greenacrewriters.blogspot.com
Greenacre Writers: August 2015
http://greenacrewriters.blogspot.com/2015_08_01_archive.html
Saturday, 29 August 2015. A Conversation with Simon Mawer. Was born in 1948 in England. Like many children whose fathers were in the RAF, he spent a nomadic childhood in England, Cyprus and Malta. Educated first at Millfield boarding school in Somerset, it was here that he learnt the importance of being able ‘… to preserve a secret, interior world. Mawer is the prolific author of ten novels and two non fiction books, his bibliography. Is still growing. The Glass Room. In 2003, the Boardman Tasker Prize f...
bluebookballoon.blogspot.com
Blue Book Balloon: July 2015
http://bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2015_07_01_archive.html
I like talking about books, reading books, buying books, dusting books. er, just being with books. Map of Blue Book Balloon. Review: Blood Salt Water by Denise Mina. Orion, 30 July 2015. I'm grateful to the publisher for letting me have an advance copy of this book through Netgalley. You get old, you get scared. But keeps the story humming along. It's a tightly wound, compulsive book interweaving Morrow's investigation with the spiralling events in Helensburgh. We can see it all going wrong, but not ...
bluebookballoon.blogspot.com
Blue Book Balloon: Review: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
http://bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2015/07/review-seveneves-by-neal-stephenson.html
I like talking about books, reading books, buying books, dusting books. er, just being with books. Map of Blue Book Balloon. Review: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. Borough Press: London, 2015). 861 pages, Hardback. I bought this book from Wallingford Bookshop. The first thing to say about this book - and it's the first thing you will notice - is that it's long. Massive. An 861 page whopper. If you find that daunting, it's understandable, but let me try and persuade you to try it! 31 July 2015 at 09:58.
bluebookballoon.blogspot.com
Blue Book Balloon: Crashing Heaven by Al Robertson
http://bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2015/08/crashing-heaven-by-al-robertson.html
I like talking about books, reading books, buying books, dusting books. er, just being with books. Map of Blue Book Balloon. Crashing Heaven by Al Robertson. HB, 359 pp. I'm grateful to Gollancz for sending me a copy of the book to review. I think that besides having more to tell us about this world, there must be more to learn about Hugo. In "Crashing heaven" we see him step in and control Jack when the latter is unconscious - Hugo's baby steps, literally learning to steer Jack's body and "be" him, ...
bluebookballoon.blogspot.com
Blue Book Balloon: Guest post: Neil White - Where do I get my characters from?
http://bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2015/07/guest-post-neil-white-where-do-i-get-my.html
I like talking about books, reading books, buying books, dusting books. er, just being with books. Map of Blue Book Balloon. Guest post: Neil White - Where do I get my characters from? I'm really pleased that Neil White has agreed to write a guest post for the blog. I asked Neil to where his characters came from - not only the heroes, but the villains too. Fundamentally, characters come from my own experiences and are an extension of me in some way. To some extent, readers do something similar. That isn&...
bluebookballoon.blogspot.com
Blue Book Balloon: Review: The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross
http://bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2015/08/review-annihilation-score-by-charles.html
I like talking about books, reading books, buying books, dusting books. er, just being with books. Map of Blue Book Balloon. Review: The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross. Orbit, 2 July 2015. Bought from Transreal Fiction, Edinburgh. I assume the same version of the text has been used for UK and US editions, and as the US marked it much bigger, I can't quarrel with that. But I think it's a shame. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Image from www.hotkeybooks.com. Coming up: neo Lovecraft week. Laura's...
bluebookballoon.blogspot.com
Blue Book Balloon: Review: The Settling Earth by Rebecca Burns, with Shelly Davies
http://bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2015/08/review-settling-earth-by-rebecca-burns.html
I like talking about books, reading books, buying books, dusting books. er, just being with books. Map of Blue Book Balloon. Review: The Settling Earth by Rebecca Burns, with Shelly Davies. Rebecca Burns, with Shelly Davies. Odyssey Books, 2014. I'm grateful to the publisher and author for letting me have an e-copy of this book via Netgalley. Not far from where I work in London, at the Trafalgar Square end of Whitehall, is a plaque. But it doesn't tell you anything abut what happened next. We meet one of...
bluebookballoon.blogspot.com
Blue Book Balloon: January 2015
http://bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html
I like talking about books, reading books, buying books, dusting books. er, just being with books. Map of Blue Book Balloon. Review: Near Enemy by Adam Sternbergh. I was sent a copy of this book through bookbridgr. I also bought a copy because I got a bit impatient. Such is life. Following Shovel Ready, published last year, Sternbergh has returned to a wrecked near-future New York and his antihero Spademan. When did it all go wrong for him? Next morning. Sun comes knocking. Check the clock again. 6 am.
bluebookballoon.blogspot.com
Blue Book Balloon: March 2015
http://bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2015_03_01_archive.html
I like talking about books, reading books, buying books, dusting books. er, just being with books. Map of Blue Book Balloon. Review: The Death House by Sarah Pinborough. I bought this book from Goldsboro Books in London. The survivors wait their turn for the trolley in the night. It's a difficult read in place, the implacable logic of the story driving forward when you would rather it halted, giving a respite, a delay, but always involving, compassionate and true. Daniel may not be destined to grow up, b...
bluebookballoon.blogspot.com
Blue Book Balloon: November 2014
http://bluebookballoon.blogspot.com/2014_11_01_archive.html
I like talking about books, reading books, buying books, dusting books. er, just being with books. Map of Blue Book Balloon. Review: Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch. I bought this book from Waterstones. Gollancz, October 2014. Hardback, 394 pages (Waterstones edition with extra short story). The book is to some degree also fairly standalone within its series, with little need to have read the previous books (though Beverley Brook does turn up to help Peter). Given events in Broken Homes, Lesley Sh...
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