The Alphabet Meme

May 4th, 2008 · 5 Comments

Picked this meme up from Melanie, in honor of two YA books I read for work this weekend.
The goal of this is to list favourite authors according to last name (with a representative fave book as well).
Atwood, Margaret — Cat’s Eye
Bronte, Charlotte — Jane Eyre
Card, Orson Scott — Ender’s Game
Dragonwagon, Crescent — The Year [...]

Popularity: 21% [?]

[Read more →]

Tags: On Reading

Highlights (Booking Through Thursday)

December 27th, 2007 · 10 Comments

From Booking Through Thursday:
It’s an old question, but a good one . . . What were your favorite books this year?
List as many as you like … fiction, non-fiction, mystery, romance, science-fiction, business, travel, cookbooks … whatever the category. But, really, we’re all dying to know. What books were the highlight of your reading year [...]

Popularity: 49% [?]

[Read more →]

Tags: On Reading

Answers–13 Opening Lines–How Many Can You Guess?

October 29th, 2007 · 21 Comments

I mentioned that I had to go on maternity leave for my reading jobs, so my On Reading posts will no longer mean that I read a book for work. I could be a stickler for consistency and just stop doing them, but they’re just too much fun–especially when I catch the fever for [...]

Popularity: 51% [?]

[Read more →]

Tags: On Reading

Live Flesh by Ruth Rendell

October 16th, 2007 · No Comments

Synopsis:
After his release from prison, a troubled man befriends the man he crippled, and awakens his demons with tragic result.
Review:
Though strong in characterization (as always), Live Flesh doesn’t hold up as one of Ruth Rendell’s strongest. On its publication in 1986, I’m sure it made much more of an impact, but in today’s serial [...]

Popularity: 22% [?]

[Read more →]

Tags: British Literature

The Minotaur by Barbara Vine

September 20th, 2007 · 1 Comment

Synopsis:
Hired to be an au pair to a schizophrenic man, a Swedish girl watches as interfamilial tensions come to a boiling point, with deadly results.
Review:
Barbara Vine (the alter ego of best-selling crime novelist Ruth Rendell) has carved out a niche as deft portrayer of tightly interwoven groups of people who are all set to go [...]

Popularity: 37% [?]

[Read more →]

Tags: British Literature

Series vs. Recurring Characters

June 22nd, 2007 · 15 Comments

In the comments thread for Will the Series be Unbroken, Brad & Imani’s insights made me realize that I was thinking of series in a very limited way. I was only considering a series as having the following criteria:

Set in the same world
Recurring characters
A forward-moving story that aims for cohesiveness across multiple books
There is [...]

Popularity: 37% [?]

[Read more →]

Tags: On Reading

The Crocodile Bird by Ruth Rendell

June 9th, 2007 · 2 Comments

Synopsis:
After a supremely sheltered childhood, a young woman finds herself without her mother for the first time in her life, and tells her new lover the story of the crime that led to her emancipation.
Popularity: 56% [?]

Popularity: 56% [?]

[Read more →]

Tags: British Literature

The House of Stairs by Barbara Vine

April 21st, 2007 · 5 Comments

Synopsis:
A woman haunted by the uncertain onset of a genetic disease sees a woman from her past, and struggles to fill in the gaps between truth and lies from a time in her life marked by violence and murder.
Review:
House of Stairs is yet another knockout from Barbara Vine, the British crime writer who pens the [...]

Popularity: 66% [?]

[Read more →]

Tags: British Literature

Judgment in Stone by Ruth Rendell

February 23rd, 2007 · 6 Comments

Synopsis:
An illiterate housekeeper’s resentment of the privileged family she serves boils over into a murderous rage.
Review:
Judgement in Stone was turned into an incredible movie called La Ceremonie by Claude Chabrol, starring Sandrine Bonnaire as Eunice, the “stone” of the title, and the marvelous Isabelle Huppert as Joan, the local postmistress who fans the flames of [...]

Popularity: 56% [?]

[Read more →]

Tags: British Literature

The Brimstone Wedding by Barbara Vine

December 15th, 2006 · No Comments

Synopsis:
An elderly woman’s recollections of a love that ended in tragedy shed new light on a married woman’s illicit affair.
Review:
Wordpress keeps eating this review, and I don’t have the energy to write it a third time. Suffice it to say that it’s very good, with great characters, wonderful postwar detail, and a riveting story.
Meanwhile, [...]

Popularity: 32% [?]

[Read more →]

Tags: British Literature

  • Recent Posts

  • Categories