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"One day, I put myself in the car and simply drove. I had no idea where I was going or why. I had no idea ... I would wind up, at dusk, in a lost little valley, turning up the driveway of the Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast."
The best books, as you read them, take you from wherever you are to a place where you want to be. If you're a reader of a certain type--a lover of books, cats, and absurdity of a quiet kind--then the Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast should be on your itinerary. It introduces two fraternal twins, Hector and Virgil, unmarried men who run a cozy establishment on a Canadian island. The book alternates between notes from Hector or Virgil, and "Brief Lives," culled from the B & B's guest book. This variety of perspectives gives Bill Richardson tremendous flexibility, and he weaves all the disparate characters together with an unobtrusive dexterity. The Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast is a pleasant, soothing, quietly absurd place to be.
Book Description
A pair of endearingly eccentric bachelors--in their fifties, and fraternal twins--own and operate a bed & breakfast establishment where people like them, the "gentle and bookish and ever so slightly confused," can feel at home. Hector and Virgil think of their B&B as a refuge, a retreat, a haven, where folks may bring their own books or peruse the brothers' own substantial library. An antic blend of homespun and intellectual humor, Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast is a place readers will want to return to again and again.
Customer Reviews:
A Cozy, "Feels like Home" Read.......2007-05-22
I am so glad I found this book. It is a small book and I usually devour books in no time at all, but I truly savored this one. It's meant to be read slowly and appreciatively. Going inside of this book made me feel relaxed, comfortable, and peaceful. I'd recommend it to anyone who is a book lover and enjoys cozy reads that show how special that every day life can be.
Tedious, tedious read.......2006-03-03
A friend gave me this book feeling that I would enjoy the way it was written and how Mr. Richardson uses language throughout. She was half right.
The twists and little turns of phrase and language were enjoyable, but rare. Instead, uncommon words are used to fill the simple sentences and try to lend some weight to an unremarkable book.
Otherwise, the brothers are barely distinguishable, though they have completely different mannerisms. There is nothing that grabs hold of the reader to differentiate between them or any of the guests.
If I found it in a $.10 box at a yardsale, I would buy it. Otherwise, it isn't worth the cost of shipping.
Perfect choice for a reading group discussion!.......2004-08-04
This is a charming little book that centers around twin brothers, Hector and Virgil, 50-something bachelors who run a Bed & Breakfast in a remote island location. Though word-of-mouth, they have attracted a customer base consisting entirely of fellow bibliophiles, and thus reading is a central theme throughout the novel.
The book is written as a series of reflections: each chapter is narrated by either Hector, Virgil, or one of their guests, whose musings make up the B&B's unique guest book. The brothers relate stories of their unconventional childhood with their single mother and MIA father as well as offer present day anecdotes about their entertaining guests, neighbors, and pets. Also interspersed throughout the book are recommended reading lists such as "Hector's List of Favorite Authors for the Bath."
This quirky, whimsical novel is ideally suited to be a reading group selection and likely to be enjoyed by any book lover.
a good summer read.......2004-06-07
It's a light read--slow paced yet easy to digest, and quirky enough to be worthwile.
Rather tedious.......2004-05-07
I'm a great fan of Barbara Pym, Emily Eden, Margaret Oliphant, Anthony Trollope, PG Wodehouse, and similar writers of gentle (and not-so-gentle) social humor. When I found this book, then, I was pleased to find another promising author that seemed to fit this type.
The first chapter was amusing enough, written from one of the Bachelor Brother's points of view. Richardson has some very nice turns of phrase and is very good with his imagery. He's also skilled at changing the "voice" of the narrator for each chapter. The book very quickly palled for me after that first chapter, though, and it quickly became just a tedious read. I found the characters uninteresting, the setting only mildly engaging, and the overall lack of plot dull.
Fortunately, it was also a very short book, which is good for anyone who has to finish whatever book they start. As light summer reading, one could do worse that this light-weight volume, but one could undoubtedly also do better.
Book Description
A pair of endearingly eccentric bachelors--in their fifties, and fraternal twins--own and operate a bed & breakfast establishment where people like them, the "gentle and bookish and ever so slightly confused," can feel at home. Hector and Virgil think of their B&B as a refuge, a retreat, a haven, where folks may bring their own books or peruse the brothers' own substantial library. An antic blend of homespun and intellectual humor, Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast is a place readers will want to return to again and again.
Customer Reviews:
A so-so sequel but with some surprising revalations.......2004-08-15
After enjoying the first Bachelor Brothers Bed & Breakfast book, I decided to check out the sequel. In particular, what I had most liked about the original novel was its focus on books and reading, so I was disappointed to discover the that sequel does not have the same emphasis: occasional reading lists are included, but they are interpersed with recipes and a much more eccletic collection of anecdotes. Whereas the first book was genuinely funny and quirky, it seems that in this follow-up work, the author tried TOO hard to be both humorous and unusual, and for the most part, his efforts fall flat. Much of the book centers around a character who was only briefly mentioned in the original story, the eccentric local poet Solomon Solomon; the little that is of interest about the character is stretched way too thin here. The only real bright spot in this book is that towards the end, there are some interesting revalations which provide a bit more information about Hector and Virgil's ancestry. Whether it's worth it to read 172 pages of a mediocre novel for less than 20 pages of slightly more entertaining level is up to you, but I definitely wouldn't recommend this sequel to anyone who hadn't read the first book.
A Bit of a Hodgepodge.......2003-06-27
You couldn't say this book had much of a plot. It's more like a collection of anecdotes. Some were entertaining, some not. I liked the letters from former guests at the B&B. I didn't care much for the sex or the occasional slapstick. I haven't read the first book in the series, so I can't compare. For the owners of a business, the two brothers didn't seem to do much work.
I have stayed at only one B&B, and my husband and I were the only guests at the time. It was a lovely place. The owner sat down and ate breakfast with us and told us about many of the interesting guests she and her husband had housed. They didn't seem to have much life outside the business, which seemed understandable. The bachelor brothers seemed to have too much life outside the B&B.
More from Hector & Virgil.......2001-10-20
As a sequel to the first book, The Bachelor Brothers Bed & Breakfast, the Pillow Book provides more stories from our beloved brothers Hector & Virgil. One of the lines from the novel sums up my love & appreciation for the writing: "..They wanted to create a place where people who are oppressed by the notion that there are too many books and too little time to read them might carve out a retreat;where gentle souls who carry the burden of knowing that the world is too much with them can set aside a week or ten days to whittle down their list of 'books to which I must one day get around'"-As a lover of books, this idea sounds like the perfect escapism. That is what Bill Richardson accomplishes in his writing-escapism with the various characters we meet at the Bachelor Brothers Bed & Breakfast, and another peek into the family unit of Hector & Virgil. The book is speckaled with funny little anecdotes throughout. While not quite as good as the first novel, it's still a charmer.
Fun, but far too far over the top.......1999-03-18
Much of the joy of the first book was that the stories were told with such a light touch and in such different voices that you could almost believe they were true. Virgil and Hector, while iconic, could almost be real, and I loved them for it.
In this second book, the humour is broader but I ceased to believe. The first book has characters, the second caricatures. The difference is disheartening. I laughed, but didn't love.
A bit of a dissappointment.......1998-07-29
After loving the first book, I was hoping for more of the same. But it is hard to live up to superlative. So, this still very good book seemed a bit of a let down - nothing greatly original or better than the first. I didn't much care for all the solomon solomon jokes. Still, it was a delightful read, and made this BBBB fan happy nonetheless. I hope there is more !
Average customer rating:
- Brilliant
- Another Strange Psycholgical Treat from P. Highsmith!
- A mystery story without a real murder
- Highsmith was NOT a crime writer....
- Enjoyable suspense novel
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A Suspension of Mercy
Patricia Highsmith
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0393321975 |
Book Description
A major new reissue of the work of a classic noir novelist. With the acclaim for The Talented Mr. Ripley, more film projects in production, and two biographies forthcoming, expatriate legend Patricia Highsmith would be shocked to see that she has finally arrived in her homeland. Throughout her career, Highsmith brought a keen literary eye and a genius for plumbing the psychopathic mind to more than thirty works of fiction, unparalleled in their placid deviousness and sardonic humor. With deadpan accuracy, she delighted in creating true sociopaths in the guise of the everyday man or woman. Now, one of her finest works is again in print: A Suspension of Mercy, a masterpiece of noir fantasy. With this novel, Highsmith revels in eliciting the unsettling psychological forces that lurk beneath the surface of everyday contemporary life.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant.......2007-05-04
One amazing book. ASome wonderful sequences, and a slow, painful descent into confusion and misery and all set up by such a simple, clear premise. The ending is so unusual and so violent you feel a palpable sense of shock. The feeling of an "everyman" trying to detangle himself from a mess is as good as anything Hitchcock ever concocted. Wow.
Another Strange Psycholgical Treat from P. Highsmith!.......2005-07-24
A frustrated American author meets and marries an English lady, they move into the English countryside so he can write and think, and their marriage gradually dissolves into sarsastic quips, and trivial complaints. Though this is definitely not new, Hightsmith twists this faltering marriage into a nasty game of hide and seek, where the wife takes an extended disappearing act into Brighton, and her folks call the police to investigate. Meanwhile, frustrated write-hubby daydreams and sometimes tells his friends how he may have done away with her. In a wonderfully set English landscape, this seeming innocent situation slowly turns frightening, with a fine cast of characters, including the elderly widow,new next door neighbor. For sheer everyday creepiness, Highsmith is in a class of her own in this non-Ripley mesmorizer.
A mystery story without a real murder.......2004-11-22
During the whole book one of the main figures, Sydney, thinks about killing other people. Of course, he's a writer he has to imagine such things, other people in the story say. Nearly in every detail he imagines how he would kill for example his wife. And when she leaves him he plays as if she was really dead and it seems as if she was on the way to play this game with him. But his wife isn't dead. She's still alive but she doesn't want to see Sydney again and she doesn't want to come back to her parents because she's ashamed because she has been away for such a long time.
But didn't I buy a mystery story the reader asks himself. He can see that there's a lot of talking about murder but no-one gets killed by an other. Still the book takes an ending in a very special way, in a way no-one would expect it to happen.
So we may say that Patricia Highsmith keeps us on tenterhooks nearly until the end of the book - because we are all waiting for a murder and really don't know if it will happen. And we can also never be sure, that the murder (if it is going to happen) will happen in the way we could imagine it. We are always uncertain about the next thing that will happen. But exactly this is how Patricia Highsmith holds the tension inside of us high, very high.
I really enjoyed this book because it's full of tension from the first until the last page and you as the reader may never know what will happen next. The book is also full of special personalities who are worth to be known by us. The figures have thoughts which I can't imagine that they will cross my mind once but it's very interesting to see how other people may think or react if the situation becomes real or seems to become real.
The book really takes us in another world, a world full of incertitudes although the reader does always know what Sydney thinks. But there are all the other people who think differently about Sydney and this always produces a feeling of incertitude in us. The reader doesn't really know if he may trust Sydney or if Sydney will do a thing to change the image we have of him. This also holds the tension on a very high level. Your feelings will change through the lecture at the end of the book you will think differently about nearly everyone in the book than you did in the beginning! So, just read it and let you be taken through this change of feelings!
Highsmith was NOT a crime writer...........2004-01-08
...and this novel is an example. Because her characters often engage in activities that are illegal or, at least, immoral, American publishers have classified her work as "crime fiction," or something similar. Highsmith's fiction was decidedly NOT crime fiction, and people who read Grafton, Cornwell, or Kellerman might be disappointed. There are no good guys, bad guys, hunky detectives, loyal girl Fridays, or love stories. Just people we normally meet, taking extraordinary chances or exploring weird indulgences. Who hasn't fantasized about killing one's spouse (or parent, child, friend, enemy, etc.)?
Read any of Patricia Highsmith's work as if you were reading a classic novelist--Dostoevsky, perhaps. In Highsmith's vision, crime is a metaphor representing the oddly amoral choices we make out of our natural narcissism or neurosis. The discomfort you feel while reading a Highsmith novel? Be warned: that's your conscience scraping its fingernails across the blackboard of your soul. Pleasant? No. Dangerous, guilty, neurotic fun? You bet!
Enjoyable suspense novel.......2002-04-26
I'm so glad that the works of Patricia Highsmith have been reissued (I particularly love her Ripley series). This book is similar in many ways to the Ripley books - male protagonist who is an amoral American living in the European countryside and married to a European. Sydney is an unsuccessful American mystery writer, who finds himself unhappy in his marriage. His wife, Alicia, is a bit critical of Sydney and he finds his imagination plotting her murder. The suspense comes from guessing whether he will end up killing her and whether he will get away with it. The plot twists are rather clever, although very little of what happens is particularly believable and the ending is a let-down. Despite these flaws, Highsmith's writing style is so smooth and enjoyable that I found myself liking this book a great deal. Highly recommmended for suspense book lovers and fans of the Ripley series.
Average customer rating:
- Almost lost but even the pieces are worthwhile
- A story too broad and too deep for Ben's hard drive
- So Might Have Been
- Packs a punch
- One of the best character books in the series with POW to!
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So Vile a Sin (Doctor Who : the New Adventures)
Ben Aaronovitch , and
Kate Orman
Manufacturer: London Bridge (Mm)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Aaronovitch, Ben
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| Science Fiction & Fantasy
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Doctor Who
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ASIN: 0426204840 |
Customer Reviews:
Almost lost but even the pieces are worthwhile.......2006-12-17
As a teenager reading these novels I was doing my best to read them in order. I was doing a pretty good job at it too, until I reached Matthew Jones' Bad Therapy, which opened with just the Doctor and Chris Cwej. Where was Roz Forrester, the other Adjudicator companion? Dead, as it turns out. Oh. Frantically I checked back to see if I had missed something in the last book I read. I hadn't. I scoured the bookstores for the missing link book and found no success (I don't remember if this book was listed in the list of novels in the first few pages and I'm too lazy to go look through my copy) not realizing that the book hadn't been released just yet. When it did come out, it came out after the Virgin New Adventures line was dead and gone and thus it was sort of shuffled out and then disappeared, unable to be reprinted. So I missed it completely and was only able to acquire it through a recent mad rush of purchasing. It's probably the rarest of the New Adventures (the last several are pretty rare actually) and as such this is the first chance for me to read it after ten years or so. I was a little worried at first reading it because it's the climax of the "Psi Powers" storyline, a thread that ran through several novels and a bit on the complicated side but I got the gist of it fairly quickly. This book is one of the longer ones in the series, rumor has it that it was even longer but had to be cut short due to a hard drive failure on the part of original author Ben Aaronovitch, leading to Kate Orman stepping in to help him finish it. Their styles do mesh pretty well, better than you'd expect. The plot seems to concern the Doctor and company putting an end to the Brotherhood of people with psi powers who are trying to use a Nexus of realities to remake the universe into one more of their liking. In the meantime the Earth Empire is entering a rather messy period where the Empress is killed and houses are aligning to decide who gets to stand with the new Emperor, whoever that is. The plot is decently complex but a bit fractured at the same time, verging on space opera at times and having very much a widescreen feel. The scattered vistas and crazy ideas are probably the product of Aaronovitch's original plot, which is the type of thing he was known for, while the smaller character moments are more Orman's forte, especially the set pieces. The plot hangs together well but by not giving any real focus to any one of the many elements making it up, it gives the book a bit of a fragmented feel . . . you have moments with N-forms and old Gallifreyan technology sitting next to people with psionic powers and maybe a longer novel would have helped to iron that out, but I'm not sure. Where the book really scores is atmosphere and mood, rarely do Doctor Who novels feel this weary and doomladen, the novel opens with Roz' funeral (where the Doctor has a heart attack, in one of the starkest and most poignant scenes involving the character) and it goes from there. Everyone gets great moments, from Chris to the Doctor to the Forrester family, and it manages to overcome the at times confusing plot. Roz comes into her own here, not that she hadn't before, but she makes a case for being the companion closest to the Doctor in attitude, for being able to do the same things that he does without becoming squeamish. Their relationship is sketched out nicely and while I think he was close to Roz and Chris, you can see that the loss of Roz (in a very well done moment) hits him harder than you'd expect. One thing I always liked about the New Adventures was that gritty complex feel, and the Doctor here is calculating and whimsical, old and mirthful, with the kind of nuances that make you wish all these people had been writing the TV episodes (actually Aaronovtich wrote "Remembrance of the Daleks" and "Battlefield"). It feels like a novel and it feels like good SF and at the same time it has that distinctly British feel that only Doctor Who novels at the time had. We'll never know how the novel should have turned out, but what we have is this and I think that's good enough, all things considered.
A story too broad and too deep for Ben's hard drive.......2004-04-13
Everyone reading this review doubtless already knows the story of how two names came to be on the spine of SO VILE A SIN. I have nothing to add to the tale other than to relate that I always picture Kate Orman coming to the rescue as a Doctor Who version of Harvey Keitel as the tuxedoed Winston Wolf in PULP FICTION. ("You're sending the Orman? Rebecca, mother-editor, that's all you needed to say!")
Vastly different images come to mind when I think about the past works of Aaronovitch and Orman. Saying "Kate Orman novel" to me conjures up thoughts of many heartbreakingly touching character moments strung together in a tight plot. "Ben Aaronovitch novel" makes me think of solar system-sized transit mechanics, solar system-sized civilizations, and armies dropping big things out of orbit onto the heads of other armies. However, these caricatures of mine do both authors a disservice, as each has his or her particular strengths and weaknesses. A fan of their previous individual work, I was extremely curious as to how their styles would mesh. Although it's perhaps a little unfair of me to judge this as a true collaboration, given the circumstances behind the pairing.
The combination of their two distinct styles is very interesting. Some of my favorite moments in Orman's novels have been when she concentrates on illustrating a single setting, such as the human colonies in SLEEPY and THE YEAR OF INTELLIGENT TIGERS. Here, she does much the same thing, only instead of confining herself to one place, she has several of Ben's Really Big settings to populate. The first hundred pages are spent warping from one gorgeous setting to the next. Although these are great locations (and superbly brought to life) I kept wondering when the story was going to settle down and get started. (My thought processes: "Wow! This is a great location; now the story will start here! [A few dozen pages later.] Wow! This is another great location! Now the story will start here! [Even more pages later.] Ooh, an even more interesting location... with robots and hardware! Now the story will surely begin here!")
The impression that this gave me was (and I am likely completely wrong in this evaluation, but it's how it felt to this reader) that it was a struggle to get all of these great individual pieces into the final manuscript. More thought may have gone into determining how to flesh out each of these components with little time available to figure out how they fit together and whether they were all really needed in the first place. It's not that all these things jar with each other, more than they just don't quite mesh smoothly.
I think the biggest problem is that there's just too much going on. Indeed, I was surprised when I got to the end and realized that the Ormanovitch managed to fit everything I had just read into a mere 312 pages. We aren't given the chance to really dwell on anything, and this is a pity because there's a lot of great stuff going on. This is why I find it difficult to be too critical of the content; it's the structure that doesn't seem to work. The character of Vincenzi, to take an example, is given quite a bit of build-up, but then just seems to fade. On the other hand, the galactic politicking is mentioned early, but so casually that the later power struggles seem to come out of nowhere. Roz's death (no spoiler this -- it's mentioned on the first page) is indeed haunting, epic and powerful. But while the sacrifice itself engages on the emotional level, the actual events leading up to it seem somewhat cold and detached.
Before I sign off, I should point out that despite the paragraphs I've spent complaining (I find it strangely easier to analyze flaws than to praise successes), I ultimately did enjoy reading this. In addition to the aforementioned settings, the characters are fantastic. I enjoyed seeing Roz interacting with her family, even if their motivations baffled me. The plot, although wandering and disjointed, is ultimately satisfying. The development of the book's alien races and the future history that builds upon what we saw in ORIGINAL SIN are also both a lot of fun.
Given the circumstances surrounding the publication of this novel, it's almost ludicrous to suggest "oh, if only they'd had more time to iron out the problems", because, obviously time was not a luxury available. But, oh, if only they'd had more time to iron out the problems. Although it suffers from some flaws, I can't help but love a lot of the pieces that make up this novel. At times it touches brilliance, which is exactly what we would expect from a book with those two names on the cover.
So Might Have Been.......2002-11-03
This was supposed to be the "It" novel of 1996. The Virgin "Doctor Who" New Adventures had been given their death sentence, a victim of the US TV movie which regenerated the Doctor. The NAs promptly adjusted by crafting together a series of novels which brought the 7th Doctor right up to death's door, while closing out the storylines and themes of 60 well-received books. _So Vile A Sin_ had the task of writing out companion Roz Forrester and sealing the NAs' version of "future history" with an ironic little bow.
So what happened? The novel died. A victim of author Ben Aaronovitch's ambitions and the much ballyhooed "hard-drive crash" that torched the original publication date. Four subsequent Roz-free books hit the market, and indeed the Virgin license had technically expired, by the time a restored "Sin", now written by Kate Orman, hit the shelves, sans the "Doctor Who" logo.
It remains to this day hard to judge just how good "So Vile" is. Orman and Aaronovitch have vastly different styles, but they essentially write to the same purpose. Their "joint" novel takes us to the ends of the Earth Empire in the late 30th century, from the moons of Jupiter to the planets of the distant sun Agammemnon, from the Time Lords' darkest secrets to the death of Doctor Who. And yet, for all that travel, we barely see a thing.
Properly set up at 400 pages as intended, this book may indeed have been a wonderful epic. Instead, it feels more like a string of disjointed episodes. Many characters are introduced in a sprawling, harshly-written prologue that must have been written by Aaronovitch (drenched with military speak, cultural annotations, and a too-long history of 30th century prostitution -- "Doctor Who" was originally a kids' series). However, the chess pieces fade in and out for hundreds of pages at a time, and their role in the grand finale is unclear until you read the book at least twice.
And then there's Roz. Clearly this was meant to be her apotheosis. The book's third and final segment shows how the honorable yet disgraced 30th century cop is torn between her sister's Imperial ambitions and Doctor's unique sense of justice ("You might be asked to choose sides. Do you want my advice? Don't."). We learn of her family's history, and rise to nobility. Roz has hard decisions to make, and her exit from the series is heroic and boneheaded all at once.
Where's the problem? Well... Roz *had* no character, for the 18 or so novels before this one. News of her death was well-known to fandom, long before her first adventure belatedly hit US bookshelves. If all of her books had been like this, her finale may have been grandly moving. Instead, there's a bit of an "eh" to it. Ben Aaronovitch clearly understood her better than anyone, but he only wrote for her twice. Kate, in his place, merely ramps up some aimless sexual tension between her and the much younger Chris Cwej. There's a very muted family tragedy that I'd completely forgotten about, again probably due to missing text.
Surprisingly, the psi-powers element of SVAS is well done, even as the preceding stories in the psi-powers arc were among the worst the NAs gave us. The book's first great scene (all the way along on page 111) shows the root cause of psychic powers in the Universe, and there's a great mini-speech by the Doctor later on about how Time Lords came to be. These are grand visual moments, what DW always did best.
Other things of note: old companion Bernice Summerfield's return for Roz's funeral; Roz's young 30th century clone; and the "alternate" Doctors accidentally released by the book's psi-powered bad guys, the Brotherhood. But in the end, it's a space opera, with lots of cramped spaceships and dark tunnels and claustrophic marketplaces. In this one instance, less was not more, and the best version of "So Vile A Sin" probably still resonates in Ben Aaronovitch's head. Or on his computer.
Packs a punch.......2000-12-16
This is the last novel in the 'Psi Powers' series in the New Adventures. Due to Ben Aaronovitch's hard drive crashing, it also proved to be the last NA, since publication was delayed. And what an ending! In many ways, although rescued by Kate Orman, 'So Vile a Sin' is typical Aaronovitch Doctor Who. The story is vast and huge, involving elements left behind from the Time Lord war with the Great Vampires, to the 30th century conflict between various factions in the Terran empire (home to Roz and Cwej). Manipulating everyone is a particularly nasty bunch... Because this novel comprises so many elements (from previous NAs too), it can get a bit confusing in places. Especially when the Doctor fills the ill-effects of a 'probability intercession' . This involves thousands of Doctors being created throughout time and space, each one having made a different decision than the current incumbent (i.e. like one who took Salamander's place as dictator of Earth). A multitude of Doctors is confusing enough, but the action also takes place over what seems to be a vast number of places. But the novel is never less than very entertaining. You read on, confident that these puzzles will be resolved. There are nice touches, like the inclusion of the Unitatus soldiers, but there are also irritations. The Doctor kills the Empress of the Galaxy just because she asks him to. This killing, which is later, absurdly, swept under the carpet - the Doctor could have been accused of 'treason' for not doing so - is quite reminiscent of the destruction of Skaro, but without the big guilt trip. If there's one reason for preferring Terrance Dicks, it's that his version of the Doctor doesn't do this sort of thing. A large part of the novel is also quite derivative, stealing a lot of the style of Frank Herbert's work. 'Dune' had Dukes and the Landsraad, 'So Vile a Sin' has Dukes and the Landsknetche. Still, 'Dune' could hardly be described as 'original', as it also derives from a great number of other texts, knowingly employed. The 'Dune' element seems to be continuing in the current strand of novels (i.e. 'Dead Romance'), where Chris seems to be turning into another Duncan Idaho, and maybe Babylon 5 has influenced too. This is the novel where Roz snuffs it. This may be one huge spoiler (it certainly ruined Roz's day), but the book has been out for two years, and is now out of print. This does make the end a bit mawkish though. Bernice Summerfield seems to lose all character in her diary entries, and the Doctor has a rather embarrassing heart attack at the funeral (all leading to 'Lungbarrow', I suppose). All in all, it's a glorious piece of space opera , in the style of Iain M. Banks (yes, another influence!). But it still proves that great fiction can be crafted from the deviations of derivations. In this, 'So Vile a Sin' is typically Doctor Who at its (his) best.
One of the best character books in the series with POW to!.......1997-10-10
This is without a doubt one of the best in the series, it's breathtaking. The story moves along with enough speed to keep you interested, but also gives you a deep look into the characters personalities, especially roz's, which the book focuses on. The story line is well thought out and presented superbly. It focuses on Roz's and her family but also her relationship with her companions and her strong moralistic views, which by the way end up getting her killed. It takes her character to many different dimensions which many of the other books failed to do, thinking of her and Chris as mere replacements for Benny and Ace. Kate and Ben really managed to make this character shine in her final moments. Be warned though that if your not careful your room will be turned into niagra falls in no time! The main plot Focuses on the last of the psi power stories with the Doctor trying in vain to finish the brotherhood for good, but as usual has no idea what is involved ( or at least it appears so). While Chris is his usual energetic self, Roz focuses on her future as well as her past. I personally have read a large majority of these books and definetely recommend this one as a must!
Book Description
“This book is the story of my life as it relates to the subject of food. It is my autobiography in food and meals and restaurants and countries far and near. Let me take you to a restaurant on the Left Bank of Paris that I found when writing The Lords of Discipline. There are meals I ate in Rome while writing The Prince of Tides that ache in my memory when I resurrect them. There is a shrimp dish I ate in an elegant English restaurant, where Cuban cigars were passed out to all the gentlemen in the room after dinner, that I can taste on my palate as I write this. There is barbecue and its variations in the South, and the subject is a holy one to me. I write of truffles in the Dordogne Valley in France, cilantro in Bangkok, catfish in Alabama, scuppernong in South Carolina, Chinese food from my years in San Francisco, and white asparagus from the first meal my agent took me to in New York City. Let me tell you about the fabulous things I have eaten in my life, the story of the food I have encountered along the way. . . ”
America’s favorite storyteller, Pat Conroy, is back with a unique cookbook that only he could conceive. Delighting us with tales of his passion for cooking and good food and the people, places, and great meals he has experienced, Conroy mixes them together with mouthwatering recipes from the Deep South and the world beyond.
It all started thirty years ago with a chance purchase of The Escoffier Cookbook, an unlikely and daunting introduction for the beginner. But Conroy was more than up to the task. He set out with unwavering determination to learn the basics of French cooking—stocks and dough—and moved swiftly on to veal demi-glace and pâte brisée. With the help of his culinary accomplice, Suzanne Williamson Pollak, Conroy mastered the dishes of his beloved South as well as the cuisine he has savored in places as far away from home as Paris, Rome, and San Francisco.
Each chapter opens with a story told with the inimitable brio of the author. We see Conroy in New Orleans celebrating his triumphant novel The Prince of Tides at a new restaurant where there is a contretemps with its hardworking young owner/chef—years later he discovered the earnest young chef was none other than Emeril Lagasse; we accompany Pat and his wife on their honeymoon in Italy and wander with him, wonderstruck, through the markets of Umbria and Rome; we learn how a dinner with his fighter-pilot father was preceded by the Great Santini himself acting out a perilous night flight that would become the last chapters of one of his son’s most beloved novels. These tales and more are followed by corresponding recipes—from Breakfast Shrimp and Grits and Sweet Potato Rolls to Pappardelle with Prosciutto and Chestnuts and Beefsteak Florentine to Peppered Peaches and Creme Brulee. A master storyteller and passionate cook, Conroy believes that “A recipe is a story that ends with a good meal.”
Customer Reviews:
Ahhh...Pat Conroy...!.......2007-10-10
This author can do no wrong. I have everything he has produced and while this is called a "cookbook" it is so very much more...It resides proudly
in the midst of my complete and comprehensive collection!...Bravo, Mr. Conroy!
Conroy's Latest Delight.......2006-07-16
All of Pat Conroy's books reside proudly on my bookshelf. I started collecting with "The Water is Wide" and "The Boo". I have followed his career with joy for his well deserved success in literature. In "The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes of My Life" he treats us to a witty and emotional memoir interspersed with his culinary expertise garnered in France, Italy, The South, including Atlanta, New Orleans, Mobile and the low country of South Carolina. It's another "can't put it down" Conroy book, only there are many wonderful recipes to please the discerning palate -don't miss this one!
Bring on the Hush Puppies, baby!.......2006-06-06
This has now moved into my all time favorite Pat Conroy book, and I'm a big Conroy fan. It's not so much a book of recipes, though that is definitely a part of it, as short vignettes of life in Mr Conroy's world. And since our world overlaps, and we know some of the same individuals, it was even more delightful. Mr czuk took one look at the picture on the front and said "You'd read a book about food by a man who looks like that?" Well, yes. And better him than some anorexic yuppy chic in a glam kitchen. Bring on the hush puppies, baby!
Recipes 5 Stars, Rhetoric and Dialogue 1 Star.......2006-03-29
This is a mouth-watering cookbook with lots of fantastic recipes, and I can't thank Mr. Conroy enough for sharing them with us. I'm sure that, when all is said and done, a lot of these recipes will become permanent staples of my repertoire.
With that said, I have to add that this book is terribly flawed by two things--its inflated rhetoric and its clunky dialogue. Granted, all of the events in this book supposedly happened and all of the people spoke the words Conroy claims they spoke. But these "real people" just don't SOUND real. I'm not accusing Mr. Conroy of fabricating dialogue--I'm just saying that his dialogue just doesn't ring true. It sounds inflated, artificial. And while some of his descriptions of food are, well, "delicious," those descriptions come wrapped in yards of inflated rhetoric that, like the dialogue, grates on the reader's ear.
I should add that these same flaws have prevented me from ever being able to read Mr. Conroy's fiction. But those flaws can't "kill" a superb cookbook. I just wish that Mr. Conroy hadn't "overcooked" it, so to speak. :-)
Filled with life, love, food and wonder.......2005-12-03
This little gem is wonderful in a literal sense - it inspires wonder. First, how terrific to see a great photo of Pat standing tall on the cover with a bucket of low country oysters. It's hard not to look at him and see all the leading characters from his books - the young teacher from Water is Wide, the scared and brave cadet from Lords of Discipline, the brave lost survivor from Prince of Tides, etc.
This book is for anyone who loves Pat's books. It's truly a story of his life, but amazingly, threaded together by the food and meals he's experienced, and friends who've shared those meals with him. Many of the real-life characters from Pat's fiction weave in and out of these meals - his beloved fish-hating mother, his feared but irreplaceable fighter-pilot father, his 'paisan' roommates from The Citadel, his Roman neighbors from Beach Music, etc.
The most pleasant surprise for me from this book, is Pat's stories breathe rich life into his recipes, making them more full and sensual than recipes on the flat page of most other cookbooks. For example, his recipe for pickled shrimp is fairly straightforward in ingredient and preparation, but for Pat, this is a signature dish he brings to memorials when a friend dies. His story lets us see and feel the food hungrily devoured by the friends and loved ones of the deceased, as Pat feels the pride of feeding them in their time of grief. I began the book thinking the recipes would be throwaways, and ended with a dozen or so recipes I plan to try.
Bravo Pat! Someday I hope to read The Boo - your one story I have yet to track down. As long as you write and I read, I will be reading the terrific stories you tell.
Books:
- Blade of the Immortal: The Gathering part 2, Volume 9
- Butterflies On A Sea Wind: Beginning Zen
- Canone Inverso: A Novel
- Cocktails In Tahiti
- Collective Vision: Creating a Contemporary Art Museum
- Death in Venice, Tonio Kroger, and Other Writings (German Library)
- DelCorso's Gallery
- Dog Horse Rat
- Don't Call It Night
- Dora Bruder
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