Quirks – DaneCobain.com

Graham Greene – The Lawless Roads | Review

Title: The Lawless Roads

Author: Graham Greene

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 224

Rating: 4*/5

Graham Greene – The Lawless Roads

This book was tricky to rate – I veered between three an four out of five. But there’s a pretty simply reason for that – it can be difficult to read at times, and the small print also makes it feel as though you’re not making much progress. For some people, it might be off-putting, but it’s worth persevering with, especially if you’re interested in the subject matter.

This book is interesting because it tells the real story of what happened when Graham Greene travelled around Mexico in 1938, just before the start of the Second World War. He was there on commission – the Catholic church wanted to find out more about the state of religious persecution in the country. As a result of this, the book has two particular quirks which simultaneously make it harder to read and more intriguing. The first is the references to religion, which might not make much sense unless you, yourself, are a Catholic. And the same goes for Mexican words and place names – unless you pay attention, they all start to sound the same.

But still, if you like to read books that give your brain a workout, give this a try. It’s like travelling, but from your armchair.

Graham Greene

Click here to buy The Lawless Roads.

Terry Pratchett – The Truth | Review

Title: The Truth

Author: Terry Pratchett

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 320

Rating: 9/10

Terry Pratchett – The Truth

The Truth is a great novel to read if you’re a writer, because it follows the story of William de Worde, who accidentally becomes the editor of Ankh-Morpork’s first newspaper. As you can imagine, this ruffles a lot of feathers, because a lof of rich and powerful people are up to things that they shouldn’t be, and the sudden possibility of the truth being published can be a little unsettling.

In fact, the Ankh Morpork Times manages to make a lot of enemies, but they also have a commitment to their art and their unusual body of employees adds to their charm, so that as a reader, you can’t help but hope for the best for them. I don’t want to go into the story line too much, but I will say that books like this, where a new invention is introduced to the Discworld, are always entertaining. It’s interesting to see how Pratchett parodies things from our real world in the form of such creations as the clacks towers, the Ankh Morpork Times and the reinstatement of the city’s postal service.

I sometimes find it hard to empathise with Pratchett’s protagonists, but de Worde is an interesting character with his fair share of quirks and flaws, and so he ranks pretty highly in terms of my favourite characters from the series. As far as I’m aware, de Worde had never appeared before, and so this is your chance to get to know a new character who could well go on to become one of your favourites. Besides, there are a lot of laughs along the way, and it truly is interesting to watch the development of the printed newspaper through the distorted glasses that the Discworld has to offer. Ankh-Morpork will never be the same again – get ready for change!