Susan Hated Literature

She'd much prefer to read a good book

Tag Archives: 10 Stars




28 June 2010
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I kill giants by

It was a time of darkness where the cities of the damned were stacked high with the bones of fallen heroes.

Barbara Thorson doesn’t need career day. She already has a career, that of giant-killer. She tells her teacher and class this fact, for some reason they don’t believe her. She’s regarded as a freak. And is friendless as school, until a new girl shows up while Barbara is out setting giant traps. They slowly become friends, but things don’t really improve for Barbara. Her father is absent. Her sister out at work all day, and then stressed, and a bad cook. And her mother…

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26 June 2010
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The BFG by

by Roald Dahl

Sophie couldn’t sleep.
A brilliant moonbeam was slanting through a gap in the curtains. It was shining right on to her pillow.

One night, a young girl, unable to sleep makes her way to the window and spies a mysterious giant, with a suitcase and some sort of a trumpet. Discovering that he has been spotted this giant kidnaps the little girl, Sophie, and takes her off to Giant Country. There Sophie discovers that this giant, The Big Friendly Giant, is not like the other giants. He is much smaller than them for one thing, but also, they are murderers who delight in guzzling up human beans, whereas the BFG is only interested in sharing Dreams with people. Can Sophie and the BFG come up with a plan to defeat the like of The Fleshlumpeater and The Childchewer.

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10 June 2010
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Enna Burning by

This is the second Book of Bayern so it does help if you have read the first book, The Goose Girl but it is not entirely necessary as the story itself is quite separate. Hale expands on the world she created in the first book, using a secondary character. In The Goose Girl Enna was one of Ani’s “forest friends”, important as friend and helper. In this book Enna is the main character. After the events of the first film she returned home to the forest, her mother died, and she moved back home with her brother. As this book begins he has found a mysterious vellum parchment in the forest and begins to change, becoming hot-headed and rash. At first he begins to argue against the king, saying the forest folk have been too harshly treated and deserve better, but as soon as word comes of a possible war he swings in behind Bayern and becomes a loyal subject, desiring to go to war on his country’s behalf. And then there is the fact that he can control fire.

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25 May 2010
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Address Unknown by

Address Unknown is a very slight book. It is told in letters between Max Eisenstein in the US and Martin Schulz in Germany, and begins in 1932. They are business partners, and friends, both have fond memories of Germany, where Martin is originally from. And both seem to start out with similar beliefs and politics. But then comes the rise of Hitler, and where Max sees cause for alarm Martin sees a chance for humiliated Germany to rise up. Continue reading →

6 May 2010
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Black Hills by ,

Author: Dan Simmons

I’d never read any of Dan Simmons work before picking this one up. I’d heard good things about Drood but that’s about it. So picking this up was a total impulse decision. I hadn’t heard anything about the book, and I don’t really trust blurbs.

In the opening sentence we meet our main protagonist, Paha Sapa, a young Lakota boy who has raced into the middle of the Battle of Little Big Horn in order to go counting coup, there he touches the dying George Custer, the infamous Long Hair, and from then on shares his mind with Custer’s ghost. The book shifts in time, usually within Paha Sapa’s life, but occasionally we get to hear from Custer. He usually talks about his wife, Libby, and the sex they had. To be totally honest this was the one bit I wasn’t that interested in. Okay, so he and his wife have a great sex life, and so…
The rest of the book though, well, it is one I recommend you take a look at.

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22 February 2010
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The moor by

Author: Mary Russell
If you’ve read my reviews of the other books in this series you’ll already know that I really love them. If you haven’t here’s a quick recap; Sherlock Holmes, a real historical figure retired to Sussex in order to tend to his bees. While there he met Mary Russell; a somewhat moody, if quite brilliant, teenager and took her under his wing. She became his apprentice and later his wife. Errr, spoiler alert! In this, the fourth in the series, Sherlock sends Russell a telegram summoning her to Dartmoor and the moor that was the setting for The Hound of the Baskervilles. There are reports of another ghostly beast roaming the countryside and an old friend of Holmes would like him to investigate. Especially when a man is found dead on the moor.
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2 February 2010
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A monstrous regiment of women by

Author: Laurie R. King
A Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery #2

I’ve enjoyed the other books in this series that I’ve read, but this one I loved. Totally loved it.

It is 1921 and our hero, Mary Russell, has finished her undergraduate course at Oxford. She is also about to come into her inheritance. Her life on the brink of being totally her own. No longer a ward of her aunt’s; she will be able to live as she chooses. But how will she choose, and what does she want to do with her life? Will she pursue an academic career with her interest in theology? Or does her future lie with Holmes and the life of a detective?

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6 January 2010
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The Knife of Never Letting Go by

Author: Patrick Ness ISBN: 9781406310252 DDC: 813.6 LibraryThing ; Wikipedia[1] Chaos Walking # 1 The first thing you find out when your dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing much to say. I wasn’t too convinced that … Continue reading →

14 August 2009
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A Thread of Grace by

ISBN: 9780552772884 A simple answer to a simple question. That’s all Werner Schramm required. This book I loved. Loved. But I should have guessed, I’ve loved most of Russell’s books. I wasn’t hugely fond of part of Children of God, … Continue reading →