Author: Portable Wonderland

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

Portable Wonderland2 Comments

PREMISE: Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the night she meets Jonathan Alkaitis, a hooded figure scrawls a message on the lobby’s glass wall: Why don’t you swallow broken glass. High above Manhattan, a greater crime is committed: Alkaitis is running an international Ponzi scheme, moving imaginary sums of money through clients’ accounts. When the financial empire collapses, it obliterates countless fortunes and devastates lives. Vincent, who had been posing as Jonathan’s wife, walks away into the night. Years later, a victim of the fraud is hired to investigate a strange occurrence: a woman has seemingly vanished from the deck of a container ship between ports of call.

I had no idea what this book was about going into it. I read it because I’ve read Station Eleven and Sea Of Tranquility and I adore those books. Like listening to Led Zeppelin II because you’ve previously heard IV and Physical Graffiti.

To keep the musical analogy going, some writers are like Michael Bublé’s vocals; silkily smooth, it all just works effortlessly. And then others are like that guy in the B52’s. ESJM’s writing is Bublé-smooth…SO good…

S. by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst

Portable WonderlandLeave a comment

PREMISE: One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace and desire.

A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.

Check out the pictures below. Yep, that’s this book. And yes, that’s a map, postcard and some sort of navigational device (I think). There’s shitloads of things like that in it. The book itself is aged to look ancient and somehow manufactured to look like people have actually written in it. As a piece of art it is pretty staggering. Absolutely worth the experience of reading it.

The kicker: there’s a Kindle version. A question of how more than why, surely…

House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Portable WonderlandLeave a comment

PREMISE: A young couple – Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson and his partner Karen Green – move into a small house on Ash Tree Lane. It soon becomes clear that something is terribly wrong – their new home is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. What happened next is loosely recorded on videotapes and in interviews, and impelled an eccentric old man to compile – on loose sheets of paper, stained napkins, crammed notebooks – a definitive account of what took place at Ash Tree Lane that seems to unveil a thrilling and terrifying history.

When you have a minute, go on Goodreads and check out some of the reviews on this book. Particularly the 1 star ones. I could pick any at random to make my point but I’m choosing one of the twattiest by a guy named David (cool name, bell end) who states his “overpowering disgust at the people who continue to naively read this book“. He relates the authoring of this book to the downfall of society (?) and concludes by saying “I fear for the future of humanity”. What a wanker.

I love this book and would urge anyone to read it. It’s like nothing you’ve ever read before. But that’s just my opinion. Some people clearly don’t like it and some do. That’s how reading works. And, in general, any type of art. I’ve read a few books I didn’t like but I can’t think of any time I then felt disgust at people who did like them. Fuck off David. I fear for the future of humanity mainly due to colossal fucknuggets like you.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Portable Wonderland2 Comments

PREMISE: Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of people the world wants them to be. But, curiously, they are taught nothing of the outside world and are allowed little contact with it.Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is.

Man, this one is a lingerer. I’m reading an old Carl Hiaasen novel at the moment (always fantastic) but this baby keeps popping into my head. Another book where you can’t help wondering whether something like it will eventually happen. Let’s hope not. A great read.

Under The Eye Of The Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami

Portable WonderlandLeave a comment

PREMISE: In the distant future, humans are on the verge of extinction and have settled in small tribes across the planet under the observation and care of “Mothers.” Some children are made in factories, from cells of rabbits and dolphins; some live by getting nutrients from water and light, like plants. The survival of the race depends on the interbreeding of these and other alien beings–but it is far from certain that connection, love, reproduction, and evolution will persist among the inhabitants of this faltering new world.

If I was being tortured and my life depended upon me being able to elucidate the type of book I like best, I’d just refer to this one. And hope that that would be sufficient enough explanation for my torturers to then let me go so that I can hunt out more books like this. Intelligent, thought-provoking, ‘man-this-shit-could-actually-happen’ type books. Fantastic.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Portable WonderlandLeave a comment

PREMISE: Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida—war photographer, gambler, and closet queen—has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. In a country where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers, and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to the photos that will rock Sri Lanka.

Weird one, this. No idea if I liked it or not. Well, I did. But I also didn’t. Or did I? I don’t think I did, but I may have done. In fact, I know I did, but I’m actually not sure if that’s true or not. I guess it may be. In fact, it’s absolutely true. As far as I know, anyway. Which isn’t much so the chances are it’s completely false. So, to sum up…this may or may not be a cracking book. I’ve no idea.

Well…I’ve some idea. This book is hugely readable and features real-life characters and events, which I love in fiction. And provided me with a shit-load of history on Sri Lanka of which I wasn’t aware, so all-in-all, a win on all fronts.

All The Colours Of The Dark by Chris Whitaker

Portable WonderlandLeave a comment

PREMISE: Late one summer, the town of Monta Clare is shattered by the abduction of teenager Joseph ‘Patch’ Macauley. Nobody more so than Saint Brown, who will risk everything to find her best friend.

Patch lies alone in a pitch-black room – until he feels a hand in his. Her name is Grace and, though they cannot see each other, she lights their world with her words. But when he escapes: there is no sign she ever even existed. Left with only her voice and her name, he paints her from broken memories – and charts an epic search to find her.

Straight into my top 5 all-time favourite reads. Absolutely astonishing book which, I’m more than happy to admit, made me cry at the end.

2026 update…this baby is my 2025 Portland Award winner.

How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

Portable WonderlandLeave a comment

PREMISE: Dr. Cliff Miyashiro arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue his recently deceased daughter’s research, only to discover a virus, newly unearthed from melting permafrost. The plague unleashed reshapes life on earth for generations. The story follows a cast of intricately linked characters spanning hundreds of years as humanity endeavours to restore the delicate balance of the world.

On Goodreads, some bellend called Henk writes a review of this book that says something like ‘Great ideas but lacking execution’. Well, fuck off Henk. Sorry, I must have missed your Booker Prize-winning novel. You judgemental twat. Anyway, this is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time with a heart and emotional punch that is pretty breathtaking. Absolutely loved it, which is reflected in the fact that it’s the 2024 Portland Award winner.

The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins

Portable WonderlandLeave a comment

PREMISE: Audiologist Henry Latimer is sent to the home of industrialist Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy and tasked with curing the man’s young daughter, Philomel, of her deafness. But Henry, eager to escape a troubled past, quickly becomes obsessed with the fascinating nature of Sir Edward’s business: spinning silk with a rare and magical breed of spiders. The extraordinary silk shields sound, offering respite from bustling streets and noisy neighbors. The result is instant tranquility, as wearers experience a soothing calmness. Yet, those within earshot of the outward-facing silk are subjected to eerie murmurs that amplify with proximity. Bystanders suffer the consequences of this unnerving phenomenon, manifesting in physical and mental afflictions ranging from headaches and drowsiness to severe cases of madness.

As Henry becomes entangled in the allure of the silk and Sir Edward’s charm, he glimpses a more sinister family history. The closer he ventures into the inner circle of Carthmute House, the more he unravels the horrifying underbelly of the silk business.

One of the reasons I love reading is due to the relationship you can have with a book. Providing it’s a belter, it becomes something you love and get totally lost in while you’re reading it and something you miss when you’re not. Which is exactly what this book is. As are Bridget Collins’ other two books. Loved it.

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Portable WonderlandLeave a comment

PREMISE: Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games, but CAPE’s corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar’s path have devastating consequences.

You ever read a book and think “Shit, I wish I’d written that”, only to realise that you don’t have the talent, imagination or intelligence to do it? That’s me with this book. The 2nd-best book I read in 2023…