Kitty

Ik moest lachen om de eerste pagina's en kocht dit boek in een opwelling. Stom, want er staat echt he-le-maal niks nieuws in. Mooi vormgegeven, wel.

Comparable to Robin Hobbs. Heroes in pre-industrial fantasy world, slightly magical, save the day - over and over again. Great escape stuff. Nice characters, full of action.

Had some useful concepts. A quick read.

This is an interesting coming-of- age story in a weird setting - a Mormon family, a survivalist dad who has a psychiatric background and who puts his family in continual danger, a violent psychopath brother plus a mom who does not stand up for her children. The story is about the slow realisation of the author of how unusual her youth really was. And her psychological struggle when she is cast out.

It is well told. It is repetetive, in a way, and yet mesmerizing.

Zal wel aan mij liggen - iedereen vindt het fantastisch. Maar ik kom er niet meer in, na het eerste hoofdstuk. En ik kan al die figuren en gebeurtenissen ook al niet uit elkaar houden. Ik geef het op.

Very well written. But the stories missed interesting plots. They felt like practise for something else. Will need to read a novel of his.

Well written.

Dated, but very witty. Rich brat gets rescued from any situation by perfect butler. His rich brat friends, too. The delight is in the dialogue - the deadpan remarks of butler Jeeves, the cheerful naiveté of rich Bertie and his many silly friends, all good for nothings who rely on stipends of rich uncles, which they invariably stand to lose.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Simon Prebble, who does a great job as a voice actor. A second book Narrated by someone else was only half as charming.

Great little plots, too. Often surprising.

Dated because women will aways be a riddle to men etc. but who cares. I have chuckled a lot.

And I need to get a paper copy of the collected works to enjoy the language better.

Another lovely cozy by Tarquin Hall, full of wit and written with compassion. Actor Sam Dastor, who narrated the audiobooks, is really good. He has beautiful timing, he does great Indian accents, and his voice is so nice to listen to. His narration further elevates these stories. Pure joy.

Stopped reading it halfway through. Well written, but where is it going? Too many characters and too little plot.

Great storyteller. Loved the start of the book especially. Captivating. Not so keen on protracted scenes of fights and confusion (thecending). Smart plot, though: I had not seen that coming. Nice characters.

Let Guin tells a good story, but this one felt a little flat to me.

Weird how a book that gets 4 stars in Vrij Nederlands thrillergids cannot keep my attention. Possibly the Dutch translation was to blame. The first few pages have been translated really well, but further down the translator makes a bad job of it.

‘Ja, zei ze schriel.'

‘Ze keek GT razend in de ogen.'

‘Lijkt me dolle pret, zei ze. Je reinste Sinterklaasavond voor een zootje uit de kluiten gewassen machojochies die...‘

‘GT wisselde bliksemsnel van gezichtsuitdrukkung, zijn onaangename koelbloedigheid veranderde in een agressieve nieuwsgierigheid.'

en zo maar door.

Maar ook het verhaal zelf is nogal steriel. Nare, cynische mannen die cynische besluiten nemen: who cares? Na 200 bladzijden geef ik het op.

A rather uneven collection of essays: partly sharp, critical, political, witty, and very educated; partly rather too everyday. I am not interested in other people's love of cats, or the best way to eat an egg.

A lovely book of slightly magical stories happening to loosely connected people, around Christmas time. Every bit as charming and as good as her novels.

Joyce does not hesitate to infuse her stories with a little Murakami-like magic, which makes them more like fairy tales at times.

At the same time they all deal with very normal human beings, who often made mistakes and are getting a second chance to put things right. Parents and children, lovers, divorcees: it is all about trying to be a good person, and hopefully better.

Her prose is elegant and a delight to read just for the originality of her images.

Lovely as always, but not the best in the series.

A fun read. The murder on Nob hill was better.

Light read, great fun, good plot.

A delightful light read, comparable in a way to Alexander McCall Smith's sleuths. Friendly and witty. Fine plotting, too.

A partly nice partly crazy family tries to cope with an ailing grandfather. Although I liked the people and the atmosphere, I lost interest 3/4 through the book - the story got out of hand, I felt. It lost momentum. The father becomes obnoxious, the plot weird. A lot does not get solved. I was disappointed.

And this book gets compared with Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy? Go away...

Did not finish it. Lost interest, story is too drawn out.

Great read, many characters, pleasant atmosphere. I would have given it 5 stars had the final few pages not been so unbelievable. Otherwise I enjoyed every page.

Very disappointing, this third sequel. I devoured the first two, years back. But here the story just fills in a preplanned scheme and there is no real passion in the writing, I did not connect to the characters. It is totally different from #1 and 2. Stopped reading halfway through.

This book is like a car gone wild on its own - because the writer is not interested in the driver. A pity that a good writer cares more about suspense than about his characters. And why should a mass of murders be necessary to create a fine tale? In the end I shut the book a little before the last page. I did not care to know the end.

Great thriller with 3 storylines - starts off wonderfully original. Later on - and over the next 2 sequels - still well written and lively, but less spectacularly fine. Sea-detective is definitively a new genre ;-)