I’m still on hobby overload with printing and painting miniatures and even occasionally playing a game but I’ve also been plugging away at the reading. Since mid August I’ve finished:
London Rules, The Marylebone Drop, Joe Country, The Catch, Slough House, Bad Actors, and Standing by the Wall all by Mick Herron which finishes out the series at least until Mick writes another one. Everything I said about the first four applies here as well. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Potential readers should be advised of a couple of things. These books are very dark and reading them will require very close attention because the viewpoint often shifts with little or no warning, make sure you know which character you’re reading about. Finally, you need to read these in order as the events of previous novels heavily influence future stories. The order I read them in places the novellas in the correct place in the timeline.
Sayonara by James Michener was a bit of a disappointment. The book deals with intermarriage between US servicemen and Japanese women during the Korean War and takes the point of view that the policy of discouraging and preventing such marriages whenever possible was racist and morally wrong. So far, so good. The problem is that the book is rife with casual racism of the more “benign” type about Japanese people and their culture which, 70 years later makes the author’s vehement denunciations of US official racism ring hollow. Another problem is that the ending was basically a “cop-out” although it was, happily, changed for the movie. Anyway, this is the only Michener book I can recall that don’t wholeheartedly recommend.
The Old Priory by Norah Lofts was an excellent little book about three generations of residents of a British country house built on the site of an old priory during the 17th century. The book has many satisfying twists and turns and is a very pleasant way to kill a couple of hours.
60 for the year.
BillP's Book\Miniature\Wargame Blog 