Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

One Sentence Summary:

In a future where Henry Ford is worshipped as a god and children are grown in sterile conditions Bernard doesn't feel like he fits in. 

Review:

This classic has a spot on every best books list and rightly so, it is well written, the characters are genuine and a hypothetical future that is one hundred present believable. The juxtaposition between the savages and the Alpha / Beta society shows us what could happen to society if we let it. When I was a teenager I was convinced this would be a good way for society to go, everyone in their place and everything being planned by a single group. (Now I see that to some degree that is how the world does work, economically speaking at least). I recommend this novel to everyone who hasn't read it yet (which is not many people as most schools had it on the required reading list at some point. 

10/10

10/10

Memorable Quotes:

"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand." 

"I want to know what passion is. I want to feel something strongly." 

"Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly -- they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced." 

"Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean." 

If you enjoyed this I recommend you read:

1984 - George Orwell

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury 

A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter J Miller Jr

Z For Zachariah - Robert C. O'Brien

One sentence summary:

Ann thinks she is the only survivor of a nuclear holocaust that occurred over a year ago. 

Review:

Written for the young adults this look at isolation and the end of the world is interesting. Ann, the protagonist is suddenly confronted with the outside world coming into her safe valley and bringing with it an overwhelming uncertainty. It is written for teens and as such uses a vocabulary that your average seventh grader would be familiar with and a character they can relate to (that adults may think is stupid). I recommend it for anyone who is on a post-Apocalypse disaster-story kick. 

6/10

6/10

If you enjoyed but would like to read something better written this please read:
On The Beach - Nevil Shute
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
The Giver - Lois Lowry

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

one sentence summary:
in a future where firemen start fires it is illegal to possess books.

Review:
I enjoyed this novel it made me think and made me angry. It has a very strong opening and even stronger characters. The protagonist is a fireman paid to burn books, one fateful day he keeps one of the books he was meant to burn and his life is forever changed. Typical of this genre (dystopian fiction) there are revelations about society and the general direction we are heading and what we should do to stop the slide. I recommend this novel for everyone.

10/10

memorable quotes:
“Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.” 

“There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”

If you enjoyed this you should read:

1984 - George Orwell
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mystry

one sentence summary:
In this dark look at India circa 1975 four people from different worlds are thrown together to live in one apartment together.

review:
This is a really well written and terribly depressing novel. The writing is beautiful and sweeps you up and doesn't let you go until it is done (and then it leaves you rather hollow feeling). The four characters are so well crafted that you feel as though you personally know each one, and years after finishing the novel will still thing about them on occasion. Be warned you will cry. Mistry uses this setting and these characters to show the world an India (a terrible unjust world) that has been ignored for far to long, a history that is worth knowing no matter where in the world you are from. A good read for everyone.

8/10

memorable quotes:

"...you have to use your failures as stepping stones to success. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair. In the end it’s all a question of balance."

"Flirting with madness was one thing; when madness started flirting back, it was time to call the whole thing off."

"But nobody ever forgot anything, not really, though sometimes they pretended, when it suited them. Memories were permanent. Sorrowful ones remained sad even with the passing of time, yet happy ones could never be recreated - not with the same joy. Remembering bred its own peculiar sorrow. It seemed so unfair: that time should render both sadness and happiness into a source of pain."

"After all, our lives are but a sequence of accidents - a clanking chain of chance events. A string of choices, casual or deliberate, which add up to that one big calamity we call life."

"...the face has limited space. My mother used to say, if you fill your face with laughing, there will be no more room for crying."

"You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair. In the end it’s all a question of balance."

if you enjoyed this you should read:

Three Day Road - Joseph Boyden
Mercy Among The Children - David Adams Richards
The Englishman's Boy - Guy Vanderhaeghe

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World - A. J. Jacobs

one sentence summary

A.J. Jacobs decides to read The Encyclopedia Britannica in one year. 

review

I have a real soft spot for this type of memoir, the grand quest type of thing. A.J. Jacobs is full of wit and wisdom (though the latter mostly comes out of the encyclopedia itself), an easy read that follows the life of Jacobs (and his family) as he follows his quest in the most entertaining fashion. I recommend this for beach (or bathroom) reading - it is broken up into very short segments. Most anyone will enjoy it, or at least parts of it.

8/10

Memorable quotes:

"I can’t help but notice that you keep writing love poetry to my wife. Well, you see, I married her, which makes her my wife. You know what you might want to try? Writing some poems about the sunset. The sunset isn’t fucking married."

If you enjoyed this read:

Julie and Julia - Julie Powell
anything by Bill Bryson
the other books by AJ Jacobs

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

one sentence summary:
The apocalypse is coming... the antichrist has been misplaced and is eleven, the horsemen are bikers who mostly bicker and best frenemies Crowley (a demon) and Aziraphale (an Angel) are trying to stop it all from happening.

Review
This is a hilarious look at the end of the world co-written by two of my favourite authors. It is a pee-your-pants-laughing novel. The plot is like a roller-coaster, fast and full of twists and turns. The Characters are all highly entertaining in their own rights, well thought out and each with very unique personalities. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to laugh (and has a decent vocabulary and isn't easily offended).

8/10
8/10

Memorable quotes"

"God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time."

"Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide."

The Millennium Trilogy - Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Book 1)
One Sentence Summary:
Journalist Mikael Blomkvist and hacker Lisbeth Salander are thrown together in an attempt to solve a decades old mystery.

Review:
This is one of the most hyped books I remember ever being published. It was well-enough written and it had an entertaining plot. It did not deserve the level of hype it got but it was an enjoyable read for the most part. The characters were the best part of the story.
8/10

Memorable quotes:
"Friendship- my definition- is built on two things. Respect and trust. Both elements have to be there. And it has to be mutual. You can have respect for someone, but if you don't have trust, the friendship will crumble."

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Book 2)

One Sentence Summary:
Lisbeth is in trouble, accused of murder, only Mikael believes she is innocent.

Review:
Written to the same standards as the first. If you really enjoyed the first novel please continue reading the series... if you didn't really enjoy it - it doesn't get any better so don't read with the hope that it does.
8/10

Memorable quotes:
"There are no innocents. There are, however, different degrees of responsibility." 

"Always retain the ability to walk away, without sentimentality, from a situation that felt unmanageable. That was a basic rule of survival. Don't lift a finger for a lost cause."

"No matter how hard she tried to concentrate on something else, to pass the time and to distract her from the situation she was in, the fear came trickling out. It hovered like a cloud of gas around her, threatening to penetrate her pores and poison her."

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest (Book 3)

One Sentence Summary:
Lisbeth is back and she is seeking vengeance.

Review:
Written to the same standards as the first two in the trilogy. If you really enjoyed the first novels please continue reading the series... if you didn't really enjoy themt - it doesn't get any better so don't read with the hope that it does.
8/10

Memorable quotes:

"Nobody can avoid falling in love. They might want to deny it, but friendship is probably the most common form of love."

"I'm unhappy. I don't want to fall in love with you. It'll hurt far too much when it's over"

"Salander was afraid of no-one and nothing. She realized that she lacked the necessary imagination - and that was evidence enough that there was something wrong with her brain."