zed 's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 21 Jun 2025 19:37:07 -0700 60 zed 's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The French Lieutenant's Woman 63934936 John Fowles 1529191564 zed 5 john-fowles
Fowles in only a recent discovery, 2025, in terms of his writing. I did see the film of the same name and on a visit to the UK decades back stayed a night in Lyme, not necessarily to go to the famous Cobb but while there why not try and imagine poor Tragedy standing there at the end of it on a rainy windswept day with the waves crashing over the Cobb. It was well and truly a blustery day when I was there, and I was not risking being swept into the water.

Once finished this audio read, I did realise that my recall of the film was that it was parallel stories of the past and the present, and the book was no such animal. All hail the film adaption and all hail this magnificent book. After finishing The Collector and The Magus I was interested in the style of writing that Fowles delivers and was informed that it was Metafiction where the narrator frequently interrupts the narrative to comment on characters, the plot, and the convention of the time. All hail metafiction if it can hit these heights and challenge me the reader to consider the events that the narrator shapes. In the case of The French Lieutenant's Woman, it was Fowles continuing theme of English class structures of the times. Also built-in to the narration was the support of feminism during the Victorian age.

Anyway, there are plenty of reviews now to delve into for this magnificent novel, told in this case, via the audio narration of Jeremy Irons. If anyone’s heading to an audio version, I’d recommend his reading. He has a truly sublime voice.

As to Fowles, what a writer!]]> 3.78 1969 The French Lieutenant's Woman
author: John Fowles
name: zed
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1969
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/22
date added: 2025/06/21
shelves: john-fowles
review:
And that is three out of three for me as far as Fowles goes. How does is it, that the occasional author hits a reading spot that devours me? As with The Collector and The Magus, Fowles writes and structures his novels in such a way that I am drawn into the world he creates.

Fowles in only a recent discovery, 2025, in terms of his writing. I did see the film of the same name and on a visit to the UK decades back stayed a night in Lyme, not necessarily to go to the famous Cobb but while there why not try and imagine poor Tragedy standing there at the end of it on a rainy windswept day with the waves crashing over the Cobb. It was well and truly a blustery day when I was there, and I was not risking being swept into the water.

Once finished this audio read, I did realise that my recall of the film was that it was parallel stories of the past and the present, and the book was no such animal. All hail the film adaption and all hail this magnificent book. After finishing The Collector and The Magus I was interested in the style of writing that Fowles delivers and was informed that it was Metafiction where the narrator frequently interrupts the narrative to comment on characters, the plot, and the convention of the time. All hail metafiction if it can hit these heights and challenge me the reader to consider the events that the narrator shapes. In the case of The French Lieutenant's Woman, it was Fowles continuing theme of English class structures of the times. Also built-in to the narration was the support of feminism during the Victorian age.

Anyway, there are plenty of reviews now to delve into for this magnificent novel, told in this case, via the audio narration of Jeremy Irons. If anyone’s heading to an audio version, I’d recommend his reading. He has a truly sublime voice.

As to Fowles, what a writer!
]]> Truth 9334623
Villani’s life is his work. It is his identity, his calling, his touchstone. But now, over a few sweltering summer days, as fires burn across the state and his superiors and colleagues scheme and jostle, he finds all the certainties of his life are crumbling.

Truth is a novel about a man, a family, a city. It is about violence, murder, love, corruption, honour and deceit. And it is about truth.]]> 387 Peter Temple 192165662X zed 5 australia, miles-franklin
I have not enjoyed it as much as I thought I would. Enjoyed? What is to enjoy about brutal crime books, anyway? Are they much different than reading macro and micro history books, where we read about mankind’s inhumanity to his mankind?
Truth starts with a murdered dead girl in a luxury apartment block. Then there are some gangland murders that are drug related. Main character Inspector Steve Villani is head of homicide and all is told via third-person narrative with very dominant dialogue delivery throughout. As with just about all crime "entertainment", they find out "who dunnit" in the end.

The issue I had with this one was that I got very lost in the dialogue and the backstory, as they seemed to blend into each other with too much regularity. This should be part of the challenge when reading, but for whatever reason the backstories just interfered. In what was a complex challenge for the police investigators, Villani dealt with his marriage being a disaster, his youngest daughter being a drug addict, his father being caught up in bush fires, his brother being a crap medico, and add that to the complex subplots it all became a bit too convoluted.

At the end, I wondered as to it winning the Miles Franklin in 2010. I checked the short-listed novels of that year and had only read one, the outstanding The Book of Emmett by Deborah Foster,
/review/show...

I do have 3 others unread on the list, and it will eventually be interesting how all these stack up in terms of what they mean to me.

I also wonder if I do need to eventually reread Truth, to try to get an understanding of the grim and grittiness of the police in homicide who are unable to function at a humane level when having a conversation with just about anyone let alone their own colleagues, that the corrupt in high places and the ultrarich have nothing in their lives other than wealth and power so consequently the small items to them such as a holiday on the Gold Coast is a pleasure to the masses but a bore to them? Maybe the Truth of this book is not my kind of Truth.

It has had me thinking, so I suppose that maybe no bad thing?

Anyway a ham fisted review about a story that confused me and with that I can't rate this via the star system used on 카지노싸이트 so just for the sake of it I have given it 5.]]> 3.84 2009 Truth
author: Peter Temple
name: zed
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2025/06/22
date added: 2025/06/21
shelves: australia, miles-franklin
review:
I have never been a reader of the crime novel and for that matter nor a watcher of film and television crime. My wife watches a fair bit of Nordic noir, and it always seems engaging enough, but I tended to lose interest rapidly. But I did read a Jack Irish novel one day, and it was OK, very Aussie in delivery and I enjoyed that. So, let’s have a go at The Broken Shore by Peter Temple and then head into his Truth as that had won the Miles Franklin in 2010. The Broken Shore was actually a surprise, I enjoyed it more than it being just a good read, such were its thematic qualities. With that, I got on with Truth quickly.

I have not enjoyed it as much as I thought I would. Enjoyed? What is to enjoy about brutal crime books, anyway? Are they much different than reading macro and micro history books, where we read about mankind’s inhumanity to his mankind?
Truth starts with a murdered dead girl in a luxury apartment block. Then there are some gangland murders that are drug related. Main character Inspector Steve Villani is head of homicide and all is told via third-person narrative with very dominant dialogue delivery throughout. As with just about all crime "entertainment", they find out "who dunnit" in the end.

The issue I had with this one was that I got very lost in the dialogue and the backstory, as they seemed to blend into each other with too much regularity. This should be part of the challenge when reading, but for whatever reason the backstories just interfered. In what was a complex challenge for the police investigators, Villani dealt with his marriage being a disaster, his youngest daughter being a drug addict, his father being caught up in bush fires, his brother being a crap medico, and add that to the complex subplots it all became a bit too convoluted.

At the end, I wondered as to it winning the Miles Franklin in 2010. I checked the short-listed novels of that year and had only read one, the outstanding The Book of Emmett by Deborah Foster,
/review/show...

I do have 3 others unread on the list, and it will eventually be interesting how all these stack up in terms of what they mean to me.

I also wonder if I do need to eventually reread Truth, to try to get an understanding of the grim and grittiness of the police in homicide who are unable to function at a humane level when having a conversation with just about anyone let alone their own colleagues, that the corrupt in high places and the ultrarich have nothing in their lives other than wealth and power so consequently the small items to them such as a holiday on the Gold Coast is a pleasure to the masses but a bore to them? Maybe the Truth of this book is not my kind of Truth.

It has had me thinking, so I suppose that maybe no bad thing?

Anyway a ham fisted review about a story that confused me and with that I can't rate this via the star system used on 카지노싸이트 so just for the sake of it I have given it 5.
]]> <![CDATA[Chile: Travels in a Thin Country]]> 1625472 Sara Wheeler 0349120013 zed 4 travel, americas
Ouch! But I wonder why the reviewer has mixed up his Patrick Leigh Fermor books with the rather less well known Sara Wheeler. To be fair to Sara she is no Patrick Leigh Fermor in the ‘self indulgent, smarty pants show-off using many complex and very rare words’ but if the review thought she was, he read a different version of Chile Travels in a Thin Country than me. Be that as it may I have found this one an entertaining read even if it did have/lack those smarty pant big words and that, for me, Sara was more journo than traveller.

Sara was talked into travel to Chile by an expat Chilean in London. Her intention was to travel the long thin country from north to the Antarctic south in as much time as her visa allowed. Other than a first chapter that explains her tour of a Santiago brothel that happened because some other researcher needed a wing women, her travels are told as near as possible from a north to south perspective.
From the dusty north around Araca and the Atacama Desert to Tierra del Furgo Sara and even to the Antarctica she travelled with both friends found, known and solo to see as much of Chile as she could. What to this reader were very useful descriptions of both the people and the places are presented. The local people she met she was not scared to mix with, be they the ultra-wealthy through to those in abject poverty. She had very useful contacts in this regard.

As to the countryside, she was more than willing to go off the beaten track. The two things that stood out for me were her love of the diversity and beauty of those dusty and dry deserts of the north through to the wondrous lands of the south and their alpine vista’s, glistening lakes and smoking volcanos.

Sara offers her travels in Chile, as she says in the introduction of my revised 2nd edition from 2006, as those of a young woman 30 odd years back. She actually spent her 30th Birthday while in Chile. In the introduction, she tells of how much Chile had changed between her visits. The same would ring true today, one would have thought.

Recommended travel writing.]]> 3.35 Chile: Travels in a Thin Country
author: Sara Wheeler
name: zed
average rating: 3.35
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/20
date added: 2025/06/21
shelves: travel, americas
review:
“This review applies to Travels in a Thin Country, The Broken Road, A Time of Gifts, Roumeli and a few others by the same author. I am very keen on travel writing and on this basis bought the books, supposedly by one of the great travel writers. Overall they present as being written by a self indulgent, smarty pants show-off using many complex and very rare words when simple words would work better ( and I am very interested in words). Avoid.” says an Amazon review from someone in Australia.

Ouch! But I wonder why the reviewer has mixed up his Patrick Leigh Fermor books with the rather less well known Sara Wheeler. To be fair to Sara she is no Patrick Leigh Fermor in the ‘self indulgent, smarty pants show-off using many complex and very rare words’ but if the review thought she was, he read a different version of Chile Travels in a Thin Country than me. Be that as it may I have found this one an entertaining read even if it did have/lack those smarty pant big words and that, for me, Sara was more journo than traveller.

Sara was talked into travel to Chile by an expat Chilean in London. Her intention was to travel the long thin country from north to the Antarctic south in as much time as her visa allowed. Other than a first chapter that explains her tour of a Santiago brothel that happened because some other researcher needed a wing women, her travels are told as near as possible from a north to south perspective.
From the dusty north around Araca and the Atacama Desert to Tierra del Furgo Sara and even to the Antarctica she travelled with both friends found, known and solo to see as much of Chile as she could. What to this reader were very useful descriptions of both the people and the places are presented. The local people she met she was not scared to mix with, be they the ultra-wealthy through to those in abject poverty. She had very useful contacts in this regard.

As to the countryside, she was more than willing to go off the beaten track. The two things that stood out for me were her love of the diversity and beauty of those dusty and dry deserts of the north through to the wondrous lands of the south and their alpine vista’s, glistening lakes and smoking volcanos.

Sara offers her travels in Chile, as she says in the introduction of my revised 2nd edition from 2006, as those of a young woman 30 odd years back. She actually spent her 30th Birthday while in Chile. In the introduction, she tells of how much Chile had changed between her visits. The same would ring true today, one would have thought.

Recommended travel writing.
]]> Metamorphoses 1715
In Metamophoses, Ovid brings together a dazzling array of mythological tales, ingeniously linked by the idea of transformation—often as a result of love or lust—where men and women find themselves magically changed into new and sometimes extraordinary beings. Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, Ovid interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of ancient Greece and Rome, including Daedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Pygmalion, Perseus and Andromeda, and the fall of Troy. Erudite but light-hearted, dramatic and yet playful, Metamorphoses has influenced writers and artists throughout the centuries from Shakespeare and Titian to Picasso and Ted Hughes.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]> 723 Ovid 014044789X zed 0 to-read 4.09 8 Metamorphoses
author: Ovid
name: zed
average rating: 4.09
book published: 8
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Golden Bowl 259020 Henry James explores his favorite themes in this novel — money, class, desire, and the collision of European and American cultures.

Excerpt:
He handled it with tenderness, with ceremony, making a place for it on a small satin mat. "My Golden Bowl," he observed--and it sounded on his lips as if it said everything. He left the important object--for as "important" it did somehow present itself--to produce its certain effect. Simple but singularly elegant, it stood on a circular foot, a short pedestal with a slightly spreading base, and, though not of signal depth, justified its title by the charm of its shape as well as by the tone of its surface. It might have been a large goblet diminished, to the enhancement of its happy curve, by half its original height.]]> 591 Henry James 0140432353 zed 0 to-read 3.79 1904 The Golden Bowl
author: Henry James
name: zed
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1904
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Vagrants 6682725
Morning dawns on the provincial city of Muddy River. A young woman, Gu Shan, a bold spirit and a follower of Chairman Mao, has renounced her faith in Communism. Now a political prisoner, she is to be executed for her dissent. Her distraught mother, determined to follow the custom of burning her only child’s clothing to ease her journey into the next world, is about to make another bold decision. Shan’s father, Teacher Gu, who has already, in his heart and mind, buried his rebellious daughter, begins to retreat into memories. Neither of them imagines that their daughter’s death will have profound and far-reaching effects, in Muddy River and beyond.

In luminous prose, Yiyun Li weaves together the lives of these and other unforgettable characters, including a serious seven-year-old boy, Tong; a
crippled girl named Nini; the sinister idler Bashi; and Kai, a beautiful radio news announcer who is married to a man from a powerful family. Life in a world of oppression and pain is portrayed through stories of resilience, sacrifice, perversion, courage, and belief. We read of delicate moments and acts of violence by mothers, sons, husbands, neighbors, wives, lovers, and more, as Gu Shan’s execution spurs a brutal government reaction.

Writing with profound emotion, and in the superb tradition of fiction by such writers as Orhan Pamuk and J. M. Coetzee, Yiyun Li gives us a stunning novel that is at once a picture of life in a special part of the world during a historic period, a universal portrait of human frailty and courage, and a mesmerizing work of art.]]> 349 Yiyun Li 0812973348 zed 0 to-read, china 3.79 2009 The Vagrants
author: Yiyun Li
name: zed
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/19
shelves: to-read, china
review:

]]> Such a Long Journey 1019238 Such a Long Journey, I wanted to go right out and buy a plane ticket and see India for myself. ]]> 339 Rohinton Mistry 0571165257 zed 0 4.02 1991 Such a Long Journey
author: Rohinton Mistry
name: zed
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/19
shelves: to-read, india, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> The Broken Shore 7622368 345 Peter Temple 1921520957 zed 4 australia
Detective Joe Cashin gets involved in the investigation of the murder of a wealthy local figure in a town on the southern Victorian coast. The tale told is tragic, not just a criminal murder but an exposé of small-town racism, big city protection of the appalling and with that descent into mental illness and revenge for those lives affected by the abuse of innocent youth.

There is no joy in this tale. Its gritty realism and unflinching cynicism may unsettle some readers, and also the uncomfortable truths as to human nature.]]> 3.66 2005 The Broken Shore
author: Peter Temple
name: zed
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/13
date added: 2025/06/13
shelves: australia
review:
Crime as a genre is not something I have enjoyed in the past, but this novel has surprised me.

Detective Joe Cashin gets involved in the investigation of the murder of a wealthy local figure in a town on the southern Victorian coast. The tale told is tragic, not just a criminal murder but an exposé of small-town racism, big city protection of the appalling and with that descent into mental illness and revenge for those lives affected by the abuse of innocent youth.

There is no joy in this tale. Its gritty realism and unflinching cynicism may unsettle some readers, and also the uncomfortable truths as to human nature.
]]> Green mountains 75181050 Vintage paperback 204 Bernard O'Reilly zed 4 australia, travel




We don't need an excuse to visit this beautiful part of the world, so we tend to drive our visitors to Green Mountain.

One of the more well-known events at Green Mountain was the 1937 crash of the Stinson, which was made into a film called The Riddle of the Stinson.



The first part of this book tells Bernard O'Reilly's search for the crash. I found this well told, with a very humble attitude towards what was a supreme effort to find and assist with the rescue of the survivors.

The second part tells the story of his family, from their roots in the Blue Mountains in NSW to their slow move to Green Mountains in the early part of the last century. For anyone who has visited Green Mountains, Lamington National Park in general, and O'Reilly's, this is a more than pleasant and gentle read. From the tough early living to the realisation that farming itself was not going to maintain their piece of paradise alone, the beginnings of the guesthouse emerged. Bernard's love of the flora and fauna shines through, and his support for the creation of the national park is a credit to him and his family. This book was first published in 1940 and has been in print since then. It has to be a bestseller, as on my visits to the gift shop, visitors always seemed to be grabbing a copy. The gift shop is placed in such a way that one has little choice but to pass through after a cuppa or a feed in the Mountain Café.

Bernard wrote this in the late 1930s, and some of his comments on the flora and fauna are outdated due to later research. Nonetheless, I found his outstanding knowledge and joy in the writing a delight. It had me looking up various species of plant and wildlife to enhance my limited knowledge a bit further. What did get my attention, though, was his use of the word 'jungle'. I know of no Australians, or even New Zealanders, that use the word in any relation to Australia or New Zealand when it comes to the tropical rainforests of Australia or the temperate ones in New Zealand. It is either called a rainforest or the bush. Maybe Bernard was thinking of overseas visitors when he wrote this? If so, very prescient.

The Lamington National Park area in general is an easy, though mountainous, drive and is in easy reach from both Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Instead of visitors burning themselves to a crisp on the beaches of the concrete 'jungle' that is nowadays the coast, they are far better served by visiting unique rainforest with amazing views, waterfalls, flora and fauna. Add a visit to Green Mountain, even a stay for a couple of nights at least, and take this lovely little read along.

Why has this sat in my TBR for too long? A gem of a read.]]> 4.00 1940 Green mountains
author: Bernard O'Reilly
name: zed
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1940
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/09
date added: 2025/06/10
shelves: australia, travel
review:
When we have visitors, one of the tourist attractions I suggest is O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat, Green Mountain, Lamington National Park, Qld.





We don't need an excuse to visit this beautiful part of the world, so we tend to drive our visitors to Green Mountain.

One of the more well-known events at Green Mountain was the 1937 crash of the Stinson, which was made into a film called The Riddle of the Stinson.



The first part of this book tells Bernard O'Reilly's search for the crash. I found this well told, with a very humble attitude towards what was a supreme effort to find and assist with the rescue of the survivors.

The second part tells the story of his family, from their roots in the Blue Mountains in NSW to their slow move to Green Mountains in the early part of the last century. For anyone who has visited Green Mountains, Lamington National Park in general, and O'Reilly's, this is a more than pleasant and gentle read. From the tough early living to the realisation that farming itself was not going to maintain their piece of paradise alone, the beginnings of the guesthouse emerged. Bernard's love of the flora and fauna shines through, and his support for the creation of the national park is a credit to him and his family. This book was first published in 1940 and has been in print since then. It has to be a bestseller, as on my visits to the gift shop, visitors always seemed to be grabbing a copy. The gift shop is placed in such a way that one has little choice but to pass through after a cuppa or a feed in the Mountain Café.

Bernard wrote this in the late 1930s, and some of his comments on the flora and fauna are outdated due to later research. Nonetheless, I found his outstanding knowledge and joy in the writing a delight. It had me looking up various species of plant and wildlife to enhance my limited knowledge a bit further. What did get my attention, though, was his use of the word 'jungle'. I know of no Australians, or even New Zealanders, that use the word in any relation to Australia or New Zealand when it comes to the tropical rainforests of Australia or the temperate ones in New Zealand. It is either called a rainforest or the bush. Maybe Bernard was thinking of overseas visitors when he wrote this? If so, very prescient.

The Lamington National Park area in general is an easy, though mountainous, drive and is in easy reach from both Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Instead of visitors burning themselves to a crisp on the beaches of the concrete 'jungle' that is nowadays the coast, they are far better served by visiting unique rainforest with amazing views, waterfalls, flora and fauna. Add a visit to Green Mountain, even a stay for a couple of nights at least, and take this lovely little read along.

Why has this sat in my TBR for too long? A gem of a read.
]]> Everything I Knew 5715295
The world is changing fast, although the news has yet to reach the small South Australian town of Penola. There Robbie leads and idyllic life of rabbiting, backyard science experiments, and hooligan scrapes with his friend Billy. Penola is oblivious even to its minor celebrity as the birthplace of the poet John Shaw Neilson, but poetry means the world to Robbie's new teacher from the city, the stylish Miss Peach, a sixties sophisticate with stirrup pants, Kool cigarettes and Vespa scooter.

Miss Peach's artistic yearnings and modern ways prove too much for the good people of Penola, but they fire Robbie's precocious imagination and burgeoning sexuality, until what begins as a schoolboy fantasy has terrible, real consequences.

Everything I Knew challenges our determination to believe in the innocence of childhood and adolescence. Yet again it shows Peter Goldsworthy to be a master of shifting tone, from the comic to the tragic, and 'one of the few Australian writers to command superb technique' (Sydney Morning Herald)]]> 297 Peter Goldsworthy 0241015332 zed 4 australia
Set in 1964, Robbie Burns lives the typical life of a 14-year-old in Penola, a small country town, where cultural opportunities are limited. Everyone knows everyone, and the highlight of the week is Saturday footy. Not much else happens. A certain Miss Pamela Peach arrives as a teacher at the local school—a sophisticated city woman whose artistic ways and modernism captivates Robbie. He has a vivid sci-fi imagination, and his new teacher encourages him. Soon, Robbie becomes obsessed with her, and his youthful fantasies lead to unintended and terrible consequences.

Towns such as Penola in 1964 were traditionally rural and isolated, it was then, suddenly forced to grapple with an outsider whose ideas were decidedly modernist. And that begs the question—why would a young, progressive teacher, with a changing big-city world at her feet, move to an isolated town uncertain about embracing change?

This novel explores these themes along with early teenage innocence and desire. Told through Robbie’s first-person narrative, the novel challenges the reader to read between the lines to understand Pamela Peach’s motivations. To reveal the tragic consequences of events would be too much of a spoiler. This reviewer entered the book with no prior knowledge of the story and was glad to experience it without expectations.

Author Peter Goldsworthy shifts seamlessly between humour and tragedy, making this a compelling read. And while there are moments when Robbie’s narration feels slightly awkward, it’s hard not to be challenged by the novel’s exploration of coming-of-age innocence in this unsettling, small-town Australian story.]]> 3.55 2008 Everything I Knew
author: Peter Goldsworthy
name: zed
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/01
date added: 2025/06/10
shelves: australia
review:
Penola is in Coonawarra country, home to terra rossa soil—soil that has produced some of the finest Cabernet Sauvignons this reviewer has ever tasted.

Set in 1964, Robbie Burns lives the typical life of a 14-year-old in Penola, a small country town, where cultural opportunities are limited. Everyone knows everyone, and the highlight of the week is Saturday footy. Not much else happens. A certain Miss Pamela Peach arrives as a teacher at the local school—a sophisticated city woman whose artistic ways and modernism captivates Robbie. He has a vivid sci-fi imagination, and his new teacher encourages him. Soon, Robbie becomes obsessed with her, and his youthful fantasies lead to unintended and terrible consequences.

Towns such as Penola in 1964 were traditionally rural and isolated, it was then, suddenly forced to grapple with an outsider whose ideas were decidedly modernist. And that begs the question—why would a young, progressive teacher, with a changing big-city world at her feet, move to an isolated town uncertain about embracing change?

This novel explores these themes along with early teenage innocence and desire. Told through Robbie’s first-person narrative, the novel challenges the reader to read between the lines to understand Pamela Peach’s motivations. To reveal the tragic consequences of events would be too much of a spoiler. This reviewer entered the book with no prior knowledge of the story and was glad to experience it without expectations.

Author Peter Goldsworthy shifts seamlessly between humour and tragedy, making this a compelling read. And while there are moments when Robbie’s narration feels slightly awkward, it’s hard not to be challenged by the novel’s exploration of coming-of-age innocence in this unsettling, small-town Australian story.
]]> <![CDATA[Vanishing Cornwall: The Spirit and History of Cornwall]]> 1215115
Miss du Maurier has made Cornwall her home for most of her life and has shown her love and knowledge of all things Cornish in some of her greatest successes, Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, Jamaica Inn and many of her other much-loved books.

In this book she and her son Christian Browning, the photographer, chronicle aspects of that legendary peninsula which may not be with us very much longer]]> 210 Daphne du Maurier 0140034005 zed 4 england, history, travel
For those who enjoy Cornwall’s past, this is a nice read. May I get back there one day.]]> 3.83 1967 Vanishing Cornwall: The Spirit and History of Cornwall
author: Daphne du Maurier
name: zed
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1967
rating: 4
read at: 2025/06/05
date added: 2025/06/10
shelves: england, history, travel
review:
Daphne du Maurier’s 1967 homage to Cornwall. Blending historical anecdotes, literary reflections, and landscape descriptors, she described its people, its legends and myths and its fast-fading industries. In fact, a fading world is stark in her writing.

For those who enjoy Cornwall’s past, this is a nice read. May I get back there one day.
]]> First Name Second Name 220815054 272 Steve MinOn 0702268801 zed 3 australia
The main protagonist is Stephen Bolin, a gay Chinese-Australian man who, after his death, becomes a jiāngshī, reanimated corpse compelled to journey back to his birthplace. I had no idea what a jiāngshī was before reading this, but here’s what Wikipedia has to say:


As a jiāngshī, Stephen wanders from Brisbane to Innisfail, a 1,600-kilometre journey, back to the place where he was born. Interwoven with his journey is the story of his migrant ancestors of both Chinese and Scottish descent, Stephen’s story, as well as his relationship with his present-day family. The idea is that his a jiāngshī journey mirrors the ancestral legacy of identity and place, connecting the family’s past with its present. Conceptually, this is a strong and intriguing premise that actually held my interest, but the jiāngshī element felt very underdeveloped and out of place, not so much the idea of a dead body wandering all that distance, but rather details like the body falling apart or Stephen draining the life force (Qi) from a few individuals along the way.

On a personal level, I would have enjoyed this much more if the fantasy element had been woven in more subtly.

The author mentions in the acknowledgments that he drew heavily from family history, which was compelling enough for me as I found the depiction of a Chinese family navigating overt racism, an issue that can still rear its ugly head in Queensland to this day, particularly engaging. The final, non-fantasy chapter about a family reunion, for instance, was a terrific read. The author’s writing was especially strong at this point, and I would have been satisfied if the novel had ended there.


A minor comment: when I was a kid, we called them Ice Blocks. Who knew they were called “By Jingos” in North Queensland? Not me! I asked my wife, who was born in Central Queensland, and she recalled hearing the northern girls use this term at boarding school.]]> 3.93 First Name Second Name
author: Steve MinOn
name: zed
average rating: 3.93
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/06/07
date added: 2025/06/09
shelves: australia
review:
I read through this interesting novel quite quickly, it's an easy read, but I’m not sure the fantasy element worked for me as I had hoped.

The main protagonist is Stephen Bolin, a gay Chinese-Australian man who, after his death, becomes a jiāngshī, reanimated corpse compelled to journey back to his birthplace. I had no idea what a jiāngshī was before reading this, but here’s what Wikipedia has to say:


As a jiāngshī, Stephen wanders from Brisbane to Innisfail, a 1,600-kilometre journey, back to the place where he was born. Interwoven with his journey is the story of his migrant ancestors of both Chinese and Scottish descent, Stephen’s story, as well as his relationship with his present-day family. The idea is that his a jiāngshī journey mirrors the ancestral legacy of identity and place, connecting the family’s past with its present. Conceptually, this is a strong and intriguing premise that actually held my interest, but the jiāngshī element felt very underdeveloped and out of place, not so much the idea of a dead body wandering all that distance, but rather details like the body falling apart or Stephen draining the life force (Qi) from a few individuals along the way.

On a personal level, I would have enjoyed this much more if the fantasy element had been woven in more subtly.

The author mentions in the acknowledgments that he drew heavily from family history, which was compelling enough for me as I found the depiction of a Chinese family navigating overt racism, an issue that can still rear its ugly head in Queensland to this day, particularly engaging. The final, non-fantasy chapter about a family reunion, for instance, was a terrific read. The author’s writing was especially strong at this point, and I would have been satisfied if the novel had ended there.


A minor comment: when I was a kid, we called them Ice Blocks. Who knew they were called “By Jingos” in North Queensland? Not me! I asked my wife, who was born in Central Queensland, and she recalled hearing the northern girls use this term at boarding school.
]]> Orpheus Nine 232029439 An unputdownable supernatural thriller about a mysterious global event that causes the simultaneous death of every nine-year-old in the world, set in an Australian rural town.

'It began in every town and city at the same time, in every dark and twisted corner of our world. One third of the earth's citizens were asleep at the time. Their awakening was marked by horror and confusion. Just about everyone else had their routine interrupted as they witnessed the event with eyes wide open. They prayed it was a dream.'

In the small, sleepy town of Gattan, population 7448, it happened at eleven o'clock on a Saturday morning. At the local soccer field, only one boy, aged ten years and one week, remained standing as the brothers, sisters and parents of his teammates realised the horror they were witnessing. Their screams split the sky.

One hundred and thirty million children died that first day.

Every day since, on the morning of their ninth birthday, more children die. No one knows why. The ongoing horror becomes known as Orpheus Nine and bereft parents cruelly labelled Orpheans. Global leaders have no answers as riots and chaos take hold. Supply chains are broken, violence and conspiracy theories spread as scientists wrestle with the ongoing death toll and militant Orpheans try to take matters into their own hands.

In Gattan, the chasm between life before and after grows wider between three old friends, now parents. They will wrestle with waves of grief at one child's loss, guilt at one child's survival and anger as another child edges closer to their birthday. In different ways these three friends will fight the unfathomable and attempt to defy this new reality. No matter the cost. But the truth is, the clock keeps ticking, the world order is crumbling and the gods are watching ...

From the bestselling author of Mammoth comes a propulsive and spine-chilling thriller that prompts the is this the end of days or the start of something new? ]]> 292 Chris Flynn 0733652271 zed 2 australia, sci-fi
Unfortunately, the novel fell short of the review’s promises. The middle third was dull, clichéd, and hardly what I’d call "fast-paced." Even the supposedly thrilling sections lacked momentum. As for the suspense, the final major event was telegraphed far too early to be truly gripping.
The novel’s exploration of human behaviour in crisis was similarly predictable, some characters resorted to quasi-religious conspiracy, attempting to burn the world down in rebellion, while others sought power, exploiting the chaos for their own advantage. This is nothing new.

And as for “unsettling” being “a great deal of fun”, if every nine-year-old on the planet suddenly died an agonising death while reciting King Lear, I doubt anyone would find much entertainment in the aftermath.

I don't mind the occasional dystopian read, but this one didn’t do it for me. Death by Shakespeare for untold millions of children? A bit too far a stretch.]]> 3.10 Orpheus Nine
author: Chris Flynn
name: zed
average rating: 3.10
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2025/06/08
date added: 2025/06/08
shelves: australia, sci-fi
review:
A rapid read, but by golly, what a disappointment. I was initially drawn to this novel after reading a Guardian review that described it as “fast-paced and highly suspenseful” while also exploring "..the human experience" particularly how adults react to an inexplicable crisis. The review further claimed it was “both unsettling and a great deal of fun.”

Unfortunately, the novel fell short of the review’s promises. The middle third was dull, clichéd, and hardly what I’d call "fast-paced." Even the supposedly thrilling sections lacked momentum. As for the suspense, the final major event was telegraphed far too early to be truly gripping.
The novel’s exploration of human behaviour in crisis was similarly predictable, some characters resorted to quasi-religious conspiracy, attempting to burn the world down in rebellion, while others sought power, exploiting the chaos for their own advantage. This is nothing new.

And as for “unsettling” being “a great deal of fun”, if every nine-year-old on the planet suddenly died an agonising death while reciting King Lear, I doubt anyone would find much entertainment in the aftermath.

I don't mind the occasional dystopian read, but this one didn’t do it for me. Death by Shakespeare for untold millions of children? A bit too far a stretch.
]]> Orbitsville 403816 187 Bob Shaw 0330250132 zed 0 to-read, sci-fi 3.30 1975 Orbitsville
author: Bob Shaw
name: zed
average rating: 3.30
book published: 1975
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/04
shelves: to-read, sci-fi
review:

]]> Anil's Ghost 822948 Anil's Ghost transports us to Sri Lanka, a country steeped in centuries of tradition, now forced into the late twentieth century by the ravages of a bloody civil war. Enter Anil Tissera, a young woman and forensic anthropologist born in Sri Lanka but educated in the West, sent by an international human rights group to identify the victims of the murder campaigns sweeping the island.

When Anil discovers that the bones found in an ancient burial site are in fact those of a much more recent victim, her search for the terrible truth hidden in her homeland begins. What follows is a story about love, about family, about identity - a story driven by a riveting mystery.]]> 311 Michael Ondaatje 0330480774 zed 0 to-read, asia 3.52 2000 Anil's Ghost
author: Michael Ondaatje
name: zed
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/04
shelves: to-read, asia
review:

]]> The Naked Neanderthal 211942456 Dans un véritable récit de voyage, Ludovic Slimak retrace son parcours de chercheur et nous entraîne dans une étonnante enquête archéologique. Pendant trente ans, il a inlassablement traqué ce qu’il appelle la créature. Créature, comme l’un de ces êtres qu’on apercevrait de loin, dans les brumes, sans vraiment savoir ce qu’il est, sans vraiment savoir le qualifier.
Son périple nous emmène en mille détours depuis les étendues glacées du cercle polaire jusque sur les traces d’étonnants cannibales vivant dans de profondes forêts tempérées méditerranéennes. Se confrontant aux vestiges de l’homme de Néandertal, il décrit une créature inattendue et dont la nature pourrait bien nous avoir totalement échappé. Constat d’échec ? Serions-nous incapables de concevoir une intelligence trop divergente de la nôtre ?
La créature humaine est décryptée d’une plume vive, parfois sarcastique, qui affronte sans détour nos fantasmes et nos projections sur cette humanité éteinte.
Cette créature humaine, c’est Néandertal, bien sûr. Mais c’est nous, aussi, dont un portrait inattendu émerge de ce regard croisé à travers les millénaires.]]> 208 Ludovic Slimak 1802061819 zed 0 to-read, history 3.47 2022 The Naked Neanderthal
author: Ludovic Slimak
name: zed
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/04
shelves: to-read, history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ghost And The Bounty Hunter: William Buckley, John Batman And The Theft Of Kulin Country]]> 52280926 By the bestselling author of The Ship That Never Was

Just after Christmas 1803, convict William Buckley fled an embryonic settlement in the land of the Kulin nation (now the Port Phillip area), to take his chances in the wilderness. A few months later, the local Aboriginal people found the six-foot-five former soldier near death. Believing he was a lost kinsman returned from the dead, they took him in, and for thirty-two years Buckley lived as a Wadawurrung man, learning his adopted tribe's language, skills and methods to survive.

The outside world finally caught up with Buckley in 1835, after John Batman, a bounty hunter from Van Diemen's Land, arrived in the area, seeking to acquire and control the perfect pastureland around the bay. What happened next saw the Wadawurrung betrayed and Buckley eventually broken. The theft of Kulin country would end in the birth of a city. The frontier wars had begun.

By the bestselling author of The Ship That Never Was, The Ghost and the Bounty Hunter is a fascinating and poignant true story from Australian colonial history.]]> 320 Adam Courtenay 0733340393 zed 0 to-read, australia, history 4.27 2020 The Ghost And The Bounty Hunter: William Buckley, John Batman And The Theft Of Kulin Country
author: Adam Courtenay
name: zed
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/04
shelves: to-read, australia, history
review:

]]> Question 7 200555175
By way of H. G. Wells and Rebecca West’s affair through 1930s nuclear physics to Flanagan's father working as a slave labourer near Hiroshima when the atom bomb is dropped, this daisy chain of events reaches fission when Flanagan as a young man finds himself trapped in a rapid on a wild river not knowing if he is to live or to die.

At once a love song to his island home and to his parents, this hypnotic melding of dream, history, place and memory is about how our lives so often arise out of the stories of others and the stories we invent about ourselves.]]> 288 Richard Flanagan 0593802330 zed 0 to-read, richard-flanagan 4.23 2023 Question 7
author: Richard Flanagan
name: zed
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/04
shelves: to-read, richard-flanagan
review:

]]> Ransom 6460814 A novel of suffering, sorrow, and redemption, "Ransom "tells the story of the relationship between two grieving men at war: fierce Achilles, who has lost his beloved Patroclus in the siege of Troy; and Priam, king of Troy, whose son Hector killed Patroclus and was in turn savaged by Achilles. Each man's grief demands a confrontation with the other's if it is to be resolved: a resolution more compelling to both than the demands of war. And when the aged father and the murderer of his son meet, "the past and present blend, enemies exchange places, hatred turns to understanding, youth pities age mourning youth."]]> 224 David Malouf 1741668379 zed 0 to-read 3.69 2009 Ransom
author: David Malouf
name: zed
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Penguin century of Australian stories]]> 2572968 733 Carmel Bird 0670892335 zed 0 to-read, australia 0.0 The Penguin century of Australian stories
author: Carmel Bird
name: zed
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/04
shelves: to-read, australia
review:

]]> The Sun at Eight or Nine 219964116 276 Ouyang Yu 1923099485 zed 0 to-read, asia, china 0.0 2024 The Sun at Eight or Nine
author: Ouyang Yu
name: zed
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/04
shelves: to-read, asia, china
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Forbidden Fruit: From The Letters of Abelard and Heloise]]> 1574321 112 Pierre Abélard 0141034807 zed 5
Anyway this is some kinda tragic love yarn with Neighbours like soapy drama though maybe more Home and Away? Abelard, top-notch thinker who no doubt the Curious Snail would call an elite, anyone that reads a book is an elite according to those galahs, is an absolute drongo when it comes to romance, gets tangled up with a sheila named Heloise, who can be sharp as a tack but is madly in love with him. Abelard must have those heroin blue eyes that that other sheila Helen wrote in that book called Monkey Grip or something. Anyway, they’re sneaking around like possums in a roof, but old mate’s enemies stitch him up good and proper. Next thing ya know, he’s lost more than just his dignity, if ya catch my drift. Yep, castrated like a bull eventually heading to the abattoir, supposedly gets the meat more tender. The thought of Abelard getting knackered made me a feel a bit tender, if you again get me drift.

The letters between them are gut-wrenching, full of deep feelings and poetic musings—Heloise just wants her bloke back, but he’s off banging on about philosophy and religion and prattling like a 60 year old white bloke superannuated up to his arse about life not being fair. But the way she talks about love! Hits harder than a pot or three of XXXX on a bakin hot day. Meanwhile, Abelard’s carrying on like he’s above it all, but deep down, you know he’s carking it inside.

If ya like tragic romances, historical drama, and a good dose of emotional turmoil, this one’s for ya. Fair dinkum, it’s a classic—heartbreaking, intense, and makes ya wanna scream at Abelard to stop being such a bloody goose. Five good onyas out of five for the time and effort he put into explaining to his missus how good he was for rootin’ her getting her up the duff and then getting wed and another five good onyas out of five for her being head over heels with him warts and all. Love conquers all, apparently?

It’s a cracking read. Just don’t go making the same mistakes as ol’ mate Abelard! Anyway back to the freebie library for with this one, the local bogans need a bit of culture now and then.]]> 2.88 1133 Forbidden Fruit: From The Letters of Abelard and Heloise
author: Pierre Abélard
name: zed
average rating: 2.88
book published: 1133
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/30
date added: 2025/05/30
shelves:
review:
This is a bloody ripper of a book and free at the local neighbourhood little library. Who da thunk it! Free!

Anyway this is some kinda tragic love yarn with Neighbours like soapy drama though maybe more Home and Away? Abelard, top-notch thinker who no doubt the Curious Snail would call an elite, anyone that reads a book is an elite according to those galahs, is an absolute drongo when it comes to romance, gets tangled up with a sheila named Heloise, who can be sharp as a tack but is madly in love with him. Abelard must have those heroin blue eyes that that other sheila Helen wrote in that book called Monkey Grip or something. Anyway, they’re sneaking around like possums in a roof, but old mate’s enemies stitch him up good and proper. Next thing ya know, he’s lost more than just his dignity, if ya catch my drift. Yep, castrated like a bull eventually heading to the abattoir, supposedly gets the meat more tender. The thought of Abelard getting knackered made me a feel a bit tender, if you again get me drift.

The letters between them are gut-wrenching, full of deep feelings and poetic musings—Heloise just wants her bloke back, but he’s off banging on about philosophy and religion and prattling like a 60 year old white bloke superannuated up to his arse about life not being fair. But the way she talks about love! Hits harder than a pot or three of XXXX on a bakin hot day. Meanwhile, Abelard’s carrying on like he’s above it all, but deep down, you know he’s carking it inside.

If ya like tragic romances, historical drama, and a good dose of emotional turmoil, this one’s for ya. Fair dinkum, it’s a classic—heartbreaking, intense, and makes ya wanna scream at Abelard to stop being such a bloody goose. Five good onyas out of five for the time and effort he put into explaining to his missus how good he was for rootin’ her getting her up the duff and then getting wed and another five good onyas out of five for her being head over heels with him warts and all. Love conquers all, apparently?

It’s a cracking read. Just don’t go making the same mistakes as ol’ mate Abelard! Anyway back to the freebie library for with this one, the local bogans need a bit of culture now and then.
]]> Station Eleven 23593321 An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.

Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.]]> 339 Emily St. John Mandel 1447268970 zed 4 sci-fi
I recommend reading this one from Charles.
/review/show...

I particularly liked the question Charles posed:
"Finally, where did the 'rough paper' come from to print that first newspaper indicating the return of modern civilisation? Large-scale papermaking is a non-trivial manufacturing process."
Having spent nearly my entire working life in the printing industry, I found myself thinking about this as I read the part where a newspaper appeared to the delight of the end of the world as we know it survivors, and recall Charles' question from his review. My best guess is that flat sheets of paper were salvaged from abandoned print shops. Additionally, it’s probable that old-style type from specialist letterpress printers was repurposed as was, say, an old pre electric letterpress that can sometimes be found. Some commercial printers have retained this traditional technology even in todays lithographic/digital age of print.
For example, letterpress printing, once considered obsolete, has seen a resurgence, particularly for high-end projects like wedding invitations. These are often printed on acid-free cotton paper, which lasts for decades longer than standard newsprint.
As for "rough paper," it generally refers to uncoated paper with a textured surface. Unlike coated paper, which has a smooth finish for sharp ink absorption, rough paper retains a natural feel, making it ideal for artistic prints, speciality packaging, and letterpress work. It’s somewhat similar to the standard paper used in personal printers but with more pronounced texture.

Anyway, a good dystopian read and recommended to those that like that kind of thing.]]> 4.14 2014 Station Eleven
author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: zed
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/25
date added: 2025/05/27
shelves: sci-fi
review:
I wanted something light to read, so I started this popular dystopian sci-fi novel. It turned out to be more gripping than I expected, definitely a page-turner. There are plenty of reviews on 카지노싸이트 that provide a more in-depth analysis than I intend to do.

I recommend reading this one from Charles.
/review/show...

I particularly liked the question Charles posed:
"Finally, where did the 'rough paper' come from to print that first newspaper indicating the return of modern civilisation? Large-scale papermaking is a non-trivial manufacturing process."
Having spent nearly my entire working life in the printing industry, I found myself thinking about this as I read the part where a newspaper appeared to the delight of the end of the world as we know it survivors, and recall Charles' question from his review. My best guess is that flat sheets of paper were salvaged from abandoned print shops. Additionally, it’s probable that old-style type from specialist letterpress printers was repurposed as was, say, an old pre electric letterpress that can sometimes be found. Some commercial printers have retained this traditional technology even in todays lithographic/digital age of print.
For example, letterpress printing, once considered obsolete, has seen a resurgence, particularly for high-end projects like wedding invitations. These are often printed on acid-free cotton paper, which lasts for decades longer than standard newsprint.
As for "rough paper," it generally refers to uncoated paper with a textured surface. Unlike coated paper, which has a smooth finish for sharp ink absorption, rough paper retains a natural feel, making it ideal for artistic prints, speciality packaging, and letterpress work. It’s somewhat similar to the standard paper used in personal printers but with more pronounced texture.

Anyway, a good dystopian read and recommended to those that like that kind of thing.
]]> <![CDATA[Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen]]> 856163 384 Joanna Denny 074995051X zed 1 history, england no doubt the most authentic…” based on “… certain similarities with portraits of her daughter”. My italics.

Research by the author is seemingly good initially, but with further reading, not all statements had end notes. For example, when discussing the witch hunts in Europe we are quoted figures of 160,000 to 250,000 without end note referral. It is easy to check this out via internet search. Via Mathew White via his Necrometrics site, sadly no longer updated, he states the following……

• Witch Hunts (1400-1800)
• Wertham: 20,000
• Jenny Gibbons "Recent Developments in the Study of The Great European Witch Hunt", Pomegranate, no.5, Lammas 1998 [] cites:
o Levack: 60,000
o Hutton: 40,000
o Barstow: 100,000, "but her reasoning was flawed" (i.e. too high.)
• Davies, Norman, Europe A History: 50,000
• Rummel: 100,000
• Bethancourt: The Killings of Witches, lists 628 named and 268,331 unnamed witches killed as of Dec. 2000, and estimates that between 20,000 and 500,000 people were killed as witches. [?]
• M. D. Aletheia, The Rationalist's Manual (1897): 9,000,000 burned for witchcraft.
• 5 Jan. 1999 Deutsche Presse-Agentur: review of Wolfgang Behringer's Hexen: Glaube - Verfolgung - Vermarktung:
o estimates cited favorably
 Thomas Brady: 40-50,000
 Merry Wiesner: 50-100,000
 Behringer, at lowest: 30,000
o estimates cited unfavorably
 Gottfried Christian Voigt (1740-1791) extrapolated from his section of Germany to calculate 9,442,994 witches killed throughout Europe. From this came the common estimate of 9M.
 Mathilde Ludendorff (1877-1966): 9M
 Friederike Mueller-Reimerdes (1935): 9-10M
 Erika Wisselinck: 6-13 Million
• MEDIAN: Of the 15 estimate listed here, the median is 100,000. If we limit it to just the ten estimates that are cited favorably, the median falls between 50,000 and 60,000.
__________________________

Historians have an obligation to their reader to explain their research, and certainly to end note. “This realm of England is an Empire” the author states Henry VIII saying at one point but with no end note. This happens so often; there are just too many references lacking sources.
__________________________

This read is astonishingly flawed propaganda on behalf of Anne Boleyn and some of her family, just via the poor referencing of sources alone. When sources are used, they are done to support the author in writing hagiography that is really just an advocacy of an historical position, a position of Anne Boleyn and her family as being on the correct path to some kind of future enlightenment of the Anglican England. Several times throughout the narrative the author quotes Protestant interpretation of the biblical passages from Exodus through to Revelations to support the Boleyn faction’s beliefs that the Roman Catholic Church was the anti-Christ and is written in such a way as to make this at times proselytising as opposed to a narrative history.

This reader has an acceptance that historians are sometimes unable to keep their own interpretations of events out of the narrative. Be that as it may, to be credible, they should not be supportive of one side of history over the other based on their own religious beliefs and certainly not on events half a millennia ago when to quote the author's own words there are “…accepted few facts…”.

The author quoted Anthony Denny (16 January 1501 – 10 September 1549) on pages 14 and 89 and after writing on page 180 that Anne Boleyn favoured Cambridge University men such as “…Cranmer, Dr Butts and Anthony Denny…” I researched if the author Joanna Denny could be a descendant. Wiki and other links say yes, though sources are rather tenuous. Anthony Denny was one of Henry VIII closest confidants being Groom of the Stool and was an influence in the English Reformation. Joanna Denny, 500 years later, may have been too close to the subject due to possible family ancestry to be objective.

This is a staggeringly poor history book.]]> 3.24 2004 Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen
author: Joanna Denny
name: zed
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2004
rating: 1
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/05/24
shelves: history, england
review:
The Introduction had me wondering the direction that the author would take when on the first page was written “There are accepted few facts about Anne's life. Virtually everything is still in dispute, from her date of birth to her appearance.” The Introduction ends with the line “It is time for a fresh look at the facts” A fresh look at the “few accepted facts”? This reader had his concerns. They were heightened when discussion took place in the first chapter as to Anne’s appearance via known writings and portraiture. I agree with the author that Henry VIII was not going to marry a lady with an extra finger and a goitre, and that those that reported this were propagandists for their cause. But Joanna Denny writes that no contemporary portraiture survived but then says that the National Gallery portrait, said to be a copy of a lost original “…is no doubt the most authentic…” based on “… certain similarities with portraits of her daughter”. My italics.

Research by the author is seemingly good initially, but with further reading, not all statements had end notes. For example, when discussing the witch hunts in Europe we are quoted figures of 160,000 to 250,000 without end note referral. It is easy to check this out via internet search. Via Mathew White via his Necrometrics site, sadly no longer updated, he states the following……

• Witch Hunts (1400-1800)
• Wertham: 20,000
• Jenny Gibbons "Recent Developments in the Study of The Great European Witch Hunt", Pomegranate, no.5, Lammas 1998 [] cites:
o Levack: 60,000
o Hutton: 40,000
o Barstow: 100,000, "but her reasoning was flawed" (i.e. too high.)
• Davies, Norman, Europe A History: 50,000
• Rummel: 100,000
• Bethancourt: The Killings of Witches, lists 628 named and 268,331 unnamed witches killed as of Dec. 2000, and estimates that between 20,000 and 500,000 people were killed as witches. [?]
• M. D. Aletheia, The Rationalist's Manual (1897): 9,000,000 burned for witchcraft.
• 5 Jan. 1999 Deutsche Presse-Agentur: review of Wolfgang Behringer's Hexen: Glaube - Verfolgung - Vermarktung:
o estimates cited favorably
 Thomas Brady: 40-50,000
 Merry Wiesner: 50-100,000
 Behringer, at lowest: 30,000
o estimates cited unfavorably
 Gottfried Christian Voigt (1740-1791) extrapolated from his section of Germany to calculate 9,442,994 witches killed throughout Europe. From this came the common estimate of 9M.
 Mathilde Ludendorff (1877-1966): 9M
 Friederike Mueller-Reimerdes (1935): 9-10M
 Erika Wisselinck: 6-13 Million
• MEDIAN: Of the 15 estimate listed here, the median is 100,000. If we limit it to just the ten estimates that are cited favorably, the median falls between 50,000 and 60,000.
__________________________

Historians have an obligation to their reader to explain their research, and certainly to end note. “This realm of England is an Empire” the author states Henry VIII saying at one point but with no end note. This happens so often; there are just too many references lacking sources.
__________________________

This read is astonishingly flawed propaganda on behalf of Anne Boleyn and some of her family, just via the poor referencing of sources alone. When sources are used, they are done to support the author in writing hagiography that is really just an advocacy of an historical position, a position of Anne Boleyn and her family as being on the correct path to some kind of future enlightenment of the Anglican England. Several times throughout the narrative the author quotes Protestant interpretation of the biblical passages from Exodus through to Revelations to support the Boleyn faction’s beliefs that the Roman Catholic Church was the anti-Christ and is written in such a way as to make this at times proselytising as opposed to a narrative history.

This reader has an acceptance that historians are sometimes unable to keep their own interpretations of events out of the narrative. Be that as it may, to be credible, they should not be supportive of one side of history over the other based on their own religious beliefs and certainly not on events half a millennia ago when to quote the author's own words there are “…accepted few facts…”.

The author quoted Anthony Denny (16 January 1501 – 10 September 1549) on pages 14 and 89 and after writing on page 180 that Anne Boleyn favoured Cambridge University men such as “…Cranmer, Dr Butts and Anthony Denny…” I researched if the author Joanna Denny could be a descendant. Wiki and other links say yes, though sources are rather tenuous. Anthony Denny was one of Henry VIII closest confidants being Groom of the Stool and was an influence in the English Reformation. Joanna Denny, 500 years later, may have been too close to the subject due to possible family ancestry to be objective.

This is a staggeringly poor history book.
]]> The Collector 60493637
Alone and desperate, Miranda must struggle to overcome her own prejudices and contempt if she is understand her captor and gain her freedom.

Taught and utterly compelling, Fowles' debut novel The Collector was an instant best seller when it was published in 1963. It is regarded as one of the best thrillers of all time with one of the most terrifying villains to have ever been created on the page.]]> 9 John Fowles zed 5 john-fowles I took advantage of audiobook time to read this while also immersing myself in the outstanding The Magus by John Fowles. The Collector is Fowles’ debut, and what a book it is. After reading these two novels in quick succession, I am convinced that he was an extraordinarily gifted writer and storyteller. As with The Magus, the psychological depth of The Collector is profound, with class dynamics at the forefront.

The audiobook, narrated in the first person for both male and female perspectives by Daniel Rigby and Hannah Murray, featured a strangely monotone delivery that was perfect for this listen/read.
The kidnapping in London at the very beginning of the novel is particularly interesting, given today’s ubiquitous CCTV surveillance, such an event would be virtually impossible. But in the early ’60s, it made sense. If the same premise were written today, where could the kidnapping plausibly take place? A minor question really as the narration covers the mind of both protagonists, that was what made compulsive reading.

Highly recommended.
]]> 3.86 1963 The Collector
author: John Fowles
name: zed
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1963
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/19
date added: 2025/05/24
shelves: john-fowles
review:
Weird, socially awkward, and suffering from severe class angst, Frederick Clegg, a butterfly collector, wins the pools and kidnaps Miranda Grey, an art student he has obsessively admired from afar, believing he can make her love him. A psychological struggle unfolds between them.
I took advantage of audiobook time to read this while also immersing myself in the outstanding The Magus by John Fowles. The Collector is Fowles’ debut, and what a book it is. After reading these two novels in quick succession, I am convinced that he was an extraordinarily gifted writer and storyteller. As with The Magus, the psychological depth of The Collector is profound, with class dynamics at the forefront.

The audiobook, narrated in the first person for both male and female perspectives by Daniel Rigby and Hannah Murray, featured a strangely monotone delivery that was perfect for this listen/read.
The kidnapping in London at the very beginning of the novel is particularly interesting, given today’s ubiquitous CCTV surveillance, such an event would be virtually impossible. But in the early ’60s, it made sense. If the same premise were written today, where could the kidnapping plausibly take place? A minor question really as the narration covers the mind of both protagonists, that was what made compulsive reading.

Highly recommended.

]]> The Magus 7181597 The Magus is a masterwork of contemporary literature and a literary landmark of the 1960s.

On a remote Greek island, Nicholas Urfe finds himself embroiled in the deceptions of a master trickster. Shimmering surreal threads weave ever tighter as reality and illusion intertwine in a bizarre psychological game. John Fowles expertly unfolds a tale that is lush with over-powering imagery in a spell-binding exploration of the complexities of the human mind. By turns disturbing, thrilling and seductive, The Magus is a cerebral feast.

-----------------------------

The Magus is a deliciously toothsome celebration of wanton story-telling. Before one quite realises what is happening, one finds oneself no less avid for meanings and no less starving amid a plethora of clues than is Nicholas Urfe himself. Mr. Fowles's mysteries stand in similar relation to those myths that inspired them. - Sunday Times

A splendidly sustained piece of mystification, such as could otherwise only have been devised by a literary team fielding the Marquis de Sade, Arthur Edward Waite, Sir James Frazer, Gurdjieff, Madame Blavatsky, C.G. Jung, Aleister Crowley, Franz Kafka and the author of They Shoot Horses Don't They? - Financial Times

It is a major work of mounting tensions in which a human mind is the guinea-pig. Mr. Fowles has taken a big swing at a difficult subject and his hits are on the bull's-eye. - Sunday Telegraph]]> 570 John Fowles zed 5 john-fowles Nicholas Urfe, a young Englishman, takes a teaching job on a Greek island, and life gets weird. So weird that I had no idea what was really happening up until the end—and even then? Does that make for an exceptional read, personally—the not knowing, the wanting to know? Yes.

Told in the first person, the character of Nicholas Urfe is not particularly likeable, but then neither are many of the characters that make up the cast in what, to me, was a book about an existential crisis Nick was having.

Even after the final sentence, I found myself wondering about all the characters in the book, what part they had played in Urfe’s crisis and what his awareness was of what he had been put through. Psychological manipulations? Illusion?

For a novel set in the 1950s, it has certainly stood the test of time for the modern reader.
Highly recommended for those who like their minds played with.]]> 3.78 1965 The Magus
author: John Fowles
name: zed
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1965
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/12
date added: 2025/05/24
shelves: john-fowles
review:
Another nod to the neighborhood swap libraries I often visit. This one was a battered 1975 release that I picked up while heading out on my daily commute to work. Unlike a few I pick up and put in the TBR pile, I read a few pages and was hooked. I knew the author from The French Lieutenant's Woman, I had seen the film but had never read the book. The blurb of The Magus gave nothing away, not a single clue as to what it was about. To say it has been an eventful read would be an understatement.
Nicholas Urfe, a young Englishman, takes a teaching job on a Greek island, and life gets weird. So weird that I had no idea what was really happening up until the end—and even then? Does that make for an exceptional read, personally—the not knowing, the wanting to know? Yes.

Told in the first person, the character of Nicholas Urfe is not particularly likeable, but then neither are many of the characters that make up the cast in what, to me, was a book about an existential crisis Nick was having.

Even after the final sentence, I found myself wondering about all the characters in the book, what part they had played in Urfe’s crisis and what his awareness was of what he had been put through. Psychological manipulations? Illusion?

For a novel set in the 1950s, it has certainly stood the test of time for the modern reader.
Highly recommended for those who like their minds played with.
]]> Mantissa 1230500 Mantissa a novelist awakes in the hospital with amnesia -- and comes to believe that a beautiful female doctor is, in fact, his muse.]]> 190 John Fowles 0586058192 zed 0 to-read, john-fowles 2.85 1982 Mantissa
author: John Fowles
name: zed
average rating: 2.85
book published: 1982
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/23
shelves: to-read, john-fowles
review:

]]> A Maggot 1931188 455 John Fowles 0316289949 zed 0 to-read, john-fowles 3.63 1985 A Maggot
author: John Fowles
name: zed
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/23
shelves: to-read, john-fowles
review:

]]> Gilead (Gilead, #1) 68210 Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson returns with an intimate tale of three generations, from the Civil War to the 20th century: a story about fathers and sons and the spiritual battles that still rage at America's heart. In the words of Kirkus, it is a novel "as big as a nation, as quiet as thought, and moving as prayer. Matchless and towering." GILEAD tells the story of America and will break your heart.]]> 247 Marilynne Robinson 031242440X zed 0 3.84 2004 Gilead (Gilead, #1)
author: Marilynne Robinson
name: zed
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: to-read, pulitzer-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Neverwhere 14501 Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down there, beneath his native city: neverwhere.]]> 372 Neil Gaiman 0747266689 zed 0 to-read 4.20 1996 Neverwhere
author: Neil Gaiman
name: zed
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Plains of Promise 633475 304 Alexis Wright 0702229172 zed 0 to-read, australia 3.80 1997 Plains of Promise
author: Alexis Wright
name: zed
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: to-read, australia
review:

]]> Treacle Walker 61744771
A fusion of myth, magic and the stories we make for ourselves, Treacle Walker is an extraordinary novel from one of our greatest living writers.]]> 160 Alan Garner 0008477809 zed 0 3.13 2021 Treacle Walker
author: Alan Garner
name: zed
average rating: 3.13
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> The Vegetarian 57770748 FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

“[Han Kang writes in] intense poetic prose that . . . exposes the fragility of human life.”—from the Nobel Prize citation

WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE • “Kang viscerally explores the limits of what a human brain and body can endure, and the strange beauty that can be found in even the most extreme forms of renunciation.”—Entertainment Weekly

One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

“Ferocious.”⿒The New York Times Book Review (Ten Best Books of the Year)
“Both terrifying and terrific.”—Lauren Groff
“Provocative [and] shocking.”—The Washington Post

Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself.

Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.

A Best Book of the Year: BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, Wall Street Journal, Time, Elle, The Economist, HuffPost, Slate, Bustle, The St. Louis Dispatch, Electric Literature, Publishers Weekly ]]> 183 Han Kang zed 0 3.71 2007 The Vegetarian
author: Han Kang
name: zed
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Orbital 221989152 Life on our planet as you've never seen it before.

Six astronauts rotate in their spacecraft above the earth. They are there to collect meteorological data and conduct scientific experiments. But mostly they observe. Together they watch our silent blue planet: endless shows of spectacular beauty witnessed in a single day.

Yet although separated from the world they cannot escape its constant pull. News reaches them of the death of a mother, and with it comes thoughts of returning home. The fragility of human life fills their conversations, their fears, their dreams.

So far from earth, they have never felt more part - or protective - of it. They begin to ask, what is life without earth? What is earth without humanity?]]> 137 Samantha Harvey 1529922933 zed 0 3.52 2023 Orbital
author: Samantha Harvey
name: zed
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Better Angels of Our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity]]> 16076785 Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year. The author of The New York Times bestseller The Stuff of Thought offers a controversial history of violence.

Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millennia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species' existence. For most of history, war, slavery, infanticide, child abuse, assassinations, pogroms, gruesome punishments, deadly quarrels, and genocide were ordinary features of life. But today, Pinker shows (with the help of more than a hundred graphs and maps) all these forms of violence have dwindled and are widely condemned. How has this happened?

This groundbreaking book continues Pinker's exploration of the essence of human nature, mixing psychology and history to provide a remarkable picture of an increasingly nonviolent world. The key, he explains, is to understand our intrinsic motives- the inner demons that incline us toward violence and the better angels that steer us away-and how changing circumstances have allowed our better angels to prevail. Exploding fatalist myths about humankind's inherent violence and the curse of modernity, this ambitious and provocative book is sure to be hotly debated in living rooms and the Pentagon alike, and will challenge and change the way we think about our society.]]> 1094 Steven Pinker 0141034645 zed 5 history
My approach to this book was a bit different than is usual. I have tended to write a review and then read others. Not in this case. I read many good reviews and few that were critical so was very open to being a critic. I am of the opinion that a few did not take note of what Pinker wrote. He got some numbers wrong was a fairly common complaint. He may have and admits as much. A few times he made it clear that his numbers were estimates based on researchers who are respected in the field. “…. so there is no single correct estimate” he writes on page 60 of my copy. Page 168 “….. no one knows exactly how many were killed…..” when discussing holy slaughters. In fact Pinker supports scepticism as he suggested on page 217 when discussing the Enlightenment.

As a westerner living a very comfortable life in Australia I was intrigued to read a comment by US politician John Kerry on page 417. “We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorist are not the focus of our lives, but they’re a nuisance. As a former law-enforcement person, I know we’re never going to end prostitution. We’re never going to end illegal gambling. But we’re going to reduce it, organised crime, to a level where it isn’t on the rise. It isn’t threatening people’s lives every day, and fundamentally it’s something that you continue to fight, but it’s not threatening the fabric of your life” He was right of course but he became “unfit to lead” and had to back pedal as the reality is that the authorities may well have reduced and contained crime, by cripes don’t tell the people that because the media will not be happy unless they are able to make you feel bad about just about every part of your life. Less violence? How dare that be considered when there is news to sell. And take it in your stride as you are not going to get hit by the Mafia? Bah!

This book covered a variety of female issues and after conversation elsewhere I even read On Rape by Germaine Greer. Hardly an area I knew much about. Glad I did. Perhaps blokes my age, 60ish, need to get of their fat arses and not think they rule the world as Pinker has given a very good case that the rise of feminist thought has been good for our collective health. While reading this I came across this item on the repulsive practise of female circumcision. Yes the item says caution is required but it is good to read that progress is taking place.



This book has some fascinating sub chapters and one on page 572 called Whence The Rights Revolution? should thrill the hearts of all book readers. Among other things is a fivefold increase in books published from 1960 to 2000. The information we are getting seems to just make us collectively smarter when it comes to treating each other with a little bit of respect and not get on our high horse and want to smash the face in of our neighbours be they next door or in the nation next door.

So does Pinker say we are in for even less violence in the future? No! In fact he makes it abundantly clear that one bit of lunacy can change everything. I personally am very unsure we have rosy future. I am like the next father of children and worry about the environment, that a loony with a nuke will go mad but the book itself is in fact not really about that. It is about the data that shows violence has dropped and gives several reasons why. Disagree with the reasons by all means but also enjoy the fact you have more chance of dying in a car crash than by a terrorist attack no matter what the newspapers tells you.]]> 4.25 2010 The Better Angels of Our Nature: A History of Violence and Humanity
author: Steven Pinker
name: zed
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2018/12/11
date added: 2025/05/02
shelves: history
review:
What an interesting read! If the idea is to give the reader food for thought this book more than nourishes.

My approach to this book was a bit different than is usual. I have tended to write a review and then read others. Not in this case. I read many good reviews and few that were critical so was very open to being a critic. I am of the opinion that a few did not take note of what Pinker wrote. He got some numbers wrong was a fairly common complaint. He may have and admits as much. A few times he made it clear that his numbers were estimates based on researchers who are respected in the field. “…. so there is no single correct estimate” he writes on page 60 of my copy. Page 168 “….. no one knows exactly how many were killed…..” when discussing holy slaughters. In fact Pinker supports scepticism as he suggested on page 217 when discussing the Enlightenment.

As a westerner living a very comfortable life in Australia I was intrigued to read a comment by US politician John Kerry on page 417. “We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorist are not the focus of our lives, but they’re a nuisance. As a former law-enforcement person, I know we’re never going to end prostitution. We’re never going to end illegal gambling. But we’re going to reduce it, organised crime, to a level where it isn’t on the rise. It isn’t threatening people’s lives every day, and fundamentally it’s something that you continue to fight, but it’s not threatening the fabric of your life” He was right of course but he became “unfit to lead” and had to back pedal as the reality is that the authorities may well have reduced and contained crime, by cripes don’t tell the people that because the media will not be happy unless they are able to make you feel bad about just about every part of your life. Less violence? How dare that be considered when there is news to sell. And take it in your stride as you are not going to get hit by the Mafia? Bah!

This book covered a variety of female issues and after conversation elsewhere I even read On Rape by Germaine Greer. Hardly an area I knew much about. Glad I did. Perhaps blokes my age, 60ish, need to get of their fat arses and not think they rule the world as Pinker has given a very good case that the rise of feminist thought has been good for our collective health. While reading this I came across this item on the repulsive practise of female circumcision. Yes the item says caution is required but it is good to read that progress is taking place.



This book has some fascinating sub chapters and one on page 572 called Whence The Rights Revolution? should thrill the hearts of all book readers. Among other things is a fivefold increase in books published from 1960 to 2000. The information we are getting seems to just make us collectively smarter when it comes to treating each other with a little bit of respect and not get on our high horse and want to smash the face in of our neighbours be they next door or in the nation next door.

So does Pinker say we are in for even less violence in the future? No! In fact he makes it abundantly clear that one bit of lunacy can change everything. I personally am very unsure we have rosy future. I am like the next father of children and worry about the environment, that a loony with a nuke will go mad but the book itself is in fact not really about that. It is about the data that shows violence has dropped and gives several reasons why. Disagree with the reasons by all means but also enjoy the fact you have more chance of dying in a car crash than by a terrorist attack no matter what the newspapers tells you.
]]> Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha 2393203 282 Roddy Doyle 0436201593 zed 4
A Booker winner in 1993 and for the first half I wondered why but by the end, I thought this a very clever piece of writing and maybe that was what the judges felt. I had read Roddy Doyles Barrytown Trilogy many years back and recall enjoying them but think this is far stronger. It is hard to write as a first person 10-year-old boy and seem authentic, but the general chat and thoughts of Paddy seems to align with my long past memories of that age. The brutality of those times among the peer group, the interest in the world outside that bubble, and the parents’ relationship not making much sense made for a very thoughtful read.

Recommended.]]> 3.52 1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
author: Roddy Doyle
name: zed
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves: ireland, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
First person narration by title character 9/10-year-old Paddy there is plenty of childlike humour to enjoy, yet I also found this read to be rather poignant. The brutality that is that male age group was to the fore for long parts, but the confusing observations of the breakdown of his parents marriage had an innocence and bewilderment that was moving.

A Booker winner in 1993 and for the first half I wondered why but by the end, I thought this a very clever piece of writing and maybe that was what the judges felt. I had read Roddy Doyles Barrytown Trilogy many years back and recall enjoying them but think this is far stronger. It is hard to write as a first person 10-year-old boy and seem authentic, but the general chat and thoughts of Paddy seems to align with my long past memories of that age. The brutality of those times among the peer group, the interest in the world outside that bubble, and the parents’ relationship not making much sense made for a very thoughtful read.

Recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]> 40659789 393 Ken Kesey 0241336457 zed 0 to-read 4.33 1962 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
author: Ken Kesey
name: zed
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Dancing the Labyrinth 58458789 Dancing the Labyrinth weaves Greek mythology, history and imagination in telling (an almost true) story.

Perfect for fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe and Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls

Dancing the Labyrinth is the first book in the thematic series Women Unveiled. Each novel can be read separately but are united by a distinctive feminine narrative challenging societal boundaries. The series blends Greek mythology, archaeological and historical research with imagination in the telling of (almost true) stories.]]> 298 Karen Martin zed 0 to-read 4.11 Dancing the Labyrinth
author: Karen Martin
name: zed
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The French: Tarrasch Variation]]> 2997019
The Tarrasch Variation provides a stern test for the French Defence, and has always been a favourite of strategically minded players, such as Michael Adams and Anatoly Karpov. By putting his knight on d2, White seeks to give his opponent little scope for counterplay, and in many of the traditional lines ends up with a slight positional advantage that can prove extremely difficult to neutralize. This has led to Black developing various sharper approaches, which complicate the play considerably at the cost of greater risk. Notable among these lines are systems with 3...Nf6 where Black sacrifices material to gain the initiative, and the modern main line 3...c5 4 exd5 Qxd5, where Black keeps his pawn-structure healthy at the cost of some tempi. To get the most out of these lines as either colour, thorough up-to-date knowledge is essential, and this book supplies it in abundance.]]> 192 Steffen Pedersen 1901983498 zed 1 chess
]]> 2.00 2001 The French: Tarrasch Variation
author: Steffen Pedersen
name: zed
average rating: 2.00
book published: 2001
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)


]]> <![CDATA[French: Advance and Other Lines]]> 2997020
With the Advance Variation, White establishes a space advantage, and will often seek to exploit this by creating attacking chances on the kingside, or a bind on the queenside. Both sides have a variety of systems at their disposal, and the player who is better acquainted with the intricacies of these lines will tend to come out on top. It is a perennial favourite among players with a direct aggressive Shirov has played the Advance many times in recent years, while it has been employed by Sveshnikov and Kupreichik throughout their careers.

The Exchange Variation leads to open and generally symmetrical positions. Pedersen carefully examines White's attempts to seize the initiative, and also recommends ways for Black to create play if White adopts a more stolid approach.]]> 143 Steffen Pedersen 1904600409 zed 1 chess 2.75 2006 French: Advance and Other Lines
author: Steffen Pedersen
name: zed
average rating: 2.75
book published: 2006
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)
]]> The Main Line French: 3 Nc3 2717132 256 Steffen Pedersen 1901983455 zed 1 chess ]]> 2.00 2001 The Main Line French: 3 Nc3
author: Steffen Pedersen
name: zed
average rating: 2.00
book published: 2001
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> <![CDATA[Complete Chess Course: From Beginning to Winning Chess--a Comprehensive Yet Simplified Home-Study Chess Course. Eight Books in One]]> 1467864
Illustrated throughout.]]> 704 Fred Reinfeld 0385004648 zed 1 chess ]]> 3.85 1953 Complete Chess Course: From Beginning to Winning Chess--a Comprehensive Yet Simplified Home-Study Chess Course. Eight Books in One
author: Fred Reinfeld
name: zed
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1953
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> The French (Starting Out) 2411319 176 Byron Jacobs 1857442296 zed 1 chess ]]> 3.62 2003 The French (Starting Out)
author: Byron Jacobs
name: zed
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2003
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> <![CDATA[The Dynamic English : The aggressive player's guide to a traditional chess opening]]> 2129924 144 Tony Kosten 1901983145 zed 1 chess ]]> 3.76 1999 The Dynamic English : The aggressive player's guide to a traditional chess opening
author: Tony Kosten
name: zed
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1999
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> <![CDATA[English Four Knights (Chess Bks.)]]> 7343900 192 Nigel Povah 0713406690 zed 1 chess ]]> 3.00 1982 English Four Knights (Chess Bks.)
author: Nigel Povah
name: zed
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1982
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> <![CDATA[How to Play the French Defence]]> 1680425 128 Shaun Taulbut 0713469536 zed 1 chess ]]> 3.50 1983 How to Play the French Defence
author: Shaun Taulbut
name: zed
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1983
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> <![CDATA[Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy]]> 1875671 212 Ray Cheng 1587368013 zed 1 chess

IIRC this had some useful stuff for the idiot player such as myself. ]]> 4.19 2007 Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy
author: Ray Cheng
name: zed
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2007
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)


IIRC this had some useful stuff for the idiot player such as myself.
]]> <![CDATA[Better Chess for Average Players]]> 1426112 The author, a well-known chess teacher and author of a dozen books on openings, coaches the reader through all the fundamentals of attacking, sacrifices, defense, positional play and choosing a move, as well as how to approach the endgame. The crucial processes of assessing the position and choosing a move are examined in depth, and there are helpful sections on how to cope with difficult positions and time-trouble. Several illustrative games, from the annals of the imaginary Midlington Chess Club, add a light touch to this expert practical guide to better chess.
Tim Harding is a well-known chess author and captain of the Irish Correspondence Chess Team. He represented Ireland in the 1984 FIDE chess Olympiad in Thessaloniki.]]> 256 Tim Harding 0486290298 zed 4 chess 3.69 1978 Better Chess for Average Players
author: Tim Harding
name: zed
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1978
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Capablanca's Best Chess Endings: 60 Complete Games]]> 393616 The best way to follow Capablanca's advice is through this — the only book devoted to his great endings, 60 complete games emphasizing the grand finale but annotated throughout.
Irving Chernev communicates in his notes the mystery and wonder as well as the delight in discovering again and again the original, fertile mind of chess's greatest born player. "Virtuoso," "exquisite," "profound," "inspired," "elegant," and "fiendish ingenuity" describe match and tournament games and endings against Alekhine, Steiner, Marshall, Nimzowitsch, Lasker, Réti, and others, the best in the contemporary chess world. Capablanca's eleventh game in the 1901 Cuban championship (which he won, aged 12) "surpasses any accomplishment by such other prodigies as Morphy, Reshevsky, and Fischer." From age 12 through the last game in the book (nearly four decades later against Reshevsky at Nottingham, 1936), Capablanca fashions endgames in tense tournament atmosphere that seem like delicate, precise instruments dreamt at leisure.
Here then is the essence of Capablanca, analyzed for the instruction of players and the pleasure of chess connoisseurs. Included are indexes of openings, themes in the endings, and opponents, as well as a bibliography and record of tournament and match play. for players, the epitome of the endgame; for readers, a classic chess study.]]> 288 Irving Chernev 0486242498 zed 1 chess ]]> 4.34 1978 Capablanca's Best Chess Endings: 60 Complete Games
author: Irving Chernev
name: zed
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1978
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> The Fan 375007 243 Bob Randall 0446958875 zed 3
I read this when I was 18 - 19 not long after release and can hardly recall it but do remember liking it. The link posted reminded me of it. ]]> 3.78 1977 The Fan
author: Bob Randall
name: zed
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1977
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves:
review:


I read this when I was 18 - 19 not long after release and can hardly recall it but do remember liking it. The link posted reminded me of it.
]]> Solitaire Chess 360165
•test yourself
•understand the strategies and tactics of serious chess, including development, king safety, the center, the opening, and more
•read explanations about the moves of great players in famous games
•have fun!]]> 256 Bruce Pandolfini 0812936566 zed 1 chess ]]> 2.62 2005 Solitaire Chess
author: Bruce Pandolfini
name: zed
average rating: 2.62
book published: 2005
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> Unorthodox Chess Openings 85277 528 Eric Schiller 1580420729 zed 1 chess ]]> 2.43 1998 Unorthodox Chess Openings
author: Eric Schiller
name: zed
average rating: 2.43
book published: 1998
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> <![CDATA[Chess Combinations: An Improving Players Puzzle Book]]> 85264 128 Everyman Chess 1857445392 zed 1 chess ]]> 2.67 1999 Chess Combinations: An Improving Players Puzzle Book
author: Everyman Chess
name: zed
average rating: 2.67
book published: 1999
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> <![CDATA[The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book]]> 85097
The puzzles in this book have been selected by analysing games new and old in search of original puzzle positions (rather than simply trawling through previous puzzle books, as is all too often the case). It is therefore very unlikely that even seasoned solvers will recognize many of these positions. Emms, by allying his skills with those of powerful computers, has also made every effort to ensure that the solutions are sound, and that there are no unmentioned alternative solutions.

The book begins with 100 relatively easy positions suitable for novices, and ends with 100 extremely tough puzzles, which will provide a mind-bending challenge even for top-class players. The remainder of the book contains just about everything between these two extremes, including selections of puzzles based around particular tactical themes, and graded tests, where no clues are given as to the type of ideas involved. Every now and then, there are positions where the correct solution is a positional move, rather than a tempting but unsound combination.

John Emms is one of England’s strongest grandmasters, and an experienced trainer. He is also a skilful and versatile he has several opening monographs and general guides to his credit.]]> 240 John Emms 190198334X zed 1 chess ]]> 3.93 2000 The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book
author: John Emms
name: zed
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2000
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> <![CDATA[Modern Chess Openings: McO-13, 13th Edition]]> 85232 708 Nick de Firmian 0812917855 zed 1 chess ]]> 3.89 1972 Modern Chess Openings: McO-13, 13th Edition
author: Nick de Firmian
name: zed
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1972
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> <![CDATA[How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess Mastery Course]]> 85092 402 Jeremy Silman 1890085006 zed 1 chess 4.32 How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess Mastery Course
author: Jeremy Silman
name: zed
average rating: 4.32
book published:
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish
]]> <![CDATA[Understanding Chess Move by Move]]> 85077
Virtually every move is explained using words that everyone can understand. Jargon is avoided as far as possible. Almost all the examples are taken from recent decades and show how key ideas are handled by modern grandmasters. The emphasis is on general principles that readers will be able to use in their own games, and detailed analysis is only given where it is necessary.

Each game contains many lessons, but to guide the reader through the most important ideas in each phase of the game, the thirty games are grouped thematically into those highlighting opening, middlegame and endgame themes.

John Nunn is a grandmaster from England. He has won four individual gold medals and three team silver medals at Chess Olympiads. In the Chess World Cup of 1988/9, he finished sixth overall, ahead of several former World Champions. He is arguably the most highly acclaimed chess writer in the world, with three of his books receiving the prestigious British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award. He is principal author of the definitive one-volume openings encyclopedia, Nunn’s Chess Openings .]]> 240 John Nunn 1901983412 zed 1 chess ]]> 4.20 2001 Understanding Chess Move by Move
author: John Nunn
name: zed
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2001
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

]]> <![CDATA[Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master]]> 83337 530 Jeremy Silman 1890085103 zed 1 chess
FWIW I recall this one was of some use. ]]> 4.38 2006 Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master
author: Jeremy Silman
name: zed
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2006
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: chess
review:
I am crap at chess. I spent a lot of money on books that I thought would at least make me competitive. Nothing worked. I think these chess books will all sit in a box gathering dust and one day I might get the urge to rejoin the local club and get butchered by 12 year olds so then may have a further look. (Generic review for all half finished chess books I will never finish)

FWIW I recall this one was of some use.
]]> Black Lamb and Grey Falcon 12880 Black Lamb and Grey Falcon probes the troubled history of the Balkans, and the uneasy relationships amongst its ethnic groups. The landscape and the people of Yugoslavia are brilliantly observed as West untangles the tensions that rule the country's history as well as its daily life.]]> 1181 Rebecca West 014310490X zed 0 4.21 1941 Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
author: Rebecca West
name: zed
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1941
rating: 0
read at: 2024/08/03
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: europe, history, travel, to-read
review:
DNF. Only 100 pages in and have not got back to it for 6 months at this point. I will put this one aside for another day.
]]> The White Hotel 46087 The White Hotel is a modern classic of enduring emotional power that attempts nothing less than to reconcile the notion of individual destiny with that of historical fate.]]> 240 D.M. Thomas 0753809257 zed 0 3.86 1981 The White Hotel
author: D.M. Thomas
name: zed
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: booker-winners-and-nominated, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Long Long Way (Dunne Family #3)]]> 379087 292 Sebastian Barry 0143035096 zed 0 to-read 4.10 2005 A Long Long Way (Dunne Family #3)
author: Sebastian Barry
name: zed
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Snowdrops 9579671
A chilling story of love and moral freefall: of the corruption, by a corrupt society, of a corruptible man. It is taut, intense and has a momentum as irresistible to the reader as the moral danger that first enchants, then threatens to overwhelm, its narrator.]]> 288 A.D. Miller 1848874529 zed 0 3.28 2011 Snowdrops
author: A.D. Miller
name: zed
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> The North Water 25666046 1859. A man joins a whaling ship bound for the Arctic Circle. Having left the British Army with his reputation in tatters, Patrick Sumner has little option but to accept the position of ship's surgeon on this ill-fated voyage. But when, deep into the journey, a cabin boy is discovered brutally killed, Sumner finds himself forced to act. Soon he will face an evil even greater than he had encountered at the siege of Delhi, in the shape of Henry Drax: harpooner, murderer, monster . . .]]> 255 Ian McGuire 1627795944 zed 0 3.93 2016 The North Water
author: Ian McGuire
name: zed
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: booker-winners-and-nominated, to-read
review:

]]> Elmet 35711376 Fresh and distinctive writing from an exciting new voice in fiction, Elmet is an unforgettable novel about family, as well as a beautiful meditation on landscape.

Daniel is heading north. He is looking for someone. The simplicity of his early life with Daddy and Cathy has turned sour and fearful. They lived apart in the house that Daddy built for them with his bare hands. They foraged and hunted. When they were younger, Daniel and Cathy had gone to school. But they were not like the other children then, and they were even less like them now. Sometimes Daddy disappeared, and would return with a rage in his eyes. But when he was at home he was at peace. He told them that the little copse in Elmet was theirs alone. But that wasn't true. Local men, greedy and watchful, began to circle like vultures. All the while, the terrible violence in Daddy grew.

Atmospheric and unsettling, Elmet is a lyrical commentary on contemporary society and one family's precarious place in it, as well as an exploration of how deep the bond between father and child can go.

]]> 311 Fiona Mozley 1473660548 zed 0 3.77 2017 Elmet
author: Fiona Mozley
name: zed
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: booker-winners-and-nominated, to-read
review:

]]> Home Fire 33621427
Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Son of a powerful political figure, he has his own birthright to live up to—or defy. Is he to be a chance at love? The means of Parvaiz’s salvation? Suddenly, two families’ fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined, in this searing novel that asks: What sacrifices will we make in the name of love?

The suspenseful and heartbreaking story of an immigrant family driven to pit love against loyalty, with devastating consequences ]]> 276 Kamila Shamsie 0735217688 zed 0 4.00 2017 Home Fire
author: Kamila Shamsie
name: zed
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: booker-winners-and-nominated, to-read
review:

]]> From a Low and Quiet Sea 36339460
Lampy’s heart has been laid waste by Chloe.

John’s past torments him as he nears his end.

The refugee. The dreamer. The penitent. From war-torn Syria to small-town Ireland, three men, scarred by all they have loved and lost, are searching for some version of home. Each is drawn towards a powerful reckoning, one that will bring them together in the most unexpected of ways.]]> 192 Donal Ryan 178162030X zed 0 3.77 2018 From a Low and Quiet Sea
author: Donal Ryan
name: zed
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: booker-winners-and-nominated, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945]]> 29658 Postwar is a movable feast for lovers of history and lovers of Europe alike.

A magnificent history of postwar Europe, East and West, by arguably the subject's most esteemed historian.]]> 933 Tony Judt 0143037757 zed 5 4.36 2005 Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
author: Tony Judt
name: zed
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2016/04/04
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: history, europe, pulitzer-winners-and-nominated
review:
What an outstanding history book. Postwar probably covered the events and issues as well as I can imagine considering the massive scope of the subject. Well written, informative, thoughtful and maybe as good an attempt at being even handed as I can think of. Highly recommended.
]]> Klara and the Sun 58256542 ‘The Sun always has ways to reach us.’

From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change for ever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans.

In Klara and The Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro looks at our rapidly changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love?]]> 340 Kazuo Ishiguro 057136490X zed 0 3.72 2021 Klara and the Sun
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: zed
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, sci-fi, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale #2)]]> 50186778 The wait is over

And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light.

When the van door slammed on Offred’s future at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead for her – freedom, prison or death.

With The Testaments, the wait is over.

Margaret Atwood’s sequel picks up the story 15 years after Offred stepped into the unknown, with the explosive testaments of three female narrators from Gilead.

‘Dear Readers: Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.’ Margaret Atwood]]> 435 Margaret Atwood 1784708216 zed 0 4.24 2019 The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale #2)
author: Margaret Atwood
name: zed
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> The Underground Railroad 52387141
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.

In Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar s first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.]]> 366 Colson Whitehead 0708898408 zed 0 4.02 2016 The Underground Railroad
author: Colson Whitehead
name: zed
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, pulitzer-winners-and-nominated, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Exit West 35997419 Librarian note: Older cover edition of 9780241979068.

In a city far away, bombs and assassinations shatter lives every day. Yet, even here, hope renews itself, welling up through the rubble. Somewhere in this city, two young people are smiling, hesitating, sharing cheap cigarettes, speaking softly then boldly, falling in love.

As the violence worsens and escape feels ever more necessary, they hear rumour of mysterious black doors appearing all over the city, all over the world. To walk through a door is to find a new life – perhaps in Greece, in London, in California – and to lose the old one for ever . . .

What does it mean to leave your only home behind? Can you belong to many places at once? And when the hour comes and the door stands open before you – will you go?]]> 229 Mohsin Hamid zed 0 3.61 2017 Exit West
author: Mohsin Hamid
name: zed
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Olive Kitteridge 31350349
A penetrating, vibrant exploration of the human soul, the story of Olive Kitteridge will make you laugh, nod in recognition, wince in pain, and shed a tear or two.]]> 270 Elizabeth Strout zed 0 3.93 2008 Olive Kitteridge
author: Elizabeth Strout
name: zed
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, pulitzer-winners-and-nominated, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> The Bone Clocks 25277627 Run away, one drowsy summer's afternoon, with Holly Sykes: wayward teenager, broken-hearted rebel and unwitting pawn in a titanic, hidden conflict.

Over six decades, the consequences of a moment's impulse unfold, drawing an ordinary woman into a world far beyond her imagining. And as life in the near future turns perilous, the pledge she made to a stranger may become the key to her family's survival . . .

]]> 640 David Mitchell 0340921625 zed 5
Firstly I have not done his works any justice such has been the poor quality of my reviews on his books. There are so many reviews around here that just sparkle with imaginative ideas that I have felt I was out of my league.

This review is no different, just a hash of ideas. But I have reached the end of The Bones Clock and the one comment I should make is that it has been revelatory for me personally. I have at last understood a few themes that this wonderful storyteller has been establishing throughout his writings with the obvious one being our connectivity to one another, be that with the past, the present, the future and even mother earth itself. Mitchell’s entire oeuvre so far has been one long journey of connecting the pieces in a huge puzzle from the dawns of time to the distant future.

Yes yes the obvious I hear you say but he has given this reader some serious food for thought as to our connected “human nature” through some fine humanist/humane ideas that intermingle with the best elements of Sci Fi / fantasy, be that magical realism, Dystopian writing through to the humdrum lives of various peoples. Holly, the major character of this book, it could be argued, lead an ordinary life but had extraordinary things happen.

I have found the journey enthralling so far but I do have to reread his works from the beginning as I KNOW that I have missed many of the puzzle pieces that have been thrown at me the reader. I thought Mitchell could not match Cloud Atlas but for me he has with this magnificent thought provoking book. I am a huge admirer. I want more.]]> 3.89 2014 The Bone Clocks
author: David Mitchell
name: zed
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/29
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: david-mitchell, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
I received some excellent advice. You can read David Mitchell’s books as one off reads but it does help to start at the beginning. I took that advice and what a journey it has been.

Firstly I have not done his works any justice such has been the poor quality of my reviews on his books. There are so many reviews around here that just sparkle with imaginative ideas that I have felt I was out of my league.

This review is no different, just a hash of ideas. But I have reached the end of The Bones Clock and the one comment I should make is that it has been revelatory for me personally. I have at last understood a few themes that this wonderful storyteller has been establishing throughout his writings with the obvious one being our connectivity to one another, be that with the past, the present, the future and even mother earth itself. Mitchell’s entire oeuvre so far has been one long journey of connecting the pieces in a huge puzzle from the dawns of time to the distant future.

Yes yes the obvious I hear you say but he has given this reader some serious food for thought as to our connected “human nature” through some fine humanist/humane ideas that intermingle with the best elements of Sci Fi / fantasy, be that magical realism, Dystopian writing through to the humdrum lives of various peoples. Holly, the major character of this book, it could be argued, lead an ordinary life but had extraordinary things happen.

I have found the journey enthralling so far but I do have to reread his works from the beginning as I KNOW that I have missed many of the puzzle pieces that have been thrown at me the reader. I thought Mitchell could not match Cloud Atlas but for me he has with this magnificent thought provoking book. I am a huge admirer. I want more.
]]> <![CDATA[Bring Up the Bodies (Thomas Cromwell, #2)]]> 17899680 482 Hilary Mantel 0007315104 zed 0 4.45 2012 Bring Up the Bodies (Thomas Cromwell, #2)
author: Hilary Mantel
name: zed
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> The Sense of an Ending 12280827 154 Julian Barnes 0099564971 zed 0 3.75 2011 The Sense of an Ending
author: Julian Barnes
name: zed
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet]]> 8720194 An alternate cover edition can be found here.

Imagine a nation banishing the outside world for two centuries, crushing all vestiges of Christianity, forbidding its subjects to leave its shores on pain of death, and harbouring a deep mistrust of European ideas.]]> 560 David Mitchell 0340921587 zed 4
David Mitchell is a great story teller and a great writer. I have read his oeuvre in order and have yet to not be anything but enthralled. A damn fine book.]]> 3.96 2010 The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
author: David Mitchell
name: zed
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2019/07/23
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: david-mitchell, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
I found after finishing this terrific fiction I was looking to read about the events that this book was based on. I came away impressed that David Mitchell could turn an historical event as was a small trading depot on a man made island called Dejima in the middle of Nagasaki harbour in the late 1700’s into such an epic but subtle fiction. No Hollywood ending! Fantastic.

David Mitchell is a great story teller and a great writer. I have read his oeuvre in order and have yet to not be anything but enthralled. A damn fine book.
]]> In a Strange Room 29224932
A novel of longing and thwarted desire, rage and compassion, In a Strange Room is an extraordinary evocation of one man's search for love, and a place to call home.]]> 192 Damon Galgut 1782396292 zed 0 3.95 2010 In a Strange Room
author: Damon Galgut
name: zed
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Parrot and Olivier in America 7727256 From the two-time Booker Prize-winning an irrepressible, audacious, trenchantly funny new novel set in the 19th century and inspired in part by the life of Alexis de Tocqueville.

With dazzling exuberance and all the richness of characterization, story, and language that we have come to expect from this superlative writer, Peter Carey explores the birth of democracy, the limits of friendship and whether people really can remake themselves in a New World.

The two men at the heart of the novel couldn't be any more Olivier is the son of French aristocrats who (barely) survived the French Revolution. Parrot is the motherless son of an itinerate English printer. But when young Parrot is separated from his father (after a stupendous conflagration at a house of forgery) he runs into the powerful embrace of a one-armed marquis who will be his conduit - like it or not - into a life as closely (mis)allied with Olivier's as if they were connected by blood. And when Olivier sets sail for America - ostensibly to make a study of the American penal system, but more precisely to save his neck from the latest guillotineurs - Parrot, unable to loosen the Marquis's grip, is there as spy, scribe, comptroller, protector, foe and foil.

As the narrative unfurls, shifting between the perspectives of Olivier and Parrot, between their picaresque adventures apart and together, in love and politics, prisons and finance, homelands and brave new lands - a most unlikely friendship begins to take hold.]]> 452 Peter Carey 057125330X zed 0 3.41 2009 Parrot and Olivier in America
author: Peter Carey
name: zed
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, australia, peter-carey, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)]]> 6101138 This is an alternative cover edition for ISBN 9780007230181

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?]]> 653 Hilary Mantel zed 0 3.90 2009 Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)
author: Hilary Mantel
name: zed
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> A Case of Exploding Mangoes 2153793
Ali Shigri, Pakistan Air Force pilot and Silent Drill Commander of the Fury Squadron, is on a mission to avenge his father's suspicious death, which the government calls a suicide. Ali's target is none other than General Zia ul-Haq, dictator of Pakistan. Enlisting a rag-tag group of conspirators, including his cologne-bathed roommate, a hash-smoking American lieutenant, and a mango-besotted crow, Ali sets his elaborate plan in motion. There's only one problem: the line of would-be Zia assassins is longer than he could have possibly known.]]> 323 Mohammed Hanif 0307268071 zed 4 booker-winners-and-nominated 3.79 2008 A Case of Exploding Mangoes
author: Mohammed Hanif
name: zed
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2016/01/01
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
A mixture of the genuine historical figures, Pakistan's General Zia through to the fictitious narrator Ali Shigri the author has managed to produce a satire that, along with some genuine laugh out loud comic moments, made this a very good read that should stand the test of time.
]]> The Welsh Girl 2015240 A Richard & Judy Book Club choice

'A beautiful, ambitious novel . . . Emotionally resonant and perfectly rendered, I believed in every character, every sheep, every last blade of grass.' - Ann Patchett

In 1944, a German Jewish refugee is sent to Wales to interview Rudolf Hess; in Snowdonia, a seventeen-year-old girl, the daughter of a fiercely nationalistic shepherd, dreams of the bright lights of an English city; and in a nearby POW camp, a German soldier struggles to reconcile his surrender with his sense of honour. As their lives intersect, all three will come to question where they belong and where their loyalties lie.

Peter Ho Davies's thought-provoking and profoundly moving first novel traces a perilous wartime romance as it explores the bonds of love and duty that hold us to family, country, and ultimately our fellow man. Vividly rooted in history and landscape, THE WELSH GIRL reminds us anew of the pervasive presence of the past, and the startling intimacy of the foreign.]]> 343 Peter Ho Davies 0340938277 zed 0 3.29 2007 The Welsh Girl
author: Peter Ho Davies
name: zed
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Mister Pip 2096597
On a copper-rich tropical island shattered by war, where the teachers have fled with most everyone else, only one white man chooses to stay behind: the eccentric Mr. Watts, object of much curiosity and scorn, who sweeps out the ruined schoolhouse and begins to read to the children each day from Charles Dickens's classic Great Expectations.

So begins this rare, original story about the abiding strength that imagination, once ignited, can provide. As artillery echoes in the mountains, thirteen-year-old Matilda and her peers are riveted by the adventures of a young orphan named Pip in a city called London, a city whose contours soon become more real than their own blighted landscape. As Mr. Watts says, “A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe.” Soon come the rest of the villagers, initially threatened, finally inspired to share tales of their own that bring alive the rich mythology of their past. But in a ravaged place where even children are forced to live by their wits and daily survival is the only objective, imagination can be a dangerous thing.]]> 220 Lloyd Jones 1921145579 zed 0 3.68 2006 Mister Pip
author: Lloyd Jones
name: zed
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Black Swan Green 548474 here.

January, 1982. Thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor - covert stammerer and reluctant poet - anticipates a stultifying year in his backwater English village. But he hasn't reckoned with bullies, simmering family discord, the Falklands War, a threatened gypsy invasion and those mysterious entities known as girls. Charting thirteen months in the black hole between childhood and adolescence, this is a captivating novel, wry, painful and vibrant with the stuff of life.]]> 371 David Mitchell 0340822805 zed 4
What it proved to me is that David Mitchell is a superb author. He can tell great stories and write them with a magnificent seamlessness even when there are differing styles within the book. I am hooked and dread the day that I might be disappointed with a novel he writes.

I recall one goodreads friend telling me that I did not have to read his books in order but it did help to. I agree with that totally as his ability to weave previous characters from book to book is a joy to this reader. Considering that Black Swan Green is so radically different a novel in both style and substance than Cloud Atlas to me David Mitchell has shown a deft touch in bringing in one specific character from the past that makes for a remarkable chapter.

In the end though this coming of age story is one of the best I have read. Semi-autobiographical, I think, the full gamut of a 13 year olds emotions are to the fore and for anyone who recalls that horrible time in their life there is a lot to relate to. Schoolboy bullying, the opposite sex suddenly looming on the radar, parents have marital problems, all this and more loom large in this fine book. Some memories came flooding back that I had personally not thought of for years such was the power of this Bildungsroman.

Again though the star rating seems meaningless. This is not Cloud Atlas and David Mitchell was smart enough not to attempt another book of that density and delivery. Cloud Atlas should be remembered forever in my view. Coming of age novels are hardly new territory. Be that as it may this is one heck of a good book and recommended to anyone that likes this type of story.]]> 3.93 2006 Black Swan Green
author: David Mitchell
name: zed
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2019/07/06
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: david-mitchell, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
I find writing reviews of very popular books difficult. I know that there are creative reviews that are so good that I have to admit that I not just enjoy reading them but I find myself envious as well. This is my forth David Mitchell book. I have read them from his debut and in order and have had trouble putting forward my thoughts on them to be honest. Ghostwritten and Number9dream were for me very good. Cloud Atlas was verging on genius such was its impression on me. I thought that Black Swan Green would be a considerable let down. Was it hell!

What it proved to me is that David Mitchell is a superb author. He can tell great stories and write them with a magnificent seamlessness even when there are differing styles within the book. I am hooked and dread the day that I might be disappointed with a novel he writes.

I recall one goodreads friend telling me that I did not have to read his books in order but it did help to. I agree with that totally as his ability to weave previous characters from book to book is a joy to this reader. Considering that Black Swan Green is so radically different a novel in both style and substance than Cloud Atlas to me David Mitchell has shown a deft touch in bringing in one specific character from the past that makes for a remarkable chapter.

In the end though this coming of age story is one of the best I have read. Semi-autobiographical, I think, the full gamut of a 13 year olds emotions are to the fore and for anyone who recalls that horrible time in their life there is a lot to relate to. Schoolboy bullying, the opposite sex suddenly looming on the radar, parents have marital problems, all this and more loom large in this fine book. Some memories came flooding back that I had personally not thought of for years such was the power of this Bildungsroman.

Again though the star rating seems meaningless. This is not Cloud Atlas and David Mitchell was smart enough not to attempt another book of that density and delivery. Cloud Atlas should be remembered forever in my view. Coming of age novels are hardly new territory. Be that as it may this is one heck of a good book and recommended to anyone that likes this type of story.
]]> Never Let Me Go 102927 One of the most acclaimed novels of the 21st Century, from the Nobel Prize-winning author.

Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never Let Me Go dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of life.]]> 282 Kazuo Ishiguro 057122413X zed 0 3.86 2005 Never Let Me Go
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: zed
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> The Great Fire 900917 314 Shirley Hazzard 1844081397 zed 3 Winner of 2004 Miles Franklin Award and probably deservedly. Just not my kind of book.
]]> 3.38 2003 The Great Fire
author: Shirley Hazzard
name: zed
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2018/05/02
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: australia, miles-franklin, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
I wrote that author Shirley Hazards previous novel, The Transit of Venus, was a book “…about Love but not in the cloying way I should imagine a Mills and Boons Novel being.” This, The Great Fire, is not far removed from that statement. Where the former was for me about the “transient nature and the morality of (Love) as a weapon” this book is about Love as a power to transform after trauma, in this case the events in WW2 and family bereavement. The prose is exceptional and that is the strength of the novel as the plot is fairly thin. That has been what has surprised me in reading both of Hazards 2 novels. Surprise that I can be dragged into them when the subject would hardly be my choice generally. But in the end the skinny plot did not save me from marking down the book in a comparison with The Transit of Venus. That book is to reread to discover the hidden secrets and meanings. This one less so.
Winner of 2004 Miles Franklin Award and probably deservedly. Just not my kind of book.

]]> Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 823763
Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange.

Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.]]> 1006 Susanna Clarke zed 5
So how did I come to read this fantasy, one not like anything I recall reading before?

In early 2018 I found it in an Op Shop for a measly $2 and after reading the cover blurb it seemed interesting. Like a lot of my Op Shop purchases it was put away in a dark corner bound to become the usual distant memory, or at least I thought. As with all readers of novels I had had a vague idea to write a book, mine based on a distant relative who was involved in nonsense about being the illegitimate son of Edward VII and closer relative who was once a member of the British Magic Circle. The idea was of combining the two characters in a book about a magician confidence trickster. After a few ideas jotted down I was typical of the dreamer, no idea where to go. Magic especially. A slightly odd uncle was hardly the basis for deep knowledge on said subject. Read about it, I thought and looked as to what I had.

I recalled I had this book so last Boxing Day I began this long brick of a novel and have to say that I have found it magnificent from page one. In my opinion a truly English fantasy that I have found breathtaking in scope, wondrous in the story telling and just damn well enthralling. The atmospheric shadowy feel, the spells cast, the deviousness of some characters, the seeming naivety of others. And the footnotes! How good are they? There is also, at times, a sense of humour pervading that shines through some dark, wintry, rainy, snowy gloom. Blend all this with an alternative telling of early 18oo's English history, magic returning after a long slumber to be used in the Napoleonic wars amongst other things and I was totally dragged in. For me this was a great fantasy. I will read this author again.


So that has left me thinking that writing a novel is but a dream. Compete with this? Not on your life. I have not that type of magic in me.]]> 3.99 2004 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
author: Susanna Clarke
name: zed
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2021/02/03
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: alternate-history, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
Fantasy has not been much on my radar for many a long year, in fact I would say that I have read no pure fantasy much past my mid-twenties (shuuuush! 40 odd years ago). The obvious was Tolkien and C S Lewis in my teens but most other reading of the genre paled in comparison to the point that it was not that memorable. Sci Fi lasted longer with 카지노싸이트 Fantasy being a favourite but that too became a lost cause.

So how did I come to read this fantasy, one not like anything I recall reading before?

In early 2018 I found it in an Op Shop for a measly $2 and after reading the cover blurb it seemed interesting. Like a lot of my Op Shop purchases it was put away in a dark corner bound to become the usual distant memory, or at least I thought. As with all readers of novels I had had a vague idea to write a book, mine based on a distant relative who was involved in nonsense about being the illegitimate son of Edward VII and closer relative who was once a member of the British Magic Circle. The idea was of combining the two characters in a book about a magician confidence trickster. After a few ideas jotted down I was typical of the dreamer, no idea where to go. Magic especially. A slightly odd uncle was hardly the basis for deep knowledge on said subject. Read about it, I thought and looked as to what I had.

I recalled I had this book so last Boxing Day I began this long brick of a novel and have to say that I have found it magnificent from page one. In my opinion a truly English fantasy that I have found breathtaking in scope, wondrous in the story telling and just damn well enthralling. The atmospheric shadowy feel, the spells cast, the deviousness of some characters, the seeming naivety of others. And the footnotes! How good are they? There is also, at times, a sense of humour pervading that shines through some dark, wintry, rainy, snowy gloom. Blend all this with an alternative telling of early 18oo's English history, magic returning after a long slumber to be used in the Napoleonic wars amongst other things and I was totally dragged in. For me this was a great fantasy. I will read this author again.


So that has left me thinking that writing a novel is but a dream. Compete with this? Not on your life. I have not that type of magic in me.
]]> Cloud Atlas 13642707 Everything is connected

A postmodern visionary who is also a master of styles and genres, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Haruki Murakami, Umberto Eco, and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction that reveals how disparate people connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.

Includes a new Afterword by David Mitchell]]> 515 David Mitchell 0812984412 zed 5
Do I need to bother to use superlatives as to how good I thought this book was?

And what can I add to the gushing reviews that has not been said before?

Not much so I had better make this short then hadn’t I.

The last pages of this book are philosophical and tie up the ideas that permeate this melange of six stories that cover the very gamut of mankind’s nature from the past and into the future.

Genius!]]> 3.82 2004 Cloud Atlas
author: David Mitchell
name: zed
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2019/06/28
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: david-mitchell, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
Wow! Can I start with a Wow!? Can I add another Wow!?

Do I need to bother to use superlatives as to how good I thought this book was?

And what can I add to the gushing reviews that has not been said before?

Not much so I had better make this short then hadn’t I.

The last pages of this book are philosophical and tie up the ideas that permeate this melange of six stories that cover the very gamut of mankind’s nature from the past and into the future.

Genius!
]]> Brick Lane 117664
Nazneen keeps in touch with her sister Hasina back in the village. But the rebellious Hasina has kicked against cultural tradition and run off in a 'love marriage' with the man of her dreams. When he suddenly turns violent, she is forced into the degrading job of garment girl in a cloth factory.

Confined in her flat by tradition and family duty, Nazneen also sews furiously for a living, shut away with her buttons and linings - until the radical Karim steps unexpectedly into her life. On a background of racial conflict and tension, they embark on a love affair that forces Nazneen finally to take control of her fate.

Strikingly imagined, gracious and funny, this novel is at once epic and intimate. Exploring the role of Fate in our lives - those who accept it; those who defy it - it traces the extraordinary transformation of an Asian girl, from cautious and shy to bold and dignified woman.]]> 493 Monica Ali 0552771155 zed 4
Brick Lane has 34,500 plus ratings and over 2,300 reviews as I write so what can I add? Not much to explain the premise as many reviews do, but I can bump the rating up a little. This reader thought that this book had its faults, but by the same token the character driven story had me wanting to know the fate of the family of Nazneen and her arranged marriage husband Chanu.

Faults? A bit too long. There was also a scene towards the end when the eldest daughter, very much a youth of English background, ran away from home in reaction to the father’s decision that the family should move. Her return back into the family fold by the heroic actions of her mother were far too contrived. The end was a touch saccharine as well.

Be that as it may this is not just about fate but also about how cultures react to each other, those that can except our differences, those that can’t, how a young girl from a Bangladesh village is hurled into a life utterly alien to her and how she copes with such things she never imagined such as modernity and freedoms, the attitude of her peer group, a husband that meant well but was in between and in betwixt culturally. It was a hard book to put down.

I knew there was a film, so decided to watch that straight after finishing the read. It was very good, though it did not reach the depths of the book in terms of some of the characters. Where the film had a strength was the casting, the characters were as they should be in comparison to the book and Satish Chandra Kaushik who played the father Chanu was perfect. This is also that rare occasion I actually thought that the film offered a better outcome to the daughter running away from home. It was actually more realistic.

A good read and recommended to those that are interested in fate and the mixing of cultures.]]> 3.36 2003 Brick Lane
author: Monica Ali
name: zed
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/20
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: england, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
A book that asks about fate. The author states this very early in the read. A strange quirk of fate made me read this. I walked to the railway station and passed the neighbourhood swap library and could not resist that the front cover said that Brick Lane was a Booker nominee. Tucking it into my bag, I headed to the station and got on the train I catch to go 2 stations to my place of employment. Trouble was that no one told me that the train was to go along a spur line and head into inner city Brisbane because the signals were faulty on my line. I got the book out and began to read the first chapter. And I did not stop until I got to work 2 hours late. Fate (or maybe I just did not hear the PA announcement.)

Brick Lane has 34,500 plus ratings and over 2,300 reviews as I write so what can I add? Not much to explain the premise as many reviews do, but I can bump the rating up a little. This reader thought that this book had its faults, but by the same token the character driven story had me wanting to know the fate of the family of Nazneen and her arranged marriage husband Chanu.

Faults? A bit too long. There was also a scene towards the end when the eldest daughter, very much a youth of English background, ran away from home in reaction to the father’s decision that the family should move. Her return back into the family fold by the heroic actions of her mother were far too contrived. The end was a touch saccharine as well.

Be that as it may this is not just about fate but also about how cultures react to each other, those that can except our differences, those that can’t, how a young girl from a Bangladesh village is hurled into a life utterly alien to her and how she copes with such things she never imagined such as modernity and freedoms, the attitude of her peer group, a husband that meant well but was in between and in betwixt culturally. It was a hard book to put down.

I knew there was a film, so decided to watch that straight after finishing the read. It was very good, though it did not reach the depths of the book in terms of some of the characters. Where the film had a strength was the casting, the characters were as they should be in comparison to the book and Satish Chandra Kaushik who played the father Chanu was perfect. This is also that rare occasion I actually thought that the film offered a better outcome to the daughter running away from home. It was actually more realistic.

A good read and recommended to those that are interested in fate and the mixing of cultures.
]]> Vernon God Little 932625 WINNER OF THE 2003 WHITBREAD FIRST NOVEL PRIZE

Named as one of the 100 Best Things in the World by GQ magazine in 2003, the riotous adventures of Vernon Gregory Little in small town Texas and beachfront Mexico mark one of the most spectacular, irreverent and bizarre debuts of the 21st century so far. Its depiction of innocence and simple humanity (all seasoned with a dash of dysfunctional profanity) in an evil world is never less than astonishing. The only novel to be set in the barbecue sauce capital of Central Texas, Vernon God Little suggests that desperate times throw up the most unlikely of heroes. 'A showpiece of superb comic writing . . . Out of the detritus of a morally bankrupt society, Pierre has fashioned a work of comic art.' Sunday Telegraph 'In a just world, this ridiculously funny first novel would come free with every television set . . . Not since reading John Kennedy O'Toole's masterpiece, A Confederacy of Dunces . . . have I laughed so much or felt such sheer delight at the discovery of a wholly fresh comic voice . . . this novel reads like a modern day fairytale.' Mail on Sunday]]> 279 D.B.C. Pierre 0571216420 zed 0 3.51 2003 Vernon God Little
author: D.B.C. Pierre
name: zed
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Dirt Music 7328011 465 Tim Winton zed 0 3.70 2001 Dirt Music
author: Tim Winton
name: zed
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, australia, miles-franklin, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Family Matters 32621438 9780375703423

Nariman Vakeel, a seventy-nine-year-old Parsi widower, beset by Parkinson's disease and haunted by memories of the past, lives in a once-elegant apartment with his two middle-aged stepchildren. When his condition worsens he is forced to take up residence with Roxana, his own daughter, her husband, Yezad, and their two young sons. The effect of the new responsibility on Yezad, who is already besieged by financial worries, pushes him into a scheme of deception. This sets in motion a series of events - a great unravelling and a revelation of the family's love-torn past, that leads to the narrative's final outcome.

About the Author
Rohinton Mistry was born in 1952 and grew up in Bombay, India, where he also attended university. In 1975 he emigrated to Canada, where he began a course in English and Philosophy at the University of Toronto.

He is the author of three novels and one collection of short stories. His debut novel, Such a Long Journey (1991), won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book and the Governor General's Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was made into an acclaimed feature film in 1998. His second novel, A Fine Balance (1995), won many prestigious awards, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction and the Giller Prize, as well as being shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize. His collection of short stories, Tales from Firozsha Baag, was published in 1987.

In 2002 Faber published Mistry's third novel, Family Matters, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize as well as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. It won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize for Fiction and the Canadian Authors' Association Award.

In translation, his work has been published in twenty-nine languages. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2010.]]> 431 Rohinton Mistry zed 0 4.00 2002 Family Matters
author: Rohinton Mistry
name: zed
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, india, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Number9Dream 6820 Ghostwritten, with a work that is in its way even more ambitious. In outward form, number9dream is a Dickensian coming-of-age journey: Young dreamer Eiji Miyake, from remote rural Japan, thrust out on his own by his sister’s death and his mother’s breakdown, comes to Tokyo in pursuit of the father who abandoned him. Stumbling around this strange, awesome city, he trips over and crosses—through a hidden destiny or just monstrously bad luck—a number of its secret power centers. Suddenly, the riddle of his father’s identity becomes just one of the increasingly urgent questions Eiji must answer. Why is the line between the world of his experiences and the world of his dreams so blurry? Why do so many horrible things keep happening to him? What is it about the number 9? To answer these questions, and ultimately to come to terms with his inheritance, Eiji must somehow acquire an insight into the workings of history and fate that would be rare in anyone, much less in a boy from out of town with a price on his head and less than the cost of a Beatles disc to his name.]]> 401 David Mitchell 0812966929 zed 4 3.88 2001 Number9Dream
author: David Mitchell
name: zed
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2016/05/07
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: david-mitchell, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
If I thought the author could not follow up his debut I was mistaken. This was a cracking read, fun in fact. Chapter 4, Reclaimed Land, was sensational, an absolute hoot!!! Onwards and upwards as I read through the oeuvre of this very good author. For what it is worth Chapter 9 is a hoot as well!!! I played Lennon as I read it. And I have not read Murakami so what do I care.
]]> English Passengers 14258 462 Matthew Kneale 0140285210 zed 4
Told in the first person by a large cast with the major character’s having the most input I found myself racing along as each and every character, be they repulsive or pleasing made this plot driven book a kind of pleasure and pain. The sheer buffoonery of the English colonialist made me laugh out loud at times. On the other hand, the genocide committed on the inhabitants by the English colonialists left one aware that there is that stain on English history. English? I think some may ask. Yes English as this is the point of the story.

My favourite characters were Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley the Manx speaking captain of a smugglers ship and Peevay, the aboriginal man who plays a big part in this story. He is the voice of his peoples sad and slow death via genocide and illness. In this reader's opinion, the author Mathew Kneale has done an exceptional job of giving each and every character their own distinctive voice throughout the story told.

Recommend to both the lover of historical fiction and fact.]]> 4.05 2000 English Passengers
author: Matthew Kneale
name: zed
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/21
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: australia, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
A historical novel with some characters and incidents that are based on real life events. The author makes mention of this in an epilogue. I was also aware while reading that I was familiar with a lot of the history of the times, the mid 1800’s, in Van Diemen's Land / Tasmanian via both fact and fiction. Van Diemen's Land / Tasmanian writers of both history and novels are easily my most interesting and/or enjoyable reads in terms of Australia. This wonderful book just adds to that thought.

Told in the first person by a large cast with the major character’s having the most input I found myself racing along as each and every character, be they repulsive or pleasing made this plot driven book a kind of pleasure and pain. The sheer buffoonery of the English colonialist made me laugh out loud at times. On the other hand, the genocide committed on the inhabitants by the English colonialists left one aware that there is that stain on English history. English? I think some may ask. Yes English as this is the point of the story.

My favourite characters were Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley the Manx speaking captain of a smugglers ship and Peevay, the aboriginal man who plays a big part in this story. He is the voice of his peoples sad and slow death via genocide and illness. In this reader's opinion, the author Mathew Kneale has done an exceptional job of giving each and every character their own distinctive voice throughout the story told.

Recommend to both the lover of historical fiction and fact.
]]> Disgrace 749626 Man Booker Prize Winner (1999)

After years teaching Romantic poetry at the Technical University of Cape Town, David Lurie, middle-aged and twice divorced, has an impulsive affair with a student. The affair sours; he is denounced and summoned before a committee of inquiry. Willing to admit his guilt, but refusing to yield to pressure to repent publicly, he resigns and retreats to his daughter Lucy's isolated smallholding.

For a time, his daughter's influence and the natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life. But the balance of power in the country is shifting. He and Lucy become victims of a savage and disturbing attack which brings into relief all the faultlines in their relationship.]]> 220 J.M. Coetzee zed 0 3.77 1999 Disgrace
author: J.M. Coetzee
name: zed
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> A Fine Balance 828696 A Fine Balance is a subtle and compelling narrative about four unlikely characters who come together in circumstances no one could have foreseen soon after the government declares a 'State of Internal Emergency'. It is a breathtaking achievement: panoramic yet humane, intensely political yet rich with local detail; and, above all, compulsively readable.
--back cover]]> 614 Rohinton Mistry 0571179363 zed 4 4.40 1995 A Fine Balance
author: Rohinton Mistry
name: zed
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/13
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: india, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
Probably the most depressing novel I have ever read.
]]> Last Orders 872860 304 Graham Swift 0330345605 zed 0 3.51 1996 Last Orders
author: Graham Swift
name: zed
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> The riders 4022059 377 Tim Winton 073290790X zed 5
We are told the bitter tale of a man called Scully and his daughter Billie. Scully is desperately in love with his wife who, seemingly out of the blue, deserts him. With that event we eventually learn Scully and his wife are different. Scully is not that attractive. Hard worker that he is, Scully, is basically rustic. Unbeknownst to himself he is not part of the intellectual expatriate art set his wife is attracted to and seemingly part of. With that we get a portrait of a man out of his depth as he chases his heart and loses his mind. All this with a wise beyond her years daughter Billie in tow. Six year old Billie is seemingly unable to tell her father what happened when the mother put her on a plane and sent her to oblivion. But she has a love for her father that allows her to be dragged into his mental carnage and take him to the bitter ending that was always the only end.

The brilliance of this book is the way that the author has articulated how the mind of Scully broke down as he realised he was betrayed by what he held dear, that those he trusted where never trustworthy. The growing realisation that life can be bitter.

And The Riders? As the reader I was drawn to these ghostly characters that appear at the start and the end of Scully's journey. To me they were a metaphor for the chasers that never finds the answer.

Superb read for me personally.
]]> 3.64 1994 The riders
author: Tim Winton
name: zed
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at: 2016/06/22
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: australia, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:
The first Winton book I have read and I have come out of it massively impressed.

We are told the bitter tale of a man called Scully and his daughter Billie. Scully is desperately in love with his wife who, seemingly out of the blue, deserts him. With that event we eventually learn Scully and his wife are different. Scully is not that attractive. Hard worker that he is, Scully, is basically rustic. Unbeknownst to himself he is not part of the intellectual expatriate art set his wife is attracted to and seemingly part of. With that we get a portrait of a man out of his depth as he chases his heart and loses his mind. All this with a wise beyond her years daughter Billie in tow. Six year old Billie is seemingly unable to tell her father what happened when the mother put her on a plane and sent her to oblivion. But she has a love for her father that allows her to be dragged into his mental carnage and take him to the bitter ending that was always the only end.

The brilliance of this book is the way that the author has articulated how the mind of Scully broke down as he realised he was betrayed by what he held dear, that those he trusted where never trustworthy. The growing realisation that life can be bitter.

And The Riders? As the reader I was drawn to these ghostly characters that appear at the start and the end of Scully's journey. To me they were a metaphor for the chasers that never finds the answer.

Superb read for me personally.

]]> The Ghost Road 13453638
As World War I winds to a close, two men--Dr. William Rivers, a psychologist whose dedicated healing sends men back to the brutal front, and Billy Prior, a shell-shocked soldier determined to rejoin the final English offensive--are profounded affected by the events of the era.]]> 278 Pat Barker zed 0 3.86 1995 The Ghost Road
author: Pat Barker
name: zed
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Remembering Babylon 827326 207 David Malouf 0679749519 zed 0 3.50 1993 Remembering Babylon
author: David Malouf
name: zed
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, australia, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]> Illywhacker 7997142 608 Peter Carey 0702227625 zed 0 3.74 1985 Illywhacker
author: Peter Carey
name: zed
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/26
shelves: to-read, australia, peter-carey, booker-winners-and-nominated
review:

]]>