Reading Round-up: July

Last month I got through a fairly eclectic mix of books. I kicked off the month with mostly light reading, in response to finishing Gillian Flynn's 'Gone Girl' the month before.

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

This is the novel that preceded the popular film starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. The film was good; it was funny and charming, as well as a visual stimulant for fashion fans. I picked up this book, despite it not being a genre I normally read, hoping it would be as good as the film. Unfortunately, it fell extremely flat and I found it really quite poorly written. The main character, Andy, is much less likeable than in the novel, both in her behaviour and in the language Weisberger uses to describe her. The novel deals with some darker issues than the film (Andy's best friend becomes an alcoholic), which might have peaked my interest a little more, but again, I found Weisberger's writing style lacking here. This novel didn't do anything to improve my perception of 'chick lit' and I won't be picking up the sequel, which is out soon.

Look Mom...I'm a Teenage Drug Lord by Lance Green

I downloaded this when it was free for a day on the Kindle store as a bit of light reading. I am not a fan of either the title or the cover, which are both very commercialised. With the popularity of Weeds and Breaking Bad I can see that this might peak people's interest. It is a true story written by a former teenage drug dealer from a wealthy family. I found it a fairly gripping read, and finished it in one sitting. Green's forays into drug dealing are a little like Jesse in Breaking Bad, if he had continuous amounts of capital behind him. At various points in the novel, when the game could have been up, Green is continuously lucky- he has regular near misses with the police, enough to render him- as with many teenagers- invincible. There is a fair amount of humour, and one very Breaking Bad scene where the police are about to break down his door at a house party and Green talks his way out of it. One criticism of the novel, though, is that the main character (Green) is fairly unrelatable and unlikable as a character. He often becomes an angry drunk and starts heavy physical fights, without showing any remorse or even showing a moderate attempt to think about past events at all. However, an interesting point in the book comes when Green introduces events in his past. He does so by hinting at what's to come with heavily ironic undertones, pointing at his wealth and education. Ultimately, he leaves it up to the reader to make their own analysis of his actions.

Adele - To Make You Feel Her Love by Neil Simpson

This genre, again, isn't one I would normally read. I downloaded this on a whim as it was free on the Kindle store. I read this in one sitting on the iPad, which is unusual for me. I don't normally read this way as it strains my eyes (I wear contacts) but the one thing I do love about reading on an iPad is how easy it is to enlarge the text. Back to the book, though. I thought the beginning chapters were quite sensationalist, and were obviously written to keep you reading. That clearly worked in my case, but I found that as I read on the writing got better. Most of the content is able to speak for itself- Adele's life is interesting and eventful without any need to frame it in a sensational way. I learnt some pretty interesting things about Adele's record-breaking achievements, such as sales records and awards she has won. If you're a hard-core Adele fan I would recommend this book. It is a fairly quick read and an interesting insight into her life.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

This was the biggest book I read in July, and what took up most of my time. I am currently trying to catch up with my reading of American classics, and this was one that I had never ventured into. Catch 22 tells the story of Yossarian, an American bombardier in Italy in the second world war, who wants to go home. His repeated requests for this are ignored by the generals, and this quest is the driving force of the novel. The novel is hard to get into at first, as it appears to start messily in the middle of the action. However, as you read on, it becomes apparent that this novel was carefully crafter by Heller. Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective, so as readers, our understanding of events develops the further on you read, and we read punchlines from jokes that we only had the first half of in a previous chapter. Due to this, the novel is a very slow burn- I was 25% of the way through the novel before I felt connected to and grounded in the world of Yossarian and his comrades. The major themes of the novel are the absurdities of authority, administration, war, language, and being sane vs being 'crazy'. I hope to do a more in-depth review of this novel soon. I would recommend this novel to those who are fans of absurdist literature and want a rewarding challenge.