Tag Archives: classic

The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Posted on January 20, 2019 by

Read January 2019 Recommended for fans of period mysteries, period adventure stories ★     ★    1/2  Sherlock has been enjoying a Hollywood resurgence. That’s not what lead me to pick this up, however. Vaguely headachey, I needed a reading … Continue reading →

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The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley

Posted on January 1, 2019 by

Read December 2018 Recommended for fans of boozy detectives ★     ★    ★    ★    1/2 “When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint … Continue reading →

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Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh

Posted on July 16, 2018 by

Read July 2018 Recommended for people who like Christie ★    ★   ★  Written in 1935, this was the second book for Ngaio Marsh, theater director and eventually one of the ‘greats’ in crime fiction writers. To write it, she drew … Continue reading →

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The City & The City by China Mieville

Posted on January 24, 2018 by

Read  January 2018 Recommended for Fans of Miéville      ★    ★    ★     Can a city have a personality? I think so. Certainly the feel of Los Angeles is entirely different from NYC, and different again from Chicago, right? … Continue reading →

Posted in Book reviews, Mystery, Science fiction | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson, Vol. 3

Posted on January 17, 2018 by

Read  January 2018 Recommended for    ★    ★     1/2 Ah, the heady days of sci-fi, when men were men, women were women, and bug-eyed tentacled things were bug-eyed tentacled things. Picked up because of the Hugo and Nebula winner ‘The Saturn … Continue reading →

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The Saturn Game by Poul Anderson

Posted on November 15, 2017 by

Read  November 2017 Recommended for fans of classic sci-fi ★    ★    ★   Winner of both a Nebula and a Hugo, The Saturn Game tempted me by being a mix of both fantasy and sci-fi. I’ve had some success with Poul … Continue reading →

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Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks. Must I?

Posted on September 17, 2017 by

Read  September 2017 Recommended for fans of classic sci-fi ★    ★     And today, mine is going to be unpopular. But remember the advice from 9th grade Advanced English teacher Mrs. Muench about metaphors. Or maybe I mean false equivalency. … Continue reading →

Posted in Book reviews, Science fiction | Tagged , | 5 Comments

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

Posted on June 19, 2017 by

Read  June 2017 Recommended for classic sci-fi fans ★    ★    ★   ★    1/2 An excellent analysis of the Trump candidacy and events leading up to his election as #45. Uses both his perspective and that of the anonymous supporter to chilling … Continue reading →

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When Gravity Falls by George Alec Effinger

Posted on June 11, 2017 by

Read  June 2017 Recommended for people who enjoy futuristic detective noir ★    ★    ★   ★    1/2 I don’t even. This book engrossed me, sucked me in, took me to the seediest bar in town, plied me with cheap booze and left … Continue reading →

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The More than Complete Hitchhiker’s Guide by Douglas Adams

Posted on May 6, 2017 by

Listened May 2017 Recommended for fans of the absurd ★    ★    ★   ★    ★     The edition of the Guide that replaced all others in my library, it contains an introduction by Douglas Adams that adds interesting details for fans … Continue reading →

Posted in Book reviews, fantasy, Science fiction | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments