Alex Norton
An enjoyable short book to picked up at a whim to with for a library hold to come through. If you enjoy whodunnits this is a fun read,
Scalzi's books flow with wit, good dialogue, some interesting ideas. I'm pretty sure i will be tapping into the rest of the series
Enjoyable historical mystery that came available in Libby so i jumped on it rather than the more famous debut novel that is on my to list read The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle[b:The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle 36337550 The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Stuart Turton https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1506896221l/36337550.SY75.jpg 57528323]. Turton is certainly good, but the plot seemed very convoluted and required a lot of suspension of disbelief.
I was almost dreading this book. The title itself evokes nothing but unnerving misfortune and I am afraid it plays out that way. But this book is a gem. Crafted as a “heist/thriller” genre book, it is so much more than that. The care and meticulousness in crafting the character of Bug, mean that this is a novel that succeeds in exploring the search for one's “true self”. Not quite a debut novel but almost. An extraordinary one at that.
The first book was such a wonderful example of book witin a book and was also such an interesting take on the relationship of authors and their creatures and genres in general thaat this second book had big shoes to fill. It started a bit unevenly in trying to give Ryeland an excuse to be at the center of a second book, but then Horowitz picks it up and, again, we get two plots, two whodunits for the price of one, and he is a master of his art.
Well that answered a question - Does one of your favourite authors approach short stories the same way and long novels? The answer is yes. Great concept, wonderfully executed in exposition and same head scratching denouement which has you shaking the kindle to make sure you downloaded the full story and are not missing the penultimate 2 or 3 chapters. Once you read it (and I do urge you to do so), you will know what I mean.
Compared the Shades of Magic trilogy this is less action and more thoughtful. Any fan of Gaiman would love this book with shades of various oof his books, and it is artfully written. I cannot really put my finger on it, but, on finishing it is one of those books that is more than the sum of its parts
Yes, it is YA but there is a certain bite to it that recalls Gideon the Ninth and that gives it more depth than i could have hoped for.
I actually read the “prequel” first ([b:The Evening and the Morning 49239093 The Evening and the Morning Ken Follett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585140756l/49239093.SY75.jpg 73816656] and I do feel it works better as a book than this one - less ambitious but more focused in its plot line. Pillars has to be admired for the courage to be written out of love of the subject when everyone is telling you are a WW2 novelist. I loveed the attention to the bulding the Cathedral, but i disliked how he would pack great detail in a one year period and then skip 10 years and abandon or wash over characters. In the end this is Historical escapism, crafted well but not in the top bracket, but for as long as it was it never dragged and i never thought I was not being entertained (and learned a few things about the reigns of Stephen and Maud. ( I thought the Thomas Beckett part was a gratuitous epilog, but i do admit I went off and read more on the subject when i finished the book.
One of those reads with a perennial smile. The picture of a Villain/Super Hero world with temps, data analysts, petty deeds, is simply fun and it is written with wit and thought.
This is a troublesome book to rate. It definitely proved to me that I really like Mitchell's writing, in particular when he goes “insufferable Frobisher”, but unlike Bone Clocks where i felt the whole was better with the parts I was not convinced of the same after finishing this book. I actually enjoyed the movie which i watched a week after finishing the book and it did clarify many points for me.
A bit of an enjoyable weird one. Weird because, compared to other authors I recently read, Follett is a bit pedestrian as a writer. Ok it is years since I read his other stuff but I remembered him better. The characters are very black or white, the dialog capable but not memorable, however, he does move the narrative arc along, and for a thriller writer turned to Historical novelist, you have to give him credit that he chooses to have a loose plot rather than some strong theme that drives the beginning middle and end. I trust that it was well researched and it does seem a labour of love and the Pre-Norman period of Britain is an interesting one (I now know what a Hue & Cry is...) I will line up his more famous sequal to my TBR list
Hovered long over 4 or 3 stars on this one. It won the GR SciFi category for 2020 but this did not blow me out of the water. Paolini gets the nudge to four out of sheer hard work put into it (especially the Science appendix that demonstrates diligence to cover what is not his background, which was the “hat tip” moment I got for non-historians like Follet attempting Historical Novels)
the 3 star part is that it is hardly an original topic, nor plot., but it was a fun ride and I do, again, give a nod for him deciding to keep it all in one book instead of splitting it into two.
I seem to really love books about Cities and looking back at my “read” list they tend to live firmly in the Fantasy category, from [b:Neverwhere 14497 Neverwhere (London Below, #1) Neil Gaiman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348747943l/14497.SX50.jpg 16534] to [b:The City We Became 42074525 The City We Became (Great Cities, #1) N.K. Jemisin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585327950l/42074525.SY75.jpg 54760675]. This book manages to superimpose two Cities on each other and blends a 1960's Berlin divided, with a sort of end of century Prague feel, with modern settings. It is a police procedural in structure but it is very imaginative and rich so that the “whodunnit” is not even really all that important. I think i will revisit this one in a few years
ITV is filming it first series based on Pirie and as i love McDermid's Scottish Noir so I thought it time to start this series. Karen Pirie hardly appears in this first book, coming in at the end, when the case eis now a cold case. Val is a master a re-telling 70/80s Scotland and i really enjoyed this one
Of its genre (cozy mystery in very middle England) this one was a jewel of a debut novel with strongly executed and delightful characterization and an excellent observer of all things english. This was a balm of a book in this election run up.
Yes it is long, Yes she could have probably split it with “Bring Up” but it makes temporal sense why she did not do so but these books are seminal if you enjoy Historical Fiction and they deserve full attention. I am also glad I re-read the previous two for the best effect.
Having read [b:A Place of Execution 91487 A Place of Execution Val McDermid https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1311971779s/91487.jpg 1179513] i felt it was time to learn where my much loved Wire in The Blood characters came from. And I was not at all disappointed. Profilers are everywhere now but this 1995 book nails it on the head not just in introducing a wonderfully flawed character of Tony Hill but at explaing his job and what he does. Five stars given today reflects what this book is/was for the genre twenty years ago. Don't read if you are a bit squaeemish about torture (there is plenty) but it is a cracking good crime thriller and I will be back for more.
Re-read from the 80s and , for being a book written in the mid 60s it holds up very well. Yes, gender roles are probably not the most current but I will be delving into the sequels again.
Weird, i decided to give a bunch of the books in the 2020 Best of Goodreads a go. This one was in the Fantasy Category. I cannot fathom why on earth it was there, but who cares, it was a little gem of a book. Short but long enough so the structure works to effect but does not become tiresome. The messaging is on point and given in a light enough satirical voice to not be lecturing.
I came pretty close to disliking this one. O'Farrel obviously loves prose and dislikes dialog and she regularly falls into the prose pitfall of saying the same thing three times, thrice, in triplicate. And the more I noticed it the more it became annoying, disruptive, unhelpful. At the end of the day, however I loved the story and she is an accomplished author. This is not historical fiction a la Hillary Mantel. This is pure fiction based on a Historical curiosity, but it is a fine tale.
I read this on the strength of [b:Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland 40163119 Say Nothing A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland Patrick Radden Keefe https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1537315266l/40163119.SY75.jpg 62303430] and it was equally engrossing. Throughout the book i kept visualizing the play called “The Lehman Brothers” which, like this book, sections up the story on East European immigrants to the USA , their talents and growth, the gradual slip from drive to succeed to greed, and then the rot from within of subsequent generations. This story is not yet finished.
I'm not sure if he the author was uncertain of abilities or just decided to keep to the “thriller” agenda but the whole premise of the book (what to do if you invent a system of immortality) should have been fleshed out much more. As such a competent but ultimately vacuous page turner