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The Poe Shadow (SIGNED) 84 reviews
Matthew Pearl
Harvill Secker, 2006
An interesting channel for new information
This book seems to take an excessive number of twists and turns, but I suppose it is all in the interest of showing just how hard it can be to tease the likely truth out of a welter of information and misinformation. In the end I learned that some new information has recently been uncovered about the death of Edgar Poe which suggests that Poe may not have actually drunk himself to death, as the ...
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Out Stealing Horses 65 reviews
Per Petterson
Harvill Secker, 2006
I love this book
As an avid but selective reader, I'm careful about the books I choose for my reading pleasure. This was definitely one of the better choices. Simply written yet able to quickly immerse you into the heart and mind of the author/narrator. A lovely cadance that eases you through the events of his life as it unfolds. Even the retelling in memories of past events has the power to place you, the ...
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Death at Intervals
Jose Saramago
Harvill Secker, 2008
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Black Seconds 4 reviews
Karin Fossum
Harvill Secker, 2007
Compelling
Henning Mankell introduced me to the wonders of Scandinavian crime writing, and led me to Karin Fossum, who is even better at it than our venerable Swedish friend. She's a little bit different in approach though: Mankell, who we all know, sticks, in his Wallander books at least, to the police procedural style. Perhaps that's his weakness. Fossum takes some elements of the procedural and mixes ...
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Grotesque 35 reviews
Natsuo Kirino
Harvill Secker, 2007
Dark side of society. Oh, and CENSORSHIP
I read and loved OUT by Natsuo Kirino, so I felt like it was only natural for me to run out and buy GROTESQUE. I was not disappointed in any way--this reading experience has been both dark and illuminating. Each character (Yuriko, Miss Hirata, Kazue, and Zhang) has a different sort of struggle and a different sort of perversion, and yet they are connected by the fact that they are all outsiders, ...
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Voices4 reviews
Arnaldur Indridason
Harvill Secker, 2006
You Owe it to Yourself!
I just finished reading 3 books (in 3.5 days) by a wonderful author I've recently discovered: Arnaldur Indridason & he's Icelandic.
The 3 books that have been translated into English are: JAR CITY (2004), SILENCE OF THE GRAVE (2005) & VOICES (2006). Two more are scheduled for release late next year and I can hardly wait!!!
It's truly a fascinating read and it pulled me in FAST, drawing me ...
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Seeing 27 reviews
Jose Saramago
Harvill Secker, 2006
First - Open Your Eyes and Your Mind
In Saramago's normal humorous manner, he again takes on the political structure of Portugal. His style cuts with the ease of a razor blade, while easing the pain with his wit. The characters are stereotypes that bring to mind people you have met (think Dilbert). You are only given enough about the characters for you to mentally "slot" them. The meat of the book is the underlying attitudes of the ...
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After Dark70 reviews
Haruki Murakami
Harvill Secker, 2007
Vivid yet dream like jazz in Tokyo
This the first time I read anything of Haruki Murakami and what a treat. This is not your usual fiction work, nor is it quite of the absurd beautifully yet frustrating style of Kazuo Ishiguro. Like Ishiguro, Murakami seduces the reader with very real and very vivid description of people and events; so we are there completely witnessing events and picturing very real people and places in front of ...
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Waltenberg
Hedi Kaddour
Harvill Secker, 2008
Set in Europe between WWI and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Waltenberg is a story of love between German Hans and American singer, Lena, and of friendship between Hans and Max a French journalist. It is a riveting novel of espionage and a major work of literature.
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Diary of a Bad Year15 reviews
J M Coetzee
Harvill Secker, 2007
Perfect blend of genres for a truly bad year
This is a book of ideas and not a "good story" if that is what you are looking for. If you are an American sinking in despair over what has happened to our country and the dishonor that has descended upon us, this is a life raft. Human intelligence still vibrates in some corner of the consciousness. The story of Anya and Alan worked perfectly to make the opinions that of a human being. Plus, ...
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Inner Workings: Literary Essays 2000-20053 reviews
J.M. Coetzee
Harvill Secker, 2007
Magisterial
This bundle of essays contains superb reviews of important authors and (part of) their work.
Hereafter, a brief summary of Coetzee's comments and evaluations, with a few remarks.
Italo Svevo considered himself as a peer, a fellow researcher of Freud into the grip of the unconscious on conscious life.
Robert Musil (Young Törless) was skeptical of the power of reason to guide human conduct.
...
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The Redbreast12 reviews
Jo Nesbo
Harvill Secker, 2006
Serial Killer Murders Tree
There is a serial killer in Oslo, Norway who has offed a few people, and has also turned his wrath on a huge tree. This is just one puzzlement among many that are encountered as we follow dedicated detective Harry Hole on his search for the murderer. Actually he is unaware of the slaughtered tree, but this curious killing is an important part of the story.
Harry Hole has been assigned to desk ...
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The Bridge
Geert Mak
Harvill Secker, 2008
The Bridge is a charming, learned and unique gem of a book by the author of the international bestseller In Europe.
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Peeling the Onion17 reviews
Gunter Grass
Harvill Secker, 2007
Ethical problems
At a play in NYC a few years ago when one character describes to another German children burned alive with napalm in the allied bombings, a playgoer behind me said, "good".
In the shop today I was restoring a Nuernberg Trial document containing a photo (among others) of a German soldier executing a terrified nine-year-old.
And here is Grass's autobiographical account of a kid in Nazi ...
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The Past
Alan Pauls
Harvill Secker, 2007
From the author of the much-praised Wasabi: a stunning achievement that has taken the author’s native Argentina and the Spanish-speaking world by storm. The Past is a multi-layered novel that brings to mind the works of Nabokov and Proust.
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Why Do I Love These People?: The Families We Come from and the Families We Form32 reviews
Po Bronson
Harvill Secker, 2006
Love it!
This is such a great book! I am using it for my book club choice this year I love it so much.
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Cinder
Albert French
Harvill Secker, 2007
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A Russian Diary: A Journalist's Final Account of a Country Moving Backward6 reviews
Anna Politkovskaya
Harvill Secker, 2007
"A Small Corner of Hell"
A Russian Diary: A Journalists' Final Account of Life, Corruption and Death in Putin's Russia - By Anna Politkovskaya
It's fashionable these days to describe a book as "important.' While most aren't, Anna Politkovskaya's "A Russian Diary" is. As one of Russia's most influential journalists until her assassination, presumably by the KGB, Politovskaya chronicled dissident protests, ...
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Last Evenings on Earth6 reviews
Roberto Bolano
Harvill Secker, 2007
a literary stud
nobody writes likes this guy. the prose is delicious, hypnotic. Bolano makes you glad you can read. check out his work, including the two presently translated novels (they're both incredible); savor the language; be thankful for Chris Andrews, his amazing translator.
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