Rubbernecker, by Belinda Bauer [audiobook]. Read by Andrew Wincott. Oxford: Isis, 2013.
A man recovering from a coma thinks he's seen a murder. A student with Asperger's syndrome begins a course in anatomy. A nurse starts an affair with the husband of one of the other coma patients. As well as being a really excellently-plotted thriller, this is also a study in our inability to communicate. In the case of the coma patient, this is a physical thing; in the case of Patrick, the student, a function of his inability to understand people and to make friends. Excellent and very creepy; and well read by Wincott who's best known for being the voice of Adam Macy in The Archers.
The ghost of Lily Painter, by Caitlin Davies [audiobook]. Read by Annie Aldington, Jilly Bond, Mike Grady and Julie Maisey. Oxford: Isis, 2011.
I saw a reference to this when I was looking up the Finchley Baby Farmers while reading Nicola Upton's Two for sorrow earlier in the year, and I'm extremely glad I did. I don't know what the audiobook equivalent of unputdownable is, but I listened to all 10 hours over 2 days; the ensemble reading was excellent and it's an extremely well-crafted story covering four generations of a family and a century of secrets, from the death of Queen Victoria to the present day.
Lost cat: a true story of love, desperation and GPS technology, by Caroline Paul. Illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.
This was lent to me by a lovely colleague who'd borrowed it from Westminster Libraries; and it's a fabulous little book I really wouldn't have come across otherwise. Caroline Paul had a horrible accident, and then while she was recovering, her cat Tibby went missing. Weeks later, Tibby suddenly reappeared, but Caroline was desperate to know where he'd been in the meantime; and this is where the GPS technology, and the insanity, creeps in. This is a lovely little wonder of a book, beautifully and copiously illustrated by Paul's partner Wendy, and containing so much stuff familiar to anyone who's been owned by a cat. Hilarious, sad and joyful all at the same time.
The moon tunnel, by Jim Kelly [audiobook]. Read by Ray Sawyer. Oxford: Isis, 2008.
A body is found in a tunnel near a former World War II internment camp at Ely; but it turns out to date from the 1970s or 1980s. not the 1940s, and the body seems to be heading into the camp, not out. Dryden investigates, and becomes embroiled with the history of the Italian community in the area, which leads to the unveiling of many family secrets. Excellent.
The best of everything, by Rona Jaffe. London: Penguin, 2011. Originally published in 1958.
Rona Jaffe's semi-autobiographical novel is apparently a favourite of Don Draper in Mad men. (Or at least, that's what the reviews say.) Four young women arrive in New York in 1952 to make their way in the world and find themselves working for a slightly downmarket publishing company. Radcliffe graduate Caroline is recovering from a broken engagement, ingenue April is initially stunned by the city, actress Gregg has poise but also fragility, and divorcée Barbara supports her mother and child by writing her beauty column. And then there are men - lecherous men, treacherous men, weak men, overly nice men... The combination of the modernity of some of the women's attitudes and the continuing desperation to "make a good match" are incongruous, and in some cases exasperating. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it, but neither of the other two at my book group were very keen! (I think this is probably the first book I've read with a pair of legs in tights and high heels on the cover since briefly dipping my toe into the murky water of Jackie Collins as a teenager.)
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
2013 books, #31-35
Entombed, by Linda Fairstein [audiobook]. Read by Barbara Rosenblat. Rearsby, Leics: WF Howes, 2004.
This was excellent; while Barbara Rosenblat's reading will make the phonebook sound good, this is a really well-written, tight thriller which makes you care about the characters. In this case, attendees at a lawyers' dinner accidentally become privy to the discovery of a walled-in skeleton in a house once inhabited by Edgar Allan Poe. It's a good twisting and turning plot with a lot of info on Poe and his circle. I'll be looking for more in this series.
The man who ate the world: in search of the perfect dinner, by Jay Rayner [audiobook]. Read by the author. Rearsby, Leics.: Clipper/WF Howes, 2008.
Rayner tells the story of how, several years after he became a restaurant critic, a chef told him that Michelin *** restaurants exist only so that the very rich can eat the same food all over the world. Determined to prove the chef wrong, Rayner travels the world to find the perfect meal. We have accounts of restaurants in Las Vegas, Dubai, London, Tokyo and Paris, some truly epic meals, some local colour, a bit of a discussion of the food blogosphere and a lot of very funny commentary. The author's a great reader with very good comic timing, and this is a fun read even if you, like me, will probably never be able to afford to eat in the establishments described...
Valentine Grey, by Sandi Toksvig. London: Virago, 2012.
Valentine Grey hates England in 1897, arriving after an idyllic childhood in India with her father. The only bright spot is her exciting but irresponsible cousin Reggie and his theatrical friends. When a volunteer brigade is created to support the troops in the Boer War, Reggie's father signs him up, to Reggie's horror. Valentine decides to save both of them by dressing in Reggie's uniform and joining the bicycle corps. Both of them find that "freedom" has its price; Reggie's life as a gay man in Victorian London is as confining as the army, and Valentine learns the horror of war. This is an extraordinary book, both moving and very funny, and with genuine anger about both war and prejudice.
One false move, by Harlen Coben. London: Orion, 2004. Originally published 1998.
A Myron Bolitar book; and well up to the usual standard. Myron is conned into looking after rising basketball star Brenda Slaughter, on the basis that he can become her agent. But Brenda's father goes missing, and somehow, someone has links with organised crime. Myron's life, business and relationship are all at risk, and his compulsion to discover the secret just drive him into more trouble.
Raven black, by Anne Cleeves. London: Pan, 2006.
I gather this is the first of the novels on which the recent mini-series Shetland was based; but it's difficult to tell this other than by the name of the detective. A young girl, Catherine Ross, is discovered dead in a snowy field, strangled with her own scarf. There is one obvious suspect, an elderly learning disabled man in the next cottage along, but when the mainland police arrive to investigate they're determined to keep a more open mind than the locals. There's also an echo of the disappearance of young Catriona Bruce years before, and this opens up long-sealed resentments and family secrets. I really didn't see the dénouement of this book coming! I'll definitely be reading the others in this series and Cleeves's other books.
The man who ate the world: in search of the perfect dinner, by Jay Rayner [audiobook]. Read by the author. Rearsby, Leics.: Clipper/WF Howes, 2008.
Rayner tells the story of how, several years after he became a restaurant critic, a chef told him that Michelin *** restaurants exist only so that the very rich can eat the same food all over the world. Determined to prove the chef wrong, Rayner travels the world to find the perfect meal. We have accounts of restaurants in Las Vegas, Dubai, London, Tokyo and Paris, some truly epic meals, some local colour, a bit of a discussion of the food blogosphere and a lot of very funny commentary. The author's a great reader with very good comic timing, and this is a fun read even if you, like me, will probably never be able to afford to eat in the establishments described...
Valentine Grey, by Sandi Toksvig. London: Virago, 2012.
Valentine Grey hates England in 1897, arriving after an idyllic childhood in India with her father. The only bright spot is her exciting but irresponsible cousin Reggie and his theatrical friends. When a volunteer brigade is created to support the troops in the Boer War, Reggie's father signs him up, to Reggie's horror. Valentine decides to save both of them by dressing in Reggie's uniform and joining the bicycle corps. Both of them find that "freedom" has its price; Reggie's life as a gay man in Victorian London is as confining as the army, and Valentine learns the horror of war. This is an extraordinary book, both moving and very funny, and with genuine anger about both war and prejudice.
One false move, by Harlen Coben. London: Orion, 2004. Originally published 1998.
A Myron Bolitar book; and well up to the usual standard. Myron is conned into looking after rising basketball star Brenda Slaughter, on the basis that he can become her agent. But Brenda's father goes missing, and somehow, someone has links with organised crime. Myron's life, business and relationship are all at risk, and his compulsion to discover the secret just drive him into more trouble.
Raven black, by Anne Cleeves. London: Pan, 2006.
I gather this is the first of the novels on which the recent mini-series Shetland was based; but it's difficult to tell this other than by the name of the detective. A young girl, Catherine Ross, is discovered dead in a snowy field, strangled with her own scarf. There is one obvious suspect, an elderly learning disabled man in the next cottage along, but when the mainland police arrive to investigate they're determined to keep a more open mind than the locals. There's also an echo of the disappearance of young Catriona Bruce years before, and this opens up long-sealed resentments and family secrets. I really didn't see the dénouement of this book coming! I'll definitely be reading the others in this series and Cleeves's other books.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
2013 books, #26-30
Legal briefs: stories by today's best thriller writers. Edited by William Bernhardt. London: Headline, 1998.
I'm never sure how I feel about short stories - I love Saki, and de Maupassant, but they're meant to be the best of the bunch, I think... Anyway, very often I'll get halfway through a collection of short stories and sort of run out energy, and about a year ago I did that with this collection, so my memory of all of them isn't that great. However... Steve Martini's story, Poetic justice, made me cringe slightly with its doggerel/prose/folksy quality although I really enjoy his novels. John Grisham contributes a three-page story which just rips you apart with its pathos; quite stunning. Michael A. Kahn's contribution gives you an idea of how law just might be practised in Cook County; Philip M. Margolin plays on the inaccuracy of eye-witnesses, and Jeremiah Healy sets up an excellent twist in the tail, before bottling it slightly at the end. Philip Friedman tells a bleak little tale of a lawyer heading cross country into his past, before Lisa Scottoline rounds up the collection with a somewhat hilarious re-take on "take your daughter to work" day; said daughter being three months old and father being a hapless and sleep-deprived new father of twins. Definitely worth getting hold of.
The daughter of time, by Josephine Tey. London: Folio Society, 2006. First published 1951.
This was my suggestion for book group this time round. I'm not sure it made for great discussion, but it was very interesting to read it again in the light of the discovery of Richard III's bones under a Leicester car park, and part of the reason for getting the Nicola Upson (last set of book reviews) out of the library was the Tey connection. I treated myself to a Folio edition to replace my battered paperback when I found it in the lovely Oxfam bookshop in Saffron Walden a year or two ago, and the introduction by Alison Weir is worth the £4 or so I paid. Weir points out, without actually using the phrase, that this is really the first "cold case" detective novel. There are elements in some of the Wimsey stories, I suppose; but this is the first where the protagonists, as very often, are dead, where the eyewitnesses are not only more-than-usually unreliable but also long dead, and where politics and propaganda blur the scene. Weir also probes the holes in Tey's defence of Richard III; some of them caused by accounts being discovered/published only later; some caused by an over-zealous wish to set the record straight. In discussion, we were all slightly boggled by the very luxurious NHS of the past. I think I need to go back and read the other Alan Grant novels again though...
The debt to pleasure, by John Lanchester. London: Picador, 1996.
This is a wonderful, funny, sinister little book. Tarquin Winot, epicure and dreadful snob, sets out to produce a culinary year through menus while travelling from Portsmouth to the Provençal town of Ste-Eulalie. As the book progresses though, you realise that there's more going on - why is he carrying the Mossad manual of surveillance techniques? why has he shaved his head? Tarquin is a splendid, monstrous character, and the slow reveal of this book makes it unputdownable, to the extent that I suddenly realised I'd gone past my Tube stop on one occasion...
The casual vacancy, by J K Rowling [audiobook]. Read by Tom Hollander. Oxford: Isis, 2012.
This was great. I'd started reading the book, but had to take it back to the library because someone else needed it, and then I found out who was reading the audiobook... I really enjoyed this. No, it wasn't Harry Potter (which seems to have been the main criticism) but it had a seething, lively bunch of characters who reflect life in a small town pretty well. At first I thought they were going to be caricatures; but as it develops, the main characters become three-dimensional and there's a huge amount of authorial sympathy for the most alienated and powerless. If this is what Rowling is going to do in future, I'm all for it... Hollander's reading is absolutely excellent, as I'd hoped.
Beekeeping for beginners, by Laurie R. King. Kindle edition.
Background to the first Holmes/Russell novel, The beekeeper's apprentice. How Holmes and Russell inadvertently saved each other's lives. Lovely little vignette which turned up as a very cheap read on Kindle. I wondered at the end whether it was a duplication of something in A study in Sherlock which King edits and which is sitting on my to-read pile, but it turns out not, happily. If you're a Holmes/Russell fan, this is definitely worth getting hold of...
I'm never sure how I feel about short stories - I love Saki, and de Maupassant, but they're meant to be the best of the bunch, I think... Anyway, very often I'll get halfway through a collection of short stories and sort of run out energy, and about a year ago I did that with this collection, so my memory of all of them isn't that great. However... Steve Martini's story, Poetic justice, made me cringe slightly with its doggerel/prose/folksy quality although I really enjoy his novels. John Grisham contributes a three-page story which just rips you apart with its pathos; quite stunning. Michael A. Kahn's contribution gives you an idea of how law just might be practised in Cook County; Philip M. Margolin plays on the inaccuracy of eye-witnesses, and Jeremiah Healy sets up an excellent twist in the tail, before bottling it slightly at the end. Philip Friedman tells a bleak little tale of a lawyer heading cross country into his past, before Lisa Scottoline rounds up the collection with a somewhat hilarious re-take on "take your daughter to work" day; said daughter being three months old and father being a hapless and sleep-deprived new father of twins. Definitely worth getting hold of.
The daughter of time, by Josephine Tey. London: Folio Society, 2006. First published 1951.
This was my suggestion for book group this time round. I'm not sure it made for great discussion, but it was very interesting to read it again in the light of the discovery of Richard III's bones under a Leicester car park, and part of the reason for getting the Nicola Upson (last set of book reviews) out of the library was the Tey connection. I treated myself to a Folio edition to replace my battered paperback when I found it in the lovely Oxfam bookshop in Saffron Walden a year or two ago, and the introduction by Alison Weir is worth the £4 or so I paid. Weir points out, without actually using the phrase, that this is really the first "cold case" detective novel. There are elements in some of the Wimsey stories, I suppose; but this is the first where the protagonists, as very often, are dead, where the eyewitnesses are not only more-than-usually unreliable but also long dead, and where politics and propaganda blur the scene. Weir also probes the holes in Tey's defence of Richard III; some of them caused by accounts being discovered/published only later; some caused by an over-zealous wish to set the record straight. In discussion, we were all slightly boggled by the very luxurious NHS of the past. I think I need to go back and read the other Alan Grant novels again though...
The debt to pleasure, by John Lanchester. London: Picador, 1996.
This is a wonderful, funny, sinister little book. Tarquin Winot, epicure and dreadful snob, sets out to produce a culinary year through menus while travelling from Portsmouth to the Provençal town of Ste-Eulalie. As the book progresses though, you realise that there's more going on - why is he carrying the Mossad manual of surveillance techniques? why has he shaved his head? Tarquin is a splendid, monstrous character, and the slow reveal of this book makes it unputdownable, to the extent that I suddenly realised I'd gone past my Tube stop on one occasion...
The casual vacancy, by J K Rowling [audiobook]. Read by Tom Hollander. Oxford: Isis, 2012.
This was great. I'd started reading the book, but had to take it back to the library because someone else needed it, and then I found out who was reading the audiobook... I really enjoyed this. No, it wasn't Harry Potter (which seems to have been the main criticism) but it had a seething, lively bunch of characters who reflect life in a small town pretty well. At first I thought they were going to be caricatures; but as it develops, the main characters become three-dimensional and there's a huge amount of authorial sympathy for the most alienated and powerless. If this is what Rowling is going to do in future, I'm all for it... Hollander's reading is absolutely excellent, as I'd hoped.
Beekeeping for beginners, by Laurie R. King. Kindle edition.
Background to the first Holmes/Russell novel, The beekeeper's apprentice. How Holmes and Russell inadvertently saved each other's lives. Lovely little vignette which turned up as a very cheap read on Kindle. I wondered at the end whether it was a duplication of something in A study in Sherlock which King edits and which is sitting on my to-read pile, but it turns out not, happily. If you're a Holmes/Russell fan, this is definitely worth getting hold of...
Sunday, March 31, 2013
2013 books, #21-25
The racketeer, by John Grisham. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2012.
This is quite a departure from Grisham. His main character, Malcolm Bannister, is a lawyer, but one in prison for money-laundering. When a federal judge is murdered at his holiday cottage, Bannister knows who killed him, and why, and uses the information to negotiate his release. From then on, though, the story becomes somewhat strange, and for a couple of hundred pages you (well, I) have no clue what's going on, until a final meeting of people involved in a very complicated plot. I've always found some of Grisham's endings slightly disappointing, and sadly, after a terrific roller-coaster, this one is, too; I'm also pretty sure I don't like the main character by the end, too, which is a new one for a Grisham protagonist. Definitely worth a read though!
Two for sorrow, by Nicola Upson [audiobook]. Read by Sandra Duncan. Rearsby, Leics.: Clipper, 2010.
Josephine Tey is the protagonist in this third period novel by Upson; she comes to London to research a novel she's writing based on the Finchley baby farmers, having become interested in the topic as a student, when the daughter of one of the executed women committed suicide on learning of her mother's crime. Unfortunately, the crimes of 1902 are still capable of reaching forward into the 1930s, and it's in someone's interest to make sure that Tey never completes her investigations. Very nicely paced, with a slow realisation of the criminal's identity at the end.
Heaven's prisoners, by James Lee Burke. London: Orion, 2012. Originally published 1990.
The second of the Dave Robicheaux novels, and one I raced through in a couple of sittings. Robicheaux has left the New Orleans police and settled down with his new wife to run a bait shop and boat hire business on the bayou. It should be idyllic, but one day a small plane carrying five passengers bursts into flames and comes down into the bayou near Dave and Annie's boat. They save one passenger, a small girl, but the other four are already dead. The next day, they are told that there were only three passengers on the boat. Robicheaux can't help investigating, despite pleas from Annie to leave the situation alone, and the results are terrible. I read this book to a soundtrack of alternating zydeco and Mountain Goats and that definitely worked.
Military blunders, by Saul David. Kindle edition.
I found this this after listening to an interview with Saul David on the BBC History Magazine podcast, and before I watched a couple of episodes of his Bullets, boots and bandages series on iPlayer recently. I know next to nothing about military history, but David's very commonsense divisions (Bad commanders, Lack of preparation, Meddling politicians, Misplaced confidence and Failure to perform) probably apply to any situation, and it made the examples he gives easier to understand. This is a very clear and cogent explanation of some reasons why military operations go horribly wrong, with some humour and the odd informative anecdote (the US term "hooker" for a prostitute came from a US general of that name who was inordinately keen on encouraging camp-followers, for instance). I wouldn't have read this if it hadn't been free/extremely cheap on Kindle (only way I buy ebooks), although my enjoyment of the book would have been enhanced by the maps of battlefields and formations being at all legible...
The blackhouse, by Peter May [audiobook]. Read by Steve Worsley. Oxford: Isis, 2011.
Excellent thriller set in the Western Isles. Fin Macleod is sent north from Edinburgh to investigate two murders with similar MOs, one in Edinburgh, one on the Isle of Lewis; as well as being the CIO on the case, he's also a Lewis native. Coming back to Lewis for the first time in 18 years, immediately after the loss of a child, he's forced to face his past and fill in the fractured memories of a rite of passage at An Sgeir, a rock housing nesting gannets the Lewismen are permitted to slaughter. The reading is lovely here, too - Steve Worsley has a combination of Scottishness and clarity reminiscent of David Tennant.
This is quite a departure from Grisham. His main character, Malcolm Bannister, is a lawyer, but one in prison for money-laundering. When a federal judge is murdered at his holiday cottage, Bannister knows who killed him, and why, and uses the information to negotiate his release. From then on, though, the story becomes somewhat strange, and for a couple of hundred pages you (well, I) have no clue what's going on, until a final meeting of people involved in a very complicated plot. I've always found some of Grisham's endings slightly disappointing, and sadly, after a terrific roller-coaster, this one is, too; I'm also pretty sure I don't like the main character by the end, too, which is a new one for a Grisham protagonist. Definitely worth a read though!
Two for sorrow, by Nicola Upson [audiobook]. Read by Sandra Duncan. Rearsby, Leics.: Clipper, 2010.
Josephine Tey is the protagonist in this third period novel by Upson; she comes to London to research a novel she's writing based on the Finchley baby farmers, having become interested in the topic as a student, when the daughter of one of the executed women committed suicide on learning of her mother's crime. Unfortunately, the crimes of 1902 are still capable of reaching forward into the 1930s, and it's in someone's interest to make sure that Tey never completes her investigations. Very nicely paced, with a slow realisation of the criminal's identity at the end.
Heaven's prisoners, by James Lee Burke. London: Orion, 2012. Originally published 1990.
The second of the Dave Robicheaux novels, and one I raced through in a couple of sittings. Robicheaux has left the New Orleans police and settled down with his new wife to run a bait shop and boat hire business on the bayou. It should be idyllic, but one day a small plane carrying five passengers bursts into flames and comes down into the bayou near Dave and Annie's boat. They save one passenger, a small girl, but the other four are already dead. The next day, they are told that there were only three passengers on the boat. Robicheaux can't help investigating, despite pleas from Annie to leave the situation alone, and the results are terrible. I read this book to a soundtrack of alternating zydeco and Mountain Goats and that definitely worked.
Military blunders, by Saul David. Kindle edition.
I found this this after listening to an interview with Saul David on the BBC History Magazine podcast, and before I watched a couple of episodes of his Bullets, boots and bandages series on iPlayer recently. I know next to nothing about military history, but David's very commonsense divisions (Bad commanders, Lack of preparation, Meddling politicians, Misplaced confidence and Failure to perform) probably apply to any situation, and it made the examples he gives easier to understand. This is a very clear and cogent explanation of some reasons why military operations go horribly wrong, with some humour and the odd informative anecdote (the US term "hooker" for a prostitute came from a US general of that name who was inordinately keen on encouraging camp-followers, for instance). I wouldn't have read this if it hadn't been free/extremely cheap on Kindle (only way I buy ebooks), although my enjoyment of the book would have been enhanced by the maps of battlefields and formations being at all legible...
The blackhouse, by Peter May [audiobook]. Read by Steve Worsley. Oxford: Isis, 2011.
Excellent thriller set in the Western Isles. Fin Macleod is sent north from Edinburgh to investigate two murders with similar MOs, one in Edinburgh, one on the Isle of Lewis; as well as being the CIO on the case, he's also a Lewis native. Coming back to Lewis for the first time in 18 years, immediately after the loss of a child, he's forced to face his past and fill in the fractured memories of a rite of passage at An Sgeir, a rock housing nesting gannets the Lewismen are permitted to slaughter. The reading is lovely here, too - Steve Worsley has a combination of Scottishness and clarity reminiscent of David Tennant.
Monday, March 18, 2013
2013 books, #16-20
The last witness, by Joel Goldman. Part of the Dead times four anthology, available for the Kindle.
Wilson "Blues" Bluestone, ex-cop, blues-bar-owner and friend of Lou Mason, is arrested for the murder of prominent local politician Jack Cullan. It's pretty obvious that there's no real will to go looking for another suspect, so Mason realises he'll have to track down the truth himself. Even Blues's ex-partner Harry is convinced to Blues's guilt. Lou enters the world of dirty politics, dirty law-enforcement and dirty justice to try to dig down to the truth.
Cold truth, by Joel Goldman. Part of the Dead times four anthology, available for the Kindle.
A talk-show psychotherapist is thrown out of a 6th-floor window in the Kansas City business district. The obvious suspect is Jordan Hackett, disturbed daughter of the radio-station's owners; and as ever, Lou Mason is engaged as the lawyer in a seemingly hopeless situation. Jordan herself isn't the most helpful of clients, particularly when she confesses to the murder and then recants. This is a wonderfully complex story with lots of action scenes, and a bit of romance; perfect roller-coaster entertainment with some interesting social points thoughtfully made.
Deadlocked, by Joel Goldman. Part of the Dead times four anthology, available for the Kindle.
Wilson "Blues" Bluestone, ex-cop, blues-bar-owner and friend of Lou Mason, is arrested for the murder of prominent local politician Jack Cullan. It's pretty obvious that there's no real will to go looking for another suspect, so Mason realises he'll have to track down the truth himself. Even Blues's ex-partner Harry is convinced to Blues's guilt. Lou enters the world of dirty politics, dirty law-enforcement and dirty justice to try to dig down to the truth.
Cold truth, by Joel Goldman. Part of the Dead times four anthology, available for the Kindle.
A talk-show psychotherapist is thrown out of a 6th-floor window in the Kansas City business district. The obvious suspect is Jordan Hackett, disturbed daughter of the radio-station's owners; and as ever, Lou Mason is engaged as the lawyer in a seemingly hopeless situation. Jordan herself isn't the most helpful of clients, particularly when she confesses to the murder and then recants. This is a wonderfully complex story with lots of action scenes, and a bit of romance; perfect roller-coaster entertainment with some interesting social points thoughtfully made.
Deadlocked, by Joel Goldman. Part of the Dead times four anthology, available for the Kindle.
Lou Mason witnesses an execution by virtue of giving an old friend, the arresting officer in the case, a lift to the jail. After the execution, both the mother of the executed man and the son of his two victims ask Mason to sue the other co-defendant, a man acquitted of the crimes, who is now a prominent local businessman. Mason puts his relationship and his life on the end to try and determine the truth. I'm very sad that there only seem to be four of these novels as Mason's an engaging character and this series could run further; with any luck, the Kindle anthology might prove successful enough for the author to write another one.
Capital, by John Lanchester. Kindle edition.
The inhabitants of Pepys Road are surprised by the launching of a campaign of postcards featuring the front doors of their houses with the message "We Want What You Have". As each card arrives, we find a little more about the people and lives in this largely-gentrified London street; the old lady who was born in the house she lives in (and her Banksyesque grandson), the nouveau riches, the banking couple with the nanny, the Polish builder, the Asian corner shop owners and the young footballer from Senegal, his father and his agent, the Zimbabwean traffic warden who walks the street... Every situation has its interesting points and there's an intertwining of people's lives. The panoramic scope of the novel means that there's sometimes a lack of depth, but it's a fascinating read for all that.
Bad pharma, by Ben Goldacre [audiobook]. Read by Jot Davies. Rearsby, Leics.: Clipper, 2012.
A fascinating and very scary discussion of the pharmaceutical industry from the point of view of doctor and investigative writer Goldacre, which explains the testing procedure, publishing tendencies and modus operandi of the industry, and why the newest, shiniest drug is very often far from being the best one. It's explained in language that anyone reasonably intelligent can understand, even without any prior knowledge of the drugs and conditions involved, without being patronising. Must find out what else he's written.
Sunday, March 03, 2013
2013 books, #11-15
Seems to be taking longer than usual to get through books; but it's been a ridiculous couple of weeks.
The water clock, by Jim Kelly [audiobook]. Read by Ray Sawyer. Isis: Oxford, 2002.
The first of Jim Kelly's Philip Dryden books and an excellent one. Even if reading a book set in snowy Fens while sitting in said snowy Fens with a dodgy boiler is a bit of a mixed pleasure. A body is found frozen in a car which has driven into a drain; sadly, not that uncommon in the Fens in the winter, but it's less common to find the body in the car boot. Later, a second, much older body is found on the roof of Ely Cathedral. Local reporter Philip Dryden investigates and personal and historical events interlock. I love the geographical accuracy of these books - there are very few inventions, and when there are, they make sense. Nice reading by Ray Sawyer.
How I won the yellow jumper: dispatches from the Tour de France, by Ned Boulting. London: Yellow Jersey Press, 2011.
As a neophyte to the Tour de France in 2010 (I came in via the Tour de Fleece, a parallel spinning event where we spin our wheels in time to the cyclists'), I had no idea about the teams, and the green jersey, and the King of the Mountains, and that it was a team event. I'm a total Francophile so I was mainly there for the scenery, to be honest... But as someone who's naturally a bit of a geek (my other sport is cricket which I've been following for years, and I like my rules complicated), the whole complexity of the thing really got me involved. Ned Boulting was my guide, effortlessly providing information about the teams, the gradients, the politics... I had no idea he'd arrived in 2003 from football, with no more idea than I had seven years later. If you've seen Ned Boulting in action, the book is as funny, charming, articulate and irreverent as you'd expect (review on the cover "Quirky, warped, enthusiastic and funny": Chris Boardman), and packed with a huge amount of information. It was published before the 2011 Tour, so some elements are strangely dated now (Wiggins just a contender who hadn't really made his mark again in 2010 after a good 2009, Lance Armstrong highly suspect but as yet undisgraced). Even if you've no interest in cycling, if you love good writing from a fan of just about anything, I suspect you'll be pulled in and enchanted by this book. I raced through it (sorry), and am slightly sad about that; I sort of have a compulsion to read it all again, as it was too good to put down.
The vanishing point, by Val McDermid. London: Little, Brown, 2012.
This is a strange one; but very, very good. A little boy is kidnapped at a US airport within sight of his carer Stephanie; most of the narrative happens in a small interrogation room at the airport as the FBI attempt to discover what has happened. It's really difficult to say what else happens without spoiling, but it involves Stephanie, a ghost writer, getting involved with a reality TV star whose career mirrors Jade Goody's, and the spiral her life enters. I'm really not sure what I feel about the ending, and would love anyone else who's read this to let me know; McDermid drops you down a Deaver-sized hole a couple of times in the course of this book, and I'm not completely convinced it all works; but blimey, it's a good read.
A blink of the screen: collected shorter fiction, by Terry Pratchett [audiobook]. Read by Michael Fenton Stevens and Stephen Briggs. Oxford: Isis, 2012.
The first weird thing about this collection is the introduction by AS Byatt; not necessarily your typical Pratchett anorak (and I used this advisedly given that she re-reads copiously), which is, of course, why she's doing the introduction. This is a pretty tremendous collection; particularly given that stories written for the school magazine get their turn among later work, and stand up pretty well, considering. It's the same intelligence and sense of the absurd at work over more than 40 years, and there are so many themes which are developed later... I think the absolute stand-out story for me is one of the Discworld-related ones, The Sea and Little Fishes. If you're a fan of Granny/Mistress Weatherwax's headology (and I so very much am) this is an absolute must. There's also an out-take from the story, which is chilling, given separately at the end of the book. There's also a very excellent committee-related one called A Collegiate Casting-out of Devilish Devices, which anyone who's been on a committee, or within earshot of teachers, will recognise entirely. There are also wonderful pieces of whimsy like Lord Vetinari's speech at the official twinning ceremony between Ankh-Morpork and Wincanton, and the Ankh-Morpork National Anthem (unofficially on YouTube; as Pratchett comments, there are scallywags out there on the Internet...lyrics in the commentary afterwards.)
Motion to kill, by Joel Goldman. Part of the Dead times four anthology, available for the Kindle.
I gather these were also available in paperback at one time and may still be. I got this anthology for Kindle for something ridiculous like free, or £0.70 - but for four really good books, the £6.50 Kindle now want for it is well worth the money. If you like Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar books, you'll adore these. There's some of the same element (Jewish professional drawn into detection, network of supporters, funny elements, awkward romance) and the plots are excellent. I'm going to give a brief note on each separately though, as there are actually four full-length novels here!
In Motion to kill, Lou Mason has moved to a corporate law firm in Kansas City from a small personal-injury firm, to the disgust of his campaigning leftie aunt who brought him up. Unfortunately, his partners seem to be dropping like flies, and there's a limit to the police's interest. Mason starts investigating and becomes ever more aware of the cesspit under his law firm. Lots of twists and turns, and quite a surprising ending.
The water clock, by Jim Kelly [audiobook]. Read by Ray Sawyer. Isis: Oxford, 2002.
The first of Jim Kelly's Philip Dryden books and an excellent one. Even if reading a book set in snowy Fens while sitting in said snowy Fens with a dodgy boiler is a bit of a mixed pleasure. A body is found frozen in a car which has driven into a drain; sadly, not that uncommon in the Fens in the winter, but it's less common to find the body in the car boot. Later, a second, much older body is found on the roof of Ely Cathedral. Local reporter Philip Dryden investigates and personal and historical events interlock. I love the geographical accuracy of these books - there are very few inventions, and when there are, they make sense. Nice reading by Ray Sawyer.
How I won the yellow jumper: dispatches from the Tour de France, by Ned Boulting. London: Yellow Jersey Press, 2011.
As a neophyte to the Tour de France in 2010 (I came in via the Tour de Fleece, a parallel spinning event where we spin our wheels in time to the cyclists'), I had no idea about the teams, and the green jersey, and the King of the Mountains, and that it was a team event. I'm a total Francophile so I was mainly there for the scenery, to be honest... But as someone who's naturally a bit of a geek (my other sport is cricket which I've been following for years, and I like my rules complicated), the whole complexity of the thing really got me involved. Ned Boulting was my guide, effortlessly providing information about the teams, the gradients, the politics... I had no idea he'd arrived in 2003 from football, with no more idea than I had seven years later. If you've seen Ned Boulting in action, the book is as funny, charming, articulate and irreverent as you'd expect (review on the cover "Quirky, warped, enthusiastic and funny": Chris Boardman), and packed with a huge amount of information. It was published before the 2011 Tour, so some elements are strangely dated now (Wiggins just a contender who hadn't really made his mark again in 2010 after a good 2009, Lance Armstrong highly suspect but as yet undisgraced). Even if you've no interest in cycling, if you love good writing from a fan of just about anything, I suspect you'll be pulled in and enchanted by this book. I raced through it (sorry), and am slightly sad about that; I sort of have a compulsion to read it all again, as it was too good to put down.
The vanishing point, by Val McDermid. London: Little, Brown, 2012.
This is a strange one; but very, very good. A little boy is kidnapped at a US airport within sight of his carer Stephanie; most of the narrative happens in a small interrogation room at the airport as the FBI attempt to discover what has happened. It's really difficult to say what else happens without spoiling, but it involves Stephanie, a ghost writer, getting involved with a reality TV star whose career mirrors Jade Goody's, and the spiral her life enters. I'm really not sure what I feel about the ending, and would love anyone else who's read this to let me know; McDermid drops you down a Deaver-sized hole a couple of times in the course of this book, and I'm not completely convinced it all works; but blimey, it's a good read.
A blink of the screen: collected shorter fiction, by Terry Pratchett [audiobook]. Read by Michael Fenton Stevens and Stephen Briggs. Oxford: Isis, 2012.
The first weird thing about this collection is the introduction by AS Byatt; not necessarily your typical Pratchett anorak (and I used this advisedly given that she re-reads copiously), which is, of course, why she's doing the introduction. This is a pretty tremendous collection; particularly given that stories written for the school magazine get their turn among later work, and stand up pretty well, considering. It's the same intelligence and sense of the absurd at work over more than 40 years, and there are so many themes which are developed later... I think the absolute stand-out story for me is one of the Discworld-related ones, The Sea and Little Fishes. If you're a fan of Granny/Mistress Weatherwax's headology (and I so very much am) this is an absolute must. There's also an out-take from the story, which is chilling, given separately at the end of the book. There's also a very excellent committee-related one called A Collegiate Casting-out of Devilish Devices, which anyone who's been on a committee, or within earshot of teachers, will recognise entirely. There are also wonderful pieces of whimsy like Lord Vetinari's speech at the official twinning ceremony between Ankh-Morpork and Wincanton, and the Ankh-Morpork National Anthem (unofficially on YouTube; as Pratchett comments, there are scallywags out there on the Internet...lyrics in the commentary afterwards.)
Motion to kill, by Joel Goldman. Part of the Dead times four anthology, available for the Kindle.
I gather these were also available in paperback at one time and may still be. I got this anthology for Kindle for something ridiculous like free, or £0.70 - but for four really good books, the £6.50 Kindle now want for it is well worth the money. If you like Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar books, you'll adore these. There's some of the same element (Jewish professional drawn into detection, network of supporters, funny elements, awkward romance) and the plots are excellent. I'm going to give a brief note on each separately though, as there are actually four full-length novels here!
In Motion to kill, Lou Mason has moved to a corporate law firm in Kansas City from a small personal-injury firm, to the disgust of his campaigning leftie aunt who brought him up. Unfortunately, his partners seem to be dropping like flies, and there's a limit to the police's interest. Mason starts investigating and becomes ever more aware of the cesspit under his law firm. Lots of twists and turns, and quite a surprising ending.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
2013 books, #6-10
Mrs Robinson's disgrace: the private diary of a Victorian lady, by Kate Summerscale [audiobook]. Read by Jenny Agutter. Bath: AudioGO, 2012.
Sometimes the Victorians seem just like us. This was not one of those times... Isabella Robinson meets Edward Lane at an Edinburgh society party in 1850, and becomes enchanted by his appearance and conversation. Unfortunately, Isabella is married, and Edward is ten years her junior. Their relationship develops, and is discovered by means of Mr Robinson finding Isabella's diaries where glowing details are given. This is a fascinating exploration of Victorian manners, of the power of husbands in the era, and of the divorce courts in 1850s England, well before the Married Women's Property Act, based on the documentary evidence in the case.
Nightwoods, by Charles Frazier. London: Sceptre, 2012.
Luce's new stranger children were small and beautiful and violent. Luce has been presented with her dead sister's children by social services; they are traumatised and terrified, violent and angry; they communicate by means of destruction and fire. Luce is no stranger to trauma and violence, and does her best to build a relationship with the children; but two strangers are heading for her isolated farmhouse, one the grandson of the previous owner, the other the murderer of Luce's sister seeking money and the children. This is a dark, haunting story set in the North Carolina woods; one which will stay in the memory for a long time.
Cold wind, by C J Box. London: Corvus, 2012.
Earl Alden, the Earl of Lexington and Joe Pickett's current father-in-law, is found spinning around at the end of one of his own multi-million dollar wind turbines; Joe's mother-in-law is arrested for the murder by the local police. Her behaviour gives no indication as to whether she's guilty or not, and while Joe can't stand her, he does love his wife so starts some investigations of his own. Meanwhile, Nate Romanowski, usually an ally, has troubles and grief of his own. The plot in this one twists and turns nicely, and Joe's essential likeability always carries these books through.
Death's acre: inside the legendary Body Farm, by Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. London: Time Warner, 2003.
Essentially, this is Bill Bass's autobiography; we find out about his life and career, but because so much of his life has been engaged in the study of decomposition and forensic anthropology, there's a lot of that too, and it's also a biography of the site in Tennessee which is home to his research facility. There's some humour here, quite a lot of well-explained science, and some (not unexpected) very close parallels with Bill Brockton, the lead character in the Jefferson Bass books. An engaging non-fiction read.
Tripwire, by Lee Child [audiobook]. Read by Garrick Hagon. Whitley Bay: Soundings, 2001.
This was originally written in 1990; had to check this as the dénouement is set on the 89th floor of one of the World Grade Center towers... The second of the Jack Reacher novels, and another excellent one. Reacher is tracked down by a private detective who is subsequently found dead; he follows the detective's trail back to his client who turns out to be an old friend. Carrying on the old friend's enquiries into a soldier listed as MIA in Vietnam leads Reacher into a web of list and confusion, and a rather unexpected conclusion. Child is skilful enough to create a villain who is truly evil, but then gives you a small window into his tortured world; this sort of little twist always lifts his writing above the ordinary. While I always prefer Jeff Harding reading these books, Garrick Hagon does his usual excellent job.
Sometimes the Victorians seem just like us. This was not one of those times... Isabella Robinson meets Edward Lane at an Edinburgh society party in 1850, and becomes enchanted by his appearance and conversation. Unfortunately, Isabella is married, and Edward is ten years her junior. Their relationship develops, and is discovered by means of Mr Robinson finding Isabella's diaries where glowing details are given. This is a fascinating exploration of Victorian manners, of the power of husbands in the era, and of the divorce courts in 1850s England, well before the Married Women's Property Act, based on the documentary evidence in the case.
Nightwoods, by Charles Frazier. London: Sceptre, 2012.
Luce's new stranger children were small and beautiful and violent. Luce has been presented with her dead sister's children by social services; they are traumatised and terrified, violent and angry; they communicate by means of destruction and fire. Luce is no stranger to trauma and violence, and does her best to build a relationship with the children; but two strangers are heading for her isolated farmhouse, one the grandson of the previous owner, the other the murderer of Luce's sister seeking money and the children. This is a dark, haunting story set in the North Carolina woods; one which will stay in the memory for a long time.
Cold wind, by C J Box. London: Corvus, 2012.
Earl Alden, the Earl of Lexington and Joe Pickett's current father-in-law, is found spinning around at the end of one of his own multi-million dollar wind turbines; Joe's mother-in-law is arrested for the murder by the local police. Her behaviour gives no indication as to whether she's guilty or not, and while Joe can't stand her, he does love his wife so starts some investigations of his own. Meanwhile, Nate Romanowski, usually an ally, has troubles and grief of his own. The plot in this one twists and turns nicely, and Joe's essential likeability always carries these books through.
Death's acre: inside the legendary Body Farm, by Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. London: Time Warner, 2003.
Essentially, this is Bill Bass's autobiography; we find out about his life and career, but because so much of his life has been engaged in the study of decomposition and forensic anthropology, there's a lot of that too, and it's also a biography of the site in Tennessee which is home to his research facility. There's some humour here, quite a lot of well-explained science, and some (not unexpected) very close parallels with Bill Brockton, the lead character in the Jefferson Bass books. An engaging non-fiction read.
Tripwire, by Lee Child [audiobook]. Read by Garrick Hagon. Whitley Bay: Soundings, 2001.
This was originally written in 1990; had to check this as the dénouement is set on the 89th floor of one of the World Grade Center towers... The second of the Jack Reacher novels, and another excellent one. Reacher is tracked down by a private detective who is subsequently found dead; he follows the detective's trail back to his client who turns out to be an old friend. Carrying on the old friend's enquiries into a soldier listed as MIA in Vietnam leads Reacher into a web of list and confusion, and a rather unexpected conclusion. Child is skilful enough to create a villain who is truly evil, but then gives you a small window into his tortured world; this sort of little twist always lifts his writing above the ordinary. While I always prefer Jeff Harding reading these books, Garrick Hagon does his usual excellent job.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)