Books - Book Aid
Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline – legal process crime fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 2/20/2006 6:51 PM
Lisa Scottoline’s Killer Smile is one of a series featuring a firm of trial lawyers. The book has a good plot, with interesting contextualisation of material about world war two detainees in America. The narrative is well planned for cliff-hangers at suitable times, though sometimes the reader could wish for a quicker move forward. There are longish periods when the literary plot devices of delay become quite tedious. The number of times papers go missing is not just careless but literary boredom. It is, however, professionally written by an author who knows her stuff, and so, even though characterisation is a little superficial, worth a weekend read.
More...
The Lightening Cage by Alan Wall – enigmatic literary fiction – 4/10
Books By bookworm on 2/19/2006 11:00 AM
Alan Wall’s book The Lightening Cage is a novel of erudite but curious literary fiction. The plot as such is fairly simple and undramatic, the story is carried on with two narratives – one historical and one current. These narratives do set up a tension and cause the reader to be curious about what deep, possibly supernatural, happenings are being referred to in the various snippets of letters and poetry quoted. The writing appears impressively scholarly and yet manages to have considerable suspense. It is a pity that the closing chapters are so disappointing – but perhaps that’s it – perhaps my attention drooped to such a low level I missed any point there was. Not my key themes or ideas.
More...
Entombed by Linda Fairstein – good quality crime fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 2/18/2006 2:09 PM
Linda Fairstein’s crime fiction book Entombed, is the latest in her series featuring Assistant DA Alex Cooper, and is, as usual with Fairstein’s books – well plotted, middling gruesome, and authentically detailed – this time with information about Edgar Allan Poe no less. The narrative moves along with high levels of suspense as relevant clues are only dribbled into the story along with a fair number of red herrings. The characters now verge on the tedious, as Linda Fairstein seems to be gripped by the problem of so many crime fiction writers who carry on a long series – the tendency to have the main characters lives with their partners afflicted by huge and earthshaking happenings as every day occurrences – just like a soap. They get less believable as each book appears. If you can just ride with the characters as backdrop, the book is very readable indeed.
More...
Last Tango in Abertystwyth by Malcom Pryce – Comic Noir crime fiction ! 6/10
Books By bookworm on 2/17/2006 12:05 PM
Malcom Pryce’s Last Tango in Aberystwyth is a strangely funny off the wall surreal blend between noir fiction and the League of Gentlemen. It is set in an Aberystwyth of 24 hour whelk stalls, opium and toffee apple dens and where young men were recruited to fight in Patagonia. The plot is impossible to summarise with any sense of sanity, and the characters are as weird as they need to be in the imaginative context. It is the effortless way the humour is woven into the structure of the story that makes this such a unexpected delight – the fluency of the writing and off-beat language and contrivances make this book.
More...
Property by Valerie Martin – Literary Fiction, Orange Prize Winner 2003
Books By bookworm on 2/16/2006 4:47 PM
Valerie Martin’s book Property, her Orange Prize winning novel of 2003, is, as might be expected, beautifully and carefully written. The theme of the bondage of slavery – both for the owned and the owner is an original perspective, and for one with little knowledge of the history of slavery in the American South, an eye opener in terms of what the book reveals anew of the unthinkingly cruel psychological as well as physical treatment of slaves by ordinary, even “good” people. The characters are all flawed and unlikeable, even the strange “heroine” narrating, and yet the book is quite compelling and powerful in delivering its moral – though this is not straightforward or easy.
More...
Donna Leon – Dressed to Kill – Italian Detective Brunetti – literate crime fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 2/15/2006 1:37 PM
Donna Leon’s crime fiction book “Dressed to Kill” is quite an early book (1994) featuring her Detective Commisario Guido Brunetti – the Venetian context makes this novel particularly pleasurable, though the police and crime structure of Leon’s Venice seems very different from that of Massimo Carlotto (see last entry) – though the political manoeuvrings paint the same picture of corruption and intrigue. Not only is the context pleasurable and atmospheric, the plot is, as usual for Donna Leon – very well structured and the literate and polished narrative moves along quickly and deals with great consideration and human sympathy with the violence and horror. However, it is the characterisations that really make the Guido Brunetti books – of the detective and his moral and thoughtful nature, of his wife and family and of his colleagues and the victims of crime – where small pen pictures create an empathy in the reader. These are so good I shall work my way through her back catalogue in time.
More...
Massimo Carlotto – The Columbian Mule – Trans from Italian – Crime Fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 2/14/2006 3:49 PM
The Columbian Mule by Massimo Carlotti is based on fact (so says the author’s afterword) and shows an atmosphere and reality in setting and dialogue hard to capture in crime fiction. It seems true that fact is stranger than fiction given the convoluted plot – where the several threads appear to weave illogically and independently through the narrative. It’s a strange tale of gangster’s honour and infighting, and police ruthlessness. The line usually clear in crime fiction between “good” and “bad” even if not between “right” and “wrong” or even less so with “lawful” and “unlawful” is only for the reader to determine. The author tells a fascinating story. It is worth reading if only for the authentic sense of place – do try it.
More...
The Ice Harvest by Scott Philips – “Deeply noir” – thriller 5/10
Books By bookworm on 2/13/2006 9:10 PM
Scott Philips’ The Ice Harvest is an interesting debut novel. The blurb says this is “white noir” but certainly noir it is. Atmospherically placed in the quiet snow of Christmas eve. Quite relentlessly black in focus – though the blow-by-blow account of the action as Charlie tries to run away is written with sharp wit and insight into human frailties. Though set up to be wicked and deeply malevolent, the reader is increasing tied into reading the story to find out who, or if, anyone gets away with the crimes. The ending is quite outrageously unexpected.
More...
Tess Gerritsen – Body Double – Bestselling crime thriller 7/10
Books By bookworm on 2/12/2006 11:55 AM
Tess Gerritsen, Body Double - as the blurbs for this book say the plot is “horrific and gruesome” – though it isn’t in-your face at the outset – it’s a plot that keeps you guessing right to the end. There is a good authentic forensic background – for those who appreciate the details and there are some quite tantalising characterisations, though sometimes you wish there was more interest in the rather flat relationships. The narrative is brilliantly taut – being left hanging at the end of chapters is Tess Gerritsen’s forte – and it certainly keeps you reading to the end. A bone-chiller that keeps you on the end of the seat – not for the fainthearted - or pregnant, for that matter.
More...
Claire McNab – The Kookaburra Gambit – light detective novel 5/10 (and that’s being kind)
Books By bookworm on 2/11/2006 2:50 PM
Claire McNab’s book - The Kookaburra Gambit is a lightish detective novel. It is easy to read and the plot moves along quickly. There are no complicated devices that slow you down (or add depth or interest for example) and it gets away with pretty grim dialogue with lightweight banter and any additional interest occasioned by following the fairly humdrum (by good crime novel standards, that it) life of a trainee gay detective (or rather a trainee detective who happens to be gay). Some amusing touches but not enough to recommend that you read it.
More...
Tunnel Vision by Sara Paretsky – Crime Fiction 6/10
Books By bookworm on 2/10/2006 2:05 PM
Sara Paretsky’s crime fiction book Tunnel Vision features her popular female private investigator V I Warshawski. This time, as usual, V I is scraping along financially and emotionally, and struggles through a morass of problems. The plot is well structured – and given the large size of Paretsky’s books, is geared to keep you guessing and reading onto the next chapter. The various separate themes eventually begin to be linked and the writing is focused and assured. Characterisations are well drawn and observed, and the background context is quite fascinating. The central character is well placed in the genre of fictional American private eyes – but Paresky’s particular gift is to be able to convince us that it is possible to be tough AND caring without losing credibility.
More...
Saturday by Ian McEwan – Major book by “Supreme Novelist of his Generation”
Books By bookworm on 2/9/2006 6:10 PM
There are so many superlatives on the quoted reviews fort this book “Saturday” by Ian McEwan, that I hardly dare add anything to it ! Some of the adjectives used: “Dazzling, profound, urgent…outstanding subtlety… eloquent, restrained, …..observant, responsive, comprehending.” This is indeed very good literary fiction, though, if I dare to say it, expressing a primarily white, male and (educated and privilidged) middle class perspective. As the reviewers say, its not the story (there is very little of it really) it’s the wonderful writing and insightful psychological sympathetic characterisation, as well as the skill by which the various themes – personal and political - come together into the narrative of one day. It is about the fragility of our current lives, how an ideal family may well operate, how driven our lives are by our threads binding us to others. And lots more as they say.
More...
Paul Sussman’s book – The Last Secret of the Temple – An action-packed thriller 9/10
Books By bookworm on 2/8/2006 6:14 PM
Paul Sussman’s book – The Last Secret of the Temple is another Grail-type quest of a Jewish Holy Treasure, it has two main narratives woven together in a short-time frame thriller. The plot is as samey as other quest thrillers: ancient manuscript + modern triggers = thrilling action where villains and heroes race to find the prize. The geographical and historical context is certainly authentic and separates it from others, whilst the main characters are well fleshed and create empathy or dislike as clearly intended. It is a satisfying long book with most of the action integral to the story. It was a pleasure to read even if some of the more “magical” elements ring less true than the rest of it. Worth getting for a nice long weekend read.
More...
William Diehl’s crime fiction book – Sharkey’s Machine 6/10
Books By bookworm on 2/7/2006 1:59 PM
Sharkey’s Machine, William Diehl’s crime fiction novel is one of those things-now-caused-by-happenings-in-the-past kind of books, where the plot can get a little complicated to follow at times and the narrative often skips about. It’s a long book, and not the kind of at-one-sitting length so I found myself often backtracking to find out where I’d got to, I even had to re-read the first two chapters at one point to understand the thickening of the plot. I did keep going and it was just about worth it. The characters are a little woodenly drawn, and I didn’t care a great deal about most of them, though Sharkey, the hero, is quite rounded if not lovable. The good part is that the story is lively and interesting, not too introspective but with wide-ranging contexts and backgrounds for action, that reveal new ideas and worlds to the reader. Some novels are quite pedestrian in scope – this certainly isn’t !
More...
The Innocent – A book by Magdalen Nabb. Crime Fiction 9/10
Books By bookworm on 2/6/2006 2:50 PM
This book by Magdalen Nabb, The Innocent, features her police detective Marshal Guarnaccia. The Marshal is probably my favourite police detective – though not speedy or flashy in his way of working, he is endearing and convincing, human and empathic and tenacious in solving the murders. The Florentine background is so very detailed, evocative and pleasurable the book could serve as an advertisement for the Italian Tourist Board. The book is well plotted, the characterisations believable and so well knitted into the narrative that each interview adds drops of information to the story whilst at the same time fleshing out the psychology, drives and motives of behaviour. If you haven’t read a Magdalen Nabb book or been to Florence, plan to do both soon.
More...
Pel and the Nickname Game – A Crime fiction/police procedural book by Juliet Hebden 7/10
Books By bookworm on 2/5/2006 1:54 PM
The Crime Fiction book – Pel and the Nickname Game by Juliet Hebden – a “Eurothriller” says the blurb (though its not so much of the thriller, more the puzzler) features the popular Commissaire Evariste Clovis Desire Pel – the creature created by Juliet Hebden’s father and continued by her. The book is a pleasure for Francophiles, - it is well plotted, with a narrative that moves along briskly. The book is made by the characterisations, especially the taciturn, scruffy disagreeable Pel, who surprisingly is quite endearing and believable. The baddies are, unusually for crime fiction, more than a match for the police, and so the plot is kept tight and interesting.
More...
Jodi Compton – the 37th Hour - Crime thriller/Detective Novel 6/10
Books By bookworm on 2/3/2006 4:24 PM
Jodi Compton’s crime thriller The 37th Hour is a well written book of considerable suspense and movement. However, the starting-from- here-and- working- forward through-flashback ploy has never been my favourite structure for a novel as I feel it inhibits the flow –and often makes if difficult to plaster the bits together should you leave the book momentarily to have a cup of tea or gin (you may need the gin before you get to the end of this). It is truly mystifying in parts and it is only possible to begin to work out the ending as you get there. The characters are quite sketchily drawn in some cases, and those where more depth of description is given seem to be those who are not particularly endearing.
More...
The Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri – Italian Police procedural /Crime thriller
Books By bookworm on 2/2/2006 1:24 PM
Andrea Camilleri’s book The Snack Thief – is another novel featuring the idiosyncratic Inspector Montalbano. It has great authentic sense of place and atmosphere, larger-than life characters, and an excellent zippy but circuitous narrative. This led around by the hunches and flashes of brilliance of Inspector Montalbano, and frequently detouring into several restaurants and his delicious “light” meals or into descriptions of the food his housekeeper leaves in the fridge for him. It skirts around farce some of the time, though it is amusing and very readable. Do try this author and get this book if you like the sound of a more authentic Michael Dibdin !
More...
Spencerville by Nelson DeMille – book of the film – hope the film is better 5/10
Books By bookworm on 2/1/2006 3:04 PM
Spencerville by Nelson DeMille is a thriller – though its length does mean that the thrills are somewhat drawn out. The plot of this book is rather thin, though the action is driven by a unpredictable character – and much of the narrative relates to outguessing and bypassing him – it does, at times seem that the power this character carries is somewhat contrived. . It may be much more believable in American terms. It is tempting to think that the two main characters are rather too weak anyway, and feel that they should just get their act together !. The writing and in-built suspense does save the book , though it might be better if it were shorter. Try the film –it may be better !
More...
Dead Simple by Peter James – murder/thriller – 7/10 if you’re not squeamish !
Books By bookworm on 1/31/2006 1:50 PM
I found this book Dead Simple by Peter James as a major challenge to read past the first chapter or so – not because it was either poorly written or conceived – just the opposite – the initial action was so intense and opened up such horrifying possibilities, I wasn’t sure I would want to go through the pain barrier of the suspense so clearly signalled. I thought it was likely to continue to disturb me rather than be an interesting problem to be solved. It was so well written I found it difficult to detach. Not only does the plot milk the pain of claustrophobia but also the betrayal of friendship and the rising panic of all characters as the novel comes to the end. I did keep reading – Peter James is an excellent crime writer – but though I applaud the realism – I found the topics uncomfortable. Trythis book yourself and see what you think !
More...
John Lawton – Blackout – crime fiction. 7.5/10
Books By bookworm on 1/30/2006 8:45 PM
John Lawton’s Blackout is a well-presented novel : nicely written, good narrative and a convincing (at least I thought so) wartime-London context. The day-to-day life of the time seems to be well portrayed, and the plot utilises a number of wartime themes, and weaves them into a suspenseful story. The characterisations are variable in depth, though convincing of the “types” of the more class-based society of the time. Blackout starts out really well, and sets up the problem of identification of a body that could have been a murder or accidental to a German bomb.
More...
Gabrielle Lord – Feeding the Demons – busy crime thriller 6.5/10
Books By bookworm on 1/29/2006 7:30 PM
Gabrielle Lord – Feeding the Demons is a crime thriller with a number of interwoven plots and sub-plots, it has considerable psychological background and is full of pretty unstable characters who are unpredictable and can come under scrutiny of guilt in the murders at different times. Probably because of this unpredictability, the reader is led to keep reading through the narrative with its quickly escalating thriller action, even though sympathy for the characters does wane after one stupid decision follows another ! But an excellent sustaining of interest right up to the end.
More...
Dean Koontz – Velocity – speedy, scary, unfathomable – killer ending 10/10
Books By bookworm on 1/27/2006 3:11 PM
Dean Koontz – Velocity - this is a read-in-one-go novel says the book blurb – and its right, I had to finish it before I went to bed. The story is just so downright suspenseful and compelling that at each new acceleration of the nightmare it is essential to find out if it IS going to happen. This book has a multi-layered, clever plot, an absolutely outstandingly gripping narrative, a well-drawn central character we come to identify with as he struggles to take control, though the other characters are more background sketches we don’t know whether they will turn out to be innocent or complicit.
More...
Karin Fossum – He Who Fears the Wolf – well-characterised crime fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 1/26/2006 1:52 PM
He Who Fears the Wolf by Karin Fossum is a particularly interesting murder mystery. It may be that the rather mournful, clinical, almost detached, matter of fact view of the murder and its possible suspects is related to the third person narrative and that it is translated from the Norwegian. This does mean, however, that the background and context is interesting and authentic and with considerable detail and depth. The psychological expertise and empathy of the narrator for the characters lifts this book from the OK to the worth reading category.
More...
Henning Mankell – The Fifth Woman – another case for Inspector Wallender
Books By bookworm on 1/24/2006 8:04 PM
Henning Mankell’s The Fifth Woman is now one of seven Inspector Wallender crime novels excellently translated from the Swedish – his novels give a wonderful sense of background and place, and capturing the space and isolation of rural life whilst at the same time an appreciation of the use of modern crime methods and techniques. The plot of the Fifth Woman is very clever, giving significant clues in every chapter, whilst at the time leaving the reader unsure how to knit them in, until the end. The narrative, therefore, is compelling. At times the descriptions of personality and nature gives a rather mournful impression of the characters – especially Kurt Wallender, though the thin personal life of overworked workaholic police is a constant theme in crime fiction.
More...
Frank Devlin – Love in all the wrong places – psychological/serial murders 7/10
Books By bookworm on 1/23/2006 2:46 PM
Love in all the wrong places by Frank Devlin is reminiscent of the American cop genre (though without the wry humour of, say, Robert B Parker). It has excellent and intriguing plot which in turn mystifies, lulls you into a false feeling of knowing the end, and then has a few sneaky switches at the end. A fast-paced narrative with a good characterisation of the usual squeeze on the strung-out lives of the overworked cops, relentless in their pursuit of their known killer.
More...
Acqua Alta – Donna Leon’s crime thriller with Commissario Brunetti
Books By bookworm on 1/22/2006 12:11 PM
Acqua Alta – Donna Leon’s crime thriller is in the middle of a series featuring her kindly, deceptively low-key police detective. This series altogether gives the most delightful descriptive sense of location together with sensitive characterisation and a good plot .
More...
Straight into Darkness by Faye Kellerman – dark recent/history murder mystery/8/10
Books By bookworm on 1/20/2006 7:06 PM
Straight into Darkness - Faye Kellerman has written another “international bestseller” and deserves to be so – it is well researched with an authentic feel to the historical pre-war context. The plot is quite convoluted - murders are set against rapidly moving action within Germany at that time, and the related instability of the police force and incipient violence. The characterisation is good, and the narrative is suspenseful enough to keep the reader guessing. An excellent ending with a surprising final twist. Worth getting for the weekend.
More...
The Pact by Jodi Picoult – suspenseful and intriguing 7/10
Books By bookworm on 1/19/2006 11:20 AM
Jodi Picoult – the author of the Richard and Judy bestseller “My sister’s Keeper” – has written an interesting novel – the Pact – that explores the relationships between parents and children, and within families when faced with a serious trauma. The novel centres on a suicide pact between two young teenage lovers, and explores the myriad of factors involved in the inexorable progress to the death of the young girl, and the trial of the surviving boyfriend. There are compelling views of the families, both between and within them, the legal advisors and the time of incarceration. The ending could be better, I thought.
More...
Stalking the Angel by Robert Crais – Elvis Cole strikes again !
Books By bookworm on 1/18/2006 1:36 PM
Robert Crais’ detective crime novel “Stalking the Angel” gives another outing to that amusing detective Elvis Cole. As usual, Robert Crais writes a good story with narrative expertise. It has a good plot, with amusing characters and dialogue worth reading the book for if everything else were poor! The story moves along quickly, in a direction satisfying to the reader, with enough plot turns and twists to keep you guessing (there is nothing worse than reading towards the expected and then finding you’re right).
More...
The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith – 1st of new series
Books By bookworm on 1/17/2006 3:22 PM
Alexander McCall Smith best known for the No1 Ladies Detective Agency Series has started a new series featuring an amateur sleuth set in middle-class Edinburgh. This is in the same amusing and rich style of his other books – wonderful characters, interesting and detailed background for Edinburgh-philics and an excellent plot – with layers of detecting giving clues to lead the reader to the inevitability of the ending. This is nicely written and a pleasure to read and if you’ve liked his other books, will give much pleasure. There is the point – rather like with Miss Marple, you do wonder what it all is to do with the main character and why is she pushing her nose into other people’s affairs !
More...
Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles – Civil War Historical fiction
Books By bookworm on 1/16/2006 2:44 PM
For someone who knew very little about the American Civil War, this novel, Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles, (ISBN 0-00-714642-6] was particularly interesting, with a gritty, informative historical context revealing information about what happened during the Civil War in a realistic and hard-hitting way, as well as giving a realistic view of the harshness of country life in the mid nineteenth century in the United States (though they weren’t – united that is – at the time, of course). If your education missed American History (like most of us) you may well find this as fascinating as I did.
More...
Shattered Icon by Bill Napier – another discover-past religious secrets ploy – 7/10
Books By bookworm on 1/15/2006 6:03 PM
Bill Napier’s Shattered Icon is in the Da Vinci code genre – a thriller about hunting down a religious treasure following cryptic clues – which is fast paced and well-plotted, though the characters are a little two-dimensional and the significance of a couple of them to the plot seems to be marginal. However, it has a keep-you-reading style and some excellent insights into ancient calendars, astronomy and physics and 16th Century history, which will probably be new to many readers. The author, Bill Napier is an astronomer, so the scientific background is authentic, which certainly puts it above many of this type of thriller. I’d have given it a higher score but the ending is a little disappointing.
More...
Day after Day – Carlo Lucarelli – an Ispettore Negro novel – 8/10
Books By bookworm on 1/13/2006 3:28 PM
Day after Day by Carlo Lucarelli (ISBN 1 84343 149 1) is a crime/police procedural set in Italy – translated from the Italian so that the procedures and dialogue is as authentic and atmospheric as a good translator can make it. The plot is excellent and keeps the reader guessing to the end – even though the murderer is known from the outset, he is always so far ahead of the police that they follow only the clues he has left them until a late breakthrough enables them to put everything together. Inspector Negro – Grazia, is determined, tough and intelligent and is certainly a good addition to the collection of such detectives in the detective novel.
More...
Tash Aw – the Harmony Silk Factory – waiting for prizes
Books By bookworm on 1/12/2006 10:12 AM
The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw – a new book of literary fiction is set to be recommended for prizes and certainly has been noticed and promoted. This is an extended quite exotic narrative, written in English though set in a wholly foreign context. The writer, like so many literary fiction writers in English nowadays brings his authentic background of different countries through his own birth and mixed heritage, so giving a depth and richness and suspense where the reader is unable to fathom the motives of the actors in the drama.
More...
Lawrence Block – Tanner on Ice. Strange, but I read it all. 5/10.
Books By bookworm on 1/10/2006 10:31 AM
Lawrence Block is an excellent mystery/crime writer, and has written a large number of novels in different series. This Evan Tanner novel (the first of this series I’ve read) is more a quite strange and far-fetched old fashioned adventure story, though the incongruity of some of the narrative tends to add to its interest rather than distract from it. It is a quick-moving, probably over-complex plotted novel. Fairly easy to read quickly – which is in its favour.
More...
Ian Rankin – Mortal Causes – A Crime Novel from the Mid-Rebus years
Books By bookworm on 1/6/2006 3:03 PM
Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus Novels have become famous if only for the unfortunately poorly miscast (the earlier one - not the current) television series. This one, Ian Rankin’s Mortal Causes (ISBN 0 75287 720 8) is from his “mid period” the “St Leonard Years” and is as well crafted and plotted as the others in the series. However, this earlier Rebus is also, perhaps, sharper: and though the plot, as usual, hinges on Rebus’s relationship with Edinburgh gangsters, is challenging and interesting. I can’t think why I hadn’t read it before, but I’m glad I caught up with it.
More...
Zadie Smith – On Beauty: A Novel 5/10
Books By bookworm on 1/5/2006 9:14 PM
Zadie Smith’s On Beauty: A Novel is, so the jacket blurb states, her third novel and is advertised as “a brilliant take on family life, the collision of the personal and political and an honest look at people’s self deceptions”. Mmm. This is rather more than it is in my opinion. It is a story of two families with overtly similar but really quite different influences, part of the action in London and part in New England. It is a novel with a great deal of character description and side-narrative where the relevance is not always clear and often quite tedious. Where the action focuses on interaction between the families the story moves quicker.
More...
Eats Shoots and Leaves. The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
Books By bookworm on 1/4/2006 4:19 PM
Eats Shoots and Leaves, The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss was book of the year 2004, and shows how seriously the English take their punctuation. Clearly, concisely and humorously written Eats Shoots and Leaves is an argument for the preservation of our printed conventions of punctuation given the onslaught of informality through email and texting.
More...
Expresso Tales – more from Alexander McCall Smith at 44 Scotland Street
Books By bookworm on 1/2/2006 7:23 PM
Expresso Tales is from the author of the Ladies No1 Detective Agency and follows his successful first book on the lives of people on 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh. It originally was published in a weekly serial in the Scotsman and the first book became an immediate best seller. Ideally you would read the first one before this, as all the wonderful characters are introduced.
More...
December Heat by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza – crime in Rio – 7/10
Books By bookworm on 1/1/2006 2:41 PM
December Heat by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza, translated from the Spanish is a police procedural with a difference. Set in Rio de Janeiro it chronicles the underworld of crime and police response showing a very different flavour to the usual USA based cop crime/underworld novel. Characterisations and relationships are developed against the background of atmosphere of menace and danger, and the plot unravels satisfactorily unguessable.
More...
The English Assassin by Daniel Silva – A really good read 9/10
Books By bookworm on 12/30/2005 10:46 AM
Daniel Silva’s The English Assassin is a well crafted mystery/thriller that moves along at a fast pace, with a terrific plot. The descriptions are contained and used for insight into context and characters, though characters and place are not drawn in the padded laboured detail as in some less well written books , but through clever focus on key events and action keeps the reader gripped. It really was difficult to put this one down even just to make a cup of tea ! I can really recommend this for a good read. I’ll make a point of reading his other books.
More...
The latest Aurelio Zen – Is Michael Dibdin pulling our leg ?
Books By bookworm on 12/29/2005 9:34 AM
Back To Bologna by Michael Dibdin is the latest Aurelio Zen mystery shows the atmospheric Italian background of the earlier Zen mysteries at which Dibdin excels, but also some very tired plotting and characterisation that stretches our belief to the limit. The jacket blurb says “features a cast of vivid and idiosyncratic characters and along the way delivers both comic and serious insights into the realities of today’s Italy.” For idiosyncratic read weird and almost unbelievable when put together into one book –and “Comic insights” ?. I got the feeling that Dibdin was just fed up with Zen and all he could manage was a parody.
More...
Sleep Pale Sister by Joanne Harris. An early novel by author of Chocolat – a little turgid 5/10
Books By bookworm on 12/28/2005 8:10 PM
Sleep Pale Sister is a reprint of an early work of Whitbread-shortlisted Chocolat’s author Joanne Harris. It is a historical thriller. Written in the first person the narrator changes from character to character as a device to reveal the motives and thoughts of each of the protagonists. This does make the prose somewhat long winded stream of consciousness stuff that can be very tedious if you are (like me) wanting the plot to move a little quicker. The action is all too predictable, thought there are many circuitous chapters until we get there. I must also confess to feeling that this was a particular weak ending. However, I did read it until the end.
More...
Stuart – A life backwards by Alexander Masters – read this over Christmas
Books By bookworm on 12/23/2005 9:58 PM
Stuart – A life backwards by Alexander Masters, is a true story about the life of a homeless man, Stuart. This wonderful biography, written after two years of interviews, shows a graphic and often funny picture of what it is like being a person with a chaotic lifestyle – and should be read by all those people who think the problem of homelessness could be cured by some simple answer. Read it this Christmas and have an insight into just how privileged you are – however grim your life may seem – not to have the demons and self awareness of them of Stuart Shorter.
More...
Michael Connelly – The Closers just as good as his others
Books By bookworm on 12/21/2005 9:56 AM
You can see why Michael Connelly stays on the best seller lists - Michael Connelly’s The Closers is particularly well crafted crime fiction. It is well plotted with a nice fast-paced narrative. Harry Bosch, Connelly’s detective is out of retirement and working with “Cold Cases” – now renamed the “Open Unsolved Unit”.
More...
Shalimar the Clown –Salman Rushdie - 5/10 only
Books By bookworm on 12/18/2005 2:47 PM
Heavyweight prizewinning author Salman Rushdie’s novel Shalimar the Clown has a fairly formulaic structure – Action then reason for it – that means little is unexpected and is tedious reading in parts. With a cast of flawed and unlikable characters it is really uphill work to keep on to the end. There are some lyrical passages of context which may be enough to lift the book for fans of his writing.
More...
Renko returns !. Wolves eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith equals Gorky Park
Books By bookworm on 12/15/2005 7:05 PM
Wolves Eat Dogs, the latest Martin Cruz Smith book featuring the Moscow Senior Investigator Arkady Renko, now looks at the Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain. This is a must read – not just for the interest in the setting and context, and effective characterisation, but a masterful plot that drips information and invites you to put together the solution. My best read this year.
More...
Michele Desbordes – The House in the Forest- has considerable critical acclaim
Books By bookworm on 12/13/2005 8:28 PM
Michele Desbordes – The House in the Forest- has considerable critical acclaim – jacket reviews say “Michele Desbordes enigmatic first novel glitters and pulses” and “both a tantalising mystery and a gripping and lyrical meditation on love, loss and the passing of time”. This prepares you for something more than seems to be there. It is certainly quite strange in its setting, and increasingly predictably, a tragedy. Perhaps it were better read in its original French.
More...
Orange Prize shortlisted – Marina Lewycka, a Short History of Tractors in Ukranian
Books By bookworm on 12/11/2005 6:48 PM
Marina Lewycka brought up in England, though with Ukrainian parents, has written a novel – A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (ISBN 0 670 91560 2 HB) that was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for fiction. The story is interwoven with a number of themes, relationships in families – with some wonderful reflections of old age, the legacy of Europe’s history over the past 50 years, and about immigrants and immigration and links with their mother countries. It is funny, very funny in parts, though it took a little getting into.
More...
Editors Login ONLY