Review of '1002nd Book to Read Before You Die' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This book opens with a legal disclaimer: "The Scottish Arts Council strongly repudiate all the claims made in this novel" So I did what any good reader would do, travelled to Scotland and read the book there. In their faces!
I don't think a book has abused this reader as much as this one has, insult after insult is hurled in the reader's direction, daring them to continue. Your favourite authors will also be abused filling you with rage as you turn each page. Nicholls makes up words just to piss you off. And the book has no flow at all, bouncing all over the place. Still it made the 1001 classic books I read before this one seem bland beyond belief.
You get some truly stunning paragraphs, my favourite came right at the beginning:
"Like most sane human beings, his true calling was sitting in a vacant room with …
This book opens with a legal disclaimer: "The Scottish Arts Council strongly repudiate all the claims made in this novel" So I did what any good reader would do, travelled to Scotland and read the book there. In their faces!
I don't think a book has abused this reader as much as this one has, insult after insult is hurled in the reader's direction, daring them to continue. Your favourite authors will also be abused filling you with rage as you turn each page. Nicholls makes up words just to piss you off. And the book has no flow at all, bouncing all over the place. Still it made the 1001 classic books I read before this one seem bland beyond belief.
You get some truly stunning paragraphs, my favourite came right at the beginning:
"Like most sane human beings, his true calling was sitting in a vacant room with the blinds drawn in a comfortable chair reading text running from left to right, verso to recto, for hours at a time."
There were some real laugh out loud moments, the author's opinion on Goodreads reviews of crappy romance novels full of animated gifs which mean you spend ages scrolling down the page to get past to something worth reading was pure class. If I had more stamina I would fill this review with Gifs, but I can't bring myself to do it.
I have to admit though I did start to struggle a bit near the end, the authors inane lists, designed to annoy, did in fact start to annoy, it was probably an illusion but they seemed to get longer and longer. It's all worth it though for the last chapter, very reminiscent of Trainspotting "Choose life" clip, a call to arms to get people reading, deserves to be made into posters and pasted in libraries and bookshops everywhere.
So go on, give this a go, it might change your outlook on life or something.
Blog review is here> felcherman.wordpress.com/2018/08/22/the-1002nd-book-to-read-before-you-die-by-m-j-nicholls/