A bit of a change of pace for this week’s Summer Books selection – Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell, once featured as part of Richard and Judy‘s Book Club.

Confounding expectations for a book associated with a daytime chat show, Cloud Atlas soars to levels far above many of the books to be featured in this series of reviews. It has a wonderful central message, which is continually revisited and brought together nicely at the end, and the quality and style of the language over hundreds of years is spot-on.

The book is essentially constructed of six smaller books, each interrupted at a crucial moment in their story – one even midsentence – and returned to later. The story spans from the 1800s right through to a distant future, with each of the different small books being about a different time period, and written in the style of that time period. Because of this, the book could have been enormously gimicky, and been very poorly written, but it wasn’t. Mictchell clearly has the amazing talent required to construct such a story of such amazing ambition, and to transcend both styles and genres.

Whilst this is a marvellous book in itself, it reminded me of Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller in several respects, especially since both are essentially collections of stories-within-stories. However, whilst Traveller was an excellent novel which pushed the boundaries of the genre, Cloud Atlas is far more accessible, much more populist novel that one can just sit down, read, and enjoy, whilst still maintaining a number of worthy themes and messages. This is accessible literature, without descending to the level of Dan Brown.

Cloud Atlas is a very clever novel; in fact, it is so clever that you end up forgetting just how clever it is, and just run along with the story. There aren’t many writers about who can achieve this delicate balance of being smart whilst resisting the temptation to show off and overshadow their own story. That said, I found the first 100 pages or so quite hard going, as I tried to get used to the format of being cut-off mid-flow with no immediate explanation, and some of the stylistic leaps are large. Still, once you get into this book, you won’t come out until you’ve finished.

I highly recommend this book, and if you haven’t read it yet, this summer might be the perfect time to tackle it.

» Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is available now in the sjhoward.co.uk shop

This review was originally posted here on sjhoward.co.uk in April 2005, and has been re-versioned for the ‘Summer Books’ series of reviews published on sjhoward.co.uk and Gazette Live.

I once said that on this site, book reviews are much like buses: You wait six months for one, and then several come along at once. Never has this been more true, as I kick off the promised Summer Books series of reviews, which is being published both here on sjhoward.co.uk and over on Trinity Mirror’s Gazette Live.

Less like buses, my quite terrible book reviews often seem to meander around the point, only occasionally reaching any kind of destination, and are certainly not without a few uncomfortable bumps and scrapes along the way. Yet, without further ado, let us begin…

Today, it’s the turn of John Humphrys’ Beyond Words. This is subtitled ‘How Language Reveals The Way We Live Now’. I propose that this subtitle was not submitted by Mr Humphrys himself, thanks to two clues: Firstly, I Don’t Think He’d Approve Of Capitalisation Of The First Letter Of Every Word. In fact, he rails against it in the book. Secondly, his narrative does not address ‘how language reveals the way we live now’. Not really. A much better summary is given by the blurb: “What are the words and expressions that irk, intrigue and provoke John Humphrys?”.

At this point, I should declare an interest. John Humphrys has, over the past four years or so, had the Herculean task of waking me most mornings. His voice, as presenter of Today, has permeated its way into my semi-conscious mind hundreds of times; and when someone’s voice has woken you that often, you feel you know them pretty well. Therefore, provided Mr Humphrys’ book was marginally better than The Da Vinci Code, I was bound to like it.

And like it I do. It’s something of a jolly romp through modern day language. It’s entertaining, it’s engaging, and it makes some interesting points about the development of language. I would say that it follows on perfectly from his previous book, Lost for Words, but I’ve not read it, so I’ve really no idea whether it does or not. But I can say that, as a result of reading this book, I’ll be looking out for that one.

In contrast to Lynne Truss, who, apparently without irony, lamented the decline of formal English in an unnecessarily conversational grammar guide (Eats, Shoots and Leaves), John Humphrys takes a more reflective and analytical approach to changes in language. His tone is equally conversational and laced with humour, but without the repetitive vitriolic condemnation of the reader typical of Truss.

Humphrys’ is a clear, easy book to read. Perhaps it’s the way his voice is imprinted on my brain, but his book reads almost as if one is in the room with him, and listening to a well-argued, highly entertaining monologue. And, unlike lesser authors, Humphrys is not trying to argue that misplaced apostrophes are the cause of social decline: He takes a reasoned approach to his arguments, which makes his conclusions seem all the more valid.

All-in-all, Beyond Words is a great read. It’s interesting and informative, while still be entertaining enough to hold your attention on a nine-hour long haul flight or a relaxing stretch on the beach. This summer, I’d highly recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the English language.

» Beyond Words by John Humphrys is available now in the sjhoward.co.uk shop

This review was originally posted here on sjhoward.co.uk in June 2007, and has been re-versioned for the ‘Summer Books’ series of reviews published on sjhoward.co.uk and Gazette Live.

Summers tend to be quite dull in the political world, and I’m fed up of writing perennial posts about the silliness of the silly season. So this year I’m trying something new.

Starting tomorrow, and for the next ten weeks, I’ll be publishing a book review each Sunday evening both here on sjhoward.co.uk and over on Gazette Live – some of them will be re-versioned copies of old book reviews from this site, some of them will be brand new. None of them will be about the latest best-sellers.

Hopefully, that will keep sjhoward.co.uk looking relatively fresh and active over the summer, but primarily I hope it will be reasonably entertaining for you, dear readers – despite (or thanks to?) my complete lack of skill in writing reviews. I’ll still be here writing other things as usual from time to time, but hopefully my posts won’t reek of desperation in quite the same way as previous years’ summer posts.

I guess we’ll find out over the next ten weeks…

Instant Opinion is the surprisingly popular sjhoward.co.uk spin-off book of political opinion available from all good bookshops, including sjhoward.co.uk/shop (£5.65), Tesco (£7.05), and Waterstones (£7.42).

The contents of the book are also available as a PDF document, usually selling for £3.49. However, for a very limited time, I am able to offer the eBook version for just 79p. That’s the same price as a single song on iTunes, yet provides over 200 pages of quality political content in easy-to-read PDF format.

This bargain price represents a massive 77% off the usual retail price of the eBook, or 89% off the usual retail price of the print edition.

The idea is that if you particularly enjoy the eBook edition, you may be more tempted to treat yourself to the print edition – yet there is absolutely no obligation to make any further purchases. If you don’t like it, you’ve wasted 79p. If you love it and go on to buy a print copy, you’ll have made me a little more happy.

For this very special offer, payment can only be made by PayPal, and only through the special (subtle) link at the bottom of this post. Thank you for your support!

Update: The offer has now expired, but the eBook is still available at the original price of £3.49.

One of my seemingly many lives involves answering questions for AQA 63336, and as well as being a question ‘answerer’, I’m also a reasonably frequent question ‘asker’. As part of their business, AQA 63336 have brought out a couple of books – the second of which, Any Question Answered, has just been released.

I’d like to state for the record that I have not been asked to review this book by AQA 63336, and my review is as impartial as ever, and fully compliant with the review policy of the site.

The book essentially consists of questions as texted to the service, and responses to them. The latest book is divided into eleven chapters, covering all manner of topics from animals to arts to etymology. In addition, and quite different from the first book, some questions have been put to a number of celebrities – notably Stephen Fry, who is known to be particularly fanatical about the service. It also contains a page of questions it challenges the reader to answer.

This isn’t one of the world’s greatest literary works, but it’s a wonderful little book for entertaining yourself or others, full of interesting and amusing facts. Who knew that Queen Victoria banned the colour black at her funeral, or that the Royal Mint issues 4.1 million coins per day? The beauty of printing the text-message answers is that they are all so short and pithy, and avoid the tendency of many books of random facts to wander off into boring irrelevance. In fact the humour displayed in some of the answers is what makes the book particularly great.

Of course, the book can also be enjoyed from another point of view entirely – it really is fascinating to see what people have texted in, and sometimes to wonder exactly what possessed them. Who cares what model number the Tardis in Doctor Who is, or how many atoms make up a beer mat? It’s very addictive reading.

AQA 63336 have been particularly clever as regards the time of publication of this book – right before Christmas – as it’s the perfect stocking filler for pretty much anyone. That said, some of the questions are probably a little unsuitable for children, but all-in-all, it’s great for friends and relatives alike. It’s definitely recommended.

Win a Copy

I had a copy of Any Question Answered to give away to a lucky UK reader of the site, who correctly answered the following question from the book:

Who was the second man in space?

1. Yuri Gagarin
2. Alan Shepard
3. Neil Armstrong

The correct answer was Alan Shepard, and the lucky winner was Jonathan Rothwell – I’ll be in touch shortly to arrange delivery of the prize.

Thanks for all the entries – more than ten times as many as last time I ran one of these prize draws. Don’t forget that those of you who didn’t win can still get hold of a discount copy of the book in the site’s shop.

Look out for more prize draws soon!

Buy a Copy

If you’re not feeling lucky, Any Question Answered is available to buy at a reduced price from sjhoward.co.uk/shop, as is the first book, The End of the Question Mark.

Ask a Free Question

If you’ve never used AQA 63336 before, you can test them out by asking a completely free question here.

On this site, book reviews are much like buses. You wait six months for one, and then two come along at once. They both eventually get where they’re going, but not without a few uncomfortable bumps and scrapes along the way, which stop the passengers relaxing.

Today, it’s the turn of John Humphrys’ Beyond Words. This is subtitled ‘How Language Reveals The Way We Live Now’. I propose that this subtitle was not submitted by Mr Humphrys himself, thanks to two clues: Firstly, I Don’t Think He’d Approve Of Capitalisation Of The First Letter Of Every Word. In fact, he rails against it in the book. Secondly, his narrative does not address ‘how language reveals the way we live now’. Not really. A much better summary is given by the blurb: “What are the words and expressions that irk, intrigue and provoke John Humphrys?”.

At this point, I should declare an interest. John Humphrys has, over the past four years or so, had the Herculean task of waking me most mornings. His voice, as presenter of Today, has permeated its way into my semi-conscious mind hundreds of times; and when someone’s voice has woken you that often, you feel you know them, and you feel they are your friend. Therefore, provided Mr Humphrys’ book was marginally better than The Da Vinci Code, I was bound to like it.

And like it I do. It’s something of a jolly romp through modern day language. It’s entertaining, it’s engaging, and it makes some interesting points about the development of language. I would say that it follows on perfectly from his previous book, Lost for Words, but I’ve not read it, so I’ve really no idea whether it does or not. But I can say that, as a result of reading this book, I’ll be looking out for that one.

In contrast to Lynne Truss, who, apparently without irony, lamented the decline of formal English in an unnecessarily conversational grammar guide (Eats, Shoots and Leaves), John Humphrys takes a more reflective and analytical approach to changes in language. His tone is equally conversational and humour-laced, but without the continual condemnation of Truss.

Humphrys’ is a clear, easy book to read. Perhaps it’s the way his voice is imprinted on my brain, but his book reads almost as if one is in the room with him, and listening to a well-argued, highly entertaining monologue. And, unlike some authors, Humphrys is not trying to argue that misplaced apostrophes are the cause of social decline: He takes a reasoned approach to his arguments, which makes his conclusions seem all the more valid.

All-in-all, Beyond Words is a great read, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the English language.

Beyond Words by John Humphrys is available now in the sjhoward.co.uk shop.

It’s some time since I’ve done a book review – I’m rather behind. I have a feeling that I stopped writing them after realising that I was, well, bad at it. But you, the readers, seem to like them, and who am I to deny you the perverse pleasure of watching me struggle for words?

Anyway, this book, Jeremy Paxman’s latest commentary about our nation, made for a very interesting read. He essentially presents a well-argued case for retaining the monarchy, whilst recognising the manifold flaws, improbabilities, and injustices of the system. And, actually, I rather agree with his point of view – which, to some degree, makes for a less challenging and engaging read. It’s always more interesting to read things you disagree with, to force you to rethink your own point of view, but this book provided none of that for me.

Paxman uses an awful lot of history of our monarchy, and several throughout the world, to flesh out his argument, and there is obvious potential for this to become very dry and dull – a potential that, fortunately, is never fulfilled. Paxman crafts a cogent, coherent, and entertaining argument, presented with the wry, dry humour for which he has become renowned.

The real beauty of the book is in Paxman’s narrative. It would be easy for a title such as these to lose its narrative thread, but by providing a clear argument running throughout the book, Paxman manages to engage the reader and maintain their engagement, even when explaining complex historical events – albeit in a very accessible style.

Paxman provides a robustly constructed, irreverent, and entertaining guide to an institution he argues is simultaneously (and paradoxically) anachronistic, yet relevant and essential to today’s society. To a person like me – relatively poorly informed about British history – Paxman provides a great introduction and makes a clear argument for retention of the monarchy, whilst also allowing his trademark personality to shine through.

I thoroughly enjoyed On Royalty, and would happily recommend it.

On Royalty by Jeremy Paxman is available now in the sjhoward.co.uk shop.

Allow me to start by saying that I truly believe that Richard Dawkins is one of the greatest popular science writers around today (and, of course, one of the world’s leading thinkers and scientists). But he’s not so good as a writer on religion. And I’m saying this as someone sympathetic to his cause.

The points in his book are not bad per sé, it’s just that the book reads like 416 pages of obsessive rant rather than considered explanation. I don’t like being preached to, and (somewhat ironically) that’s how this book feels. He doesn’t really manage to say an awful lot more in 416 pages than he managed in a single article for Prospect.

That said, the book does provide some food for thought. But, when all is said and done, Dawkins claims his purpose for this book was to convince religious people that God didn’t exist. I don’t believe this book will achieve that aim. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s worth a read.

This is not some satirical comment on the ‘celebrity’ chef, but a rather wonderful book by someone of the same name, which I would highly recommend. I’ve just enjoyed every page, from cover to cover, over a couple of days. It’s a fantastic amusing romp through death, people’s opinions on it, stats relating to it, and the practicalities of what to do when someone dies.

Yes, I know that sounds depressing and weird. But it really is a good book, full of inspirational quotes and not depressing in the slightest. It also has masterful photography by Cristian Barnett, who’s name should really be up there on the front – without his contribution, this book wouldn’t really work (if you’re not familiar with him, check out his website).

Did you know, for example, that five times more people commit suicide in the UK than die in Road Traffic Accidents? And doesn’t that make you think that something, somewhere, is wrong with funding in this country? If you need a reminder of the current state of mental health funding in this country, look here.

But let’s not get me started on that particular rant. Buy this book. You can get hold of it very cheaply through Amazon, and it’s well worth it.

As soon as the title was announced, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows went on pre-order sale at Amazon.co.uk (Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows). And it’s already at Number One in their book chart.

A book, length unknown, content unknown, price unknown, and release date unknown reaches Number One in the chart. Surely this must be a first? Also interesting to see that Amazon are charging £13.99 – oh, how we’ll laugh if JK Rowling outdoes herself and comes out with some oh-so-weighty tome that will cost a good £15.99 at retail… Amazon could lose an awful lot of money!