People of the Book

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I don't know why people compare this to The Da Vinci Code, I think it's a lot more like The Love of Stones by Tobias Hill, which similarly takes an object and traces its story. I think the main difference from The.. let's just call it Code... is that Code implies that while the past is a mystery, if you have the right clues you can find out what really happened, whereas People of the Book shows that the past cannot be known - the main character can guess at some things but only the reader knows what the clues really signify.

I realy liked the book, although the violence was a bit harrowing. And it was a bit depressing, showing violence caused by religion happenign again and again over the years, right up to the present day. I especially liked the last section with the girl who did the illustrations.

It was a bit of a massive coincidence the way the book came to light again though.

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Perhaps the worst book I have ever read

What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson


My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I know writing about heaven/ utopia is much more difficult than writing about hell/ dystopia, but really, this is the most Daily Mail, banal, bathetic version of heaven I have ever come across.

Detailed description of how great the furniture is in the after-life? Come on. Hell was a lot more interesting but by that time the damage was done. Basically when you are in heaven you hang out in a really nice house and go to some lectures. It also really, really irked me in the preface where the author basically says "this is all true apart from the characters". You cannot possibly know that unless you have died already.
And how come the narrator's dog was with him in heaven? Are all animals there or just the ones that are lucky enough to be liked by a human? Where were all the scorpions and spiders?

I can barely describe how cross this book made me. I can't believe it's the same guy who wrote I Am Legend.

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You Have Been Watching

Spent Sunday evening sitting on an uncomfortable chair at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith at the filming of You Have Been Watching.

I now have a weird crush on Charlie Brooker, but definitely not on Frankie Boyle, (the only guest I recognised) who (whom?) I think is funnier edited.

There were a lot of very lame giraffe jokes. I don't know how may will make it to the final cut. I mean rubbish jokes, not jokes about lame giraffes although there may have been some.

I thought I saw Oliver Burkeman, who I remember from Cambridge, next to us in the queue but since I'm pretty sure I have mild face blindness, not great for a journalist, I didn't say hi, in case it was not him but someone vaguely famous who I didn't really know.

Torchwood

Do you think John Barrowman has a contract with Torchwood that says at least one character must say something like "God, that Captain Jack's good-looking isn't he?" at least once an episode? It must be a brilliant ego boost playing Jack Harkness.