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The Business: A Novel
This book was sooo good. Iain Banks has created a heroine for even the most accomplished woman. If only women got roles like this in the movies. Kudos to the author for creating Kate, a truly cosmopolitan character that epitomizes what we wordly women truly aspire to be: savvy and mysterious, smart and powerful, fun and heroic. I read this book while I was in London years ago and to this day, this book inspires me. A fast read, a wonderful read. So much fun. I highly recommend this book!
The Business: A Novel
Having worked in a major corporation all my life, I agree that there is a great deal of jostling and maneuvering, back-stabbing and downright silliness in many strategic plans, but I nevertheless found The Business novel to be a feeble and weak take on the realities behind the scenes. Kate's voice comes across as written by an author obviously making up for his lack of solid personal experience in the business world with an abundance of mundane cliches, boring personal involvements and buzzwords to be found in any business magazine. Any wit in the Business inevitably also takes on a contrived feeling. My suggestion to anyone looking for a book grounded in personal experience, sharp satire, wit and humor revealing the realities of life in high-tech corporations, is to turn to the skillfully written episodes in "MANAGEMENT BY VICE" instead....And you'll get a candid, worthwhile eye-opener that won't disappoint!
The Business: A Novel
This is an excellent read that kept me rivetted to it and desperate to get an opportunity to carry on reading when I had to stop (I was reading it on the train, the bus, and even at my desk in my lunchbreak).The business is an ancient shadowy organisation that has strange things going on inside it that go all the way to the top. The hero(ine) is an unwitting pawn in some of this and you move through a twisty maze of cluse to the denouement.
The Business: A Novel
Iain Banks has proven himself a master of various genres including science fiction, fantasy and plain old fiction. The Business is his latest contribution to the "regular" fiction genre. And Banks does not disappoint.The Business follows the life of a woman who works for "the business," an age-old company shrouded in mystery. Without revealing plot or storylines, let me just assure that Banks continues to do all the things he does so well - excellent character development, mystery and intrigue, excellent storytelling and settings and an overriding sense of morality that seems to guide most of the characters in his novels. Again Banks proves why he deserves such respect as an insightful and innovative author.Frankly the only reason why I can't give The Business five stars is that, compared to some of his other works such as The Bridge and The Player of Games, The Business, while excellent, does not quite measure up to his potential. But almost any effort by Banks is worth reading.
The War of the Worlds
I loved this book, I am fasinated by aliens, even thought they might not be real!! I own the first movie of War of the Worlds and haven't seen the Tom Crusie one yet but I hope to soon! Anyway, this book puts you into the feeling of what it would be like to be in an alien invasion for Mars. I loved and I know you will too!!!
The War of the Worlds
Personally, I enjoy this book less than The Time Machine because there is less of a journey. The story basically consists of the citizens of Earth pitting their wits agains an invasion army from Mars and getting their collective butts kicked. Yet it an important novel - being the first to capture the terror of conflict with alien life - and it is a cornerstone of science fiction.