferno in fifty years’ time. I simply don’t think they combine enough of the criteria to last. So…