30 posts tagged “52 in '08”
I had a whole post, with the usual quotes from the back, when Vox crashed. Boo-hoo. So sorry, now you get the abridged version.
Banner of Souls by Liz Williams - touted as one of Britain's best SF writers and rightly so, this is steak and ale next to Panic. I borrowed this from the library and when I got to bed with it realised I had read it before. Bugger. But I am stuck in bed with this the only book to hand. OK. I will read it again. And very glad I am too. Gothic and world-spanning, full of genetically modified humans and quite a few aliens, this is a story of Earth's far future when Earth is ruled by the Martian Matriarchy and Earth itself is drowned and dying. Highly recommended - I now have all Liz Wiliams books on my Wish List at Amazon (hint, hint)
The Touch of Ghosts by John Rickard - again, a library I discovered I had already read. This one did not bear a second reading so well, unfortunately. Well written, well plotted, but ultimately lacking that spark that keeps you wanting to know what happens next (and I am pretty sure I felt this was first time round too!). Don't bother, unless you are just about to embark on an eight-hour flight or train journey and it is the only book to hand.
The Apothecary's House by Adrian Mathews - Recommended. Not what I expected, but a good gripping read with an unexpected end.
Glotka is crippled by torture and is now a Torturer for the King's Inquisition.
Logen Nine-Fingers is tortured by the memories of all the people he has killed.
Ferro feels no pain, and is the Carrier of the Seed.
Bayuz is the First of the Magi, and possibly the last.
Together and separately, they must prevent the uprising of evil and bring about a more democratic reign. If they survive...
Do you suspect I have a deep liking for Science Fiction and Fantasy, magic and role-playing games? No? Well, I do, and these are set in a world that could be Dungeons & Dragons material, dark and funny at the same time. Very realistic in a way fantasies are more and more becoming these days. Well worth a read if you enjoy fantasy without prophecy, but with magic.
And that is 2008 read to a halt. I wonder what 2009 will bring?
Fire Sale - Sara Paretsky is always good. This is no exception so, if you like her and have not read this, you will not be disappointed. If you have never read her and you like heroines who are also human, read her. You will not be disappointed either.
Jayne Anne Krentz - Remember I said I would never read another book by Jayne? Well, I lied. But only because I was in the library, noticed this and realised it was a sequel to the only other one I had ever read. So I read it. A light read, quite a page turner but a bit like candyfloss. If you want meat and two veg, don't bother. And read the other one first.
Ben Elton - Now this was excellent. Ben can be a bit up and down (loved Gridlock, hated Popcorn) - this is an up. A post-apocalyptic novel, a Big Brother novel (and I mean 1984 crossed with Reality TV Show), a coming of age novel... just read it, OK.
Carl Hiaasen - Excellent. Now I exhausted my library's stock of Hiaasen, I am either going to have to buy or book the remainder. But I will. I will read them all...
Martha O’Connor - The Bitch Goddess Notebook
From the Cover: In a high school in 1988 three misfit schoolgirls join forces with devastating consequences…
Rennie, the stunningly attractive A-student embarks on an affair with her married teacher. Amy tears up her cheerleader’s uniform while her drunken parents present a façade of perfect family life. Cherry, the co-called juvenile delinquent, builds a shrine to Princess Diana and looks after her hippy mother. Together, they are the Bitch Goddesses and swear to stick together - until one night when something horrific happens to shatter their friendships for ever.
Fifteen years later, it is clear that although the Bitch Goddesses have grown up, they can’t break free from their past…
I found this a bit much, to be honest. Maybe because I am not a teen. Nor thirty two, which is the other age the girls are. However, I did finish it!
The story is told from their differing viewpoints, now and
then. I found waiting for the
“friendship shattering event” annoying.
I was enjoying the story and then - Pow! - another reference to “that
which is to come”.
That aside, it is a good read. And, unusually, it does not come with a neat fnish. Their stories are, like real life, left
unfinished. Recommended, sort of. Maybe it is just that I am a bit
genre-ridden, and this is not my genre.
But while I did finish it, and mostly enjoyed it, it is going straight
to Amazon and I will not be bothering with more (if there are any more) from
Martha.
Clare Sambrook - Hide & Seek
From the Cover: “The grown-ups held an inquiry into how a child came to disappear, but they didn’t name names like they do when children let grown-ups down. They talked about a catalogue of errors as if mistakes were something that turned up in the post and got paid for later.
I had my own ideas…”
From Inside the Cover: Meet Harry Pickles,
aged nine and a bit. Harry is the
fastest boy runner in the world (probably), first son of Mo and Pa ( the best
looking parents in the school car park), big brother to Daniel (who runs like a
girl but is, in his own twerpy way, a star).
His life is good. He’s premier
league. At least, that’s the way it was
before the school trip…
Another non-typical ending. Another non-typical book. I think this is written for teens, but I loved it. Excellent characterisation of the major players and the breakdown, and recovery, of a family. Recommended.
Light In Shadow - Jayne Ann Krentz
From the cover: Zoë Luce is a successful interior designer, and when she senses that one of her clients may be hiding a dark secret, she enlists private investigator Ethan Truax to find the truth.
But Ethan’s investigative skills start to backfire on Zoë. She never wanted to let him find out about her former life. Or to reveal to him her powerful, inexplicable gift for sensing the history hidden within a house’s walls. And she certainly never wanted him to know that “Zoë Luce” doesn’t really exist.
But now, Ethan may be her only hope, as just when Zoë started to dream of a normal life and think about the future, her own past starts to shadow her every step - because the people she's been running from are getting close finding her…
From inside the cover - Janye Anne Krentz, who has also
written under the names Amanda Quick and Jayne Castle, has thirty-two New York
Times best-sellers to her credit.
Who? I had never
heard of Jayne before I picked this book up for 20p from my library. 32 best-sellers? If they are all like this... Froth. Pure froth. I finished this book quickly and with more enjoyment than expected - however, I doubt I will read another by her.
David Hewson - The Promised Land
From the cover: I couldn’t believe so much could change in twenty years…
Bierce was a happily married cop with a bright future. Then, on sunny day in July, his wife and young son were savagely beaten to death. Bierce was convicted of their murders. Languishing on Death Row twenty-three years later, he still has no memory of the incident.
Unexpectedly released just seconds before his execution, Bierce teams up with the beautiful, feisty, half-Chinese Alice Loong, who guides him through the strange new world of the twenty-first century. But it soon becomes clear that Alice is hiding dark secrets of her own.
Pursued by mysterious enemies who are convinced that Bierce knows more than he is telling about his wife’s death, the pair are forced to embark on a dangerous race against time to uncover the real truth about the events of that fateful day…
Ultimately, an unsatisfying read. All the bits were he hit the 21st century were good, though - having tried to teach my father in law how to access a computer - I found his quick ability to pick up emailing and googling a little unlikely! I liked how Wife became less nice the more we knew about her, but the "this is why he cannot remember anything" reveal was - unrealistic. Which sucked, as it spoiled the denouement for me. Buy this for reading on a plane, train or beach. Somewhere you can put it down and pick it up a lot. It is not a Grab You book!
From the cover: Even the baddest birdwatcher on the planet knows something about birds…
Look out the window.
See a bird.
Enjoy it.
Congratulations. You are now a bad birdwatcher.
Anyone who has ever gazed up at the sky or stared out of the window knows something about birds. In this funny, inspiring, eye-opening book, Simon Barnes paints a riveting picture of how bird-watching has framed his life and can help us all to a better understanding of our place on this planet.
How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher show why bird watching is not the preserve of twitchers, but one of the simplest, cheapest and most rewarding pastimes around.
An Extract; Perhaps you know nothing at all about birds. Perhaps you even say it: well, me, I know nothing at all about birds. If so, you are lying through your teeth. It is impossible to know nothing at all about birds. Trust me: you can identify several different kids of birds. Let’s compile a list of birds that you can already recognise - even if you call yourself the most ignorant birdwatcher in the land:
robin
swan
duck
blackbird
swallow
crow
sparrow
blue tit
heron
pigeon
That’s ten for a start. Now we’ll thrown in cuckoo, because that is one bird everyone can recognise on call. And you might add a few more:
thrush
seagull
goose
kestrel
owl
pheasant
eagle
kingfisher
magpie
Simon's love of birds, his tips for a greater enjoyment when watching them, and the simplicity of a hobby that involves something we call can see, even when we live in a city, has inspired me to look more at birds. Read it yourself - I recommend it, and you can pick it up on Amazon for 1p plus postage - and see if it does the same for you. We all need a bit of nature in our lives!
Sorry if you're reading this, Peter, but your book sucks big time.
Do not bother with it - go for a long walk instead - do not be misled by the blurb on the cover into thinking you are getting a nifty little ghost story. You are getting a naff and predictable ghost story.
I love the Masterworks series - a chance to catch up on old favourites from the past.
This was, at first, disappointing. It read too much like a fairy tale for my liking - florid, seemingly shallow, with little characterisation. However, that was only Chapter One.
By the time I had finished Chapter Two, I was hooked.
From the cover: Sybel, the beautiful great-granddaughter of the Wizard Heald, has grown up on Eld Mountain with only the fantastic beasts summoned there by wizardry as companions. She cares nothing for humans until, when she is sixteen, a baby is brought for her to raise, a baby who awakens emotions that she has never known before., He is Tamlorn, the only son of King Drede and, inevitably, Sybel becomes entagled in the human world of love, war and revenge. Only her beasts can save her from the ultimate destruction.
The Series - Fantasy Masterworks is a bilbrary of some of the greatest, most original, and most influential fantasy ever written. then are the books which, along with Tolkien and Peake shaped modern fantasy.
You get science fiction masterworks, too!
I have no idea how to classify this. A thriller? A ghost story? A story of love and redemption? A horror story?
A bit of all of the above, plus it is funny and sad and I loved it.
From the cover: When William Kennedy is six years old, he sees his Uncle Billy at a family reunion. The only problem is his uncle died 3 weeks ago.
For Will, this is only the start. Nicknamed ‘Dead’ Kennedy, he realises he can see dead people, but gradually he learns to accept his special gift. Now aged 32, Will is trying to come to terms with the rest of his life - his relationship with his 12-year-old daughter Megan and the ex-wife he still loves. Then he is approached by a distant cousin who needs help - the ghost of a girl is living in his garage and he thinks Will can persuade her to leave. But when Will arrives at his cousin’s house, he discovers that the girls was murdered and that the perpetrator is the very man who is now asking for his help.
Poignant and haunting, Firecrackers is a love story, a ghost story, and the tale of a man who has lost his way.
Highly recommended.
From the cover: What would folks say if they discovered that big blob Kelly had one special talent and it involved food? God’s sick joke, that.
Cooking is Jimmy Kelly’s secret gift. Bullied viciously at school, the kitchen is his haven,
But even he doesn’t know his real secret.
He can’t stop living, until he stops hiding.
Verdict - recommended. A quick and easy read, with enough meat to enjoy.
Working on my quest to read more Hiaasen, I discovered my library only has two other books by him. I picked this one first.
From the cover: Honey Santana - self proclaimed queen of lost causes - has a Plan.
Yes, she may be a single mother, living in a trailer park with her teenage son; she may have just been sacked from her day job for whacking an over-friendly co-worker in the balls with a crab mallet; she may be an obsessive compulsive with an anger-management problem.
But she's determined to set up her own eco-tour business, paddling tourists around the Florida Everglades in ocean kayaks. She's also working on a scheme to rid the world of irresponsibility, indifference and dinner-time telemarketers. But that’s a minor detail - or is it?
The result is a kayaking trip from hell, and an unplanned overnight stay on Dismal Key - one of the Everglades’ Ten Thousand Islands - for Honey, her kayaks and her two ‘guests’: a part-time telephonist who recently foul-mouthed her, and his less-than-enthusiastic mistress.
What Honey doesn’t know is that lurking in the island’s undergrowth is Sammy Tigertail, half-blood Seminole Indian and wholly failed alligator wrestler; and Honey’s deranged co-worker, intent on revenge.
A holiday to die for? In Carl Hiaasen’s universe, anything can happen,…
Verdict - highly recommended. It seems Hiaasen is really, really good at the farce side of things - the coming and going and the goings on - loved this book.
From the cover: When Kate Bush came out of suburban Kent in 1978 with her jaw-droopingly eccentric debut single Wuthering Heights, screeching like a banshee, flapping her arms as though trying to take wing, pulling alarming faces, people either adored or loather her.
One of the former was an American underwear model, Lesley herskovits, who, in spite of his remarkable good looks, reserved his loathing for himself. But the time Kate had taken to keeping fans waiting literally ages between albums, he’d come to view himself as the most repulsively obese man in Britain. Only his disinclination to miss her either alb, specially after waiting more than a decade for it, kept him from leaping off a multi-story tower block.
Biding his time, he found himself a boarding house near Kate’s birthplace that accommodates only fervent Kate fane, befriend its landlady’s anorexic daughter and came up with an audacious scheme to make a fortune intimidating school bullies.
Verdict - recommended. The story is well told (though I did want to shake Lesley more than once!), the sub-plot of talent shows for the Otherwise Challenged and The Price of Fame kept me page turning, and I learnt a good deal about Kate Bush. Only quibble is I disagreed with his summation of her music. Minor quibble, really!
From the cover:
Hilarious raconteur, hedonistic bon viveur, inexhaustible shaggeur, feather-tongued dandy Russell Brand lives his life as if performing in a Victorian vaudeville. But it hasn’t always been that way. From his troubled childhood in Essex, his addictions to drink, drugs and sex that found him drying-out in clinics all over the world, this flamboyant, hilarious and searinly honest memoir charts the peaks and troughs of his thorny rise to fame, and introduces us to the man behind the hair.
Verdict - It’s OK. I read it because I was curious about him;
you might read it because it is a good memoir of fame and
self-destruction. However, I decided I don’t
like him much, even though if he writes
another memoir, I will read it.
From the cover:
Sean Reilly seems to have his life sorted: gorgeous wife, beautiful house and lucrative career as a voice-over artist. But he craves the sort of romance and affection that he no longer receives from his wife. Why it is, he wonders, that once married, women want men to change and hate it when they don’t? whereas men never want women to change, and hate it when they do.
Luce Ross, ‘caught single’ after breaking up with her long-term boyfriend, is also looking for romance when she means 4ean. She doesn’t want him to change, she wants him the way he is. So could the life of Reilly be sorted after all?
Verdict - It’s OK. I say that even though I read this in under a day, picking it up and reading it in every spare moment, until I turned the last page. However, it is weak in plotting (yes, I know it is a Romantic Comedy, but do their lives have to be so bloody perfect and full of nice things?) and ultimately like eating candy floss instead of a prawn sandwich.
Two Not Finished:The Mel B autobiograpy I gave up after two chapters. If you want to read a Spice Girl's book, read Geri's!
And Peter Carey's Theft? Peter Carey writes great books, but I just could not get to grips with this. If it were mine, it would be on the shelf till I read it. As it is a library book it is going back, five chapters read and interest uninterested.
It is pulp. But well written, page-turning pulp at that. Which is pretty much how I read it, in two sittings. He has written more, but I shall not be getting them full price - they will have to fall into my lap like this one did.
From the Cover: Captains Hawk and Fisher ar the only honest cops in the down and dirty magical city of Haven. In a place where anything can be bought, stolen or fought for, they’ve stoop up for decency and right; together, they have taken on everything from vampires and werewolves to conniving politicians. But now it’s their last case as members of Haven’s City Guard and all hell is breaking loose - because they’re not leaving town without doing a little cleaning up first. The bad guys are going down, whatever it takes.
Meanwhile, back in the Forest Kingdom, King Harald has been assassinated and the call has gone out to Prince Rupert and Princess Julia, to return to the Land they once called home, to bring a murderer to justice.
Two legends, two sets of heroes, bound together at last: by a crime that threatens all reality, and by the terrible truth that lies beyond the Blue Moon.
Rattling good stuff - British Fantasy Newsletter
A skillful pulp fiction writer - SFX
These three books are based on the life of a military officer who is cashiered for disobeying a direct order, even though she won the battle. She then becomes a private captain to Cecelia, rich and old.
The female characters are strong and well drawn, the military aspect is not obtrusive, and the rich are - well, rich!
This edition contains Hunting Party, Sporting Chance and Winning Colours. Yes, they do sound like Dick Francis books and that is because the other preoccupation of the owner of Sweet Delight, Cecelia, is a famous horsewoman.
From the back: The Serrano Legacy - An action-packed SF epic, now available in one volume.
Heris Serrano was an officer born of a long line of officers. A life serving in the ranks of the Regular space service was all she had ever known or wanted - until a treacherous superior officer forced her to resign her commission. This was not just the end of a career path; it was the end of everything that gave her life meaning.
Heris find employment as Captain of an interstellar luxury
yacht. Being a rich old woman’s
chauffeur isn't quite the same as captaining a Fleet Cruiser, but nothing Heris
will ever do again could compare with that.
Or so she thinks. For all is not
as it seems aboard the Sweet Delight…
I thoroughly enjoyed this SF romp - it has an unusual take on society, the rich and the military - including some very ferocious Aunts...
The inventor of cyber-punk, William Gibson writes stories of the future both depressing and exhilarating. This did not fail to entertain me - I have loved his work since Mona Lisa Overdrive (going back a bit there…)
From the Cover: The flow of information is about to be disrupted…
Colin Laney, sensitive to patterns of information like no one else on Earth, currently resides in a cardboard box in Tokyo. His body shakes with fever dreams, but his mind roams free as always, and he knows something is about to happen. Not in Tokyo; he will not see this think himself. Something is about to happen in San Francisco…
The mist of san Francisco make it easy to hide, if hiding is what you want, and even at the best of times reality there seems to shift. A grey man moves elegantly through the mists, leaving bodies in his wake, so that a tide of absences alerts Laney to his presence. A boy named Silencio does not speak, but flies through webs of cyber-information in search of the one object that has seized his imagination. And Rei Toei, the Japanese Idoru, continues her study of all things human. She herself is not human, not quit, but she’s working on it. And in the mists of San Francisco, at this rare moment in history, who is to saw what is or is not impossible…
William Gibson - official web site
The sort-of sequel to Dangerous D@ta. I read this in a day - could not put it
down.
What if someone's DNA could tell us everything about a person - including whether or not they were murdered, and who did it? Dogg, who as ever will go where others can't and won't, finds himself caught in a web of lies, abuse, sexual deceit - and death, of course - the truth is in the cells.
From the Cover: Gerald Keating is 6’2”, weighs 190lbs and has a taste for violence and strip clubs. And Arthur C Dogg, data detective, is being paid to follow him around. He doesn’t know why - as far as Dogg’s concerned, it’s just another job. It’s what he’s paid to do: track people through their data trails.
But when the job goes bad, Dogg has to start asking questions of his own. Like who his client is and what she’s looking for.
Turns out she’s a sassy biochemist with a conscience and she's after blood - not for revenge but for data. Welcome to the world of genetic information. A world in which if you prick yourself you don’t bleed, you download. The data in your veins doesn’t just describe your past, it predicts your future. And Gerald Keating has a special secret in his blood. About a crime he has yet to commit…
My Groups
-
Vox Literature Liberation Front Updated: 27 minutes ago
-
Photography Updated: Yesterday
-
song of the day Updated: Yesterday
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
