The gone-away world by Nick Harkaway
ISBN: (Proof: 978043401866) 9780434018420 See also: mebelitheBookseller.com ; Book Geeks ; Extract A while back there was a comment left on the blog asking if I wanted a copy of The...
11 May 2008
Achilles by Elizabeth Cook
Two rivers. Flowing in contrary directions.
Two layers of water, each moving steadily, separate and self-possessed.
When I was thinking of books to read for the myth section of Carl’s challenge I did consider the Iliad, and the Odyssey too, so when I was wandering around the library and stumbled across this book it seemed perfect. And I’m so glad I picked it up; it makes for a really good read.
8 May 2008
The hero with a thousand faces by Joseph Campbell
Whether we listen with aloof amusement to the dreamlike mumbo jumbo of some red-eyed with doctor of the Congo, or read with cultivated rapture thin translations from the sonnets of the mystic Lao-tse; now and again crack the hard nutshell of an argument of Aquinas, or catch suddenly the shining meaning of a bizarre Eskimo fairy tale: it will be always the one, shape-shifting yet marvellously constant story that we find. together with a challengingly persistent suggestion of more remaining to be experiences than will ever be known or told.
I think maybe I’m just not in the mood for studious type books. At least, that’s the excuse I’m making for not really enjoying this book. Then again it may simply be that we’re all aware of these great themes that so many myths and fictions retell over and over again. Back in 1949 it was all original and new and so of course deserved all that attention. Now? Well the writing style is a little on the ponderous side and I think I’ve read most of these arguments before.
6 May 2008
The thistle and the rose by Jean Plaidy
ISBN: 9780099493259 Read with Historical Favorites See also: LibraryThing ; Literature Map ; Scandalous Women ; Susan Higginbotham In an apartment of that royal palace which recently, by the command of...
5 May 2008
The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford by Robert Hansun
He was growing into middle age and was living then in a bungalow on Woodland Avenue. Green weeds split the porch steps, a wasp nest clung to an attic gable, a rope swing looped down from a dying elm tree and the ground below it was scuffed soft as flour.
I think this is one of the rare cases where watching the film version improves your enjoyment of the novel. Maybe because for certain passages I could really here the narrator from the film while I was reading. I think that this might make an excellent audio book. Then again, I’ve never listened to an audio book, so what do I know.
23 April 2008
The Wars by Timothy Findley
ISBN: 0140050116 See also: The Stay at Home Bookworm ; Wikipedia Prologue She was standing in the middle of the railroad tracks. Her head was bowed and her right front hoof...
21 April 2008
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
ISBN: 9780330445320 Book 1 in the Quirke series See also: MetaCritic ; Grumpy Old Bookman ; PopMatters ; She was glad it was the evening mailboat she was taking, for she...
15 April 2008
The Separation by Christopher Priest
ISBN: 9780575081154 See also: Grumpy Old Bookman ; Singling out the duplications ; Guardian Review ; Excessive Candour ; Sandstorm Reviews Jack and Joe are identical twins. Medal winners in the...
23 March 2008
Daughter of Hounds by Caitlín R. Kiernan
ISBN: 9780451461254 See also: Author’s blog ; Synchronicity swirls and other foolishness The ghoul lady takes out her white linen handkerchief and uses one corner to dab at her watering left...
29 February 2008
Wash this blood clean from my hand by Fred Vargas
trans. Sian Reynolds
I’m a huge fan of Fred Vargas’ work. And this book is no exception. The star, once more, is Commissaire Adamsberg. The plot revolves around a series of murders, the first in 1943, the latest takes place in the present of the book. Adamsberg has a special interest in this case, and the judge he believes to have committed these crimes. In each case the murder victim is killed by three stab wounds. And in each case an assailant has been found, always suffering from amnesia but also having a murder weapon in his possession. In each case the police decide that this individual is responsible and, there you go, case closed. Adamsberg is not so sure.
18 February 2008
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Author: Scott Lynch ISBN: 9780575079755 Book 1 of The Gentleman Bastards Sequence Scott Lynch’s site ; Shards of Delirium ; Ficsation ; The Core Dump ; Speculative Horizons ; At the...
10 February 2008