What I have been reading
Oct. 8th, 2017 03:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scripsiThe Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers. This is the book where Lord Peter Wimsey fully emerge as himself. The mystery is also wonderfully complex. General Fentiman dies at his club, and there are no reasons to think there is anything fishy about it. He is very old, and not particularly wealthy. But then it emerges that depending on the exact time of his demise, he might have died a very rich man. And there there is an autopsy…
This is also the book the charming Marjorie Phelps are introduced- the one Lord Peter wouldn’t have minded marry if only friendship had been enough. Though this isn’t my favourite sayers, it’s definitely one of the better ones.
The Abandoned Orphanage by John Carter. Not too bad opening about an old orphanage where people sometimes disappear forever. Now, i don’t mind fantastic stories, but what is important to me is logic behaviour. And this book feel completely after the following; For plot reasons it is important that a boy around 12 is left alone one night. I find it pretty hard to believe that parents, who have been depicted as caring, would leave a child that young alone, but ok, that might happen. But, this family is still reeling from the disappearance of the boy's younger sister. And there is no way on earth I can accept caring parents would leave their remaining child alone at home under those circumstances. Would. Not Happen. And then you can have as many beautiful plot points you want to realise and it will still not work.
Penric’s Fox by Lois McMaster Bujold. It is no secret Buold is one of my favourite authors, and apart from her fantasy romance series I have loved everything she has written. (The romance series is probably fine- I just don’t care much for romance as a genre). Penric’s Fox is part of a series of novellas set in her fantasy world of The Five Gods. Penric is a young man who accidently acquire a demon, which makes him into a sorcerer. And as the demon’s personality is made up of parts of all the previous human it has shared body with, the demon is a very feminine one. Penric names it Desdemona, and sometimes complains it is like sharing a body with several sisters.
This novella is chronologically speaking the third one, taking place after Penric and the Shaman and before Penric's Mission. In this story a sorceress is found murdered and Penric becomes part of the investigation. There is of course the question of who murdered her, but he also needs to find the demon, or rather, they need to find the living creature the demon must have possessed. It’s not my favourite Penric-story, but as all of them are good, this was very enjoyable to read anyway.
Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw. Doctor Greta Helsing specialise in the medical care of supernatural beings. It’s not a very exciting life anyway, but when a mysterious sect starts to kill of supernatural beings in London, Greta finds herself in the forefront of the fight. In a way it’s a story I’ve read before, a world pretty much our own, but with supernatural beings; many of them having familiar names like the vampires Lord Ruthwen and Varney. But Shaw’s writing is engaging and Greta is a good heroine; intelligent and capable. This is the first in a series, and I look forward to the next book!
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. This is another re-read. A middle-age woman is befriended by an old one at a nursing home, and over the course of several visits is told the story of the Threadgoode family in a small town in the American south. You’ve probably seen the movie with Kathy Bates. I love the movie, but the book is better.
This is also the book the charming Marjorie Phelps are introduced- the one Lord Peter wouldn’t have minded marry if only friendship had been enough. Though this isn’t my favourite sayers, it’s definitely one of the better ones.
The Abandoned Orphanage by John Carter. Not too bad opening about an old orphanage where people sometimes disappear forever. Now, i don’t mind fantastic stories, but what is important to me is logic behaviour. And this book feel completely after the following; For plot reasons it is important that a boy around 12 is left alone one night. I find it pretty hard to believe that parents, who have been depicted as caring, would leave a child that young alone, but ok, that might happen. But, this family is still reeling from the disappearance of the boy's younger sister. And there is no way on earth I can accept caring parents would leave their remaining child alone at home under those circumstances. Would. Not Happen. And then you can have as many beautiful plot points you want to realise and it will still not work.
Penric’s Fox by Lois McMaster Bujold. It is no secret Buold is one of my favourite authors, and apart from her fantasy romance series I have loved everything she has written. (The romance series is probably fine- I just don’t care much for romance as a genre). Penric’s Fox is part of a series of novellas set in her fantasy world of The Five Gods. Penric is a young man who accidently acquire a demon, which makes him into a sorcerer. And as the demon’s personality is made up of parts of all the previous human it has shared body with, the demon is a very feminine one. Penric names it Desdemona, and sometimes complains it is like sharing a body with several sisters.
This novella is chronologically speaking the third one, taking place after Penric and the Shaman and before Penric's Mission. In this story a sorceress is found murdered and Penric becomes part of the investigation. There is of course the question of who murdered her, but he also needs to find the demon, or rather, they need to find the living creature the demon must have possessed. It’s not my favourite Penric-story, but as all of them are good, this was very enjoyable to read anyway.
Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw. Doctor Greta Helsing specialise in the medical care of supernatural beings. It’s not a very exciting life anyway, but when a mysterious sect starts to kill of supernatural beings in London, Greta finds herself in the forefront of the fight. In a way it’s a story I’ve read before, a world pretty much our own, but with supernatural beings; many of them having familiar names like the vampires Lord Ruthwen and Varney. But Shaw’s writing is engaging and Greta is a good heroine; intelligent and capable. This is the first in a series, and I look forward to the next book!
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. This is another re-read. A middle-age woman is befriended by an old one at a nursing home, and over the course of several visits is told the story of the Threadgoode family in a small town in the American south. You’ve probably seen the movie with Kathy Bates. I love the movie, but the book is better.
