Saturday 23 June 2012

The monk who sold his Ferrari

The monk who sold his Ferrai by Robin S Sharma is one of those inspirational book you are glad you read. It is a simple read in a lot of respects and the ideas are not original; but the book does not pretend that they are ( it clear says there ancient ideas) or suffer for it. The story revolves around a worldly lawyer changing his life and coming back to teach his protege the lessons learnt. It is very easy to pick holes in the story, but the story really is just a vehicle to get the concepts over and therefore perhaphs should be viewed in that light. If you like Paulo Coelho books you will like this. It is a self help/ spirituality book with a strong eastern philosophic bent, but also very accessible and enjoyable read.

Wednesday 13 June 2012

The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man

The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man by Mark Hodder is an interesting book. Richard Burton the explorer as a Sherlock Holmes-style private detective is an great idea, giving the character a reason to be an action hero. What genre to put this book is curious steam-punk or alternative history (a time-traveller had previously changed history), with well-known scientific heroes revealing a darker side or alternative side.


Little touches are good here like good like the foul-mouthed parakeets who pass on messages but add their own insults to the message.I really enjoyed this book, but it is hard (so perhaps best not) to pigeon-hole this book. There are elements of steam-punk, detective story (I keep thinking Sherlock Holmes as this not helped by one of the characters being a Doyle); but also areas traditionally associated with fantasy such as jewels with power.


Well worth a look. I would be interest to know what others think.#

Tuesday 5 June 2012

scarecrow and the army of thieves

Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves by Matthew Reilly is an action packed read that is hard to put down with the author's usual style of non-stop action. This is probably should be your first read of a Reilly book, may be one of his West books, but if you liked his other books you will like this one.

I am always surprised there are not more films made from Reilly's books, the fast pace would make good film topics.