Finished the book – what a great story. I was completely hooked once I got to part two.
The Story: Lyra, a young girl, has grown up pretty much wild in Jordan College, Oxford. This Oxford is located in an alternate reality world that is in some ways like our own, and in some ways vastly different. Like people have dæmons, creatures that are like projections of their master’s soul, are inseperable from them and die with them. When “Gobblers” begin to steal children and take Lyra’s friend Roger, she desperately wants to do something about it. When a gang of “gyptians” (like gypsies in our world) decide they want to go and find the children and free them (having lost many of their own to the Gobblers), Lyra goes with them to the Arctic region to help out. After adventures involving Tartars, an armoured bear, witches and scientists, she ends up on another quest that will take her on to even greater adventures, for she has a Destiny she is unaware of.
Technique and plot: I think I will wait to discuss this until I have read the whole story – two more books: The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
Rating: This is quite a good book, wonderful storytelling, both for children and adults, but I will not give it any stars yet. I will rate all three books together as a whole.
I'm about halfway into The Golden Compass and it's great. A captivating story, and yet not so much that I feel I need to read it all in one sitting. Much better written and plotted than the last two Harry Potters, and although it is supposed to be a story for children/teenagers, it's still enjoyable for adults.
Week 23.1: His Dark Materials I: The Golden Compass
Alternative (British) title: Northern Lights Author: Philip Pullman Year published: 1995 Genre: Fantasy, children’s Where got: Public library
I've wanted to read this book for a long time, but not enough to buy it (I may change my mind after reading it). Finally found a copy when I went exploring the suburban branches of the Reykjavik city library. I'm looking forward to start reading it.
Went to explore the new location of my favourite second-hand bookshop (which I approve of, although some of the mystery is gone – along with the mustiness) and came home with this book. It’s the second in a series, with all the books titled Face Down “something” .
Author: Kathy Lynn Emerson Year published: 1998 Genre: Mystery Sub-genre(s): Historical Where got: Second-hand book store Cover image
The Story: Susanna, Lady Appleton, is sent to Madderly Castle, ostensibly to help Lady Madderly finish a book on herbology, but in reality to provide an excuse for her husband, Robert, to come there to investigate the murder of a man who was apparently involved in a conspiracy against queen Elizabeth I. Shortly after arriving, the body count starts to mount and Susanna’s young protége, Catherine, falls in love with of one of the prime suspects. Solving the crimes takes the combined efforts of Susanna, Catherine, Robert and a couple of other people working together.
Technique and plot: I have to admit that I have yet to come across a historical mystery series that equals Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael series, but this will do nicely.
This is a cleverly set up murder mystery that relies upon the premise so favoured by Agatha Christie: all the primary suspects being still present at the scene of the crime when the investigation takes place. It takes the investigators almost the whole book to discover whether the murders were politically motivated or not, the first victim having been suspected of treason and the murderer possibly an accomplice. An experienced reader of mysteries will have guessed the killer’s identity before too many chapters, but will still be kept in doubt as to the motive and correctness of the guess nearly until the end. The inclusion of a romance is a nice touch, especially as the reader is given ample reason to believe that the man Catherine falls in love with might be the killer. Emerson does not fall into the trap some mystery authors are wont to, namely to make the reader dislike the killer (one of the few things I don’t like about The Cat Who series).
The narrative contains some unnecessary but mouth-watering descriptions of food and likewise unnecessarily detailed descriptions of herbal remedies. Being that so much is made of the fact that Lady Appleton is a herbalist and an expert on poisons, I expected this expertize of hers to be in some way related to the investigation, but it was merely used as a device to bring her to the murder scene.
This is quite an interesting mystery – Emerson has found a niche in the mystery market by choosing a era not many mystery authors seem interested in. The language seems genuine enough, with a suitable sprinkling of archaisms and old-fashioned word order, which unfortunately sometimes leaks out into the narrative.
Rating: An interesting mystery that will keep fans of historical mysteries occupied for an afternoon. 3 stars.
I have sometimes wondered just how many great books have been passed over by critics and readers because of a misleading, boring or clichéd title. Titles are such an important selling point of books that it’s a real pity when a good book is given a bad title. A good title – whether it be catchy, original or apt, or even all three - can do so much for a book: make you pick it up, look at the cover, read the blurb, peek inside, even buy it. I have, on occasion, bought books just because they had a good title, and although there have been some lemons among them, they have been outnumbered by the good reads. However, I don’t let a bad title stop me from reading a book – it just takes me longer to decide if I want to read it or not.
The worst kinds of titles in my opinion are a) dull b) clichéd c) cheesy/cutesy.
Most non-fiction titles – especially those of manuals and textbooks - are by necessity often dull and utilitarian because they will sell better if they state exactly what kind of book is behind the title. Not so with fiction and certain kinds of non-fiction, like popular history. People who read fiction do so because they want to escape into a different world for a while. They want to be dazzled, or at least entertained, emotionally moved, inspired or made to laugh. What they don’t want is a title that suggests a computer manual. This calls for titles that will invoke curiosity and draw the reader to the book.
I have on my reading desk three books that will serve well to illustrate the point I’m trying to make. They are popular history books – a genre that often benefits from inventive titles even if it is non-fiction. All are about the same subject – women travellers - approaching it from different angles.
The first is simply titled Victorian Lady Travellers, a utilitarian title that tells the reader exactly what the book is about, but is rather dull. I probably would have passed it over it if hadn’t been sitting on a shelf in the library close to the third title.
The second is Unsuitable for Ladies, and the subject matter is given in the subtitle: “An anthology of women travellers”. This is immediately better: here we have a title that perfectly captures the historical attitude towards female travellers and evokes a curiosity about the contents. (This, by the way, is a brilliant collection of excerpts from women’s travel memoirs that I would recommend to anyone who is interested in travel writing. It has led me to read in full several of the books the excerpts came from.)
The third book is Spinsters Abroad, again with the subject matter in the subtitle: “Victorian Lady Explorers”. This is, in my opinion, the best of the three titles: it’s snappy and playful, and although “spinsters” is not a very positive word, it perfectly captures the nature of the book and the attitudes these women travellers encountered. This is the kind of title that draws you in – when I first spotted it in the library the only hint about it being a history book and not a novel was its location, and I just had to pick it up to find out what it was about.
Author: Peter Mayle Year published: 1991 Genre: Biography, living abroad Sub-genre(s): People and places Where got: Second-hand bookstore Cover image
The Story: Unlike the first book in the series, there is no story this time, just chapters on various subjects, ranging from the truffle business, to singing toads, to being a celebrity, wine tasting, turning fifty, eating wonderful food, living in a tourist area and so on.
Technique: Written in the same light and humourous style as the previous book, but in some ways a better book. There is no attempt at telling a story, this is just a collection of anecdotes. In A Year in Provence, Mayle connected the chapters together by telling the story of the renovations being made on his house, and it made the book ramble a bit. Here, he is writing for people who have read the first book and know who the people he’s talking about are, so there is no need to introduce any of them, and it makes for a more flowing narrative.
This book did for me what the other one couldn’t: It made me want to visit Provence.
Rating: The charming second installation in Peter Mayle’s saga of life in Provence. 3+ stars.
Original title: Las Piadosas Author: Federico Andahazi, translated from Spanish by Albert Manguel Year published: 1998 (original), 2000 (translation) Genres: Fantasy, gothic horror Subgenre: (dark) humour Where got: Public library
I have already mentioned the suggestive and rather tasteless cover image of this book - indeed it was the first cover I put in my gallery of bad cover art. Well, behind this tasteless cover there lurks a rather entertaining story.
The Story: In the wet summer of 1816, five people arrive at the Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Leman: Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Godwin and her stepsister, Claire Clairmont, and John Polidori, Byron’s secretary. Upon arriving, Polidori finds a mysterious letter in his room, written by a monster who proposes a deal with him: something of his in exchange for literary fame. Polidori, who has suffered much humiliation at the hands of his employer, accepts the deal, but not before further humiliations and events that convince the others that he is going mad.
Technique and plot: The translation is fluid and beautifully done and the book comes across as if it had been written in English. The style is reminiscent of Poe and Lovecraft, and the “monster” is indeed something that Lovecraft could have created. The mixture of third person narrative with the first person epistolatory form gives a nicely balanced account of, on the one hand, Polidori’s despair and irrationality in the company of those so much more accomplished than himself, and on the other, Annette Legrand’s story which is full of horror and strange self-satisfaction. The narrative is darkly humorous, grotesque, cheeky and disrespectful of the main character’s literary and personal aspirations. Andahazi is not kind to his poor protagonist…
I loved the ending, which is something of a twist and would advise anyone who habitually peeks at the ending of books to resist the urge with this one, at least if there is any intention of reading it. But of course the ending isn’t funny unless you have read the entire book…
I have always had problems with authors seizing historical characters and writing novels about them – why can’t they invent their own characters? For example, I hated Brian Aldiss’ Frankenstein Unbound where he writes about the fantasy of fucking Mary Shelley, but I did find this story rather good, perhaps because it is about a person who is more of a footnote in literary history than any kind of contender for real literary immortality (he did write what has been acknowledged to be the first vampire novel, but it isn’t very good).
Rating: A dark and cheeky vampire story with a difference. 4 stars.
Title:Morality for Beautiful Girls Author: Alexander McCall Smith Year published: 2001 Genre: Detective story, literature Where got: Public library Cover image
It’s easy to imagine you’re in Africa when you’re sweating away – the sun has been shining all day and the temperature inside my apartment is around 28°C and feels hotter.
The Story: The detective agency is having financial difficulties and to save money, Precious has moved the office to her fiancé’s office. Mr. Matekoni is not feeling well, but refuses to see a doctor, and Precious has to go away for a few days to find out if a client’s sister-in-law is really trying to poison her husband. Meanwhile, her assistant/secretary, Mma Makutsi, takes over both the agency and the garage and runs both with efficiency. While Precious is away, she is handed a case to solve, which relates to the book’s title.
Technique and plot: As with the other two books, the prose is beautiful in its simplicity, even poetic at times, and flows easily. These books just keep getting better, and I have begun to feel that Precious and Mr. Matekoni are real people and that Smith has merely been writing down their story.
Rating: A third, brilliant installation in the saga of Precious Ramotswe and her detective agency. 5 stars.
Title:The Cat Who Blew the Whistle Author: Lilian Jackson Braun Year published: 1995 Genre: Mystery Sub-genre(s): Whodunit Where got: Public library Cover image
Of the Cat Who books I’ve read, this is probably the most mysterious mystery – although in the end it turned out I had guessed correctly the identity of one of the criminals, I did get another one wrong and was uncertain about the other right until the denouement. Unlike the previous books I have read in the series, this one definitely hints at Koko the cat being psychic rather than merely very intelligent, which is fine by me but may detract from the enjoyment by some readers who don’t like cats.
Rating: Another great mystery from Lilian Jackson Braun. 4 stars and 5 purrs.
I have been on a reading spree for the past few days – one or two books per day, so there will be an unusually large number of bonus reviews during this week. I love being on holiday!
Author: Lilian Jackson Braun Year published: 1987 Genre: Mystery Sub-genre(s): Whodunit Where got: Public library
This is the fifth Cat Who… book, and just as enjoyable as the other ones I’ve read in the series. These delightful mysteries are short enough to make a nice diversion for a couple of hours, and they never fail to entertain.
The Story: Chicago journalist Jim Qwilleran has decided to write a novel and has accepted the offer of a country cabin somewhere “up north” for the summer. The owner is Aunt Fanny, an old friend of his mother’s. Once he arrives with his cats, mysterious events start happening, a neighbour is murdered, Qwilleran may have witnessed another murder, and the locals aren’t about to let an outsider dig any deeper than necessary. Just when the mystery is solved, Qwilleran has to make a choice between going back to Chicago and accepting a job as an investigative journalist (something he has always wanted to do), or to become very wealthy and spend the next five years living in Moose County.
Technique and plot: As with the other Braun books I’ve read, this is written in an easy and flowing style, with wonderful descriptions of people and places. The plot is well laid out and not too predictable, and, this being the oldest Cat Who book I’ve read, it explains quite a number of things I had wondered about when reading the other books.
Rating: A delightful little mystery with especial appeal to cat lovers. 3 stars and 4 purrs.
The Story: There isn’t really a story as such, this being mostly a collection of articles about the mating habits of New Yorkers that appeared in Bushnell’s newspaper column, but some of the same people pop up repeatedly and you get to know something about them and their relationships with each other and others. Sex, dating, marriage and the attendant social rituals are the order of the day, and are sometimes investigated through conversations between people comparing notes on the subject and sometimes as little story vignettes that illustrate the subject. Faithful viewers of the TV series will recognise most of the subjects: “modelizers”, psycho moms, swinging, serial daters, toxic bachelors and perennially single women, and of course Carrie’s relationship with Mr. Big. They will also recognise many of the characters, but may be shocked to find that some of the people in the book have almost nothing in common with their namesakes from the series. The first two-thirds or so of the book is a collection of articles about the above subjects and more, and the last chapters are mostly a chronicle of the relationship between Carrie and Mr. Big.
Technique and plot: The book is written in a breezy, journalistic style, which is no surprise considering where the articles originally appeared. Bushnell has a good ear for dialogue and writes conversations that sound real (unlike some writers I might mention).
Although I read most of the book in one sitting, I would recommend reading it more slowly, maybe one or two chapters at a time.
Rating: A fascinating record of New York social life in the 1990’s, and a must for everyone who loved the TV series. 3 stars.
I’ve decided to set up a gallery of bad cover art and will be adding cover images to it as and when I come across them.
This first example shows what can happen when a designer has good artistic intentions but hasn’t thought out the implications of the image. To me it looks like a statue committing buggery with a bat.
Author: Candace Bushnell Year published: 1996 Genre: Social life and customs Sub-genre(s): Sex, dating, relationships Where got: Public library Cover image
Came across this while browsing in the library and decided to give it a go. It will be interesting to see what the book that spawned the hit TV series is like.
Author: Neil Gaiman Year published: 2002 Genre: Horror, thriller, children’s Where got: Public library Cover image
The Story: One day, Coraline Jones opens a locked door inside her parent’s apartment and enters a world where she has another, oddly different, set of parents waiting for her. At first it’s wonderful, but it quickly becomes apparent that her other mother has no intention of letting her go. Coraline must use all her ingenuity and imagination to free the other children that have been trapped in there and rescue her real parents from this strange world and its evil ruler.
Technique and plot: Wonderfully written in the flowing lyrical style that made Stardust such a joy to read. The story is simple but good and everything is very matter-of-fact, which is why the dark subject matter never becomes too scary. Coraline is a very practical child, unlike the very silly Alice from Alice in Wonderland, to which this book has been likened by reviewers.
Rating: A wonderful, scary story for children that is destined to become a classic. 5 stars.
Finished it this afternoon. This is a book that is best read in broad daylight – not that it kept me awake or gave me nightmares, but it took me quite a bit longer than usual to fall asleep after reading the first two chapters at bedtime.
The Story: Two young women, Eleanor and Theodora arrive at Hill House, a fancy country mansion, to meet Dr. Montague, a researcher of psychic phenomena who has asked them to help him investigate the apparently haunted house. The fourth member of the team is Luke, the rakish future heir to the house. Right from the day of arrival, it is apparent that this is a strange and unusual place, and as the days pass on, we get to know some of the apparent reasons for the strangeness of the house described by Dr. Montague as “…disturbed…. Leprous. Sick. Any of the popular euphemisms for insanity…” Strange things happen and hauntings occur, and the characters are affected in different ways as the house tries to scare and even possess them. Things come to a head when Mrs. Montague, the Doctor’s wife, arrives with an odious companion and tries to contact the spirits she believes are trapped in the house.
Technique and plot: This is a marvellously spooky story, and Jackson has managed quite well to build up suspense and a sense of creepiness right from chapter one. The suspense and horror are largely psychological, and it helps that we get to follow one character’s internal thoughts and feelings and her… I don’t know if I should call it descent into madness or opening up to possession by evil, but you see her get more and more disturbed – by turns elated or upset - as the narrative moves closer to the climax.
A comic interlude lightens the atmosphere just before the climax, making the climax and denouement all the more effective. The ending is both completely predictable and a total surprise, which is no small feat for any author.
Rating: A well crafted, suspenseful and spooky haunted house tale. 4 stars.
Author: Shirley Jackson Year published: 1959 Where got: Public library Genre: Horror Sub-genre: Haunted house tale Cover image
I started reading this book a couple of days ago and have finished the first two chapters. Although nothing supernatural has happened yet, a subtle sense of suspense and creepiness has started to build. So far, I’m reminded of the beginning of both the TV series Rose Red and the movie The Legend of Hell House, but I guess there are limited ways in which you can start a haunted house tale.
There is a curious snobbery going on among certain readers, and in fact among many non-readers as well. It’s quite normal for readers to shun genres they don’t like – I do that, although I’m doing less of it after I started this challenge - but a certain group turn up their noses at the people who read certain genres. The victims of this snobbery are on the one hand sci-fi and fantasy fans, and romance readers on the other. Being an avid reader of fantasy, I have noticed that that when I mention my literary preferences, these people seem to think I must be a kooky, head-in-the-clouds kind of person who doesn’t like having to deal with reality. However, fantasy/sci-fi fans seem to get off lightly compared with romance fans.
The literary snobs seem to be under the impression that all romances are formulaic, escapist, mindless and simplistic soft porn written by women for women, that no one in her right mind would read and the readers must therefore be weak minded, badly educated and lovelorn. The same persons will wax lyrical about romantic classics like Pride and Prejudice, Gone With the Wind and Wuthering Heights. Confronted with this contradiction, they will point out that these books are “so much more than love stories”. Well, so are romances.
You can get books listed as romances where the focus is on social manners and adventure and hero and heroine don’t even acknowledge their love or kiss until the very end of the book (for example most of Barbara Cartland and many Regency and historical romances). You can also find romance books where nearly all the protagonists do is jump in and out of each other’s beds between arguments (many bodice rippers). Most romances take the middle ground, mixing romance with other plot elements, the nature of which depends on the sub-genre.
There are many romance sub-genres that are as different from each other as crime thrillers are from inspirational stories, and in fact these are both well-known romance sub-genres. Other sub-genres include medical, supernatural, fantasy, science fiction, historical and baby romances. Take any of the classics I mentioned, and you will find that although they are not pure romances, romance is a sub-genre of all of them.
Now, on a certain level I understand these snobs – they have been taught that certain kinds of literature are better than others, and in fact they probably wouldn’t admit that paperback romances are literature. I know some of my old English Lit. teachers think like that. But what I really don’t get is when people who profess to read popular literature authors like Stephen King and John Grisham really think they have a right to look down on people who prefer Nora Roberts and Nicholas Sparks.
Author: Alexander McCall Smith Year published: 2000 Where got: Public library Genre: Detective story, literature Cover image
Had a sleepless night and rather than allow myself to be frustrated over it, I decided to read a book and picked Tears of the Giraffe, the second of Alexander McCall Smith’s books about Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s only lady private detective. The first one was the wonderful The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
The story: Precious has been handed her most difficult case to date: to find out what happened to a young American who disappeared on the edge of the Kalahari desert 10 years ago. In the meantime, Mr. Matekoni gets talked into taking on a pair of orphans, and his maid plots to get rid of Precious so she can continue to meet her male “friends” at Mr. Matekoni’s house during the day. Last, but not least, Precious’ secretary, Mma Makutsi, gets promoted to assistant detective and gets her first case.
Technique and plot: As in the previous book, there are multiple plots in this one, although not as many. The previous book was a collection of stories with only a vague narrative thread. This one has a clear narrative thread with the occasional independent story thrown in. The narrative is written in the same beautiful, fluid and simple language as the first book, and there is a good deal of philosophy in the story. I love how, without going into too many details, Smith can make the reader feel as if she is in Africa.
Rating: Another great Precious Ramotswe story, even better than the first. 4+ stars.
The late Georgette Heyer is usually considered to have been the mother of that very popular romance sub-genre, the Regency romance. As the name suggests, those stories take place in England during the Regency period and Regency social customs, manners and language play an important part. The Regency is of course also the period when the books of Jane Austen take place, which perhaps partly explains the popularity of this sub-genre. I will now turn the explaining over to those dedicated ladies at All About Romance:
Author: Monique Ellis Year published: 1999 Where got: public library Genre: Romance, Regency Cover image
I mentioned earlier that I wanted to add a bit of romance to my reading list. Well, I posted a request on a romance readers message board and got oodles of suggestions. Guess what – the city library has maybe 2 out of about 40 recommended books, and those are located in branches out in the suburbs. Did I mention I live in the city centre and I don’t have a car? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. After all this is Iceland and I can’t expect the library to have every foreign book I want.
So I went back and picked up some likely looking books that looked as if they weren’t too torrid – no bodice rippers for me, at least not yet…
Anyway, Dauntry’s Dilemma was one of the books I came home with.
The story: The year is 1813 and former British army officer Quintus Dauntry has been called home to the ancestral estate in order to deal with the family ghost which has reappeared after an absence of a century or more. His parents and older brother and his family have decamped, leaving Dauntry alone with the servants, in full control of the estate finances and with the instructions to do whatever it takes to get rid of the ghost before it causes irreparable harm. Suspecting the servants of conspiring to scare the profligate viscount into doing his duty by the parish – which he has been neglecting in favour of trying to be fashionable – Dauntry sets out to make amends. His first action is to visit the parish priest where he is instantly smitten by the priest’s widowed sister – Cecelia Walters - and charmed by her son, Thomas. When he discovers that Cecelia and Tommy have been cheated out of their inheritance by her harridan of a mother-in-law, Dauntry and his band of merry friends set out to regain the inheritance for her. This he does even though it means he will not be able to ask her to marry him because it would look like he, a penniless younger son, had married her for her money, an action which would carry great negative social consequences for him. Of course the ending is a happy one and with the ghost’s help Dauntry is able to marry his love without any social stigma.
Technique and plot: This is for the most part a rather slow narrative, only picking up speed in the second half when Dauntry and friends go to London to try to solve Cecelia and Thomas’ problem. The romance element is subtle – we are basically watching a man falling in love and trying not to show it. It is for the most part well written, but I found some of the dialogue completely unintelligible – I think the author may have been trying too hard to use phraseology that sounded authentic. As to Dauntry’s dilemma: not being able to marry Cecelia once she’s restored to her riches because he will be considered to be a gold-digger; it comes across to me as a case of foolish pride – if he really loves her so much, who does he even care if he ruins his gentlemanly reputation for her? Marriages for money were hardly an uncommon occurrence in those days, even among the gentry and nobility, some of whom married people of lower social status merely for money. In Regency society it would have been practically expected of someone like Dauntry – a younger son, not entitled to inherit title, land or property – to marry for money. The author tries her best to convince us that Dauntry loves Cecelia with all his heart and is at the same time such an honourable man that he will not ruin his reputation by marrying her, but this plot device isn't quite convincing. Mind you, it does make a good story anyway, and it’s perhaps wisest not to expect too much historical accuracy from a narrative that is meant to entertain rather than educate.
Rating: A sweet, romantic story with a supernatural element and a bit of action. 3 stars.
There’s nothing like a case of the flu to keep you indoors and reading when the weather is sunny and warm. At least I’ve finished the book of the week a couple of days ahead of schedule.
The story: This is not a mystery as I first thought it was, but a thriller, or perhaps it might be called an insider mystery, as the reader knows who the villain is nearly the whole time. In this particular edition, the blurb cleverly gives a hint, but I at least didn’t catch on to it until I reached the chapter where the villain’s identity is revealed, and then I turned to the blurb and went “a-ha!”
Through the first chapters of the book we are gradually introduced to a family, some who live at a mansion called The Sanctuary, the rest coming there often to spend time with the family. The gardens are open to the public, because, as with many of Britain’s old landed families, they can’t afford to keep the gardens in shape without the entry fees from the public. When mysterious, apparently supernatural events start taking place, no one is sure what is happening and The Sanctuary seems posed to turn into a haunted house.
The technical points: The story is quite well written, and the twists well worked out. It starts rather slowly, with a bit of underlying menace that is introduced through a nervous child who gets scared of the smallest things.
Unfortunately the character development is not quite as good as it should be. None of the victims in the story are really drawn as sympathetic characters. They are, in fact, rather colourless - not unsympathetic, just bland. They are so harmless and normal that you almost feel as if they deserve to be shaken up a bit, but only almost.
The villain, or should I say villainess, is the most strongly drawn character, and you do almost feel sorry for her, even if her revenge scheme is rather on the extreme side. But of course she is insane, so it no wonder. There were times when I wanted to reach out and stop her, help her to forget about her crazy scheme and get on with her life. She does become less sympathetic as the story draws nearer to the end and her scheming becomes more extreme.
This was not what I expected – I had been expecting a mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie, and this thriller element was quite unexpected, but not unpleasantly so. Dickens gives the villainess real reasons and motives and shows us her innermost feelings and thoughts, enabling us to feel sorry for her, instead of simply portraying her as an unsympathetic, rampaging madwoman like many writers would have.
Rating: A good psycho thriller, where the villain is actually shown as a real person rather than the pure evil some authors might have been tempted to write. 3 stars.
Author: Monica Dickens Year published: 1990 Where got: Bookstore (sale) Genre: Thriller, mystery Cover image
I was going to read Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum as this week’s book, but I’m too busy right now to read such a long and dense text in only one week. Instead I have switched to another mystery that is shorter and less demanding.
I’ve read several of Monica Dickens’ children’s books and the autobiographical book One Pair of Feet, about her experiences as a nursing student during World War 2. It will be interesting to see how I like her adult fiction.
Bonus movie review: Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban
Saw the third Harry Potter movie last night and liked it. It’s better than the first two and captures some of the magic of Rowling’s books, as well as the underlying darkness of the story, something the other two didn’t do nearly as well. It also feels more natural and less closed in than the other movies – we finally get to see more of the Hogwarts grounds and are able to put it in some perspective. It looks great, the scenery is stunning, the colours are rich without being gaudy and the attention to detail is wonderful. The special effects are for the most part very good – Buckbeak the hippogriff looks almost real and the Dementors are convincingly menacing and scary. In contrast, the werewolf is not nearly scary enough, looking almost cute, but perhaps it’s because we’re supposed to keep in mind that he’s really a good guy with a bad problem.
What I didn’t like was certain things that were left out, probably for the sake of brevity. I especially missed the scene from the book where Harry finds out that his dad was an animagus, which of course makes the scene with the stag-shaped patronus rather pointless for people who haven’t read the book.
As to the actors, most of them did a good job. Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have come a long way from the first two movies and are both quite good. Daniel Radcliffe was really annoying in some of the scenes, probably something to do with his limited set of facial expressions. Michael Gambon fits well into the role of Prof. Dumbledore, although he hasn’t got the screen presence of the late Richard Harris. David Thewlis is good as Prof. Lupin, playing him with a suitable mixture of pathos and dignity. Gary Oldman is not really a good Sirius, although I can’t exactly figure out why – I just had a feeling of disappointment seeing him in the role. I almost think Oldman and Thewlis should have switched roles.
Rating: The best of the Harry Potter movies so far. Enjoyable for children and adults alike. 7 out of 10 stars.
I finished reading Stormy Weather last night. I have listened to three Hiassen books on audio (this is the first one I have read) and this one has a lot in common with the others: multiple main characters, corrupt officials, murder, mayhem, inventive nastiness and poetic justice. Like the others, it's also very funny in places - explosively funny in fact and definitely not the kind of book you want to read on public transport if you want to avoid funny looks from your fellow passengers.
Hiaasen has developed certain stock characters that he recycles in his books. In those books I have read or listened to (Stormy Weather, Strip Tease, Native Tongue, Skin Tight) the only difference is in their names, appearance, profession and age. Their thought processes and actions are much the same. There is the physically deformed goon who only goes by a nickname, the tough good guy who doesn’t know what to do with himself, the corrupt official who will do anything rather than get caught, the sweet and pretty damsel in distress, the bad girl who uses men like tools, and of course the minor cast of people whose role it is to die in stupid and spectacular ways worthy of the The Darwin Awards. Corruption and corrupted officials and criminals getting their comeuppance is a common theme in all of these books. There is a quite a lot of rather graphic violence, sometimes grueling but occasionally quite funny in a visceral sort of way.
I think that for maximum enjoyment, you need to give yourself a break between Hiaasen’s books. Otherwise you will quickly get tired of the stock characters.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t read Hiaasen because of these repetitive characters - quite the contrary. After 2-3 books they become like old friends and it’s fun to recognize them when they appear. I think Hiaasen’s books have great plots and they just keep getting funnier.
Finished the book on my lunch break today. Am planning on starting to read next week’s book tonight, as it is a long one and will probably require me doing some research on the side.
The story: At the beginning of the story, career criminal James Bolivar diGriz, the Stainless Steel Rat, is in the process of escaping from the scene of his latest crime. By chapter 4 he’s been recruited – reluctantly (his reluctance, not theirs) - by the Special Corps, an elite team of special police whose job it is to control and prevent intergalactic crime. When a mission goes wrong and a highly dangerous and attractive criminal escapes, Jim is determined to see the mission through to the end, even if it means abandoning his post and becoming a renegade from the Corps. The rest of the book describes how he tracks down his criminal and what happens afterwards.
The technical points: As I have already mentioned, the story is plot driven and the narrative style is in the vein of the classic tough guy detective story. The narrative is in the first person. There isn’t much dialogue, but what there is serves to carry on the action. There are several twists, some more unexpected than others. The humour is in the sometimes ironic situations Jim finds himself in, and the author also had fun with names, some of which are puns and others which are only funny if you know a bit of German. The writing is hardly what I would call sparkling, but there’s never a dull moment, and Jim is the kind of character you can’t help but like.
I do have one gripe with the book, and that is that the story is not completely resolved (for me). Having read a short story about Jim in his golden years, I know something of what takes place after this book ends, and now it will nag me until I have read the rest. If you have been following this blog for any length of time, you will know that I hate stories that spill out into several books. Oh, well, at least they are all published and in print and the library has some of them. Off to the library I go…
P.S. Did I mention the cover? No? The cover is a disaster and bears no connection to any event in the book.
Rating: A sci-fi classic that should interest sci-fi, action and detective story fans. 3 stars.
I participate in link exchanges, but only with book and reading websites. Requests for link exchanges can be posted in Comments. I DO NOT exchange links with commercial websites, so don’t ask.
About me
What this blog is about:
Reading and books.
If you’re wondering about the name 52 books, it stems from a book-a-week reading challenge I set myself. The challenge is over, but I'm still reading, and will continue to blog about the books I read and my reading experiences, and other stuff connected with books and reading.
I rate the books (if I feel like it), giving them stars ranging from zero to 5.
Books I have already read (sporadically updated):Cover gallery
Note: Some of the entries are linked to the months the reviews appeared in, because I made several entries for each book. I have marked those reviews with an asterix (*). If you want to read the whole review from beginning to end, you must scroll down and read from the bottom up (but you probably already knew that ;-) >
