Susan Hated Literature

Author: Christopher Priest
ISBN: 9780575075771 DDC: 823.914
See also: LibraryThing ; More reviews

This much I know for sure.
My name is Peter Sinclair, and I am, or I was, twenty-nine years old. Already there is uncertainty, and my sureness recedes.

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 cottage in return for being allowed to stay there. But he gets distracted and begins to write his autobiography. In the course of writing this he discovers that the real truth can only be found within metaphors and through creating an alternate version of his past. And so he begins to write of his past in Jethra. He renames and recreates his family and friends. He recreates a reality.

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Author: Christopher Priest
ISBN: 9780575081154 DDC: 823.914
See also: LibraryThing ; Grumpy Old Bookman ; Singling out the duplications ; Guardian Review ; Excessive Candour ; Sandstorm Reviews

The rain was falling steadily on Buxton that Thursday afternoon in March, the town veiled by drifting low clouds, grey and discouraging.

Jack and Joe are identical twins. Medal winners in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, their lives diverge down different paths. One joins the RAF and flies bombing runs during World War II, the other is a pacifist and a conscientious objector.

But it is hard to describe the plot of this novel with a brief paragraph; it is about the choices people make, about the different possibilities that are out there, and about how there is no such thing as being totally right or wrong in war. It is an alternate history, starting with the present-day investigations of historian Stuart Gratton, who lives in a world where Churchill and Hitler stepped down from power after a deal negotiated by Rudolph Hess, and saw the emergence of a far different world order.

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So I bought my shiny shiny Nintendo DS Lite last night. And got a great deal from Argos. €149 for the console, a game^[1] and an accessory pack. So basically I paid for the console and got the rest of the stuff for free. I also bought one of those Brain Training thingies. Which was supposed to cost 30 quid, only they only charged my 15. Score!

And I’ve gone ahead and ordered my R2 card plus 2gb micro card so once that arrives I’ll be well sorted for all my gaming needs.

In other news Carl’s RIP Challenge comes to an end today. And for it I read Fool Moon by Jim Butcher, The Prestige by Christopher Priest, Danse Macabre by Laurell K. Hamilton, Wormwood by Poppy Z.Brite, Lost Souls by Michael Collins, and The Road by Cormac MacCarthy. And I’ve just bought Stephanie Meyer’s Eclipse^[2] so I’ll read that this evening. And there are plenty more reviews for you to investigate here.

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Author: Christopher Priest
ISBN: 0684817551 DDC: 823.014
Read for the RIP Challenge
See also: LibraryThing ; Fantasybookspot ; Review in Haiku

It began on a train, heading north through England, although I was soon to discover that the story had really begun more than a hundred years earlier.

The Prestige is a book that covers three different generations of two families, told by a number of different narrators, all in the first person, as they tell their stories in their diaries. Those of you who have seen the film version will be aware that the prestige of the title is the payoff to a magic trick. What you might not know is that this term was invented by Priest but has since come into common usage among practising magicians. The main story revolves around two feuding magicians; Alfred Borden and Rupert “Robbie” Angier. Throughout both of their careers the two magicians try their hardest to upset and humiliate the other, each action then having a reaction, and then a further action, as is often the way in these things.

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Author: Christopher Priest
ISBN: 0575075783 DDC: 823.914
See also: LibraryThing ; Christopher Priest.co.uk ; The Universal Library ;

Her name is Teresa Ann Gravatt and she is seven years old: She has a mirror through which she can see into another world.

There were two reasons I picked this up at the shop. First of all I recognised the name Christopher Priest from the film The Prestige and second of all I quite liked the cover. Why a slightly blurry photo of a man pointing a gun at me appealed I’m not sure, but it did. Reading the blurb I wasn’t too sure. Virtual reality and police procedures didn’t grab my interest, so I opened the first few pages and took a quick skim. That made up my mind.

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Dir: Christopher Nolan
Writ: Christopher Nolan, & Jonathan Nolan

• Hugh Jackman - Robert Angier
• Christian Bale - Alfred Borden
• Michael Caine - Cutter
• Andy Serkis - Alley
• Piper Perabo - Julia Angier
• Rebecca Hall - Sarah Borden
• Scarlett Johansson - Olivia Wenscombe

I really wanted to enjoy this film. I thought the trailer made it look intriguing, I liked the films of Nolan that I’ve already seen. And who isn’t a fan of Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman? But, something, I’m not quite sure what, felt flat and dull about this film.

The plot revolves around two magicians in London at the end of the 19th century. They start the story as friends, working in the same act, but then an accident happens and they end up bitter rivals. At first they try to ruin each other’s careers and lives, but soon both get caught up in “the ultimate trick” and try to figure out how it is done.

The plot unfolds through flashbacks and the reading of diaries, both men picking through the lives of the other. We start towards the end of the story, with Borden (Bale) in prison awaiting trial for the murder of Angier (Jackman), and at the end we return to that time for the grand finale.

All the acting is top-notch, but the story is a bit of a let down, and more than a little obvious. There are twists and turns, but all are signposted and although not everything turns out exactly as you might have thought, in most cases I could see what was going to happen. Then again I suppose that is part of the film, and for the most part the rest of the film makes up for this limitation.

What I really liked about The Prestige was the fact that there were no good guys and no bad guys, no one in a white hat to cheer on. Both rivals had their reasons for acting and the audience’s sympathies do switch from one to the other.

I did like the film, but I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed in it.

IMDb | SSD | Slant Magazine | Me against the Keyboard

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