Book Summaries

Doctor Pon has read more books than anybody he knows, except Tara who has obviously read more, and so here he provides a summary of some books for you to enjoy.

The Bible* (God, Prophets, Disciples, Angels et al): There is a God, and He is great

The Urban Bible (Doctor Pon, unpublished*): God's the main man, the illest brother, the realest, and you'd better recognise. (The) Word.
Big up to my boy JC.
Big up all the meek rude boys.
Keep it real on the Sabbath.

The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins): There's no God.

God is not Great (Christopher Hitchens): There's no God, and I've known that for ages, therefore I am the most cleverest man what I know.

Letters to a Christian Nation (Sam Harris): There's no God, and you're all stupid for thinking there is.

The Stuff of Thought (Steven Pinker): Isn't language great? Incidentally, it proves there's no God.

By Hook or By Crook (David Crystal): Isn't language great? And the bible serves as a useful example of how words that would otherwise have become archaic can survive in a modern language.

Words, Words, Words (David Crystal): Words, words, words.

Oxford English Dictionary: More words than even David Crystal.

Grotesque (Natsuo Kirino)***: Grotesque is ostensibly a crime novel by Japanese writer Natsuo Kirino, most famous for her novel Out. It was published in English in 2007, translated by Rebecca Copeland. Publisher Knopf censored the American translation, removing a section involving underage male prostitution, as it was considered too taboo for U. S. audiences.The book is written in the first person for all parts and follows a woman whose sister and old school friend have been murdered. The narrator of Grotesque is unnamed and forever lives under the shadow of her younger-by-a-year sister Yuriko, who is unimaginably beautiful and the center of all attention. The narrator hates her sister for reasons which remain more-or-less unclear throughout the novel and the writer leaves it to the reader to decide if the narrator's hatred is a product of jealousy or because Yuriko has turned to prostitution and disgraced the family name.
While the narrator is smart, responsible and plain looking, Yuriko is strikingly beautiful but flighty and irresponsible. Despite this, everyone is automatically drawn to Yuriko, who, as soon as she is old enough to realize her power on men, starts toying with one man after another, subsequently turning into a full time prostitute. As the novel progresses, the reader is introduced to many other characters with whom the narrator comes in contact at her highly prestigious Q High School.
With time, the narrator grows to hate everyone including all her classmates, her parents and all her co-workers. She is particularly spiteful when it comes to Yuriko and one of her classmates Kazue Sato.
When both Yuriko and Kazue turn into prostitutes, are murdered less than a year apart and in the same gruesome fashion, and the narrator comes in possession of their personal journals, her life is entwined with theirs and she uncovers truths which she never thought existed. The journals take her on a journey of self discovery where she finally realizes what she wants. She also adopts Yuriko's handsome but blind son, Yurio.
In the end, the narrator is seen treading the streets of Japan, looking for a customer as she delves into the mysterious and dark world of prostitution.

* Actually, the Bible is loads of books. Doctor Pon hasn't really read them all. He has just accepted what he was taught as a child without questioning it, and summarised it here.
** Possibly made up for the purpose of this blog
*** This summary stolen from Wikipedia. Why not check Wikipedia to see how Doctor Pon writes complete bollocks and posts these articles as if they were fact. See for example The three-tailed blind cat of East Northampton and Marvin Gaye: Gaye by name, gay by nature?