Death by Leisure - Chris Ayres

Death by Leisure caught my eye from the moment I read its blurb and anybody with a vague interest in the psyche of the American Consumer will also find themselves intrigued.

It sounds a little something like this:

Journalist Chris Ayres - didn’t want much - a supermodel girlfriend, a cliff top bachelor palace and a fleet of chrome-rimmed SUV’s so that he can mingle with the Hollywood elite. The only snag to these lofty aspirations is that he is flat broke and trying to pay off his original student loan on an MG he purchased many years back.

Instead of letting a minor detail get in the way, Chris moves to LA and borrows $1m dollars and sets out to fulfil his boyhood dreams. Unfortunately none of it can last and eventually he is ducking and diving as his life catches up with him and the lenders come seeking their pound of flesh.

I laughed through this whole book - the story line, the writing, the witty one liners - it just all jumped out at me as a really neat and amusing look at how American consumers got themselves into so much trouble. It is one thing to read about it in the financial media about some of the behaviour patterns that these guys indulged in but to read some of the thinking first-hand was brilliant.

A highly recommended read!

Title: Death by Leisure
Author: Chris Ayres
ISBN: 978-0-7195-6016-3

You can buy this book online for R105 or follow the banners right to online retailer Loot.

I rated this book a 4 out of 5 - it was brilliant, witty and just felt very “real”. As one person commented: “Death by Leisure is a savage and hilarious takedown of our times, and a wake-up call to aspiring Leisuretocrats everywhere.”

PS - Ayres also writes about a book called “War Reporting for Cowards” which I see is available from some of the local online retailers and I reckon I will be adding it to my shopping list this month!

Dean Koontz - Dead and Alive

Finally after three years of waiting I have wrapped up the Dean Koontz Frankenstein trilogy!

For those who don't know the third book was due to be released a couple of years back but Koontz' writing about the world coming to an end in New Orleans co-incided with Hurricane Katrina. He decided that it would be a little tastelesss to release the conclusive book so it was held back.

For those who don't know the background to the series, Koontz provides his own take on the Frankenstein tale. Victor Helios - aka Frankenstein - is alive and well and busy building a super "New" Race to replace humanity. However his plans go awry as his creations begin to suffer a series of "malfunctions" and he rapidly begins to lose control.

New Orleans is on the brink of collapse and the only thing standing between the pending havoc are two police detectives and Helios' first creation who has come back to extract revenge.

The book itself was very readable and I got through it quite quickly but I felt it lacked some of the intrigue and punch of the first two books. The conclusion wasn't bad but felt a bit disjointed in getting there. I almost got the sense that Koontz had put in too many characters (presumably to emphasise the havoc) and it all fell apart a bit.

I was almost expecting a tale of running gun battles in the street as the Old Race defended themselves against the New Race but it didn't quite build up enough urgency to get to that point.

Title: Dead or Alive - Book 3
Author: Dean Koontz
ISBN: 978-0-00-720311-6

Rated the book a 3 out of 5 but the first two books are essential reading.

You can buy the book online for R95 or follow the Loot banners on the right hand side of the blog.

Kathy Reichs - 206 Bones

Admittedly I was a little distracted when I read 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs, but truth be told I didn't have a cooking clue what was happening throughout the book.

I won't say that I am a Reichs fan but at least the books are normally tolerable and allow for some brain-dead entertainment - unfortunately not in this case. I am a simple guy and when there are too many characters it all goes pear-shaped for me and in this case there were FAR too many characters... maybe just because there were bloody French names and guys whose aliases were based on beer brand-names?

I dunno - I just didn't get into it at all. Having said that my wife said she got a kick out of the whole medical side of the story so uh don't be shy to get a second opinion.

Below is the synopsis for the book from one of the online retailers. It makes it sound a little more exciting than it really was, but I guess to each their own:

Tempe regains consciousness and discovers that she is in a very dark, very cold enclosed space. She is bound, hands to feet. Who wants Tempe dead, or at least out of the way, and why? Tempe begins slowly to reconstruct...

She and Lieutenant Ryan had accompanied the recently discovered remains of a missing heiress from Montreal to the Chicago morgue. Suddenly, Tempe was accused of mishandling the autopsy -- and the case. Someone made an incriminating phone call. Within hours, the one man with information about the call was dead. Back in Montreal, the corpse of a second elderly woman was found in the woods, and then a third.

Seamlessly weaving between Tempe's present-tense terror as she's held captive and her memory of the cases of these murdered women, Reichs conveys the incredible devastation that would occur if a forensic colleague sabotaged work in the lab.

Title: 206 Bones
Author: Kathy Reichs
ISBN: 978-0-434-01469-9

If you would like to waste your money you can buy this book online from online retailer Loot for R177 but I rated it a 1 out of 5

Devils Peak - Deon Meyer

Devil's Peak is the second Deon Meyer title that I have read in the last couple of months and my opinions of the first title have been reinforced.

The book opens with Thobela Mpayipheli watching his son killed in a armed robbery. After learning the killers have slipped through the legal system, he decides to take action and armed with an assegai he begins seeking out those who have harmed children.

Dubbed "Artemis" by the media he evokes strong support from the community who finally identify a vigilante who is bringing the criminals to book.

But this doesn't sit well with inspector Benny Griessel, a drunk but brilliant South African detective who is looking to bring Artemis down.

The reader is taken on a thrilling chase as Griessel pursues Artemis hoping to catch him before he kills somebody else.

Devil's Peak is an entertaining crime thriller that brings a very South African flavour to readers. The story itself is tightly wound together and the word "compact" seems to be the best way to describe the book. There are no wasted characters and those characters which do feature in the story are developed fluently and with ease.

There is also a more than handy twist or two at the end of the story which will keep the readers enthralled to the end.

Title: Devils Peak

Author: Deon Meyer

ISBN: 978-0-340-82266-1

A nice compact and easy to read story with some twists in the tail. Rated the book a three out of five.

You can buy this title online from retailer Loot for R91. Follow hyperlink or banner right.

The International Rugby Encyclopedia

With the Currie Cup coming down to "the business end" I thought this book would be quite a nice one to highlight courtesy of Fanatics:

The International Rugby Encyclopedia is meticulously compiled and has been 18 years in the making. This book is the complete international rugby encyclopedia that presents every single recognized international rugby game ever played since 1871 when Scotland took on England. It is well illustrated and structured, featuring stories on the great players to have graced the game, the great matches to have captivated the crowds and the great stadiums to have hosted these internationals, as well as a plethora of rugby trivia.

You can buy the book online or at your nearest Exclusive Books store for R399.

About the Author
Andrew de Klerk, with his almost pathological passion for rugby, was born in 1979, and grew up in Grahamstown where Saturday-morning rugby matches were strongly attended and vociferously supported by the locals. He was educated at St Andrew’s, Graeme College and Rhodes University in Grahamstown. He has a BSc (Hons) in Geology. Andrew is an avid bird-watcher and loves the bush (he once spent a year as a game ranger at Mala Mala near the Kruger National Park). He is a member of the Geological Society of South Africa, is married and now lives in Johannesburg.

Books for girls!

As a father to two young daughters, one of the trickiest things is trying to find girls books that they will like.

Part of the problem is not knowing much about what authors would appeal to them and I think the folks over at Fanatics may have solved a part of this dilemma with their latest mailer.

The Little Princess
The Little Princess is an enduring classic and must-read for all young girls. Hilary McKay brings this much-loved story back to life in her own classic and inimitable style. Wishing for Tomorrow, told in Hilary Mackay’s unique light and witty style is a warm and touching as well as hilarious.

Wishing for Tomorrow
In Wishing for Tomorrow Hilary McKay revisits Miss Minchin’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies after the events of A Little Princess and Sara Crewe’s happily ever after. But Sara is much missed - and most acutely by best friend Ermengarde, who laments that ‘nothing is the same as it was before’.

But life must go on at Miss Minchin’s as new friendships are made, rivalries continued, lessons learned and, most importantly, fairytale endings are had.

Fifa 10

For anyone who has been following our bestseller list you will see that Fifa 10 has proven to be a popular choice with gamers over the last week.

As we normally we do we stick up the game and invite readers of the blog to post their views on the game as a guideline to other readers and gamers out there.

Below is the write-up for the game from the retailers:

Last year's game topped the league and now the all-new FIFA 10 is looking to defend its title as the number one football action game.

Brand new this year is the 360 degree dribbling system, giving you the most precise control ever. There are also changes to how the defensive line is formed, as well as improvements to crosses, freekicks and goalkeepers (who can now receive red cards).

Naturally the game retains its hugely successful on and offline multiplayer modes, with new options and better stability for online play. The manager mode has also seen a massive update to make it just as deep and complex as the main game. With all these new features and more EA Sports are betting on FIFA remaining the champions for a long time to come.

You can buy the game online from retailer Loot or follow the banners on the right hand side of the blog.