Category Archives: 2010 New Reads

The Instant Enemy – Ross Macdonald

Posted on December 28, 2010 by Ela

This book begins immediately at the Sebastian house, where Keith and Bernice’s daughter Alexandria, more commonly known as Sandy, has gone missing, along with her father’s shotgun and a box of ammunition. Keith Sebastian has hired Lew Archer to find … Continue reading →

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The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ – Philip Pullman

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Ela

(Canongate 2010, Myths Series) Pullman is well-known for his novels for children, particularly The Northern Lights trilogy and his series of Victorian-set novels featuring Sally Lockhart, amongst others, and he’s also attracted a good deal of interest and criticism for … Continue reading →

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The Jungle Books – Rudyard Kipling

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Ela

(Penguin Classics 2000, originally published as ‘The Jungle Book’ in 1894 and ‘The Second Jungle Book’ in 1895) Is it a shameful confession to reveal that I never read either of the Jungle Books when I was a child (though … Continue reading →

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Diplomatic Immunity – Lois McMaster Bujold

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Ela

(Baen 2002) This book follows on from the events of A Civil Campaign, about a year or so later. Miles and Ekaterin are married, and at the start of the book, are on their way home from a long-delayed honeymoon, … Continue reading →

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Death at the Opera – Gladys Mitchell

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Ela

(Vintage 2010, originally published 1934) Gladys Mitchell’s detective novels, featuring the gloriously eccentric Mrs (later Dame Beatrice) Bradley, seem to have fallen rather out of favour, and are just now being republished in a piecemeal fashion. Mrs Bradley is independently … Continue reading →

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A Legacy – Sybille Bedford

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Ela

(Penguin Modern Classics 2005, originally published 1956) Set in the late years of the nineteenth century, this novel is set largely in recently-unified Germany, and tells the stories of the wealthy, bourgeois Jewish family of the Merzes in Berlin, and … Continue reading →

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Banewreaker & Godslayer – Jacqueline Carey

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Ela

(Tor Books 2004/2005) Volumes 1 and 2 of The Sundering I first heard about these books on The Literary Omnivore’s blog, and they sounded really interesting – interesting enough for me to buy both, sight unseen, from Amazon. Carey is … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010 New Reads, Fantasy, Fiction, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Ela

(Pennsylvania State University Electronic Classics 2001, originally published 1902) Heart of Darkness is a short, yet influential book, used as the basis for Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now, but at the time was one of the publications which drew attention to … Continue reading →

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Nightingale Wood – Stella Gibbons

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Ela

(Virago Modern Classics 2009, originally published 1938) Stella Gibbons wrote many books in the early 20th century, but is unfortunate to be known really for only one, the delightful and funny Cold Comfort Farm – a satire of the Rural … Continue reading →

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Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson

Posted on November 28, 2010 by Ela

(Pennsylvania State University Electronic Classics 2001, originally published 1886) This famous historical novel (historical even at the time Stevenson was writing, since it takes as the central event the notorious ‘Appin murder’ of 1752 and includes a number of real … Continue reading →

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