The White Ship by Charles Spencer, William Collins Publishing, 2020 – Even if you slumbered through your English history lessons, you might vaguely remember 1066 as the momentous year when the Normans under William the Conqueror squashed the Anglo-Saxons at the battle of Hastings and took control of the country. The next date to jog …
DOESN’T PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS
What went wrong? The troops were promised a leisurely drive down the highway to the capital. The roads were supposed to be lined with happy U-Crane peasants cheering, throwing flowers and blowing kisses. The U-Crane Prez, Voldmort Z was going to throw his hands in the air and flee the country. Those in the west …
STORYTELLER – THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF ROALD DAHL
Storyteller – The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl by Donald Sturrock, Harper Press, 2010 – Roald Dahl once boasted that children all over the world would invite him into their houses for a cup of tea. With 250 million copies of his books sold, he remains one of the best selling children’s authors in the …
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JANE AUSTEN’S EMMA IN THE MOVIES
Jane Austen’s Emma – 1996 & 2020 After ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Emma’ is possibly the most popular of Jane Austen’s novels and there have been several cinematic versions for those who enjoy viewing to reading. If you’re like my DDD and dismiss Austen as a novelist whose sole preoccupation is having her characters married off, …
ALL SYSTEMS RED BY MARTHA WELLS
All Systems Red by Martha Wells – Doherty Assoc. publishing 2017 - Take a standard old school sci-fi setting and add robots that have human components. If you remember the Asimov ‘rules’ about robots, you’ll be expecting something in the circuitry that prevents them from running amok and killing all the ‘lesser’ beings that cross …
HOUNDED BY KEVIN NEARNE
Hounded by Kevin Nearne (The Iron Druid Chronicles), Del Ray, 2011 - I am now nearing the end of my Christmas gift reading and have drifted back into the third of my DDD’s fantasy book gifts. It’s interesting to compare older fantasy to the contemporary scene. Older fantasy classics often had ‘normal’ people encountering magical …
THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, Random House 2010 - It’s odd how the differences between one’s children manifest themselves. Each Christmas, for instance, I receive books from my DDD (dearest darling daughter) and my NOS (number one son). My DDD is attracted to fiction, especially fantasy, while my NOS is clearly …
PIRANESI BY SUSANNA CLARKE
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke – Bloomsbury publishing, 2020 - Piranesi is the second in my Dearest Darling Daughter’s (DDD) choices, and by far the oddest and most interesting of the Christmas gift books this year. CBS says it’s ‘Destined to become a work of classic fantasy’ and it was given glowing praise by sources as …
THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee – Scribners, 2010 - For those who prefer non-fiction, this book is a winner. Described as a ‘biography of cancer’ it is, indeed, a history of the disease and a chronicle of those who have worked to cure the world of this scourge. References to the disease …
THE BEEKEEPER OF ALLEPO
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri, Ballantine Books, 2020 - Ms. Lefteri is currently a lecturer in creative writing at Brunel University in the UK. Her parents fled Cyprus during the 1974 Turkish invasion of the island and, during a period in 2016, she became a volunteer worker at a UNICEF-supported refugee center in …
Richard's Left Bank 