Magnificent Octopus

But even the flightiest girl could not ignore Danton's lack. He was liable to weary after only a few hours of Mass Dancing, when the fun...

He continued to work with his Russian teacher, Andrescovich, but something had started to go wrong with the mechanism. The young Polish mast...

I'm fixing supper when Helena taps me on the shoulder, "Just tell me I'm hired." "Hired for what?" "A job! ...

I've been in the market for a nice cover for my ereader for some time. Nothing's wrong with the neoprene sleeve that came with the d...

As for reading matter, now that is another story. To tell the truth, that caused a lot of last-minute problems when I was already ready to g...

I finished reading David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas this morning, and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. It's a set of six s...

Mother used to say escape is never further than the nearest book. Well, Mumsy, no, not really. Your beloved large-print sagas of rags, riche...

All revolutions are the sheerest fantasy until they happen; then they become historical inevitabilities. — from Cloud Atlas , by David Mitc...

Recently acquired: Roadside Picnic , by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Because: Alleged by many to be the best Russian sci-fi ever. The ba...

I've had my copy of Cloud Atlas lying around for months, but it's only last week that I started reading it in earnest. But, visua...

When one unlocks a woman's body, her box of confidences also spills. (You should try 'em yourself one time, women I mean.) Might thi...

It's the review that I read in Shelf Awareness that put this book — Necropolis , by Santiago Gamboa — on my radar, but even so I'm ...

Brenner and God I read Brenner and God , by Wolf Haas, earlier this summer and thoroughly enjoyed the story and the fresh manner of its tel...

"Nell," the Constable continued, indicating through his tone of voice that the lesson was concluding, "the difference between...

Still on and on they pass, till voices call: Behold the distant towers of Montreal! The Royal Mountain throned upon the plain, looks prou...

I'm at my mother's this week and not reading much at all, but I did manage to duck out of a downtown shopping-for-home-decor boutiqu...

Hackworth had enjoyed San Francisco and was hardly immune to its charm, but Atlantis/Shanghai had imbued him with the sense that all the old...

"You want to ask me about class and status? Is that it?" "Yes, ma'am." "You Opinioners are always asking ab...

I'd never heard of Robert Sheckley until New York Review Books released a collection of his stories. It's got a gorgeous cover, and ...

Ian McEwan is hit or miss with me. I've loved a couple of his books and hated a couple others, despite their reputations or promising de...