Daren
Added to listLibyawith 39 books.
Added to listAfrica Northwith 102 books.
Added to listUk Authorwith 1395 books.
Added to listEgyptwith 125 books.
Added to listCrime Fictionwith 111 books.
Added to listFictionwith 1103 books.
An early book from the Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte series from Arthur Upfield, published in 1937.
I have decided to plant the following on author and character in each of my 'Bony' reviews as background: - Upfield is an interesting writer, British by birth, emigrated to Australia at the age of twenty. He fought in the Australian Army in WWI. Following the war he travelled extensively in Australia working with stock and farming and developed an understanding of the Aboriginal culture which was to inform much of his writing. His 'Bony' character is a Detective Inspector in the Queensland Police Force, and is of mixed parentage - his mother an Aboriginal and his father white. It is rare to have a mixed race Aboriginal character held in high regard, and protagonist of a series of books.
In his book Bony is sent to the remote town of Carie in New South Wales where two people have been murdered in similar circumstances. In typical style, Bony turns up as a swagman, camps nearby and meets with a few other vagrants and locals, get a feel for the local gossip before making contact with the local police when the time is right for him, remaining under cover with all but those who gain his trust.
I won't got further into the plot, but this book matches up with the others I have read, in terms of readability and quality. I enjoy the Detective Inspector who has the cleverness of his white father and the patience of his Aboriginal mother. In this story however, there are no other Aboriginal characters, the local tribe all take off as a result of city police detective sent to solve the crime. Like most people, they disliked Sargent Simone, had little faith in his ability to solve the crime.
A typically enjoyable 3.5 stars.
An early book from the Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte series from Arthur Upfield, published in 1937.
I have decided to plant the following on author and character in each of my 'Bony' reviews as background: - Upfield is an interesting writer, British by birth, emigrated to Australia at the age of twenty. He fought in the Australian Army in WWI. Following the war he travelled extensively in Australia working with stock and farming and developed an understanding of the Aboriginal culture which was to inform much of his writing. His 'Bony' character is a Detective Inspector in the Queensland Police Force, and is of mixed parentage - his mother an Aboriginal and his father white. It is rare to have a mixed race Aboriginal character held in high regard, and protagonist of a series of books.
In his book Bony is sent to the remote town of Carie in New South Wales where two people have been murdered in similar circumstances. In typical style, Bony turns up as a swagman, camps nearby and meets with a few other vagrants and locals, get a feel for the local gossip before making contact with the local police when the time is right for him, remaining under cover with all but those who gain his trust.
I won't got further into the plot, but this book matches up with the others I have read, in terms of readability and quality. I enjoy the Detective Inspector who has the cleverness of his white father and the patience of his Aboriginal mother. In this story however, there are no other Aboriginal characters, the local tribe all take off as a result of city police detective sent to solve the crime. Like most people, they disliked Sargent Simone, had little faith in his ability to solve the crime.
A typically enjoyable 3.5 stars.
Added to listUsa Authorwith 558 books.
Added to listDjiboutiwith 5 books.
This Penguin 70 collect two excerpts from Evelyn Waugh's Remote People, a book that I read around 10 years ago and enjoyed. I remarked in my review of that book that the description of the Coronation was fairly minimal, and it seems the rest of the book was superior to that section.
Collected here in an excerpt, the Coronation read quite well. Waugh was quite descriptive and provided a little background and explained who all the main characters were. He shared a fair amount of behind the scenes logistics and gossip from the other journalists. I probably enjoyed this excerpt more this time around.
The second much shorter excerpt was one I would consider poorly selected. It had little context, not even sharing his location in Africa at the start, was principally a moan about boredom and whether boredom at home in England would remind him of his journey, or whether the journal he kept would read as boring when at home. In the end it turns out he was on a 4 day train journey to Djibouti, missed his connecting steamer and then explained some (fairly boring at it turned out) logistics in finding a new ship.
3 stars - albeit would have been 4 stars but the second excerpt dragged it down!
This Penguin 70 collect two excerpts from Evelyn Waugh's Remote People, a book that I read around 10 years ago and enjoyed. I remarked in my review of that book that the description of the Coronation was fairly minimal, and it seems the rest of the book was superior to that section.
Collected here in an excerpt, the Coronation read quite well. Waugh was quite descriptive and provided a little background and explained who all the main characters were. He shared a fair amount of behind the scenes logistics and gossip from the other journalists. I probably enjoyed this excerpt more this time around.
The second much shorter excerpt was one I would consider poorly selected. It had little context, not even sharing his location in Africa at the start, was principally a moan about boredom and whether boredom at home in England would remind him of his journey, or whether the journal he kept would read as boring when at home. In the end it turns out he was on a 4 day train journey to Djibouti, missed his connecting steamer and then explained some (fairly boring at it turned out) logistics in finding a new ship.
3 stars - albeit would have been 4 stars but the second excerpt dragged it down!
Added to listMulti Continentwith 430 books.
Added to listUk Authorwith 1391 books.
Added to listFictionwith 1102 books.
Added to listFiction Short Story Ieswith 230 books.
A short and amusing story from Robert Louis Stevenson - obvious from the title it is an Imp in a Bottle - a wish-granting Imp and a bottle with some catches - one being if you die in possession of the bottle you are damned to dwell in hell foe ever more, the other that you must sell the bottle to the next owner for less that which you acquire it.
Keawe, our Hawaiian protagonist buys the bottle from a man with a fabulous house and plenty of money, but who has grown old and must be rid of the bottle (the only thing the imp cannot control is aging of the owner).
There are various twists and turns in this short read, but mostly just a quick, fun experience.
4.5 stars
A short and amusing story from Robert Louis Stevenson - obvious from the title it is an Imp in a Bottle - a wish-granting Imp and a bottle with some catches - one being if you die in possession of the bottle you are damned to dwell in hell foe ever more, the other that you must sell the bottle to the next owner for less that which you acquire it.
Keawe, our Hawaiian protagonist buys the bottle from a man with a fabulous house and plenty of money, but who has grown old and must be rid of the bottle (the only thing the imp cannot control is aging of the owner).
There are various twists and turns in this short read, but mostly just a quick, fun experience.
4.5 stars