Archive for 'Book Review' Category
‘The Christmas Mystery’ by Jostein Gaarder
Title: Author: Jostein Gaarder. Translated by Elizabeth Rokkan. Illustrated by Rosemary Wells Published: Phoenix, 1998, pp. 247. Originally published in Norwegian 1992 Genre: Fiction Blurb: A young boy finds a faded, home-made Advent calendar in a bookshop. A piece of paper falls out of the first window on which is written the first part of [...]
‘The Twelve Days of Christmas [Correspondence] by John Julius Norwich
Title: Author: John Julius Norwich. Illustrated by Quentin Blake Published: Doubleday, 1998, pp. 38. First edition Genre: Humour Blurb: Everyone knows ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, but not as rewritten by John Julius Norwich in this delightful correspondence, which records the daily thank-you letters from one increasingly bemused young lady to her unseen admirer. And [...]
Review: ‘Christmas Crackers for Cats’ by Julie and John Hope
Title: Author: Julie and John Hope. Illustrated by Sue Hellard Published: Bantam, 2000, pp. 32. First edition Genre: Humour poetry Blurb: This is a collection of limericks featuring cats and their antics, beautifully illustrated by Sue Hellard. You can learn your cat’s views on life—from why they lust hungrily after your pet canary to the art [...]
Review: ‘Christmas Carols for Cats’ by Julie and John Hope
Title: Author: Julie and John Hope. Illustrated by Sue Hellard Published: Bantam Books, 1998, pp. 29. Originally published 1996 Genre: Humour poetry Blurb: A witty, charming treasury of traditional Christmas carols -rewritten by cats for cats – includes such classics as “The Twelve Days of Catmas,” “We Wish for the Fam’ly Goldfish,” and “Bark! The [...]
‘The Running Foxes’ by Joyce Stranger
Title: Author: Joyce Stranger Published: Corgi, 1967, pp. 142. Originally published 1965 Genre: Young adult fiction Blurb: The magic is of foxes running wild over the Cumberland hills, of an otter cub adopted by a poacher, of young hounds caught in a badger-run, and of dour, lakeland farmers who hunt on foot and are out-witted [...]
Review: ‘Quicksilver’ by Neal Stephenson
Title: : Book I of the Baroque Cycle Author: Neal Stephenson Published: Arrow, 2004, pp. 927. Originally published 2003 Genre: Alternative history Blurb: A novel of history, adventure, science, invention, sex, absurdity, piracy, madness, death and alchemy that sweeps across continents and decades, upending kings, armies, religious beliefs and all expectations. Bringing a remarkable age [...]
Review: ‘The Quiet Little Woman’ by Louisa May Alcott
Title: The Quiet Little Woman: A Christmas Story Author: Louisa May Alcott Published: Honor Books, 1999, pp. 122. Originally published 1870s Genre: Children’s short stories Blurb: “If someone would only come and take me away! I’m so tired of living here I don’t think I can bear it much longer,” Patty cries. Patty’s life in [...]
Review: ‘The Christmas Fox I: Ghost Writer’ by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
Title: The Christmas Fox I: Ghost Writer Author: Tim Mackintosh-Smith Published: Slightly Foxed, 2005, pp. 31. First edition Genre: Short story Blurb: Speaking via its ghost-writer, Tim Mackintosh-Smith, the Arabic manuscript of Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi tells its own true, if admittedly incredible, story. Set in medieval Cairo and Aleppo, seventeenth-century Oxford and 1960s London, it [...]
Review: ‘Child of the Phoenix’ by Barbara Erskine
Title: Author: Barbara Erskine Published: Harper Collins, 1994, pp. 1086. Originally published 1992 Genre: Historical fiction Blurb: In 1218 an extraordinary princess is born, whose mystical powers and unquenchable spirit will alter the course of history… Raised by her fiercely Welsh nurse to support the Celtic cause against the predatory English king, Princess Eleyne is [...]
Review: ‘The Lieutenant’s Lover’ by Harry Bingham
Title: The Lieutenant’s Lover Author: Harry Bingham Published: Harper, 2006, pp. 442. Originally published 2006 Blurb: Misha is an aristocratic young officer in the army when the Russian revolution sweeps away all his certainties. Tonya is a nurse from an impoverished family in St Petersburg. They should have been bitter enemies; and yet they fall [...]