A Spot of Bother

Title : A Spot of Bother

Author : Mark Haddon

Pages : 368

Synopsis :

George Hall is an unobtrusive man. A little distant, perhaps, a little cautious, not quite at ease with the emotional demands of fatherhood or manly bonhomie. He does not understand the modern obsession with talking about everything. "The secret of contentment, George felt, lay in ignoring many things completely." Some things in life, however, cannot be ignored.
At sixty-one, George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden, reading historical novels, and listening to a bit of light jazz. Then his tempestuous daughter, Katie, announces that she is getting remarried, to the deeply inappropriate Ray. Her family is not pleased—as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has "strangler's hands." Katie can't decide if she loves Ray or loves the wonderful way he has with her son, Jacob; and her mother, Jean, is a bit put out by all the planning and arguing the wedding has occasioned, which get in the way of her quite fulfilling late-life affair with one of her husband's ex-colleagues. And the tidy and pleasant life Jamie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to the dreaded nuptials.
Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind.
The way these damaged people fall apart—and come together—as a family is the true subject of Haddon's disturbing yet amusing portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely.

My Thoughts:

This was a really light and refreshing read. Funny, sad, a little bit vulgar at times but as a whole, it was a fun read. I laughed a lot reading through it and that's a good sign. I would recommend it to all (adults, no kids allowed here).

The Genesis of Shannara - Armageddon's Children

Title : Armageddon's Children (The Genesis of Shannara - Book 1)

Author : Terry Brooks

Pages : 416 (mass market paperback)

Synopsis :

Logan Tom is doomed to remember the past and determined to rescue the future. Far behind him lies a boyhood cut violently short by his family’s slaughter, when the forces of madness and hate swept our world after decadent excesses led to civilization’s downfall. Somewhere ahead of him rests the only chance to beat back the minions of evil that are systematically killing and enslaving the last remnants of humanity. Navigating the scarred and poisoned landscape that once was America and guided by a powerful talisman, Logan has sworn an oath to seek out a remarkable being born of magic, possessed of untold abilities, and destined to lead the final fight against darkness.

Across the country, Angel Perez, herself a survivor of the malevolent, death-dealing forces combing the land, has also been chosen for an uncanny mission in the name of her ruined world’s salvation. From the devastated streets of Los Angeles, she will journey to find a place–and a people–shrouded in mystery, celebrated in legend, and vital to the cause of humankind . . . even as a relentless foe follows close behind, bent on her extermination. While in the nearly forsaken city of Seattle, a makeshift family of refugees has carved out a tenuous existence among the street gangs, mutants, and marauders fighting to stay alive against mounting odds–and something unspeakable that has come from the shadows in search of prey.

In time, all their paths will cross. Their common purpose will draw them together. Their courage and convictions will be tested and their fates will be decided, as their singular crusade begins: to take back, or lose forever, the only world they have.

My Thoughts :

I'm a big fan of Terry Brooks's Shannara series and that's what drew me to this book. The setting is of the new world (I still prefer the old world like in the previous Shannara series). I didn't really enjoy the beginning, but gradually it got more exciting and halfway through I couldn't put the book down.