What I read in March/April
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge – another augmented reality novel, this one was pretty tough going at parts and there was one huge strand of the plot that still makes no sense to me even after finishing it. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, sadly.
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga – I’d been putting off buying this for some time, I was interested in reading it after its rave reviews when it came out and won the Booker Prize but I was worried I wouldn’t enjoy it very much. An for the first few pages I didn’t. But after a while I really started to enjoy it and was glad I finished it.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksanr Solzhenitsyn – this was a freebie, not something I’d normally have picked up, but I’m glad I read it. It’s the story of the life of a Russian prisoner during the time of Stalin. Despite it’s shortness (142 pages) you really get a feeling of life for the people it describes.
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds – Picked it up because it had a shiny cover. I really like ’space opera’ novels, and have read Revelation Space by the same author which was great. This one grabbed me straight away with characters I felt like I knew instantly and a universe you could believe happening. Some Amazon reviewers complained it starts slowly and ends quickly, but I found the opposite to be true. There is also a separate story strand, set in the past which is supposed to tie in with what happens at the end – another Amazon reviewer complained that by missing out that ‘boring’ stuff, you miss some major plot elements at the end. I have to say, I didn’t really think this was the case. My only problem with space operas is they are very often part of series and if you switch from one to another, it can be very confusing when you go back to read books from other series, but I also find that with big fantasy epics.
