tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56273692024-02-19T02:44:27.658+00:00Deborama's Book Reviews and StoreIn association with Amazon.co.uk.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-10192517196392057322013-06-27T00:20:00.000+01:002014-01-28T03:24:25.226+00:00Nordic Noir
I have been on a Nordic Noir kick ever since the British Wallander debuted on the BBC, which led me to the Swedish Wallander, which I liked better, which led me to the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and it just sort of went on from there. HÃ¥kan Nesser is Swedish but I think his main character, Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, is of some indeterminate northern European country, which could be Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-31681564364384926172011-12-14T13:14:00.002+00:002011-12-14T13:23:25.550+00:00The Polish OfficerWell, it's not often I review and blog a book I have only read one chapter of. In fact, it's not often I review and blog books at all anymore. And maybe I am more jetlagged and culture-shocked than I thought I was, or maybe it really was that good. I just read the first chapter of The Polish Officer by Alan Furst, entitled The Pilawa Local. I was in tears. It made me wish I was Polish. And Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-71950313247108538332011-11-28T19:31:00.001+00:002011-11-28T19:33:18.060+00:00A book list after my own heartI found this list of the top 100 books for permaculture and sustainable living. I have only heard of about 10 of them and don't own a single one. Sounds like a project!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-73224176392554858992011-09-08T15:02:00.005+01:002011-09-08T15:18:10.146+01:00Why Marx was right, and why Lenin was not a monsterTwo book reviews in one article of the Guardian are paired because each offers a fresh look at figures the authors claim are vilified unfairly : Marx and Lenin. Terry Eagleton's book, Why Marx Was Right, uses a structural device of basing each chapter around an "accepted" rationale for the rejection of Marx and then refuting that rationale in the light of history and economics. Lars T. Lih's Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-59539606499758826002011-08-28T03:04:00.006+01:002011-09-04T02:00:15.695+01:00Four books that may save your life
I am going to do another of these Deborama's Books specials where I review a set of books that seem to me to speak to each other. Normally, it just happens that I read two books simultaneously, or almost simultaneously, that happen to address the same or very similar issues. In this case, I read these books at widely distant times, and only when I read the latest one, A Visit From the Goon Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-34428242054636362572011-06-14T10:44:00.004+01:002011-06-14T16:07:43.516+01:00Paignton, bookshops and various booksI am blogging to you from the little seaside town of Paignton on the south coast of Devon. Originally my purpose in coming here was to look at a bookshop coming up for sale, the award-winning Torbay Bookshop in "beautiful dowtown Paignton". After my trip was booked, but before it occurred, my husband and I came to the inevitable conclusion that as much as I would love to run a bookshop, as muchUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-33426414445560018802010-04-18T12:21:00.013+01:002010-04-18T22:18:33.247+01:00Things I have read in the past couple of years, and things I want to readTo see some things I want to read, you can view my Amazon UK wish list. To see another wish list and some of my Bookcrossing activity, check out my bookshelf.Here are some highlights of books I have read in the past two years, when the tension-levels chez Deborama have been very high and consequently little or no blogging was happening. The thing that stands out most, which was so excellent and Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-36733187736103328882010-04-04T14:25:00.009+01:002010-04-04T15:06:20.930+01:00What I am reading nowI have been patiently waiting for this to come out in paperback and there it was, at the local W. H. Smith's when I stopped in for a paper on my post-workout ramble. So now I'm reading it. I could have read it months ago if it weren't for the fact that a) I hate reading hardbacks (too heavy) and b) when I decide to own a set like this (the Millenium trilogy) I want them to be the same format. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-23820363876060727632010-01-17T11:53:00.007+00:002010-01-17T12:13:39.508+00:00Some books I have read and want to readHere, in no particular order, are some good books I have read recently (in the past two and a half years, that is.)The March, by E. L. DoctorowHow I Live Now, by Meg RosoffMeanwhile, the books I have been planning to read can be found on wish list at Amazon.co.uk. Also my "tbr" list at Bookcrossing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-67842630452342559382010-01-15T23:06:00.010+00:002010-01-16T15:22:38.965+00:00Life of the World to Come vs. Thirty Bob a Week; a litcrit ThrowdownI have been listening to the most recent Mountain Goats album, Life of the World to Come. My son Carey turned me on to this excellent group, with its poetic, often cryptic lyrics by the singer songwriter and leader John Darnielle. For some reason, I have noticed an influence, a precursor, very unlikely, and I doubt JD is even aware of this poet from over 100 years ago - John Davidson.(I should Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-5043353858459674232008-07-27T22:02:00.003+01:002008-11-13T05:13:09.892+00:00Janis Ian AutobiographyCovered by NPR, Janis Ian has written an autobiography, Society's Child.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-80378956554736512752007-02-24T14:44:00.000+00:002007-02-24T14:55:56.176+00:00Greatest Living Author? I don't think so . . .The Guardian found out how touchy some people can be when one of its stories referred to Martin Amis as "perhaps Britain's greatest living author." Obviously, there are plenty of people out there who think Martin Amis is pretty crap, and some of them are literature lovers. After digging out from under all the indignant e-mail and letters, the paper ran an article discussing who is Britain's GLAUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-66570966218370802282007-02-11T16:23:00.000+00:002007-02-11T17:31:44.518+00:00Books that will change the way you look at ChristianityI found a brief article on the About.com website, which I usually use to find recipes rather than enlightenment, about a list of books on a topic dear to my soul, the history of Christianity and how the gnostics, Jewish "Christians" and others were suppressed by those more politically powerful, a story that is basically about how the religion we now know as Christianity came about. Here are the Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1115048773873614712005-05-02T14:16:00.000+01:002006-12-23T12:58:58.030+00:00The Lady Di of her dayI read Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire while I was in Portland last year. This is a very rich book, and it is better than the average popular historical biography on several levels. Many contemporary books on "scholarly" subjects, such as history or science, are immensely "dumbed down" to the point that an average layperson such as me, who is college educated but not by any means an academicUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1115039336971083312005-05-02T13:29:00.000+01:002006-12-23T12:52:49.229+00:00A pair of novels with a common threadI have this weird habit of reading two novels, either close together in time or sometimes even at the same time, that share a theme or otherwise speak to each other in some way. A little less than a year ago, I did it again. I read Vernon God Little, by D. B. C. Pierre, just a week or so after reading Hey, Nostradamus, by Douglas Coupland. Both of these are black comedies (of a sort), told (Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1112029544456655192005-03-28T17:58:00.000+01:002006-12-23T12:54:33.867+00:00Fingersmith on the BBCThe BBC is showing an excellent dramatisation of Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters, which I reviewed earlier. Especially if you did not read the book, you must see this if you like a brooding romance and several wicked plot twists. Or if you just like what passed for hot lesbian action in the mid-Victorian period. Having read the book, I know what's coming and it makes a huge difference in the Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1110401756565797092005-03-09T20:55:00.000+00:002006-12-23T12:55:16.037+00:00Trudeau's tribute to the inspiration behind Uncle DukeDoonesbury is running a little series featuring Duke (now an American warlord in Iraq) in an existential yet surrealist tribute to the good doctor, aka Mr. Fear and Loathing, aka Hunter S. Thompson.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1107979441988210032005-02-09T19:53:00.000+00:002006-12-23T12:56:08.332+00:00Dashiell HammettWhile I am waiting for that blast of either energy or inspiration to do my backlog of book reviews, I thought I would post a link to this excellent article about Dashiell Hammett from the San Francisco Gate. As you can probably tell from my choice of reading, I love detective stories, mysteries and crime writing. I am unusual in a way in that I almost equally like the sub-genres of the genre, Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1104776527091170482005-01-03T18:22:00.000+00:002006-12-23T12:56:44.558+00:00The man behind "The Polar Express"The Minneapolis Star-Tribune book section had this interview with Chris Van Allsburg, the man behind "The Polar Express". I remember seeing this beautiful book in Dayton's around Christmas time either 1985 or 1986. I don't know why I didn't buy it for my son; maybe he had decreed "don't buy me any more books" (always quite possible when you are dealing with me, seeing as how I have about a 95% Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1102243095897440592004-12-05T10:37:00.000+00:002014-01-28T03:27:22.090+00:00Soul of a ButterflyThis morning I read a book review for a biography/autobiography of Muhammad Ali from the Times Online Books mailing list. Sometimes, a really good review is almost as good as the book itself. This review was excellent, and is the sort of thing I aspire to in my book reviews. Reviews of books that the reviewer didn't enjoy are rarely good, only when the reviewer is good with corrosive sarcasm and Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1101551808709510192004-11-27T10:36:00.000+00:002014-01-28T03:23:57.709+00:00Blogkeeping and my life(A little late with the cross-post; I've been sick.)
As badly as I have been neglecting this blog, I have been even worse at my book review and bookstore blog and at Deborama's Kitchen, my food and food politics blog. So I am cross-posting this at both, because I have been a) actively reading and planning, bursting even, to review a couple of books, and b) I have some cookie recipes to post and Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1089742894035160132004-07-13T19:18:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:01:46.013+00:00Book Collector softwareI just found out about this - Book Collector - at the blog Unlearned Hand. He has created a book blog using the software, and incorporating his "new lifetime reading plan". Both of which are great ideas which I may very well steal. This blog is cross-posted at Deborama.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1088886939824818192004-07-03T21:32:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:00:50.499+00:00Be afraid of what's not on the label - be very afraidI am currently reading Not on the Label: What Really Goes into the Food On Your Plate, by Felicity Lawrence. It is really frightening. And I have been a savvy food-politics activist for about 35 years and still I didn't know about some of the appalling things covered in this book. It seems to affect everyone this way. Here are some excerpts from Amazon's reader reviews:"I thought I had some idea Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1087746766511143202004-06-20T16:52:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:01:30.519+00:00Book Crossing ArchiveThe Book Crossing organisation has a newsletter, and that newsletter has an archive.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5627369.post-1087421806818681492004-06-16T22:36:00.000+01:002006-12-23T13:02:21.438+00:00Happy Bloomsday!Today is the day, and this is the blog. The Bloomsday blog, that is.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com