Author: whatmeread

Day 327: The Five Red Herrings

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Cover for Five Red HerringsAlthough I am normally a fan of Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey series, The Five Red Herrings is exactly the novel I’m talking about when I say that I don’t care for the Golden Age mysteries full of railway timetables. This type of novel boils down to a puzzle designed to confuse the reader with a lot of detail. I do like Lord Peter, but I like him better when I have to keep track of fewer things.

Lord Peter is visiting an artists’ colony in Scotland when a painter is found dead. He is Sandy Campbell, a talented artist but one who also has a talent for getting drunk and picking fights. He is found in a stream with his half-finished painting on the bank high above, and the reasonable explanation is that he accidentally fell to his death. However, Lord Peter immediately notices inconsistencies that make it impossible for Campbell to have painted the picture.

Whoever the murderer is, he or she must also have been a talented painter, for the picture is exactly in Campbell’s style. Six other artists in the area who had quarrels with Campbell have enough ability to be the killer. Some of them have convincing alibis, and the solution revolves around–yes–railway timetables.

As usual, Lord Peter is entertaining. His man Bunter is not as much in evidence as in other novels, which is a little disappointing, but Sayers capably depicts a group of colorful suspects.

Special Post! New Blog Feature!

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Visitors to my blog since Friday may have noticed a new blog feature! A couple of users asked me to provide a list of all the books I have reviewed. Since I have reviewed 320+ books since I started the blog a little over a year ago, I felt that one list would be too hard to read, so I have provided lists of books by genre.

To use these lists, click the List of Books heading at the top right of the page to see the menus of genres. Click on a genre to get the complete list of books reviewed under that genre. If you wish to keep the list of books, you can print that page using your browser print function.

Picture of new feature

If you want to find the review for one of the books on the list, click the name of that genre under Links to Popular Posts on the right pane of the page and keep scrolling down and clicking the Older Entries link until you find the post you want. For most of the books, I have provided in parentheses one or two other topics under which you can find the book. Keep in mind that the smaller the topic appears in the Links to Popular Posts, the smaller the number of books under that particular topic, and therefore, the easier it will be to find the post you want!

Day 326: Life After Life

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Cover for Life After LifeBest Book of the Week! Year!

From the descriptions of this book, I wasn’t sure I would like it even though I usually enjoy Kate Atkinson, a very playful writer. But what a great book–completely engrossing, oddly funny, and immensely satisfying.

Ursula Todd is born on a snowy night in 1910, but the umbilical cord is wrapped around her throat, so she dies. On the same night, Ursula is born again, but this time she lives. As she gets older, she faces various hazards, some of which she does not survive. Each time she is born again, on the same snowy night.

Through vignettes during the course of Ursula’s life, Atkinson skillfully and compellingly weaves the story of how small decisions in life can affect larger issues. We know a very large issue is coming up from the beginning, because in the first scene of the novel, Ursula assassinates Adolf Hitler and is killed in turn by his men.

Life After Life is a stunningly inventive novel about choice, fate, free will, and the nature of time, which Ursula explains to her psychiatrist (who believes in reincarnation) is not a circle but a palimpsest–a manuscript that has been overwritten but on which you can still see some of the writing.

I found this novel amazing, having never read anything quite like it. It is fascinating, funny, touching, and thought-provoking. I personally am going to miss Jackson Brodie, but Atkinson has launched herself far beyond him.

Day 325: Over Sea, Under Stone

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Cover for Over Sea, Under StoneOver Sea, Under Stone is a charming children’s story with an Arthurian theme. Simon, Jane, and Barney Drew are vacationing with their parents and great uncle Merriman Lyon in a fishing village in Cornwall. While exploring the attic of the old house they rented, the children discover an ancient map of the local coast line. Barney realizes that the map refers to King Arthur.

The children’s parents are befriended by a Mr. Withers and his sister Polly, who invite the entire family to go fishing on their yacht. Jane is reluctant to go, though, and while everyone else is out, discovers a guide book that is similar to the map. It soon becomes clear that the Withers and perhaps other parties are looking for the secret that the documents reveal.

After a robbery, in which the robbers only rummaged through books and documents, the children decide to confide in great uncle Merry. They all figure out that the map and guide book may hold the secret to the Holy Grail. The children and their uncle become forces of the Light, while the others are forces of the Dark.

Over Sea, Under Stone is an entertaining book that should appeal to older grade school and middle school children. As an adult, my only quibble with it is the coincidence that other people suddenly begin looking for the map in the house just after the children find it. However, that is something that most kids wouldn’t think of.

The novel is well written and packed with adventure. I believe it is the first book in a series called The Dark Is Rising.

Day 324: Trick of the Dark

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Cover for Trick of the DarkCharlie Flint is a profiler who is on probation because her testimony freed a man who went on to murder four women. She is asked by Corinna Newsam, her old tutor, to investigate the lesbian lover of the tutor’s daughter, Magda. Corinna Newsam thinks that this lover, Jay Stewart, may be a serial killer, because several people who were in her way conveniently died, including Magda Newsam’s husband on the night of their wedding.

Charlie finds herself attracted to a woman she meets in a seminar. (Spoilers follow in this paragraph and the next. I usually don’t include spoilers, but these are integral to my criticism.) This woman is clearly manipulating her from day one, and in the course of her investigation, Charlie violates the confidentiality of the people she is investigating by confiding in her. Of course, without this happening, there wouldn’t be a plot, but it is still the crux of my problem. I don’t think it would be likely that a person in her position would make the mistake of confiding information on a sensitive case to a new acquaintance, even if she is dating her.

It is the nature of this violation that bothers me most, as it is extremely unprofessional and I felt it unlikely from a profiler. Of course, the woman actually turns out to be connected to the murders, and this coincidence also bothered me.

Finally, I am reluctant to say this for fear it will be misconstrued, but at least five characters are fretting about their sexuality. These characters are lesbians, but I don’t enjoy this kind of emphasis in heterosexual literature either.

I am a big fan of the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan books, and I also like the Kate Brannigan series by McDermid. I know she has a Lindsay Gordon series, but I don’t think I have read any of those. McDermid has written some of the best stand-alone thrillers I have ever read, particularly A Place of Execution. I was disappointed not to enjoy this novel as much.

Day 323: Oliver Twist

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Cover for Oliver TwistOliver Twist was one of the first adult books I read as a child, although I believe that David Copperfield was the very first one. This book is, of course, Dickens’ famous indictment of the British treatment of and attitudes toward the poor, as followed through the adventures of Oliver Twist, an innocent and hapless young orphan.

Oliver is born in the workhouse after his mother dies in childbirth without identifying herself. He is named by the beadle and brought up at a baby farm, the intent of which seems to be to starve as many babies to death as possible. The story really begins when Oliver is 10 years old and is moved to the workhouse to begin an illustrious career picking oakum, which is unraveling and picking apart old ropes. There he is voted by the boys to be their representative in asking for another bowl of thin gruel at mealtime (or rather is the only one naive enough to agree to do it).

This act brands Oliver as a malcontent, and he is apprenticed out to a coffin maker with dispatch. His employer seems disposed to be kind, but he is bullied by a “charity boy,” Noah Claypole, as well as by the housemaid and the coffin maker’s wife. Finally, after being unjustly punished for standing up for himself, he runs away.

Oliver’s adventures lead him to London, where he innocently falls in with a gang of thieves lead by the infamous Fagin. Oliver’s struggles to make his way in life without becoming a criminal and the mystery of his identity are the focuses of the rest of the book.

Although this novel has a few amusing and lovable characters, it is fairly grim compared to some of Dickens’ later efforts. It is merciless in its satire of institutions such as the workhouse and the law courts. Oliver himself is more of a symbol for goodness than a fully developed character, yet we are touched by his plight.

It is a long time since I read this novel, and I found I had forgotten just how complex the plot is. Although I do not feel that it is as good as some of Dickens’ later works, as his first serious novel, it is compelling reading.

Day 322: A Feast for Crows

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Cover for A Feast for CrowsBest Book of the Week!
It’s been awhile since I reviewed a book in A Song of Ice and Fire, and at the rate I’m going, the next book will be out before I catch up!

At the beginning of this fourth novel in the series, the War of the Five Kings is almost over, and several of the contenders for the crown are dead. Stannis Baratheon is the only king who has responded to the cries for help from The Wall, where Jon Snow is now Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Stannis’ religious beliefs are causing problems at The Wall, however, particularly because he has brought along the witch Melisandre. Jon must send his friend Sam and Maester Aemon away from the wall to save the maester’s life, as his family is an enemy of the Baratheons.

Tyrion Lannister is accused of murdering his father Tywin and has fled the city. Cersei Lannister’s son Tommen is now king, with Cersei acting as Regent. This situation in King’s Landing is a dangerous one, because Cersei is clearly a psychopath. She has complete control over the city and has many megalomaniacal plans, including trying to bring down her son’s wife. However, she soon seems to be working toward her own defeat.

Brienne, having long ago promised Catelyn Stark to save her daughters in exchange for Jaime Lannister’s freedom, is still searching for Sansa Stark, who has been removed to the Eyrie for her safety by the creepy Petyr Baelish, also known as Littlefinger. Littlefinger has been pretending that Sansa is his daughter, but he soon murders his wife and plans to put Sansa in her place.

Cersei has sent her brother Jaime to the Riverlands to establish order. He seems to be getting disillusioned with Cersei, and is appalled she has made him break his promise to Catelyn, among others. After all, “Lannisters always pay their debts.”

Arya Stark has crossed the waters to Braavos, where she has found shelter in the House of Black and White, a temple of assassins. When Arya kills a man who bragged that he deserted the Night’s Watch and then confesses the murder to the Kindly Man, her mentor, he gives her a potion to drink and she wakes up blind.

Characters have died and Daenerys is not featured in this novel, but new characters are being brought to the fore. In Dorne, Arianne Martell, princess of Dorne, tries to force her father, Doran Martell, into war by attempting to have Myrcella Baratheon, his ward, crowned as queen of Westeros. This plot results in tragedy.

Without giving away too much, it is difficult to convey how exciting this series is. One of the most intriguing features is that you never know what is going to happen with a character. Martin has populated this series with a plethora of them—so many that you need the reference at the back of the book to keep track of the minor ones—but your favorite character in one book can be dead in the next, or maybe not. He is skillful at depicting characters who are convincingly human and keeps up the suspense masterfully.

Day 321: The Dark Horse

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Cover for The Dark HorseSheriff Walt Longmire goes undercover in this exciting entry to the series. Mary Marsad has been sent to the Absaroka County jail after confessing to shooting her husband, Wade, after he burned down the couple’s barn with Mary’s horses in it. Not only has Mary confessed, she was found with the murder weapon and has gunshot residue on her hands.

Even though the case is out of his jurisdiction, Walt feels that Mary may be innocent and has been asked to look into the case by the sheriff of the other county. Walt goes to the town of Absalom posing as an insurance agent to see if he can figure out what happened. He discovers that Absalom holds many secrets, including motives for other people to want Wade Marsad dead.

This novel takes place during two different time frames, while Walt is undercover and two weeks beforehand, showing the reasons why Walt thinks Mary is innocent and why he doesn’t take his friends with him.

As usual, the recurring characters from this series have their places in the story, and we are always pleased to encounter Walt’s best friend, Henry Standing Bear, and his foul-mouthed deputy Victoria Moretti, among others. Johnson is a capable writer who creates convincing characters and vividly evokes the rugged landscape of Wyoming.