Catch 22

OK, here goes...this book is a total mystery to me because I have been trying to read it for years.  I start each new attempt (four so far) full of good intentions, thinking that this time I will manage it. I hope each time  that I will finally see the light about why this book has been called  One of the greatest novels of the century. But I never manage it and by a third through I'm infuriated, bored, depressed and totally lacking any empathy for any of the characters.  They can all die in the war for all I care.
On Amazon this book gets 4.5 stars out of 5 and thousands rave about it.  I JUST DONT GET IT!! It's a conspiracy!
 It's badly written, confusing and lacking any narrative. It jumps around like crazy and new characters just appear every few lines. Yes, parts of it are funny but mostly it's just a deeply depressing rant. OK, Heller is good at playing with words and that's amusing and clever for a while but his 'humour' never seems to move on from this and it all becomes a bit embarrassing; like he's showing off in front of his Mum.
A friend of mine says I should stick with it and that I will be rewarded for my patience as it starts to make more sense half way through. But I can't be bothered now. I have lost the will to live with this book and even reading one page is a chore.  I just jump from the first line to the last on each page! I want a book to be good all the way through...is that too much to ask? I really don't want to be rewarded for having waded through crap for a week! (A week, yes, I have been stuck with this damn book for over a week!)
My response  does upset me because I really want to like it but I find it weak and dated. The reason this book is such a classic is just because it spawned a saying and was a catalyst  for  great series like M.A.S.H but apart from that it just infuriates me.
The last laugh is on Heller though...because with me he has created a perfect personal Catch 22. If so many people like it, I must be missing something so I have to read it again, but I think it's shit...what's going on?!!!  I'm sure I will have to return to  this irritating book one more time before I die!

The Hunger Games

I read this in about 3 days and enjoyed it a lot. It was like a drug and real life was put on hold whilst I tore through this novel.  It was exciting, entertaining, disturbing and frivolous all at the same time. It's written for teenagers and did bring out the latent teen gene within me!

 The idea behind the story is fantastic.  It's set in a post-apocalyptic world where America has been split into 12 districts. these districts then send two of their teenage kids off to fight to the death in a reality TV outward bound adventure world gone mental.

The premise of this is so brilliantly obscene but 'Lord of the Flies' it is not! Characterisation is minimal. It's action all the way...my problem was that I felt like a member of the despised rich district; a person who was addicted to watching/reading about what the hell was going on. So when a kid died I didn't feel particularly upset because I was just completely driven onwards by the action.

It was a totally addictive book and I loved the way it subtly mocked the American Army and the horrors of reality TV.  But I finished it over a week ago and to be honest I can't remember any of the characters anymore.

I loved it when I read it, but it was a bit like eating a massive meal, enjoyable but you feel a bit bloated afterwards.  I think that's because it's target audience was 14 and I'm 40!

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

I finished this book last weekend and only now do I have the energy to write anything about it.  I didn't like it at all. The first third of the book was OK, but then it just went  rapidly downhill from there.   I just feel indifferent about it and the way it is marketed as a 'typically British, humourous book'  is just insulting. Parts of it were so cringeworthy I just don't know how it was ever allowed to be printed.

Finishing it was a chore, as I think it must have been for the writer Paul Torbay. Although it was supposed to be a satire I just found it grey, boring and slightly irritating. God only knows what they must have done to this book to make it worth turning into a movie. All I know is I sure am NOT going to watch it!  I can't even get too emotional and 'rantish' in true Jane fashion about why I didn't like it. It was just dull...dull...dull.  Yawn.
(Sorry Catherine Weller if you read this, hope you enjoy/are enjoying it FAR more than me!)