Nigel Quinlan ( of Emerald Eye)

Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Betrayals
by Charles Palliser

read in June, 2013

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So, Father's Day - also Bloomsday, it turns out - what's a doting Dad to do? Me, I spent most of it on the porch enjoying the low clouds, the cool breeze, the distant cries of unicyclists on the Square and read Betrayals by Charles Palliser. Eventual...more So, Father's Day - also Bloomsday, it turns out - what's a doting Dad to do? Me, I spent most of it on the porch enjoying the low clouds, the cool breeze, the distant cries of unicyclists on the Square and read Betrayals by Charles Palliser. Eventually I went inside and read it some more, because the grey clouds did what grey clouds do and chased even the unicyclists away.

Betrayals was an unalloyed pleasure from first to last, and a reread at that. Since at least two of the disparate ten chapters are devoted in part to abstruse literary theory where the pleasure of reading is likened to an orgasm and reader and text can be, in assorted variations, phallic or emasculated, and in demanding answers from this book I'm being authoritatively phallic and in concealing these answers the book is being deceitfully phallic or silent and phallic or wordless and emasculated and, yes it's wall to wall phalluses at times, wrestling with phalluses, worshipping phalluses and occasionally lopping the unfortunate phalluses off. Let us ponder for a moment the similarity of phallus and fallacy. I bet Derrida liked that one.

So much for the literary theory sections, which also, it should be stated, incorporates poisonous academic rivalry, half-mad, half-depraved philosophers, murder, suicide, attempted murder and even a spot of plagiarism. This isn't even the start, that would be the obituary with the little sting in the tail, something of a theme with this book, then there's the Christie-esque tail of travellers caught in a snowstorm and some tales within tales. Mysteries, murders, betrayals, lies, confessions and a parade of the least reliable narrators this side of Pinnochio's nose, constantly betraying themselves and each other with slip-ups, omissions and general cluelessness. In fact, the only narrator prone to telling the truth is the diarist in the longest, arguably central, chapter, and he has some difficulty telling fact from fiction, and befriends someone with a tendency to blend fiction with fact.

This is a reread from me, and fortunately I remembered that you will not end this book with the mysteries solved. Some, yes, some, no, some you're not too sure of. Perhaps the text supplies you with everything you need, perhaps not, I certainly haven't worked it out yet if it does. What it is is immensely clever and fun, pastiching a variety of modern genres, satirising the worlds of academia and publishing, interrogating the divide between true crime and fictional crime as well as high art and entertainment. You'll either run a mile from this or find it the most fun you can have on a rainy Father's Bloomsday when the unicyclists are out, but if you work out who lured the old lady to her doom and why, please let me know.(less)

Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars

A Matter Of Blood (The Dog-Faced Gods #1)
by Sarah Pinborough (Goodreads Author)

read in June, 2013

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So I ordered this from my trusty local bookseller and when I picked it up she gave the blurb at the back a read, went quiet, and then said 'Jaysus Christ.' Why, yes, this is dark. It's crime dark and it's horror dark and even a touch of dystopian sci...more

Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars

We Are Here
by Michael Marshall

read in June, 2013

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A strange tribe of people who live unseen on the margins of the world, haunted by their weird and tragic relationship with particular people in the world but cut adrift and mostly insubstantial. A writer who just caught a big break. A couple working...more

Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars

A Conspiracy of Paper (Benjamin Weaver, #1)
by David Liss (Goodreads Author)

read in June, 2013

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This big, meaty historical thriller about dodgy dealings that threaten a widespread financial crisis was a bit of a revelation. Liss manages to evoke an eighteenth-century voice and mind-set while rendering both utterly readable. Dextrous plotting, d...more

Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars

The Silent Land
by Graham Joyce

read in May, 2013

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On first reading the blurb of this book I found myself wondering what on earth Graham Joyce was up to. Joyce, as original a fantasist as the literary world has to offer, seemed to be going down a fairly well-worn route, if the description of the plot...more

Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Black Opera. Mary Gentle
by Mary Gentle

read in May, 2013

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Naples, 1822. The opening night of Conrad Scalese's latest opera is a huge success and things finally seem to be looking up for the impoverished librettist. The next morning he wakes up to discover the cast, crew, director and musicians have fled or...more

Nigel made a comment on A Major Announcement Of Majoring Majority Majorness.

"That's what I said!"

Nigel is now a fan of Goodreads Author Michael Marshall Smith and Dorothy Dunnett

Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Dolly And The Nanny Bird
by Dorothy Dunnett

read in May, 2013

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I've been cataloging my books online for a few years now, but looking back it's odd that some of the writers for whom I have the greatest love barely rate a mention, due to my possibly arbitrary decision to just add books as I read them. I could expl...more I've been cataloging my books online for a few years now, but looking back it's odd that some of the writers for whom I have the greatest love barely rate a mention, due to my possibly arbitrary decision to just add books as I read them. I could explain why I do this except I can't remember and I'm sure it was a dreadfully boring reason and why the heck should anyone care? Various editions of the novels of Dorothy Dunnett take up about two whole bookshelves all by themselves, and yet this is the first of her novels to turn up on my Goodreads! This is both uninteresting and insignificant! Yet I'm noting it anyway. Anything to avoid company.

Joanna Emerson is one of Johnson Johnson's dolly birds, young women who, whatever their other qualities, tend to score high on intelligence and resourcefulness, be single and have a well-defined trade which they are rather good at, all in contrast to the casual sexism of the oh-so-seventies titles. This is Dunnett: ironies abound. Back to Joanna, highly trained nanny who, after a difficult adventure on a train in the middle of a freezing Canadian tundra, ends up employed by a rich New York couple to mind their new-born baby. Deeper agendas have conspired to bring this about, aided by the machinations of yachtman and portrait painter and freelance troubleshooter for British Intelligence, Johnson Johnson. Dodging kidnap attempts ostensibly aimed at the bawling heir, negotiating the marital difficulties of her employers and the social climbing of the family next door, Joanna provides an excellent service, provided she can survive.

These are rather light, fast, fun books, though not without their darker, sharper, sadder moments. The hero - enigmatic, surpassingly clever, deeply manipulative but hiding nasty emotional and physical scars - is cast from the same mould as Lymond, Niccolo and Thorfinn, as are the supporting characters who provide us with our not entirely reliable view of them. The Dolly books, nevertheless, can be a bit of a mixed bag, and though not the best, this is certainly one of the better ones.(less)

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Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars Betrayals by Charles Palliser read in June, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
So, Father's Day - also Bloomsday, it turns out - what's a doting Dad to do? Me, I spent most of it on the porch enjoying the low clouds, the cool breeze, the distant cries of unicyclists on the Square and read Betrayals by Charles Palliser. Eventual...more
Jun 16, 2013 04:18pm · see review
Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars A Matter Of Blood (The Dog-Faced Gods #1) by Sarah Pinborough (Goodreads Author) read in June, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
So I ordered this from my trusty local bookseller and when I picked it up she gave the blurb at the back a read, went quiet, and then said 'Jaysus Christ.' Why, yes, this is dark. It's crime dark and it's horror dark and even a touch of dystopian sci...more
Jun 15, 2013 04:51am · see review
Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars We Are Here by Michael Marshall read in June, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A strange tribe of people who live unseen on the margins of the world, haunted by their weird and tragic relationship with particular people in the world but cut adrift and mostly insubstantial. A writer who just caught a big break. A couple working...more
Jun 07, 2013 11:03am · see review
Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars A Conspiracy of Paper (Benjamin Weaver, #1) by David Liss (Goodreads Author) read in June, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This big, meaty historical thriller about dodgy dealings that threaten a widespread financial crisis was a bit of a revelation. Liss manages to evoke an eighteenth-century voice and mind-set while rendering both utterly readable. Dextrous plotting, d...more
Jun 01, 2013 02:55pm · see review
Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Silent Land by Graham Joyce read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
On first reading the blurb of this book I found myself wondering what on earth Graham Joyce was up to. Joyce, as original a fantasist as the literary world has to offer, seemed to be going down a fairly well-worn route, if the description of the plot...more
May 28, 2013 02:10pm · see review
Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars Black Opera. Mary Gentle by Mary Gentle read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Naples, 1822. The opening night of Conrad Scalese's latest opera is a huge success and things finally seem to be looking up for the impoverished librettist. The next morning he wakes up to discover the cast, crew, director and musicians have fled or...more
May 26, 2013 04:06am · see review
Nigel made a comment on A Major Announcement Of Majoring Majority Majorness. "That's what I said!"
May 16, 2013 06:29am · see blog post
Nigel is now a fan of Goodreads Author Michael Marshall Smith and Dorothy Dunnett
May 12, 2013 02:44pm · see all of Nigel's favorite authors
Nigel rated a book 5 of 5 stars Dolly And The Nanny Bird by Dorothy Dunnett read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I've been cataloging my books online for a few years now, but looking back it's odd that some of the writers for whom I have the greatest love barely rate a mention, due to my possibly arbitrary decision to just add books as I read them. I could expl...more
May 11, 2013 08:16am · see review

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11 posts
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