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Books

Dragonsblood

This is the first novel set in the Pern world of Dragons by an author other than Anne McCaffrey. I love this world. I found it when searching for Christmas presents…

The author is Anne’s son Todd, whom she has collaborated on two Pern novels before.

It is set between times. At the end of the first pass and at the start of the third. In the future a disease is affecting the dragons of Pern so that they die within three weeks.

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I enjoyed it. Staying up into the wee smalls to read it curled up on a soft cozy sofa in a log cabin with the fire crackling before me. I think Todd captures the world well and progresses the storyline. Wind Blossom’s photophobic watchwhers are explained for instance.

And yes, I will be looking out for the next one.

Books

Floodtide

Another saga by Judy Nunn – probably better known for her role on the Aussie soap “Home and Away”, of which, I confess, I am not a fan.

Her books are long and rambling and set in Australia, and that is why I picked this one up. That, and it landed on my desk as a review copy just before a 17 hour flight. In fact, this one is set in Western Australia and covers the period of WA Inc so it held a certain reminiscent appeal.
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This is not high literature, but it is moderately entertaining if slightly unbelievable. The Mayjay bit??

Books

Skin and Bone by Kathryn Fox

Oh how I wish I was referring to my current size but no, this is Kathryn Fox’s latest murder novel which I have just read. It is part of the Big Book Club.

The story is about Detective Kate Farrer. She returns to work after being off sick seemingly after being tortured by some toerag – details perhaps in an earlier novel. Her new partner Oliver seems inexperienced, yet intelligent and keen and her first week takes her to the scene of a house fire where some unfortunate woman has perished. Almost as soon as she is assigned this case, she’s pulled off it to investigate the disappearance of a wealthy man’s daughter… and it appears the homicide unit is under surveillence – just for some added spice.

Kate reminds me of Barbara Havers from Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley series (a great series). She is work focussed, unkempt, slovenly at home and yet a great solid detective.
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The cover bills Kathryn Fox as better than Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs. I’m not so sure. Certainly it is close. I didn’t get the level of science I get in a Reichs novel, nor the amount of character development that I get in Cornwell.

I think this is like Elizabeth George lite. An enjoyable read set in Australia (which I enjoyed being the parochial soul that I am). An author to watch.

Books

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khalid Housseini’s novel to follow The Kite Runner is also set in Afghanistan and traces the period from the Soviet invasion through to the rise and fall of the Taliban. He grew up in Afghanistan but now lives in California – since about 1980 – so plainly didn’t experience this first hand. He is now doing some aid work.

I found this book interesting for a couple of reasons – the story itself is charming – love story, overcoming incredible odds, that sort of thing – but also the story of Afghanistan is so interesting itself. We talk glibly about how they have been torn apart by wars for years but this book brought it home.

I remember meeting a woman from Kabul in 2002, I was doing a series on Muslim women in Perth and how their lives had changed post 2001. They came from all walks of life – Malaysian upper-class, Western women who had converted, women from Saudi Arabia, and other Arab states, women who wore veils, women who didn’t – it was a very eye-opening series for me – anyway I remember chatting to this lady who had gone to university in Afghanistan and she described Kabul as this very cosmopolitan, vibrant city; women who worked, beautiful gardens and public buildings. A far cry from the grey, bombed out, dusty city we see in news bulletins today. From the oppressive regime of the Taliban, where women were not allowed to work, or go to school, or even walk the streets without a male relative escort.
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It’s not a hard read, although the images are sometimes graphic. I read it in about two nights so certainly hard to put down.

I agree with the Guardian reviewer about his view of Afghanistan – he certainly doesn’t challenge the western view and he is full of hope about it’s future.

Books

Miss Webster and Cherif

This book by Patricia Duncker was a gift from The Poshi for my birthday. It’s a story of lonliness and friendship, of old age and youth.  I enjoyed it.

In many ways I thought it was a bit like Of Mice and Men – bear with me… it’s probably a long bow.

Here she is, this old woman, an ex-teacher pushed out of the school into retirement, alone. She breaks down and finds herself after a long recovery in Northern Africa where she is completely out of her comfort zone.

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What they give each other is the friendship of equals and it is not until the end of the book that they realise how important that friendship – much more than a landlady and lodger – is.

An interview with Patricia Duncker.

Books

Sweet Obscurity by Patrick Gale

I had high expectations following the perfection of Notes from an Exhibition, and while I don’t love Sweet Obsurity quite as much, I still enjoyed the journey.

Familiar themes appeared: Mental illness. Artistic characters – though this time music which is Patrick’s love. The wild Cornish coast. He does write characters well and I do feel completed at the end of the novel.

His books are like eating a roast dinner – you feel satisfyingly full at the end.

A bit about the plot. Eliza is looking after her sister’s child, is married but separated from a counter-tenor (he sings high) who is now living with a publicist. The story of her sister and the daughter – our main hero – is the thread that holds this novel together. The messy lives (quite believable) of the characters build the story and we learn some interesting stuff along the way. This review says it all really.

Eliza joins a singing group at one point and perhaps it’s because I’ve just joined a choir – but that really resonated with me. 🙂
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It’s an interesting story, well told, satisfyingly chunky (as the BBC reviewer says) and a good read.

You can see how his writing led to Notes from an Exhibition. I wonder if reading more of his novels would lessen my opinion of Notes. Whether they would become samey.

Time will tell as I will surely look out more of his novels in the library.

I’ve started my next novel – Miss Webster and Cherif by Patricia Duncker – The Poshi recommends this highly and gave it to me for my birthday. So far I’m liking it. 🙂

Books

Notes from an Exhibition

I heard about this book on Tony Delroy’s Nightlife program and while I never take book recommendations from radio programs the reviewer was so taken with this novel by Patrick Gale that when I saw it in the bookshop on Lygon St in Melbourne after dinner with my brother the other week, I thought I’d give it a go.

It is a story about a bi-polar artist and her family. She dies and the story of her and her family is slowly revealed in flashbacks while the present brings us to resolution. In fact when you think about it Patrick has written this book as one might view a painting.

You don’t look at a painting in a linear view… your eye is captured and you’re drawn to bits and pieces of the “story” the artist is trying to portray. When you stand back and view the complete artwork, you get a wholistic view.

Bob Dylan tried to do this with his song “Tangled up in Blue“.

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“…and I then realised that what we were doing was arranging an exhibition, we were thinking, well, this one [chapter] will really offset that one, and it will set up a sort of vibration.”

I can’t tell you how satisfying a read this is. The characters are so engaging. The art – you wish Rachel really existed so you could go to an exhibition. I’m even intrigued now with Quakers. I have been dragging out the end to make it last just a little bit longer. It has replaced Perfume by Patrick Suskind as my all-time favourite book. And Perfume has been top of my faves list for more than a decade.

It was – to quote Stephen Fry – “Complete Perfection”.

Transcript of an interview with Patrick Gale

Books

Dead Famous

Ben Elton’s book about the Big Brother franchise is as you’d expect choc full of his witty observations, and coupled with an outrageous plot, makes for an easy and entertaining read.

This is not high art. However his observations about reality TV and the generation that so willingly embraces it, are, IMHO, on-the-money.

That’s not to say that I completely agree with his hero, a curmudgeonly 55+ inspector who is in charge of the investigation when one of the housemates is murdered. Coleridge speaks for the baby boomers who cannot quite get into their heads why anyone would want to put themselves on display and at the mercy of a television company. He probably wouldn’t get blogs either, certainly not myspace or facebook.

Agatha Christie would have been proud of Ben for all the red herrings and the theatrical finish.
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I have a soft spot for Ben Elton. I love his TV work (Blackadder, The Thin Blue Line), his musicals (including We Will Rock You) and his other books (Gridlock, Popcorn etc). As he married a Jam Tart and spends quite a lot of his time in Western Australia – he counts (almost) as one of our own.

This book – probably isn’t his best – but is entertaining and a fun read none-the-less.

And now to Uncle Tom’s Cabin – which I’m finding depressing and hard-going at the moment – granted not as depressing or hard-going as the people whose lives it depicts in such graphic detail…

Books, Current Affairs

Emma

I picked up this Jane Austen novel in a second hand booksale. I’d just caught part of Clueless on the telly – you know the movie with Alicia Silverstone – and it seemed like serendipity to then come across the book the story is based on.

So I read it. I last read the book when my orchid hunter was born. I went through a Jane Austen phase and read all of her novels and even a biography when the novels ran out. And of course I caught the movie.

It’s not my favourite JA novel but it is still quite charming. The English class system is thrown sharply into focus as Emma compares the various standings of the people around her as only one near the top of the pile can. The manners are charming too. It is hard to imagine calling someone Mr or Miss these days – unless they are a former teacher perhaps, and would anyone really be scandalised if you were to call someone by their first name?
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Hmmm well I do still cringe to remember how I addressed the then Prime Minister of Australia once… “Hi Paul” I (dare I say) gushed… well perhaps not gushed… but I was certainly somewhat casual. Hey I was young and probably overexcited.

So apart from Prime Ministers, and former teachers who probably still scare you a bit, and very old people – who else do you address with social title – why I spoke to the Administrator of Christmas Island just the other day (he’s like the governor) and he told me to call him Neil… can you think of anyone?

Books

Dragon’s Fire

3 Comments

By Anne and Todd McCaffrey.

Anne McCaffrey’s fantasy world of Pern is like comfort food to me. I love these stories. When 911 happened… we watched it live on the telly as the first pictures came in right after The Bill, a favourite in those days… I dug out my collection and read them all back-to-back.

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I’m not sure these measure quite up to the richness of the world created in the original series but I still enjoyed reading it and will look for the next one when it comes. Again, not challenging reading but my head is too full at the moment for anything but escapism to a world I’ve already been to.