Ted works for a secret Australian government organisation and is called in to investigate a passenger plane that has disappeared whilst in flight. The action then takes off (sorry for the pun) and it then does not take very long to finish the story. It was a believable scenario with plenty of action.
Claire G. Coleman has, again, written an engrossing work of speculative fiction that cleverly, and powerfully brings home the impact of Australian history. Not an easy read, it is awash with bodily fluids and stench, and there are long, detailed battle scenes, but the emotion is gut-wrenching, and it is intensely thought provoking about race, gender, war, and power. The WWI and Wilfred Owen references appealed specifically to me, and I love how Coleman sets up familiar situations and then turns you upside-down.
Delightful in a deliciously dark way, this is the story of a woman who returns to the town that scorned her as a child. It is full of glorious clothing, twisted characters, small town dramas, love, redemption, and revenge. A black comedy with gorgeous detail and a retro feel.
Sam and Vic meet one night when they each stand on the wrong side of a bridge railing, considering the end. Vic is an old man, a widower, and he is moved to try and help Sam. There is a great deal of darkness in this story, so many terrible things have happened to Sam, but there is light and humour in friendship, particularly Sam’s with Aggie, some loveable characters, and almost over the top good things also happen to Sam. It is a sad, moving, frustrating (I find it hard to read about young characters in bad situations, making poor choices) story about friendship, meaning, and the courage to be yourself. The audiobook was beautifully read.
Set in China during the Cultural Revolution, we follow two teenaged boys sent to a remote mountain village for reeducation. Life there is made bearable by their infatuation with a young seamstress, and their discovery of some banned novels. It’s a vivid story about coming of age during the hardships of the Cultural Revolution, and the sustaining, transformative power of literature.
A delightful little book; heartwarming and funny. Indeed, some of the weird things said make you despair for the future of humanity, but the very existence of bookshops (and libraries, of course) give hope! For fans of Shaun Bythell (this came first, and is less curmudgeonly) and all things bookish.
This is the first book in the Joe Pickett series. Joe is a game warden in Wyoming in this modern western mystery. We are introduced to his work and family, as well as the crime he has to solve, this makes me want to continue with the series and see how it all develops. This series is great for fans of the series Longmire or Walker – featuring a man who is not perfect, does things his way and has a need to find the truth.
It was wasted on me at school, but I have finally returned to this book, having loved so many others by Dickens as an adult. Beginning and ending with some of literature’s most well known sentences, it is the story of the French Revolution, told though the connections of one family. It is dark, and violent, as it must be, and though it has far fewer ridiculously named characters than I expect from Dickens, the characters are deeply endearing. It is about social justice, love, loyalty, sacrifice, and redemption, and points so beautifully to the hope of the Great Story. There were tears. I listened to the audiobook, skilfully and movingly read by Anton Lesser.
I first read, and loved, The Regeneration trilogy many years ago. Though it seems slightly perverse, WWI, between the wars, and WWII are my favourite time setting, and I particularly enjoy this story, which like most of Pat Barker’s books that I have read, is a fictional account of real people. In this case it is the work of Dr Rivers with those suffering from shell shock, including the poets, Sassoon and Owen. It is about the nature of war, and how a man must think in order to participate in it. There are some true horrors of the trenches, but it is set largely in a hospital, and the battles are of the mind. So powerful, moving, and tragic.
This has been on my TBR list for a long time and I am glad I finally got to reading it. The story begins around the outbreak of WWII and is told in the alternate voices of Bernie and Gordon. You are really taken inside the minds of these 2 characters, which at the beginning was hard to get the rhythm, but once I did the story took off. It is more than a love story, it’s a very Australian story and was at times sad, frustrating, funny and mad.
rrlreads 