Quantico by Greg Beard

I read this thriller about biological warfare because the writer was someone PW Singer talked about in his book Wired for War. According to Singer books like this one are on reading list in military training programs, and the military sometimes approaches manufacturers and researchers with such sci fi concepts as appear in them requesting them to develop real life versions. So that was fascinating. The story itself is about a middle east conflict, American terrorists, whacko cults and all sorts of other stuff and is a page turner of sorts.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Wow, wow, wow. What a great book. I loved it, from the moment it began to the moment it ended. I struggled between wanting to gulp the story down in great big hunks and wanting to revel in this writer’s wonderful language. I loved the structure, as the story is told from several points of view, each of which overlaps a little with another and contributes to the wonderful depth of character that he creates. I loved the characters who weren’t goody goody people, who were often not particularly likeable but not awful, just real – and sometimes turned out to be better than you thought was going to be possible. I loved the way Franzen sticks it up political correctness and not-so-correctness, the behaviour of powerful people in the USA (and beyond probably), the mindlessness of the masses, the selfishness of people – all that. I loved The Corrections and I think this one is even better, or at least as good. 5 stars.

The Family Law by Benjamin Law

Benjamin Law is a witty young columnist. These stories are interconnected tales of his life and his whacky Chinese family as he grew up on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. They are funny and warm stories, with some great character development. The standout character is his mother Jenny, a foul mouthed eccentric who embodies all those crazy immigrant mothers you read about from Portnoy right through. This is a terrific holiday read.

Inheritance by Nicholas Shakespeare

It’s unusual I think to have men writing these emotional journey books, but this one is quite good. It’s about a young rudderless bloke with limited prospects, who inherits a heap of money. The rest of the book is about how money doesn’t solve life’s problems and about his search for self etc etc. It’s not a bad holiday read. 3 stars.

Wired for War by PW Singer

This is an incredible book. It deals with every aspect of the arrival of robots at war: indeed it is subtitled The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century. For lots of people I know it would be riveting reading because it is all about technologies of the imminent future. Singer talks about everything from the hardware to ethics, to legal rights of robots to roboticising people – one possibility is implanting a chip in a person’s brain so they can just download a book. I wished I’d had that for this book because the complexity and depth of information is such that I’ve already forgotten most of it, fascinating though it was. Singer’s style is readable and free flowing. I really recommend this book to people interested in science fiction, the future, technology and so forth.

Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth

Despite – or perhaps because of – this book’s notoriety I never got around to reading it when it came out. I’m glad of that now because it’s only with a little life experience that I think you can really appreciate the humour and the characters in this novel. Portnoy is so wonderfully angst ridden and sex obsessed, so Woody Allen in many of his film incarnations; Sophie Portnoy, his mother, is the gold standard Jewish mother, with a bloody good dash of all the controlling, anxiety ridden mothers you’ve ever met elsewhere as well. There were times when I could even see something of myself in her! Theo had trouble sticking with the book, largely because it’s a stream of consciousness monologue and short on obvious narrative, but there is in fact a strong story there as Portnoy pieces together the story of his life as part of his confession – did I just say that? – his conversation with his psychiatrist. And it’s funny, so full of irony and black humour, hysteria, wit and even moments of sheer slapstick. I loved the characters, Alex Portnoy and especially Sophie of course, and The Mouse, but also Portnoy’s long suffering dad with his constipation and resigned approach to his daily grind. It’s a great piece of writing. 4 1/2 stars.