The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
I seem to be reading a lot of myths, and myth inspired fiction, at the moment. Last it was Norse myths, and now I’m on to Greek myths, and the tale...
29 October 2011
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
The sequel to Leviathan No recapping on account of this being the second in a series, and if you haven’t read Leviathan then you’ll be spoiled, and I wouldn’t want to...
21 August 2011
Bridge of birds by Barry Hughart
In an Ancient China, that never was, Yu Lu (not to be confused with the eminent author of The Classic of Tea) sets out on a quest to save the children of his village. Everyone between the ages of 8 and 13 has been struck down by a mysterious plague. He is sent to the Peking in order to bring back a wise man who can help them solve the mystery of this plague that can count. Soon Yu Lu (also known as Number Ten Ox due to his great strength) and the wise man Li Kao are racing across China in an attempt to locate the Root of Power that just may save the afflicted children.
25 August 2010
Olympos by Dan Simmons
By Dan Simons
I really loved Ilium when I read it in June so was looking forward to this, the sequel. And it kicks off right where we left the story in the first book. Unfortunately it just didn’t work as well. All through this book I was interested in what was going on, but never gripped, never fascinated or engaged by it. Merely hmm, that’s interesting.
8 August 2010
Ilium by Dan Simmons
ISBN: 9780380817924 DDC: The first in the Ilium/Olympusduology. Author site ; Ilium sectionof the Ilium/Olympus wiki Ilium opens with Thomas Hockenberry, a twenty-first century professor, observing the Trojan War on behalf...
11 June 2010
The good man Jesus and the scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman
by Philip Pullman
The back of the edition of this that I read has only the words: This is a story. Interesting. Is that because the publisher’s don’t want to offend the ultra religious in the Christian world. Or is it a message from the author that the life of Jesus is a story. That the bible is a story.
Pullman, of course, is known for his ever so slightly controversial views on religion, he has used them in his fiction before. In that case it involved a worn-out god, and power-hungry angels. Here he revisits the myth:”(is a myth a religion we dont believe in?)”: of Jesus Christ and weaves a new story out of it.
7 May 2010
Red Son by Mark Millar
by Mark Millar
I love the idea behind this graphic novel. Superman, instead of being raised by the Kents in Kansas, instead lands in the middle of Russia and is raised on a collective farm. Growing up, instead of embodying the American Dream, he becomes the Champion of the common worker. And so much of it is just cool. There are loads of great touches, I loved the idea of the alternate Batman.
Unfortunately it never got beyond the “oooh that sounds cool” aspect of the story.
28 April 2010
The game by Laurie R. King
Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes have returned home to Sussex in order to enjoy the new year, but soon enough they travel to London to visit Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, whose health is not the best. While there he suggests that perhaps they might look into a case for him. A possibly-missing person. In India.
Of course they head off, and the person they are looking for, none other than Kimball O’Hara, known to many from Rudyard Kipling’s Kim.
28 March 2010
O Jerusalem by Laurie R. King
I’m continuing to work my way through the Mary Russell novels; I slowed down a bit for two reasons. One, I don’t want to overload on the ‘verse. Two, the library ran out of the series. Well, it skipped the next so I took my time with O Jerusalem while I boughtJustice Hall for my own shelves. I will at some point go order all this series, I really do think that they are books you can very easily reread and enjoy time and again.
15 March 2010
East of the Sun by Julia Gregson
by Julia Gregson
I wasn’t too sure about this book when I first started to read it. It didn’t quite grab my attention, and I wasn’t sure that I’d like any of the three main characters. But I persevered. And came to really quite enjoy it. The story is set in 1928, and our heroes are off to India. One to start a new life with her fiancée whom she really doesn’t know. One to serve as bridesmaid but really part of the “Fishing Fleet” off looking for a husband. And the third is looking for independence and a new life in an old home.
4 January 2010
When we were orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
ISBN: 057120516x ; Other Reviews The narrator of this book, Christopher Banks, is a renowned detective in the 1930’s. One of England’s most famous detectives. Yet one case has always troubled...
22 November 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
Recent Comments