See theTheater Reviews

The Book Reviews



Adams, Douglas The Salmon of Doubt
A posthumous publication of half a novel, and a collection of assorted writings.

Adams, Richard Shardik
Fantasy-Adventure novel. Set in a primitive, Iron-Age land.

Adams, Scott God's Debris
Philosophical, metaphysical, playing with ideas, inexpertly written book.

Allen, Woody Side Effects
A collection of short and micro-stories, some of which are utter nonsense.

Asimov, Issac Foundation and Empire
Classical Space SF, one of Many books of his I've read.

Atwood, Margaret
    Wilderness Tips
Good Short Stories, all set in Canada, from women's points of view.
    Oryx and Crake
A somewhat disturbing, very thought provoking SF story, with Social criticism.
    Alias Grace
A rather Touching story about a convicted Murderess in 1850 Toronto.
    Stone Mattress
9 short Tales, senior's points of view, and some dark psychology.

Austen, Jane Mansfield Park
A classic story, by the classic writer. Nothing too special to me though.

Bacon, Leonard, and R. Selden Rose Le Cid , Translated into English Verse.
Written By Anonymous. The Traditional Spanish Folk Hero, after his Banishment.

Baker, Will the Raven Bride
Just a novel, set in Siberia, with a few mystical elements in it.

Bennett, Arnold The Grim Smile of the Five Towns
A collection of short stories, depicting the society of a 1900 British Ceramic region.

de Bernières, Louis Captain Corelli's Mandolin
A tale of Joy and tragedy, in the historical setting of second world war Greece.

Boyle, T.C. The Road to Wellville
Story of the first health-food and wellness people, in a charming novel.

Bradley, Marion The Mists of Avalon
A new telling of the Arthurian Legend, through the eyes of the women in the tale.

Brontë, Charlotte Jane Eyre
Classic English Novel.

Brooks, Terry the Elfstones of Shannara
Fantasy. Pure and simple.

Steven Brust & Emma Bull Freedom & Necessity
Not a Murder mystery, but a Secret Plot mystery set in Victorian England.

Byatt, A. S. Possession
A Novel, a Mystery, and a Romance. (Also my mother's favorite book.)

Byrne, Eugene Isambard Kingdom Brunel -a graphic biography
About the life of the English engineer, illustrated with many cartoons.

Calder, Richard Malignos
SF/F but with a very Very rich writing style and vocabulary.

Camus, Albert The Outsider
A serious novel, (and an example of early French Modern Writing.)

Chrichton, Michael
    Prey
New S-F. Runaway technology type of thing.
    Jurassic Park
"What if..." technology thriller. Well written.

Conrad, Joseph
    The Nigger of the Narcissus
A tale of a ship's voyage.
    Typhoon -and other Stories
Short stories about seafaring, or the people of the sea.

Corneille, Pierre Polyuecte
Old French poem-story about love, religion... and so on.

Crane, Arnold On the Other Side of the Camera
Taking pictures and writing about some of the most famous photographers.

Cronin, A J Grand Canary
A harliquin romance; Waste of time.

Defoe, Daniel Robinson Crusoe
The classic Adventure Novel, writen long ago.

Dickens, Charles Great Expectations
A novel of an orphan by this classic author.

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor The Idiot (translated by Eva Martin)
The Russian Classic.

Eco, Umeberto
    Foucault's Pendulum
A complex conspiracy story.
    Baudolino
A complex, legend filled, medieval story.

Eliot, George Middlemarch
A Novel, of people in a 19th century British town.

Forsyth, Frederick The Day of the Jackal
A thriller-political-assassination book. (how else to describe it?)

Graves, Robert I, Claudius
A tale of Rome, and a succession of degenerate ceasers.

Greene, Graham The Power and the Glory
A tale of an outlawed priest, in Communist Mexico.

Guterson, David Snow Falling on Cedars
A murder trail, and a look at some lives on a West Coast Island.

Homer The Iliad
An English Prose translation of the Ancient Greek tale of hatred.

Hugo, Victor Les Misérables
The classic, French story of a soul seeking virtue.

Huxley, Aldous Short Stories
Collection of short fiction. Realistic... and subtle.

Ibsen, Henrik.
    A Doll's House
A play from late 19th Century Europe, with some social criticism.
    Ghosts
Another play, set in Norway, showing the low side of high society.
    Hedda Gabler
A look at the sick character of a spoiled rich girl.
    The Master Builder
A play which shows the neuroses of it's players.

Irving, John A Son of the Circus
A long Criminal/Murder novel, in India, with good writing.

Jacobs, A.J. The Know-It-All
Strange tale about a man's experience reading the Encyclopaedia from end to end.

James, P.D. A Certain Justice
A mostly typical Murder-Mystery, taking place in a criminal law court.

Kay, Guy Gavriel A Song for Arbonne
A Fairy Tale sort, with romance and battles. And minstrels. Oh yes.

King, Stephen Hearts in Atlantas
A tale about the 1960s, told through pieces of 4 different lives.

King, Thomas Green Grass, Running Water
An amusing tale dealing with native Americans, and some mythology.

Kingsolver, Barbara The Poisonwood Bible
Not a happy, but a powerful and well written novel about the Congo.

Kossak, Simona The Białowieża Forest Saga
History, tales, and facts about the only oldgrowth European forest.

Kundera, Milan The Unbearable Lightness of Being
A novel, with love, and... heaps of Philosophy, (I think.) Good. Very good.

Kurlasnky, Mark Salt, A World History
Stories and information about salt and salt production through History.

Le Guin, Ursula
    Changing Planes
A collection of very good, philosophic SF short stories.
    Very Far Away from Anywhere Else
A short book, but touching, wonderful, and absorbing.
    The Lathe of Heaven
SF, full of Psychology, Dreams, and alternative Dimentions.

Leon, Donna The Anonymous Venetian
A Murder Mystery, set in '90s Venice, with a seedy underbelly.

Lessing, Doris
    The Fifth Child
A psychological thriller -of a mother's problems with her child.
    Briefing for a descent into Hell
A psychological... symbolical... ummmmm... But interesting book.
    The Memoirs of a Survivor
Science Fiction... I guess. Disaster-world coming of age book?

Lucan, Medlar and Gray, Durian The Decadent Gardener
A strange, strange book, about decadence, and gardens... through different cultures.

MacDonald, Ann-Marie
    Goodnight Desdemona (Goodmorning Juliet)
A great Play, exploring one person's life, through these two Shakespearean characters.
    The Way The Crow Flies
A moving novel about growing up in the 60. -With utterly disturbing sexual abuse.

MacLennan, Hugh Barometer Rising
A mediocre fictive novel, including a well writen description of the Halifax Explosion.

Mann, Thomas Confessions of Felix Krull
Good, though unfinished German classic Novel.

Martel, Yaan Life of Pi
An incredible novel, of a boy in a lifeboat.

Maugham, W. Somerset Of Human Bondage
The Biographical story of a 19th century English man's struggles.

Mitchell, W.O.
    Since Daisy Creek
Well written Canadiana, of personal discovery -sort of. Good book!
    For Art's Sake
An interesting form of a mystery story: With no violence, and much about Art.

Morris, Desmond Manwatching
A guide book to Human Behavior.

Mowat, Farley Virunga -the passion of Dian Fossey
A Biography of the great Gorilla Conservationist.

Naylor, Doug Last Human
A Red Dwarf (British Comedy show,) novel. Fun fun fun, Futuristic SF.
-Which I Re-Read in in 2006.

Ondaatje, Michael In the Skin of a LIon
A novel set in 1920s Toronto -somewhat interesting.

Orwell, George Nineteen eighty-four
Some very early science fiction... of the futuristic, social-comentary type.

Paolini, Christopher
    Eragon
Run of the mill Dragon-Fantasy, juvenile writing for juvenile audience.
    Eldest
Continuing the story after Eragon; he becomes a Dragon Rider.

Pavic, Milorad Dictionary of the Khazars
An uncatagorazable odd sort of book. But Fiction. With elements of legend, and religion.

Pratchett, Terry
    The Amazing Maurice, and his Educated Rodents
Fantasy writing of the Rat-Piper, with lots of humor, and some... philosophy.
    Montrous Regiment
Fantasy, (The Disk World) about Women, the Army, and the two combined.
    The Truth
Another Disk World novel, of Ahnk-Morpork intrigue and the advent of Newspapers.
    The Thief of Time
Disk World novel, of the time monks, and the Apocalypse.
    The Fifth Elephant
Disk World Mystery novel, with action, Dwarvs, Werewolves, and Politics.
    Thud!
Disk World Murder Mystery, with Dwarvs and Trolls and Multicultural issues.
    The Wee Free Men
Disk World novel, a very young witch struggles to define herself.

Proulx, Annie The Shipping News
A novel from '93 set in Newfoundland. Not a bad story.

Rice, Anne
    Cry to Heaven
A novel about a tragic Castrato, which shows the world they were in.
    Interview With The Vampire
Which provided a new way for literary society to look at and think of Vampires.
    The Vampire Lestat
Second book in the Vampire Chornicals, largely about their history (from early times.)

Roy, Gabrielle The Tin Flute
Novel about impoverished life in Montreal in 1940.

Schiller, Frederich Love and Intrigue
The German standard Classic of Love and Tragedy.

Scott, Jonathan, Dr. The Arabian Nights Entertainments
This is the Eastern Classic of collected tales. Also known as the 1001 tales.

Sharpe, Tom Ancestral Vices
This is decent, but not inspired, Humorous British Novel.

Silcock, Arnold Verse and Worse
Wonderful and wacky collection of poetry.

Stendhal The Charterhouse of Parma
A classic French novel, from... some hundred or two years ago.

Swade, Doron The Difference Engine
A book about the invention of a calculator -150 years ago.

Swift, Jonathan Gulliver's Travels
The Classic Tales of Lilliput, Brobdingnag and... assorted.

Tepper, Sheri S.
    The Visitor
A very very good SF book, set on a future post-disaster Earth.
    Beauty
More Fantasy, but a bit SF. Great book.
    Gibbon's Decline and Fall
Realistic at the beginning, but then SF. Thought provoking book.

Thackeray, William Makepeace Vanity Fair
Intrigue, love, tragedy, and all set in Victorian England (And on the Continent.)

Tiptree, James (Jr.)
    Up the walls of the world
Science Fiction, Telepathy, aliens, technology, space...
    Star songs of an ancient primate
Wonderful collected short works of her Space SF.

TOLKIEN, John Ronald Reighly
    Leaf by Niggle -from Tales for the Perilous Realm
A very symbolic tale, which needed pondering before I could understand.
Smith of Wotton Major -from Tales for the Perilous Realm
A sweet little tale, with a touch of sadness too, about the life of one touched by Faery.

Tschinag, Galsan The Blue Sky
A coming of age Short Novel in a Mongolian tribe of herders.

Vatsyayana Kama Sutra
The Ancient text of connections between men and women.

Voigt, Cynthia Jackaroo
Novel set in rustic Earldom... with a touch of adventure.

Voltaire Candide
A 250 year old social criticism, which still resonates today.

Vonnegut, Kurt
    Bagombo snuffbox
A collection of short stories I only had time to read a few of.
    Hocus Pocus
A socialy critical, highly humorous, novel. Of war and imprisonment.
    God Bless you Mr Rosewater
A socialy critical, humorous, novel. Of Rich and Poor classes.

Whyte, Jack Uther
The Prequil to the King Aurther Series.

Wilde, Oscar Short stories
Which ever ones catch my imagination.

Willis, Connie Bellwether
A novel about a present day research scientist, studying trends.

Wolfe, Tom Bonfire of the Vanities
A novel of the fall of a wall-street financier. Politics, justice, and dirty tricks.

Wyndham, John. The Chrysalids
A very good SF book, set on a future post-disaster Earth.

ASSORTED. Four English Comedies
A collection of four plays, from 1600 to 1780.

ASSORTED -Chinese. Six Yüan Plays
A collection of six plays, from 13th century China.


The Main Index