by Ian Rankin First published in 1990, this novel was judged by the author himself to be a flop. Now that Ian Rankin has made his name, principally as a writer of classic detective stories, he has judged it suitable for reissue (or his publishers have). Westwind is essentially a what-if spy story. Although the …
Category: Books
The Art of Dying
by Ambrose Parry A Review 'The Reverend struck me again ...... It was what happened when you ate filth.' The Art of Dying reacquaints the reader with Dr Will Raven and Sarah Fisher, protagonists of Ambrose Parry's first novel, The Way of All Flesh. Now fully qualified, Raven returns to Edinburgh from a study tour …
Family Secrets
I first published this article on line about four years ago. Whilst my relationship to the real life characters mentioned is tenuous after so many generations, the story may appeal to any new readers with an interest in history and classical literature. The Story of the Lee Penny Truth, Myth and Fiction ‘ “Stay, let …
The Family
by Louise Jensen A Review 'I am still wrestling to be free as I am dragged, my feet scraping the ground, but I'm losing the fight ..... I know they'll never let us leave here now. Not alive anyway.' Not to be confused with Mario Puzo's splendid novel with the same title, Louise Jensen's fifth …
Forthcoming Reviews
It seems ages since I last wrote on WordPress. I had to take some time off to deal with important domestic matters and - just as important - to have a holiday! I'm back now, and with lots of great books to read and review. Here are some of the novels and non fiction works …
The Order of Time
by Carlo Rovelli A Review 'Things are transformed one into another according to necessity, and render justice to one another according to the order of time.' [Anaximander c. 570 BCE] This delightful little book makes us look again at many of the concepts we take for granted. In childhood, we learn to think of reality …
Brave New World Postscript
Further Thoughts on Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan Sometimes you just have to read bits of a novel again. Machines Like Me is that kind of novel. (reviewed here) I mused for a long time over the title. What does it mean? Is it a reflection of the fact that we humans, just like …
Brave New World
Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan A Review 'We create a machine with intelligence and self-awareness and push it out into our imperfect world ..... such a mind soon finds itself in a hurricane of contradiction. We may be confronting a boundary condition.' I was delighted to learn in yesterday's news that a portrait of …
To a Lighthouse?
Harbour by John Ajvide Lindqvist ‘The sea has given and the sea has taken away.’ Harbour is Lindqvist’s third supernatural novel. This one is set on the fictional island of Domaro in the Swedish archipelago, where Anders and Cecilia have a holiday cottage. One winter day, the couple set out with their six-year-old daughter Maja …
A Matter of Time
The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov The possibility that we might visit our planet’s history – and maybe influence it – is the most tantalising of all fantasies. Perhaps, instead, we might travel into the future and, as observers, discover whether our descendants are still reading books, or watching films. What new mythologies can …
