San Francisco in 1940 is a haven for the unconventional. Tourists flock to the cities within the city: the Magic City of the World’s Fair on an island created of artifice and illusion; the forbidden city of Chinatown, a separate, alien world of exotic food and nightclubs that offer “authentic” experiences, straight from the pages […]
Fifteen years ago, Susan Morrow left her first husband Edward Sheffield, an unpublished writer. Now, she’s enduring middle class suburbia as a doctor’s wife, when out of the blue she receives a package containing the manuscript of her ex-husband’s first novel. He writes asking her to read the book; she was always his best critic, […]
Novels of the Jaran, book 1 The Chapalii empire rules over all the known galaxy. Earth and all her allies have been subsumed, not conquered, into it. But no humans have any real understanding of exactly how Chapalii culture or society works. After Earth’s one rebellion they rewarded the leader, Charles Soerenson, with a dukedom, […]
Lennie is seventeen. Her mother went “exploring” when she was a baby, she lives with the Gran and her uncle Big, and until recently her older sister. But Bailey died suddenly, and now Lennie doesn’t have a sister any more. They were so close, they shared a room, they were always together, chatting sharing their […]
Ellis (Tye Sheridan) live in Arkansas, on a boat-house, floating on a river1. His father earns a living from the river, catching and selling fish. Ellis’ best friend, Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), lives with his uncle (Michael Shannon). He hasn’t got any parents. The boys have heard about a boat in a tree on one of […]
Another one from Mount TBR, recommended by Ellie of Curiosity killed the Bookworm. Kate is running away from her life. The stress of her life in Dublin has prompted some sort of a breakdown, or a burnout, she wants a complete break from that. So here she is, in Somerset, in an eventing yard, trying […]
Jude and Noah are as close as twins can be. They’re also as far apart as people can be. Because Noah tells us the early story, aged 13, while Jude tells the what happened after, aged 16. After what? Well, I can’t tell you that cause, you know, spoilers. The story is told in alternate […]
At a market in Lahore our narrator, Changez, meets an unidentified American and offer to assist him in finding the best tea there is. He guides him to a cafe and begins to tell him his life story. The entire book is Changez revealing his past to this man. Changez is from Lahore, but he […]
Part of my RIP IX reading. R is a zombie. He is not quite sure how long he’s been a zombie and he has no idea what he was before he was a zombie. He is content to be a zombie, with his zombie wife and zombie kids, and going out to hunt and eat. […]
When the aliens came it was nothing like the way science fiction and popular culture had predicted it. There was no invasion, instead they were refugees. Their own planet had collapsed, killing the majority, only a few escaped. Earth took them in and began to integrate them into human culture. Of course there were plenty […]
Jane Eyre’s parents die when she is an infant, and she is taken in by her uncle. Her uncle also dies, after obtaining a promise from his wife that she will care for Jane. So Mrs Reed is forced into looking after this unwanted child. And she punishes her for it. She never shows love […]
Part of my Once Upon a Time reading. George is an American ex-pat living in England. He has been there for so long that, and is so unlike the stereotypical “loud American” that most people require convincing of that fact. He lives a quiet, almost content life, but a somewhat lonely one. He gets on […]