#booksky #books 6375 Penguin 4634 Astra And Flondrix / Seamus Cullen (1980) the review quoted on the cover is from "Forum" magazine hinting at the unique weirdness of a post-atomic faerie fantasy that (for once honestly) gives full rein to the underlying sexual ferocities driving the hidden world

just hate all people : saves time trying to draw irrelevant distinctions

#booksky #books 6374 Penguin 4637 A Share Of The World / Andrea Newman (1980) 1st novel reflecting her own student experiences at the start of the '60's, resurrected successfully on the back of her scandalous '70's TV blockbusters : due respect though because she's a smooth read & understands people

Penguin 4639

#booksky #books 6373 The Animal Lover's Book Of Beastly Murder / Patricia Highsmith (1986) short stories, some told effectively from the point of view of the creatures involved. Fun to watch Highsmith indulge her dark humour in divergent perspectives & evidence truths such as Don't Piss Off Her Cat

#booksky #bookd 6372 Penguin 4651 A Cast Of Thousands / Philip Oakes (1980) world seen through the eyes of a film critic, irresistibly framing everything he experiences in terms of what movie it would be in & who would play each character. Doesn't mention the point where no-one knows your references

they've been doing the same to Dems for decades : hurl hideous allegations anda Thesaurus of abuse at them constantly then scream how unseemly it is when Dems call them anything as strong as "misguided".

#booksky #books 6371 Penguin 4656 Changing Places / David Lodge (16th post-1978) display of technical virtuosity in chopping and changing form and style telling the measuredly farcical story of 2 Eng Lit professors swapping campuses across the Atlantic. Don't think the campus novel has survived

#booksky #books 6370 Penguin 4658 The Balloonist / Macdonald Harris (1978) "to the North Pole - by balloon" is such a strong fin de siecle proposition that it's surprising it's fiction. And even above the frozen lands and churning seas, one of the party is constantly drawn to warmer, softer sojourns

#booksky #books 6369 Penguin 4668 The Return Of Reginald Perrin / David Nobbs (1977) Reggie founds the fantastically successful Grot shops selling rubbish to people who know it's rubbish and are being "ironic" or people too stupid to know it's rubbish. And soon he's trapped in the same world he fled

#booksky #books 6368 Penguin 4670 Rumpole Of The Bailey / John Mortimer (1986) no wonder Leo McKern was always perfect as Rumpole : the books were adapted from the TV rather than vice versa. I never knew. No matter how formulaic, there's much joy to be had in watching the old darling strut his stuff

not at all my genre but I accept "The Searchers" as a masterpiece regardless

#booksky #books 6367 Penguin 4674 Afternoon Of A Good Woman / Nina Bawden (1979) captures all of a life in a very brisk 140 pages as middle-aged woman reviews her life in full complexity while sitting on the magistrate's bench and moving contentedly into leaving her husband and past responsibilities

#booksky #books 6366 Penguin 4682 Lady Into Fox and A Man In The Zoo / David Garnett (1980) 2 short pieces by Bloomsbury adjunct, the 1st of which was much-lauded in its day (1924) for a wry exploration of the fallout when a posh young woman undergoes an unexpected and spontaneous vulpinization

#booksky #books 6365 Penguin 4688 The Assassination Bureau, Ltd. / Jack London (1978) unfinished when he killed himself, tenuously-tied to the high-camp 60's movie but also a sensible reaction to the spate of political murders either side of the turn of the 18th century and a meditation on mortality

#booksky #books 6364 Penguin 4695 The Consul's Files / Paul Theroux (1979) 20 snapshot stories of the experiences of the incongruous American consul in a small Malaysian town - like Narayan's Malgudi, a superbly specific realisation of a way of being that is simultaneously unique and universal

may be big to you...

let's talk NATO - let's tell you to fuck off out of our countries

every accusation is an admission - he's doing that, all his cronies are doing that so everybody else must be doing that

#booksky #books 6363 Penguin 4698 Brat Farrar / Josephine Tey (1984) consider with the "alleged missing heir returns to claim inheritance" plot : there are always characters who convince themselves it's true despite all sense & evidence (and this is true to life) and this scenario really happened

#booksky #books 6362 Penguin 4706 Wednesday The Rabbi Got Wet / Harry Kemelman (1981) 6th day-titled outing for the wonderful Rabbi David Small, unable to resist a murder investigation despite himself and constantly frustrated by the political manoevurings within his conservative Jewish congregation

#booksky #books 6361 Penguin 4712 The Face Of Terror / Emmanuel Litvinoff (1979) dreams of a glorious future crumble under Stalin's repressions so Peter & Lydia only have each other and a shared disillusionment to sustain them through the brutality. The trilogy does not flinch from an honest ending

#booksky #books 6360 Penguin 4711 Blood On The Snow / Emmanuel Litvinoff (1979) serious promotion for our committed "heroes" by now far from heroic in their roles in the Russian Civil War following the Bolshevik triump - he as a leader of the secret police and she as a guerrilla & then a spy abroad