1 to 9 of 9
Review Date: 6/28/2010
Helpful Score: 1
As you continue the Maisie Dobbs series, each book explores some aspect of the lingering results of World War I. In this book it is the plight of the wounded in body and mind and their neglect in Depression-era Britain. I don't want to reveal too many details and ruin the unraveling of the story but the plot is compelling and the personal secondary story involving Billy Beale is good also.
Review Date: 1/3/2011
I found this book overrated. I found Idina Sackville more pathetic than "intoxicating" (as one review said). Perhaps because I am familiar with the era I didn't find her story very compelling. For a book about the murder of Lord Erroll, I would recommend "White Mischief."
Dreaming of the Bones (Duncan Kincaid / Gemma James, Bk 5)
Author:
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
58
Author:
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
58
Review Date: 11/18/2010
Helpful Score: 2
I stumbled across this book at a charity book sale and am glad I did. I was unfamiliar with the series but based on this book I want to read more.
I found the characters believable and complex and the writing clear and compelling. This particular book has some tenuous connections to the poet Rupert Brooke and I greatly enjoyed the excerpts from his poems that opened each chapter.
While the relationship between Kincaid and Gemma is progressing, you don't need to have read the prior 4 books to enjoy this one.
I didn't give it a 5 as the it took a little time to see how the plot and new characters were to be involved in the story.
I found the characters believable and complex and the writing clear and compelling. This particular book has some tenuous connections to the poet Rupert Brooke and I greatly enjoyed the excerpts from his poems that opened each chapter.
While the relationship between Kincaid and Gemma is progressing, you don't need to have read the prior 4 books to enjoy this one.
I didn't give it a 5 as the it took a little time to see how the plot and new characters were to be involved in the story.
Review Date: 10/21/2010
The topic is provocative but the execution of the book wasn't as compelling as I had hoped. I think a shorter book with more concentrated info would have been better.
Review Date: 2/28/2009
I have read many travel memoirs, including artic exploration and harrowing mountain, and this is most incredible story I've read. The characters are interesting, the writing simple and compelling of an indomitable group of people walking to freedom under such dangerous conditions. The route - through the Siberian tundra, Gobi Desert and over the Himalaya mountains. This book is a keeper!
Review Date: 1/7/2009
Helpful Score: 1
This book was a selection by my book group and it had mixed reviews. The more I thought about the book and we discussed the more I liked it. While the events cover a single day, it had reflections on the war on Iraq, the nature of family ties, the interconnectedness of seemingly unconnected people. I think it is a worthwhile read if you take it for what it is - the view of a day with impact beyond its initial appearance.
Review Date: 8/25/2009
Helpful Score: 2
I picked this book up in the shelf of books left behind by visitors to a resort in Hawaii. You couldn't have had a greater contrast! The book is set in NYC and deals with seamy and obscene acts. The "hero" is the detective that criminals go to when they need their problems investigated. This is the hardest-boiled of hard boiled detectives and he's faced with child exploitation on lots of levels. I found the writing compelling and the book unforgettable if you have the stomach for it.
Review Date: 10/21/2010
With this first book in the series you're introduced to an interesting and unusual detective. Erast Fandorin has his quirks which ebb and flow in different ways in the succeeding books. This particular book is a wide-ranging tale both geographically and how the Winter Queen operates. This book has made me continue with the series.
Review Date: 1/7/2009
I originally ordered this book for my husband, a forest firefighter (not smokejumper) in his youth. I was captivated by not only the tragic story of the 1949 Mann Gulch fire, and Maclean's efforts to learn what were the physical causes of its ferocity, but his narrative style that casts it as a Homeric epic. Once you get the flick that his unusual writing style is to bring this simple tragedy to a greater level, and recalling his background as woodsman and literature professor, it all makes sense.
I read this book almost annually. I'm currently listening to it on audio-book (CD) read by his son. I'm reminded again how the language really elevates this tale to something greater.
I'm haunted by the tale and the telling. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I read this book almost annually. I'm currently listening to it on audio-book (CD) read by his son. I'm reminded again how the language really elevates this tale to something greater.
I'm haunted by the tale and the telling. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
1 to 9 of 9
