Late, as ever, to the party when it comes to zeitgeist-type books. But since Michael Faber has a new book out, he’s been all over NPR, and I’ve been hearing about all of his books, so I figured it would be better to start with the most famous one. At least I think this one was the most famous. There was a mini-series, after all. William Rackham is your typical layabout semi-dandy who fancies himself a misunderstood genius. He’s married to Clara, who’s looney tunes […]
In Which I Read my First Steampunk Book (& kinda like it)
OK, so it’s 1916. King George has decided he wants America back. The kind has Albert Einstein building long-range zeppelins that can drop bombs. Nasty bombs that will help the invading English force re-conquer the U.S. In the States, everyone knows that war is coming, and Nicola Tesla is building something that he believes will end all wars – meaning to him that there will be no more war, or at least no more human cost. Not everyone sees the weapon that way, of course. […]
This book is no longer on Amazon for some reason
I found Kim Wright’s “City of Mystery” series through Amazon, I’m pretty sure I got the books for my Kindle for free, or close to free. I will always give a free mystery a try (and believe me, there are plenty of lousy ones out there that I’ve happily downloaded and just as happily deleted after the first few chapters). This series is actually quite good. City of Bells, the fourth book, takes place in Calcutta, India. For those of you who aren’t familiar with […]
The First Inspector Cockrill mystery
So I think we’re all aware of my addiction to classic mysteries. I tried the first one in this series, haven’t moved on to the rest, mainly because I wasn’t satisfied with the way it worked out. There are six people staying at Pigeonsford in the English countryside. Grace loves the squire Stephen, but he’s in love with the (very much) younger Francesca. Grace is jealous, of course. Fran shows up in a new hat, and Grace says she wouldn’t be caught dead in a […]
If a dead body falls in the woods, and no one hears it. . . .
I do love Miss Marple. She’s plucky and clever, and the nosiest old lady ever. In this one, a friend of Miss Marple’s thinks she has seen a man strangling a woman on a train. Not her train, but on a train going in the opposite direction. The cops can’t find a body, and no one believes the friend. So of course Miss Marple figures it out. She starts poking around with train timetables, maps, all kinds of stuff like that, and she determines where […]
Wolf Hall, or the redemption of Thomas Cromwell
The tour de Mantel continues with Wolf Hall, about the rise of Thomas Cromwell (no spoilers here, but the fall of Thomas Cromwell comes in another book). We learn a bit about Cromwell through flashbacks – the abuse at the hands of his father, running off to France to become a mercenary, learning about culture and banking in Antwerp, and generally becoming a Renaissance man. He returns to England, becomes a merchant, and eventually ended up working for Cardinal Wolsey, advisor to Henry VIII. Cromwell […]