Miscellany – December 2008 Bonus Issue

And so it came to pass that I found myself with rather a lot more time than I once thought I had, and hence was able to read a lot more books than I thought I had. Here, then, is an account of the December bonus reading.

1. The Gervase Fen novels by Edmund Crispin that I mentioned in the previous post are every bit as entertaining as I thought. They partake of the same old-school charm as Margery Allingham, Dorothy Sayers, and M R James possess. They are also considerably more mischievous, as I can testify to after having read Holy Disorders (about shenanigans in a small cathedral town and undead priests, sort of), and Love Lies Bleeding (about the perils of school romances and hiding out in the school laboratory at night, among other things). Recommended for those who like old-fashioned slow-paced thinking detective novels with a minimum of procedure and a fair amount of literary farce.

2. Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book is a haunting, sweet, inventive tale of a boy named Nobody and his unusual upbringing and destiny. It reminds me a little of Peter Beagle's A Fine and Private Place, which has much the same quality of writing. It also reminds me of Roger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October. These two similarities do not give away any of the unusual and heart-breaking plot. It is a fine read, a wonderful adventure, and one that you would encourage your friends to read, simply because they are your friends.

3. The Ghost by Robert Harris is what I call a 'light' thriller. It is serious stuff, and it is a conspiracy novel involving the highest levels of government and a secret that people have to die for. But it is tightly plotted, shortish, easily-written. It can be devoured on a day at the beach, and is probably designed for that purpose. You can enjoy it without thinking too much.

4. Meanwhile, Harry Turtledove has been at it again. Opening Atlantis is his first salvo in yet another barrage of alternative history. This time, geology run amuck has split part of the eastern seaboard of what we would call North America and left it in the mid-Atlantic. This alternative world thus has a ready-made Atlantis, and it is duly colonised by Europeans. Contention, strife, and piracy ensue, to everyone's entertainment. Classic Turtledove, but as usual a bit heavy.

5. Oscar Wilde sees a return at the hands of Giles Brandreth, whose Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders must surely rank as one of the best literary murder mysteries of all time. The mixture contains a stiff dose of Arthur Conan Doyle, who was actually a friend of Wilde, and Robert Sherard, Wilde's confidant and friend. All the sordid bits of the Victorian Age are on display, as well as the glorious elegance and eccentricity. Highly recommended for those who like such things.

6. Greg Rucka's Patriot Acts is the sixth Atticus Kodiak novel. Atticus is a former bodyguard who was good but not great. Like Child's Jack Reacher, he is a man with a code of conduct and the nerve to follow it most of the time. But he is not as much a superman as Reacher is, and when his friend and sometime lover (whom we've followed for five books) is killed in this book, we feel for him. The reason for the killing and the form of revenge are what hold this book together; it isn't a bad read, but not as tightly woven as other Rucka offerings.

7. Actually, Diana Wynne Jones's House of Many Ways, the latest of the infamous Howl novels, has a much more interesting plot. Like most of her other work, it tends to be over-inventive, leaving the reader gasping at times. But it is a well-told tale, with many delightful touches and a lot of great fantasy writing.

8. Jonathan Barnes's The Domino Men is typical Brit humour. I suppose it could be conspiracy horror science fiction like some of the stuff by Robert Rankin, but it is a lot more subtle in its more shocking aspects, and the plotting owes more to Tom Holt than to Terry Pratchett. Well, at last you will know the secret of the Windsors and why Londoners behave the way they do.

9. Finally, I just finished Scott Adams's Positive Attitude, the 29th Dilbert collection. As usual, it reminds me of the workplaces many of us have known, and some of the delightful (yes, all in full colour now!) cartoons capture exactly the spirit of working in an anti-intellectual hellhole while kept alive only by wit and creativity. Amazing.

And that's it for the month just gone! My 'unread' stack still has about 30 books in it, maybe more. But I shall not be discouraged.