The Dragon Waiting by John M Ford
ISBN: 9780575073784 The road the Romans made traversed North Wales a little way inland, between the weather off the Irish Sea and the mountains of Gwynedd and Powys; past the copper...
27 June 2008
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
It seems increasingly likely that I really will undertake the expedition that has been occupying my imagination now for some days.
The Remains of the Day is about Stevens, a butler in a “grand old English house”. He spent his life trying to be a “great” butler in the service of Lord Darlington. With the death of Darlington he remains in Darlington Hall working for the new owner a rich American, Mr Farraday. It is at Mr. Farraday’s suggestion that Stevens, our narrator, first begins thinking about taking a short trip out into the English countryside, and to see Miss Kenton. Now Mrs. Benn she recently sent him a letter, hinting, Stevens thinks, at her unhappy marriage and her wish to return to service in Darlington Hall. On his journey Stevens reflects over his life and the changes he has seen.
24 June 2008
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
A Discworld novel. LibraryThing : More reviews We first met Moist Von Lipwig back in Going Postal, now, with the Post Office running successfully Ankh-Morpork’s beloved tyrant Vetinari has another role...
24 June 2008
The Affirmation by Christopher Priest
Peter Sinclair is 29, and, following his girlfriend’s attempted suicide he runs away from London, to the countryside. There he is supposed to be redecorating and doing up a family friend’s...
8 June 2008
Heart-shaped box by Joe Hill
ISBN: 9780575081864 See also: Other reviews ; Joe Hill Fiction.com Jude had a private collection. He had framed sketches of the seven dwarves on the wall of his studio, in between...
3 June 2008
Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
Book 4 in the Temeraire series. ISBN: 9780007256747 See also: Other reviews ; Novik’s LJ “Send up another, damn you, send them all up, at once if you have to,” Laurence...
2 June 2008
Memory and Dream by Charles de Lint
ISBN: 0330339591 Once Upon a Time Challenge ; More reviews Katherine Mulley had been dead for five years and two months, the morning Isabelle received the letter from her. I’ve read...
29 May 2008
Tithe by Holly Black
A Modern Tale of Faerie ISBN: 0689860420 Read for the Once Upon A Time challenge. See also: About Holly Black ; Stainless Steel Droppings ; Book~Adorer ; The page wanderer Other...
25 May 2008
This Night’s Foul Work
Author: Fred Vargas
Trans: Sian Reynolds
As you may already know I’m a big fan of Fred Vargas’ work and while this one is a library copy I’ll be buying this when it comes out in the proper size. I can’t stand these trade publications versions. They make no sense to me. All the negatives of a hardback with none of the positives. But enough about that; on to the plot.
The most straight-forward way of describing this book is to say that it is a murder-mystery. But with characters like Adamsberg there is no such thing as a straight-forward case. So when he spots something a little “off” about the two bodies that have shown up he decides that this case his rather than giving them over to the Drugs Squad.
18 May 2008
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Dina Dalal seldom indulged in looking back at her life with regret or bitterness, or questioning why things had turned out the way the way they had, cheating her of the bright future everyone had predicted for her when she was in school, when her name was still Dina Shroff.
I’m not really sure where to begin with this review. This is a big book, both in the amount of pages and in the amount of ground it covers. Set in an un-named city in India during the State of Emergency after India’s founding it deals with four main characters whose lives intersect in the house of Dina Dalal who hires two tailors and rents out a room to a young student in an attempt to keep her independence.
16 May 2008
The Secret Life of E. Robert Pendleton by Michael Collins
See also: MichaelCollinsauthor.com ; Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind ; Lizzy’s Literary Life The E. Robert Pendleton of the title is a professor struggling to keep his tenure at Bannockburn College...
15 May 2008
The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
Read for the Once Upon A Time Challenge See also: Author’s Site ; Scooter Chronicles ; SF site ; Tier 3000 I’ve read a few Graham Joyce books at this stage;...
11 May 2008