I'm an absolute sucker for Claire North's books. She has an almost supernatural ability to weave an intricate yet satisfying tale, all while leaving the reader hungry for more. Ithaca presents a God's-eye-view of the story of Penelope. It's a fast, furious, and feminist story which plunges us straight into the middle of the Greek melodrama. Kenamon takes his time to consider this. Penelope does …
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Ven was once a holy man, a keeper of ancient archives. It was his duty to interpret archaic texts, sorting useful knowledge from the heretical ideas of the Burning Age – a time of excess and climate disaster. For in Ven’s world, such material must be closely guarded, so that the ills that led to that cataclysmic era can never be repeated. But when the revolutionary Brotherhood approaches Ven, pr…
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Everyone has heard of the Gameshouse. But few know all its secrets. It is the place where fortunes can be made and lost though chess, backgammon – every game under the sun. But those whom fortune favours may be invited to compete in the higher league where the games played are of politics and nations, of economics and kings. It is a contest where Capture the Castle involves real castles and w…
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Theo Miller knows the value of human life to the very last penny. In the Criminal Audit Office, he assesses each crime that crosses his desk & makes sure the correct debt to society is paid. But when his ex-lover is killed, it's different. This is one death he can't let become merely an entry on a balance sheet. Because when the rich are getting away with murder, sometimes the numbers just…
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Sooner or later, death visits everyone. Before that, they meet Charlie. Charlie meets everyone - but only once. Sometimes he is sent as a courtesy, sometimes as a warning. Either way, this is going to be the most important meeting of your life. This reads almost like poetry. I absolutely adored Claire North's debut novel "The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August" so I was keen to get cracking…
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Work A light-ish week - which allowed me to concentrate on my backlog. If you're getting a reply from an email you sent last year, sorry! Actually, that's not true - since switching to Google's Inbox I've found it much easier to keep on top of things. Being able to snooze mails and mark them as done is so helpful to my workflow. My only wish is that I could organise mails by folder. Sad news…
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I like to go on holiday in order to read books. After last year's post a few people expressed surprise that I hadn't included many female authors. I felt compelled to rectify that, so I decided to read only female authors this holiday. I only had 7 days, and did quite a lot of sight-seeing, so there's only 6 entries here. Will try for a more relaxing holiday next year! First up, "Station…
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