Posted by: Fence in Books
Author: Graham Joyce
ISBN: 0753818426
I’ve read a few books now by Joyce, and this has to be my favourite so far. Set during, and just after the London Blitz of WWI, this book tells the story of Cassie, her family, and her son Frank.
We first meet Cassie as she is about to give up her child to another family. She has already had a daughter who was taken in by a childless couple. But as she watches the minutes tick by, she decides to keep her son. Arriving home to her family she tells them all she is keeping Frank. Her mother, Martha, decides that maybe there is something special about Frank, so she agrees, provided the six other daughters help out with raising Frank.
As a result we see the lies of this family through Frank’s eyes as he moves from sister to sister, from farmlife to the almost pristine house of his twin aunts, to a commune. It soon becomes clear that Frank has inherited some of his mother’s feyness and some of his grandmother’s ability to talk to the dead.
There is some wonderful writing in this book, when Frank tries to imitate his pregnant Aunt peeing for example. Comic touches can be found everywhere, as can potential threats to Frank and the family.
I really enjoyed this one
Tags:
8 Stars,
Britain - wwi,
Graham Joyce,
historical fiction,
London,
London Blitz,
The Facts of Life,
War,
World Fantasy Award winner
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Dir: Christopher Nolan
Writ: Bob Kane, David S Goyer & Christopher Nolan
- Christian Bale …. Bruce Wayne/Batman
- Michael Caine …. Alfred
- Liam Neeson …. Ducard
- Katie Holmes …. Rachel Dawes
- Gary Oldman …. Jim Gordon
- Cillian Murphy …. Dr. Jonathan Crane
Ignore all the previous films, this is new Batman origin film. And we get it all, from the fall down the well to the parents being gunned down in an alley. There is the training, the gadgets, and a batmobile like you’ve never seen before
When I first saw the trailers I didn’t really care much one way or the other. After The Machinist I wasn’t really all that looking forward to seeing Bale in anything for a while. I mean his acting in that was great, but he just made me uncomfortable.
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Tags:
8 Stars,
action,
based on comic,
Batman,
Batman Begins,
Bob Kane,
Christian Bale,
Christopher Nolan,
Cillian Murphy,
David S. Goyer,
Gary Oldman,
Katie Holmes,
Liam Neeson,
Michael Caine,
sff,
superheroes
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I’ve been thinking of posting on this subject for a while, but I don’t really know the full story. And searching webland reveals a whole lot of noise, but not a lot of data. And maybe that is the problem.
For non-Irishers, the Rossport Five are five farmers from Rossport Co. Mayo who have disrupted the building of a Shell pipeline which will run from the Corrib Gas Field through farmland and past houses to the refinery. The farmers say that it isn’t safe, and that they will continue to try to halt Shell’s work.
So Shell took them to court resulting in the Rossport Five being jailed for breaching an injunction, and as they have said they are not willing to simply stand back, it appears they have been sent to jail for an indefinate period of time, or as the judge saiduntil they purged their contempt
.
Tags:
Mayo,
Shell,
The Rossport Fice
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Well I didn’t wish any Canadian peoples happy Canada Day, so all you US-ians don’t be expecting any Happy 4th of July greeting from me 
Tags:
4th of July
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