Life of Pi - Yann Martell (2001)

IT’S ABOUT a philosophical teenage boy lost at sea in a lifeboat for 227 days with only a Bengal tiger for company.

POSITIVES: For me, if a story makes me put the book down for a few moments and think, then it is well written.  I also love animal facts, and Pi (the protagonist) is an expert in that particular field, having grown up in a zoo!  A book can also leap in my rating if I have my perspectives challenged. Life of Pi does this on several occasions, most memorably with Pi’s accounts of animals and zoos.  For as long as I can remember I have objected to zoos (except for conservation purposes) but Pi defends traditional zoos with animals kept in relatively small enclosures, using his wealth of expertise.  I’m not saying I have changed my views, but Pi made me consider them - and that excites me.  But, I digress - this book’s mostly about Pi being stranded at sea…

NEGATIVES: Being stranded, obviously the setting doesn't really change much during the middle of the book, which could be considered dull.  No doubt, Bengal tigers are beautiful things.  As are demi-spheres of unobscured stars reflected in a still ocean, and flying fish, and the savagery of a tropical storm.  All (and much, much more) are beautifully well rendered and presented in the 2012 film adaptation.  Does the movie CGI dazzle brighter than your imagination?  Only you know the answer!  I also found Pi’s incredible story of survival no less remarkable in the film-version, nor the plot twist any less moving.

Trailer for the 2012 film adaptation of Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee.

Long Way Round - Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman (2004)

IT’S ABOUT two actors riding motorcycles from London to New York “the long way round,” through twelve different countries.

POSITIVES: Clearly, this is one amazing journey.  I’ve never heard of anyone attempting something like it, and on a MOTORCYCLE of all things!  Another bonus is the attention given to countries like Mongolia and Kazakhstan, places I have never really known to be explored in media before, places where the way of life is so unlike anything that most of us have experienced and the boys’ descriptions make the whole trip sound marvellous.

NEGATIVES: Readers might be bothered by the fact that if any of us tried to make it “the long way round” with no support crew, TV cameras, book deal or fixers that we’d probably never make it.  I was also disappointed each time Boorman failed to pass through a country without losing his rag over something and going off in a sweary huff.  Finally, you could quite happily watch the DVD of this adventure instead, and witness the wonderful things described in the book’s pages.

Trailer for the TV series of "Long Way Round."

Link to the Long Way Round website, with pictures, videos, links and information.

Unicef have a profound effect on our boys during their travels. Find out more about Unicef by following this link.

The Van - Roddy Doyle (1991)

IT’S ABOUT two unemployed men from a Dublin suburb who buy an old burger van to make some money.

POSITIVES: The book is hilarious.  Even though 90% of it is about nothing really happening, the mundanity of the main character’s life, activities and thoughts are just so amusing and real that I cheer the day I found this copy in a hotel foyer.  Irish wit leaps off every page, and every foul-mouthed observation brings at least a smile.  The characters spend most of their time down the pub, hanging out with their families or slaving over a hot stove - hardly any leap of imagination is required to enjoy this brilliantly honest tale of male bonding, jealousy, marital love and chip fat.

NEGATIVES: This book is the third of a trilogy and I haven’t read the other two - I’m worried I might be missing out on something!  Secondly, Roddy Doyle doesn’t use speech marks, in this book at least, which takes some getting used to.  Not being Irish, I also wonder if I’m not fully appreciating some of the slang used by the characters.

Clip from the 1996 film adaptation of "The Van," starring Colm "Chief O'Brien" Meaney.

Link to author Roddy Doyle's website.

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger (2009)

IT’S ABOUT a pair of twin American girls who move into their dead aunt’s London flat and learn a lot about themselves, the city and their new building’s kooky and spooky residents.

POSITIVES: The book is undeniably chilling at points, and contains enough intrigue and drama to keep you turning pages.  Niffenegger’s characters and dialogue are, like Time Traveller, comfortingly real and personable.  The author’s time spent guiding tourists around Highgate Cemetry feed her descriptions and background of that setting, making them very well-informed and interesting.

NEGATIVES: For me, the book lacks a ‘strong male lead.’  The speculation about the afterlife felt unoriginal.  There was much foreshadowing throughout the story, which made it predictable.  After the mind-blowing grandiose of The Time Traveller’s Wife, I was disappointed with the smallness of the concepts in Her Fearful Symmetry.

Audrey Niffenegger's pretty website.

Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood (2003)

IT’S ABOUT the lone human survivor of a deadly virus, exploring his strange new world and reflecting on the key points of his life before the disaster, and the events leading up to it.

POSITIVES: Atwood has been writing science fiction (or as she says, “speculative fiction”) for fourty-two years and Oryx and Crake is an example of the modern master at work.  Anyone who read Atwood’s secondary school staple The Handmaid’s Tale will be familiar with the dark, cautionary style of her works.  In Oryx and Crake, the final years of humanity are represented with unnerving references to modern life; the most disturbing aspects of the digital age, taken to the Nth degree.  The story is also littered with dark, ironical humour and the protagonist is touchingly humane.

NEGATIVES:Having read stacks of dystopian fiction myself, Oryx and Crake sometimes feels like a checklist of the genre’s conventions.

Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein (1959)

IT’S ABOUT a young Filipino soldier learning the doctrine of a militarian Earth society as he rises through the ranks, fighting a future war against a race of giant insects.

POSITIVES: All the amazing, frightening machinations of the Earth government you know and fear from the film are fully represented and explored in Robert A. Heinlein's novel, which predates the movie by a staggering 38 years.  The fireworks of the bug battles are calmer and more sterile as Johnny Rico and company jump across the alien worlds in small squads wearing mechanised suits - pretty cool!  The detail in the dialogue-driven narrative is spookily believable.

NEGATIVES: Vast chunks of the novel are, literally, lectures about the morals and philosophies of the in-universe society.  The fact that this novel is required reading for entrants to three of the five branches of US military service speaks of its value as a textbook rather than simply a story - and the storytelling does sometimes grind to a halt.  As anyone who has seen the film will know, Johnny Rico is about as deep and extraordinary a character as Postman Pat’s cat.

Trailer for the brilliant 1997 film adaptation.

Link to the detailed, informative and interesting Wikipedia page about Heinlein's controversial original text.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Warpath - David Mack (2006)

 IT’S ABOUT a mad genetically engineered warrior, a relic of the Dominion war, going on a killing spree and kidnapping a young Starfleet officer whilst attempting to carry out orders from a mysterious source.  

POSITIVES: The book is set a number of years after the final episode of Deep Space Nine.  It was nice to visit some of the the old crew again, and since most DS9 episodes are good DS9 episodes, I was excited about being taken on one last adventure.  The book deals with the themes of the mirror universe and the Jem'Hadar, which are favourites of mine.  The picture on the front cover is wonderfully disturbing and has been displayed in my bathroom for the past three months!

NEGATIVES: The space station is now populated with new faces who lack the depth and appeal of the TV crew.  No Worf, no Odo, no Garak, nor any other slimy Cardassians.  Resolving the question of ‘What happened to Benjamin Sisko?’ lays shameful waste to one of the most moving nuances of the TV finale.  A third of the book takes place in a vision of ancient Bajor, which is total non-canon conjecture and not what I want from a Star Trek novel.  After a semi-interesting build-up, the story quickly dives into write-by-numbers chase which dwindles on for the final hundred pages which, honestly, can be skipped.

Video showing, in my opinion, one of the coolest Jem'Hadar scenes in the whole of the Deep Space Nine TV series.

Link to the Star Trek Wiki page about 'Warpath.'