-
The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Read more: The No 1 Ladies’ Detective AgencyI just finished reading Alexander McCall Smith’s The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and I can see why it’s proved so popular. It is different from the typical mystery or detective story. Precious Ramotswe is the first woman detective in Botswana. When her father dies, she uses her inheritance to set up her own little…
-
Ed McBain
Read more: Ed McBainEd McBain must have had one of the longest shelf lives as a crime fiction writer. I have been coming across his books ever since I started visiting bookshops and libraries. And no wonder. Cop Hater, his first 87th Precinct book, came out in 1956, according to Answers.com. By then he had already had his…
-
Sappho’s poem
Read more: Sappho’s poemOddly enough, this surfaced in Yahoo! Odd News: LONDON (Reuters) – A love poem written 2,600 years ago by Sappho, the greatest female poet of ancient Greece, was published on Friday for the first time since it was rediscovered last year. Sappho’s verses expressing love for her female companions on the Greek island of Lesbos…
-
Bugs in the story
Read more: Bugs in the storyTransmission: A novel by Hari Kunzru (First published in 2004) Computer virus attacks, so often reported in the media, cross over into fiction in this novel. The Transmission of the title refers to the spread of computer viruses. Arjun, an Indian IT graduate, goes to work in the USA. Fired by the computer security firm,…
-
Giving Amis a miss
Read more: Giving Amis a missMartin Amis: 2 Yours Truly: 0 I tried reading Martin Amis’ novel, Money, for the second time, and for the second time I failed. I gave up almost near the end, though I did sneak a peek at how it ends. Amis, for all his literary talent (and he is awfully good at words), can…
-
Rankin’s lovers
Read more: Rankin’s loversShe yanked the padlock free, the chain coming with it. Pulled open the gate. And was picked up off the ground by Rebus, his hug enveloping her. ‘Ow, ow, ow,’ she said, causing him to ease off. ‘Bit bruised,’ she explained, her eyes meeting his. He couldn’t help himself, planted his lips on hers. The…
-
Mistresses of crime
Read more: Mistresses of crimeMen don’t read women authors, says Moorish Girl quoting an Observer report. I wonder whether that’s really true when it comes to crime fiction. There are so many women crime writers it’s impossible to ignore them. And some of them are devilish good at it. Think of the queens of crime of the Golden Age:…
-
Amis and Hornby and Rankin and more
Read more: Amis and Hornby and Rankin and moreSingapore officially on Saturday was on a reading jag. READ!Singapore, a 12-hour reading marathon, was organised by the National Library Board to promote the reading habit. Singaporeans swot for school and to climb the career ladder but fewer and fewer people read anything other than textbooks and professional books. So says the READ!Singapore website. The…
-
The Da Vinci Code
Read more: The Da Vinci CodeThere is no reason why a book written by an American should not win Britain’s Book of the Year award though Americans honour only American writings in the Pulitzers and the National Book Awards. The British Book Awards, or Nibbies as they are called, don’t celebrate exclusively British books and British authors. What matters apparently…
-
More Bellow
Read more: More BellowI discovered I had read one more Saul Bellow novel, making it three in all.Mr Sammler’s Planet was the third book. I don’t remember anything about it except the title and the old European Jew Sammler’s confrontation with a black American pickpocket. I remembered that only when I went through the New York Times website…
READISCOVERY 