Book log 1) Mary Stewart — Wildfire at Midnight

1956 contemporary romantic suspense set on the Isle of Skye. Fashion model Gianetta Drury needs some peace and quiet, She’s never fully recovered from her divorce to the husband she still loves, and London during the build-up to the Coronation is more excitement and fuss than she wants. A holiday on the Isle of Skye seems ideal, until she discovers that her ex-husband Nicholas has signed into the same hotel on the same day. And if that wasn’t enough, it turns out that there has been a recent murder, and the other residents of the hotel are suspects. Nicholas isn’t exempt, because he was staying in the hotel on a previous trip. And then there is another murder…

While I picked out the correct candidate for murderer readily enough at the first clear clue/herring, the story’s well enough written that it doesn’t matter. There’s still plenty of suspense in whether the characters will recognise the right pattern in time. The book has some engaging lead characters in a strongly drawn setting, and some genuinely chilling scenes. A particular highlight for me was the chase in the fog towards the end of the book. One with re-read potential even after you know the solution.

http://www.librarything.com/work/26796

Book log 2011

And the full list of books read in 2011 — all 117 of them. Most of them got at least brief notes which have been posted to the blogs and to LibraryThing, although the ones in the last couple of months have been somewhat neglected.

December 2011 book log

Typing hurts at the moment, so limited comments on the books.

112) John Barrowman — I am what I am
Second volume of Barrowman’s memoirs, written with his sister Carole Barrowman. While the first volume was a largely chronological memoir of his life so far, this volume is a selection of stories arranged more by theme than by time, and including a lot of material in direct response to questions he was asked after the first volume was published. As with any good actor biography, part of the appeal of this book is a more general look at the side of showbusiness that the public don’t see for themselves, including the amount of work needed to put a show on, whether on stage or tv. Well written, and very entertaining if this sort of book is your sort of thing.

http://www.librarything.com/work/8980550

113) Alan Hunter — Gently go Man
Ninth of the Inspector Gently books. I mostly haven’t been commenting on these, but have been enjoying them and intend to read more of them.

http://www.librarything.com/work/1774111

114) Diane Purkiss — Fairies and Fairy Stories: A History
New edition of a book previously published as “Troublesome Things: A History of Fairies and Fairy Stories”, and under at least one other title. I really need to write a proper review of this book, but right now I’m down with a viral infection and not up to the necessary thinking.

http://www.librarything.com/work/45521

115) Ruth Rendell — Murder being Once Done
Seventh Inspector Wexford book.

http://www.librarything.com/work/292592

116) Mary Stewart — Madam, will you talk?
Stewart’s first novel, published in 1955, and the first one I’ve read. Contemporary (for the time it was written) suspense with a strong romantic element. Enjoyed this a lot.

http://www.librarything.com/work/96869

117) Carola Dunn — Death at Wentworth Court
First of the Daisy Dalrymple series of 1920s country house cosies. I read this after reading several of the later books, so enjoyed seeing where it started. Great fun, and one for the re-read shelf.

http://www.librarything.com/work/39646

Some Syndicate fragments

As promised a couple of weeks ago, what little there is of the Syndicate honeymoon story is now on my website. I haven’t updated the links from other pages yet, but two chapters and some scraps of notes are now available for your reading pleasure.

Book log: November 2011

November 2011 book log behind the cut. I abandoned trying to review most of the mystery series books, but there are some books with comments in there.

2011 book log: 102) Edward Gorey — The Lost Lions

I feel rather guilty about taking so long to write my review of this one, partly because Pomegranate were clearly hoping for timely reviews to drive sales for Christmas gifts, and partly because so many of my friends would doubtless have been very happy to help with the “Christmas gift” sales figures…

102) Edward Gorey — The Lost Lions

Note: I received a review copy of this through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers programme.

Pomegranate provides a treat for Gorey fans with this new edition of a title from 1973 which has been long out of print as a standalone book, although it was available in omnibus format. Hamish, a beautiful young man who likes being outdoors, opens the wrong envelope one day, and finds himself on a path to fame and fortune in films. He finds this to be less appealing than one might imagine, and prefers to raise lions… The story is told in a bare 14 pen-and-ink illustrations with one sentence per illustration, and can be skimmed in a few minutes, but Gorey does a great deal with those 14 illustrations. It’s not as blatantly macabre as some of Gorey’s work, but still has that eerie, off-kilter humour that was his trademark. And the book might take only a few minutes to read the first time, but you could lose yourself for hours looking at the detail in the drawings and thinking about the things implied therein.

There are other books which are more accessible to new readers and I’m not sure this one would be ideal as someone’s first introduction to Gorey, but you don’t need much familiarity with his body of work to appreciate the faintly sinister whimsy of The Lost Lions.

At US$13, this edition isn’t cheap, but you do get what you pay for. Pomegranate have a done a superb job on the physical production side. The book is a small hardback with high quality paper in sewn signatures, and crisp reproduction of the pen-and-ink illustrations. It’s laid out with one sentence and illustration facing each other per page spread, on a 6 inch square page size that makes it easy to take in the whole illustration at once while still being large enough to see the fine detail. The cover illustration is in colour, but the interior illustrations are in the original black and white. If all you want is access to the story, there are other options, but Pomegranate’s new edition is a gorgeous presentation that’s a joy to handle. This is a perfect “indulgent treat” for anyone who loves both beautiful books and Edward Gorey.

My review copy came packed with two Pomegranate catalogues, and one of their Edward Gorey bookmarks, which was a nice item in its own right, and I think well worth the $2 catalogue price if you like nice bookmarks. It’s crisply printed on heavy stock, and comes in a heavy plastic protective sleeve, from which it can be easily removed if you prefer to use it without the sleeve.

Hardcover smyth-sewn casebound book, with jacket. 32 pages, 6½ x 6 inches.

ISBN 9780764959578

Edward Gorey — The Lost Lions at the publisher’s website.

Librarything entry, with more reviews.

Booklog: October 2011

Yes, it’s the extremely late book log for October, with books read 92 to 101 of 2011. All in one chunk below the cut.

Book Log: September 2011

I didn’t post the book log for September as I logged each book, because I was too sore to do the cross-posting. So it’s going up in one chunk. :-)

LibraryThing Early Reviewer gloating

I have just got home from the day job to find an email notifying me that I have won an LTER review copy of Edward Gorey’s “The Lions”. This will doubtless make one or two of my flist rather jealous. Of course, if it gets eaten by the Post Office on its way to me you can all point and laugh.

August 2011 book log

I actually had this ready to go two weeks ago, but I’ve had fun and games with medication side-effects all month and haven’t felt up to posting much. You can find the detailed notes for each book by looking at LibraryThing or my blog entries for the dates noted.

74) Alexander McCall Smith — Corduroy Mansions
Good-natured and enjoyable, but about two-thirds of the way through I found that it simply wasn’t holding my interest any longer. Logged 28 August.
LibraryThing entry

75) Reginald Hill — A Pinch of Snuff
Previously reviewed when I read it in 2006, at LiveJournal and at LibraryThing
LibraryThing entry

76) Colin Kapp — Patterns of Chaos
This is a solid piece of 1970s space opera, with a plot on the grand scale combined with some fascinating details to flesh out the universe, and some well-realised characters. Logged 3 September.
LibraryThing entry

77) Bernard Knight — the Witch Hunter
The eighth in a crime fiction series set in the twelfth century, following the cases of Crowner John, a knight who has been appointed as the first coroner of Devon by Richard the Lionheart. This was the first I’d read, and will be the last even though I have another in the TBR pile, because it was a Did Not Finish for me. Logged 3 September.
LibraryThing entry

78) Jacqueline Rayner — Doctor Who: The Stone Rose
Seventh of the tie-in novels to go with New Who, and the first featuring the Tenth Doctor. Logged 11 September.
LibraryThing entry

79) Pati Nagle – Pet Noir
Short fix-up novel about a genetically engineered cat whose creation is commissioned by the security chief of a large space station. The chief wants an undercover agent who’ll be overlooked by criminals who might be suspicious of humanoids. Reviewed for LibraryThing Early Reviewers on September 11.
LibraryThing entry