Saturday, March 27, 2010

Time Piper by Delia Huddy

Time Piper
Delia Huddy
1979, 1984, Tempo, New York
0441812058
210p.

Luke goes to work for a physics professor in London who is conducting an experiment to create a window into the past.

I was expecting this to be a fantasy story due to the cover, but it was a nifty little sci-fi. The premise was interesting, though very predictable and I thought that the characters were three-dimensional and their motivations were well described.

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Monday, March 15, 2010

Time Trap by Keith Laumer

Time Trap
Keith Laumer
1070, 1987, Baen Publishing, New York
0671653407
156p.

Strange things begin occurring around the world - a Portuguese galleon from the 16th Century is picked up by the Coast Guard, Abraham Lincoln walks into an Arabian town, and Roger Tyson meets an alien. Which then sets him off on an adventure through time and space.

This is a silly little science fiction story, but I enjoyed it. And the ending was quite satisfactory, which was a nice surprise.

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Saturday, March 13, 2010

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

On Chesil Beach
Ian McEwan
2007, Johnathon Cape, London
9780224081184
166p.

Short novella about the wedding night of a couple in the 1950s - about their fears and the cultural restrictions of the time.

This book really resonated with me. McEwan has an incredible way of getting into the minds of his characters and voicing their thoughts and feelings. His writing is descriptive and beautiful. I devoured this book.

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Friday, March 12, 2010

The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson

The Men Who Stare at Goats
Jon Ronson
2004, Picador, London
0330435264
273p.

This book makes the claim that highly placed members of the US military believed that they could kill goats by looking at them and that they could walk through walls. They created a unit called the First Earth Battalion in the 1970s which was brought back during the War on Terror.

When I started reading this book I was totally incredulous. I kept thinking "no way, this is all made up", but then the author related it to something commonly accepted as fact and I was like "well, maybe". It's an incredibly disturbing tale. And quite scary in places, if not downright terrifying to think that things like this could have happened.

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Monday, March 8, 2010

Brother Odd by Dean Koontz

Brother Odd
Dean Koontz
2006, 2007, HarperCollinsPublishers, London
9780007226580
439p.

Odd Thomas can see dead people and strange creatures which feed on death he calls bodachs. After his girlfriend is killed in a mall shooting, he finds his way to a monastery where he hopes for some peaceful reflection. But of course, he doesn't get it - bodachs begin swarming around the monastery and Odd must find out what they are after before too much blood is shed.

An ok story, but not great writing style. I never felt comfortable in the narrative - it was like the narrator wasn't sure which voice to use, and the story jumped around far too much. Odd should be a fascinating character, but it just doesn't come through which is a shame. The best part of the book was the tete-a-tete between Odd and Romanovich.

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