Books Read in 2003

Orwell, George: 1984
Bryson, Bill: Notes From a Small Island
Truss, Lynee: Eats, Shoots and Leaves
Johnson, Stephen: Emergence
Freud, Sigmund: The Interpretation of Dreams (unfinished)
Franklet, Duane: Bad Memory
Straub, Peter: Pork Pie Hat
Donaldson, Stephen: The Gap into Conflict
Twain, Mark: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Dick, Philip K: Second Variety
Turtledove, Harry S: Into the Darkness (put down)
Hawking, Stephen: A Brief History of Time
Higgins, Jack: Wrath of the Lion
King, Stephen: Pet Sematary
Dick, Philip K: The Electric Ant
Dick, Philip K: Minority Report
Dick, Philip K: War Game
Herbert, James: Others (put down)
King, Stephen: Bag of Bones
Dick, Philip K: Imposter
Platt, Charles: The Silicon Man
Elton, Ben: Gridlock
Dexter, Colin: Last Bus From Woodstock
King, Stephen: Four Past Midnight (unfinished)

Platt, Charles: The Silicon Man

It was in the bargain bin at a local bookshop, it looked a bit SciFi and a bit Cyberpunk, the blurb was interesting and it had a shiny cover. So I bought it. I didn't really expect I would read it, but I took it on holiday with me to Egypt, just in case.

The book was appealing from the off. Themed in Cyber culture, with Techie characters and a Californian backdrop. The story revolves around the upload of a personality into a computer, the personality is then dropped into various environments and scenarios. It was an interesting concept, one which has been jostled with since artificial intelligence was first concieved. The narrative, though not of a high standard, was interesting, and built the tension throughout. Essentially a tradgedy, the plot takes a couple of shallow bends and though I never felt I liked the characters, I did feel for their peril. There was nothing strikingly original or intriguing about the book, it was just nice to read. I find very few books I read are page-turners, though I think this may be due to my slow pace of reading, but this was one of those rare occasions. It conjoured up images from 'The Matrix'; contact to the real world via telephone, big empty environments and a few others, and the book was written a few years before the film.

Overall, it was enjoyable. The plot never really went into much depth, and it did seem a little weak. But it was quite a chilling rendition of a future that becomes more feasible by the day.

Herbert, James: Others

Thanks to Mr King and teenage years smirking over hours of low-budget horror movies, I liked the horror genre, so decided I'd venture into the world of British author James Herbert. The first few pages set an interesting scene, a little dark, a little creepy. But as I started to unravel the lead character, I started to get a little unnerved. The lead is horribly disfigured, and as this is written in the first-person, it left me with a ill-feeling. I felt a little shallow at this, but put the book down, and never picked it back up.