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Madeleine

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    Thomas Hardy

    in The Classics

    Posted

    I think Madding Crowd is probably my favourite of his books, I also read them a lot at school and then left quite a big gap before going back to them, as you say it has a mixture of tragedy and quite a bit of comedy too, and at least a happy ending, eventually!  Jude the Obscure is the most depressing though.

    Madeleine's Book Log - ongoing

    in Book Blogs - Discuss your reading!

    Posted

    Wild Fire" by Ann Cleeves - this is the last in the Shetland series of novels, which is a shame, but apparently originally it was only meant to run for 4 books, and now we have 8. Jimmy Perez and his team are called in when the local doctor's family nanny is found hanged in the barn belonging to an English family, who moved to the island for the peaceful atmosphere!. The original owner of the house also hanged himself in the same barn but there are no obvious links, especially when it becomes apparent that the nanny was murdered. As usual, it looks as if the clue could be in her past, she had a difficult upbringing and had gained a reputation for being slightly loose, and her host family seem strangely unconcerned at her tragic end. The English family are also finding it hard to settle in, and Jimmy finds himself drawn to the mother, but he has personal issues of his own to contend with. It's another solid well-written mystery, and a shame that the series is ending. 7.5/10

    Raven's Reads

    in Book Blogs - Discuss your reading!

    Posted

    I agree that she's bent the rules of time travel quite a lot (snapped them in two really!) which also annoyed me a bit as it felt a bit contrived, and sometimes I find it difficult to keep up with the various characters, but they don't pretend to be great literature and it's fairly clear from the cover blurbs that they don't take themselves too seriously - I think they're good escapist fun but agree that the comparison with Aaronovitch and Fforde is a bit lazy, as those writers are much more careful with their plots and Aaronovitch hasn't so far contradicted his story lines, I've only read the first Thursday Next book but thoroughly enjoyed it.

    Madeleine's Book Log - ongoing

    in Book Blogs - Discuss your reading!

    Posted

    The Magpie Tree by Katherine Stansfield - second in the Cornish mysteries set during the 18th century. Shilly and her companion Anna Drake are at Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor when they hear of a missing boy, supposedly abducted by two strange women who have taken up residence in the village of Trethevy. Hearing of a reward, the two would be detectives head off to see the squire, and are duly commissioned to find the boy and get rid of the women before the villagers do. The natives are hostile snd Shilly finds the trees particularly oppressive, but they soon discover that the women, who are from Germany, are probably innocent, so they have a race to not only rescue the boy, but also save the two women from being killed as witches, and find out who the true culprit is. Actually that wasn't that hard to guess, but this was an enjoyable, atmospheric mystery, very easy to read and with a hint of the supernatural and folklore thrown in. 7.5/10

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