Book Review: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

An amusing story about a couple of brothers (Fat Charlie and Spider who are total opposites) who have an embarrassing, but godly, father.  Fat Charlie is a character you warm to as you follow his path through this short section of his life.  This has got to be one of the funniest books I’ve read for a while.  I’ve become quite addicted to Neil Gaiman’s books (as I’ve now started another of his books and have yet one more waiting to be read).  There are thought-provoking moments in the book, but on the whole I would class it as a fantasy/comedy/fairy-tale story.  Someone described Neil Gaiman’s books to me as “witty but slightly wonky”, I like this description, most apt I’d say.  Neil Gaiman’s writing style does almost show his friendship with Terry Pratchett, if you read his books you’ll know what I mean.

My score:  4 out of 5

Book Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Well I started off rather enjoying this book.  Rather a quirky kind of story, quite original.  Loved the characters in the book, Bod seems like a loveable boy along with most of the ghosts etc. actually.  I did feel a bit disappointed though towards the end.  I thought the build up of the character “Jack” who was after Bod didn’t seem that frightening after all.  The other “Jack of all trades” didn’t seem to come across as that imposing either.  I would have preferred the finale to have been a bit bigger I guess.  Lovely book though, will read more of Neil Gaiman that’s for sure.

My score:  3.5 out of 5

Book Review: Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

I decided to read this book after hearing it reviewed by Graeme Le Saux on Radio 4.  It certainly is an inspiring read.  The story is based around a hospital for sufferers of mental illness and the main character’s story is that after an attempt at suicide, she is told her heart is irrepairably damaged and doesn’t have long to live.  This news takes Veronika on a path where she learns to love life more than she ever has before.  One very memorable piece of the story for me was where a patient of the hospital talks to a doctor and says “Where is my soul?”, she then talks about her soul being in the past with her husband and family, and that it’s also with her job where she hasn’t the courage to quit and find something better…

All in all the story is short, very well written, and caused me to take a look at a few aspects I hadn’t thought to look at before.  Very good, thoroughly enjoyable.

My marks for this book would be 4 out of 5.