Archive for March 21, 2011
STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG by Kate Atkinson
Kate Atkinson has written a number of novels that feature ex-cop turned PI Jackson Brodie: CASE HISTORIES, ONE GOOD TURN, WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS?, and now the fourth novel, STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG. I had read a total of zero novels in the series when I picked up Atkinson’s latest. This is a novel that can be read as a stand-alone, and although there were threads to the other stories, Atkinson’s novel is so very well-written, it’s not essential to begin with the first novel in the series.
STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG is ostensibly a crime novel, but to try and slot this excellent tale into such a neat and ultimately limiting definition is a mistake. While crimes take place, the emphasis is on the crimes that slip silently into simple everyday living: cruelty, casual violence, lying and possibly most importantly–failing to take a moral stand.
March 21, 2011
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Judi Clark · 
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Tags: 1970s, Contemporary, Foreign Detective, Sleuth · Posted in: Award Winning Author, Noir, Reading Guide, Sleuths Series, Theme driven, Time Period Fiction, United Kingdom
SUDDENLY IN THE DEPTHS OF THE FOREST by Amos Oz
Any writer who can so completely capture the essence of cowness, even in translation (here by Sondra Silverston) is most certainly worth reading, and I am entirely pleased to make the acquaintance of Israeli novelist Amos Oz. Never mind that this airy little story of 2005, which the author describes as “A fable for all ages,” is almost certainly merely a footnote to Oz’s work, barely reflecting what I understand to be the seriousness of his major work, let alone the outspoken commitment of his political writings. It is still a story worth reading once for its charm and twice for its meaning.
March 21, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Children's, Speculative (Beyond Reality) · Posted in: Allegory, Speculative (Beyond Reality), World Literature
