Friday, June 26, 2015

good books

The Children Act by Ian Mcewan, 2014. Very good writer... none of the characters are very likable but they are believable. Story is pretty grim. Obvioulsy well researched, the role of a judge in the kind of cases she deals with. Good book.

Finished Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Very good book, very hard to keep going through the POW camp, but worth it. No black nor white, war is insane and leaves horrendous scars.

Tried to find a light mystery to read after these, but Adrian McKinty's Michael Forsythe books are full of gore! Am not going to continue with them. Dead I Well May Be

So have started another heavy going book, Where all Light Tends to Go, by David Joy, 2015. Another great writer - southern US. Suspect it's not going to end well for his criminal characters.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

tough to read books

Finished John Valiant's novel, The Jaguar's Children, 2015. It's very good but so hard to read because the transient Mexican's are soldered into a water truck and stuck there for the whole book. It's such a relief when the main character tells all his stories about what happened before that truck but you don't find out til the very end what happens. Well written book, timely issues; genetically modified corn, corrupt govennments, poverty, bad government laws, criminals.

Started the Booker winner by Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, 2014. Hard to take as well, as prisoners are abused and killed building the impossible Burma railway. Good writing, will probably keep going.

Really liked Helen Macdonald's H is for Hawk, 2015. It is truely about Mabel the hawk but about so much more. Intersting to learn about goshawks historically and now in the UK, well researched. But more interesting to read about how the training of Mabel helped Helen recover.