A Clockwork Orange is a novel set in a dystopian future where we learn about the adventures about a young trouble maker named Alex. Now, I called him a ‘trouble maker’ but really Alex is much worse than any regular old fooligan… But you may not notice it. The novel is very experimental, and in a rather admirable way, in that Burgess has created a whole slang language which, I assume, is supposed to be the way all teenagers talk in the future (Nadsat, the language is called). Now, before I continue with the review, I’m going to give you a very big warning about the explicit nature of this book: basically, Alex rapes and brutally attacks/murders people. Luckily, the Nadsat language is a kind of censor for all this ultra-violence because, when it’s happening, you’re still learning what the Nadsat words mean and so you won’t be entirely sure what is happening. But what’s really clever about Nadsat is that, as you read more and more, you slowly learn the language and by the end, you’ll have horrible realisations about what Alex was actually doing near the start… Well, you might anyway, I never noticed until other people mentioned it to me.

Another interesting point about this book is that, while Alex is introduced as a very detestable character, I have to insist that you don’t give up on the book at the start. You probably will get annoyed/bored with reading all about the bad crimes that Alex commits, but about half way through Alex is captured and gradually becomes more and more likeable, and then an interesting philosophical question is asked: Is it better to choose to be bad than to be forced to be good? I shan’t tell you how it’s answered!

Despite dealing with rather uncomfortable subjects, I still liked this book, so I rate it as a 7.4/10.

Buy it here.

The book Spencer’s Mountain is the best book that I have ever read, I won’t say that it’s the best book ever written because I haven’t read every book in existence, but it’s definitely a possibility. Written by Earl Hamner Jr. the story is made up of several events that actually happened in his life but which have been fictionalised.

As you read, you find out about the adventures of young aspiring writer Clay-Boy, a member of the very large Spencer family. The overreaching arc of the novel is the story of Clay-Boy working hard so that he can go to college, and, throughout the story there are events that’re really funny and events that’re really sad, all them featuring highly likeable and relatable characters. It’s a real testimony to how well Earl Hamner can write. I guess I should also write a little warning that there is one scene in the book that is somewhat sexually explicit, but it’s done very well and isn’t at all untasteful, but I just thought I should mention it as it was rather unexpected.

Spencer’s Mountain has been adapted twice, once as the film Spencer’s Mountain and then again a little later as the TV series The Waltons. Unfortunately, at the time of writing I have not seen the original film adaptation, but I have seen the TV series and anyone who has seen the series will enjoy reading the book even more because you’ll notice all the links to episodes in it. But I’m adding unnecessary adaptation information, so this last paragraph may be irrelevant, I only added it because otherwise I’d just be saying “This book is great” over and over again.

Basically, I love this book, so I’ll give it a nice 10/10

Buy it here.