I’ve just finished reading the book ‘Blood Men’, by Paul Cleave. I must say that this book was something that I was quite excited about, as after reading his previous books, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on his latest creation. Most people, when looking at this type of book, always expect the same ending. I’m not going to ruin the ending of this book for you, but Paul has somehow managed to trick the reader once again, by creating a storyline that’ll never be guessed.
It took me around three sittings to get this one done, and should really have taken less. The first two, I only ended up doing about 50 pages. On the third sitting, I was really only planning to do another 50 pages, give or take, as I had to be up early the next morning. Once I got started though, I just literally couldn’t put the book down, even to the final chapter, I was mesmerised. I know this may sound cliché, as every major book reviewer will put out a one-liner saying ‘I couldn’t put it down’, but in this case it’s true.
My congratulations go out to Paul, as unlike so many other books that I’ve read in the past few weeks (e.g. Breathless – by Dean Koontz), Paul managed to tie up all the loose ends, nothing was left hanging. Yes, I know that sometimes it is good to leave the reader to form their own opinions on what happened, but in Paul’s case, I’m so pleased he did, as it was far more creative and unexpected than what I could have ever dreamed up.
The only thing out of the entire book that I could pick a hole with was him using the phrase ‘Armed defenders squad’, many times in the book. I don’t have a problem with him using this phrase, it just would have been nice if he had of done a little further research into this. I know that most people call them the ‘armed defenders’, but this is not actually their name. They are known as the ‘Armed Offenders Squad’. I know that this is petty and not even worth mentioning, but it was just annoying every time I read those words throughout the book.
I would definitely read this book again and honestly can’t wait to see what Paul releases next. It’s good to see a New Zealand author with so much talent and skill!
Adam.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
An assortment of books and OCD.
Hi All,
Is it just me, or do other people get obsessive compulsive over certain things?
I get obsessive with so much in day-to-day life it's not funny. It happens mainly with most items that I'm interested in. E.g. I have three cars (just finished selling the 4th), I know that I don't really need three cars, but it's this OCD which kicks in and I feel the need to buy.....
One of my current obsessions, which is getting a little out-of-hand at the moment, is books and magazines. Yes, I'm an avid reader, so it only seems natural that I'll have a reasonable amount of books lying around in the weirdest of spots. The problem is that I can't stop myself from continually adding to this collection. I only recently upgraded my bookcase, and I now need to buy another one of this size, so that everything can be nicely organised. (I have to admit, that if I do buy another one, I'm most likely to feel the need for purchasing more books to stock it up with...)
So, you might think that my adding might be just a normal thing. The problem arises with the fact that I am buying too many books, I'm not able to read them all. The other problem is that I am suggested, lent or have library books given to me. I then feel the need to read this material first..... Thus, my own books, which I have purchased, as they are about subjects of which interest me, get pushed to the back of the reading stack..... I'd say my stack is about 50 books large at the moment, which is about 6 months of reading at my current rate. This time-frame will never stand up though, as I'm likely to encounter more books before I get through this whole lot....
Then there is the whole magazine thing. I am interest in two main magazines: Classic Ford and NZ Top Gear. I get a copy monthly of each of these, and for the last six months, haven't had the time to sit and read any of these issues.... I just have them stacked up in a large pile, ready for reading..... If I then read these, I'm not likely to get through anywhere near the books that I have put aside.....
I have come up with a rather ingenious idea though, I'm now listening to audiobooks. I have a subscription for audible.com, which gives me a new audiobook every fortnight. This allows me to do a few extra books, which I'll never get around to actually sitting down and reading. If only I could do this with my magazines.......
Anyway, I should really be reading instead of typing this.....
Adam.
Is it just me, or do other people get obsessive compulsive over certain things?
I get obsessive with so much in day-to-day life it's not funny. It happens mainly with most items that I'm interested in. E.g. I have three cars (just finished selling the 4th), I know that I don't really need three cars, but it's this OCD which kicks in and I feel the need to buy.....
One of my current obsessions, which is getting a little out-of-hand at the moment, is books and magazines. Yes, I'm an avid reader, so it only seems natural that I'll have a reasonable amount of books lying around in the weirdest of spots. The problem is that I can't stop myself from continually adding to this collection. I only recently upgraded my bookcase, and I now need to buy another one of this size, so that everything can be nicely organised. (I have to admit, that if I do buy another one, I'm most likely to feel the need for purchasing more books to stock it up with...)
So, you might think that my adding might be just a normal thing. The problem arises with the fact that I am buying too many books, I'm not able to read them all. The other problem is that I am suggested, lent or have library books given to me. I then feel the need to read this material first..... Thus, my own books, which I have purchased, as they are about subjects of which interest me, get pushed to the back of the reading stack..... I'd say my stack is about 50 books large at the moment, which is about 6 months of reading at my current rate. This time-frame will never stand up though, as I'm likely to encounter more books before I get through this whole lot....
Then there is the whole magazine thing. I am interest in two main magazines: Classic Ford and NZ Top Gear. I get a copy monthly of each of these, and for the last six months, haven't had the time to sit and read any of these issues.... I just have them stacked up in a large pile, ready for reading..... If I then read these, I'm not likely to get through anywhere near the books that I have put aside.....
I have come up with a rather ingenious idea though, I'm now listening to audiobooks. I have a subscription for audible.com, which gives me a new audiobook every fortnight. This allows me to do a few extra books, which I'll never get around to actually sitting down and reading. If only I could do this with my magazines.......
Anyway, I should really be reading instead of typing this.....
Adam.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Cemetery Lake
Hi All,
As the title implies, I'm currently reading 'Cemetery Lake' by Paul Cleave. A little over halfway through, and I'm struggling to put the book down. Can't wait to see what happens in the end and what Paul does with the story. Reading the passage in the back, he has another book coming out this month. I cannot find a corresponding release date for it anywhere else, even his own website just states this month........C'mon....give me a specific day.......
Anyway, I'll post a review of the book on here once I finish it (should be sometime today or tomorrow, depending on my busy schedule....)
Nothing new on the frontier of my book at the moment, as I'm only just back from holiday and didn't get a chance to do any work to it during this period..... Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things tomorrow and do a little bit more. I'm beginning to get a little excited about how it's going to go, but I might need to do a little re-thinking of the storyline, as I currently think it's a little weak towards the end, but I guess we'll just have to approach that point when we get nearer to it....
Enough for now, catch you all later,
Adam.
As the title implies, I'm currently reading 'Cemetery Lake' by Paul Cleave. A little over halfway through, and I'm struggling to put the book down. Can't wait to see what happens in the end and what Paul does with the story. Reading the passage in the back, he has another book coming out this month. I cannot find a corresponding release date for it anywhere else, even his own website just states this month........C'mon....give me a specific day.......
Anyway, I'll post a review of the book on here once I finish it (should be sometime today or tomorrow, depending on my busy schedule....)
Nothing new on the frontier of my book at the moment, as I'm only just back from holiday and didn't get a chance to do any work to it during this period..... Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things tomorrow and do a little bit more. I'm beginning to get a little excited about how it's going to go, but I might need to do a little re-thinking of the storyline, as I currently think it's a little weak towards the end, but I guess we'll just have to approach that point when we get nearer to it....
Enough for now, catch you all later,
Adam.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Book Updates: Research
Hi All,
Currently doing some background research on the book that I am in the process of developing. It's going to be about a team of people (not sure what the team name will be yet), who work between Australia & New Zealand solving major crimes. Each team member is going to have a specialised background, but when the team is together they are superb at solving crimes.
So I'm trawling through a bunch of forensic, crime-solving and mastermind criminals of the past books. Taking snippets of past crimes, motives, crime-solving techniques and the like.
I've also been jotting down ideas of the plot that I hope to reveal through the story and different characters, character names, character profiles and such. I can't wait to start physically writing the book and may do so in the next day or two (even though I'm still not sure how the book is going to end....) but I'm sure I can wing it, or develop a nice twist to keep the readers interested.
Underway at the moment, is the plot and characters for the first book, in what I hope to be a series of five books (I'm thinking, although this is open for changes). I'm not even sure how good the book will actually be, as this is my first attempt at ever writing a book, so who knows, it will quite possibly be a major fail! I guess we'll just have to wait and see...?
Oh well, enough for now. I'm sure you're all completely bored with my banter now.....
Regards,
Adam.
Currently doing some background research on the book that I am in the process of developing. It's going to be about a team of people (not sure what the team name will be yet), who work between Australia & New Zealand solving major crimes. Each team member is going to have a specialised background, but when the team is together they are superb at solving crimes.
So I'm trawling through a bunch of forensic, crime-solving and mastermind criminals of the past books. Taking snippets of past crimes, motives, crime-solving techniques and the like.
I've also been jotting down ideas of the plot that I hope to reveal through the story and different characters, character names, character profiles and such. I can't wait to start physically writing the book and may do so in the next day or two (even though I'm still not sure how the book is going to end....) but I'm sure I can wing it, or develop a nice twist to keep the readers interested.
Underway at the moment, is the plot and characters for the first book, in what I hope to be a series of five books (I'm thinking, although this is open for changes). I'm not even sure how good the book will actually be, as this is my first attempt at ever writing a book, so who knows, it will quite possibly be a major fail! I guess we'll just have to wait and see...?
Oh well, enough for now. I'm sure you're all completely bored with my banter now.....
Regards,
Adam.
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