Bookspotting: Fantasy themed

Tuesday 29th July. On the way home I sat next to teenage guy, headphones in his ears, reading 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss. This is a chunky epic fantasy novel, the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicles. The guy could almost be me when I was a teenager, head buried in a fantasy tome, albeit he has a cooler hair style than I had...

Patrick Rothfuss came seeimingly from nowhere in 2007 when 'The Name of the Wind' was published. It received a huge amount of popular claim, as well as critical regard from within the sf-fantasy genre. It centres around the main character Kvothe, who relates the story of his life, the majority of the book being in the form of flashbacks.

Across the aisle from me was a bespectacled young woman in a denim jacket, sat reading a hardback copy of 'The Fifth Elephant' by Terry Pratchett (it actually took me a while to get this, involving many surreptitious glances, as the book mostly remained flat on her lap). It was one of those hardback books with a worn clear book protector, a sure sign that this is (or was) a library book. This is a Discworld novel, number 24 to be precise (he's up to number 40 now). This one features  Sam Vines of the city watch, who is sent on a diplomatic mission to the Northern principality of Uberwald. If you are new to Terry Pratchett and Discworld, I'd start somewhere else though, and if you are a die hard Pratchett fan, well you've probably already read it haven't you.

Normally, I'd recommend starting at the beginning, which would be the first discworld book 'The Colour of Magic'. But actually I don't think this is the best book to start with, there are many better Discworld books. I'd start with 'Mort', the first book to feature Death as a main character. That's just my personal opinion though.

That's it for now. A short post, it has been sat in my drafts for a few days waiting for me to add to it, but think it is better to just post as. More soon.

Bookspotting Returns!

It was waiting at Silverdale train station on Saturday evening to pick up my wife, when I got a text from her (actually a Whatsapp if I'm being pedantic). It said: Malorie Blackman, Noughts & Crosses, Girl, Maybe 20 21'. Isn't she good? It served as a gentle reminder that I hadn't done any Bookspotting for a while. I hadn't actually forgotten, I've just been quite busy and seem to have been rushing for trains a lot, or had my head buried in my own book, not spotting other peoples. I'm a bit less busy, so I'm going to pick it up again, albeit I'll aim for a modest once per week bookspotting post. There's lots of other stuff I want to blog about after all.



So the first book is 'Noughts & Crosses' by Malorie Blackman, spotted by my lovely wife, as her train wended its way through the beautiful North Lancashire countryside towards Silverdale. I've seen this book about before, but didn't know anything about it. It turns out it is a young adult science fiction novel, the first in a long series, set in an alternative world. In this different reality, humans evolved while Pangaea was still intact. Pangaea, as some may remember from high school Geography classes, was a single globe spanning supercontinent which existed before this singular land mass fragmented and drifted apart, creating the continents as they are today. In this alternate world, African people gained an evolutionary advantage, and European peoples were enslaved. At the start of the book, slavery had been outlawed but discrimination and segregation still exists. It's a really interesting way of exploring racism.

Malorie Blackman is the UK Children's Laureate at the moment, and has written many books, including several in the Noughts & Crosses series.

Today I spotted 'Changeling' by Steve Feasey being read my a teenage guy. It is a fantasy book about an orphan living in a children's home who gets a visit from a mysterious stranger, Lucien Charron. He soon discovers that vampires, demons and sorcerers exist, and he is the last hereditary werewolf. It is the first in a series of books for children/teenagers.

Also today I spotted 'The Fault in Our Stars' by John Green. It is one of the most popular books of the year, and I covered this in Bookspotting Day 7.

Finally today, I spotted a middle aged woman reading 'Survivor' by Lesley Pearse. The tagline is 'Reckless, beautiful and a born survivor'. This is actually the third book in the 'Belle' series, but the first to feature main character Mariette (daughter of Belle, who was the heroine of the first two books in the series). Mariette is a not very likeable young woman who emigrates  from New Zealand to London in 1938, expecting the glitzy delights of London's West End, but instead having to live through the London Blitz. This experience changes her for the better...

I've never heard of Lesley Pearce before, but if you like historical family sagas, this should be worth checking out. It's reader rating on Amazon is amazing, average of 4.8 out of 5 with 358 reviews written.  310 people rated it 5 stars, 31 people 4 stars, and only 17 people rated it 1, 2 or 3 stars.

If you are someone that has to start at the beginning, you might want to check out 'Belle' and 'The Promise' first.

That's it for now, should give another bookspotting update at the end of the week.

Board Gaming - What's it all about?

I’m a board gamer, and I wanted to write this article to explain a bit about what board gaming is all about, because most people I talk to don’t get it. “Oh so you play board games?” they ask, like that is just a little bit odd for an adult, “Do you mean like Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit?”. They invariably choose those two games, because they are usually the only ones that come to mind, dredging up happy (or not so happy) memories of interminable family games of Monopoly as a child. Board gamers then have a real problem explaining that while yes, those are board games, they are nothing like what they play. But I’m going to have a go at explaining here.

The thing to get across first is that Monopoly is actually a really, really bad board game. I’ll venture that if you’ve got happy memories of playing Monopoly as a child (and yes, I do too), it is as much the sitting round having fun with family and friends that you really enjoyed, not the actual gameplay. You’ve probably put on your rose tinted spectacles and airbrushed out the bad stuff. The problems with a game like Monopoly is that it is almost all luck, there’s precious little strategic decisions to make. Most of the time, you just roll the dice, move round the board and leave things up to fate. Once you’ve bought your properties and put some houses on, you’re really just going through the motions for the rest of the game, there are no real decisions to make. It could on for many hours, you never really know, and the chances are for much of that time at least one person will have been eliminated and will either have gone home, or be sulking in the corner. I mean, how bad is that when you wanted to enjoy a family gaming night together?

Monopoly was created in the 1930s, and in its core gameplay has barely changed since then, but board gaming as a whole has moved on massively, and refined what makes a good game, particularly in the last 20 or so years. Modern board games, while varying enormously, tend to have a lot more skill, strategic thinking and real decisions to make throughout the game. You usually have a fairly good idea of how long a game will take, and no players will get eliminated (and in many of the best games there are good ‘catch-up mechanisms’ so even if you do badly early on, you’ll have opportunities to pull it back and win the game in the end). The fundamental joy of board gaming remains the same – having fun sitting around a table with family and friends – but now that experience can actually be fun and interesting rather than frustrating (and is unlikely to start family feuds).

Many games don't even have a board.

The other common mistake people make when someone tells them about board gaming is to think it’s all about war and fighting, possibly with dwarves, goblins and numerous other monsters. I’m not sure where they are getting this idea from (possibly Risk, another childhood classic, or seeing people playing with fantasy style painted Warhammer figures), but again they couldn’t be more wrong. It is no exaggeration to say that board games can be about absolutely anything. Board gaming can let you experience so many different settings and activities. Ever fancy being a pirate or a Caribbean merchant trader in the sixteenth century? There are plenty of games to satisfy that desire. Want to explore space? No problem. Perhaps you’ve always dreamed of a rich uncle leaving you a fortune with the express instructions to enjoy spending his money? There’s a game for that too. Or how about being one of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table and doing heroic deeds? What about being a cowboy, becoming a billionaire business mogul or treasure hunting in Ancient Egypt? All of these are experiences and hundreds more you can have by playing board games.

A couple of other misconceptions to clear up. Firstly, there doesn’t need to be an actually board. No, seriously. Board gaming is something of an umbrella term, and encompasses card games, dice games and some other games that don’t involve a board. Also, don’t think games have to be long or complicated, many games are very simple and only take a few minutes to play.

Finally, I wanted to dispel the notion that board gaming is somehow nerdy, geeky or childish? I mean, why should it be? Millions of people spend many hours a week playing alone on their X-Box, or sit glued to their computer screens all evening playing World of Warcraft. Frankly that’s far more nerdy than playing board games, and it’s quite anti-social too. Board gaming, by definition is much more of a sociable activity, involving as it does sitting around a table with people chatting and enjoying playing a game together. It’s said that games like Farmville Candy Crush are social games, but the real social gaming surely has to be board gaming.

This is the first of several board gaming articles I'm hoping to put up. Next time, I'll introduce a few great introductory board games to get started with.

Bookspotting Day 8 & 9

It's been a busy couple of days and didn't write anything down, so am going to have to do from memory. Also, I'm writing this early the following week as it has been a busy weekend too. I'll do my best...

The first book I spotted was 'To Hull & Back: On Holiday in Unsung Britain' by Tom Chessmyre, which was being read by a trainee accountant colleague of mine. There has been something of a trend in the last decade or so for writing "warts and all" travel books going to the more unfashionable places off the tourist track and this is one of these. Unusually for this sub-sub genre, the author apparently isn't intentionally trying to be funny, its more of a straight up travel book. A straight up travelogue about reputedly dull places, but it gets fairly good reviews on Amazon.

Next book spotted was 'Deadline'. Only problem was I only caught a glimpse of the cover, and not the title. In turns out that there are quite a few books called Deadline, it is particularly popular in the crime genre - there are books by Craig McLay, Simon Kernick, Sandra Brown, John Townsend... All I saw was that it had a green cover with blood splatter and heartbeat monitor. After scrutinising the titles, I found it was 'Deadline' by Mira Grant. This is Book 2 of the Newsflesh Trilogy (the first book is 'Feed'). It's about zombies... in 2014, two viruses, designed to combat the common cold and cancer, combine to form a new virus that... raises the dead. Book One starts out with two bloggers covering an American election, this book is more political and more nuanced than most zombie novels you'll read.

'Swimsuit' by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro. Set in 1906 about the ancestors of Patterson's character Alex Cross, this story is about a swimsuit model who disappaers, and then her parents get the phone call the next day. Seems very run of the mill story, but this gets good reviews.

Arabian Nights. Arabian Nights is a collection of South & West Asian folk tales collected together over the course of centuries. The stories vary depending on the version of the collection you are reading, with some of the more famous stories to Westerners - Aladdin, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Sinbad the Sailor etc - were actually only added in by English translators although they were undoubtedly Asian folk tales. The overall story which 'frames' many of the others is that of a Persian ruler, Sharyar and his wife Schehezerade. I didn't know anything at all about Arabian Nights before spotting this, other than a vague memory of reading some of the stories in a children's book of tales. But it sounds interesting and as it is free on Kindle, I might just have a read.

'The Black Box' by Michael Connelly was next. It is book 18 in the Harry Bosch crime series, about a Los Angeles police detective. I've read a few Harry Bosch books and they are almost universally good. If you've not read any more you might want to go back to one of his earlier books like 'The Black Echo' which is the first book he features in. But generally, the stories are standalone so you could start with any one of them.

'My Autobiography' by Alex Ferguson marked the first sports related book I've spotted. For those of you who don't know him, he was Manchester United manager from 1986 to 2013, a record in top flight English football. He won the English Premier League with Manchester United 14 years in his tenure, along with lots of other trophies and is considered one of the most successful British football managers ever. There's a lot about his football manager days (particularly the last 10 years or so) and various opinions on football.

On Friday afternoon, I spotted a book with 'Death' in the title by Charlaine Harris but alas didn't note down the name. I looked up on Amazon and most of her books have death in the title, so I can't identify the exact book. It was probably one of her books about 'Sookie Stackhouse' novels, which is a supernatural series about vampires. It formed the basis of the TV series True Blood. If you want to check it out the first book (there are 13 in total) is 'Dead until Dark', first published in 2001.

To finish off for the weekend, there was an older lady reading 'Head over Heel: Seduced by Southern Italy' by Chris Harrison. Until I looked this up later, I thought it was a romance novel, it had that look (and the lady reader was in my eyes a stereotypical older woman who reads romance novels) but it turns out it is a travel book about Italy. The author fell in love with an Italian girl, whom he followed back to Italy and then fell in love with the place too.

Bookspotting Day 7

The day didn't start well. I normally like to get to the train station in plenty of time so I can spot anyone reading on the platform, maybe even have a nosy in the waiting room. Today though I was running late and the train was already on the platform so I had to jump on. Then I caught a glimpse between the seats at a woman reading a book. Great! Not so much. After shuffling about in my seat to get a better glimpse and can see the book: 'Teach Yourself Further German'. Now all books have value, and I like the variety of books I come across, but in this case I think the chances that someone who stumbles across my blog would be interested in this book are slimmer than most that I spot, not least because you'd presumably have to know a fair bit of German already to progress on to this book. Anyone interested in learning German would probably be best starting with 'Teach Yourself Beginners German' or something like that.

Just as I'm getting off the train, I spot a middle aged woman reading a book that I can't quite read the title of. I focused a bit more as I went past (okay I stared a bit), much to the annoyance of a man who was probably her husband. Luckily I was getting off at that point. Anyway, the book was 'The Testament of Mary' by Colm  Toibin. I thought it was some sort of religious book at first but it turns out it is almost the opposite, some might call it heretical. It is the story of Mary, mother of Jesus, who is bereft after the death of her son. In her mind, he was a vulnerable young man who was surrounded by people who couldn't be trusted. Not the traditional bible story anyway. This book was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize.

That was it for the morning. This afternoon I was expecting a quiet journey home, as England were playing. Evidently as they were already out of the world cup nobody was interested though, as the train was as busy as ever. At the station, a woman in her 30s was enjoying herself sat waiting for her train, feet up on her suitcase, reading 'The Fault in our Stars' by John Green. It is a love story about a teenage cancer patient, who falls in love with Augustus at a cancer support group. It is one of the most popular books of the moment, and there's a film coming out any day now at the cinema. It is classified as a young adult book, but from what I've heard just about everyone who reads it thinks it is amazing. It's on my to read list, I really should get to it soon...

In the seats in front of me was a bald young-middling aged businessman who was chatting with colleagues, but there were two books on the table in front of him. Does that count? Were both his? One was a book I'd already seen on Day 4 - 'The View from Castle Rock' by Alice Munro. I'm fairly sure it was a different person reading it though. The second book was 'Light Years' by James Salter. It is the story of a well off married couple who on the surface look very happy but underneath the cracks gradually start to show. The story is episodic and covers a long period of time, each episode covers a dinner party or other social occasion.

Thought that was it, but as I was getting off the train I passed a woman reading a book. I couldn't see the cover, but peered over her shoulder to look at the title at the top of the page she was reading... Further German Part 3. Argh! Same woman I saw this morning.

After getting off the train, I really did think that was it, but crossed paths with a man carrying 'Great North Road' by Peter F Hamilton, fingers keeping his place in the book as he walked for his train. Peter F Hamilton is a science fiction author who writes big, epic space operas - mostly multi book series, but this one is a standalone, albeit 1000+ pages. It is set several hundred years in the future, but set mostly in Newcastle (upon Tyne) in the North East of England. Also partly on an alien planet too, but mostly Newcastle. It is part big space opera, part whodunnit. The world building is excellent, and the story is good too. There's a murdered clone that apparently didn't exist, a mysterious alien and lots of technology, including a world where everything is 3D printed. (In the interest of full disclosure, Peter F Hamilton is a favourite author of mine, he won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I like his books a lot).

642 Things to Write About

While browsing in Waterstones bookshop at the weekend, I found '642 Things to Write About' and just had to have it. It is a book of ideas for writing, along with the space to write in. Of course, I mostly write on a computer these days, but there's still something magicial and putting pen to paper, and this book really encourages that. So I'll probably start off writing in the book, then switch to the computer if it's a longer piece.

This book was written, if you can call it that, by the San Fransisco Writer's Grotto. Basically the editor asked them all to submit via email some ideas to get the creative juices flowing, and that's just what they did. They range from random short prompts such as 'A bad smell and where it came from' and 'Pen an ode to an onion' to longer ideas that may be the basis for a story. An example of this: 'Find a world map or globe, close your eyes, pick a spot. Write about a person arriving there for the first time. I think one of the ones I'm going to do first is 'Write a letter to go in a time capsule to be buried in your garden and not opened for 500 years'. Wow. What would you include in a letter like that? The amount of space you get after each writing prompt - while not enough a lot of the time - is comensurate with whether the idea is big or small etc.

The book has a really nice feel to it, with a very stiff card cover and nicely thick pages. It is a book that just makes you want to write in it.

I've not written any fiction in a long time, years in fact, having written mostly articles for the last few years now. I'm starting to consider having a go at writing fiction again soon though, and this may be just what I need to get started. I may even post some of them on here.

Weekend Bookspotting- a lost cause?

A day trip to Manchester today with my wife and daughter should give plenty of opportunity for Bookspotting. We're visiting Manchester University for an open day. It is kind of a corporate spying/industrial espionage thing (my wife works for Lancaster University) - we're not thinking of going back to university or anything, and our daughter is thankfully about 13 years too young!

Anyway it's an hour's train journey each way, three times as long as my normal commute, and the Manchester train is usually a really busy one, just not on this occasion! No books spotted on the way there, then again we were sat in a more or less empty train! Hopefully there will be more luck on the way back...

Well the day proved uneventful on a Bookspotting front. I visited the big Waterstones store on Deansgate in Manchester,saw lots of books but they don't really count... even in the cafe there were only a couple of people looking at books. I did spot these beautiful editions of Terry Pratchett books though.

They were those lovely cloth-bound hardback books with gorgeous designs engraved (if that's the right word?) directly onto the cloth. Simply gorgeous, and only £9.99 each, hardly any more than the paperback price.

Anyway, back to Bookspotting. It was the way back, and bookspotting is proving to be a bit disappointing still, until we got off to change trains at Preston that is. While waiting for our train back to Lancaster, I saw two young women reading books in a crowded waiting room. Alas I couldn't see what they were reading, but my wife, Kate, came to the rescue, by peering through the window to read the title of the book at the top of the pages the woman was reading. It was 'The Ambassador's Mission' by Trudi Canavan. This is a fantasy novel, the first in the 'Traitor Spy' series, which is a sequel to the 'Black Magician' trilogy. I've actually read the Black Magician trilogy and it is a good story - simple, uncomplicated fantasy but a fun read. I might go back and read the new series some day,there are just so many books to read though...

On the train, there are about five people reading books in my carriage,but they are keeping their books close to their chest making them difficult to identify. I did manage to identify two though: 'The Childhood of Jesus' by J.M. Coetzee. It's about a man and a boy who arrive together in a strange land and have to build a new life there. It is something of an allegory or fable, and not for those who like their books neat with easy explanations for everything!

The other book was 'My East End' by Gilda O'Neill. This is a collection of reminiscences about life growing up in Cockney London, with a bit of history thrown in too. These sorts of books, particularly about the East End of London, are quite popular at the moment.

So all in all a less successful Bookspotting day than many working days, but then as was pointed out to me, there's a lot more people travelling with their families at the weekend, so wouldn't be reading (I am a very good case in point here, my book stayed firmly in my bag all day). Weekdays there's a lot more people travelling alone for work, so more people reading. All in all though, a good day out (and if you are in Manchester anytime and want an eat all you can place for lunch, try out Peachy Keens in the Printworks - it is amazing).