The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

Man wakes up, one of a few who can see in a world of blind people, and must find a way to survive with the added threat of plants that can walk, talk and sting.

Another futuristic story written in the past.  I love this book because it is written in such a straightforward style that it seems very credible, it is fantastically retro and it has a nice little love story.  I picked it up, by chance, at a second hand book shop.  I have read a few of his other novels since then, but I always return to this one.  

I took the picture at a vineyard near Matakana, a winegrowing area about an hour away from Auckland.  I thought it appropriate to take a picture near cultivated plants!

Undergoing review...

I am thinking about the format and will be back in the new year.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

There has been a lot of discussion going on lately about Cloud Atlas because of the movie coming out.  So, I thought I would write about it today. Difficult to describe - the thing that amazes me the most about this book, is how someone conceptualised the book and then was able to work in so many different styles, with different dialects and different worlds and still have a common thread running through the whole book. Did he write each story separately from beginning to end and then cut them in half or did he write the whole thing in order?  Or maybe he wrote a little bit here and a little bit there.  One day he would be chillin' in the Pacific Ocean and the next firmly in a dsytopian future.  Or maybe he just wrote 6 stories and stuck them together like that to screw with us. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(novel)

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruis Zafon

Sometimes I run out of authors and it is time to find a new one.  I found Carlos Ruis Zafon while I was wandering through Exclusive Books.  A gothic whirlwind of a story, it swallows you whole, takes you on a dark journey through Barcelona and spits you out the other side.  Since then I have also read The Shadow of the Wind but seeing as the rule is only one book per authour (except for Dahpne du Maurier and Stephen King) I could only bring this one. As it is so full with intensity and passion, maybe one is enough. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Angels_Game

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

Martha Jean by Leon V Driskell

Martha Jean, is not a novel, it is a short story, but I liked it so much, I brought the whole book with me.  Extremely cathartic, I can't read it and not cry.  It is one of those stories that highlight the human condition and all that is good, all that is bad and all that is ordinary and how we fight to lift ourselves above the ordinary and live the best life we can.  It was written by Leon Driskell, who published very little during his lifetime - a novel, a short story and he co-authored a biography of Flannery O' Connor.  The good news is that while I was checking that I had the correct information on Leon Driskell, I discovered that his one and only novel, Passing Through, is available on Kindle.  I am a lucky fish.

http://www.amazon.com/Passing-Through-Bright-Short-Fiction/dp/1565120566

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

My Cousin Rachel is one of three books by Daphne du Maurier that I packed.  I really like her work, and it is great that it is back in fashion again.  A few years ago I couldn't find any of her books except in second hand bookshops and now they are available in print and electronically.  My copy of My Cousin Rachel, is from a second hand store.  It is a hard cover book, red, stained and almost falling apart.  But I see no reason to buy a new copy, when this one does everything a book should do.  I actually re-read it this week and the story is just as fresh as when it was originally published in 1951.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Cousin_Rachel

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

Carrie by Stephen King

So, today's choice is a classic.  The first book Stephen King ever published.  How can you not feel sorry for Carrie.  There is a Carrie in every school in the world.  And who hasn't worried that if there isn't one, perhaps it's them?  I have read the book a number of times, but I haven't seen the film.  I believe that a new film version of Carrie will be coming out soon - I might just give it try. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_(novel)

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I love Jane Eyre because the first time I read it (quite a few years ago) I hadn't been exposed to the storyline at all.  Stop reading now if are one of the few people left who doesn't know what happens. So when I got to the point where Jane's wedding to Mr Rochester is interrupted, I was completely surprised.  I know that the story has become part of popular culture and been referenced many times (Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys are two examples) so it is quite unusual, but absolutely delightful to be taken by surprise like that.  It was as if someone living in 1847 (way before Good Reads and Amazon Recommends) came upon the book by chance.  It would be attributed to Currer Bell, but their reaction would be the same as mine. 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Eyre

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I love Science Fiction that was written in the past and this book was first published in 1932.  The blurb on the back calls it "The greatest novel of the future ever written".  And it was groundbreaking in its time.  Like all Science Fiction it is all about humans and our place in the world and that is why it made it onto the ship. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon

This is my favourite Fay Weldon book, in fact the only one of her books that I have read more than once. I  bought this book when I was studying for my degree.  We had to read it alongside Pride and Prejudice in a course that compared several classics with more modern stories that referenced them eg.  Jane Eyre and The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, Robinson Crusoe and Foe by JM Coetzee.  As the title indicates this story is made up of a series of letters to Alice.  It discusses Jane Austen's works, but also challenges the way we look at life and the "City of Invention" is the best analogy of the world of fiction that I have ever read. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fay_Weldon

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

Trying to Save Piggy Sneed by John Irving

This is another Taiwan purchase.  A mish-mash of a book, part memoir, part short story collection, part literary homage.  The thing I like about it is the pictures.  There is so much voyeuristic pleasure involved in looking into the life of one of your literary heroes - who hangs out with literary heroes of his own.  There are pictures of him with Stephen King and Kurt Vonnegut.  He was also good friends with Robertson Davies who officiated at John and his second wife's marriage. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trying_to_Save_Piggy_Sneed

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

Apple and The Crimson Petal & the White by Michel Faber

The Hand of Fate - me with my eyes closed - chose Apple by Michel Faber, but I can't write about it without writing about The Crimson Petal and theWhite by the same aouthor.  TCP&TW was an "if you like this, you will like that" from Amazon when they still sent out paper books and I did like it, a lot.  It is the only book that I have which starts in the 2nd person. The Author uses it to draw you straight into the harsh world of Victorian England and tells a story about a stripper with a heart of steel.  That world continues in Apple - a series of short stories using the same characters, some sequels, some prequels and some just opening up that world a little bit more. TCP&TW is also in my Top 10 Books of All Time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crimson_Petal_and_the_White

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

What a great book - it actually makes it into my Top 10 Books of All Time list.  I bought it in Taiwan.  In fact this book made the cut from Taipei to Jo'burg  and then again from Jo'burg to Auckland.    I arrived in Taiwan in summer, succumbed to culture shock and jumped at a chance to visit to a bookstore which had a few English books.  I didn't have a lot of money; they didn't have a lot of choice. But the Penguin Popular classics were cheap so I bought Vanity Fair.  I read it twice. In a row.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_Fair_(novel)

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

The Go Between by LP Hartley

Another random choice.  I didn't buy this book, it was one of  my sister's setwork books which never got returned.  The name in the front cover is Janine Hopkins 9c.  A classic "coming of age" story where a young Leo Colston gets caught up in adult games with tragic consequences.  It takes me back to high school.  Battered wooden desks that had inkwells even though we wrote with ballpoint pens.  Ugly green school uniforms that we all shortened and loosened.  Rules that taught you how to follow rules. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Go_Between

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.

The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies

I closed my eyes and picked a book.  It was the first Robertson Davies series I ever read.  Three tales complete with saints, sinners, automata, magicians, psychologists and a monkey woman.   I must admit all the times I re-read it,  I skipped the second novel.  Maybe it is too deep.  Maybe it is too murky.  Maybe it is too introspective. Maybe it is time to visit Deptford again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deptford_Trilogy

Please note that Wikipedia articles may contain spoilers.