dittybox

 This is Book 3 of the Godkiller Trilogy, so if you haven't read the other two books, it's going to be hard to keep up with what's going on with this one.  I have reviewed the first two already and they can be found at the following links:                           Godkiller                           Sunbringer There are six main characters that feature in all the books and they are: Lessa Craier who was a nobelwoman turned pirate after her home was burnt to the ground by a god; Lessa's daughter Inara whose father was a god and so she carries some god-like powers: Arren the king who carries the flame of the god Hestra in place of his heart; The knight Elo who once worked quietly as a baker but now command's the king's army; Kissen the godkiller and lastly Skedi, the small god of white lies, who is bonded with Inara and keeps her safe. The land of Mi...

 I have managed to get to the ripe old age of 67 without ever reading any books by Agatha Christie, and was starting to feel as though I was missing out on something.  This feeling was bought about by a series of programmes fronted by Lucy Worsley that covered the life of Mrs Christie, particularly the period of time when she went missing from home.  Everyone Lucy Worsley interviewed spoke enthusiastically about her books, and I suppose not surprisingly, there is even an Agatha Christie Society who can probably recite whole chapters off by heart.  Then, last Wednesday when I went to the library, there were two big piles of Seven Dials sitting on the 'recommends' table so I almost felt that fate had intervened. Anyway, in the end I didn't really enjoy it, although to be fair it was first published in 1929 and the language is very much of its time.  The conversation is in the 'what ho!' style with most of the lead characters living in big country houses and having...

  I think I'm missing something in this novel.  It made the Booker Longlist last year, and the cover is plastered with praise from other authors, but I struggled to find what was so special about it.  My heart didn't stop because it was so vivid (as apparently happened to Oisin McKenna) and I wasn't mesmerised while I was reading it like Michael Cunningham and I was surprised to read that Jemimah Wei wanted to live in it forever. Oh well, I guess Tash Aw can't win us all. It's not a bad book, and it is certainly not often that I have read something by a Chinese author, so it offers me something different to think about.  The story is about a teenage boy, Jay, and his family who inherit a family farm in the south and go to stay there while they consider what to do with it.  Jay has the opportunity to explore his sexuality once he is away from home and he soon finds himself in a relationship with Chuan, the son of the farm manager.   Being away from his ...

  Oh my Lord.  This book. I have just this minute turned the last page and I have to get something written down about it right away.  It is the most heart-breaking novel I think I have every read, and I defy anyone to read it without having their emotions wrung out by the terrible twists that pull a family apart in ways that can never be repaired. The hardest part to grasp is that any one of us could potentially have the course of our lives changed by circumstance, and even essentially good people can end up being responsible for something that can't be fixed. Corby is a the father of twin toddlers, who he adores, and he has become the primary care giver for the children after being made redundant.  He and his wife Emily can no longer afford child care with only one salary coming in, but Corby is finding it hard to get another job and after a few months he is starting to lose interest in looking.  It's stressful looking after the children and he's also becoming ...

  I liked everything about this book and I found myself picking it up at every opportunity as I almost missed it's company when I wasn't reading it.  It even took over the times when I usually scan through reels on Instagram, so it must be good. Thomas Hart is a journalist writing a weekly column for a local Essex newspaper, and he is one of those people who seem to have arrived from another era with his well pressed suits and charming manners.  He is the newspaper's longest running contributor and his editor wants him to come up with something interesting to write about as the circulation numbers are down.  The editor suggests he write something about the moon; 'Five hundred words, please, and six if the night is clear.' The moon turns out to be a revelation to Thomas, and it's almost as though he has never seen it before.  Once he starts observing it properly, he finds himself falling in love, and it is not long before he reads up on all things astronomical, i...

  Aaah!  How annoying!  I got to the end of the book before I found out that this is book three of a trilogy and it's a Lars Mytting!! I hate reading a series of books out of sequence, and now I'm not even sure if I will want to read the other two books as now I know how it all ends up.  Fortunately, the book works very well as a stand alone and I enjoyed it a lot, but why can't publishers state in big writing on the front 'Book One of trilogy' etc so readers don't get caught out. Oh well, too late now.  Lars Mytting is worth reading, even out of sequence, and this a translation from Norwegian, although that never detracts from the pace of the text, in fact the translation by Deborah Dawkin is brilliantly done.  The book begins in 1613 when a farmer comes across a dying ewe in the deep snow of the mountains, and she has used the last of her strength to protect her young lamb form the biting cold and snow piled up all around them.  Eirik Hekne carries b...

Cities of the Plain is the final volume of the Border Trilogy set in the parts of America either side of the Mexican border.  It's one of those books that you could read in isolation, but without the backstories you would be missing out on a lot of depth.  It really is worth reading all three and immersing yourself in cowboy culture. After I read the second volume I was sorry to find that young John Grady from the first book wasn't in it, and I had to get to know Billy Parham instead.  This was no bad thing and now I have reached the third book I find I can read about both of them working on the same ranch.  Time has moved on to the end of World War Two when John Grady is nineteen and Billy around thirty.  Neither served in the war as John Grady was too young and Billy was turned down at three different recruiting stations because of a heart murmur.  The ranch they are working on belongs to the very elderly Mr Johnson, who Billy has known all his life, and ...