Category Archives: Book Reviews

In none writing related news…well, actually…

I have a job interview next week.

If I get the job I’ll probably be working twelve hour shifts, which means I’ll have less time for writing, but more money to do the things I like to write about. It’ll work out somehow. I’m not going to stop writing just because I finally get a decent lab job.

That’s it, that’s all I was going to say.

Hang on, no it’s not.

I was reading ‘The shifting price of prey’ by Suzanne McLeod, but I couldn’t get into it, despite enjoying the earlier books in the ‘Spellcrackers.com’ series. It’s going back to the library. I might take it out again in the future.

Books I’m looking forward to reading this year include:

The Science of Discworld IV by Terry Pratchett, Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart
Published 11th April 2013

The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Published 20th June 2013

Albums I am looking forward to hearing this year:

Fall Out Boy
‘Save Rock and Roll’
15th April 2013

Sacred Mother Tongue
‘Out Of The Darkness’
15th April 2013

HIM
‘Tears on Tape’
29th April 2013

30 Seconds to Mars
‘Love, Lust, Faith + Dreams’
21st May 2013

I intend to review them all.
And now I must go, I’ve got a computer booked at the library in ten minutes.

Bye Bye

Rose

Review: The City’s Son: Book 1 of the Skyscraper Throne

Tom Pollock

Jo Fletcher Books (Quercus)

2012

I picked this up in the library about two weeks ago and it’s taken me a while to get through it. I think it’s meant to be a YA fantasy, but I had trouble deciding who the target audience were. The main characters were certainly adolescent, but it could as easily be read by adults.

Set in contemporary London the story follows the adventures of teenage graffiti artist Beth Bradley and her best friend and poet of the streets Pen (Parva Khan) as they get drawn into the war between the Urchin Prince, Filius Viae, and Reach, the Crane King.

Switching between the viewpoints of Beth and Filius the story tells of the midnight encounter with a railwraith by Beth and her involvement with Filius, as Pen is fighting her own battles. Betraying her only friend after one particular night of artistic revenge on a bullying teacher, Pen loses Beth to the hidden London. Beth’s father goes in search of her and Pen comes along to help. Unfortunately they are ambushed by Reach’s minion ‘The Wire Mistress’ who takes Pen as her avatar.

Meanwhile Beth and Filius are trying to build an army while waiting for his Mother, the Goddess of the Streets to return and help them; an army of statues, and lamp people, and one homeless Russian. Plus a person made of rubbish.

In fighting the war many battles are won and lost, lives lost and choices made. Sometimes you have to make a deal, and pay the price in the end. But the price of victory might not be worth paying. Beth has to decide as she becomes Filia Viae to Filius’s Filius Viae.

Although it took me a while to read this, I enjoyed it and will probably read the next one. The book feels allegorical; do we allow skyscrapers and things of glass and steel to destroy the life found in old city streets, is it progress or the killing of a place to change it? Renewal or ripping away of life? These are clearly pressing matters to think on and a balance or compromise has to be found, as Beth does. We have decisions to make, will we choose right, strike the right bargains and are we willing to pay the price for our choices?

Bye, for now

Rose

Review: The wisdom of the Shire: A short guide to a long and happy life

Noble Smith

Hodder & Stoughton

2012

As I said yesterday, I don’t read self-help books but I got sucked in by the Tolkien canon concept. There’s a reason for this; I get the feeling that the authors of such books are a bit smug. They might not be, but why would you write a book telling people how to live, or reach enlightenment, or how to pull, if you don’t believe that you know it all already and are kindly dispensing your wisdom to the world? So I’m a bit cynical; I don’t care how long you’ve been a Tolkien ‘enthusiast’, otherwise known as a fan, have you got something new to say, or are you just taking advantage of the fact that the ‘Hobbit’ films are popular at the minute?

As it turns out Mr Smith has nothing new to say on living a good life: sleep when you’re tired, only take what is sufficient to life, don’t be greedy or grasping, be a good neighbour and friend, treat the earth with respect and be a part of your community. None of this is new, but using the characters from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as his exemplars is. Much of the information asterisked as footnotes are obvious, irrelevant to the main text or things already known by those who are fans of Middle Earth.

All that being said, Mr Smith is passionate about the subject and that is obvious from his writing and the personal examples included affected me. His plan for a small ‘Hobbit garden’ is an interesting extra, he missed out Sam’s nasturtiums though :D. Most of all it has pushed me back to my copy of The Lord of The Rings, which sits accusingly on my bedside table, demanding to know when I am going to carry on reading it? The answer is, later, after I’ve made my pack up for work tomorrow.

I wouldn’t particularly recommend this book as weekend reading, but if you happen to see it in the library and like Middle Earth it would be a new approach to the works of Tolkien.

Bye,

Rose

I really should finish reading what I’ve started first, but still…

This morning I took my nephew to the library to get some more books and to take my book back. I had no intention of getting another book, since I still have two other books to finish reading, but then I saw this book, ‘The Wisdom of the Shire’ by Noble Smith.

I don’t generally go in for ‘self-help’ books but I have a thing for the works of JRR Tolkien and the book seemed to be a different take on the whole world of Middle Earth. So I’m going to read it. But first I’m going to follow Mr Smith’s advice and get some sleep because I’m tired.

I’ll let you know what I think of the book when I finish it. Have a nice afternoon, and I hope you’re all safely in your Hobbit-holes nice and warm in this cold weather.

Bye,

Rose

Review: A Place of Confinement by Miss Anna Dean

A Place of Confinement or, The examinations of Miss Dido Kent

By Miss Anna Dean

Allison and Busby
2012

The forth book in The Dido Kent Series finds Dido, the 36 year old spinster, sent off to be companion to her Aunt Manners, for the crime of refusing to marry a widowed rector and his pew and a half of children. Aunt Manners is very wealthy and her nieces and nephews are desperate for her good will.

Arriving at Mrs. Manners family home, Charcombe Manor, they find that another guest, the wealthy Miss Verney, has disappeared. Mr Tom Lomax, an acquaintance of Dido’s is considered the guilty party but swears he is not. For the sake of his father, Mr Lomax, a dear friend who would be more if he could persuade Dido to it, she undertakes to investigate the matter. When a man is murdered it becomes imperative that the truth is known, for more that Tom Lomax’s life is in the balance.

Everyone has their secrets and Miss Dido Kent will know them, in the pursuit of truth and justice, and to find the missing young lady. What emerges from the investigations of the active, intelligent and argumentative Miss Kent, will upset all around her, dig up a secret thirty years forgotten, bring a proposal and an engagement and a massive reconsideration of the characters of those Dido believes she knows well.

I do like the Dido Kent books. She is an engaging, intelligent character who has flaws and admits to them. She is aware of her lack of ‘femininity’ and her lack of freedom in her position as a dependant sister; she is ashamed of being a pawn in her sister-in-laws manoeuvres to gain a fortune but independent enough not to be bullied in to a loveless marriage by her.

Anna Dean is an amusing writer, her plots are well constructed and characters believable. Her understanding of human nature is exquisite, as is her understanding of the structure of a good regency novel and how to mess with it. I do like a good mystery, and a regency novel. So, of course I like this book. And I sympathise with Dido; no one likes being a poor, dependant middle-aged spinster, now or 200 years ago.

Bye for now,

Rose

Review: ‘The Horologicon: A day’s jaunt throught the lost words of the English language’ by Mark Forsyth

The Horologicon: A day’s jaunt through the lost words of the English Language

Mark Forsyth

Icon Books

2012

I’ve just finished reading this book. The author doesn’t recommend reading it straight through, instead treating it as a reference work to be consulted at the appropriate hour of the day, unless one wishes to go mad. I used to read dictionaries for fun (don’t ask) so, really, it’s quite probable that I am already mad. That being the case, I’ve spent the past couple of morning’s making my way through this witty volume.

I laughed like a drain all the way through. Mark Forsyth is a clever writer; his talent for finding and using obscure words is truly remarkable. No longer will I suffer from utcare; I shall rise from my bed and take up this little volume. And when Bulls’s Noon comes I shall probably still be looking through it.

I really must get his first book, The Etymologicon; if it’s as good as The Horologicon I am certain of a good read.

I heartily recommend this book if you’re interested in the lost words of the English language, ever feel tongue-tied, in need of new ways to insult your boss without getting the sack, or just want a new word to say that you, or somebody else, are drunk.

Mark Forsyth blogs at

http://inkyfool.blogspot.com

And his Twitter is @inkyfool

Bye for now,

Rose

Review: Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by Susannah Fullerton

Review: Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

Susannah Fullerton

Frances Lincoln Limited Publishers

2013

 

While I was in the British Library on Monday I saw a few books about Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice, and being a little bit of a Janeite I couldn’t resist buying this book for the train journey home. It is a fairly substantial hardback of 225 pages illustrated with drawings and photographs from the various editions of the book and film/tv adaptations that have been made. It took me a bit longer than the train journey to read, but certainly made the time pass agreeably.

The contents cover everything from the writing of Pride and Prejudice to the characters and various adaptations in books and films, and the ‘selling’ of Pride and Prejudice. Who knew you could get skateboards with quotes on them?

It is fairly obvious that the book was published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice. The writer is clearly enamoured of her subject and holds definite opinions about it. It is enjoyable to read, and covers many interesting topics. The book is informative and would probably have been useful to my younger self when I was studying Pride and Prejudice for my GCSE English Literature. I particularly found the discussion of translating P&P interesting. The fine irony of Jane Austen, her wicked wit, cannot be easy to translate, although anyone who gives it a go deserves a medal for trying.

However, there is a slight feeling of snobbery and prejudice against anyone who dares to adapt the original (personally I like ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ – it’s funny) and the authoress also becomes repetitive at times. We all know P&P is a great book; you don’t need to tell us a dozen times a chapter.

Borrow it from the library if you’re studying Pride and Prejudice, only buy this book if you really can’t resist.

As ever, that’s just my opinion. Happy reading,

Rose