I suppose to have not enjoyed three books all year isn't too bad...
Month: Dec 2013
The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion
Well, that was a quick read! I was browsing various book lists with a view to spending some Christmas money and The Guardian's Independent Bookshop review of 2013 cropped up with this book. It is, at heart, a romance novel which is certainly not a usual genre for me. The main character, Don Tillsen in… Continue reading The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion
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2013 in books
My pick of books from those I’ve read in 2013
2013 drags itself damply and limply to an end this week. Unlike Dr Who, whose Matt Smith incarnation went out on Christmas Day with a bang, the final days of 2013 remind me of the lines from Eliot
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
Anyway, I thought that I would bring the year to a close with a review of 2013 in books. And, to preface, this is books read by me in 2013 rather than written in 2013. There are still some 2013 books I’ve not got round to reading yet: The Luminaries and Jim Crace’s Harvest among them.
So. Here goes.
Top of my list is the Man Booker shortlisted A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.
Utterly compelling and intriguing narrative voices, engaging…
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The Twelve, Justin Cronin
It's a strange thing with books. You can start one - particularly a lengthy one like this - and things get in the way of you finishing it. That's not the strange thing. That - I imagine - is familiar. Maybe you put it down because work has become hectic or your baby is born… Continue reading The Twelve, Justin Cronin
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Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett
You can't go wrong with Pratchett: he never fails to offer up decent stories with a sparkle of wit, a smattering of engaging characters and a bucketload of humanity - in all its various forms and species! And Raising Steam continues the pattern: here, Ankh-Morpork's journey towards modernity is quite literally driven by the arrival… Continue reading Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett
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Adlestrop, Edward Thomas
Adlestrop Yes, I remember Adlestrop -- The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June. The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was Adlestrop -- only the name And willows, willow-herb, and grass,… Continue reading Adlestrop, Edward Thomas
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Intertextuality in the The Woman in Black
Intertextuality is a strange idea. It's reasonable and intuitive that texts refer both backwards and forwards within themselves: how many stories and tales begin and end at the same place and setting? Detective fiction is built on the importance of small early details turning into clues to be resolved later. Anton Chekov went so far… Continue reading Intertextuality in the The Woman in Black
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Various Haunts Of Men, Susan Hill
I've enjoyed various Susan Hill novels: The Woman in Black and The Little Stranger in particular and so it was that I was looking forward to picking up on the Simon Serrailler crime series which I hadn't come across before. In honesty, I picked up A Question of Identity first which is the seventh in… Continue reading Various Haunts Of Men, Susan Hill
The Book Lovers' Sanctuary 