James Toseland Autobiography

Didn't know whether to list this one in the book log since it's not fiction... but it's still a book and I read it so what they hey... Although with it being an autobiography there's not much to say really, lol.

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James Toseland; two time World Superbike Champion and current MotoGP rider with Tech 3 Yamaha, tells us about his early life and how he came to be a motorbike racer, classically trained pianist and general all round good guy (and he is really a genuinely nice guy!). This guy is so dedicated to winning and being the best it's untrue. I think that whatever he chose to have done with his life, he would have been good at it. He just seems to be one of those people who knows exactly what he wants, sets his sights on it, and goes and gets it - letting nothing stand in his way. So with that in mind you'd think he would be an arrogant and cocky guy, right? Well, amazingly he's not. All the time while reading his book it struck me how down to earth and grounded he is; a highly commendable achievement in an environment where I imagine it would be pretty easy to start lording your status over everyone.

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But Toseland simply comes across as the guy next door who just happens to race motorbikes at an international level for a living. It would be pretty easy to take this character credit away from him and assume that he's only coming across in the way he wants to appear as he's the one writing the book. Fair point - and I admit I'm a big fan of his anyway. But, I seriously think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone with a truly bad word to say about him (apart from rivals he's beaten on track of course!). As I say, he is a genuinely nice guy, period. I think anyone who reads this, fan or not, will be surprised at how dedicated to his sport, and how humble in success he is.

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If you want a lesson in how to be a winner, then this is the book you need.

Panic - Jeff Abbott

To be honest I couldn't really get into this book at all. It seemed to take me ages to read (which is odd as it's not complicated) and I didn't find that it flowed all that well either - it seemed to be very bitty, and just all over the place. Having said that, when I did eventually get to the end I would say that I did enjoy the actually story. Maybe it was just me not being in the mood to read...

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General plot: Evan Casher is a normal guy who makes documentary films for a living. One day he gets an urgent call from his mum asking his to come home. When he arrives she is lying dead on the kitchen floor, with the attackers still in the house... As it turns out Evan's parents are not who he thought they were... and his girlfriend Carrie, is not who he thought she was either. They are all spies working for the KGB/CIA (whatever) and certain people need them dead, others want them alive. And now they are after Evan. Who does Evan trust? (cue dramatic music...)

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I think some of the characters and relationships could have been developed a bit more. After reading the authors note afterwards and discovering that he wanted to bring forth the core of Carrie and Evan's relationship, I'm not sure how successfully he managed it to be honest. It was there, just under the surface... but it felt like that it needed a little more just to bring it more into the spot-light. The scenes with just the two of them could have done with a little more to emphasise it I think. And even though Dezz is a totally evil character in the book, I found his character to be the most complex and interesting of all of them; his child-like behavior, having a dad as a spy and jockeying for respect, being in love with Carrie but being emotionally unable to show it, his loose-cannon behaviour coupled with his need to constantly chew caramels! I would like to have seen a bit more character development on his side... to get inside Dezz's head. But then, the story wasn't about him really so I can understand why Abbott didn't take him further - but personally I found him to be the most intriguing of them all.

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Also Evan's transformation from yuppie-about-town to fugitive-on-the-run was a little hard to swallow... it all seemed a bit too easy. Like you or I could just suddenly pitch ourselves against the experienced and battle-hardened (not to mention combat-trained) bad guys and come out on top and save the day.... hmmm. Amazingly his schemes to foil the bad guys actually work.

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So generally a good book to read if you're in the mood, but I think there was the potential for it to be a whole lot more rounded. More character development too other than just plot focus would have given it the punch it needed... I think anyway :)