28.10.2012

A hilarious take on all vampire clichés, half hilarious, half heartbreaking. I can’t say it’s anywhere near ‘Unspoken’ or ‘Liar’ in quality but it isn’t a comedy either. It has a bit of a middle-school feel, even though there’s more honest descriptions of sexual feelings than in ‘Unspoken’ (‘Liar’ was positively and delightfully sensual ( Read more... )

“Middlemarch” by  George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans)

Comments:

Dorothea is a bit too perfect but I ended up enjoying this a lot. The thing about ‘Middlemarch’ people it’s that even the ones that are quite rebellious to other middlemarchers seem not quite rebellious enough to us but I ended quite worried about their fate, which is not little. I’m also a ( Read more... )

17.09.2012

Probably the shortest book I have read in a long time. Not that it’s that short, literally, but it felt that way because I could neither stop reading nor want to. It’s the first in a trilogy and ends in an appropriately intriguing place. SRB’s style and plotting have both improved since The Demon trilogy and the sense of humour is here ( Read more... )

16.02.2012

I have been meaning to read Renault for years. Bookishness + queerness sounded right up my alley but I only came upon translations of her work and so I never did. It’s only now, under force, one might say, that I have finally opened a 152.000 words ebook meaning to read it all in a few days (with some help from an audio version full of ( Read more... )

13.09.2012

I’m trying to be impressed at Austen’s range instead of annoyed. I mean, how does the creator of Elizabeth Bennet create Fanny Price? You are unlikely to have encountered a more sanctimonious and annoying character than Miss Price. I’m torn regarding Edmund because at least he has some balls to say the ridiculous things he thinks. Mary ( Read more... )

Another classic, I had not very great expectations for this contemporary of Dickens but although not a page turner, it had some beautiful turns of phrase and I did care about the characters. I won’t call the protagonist a Mary Sue but one of the other characters says she dreamed her as an angel.

13.08.2012

There’s times when you wonder if Margaret is ( Read more... )

15.08

I was SO annoyed at the author, why invent this imaginary woman, Dianne, who worriers whether her child has autism and is patronized throughout the book? As if the very real examples are no good, we need a ‘guide’ to read a ‘scientific book’. Readers who believe autism is a difference, not necessarily a worse one, are told ‘this book is not ( Read more... )

Underrunners follows Tris(tram) Catt growing up in an odd house in the coast of New Zealand with his father after his mom abandoned them for Australia and who-knows-what-else. Tris spends his days playing with his imaginary friend, the good but tough alien, Selsey Firebone, and fighting evil aliens, while he avoids everybody real as much as ( Read more... )

15.04.2012

I expected to be quite bored by this but it turns out, Scott was the most popular author of his age for a reason, even when you are not particularly interested in the topics he’s treating, it’s easy to keep reading his correct and elegant prose. And then, when that’s over and the descriptions of the countryside and the flora and fauna ( Read more... )

After Rainbow Boys I thought I'd just give Mr. Sanchez a pass (re-reading what I thought of that book I'm a bit confused as to why I remembered him being so mediocre... XD) But I came accross The God Box and almost without meaning to, found myself caught. I'm glad I did ( Read more... )