I have no idea (off the top of my head) how long the French Revolution lasted, but I know it was a while (I’m a product of the American education system. We learned about the fact that the French Revolution happened, but that’s about it. I don’t recall any details, or I didn’t until I read this book). Anyway, I’d heard good things about Hilary Mantel, so I thought I’d work my way through her ouvre, starting with this one. Oof. I enjoyed the book, […]
The Poor Relations Series – Reviews 5-10
So this Scottish lady Marion Chesney wrote a whole bunch of books – mysteries, romances, what have you, using a bunch of pseudonyms. As M. C. Beaton, she wrote the Poor Relations series, which I guess can be classified as Regency romance/comedy of manners. I’ll review all six of them here, because there’s a through line that carries the entire series, plus the plot of each book follows pretty much the same formula and there’s no sense in writing the same thing six times with […]
Please do not enter
I’ve read a few other Matthew Pearl books before. They’re decent historical mysteries, for what they are. Pearl’s writing is fine, for what it is. But then there comes a point where one has to say “enough.” I pretty much always read every book to the end, no matter how bad it is. Not this time. Observe: Hammie’s jet-black hair was parted smartly, impervious to the breeze, but his bulbous forehead and gourdlike chin, inexpertly shaved, overshadowed his otherwise bland facial features, which seemed to have […]
In the End, it Was the Sunday Afternoons He Couldn’t Cope With
Dirk Gently returns, only this time he’s not dealing with aliens and the possible end of the world. No, this time it’s the record industry. Sort of. Dirk’s hired by a guy to save his life from a giant with a scythe. Unfortunately, Dirk oversleeps his first day on the job, and his client’s head ends up on a record turntable. That’s not good. Dirk traces a signed contract he found in his client’s house through a number of people connected to “Hot Potato” – […]
All Things are Fundamentally Interconnected
Did you know that today (March 11th) is (was) Douglas Adams’ birthday? He would have been 62 today. I wonder what sort of books he’d be writing. Adams is (was) mostly known for the Hitchhiker’s trilogy (yeah, I know), but the Dirk Gently books (I’m assuming there would have been more had he lived longer) were an entertaining series themselves. To attempt to describe the plot of this book would take more brain power than I currently have (stupid daylight savings whatever thing). So – […]
Hyperbole and a Half
I got this and Yes, Chef from my Cannonball book elf, Jeena Livance Lim. Can’t even tell you how excited I was when I opened the box. Everyone has probably read this by now, but I’ve always been really good at being late to the party. Everyone also has probably heard about Allie Brosh’s struggles with depression, a lot of which were happening when this book was in production (from what I can tell, at least). The book is made up of material that was […]