One-line book reviews

I cannot remember a time when I have not been reading a book. Apparently I was a real tearaway until I learnt to read, and reading calms me even now. Many books have rested in my memory for many years. A few random examples:

• The History of Mr Polly, H.G Wells - part of my 'O'-Level exams, but re-read recently,
  
• Peopleware by Tom de Marcos, often dipped into,
  
• Stig of the Dump - read many times during my childhood.

I tend to steer clear of "life-changing" books, but when in Australia in '92, I read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". It made real sense to me at the time and I even, God forbid, underlined several passages. I came across it 2 years ago and re-read it and apart from a few "hhmm, interesting thought" moments, it did very little. I have obviously evolved into a selfless, caring person and no longer need its help. Maybe.

We just moved house and I gave away or packed many of my books and couldn't remember which I had read in the last year or so. So here is the list as far as I can remember with my one line book review. It is in no particular order:

1. Great Expectations: What's a small boy doing out at that time of night?
2. The Kite Runner: My wife interrupted me while I was reading the last few pages and I got angry - I really got into this story. But it didn't make me want to buy a kite.
   
3. Small Island: Top-notch, well-constructed
4. The First Casualty: Nice description of what life in the trenches must have been like, but rather contrived and anyone who uses the phrase "throbbing member" gets a thumbs-down from me.
5. The strange incident of the dog in the nightime. I read this in French - aren't I clever? His dad did it.
6. Life of Pi: Bizarre in the extreme, but I felt sorry for him when the lion (or was it a tiger?) bolted at the end without even saying goodbye.
7. Angela's Ashes. Excellent writing style. Consumption eh? Sounds almost as bad as tuberculosis. Bought it and 'Tis for £2 in the Cancer Research Campaign shop. Bargain.
   
8. 'Tis: Poor follow-up. I lost interest in the character. I bought Teacher Man, but don't think I'll get round to reading it after this one.
9. The art of project management: Communication is the key to success.
10. David Copperfield: I really enjoyed reading this. It was my first dip into Dickens in a long time, but bizarrely I can remember very little about the plot.
11. Frankenstein: Deserves to be a classic
12. Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde: Didn't grip me as I expected it to, but at least it wasn't too long.
13. Moby Dick: I managed 100 pages and am amazed that I lasted that long.
14. Dracula: Can you tell that I went through a bit of a "classics" phase. Those Penguin classics are only £1 you know.
15. Hard Times: Hard going.
16. A Spot of Bother. A Richard and Judy holiday read if ever there was one.
17. Watching the English: Spot on.
18. Freakonomics: Confirmed my prejudices about Estate Agents
19. Does anything eat wasps? Yes, they do.
20. Going Solo (Roald Dahl): I wish I'd been a friend of his (of course, he would have hated me). Marrying his grand-daughter might also have been quite cool.
21. The Cat in the Hat: I love reading this really quickly to the kids - the words fit together perfectly.
22. Horrid Henry: References to smelly pants and poo never fail to raise a titter with anybody under 9 or over 35.
23. The Shining: I love the film, but heard that Stephen King hated it, so I read this. I prefer the film.
24. Mustn't Grumble: I needed a "nice cup of tea" after this one. I read it to make sure he didn't slag off the north of England too much.
25. A Tale of Two Cities: A tale of too hard to read.
    

Hey, that's quite a lot of books over a short time period. I guess I really do like reading.