Thursday 31 July 2014

#268 A Brief History of the English Reformation (2012)

Author: Derek Wilson
Title: A Brief History of the English Reformation
Genre: History
Year: 2012
Pages: 440
Origin: bought from the Works for £3.99
Nod Rating: 3 nods out of 5

 
This title is somewhat misleading. After all, what is “brief” in more than four-hundred pages of reading? Derek Wilson’s history of the English Reformation is incredibly detailed and well-researched, leaving the Worm satisfied of this choice of book from the discount store The Works.

However, the book does not fit the entirety of the English Reformation, tending to a particular focus on the Tudor monarchs of the sixteenth century. The Stuart monarchs and their equally immense problems (Civil War, religious upheaval, monarchs on the run!) are ignored, although Wilson addresses this issue in the book’s epilogue. Wilson’s key focus is in an attempt to show how England was transformed by the whims and tastes of the Tudor dynasty, by Henry VIII and his daughter by Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth.

The historian does an admirable job of putting in the essential events – along with analysis and historical assessment – alongside some interesting minor detail. He has a clear understanding of the major players and their motivations. A narrative is held onto, but it lacks greater depth. Yes, you declare aloud right now, but remember Mr. Worm, this is a “brief” history. Perhaps the remit was never there to dig deeper, but also recall yourselves that in four-hundred pages ample space was provided.

For anyone wanting to know more about the English Reformation in the Tudor period, Derek Wilson’s book is warmly recommended. Get down to the Works now, there might still be a cheap copy going!


Find out more about the historian here

Tuesday 29 July 2014

#267 Doctor Sleep (2013)

Author: Stephen King
Title: Doctor Sleep
Genre: Novel
Year: 2013
Pages: 500
Origin: read on the Kindle
Nod Rating: 2 nods out of 5

 
‘The shining was back, and strong. The question was, why now?’

Back in 2013 the Worm read Stephen King’s novel The Shining. Having grown up with the impressive Stanley Kubrick film, the novel offered a different interpretation on the story (King’s definitive version, it could be said). The Worm wanted to know what happened after the final scenes; in particular, what happened to little Danny Torrance. So, the author’s follow-up to the novel – more than three decades later – promised to be an interesting one.

Doctor Sleep shows us an adult Danny (now named Dan) who has come to terms with the demons in his life, both mentally and physically in the form of the Overlook Hotel as well as his alcoholism. ‘You take yourself with you, wherever you go,’ King writes. Dan befriends a girl – Abra – who displays the gift of the shining to a greater extent than himself. However, Abra unwittingly invites the attentions of the True Knot, an odd gang who travel across America looking for kids who have the shining in order to feed off their energy. As King writes, ‘America is a living body, the highways are its arteries and the True Knot slips along them like a silent virus’. Dan Torrance becomes involved with defending Abra, leading him back to the grounds of the Overlook Hotel.

All of this sounds like positive sparks ready to explore. However, the experience of reading this overly long novel was a different one that the synopsis suggests. Some of the Worm’s chief complaints include pacing issues (a drawn out introduction and not enough time given to the book’s climax at the Overlook), tiresome action scenes, as well as some incredibly dull characters. Furthermore, the characters who could have injected a bit of energy into this novel – those of the True Knot – were completely underused. This includes the character of Andi who was given attention in the beginning, and then neglected for the remainder of the novel.

The biggest complaint comes in the form of King’s fairly standard writing. This is regrettable to say, as the Worm has long been a fan of Stephen King (in particular many of his short stories). However, Doctor Sleep lacks spark and imagination. Rather than suspense, it plodded along in a harmless manner.

Although it was nice to check in on Danny after decades of the original novel, Doctor Sleep is - like the horrors of the Overlook Hotel - best left alone. It adds nothing new to the myth of “the shining”, and is a wasted opportunity to really explore the meaning behind the apparent gift. The Worm will return to Stephen King in the future, but he may just stay away from his recent publications.

Sunday 27 July 2014

#266 Ant-Man: Season One (2012)

Author: Tom Defalco & Horacio Dominques
Title: Ant-Man: Season One
Genre: Graphic Novel
Year: 2012
Pages: 130
Origin: read on the iPad
Nod Rating: 1 nod out of 5

 
The Worm is a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of movies recently released. Using less heavily induced nerd-language, this basically means the many hero action movies spewed out into cinemas over the past few years. Yes, you know the names by now: Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and even the mighty Thor. But in 2015 there will be a new hero in town: Ant-Man.

Ant-Man doesn’t have quite the same attraction to it as perhaps Batman does. However, the Worm was intrigued by the film and its creative force of Edgar Wright (he who directed the “Cornetto” trilogy of British films alongside Simon Pegg). It led the Worm to attempt a read into the back-story of Ant-Man, and where better than Ant-Man: Season One.

Well, it would appear, there are many better places to start. The reader follows Dr Hank Pym as he discovers the power to reduce and increase his size, as well as communicate with ants. Unfortunately, this story offers little to stoke up the interest in the casual reader, resulting in a lack of depth. The art-work is acceptable enough, but in a market that has strengthened with serious writers and artists, this particular offering appears to be nothing more than yet another cash-in for the Marvel brand.

All of which is a shame, as the Worm wished to delve into this character before next year’s movie was released. But just as the read was finished the news was announced that Wright was to be leaving the production; the Worm’s interest soon waned in the whole operation. He leaves this review providing 1 nod for a basic story that appears rushed and unloved. The Worm hopes that 2015’s movie will fare better.

 

Saturday 26 July 2014

#265 Fifty Shades of Lady Catherine Grey (2013)

Author: T.S. Wiseman
Title: Fifty Shades of Lady Catherine Grey: The sex scandals that shook the Tudor court
Genre: History(ish!)
Year: 2013
Pages: 40
Origin: read on the Kindle
Nod Rating: 1 nod out of 5

 
As can be instantly deduced from the title of this book, Wiseman's book is a shameless cash-in on a current “literary” fad that isn’t about much at all. The Worm spent ninety-nine pence in the hope that it would add a few interesting perspectives into the scandals that troubled the Tudor court in the sixteenth century. However, all he got in return was a dull read that added nothing new to his own knowledge.

This is all with great regret, because Catherine Grey – as do her two sisters – has a fascinating history that provides a deeply rich subplot to the main Tudor queens, Mary and Elizabeth. However, it appears that T.S. Wiseman saw fit to gloss over most of the good stuff. It is with further regret that this author has put out more material on this period of his history. If the Kindle brought about a revolution in the publication of ideas from authors all over the world, this kind of book is the shoddy distaste that we have to accept along with the good.

Yes, and the Worm is still bitter about his ninety-nine pence. Wasted! Squandered! Never to be seen again!

Wednesday 23 July 2014

#264 The Secret Agent (1907)

Author: Joseph Conrad
Title: The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale
Genre: Novel
Year: 1907
Pages: 200
Origin: read on the Kindle
Nod Rating: 4 nods out of 5

 
Long-term readers of this blog (yes, poor you) may recall the Worm feasting on Conrad’s novel Lord Jim five years ago. He ecstatically gave it 5 nods and vowed to read much more from Conrad’s catalogue in the immediate future. Well, this never happened. But the Worm plucked up the courage to delve further into the cannon, with The Secret Agent offering a nice reintroduction.

The Secret Agent was chosen principally because it avoided the usual seafaring theme so well loved by Conrad during both his writing career and previous jobs working at sea. The novel is set in Victorian London, concerning the activities of Mr Verloc, we follow him as he juggles life as a businessman in a bric-a-brac shop as well as a spy. He is used as an agent by an ambassador of a foreign country; his mission is to destroy the Greenwich Observatory in order to shake up the British establishment in order to make them act on the dangers of anarchism.

Like many great ideas, it is based on a true life incident from the 1890s. Conrad was able to use it to delve into the world of terrorism and discuss big, weighty political themes. Mostly, such comments are within the sarcastic and critical vein: ‘the majority of revolutionaries are the enemies of discipline and fatigue mostly’. However, the real charm in The Secret Agent lies in the human relationships of Verloc, his wife (Winnie), and his brother-in-law, the poor unsuspecting Stevie. The relationship between the trio is an uneasy one, with Conrad noting the dynamic: ‘Mr Verloc extended as much recognition to Stevie as a man not particularly fond of animals may give to his wife’s beloved cat; and this recognition, benevolent and perfunctory, was essentially of the same quality’.

Verloc abuses the trust that Stevie places in him – Winnie notes how her brother ‘would go through fire’ for her husband - in order to set off the bomb. However, it all goes wrong, with Stevie being killed in the process; a police-officer in the novel describes the scene: ‘Blown to small bits: limbs, gravel, clothing, bones, splinters – all mixed up together. I tell you they had to fetch a shovel to gather him up with’. Other characters are introduced, including subplots involving anarchists and police detectives, all before the novel culminates in Winnie’s stabbing of her husband in a fantastically executed eleventh chapter. Like the ticking of a bomb, Winnie’s head climaxes: ‘Mrs Verloc’s whole being was racked by that inconclusive and maddening thought. It was in her veins, in her bones, in the roots of her hair’.

However, being Conrad, the narrative is not as straight-forward as the Worm lets on. There are various time shifts, meaning that this relatively “simple tale” is partially obscured. Furthermore, the lack of redemption, as well as the concluding lines of the final newspaper report – ‘an impenetrable mystery seems destined to hang for ever over this act of madness of despair’ – show Conrad at his teasingly best. But yet, in comparison to other novels – notably Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness – Conrad’s The Secret Agent fails to stand as tall. The characters are not as developed, and the plot is ultimately a basic one. Therefore, it displays a functioning – if engaging – novel at the hands of a very talented writer.
 
Read it here

Monday 14 July 2014

#263 Into the Silent Land (2004)

Author: Paul Broks
Title: Into the Silent Land: Travels in Neuropsychology
Genre: A bit of Psychology and Philosophy
Year: 2004
Pages: 230
Origin: borrowed from a library
Nod Rating: 4 nods out of 5

 
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
(Christina Rossetti, ‘Remember’)

Into the Silent Land became one of those lucky reads, found on a book shelf in a library whilst waiting photocopying to complete. The Worm browsed a shelf in the Psychology section, more as a way of killing time, before stumbling upon this interesting title. A couple of minutes of thumbing through the pages convinced him that it must be taken at once! The Worm grabbed the book and photocopy pile, punched his way through a barrage of librarians, all before jumping out of the second floor window onto the ground. Yes, nothing can escape the desires of the Worm!

And so, back to reality, later that day the Worm started tucking into Paul Broks’ gripping book. Based on his own experiences in neuropsychology, Broks examines what it is to be human. The brain is the base for this study, with Broks speculating on where the human resides; if a piece of brain is removed, is a piece of the human – their soul, so to speak – also removed? In this interesting manner, Broks flirts with both his discipline as well as philosophical arguments. It is this way, he speculates, in which greater understanding could ensue, not simply treating ‘the brain as an isolated object’.

Broks prods and pokes away at this idea throughout the book: ‘Where is the mind in this tangled wood of neurons and nerve fibres? It isn’t anywhere. And the self? What did you expect? A genie in a bottle?’ He describes and evaluates his own observations of the past of people who have coped with losing a part of their brain and how they have changed in consequence, as well as witnessing others who have undergone experiments in losing function in a part of their brain: ‘A person? A half-person? Half a brain?’

The book is a mixture of past experience, philosophical discussion, as well as fictional stories to illustrate key points. Brok’s tells a story of a distant future in which Star Trek teleportation is possible; a problem in the transport results in two Dereks. The one who successfully teleported, and the other who remained behind. But which is the real Derek? Broks moves deeper into a fictional dialogue between himself and the other. Throughout the book these conversations interrupt the pages, with Brok’s using the device to develop essential points in a clearer, more direct way. Furthermore, he also connects with poetry and his own literary experiences, particularly in the use of the Dannie Abse poem ‘In the Theatre’. Such touches are engaging, as well as highlighting the harrowing idea of what makes a person.

Broks’ attempts to tie in together both brain – as a scientific object – and the human self – as a social construct. He believes that this is the ‘challenge for neuroscience’ in the future. Such a bridge is attempted in these pages, however, there is no satisfactory resolution. There remains an itch for more answers… or is this perhaps an itch to read more into this fascinating field? Either way, Broks has succeeded in penning a lively and engaging book, fully deserving of anyone’s attention. Now, if you will excuse the Worm, he has a library book to return.


Read more here