The alchemist and the angel by Joanne Owen
Jan lives with his aunt and uncle. His parents died of the plague and he had to leave his home village and move to Vienna. At first he is, understandably withdrawn...
14 January 2012
A summer of drowning by John Burnside
It is summer time on the island of Kvaloya, the time of the midnight sun. And Mats Sigfridsson has just drowned. Soon after his brother Harald also drowns. How could they...
4 January 2012
In defence of dogs by John Bradshaw
I watch The Dog Whisperer, and while I enjoy it I’m often put off by Milan’s insistence that the dog wants to be the dominate one of the partnership. And the...
28 September 2011
Keepsakes and treasures (Fragile things week 3) by Neil Gaiman
Spoilers The narrator starts this story by telling us that we can call him a bastard if we like, well I do like. And I don’t mean bastard in the parentage...
25 September 2011
Bitter grounds (Fragile things week 3) by Neil Gaiman
Spoilers ahead! What makes you want to abandon your life? To chuck it all and just leave? In Bitter grounds we are never told exactly why the narrator leaves his home,...
25 September 2011
Closing time (Fragile things week 2) by Neil Gaiman
Watch out for spoilers below. This is more of a discussion about rather than a review of sort of post. Yet another story within a story. Of course, that is a...
25 September 2011
The Flints of Memory Lane (Fragile things week 2) by Neil Gaiman
As usual with these group reads a spoiler warning is in full effect. They are discussion posts rather than reviews. Things that are “story-shaped” are explainable. Explicable even. But real life...
25 September 2011
The Fairy Reel (Fragile things group read, Week1) by Neil Gaiman
Third post on the group read of Fragile Things. I started with the introduction, where some people like to start, then the first story, A study in emerald which was very...
11 September 2011
Wolf by Gillian Cross
Cassy lives with her grandmother. Her practical, sensible, responsible grandmother. Her mother is a dreamer, unable to look after herself let alone her daughter. And her father, well, no one ever...
21 August 2011
Heartless by Gail Carriger
An Alexia Tarabotti novel, The Parasol Protectorate: Book the Fourth The first book in this series introduced us to our heroine, Alexia Tarabotti, and in some ways the very first line...
19 August 2011
I capture the castle by Dodie Smith
Cassandra Mortmain’s father is a famous writer; unfortunatley he has been suffering from writer’s block for years. Her mother is dead, but she has a lovely stepmother now in Topaz. She also has a younger brother Thomas, and and older sister, Rose. And then there is Stephen, who has grown up with them, not forgetting the dog Heloise and the cat Abelard. They live in a ruin of a castle in England, and have no income. Which means no money for clothes, repairs, rent, or food. They have sold everything worth selling. And then the two Cotton brothers arrive on the scene.
18 June 2011
The heroes by Joe Abercrombie
The forces of the Union are about to meet those of the North in battle. Over the next three days war will be waged, and men will die. Or become heroes. Or something in between. This is the story of those bloody days, the story of the men, and occasional women, on both sides who fight.
17 May 2011
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