Guest Reviewer
Soldiers of the Queen, by Stephen Manning
Reviewed on December 16, 2009
Soldiers of the Queen is something of an ambitious concept from the outset. Not only does Manning promise to cover every major conflict embarked upon by the British Army during the reign of Queen Victoria, but in order to do so he draws upon an exceedingly impressive catalogue of first-hand accounts. Using this kind of [...]
Flashforward, by Robert J. Sawyer
Reviewed on November 12, 2009
Let me begin with the spoiler alert. A serialised television adaptation of this novel has recently been aired in the United States and is currently airing in the United Kingdom (and possibly other locations). However, I do not think fans of the series will find it spoiled for them either by reading this [...]
Howards End is on the Landing, by Susan Hill
Reviewed on October 15, 2009
Too many times have I bought or borrowed a book on a friend’s recommendation, on the premise that this book – with its insipid pastels and prepubescent misty child on the cover – will thrill and amaze me. Too often, it is pure sensationalised drivel encapsulated in low grade prose. It is not that these [...]
The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood
Reviewed on October 2, 2009
“That night when the Waterless Flood began, I was waiting for my test results: they kept you locked in the Sticky Zone for weeks, in case you had something contagious”
I felt like a child opening present under the Christmas tree when I held the new Margaret Atwood in my hands, knowing full well that I [...]
Hungry City: How Food Shapes our Lives, by Carolyn Steel
Reviewed on September 30, 2009
This is not a gastro-book. Neither is it an escapist holiday page-turner about the joys of food. It’s much better than that. It is a thorough, well-researched, broad-reaching and entertaining essay about how we in Britain have come to have our current relationship with food. This relationship is carefully characterised, using a wide range of [...]
Neuromancer, by William Gibson
Reviewed on September 22, 2009
What is there still to be said about Neuromancer?
William Gibson’s startling novel is revered in certain circles as a genre-defining piece of modern literature, representing a startling glance into an all-too-possible future of ever-greater technology paralleled by ever-diminishing humanity among a growing global underclass.
Since it was first published 25 years ago, Gibson’s debut has helped [...]
Stop Me, by Richard Jay Parker
Reviewed on September 15, 2009
howdy doody
on vacation
slim, attractive dreadlocked babe with a fun sticky-out
bellybutton, likes rabbit fur
forward this email to ten friends
each of those friends must forward it to ten friends
maybe one of those friends of friends of friends will be
one of my friends
if this email ends up in my inbox within a week I wont
slit the bitchs throat
can [...]
Wounds of Honour (Empire), by Anthony Riches
Reviewed on September 8, 2009
It is always with a sense of trepidation that one approaches a new author in the field of historical fiction. When it is a genre awash with heavy-hitters like Bernard Cornwell, Conn Iggulden and Wilbur Smith there is always a sense of what is almost sympathy with the newcomer. As a reader you are hoping [...]
Orbus, by Neal Asher
Reviewed on August 28, 2009
I think a short confession is in order: Orbus is the first of Asher’s Spatterjay novels I have read. It is always an interesting experience diving into the middle of a long sequence of novels: you’re dropped into their established continuity and you have to swim or else drown in a sea of odd names, [...]
The Dangerous Book of Heroes by Conn & David Iggulden
Reviewed on August 25, 2009
I’ll be quite frank: I enjoy a rousing tale of derring-do as much as the next manly fellow. I like my heroes bristling with weapons and facial hair, preferably whilst rowing longboats and shouting ‘ho!’ a lot. So I was all set to enjoy The Dangerous Book of Heroes as a kind of guilty pleasure. [...]
The Last Patriot, by Brad Thor
Reviewed on July 29, 2009
A melange of history, religion and politics with a hefty portion of action, The Last Patriot by Brad Thor sounds like a recipe for success. Yet Thor’s seventh Scott Harvath novel, which sees the US Secret Service agent embroiled in a battle with Islamic fundamentalists in a race to uncover an antique treasure, comes across [...]
Ox-Tales: Air, by Alexander McCall Smith, Helen Fielding, Beryl Bainbridge and others
Reviewed on July 24, 2009
In an intriguing take on the ‘charity book”, Oxfam have moved beyond the comparatively obvious option of books such as recipe books, turning innovatively instead to contemporary fiction as a source of fund-raising. Oxfam has lined up an impressive group of eminent writers, chosen the four elements – Water, Air, Earth and Fire – as [...]
The Tenth Case, by Joseph Teller
Reviewed on July 10, 2009
There are few concepts that are more traditional in the literary world than the good old fashioned “who dun it?”. Indeed murder mysteries themselves cross genres from historical “it was the soldier in the castle with the pike” through to the sci-fi “it was the blue alien with the laser in the bio-contamination pod”. Similarly [...]
Ground Control: Fear and happiness in the twenty-first century city, by Anna Minton
Reviewed on July 7, 2009
Anna Minton’s short book on the modern built environment, subtitled ‘Fear and happiness in the twenty-first century city’, is a strange but interesting creature: although it hangs in the no-man’s land between serious academic study and philosophical monograph, it is never anything other than serious in its intent. The central premise is to undertake a [...]
The Good Plain Cook, by Bethan Roberts
Reviewed on July 5, 2009
When Ellen Steinberg, a wealthy American widow with Bohemian tendencies advertises for ‘a good plain cook’ to work in her country home, Kitty, keen to escape life with her sister, applies for the job (lying about her cooking abilities) and is taken on. With this simple event, inspired by a real-life incident in the life [...]
Ox-Tales: Earth, by Kate Atkinson, Rose Tremain and others
Reviewed on June 30, 2009
As the name suggests, this collection of short stories is part of a quartet named for the four Classical elements, all of them featuring work by famous writers who have effectively donated their work for Oxfam to publish. The contributions are fairly wide-ranging too, with Ian Rankin splashed on the cover next to Kate Atkinson, [...]
The Solitude of Prime Numbers, by Paulo Giordano
Reviewed on June 24, 2009
Mathematics becomes metaphor in first-time novelist Giordano’s story about the life-altering capabilities of choice and consequence.
Fever Crumb, by Philip Reeve
Reviewed on June 16, 2009
Fans of Philip Reeve are in for a treat with this imaginative ‘prequel’ to the Mortal Engines series. The book follows the adventures of the eponymous heroine, Fever Crumb, first encountered as an abandoned child being brought up by the Order of Engineers, who apply logic, rather than emotion, to their existence. Sent away to [...]
Bears of England, by Mick Jackson
Reviewed on June 14, 2009
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase ‘bears of England’? Maybe Winnie the Pooh, affable and bemused, Paddington Bear, friendly, inquisitive and always ready for a marmalade sandwich or soft-furred teddy bears, cuddly, much-loved companions of childhood. Writer Mick Jackson reaches into a far darker series of stories about bears to create this [...]
Starbucked, by Taylor Clark, and The Devil’s Cup, by Stuart Lee Allen
Reviewed on June 9, 2009
This review by James Appleby first appeared on Tastybooks.co.uk.
This is not about coffee. Nor is it about its tastes, its modern gourmet guise or its effects on us. It is about big business, and how one name came to dominate high streets throughout the world, driven by the design and determination of one man. It [...]
Late Nights on Air, by Elizabeth Hay
Reviewed on June 3, 2009
Another day, another new reviewer for Bookgeeks – so please welcome Nicola Currie!
Set in the wild frigid climes of a Canadian North on the cusp of industrial invasion, Late Nights on Air is a novel about unavoidable change, nostalgic memory and emotion rooted in time and place.
Beginning in the small northern town of Yellowknife, in [...]
An Edible History of Humanity, by Tom Standage
Reviewed on May 21, 2009
As wide-ranging as its title suggests, this book offers a broad sweep of human history – from prehistory to current times – refracted through the prism of food. Standage begins by showing how early hunter-gatherer communities, where food was shared in an egalitarian way, change with the advent of farming into unequal [...]
Doing Without Delia, by Michael Booth
Reviewed on May 5, 2009
Please give a hearty welcome to our newest reviewer, Jenny Linford. Jenny is a professional food writer, and we are sure you will enjoy her debut review…
As the title suggests, this book is Michael Booth’s autobiographical account of abandoning the TV cooks he once adored and their simple, accessible dishes in order to embrace ‘proper’ [...]
Fighting the Banana Wars and Other Fairtrade Battles, by Harriet Lamb
Reviewed on March 27, 2009
Fair Trade has been around for a few years now and for most of us has had to share voice in the public domain with the competing virtues of organic, carbon-neutral, free-range and non-GM amongst others. If you want to know what it stands for, where it started, how it’s doing and what you can do [...]
Planet Chicken: The Shameful Story of the Bird on Your Plate, by Hattie Ellis
Reviewed on February 23, 2009
To celebrate the launch of his new food books blog, Tastybooks.co.uk, James A reviews one of the least appetizing but most important reads of the year.
Planet Chicken is a well-informed look at the world of chicken farming. It takes us on a journey through the history of chickens from farm birds to their current state [...]
The Mighty Book of Boosh, by Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, illustrated by Dave Brown
Reviewed on November 25, 2008
For the latest in Bookgeeks’ occasional series of guest reviews, master of the surreal James Appleby tells us all about the The Mighty Book of Boosh, a task that he’s eminently qualified for by virtue of once having seen Noel Fielding in Wagamama.
Sorry it’s taken me so long to get this review written but Bridgette [...]
Jar of Fools, by Jason Lutes
Reviewed on October 6, 2008
Owen Priestley gets all arty in Bookgeeks’ first graphic novel review.
If anyone has heard of Jason Lutes before this UK publication of Jar Of Fools it’s probably due to his work Berlin: City of Stones. Not exactly prolific, Over the last 15 years Lutes has published a handful of graphic novels: Jar of Fools, Houdini [...]
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