Robert Bloch's Psycho captivated a nation when it appeared in 1959. The story was all too real-indeed this classic was inspired by the real-life story of Ed Gein, a psychotic murderer who led a dual life. Alfred Hitchcock too was captivated, and turned the book into one of the most-loved classic films of all time the year after it was released.

Norman Bates loves his Mother. She has been dead for the past twenty years, or so people think. Norman knows better though. He has lived with Mother ever since leaving the hospital in the old house up on the hill above the Bates motel. One night Norman spies on a beautiful woman that checks into the hotel as she undresses. Norman can't help but spy on her. Mother is there though. She is there to protect Norman from his filthy thoughts. She is there to protect him with her butcher knife.
Well its Psycho, old Norman Bates, The Bates Motel, the infamous shower scene, we all know the story.

This was a good fun paced read, Norman is completely different to the film version of him and it gets a little bit deeper into why he is the way that he is, his appearance is also completely different in the book, here he is a short fat sweaty guy who tends to be nervous around people, that is in stark contrast to the Anthony Perkins version that we all know so well.

The film stuck to the book pretty faithfully (although it has been a while since I watched Psycho) the shower scene is actually underplayed in the film, the book version is a lot more graphic which I wasn't expecting.

There isn't a lot that I can add to this as it is such a well known story.



The War of the End of the World is one of the great modern historical novels. Inspired by a real episode in Brazilian history, Mario Vargas Llosa tells the story of an apocalyptic movement, led by a mysterious prophet, in which prostitutes, beggars and bandits establish Canudos, a new republic, a libertarian paradise.
Well that was a pretty epic tale of monstrous proportions.

How one man who goes around preaching to the weak, the criminals, the cripples and the poor can ultimately cause so much devastation whilst still retaining his followers is unreal.

That is pretty much what happens here, a strange man known as the counselor goes from town to town preaching and gaining followers, he does odd jobs around these towns in exchange for paltry amounts of money and shelter, he preaches he fixes churches, builds walls around cemeteries etc.

Eventually as his following grows larger and larger he sets up base in Canudos, people continue to flock to this new land, due to the overwhelming amount of new arrivals the authorities start to get a little nervy and send out a small army to try and restore order, it doesn't go well for them, they keep trying and keep sending out larger and larger armies and ultimately continue to fail to take control back from the poverty stricken malnourished faithful.

The book paints a real bleak picture of what life in Canudos would have been like yet people appeared to be happy living in the squalor.

The characters were absolutely fantastic, Galileo Gal, The Shortsighted Journalist, The Little Blessed One, The Dwarf and my favourite The Lion of Natuba, each character had a huge chunk of the book dedicated to their stories, some ultimately ended earlier than others yet they all managed to be integral to the plot.

This was an unusual book for me to read as I had to put it down for a while and take a bit of a break from it and read something else inbetween, its certainly a hefty book about nearly 800 pages but it is well worth the time and effort