Miscellany – August 2008

It has been a long haul and a worthy one. In the time since the last post in July, I have read more Akunin and had the joy of reading even more wonderful books.

1. Boris Akunin's 'Erast Fandorin' series is not only intriguing, but full of literary humour and cold-blooded plotting. Beginning with The Winter Queen and going on to The Turkish Gambit, Murder on the Leviathan, The Death of Achilles and Special Assignments, I took no breaks while devouring the first five of a truly engaging sequence. The eponymous Fandorin begins as a naîve and idealistic Russian policeman who becomes a complete character, personal tragedy and all, by the end of the first book. Each of the subsequent books then employs a different approach to the crime/mystery/thriller/conspiracy constellation, each time hitting the mark with as much punch as its literary antecedents, and often with more style. Thoroughly recommended, and I will be looking out for the next few.

2. Jasper Fforde's First Among Sequels is the fifth in Thursday Next's peculiar literary adventures. This one, compared to its predecessors, is less involved with the literary world and more of a time-travel puzzle with the usual bookish humour sprinkled wildly throughout. I can't say I get very involved with Fforde's characters, which are a bit thin compared to, say, Terry Pratchett's. But that's part of the nature of this sort of comedy – a sort of polite Robert Rankin, Brit humour, kind of thing.

3. The Accidental Time Machine is another of Joe Haldeman's fine novels, but somehow not quite as complete as his more visceral early excursions. In contrast with other time-travel stories of the last fifty years, it adds very little that's new. But all major SF authors are supposed to have done time-travel, and this amusement should help Haldeman on his way to a clear status in the majors.

4. The Various, by Steve Augarde, is an unusually potent version of the 'children meet fairies living nearby' story. This doesn't quite do it justice, but apart from saying that Diana Wynne Jones's fans would probably appreciate it, I am going to wait till I've read the sequel, Celandine (already out in the stores), before I say more.

5. The fourth in the Sugawara Akitada novels by I J Parker, Island of Exiles takes the 11th century Japanese official and sleuth through his most harrowing adventure yet. The problem is that after reading Akunin's Pelagia and the Black Monk, claustrophobic islands with deadly goings-on tend to wear on one slightly. It is nevertheless a solid tale, but the hero's character development undergoes quite a bit of strain.

6. I finally got down to Susanna Clarke's The Ladies of Grace Adieu. It's an excellent collection of faerie tales, very reminiscent (as other reviewers have said) of Angela Carter's writing. But Clarke is of course an excellent proponent of the comedy of manners, and this juxtaposition leads to what I can safely call light-hearted delight. It might be called a handbook on how, and how not, to deal with the people under the hill.

So far, so good. I have a lot more lined up. But it will probably have to wait until I've written at least another 10,000 words of my dissertation. Haha.