The beginning: Inexplicably invited to an acquaintance’s family home for two weeks, Julian Kestrel finds himself caught in an angry, awkward mess of family feuding. The situation only gets worse from there, as Julian comes back to his room one day to find a dead girl lying on his bed. The end (skip this section if you don’t want the spoilers): Ah, there’s a last-minute tacked-on secret to be revealed. Glorious. I love it when an author does that. You thought you were done with all the mysteries, but no, there is another one to be had! Barbara Vine does…
12 CommentsReading the End Posts
Who among you recommended Those across the River to me? Anyone a fan of that book? I checked it out months ago, couldn’t get into it, and returned it unread to the library with a mental asterisk to return to it someday. I haven’t yet, but I did read The Necromancer’s House (affiliate links: Amazon, B&N, Book Depository), the newest book by that same author, and I thought it was great. This is lucky because historically when I’ve read a different book than the recommended one by the recommending person, it hasn’t turned out well for me. The beginning: A…
8 CommentsThe demographically similar Jennys return to talk about World War II in literary imagination! We review Esi Edugyan’s Half Blood Blues (affiliate links: Amazon, B&N, Book Depository), and we finish up by playing a game of Randon’s invention in which we must guess whether movie villains are German or British. You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player below or download the file directly to take with you on the go. Episode 16 Or if you wish, you can find us on iTunes (and if you enjoy the podcast, give us a good rating! We appreciate it very…
4 CommentsHa, ha, you thought you had escaped from the Stuff to Worry About series. Silly readers. I worry about so many things that I had to self-edit so you wouldn’t be getting Stuff to Worry About posts all the time. There is a plague on starfish. You may read about it here. Basically, starfish are dying of this wasting disease where their arms fall off, and because I don’t want to be the only one having these nightmares, I am going to add that sometimes in the course of this disease their arms fall off and crawl away. Scientists are…
29 CommentsOn today’s bonus edition of the Reading the End Bookcast, we play a game in which Randon and I each match up NFL teams to a list of writers provided by Whiskey Jenny. Whiskey Jenny awards points to the answer that most pleases her. You can listen to the podcast in the embedded player below or download the file directly to take with you on the go. Episode 15a Or if you wish, you can find us on iTunes (and if you enjoy the podcast, give us a good rating! We appreciate it very very much). If you’re wondering how…
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Review: The Ghost of the Mary Celeste, Valerie Martin
Programming note: Because of my commitment to depicting the way I really read, this review is less focused than I might prefer. Sometimes reading the end is like that — you go to read the end and find out that you haven’t read enough of the beginning for the ending to make sense. The beginning: A husband and wife die at sea. Back at home in New England, their family grieves for them; amongst them is a woman called Sallie, who struggles to manage her spiritualism-obsessed sister Hannah, while also discovering her own love for her cousin Benjamin Briggs. The…
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