Read for this year’s RIP event. Part of The Estella Society’s readalong, although a much delayed addition. The story opens with a happy scene at Hundreds Hall, our narrator is remembering how grand the house was. How impressive it was … Continue reading
Tag Archives: unreliable narrator
10 June 2012
Call no: 800
Genre: detective & mystery, sff
Setting: Dream Archipelego
5 Stars
2 Comments
The Islanders by Christopher Priest
I have no idea what to say about this book. I have no idea what it is all about. But I suppose I should make some sort of an effort. The Islanders is not really a story, it is a … Continue reading
10 May 2012
Call no: 800
Genre: historical, Juv/YA
Setting: 1940s, France
9 Stars
7 Comments
Code name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Received free from NetGalley “Verity” has been captured by the Germans. Held in a converted hotel in France she is tortured and forced to give up all her secrets. But in her confession and her report on all her secrets … Continue reading
25 May 2011
Call no: 800
Genre: sff, short stories
Setting: contemporary
7 Stars
4 Comments
The therapist by Jeffery Deaver
Martin Kobel specialises in helping people. That’s his job, as a therapist, people in need come to him and he helps them. And when he bumps into Annabelle Young at a cafe he sees in her someone he can help. But she hasn’t asked him for help, he passes her his card, hoping that will prompt her to ask for assistance. That doesn’t work. And she is a teacher, her trouble could easily damage a whole class of young impressionable children. He has to do something.
28 April 2011
Call no: 800
Genre: sff
Setting: The four corners of civilisation
9 Stars
3 Comments
The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
ISBN: 9780575088078 The Kingkiller Chronicle, Day two Read for the Once Upon a Time V reading challenge, see what every one’s been reading on the review site ; Quotes I liked are on Tumblr. Bast slouched against the long stretch … Continue reading
17 November 2010
Genre: historical fiction, sff
Setting: Britain - Victorian, C19th, London
10 Comments
Drood by Dan Simmons
by Dan Simmons
On the 9th of June, 1865, ten passengers were killed when a train crashed at Staplehurst. Among the passengers who survived the disaster was the novelist Charles Dickens. Meeting his friend, Wilkie Collins, soon afterwards Dickens describes a strange individual he came across at the site of the crash. This man, Drood, is to drag both Dickens and Collins into the depths of Victorian London’s criminal and poverty stricken underbelly. Will he also lead to murder and insanity?
12 September 2010
Genre: detective & mystery, historical fiction
Setting: Britain - Civil War & Revolution, England
4 Comments
An instance of the fingerpost by Iain Pears
By Iain Pears
This was a wonderful read. When I first started it I had no idea what to expect; I knew nothing about it apart from the fact that it was an Historical Favorites pick and so, most likely, an historical novel :). It opens with Marco da Cola setting down his recollections of his time spent in England. He travelled over in an attempt to help with his family’s business troubles. However there was little he could do and soon he found himself in Oxford among the professionals there and became embroiled in the case of Sarah Blundy, and the possible murder of Robert Grove. As well as delving into medical experiments with blood transfusion.
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7 December 2008
Genre: general fiction
2 Comments
A Partisan’s Daughter by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Louis de Bernières
ISBN: 9781846551420 I am not the sort of man who goes to prostitutes. Well, I suppose that every man would say that. People would disbelieve it just because you felt you have to say it. I’m quite a fan of … Continue reading
22 November 2008
Call no: 800
Genre: detective & mystery
Setting: 1930s, Shanghai
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When we were orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
ISBN: 057120516x ; Other Reviews It was the summer of 1923, the summer I came down from Cambridge, when despite my aunt’s wishes that I return to Shropshire, I decided my future lay in the capital and took up a … Continue reading
8 June 2008
Genre: general fiction, sff
5 Comments
The Affirmation by Christopher Priest
ISBN: 9780575075771 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, … Continue reading
