Monthly Archives: May 2011

The books of Mary Stewart – part 3

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Ela

Apologies for the delay in posting the last of these three posts about Mary Stewart’s novels – the first two parts are here and here. Last in the current tranche of books read was Touch Not The Cat (1976), which … Continue reading →

Posted in 2009 New Reads, 2011 New Reads, Fiction, Re-read, Read on my Kindle, Reviews, Romance, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The books of Mary Stewart – Part 2

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Ela

Continuing this review of Mary Stewart’s ‘romance-suspense’ novels (part one here), the next book I read was another set in Europe. Airs Above the Ground (1965) is set in Austria, and follows Vanessa and her friend’s young son, Timothy, as … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Fiction, Read on my Kindle, Reviews, Romance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The books of Mary Stewart – part 1

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Ela

Mary Stewart is perhaps best known for her five Arthurian novels, beginning with The Crystal Cave (which I haven’t read, and thus am not going to write about now), but I first came across her ‘romantic-suspense’ novels some time ago … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Fiction, Meta-review, Reviews, Romance, Thriller | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Bear Island – Alistair MacLean

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Ela

(HarperCollins 2009, originally published 1971) Bear Island begins on board a ship, the Morning Rose, battering her way through the rough seas north of Shetland in late October. Apart from its crew (and ship’s doctor – and narrator – Christopher … Continue reading →

Posted in 2009 New Reads, Fiction, Re-read, Reviews, Thriller | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Song for Arbonne – Guy Gavriel Kay

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Ela

(HarperCollins 2011, originally published 1992) Like most of Kay’s work, A Song for Arbonne is what I’d call ‘historical fantasy’ – taking history of our world and transplanting it into an invented world like ours, but different. This book takes … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical fiction, Read on my Kindle, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Plagiarism

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Ela

“In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics… Plagiarize.” (‘Lobachevsky’ – Tom Lehrer) I found at the weekend that one of my reviews – of Sparkling Cyanide, by Agatha Christie – had been lifted and reposted on … Continue reading →

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Started Early, Took My Dog – Kate Atkinson

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Ela

(Black Swan 2010) Kate Atkinson is an author new to me, though I’ve often meant to read her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Started Early, Took My Dog is her eighth novel and the fourth to feature … Continue reading →

Posted in 2011 New Reads, Crime fiction, Fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Quirkology – Richard Wiseman

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Ela

(Macmillan 2008) Wiseman’s book is very similar to Levitt and Dubner’s Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics, in that he tries to explain the quirks of modern life through experimental psychology, in his case, rather than statistics as in Levitt and Dubner’s books. … Continue reading →

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Black Shadows – Simon Swift

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Ela

(Wild Wolf Publishing 2011) I was sent a copy of this for review directly from the author as a proofed PDF – incidentally it’s allowed me to try out the Kindle’s file conversion service which is generally good (and very … Continue reading →

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The Pinhoe Egg – Diana Wynne Jones

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Ela

(HarperCollins 2006) This is one of my favourite books by one of my favourite writers, and it’s one I chose to re-read recently as a sort of memorial to Diana Wynne Jones, who died in March. The book will make … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Re-read, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments