Archives by Tag 'America'
Moby Dick Part 3
So, finishing Moby Dick didn’t quite go according to plan. I should have had it all done by 2nd February, but that deadline made a whooshing sound as it flew by (Douglas Adams would have approved) and I found myself almost at the end of February still with a quarter of the book to go. [...]
Review: ‘Country of the Pointed Firs’ by Sarah Orne Jewett
Back in January I wrote a bit about Sarah Orne Jewett, author of . She was such an interesting woman that I almost feel a bit guilty for not liking this book more than I did; Jewett’s critics complained that her stories lacked plot, something of which she herself was well aware, and (while I [...]
Moby Dick Part 2
After two weeks of devoted evening reading I reached the halfway point of Moby Dick at the weekend! It’s taken me till now to organise my thoughts and write them down. It feels like a real achievement because I have to admit that, despite my best efforts to like it, this is not a book [...]
Review: ‘American Gods’ by Neil Gaiman
When I came to select a book to read after finishing Anderby Wold, I don’t think I could have picked something much more different than Neil Gaiman’s had I been trying deliberately to do so. The former is provincial, understated, realistic and oh so English, while the latter is sweeping, outrageous, mythological and (despite its [...]
Moby Dick Part One
Moby Dick may be a classic of American literature. It may (apparently, so I’m told) have one of the most famous opening lines of any novel. None of that prevented me from coming to this book knowing almost nothing about it and from being faintly baffled when I opened it to the words ‘Call me [...]
Review: ‘Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man’ by Fannie Flagg
Sometimes an author is known for one book more than any other, and this is certainly true of Fannie Flagg, best known as the author of . Whether it’s because this is her best book or whether it’s because of , I don’t know as, though I’ve had that book on my shelves waiting to be [...]
Review: ‘Water for Elephants’ by Sara Gruen
When I started to see posters appear on the Underground advertising the upcoming film of Sara Gruen’s , I decided that it was probably time to get the book down from my shelves and read it. Although this review has been so long in the writing that the film has now been and gone from [...]
Review: ‘Alexander’s Bridge’ by Willa Cather
When you come across the name of an author that you’re certain you’re going to love, how do you decide where to start with reading their work? With the exception of books which have a series order which I will always follow religiously I have never consciously decided to read an author’s work in any [...]
‘Tam Lin’ by Pamela Dean
O I forbid you, maidens a’, That wear gowd on your hair, To come or gae by Carterhaugh, For young Tam Lin is there. Fairy tales and folk stories were a huge part of my childhood and have continued to be so as I’ve become older. I had them read to me by my parents; [...]
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 [...]