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In farleigh field6/30/2023 ![]() I love the cover and I was looking forward to reading it since a historical mystery is a favorite of mine. Right, In Farleigh Field looked really intriguing. Also, the inclusion of the children trying to solve the mystery felt like it was going for token cuteness, and didn't really succeed for me.īut overall, this was decent historical fiction. The dialogue was occasionally hindered by heavy exposition (as in, you've just been introduced to a character, and they conveniently sum up their whole back story in a few sentences directed at one of their relatives or neighbors-it came across a bit clunky). Even though the locations and focus jumped about a bit, it was never difficult to understand what was going on. I enjoyed the characters, and the plot progressed at a pretty fast clip. If he was a spy, whom was he attempting to contact, and what was his message? He appears to be a British servicemember, but suspicions are quickly aroused. ![]() The story revolves around an unidentified parachutist who plummeted to his death on the grounds of a family estate. Scenes alternate between Bletchley Park, manor houses, MI-5, and Gestapo headquarters in Paris. ![]() This is a fairly strong mystery/spy novel set on the British home front during World War II. ![]()
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![]() ![]() I remember the story as being pleasantly swampy, and involving big swords, at least one lizard-monster, and monolithic architecture. Previously, I’d only read one other bit of Dunsany – one of his short stories, likewise in a Shippey anthology that I picked out in high school. The King of Elfland’s Daughter is a dreamy, colorful, exceedingly British literary fairy-story for adults it’s a crucial antecedent to the Lord of the Rings, Lovecraft, and other early purveyors of rich prose and high fantasy. I’d been meaning to read this ever since I started delving into Tolkieniana in high school, and saw it discussed in one of Tom Shippey’s essay collections, and finally invested in a personal copy when Seek Books liquidated a few years ago (alaaaas). ‘We would be ruled by a magic lord,’ they said. ![]() ![]() And yet the generations stream away, and there is no new thing.’ ‘For seven hundred years the chiefs of your race have ruled us well and their deeds are remembered by the minor minstrels, living on yet in their little tinkling songs. He leaned in his carven chair and heard their spokesman. In their ruddy jackets of leather that reached to their knees the men of Erl appeared before their lord, the stately white-haired man in his long red room. ![]()
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Absent in the Spring by Mary Westmacott6/30/2023 ![]() ![]() It is a journey of discovery in a way, of her discovering herself. ![]() She remembers talks with her husband, with friends, from parties, discussions with her children. Being alone she starts thinking of her life, remembering small things for years before. She has to wait for a few days for the train to arrive. While returning to England she remains stranded in a hotel of sorts near the station. One daughter is in Iraq and she visited her for a short while. Joan Scudamore is married and has 3 children. I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I will just share a quick overview of the book. I liked this one a lot, and now I’m reading another one of hers. ![]() She wrote 6 books like this one, unrelated, and romance-kind of books. I like her mysteries, but not the ones with Hercule Poirot. Absent in the Spring by Agatha Christie was published under a pseudonym, Mary Westmacott. ![]()
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Alan turing by andrew hodges6/30/2023 ![]() ![]() We didn't want to create this story of Alan being a sad character that bad things happened to, so we decided to show his final years through the perspective of this fictional detective. we can see how a normal person, not a bad person, could end up doing this horrible thing to Alan. "Detective Nock is a fake name - he was named after my old roommate," says screenwriter Graham Moore. Is Detective Robert Nock based on a real person? ![]() Alan Turing, 1952, Letter to Friend and Colleague Norman Routledge No doubt I shall emerge from it all a different man, but quite who I've not found out. ![]() The story of how it all came to be found out is a long and fascinating one. I shall shortly be pleading guilty to a charge of sexual offenses with a young man. I've now got myself into the kind of trouble that I have always considered to be quite a possibility for me, though I have usually rated it at about 10 to 1 against. ![]()
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The seep chana porter6/30/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Trina shakes her subsequent alcoholic depression just long enough to take on a “vengeful quest” to confront a former friend whom she fought with years before over identity politics, and to save a lost boy from the effects of the Seep. When Trina Goldberg-Oneka’s wife Deeba decides to reexperience her life from babyhood, Trina, a 50-year-old trans woman who remains suspicious of the changes wrought by the Seep, refuses to transition from the role of wife to mother, ending their relationship. The Seep, a well-meaning, symbiotic alien entity, causes hierarchies to breakdown, enhances technology beyond humankind’s wildest dreams, and functions as a mind-expanding drug that eliminates human mortality and grants people the power to transform their appearance at will. In Porter’s surreal, introspective debut, a benevolent alien invasion leads humanity into a utopia, exploring themes of grief and discontentment within a seemingly perfect world. ![]() |