Doctor Sleep, Stephen King

"What happened to Danny Torrance, the boy at the heart of The Shining, after his terrible experience in the Overlook Hotel? The instantly riveting Doctor Sleep picks up the story of the now middle-aged Dan, working at a hospice in rural New Hampshire, and the very special twelve-year old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless - mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the 'steam' that children with the 'shining' produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father's legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him and a job at a nursing home where his remnant 'shining' power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes 'Doctor Sleep.' Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan's own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra's soul and survival ..."



Stephen King was the author I spent my teenage years reading everything I could find of. From the first time I picked up my Dad's old copies of Carrie and Firestarter, to bargain hunting for the back catalogue and obsessively purchasing new releases, I was utterly hooked. I still have all of my copies, and recently started to replace them with hardbacks (a process which moving to America may interrupt somewhat).

King gave me some of my most enduring memories of literature. I won't ever forget the bittersweet hope of the end of The Mist, or the realisation of the inevitability of the fate of those left on The Raft. Before I waited for the "great bearded glacier", George R. R. Martin, to finish writing A Song of Ice and Fire, I was desperate to know what became of The Gunslinger as he followed the man in black through the many worlds along the beam.

And for all that I think his strength is actually his short stories King has given me enough 1000 page burglar-stunners for me to know he can handle the epic.

True, post-accident there was a drop in form, and a propensity for naval gazing and introspection that marred the end of the quest for the Dark Tower and showed itself most clearly in a series of semi autobiographical leads and a merging of King's life and his stories. This slump certainly seems to have been arrested however, and his last few books (Under The Dome especially) have been, if not instant classic, certainly a response to critics who wrote the master off.

If Doctor Sleep features a little too much of the Stephen King staple template (messed up recovering alcoholic, powerful but troubled children, supernatural villains travelling through small town America) it at least reads as more of a greatest hits than an attempt to repeat former greatness.

As a story it's serviceable, but where it shines (pun unintended) is in the relationship between Danny and Abra, a tale of redemption certainly, but also a more tender story of a man who finally finds his place as a mentor and who learns to face more than just literal demons.

Characterisation is one of Kings strongpoints, alongside world building and dialogue and he creates a convincing and consistent cast with their own motivations and expectations without ever coming across as clichéd.

As good as a stand alone book as it is as a sequel to The Shining, a book I didn't feel the need to reread beforehand, this is return to near-vintage King, and therefore well worth reading.

Also Try;

Stephen King, The Dark Tower books

Stephen King, Skeleton Crew

Dean Koontz, From the Corner of His Eye

Eon, Greg Bear

"Above our planet hangs a hollow Stone, vast as the imagination of Man. The inner dimensions are at odds with the outer: there are different chambers to be breached, some even containing deserted cities. The furthest chamber contains the greatest mystery ever to confront the Stone's scientists.

But tombstone or milestone, the Stone is not an alien structure: it comes from the future of our humanity. And the war that breaks out on Earth seems to bear witness to the Stone's prowess as oracle . . ."










If Through Darkest America was unsure whether it wanted to be post-apocalyptic, civil-war epic, Western or teen drama, Eon at least has the virtue of not needing to choose what it is by being everything to all things. It's big sci-fi, hard sci-fi, in the classic vein, with a plot that is followable but not necessarily understandable for all the right reasons.

When the cold war is interrupted by the arrival of a massive meteor, orbiting the Earth, science teams are sent to investigate. At which point every expectation about what's coming next breaks down as Bear decides to just skip over the bits you assume will come next, like the initial reaction to the stone's arrival, or the consequences of a world-ending nuclear war.

This is not a story that's afraid to hit its audience over the head thematically, but it's in the actual science that things can go a bit off the deep end. When your main character is an experimental physicist so brilliant a civilisation literally centuries ahead needs her mind to advance their science you know there's not going to be too much slowing down for the kids at the back to keep up. And so it proves, as the book seeks to set up a mathematical concept allowing a TARDIS to hijack a space rock out of its dimension and back through time. And then there's a space war. Everyone in the book is 'brilliant' in their own way, which can be distracting but is probably more fair in the context of a top secret scientific exploration of future-tech and alien activity.

It makes very little sense but is terrific fun, and works as a wonderful example of truly well thought out xenofiction, up there with anything in the Ender's Game books (a series which did very well at imagining lots of very alien species).

It also has a couple of sequels which I won't be hunting out but would certainly read if I came across them.

Also Try;
Greg Bear, Darwin's Radio
Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead
K. A. Applegate, The Ellimist Chronicles

The English; A Field Guide, Matt Rudd

"A hilarious field guide to the world’s most remarkable and unusual creatures: the English.

Who are the English? What is this puzzling species? Where does it live? What are its habits? What does it eat? Why does it eat that? And why has it developed such unexotic mating rituals?

Join us on a journey deep into the natural habitat of the English, a journey to rival anything David Attenborough did with gorillas, a journey that begins on a sofa (and continues, unflinchingly, into the kitchen, out into the garden, off to work, down to the pub and then on to the beach… and the bedroom).

Matt Rudd’s fearless anthropological approach leaves no cliché unturned in his attempt to portray the real English. Are we really a nation of binge-drinking, horse-meat-eating, grumbling, tailgating slobs or is there something altogether more beautiful to be found lurking behind the cypress leylandii?

This unprecedented adventure will take you to a DFS store, to Blackpool’s third best B&B, to the coffee kiosk on platform one at 5.35 in the morning. You will step into a ready-meal curry factory, a naturist’s back garden and an office of the future where they do somersaults into beanbags. You will endure a night out in Wakefield, a night out in a queue and a night in Thetford Forest trying, unsuccessfully, to prove that dogging is an urban myth. You will watch Reading play football.

And all from the comfort of your own sofa. How English."

Matt Rudd's The English: A Field Guide is that rare thing that is worse than a Jeremy Clarkson recommendation would suggest, a book that is utterly, shockingly, unfailingly without merit. Presumably some very nice trees were harvested so that this self-indulgent paeon to middle England could be printed, which is a shame because that tree probably provided more insight, wit and value than this book. Matt Rudd is seemingly a journalist. Presumably print media's long anticipated death will be suicide. Sinking any lower is impossible.

From front cover to last page, this is a savage indictment of modern England (and this is, of course, written to show nothing other than England, an England unmoored from Wales, Scotland or Ireland, ignorant of any land outside itself and unwilling to drag itself into the 20th Century, let alone the 21st.

To read the back of the book you would think this were the first book to tackle the pop-anthropology of the English mind, but it isn't. This isn't even a Buzzfeed-esque '30 great things about England' experience. It's the utterly depressing middle-aged masturbation fodder of a man who has escaped from The Times style-guide and decided he's witty enough to carry a whole book. He isn't, and he isn't even glib. He's just a dick on a keyboard.

If 'You Are Shit But I like You' was tedious and repetitive it at least found a natural niche in providing information about the unlovely and hideous. This doesn't have even that, instead trying to masquerade its own importence as a sort of jolly 1950s slide-show of travels around England, with 90% less Punch and Judy shows and children throwing up from consuming an ice cream for the first time, and 100% more shit patriotism.

Hilarious like a door and half as readable. Don't read this, just move on.

Also Try:
Kate Fox, Watching The English
Bill Bryson, Notes From A Small Island
Jeremy Paxman, The English

literally anything else ever written

Women and the Kingdom, Faith and Roger Forster

"What does the Bible really say about women?

Should women be allowed to preach or lead in church?

What about what Paul said?

Women and the Kingdom is the long-awaited book by Faith and Roger Forster tackling the role of women within the Kingdom of God. This book takes you on an historical exploration of the roles of women in the Old, New and early church periods before ending up in the present day.

There is thorough, in-depth exegesis of the passages frequently used to argue the case against women in church leadership."

Anything that can really be said here is kind of irrelevant to be honest.

If you're Christian and Feminist (or just one of those), then you should read this. If you want to know what the Bible really teaches about women, then you should read this. If you have just a passing interest in how language shapes institutions, how institutions shape history, and why this is important. Yep, you guessed it, you should read this.

Look, lets face it. Most people have already come to a decision for themselves about the role of women in the church. At one extreme is the idea that women should be neither seen nor heard, that their authority is non-existent and that their principle role is to produce the next generation of male leaders. At the other extreme is ... well, actually, I'm not sure there IS another extreme. There's the centre, where people think that women should probably be able to play a part, say what they think and take a leadership role if they are qualified, but that's hardly an extremist view. That's barely even a view.

Still, because the argument is so skewed that this reasonable position is presented as aggressive Feminist shit-stirring, it's good to have a book that actually does what many men in positions of authority in the church seem to demand; a Biblically founded reason for women to have a role, born out of an exegesis of the text at hand, and an explanation of how the intent has been misrepresented to push women out of church leadership.

Frankly, this should be required reading for anyone before they go talking about what Paul thought about women, what the Bible really says or whether or not God has made women to be subservient to men.

Also Try:
The Bible
Shane Claiborne, The Irresistable Revolution

Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

"'Here we drink three cups of tea to do business; the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything - even die' - Haji Ali, Korphe Village Chief, Karakoram mountains, Pakistan.

In 1993, after a terrifying and disastrous attempt to climb K2, a mountaineer called Greg Mortenson drifted, cold and dehydrated, into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains. Moved by the inhabitants' kindness, he promised to return and build a school. "Three Cups of Tea" is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome. Over the next decade Mortenson built not just one but fifty-five schools - especially for girls - in remote villages across the forbidding and breathtaking landscape of Pakistan and Afghanistan, just as the Taliban rose to power. His story is at once a riveting adventure and a testament to the power of the humanitarian spirit."



The weirdest thing about Three Cups of Tea is that it's a hugely enjoyable book until you actually go and read further, because it turns out that everything you've read in this, nominally, non-fiction book is ... Broadly untrue? Vaguely inaccurate? A pack of total lies? Whichever version you go for, it kind of undermines the rest of the narrative. That's a shame, because without the critique Mortenson's story is wonderfully inspiring and compelling.

A mountaineer who stumbled across a Pakistani village whilst descending K2 and was bought back to health by the people there, promising to return and build them a school as thanks, Mortenson is an unfailingly interesting person to read. For the first half of the story I was enraptured by his account, and the breathless narration by journalist and self-professed Mortensom disciple Relin. The story is vividly told, including history, political commentary and context aplenty, alongside an engaging story of triumph against the odds in building the first school despite opposition from corrupt and desperate Pakistani's and indifferent Americans.

Unfortunately, I then went online and read some of the commentary to the book, which sets the benevolent charity Mortenson founded within a wider narrative of financial mismanagement, endemic internal corruption and absolutely no willingness to address these issues. Mortenson's slacker background and inability (and unwillingness) to work with 'the man' suddenly becomes less endearing and more a flashing warning sign that he absolutely should not be in charge of a multi-million dollar organisation. Anyone who is almost uncontactable most of the time, ignores official forms and works from his gut in selecting staff (all traits which are presented as utterly positive and vital to the success of his mission) are obviously going to become liabilities when millions of dollars disappears with no paper trail or inclination to follow up on where it went.

All of which leaves a sour taste in the mouth even before you discover that the two most electrifying moments in the book; Mortenson's near death on K2 (and subsequent arrival in that first impoverished village) and his kidnap and detention by militants in Pakistan's badlands are utterly false and never took place.

From then on the remainder of the book is somewhat less readable as an accurate account of one mans war on poverty and lack of education.

So, worth a read for a look at international development on a budget, but not an organisation to donate to, and certainly not an example to follow.

Also Try:
Jon Krakauer, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/08/is-it-time-to-forgive-greg-mortenson.html
Jon Krakauer, Three Cups of Deceit
Joel Connely, http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/Greg-Mortenson-Three-Cups-of-Me-1356850.php

Through Darkest America, Neal Barrett Jr.

"Part of the Isaac Asimov Presents series, this provocative novel is set in a world that nuclear war has almost decimated of cities, technology and large animals. To replace farm livestock, the country's sole source of meat is genetically altered humans, without intelligence or speech. A distant civil war out west, its harsh taxes and harsher collectors, force Howie Ryder to flee his family's Tennessee farm. He falls in with outlaw Pardo, who signs on with a big meat drive only to rustle it and playsand preys onboth sides in running guns. Barrett's SF rendering of this latter-day civil war comes complete with a version of slavery, cavalry charges and a young boy representing the country's coming of age. The romantic narrative skillfully moves from a well-told if familiar story of war and the western frontier to areas of ambiguity and uncertainty that readers are left to answer for themselves."


This is, it has to be said, one of the weirdest books I've ever read. Not so much for the contents (which are pedestrian) or the style (which is standard) but for the concept behind creating a post-Apocalyptic America which is near indistinguishable from Civil War era America (right down to an actual civil war) and has very little in the way of actual post-Apocalyptic America.

Billed as a book about one man's journey through an America devastated by nuclear conflict, and with the Isaac Asimov presents handle to boot, I expected there to be a little bit more exploration of 'after the end' style ideas. Instead, the main consequences seem to have been a technological collapse (valid), the complete disappearance of all black people and animals in America (errr) and the emergence of a shell-shocked untermensch of people who are used as livestock and a foodsupply.

The problems with much of the book stem from its synthesis of post-apocalyptic savagery and a frontiersman spirit which only evokes the old west or the war between the states. This leads to some slightly on the nose, and seemingly unintentional, parralels once the business of slave herding comes in, which come across as a little bit too much of a 'what if we just ate all the African-Americans?'

This really is a problem; the main character is taken to see a stuffed 'Nigger' at the local fair, right before we find out that his family's farm rears people to be eaten. They are explicitly stated to be non-human, but clearly once were and are indistinguishable from humans other than there vacant nature. The aforementioned disappearance of all the animals, and also all the black people doesn't help. The main conflict is between the Government in the industrial heartlands and the rebelling South. For anyone with even a passing familiarity with American history this should be ringing alarm bells.

In no way am I intending to suggest that the author is racist, or that this is a racist book, but it certainly has racist imagery and, I'm sure, unintentionally racist themes which make it an uncomfortable read. This doesn't sit well with the rest of the story which is a dark but ultimately shallow story, a version of which was done better by Patrick Ness in The Knife of Never Letting Go.

It fails more as a post-apocalyptic imagining than a story altogether, but there are certainly better novels exploring the same idea. This would almost certainly now be a book aimed at teens, but there so many better novels set after the fall of civilisation for a teen audience that this would barely excite notice.

Also Try:
Patrick Ness, The Knife of Never Letting Go
John Christopher, The Tripods
George R. Stewart, Earth Abides
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Daniel Woodrell, Winter's Bone