Cashmere High School

80,008 pages read and 3,883 team points

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Colin

7,456 pts

(7,456 pages read)

Elric of Melnibone

By Michael Moorcock1

3 stars

Interesting but felt like the patch-up it was. Shows promise. Nice doomy vibe. Perhaps I will try the rest.
Reaperman

By Terry Pratchett

4 stars

The shopping trolleys and the "mall" don't quite work but Death is such a good character it doesn't matter. His time with Miss Flitworth is very well done. SQUEAK
Laboratories of the Spirit

By R. S. Thomas

5 stars

An outstanding collection.
The Well of Lost Plots

By Jasper Fforde

5 stars

The best funny, quirky, imaginative and literary-reference-laden series. Ever.
Paul and his Recent Interpreters

By N. T. Wright

5 stars

Outstandingly good overview of the last 40 years of Pauline scholarship.
Metroland

By Julian Barnes

3 stars

His debut. Interesting and a quick read. Not as good as some of his later books.
Church Dogmatics Vol. I.1: The Doctrine of the Word of God (§8-12)

By Karl Barth

5 stars

The same, only better. We're getting into it now...
Church Dogmatics Vol. I.1: The Doctrine of the Word of God (§1-7)

By Karl Barth

5 stars

A difficult but fascinating read. So much thought-provoking content. This volume is largely prolegomena but still great stuff. And I'm very pleased to have found these study editions that translate the Greek/Latin/German.
How to be Alone

By Jonathan Franzen

4 stars

Essays. Some very good ones in here (his father, prisons), and although the one on his Oprah experience is good, could have done with more on his reasons for his withdrawal - although maybe that comes in the next book of essays.
The Kraus Project

By Jonathan Franzen

3 stars

Kraus was interesting but it's the footnotes (by Franzen and collaborators) that I found more interesting. Especially Franzen's time in Germany as a student.
Dissolution

By C. J. Sansom

3 stars

An entertaining, diverting, easy to read yarn. But don't let anybody tell you it's on a par with Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy.
Terry Pratchett

By Pyramids

4 stars

Early Pratchett one-off (not part of a Discworld series) but still a thoroughly entertaining and very funny riff on all things ancient Egyptian. Could've used more camel mathematicians though.
Live No Lies

By John Mark Comer

2 stars

Very brief. Content is not bad but it's only the last 2 chapters that get really interesting, and even then, they have very little of substance. And such a large font with such large spacing? Could've been 80 pages long and saved some trees. Poor.
The Manticore

By Robertson Davies

3 stars

Carries on from "Fifth Business" but from another character's viewpoint. Still intriguing but a little heavier. Mythological allusions bog it down a little bit.
Snuff

By Terry Pratchett

3 stars

A Pratchett 3 is better than most authors' 4s. Yes, the last couple of Discworld novels were a little below par due to the 'embuggerance' but this is my third reading, and it seems to improve a little each time. Less dialogue, more exposition might be part of the problem. But still worth it.
Fifth Business

By Robertson Davies

4 stars

Pretty interesting read. It's certainly well-written and the keeps you engrossed in the story.
Brooklyn

By Colm Toibin

3 stars

The plot is fine, and interesting enough, but Toibin does not really get inside the head of Eilis. It feels like an extended children's story where all they do is tell you what happens next, rather than get you inside the protagonist's thoughts and feelings. Average; the brevity helps, but I expected more.
Shadow Ticket

By Thomas Pynchon

4 stars

It's shorter Pynchon but still as mind-bogglingly complex as you would expect from him. Still entertaining, still funny, but I'm sure a second reading will no doubt up the score to 5 - and it wouldn't be the first time with a Pynchon. Great stuff.
The Master and the Emissary

By Iain McGilchrist

5 stars

A big, long book, densely argued but endlessly fascinating. His central argument - western society id under the thrall of the left hemisphere of the brain - is debatable but thought-provoking and opens up many subsequent avenues to pursue. Well worth reading.
Between Here and Now

By R. S. Thomas

5 stars

Superb poetry collection (name a Thomas collection that isn't). The first half is poems inspired by Impressionist paintings (reproduced opposite each poem in b&w). So many penetrating insights and superb lines.
The Story of the Night

By Colm Toibin

4 stars

Very good mix of gay love story and life in Argentina during the period of the Falklands War. Well written and engrossing, despite an occasionally too passive protagonist.
Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity

By Jason S. Sexton

3 stars

The 'classical' view and the 'relational' view are presented by two theologians each. Molnar's participation was the reason I read the book and his was by far the most interesting essay. Nothing in the two relational presentations struck me as crucial or world-changing (not surprising as the classical view just makes so much more sense).
The Heather Blazing

By Colm Toibin

4 stars

This story of the reminiscences (of both adulthood and childhood) of an Irish judge is much better than his first novel. Evocative and interesting, enough to make me carry on with Toibin.
The South

By Colm Toibin

3 stars

Definitely a first novel. The prose was fluid and easy to read but the story was fragmented, and therefore the characters remained at a distance.
David Lloyd George: The Great Outsider

By Roy Hattersley

4 stars

A political biography which gives his childhood/younger years brief treatment but the rest of it is very good. The war time coalition chapters were very good.

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Cashmere High School

80,008 pages read and 3,883 team points

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