Bookly
The other side of the bridge / by Mary Lawson. 9/10
I really liked this book. Someone asked me why, and I’m not sure I can answer. I liked the characters. I was taken with the plot. The writing style — almost, but not quite, spare — fit with the geography.
The thirteenth tale / by Diane Setterfield. 9/10
I didn’t expect to like this book at all. As it turns out, I did, very much. A book about secrets and lies, and what being alone means. Also, sort of a mystery, though I didn’t solve it. I could have, though: the story was fair.
What came before he shot her / by Elizabeth George. 5/10
I think I am less interested in her books than I used to be. I don’t care that they killed off whatshername, but I don’t read her books for a sociological study of what she imagines inner-city London to be like. I *know* that it’s going to end in that murder, and sure, the title tells you the book is all about, so I’m not being fair, but I wasn’t so enchanted. She can still write well, though.
The book of Samson / by David Maine. 5/10
This one would have been good if the philosophy hadn’t been so heavy handed — subtlety is key, here, and integrating it into the story more instead of having it speechified. We’re not reading it to find out what happened — we *know* what happens. On the up side, Samson was a very likable psychopath.
Half life : a novel / by Shelley Jackson. 2/10
I disliked this one a lot. Some environmental something makes a lot of Siamese twins, one of them debates killing her (sleeping for many years) twin. Sounds promising, no? It isn’t.
December 23rd, 2006 at 11:47 pm
I just finished the Elizabeth George, and though I agree it was a bit much on the social-inequalities-of-London stuff, I have to admit I was sympathetic to Joel’s predicament–this little boy struggling to keep his family together–and was curious about how exactly he ended up at the shooting. I couldn’t care less about Lady What’shername’s death, but George does still tell a good story, I think.