Fairy Tales Review

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(More customer reviews)I've read several versions of many of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales; since I also read Danish, I can confirm that this is definitely the closest to his style of any translation I've ever seen. Nothing is added, nothing is omitted, and all his unique strangeness shines through in English at last.
Andersen was the first Danish author to break out of the mold of both neoclassicism and romanticism which preceded him, and his genius lay in writing as if he were telling the stories out loud to a group of children -- in the earlier, simpler tales -- and in capturing all the sorrow and joy of life in his later tales for adults. You may think you know these stories (no, there are no singing crabs in "The Little Mermaid," one of the more painful stories you will ever read), but you're in for a big surprise. Finally a translator who dares NOT to rewrite, explain, and simplify Hans Christian Andersen! Truly a magnificent edition in celebration of the author's bicentennial on April 2, 2005. (Read the biography by Jens Andersen too, it's a real eye-opener.)

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Anarchy and Old Dogs (Soho Crime) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Anarchy and Old Dogs" is Colin Cotterill's fourth investigation of Dr. Siri Paiboun, the national coroner of Laos. As with the previous three, it is set in 1977, about two years after the revolution delivered Laos into Communist hands. The wily and wiry Dr. Siri was in his youth a revolutionary firebrand, a fierce supporter of the People's government and advocate for the disposal of an abusive royal regime. But now 73 years old, Paiboun would prefer retirement to sparing with government bureaucrats in his understaffed and under-budget forensic operation. Seems in actual practice, communism is not quite the utopia promised in the musings of Marx or Lenin, painfully evident in chronic shortages of even the most fundamental necessities at the fumblings of officials in a government where political connections trump competence.
This is a refreshing and unusual crime fiction series, and as "Anarchy" proves, the talented Cotterill gets better with every new installment. This time around, a blind dentist is run down on the streets of the Laotian capital city of Vientiane. What seems to be an unfortunate accident takes on much deeper and sinister undercurrents, leading Siri and long time friend and fellow revolutionary Civilai Songsawat into a complicated and dangerous trail of intrigue and counterrevolution. Filling in some of the history missing in his prior works, Cotterill spins a thoughtful and insightful portrait of the struggles and failures of the young socialist government, showing deep respect and empathy for the Laotian people without glorifying the communist government that turns out about as oppressive as their predecessors. Those familiar with the series will find Nurse Dtui back with a few surprises, and Siri less dependent on his unwelcome and unwanted supernatural abilities, relying instead on the corporeal to crack the case. Genuinely suspenseful and holding more than a few twists up his sleeve, both the author and his cagey coroner uncork an intelligent page-turner that will keep you thinking and waiting for Paiboun's next adventure.
From the start, Cotterill's magic lies in a unique main character set in an unfamiliar land in an interesting period of contemporary history. But as the series progresses, it is increasingly clear that there is more to Cotterill than gimmick, as the characters and the subject matter move into deeper, more poignant and serious waters, while maintaining the dry and cynical humor and refreshing story lines that have set this author well above the gun slinging, wise-cracking PI pack. If you haven't discovered Colin Cotterill and Dr. Siri Paiboun yet, you're missing a rare literary treat.


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Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath Review

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(More customer reviews)This book may be history, but it reads like a novel. The authors have obviously done a lot of interviewing- more than 400- and it really shows. They have woven a story that's hard to put down. My only knowledge of the "Bataan Death March' was from the movies. This is some story. They take you to the Philippines before the battle and set the stage for it. Then they take you into the battle itself, right into the action. It's like you are there with the men. Then comes the surrender on April 9, 1942, 76,0000 men under American command, the biggest military defeat in our history. Then comes the death march. I think it's the longest chapter in the book. It was both hard to read and hard to stop reading. The details that these writers have accumulated are just unbelievable. You can see the work that went into this. Two things I especially like. First, although there must be literally more than a hundred characters in this book, they keep coming back to touch base with one character, a guy named Ben Steele, who was a young cowboy who grew up in Montana. His story really drew me in and I liked following him from the first page to the last. He became an artist after the war, and a many of his sketches, from that time in his life, are in the book. Surprisingly, I enjoyed reading about some of the Japenese soldiers. What's interesting is that you are angry at the Japanese and also feel for them at the same time. That's the way this book is written. Sometimes the good guys are bad and sometimes the bad guy are good. In the end, of course, the American and Filipino soldiers really suffered, so this is really a story of great courage and endurance. This is now my favorite war novel. Five stars all the way through the read.

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The North Atlantic Coast (Stories from Where We Live) Review

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(More customer reviews)This anthology is a collection of stories rooted in the North Atlantic Coast, beginning with Newfoundland. It includes the genres of poetry, short story, fiction and creative non fiction. Intended as a teaching tool for children, I found the book to be compelling in the imagery it evoked, particularly of the sea and its inhabitants, both human and animal.

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The Last Girl: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)I'll give this novel three stars for effort, but that's about it. Collishaw tries to piece together a story that spans three generations of Vilnius, hoping to make some sense of the Holocaust which took place in Lithuania. Only problem is that it took him some 170 pages to finally get around to the heart of his story, in which the narrator retells his time in Vilnius during the height of WWII.
I thought it was presumptuous, to say the least, for Collishaw, a young Brit, to take the point of view of a Lithuanian penshioner. The book drags lethargically for the first two parts as Collishaw tries desperately to get into the mind of his character and offer some background on mid 90's Vilnius. It seems that Collishaw had been reading too much Kafka and not taking enough notes of what he saw in Vilnius at the time, as Collishaw paints it as a dank, dark, depressing place, which I suppose fits the mood of his anti-hero, Steponas Daumantas. He might as well have called him St. Stephen.
Eventually Collishaw gets around to telling what he set out to tell, and that is a story of the Holocaust. Collishaw draws heavily on poetic and painterly metaphors, creating a very naive version of the Holocaust in Vilnius. It moves along well enough, with a cross-cultural love affair, a good Polish pal, and enough intrigue to keep you interested. But, like the rest of the novel, it doesn't say much about Vilnius. It is simply someone trying to empathize with the history of this city.
I guess one should credit Collishaw for making a game effort. But, that's all it is. He obviously lacks the where-with-all to deal with the material he is trying to assemble in this novel. He covers over it with reasonably compelling characters and an atmospheric setting that will be new to most readers, but in the end this is no more than a bowl of milky soup.

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Myths and Legends Explained (Annotated Guides) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am hooked on myths, fables, and legends. Stories and myths pre-date language and have been revealed on the walls of caves. We are seemingly hard wired for these myths which deal with our lives and our deaths. Every one of us is a story. The themes of these myths and legends are universal.They are the stories of many cultures from many years ago, but they are about us, here and now. This is a beautiful book that is rich in content and illustration. Highly recommended.

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Taking an original photographic approach to look in detail at certain topics, these four fascinating books provide deeper understanding and richer enjoyment of the worlds of architecture, art, famous artists, and myths and legends. AUTHOR BIO: One of the world's leading experts on mythology and folklore, Neil Philip, Ph.D. has written more than 30 books, including DK's The Illustrated Book of Myths

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Why Mermaids Sing: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery Review

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(More customer reviews)I enjoyed the first two books in this series and found this one even better than the others. (It's not necessary to read them in order, although it can help with some background elements.)
Sebastian St. Cyr, Lord Devlin, already weary from recent experiences with death and secrets in his past, as well as seeing action as a soldier, is asked by his friend, a magistrate, to aid in what looks like a series of shocking murder-mutilations involving a banker's son and now the son of a lord. When someone threatens him in order to stop him from asking questions, Devlin digs in, determined to solve the mystery and stop the killer.
Woven deftly into the hunt for the killer is Devlin's personal life. In a lighter vein of this relatively grim tale, there is his need for a valet who will understand the ungentlemanly pursuit of murderers and the occasional need for suits of ordinary clothes that will let Devlin move through parts of society closed to the aristocracy. There is also the complications involved in his steadfast love of Kat Boleyn, an actress who refuses to marry him because it would ruin his position in society--and because of her secret past as a spy for the French, something that has been found out by the wrong people who are putting pressure on her. And there is Devlin's uneasy relationship with his father.
These elements never stall the pace of the mystery. Devlin is relentless in his pursuit of answers. The mystery is nicely complex, involving an incident in the past and connections that are not immediately apparent. There is plenty of action, plots, intrigue, red-herrings, curious situations, broken taboos, deadly secrets and desperate moves. The historical details are also there, subtly in the background: the illegal boxing matches, the high society parties and husband-hunting, the press-gangs, the clubs, the gaming hells.
The characters are all interesting and complex. The mystery and action good. The setting enjoyable. It is a perfect historical mystery, as far as I'm concerned. I hope there are many more to come in this series.


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It's September 1811, and someone is killing the wealthy young sons of London's most prominent families. Partially butchered, with strange objects stuffed into their mouths, their bodies are found dumped in public places at dawn. When the grisly remains of Alfred, Lord Stanton's eldest son are discovered in the Old Palace Yard beside the House of Lords, the local magistrate turns to Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for help. Ranging from the gritty world of Thames-side docks to the luxurious drawing rooms of Mayfair, Sebastian finds himself confronting his most puzzling--and disturbing--case yet. With the help of his trusted allies--young servant Tom, Irish doctor Paul Gibson, and his lover Kat Boleyn--Sebastian struggles to decipher a cryptic set of clues that link the scion of a banking family to the son of a humble Kentish vicar. For as one killing follows another, Sebastian discovers he is confronting a murderer with both a method and a purpose to his ritualized killings, and that the key to it all may lie in the enigmatic stanzas of a haunting poem...and in a secret so dangerous that men are willing to sacrifice their own children to keep the truth from becoming known.

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