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<title>James Westby - booklist   </title>
<link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog</link>
<description></description>
<language>en</language>
<item>
  <title>Life of Pi</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/184195392X.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Very good book. Interesting and suspenseful.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Exit A</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/1416527559.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Disappointing. It has its moments, but not enough to carry it. Not recommended.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Things Fall Apart</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0141186887.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	A great book. Very powerful, and extremely interesting.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Half of a Yellow Sun</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0007200285.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Really enjoyed this one. It's very interesting, moving and well-written.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Disgrace</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0099289520.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Amazing book. I can see why it won the awards that it did.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>All of these people</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0007176937.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Really good biography. A really interesting life, with some a personal side that is 	very moving.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Cloud Atlas</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0340822783.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	For most of the book I couldn't work out if it was too gimmicky, but the last couple 	of chapters really swung it for me. It does lay it on a bit thick at times, but there 	are some real high points.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Touching From a Distance</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0571224814.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	I really enjoyed this. It's a fascinating biography. Well worth a read if you 	enjoyed the film, there is plenty more in here.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>The Girl Who Played Go</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/009949079X.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	A beautiful book. My copy has no crease down the spine, as the book felt so delicate 	and I didn't want to damage it.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Every Light in the House Burnin&apos;</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/074724653X.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Very enjoyable read. I found "Small Island" to be a better book, but this was 	still worth the time.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>The Road to Wigan Pier</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0141185295.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Very interesting book. Both learning about the world that he is visiting, 	and seeing the way that he views that world.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>The Remains of the Day</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0571225381.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Not my favourite of his, but still readable. The ambiguity of the central 	character reminded me of "An Artist of the Floating World", but I found that 	more powerful.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0099450259.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Really good book. Very short, but excellent. He portrays the character 	very well.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>The Catcher in the Rye</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0582772729.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	I enjoyed it, but I felt like I missed something. This was another one 	that I think I would have liked to study in school.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Bloody Foreigners</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0349115664.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Very interesting history. I hadn't realised quite how much influence 	some of the influxes to this country had had.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>The Human Mind</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0553816195.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	An excellent book. There were plenty of points where I would have liked 	more detail, but it couldn't have been the book it is if my wish had 	been fulfiled.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>My Friend Leonard</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0719561175.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Excellent follow up to "A Million Little Pieces." Doesn't quite hit 	those heights, but it is still very moving.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>The God of Small Things</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0006551092.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	A wonderful book with many different themes. One paragraph blew me away 	with the writing skill it exhibited.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Cosmos</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0349107033.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	The best book on space I've read, and still very relevant today.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Never Let Me Go</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/057122413X.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Haunting and touching. I really enjoyed it.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>A Million Little Pieces</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0719561027.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Brilliant. I have never been so moved by a book. I don't care how much 	is friction, and while the style didn't annoy me; I found it very powerful.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>No One Belongs Here More Than You</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/1841959308.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	A collection of short stories. Well worth a read. Some of them blew me away.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Black Swan Green</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0340822805.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Absolutely amazing. Precisely like being a 13 year old boy. A fabulous book.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Lolita</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0141182539.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Very skillful writing means that the subject matter of the book is 	examined without being judgemental. Well worth a read.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Nature via Nurture</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/1841157465.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	He very quickly makes it clear that his position is that development is 	influenced by nature and nurture, and moves on to examining how each 	of the influenced varies, and what this leads to. It is all the better 	book for it. A very interesting read.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>The Interesting Narrative, and Other Writings</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0142437166.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Pretty interesting stuff, part examination of the slave trade, part adventure. 	He is an intruguing character. Pretty tough going sometimes, and crushed 	under the weight of all of the footnotes.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Fahrenheit 451</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0007181701.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Read this after seeing a pretty bad performance of it at Edingburgh last 	year. It's pretty good, but certainly not the best dystopian novel.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Midnight&apos;s Children</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0099578514.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	One big chunk of book. Glad I read it, particularly for what I learnt 	about the history of the subcontient. I can't say I enjoyed all that much 	though.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>An Artist of the Floating World</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0571209130.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[

 	Read this on the train from Birmingham to Edinburgh, as it 	is not too thick. It was truly excellent, with many different themes 	running all the way through. It had the property that I seem to find 	in all of his books, where the pace is slow, and it seems simple on 	the surface, but it triggers so many ideas in your mind as you read 	you have trouble holding on to them. When a thought does manage to 	fight it's way to the top and crystalise, it is gone just as quick, 	leaving just the sensation of a profound insight, but often with the 	details as blurry as they were. Truly cemented Ishiguro as my 	favourite author at the moment, I find his subtle power and strong 	imagery untouchable.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>To Kill a Mockingbird</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0099419785.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[
This is what
 	kept me entertained on the way back from Edinburgh. A classic, I know, 	but I actually knew little about it, except for the briefest of 	outlines. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was surprised by the 	perspective chosen, and the content of most of the book. I wish I had 	been given this as a text in school, i think it might have been more 	interesting than the books that I did study, though that might have 	ruined it for me.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>The Place at the End of the World: Stories from the Frontline</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0747580367.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[
A
 	collection of her writings from various conflict situations around the world. 	She combines some very good writing, with some great stories, and each of the 	conflicts she reports on needs to be learned about. She beautifully exposes 	some of the greater issues involved with the small stories she tells, each of 	which engages you with the suffering of the people, making it very emotional. 	She is absolutely my hero now, for going in to these places in the first 	place, and then coming out of them and writing in such an engaging and 	revealing way.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>In Cold Blood</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0140274189.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[
A very interesting
 	read. A very different book to most, and from that perspective very worthwile.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Ghostwritten</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0340739754.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[
Very well
 	told set of stories that link together beautifully. They are very 	disjoint in style and content, but the overall theme pulls them 	together, and he really explores the theme well with this device.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Yes Man</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0091896746.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[
Finshed it for the
 	second time. A great laugh. The Amsterdam bit is the funniest thing 	I've ever read, gaining me some funny looks on the train.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Spoken Here</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/009946022X.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[
An interesting journey
 	studying many endangered languages, looking at the many factors that have 	contributed to their decline, and the efforts to save them. It also presents 	a good case for supporting the diversity of languages, and why English 	becoming the dominant language, while convenient, may be stifling much more 	than other languages.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>GB 84</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0571221742.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[
Angry, angry, angry. A mix
 	of fact and fiction that looks at the UK miner's strike of 1984. It uses 	the stories of several different characters to examin some of the issues 	of the conflict by examing small parts of it from different angles. I don't 	know enough about the subect, so I was keen to learn more, especially as it 	is partially set around the area where I grew up. I was generally 	unstatisfied though, while I did learn about the issues I found that the 	writing tended to grate with me. The story of one character, a miner, told 	in a very interesting style, using his voice, but written in a style similar 	to newspaper columns, with a stream of conciousness feel, was genuinely 	touching in places.
]]></description>
</item>

<item>
  <title>Security Engineering</title>
  <link>http://jameswestby.net/weblog/booklist/0471389226.html</link>
  <description><![CDATA[
So
 	far, so good. Still going over the basics, but he presents them well, 	with a couple of insights as well.
]]></description>
</item>

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