Throughout the years I’ve heard a lot of people talk about The Godfather as one of the greatest movies ever made. I’d never gotten around to seeing it and, interestingly, never really heard much praise for the book. Nonetheless, the book remained on my radar and was something I wanted to try for some time… then recently, I finally decided to read it and while I can’t comment on the film, I believe the book to be among the best ever written.

The novel focuses on the Corleones, a mafia family. Vito Corleone is the head of the family and the titular ‘godfather’ and I found him to be a fascinating character. He’s a deeply religious man who always stands by his principles, someone who believes that it’s important to carve deep and meaningful relationships with all of the people in your life, particularly those who you do business with. He’s such a compelling, likeable man that you find yourself looking past the fact that he is a mafia don and has therefore almost certainly been responsible for the unlawful killing of many people.

But the book does paint a very sympathetic picture of mafia morality. The mafia is very much family oriented and if the people who join aren’t related by blood or marriage, they’ll be people who have formed strong personal bonds with someone who’s already in the mafia. Largely, its members are Italian American immigrants and the book points out that a lot of time they were unable to count on the police or the legal systems of America, due to systematic racism. The cards were stacked against them, so their only option was to create their own law system – one which didn’t view them as second class citizens. Of course, it’s a very romanticised view of organised crime, but it makes for a terrific story and is very thought-provoking.

Vito has four children: Mike, Connie, Sonny and Frederico – plus a man named Tom who he took in and serves him as a counsellor. Mike isn’t too keen on the family business, while Sonny is endlessly loyal to his father, to the extent that he’ll do anything – he has a violent streak which concerns them all. Frederico is less hot-headed, but equally as loyal, while Connie, as a woman, is not included in the family affairs. Unfortunately, most of the women play more limited roles – I guess it accurate to the time period and sub-culture that women wouldn’t have been involved with the mafia work, but if I had the fault the book on anything, it’s less then great portrayal of its female characters. Some of the male characters don’t have great attitudes towards women either… but again, I think it’s better to accurately present misogyny than pretend it never happened. I did also quite like Michael’s partner Kay and Vito’s wife Carmela.

The book is fairly long, focusing on several story threads which concern the different characters, but I read through it so quickly, because I loved every page. You really feel the bonds between these men and become quite invested in their world and their ethos. I was reading it for at least an hour every day and often that was because I intentionally stopped myself to do something else, rather than because I wanted to stop. The writing style is beautiful and it’s a really addictive book. I love the characters, I love the setting and I love the subject matter – I’ve never really read anything about the mafia before, but it was amazing to get some kind of insight into the way it operates. I also just really enjoy stories set in 1940s New York, so that was an extra bonus for me.

I think I’d recommend this book to anyone. It’s one of those masterpieces which appeals even to people who don’t typically read the genre it belongs to. It’s not often that I come across a book as incredible as this and I’m glad I finally decided to read it.

Rating: 9.8/10

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One of Shakespeare’s most famous plays – and for good reason. Prior to reading Hamlet, I would have happily said that Richard III was my favourite Shakespeare play, but now I’d say that Hamlet has just about edged it out. It’s full of wit, humour and a perfectly executed melodrama, which I can’t help but enjoy.

The story follows a young prince, Hamlet, who’s father, the king, suddenly dies. His mother then quickly marries his uncle, but the ghost of his father tells him that he was actually murdered by the uncle. Hamlet then puts it upon himself to expose the truth and avenge his father. A fairly standard Shakespearean plot, really.

What makes this play stand out so much, is Hamlet himself. He’s a brilliant character. At one point, he puts on a play for his uncle and mother, which is essentially about his uncle murdering his father. How incredibly passive aggressive – it’s such an absurd thing to happen, but I love it. Meanwhile, he wanders around making excessively long speeches about the turmoil of life which are really over-dramatic (including the most famous “to be or not to be?” speech) but, again, I love them. Hamlet is so spoilt and pretentious… but it makes him very entertaining to read about.

But, Hamlet himself isn’t the only attraction of this novel: I loved his shifty, untrustworthy friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and a woman he treats badly, named Ophelia. Even the ghost of his father is quite a likeable character. The rest of the cast are all great.

It’s quite a grizzly tale, on the whole, but a thoroughly enjoyable one. The absurd ways that the characters behave mean that you can never take the tragedies that befall them too seriously – yet the dramas that unfold remain deeply compelling. If you’re looking for a Shakespeare play to start with, I recommend this one and if you’ve enjoyed his other work, but not read this yet, I reckon you’ll love it!

Rating: 8.1/10

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This is one of those books which I had to read as part of my GCSEs. As a young teenager, the book felt overly wordy and my overall impression was that it was pretty inaccessible. Nonetheless, I did like the idea of Frankenstein – the idea of a sentient creature created by a human being is one I quite like. In fact, after reading and not enjoying the book at school, I watched and enjoyed several of the Frankenstein movies. Really, I was fascinated by the concept and so it’s only natural that I decided to read it again and reappraise it with adult eyes.

As it turns out, I’m really glad that I went back to this one. On my second reading, I loved every page and couldn’t get enough of it. It has an interesting framing device – it starts with a man named Robert Walton who plans to sail to the North Pole. During his journey, he encounters Victor Frankenstein who writes for him the story of his life – which is, of course, the story of how he created an intelligent living being. Within that, there’s a further story of another character’s perspective, but I won’t spoil it. I really enjoyed all three of the narratives and enjoyed how they all tied together.

What I particularly liked about this book was that every character was really interesting. Victor Frankenstein was a very believable character and not necessarily the most sympathetic of protagonists. Meanwhile, the creature is a fascinating character – at times I felt really sorry for him, at other times I thought his behaviour was unforgivable. It’s important to keep in mind that throughout the whole book, the creature is never more than a year old – surely not enough time for somebody to truly develop a proper sense of right and wrong. I also really liked the character of Elizabeth Lavenza, Victor’s fiancé. A compassionate and caring character and one of the most likeable people in the novel – she certainly stands out among a sea of deeply flawed people.

Frankenstein is probably remembered as a horror story most often, but I don’t think that that is quite appropriate. I’d definitely call it a science fiction story and one which can be quite disturbing at times, but not in the same way that a horror would be – there’s much more to it than that and I think a lot of what makes this story so disturbing is that there are extreme emotional consequences for everything that happens. The characters are nuanced, the emotions run deep and the storyline is clever – for all these reasons and more, this is one of my favourite books.

Rating: 9.3/10

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This was one of several books released digitally as part of the Reclaim Her Name movement, which was created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Each of these book was written by a woman who had to use a male pseudonym due to the sexism and prejudices of their time. Marie of the Cabin Club was originally credited to “Arnold Petri”, but now, for the first time, Ann Petry has been correctly attributed as the author.

As it happens, this particular addition to the collection is very much just a short story – you’ll easily finish it in one sitting. It’s about a woman named Marie who works as a “cigarette girl” in a cabin club – she falls in love with one of the musicians there and the two of them have a romance. However, there’s more to the musician than meets the eye. It’s set in the 1930s (when it was written) and this context is quite important. The story takes an interesting turn and it becomes a bit of a thriller – but it is very short and there isn’t all that much time left to properly explore the characters and ideas.

In one sense, it’s a very good short story: I liked everything I read and I wished that there was more to it… but, also, this meant that I was left thinking “oh, was that it?” which is perhaps a side effect of it being put forward as a standalone piece. Maybe I wouldn’t have thought that if it had been released as part of an anthology.

Either way, this is a short and sweet story. Enjoyable and intriguing while it lasts and because of the limited amount of time needed to finish it, I don’t think anybody could regret reading it.

Rating: 6.5/10

The First World War is one of the greatest tragedies of modern history. In Private Peaceful, Michael Morpurgo tells the story of two boys, Charlie and Tommo, who find themselves in the trenches of France – highlighting the meaningless suffering of war in a very poignant way.

Tommo, the younger of the two brothers, it the story’s narrator. He’s telling the story from France and looking back over his earlier memories to comfort himself. The tales of his early life are beautiful, he, Charlie, their mentally-disabled brother, Joe and their close friend Molly have all kinds of adventures in the small English village they grew up in. They’re all very poor and they face hardships living on the estate of a rich colonel. Their lives aren’t simple or easy, but there’s a certain beauty to it all – especially for the strong bonds that they all hold for one another. There’s also a partially formed love triangle between Tommo, Charlie and Molly, which was quite bittersweet. They were all brilliant characters.

Of course, the whole time you’re reading about those precious childhood memories, you have the knowledge in your mind that the pair of them will be shipped off to fight in the war before too long. As the narrator, Tommo alludes to something horrible happening right from the start. It gives a feeling of tension to everything – a feeling that you should cherish the good times, because you never know when they will come to a sudden end.

Once they finally ship out to war, things are about as bleak as you would imagine. The ending is particularly distressing – I’m not going to spoil anything, but I’ll just say that it left me feeling emotionally stunned. I think part of what makes everything feel so brutal is the fact that the characters are all so wholesome and likeable that you really don’t want them to have to go through these things.

Though this book was written for children, I feel that it’s just as appealing to adults. It’s a good way for kids to learn about the human reality of the First World War and it’s a good reminder, for adults, of an historic tragedy which must never be forgotten or repeated. I recommend it to everybody.

Rating: 9/10

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This is one of the Charles Dickens books which is, perhaps, not quite so well remembered. I don’t think it’s entered popular culture quite as much as A Christmas Carol or Oliver Twist, for example – I certainly went into it without even the slightest notion of what the book might be about.

As it happens, it’s a storyline which can’t be summarised very easily. At it’s heart, it’s about a lawsuit which has been going on for years about a disputed will. It’s also about a young woman named Esther Summerson, who comes from a poor background and has been raised by a neglectful aunt. John Jarndyce, who is at the heart of the ongoing case, ends up as her guardian and her life changes significantly (and for the better). This portion of the story is told in the first person from Esther’s perspective – this was probably my favourite thread of the story, as I quite liked Esther’s ‘voice’. Meanwhile, another thread of the story concerns Sir and Lady Dedlock, a rich couple hoping for a payout from the ongoing court case. The chapters about the Dedlock family are told from a third-person perspective. If I’m completely honest, I found it quite complicated and difficult to keep track of all of these aspects of the story – particularly as I don’t know anything about the nineteenth century English legal system! There were definitely a few times throughout the book where I felt quite lost as to what was actually going on.

The summary I’ve given there is also a huge simplification. There are loads of characters, who all have their own storylines as well. There’s Ada, who works alongside Esther, becoming her friend and Richard, who Ada has a romance with and who has various career difficulties of his own. There’s also the bizarre man, Harold Skimpole, who is perpetually in debt, because he spends recklessly and has to borrow from people all the time – in his own words, he has the mind of a child, so cannot be held responsible. There’s Mrs. Jellyby, who dedicates her whole life to charity work (thinking it virtuous), but who is pretty toxic towards the people in her own life. Plus, there’s a homeless boy called Jo, who is essentially used by different characters to their own ends and has quite an unfortunate life. This is just a handful of the most memorable characters, but there are tonnes more of them.

On the positive side of things, I enjoyed Dickens’ usual sense of humour. There are lots of ridiculous characters who are there to send up the government or courts and they made me laugh a few times. There’s also his characteristic critique of the poverty in the country, which was good to see. As it all started to come together and I was finally able to start making some sense of it, I was pleasantly surprised by some of the twists and plot developments. There are definitely some good ideas in this book, wrapped up in funny one-liners and comedic names for the characters. Also, at one point someone randomly dies from spontaneous human combustion – crazy. You never know what’s going to happen next.

On the downside, the book is really long with each individual chapter taking me a very long time to read. A product of the time, the book is very wordy, which certainly doesn’t help when the plot is already extremely complex. Sometimes I’d start a chapter and it would take me quite a while to figure out what was happening – especially with it switching between one first person narrative and another third person narrative. It took me quite some time to realise how these two thing were connected. With so many characters, it also became hard to remember who was who and what everybody was doing at any given point.

So, sadly, this isn’t a book I can recommend. I do like Dickens and have a lot of respect for the things that he stood for, but overall, it was a very complicated one to process and one which ties in heavily to its historic context, making it less appealing to the modern readers. If you want to give Charles Dickens a try, this isn’t the book to read.

Rating: 5.2/10

Buy it here.