Pillars of The Earth by Ken Follett (5 stars)

I took this book to South America because it has been on my to-read list for ages, and it is an epic, so I wouldn't finish it too quickly in a non English-speaking country :)

I loved it. The mix of royal political intrigue, church politics and power struggles, and the ambitions of the characters was endlessly entertaining.

The plot does suffer slightly from a linear to and fro between the good guys and the bad guys - good guys win one, bad guys win one, good guys win one....And the characters are perhaps a little too one-sided, being either very good or very bad. Phillip is practically a saint, and Tom Builder's only flaw was the way he handled the bullying between his son and step-son. I can't think of any redeeming qualities of William Hamleigh, the antagonist.

The lengthy descriptions of cathedral architecture and construction would have been vastly improved with some illustrations. I have read many many words about naves, chancels, etc. and am still confused about how they all fit together.

I'm willing to forgive all those flaws, because it is a great book.

5 stars.

The Good Soldiers by David Finkel (3.5 stars)

Yet another Iraq book. I couldn't pass this one up since it had so much acclaim, including being a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Finkel's focus is 'the surge', which was interesting and very different from the experiences at the start of the war documented in Generation Kill. The surge was much more bloody, more deadly, and reminded me of Catch-22, with soldiers dreading their next foray out onto the battleground.

The book is well written and takes a fairly dispassionate, unbiased view of events. There seems to be less anger at command incompetence than in Generation Kill. I found this description of Mortuary Affairs soldiers' work fairly confronting:

..whose job was to search the remains for anything personal that a soldier might have wanted with him while he was alive.

"Pictures," one of the soldiers, Sergeant First Class Ernesto Gonzalez, would say later, describing what he has found in uniforms of the bodies he has prepared.

"Graduation pictures. Baby pictures. Standing with their family. Pictures of them with their cars".

"Folded flags," said his assistant, Specialist Jason Sutton.

"A sonogram image," Gonzalez said.

It was also interesting to read about the human cost of the theories expoused by Kilcullen in The Accidental Guerilla, who is quoted by Finkel as being the driving force behind the strategy of establishing small command outposts (COPs) to bring a residential security force to an area.

Finkel also spends a significant amount of time following seriously injured (mostly from IEDs) soldiers and their families. Those soldiers cared for at the US Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center in San Antonio receive, by Finkel's account, an amazing standard of care.

The image of a soldier who lies in a bed wearing goggles that produce a mist to keep his eyes moist, in the absence of eyelids which were burnt off during an IED explosion, will stay with me for a while.

Generally the vibe from the book is the Americans are astounded that Iraqis are fighting them, since all they are trying to do is provide security and repair infrastructure.

"I start thinking about what happened, and then I start thinking about why I'm here," he said. "It's pointless. They say on TV that the soldiers want to be here? I can't speak for every soldier, but I think if people went around and made a list of names of who fucking thinks we should actually be here and who wants to be here, ain't nobody that wants to be here. There ain't probably one soldier in this fucking country, unless you are higher up and you're trying to get your star or you're trying to make some rank or a name for yourself - but there ain't nobody that wants to be here, because there's no point.

A very good account of 'the surge', but I would have like to read more about the overall strategy and tactics: what worked and what failed (e.g. Kauzlarich's soccer balls). Finkel tended to jump from tragedy to tragedy, with not much in between.

3.5 stars.

John Dies @ the End by David Wong (4.5 stars)

The original paperback version of this book is selling on Amazon for $200 right now. No kidding. I think that price has been driven by mass popularity (apparently 70,000 people read the original online version) and a very limited print run (you can get the 2010 edition for $10).

It is a horror-comedy, laugh-out-loud funny in parts, and one of the strangest books I have ever read. I didn't find it particularly scary, more just weird and disturbing - it gave me some seriously bizarre dreams. Think the drug-crazed scenes from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meets Donnie Darko. People climbing into giant spiders, which work as elevators, a cavern dug under a trailer complete with a resident fanged giant slug and a pile of human fingers. You get the idea.

The movie rights have been purchased, but no sign of a film yet. I think it would be a great movie, and fairly scary despite the humour.

The humour is mainly one-liners delivered by John:

You're the kind of man a man wants when a man wants a man

I particularly liked the series of wrestling puns he delivers as he beats the undead with a chair:

You wants the committee, asshole, then you best meet with the chair!

I liked the Soy Sauce and accompanying special powers:

You might be able to read minds, make time stop, cook pasta that's exactly right every time.

I think it was a shame there wasn't more Soy Sauce in the story. The part when John uses it to talk to Dave through a bratwurst was a highlight:

Glancing around, I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as I lay the sausage against my ear. Abruptly, my cell phone went dead.

A drop of grease dribbled into the dead center of my ear, creeping like a worm down onto my neck and below the collar of my shirt. A group of men and women in business suits walked by, swerving to avoid me. Across the street, a homeless-looking guy was staring at me, curious. Yep this was pretty much rock bottom.

Just when you think the story is getting stupid and ridiculous, Wong throws in a joke to have a laugh at himself:

Good. Now, if I know what's going on here, and I think I do, we'll have to wander around looking for that door. Behind it we'll meet a series of monsters or, more likely, a whole bunch of the same one. We'll kill them, get another key, and then it'll open a really big door. Now right before that we'll probably get nicer guns. It may require us to backtrack some and it might get tedious and annoying.

Creepy, highly entertaining, and funny. Be ready for a lot of gore, poop, and dick jokes.

4.5 stars.

This is Not a Drill: Just Another Glorious Day in The Oilfield by Paul Carter (1.5 stars)

This is the sequel to 'Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs: She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse', but unfortunately nowhere near as good. Paul Carter has led a fascinating life on oil rigs all over the world, and his first book is chock full of hilarious stories and crazy shenanigans.

This book tries to continue in the same vein, but unfortunately he used all his best material in the first book. He borrows a number of stories from his Dad and others, but the result is fairly underwhelming.

I did love this description of all the vodkas available in Russia:

...vodka came in bottles, pots, aluminium canisters - you name it. One was a glass rendition of an AK-47, complete with polished rosewood and red satin-lined presentation box, the muzzle being the pouring end.

Of course the stories he does have are every bit as dirty as you would expect from someone working on rigs. His friend Andy (who also had a disturbing poo fetish that was described in some detail) claimed amongst his accomplishments filling a condom with a shot of Baileys, and dropping it behind the bar to get the bar staff back for being slow to serve his drinks. Once they had discovered the slimy mess behind the bar, he went around, picked up the condom and drank the remaining baileys out. Ick.

Read his first book, give this one a miss.

1.5 stars.

Marching Powder by Rusty Young (3.5 stars)

This book is a fascinating insight into life inside San Pedro prison in La Paz, Bolivia; easily one of the strangest prisons in the world.  Money is essential to survive inside the prison.  Inmates are expected to buy their own cells from prison real estate agents, women and children live with their imprisoned husbands/fathers, and laboratories inside prison cells are the source of a large proportion of the cocaine manufactured in Bolivia.

The story follows the life of a British drug smuggler Thomas McFadden, who became famous for running prison tours inside San Pedro (he was even listed in Lonely Planet).  The author, Rusty Young, met McFadden on one of these tours, and set out to write his story of drugs, bribery, and violence.

Strangely the story is told in the first person, which I thought was a little weird when the author was writing about someone else's experiences.  The story also portrays McFadden in a very positive light, he comes across as an all-round nice guy, and is always in the right in every conflict.  I think Rusty may have been a little naieve in his approach, but Thomas was obviously a charismatic guy.

Rusty's account of Thomas' smuggling techniques was very interesting, and quite ingenious: would-be drug smugglers should take note :)

After the first layer of plastic cling wrapping, I added a thick coating of chilli powder.  Chilli has a powerful smell that throws the dogs off the scent.

Thomas has some fantastic stories: having a cocaine party with the governor of the prison in his cell, and seeing a rapist being beaten to death by his fellow inmates.

I tried to find out if prison tours are still available since we're heading to La Paz soon.  I couldn't get a definitive answer - it all seems to depend on knowing someone inside. 

Apparently the exposure of corruption in this book caused quite the controversy when it was published.  It will be interesting to see what happens when the movie is released, it is supposed to be out this year.

3.5 stars.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (4 stars)

A Pulitzer prize winner about the life of a hermaphrodite? Intriguing.

When I started reading this book, I felt cheated. I was annoyed that Eugenides was starting with Cal's grandparents, and that it was going to take so long to get to the real story. Nonetheless, I worked my way through 1920's Greece and into the next generation in Detroit. I found I enjoyed the journey, but still felt vaguely frustrated and eager to hear about Cal.

As Calliope/Cal's story developed, I was impressed with Eugenides' drawing of Cal's emotions.  I loved this passage:

Emotions, in my experience, aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness", "joy", or "regret". Maybe the best proof that the language is patriarchal is that it oversimplifies felling. I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic train-car constructions like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy".

Overall, I thought Eugenides' portrayal of Cal's awakening was masterfully done.  The story seemed so realistic that I became convinced it was at least based on a true story, but apparently that is not the case.

After Calliope's 'crocus' was discovered in the emergency room, and the medical drama began with Dr. Luce, I thought the story lost some of its momentum.  Cal as a runaway, hitch-hiker, and Golden Gate Park bum didn't resonate with me, and didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story.  However, I realise that a disconnect from the personality of Calliope was at least partly intentional, to mark the transition from Calliope to Cal.

A worthy prize winner, but I think I could have done with one less generation of Stephanides'.

4 stars.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher (3 stars)

A book by Princess Leia?  Sure, why not.  Fisher is of course used to being characterised by her role in Star Wars:

...I am not only this Princess Leia creature but also several-sized dolls, various T-shirts and posters, some cleansing items, and a bunch of other merchandise.  It turns out I was even a kind of pin-up - a fantasy that geeky teenage boys across the globe jerked off to me with some frequency.

The book is based on an autobiographical stage show she began performing in 2006, and reads exactly like a stand-up routine.  It is surprisingly funny, and I mean laugh-out-loud funny, which is a pretty rare thing.

She has a biting, sarcastic wit, which she uses to attack her father on a number of occasions.  Here she describes how her father Eddie rushed to Liz Taylor's side after the death of her husband:

He first dried her eyes with his handkerchief, then he consoled her with flowers, and he ultimately consoled her with his penis.  Now this made marriage to my mother awkward, so he was gone within the week.

Fisher is very up front about her drug addictions, failed relationships and bipolar diagnosis (she even appears in an 'Abnormal Psychology' textbook under 'bipolar').

The book is tiny - lots of pictures and huge font, you can probably read it in less than an hour.  Not exactly deep, but entertaining.

3 stars