tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56273692012-02-16T18:57:25.495ZIn association with Amazon.co.uk.Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comBlogger511100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-31681564364384926172011-12-14T13:14:00.002Z2011-12-14T13:23:25.550Z

Well, it's not often I review and blog a book I have only read one chapter of. In fact, it's not often I review and blog books at all anymore. And maybe I am more jetlagged and culture-shocked than I thought I was, or maybe it really was that good. I just read the first chapter of The Polish Officer by Alan Furst, entitled The Pilawa Local. I was in tears. It made me wish I was Polish. And

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-71950313247108538332011-11-28T19:31:00.001Z2011-11-28T19:33:18.060Z

I found this list of the top 100 books for permaculture and sustainable living. I have only heard of about 10 of them and don't own a single one. Sounds like a project!

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-73224176392554858992011-09-08T15:02:00.005+01:002011-09-08T15:18:10.146+01:00

Two book reviews in one article of the Guardian are paired because each offers a fresh look at figures the authors claim are vilified unfairly : Marx and Lenin. Terry Eagleton's book, Why Marx Was Right, uses a structural device of basing each chapter around an "accepted" rationale for the rejection of Marx and then refuting that rationale in the light of history and economics. Lars T. Lih's

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-59539606499758826002011-08-28T03:04:00.006+01:002011-09-04T02:00:15.695+01:00

I am going to do another of these Deborama's Books specials where I review a set of books that seem to me to speak to each other. Normally, it just happens that I read two books simultaneously, or almost simultaneously, that happen to address the same or very similar issues. In this case, I read these books at widely distant times, and only when I read the latest one, A Visit From the Goon

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-34428242054636362572011-06-14T10:44:00.004+01:002011-06-14T16:07:43.516+01:00

I am blogging to you from the little seaside town of Paignton on the south coast of Devon. Originally my purpose in coming here was to look at a bookshop coming up for sale, the award-winning Torbay Bookshop in "beautiful dowtown Paignton". After my trip was booked, but before it occurred, my husband and I came to the inevitable conclusion that as much as I would love to run a bookshop, as much

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-33426414445560018802010-04-18T12:21:00.013+01:002010-04-18T22:18:33.247+01:00

To see some things I want to read, you can view my Amazon UK wish list. To see another wish list and some of my Bookcrossing activity, check out my bookshelf.Here are some highlights of books I have read in the past two years, when the tension-levels chez Deborama have been very high and consequently little or no blogging was happening. The thing that stands out most, which was so excellent and

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-36733187736103328882010-04-04T14:25:00.009+01:002010-04-04T15:06:20.930+01:00

I have been patiently waiting for this to come out in paperback and there it was, at the local W. H. Smith's when I stopped in for a paper on my post-workout ramble. So now I'm reading it. I could have read it months ago if it weren't for the fact that a) I hate reading hardbacks (too heavy) and b) when I decide to own a set like this (the Millenium trilogy) I want them to be the same format.

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-23820363876060727632010-01-17T11:53:00.007Z2010-01-17T12:13:39.508Z

Here, in no particular order, are some good books I have read recently (in the past two and a half years, that is.)The March, by E. L. DoctorowHow I Live Now, by Meg RosoffMeanwhile, the books I have been planning to read can be found on wish list at Amazon.co.uk. Also my "tbr" list at Bookcrossing.

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-67842630452342559382010-01-15T23:06:00.010Z2010-01-16T15:22:38.965Z

I have been listening to the most recent Mountain Goats album, Life of the World to Come. My son Carey turned me on to this excellent group, with its poetic, often cryptic lyrics by the singer songwriter and leader John Darnielle. For some reason, I have noticed an influence, a precursor, very unlikely, and I doubt JD is even aware of this poet from over 100 years ago - John Davidson.(I should

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-5043353858459674232008-07-27T22:02:00.003+01:002008-11-13T05:13:09.892Z

Covered by NPR, Janis Ian has written an autobiography, Society's Child.

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-80378956554736512752007-02-24T14:44:00.000Z2007-02-24T14:55:56.176Z

The Guardian found out how touchy some people can be when one of its stories referred to Martin Amis as "perhaps Britain's greatest living author." Obviously, there are plenty of people out there who think Martin Amis is pretty crap, and some of them are literature lovers. After digging out from under all the indignant e-mail and letters, the paper ran an article discussing who is Britain's GLA

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-66570966218370802282007-02-11T16:23:00.000Z2007-02-11T17:31:44.518Z

I found a brief article on the About.com website, which I usually use to find recipes rather than enlightenment, about a list of books on a topic dear to my soul, the history of Christianity and how the gnostics, Jewish "Christians" and others were suppressed by those more politically powerful, a story that is basically about how the religion we now know as Christianity came about. Here are the

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1115048773873614712005-05-02T14:16:00.000+01:002006-12-23T12:58:58.030Z

I read Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire while I was in Portland last year. This is a very rich book, and it is better than the average popular historical biography on several levels. Many contemporary books on "scholarly" subjects, such as history or science, are immensely "dumbed down" to the point that an average layperson such as me, who is college educated but not by any means an academic

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1115039336971083312005-05-02T13:29:00.000+01:002006-12-23T12:52:49.229Z

I have this weird habit of reading two novels, either close together in time or sometimes even at the same time, that share a theme or otherwise speak to each other in some way. A little less than a year ago, I did it again. I read Vernon God Little, by D. B. C. Pierre, just a week or so after reading Hey, Nostradamus, by Douglas Coupland. Both of these are black comedies (of a sort), told (

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1112029544456655192005-03-28T17:58:00.000+01:002006-12-23T12:54:33.867Z

The BBC is showing an excellent dramatisation of Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters, which I reviewed earlier. Especially if you did not read the book, you must see this if you like a brooding romance and several wicked plot twists. Or if you just like what passed for hot lesbian action in the mid-Victorian period. Having read the book, I know what's coming and it makes a huge difference in the

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1110401756565797092005-03-09T20:55:00.000Z2006-12-23T12:55:16.037Z

Doonesbury is running a little series featuring Duke (now an American warlord in Iraq) in an existential yet surrealist tribute to the good doctor, aka Mr. Fear and Loathing, aka Hunter S. Thompson.

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1107979441988210032005-02-09T19:53:00.000Z2006-12-23T12:56:08.332Z

While I am waiting for that blast of either energy or inspiration to do my backlog of book reviews, I thought I would post a link to this excellent article about Dashiell Hammett from the San Francisco Gate. As you can probably tell from my choice of reading, I love detective stories, mysteries and crime writing. I am unusual in a way in that I almost equally like the sub-genres of the genre,

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1104776527091170482005-01-03T18:22:00.000Z2006-12-23T12:56:44.558Z

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune book section had this interview with Chris Van Allsburg, the man behind "The Polar Express". I remember seeing this beautiful book in Dayton's around Christmas time either 1985 or 1986. I don't know why I didn't buy it for my son; maybe he had decreed "don't buy me any more books" (always quite possible when you are dealing with me, seeing as how I have about a 95%

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1102243095897440592004-12-05T10:37:00.000Z2006-12-23T12:57:14.068Z

This morning I read a book review for a biography/autobiography of Muhammad Ali from the Times Online Books mailing list. Sometimes, a really good review is almost as good as the book itself. This review was excellent, and is the sort of thing I aspire to in my book reviews. Reviews of books that the reviewer didn't enjoy are rarely good, only when the reviewer is good with corrosive sarcasm and

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1101551808709510192004-11-27T10:36:00.000Z2006-12-23T12:58:22.730Z

(A little late with the cross-post; I've been sick.)As badly as I have been neglecting this blog, I have been even worse at my book review and bookstore blog and at Deborama's Kitchen, my food and food politics blog. So I am cross-posting this at both, because I have been a) actively reading and planning, bursting even, to review a couple of books, and b) I have some cookie recipes to post and

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1089742894035160132004-07-13T19:18:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:01:46.013Z

I just found out about this - Book Collector - at the blog Unlearned Hand. He has created a book blog using the software, and incorporating his "new lifetime reading plan". Both of which are great ideas which I may very well steal. This blog is cross-posted at Deborama.

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1088886939824818192004-07-03T21:32:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:00:50.499Z

I am currently reading Not on the Label: What Really Goes into the Food On Your Plate, by Felicity Lawrence. It is really frightening. And I have been a savvy food-politics activist for about 35 years and still I didn't know about some of the appalling things covered in this book. It seems to affect everyone this way. Here are some excerpts from Amazon's reader reviews:"I thought I had some idea

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1087746766511143202004-06-20T16:52:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:01:30.519Z

The Book Crossing organisation has a newsletter, and that newsletter has an archive.

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1087421806818681492004-06-16T22:36:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:02:21.438Z

Today is the day, and this is the blog. The Bloomsday blog, that is.

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1083592965767846482004-05-03T15:02:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:03:15.601Z

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark HaddonI loved this book, and even more importantly, my darling hubby liked this book. I give him about 12 to 20 books a year to read, after I have read and liked them, and think he might like them, and he only likes about a fifth of them. So either he is very hard to please, or I am rubbish at guessing what he will like (a bit of both

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-108359018757308202004-05-03T14:16:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:03:53.254Z

*** *** Northern Lights The Subtle Knife The Amber SpyglassHis Dark Materials Trilogy, by Philip PullmanI heard these books described as a thinking-person's Harry Potter. That doesn't really do them justice. The format, the intent, the audience, the world-view, all are different in several degrees from Harry Potter. The main thing is that the Harry Potter stories are in the familiar

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1082328175152331812004-04-18T23:42:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:04:26.748Z

Claudia Winkleman, eight best-selling authors, and four people with powerful credentials in the publishing and writing world, and the BBC, have teamed up to create an interesting new kind of competition. The eight authors have each written the beginning of a story. Your challenge, if you decide to accept it, is to finish the story of your choice. The story beginnings will be available on the

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1081505189576833432004-04-09T11:06:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:04:43.965Z

I found this list while I was ego-tripping by seeing how high my blog comes for various Google searches. I will turn this into yet another of those list meme things and post it soon . . .

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1080998927864686462004-04-03T14:28:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:05:06.366Z

Jennifer Government, by Max BarryI am finally getting around to reviewing Jennifer Goverment, and what excellent timing, coming on the heels of the latest atrocity wrought by the US use of privatized paramilitaries (also known as mercenaries). It is the complete privatization of all "services" that could possibly be performed by the government that drives the plot of this small, frantically-paced

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1080161238937368132004-03-24T20:47:00.000Z2004-03-24T20:49:48.733Z

The Sunday Times books section features this story by Peter Kemp centering around a debate at the Oxford Union this Saturday on which British city best deserves the title of World Book Capital. Previous winners have included Antwerp, Madrid and Montreal, but the four literary powerhouse cities of Britain and Ireland, Oxford, which is contending for the 2007 award, and London, Edinburgh and

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1076249010208828032004-02-08T14:03:00.000Z2007-02-11T18:37:38.588Z

Cavedweller, by Dorothy AllisonI guess it was about 12 years ago at least that I read Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina. What an experience that was; it absolutely bowled me over. A few years later she came to Minneapolis to speak at the Amazon Women's Bookstore (no relation to the online outfit, which it pre-dated by two decades.) I think it was then that I bought Two or Three Things I

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1075054416264404142004-01-25T18:13:00.000Z2006-12-23T13:06:24.781Z

If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things, by Jon McGregorThe first, and so far, I believe, only novel by Jon McGregor, this is a book that needs more recognition. Reviewers liked it - a lot - and so did I. It is written in a poetic style like a long poem in blank verse. Many of the main characters in the story are never named but are referred to by the house number on the street where the "

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1075037676861384672004-01-25T13:34:00.000Z2006-12-23T13:06:50.142Z

Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Tracy ChevalierNow a major motion picture, as they say. This was a very cinematic book, as other reviewers of the film have pointed out, and did really cry out to be made into a lovely movie. I haven't seen the movie, just read the book. It had a really authentic-seeming feel, in that as one read it, one felt immersed in this 17th century Dutch town culture, but do

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1074893590826373952004-01-23T21:33:00.000Z2004-01-23T21:36:26.280Z

Jennifer Government, by Max Barry I was originally only going to put my own reviews of books here, but it is proving to be too much for me to keep up with, now that I have, effectively, five blogs, two links pages and a Live Journal to keep up with. I have wanted to read Jennifer Government for a while now but I haven't got it yet; I've got a huge reading backlog, and hubby is

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1071564041801106822003-12-16T07:58:00.000Z2006-12-23T13:08:16.822Z

News.Scotsman.com, the online version of The Scotsman, has an article titled "If Diana had lived", which combines a review of a forthcoming book with more speculation on the meaning of the Diana phenomenon. This is undoubtedly a tie-in with the new public inquiry being conducted in Scotland, at the request of Mohamed al Fayed, into the car crash deaths of the Princess and al Fayed's son, Dodi.

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1068987720624817492003-11-16T12:39:00.000Z2006-12-23T13:08:43.802Z

Motherless Brooklyn, by Jonathan LethemIt could be a new trend in detective stories, which have always tended to have a social criticism edge to them anyway (well, the good ones.) A PI or an amateur or an innocent fitted up for a crime is endowed with a little understood disability, which paradoxically gives him or her great advantage in solving the crime. In a way, it's not a new idea. Miss

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1068985726263433512003-11-16T11:49:00.000Z2006-12-23T13:09:30.942Z

Gimme More, by Liza CodyLiza Cody is mainly known for detective novels, the Anna Lee mysteries: Dupe, Bad Company, Head Case, Stalker, Under Contract and Backhand.This is one of a handful of other novels. It's an exciting and fast-paced con-game story about Birdie Walker, an aging but still attractive rock widow who has long-standing issues with record company moguls. The bigwigs are trying to

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1067082880536645942003-10-25T12:47:00.001+01:002006-12-23T13:16:15.795Z

Bad Boy Brawly Brown Star Witness In a previous post, I bemoaned the lack of good, independent bookstores in most of Britain. Once Upon A Crime, in Minneapolis, is one of the type of bookstores I was thinking about. On my recent trip there for the birth of grand-daughter Savannah, I visited OUAC and purchased five books, reviews of which follow.Bad Boy Brawly Brown, by Walter Mosley, is a book

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1067081537594391892003-10-25T12:29:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:15:46.622Z

In the Bleak Midwinter The Big Dig Here are two more books that I bought at Once Upon A Crime in Minneapolis.In the Bleak Midwinter, by Julia Spencer-Fleming, is a first crime novel, featuring one of those unlikely buddy pairs that can make detective stories either really entertaining or cringingly bad, depending mostly on the writer's skill with dialogue and narrative touch with relationships.

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1067079720759591292003-10-25T10:59:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:15:25.293Z

Persia Cafe, by Melany NielsonThis is the fifth book that I bought at Once Upon A Crime in Minneapolis.This is a mystery of sorts, but it features neither a cop nor a PI nor even an amateur investigator. But a crime occurs, what we would now call a hate crime, although in the time and place of the story - Mississippi in the 1960s - such a term did not exist. The principal character is a young

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1065964551921833672003-10-12T14:01:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:14:58.706Z

The Duchess of Devonshire's Chatsworth Cookery BookI really shouldn't have this in my book reviews at all; for one thing, it's more of a tourist attraction than a book, and for another, I haven't read it. But I just read Lynn Barber's very amusing review of it, and interview with the Duchess, in the Observer Food Monthly, and it made me want to look into it. The first paragraph will give you a

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1065290167252392012003-10-04T18:55:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:14:29.810Z

Bringing Out the Dead, by Joe ConnellyLet me make it clear that this is not a movie review; in fact, I haven't seen the movie. But I did picture it in my head as a movie (with Nicholas Cage, indeed) all the time I was reading it. In fact, this is an almost autobiographical novel, and the author, from his picture on the back, looks enough like Nicholas Cage to make it all plausible. The writing is

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1064151712402044902003-09-21T14:17:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:13:47.964Z

An Orkney Murder The Detective Wore Silk Drawers For some reason I ended up reading two little-known British detective stories, both from the Nottingham Public Library, both set in the late Victorian period. [rant mode on] It annoys me no end that books like these are not available in ordinary bookstores, at least not if you don't already know about them and want them enough to order them. All

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1061331104349231622003-08-19T23:11:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:13:22.920Z

War Crimes for the Home, by Liz JensenGloria is very old, and everyone assumes that it is senility that makes her so cantankerous, and possibly forgetful.But during the war, Gloria was young and pretty and in love. After the war she has a beloved son, who is the spitting image of the handsome groom in her wartime wedding picture. So what happened to that dashing young American who left her with a

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1061321502458421812003-08-19T20:31:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:12:55.946Z

M@tt Beaumont is the author of a very funny novel, which is a modern variation on the 18th and 19th century form whereby a novel's story is told wholly or largely through letters. In this case, of course, it is e-mail that carries the plot, and an attempt to win a Coca-Cola account that drives it. The use of e-mail where normally people would just speak to one another is quite cleverly handled,

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1060535149786835622003-08-10T18:05:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:12:22.482Z

American Gods, by Neil GaimanMythology, fantasy, an adventure story, an allegory. A young man named Shadow went to prison, mainly to protect his beloved wife Laura from being implicated in the crime she planned and he unwillingly participated in. Just before he is to be released, Laura dies in a car crash, along with his "best friend".Shadow is only out of prison a short time when a mysterious

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1060534580882053422003-08-10T17:56:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:11:47.289Z

The Death of Vishnu, by Manil SuriVishnu is dying on the staircase of a crowded apartment building in Bombay. He has been living on the staircase, a coveted location, and paying for the privilege by running errands for the more favoured residents. As he lies in a fevered condition, two worlds swirl around him, the real world and the dream world of his memories and fantasies.The real world is the

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1060533564916856022003-08-10T17:39:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:11:27.217Z

The Rotters' Club, by Jonathan CoeI imagine that anyone who grew up in Britain in the late 1970s would really identify with this book. There were parts that I really identified with myself, even though I grew up in the US, in the south, and about 10 years earlier. But then there are the cultural milestones, as opposed to personal ones, and in the milieu of this book, the five protagonists are

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1060516531191199302003-08-10T12:55:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:11:01.417Z

Fingersmith, by Sarah WatersThis book is all about suspense . . . and lesbian sub-text, of course. Therefore, I must stop myself from saying too much, as I do not want to create even a hint of a spoiler.The story concerns two girls. Sue Trinder is brought up as an orphan in Lant Street, London, amongst petty thieves and fences and con artists, sheltered somewhat by her unofficial guardian, Mrs.

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1060515041562167752003-08-10T12:30:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:10:35.401Z

Everything Is IlluminatedAnother first novel written in a funny dialect! But it is much more than that. Jonathan Safran Foer's first novel concerns a journey through the Ukraine by a young man named Jonathan Safran Foer. He is trying to find the Ukrainian woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. The main narrator of the story is Alex, a Ukrainian teenager. Also on the trip are Alex's

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1060512104755097832003-08-10T11:41:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:10:08.014Z

Buddha Da, by Anne DonovanThis is the first novel, but the second book, by Anne Donovan, and is something I read as part of a Nottingham Public Library programme called Book Chains. (Donovan's first book was a highly regarded short story collection.)The most noticeable thing about this book, which presented quite a challenge to me as an American, is that it is written in a Glaswegian Scots

Debhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03218190988721016286noreply@blogger.com