Book Review: The Man Who Would be King and Other Stories by Rudyard Kipling

The Man Who Would be King, by Rudyard Kipling, is a short tale of two rogues who decide to head into a legendary country, "Kafiristan" and seduce the indigenous population into accepting them as Kings. The story is very well told and conjures up a vivid picture of the hostility of the lands entered by "Peachy" Carnehan and Daniel Dravot and the characters they meet along the way.

The Man Who Would be King contains some intriguing references to the Masonic order, and indeed it is the local people's familiarity with the rituals of this sect that give the two main characters a foot in their palatial door, but which also ultimately seals their dreadful fate. This is an excellent short story which was made into a superb movie starring Michael Caine and Sean Connery.

Books to be Reviewed: Birdwatchingwatching by Alex Horne

Thank you to Julia Pidduck for sending me a copy of the strangely titled Birdwatchingwatching by Alex Horne for reviewing. This is the story of Alex's year-long foray into birdwatching and "big year" competition with his father; a lifelong birder. As a birdwatcher myself, this book is of great interest and will be reviewed very soon.

"Alex Horne’s dad has always been a birdwatcher. Alex wasn’t so sure. But, determined to get to know his father better, Alex challenged him to a competitive Big Year: from January 1st to December 31st 2006, they would each attempt to see as many species of bird as possible, governed by the basic rules of birdwatching, plus a couple of their own: the birds had to be wild, free and alive; they had to actually see the birds; and they could travel anywhere in the world to do it. The one who saw the most birds over the course of 365 days would be declared the winner."

Currently I am part the way through this book and can't put it down and think it will appeal to birdwatchers, birders, ornithologists and robin-strokers alike.

A review will soon appear here but until then readers can order a copy here: Birdwatchingwatching.

Book Review: My Booky Wook by Russell Brand

My Booky Wook is Russell Brand's autobiography, although, as with all autobiographies by young people, it is only the story so far and readers can expect further editions from this outrageous characters. Written in Brand's characteristic Dickensian style of speech, this book focuses heavily on his teenage years and early twenties; times of personal self-destruction through drug use and "sex-addiction".

In My Booky Wook the author relies largely upon the telling of quite outrageously bawdy anecdotes, outlining Russell Brand's litany of careless and thoughtless escapades as he pursued a course of self-destruction. If these anecdotes were not told in such a bizarre and self-deprecating style they would be offensive, indeed to many they will remain so, but I found many of them made me laugh out loud although at least some of them were quite shocking.

Books to be Reviewed: Married Lovers by Jackie Collins

Thank you to Hayden Allen-Vercoe for sending me a copy of Married Lovers by Jackie Collins. Married Lovers is Jackie Collins's 25th "raunchy"novel.

"Cameron Paradise, a stunningly beautiful twenty-four-year-old personal trainer, flees her abusive boyfriend in Australia and ends up in L.A. Cameron soon gets a job at a private fitness club where she encounters the city's most important players. She has plans to open her own studio, and while every man she meets comes on to her, she is focused on working hard and saving money to achieve her goal. Until she meets Ryan Richards, that is. An extremely successful independent movie producer, he's married to overly privileged Mandy Richards, the daughter of Hamilton J. Heckerling, a Hollywood power-player son-of-a-bitch mogul. Ryan has never cheated on his demanding Hollywood Princess wife, but when he meets Cameron, all bets are off.

Only internationally bestselling author Jackie Collins knows what happens when lust and desire collide with marriage and power. And the results lead to murder. "

A review of Married Lovers will appear here soon and in the meantime those who are fans of Jackie Collins can buy Married Lovers from Amazon.com.

Book Review: Tracks by Mike Gordon

Tracks is a techno-thriller focusing on medical implants which allow the monitoring of patients health but also provide the means for a disturbing level of surveillance; this is the first novel by Mike Gordon.

Tracks scores very highly from the beginning with an exciting introduction whereby a patient receives a phone call in the early hours informing him that he is about to have a heart attack; this beginning also introduces the reader to the problems surrounding this sort of monitoring. Whilst the plot is by no means easy to predict and contains a number of complexities, it is also laid out in a understandable and readable way. Where many similar novels get tangled up in lots of techno-jargon, the author here very skilfully avoids this and makes the reader concentrate on the plot rather than trying to impress with techno-speak.

Book Review: Iznogoud; The Caliph's Vacation by Goscinny & Tabary

Iznogoud; The Caliph's Vacation is a collection of short, animated stories which follow the attempts of the evil Grand Vizier, Iznogoud, to depose the Caliph of Baghdad by taking him on a series of ridiculous and potentially fatal vacations and days out, all of which fail hopelessly.

The stories and dialogue are written by Goscinny, who is most famous for the Asterix series, and the illustrations are excellent, provided by Tabary. Each of the stories revolves around the evil Grand Vizier trying to kill the Caliph in various, typically comic-strip style, vacation strategies each of which goes totally wrong and end up leaving Iznogoud in various states of disarray including being turned into a louse, turned into a shell and stranded in a desert.

Books to be Reviewed: Tracks by Mike Gordon

Many thanks to David Gordon for sending me a copy of Tracks by Mike Gordon for reviewing; Tracks is a self-published book and is Mike Gordon's first novel.

"The future of the surveillance society… In Boston, Global HealthCare Corporation is hoping to recover its fortunes with a new micro-chip technology which can eradicate disease - until Peter Miller, the brilliant but troubled architect of the program, quits his job and goes to work at a psychiatric hospital in London, helping develop a system to track dangerous patients. When a deadly threat to the US emerges, a covert Federal agency becomes involved, and Miller is caught up in a web of lies, love, insanity and murder - and finds he's opened the door to a frightening future."

Currently I am about halfway through the book and I have to say that I like it - the story is gripping, there are some interesting characters and it is well-written: a review will appear here when I have finished the book.

Anyone wishing to support a new, self-publishing author can buy Tracks from the book's website: Tracks by Mike Gordon.