The Psychopath Test - Jon Ronson

This story begins when Jon is contacted by a leading scientist who, along with many other professionals, has received a book in the mail. The book is puzzling and no-one knows why they have been sent it. The pooling of knowledge throws up many theories, but nothing is concrete. It is hoped that Jon's investigative skills will help them discover the meaning behind it.

Jon is propelled into an investigation of the human mind. Mainly that of psychopaths. Feeling that the country is essentially run by psychopaths, Jon starts to do some digging. Along the way we meet some very interesting characters and hear tales of people with mental disorders in society and some of the disturbing things they get up to. The way Ronson analyses the people he meets against the famous Bob Hare's 'Psychopath Checklist'  leads us to realise that people can very easily be misdiagnosed and, on the other hand, how some traits we see as greatness in people, could actually be a sign of psychopathy. Who is even running this country!?

I particularly enjoyed the way that this story is written with lots of cut-aways and side stories, it felt very informative and certainly didn't get stale.The humour kept it light when this could really be a much more sombre subject matter. I actually laughed out loud at one point, and that's something I rarely do with a book!

One thing I can take from this book, I don't *think* I'm a psychopath.

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

A time-travel novel with a difference, The Time Traveller's Wife is a heart-wrenching story of two people's love and how that love transcends the years.

Henry has a genetic disorder which causes him to unpredictably time-travel, leaving his wife to cope with his frequent absences and (as Henry has no idea where and when he will disappear to) sometimes dangerous experiences.

With lives that have been intertwined since she was a young girl, Clare feels that she knows Henry very well when he 'first' meets her at a time when she is 20 and he is 28-years-old. Chronologically this is the first time Henry has met Clare, but he soon learns that he is to visit her childhood many times in the years to come, which is how she knows him so well.

The story of Henry and Clare is one of true love. That is clear. But Henry's condition means that their relationship is not a traditional one, and while time-travel has it's perks, it also has huge downsides for the couple, causing huge rifts bewteen them at times.

This is the first book in a long time to really get in my head. I found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn't reading the book in a much deeper way than usual.  This book does tug on the heartstrings and I'm not ashamed to admit, it made me cry on a couple of occasions!

I see that this book has quite a bad rap, but I honestly didn't see a single things wrong with it. I'd stand by it if recommending it to others, which I already have done. Now to find myself a copy of the DVD!

Room - Emma Donoghue

Five-year-old Jack has spent his whole life in a single room. He and his mother are held captive in a small outbuilding with a little kitchen, a bathtub, a bed and very little else. Not wanting her son some to realise the despair they are living in she protects him from the truth. Jack is oblivious to the situation and therefore he is happy. He is healthy, clean and clever. He doesn't know that Ma was kidnapped seven years ago and that he is the the product of Ma being raped by her abductor.

When their kidnapper loses his job and is set to lose the house, Ma realises that he will rather kill them than set them free, so she comes up with a plan to escape. Given that Jack knows nothing of the world outside the room, enlisting his help on this is very risky.

Donoghue tells this story from Jack's point of view. The writing is beautiful and the naivete of this boy who has never left the room really does come through. Jack has a very innocent soul and this shines through in the writing, without having him sound like an obnoxious or precocious little boy.

Jack thinks of every object in the room, such as Rug and Melty Spoon, as a friend with characteristics and they are referred to as proper nouns. This is a wonderful writing tool. It emphasises Jack's youth and vulnerability at every turn, as well as showing his caring nature.

While the first section of the book can be a little tedious (hey, they have a day-to-day routine and live in one room, how exciting can it be!?) it is absolutely worth sticking with. The story is compelling, the writing is creative and overall I really enjoyed this book.

We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver

Eva is very unmaternal. She never wanted children and they weren't part of her life-plan. So when she fell pregnant with Kevin a huge weight landed on her shoulders, one she has carried through her life, not helped by the fact that her son is cold and unlovable.

Kevin's story comes to a head two days before his sixteenth birthday when he murders nine people in a high school crossbow shooting. It seems he's been planning this for a long time.

Two years after the event Eva writes a series of letters to her now estranged husband, and it is these letters that form the novel.

The twist at the end, well from what I've read online it seems a lot of people saw this coming. Maybe I just read this quite naively (I'm normally quite on top of plot twists) but I didn't see this one coming at all. Not wanting to potentially reveal anything, I'll leave that one there!

When starting up with this book I did make a few false-starts. Shriver didn't really engage with me for the first 100 pages or so. It's a really slow starter. I can't tell you what made me stick with it. Maybe curiosity, or maybe it was the fact that it had been so highly recommended, I didn't want to miss anything. Either way, it paid off.

If you can slog through the first few pages, the rest of the novel is very engaging, with the last quarter of the book being fast paced and very eventful. There's no denying that the subject matter is sensitive, and at times can be very graphic, but I feel that the gruesome-ness was justified as a way of painting Kevin's character to us. It was needed to help us understand.

Heart-wrenching at times. but worth the read.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

This novel tells us of an adventure undertaken by Christopher Boone. Christopher is 15 years old and he has with Asperger's Syndrome. He lives with his dad, and they have a very close relationship. This adventure begins when Christopher finds a neighbour's dog murdered on the lawn. Disappointed by the lack of concern that the local adults have after this crime, he sets about trying to find the culprit himself. The journey turns his whole world around.

This innocent and honest boy is forced to make some brave decisions, and when his investigations require him to travel away from home, he must face his fears to solve the mystery.

A curious book indeed, this story is written in a first person narrative and so we get to experience the inner workings of Christopher's mind. The way in which Haddon writes is both insightful and moving, and not at all patronising. Christopher's Asperger's Syndrome is handled sensitively, but without shying away from the difficulties faced by parents and carers, as well as the difficulties faced by those with the condition when integrating with others.

The plot itself is quite tame whilst never being boring, but it is the writing around it that makes this such a magical story, promoting understanding and patience.

Given that this is now a West End show I'm not sure how this has been translated to stage. Most of the book is spent in Christopher's thoughts, so I'm very intrigued to see how they managed that. I'd very much like to see this in theatre though.