Top 100 Continued #60 - 51
"Defrocked monks, mad professors, and wealthy eccentrics - a remarkable cast peoples Robertson Davies' brilliant spectacle of theft, perjury, murder, scholarship, and love at a modern university. Only Mr. Davies, author of Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders, could have woven together their destinies with such wit, humour and wisdom."
"Fantastic story. A classic spy novel, classic le Carré story. His third novel, after Call For The Dead and a A Murder of Quality, it features tired spy, Alec Leamas, the British Secret Services Berlin organizer, who is called home for a special mission. I won't get into too many details as there are so many interesting surprises throughout the story, that I wouldn't want to ruin the story. There is a brief role for le Carré's most famous spy, George Smiley, but the story revolves mostly around Leamas. The spy craft is interesting, the plot twisting, the story fascinating and one you will have difficulty putting down. An excellent story for those who enjoy spy dramas and also a nicely historical feel for the cold war between the West and East.. Great stuff.."
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| Beware the Hound!!! |
"The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle is one of those classic mysteries that should be on everybody's 'must-read' list. It's been made into many TV and movies, all of which have kept the story alive and fresh.
I don't know that I've read it previously; it's one of those books that I think I probably have, but maybe it's just that I've seen one or two of the adaptations. However, with all of that preamble, I'm pleased to say that I have now read and enjoyed immensely.
The story is familiar to so many people that I won't go into it in detail. Suffice it to say a family legend draws Holmes and Watson to the Dartmoor moors to try and help the heir to a family estate, one that might have been cursed by a supernatural hound. They work diligently to keep the heir alive as they try to solve the murder of the previous heir.
The nice thing about this particular Holmes' mystery is that the focus is Watson for a nice change. Holmes sends Watson ahead with Henry Baskerville, both to keep him safe and to investigate the neighbours and to try and find out more about the death / murder of Sir Charles Baskerville, Henry's uncle. Holmes stays behind to work on other cases.
It's a different way of telling a Holmes mystery, relying on Watson's correspondence to Holmes and also Watson's diary entries. But don't let that mean that there isn't lots of action because for a Holmes' mystery, there is a fair bit and the story moves along nicely and tensely. It's an interesting mystery with nice twists and turns and the ending is exciting and satisfying. One of the best Holmes' mysteries I've read so far."
"I've read before and was very happy to enjoy as much again this time. Dashiell Hammett has produced an excellent example of a hard-boiled mystery and Sam Spade is the ultimate gumshoe, staying one step ahead of trouble and playing off the baddies against each other. It's a classic mystery, turned into an excellent movie by John Huston, one of Humphrey Bogart's best movies. A great cast of characters, from Brigid O'Shaugnessy to Joel Cairo and Kasper Gutman, through his faithful, lovely secretary, Effie Perine. A story that everyone should read and marvel about."
"The African Queen by C.S. Forester might be better known for the movie based on this excellent book. I've seen this movie, starring Kate Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart many times and I'm glad to finally have finally sat down to enjoy the book.
The book was originally published in 1935 and is set during the First World War in Central Africa. I've read a fair bit about WWI but generally it's been focused on the European theater. It was interesting to read a book set in this location. Rose Sayer and her brother Samuel have been many years in Tanzania, her brother a missionary and she his assistant and house keeper. The war has come to home as they are located in German South Africa and their workers and their goods have been taken by the German Army. This has broken her brother and Kate is now on her own. She joins Charlie Allnutt, a Cockney sailor who plies the Ulanga river for a Belgian mine. Allnut is also on his own and he allows Kate to take control and agrees to head downriver to try and sink a German cruiser that plies the Lake, hindering British efforts to push the Germans out of Africa.
There are many excellent features to this story; the journey and all its trials and tribulations, the growing of Kate as a person, one who had been under the thumb of her family and brother for the first 30+ years of her life; the budding relationship between Allnutt and Kate, etc. It's a fascinating story, made more interesting because it basically features two people in close quarters. The adventure is tense, their ingenuity at solving their issues as the sail downriver.
There are key differences to the movie, especially the ending, but the book is every bit as interesting and entertaining. The development of the characters and the challenges they face and work together to resolve make it all the more interesting. I've enjoyed so many of Forester's books; he writes such varied stories, the Hornblower tales, interesting mysteries, excellent war stories and of course, this."
"Such an excellent story! My first experience with Somerset Maugham was The Razor's Edge, a book I had great difficulty putting down. The Moon and Sixpence is my second experience and I found this story much the same. It is based somewhat on the life of Paul Gauguin and follows one Charles Strickland, a London businessman, who in his '40s decides to leave his family, move to Paris and become a painter. The author of the tale meets up with Strickland throughout his time in Paris and follows him ultimately to Tahiti, where Strickland has finally found out where he belongs and what he wants to paint. Strickland is not a likeable character; he abandons his wife and children, ruins other lives during his travels. But there is something about him that draws the author in. Maugham is a wonderful story-teller, his style is clear and flows so wonderfully. He puts you in his story, you can picture the people and the locations. And the story is fascinating, a joy to read."
"Definitely a book out of my normal comfort zone, but such an excellent read. I had ideas about what to expect; a banned book, due to its rawness, explicit sexual language, but I was surprised. It's a thoughtful story of a woman, living in a marriage with a broken man; physically broken from the war, but also emotionally broken. Constance loves Clifford Chatterley anyway, cares for him, comforts him, but finds her life to be stagnant, loveless, emotionless. She meets Oliver Mellors, an other ex-soldier who now works as the game keeper on the Chatterley estate and finds herself drawn to him. The story is about their developing relationship, both emotional and sexual. I expected the sex to be graphic, raw, but other than some language, it was crafted very lovingly, very gently on the whole. The story itself is interesting, the characters as well and the interludes describing the countryside, coal mining country are also well-crafted. An excellent story and I'm glad I finally pulled the book off my shelves to read."
"A Passage to India continues my enjoyment of the stories of E.M. Forster, along with Howard's End and A Room with a View. A Passage to India offers a story of the British rule in India, the differences between the Indian nationals and the English establishment as well as even some of the differences between the Muslim and Hindu Indians. The story focuses on a young woman, Miss Quested, who has newly arrived in a small community with her escort, Mrs Moore. She is ostensibly there to see if she and Mrs Moore's son Ronnie are a fit for marriage. Miss Quested wants to see the real India and she and Mr Moore go with an Indian doctor to explore the Caves at Marabar. There is an incident at the caves which turns the community upside down, causes great turmoil for Doctor Aziz and further explores those attitudes between Indian and English. So very well - written, easy to read, thoughtful and an interesting story. Well-worth trying."
"This collection of short stories contains 4 stories by writer, Elizabeth Gaskell; The Three Eras of Libbie Marsh (1847), Lizzie Leigh (1855), The Well of Pen-Morfa (1850) and The Manchester Marriage (1858). From the introduction by Anna Walters, they were unique not only because they were written by a woman but also for the subject matter. Popular at that time were stories of the upper classes, where women chiefly looked to be married to fulfill their lives. Gaskell's stories featured women as the protagonists, women who were of the lower classes, who had to struggle to live, single mothers, seamstresses, prostitutes. The stories are hard looks at life, but at the same time, feature tenderness, love and even optimism. I loved how she crafted these tales, well-written, well-described and thoughtful. They were very much a pleasure to read as Gaskell creates such excellent pictures and characters and stories. This was my first experience with Gaskell's writing and I'm very happy that I was able to experience her talent."
"Whew, what a tome! I've been making a concerted effort the past few years to read more classics; in my mind those being books written before 1900. Thackeray published the book between 1847 - 1848 as a satire on 19th Century British society. The story basically revolves around one Becky Sharp, a conniving, wicked heroine and her dealings with various families, in her efforts to gain money and fame in England. Becky comes from a relatively poor family, her father a music teacher, her mother a French dancer, and this insecurity in her life makes her search for wealth, family (if necessary) and acceptance in society. Becky basically is a wicked woman, using anybody and everybody to achieve her aims, no matter the consequences to her or them. There are no real heroes around her, with the possible exception of Major Dobbins. The story is peopled with weak characters, weak in their personalities, not as drawn by Thackeray, mind you. Becky's husband is a gadabout, second son, a man who likes to gamble and use his friends as a way of supplementing his income. He and Becky live a life of extravagance, with no money to fund their excesses. Becky is reviled by other family members and distrusted by friends and employees and justifiably so. She also grows to hate her son; this is her husband's one redeeming feature, his love for his son. Having said that, for all his weakness, Rawdon, the husband, does love Becky until he ultimately discovers her manipulations and habits (with other men). There is so much in this story that it's difficult to capsulize in a brief review. Suffice it to say, that other than various ramblings off topic, the story is fascinating and peopled with interesting characters. Enjoy!!"
Well, there you go, some books to start your week off with. Next entry I'll be starting the top 50!!! Have a great week.
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