August 2011 book log

[julesjones]

I actually had this ready to go two weeks ago, but I've had fun and games with medication side-effects all month and haven't felt up to posting much. You can find the detailed notes for each book by looking at LibraryThing or my blog entries for the dates noted.

74) Alexander McCall Smith -- Corduroy Mansions
Good-natured and enjoyable, but about two-thirds of the way through I found that it simply wasn't holding my interest any longer. Logged 28 August.
LibraryThing entry

75) Reginald Hill -- A Pinch of Snuff
Previously reviewed when I read it in 2006, at LiveJournal and at LibraryThing
LibraryThing entry

76) Colin Kapp -- Patterns of Chaos
This is a solid piece of 1970s space opera, with a plot on the grand scale combined with some fascinating details to flesh out the universe, and some well-realised characters. Logged 3 September.
LibraryThing entry

77) Bernard Knight -- the Witch Hunter
The eighth in a crime fiction series set in the twelfth century, following the cases of Crowner John, a knight who has been appointed as the first coroner of Devon by Richard the Lionheart. This was the first I'd read, and will be the last even though I have another in the TBR pile, because it was a Did Not Finish for me. Logged 3 September.
LibraryThing entry

78) Jacqueline Rayner -- Doctor Who: The Stone Rose
Seventh of the tie-in novels to go with New Who, and the first featuring the Tenth Doctor. Logged 11 September.
LibraryThing entry

79) Pati Nagle - Pet Noir
Short fix-up novel about a genetically engineered cat whose creation is commissioned by the security chief of a large space station. The chief wants an undercover agent who'll be overlooked by criminals who might be suspicious of humanoids. Reviewed for LibraryThing Early Reviewers on September 11.
LibraryThing entry

Comments

[green_knight]

I've just read the No1 Ladies Detective Agency, and found it an interesting experience - it's a very quiet book, and I'm not particularly encouraged to go out and buy another. I picked it up and put it down several times, and part of the problem was that it was too episodic - was Corduroy Mansions simiilar to that?

[julesjones]

Corduroy Mansions was similarly episodic, but even more so. And where No1 left me always wanting to read the next chapter to find out what happened next, I eventually felt that there would be no resolution of any of the storylines in CM, and thus couldn't see any point in continuing to read it. The No1 books I've read so far always left me feeling that there would be closure by the end of the book, rather than the plotlines drifting off into nothing. The other thing is that there is a much stronger sense of place in the Botswanan stories, at least for me.

Cat63 also recently posted a review of one of the No1 books which notes that the No1 series works better than his other series: http://cat63.livejournal.com/401426.html