Many attempts have been made to define exactly what makes us uniquely human. The use of tools? The use of language? A sense of morality? The practice of religion? But one of them has always been that humans tell stories. There is no known culture that does not possess sets of narratives which are handed […]
The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker Read More »
A man-made plague has swept the earth, but a small group survives, along with the green-eyed Crakers – a gentle species bio-engineered to replace humans. Toby, onetime member of the Gods Gardeners and expert in mushrooms and bees, is still in love with street-smart Zeb, who has an interesting past. The Crakers’ reluctant prophet, Snowman-the-Jimmy,
MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood Read More »
It’s 1948 in Los Angeles, and Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins needs to make a mortgage payment. Too bad all he has in his pocket is lint. Along comes a savior, looking like a devil and talking like a devil, but offering Easy the precious cash he needs. The man has one simple request: find the woman
Devil in a Blue Dress Read More »
Detroit is no place for virgins, or gentlemen. Walker, who is neither, follows the 50-year-old trail of a stolen manuscript across the bleak landscape of a dead city, coming face to face with the man who murdered his partner 20 years ago. Loren D. Estleman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loren_D._Estleman and http://www.lorenestleman.com/) published this in 1999. Loren D. Estleman 306
The Hours of the Virgin Read More »
When Aaron Crown is finally imprisoned for the decades-old murder of Ely Dixon, it is to Dave Robicheaux that he proclaims his innocence loudest. Dave isn’t keen to get involved, but then a filmmaker seeking to prove Crown’s innocence is murdered and the mob accuse Dave of taking a pay-off. First published by Burke (http://jamesleeburke.com/index.html)
A Portuguese bank is founded on the back of Nazi wartime deals. Over half a century later a young girl is murdered in Lisbon. It’s 1941 and Klaus Felsen, SS, arrives in Lisbon and the strangest party in history where Nazis and Allies, refugees and entrepreneurs dance to the strains of opportunism and despair. Felsen’s war
A Small Death in Lisbon Read More »
Scott Turow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Turow) gives us Rusty Sabich. He is chief deputy prosecuting attorney in a large mid-western city. His boss is in the midst of a bitter campaign for re-election. A fellow prosecuting attorney, Carolyn Polhemus, has been brutally murdered. Rusty is handling the investigation– and he needs results. Before election day. Before his illicit affair
In the fourth Dan Kavanagh (a.k.a. Julian Barnes, http://www.dankavanagh.com/index.html) novel, bisexual detective Duffy finds himself investigating a mysterious death in a country mansion. Dan Kavanagh a.k.a. Julian Barnes HarperCollins reprint paperback edition. ISBN 978-0060809539
A beautifully written study in melancholy set in a Swiss hotel by a lake. Edith Hope has gone to regain her composure on the advice of friends after an affair. Full of sly humour and rendered in delicate prose, this is a gently entertaining read for which Brookner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Brookner) won the Booker Prize of 1984. Anita
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner Read More »
