A friend asked me to explain how I rate the books I review. He thought there was a disparity in the way I give star ratings to books – he didn’t agree with me giving the same number of stars to classics and fine literature as to genre literature that in all likelihood will be forgotten in a decade or two.
I rate books first and foremost on reading pleasure and ability to draw one into the story (i.e. on the level of escapism they offer). Technique, such as plot, characters, dialogue, etc., is an important consideration: I like plots to be solid, characters to be believable and dialogue natural, so if the plot is full of holes, the characters flat and the dialogue stilted, I won’t enjoy the book. I don’t take into consideration what others think of the book or if it’s classified as “High Literature”, “Classic”, “Trash” or something else. I leave the judgement of fine literary merit to academics and professional reviewers.
I am generally pretty good at judging which books I’m going to like, so it’s unlikely that I will ever review a less than 2 star book, unless I come across a bestseller that everyone else loves but I hate. I did read a book recently that was a solid 1 star (it was deadly dull) – however, it was old and had probably never been on any bestseller lists so I decided not to bother writing about it.
And now for the rating system: I opted for the 5 star system, as it seems to be the most common, and therefore the one most people are familiar with.
What it means: 5 stars: excellent, perfect or nearly perfect, must read 4 stars: good, highly recommended, a few flaws 3 stars: a decent read, nothing earth-shattering, several flaws 2 stars: mediocre, dull or badly flawed, would not read it again 1 star: waste of time, sorry I read it 0 stars: so bad I didn’t finish reading it
Pluses/minuses mean the book is not quite good/bad enough for the next class above/below.
Occasionally I may add other rating items, like hankies, smilies, etc. This is for books that I find to be too flawed to deserve more than 3 stars but that have one or two great things about them that should be noted, for example a scene that made me cry or laugh while the rest of the book wasn’t so hot.
-- Strangely enough, many of my favourite re-reads are four star books – some of the 5 star ones are just too perfect to be read more than once, like when the plot hinges on the revelation of something, the pre-knowledge of which makes the book dull or uninteresting - but of course there are also 5 star books that I re-read periodically.
Call me a grump if you like, but this has got to be the most unsuitable cover I've seen on a book in a long time. One of the things I like to see on covers is that when there is a picture of the people in the story, it should look like them. Not much to ask, is it?
The cover art is playful, suggestive, colourful and attractive. But, and this is a big But, it has nothing to do with the story. The woman in the picture is a brunette (sorry, I'll have to scan the back of the cover to show it), whereas Abigail has black hair, and the woman in the picture is wearing yellow, but Abigail wears drab, dark colours throughout the story. There is no mention anywhere in the book of a yellow dress, or of a brunette.
The cast: Him: Christian is a hero to die for: handsome, charming, witty and talented, with a self-depreciating sense of humour and oodles of sex appeal. Her: Abigail is a bit harder to figure out – until you discover what drives her and why she is so repressed. Others: The secondary characters are unfortunately flat – pretty much the standard usual suspects found in many mysteries. But they don’t really matter that much, they are just there to provide suspects in the haunting, which, while an important plot element in bringing together the hero and heroine, nevertheless takes second stage to the love story.
The Story: Former lady’s companion Abigail Parkinson has inherited a country mansion that she doesn’t want, but the sale of which will bring her financial independence and enable her to buy the small cottage she has always dreamed of. But a ghost – which she herself has never seen - is driving away prospective buyers, so she writes a letter asking the assistance of Christian Reade, Viscount Moreland, who has a (undeserved) reputation as a “ghost router” because he once uncovered a false haunting. Christian is loath to come to her aid, having been inundated with such requests, mostly from mothers of eligible ladies or the ladies themselves, bent on entrapping him into marriage because of his money and title. His grandfather insists that he go, and so Christian sets out to Sibel Hall, fully expecting to find another marriage-mad lady waiting for him. Arriving there, he is coolly received by Abigail, whose stern manners and dowdy appearance makes him nickname her “The Governess”. Also at the Hall are her three cousins, who seem to have the remarkable ability to always be in the way whenever he wants to be alone with Abigail. In spite of her stern and dowdy outer appearance, Christian is quite taken with Abigail, who has a heady scent of lilacs about her which drives him to distraction. Also, he can see that underneath the governess guise there is a beautiful and interesting woman who becomes more and more attractive to him as the days pass. As Christian conducts his investigation into the haunting, he and Abigail begin to fall in love, neither being much inclined to admit it to themselves and certainly not to each other. Christian suspects that there is a person behind the haunting, and that it is connected to a treasure that is supposed to be hidden somewhere in the house or grounds. But proving it and catching the perpetrator is going to be hard work, especially when all he wants to do is win the heart of the delectable Abigail.
Technique and plot: The book is well written and funny, with sparkling dialogue, a gripping mystery and a believable development of the relationship between hero and heroine. The house Abigail has inherited is large, gloomy and mysterious and full of hidden passages and walled-off rooms, just the sort of place you would believe to be haunted. The plot suffers somewhat from scenes that could have been left out of a non-romantic mystery – specifically the wine cellar, the priest’s escape and the lover’s tunnel episodes. They slow down the action, but are nevertheless necessary for the development of the romance. I just wish Simmons had made them shorter and more to the point.
Rating: A delightful Regency romp, a satisfying love story and a mystery with an interesting twist. 4- stars.
This book was recommended to me by Oedipa. I had never heard of it, but it is apparently a classic of 20th century American literature. After a bit of web browsing for information, I decided it would be worthwhile reading.
Author: Georgette Heyer Year published: 1951 Genre: Romance, historical (Regency period) Sub-genre(s): Mystery Where got: Public library I started to write an apologetic preface here, but then I realized that I don’t need an excuse to read a romance. It’s just that it has been pounded into my head for many years that there is something guilty about reading and enjoying romances. Well, I didn’t feel guilty at all reading this delightful book, so here, without further ado, is the review:
The Story: Soon after Gervase arrives at Stanyon castle to take up his duties as the Earl and landowner, it becomes apparent that someone wants him dead. Accidents that aren’t accidents happen, the most likely suspect is Gervase’s passionate younger brother and heir, Martin, but Gervase is not ready to believe that without further evidence. Complicating the matter for the would-be killer is Drusilla, a practical young lady who is staying with the dowager Countess, and who always seems to be there when Gervase needs protection from the would-be killer. Adding complications is the arrival of Lucian, Gervase’s friend, and his and Gervase’s admiration of Marianne, the girl Martin means to marry. Even further complications arise when Lucian and Marianne fall in love. When Gervase is shot and wounded and Martin disappears, everyone assumes that hot-headed Martin is trying to kill Gervase, but Gervase is still not convinced, and acts on a hunch to discover the truth.
Technique, characterisation and plot: Once I started reading this book (a couple of weeks ago) I could hardly put it down to eat, and completely forgot to watch The West Wing - missing my first ever episode of that show and breaking my addiction to it. I’d much rather read a good book – books end, which is more than can be said for TV serials. The book is absorbing and funny, not just chuckle-chuckle funny, but laugh aloud funny. The romance was subdued – in fact neither hero nor heroine gave any indication of being in love until the last 20 pages or so, and the romantic antics were left to Martin, Marianne and Lucien, whose escapades provided an interesting counterpoint to the phlegmatic relationship between hero and heroine.
The book is well written and the use of language is brilliant. The description of Stanyon castle and all the additions to it over the centuries had me laughing out loud, so wonderfully evocative and sarcastic was it. The mystery is engaging and the hints very subtle, although an experienced mystery reader will see the villain a mile off (I had the villain and his motive figured out long before anything bad happened.) Most of the main characters are believable, well-rounded and three-dimensional, with the exception of Drusilla, who comes across as flat. This is unfortunate, since she is the heroine of the book. Gervase is a seemingly calm and submissive dandy, but underneath his placid demeanour there is a will of iron, a quick intelligence and a great sense of humour. His brother, Martin, is equally well written, a young man who has never learned to check his temper or his passions and is quick to anger, but can also be compassionate and caring. We are, of course, meant to think he is the villain. His love-interest, Marianne, is a shy, retiring and immature girl who learns a lesson about the dangers of flirting. The least interesting characters are Drusilla, the practical and seemingly unemotional heroine, and Theo, the aloof cousin who is the financial manager of the estate and always seems to be hovering in the background without taking direct part in events. The love between Drusilla and Gervase is not at all believable – it just appears suddenly near the end, even though Drusilla has been enamoured of Gervase ever since they first met right at the beginning of the book. It’s almost as if Heyer suddenly realized “hey, I forgot there’s supposed to be a romance between those two” and tacked it on as an afterthought. Other than that, I liked this book very much, so much that I have ordered another of Heyer’s books from an online bookstore, and fully expect it to be just as good, if not better than this one.
The Story: When Flora Poste is orphaned at age 19 and left with only 100 pounds per annum to support herself, and objecting to have to work for a living, she decides to go and live with family and sponge on them. Arriving at miserable and gloomy Cold Comfort Farm, the abode of her relatives, the Starkadders, she sees that much needs to be done. The family are living under the autocratic rule of Aunt Ada Doom, who once saw something nasty in the woodshed and has never been the same since. The family are so afraid of upsetting her that they do whatever she tells them. There is Reuben who wants to take over the farm from his father Amos, who preaches Hell and damnation once a week to a small congregation, the sexy younger brother, Seth, who loves movies, their sister Elfine, who swans around the moors all day like a lost character from Wuthering Heights, Judith, whose life revolves around Seth, and a bunch of cousins and farm workers, all of them more or less damaged and gloomy personalities. With ingenuity and kindness, Flora soon alters their lives for the better, and finally there is only one challenge left: Aunt Ada Doom.
Technique and plot: This is a brilliant parody of the rural or rustic novels so popular in the first decades of the 20th century. Those novels tended to show cities as evil places and the countryside as some kind of idyllic paradise, and city people as immoral while the rustics were shown as moral and good (and often lusty and passionate). These novels often tended toward overwrought, purple prose. I haven’t read many of these kinds of novels in English, but I am quite familiar with the genre, which retained its popularity in Iceland much longer than it did in Britain. In sending up the genre, Gibbons makes city-dweller Flora the good, moral person, and shows her rustic cousins as the ones in need of her help, rather than the other way around. She writes brilliant prose, and even takes care to mark the purple passages with stars, ranging from * to ***, depending on how purple. This is of course deliberate. Gibbons wants to be sure to extract the maximum amount of humour out of these passages, and by marking them is able to draw attention to how ridiculous the passages are in all their purple glory. The characters are mostly three-dimensional and well rounded, and each is controlled by some specific passion, be it holy fervour, obsession or something else. The biggest butt of the humour is Flora herself. She is ridiculously perfect, but still so determined and matter-of-fact about everything that you can’t help liking her.
Rating: A brilliant send-up of the rural novel, which can easily stand on its own as a genuinely funny story. 5 stars.
This is a book I have wanted to read for a long time, but it always seemed to be checked out of the library evnen though the computer system said it was available. I was beginning to think it had been stolen from the library and I would have to buy a copy when I finally found it where someone, probably a browsing library patron, had put it on the wrong shelf.
11. You you don’t mind when your bus/flight/ferry is delayed because it gives you more time to read 12. You call in sick so you can finish reading a book 13. You have 30+ cookbooks – all in pristine condition because you never cook anything 14. You can always find money to buy another book even when you can't afford to buy food 15. You bring a paperback with you when you go to buy a new purse to make sure the purse fits the book
The contents of the book: The first part of the book is Frayling’s dissertation on the vampire in literature. Although vampire stories owe much to folktales, they made the jump into literature when authors started playing with the idea of a human (or human-looking) parasite that preyed on humans and got the brilliant idea to make that person a gentleman, someone who has much more access to society than, say, a peasant. By making the vampire a gentleman (and later on a lady), the creature was made exciting and dangerous. Frayling mentions four main vampire types that appeared in 19th century literature, and gives examples of each in long excerpts and short stories that take up a good 2/3 of the book. These types are the Satanic Lord, the Fatal Woman, the Unseen Force, and the Folkloric Vampire.
The stories are chosen for how well they represent a particular vampiric subgenre, rather than for any literary consideration. Yet some are quite good, for example “A Kiss of Judas” by ‘X.L.’ and “The Family of the Vourdalak” by Alexis Tolstoy. The most famous stories in this book are John Polidori’s The Vampyre (in its entirety), James Malcolm Rhymer’s Varney the Vampyre (excerpts) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (excerpts). A couple of interesting if rather academic parts of the book contain excerpts from Stoker’s plans and research papers for Dracula, and some attempts at psychological analyses of what Frayling has chosen to call “haemosexuality”, the sexual desire for blood.
Comments: This is not a book for casual readers. Those merely looking for scary stories will end up reading less than a third of the book. The approach to the subject is academic, and the reader needs to be interested in the subject on an academic level in order to appreciate Frayling’s essay on the literary vampire, and some of the excerpts and short stories. It is a good introduction to the vampire genre, and will make good research material for students of horror literature. I am rather put out by the fact that Sheridan Le Fanu’s famous vampire story Carmilla (which happens to be a favourite of mine) was left out of the book, seeing that Frayling mentions it on several occasions, but it is perhaps because he thought the stories of female vampires that he did include were more representative of the genre.
Rating: An interesting in-depth look into the genesis and evolution of the vampire in literature. 4 stars.
While orange is certainly an attention-grabbing colour, it is also not flattering for some subjects, and combining it with black makes the graphic look stark and unpleasant. The shadow graphic of Steinbeck and Charley is flattering to neither of them to begin with: Steinbeck seems to be scowling in a constipated kind of way and Charley looks depressed. Colouring them orange is adding insult to injury.
I’ve been on a reading spree lately – a book per day on average – mostly books I'm too lazy to review, but here’s one I recommend:
Author: Monica Dickens Year published: 1939 Pages: 140 Genre: Autobiography, memoir Where got: Public library
The Story: This is Monica Dickens’ memoir of her one-and-half years as a cook general and housemaid in the 1930’s. She started this work because she was bored and didn’t have anything to do with herself, rather than from any real need for money. This is quite a funny glimpse of a profession that doesn’t exist any more in Britain. Dickens mostly worked for respectable middle class families that today would at the most have someone come in to do the cleaning, but she also got a taste of working as a cook at a country manor. She tells of her own kitchen accidents, sloppiness and incompetence with good humoured sarcasm, and doesn’t spare her employers or coworkers either, but also gives praise where she feels praise is deserved. She gets fired when her first employer's boyfriend gets grabby, resigns from her country manor job when the butler tries to blackmail her, and goes through many misadventures which can’t have seemed funny at the time, but certainly gave her material for a very entertaining book.
Technique: Written in an easy, humourous style with a light touch of sarcasm. Dicken’s character studies are funny and well-drawn, and she has a good eye for the absurd.
Rating: Quite a funny look at life in service in 1930’s England. 4 stars.
6. You keep a spare book in every room in the house - and you're reading all of them 7. You go deaf when you’re reading 8. When you move, 70% or more of the boxes are labeled "books" 9. You keep a list of excuses to use when your friends want to go out and you want to stay home and read 10. You have 30+ books on loan from the library at any given time
1. You look at the 200+ books in your To Be Read pile and think: "I have nothing to read!" 2. At 2 a.m. you think "just one more chapter" and again at 3 a.m., even though you have to get up at 7 a.m. to go to work. 3. You read while you’re brushing your teeth 4. You have mastered the art of reading and walking at the same time 5. You’d rather read than eat during your lunch break
Full title: Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula Author: Christopher Frayling (author & editor), et al. Year published: 1991 Pages: 429 Genre: Literary theory, literature Sub-genre(s): Vampire stories Where got: Public library
I had considerable interest in vampire stories when I was studying English literature at university, and even wrote a final essay on Dracula for an interesting course I took on horror literature. I used this book as one of my sources, but never read it all the way through, only concentrating on the first part, which traces the history of vampires in literature. The teacher was tall, rather thin but good looking and always wore black. He was genuinely interested in the subject he was teaching, and I think the course was one of his pet projects. Some of the students affectionately called him “Dracula” behind his back. He mentored me when I was writing by B.A. thesis, and thanks to him, what began as a muddled jumble of ideas ended up being an essay I can be proud of. I was shocked to hear of his death recently, from cancer, at the relatively young age of 50.
Literary musings: Book titles, part III (why titles turn out bad)
Some of the reasons why titles turn out bad: -they are unintentionally ironic (like happens sometimes with biographies) -cliché #1: they humourlessly imitate the title of a famous/popular book (goodness knows how many Pride & Prejudice sequels and imitations – published and unpublished - have alliterative titles) -cliché #2: they try to parody other titles and fail to be funny (there are some quite good parody titles out there, but they are probably outnumbered by the bad ones) -they try too hard to be original -they don’t try hard enough -one word title – too much risk of there being others like it (unless the author’s invented the word, for example Footsucker, which I can’t see being used for another book about foot fetishism) -original but too silly or cutesy (many children’s books, but also some for adults) – often achieved by too much alliteration or a long title, sometimes both. The following one is both, but is rescued from being totally bad by also being funny in a giggly, naughty kind of way: Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy: Night of the Nasty Nostril Nuggets Pt.1. -just silly or just cutesy with no humour -out of the blue/not related to the story -using an idiomatic title without checking if it has been used before (like Devil’s Bargain, which I discussed in Part II) -shameless recycling of titles (again, like Devil’s Bargain) -bad puns -offensive – like I Want to Fu*k you. (and no, there isn’t an asterix in the title, but I sometimes review children’s books and I don’t want to get filtered). -franchise titles (series titles that all begin with the same word(s)). Much as I like reading Lilian Jackson Braun’s Cat Who books, the titles have started to grate on my nerves in their repetition and cuteness, as do the …for Dummies books. I do know why it’s done – it creates a brand name, indicative of quality (good or bad) that fans recognize immediately, and I’m sure it increases sales, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying. -dated (many older titles suffer from this, but of course no-one can do much about it)
A good, original title, however, can attract a reader even if the cover art is devastatingly ugly and the blurb useless.
Week 24: How to Become Ridiculously Well Read in One Evening - review
When I began reading this book in earnest I quickly realized it was no use to read the pieces on books I hadn’t read, because in order to enjoy humourous literary encapsulations like this, you must be familiar with the original literary works. So I have merely skimmed those pieces and only read in full the ones on books I have read and/or seen the movie version of.
The majority of the pieces are in verse form. Among the forms used are haiku, limericks and blank verse. Some of the others are in the form of very short plays, others in epistolary form or stream-of-consciousness. There are pieces on 155 books, some few books have had two pieces written about them, but most only one.
In the introduction to this book I called it “amuzing” and that is all it is. I have smiled several times at some clever verses that summarize, if not the actual contents, than at least the spirit of the book in question. More often though, I have frowned at half-rhymes, tortuous rhymes, rhymes that don’t rhyme and lines that don’t scan but should. Of course, I never expected the verses to have the kind of quality that makes poetry immortal, but there is an incredible amount of badly written poetry in there. Some of it makes up the lack of proper rhyme and scansion by virtue of wit, being worth a half-smile, a chuckle, or a smirk when it reveals some silliness about the original.
Rating: Presented in haiku form as befits the book. Whether it be good haiku or bad haiku, I leave up to the reader to decide.
Literature summed, Sometimes funny, sometimes not, 2 stars and that’s a lot.
Compiled and edited by: E.O. Parrott Year published: 1985 Genre: Poetry, pastiche, prose Where got: Public library
Came across this amuzing little volume while browsing in the library. It’s a collection of humourous summaries of some of the famous literary works considered (by some) necessary for a person to be well read, and therefore splendidly suited for someone who is trying to read more. It includes summaries of works both by English-speaking authors and works that have been translated into English from other languages. Most of it is in verse, but some pieces are in the form of prose, all in a variety of styles.
Here’s a short sample of what this book has to offer – incidentally also the shortest piece in the book:
“D.H. Lawrence: Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by Wendy Cope: Smart girls make passes At the working classes.
Technique and plot: All three books. Although published as a trilogy, His Dark Materials is one epic story, a brilliantly written extended religious metaphor, a sort of Pilgrim’s Progress from Innocence to Experience. It starts out innocuously, like a snowflake, with wild-child Lyra going off to the Arctic to rescue her best friend, and ends like an avalanche, with the the death of The Authority (the Church, or perhaps God as the Church sees him/her/it) and the fall of Eve as replayed by Lyra and Will. A lot of work and imagination has obviously gone into this book, and I’m sure it will be seen as Pullman’s greatest work for years and perhaps decades to come.
I loved the first two books, but found the third too long and uneven – the story could have been told in fewer words. It was melodramatic in places, and the continuity suffered because there were so many different viewpoints that were being explored. It never held my attention for more than a few chapters at a time, whereas I read books one and two through with only a few short breaks. The third book definitely didn’t live up to my expectations. All in all, I liked the story, but volume three could have done with some pruning.
Rating: A sometimes delightful and gripping, sometimes melodramatic and overdone fantasy adventure. 4+ stars.
Author: Philip Pullman Year published: 2000 Genre: Fantasy, children’s Subgenres: Alternate realities, parable Where got: Public library
SPOILERS ahead. If you don’t want to know how the story ends, DON’T READ ANY FURTHER!
The story: The conclusion to the trilogy. The story is really much too complex to summarize in a few sentences, but I’ll try anyway. At the beginning of the story, Lyra is in the power of her mother who has suddenly been filled with a desperate need to keep her safe. This she does by hiding in cave in the Himalayas and keeping Lyra asleep so she can’t run away. It’s up to Will and some unexpected companions to save her. Meanwhile, everything is set for war between the forces of Lord Asriel (Lyra’s father) and those of the Regent – an angel who rules in the name of The Authority. Mary Malone, a scientist Lyra met briefly in Will’s world, has learned that she has a role to play and sets out to find Lyra. Lyra and Will set out to find the world of the dead and end up setting free the spirits of the dead. In the process they lose contact with their dæmons, and it takes a long time for them to find them again, but when they do, they are in a world where Mary Malone is waiting for them, ready to play the part of the snake to Lyra’s Eve and fulfill the witches’s prophesy…
Week 23.2: His Dark Materials II: The Subtle Knife
I don't know why the book info appears so far below the beginning of the post - if anyone can tell me how to fix it, I will be ever so grateful.
Author: Philip Pullman Year published: 1997 Genre: Fantasy, children’s Where got: Public library
Managed to get both parts two and three from the library. Have already finished this one, and I don’t think that once I start I’ll be able to stop reading part three until I’m finished.
The Story: After tragically losing her best friend and walking from her world into another one that is full of children but no adults, Lyra has found another friend, Will, who comes from our world. He has a destiny of some sort waiting for him just as she has. The golden compass has told Lyra that she must help Will find his father. A man steals the compass and sends Lyra out to find the Subtle Knife, which he says he will exchange the compass for. The two children set out to search for it and find it in the world where they first met. The knife chooses Will as its bearer. It can cut through the fabric of reality and open windows into other world, and this the children put to good use when they realize that the man isn’t going to return the compass. After reacquiring the compass, they set out to find Will’s father, hunted by both friendly and unfriendly forces. It’s a matter of touch and go, which will catch up with them first. Lyra’s destiny is revealed to the readers and to the children’s enemies, but the children are unaware of it, although they know that it is something to do with Lyra’s father and the war he is planning to wage on The Authority (God). Will’s destiny is tied to the knife. Ends with a cliffhanger…I’m looking forward to see what happens next.
No, this is not a review of The Name of the Rose. There are other ways to poison books.
I thought it was about time I had a travel book as the week’s selection. I had already read all the ones I own, and when I came across one I’d wanted to read for a long time I bought it immediately. It will be the book of the week as soon as I finish detoxifying it - I bought it second hand and the previous owner was obviously a smoker, and the book smells like a particularly nasty ashtray. Yuck, poisoned book.
It’s one thing when you get second hand books that smell musty – people often store books inappropriately because they haven’t got the space to do it properly or because they simply don’t know better. The unpleasant smell can usually be gotten rid of with a bit of airing, which I don’t mind at all. But books that reek of cigarette fumes or perfume, yuck! How can people even think of re-selling or donating them to charity? I suppose they think some people will suffer through anything for a good read (they may be right, but I doubt it), or maybe they can’t even smell it, being as they are suffused with the smell themselves. Smoking or applying perfume while reading your own books is perfectly acceptable – my mom likes to relax with a book and a ciggy and I don’t try to stop her – but only as long as you don’t inflict the book on anyone else afterwards. Keeping books in a room where people smoke is also guaranteed to make the books smell like cigarette smoke, even if no-one ever opens them.
Currently, the book is in a closed paper bag with an open box of baking soda that will hopefully absorb the fug. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to try kitty litter.
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast by Lilian Jackson Braun Another good whodunit – I’ve read about 2/3 of the book and still haven’t figured out which one of the dislikeable characters is the villain and which is the next potential corpse. There are hints that Braun intends to kill off a likeable recurring character, but I'll just have to wait and see.
The Art of Fiction by David Lodge My slow reading project, approximately one chapter of 3-5 pages per day during my lunch break. Literary devices and theory explained for the public in a simple, concise manner that’s a joy to read. Passages from books are used to illustrate the subject of each chapter, and in those passages I have already found a couple of books I want to read.
Will start reading The Subtle Knife, sequel to The Golden Compass, once I finish The Cat Who… book. Hope to finish both it and The Amber Spyglass (the final book in the trilogy) over the weekend in time to write a review and rate them before starting next week’s book.
Bonus book review: The Kalahari Typing School for Men
Author: Alexander McCall Smith Year published: 2002 Genre: Literature, detective story Where got: Public library See large cover image
The Story: The agency has got some competition and Mma Ramotswe and her assistant/secretary Mma Makutsi are both worried about the future of the business. In order to make some extra money for herself, Mma Makutsi starts the business the book takes it’s title from, giving evening classes in typing, and one of her students falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Mma Ramotswe takes a case investigating whether a husband is cheating on his wife, and makes a disturbing discovery. Another client asks her to track down some people he hasn’t seen for about 20 years, so he can make restitution for things he did them. Both cases present their own unique difficulties, but with her common sense and philosophical way of looking at things, Mma Ramotswe solves both cases to the satisfaction of all involved (except the cheating husband).
Rating: A fourth instalment in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, and just as good as the others. 5 stars.
Literary musings: Book titles, part II (the case of the recycled title)
It’s almost as bad when titles are recycled so often that they become clichés, which seems to happen frequently with romances.
I do realize, of course, that many authors do not have control over what title is stuck on their books (by the look of it by bored editors who think readers don’t care about these things), and my heart goes out to them when I see a particularly unoriginal or over-recycled title.
I conducted a bit of accidental research into the subject of recycled titles with a book I came across in the library a couple of weeks ago. I had read a favourable review of a novel titled The Devil’s Bargain, but could only remember the title. I found the title in the library and took the book home to read. Just in case, I re-checked the review, but discovered the book in the review was by a different author from the one I had found. So I turned to Amazon UK, where I have often been able to find reviews of books I want to read. Well, I found no fewer than eight books with that title, three with and five without the definite article. An additional book had the phrase as part of the title, and another one a variation on the theme. Of the ten books, eight were romances, mostly historicals, and the remaining two looked as if they had romantic elements in them. Now, it’s one thing for several different publishing houses to publish books with the same title – after all, they can’t be expected to be constantly checking up on the competition, but in this case two well known publishing houses had each published two of these Devil’s Bargains. Duh!
And would you believe it happened to me twice in the same day? Yep, there are three books about errant earls out there, all of them Regency romances. England must have been full of dazed and confused earls back in those days…
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 ;-) >
