Moab is my Washpot – Stephen Fry – Book Review August 18, 2008

Moab Is My Washpot is the autobiography of Stephen Fry’s first twentyish years, and boy does he tell it well. Surprisingly, this remarkable man’s early years were relatively unremarkable (for the time, place and class of course - I found the whole narrative pretty astonishing!). What makes his story so different, and intriguing, are the insights into this genius’s troubled teenage years.

 

Haunted by his homosexuality, plagued by unrequited love, disturbed by the extent of the distances between himself and his peers and his desperation to join in, Stephen’s descent into depression really captivated me. At times the story is so cringeworthy I wanted to look away, but the tragedy of the story is beautifully balanced by frankly told humourous and hilariously vivid anecdotes.

 

I adored reading this book, and lapped up the delectable English language used by Fry in its purest and proper form. I wholeheartedly recommend this to any fan of Stephen Fry and follower of his career, and I can guarantee you, it explains a lot! You may well wish to ensure you have a dictionary handy when reading this

WALL-E – Film Review August 7, 2008

5*’s

Having been told that the first half contained no dialogue at all, I was sort of expecting a film aimed at toddlers and maybe a bit of a laugh. I was pleasantly surprised!

The storyline – while put in a very imaginative setting – is a classic one, lonely boy meets lonely girl, overcome hurdle and fall in love. However, boy and girl are both robots, and neither the earth or the human race are as we know them. Fat human beings, our descendants, live on a space ship with robots catering for their every needs, because they have covered the earth in “trash” and set WALL-E and other robots like him the task of cleaning it up. After 700 years, WALL-E is the last remaining clean-up robot, and is cutely lonely and sad. But when plant life is discovered on earth by Eve, the robot girlfriend of WALL-E, the heroic ship’s captain remembers his morals before it’s too late and battles robots on autodrive to restore our faith in the human race

A very touching film that had me giggling throughout, with a lovely message – respect our planet or lose it!

The Wheel of Time: The Great Hunt, by Robert Jordan – Book Review August 5, 2008

 

 Robert Jordan has truely become the master of his genre. This is the second book in a series of 11 (I believe), and follows on from the first in the series, The Eye of the World. I left a big gap in between reading the two books, simply because they are so long and take me such a long time to read that I had a lot of other books that I wanted to read in between. However, half way into the first chapter I found myself well back into the swing of the adventure.

I love the way that Jordan writes – incredibly descriptively and fantastically – and the man has imagination enough to create an entire detached world, Tolkein style. The characters are created lovingly, chapters skipping between their individual adventures, and I have come to love and respect all of them. Rand al’Thor, the unwilling Dragon Reborn, is I suppose strictly the protagonist, but we are given insights into the thoughts and fears of all his companions. My favourites are Egwene al’Vere, village girl turned novice Aes Sedai, and Naeneve, village Wisdom turned accepted Aes Sedai, both of whom show such bravery and spirit on their inevitable journies. Jordan creates a real sense of danger and fate throughout.

I absolutely recommend this book, but make sure you read the first book first, as Jordan has dispensed with the usual “catch up” information that most series of books include at the beginning of each episode. Definately a must read for any fantasy or science fiction fans, of which I am not usually one, but I think most people (with a bit of reading stamina) will enjoy this story.

RIP Robert Jordan!