false 0 34 34 true 5771899 read 0 true 2507640 currently-reading 0 true 2507639 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67375916 to: Cryptonomicon (Paperback) by Neal Stephenson
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71326992 to: Alexander: The Virtues of War (Paperback) by Steven Pressfield
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66148172 to: A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire, #4) by George R.R. Martin
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63562057 to: House of Suns (Gollancz) by Alastair Reynolds
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63561815 to: London (Paperback) by Edward Rutherfurd
This book is quite an undertaking. Its scope is vast. It tells the story of London through the lives of its inhabitants from just before the Roman invasion of Britain up to 1997. I did like this book, it is well written, interesting and mindblowingly epic. It takes the form of a series of short stories about several connected families throughout the history of the city.

There are, however a couple of things about it that bugged me. First occasionally there was a paragraph or a couple of pages of exposition that seemed out of place. Some event had occurred between one story and the next of which we needed to be made aware. This was done simply by having a short section that sounded straight out of a history textbook. I had this image of the narrator leaning back in his leather armchair giving us a knowing smile and relating these facts to me with a sigh. It spoiled the atmosphere of the stories.

Another issue I had with this book is that it was trying to do two things at once. On the one hand it was telling the stories of various specific inhabitants of London throughout history. It was also trying to indirectly give a flavour of the history of the city itself. I felt that parts of the book seemed schizophrenic as a result.

All in all though, despite the above mentioned flaws this is a great book. And at 1200 pages long it will keep you busy for a while... ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57359949 to: Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae (Paperback) by Steven Pressfield
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57359917 to: To Kill a Mockingbird (Paperback) by Harper Lee
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57359883 to: The Historian (Paperback) by Elizabeth Kostova
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57359875 to: A Tale of Two Cities (Paperback) by Charles Dickens
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57358470 to: Death and the Penguin (Paperback) by Andrei Kurkov
This is as black a comedy as I have ever read. In the bleak world of a post-soviet city, the main character writes obituaries for a newspaper and looks after his pet penguin. He becomes tangentially involved in a shady dangerous underworld. Despite the dark subject matter this book is very funny. There are some genuinely touching moments, the author cleverly evokes the mute affection of the penguin for his owner.

While the detached style of writing adds to the bleak atmosphere and adds to the humour in places, it sucked all the warmth out of those human encounters about which we were supposed to care. The protagonist's relationship with the little girl and the nanny never felt plausible or warm.

The end of the book is also rather abrupt. As is the case for this review. ]]>