Lorna Doone By R.D. Blackmore RD Blackmore was a prolific and popular writer of novels and poetry during the mid-nineteenth century. Lorna Doone is the only one of his works to survive the test of time. Lorna Doone is a love story. Yet in choosing its subtitle, A Romance of Exmoor, the author had something …
In a House of Lies
by Ian Rankin A Review ' "Information is power, Siobhan. Cafferty didn't just bludgeon his way to the top." ' A bunch of kids find an abandoned car at the bottom of a gully in the woods. Inside is the body of former private detective Stewart Bloom. He has been handcuffed round the ankles by …
Farewell to Barcelona
The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafon translation by Lucia Graves 'Isaac sighed. “Alicia,” he said at last. “Welcome to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.” ' I [and I suspect many other readers too] have waited a long time for this book. Conceived sometime around 1998, the project Mr Zafon is pleased to …
Alice!
A look back at the life of a famous child - I haven't done any blogging for a week or two because I've been on holiday, first in the New Forest, then in Belgium and the Netherlands. Wherever I go, I can't help looking for literary connections. A few years ago, at Winchester, it was …
Norse Mythology
by Neil Gaiman 'The highest and the oldest of all the gods is Odin.' 'Thor, Odin's son, is the thunderer.' 'Loki drinks too much, and he cannot guard his words or his thoughts or his deeds when he drinks.' I came late to Neil Gaiman's fiction and have not read many of his books - …
Anaesthesia
The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Parry Occasionally, a walk through a bookshop will throw up unexpected delights. Browsing the new and bestseller shelves in my local shop recently, I was surprised to see a book entitled The Way of All Flesh. I immediately thought of Samuel Butler, and wondered why on earth his …
Tooth and Nail
by Ian Rankin A Review Like Witch Hunt, which I reviewed two days ago, Tooth and Nail is a Rankin novel from the early 1990s. This one features Inspector John Rebus, but in an unusual setting. Rebus is called to London by the Met to assist in catching the Wolfman, a serial killer responsible for …
Goodbye to Barcelona
Next Tuesday, September 18, sees the publication (at last) of the Lucia Graves English translation of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's El Laberinto de los Espiritus. The novel, The Labyrinth of Spirits in English, is the final part of the author's cycle of stories set in Barcelona, sometimes referred to as the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. …
Witch Hunt
by Ian Rankin A Review 'No spies any more. Now there were only the technicians.' Witch Hunt is an early Rankin novel which features none of his now well-known characters. Published in 1993 under Rankin's pseudonym Jack Harvey, it is not exactly a spy thriller in the sense that heroes and villains are engaged in …
The Earth is Weeping
The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West by Peter Cozzens A Review 'Although scalps were most often taken off the dead, scalping in and of itself was not intended to kill. Unless grievously wounded, victims often survived the ordeal ...' It is about two months since I put the finishing touches, …
Magda Green Books 