Reading not Writing 2009 #6
This is me just about up to date with these, and I'm not doing too badly overall.
51. Death of an Englishman by Magdalene Nabb. This is another contemporary crime novel set in Italy, this time in Florence, but I didn't like it nearly as much as I like the David Hewson ones I've mentioned before. This was almost a bit twee, and seemed very dated - the attitudes and characterisations seemed more appropriate for the 1940s or 50s than nowadays. I won't be reading any more in this series.
52. A Whispered Name by William Brodrick. The first novel set during WW1 that I've read for a while. I'm not sure about this one - it was well written and did have a certain tension about it that was good, but it was one of these ones that splits the action between the present and the past, and I'm never entirely convinced by those. The main character in the present was actually a monk and he was pretty convincing, but I felt some of the other characterisations were a bit off.
53. Affinity by Sarah Waters. This had been sitting on Mount TBR for nearly two years, and I can't understand why I didn't get to it sooner, because it was really good. Set in the twilight world of Victorian mediums, with a love that is never articulated never mind has its name spoken at its core. The climax totally took me by surprise ( and not in a good way, I have to say). A wonderful novel about the lengths we will go to for those we love, deception and lies.
54. The Death Maze by Ariana Franklin. This is the second novel in Franklin's engaging series about a 12th century female pathologist (and yes it does all seem perfectly plausible in context). This one takes place about a year after the first, in the middle of an appalling winter in the fens. Great stuff.
55. The stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker. Pinker is a linguist and I've read a couple of his books before such as the Language Instinct and thoroughly enjoyed them. This one, for some reason, was a bit more of a slog, and in the end, I can't say I enjoyed it much. However, if you're into psychology and linguistics give it a shot as Pinker is well thought of.
56. The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins. This was a huge tome, but it made easy reading. Unlike some of Dawkins' other stuff this wasn't a polemic, although he couldn't resist every now and then :) . It's a history of life, but unlike most, which start at the beginning and work forwards, giving the almost inevitable impression that we are at the pinnacle of evolution, this starts with us and works backwards. It has the effect of putting us in our context, and showing how we are linked to all other life. Fascinating reading, give it a shot.
57. The Company of Liars by Karen Maitland. A historical novel set during the Black Death in the 1340s. A ragtag group of people struggle across central England trying to outrun the Great Pestilence. I gather that it is supposed to be based on the Canterbury Tales, but I have to say that this escaped me while reading it. It was one of those tedious novels where one after another the characters get topped off thus creating the, IMHO, false tension of 'who's next?'. I also thought the ending was appallingly badly executed and unnecessary. I can't recommend it, unfortunately.
58. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. Yes, I know I only read this about 18 months ago, but I needed some brain candy and it was on the book case.
59. Ragtime in Simla by Barbara Cleverly. corrigan1 recommended Cleverly to me earlier in the year and I read the first of these detective novels set in the sunset of the Raj. This was the third I think, and matched up well with the first. Give them a go if you can.
60. The Credit Draper by J David Simons. A historical novel set over a period of about ten years from 1910 onwards in Glasgow, following the adolescence of a Jewish immigrant from Russia. It's well written, and the characterisations are good, illuminating a part of Glaswegian history that I know little about, but it didn't have much of a plot and the ending seemed more a means of enabling the author to stop writing than any natural conclusion.
51. Death of an Englishman by Magdalene Nabb. This is another contemporary crime novel set in Italy, this time in Florence, but I didn't like it nearly as much as I like the David Hewson ones I've mentioned before. This was almost a bit twee, and seemed very dated - the attitudes and characterisations seemed more appropriate for the 1940s or 50s than nowadays. I won't be reading any more in this series.
52. A Whispered Name by William Brodrick. The first novel set during WW1 that I've read for a while. I'm not sure about this one - it was well written and did have a certain tension about it that was good, but it was one of these ones that splits the action between the present and the past, and I'm never entirely convinced by those. The main character in the present was actually a monk and he was pretty convincing, but I felt some of the other characterisations were a bit off.
53. Affinity by Sarah Waters. This had been sitting on Mount TBR for nearly two years, and I can't understand why I didn't get to it sooner, because it was really good. Set in the twilight world of Victorian mediums, with a love that is never articulated never mind has its name spoken at its core. The climax totally took me by surprise ( and not in a good way, I have to say). A wonderful novel about the lengths we will go to for those we love, deception and lies.
54. The Death Maze by Ariana Franklin. This is the second novel in Franklin's engaging series about a 12th century female pathologist (and yes it does all seem perfectly plausible in context). This one takes place about a year after the first, in the middle of an appalling winter in the fens. Great stuff.
55. The stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker. Pinker is a linguist and I've read a couple of his books before such as the Language Instinct and thoroughly enjoyed them. This one, for some reason, was a bit more of a slog, and in the end, I can't say I enjoyed it much. However, if you're into psychology and linguistics give it a shot as Pinker is well thought of.
56. The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins. This was a huge tome, but it made easy reading. Unlike some of Dawkins' other stuff this wasn't a polemic, although he couldn't resist every now and then :) . It's a history of life, but unlike most, which start at the beginning and work forwards, giving the almost inevitable impression that we are at the pinnacle of evolution, this starts with us and works backwards. It has the effect of putting us in our context, and showing how we are linked to all other life. Fascinating reading, give it a shot.
57. The Company of Liars by Karen Maitland. A historical novel set during the Black Death in the 1340s. A ragtag group of people struggle across central England trying to outrun the Great Pestilence. I gather that it is supposed to be based on the Canterbury Tales, but I have to say that this escaped me while reading it. It was one of those tedious novels where one after another the characters get topped off thus creating the, IMHO, false tension of 'who's next?'. I also thought the ending was appallingly badly executed and unnecessary. I can't recommend it, unfortunately.
58. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. Yes, I know I only read this about 18 months ago, but I needed some brain candy and it was on the book case.
59. Ragtime in Simla by Barbara Cleverly. corrigan1 recommended Cleverly to me earlier in the year and I read the first of these detective novels set in the sunset of the Raj. This was the third I think, and matched up well with the first. Give them a go if you can.
60. The Credit Draper by J David Simons. A historical novel set over a period of about ten years from 1910 onwards in Glasgow, following the adolescence of a Jewish immigrant from Russia. It's well written, and the characterisations are good, illuminating a part of Glaswegian history that I know little about, but it didn't have much of a plot and the ending seemed more a means of enabling the author to stop writing than any natural conclusion.