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Monthly Archives: September 2010
Memento Mori – Muriel Spark
I have to confess to never having read anything previously by Muriel Spark, not having seen even the film version of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, probably her most famous novel. I picked this up in Hatchard’s recently, and am … Continue reading
Posted in 2010 New Reads, Fiction, Reviews
Tagged blackmail, death, Muriel Spark, mysterious telephone calls, old age, studies
3 Comments
ALA Banned Books Week
This week the American Library Association is celebrating Banned Books Week. While the most frequently challenged books on the lists for each year are for books for or marketed at children or young adults, there are a fair number of … Continue reading
The Voyage of the ‘Beagle’ – Charles Darwin
(Vintage edition with On the Origin of Species) The Voyage of the ‘Beagle’ is the publication which made Charles Darwin’s name as a naturalist: he accompanied HMS Beagle, whose captain and crew had the remit to undertake a detailed survey … Continue reading
Posted in 2010 New Reads, Non-fiction, Reviews, Travel
Tagged atoll formation, Beagle, Charles Darwin, finches, gaucho, islands, mountains, natural history, South America, specimens
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The Clock Strikes Twelve – Patricia Wentworth
(A ‘Miss Silver’ mystery) It is late December, 1941, and the Paradine family are gathered as usual to celebrate the New Year: James, his sister Grace, her adopted daughter Phyllida; James’ step-son Frank Ambrose, his sister Brenda, wife Irene and … Continue reading
Posted in Crime fiction, Fiction, Reviews
Tagged blackout, blueprints, estrangement, jewels, Miss Silver, motives, Patricia Wentworth, pride, romance, wartime
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McMafia: Seriously Organised Crime – Misha Glenny
Glenny is known as a journalist and foreign correspondent, particularly for eastern Europe, and has previously written about the Balkans and the fall of Yugoslavia. McMafia is a fascinating study of the way organised crime has spread throughout the world, … Continue reading
Posted in 2010 New Reads, Journalism, Non-fiction, Reviews
Tagged black market economies, consumers, counterfeit goods, crime, criminals, drugs, fraud, investigation, prostitution
3 Comments
Wolves Eat Dogs – Martin Cruz Smith
In this fifth novel (published in 2004) featuring Russian investigator Arkady Renko (following Gorky Park, Polar Star, Red Square and Havana Bay), Cruz Smith returns Renko to Moscow, where he is investigating the mysterious death of Pasha Ivanov in a … Continue reading
Posted in 2009 New Reads, Crime fiction, Fiction, Reviews
Tagged Baba Yaga, Chernobyl, childen, research, responsibility, Russia, Russian mafia, salt, Ukraine
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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie
If you don’t know about the central conceit of this detective novel, which features Hercule Poirot, then don’t read this review, because there will be spoilers. The novel is told by Dr James Sheppard, who lives in a small village, … Continue reading
Posted in Crime fiction, Fiction, Reviews
Tagged blackmail, deception, Hercule Poirot, love, marriage, marrows, murder, security, unreliable narrator, village life
2 Comments