Literary Brooding

The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan Paperback , 551 pages Published October 12th 2010 by Puffin   I listened to the Percy Jackson books I enjoyed the stories and how Riordan had created a believable world. I thought it would be good to actually read the next in the series. Thus allowing the characters develop in my imagination. It is pretty clear that this series is set in the world of Percy Jackson (PJ) as it is boldly printed on the front cover.   This serves as a warning that if you are thinking this is all Percy and Annabeth then you will be disappointed. Riordan has introduced three new heroes into the series and they have their own quest. You are offered the hope that the series will eventually link into the Percy Jackson story. The book starts off at a cracking pace, with Jason waking up on the back of a school bus having no idea what he is doing there or who he is. Jason is holding the hand of Piper, she believes they are boyfrien...

The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith Sphere, June 2014, 464 pages  Novelist Owen Quine has gone missing and his wife wants Cormoran Strike to bring him home. She does not want to go the Police as Quine has a habit of disappearing and she is not sure they will take her seriously. As Strike begins his investigation he discovers that Quine’s latest manuscript is a thinly veiled disguised attack on publishing elites and if the novel was made public lives and careers would be ruined.  That is the mystery part of the novel and it is gripping. There are twists and turns, clues and red herrings cleverly placed throughout the novel. You really want to know who done it. Yet there is a second level in this novel that works better, in my opinion than the mystery and that is the character of Cormoran Strike and his relationships with those around him. Cormoran is real to the reader and you really do connect with him. What Galbraith (Rowling) is very good at is relationship building betwee...

Dawn's Early Light A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris Ace Books, New York, 2014, 374 pages I have long been a fan of this series and have immersed myself into the world by downloading the podcasts as well. Yet I was somewhat disappointed by this book and that was a real surprise. Our intrepid heroes Eliza Braun and Wellington Books are out of the archives and in the field. They are let loose on the unsuspecting Americans and that makes for lots of fun. There is some unresolved sexual tension being carried over from the last book between Books and Braun but if you have not read the Janus Affair, do not panic, this book does stand alone. Assisting Braun and Books are two American agents Felicity Lovelace and 'Wild Bill' Wheatley and they add some extra dynamics into the story. The action is thick and fast, plenty of humour and an array of gadgets are used. I mean you have to love a gun that has a setting called ‘pub brawl’.  The ...

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion Text Publishing, 2013, 229 pages I read this book in a night and I have to say I really have mixed feelings about it. On one hand this is a funny novel about a guy Don Tillman who does not know that he suffers Asperger’s Syndrome. His life is about routine, efficiency, and black and white interpretation. Don decides that to find a suitable partner requires devising a questionnaire that will identify the best candidate. What throws a spanner in the works is Rosie Jarman who is the antithesis of everything he wants in a partner. What follows is the hilarity of the romantic chase and it is funny. Then you have a ‘but’ moment and that comes when you realise that people are laughing at Don. That all this humour is because of his affliction and that sits uncomfortably with me.  As you realise that as a reader you are laughing at a person with Asperger’s and the methods they use to try and live a normal as possible life.  That is when you feel...

The Lieutenant - Kate Grenville  Canongate, 2010 pages 307 Kate Grenville returns to the establishment of New South Wales in this wonderful novel that explores the relationship between Lieutenant Daniel Rooke and the Indigenous people. We follow Rooke as a child in England as he tries to come to terms with being gifted but believing that he is stupid and then as he commences his career in the military. Rooke establishes himself as a loner and a man who is extremely curious. Grenville has taken a historical fact and turned into a work of fiction. The story really works as she explores the different approaches in trying to engage the indigenous people. The relationship between Rooke and Tagaran is the central story and it is beautifully realised. There first interaction is wonderful and you do feel like you are intruding in a way. As their friendship develops so does their curiosity about each other. How they both live, socialise and the exploration of their differences. ...

Josephine Tey  - Brat Farrar Arrow Books, 2009, 275 pages I had read on some website somewhere that Tey’s Brat Farrar was one of those novels you had to read. Never having heard of Tey I was curious to find out why this novel was so beloved. I cannot say I consider it one of the great classics but there is a certain charm and elegance about the novel that makes it very endearing. Brat Farrar at 21 years of age has an uncanny resemblance to missing thirteen year old Patrick Ashby. Brat having been coached by a family friend in the mannerisms and Ashby family, he begins his deceit to become Patrick and inherit a good deal of money. As you read this novel, you have this real feeling that you are in the story, that you are standing next to Brat as he becomes more involved in the family. Tey is wonderful at establishing the scene and then taking you on this wonderful journey. I mean it becomes pretty obvious what has happened to Patrick but that does not matter as you are with Br...

The Bone Season Samantha Shannon Bloomsbury Publishing, 467 pages It is the year 2059 and Paige Mahoney is part of London's underworld using her 'unnatural powers' to acquire information for her employer Jaxon Hall. The problem is the powers she uses are outlawed and another race of people the Rephaite covet these skills. Paige is captured, taken to the Rephaite headquarters and commences her training under the Warden Arcturus. It is here that she learns more about her powers and a hint of the conspiracies that are all around her.  This was a mixed novel to read. The world is interesting, the ideas behind are well thought out but they do not come across on the page. I mean you have an enormous amount of information thrown at you but it was too much. It needed to be teased out through the story as it became relevant. There were so many big themes in this first novel that you are left reeling from an overload of information.  With so much thrown at you it becomes har...

London's Underworld edited by Peter Quennell by Henry Mayhew Being selections from 'those that will not work' the fourth volume of 'London labour and the London poor.'  Spring Books, London   This is a gem of a book as it is a good source material of social history of London's Underworld around the 1850s. Henry Mayhew while proclaiming to be objective is not that all, he certainly comes in with 'an holier than thou attitude' about the profession that 'these' people undertake. He goes through an extensive analysis of prostitution, he categorises the levels of engagement that women participate. For example Mayhew defines one class as 'female operatives' who can be milliners, dress makers, furriers, shoe-binders who only partake in prostitution to fund their extravagant life style or their own sexual gratification. In other classes of prostitution he reasons that some women undertake this type of work in the hope of finding a husban...

The Thirteenth Tale  Diane Setterfield Orion Publishing 2006 408 pages Not really sure what I thought about this book. I knew there was a lot of hype and I am not sure why.  This is a story about two women, Margaret a part time biographer who works selling books in her father's store and Vida Winter a famous novelist. Vida wants to tell the true story of her life and has requested Margaret to be the writer. What unfolds is a mystery with a gothic feel and a story of lies, truth and stories. There is some humour in the book, I liked when the Doctor prescribed Sherlock Holmes as a cure to reading too much Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights etc. I find the story predictable, the direction obvious and was able to figure it all out fairly quickly. Vida Winter is a wonderful character as she reveals the truth. You understand why she needs to divulge the secrets she holds. On the other hand  I was not wholly convinced by Margaret. I just found her not as well developed and ...