Books

Reading is an enjoyable past time of mine, and it takes up a lot of time in my life.

My favourite book is The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which I am a little obsessed with.

Here are my top 6 books of the moment (they do change frequently):
1.The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy in Five Parts – Douglas Adams
2.His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
3.Tales of the Dark Forest Trilogy – I dont even know who these are by.
4.Point Blanc/Eagle Strike – Anthony Horowitz
5.Zero Percent - Mark Swallows
6.The Chocolate War/Beyond the Chocolater War - Some guy in America

The three His Dark Materials books are entertaining and well written, but the way the worlds and storylines are developed, and the fact that I can almost visualise all the scenes in the books make it so much better.
The Tales of the Dark Forest are three spoof books, set in the Dark Forest each time. They do take-offs of books including Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and several fairy tales. They are aimed at perhaps younger teens, not exactly a difficult read, and they are hilarious.
Point Blanc and Eagle Strike are both books in the ‘Alex Rider series’ of books. It sounds cheesy and unorigianal, but they are written very well, and have a whole new take on being a teenager. They are the best two out of the five that have been written. They combine slight comedy with action, and are about a 14 year old boy, so I can relate to them well…except I am not a secret agent. I'm hardly selling it, but just read them and you'll see what i mean.
Zero Percent is a quite odd but an original take on the 5 years of secondary school for a boy in London. It is perhaps aimed at those from 14 or 15 year olds upwards, and boys more than girls. It combines a bit of humour with teenage reality. It is not a difficult read though.
Next, don't be fooled by the title - this isn't a war in Willy Wonka's factory. The Chocolate War and its sequel are fantastically written novels about teenagers in a corrupt high school in Central USA, about respect and about the absence of a reliable authority. They are aimed at boys older than 15 years old.

I dont tend to go for the psychological books which really make you think, or the classic books commended by every librarian. As much as i enjoy reading, I am lazy, and so i prefer books which i can just pick up and read and finish and pretty much forget about, rather than a book which is well written, complex and has an impact on my life. There is, however, one exception.
The Hitch-Hikers Guide…

The five books are all fantastic, although I would put them in order like this: 3, 5, 2, 1, 4.

They have been recently made as a film; it was poor and an unfair representation of the books. Actors include Martin Freeman of "The Office" fame, rapper Mos Def (who was really, really poor), Bill Nighy, Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich. Here I will just take the opportunity to express my outrage at how Marvin the robot is portrayed - he is meant to be a human sized grey metal square robot, as opposed to a chrome white spherical giant Ipod.

The first two books were based on the radio series written in the late seventies. the third book was then written in 1981, follwed by the fourth in 1984. there was then a large gap until the final book was written in 1991. The general air of the first three is one of comedy and adventure in space. At all times are the main characters accompanied by someone or something who can guide or protect them. However, the fourth book gives glimpses of the unknown, with the uninclusion of 2 of the main 5 characters, and the death of a third. The last book is a much darker book in tone, where the main character is constantly unguided and so you feel a certain uncertainty (i couldn't find a better way to say it) towards what is going to happen.
Also, they are currently being reproduced as a radio series. The first two books, as i have already mentioned, were loosely similar to the first two books. The third book was done for the radio in September last year, and the fourth and fifth books have been merged for a radio series currently on Radio 4. Due to the rather morbid ending of Mostly Harmless, the storyline has been slightly changed, which means some surprising plot twists and new material, which I am very excited about indeed. Listen in is my advice.