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| Some of DG's Book Shelves |
Book Reviews 2015 - 2016
Books reviewed are generally Science Fiction, Historical with a touch of paranormal, Mystery/Suspense, fiction and non-fiction books about Paris, art and artists, some literary titles-classics, selected fantasy or paranormal books that catch my interest, and books on writing basics. Some are review copies, some are library finds. All are from my TBR stack, real and virtual.
Frequency: mid-month minimum, occasionally more.
My book reviews are in Newest to Oldest order. So 2016 will show first in the list below.
Links go to my review posts. Hope you enjoy the browsing.
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2016
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APRIL
Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore, A Review
It was the blue of the biblical paintings, the only ones considered worthy of such a vibrant colour. In the beginning, that is.
A Comedy D'art involving Art, Artists, and the colour bleu. Is it possible that there may have been a conspiracy involving the expensive and hard to acquire 'bleu'? OR did it have supernatural properties? Here is one alternate history of the colour bleu by Christopher Moore.
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FEBRUARY
Satori in Paris by Jack Kerouac - A Review
Satori in Paris reads like a poem in certain spots, before Kerouac reverts back to his beat-influenced narrative style. Jack is looking for the history of his family name, especially in Brittany, and he wants to meet his relatives or seek information about his ancestors. Will he find what he's looking for? Will he be accepted or ignored by those of his familial village. . .?
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JANUARY
MYSTERY / CRIME Reviews - Ann Rule and Anne Perry
Ann Rule
Don't Look Behind You
Be careful who you trust. . .
A divorced father disappears after befriending two sharks: a woman and her daughter. They cruise the male world looking for a means to get rich without actually having to work.
A wife of a man who abuses her and threatens the children is gone without a trace. The husband says she left him and the children to run away with another man. . .
One section of the book includes several rape crime stories. A common theme flows through them all: be careful who you trust
Anne Perry
Silence in Hanover Close - A Victorian Mystery
A man is murdered in his own home and several objects are missing from the room. Did an enemy or a friend commit robbery and murder? The killer came and went in the daylight in an exclusive neighbourhood. . .an inside job?
Pitt, the detective sent to deal with this cold case encounters hostility and distrust when dealing with the family. No one will look him in the eye. . .
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2015
DECEMBER
French Quarter Nocturne by Roland Yeomans
A city devastated, law and order tossed to the gutter, and citizens abused by thugs - this is what faced the two men who wanted to make things right, or at least as right as they could be. As the men survey the damage, the shadows from the edge of the darkness start to become annoying, hovering like vultures waiting to pounce.
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NOVEMBER
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Waiting is the hardest part of any venture, especially during war time, and this story shows the mental stress and psychological strain that results. The setting is the Spanish Civil War, the story is about trying to protect one's home from outside forces and the resulting cost in human terms. For Whom the Bell Tolls is an important novel for which Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.
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OCTOBER
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
The story unfolds after Claire has been back in her own time twenty years. She tells how she arrived in 1745 from 1945 and why and how she came back. But did Jamie survive? She doesn't know. In the mid 1700s from whence Claire came, political turmoil gripped Europe, with the Bourbons, the Stuarts, and other nobles all plotting in Scotland, France, England, Spain, and Italy.
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JULY
The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
By the acclaimed author of Outlander, Fiery Cross takes place in the Carolinas of the 1700s, when America was young. Called the Colonies prior to the American War for Independence, it was a place to start over in many ways. Scottish settlers from the old country bought land and tried to adapt to life in the New World, while the long arm of British Law and Governance tried to control those who had flown the coop. Tensions are high, and the stakes are higher as momentum builds.
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MAY
The Stars Bleed at Midnight by Roland Yeomans
Egyptian lore lures with its unknowns, its mysteries and the characters and stories that Roland Yeomans places in the setting of bygone times. Samuel McCord, Nikola Tesla, Mark Twain/Samuel Clements, Meilori/Sekhmet, Bastet, a young Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde and other names come and go in this riveting tale which begins in the United States, jumps to India and then to Egypt. Gathering at the exotic Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo, the friends prepare to unearth an ancient curse, while dodging or dispatching those who would stop them.
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For 2014 Reviews click HERE.
