Over the past week I've read "A Brave New World", "Northern Lights" and "Brideshead Revisited", all with varying reactions.
To begin with, Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World is along the lines of 1984, in that it is set in a quite possible future where no-one has snoo snoo anymore to have children. All children are created in test tubes and conditioned from embryo into the person they will become - as required by society.
The book follows a character who, like in 1984, begins to feel constrained by the order of things and causes issues when he rebels.
I have to admit I did enjoy this book, although I wish I'd had a guide which laid out the different castes in the society as I got a little bit lost - maybe I wasn't reading it closely enough (!)
This book could be viewed as a warning to society of how obsessed we have become with perfection and where do you draw the line on inteference with nature's design? It would be interesting to review this book in 20 years time and see how it correlates with society then.
Definitely worth a read - go, get it now!
Philip Pullman's Northern Lights I thought would be an easy read, given that it's written for children. Eek, I was a bit wrong on that front. The story follows Lyra and her daemon Pantaleimon as she becomes embroiled in children being kidnapped and sent to the Arctic North.
I enjoyed the story, and loved the idea of humans having a familiar with whom they could never be separated, but I struggled with the language. I like to read books that are "properly" written and flow. Lyra's colloquialisms kept tripping up my flow of reading. A friend of mine said once I'd read the first I would be dying to read the rest of the trilogy. I'll be honest, as curious a cat as I normally am, I'm not that bothered.
Is it worth reading? If you like your fantasy grounded in a bit of reality, or don't mind your reality enhanced with a bit of fantasy it's definitely worth a look.
And finally, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Omg, I just could not understand the point of that book at all. The main protagonist is Charles Ryder and follows him from his time as an undergraduate at Oxford to adulthood and his experiences at the country house Brideshead via the various members of the family which live there. I admit I failed to get excited about what would be seen as significant events in the book when the characters themselves don't get excited. I persevered through this book and I think my mum has the DVD of it. Maybe after watching it I'll get some excitement and enjoyment from the story.
I wouldn't recommend this book, it's too bland to be of any excitement.
Anyhoo, I'd better leave you for this post.
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