The Fifth Elephant
A Guards story that I had completely forgotten about
B+, Books, Fiction, Humour, Rated, fantasy
B+, Books, Fiction, Humour, Rated, fantasy
15:00, January 26th 2010
Mockingbird
Intriguing science fiction from the author of The Hustler and The Color Of Money.
It’s a few hundred years in the future and a mankind coddled by robots and lulled into drugged sterility – both mental and physical is dwindling to it’s last generation until a man in Ohio learns to read..
Raising so many ideas about the nature of humanity and the burdens of artificial intelligence this is really a very good bit of science fiction.
A, Books, Fiction, Rated, Science Fiction
A, Books, Fiction, Rated, Science Fiction
22:35, January 21st 2010
Boneshaker
It’s got everything you’d ever want – a steampunk setting in Seattle, with zombies and airship pirates, oh and a kickass female protagonist who’s handy with a shotgun…
A, Alternative History, Books, Fiction, Rated, Science Fiction
A, Alternative History, Books, Fiction, Rated, Science Fiction
23:12, January 15th 2010
July, July by Tim O’Brien, rated B
B, Books, Fiction, Mainstream Fiction
B, Books, Fiction, Mainstream Fiction
22:22, January 12th 2010
heinlein’s last great book is dated badly by some bizarre sexual politics and heavy handed political theorizing
B+, Books, Fiction, Rated, Science Fiction
B+, Books, Fiction, Rated, Science Fiction
00:17, January 10th 2010
The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett
Rated A
A, Books, Fiction, Mainstream Fiction, Rated
A, Books, Fiction, Mainstream Fiction, Rated
22:48, January 8th 2010
The History Of Love
Leo Gursky is a Polish Jew who arrived in America after surviving the horrors of World War 2. A writer by nature he wrote a book about the only girl he ever loved – the girl who left for the USA before German onslaught could begin.
Alma Singer is nearly fifteen, a Jewish girl growing up in New York, her family traumatised by the loss of her father. She is named after every girl in a book called A History Of Love.
After Alma’s mother is asked to translate A History Of Love from the Spanish into English events begin intertwine and histories unravel as Krauss spins the story’s threads.
This a lovely, surprisingly moving, little book about the nature of love, human connection and the power of lies and self-deception to alter lives.
I’d definitely recommend it as a read if you’re not in a particularly cynical frame of mind.
A, Books, Fiction, Mainstream Fiction, Rated
A, Books, Fiction, Mainstream Fiction, Rated
22:23, January 6th 2010
Albums of 2009
1 The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
2 Alela Diane – To Be Still
3 Saint Jude’s Infirmary – This Has Been The Death Of Us
4 Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
5 Wilco – Wilco (the album)
6 The XX – XX
7 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
8 Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
9 Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
10 Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
The Rest
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
The Big Pink – A Brief History Of Love
Vic Chesnutt – At the Cut
De Rosa – Prevention
Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream
Florence + The Machine – Lungs [Expanded]
James Grant – Strange Flowers
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Charlotte Hatherley – New Worlds
The Horrors – Primary Colours
The Low Anthem – Oh My God – Charlie Darwin
Madness – The Liberty Of Norton Folgate
Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers
Malcolm Middleton – Waxing Gibbous
Monsters Of Folk – Monsters Of Folk
The Mountain Goats – The Life Of The World To Come
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Julian Plenti – Julian Plenti Is… Skyscraper
Dave Rawlings Machine – Friend Of A Friend
St. Vincent – Actor
Taken By Trees – East Of Eden
Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
James Yorkston & The Big Eyes Family Players – Folk Songs
Music, Year End Round-up
21:44, January 5th 2010