Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy
1895 / Kindle – 455 pages
rating: 9
I think I’ve mentioned before that one reason I enjoy classics is because they give an historical peek into the era in which they were written. Hardy is known as a Victorian realist and wrote novels which spoke out, in their own way, against the social strictures of >>>>MORE>>>>
Anil’s Ghost
by Michael Ondaatje
2000 / 303 pgs (Kindle)
Rating: 8
I usually totally enjoy Michael Ondaatje‘s work – especially Divisadero and Cat’s Table, but The English Patient was also quite good. Imo, he seems to have been improving as he’s gone along. This time I’m going back to catch one from 2000 (thanks to BGL) and I’ve been looking forward to it, but not hyped about it.
The setting is the Sri Lankan Civil >>>MORE >>>
The Cruelest Month (Det. Garmache #4)
by Louise Penny
2008 / 320 pages
Read by Ralph Cosham – 11h 46m
Rating: B+
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of Three Pines in the Province of Quebec, is called on to investigate death of a woman who was “scared to death” by a seance at a local haunted house. The seance is conducted by a visiting Wiccan and folks attend to overcome their fears. Unfortunately, >>>>MORE>>>>
Narcopolis
by Jeet Thayil
2012 / 288 pgs ( Kindle)
rating: 8.5
This book started out so lovely, so real, so refreshing. I’d say the first half was like that. Then, probably like the addicts themselves, it just went downhill and got boring and I only finished to find out what happened to the characters although I really didn’t >>>> MORE >>>>
The Stonecutter
by Camilla Lackberg
2005 (US 2013 / 528 pgs
read by David Thorn 16h 58m
Scandi-crime
Rating: A-
A Fjällbacka lobster fisherman has hauled in a rather different catch – a small girl child – dead. He notifies the police and Patrik Hedström, one of the two series detectives, gets the case. >>>> MORE >>>>
Ordinary Grace
by William Kent Krueger
2013 / 320 pages
read by Rich Orlow – 11h 2m
rating: 8 / contemp. fiction
This book starts slow and doesn’t speed up very fast either. But there are inklings that something will happen because of some judicious foreshadowing. And it’s not a “mystery” or a thriller, like the Krueger’s Cork O’Conner series. It’s a very gentle book with a mystery involved. And Rich Orlow is terrific as the >>> MORE >>>
What God Hath Wrought
by Daniel Walker Howe
Oxford University Press, USA; 2009
928 pages
Rating: 9.5
I was hesitant about getting the book because on a first and very cursory glance it looked pretty dry and tedious. Not so! This is the history of a very short time period – 33 years – during which America was transformed. The author is a social historian and the book won a Pulitzer. It’s well worth reading.
From the Editor’s Introduction we very deliberately >>>MORE >>>
The Chemistry of Tears
by Peter Carey
2012/ 229 pages
general fiction
rating: 8.5
Carey seems to have done what he’s done several times before – he’s constructed a book from two main plot threads. One is “his” thread, one is “hers” (Oscar and Lucinda), or one is the “British” point of view, one the “French” (Parrot and Olivier)
>>>MORE>>>
The Cold Dish
by Craig Johnson
western crime
2004 / 400 pages
read by George Guidell – 13h 8m
rating: C
Walt Longmire has been the sheriff of a small county in Wyoming for a long time. One night the body of a young man is found – a murder victim. The complication, after we get around to it, is that this guy was one >>>> MORE >>>>
Thirty Years War
by C.V. Wedgewood
1938 / 536 pages
Rating: 9
The Thirty Years War was the last really large series of conflicts of the Wars of Reformation which had involved the European Protestants and Catholics for in excess of a full century prior. The Thirty Years war started out in the middle of the central principalities of the Holy Roman Empire, but ended up including Sweden, France, Hungary, Poland, >>>MORE>>>
Eye of the Red Tsar
by Sam Eastland
crime / Russia-historical
2010 / 288 pages
read by Paul Michael 9h 4m
rating: B+
The Tsar and his family were executed in 1918. Now, in 1928, Pekkala (of the unknown first name) is a prisoner in a Siberian prison camp – solitary confinement for his own protection. One day a Commissar >>> MORE >>>
Feasting, Fasting
by Anita Desai
1999/240 pages
Booker s’list / India
rating: 9
Odd I should actually read a paperback rather than an e-book, but this was on a super-sale and I couldn’t resist. Although Desai has been widely acclaimed for her novels of India, I’ve never read anything by her – glad to read this. I have read two books by her daughter, Kiran Desai.
This is the story, or perhaps the many stories, >>>>MORE>>>>
You’re Next
by Gregg Hurwitz
2011 / 560 pages
read by Scott Brick 14h. 1m
suspense-thriller
rating: A++
Oh what a totally fabulous book – okay, it starts out a little goodie-goodie with Mike being a bit too honest and upright – that changes.
What if, at the age of 4, your father abandoned you in a park? What if you grew up through the foster system and with street/jail >>>MORE>>>
Thomas Jefferson: Author of America
by Christopher Hitchens
2005/196 pages
Rating: 9
This is more of a long biographical essay than a biography as such. It’s a short book, Hitchens’ ideas are well supported, but there are no source notes. It’s part of the excellent Eminent Lives series from Harper Collins.
I was familiar with the name and controversial reputation >>>MORE>>>>
The Fallen Angel
by Daniel Silva
2012 / 432 pages
read by George Guidall 10h 25m
rating: D
Why did I read this? Because it was on sale and on the surface it looked good. Later I found out it was an audio book set in Italy and one of my challenges is 12 audio mysteries set outside the US – (I made it harder and want 12 different countries). >>>>MORE>>>>
Resurrection Men
by Ian Rankin
2002/ 464 pages
read by Joe Dunlop – 15h 34m
rating : B+
And John Rebus finds himself sequestered at Tuliallan Castle for retraining. There, he infiltrates a group of the truly corrupt known as “The Wild Bunch.” And then Rebus’ old nemesis >>> MORE >>>
A Distant Shore
by Caryl Phillips
2003 / 288 pages
contemporary fiction
rating: 8.5
This book is comprised of 5 unnamed chapters which at first seem unrelated. They are related. This is a novel. It which won a place on the shortlist of the Man Booker prize back in 2003. I don’t >>>> MORE >>>>
Becky's Books - 