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
Author: The Book Lover's Sanctuary
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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
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A Tale For The Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
I have an opinion. Just the one, but an opinion nonetheless. And my opinion is this: that most writing is, at least in part and at least tangentially, about the writing process itself. Books about books, about creation, about reading, about interpretation. How much reading do we come across in books? Ozeki seems to share… Continue reading A Tale For The Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
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The Testament of Mary, Colm Tóibín
I was hugely looking forward to this novel - although at 100 pages, novelette may be a more apt title - which failed to win the Man Booker prize last night. It is the story of Mary. That Mary. Mother of Jesus, Bearer of God, Theotokos, the Madonna. Of all figures to try to give… Continue reading The Testament of Mary, Colm Tóibín
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Broken Homes, Ben Aaronovitch
This is the fourth in Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series - see previous blog posts for my thoughts on Rivers of London, Moon Over Soho and Whispers Under Ground. There is a different feel to this book from the previous ones and, to my mind, a welcome change. There is a greater focus on the quest… Continue reading Broken Homes, Ben Aaronovitch
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The Woman In Black, Susan Hill
Miniature review due to absence of Internet and wifi. In fact, only now possible because phone can - sometimes - get some reception... Somewhat uncomfortably, I finished reading this book this morning. At about 7:30. As my 12 week old daughter lay asleep in my arms. It made the final chapter particularly unnerving! This is… Continue reading The Woman In Black, Susan Hill
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Zom-B, Darren Shan
Miniature review due to absence of Internet and wifi. In fact, only now possible because phone can - sometimes - get some reception... I bought this for my son and wanted to cast my eye over it before he read it. He is only twelve and these are zombies. My ears still ring with his… Continue reading Zom-B, Darren Shan
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The Long Earth, Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Miniature review due to absence of Internet and wifi. In fact, only now possible because phone can - sometimes - get some reception... I can imagine the genesis of this novel. It seems to have started as an idea, a concept. A damned good idea but very much an idea rather than a novel. I… Continue reading The Long Earth, Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
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I am Pilgrim, Terry Hayes
Miniature review due to absence of Internet and wifi. In fact, only now possible because phone can - sometimes - get some reception... There was quite considerable hype about this book online which led to my getting it: phrases like Bondesque and Bournesque appear to have been coined in order to describe it. It is… Continue reading I am Pilgrim, Terry Hayes
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A Feast For Crows, George R. R. Martin
Miniature review due to absence of Internet and wifi. In fact, only now possible because phone can - sometimes - get some reception... I teach. Summer holidays are great times to read. I expect to get a lot read so I thought this was an apt time for the next instalment of Martin's Song of… Continue reading A Feast For Crows, George R. R. Martin
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The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, Neil Gaiman
There is only really one word to describe this book. Perfect. Absolutely and undoubtedly, a perfect book. Powerful, moving, honest. A true book. A summary of the plot here will not serve to convey its power. Go out and read this book. In my own small way, however, here goes. The adult narrator returns to… Continue reading The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, Neil Gaiman
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Neil Gaiman and mothers
What is it with Neil Gaiman and mothers? I am in the midst of listening to the wonderful The Ocean at the End of the Lane - personally, I think that this book is going to be a clear favourite from Gaiman who is already one of my favourite authors! - read by Gaiman himself.… Continue reading Neil Gaiman and mothers
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Deadline, Mira Grant
In education, there is a chap by the name of Dylan Wiliam who espouses the theory that one shouldn't give grades out. Children look at their grade and either think "yeah, that's good enough" or they think "I'm a failure and there's no point in trying". Dylan Wiliam tells us that we should just give… Continue reading Deadline, Mira Grant
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Feed, Mira Grant
I'm a sensitive soul, me. I like books and words; I wear my heart on my sleeve. I cringe at the sight of gore and blood. So why have I been immersing myself in gore recently? The Passage and The Twelve by Justin Cronin and now Feed, book one of the Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira… Continue reading Feed, Mira Grant
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Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
Fantasy is my (not so) secret (not so) guilty pleasure in reading. Fantasy introduced me to reading through The Hobbit and Tolkien. Fantasy was my escape from teenage tedium ... my family was far too middle class to have angst! And I still enjoy a healthy dollop of fantasy, as readers of this blog will… Continue reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
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The Tiger’s Bride, Angela Carter
Continuing through The Bloody Chamber, we come upon The Tiger's Bride, a second re-imagining of the Beauty and The Beast fairytale. Here, we are even further away from the traditional or Disneyfied incarnations of the story and it strikes the reader as a much darker tale than The Courtship of Mr Lyon with which it… Continue reading The Tiger’s Bride, Angela Carter
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The Courtship of Mr Lyon, Angela Carter
Beauty and the Beast has to be one of my favourite fairy tales! Ever! It's a deliciously evocative tale exploring the male and the female and, even in the Disney film version, Beauty is a strikingly self-assured and confidant woman. Carter's version is very pared down: there is very little detail of anything except for… Continue reading The Courtship of Mr Lyon, Angela Carter
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Inferno, Dan Brown
I have used the metaphor of food to describe reading for many years now. Some books are hearty, healthy and honest like a rare steak; some are delicate and fragile, like over-wrought sugar work in a pretentious restaurant, beautiful to look at but whimsical, self-indulgent and lacking taste; some are fun, entertaining chocolates and candies;… Continue reading Inferno, Dan Brown
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The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter
Angela Carter is just bloody brilliant! I mean bloody brilliant! Being just a man, lacking in x-chromosomes, I'm sure I'm missing much of her political feminist subtlety but as a writer she blows me away! The balance she holds between the real, the fantastical and the macabre is fantastic. Take this first eponymous tale in… Continue reading The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter
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Let The Right One In, John Ajvide Lindquist
Its odd how my book reading lurks in certain genres for a while: after a crime spree, I notice a range of horror books collecting on the pages of this blog - with more on my to-be-read list. I wonder what it is with Scandi-Lit. Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy; Jo Nesbø; Mons Kallentoft ... There… Continue reading Let The Right One In, John Ajvide Lindquist
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Poll: Carnegie 2013
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The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, Mark Hodder
Some books are born great. Some books achieve greatness. Some books have greatness thrust upon them. This book is not one of them. It's not great. It's not beautifully written. It's not literary. But it is immensely fun! Mark Hodder propels us into Victorian London: the search for the source of the Nile, Stanley, Livingstone,… Continue reading The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, Mark Hodder
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