Recently in Rooties Recent Reading Category

Growing up, I read all of the Narnia books. I'd persuaded my parents to buy me the full set of 7 as a 12 year old and read from the first to the last. I loved those books. I already knew of the "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" but until I got the set I didn't know that was the 2nd in the series. I remember the set taking up a huge space on my bedroom bookshelf. I also remember thinking of the author C S Lewis as someone who lived in the 1800's. How wrong could I be. In the local second hand bookshop I found 3 books, all by C S Lewis, all in the Sci Fi section. I had to pick them up. Reading the cover of one, I found that CS Lewis only died in 1963 and wrote many other stories.

Onto this story, Out of the Silent Planet is about a man who is taken to a different planet in our solar system. There he meets intelligent beings and discovers lots of things. OK, that's probably the worst review I've written in a long time (not that I'm assuming any have been any good!). The trouble is, this is a really good book that is really worth reading, and if I give away any little part it has a good chance of spoiling the story. I can tell you one thing though, I really like the way the whole aspect of launching a spaceship from Earth was neatly sidestepped. All the physics, all the pages of description there could have been, all made redundant by having our central character unconscious for the time of launch. Rootie Rating 5 out of 5.

If you read some of my earlier reviews you'll find I really didn't like The Floating Madhouse (Alexander Fullerton) having given it just 1 out of 5. However, I'll often give an authors other books a try when I come across them as I don't expect to enjoy 100% of any authors work. This is a book that made me glad I did.

The Torch Bearers follows a Navy Captain as he escorts a small flotilla of ships from the west coast of Africa back to Europe. War is tough, he doesn't have enough escorts and to make matters worse he is the only one on board that knows the true mission. They are a diversion for 'Operation Torch'. The object is that the dozens of German submarines will discover this convoy and concentrate their attack there while the ships of soldiers and supplies of Operation Torch slip past to take their fight into North Africa. How well do they do? You'll need to read the book. Rootie Rating 4 out of 5.

There's a reason I prefer fiction for entertainment rather than fact. This book reminded me of it. It's based on the last voyage of Captain Cook and while there is a fair amount of made up events I didn't find it an enjoyable read. It had to follow so closely the known events of that last voyage it's pace became very slow. I'm sure it's an accurate representation of the trials and tribulations of the time though.
Just not a story for me, Rootie Rating 1 out of 5

It may have been February since I last posted a book review but I've still been reading books. Life has kept me busy in some great ways this year so my rambling postings have reduced accordingly. Anyway, It's Sunday morning, the rest of the family are at Church, so I'm going to get through some of the backlog. Albeit with some very short reviews.

This is a story of an 18th century dash across Europe all started by some documents someone is trying to hide. The documents incriminate most of the gentry and politicians in a type of stocks and shares scam. I really enjoyed it - enough to remember some of the the parts very clearly 3 months later. It didn't hurt my European Geographic knowledge either - albeit in a way that's 200 years out of date. I'd read more from this author, Rootie Rating 3 out of 5

My recent supplier visit to Sweden meant long hours of travel, both waiting in airports and sitting on a plane. Perfect time to read some good books, in fact, I started and finished two in a 31 hour trip (and considering I spent a whole day in a factory and managed half a nights sleep I was quite pleased with that).

Anyway, onto the stories. The Stainless Steel Rat is a regular James Bond type hero in the future. There are several books in the series I've now discovered so I'm going to be looking to read them all. In the '..Saves the World' book our hero's organisation is under attack by someone altering the past. The Rat (real name Jim Di Griz) has to go back in time and stop it from happening. Technology merges seamlessly with history as Jim returns and alters first the 1960's, then the 1790's before.. well, saving the world. Yes they hero always wins but there's a neat twist towards the end which is both plausible at the same time as being pure science fiction (is that possible?).

In the Stainless Steel Rat for President, our hero is on holiday with his wife when a dead body turns up nearby with his nickname on a piece of paper in his mouth. The Rat has never met this man so he investigates further. This takes him to a world run by a not very nice dictator. The Rat helps the limited resistance movement to overthrow the dictator having all the requisite adventures on the way.

While these books all have very predictable "hero always wins" endings, they were just really fun to read without stretching the brain cells. They were also ideal travel books being just 160 pages long (the books fitted perfectly into my big trouser leg pocket).

What about some ratings? Both get a tidy 4 out of 5 Rootie Ratings - James Bond has competition.

Another book from the second hand bookshop that pre-dates ISBN numbers. I'm almost beginning to feel that's the sign of a good book. Perhaps because people loved it enough to keep it before it found it's way to the bookshop.

Anyway, this sci-fi book could easily be the beginning of a series... (thanks to Google and this site, it appears there are more in this vain though they are not grouped as a series of novels). This book was a short and comfortable read with an easy to follow story. One of the things I noticed most was that my thumb was never in the way. I'm serious, you know how when you hold a book your right thumb is over the bottom lines of text? Well this book has a huge 4cm bottom margin so your thumb is never in the way of the text. I have no idea if this was the style of typesetting of the time (there's not a date in the front cover to even know when it was printed) but it sure made a difference to the quality of the read. Perhaps that was just novelty though.

Back to the story, Empress turned retired empress uses her battleship to do some 'good' in the universe. Mixes things up with a solar system of bird like creatures some of whom are are picking on an isolated human colony that got there way before the birds discovered space flight. Some neat ideas on future technology mixed with a little politics.

Rootie Rating...4 out of 5, though I could almost give it more for the thumb space!

One of my rare moments of watching TV happened to be a segment that detailed the link between "1984" by George Orwell and "Brave New World". I loved reading 1984, or at least, I think I remember loving reading 1984. I read it while at school around the age of 15. One of those books that everyone has spoke of and for some reason I actually read - even though it wasn't part of my English homework. The impetus probably came from performing in "Animal Farm", a play I thoroughly enjoyed (yes, I was one of the squares that did the am-dram at school. I wasn't any good which is why I only ever had a a couple of lines.. like "and she's got ribbons in her hair" while dressed as a pigeon).

Anyway, the link if I remember it correctly was that George Orwell was a student in Aldous Huxley's class at whichever university it was. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is said to be another great Utopian Society type novel and a must read. Que my comment before Christmas to my brother "that's a book I must read" and his reply, "Julia lent it to me, you can have it". Wrapped and ready for Christmas day. I actually prefer that sort of present. It didn't cost him anything and it was high on my list of desires. Perfect.

As for the story, I can't be quite so enthusiastic. It's a story of a modern highly ordered society with a 'reserve' for those weirdo's who follow the old ways (that's our ways of course). It's interesting on how the story plays out but perhaps my expectations were raised too high from remembering my love of a story that others compared it too. It was undoubtedly well written and it's quite clear to see why it has survived from it's first publication in 1932 (according to the copy I have) to continuous reprints up until my 1984 vintage copy. Would I read it again? yes. Would I recommend it to others to read? yes. How do I rate it? Sorry to say I could only give it 3 out 5, just short of the 4 for me (perhaps Rootie Ratings should become a 10 point rating!)

Every now and then you read a book and think "this would make a good film". This book would make a good film. I could even place half of Hollywood's famous actors in different parts of it.

The story is sci-fi but with all the best sci-fi I have read it could easily be applied to today's world. In a society with planets of varying riches and sophistication, our lead character is one of the few remaining criminals. Quite what happens to all the wealth he is accumulating never becomes part of the story. He is caught quite early by another criminal turned policeman and recruited into a secret interplanetary anti-crime organisation. Who better to catch a criminal than a criminal. Our lead criminal is a nice criminal, in that he has never killed anyone in all his heists. However, his first assignment is to catch a criminal that has no regard for the life of anyone leaving death by the hundreds trailing behind.

There are so many details and twists in the story it was a joy to read. One thing I've noticed about a good book - it never dates. This was written in 1961.

Rootie Rating a clear 5 out of 5, and I found two others in the series too!

A pre world war one novel of... well, little interest to me as it turned out. The ships are the early ironclads of the 1900's and although there were sections of interesting detail the story as a whole just didn't hold my attention.

The setting was clever, a Royal Navy junior officer with Russian family connections joins a Russian fleet as an observer. The love of his life has just been engaged (against her will) to a Russian naval officer twice her age - who happens to be the Captain of the ship our officer is sailing with. It made for a love story of interest coupled with the difficulty of absence created by a sailors life. In one respect, it was realistic - the naval action when they finally reached their Japanese enemy was short and unpleasant. Our central character being most certainly on the loosing side of the battle yet being fortunate enough to survive to reach port.

It was readable but for me not enjoyable. I have another one of the other stories in the series though that I still plan to read, ever the optimist am I. Rootie Rating - 1 out of 5

Another completely surreal novel by Charles Stross, it somehow takes real world technical knowledge of mundane things like TCP/IP (that's the protocol the internet uses to send and receives information), compares it to using carrier pigeon instead of copper wire and then uses it set up a network via demon worlds to save our realm/domain/planet/reality (or however the here and now can be referred to).

The story is a continuation of "The Atrocity Archives" but prior reading of that is not necessary. Our hero becomes a secret agent of the James Bond ilk, at least, he thinks he does, but the real James Bond hero is ****** (well, I can't tell you that would spoil the story) which he discovers much later.

My favourite bit was the short story at the end of the story. It begins with Charles Stross writing what I would imagine would make a good PHD thesis on the James Bond series. Clearly Charles is a man who knows his James Bond fiction. However the factual presentation degenerates rapidly into a hilarious interview with one of Bond's enemies giving and his side of the story. I'll never look at the Ariane Launch site in quite the same way again.

Rating this book: Demon's aren't normally my thing but the creative plot more than makes up for it - Rootie Rating 5 out of 5

It's been a great Christmas for reading. My brother does a fair amount of reading too and for Christmas he gave me two books. The first to be read is "Tales from the White Hart" by Arthur C Clarke. It's a collection of short stories told in a regular pub meeting of scientists, writers and publishers. The pub is called the "White Hart" and the stories are all originally told by a character called Harry Purvis. They are re-told and narrated by one of the regulars, whose name I forget as it played little significance in the stories.

One of the stories I'd read in a previous collection, the others were all new, all imaginative and all believable to a point. That's what I like most about science fiction - the extension of real proven scientific theories into nonsense... or at least what might be nonsense but close enough to possible there might be some truth.

Not all the stories are pure science fiction, some are clever plays on expectation and situation. Without wanting to give away too much, one story centers on scientists working at a weapons research station. Drinking in their local pub, the locals were always naturally cautious about exactly what weapons were being developed (especially remember, this is the 1950's when the atomic bomb was at the forefront of everyone's mind). When a lorry comes from the direction of their works towards the pub and crashes in view (though a mile or two away) everyone fears the worst. The locals decide the lorry has come from the works and the speed at which the driver ran away from his overturned lorry suggests they should all be doing the same thing. The scientists are also thinking the same thing. One decides to walk the mile and find precisely what disaster they conspired in releasing in the countryside... it's not what would seem apparent.

That reminds me of one of my favourite short stories that Arthur C Clarke wrote called "Neutron Tide". You can read it on this website - it's less than 5 minutes to read.

Anyway, what Rootie Rating to give Tales from the White Hart? 4 out of 5 - there are some real gems in this book.

Perhaps I'm going for my longest ever review title, or perhaps the first book was so good I just had to read the following three in quick succession. In the first book, Star Risk Ltd is a fledgling mercenary company out to earn a fortune and take on the universe. I loved how easy to read the books were though missed the thoroughly thought out detail contained in other Sci-Fi stories I have read.
These 3 books continue with the same easy to read style and a couple of nice twists. Our mercenaries get themselves into a couple of difficult situations but between them manage to make every situation work in their favour. A sturdy 3 out of 5 rootie rating for each one of these.

Onto something slightly different. The author, Chris Bunch, died in 2005 (it was mentioned at the beginning of one of the books). I would have thought that this was the end of the Star Risk saga but googling for him brings me to his new book "Star Risk - The Gangster Conspiracy". Can he write from beyond the grave? Perhaps not. The cover of the new book reads:
"Chris Bunch's The Gangster Conspiracy, A Star Risk Novel, By Dal Perry & Steve Perry".
Perhaps he did write some before he died and it was finished but I think the series has been successful enough the publishers and/or his family are allowing it to continue, albeit written by other authors. Chris Bunch, and his creation Star Risk have become a brand it seems, long to continue in print as well as re-print.

Part of me wonders if the new story is up to the same standard (or perhaps better?). If I come across it I'll read it and let you know. The other part of me is most impressed. I heard somewhere (so take this with pinch of salt) that most authors work is out of print within 5 years of their death. Only a small few reach the immortal status of stories that span generations. If the Gangster Conspiracy is up to scratch, Chris Bunch may be one of the few that achieves an authors immortality. Good for him.

Part one of a sci fi series (I managed to buy all 4 in one go at the second hand bookshop - woohoo!) all covered in bright metallic covers with a stylised logo on the front. My first thoughts... this looks like the sort of thing I would have bought as a teenager... perhaps I shouldn't buy it now. Still, it was in the Sci-Fi section, and there were 4 of a series so in for a penny, in for a pound (OK, more than a pound, even second hand bookshop owners have to feed their children).

It may be true you can't judge a book by it's cover but in this case I managed too. The story is a simply written tale that watches the creation of a mercenary/security company that manage to compete against other companies as they build their fledgling business. All highly skilled, they use a few pieces of technology to outwit their enemies. Of course, they succeed. It really is the sort of book I would have read as a teenager (I found the cover quite appropriate in that respect). I don't think that's a bad thing, it's been a very simple, easy read that required little thought and was actually quite relaxing. Although I can't rate it as highly as other books I've read, I'll not rate it as poor either. Rootie Rating 3 out of 5 (Now, onto reading book number 2)

If a book has been serialised on TV I rarely choose to buy it. I don't think it's logical not to choose a book because it's been on TV, especially when I never saw the series. The mere fact it has been turned into a TV Drama must be because it has a very good story. Still, I avoid them in the bookshop. This one was given to me with a pile of other books and has sat on the shelf for almost a year being unread. Still, when every other book has been read these less attractive titles have to have their turn.

What a turn! Superb crime story with our fictional detective out to catch a killer. Initially there seems to be no link to the killings and eventually our hero detective works things out... almost. The really nice thing about this story is how human the detective is. He makes mistakes (quite a few) but gets there in the end. As a reader, I made them myself trying to figure out who did it.

I'm not normally one to choose Crime Fiction so please understand that me giving this book a Rootie Rating of 4 out of 5 shows just how good a read I found it to be.

Parts 3 and 4 of a series of 4 (why do I rarely get to read them in order?)

Part 3, A distant colony grows following a revolution. Times are hard, technology they once took for granted is no longer available from mother earth. Isolation will not remain forever though, a new startship travels from Earth which will change their relationship. No longer isolated, we get to follow how the colonists react and the changes (for better and worst)

Part 4, The colonists discover they are not alone in the universe, beings other than than human are not far away. How does first contact go? First contact isn't at the new colony of Coyote though, it happened many years before Coyote was settled, it's just the people who made first contact didn't send a message home.

A story worth reading? Yes, for both of them and I'll be keeping my eye out for the first two. Rootie Rating 3 out of 5 and 3 out of 5.