Richard Ellis:Imagining Atlantis

From the back of the book-
The idea of Atlantis, the lost continent, has tantalized the human imagination since the fourth centuery B.C. when the brilliant civilization and its mysterious destruction were first mentioned by Plato. Is it only a myth, or did a real Atlantis exist? Over the centuries this question has inspired countless theories, from the scientifically challenging to the undeniably crackpot.

Richard Ellis takes us on a fascinating journey through the rich and exotic history of the search for Atlantis, during which we meet characters as diverse as Francis Bacon, Jules Verne, Edgar Cayce, Jaques Cousteau, Charles Berlitz, and even Indiana Jones. Both scholarly and diverting, Imagining Altantis has been hailed as the most important book ever written about the Atlantis legend and its perennial appeal.
This book certainly does give a comprehensive overview of the many faces of Atlantis. Using archeology, seismology, volcanology and mythology, it examines theories and possibilities as to where Atlantis was and how it met its fate. A large portion of the discussion is dedicated to the ancient Minoan culture and the debate over exactly where the Pillars of Hercules were in Plato's time (apparently it isn't accepted that the current Pillars of Hercules are the ones being referred to in the original Atlantis legend). There is also a brief look at modern films about Atlantis included.
This is a good and accessible scholarly work, that while fascinating in places, I found a little dry overall to maintain my full interest.-Lynn

Anonymums

From the back of the book-
Once upon a time, there were three mums-Mum A, Mum B and Mum C.
Bored with their suburban existence, they decided to add some spice to their lives. For three months, they would dare each other to do things.
Mum B would find herself wearing firecracker red lipstick for a whole week (yes, even to swimming lessons); Mum C would tell her atheist husband she'd found religion; and Mum A would have a secret tryst with Santa in a shopping centre.
They also dared each other to tell the truth... The truth about motherhood. The truth about their lives. The truth about who they'd become compared to who they wanted to be.'
This book basically says what all parents, if they're being honest, know-motherhood is hard. It is exhausting, unrelenting, mind-numbing, dull, repetative work. Sure we love our children and wouldn't swap them for the world etc, etc but that doesn't mean we don't pine for the women we were Before Children or mourn the Woman We Could Have Been.
I could relate to a lot of what these women were saying about their mothering experience and sitting surrounded in the mummy-zombie suburbs even be a little jealous that they found each other.
The dares and their responses to them were fun. The truths were open, honest and at times confronting. Both are presented in an engaging, easy to read way. However the book left me with mixed feelings.
For all I knew where these women were coming from part of me (a judgemental, contemptuous part) couldn't help but want to give them a good shake and tell them to wake up to themselves. In the grand scheme of things they have it good. Their problems are most definitely first-world, middle-class ones and not even difficult first world ones. They weren't faced with the death or disability of their partners or children, poverty or abuse.
In all fairness they never claim that their lives are particularly difficult in any way other than motherhood and the book is about loss of identity and regaining self not social justice. I find it interesting that it provoked such a response in me and it has made me examine my world view.
A deceptively light read that will have many nodding in agreement and some wondering why.-Lynn

The Straight Road to Kylie – Nico Medina

Jonathan Parish’s life is pretty awesome – out and proud, surrounded by his three best girl friends, and senior year lies gloriously ahead; the only hiccup is the lack of any prospect of a boyfriend. The only other out teen at Winter Park High is not at all suitable, thank you very much. But everything goes horribly wrong when the meticulously planned celebration of bestie Joanna’s birthday is derailed by a combination of too much alcohol, adolescent hormones and the distress of second bestie Alexandra’s continued virginity. Somehow – how? How? – Jonathan finds himself in a bedroom, having sex, with a girl.
The act itself was less hideous than the aftermath – a chink having opened in his heretofore unquestioned homosexuality, Winter Park’s reigning teen queen Laura Schulberg extends an offer he can’t refuse: pretend to be her boyfriend for the rest of the year and get an all-expenses-paid trip to London, to see the fabulous Kylie Minogue who, almost certainly, will never tour the US (and is, coincidentally, playing in the Pret where I’m writing this review). What choice does he have?
The Straight Road to Kylie wasn’t unenjoyable, but I had several issues with it, almost certainly due to my vast age at least as much as to the writing itself. Chief among these is the fact that there is a lot of alcohol (and light recreational drug) use, with no real consequences apart from a few survivable hangovers. This makes me sound like a terrible prude – it’s not that I think there should be death, dismemberment, car accidents, permanent paralysis, teen pregnancies and brushes with STD’s, but the novel is almost a tribute to teen alcohol use in a country where the legal drinking age is higher than the global average. I certainly get that the pivotal plot moment comes about as a result of Jonathan being drunk but that doesn’t even cause him a second’s thought.
Which brings me to my second issue – all of the characters, but Jonathan in particular, as spookily composed, mature and rational. While it’s refreshing to have jocks who aren’t all homophobic meatheads, the only character who seems to get at all flustered is Alex, who makes the common mistake of confusing sex with love. Interestingly, despite all the alcohol there’s somehow almost no sex apart from the opening scene of Alex and Jonathan’s mutual deflowering.
Unsurprisingly, given these factors, there’s almost no adult presence in The Straight Road to Kylie – with the exception of Jonathan’s boss at Target (hardly fully fleshed) adults are peripheral and sketchy at best. I’m not saying my teachers and parents were fully people to me at that age but they were definitely in my life. Maybe that’s just the Gen X/Gen Y gap...
I did enjoy The Straight Road to Kylie, despite these issues – I liked the premise, and although Jonathan’s life is close to idyllic it was nice to read about a gay teen who’s not only comfortable with his sexuality but accepted by his parents and peers. I do doubt that groovy Jonathan has a MySpace account, but I’m old and on FaceBook so maybe there’s been a pre Google+ retro return to MySpace. Hardly the biggest of quibbles, anyway.
I didn’t hate The Straight Road to Kylie, and I finished it to its predictably rounded happy ever after, but I have no need to pass it on or re-read it and will instead be leaving it when I finish my lunch. – Alex

Dead Reckoning – Charlaine Harris

We last left mind-reading waitress/vampire sheriff’s wife Sookie Stackhouse recovering from the fae war that saw most of her fairy relatives either dead or separated from the mortal realm, with trouble brewing on two fronts - an internal vampire power struggle, and the consequences of the two-natured 'coming out' to humanity.
This may have been problematic enough, but Sookie has other issues to juggle – two of her fairy kin are staying with her, and though she delights in their presence she can also feel herself becoming more fae, which concerns her. Former housemate and witch Amelia may have a way to dissolve the bond between Sookie and Eric, which would allow her to decide how she real feels about her husband, but it’s not a decision without cost. She’s also concerned about whatever t is Eric’s hiding from her – something she can tell his 2IC Pam knows about. Her first lover, Bill, has relationship issues, and Sookie’s not at all sure that her shifter boss (and dearest friend) Sam’s girlriend Jannalynn’s good for him. But first up is a Molotov cocktail attack on Merlott’s, the bar Sam owns and at which Sookie works – is it aimed at Sam and the two-natured, or is it something closer to home?
As I've mentioned several times before, each instalment in this series is more convoluted than the last, and though Harris does a good job of keeping the various strands coherent and intelligible I find myself increasingly weary of the plot devices, massive cast and ever-tenser drama.
I did very much enjoy the reappearance of Hunter, the mind-reading son of Sookie’s deceased cousin, and though he had only a brief guest spot I was also glad to see werewolf Alcide again, and Bubba’s one of Harris’s most tender characters, who was used with care. In fact, for the most part I do enjoy spending time in Harris’s world, but I find myself paying less attention with each book to tracking the character arcs and the numerous persons who threaten Sookie and her entourage. Otherwise spending time here diminishes in escapist quality and becomes more like work. This is definitely a series to read in order, and with a little time between adventures. - Alex

Call Me Irresistible - Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Meg Koranda has a lot in common with her best friend, Lucy Jorick - both the daughters of famous parents, they have reacted quite differently to being brought up in the spotlight. For while Lucy is sensible, mature and always considers the needs of others, Meg is almost thirty, dependent on her parents, and drifting. She is, however, not only loyal but able to see what nobody else has - though her groom-to-be seems perfect in every way, Lucy doesn't love him, and from what Meg can see, Ted doesn't love her, either. Which is why, even though she only arrived in Wynette, Texas, the day before the wedding, Meg feels comfortable telling Lucy that it's time to live her own life. And, in an upset reported by media worldwide, the daughter of America's first female President leaves the son of golf's finest star at the altar.
Call me Irresistible weaves together multiple characters from previous Phillips novels - we met Lucy in First Lady, jilted fiance Teddy's parents' story was told in Fancy Pants and we met them again in Lady Be Good, while Meg guest starred in What I Did For Love (a small part that didn't appear in my review) and is the product of the couple whose story's told in Glitter Baby.
This is something I've quite enjoyed in other series, particularly Brockmann's SEAL Team series. For some reason, though, I found the constant allusions to previous plot lines really irritating, perhaps in part because I haven't read Glitter Baby. I suspect, though, that it's more likely because in Brockmann's series the characters are all present in one another's stories, with different protagonists in the spotlight from book to book; Phillips' characters, however, have inhabited separate universes until now, so keeping their stories straight and present is harder work.
For me this overshadowed what was otherwise a very good romance - though the pie-eyed esteem of the locals toward Ted was a little hard to swallow, I found the central premises of Call Me Irresistible believable within the confines of the genre, the plot hurdles were plausible, I really liked the central characters, and I particularly enjoyed the way Meg pushed Ted past his own people pleasing, as she did Lucy. Phillips also adroitly handled the potential squick factor of a heroine moving in on her best friend's ex.
It's been a while since I read a good romance, and I'm a little disappointed that I found the references to previous narrative threads getting in the way of my enjoyment. Readers less distractable than I, or with a better grasp on Phillips' oeuvre, may not find this to be an issue. - Alex

How to be Popular - Meg Cabot

When Steph Landry was in the sixth grade she made the mistake of accidentally spilling a red Super Big Gulp on Lauren Moffat's brand new white denim D&G skirt. Lauren's always been the most popular girl in school, and it was an insult she refused to forget, even though she and Steph had been friends, of a sort, at least. More significantly, she never let anyone else forget it either, coining the phrase "Don't pull a Steph Landry!" and sundry variations.
Five years on, Steph's had enough of being shunned, and she's really had enough of having her name be shorthand for stupid mistakes, klutziness and poor planning throughout Bloomville. In the last week of summer vacation, going through a box of her best friend Jason's cool grandmother's stuff, Steph found The Book. A guide to popularity that needs only a little fashion tweaking to bring it up to date (pedal pushers and white kid gloves aren't going to help matters), The Book will be Steph's guide for the year ahead, allowing her to finally become popular, attract the attentions of Mark Finley (the coolest guy in school, and not coincidentally Lauren's boyfriend), and stop everyone in the world using her name as a punchline.
There were a couple of above-average aspects of How to be Popular, including several sub-plots (predominantly revolving around the imminent marriage of Steph's grandfather and Jason's grandmother, but the campaign for popularity is firmly in centre stage), and the style, which intersperses chapters with extracts from The Book, setting the tone for the chapter ahead.
There are several interesting elements, including wedding sub-plot, the family contrasts, and the observatory. chapter thirteen, and there were two sections I really liked - the first is in the was when Steph contrasts movies about bullying (though that word is, I think, never actually used, subordinated in favour of "mean") with how things work in real life:

[senders of anonymous mail] always get away with it, and the victims just have to suck it up and go around wondering for the rest of their lives who could possibly hate them that much - always suspecting, but never knowing for sure.

The second is when Steph talks with Lauren's best friend, who's been punished for the sin of talking with Steph, and which sparks Steph's decision to stand up to Steph.
Although How to be Popular was a mildly entertaining read, I found it ultimately disappointing. Some of my disenchantment undoubtedly stems from my age, and some from my cultural background and very different secondary school experience - though there were groups in my (private, all-girl, lightly-religious) school, popularity wasn't ever a thing, particularly in the academic stream I was in, and based on the equivalent Australian novel, popularity isn't as key, sport isn't as decisive an arbiter of worth, and cliques aren't as rigid here as in the US.
Most of it, however, comes from the predictability of having seen this all before. Sadly, How to be Popular has no surprises. Steph learns that life's not as fun when she's becoming popular as it looks from the outside, that prioritising the popular crowd creates distance in her other relationships, that her male best friend is really something more, that the gorgeous guy she's longed for from afar is really a creep, and that the most important things are standing up for herself and being true to herself and her friends.
If this message is new to a reader it's no doubt valuable. If not, the rest of the novel doesn't really compensate. - Alex

Bettina Arndt: The Sex Diaries

From the back of the book:

“From the time I started working as a sex therapist back in the early 1970s, people have been talking to me about their sex lives. What I hear about most is the business of negotiating the sex supply. How do couples deal with the strain of the man wishing and hoping while all she longs for is the bliss of uninterrupted sleep?”
Bettina Arndt recruited ninety-eight couples to keep diaries, revealing their intimate negotiations over sex. Who feels like having sex? Who doesn’t? And how do couples cope if one person wants it more than the other? She draws on her thirty-five years of experience as a sex therapist and psychologist to provide a provocative analysis that challenges our basic assumptions about sex. With her characteristic humour and insight, Bettina Arndt proposes a new approach to how couples can enjoy regular sex-and sustain loving relationships.

I was attracted to this book by a combination of a voyeuristic streak and the title of the first chapter, “Fifty thrusts and don’t jiggle my book”. The humour implied by that title wasn’t forthcoming but this sociological study presents a combination of statistical analysis and case studies in a light and accessible way that avoids becoming frivolous.
The diary extracts from study participants were a fascinating inclusion and quite eye-opening. Stories of mismatched sex drives abound, but it was the recording of sexual negotiations that took place (or didn’t) that I found most interesting.
Though the research focussed on predominantly straight couples there was a brief look at the differences between homosexual and lesbian sexual behaviour as well.
This is not a how-to book for anyone hoping to improve their sex life, neither is it an attempt to legitimise titillating erotica. What it is, is an interesting and objective report about the sexual behaviour of the ‘average’ Australian adult.-Lynn.

Carol Goodman: Arcadia Falls

A young widow battling to make ends meet accepts a dream job at an exclusive arts school, a place where not only can she pursue her doctoral thesis (which addresses the life and work of the school’s co-founders) but ensure the quality of her daughter’s education.
No sooner does she arrive when a tragic accident claims the life of one of the school’s most promising students. Reminded of her own recent loss and troubled by her daughter’s emotional distance, she throws herself into her research and soon discovers the private diary of one of the school’s founders. What she reads within its pages, together with what she picks up from the student body and the attitude of the local sheriff, leads her to suspect that the student’s death was no accident after all. But she has no real proof and the school is riddled with suspects, from the elderly head mistress right down to a competitive classmate of the dead girl.
The more she investigates the past, the more enlightened she becomes about the present, until finally, with the ‘suicide’ of a colleague, everything falls into place. However, her knowledge has put her, and by proxy, her daughter, in grave danger.
It is only with the help of the sheriff that she eventually manages to save herself, her daughter and another student from murderous intent and achieve the life she had hoped to have when she first accepted the teaching position.
I feel this mystery novel, with decidedly gothic overtones, overreaches itself. The plot is unnecessarily convoluted and the characters’ motivation thin at best. I couldn’t relate to the heroine at all. She, like most of the other characters, simply didn’t have enough depth to create any real interest. And the romance subplot was completely unconvincing.
However, to damn with faint praise, the story wasn’t really that bad. Though I feel it was poorly executed there was a lot of potential. With a less contorted plot, more developed characters and a greater sense of place this could have been an outstanding work rather than an average one.
Simply due to that potential I would consider another of Goodman’s works but I’ll not be rushing out for one.-Lynn

oh my goth - Gena Showalter

Though there are many types of Goth ("cemetery... Oriental, diva, dark fairy, Kindergoth, Egyptian... punk... vampire..."), they have their individuality in common, and they scorn the sheep-like mainstream. Jade Leigh dreads conformity more than anything - her friends feel the same way, and external pressure to make them abandon the clothing and ethos they embrace causes them only to cling harder, regardless of whether it's from parents, peers, teachers or school administrators.
Being different certainly comes at a high cost - from the scorn of jock star Bobby, who she crushed on for years, to the uncompromising ill-favour of her teachers, and the disapproval of her widowed father, the only people in Jade's life who accept her for who she really is are her friends. When a clash with her trig teacher sends Jade to the principal's office one time too many, Jade expected consequences, even if Mr Parton's treatment of her was totally unfair. What she didn't expect was that her universe would be turned upside down, nor that the only other person aware that everything was now wrong would be her arch-enemy, Barbie girl and Miss Popularity Mercedes Turner. As Jade battles against her popularity, including the more seductive aspects of unearned approval, Mercedes struggles with her abrupt transition to outsider status and near-universal disapproval from the cohort who were once her more adoring friends.
I liked the concept behind oh my goth, of an alternative universe were being Goth was the norm and all the things that set Jade apart before were now the very things that made her popular. Yet, as I read I found myself feeling increasingly detached from the novel; a little reflection allowed me to recognise that this was due, at least in part, to the expectations I didn't realise I had about where Showalter was going to take the novel. The universe inversion mechanism (induction of a virtual reality by a discredited scientist) was fine, and certainly able to be incorporated into the suspension of disbelief inherent in the premise, and it gave Jade and Mercedes a reason to work together, but I didn't buy that they were able to interact with each other and a third character, nor that the time they spent in the VR world was shorter than in real life, nor that it occurred to neither of them that the drug-enhanced alternate reality would need to be monitored by someone, who would then be well aware of the escape plans they made.
But I could have overlooked that had the novel itself been more substantial. I'd hoped for something that dug into the deeper aspects of popularity, non-conformity and peer pressure, particularly regarding teens. Instead I found oh my goth to be disappointingly superficial, starting with Jade herself, whose first diary entry bemoans appearance-based judgement but on the very same page judges the "Barbies" at school. Her raison d'etre seems to be individuality for the sake of it, but her style is purely reactionary rather than reflective of what she wants, and designed purely to proclaim that she is a non-conformist.

Jade's friends are still outcasts but now dress in preppy and pretty outfits and are branded trouble-makers by adults, while police and other authority figures wear black eyeliner and darken their hair. For me this undermined any actual individualism the Goth characters may have had - Showalter seemed to be saying that unequal power structures with exist in all high schools, with the majority following trends like sheep and picking on the outliers, who in turn bring it on themselves by being different only for the sake of being different.

Jade's mother died in a car accident two years earlier, in the midst of teaching Jade how to drive, with the dying words "... stand up for yourself... Be strong. Be brave. Be you." It wasn't clear in the text if Jade was already Goth, or if her interest in the macabre and in death started then, but it's hammered home through the text that she took this call to individuality to heart. What could have been a powerful event, though, felt to me as though it had been included to add depth to Jade, and failed in the process.
Jade's father, like every character in the novel, is barely two-dimensional - he seems to have no understanding of why Jade is traumatised by the idea of driving, or why she might be preoccupied with death, instead fixated on the way she dresses. He's also, it transpired through the novel, in a relationship with Mercedes' mother, a relationship that apparently pre-dates the death of his wife, and which is part of the reason for Mercedes' intensive dislike of Jade. Yet somehow this significant aspect isn't addressed.
And that's really emblematic of the novel in toto for me - there are opportunities to explore issues in some depth, but instead only the most superficial and hackneyed messaged are conveyed: popular guys can screw you over, Barbie clones can have intellect and insight, judging by appearances doesn't necessarily tell you what's going on with someone, and walking in someone else's shoes can give you an idea about their reality and allow you to transcend the barriers you imposed. Oh, and some discussion about how the different kinds of Goth vary would have been nice - all we got was that cyber goths are lovers "of all things futuristic," which is surely a simplification at best.- Alex

Knight Errant – R Garcia Y Robertson

Robyn Stafford knew flying unannounced to the English Cotswolds from Hollywood to surprise her British lover on his birthday was the kind of move that would either cement or destroy their relationship – she just didn’t realise there was only one way it could go. Well, at least not until she realised the impossibly beautiful woman who answered the door of Greystone, Collin’s ancestral home, was his wife, and the mother of their three children.
The saving grace of an otherwise humiliating and heart-breaking act was meeting Collin’s sister, Jo. Lovely, gracious, warm and welcoming, Jo and her daughter Joy took her in to their far less grand home. Hiking along the Anglo-Welsh boarder the following day, Robyn crossed paths with a handsome youth astride a truly magnificent mount. Dressed, authentically as far as her untrained eye could tell, in a knight’s armour, Edward Plantagenet believes it to be 1459 and mistakes her pant-clad self for a lad. Certain that the poor, but assured and attractive, boy is deluded, Robyn is stunned when his pursuers emerge – three armoured men ready to do battle. When Edward first puts himself between them and Robyn, and then dispatches two or the men leaving the third to flee, Robyn is less certain that Edward is touched. He gives her the white rose from his cap, and leaves.
Returning to Jo, Robyn discovers her hostess is a witch and member in good standing of the local coven. As, it turns out, is Collin’s wife Bryn. The women agree to meet and try to help Robyn work out what happened. With an anchor to each world – her mobile phone and the rose Edward gave her – in each hand, the coven begin to cast their spell. Had Robyn turned off her phone the spell may have had a very different ending – as it rang, Bryn said tartly, “That will be for me,” and snatched the phone from Robyn’s hand. And, unanchored, Robyn was sent back to the Middle Ages.
Robyn is surprised to find versions of the family she left behind in the mid-1450’s – now Sir Collingwood Grey, her Collin is apparently unattached but has no knowledge of her. She meets him, though, after being thrown into a cell for witches, where she discovers nine-year-old Joy, daughter in this world as well as hers of Jo. Joy tells Robyn that witches are immortal – their bodies may die, and they have no memories of their old lives next time around, but they are guaranteed to be reborn, apparently in the same physical form and with the same familial ties.
As Robyn tries to return to her own time she also seeks Edward, whose youth decreasingly seems an obstacle. Fleeing one countryside setting for another, Robyn and her hosts are pursued by the forces of their political foes, and after Greystone is attacked and set afire in the middle of the night Collin and Robyn and separated from Jo and Joy. They head for a secret friend of Collin’s, over the boarder to Wales – to a woman Robyn has met before, or hence. Once again, Collin is wed to Bryn, though this time secretly.
There were many things I liked about Knight Errant – Robyn is not only navigating the differences between her modern sensibilities and life five hundred years earlier but also the contrast between American and British traditions. The political turbulence of her new here and now (a phrase used with irritating frequency) makes it an interesting, in the Chinese sense, time to live, and Robyn finds herself and her allies on the under dog’s side. Robertson described the deprivations of the time vividly, and overcomes difficulties in the evolution of language by including an understanding of fifteenth century Saxon, French, Latin and Welsh in the spell.
But after an engrossing and interesting first third I found myself less and less engaged with the characters and the text. I’ve tried to work out why this is, and have not yet had success. There were certainly a couple of details that jarred, like Jo’s coin-operated shower taking shillings in decimalised England, and Robyn’s electronic journal retaining battery power a month after her last charge. These were so few and niggly, though, that I suspect I’d barely have noticed had I been more involved in the narrative.
I read about two thirds of my way into Knight Errant, long enough for Robyn to be reunited with Edward but not yet able to see how the tale ends. There are, of course, only two ways it could go – either Robyn returns to the twenty-first century (where she may leave Edward behind, somehow bring him with her, or he’s unexpectedly a witch and she meets up with his modern day incarnation), or she stays in the past, dead or alone or with Edward. I’m sorry I so completely lost interest that I care not at all which of these it is, because I did really enjoy the first third of Knight Errant very much, and may try Robertson’s other works, but not before a breather. – Alex

Fish Out of Water - MaryJanice Davidson

Marine biologist and human/mermaid hybrid Fred has finally chosen between her two suitors - she's marrying Artur, High Prince of the Black Sea. Dashing, manly, and most importantly actually interested in her rather than swanning of with some other woman for months at a time without even a word, Artur is obviously the better choice. And now that the Land Dwellers are aware of the Undersea Folk, her watery kin are in need of a media savvy spokeswoman like herself.
But though Artur and his father seem happy to accept her into the family, they don't represent the Undersea Folk as a whole. Fred's long-exiled father has not be fully forgiven for trying to overturn the rightful Royal family, and his remorseful reappearance for the first time in Fred's memory is only the first in a series of significant events that sees Fred's incipient marriage under threat - and in almost as much trouble as the peace of the Undersea Folk.
This is a lightweight novel that, though enjoyable enough in the reading, carried little resonance for me once I closed the cover. I did like that Fred wasn't wedding obsessed, but her actual aversion to all things wedding organising should have been a hint there was a problem.
This mild pleasure was considerably outweighed by my finding Fred a little irritating, though not enough for memorability, and I felt confused about her allergies - on page 36 she is mildly disappointed that "goliath grouper was strictly catch and release. Pity. She'd heard grouper were delicious." But on page 38, when she sees mermaid Rashel "chomping on the head of a grouper and offering the body to her mate" Fred is allergic to fish.
The final in a trilogy (parts one and two are reviewed here and here), I'm certainly ready to let go of Fred and partake of some more substantial fare when I next partake of something fromt he paranormal sphere. - Alex

Dead Beat - Val McDermid

Kate Branningan is a Mancusian, independent, and a PI. Her usual remit involves data tracking, phone calls and hours in front of a computer screen, so her current task – tracking down a group of counterfeiters, or ‘schneids’ – is proving a little more adventurous. Between stakeouts, surveillance and multiple roadside café meals, Kate’s highest priority is a quiet evening home. So when her live-out partner Richard, a music journalist, leaves her a note headed ‘don’t forget’ – a sure sign he forgot to tell her something, she was in no mood to attend rock star Jett’s party. But she owes Richard for a work function he attended, and so she frocks up and sallies forth.
Kate has no inkling that this act will result in her working for Jett, tracking down the location of his one-time partner (in life and song writing), Moira Pollock, nor that this job would find Kate investigating her first murder case.
The author of the justifiably well-known Tony Hill/Wire in the Blood series has crafted a new, and interesting but less complex character in Kate. There’s certainly more humour in Dead Beat than in the former series, and the characters are well rounded. I enjoyed the writing, and the plot developments, which were twisty enough to be absorbing without straining incredulity.
The biggest problem I had with Dead Beat was that there were multiple incidents that dated the novel, published in 1992. Many of these were tech-related, and though Kate was undoubtedly cutting edge when *Dead Beat was written, having references to “turbo charged IBM compatible” computers, PBX phone systems, Railroad Tycoon (“the ultimate strategy game”) and an explanation of Tetris (“a game that sounds simple but isn’t. The object is to build a solid wall out of a random selection of differently coloured bricks”) solidly sets the scene almost two decades ago. That’s even without an episode of Dallas, and the admiring references to turquoise and gold shell suits…
I did enjoy the journey, but every single time I came across these anachronistic references, I was jolted out of the story. I know that a degree of these are inevitable – there’s no way an author can predict technological progress, and these elements often need to be included in contemporary-set novels to give a sense of place. So although I quite liked the reading experience, I’m not sad to be leaving Dead Beat at Changi airport, one fewer book burdening my journey through life. - Alex

A Touch of Dead - Charlaine Harris

Subtitled The Sookie Stackhouse Stories, this is, unsurprisingly, a collection of short stories featuring Harris' most popular heroine, a telepathic barmaid lusted after by virtually every male supernatural creature who crosses her path. The series is now up to its ninth installment and the stories, written for various collections, span Sookie's character trajectory over that time. Harris provides a time frame, and presents them chronologically. I would think that elements of each plot would be less satisfying for a reader unfamiliar with Harris's universe but enough background is woven in that that new readers won't be wholly lost. Familiar readers may welcome the return of characters who are now dead or estranged, and though Harris writes in the introduction that she was unsure when first approached to write a Sookie short that she'd be able to her justice in a more abbreviated format, I think she sells herself a little short. The stories fit into the overall narrative relatively smoothly, without creating events that would make the novels incomplete.

"Fairy Dust" takes place after the fourth novel, Dead to the World - Sookie is asked to investigate the murder of Claudette, a fairy who works as an exotic dancer, by her surviving triplets, Claude (also a dancer) and Claudine, and through a combination of telepathy, clever questioning and her knowledge of the Fae, is able to identify the killer and the motive.

In "Dracula Night" regional vampire Sheriff Eric Northman is excited by the potential visit to his vamp club Fangtasia, on the night honoured by vampires across the globe, of legendary vampire and birthday boy Dracula. Though his second, Pam, is sceptical, Eric has invested in ultra rare and extremely costly bottled blood and spared no expensive for the occasion. Sookie is surprised to receive an invitation, and even more surprised that Dracula (apparently) exists - in a move akin to the traditional belief that you should set a place at the Passover table in case Elijah drops by, in vampire lore Dracula turns up at one of the parties celebrating his birthday every year, and this year Eric believes it will be his.

"One Word Answer" introduces Sookie to Mr Cataliades, a part-demon lawyer who works for Sophie-Anne Leclerq, the Queen of Louisiana - he brings Sookie an increasingly unwelcome pieces of news, starting with the fact that her cousin Hadley is dead, that she was a vampire, that she was the lover of the Queen, and that she was murdered. The final, and most unwelcome, item of information id that Sookie is expected to deal with Hadley's killer a fellow vamp Mr Cataliades has brought along for the trip. Sookie must negotiate a delicate path between not offending the Queen, failing to honour her cousin, protecting herself, and maintaining her reputation.

In "Lucky" Sookie and new friend (and witch) Amelia Broadway are asked by insurance agent Greg Aubert to investigate who's been breaking in to his office in the evenings and going through his papers. They discover that the breaker in is unrelated to other events, which have creates a wave of unintended ill-fortune for a number of people, inadvertently caused by Greg.

"Gift Wrap" is a holiday tale that brings Sookie a special Christmas surprise in the guise of an imperilled stranger - a surprise that is more of a gift than Sookie realised, and about which I can say no more without spoiling the delicate unfurling of events.

Like most anthologies I found A Touch of Dead somewhat mixed. I recognised the strongest story, "One Word Answer" and found I'd read it before. I quite liked "Gift Wrap" but was a little uncomfortable with the manipulation, albeit benign, involved, and felt the section spelling out Sookie's personality a little heavy-handed and obvious. All in all not a bad collection and an enjoyable enough way to spend an hour but I think I prefer the novels. - Alex

James McGee: Ratcatcher

When a naval courier is mutilated and murdered by highwaymen, a Bow Street Runner is assigned to the case. Though a little trickier than his usual jobs, the case appears routine enough. That is until a colleague investigating a disappearance is found murdered and the runner takes over both the victim’s current case and the search for his killer.
The investigator soon finds himself following trails that leads all over London, both geographically and socially, weaving the three separate cases into a web of conspiracy. Napoleon’s agents are planning to assassinate the prince in the heart of London and if he can’t stop them then nobody can.
And that’s about as far as I can go without spoilers…
Balls, duels, London lowlife, sex and conspiracy-this historical action novel was, dare I say it, quite a romp.
The pace is fast and the plot twists not overly complex, making for easy reading. There is a bit of deux ex machina (often in the form of the hero’s old army friend, who has a reassuring tendency to turn up just as things are looking dire for our hero) that did put me off just a little. I wanted a hero who was smart enough not to get into those situations to begin with or who was clever enough to get out of them alone if he did.
I suspect this is the first book in a series and though I liked it well enough I’m not sure that I would seek out more of the same. It would very much depend on which tack individual instalments took-Lynn

The Sky People - SM Stirling

When Soviet probes discovered life on Venus in 1962, everything changed - we were no longer along in the universe. With only minor differences in gravity and air composition, Venus was home to Earth-like flora and fauna, including dinosaurs and at least two humanoid races - H. Sapiens and H. Neanderthalensis. These similarities are far closer than evolution would account for, and are the subject of much research by the US base; an uneasy Soviet/American truce exists on Venus and on Earth, but the USSR keeps its work secret, and its base is miles away.
When Cajun ranger Lieutenant Marc Vitrac welcomes a new shipload of colonists it's 26 years later; Marc's been on planet a year, and is well accustomed to Venusian life. When the US forces are asked to help rescue the crew of a crashed Soviet shuttle, Marc is tapped to join the crew, along with newcomers Cynthia Whitlock (an African-American geologist with paleontology and information system skills) and supercilious Brit Christopher Blair (who, like Vitrac, has specialties in ethnology, linguistics and power systems, and flies lighter-than-air craft), Soviet scientist Jadviga Binkis (wife of the USSR shuttle commander) and Captain Tyler. After a couple of incidents the airship is unrecoverable and the team must decide whether to continue the rescue attempt or head home, but their choice is reduced to no choice when they stumble on a battle between the inhuman and inhumane Neanderthal-like natives and the far more human Cloud People.
The Sky People is shallower and less compelling than Stirling's Change series, and less engaging than Conquistador - the characters seemed less fully fleshed out, the villain was too obvious from the outset, and the scientific interest in this parallel world development was insubstantial. There was a secondary plot about a masterless monitoring AI that I found more irritating than useful, and which seemed to serve primarily as the launch pad for a sequel. The world building was intriguing, and I'd not be averse to reading another novel set in this universe, but this is far from my favourite of Stirling's work - Alex

Michael Baigent: The Jesus Papers

From the back of the book:

• What if everything we have been told about the origins of Christianity is a lie?

  What if a small group had always known the truth and had kept it hidden…until now?

  What if there is incontrovertible proof that Jesus Christ survived the crucifixion?

  What were the most influential social and political events of Jesus’ day?

  Who could have aided and abetted Jesus and why?

  Where could Jesus have gone after the crucifixion?

  What is the truth behind the creation of the New Testament?

  Who is working to keep the truth buried and why?

This is another offering from the best-selling co-author of Holy Blood, Holy Grail-first published over twenty years ago and used as a source for Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code (just thought I’d get that fact in nice and early-not that the introduction labours the point or anything).
I’ve always loved a conspiracy theory and a well presented, well argued and well supported religious conspiracy theory is not to be passed by. My memories of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, distant though they are, are for the main part positive so I went into this book with expectations of finding reasonable speculation with a possible, if unsubstantiated, logical base.
And it is there in the claim that (mysteriously disappeared) documentation exists strongly suggestive of Jesus’ survival, but in nowhere near the detail I had hoped to find it.
Much of this book is devoted to chronicling the known history of the period-interesting enough in itself but by no means necessary for even a casual scholar of the period. There is also some rehashing of old arguments about whether Jesus was really a victim of the Jews or the Romans (for the sake of this argument there is no question of his existence in appropriate place and time). Nothing revolutionary here. A nod is given to the creation of the New Testament by the church and mention made of much that was left out. Again, hardly a new, or controversial, idea.
The bulk of the book focuses on Egyptian mystery cults and the possibility that Jesus was an initiate. And while it is an interesting theory, evidence is thin on the ground and discussion is predominantly about the cults, not about Jesus’ possible association with them.
Certainly I didn’t see any incontrovertible proof that Jesus survived the crucifixion, any indication of who may have aided and abetted him or where he might have spent the rest of his life.
Part way through the book the author does go off on an unexpected tangent about his travels in Baia. I am yet to see how this relates to Jesus in any way.
Reading the above you could be forgiven for thinking I didn’t particularly like this book. The truth is, it’s not that bad. I just felt that it didn’t fulfil the promises it made by way of answering the questions it posed on the jacket. For a newcomer to Christian conspiracy theory it’s a good enough place to start. But, honestly, there’s little here that hasn’t been seen before. -Lynn

RT, Margaret and the Rats of NIMH

Margaret never wanted to go camping in the first place - she'd rather spend time with her best friend Leon or eating junk food, but her parents thought it would be good for her and for her weird little brother Artie. Margaret knows he could speak if he wanted to, but why should he when he gets whatever he wants anyway?
Leaving their parents behind, Margaret takes Artie for a little walk, carefully watching which way they went, but when they turn a bend a come across a bear, the children run without paying any attention to where they're going. Now lost and helpless, Margaret is responsible for her little brother, and afraid they're going to die.
Christopher's feelign out of sorts and unappreciated by his colony. When he goes off exploring and discovers strange creatures in a cave he's excited - now he has a secret of his own. He hears the bigger one call the littler one "RT" - something makes him feel sorry for him, and Christopher packs up some food from the kitchen. When the bigger creature catches him and takes him prisoner, Christopher potentially risks the entire colony. Instead, the rats take Artie and Margaret in, caring for them through the summer and changing their lives.
The third in the NIMH trilogy, RT, Margaret and the Rats of NIMH is a heart-warming tale of human/animal connection and change. It has all the elements that annoyed me in the first two NIMH novels but to a significantly lesser extent, and though my credibility was at times stretched all in all I quite enjoyed re-reading the novel, at least in comparison with my first two NIMH re-reading experiences. I also feel no need to return to the world of the enhanced rats any time soon. - Alex

Belinda Alexandra: Silver Wattle

I just wrote a long and detailed review of this novel and my thoughts about it. Unfortunately the internet seems to have eaten it and I couldn’t be arsed rewriting. So in essence:
After the suspicious death of their mother two young girls flee Prague in fear for their lives. They seek sanctuary with an estranged uncle in Australia.
Life in 1920’s Sydney is very different to their privileged upbringing in Europe but the two talented young women grasp every opportunity that comes their way. They eventually make a name for themselves in the local film industry but success doesn’t necessarily equal safety or happiness.
Basically they overcome the many tragedies of their lives, past and present and we are left with hopefulness for their futures-though a happy ever after isn’t explicitly spelled out.
I was attracted to this book by the gothic sounding plot and the 1920’s setting. Neither played a great part in the story, which was more of a coming of age/family saga kind of tale.
Though this is not the kind of story that I would normally read I found it to be nicely written.
My initial review was somewhat more erudite but since it’s gone for good, this condensed version will have to do.-Lynn

Ripe Enough – Cherry Ripe

In this frequently engaging collection of articles Ripe discusses many aspects of food, opening with an exploration of ripeness and why so many of us not only availed only of unripe, early picked and poorly stored fruit but are also unable to recognise good fruit. She moves on to artichokes, chickpeas via beef, and leaves barely a culinary arena, from seafood to rancidity, untouched. Each chapter concludes with a recipe or two, and the entries progress alphabetically rather than thematically.
This is a re-reading for me – I think Ripe Enough, first published in 1999, was the first book I read about food. Since then I’ve become acquainted with a number if food writers and enjoyed my forays into the genre, fuelling an interest in revisiting the beginning of my journey. Despite several, somewhat cursory, trolls through my boxes of books over the last couple of years, I haven’t found my copy so when I discovered that the library had it I was very pleased. I remembered the opening exposition, though no the recipes, and re-reading it was an interesting experience. Ripe writes of the Australian scene, so the produce, culture and regions she discusses are relevant and hold extra interest. The decade between publication and re-reading resulted in both differences in what she describes and contemporary situations, yet many things are not that different. I would have been interested, in her discussion about coffee (“Coffee Cherries: From Pits to Pots”), to see what she made of Starbucks opening here, and about Australia being the first location where stores of the chain closed.
Her basic thesis is worthy and well ahead of its time – buy locally, in season and when food is at its peak, consumers will pay more for better produce, the better educated consumers are about food (varieties of potatoes and their uses, the virtues of marbling in meat) the more demanding they’ll be about quality, great ingredients come from ecological and animal-friendly farming practices, best flavours (and often greater yields) come from older and rarer ‘heritage’ plants. I agree with all of that. But I found, wholly unexpectedly, that Ripe’s tone grated, the more so the further through I progressed. It wasn’t her (justifiable) distain of Anglocentric criticism of fusion cuisine or her (I imagine justified) dismissal on two occasions of famous foodie Keith Floyd’s accuracy and depth of knowledge. In fact I can’t quite put my finger on what, precisely, irritated me. I suspect it’s just that I built her writing up in the intervening years and have discovered that the book is adequate and unobjectionable, but not as absorbing as the best. - Alex

The Peshawar Lancers – SM Stirling

In the late 1870’s a string of meteors hit Earth, destroying cities, changing the environment and reversing the course of history. Acting on the advice of her Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, Queen Victoria authorised the evacuation of as much of London as possible, relocating in India. A hundred and fifty years later England is a backward wasteland of cannibalistic savages, and technology has for decades taken a back seat to survival, so boats are steam powered, cars are a novelty, and flight is only by dirigible. The British Empire, now centred in India, rules over most of the globe, while the Imperial Czar heads Russia and is the other major world leader. Eventually there will be a significant conflict between the two super powers.
His Majesty King John II has a loyal army, with no more dedicated soldier than Captain Athelstane King. As a chain of events unfold, Captain King will play a pivotal role in the outcome of not only a covert plot against the British Empire but also in the lives of the royal family.
I’ve enjoyed all of Stirling’s alternate history novels, preferring his Change series to the Massachusetts trilogy but finding all of them quickly absorbing. This is unusual for me – I have most often found alternate history fantasy overly militaristic and dull. While neither of these qualities apply to The Peshawar Lancers, I did find it considerably less accessible than Stirling’s other work. Part of this is undoubtedly because of the more significant world building required - the other series consist of present day Americans either going back in time and changing events themselves, or going forward after the world is changed for them, whereas this novel is set in a world that has diverged from ours at a significant point in history.
There are several interweaving narratives and I found it difficult, particularly at the beginning, to keep track of when we were, what was happening, and how the characters and plots connected. I think some of this would have been eased had Stirling written a prologue then jumped forward instead of having the nineteenth century events and response appear as the vision of a twenty-first century psychic. Similarly, while it makes sense within the context of the novel that place names would have changed, a table of comparisons and perhaps a map of who controls where, would have been helpful, along with a glossary of Indian words – while some of them were evident from the text others weren’t, and I’m sadly monolingual. Stirling has included a list of the King Emperors of the post-Fall British Empire and five appendices – a detailed description of The Fall and its effects, a timeline of the exodus and post-Fall aftermath, a description of the Angrezi Raj/British Empire, some notes on Imperial English and other languages (focusing on pronunciation), and an explanation of technology and the economy. Some of this information would have been more useful at the beginning rather than in retrospect, and some of it I found irritating – I appreciate thorough and internally consistent world building but (like sausages and laws) don’t want to be aware of how it’s done.
Perhaps it was that my expectations of Stirling were a little too high. Certainly I enjoyed The Peshawar Lancers, at least for the most part, and I did finish it with a smile, but for the first half of this ~460 page (plus notes) book it was something of a struggle and on a couple of occasions I persevered primarily because I had no other books available. Fortunately I’ve found two more novels in the Change series, so this will not be my last Stirling experience. - Alex