The Thorn Birds

I was introduced to Colleen McCullough by her Masters of Rome series which basically singlehandedly sparked my interested in Roman history.  However, this is the book she is the most famous for, so, when I saw it on sale, I thought I would give it a read.  The book is very well written, if not exactly my normal genre. While this book is long, it uses that length to make a generational epic that pulls no emotional punches.

While the cover makes it look like a romance novel, it is really not.  There is certainly romance involved but that is not the primary focus of the story.  In the beginning of the book there is a quote about how some birds impale themselves on thorns and sing their most beautiful songs, even as they are dying.  That theme, so blatantly laid out, pervades this book, showing how loss can be empowering.

The book covers a 50 year period, allowing it to show the growth and change of the Cleary family as they suffer their personal victories and defeats.  The writing really gets across the expanses of Australia and both its beauty and harshness.  It also allows the characters to really come alive and to let the reader emphasize with them with ease.

Overall, I would give this book an 89%.

The Songs of Distant Earth

I picked this book up in a little used bookstore in Northwestern PA.  To be honest, I picked it up because the title reminded me of the title of George R.R. Martin's tribute to Jack Vance: Songs of the Dying Earth. However, this book bears no relation to that collection or its subjects but it is a very enjoyable read.  Arthur C. Clarke has said it was his favorite of his novels, which is interesting because authors are often unwilling to name their favorites of their work.

The only other Arthur C. Clarke books that I have read before this point have been the 2001 tetralogy. I enjoyed all of them, except for the last one which was really pretty bad.  This book however, was quite good.  The science in it is quite interesting and the new world is close enough to be relatable while still having some distinguishing features.  It is hard to say that there is anything superlative about this book, but there is certainly nothing bad about it.  The parts of the book meshed well to hold my interest and the end leaves it both ambiguous and hopeful.

Where this book really shines, is in its description of the events that had happened before it began.  There are multiple chapters devoted to the history of Earth in this universe and I would love to see a story told of those days.  That perhaps might be a better book than this one.  But, as I have said multiple times before, I am a sucker for a complete canon.

One of the more interesting parts of this book was that (with a small enough population) they had "perfected" democracy. Everyone was informed enough and able to vote on every decision. They did have a president, but they were chosen by random lottery and nobody wanted the job because it was basically just being the master of ceremonies at events and listening to people complain.  That may be the most influential thing I take away from this to talk about later.
Overall, I would give this book a 87%.

The Hitman's Guide to House Cleaning

Frankly, I picked up this book because the title was interesting and the digital version was only two dollars.  The book was an entertaining read, if a little cliche.  The book is not actually a guide to house cleaning, as the title might imply, though the protagonist is a hitman.  The story follows the hitman as he is laying low after a hit gone bad, showing what he does and the misadventures that befall him.  The novel is written with a somewhat irreverent tone and manages to not take itself too seriously without the negatives that normally entails.

The book is written by an Icelandic author but he translated it himself so it lacks the rhythmic issues that a lot of translated books have.  Which is good news for this book because I think that a subpar translation would have ruined its darkly humorous tone.  There were several parts that made me laugh out loud.  There were also some exceedingly violent parts (he is a hitman after all) but that is not really what the book is about.

I did feel like certain parts of the book would have been funnier if I lived in Iceland and had better context for some of the commentary on the lives of the people who lived there.  It is far from unfunny, but I feel like the jokes would just all be slightly more poignant.

The book does a good job of fleshing out the character and showing why he is the way he is but there are certain parts of the story I felt deserved a lot more attention and certain parts that I felt could have used a little less detail.  The book also ends on a serious cliffhanger (depending on how you take the last sentence) which is generally annoying.

Overall, I would give this book an 87%.