nocto

As soon as I started reading this I knew that I wouldn't have to look very far to find a bad review of it. And sure enough there are several up on Amazon.co.uk already complaining about the fact that the first few chapters switch between badly spelt and punctuated emails and transcribed dictation.

I can't say that I mind that myself. The book does get down to regular narrative fiction after a while (it does switch back to email and dictation throughout) and I like reading an author who does something different. I didn't find these chapters difficult to read though as some seem to have done. It's all a plot device of course, the story wouldn't have been the same if it had been told in a different manner.

I did think the book was a bit lengthy. It's been the same kind of thing with the last few Dalziel and Pascoe books: the plot turns out to be so full of complex twists and turns that you can see why the book was so long after you've finished it, but you can't see it quite the same when you're in the middle of it and a lot of the hidden bits are going straight over your head. I wouldn't mind Reginald Hill deciding to turn out a few shorter books for a bit - my arms could do with a rest!

Purchased on 7th March 2008.

When I grabbed this book from BookMooch I didn't realise it was non fiction. I was expecting one of Forster's novels which seem to revolve around the themes of mothers and daughters and dying. This memoir gives you an idea how Forster ended up concentrating on those themes as it looks into the lives of her mother and her grandmother before her. The book is always heading towards the inevitable conclusion that women's lives have got better over the last century so the "plot" isn't spoilt by the fact that you know the third generation is going to get away from the Carlisle council estate and become a famous writer.

This book had me totally hooked and I barely put it down from start to finish. What I found very well done is how convincingly the story has been told going forwards chronologically. When you look into family history you always know the end of the story before the beginning. Forster has managed to tell the early parts of her mother and grandmother's lives without bringing in all the baggage form the ends of their lives.

BookMooched.

This is a delve into the history of magic shows and showmen in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. You learn along the way how various magic tricks are done but that's not the whole point of the book. The trick here (if you'll excuse the pun) is that unlike the kind of exposé you see on TV - the kind that leaves you thinking "is that all?" - this book goes into how the illusions were conceived, invented and perfected. So you're left thinking how neat, clever and complicated it all is and how much more there is to magic than "they do it with mirrors".

Borrowed.