Category Archives: Novel

acqua alta and the abc murders

Posted on February 25, 2019 by Houyhnhnm

acqua alta by donna leon there must be few detective stories like this one, with no twist, but it was ok as i recognised some of the places in venice, enjoyed the recent real acqua alta, and the novel ends … Continue reading →

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a cuckoo calling (jk rowling) & julia shaw’s the illusion of memory

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

a cuckoo calling really enjoyable – hard to put down (or a delight to pick up); cormoran strike and robyn are great characters, and the story unwinds and retangles in the manner of the best whodunnits that’s all it is … Continue reading →

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othello & moby-dick

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

othello everyone (including me) went to see mark rylance’s iago; for the first scene or so i was confused as he spoke so fast i missed lots of the content but we settled, and really enjoyed rylance’s nervy subservience, running … Continue reading →

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rodin and the ancient greeks, & the iliad

Posted on May 20, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

rodin and the ancient greeks i didn’t realise that rodin spent a lot of time in london, and that he kept visiting the british museum to see the elgin marbles and other greek sculpture; it seems (at least according to … Continue reading →

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luisa miller & ordeal of innocence

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

luisa miller (live from the met, south woodford odeon) even my dad hadn’t heard of this opera by verdi; and the english surname of its heroine certainly feels unusual in this italian-language melodrama with a count and a guy called … Continue reading →

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così fan tutte and a portrait of the artist as a young man

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

così fan tutte (live from the met at the odeon south woodford) as with tosca, i was surprised, and pleased, at the level of dark, serious stuff, but this time more so, as superficially it’s a comedy spying on their … Continue reading →

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lauren scott and the seahorse, by chris jones, and trip to windsor and eton

Posted on April 4, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

lauren scott and the seahorse (a teenager novel self-published by a friend) a fantastic first chapter – a gripping opening, strongly establishing the futuristic london, and pulling my eyes along the lines of the page as the chase became intense; … Continue reading →

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the day of the triffids and a visit to bamford quaker community

Posted on March 6, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

the day of the triffids far better than i expected (i’d grabbed it from a friend’s shelves in a oh-i-haven’t-read-that-and-really-should-have mood) (though i had enjoyed the midwich cuckoos) – a dark, sober, and believable evocation of london as it might … Continue reading →

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silence and the shape of water

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Houyhnhnm

SPOILERS silence shusaku endo’s novel (and scorsese’s film) is set during the persecution of portuguese jesuit missionaries in 16th-century japan, but its impact is more 20th-century existential: the story of rodriguez’s slow progress to apostasy is closer to winston smith’s … Continue reading →

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“Sweet Danger” by Marjery Allingham; “Have his Carcase” and “Whose Body?” by Dorothy L. Sayers

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Houyhnhnm

Sayers is great fun – Wimsey is a wonderful character, such a perfect epitome and caricature of clubland and the Edwardian aristocracy, and her murder mysteries are intricate and teasing. Allingham though is to be preferred: her Campion has greater … Continue reading →

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