en-US Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:25:22 -0700 60 144 41 https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 609060 326 Nigel Slater 0141029501 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.09 1992
author: Nigel Slater
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/07/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 19063 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

(Note: this title was not published as YA fiction)]]> 592 Markus Zusak Boadicea 0 4.38 2005
author: Markus Zusak
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2026/06/12
shelves: 21st-century, german, war, currently-reading
review:

]]> 767452 Pamela is a captivating story of one young woman's rebellion against the social order, edited by Peter Sabor with an introduction by Margaret A. Doody in Penguin Classics.

Fifteen-year-old Pamela Andrews, alone in the world, is pursued by her dead mistress's son. Although she is attracted to Mr B, she holds out against his demands and threats of abduction and rape, determined to protect her virginity and abide by her moral standards. Psychologically acute in its explorations of sex, freedom and power, Richardson's first novel caused a sensation when it was published, with its depiction of a servant heroine who dares to assert herself. Richly comic and full of lively scenes and descriptions, Pamela contains a diverse cast of characters ranging from the vulgar and malevolent Mrs Jewkes to the aggressive but awkward country squire who serves this unusual love story as both its villain and hero.

In her introduction, Margaret Ann Doody discusses the epistolary genre of novels and examines the role of women and class differences. This edition, based on the 1801 text and incorporating corrections made in 1810, makes Richardson's final version of the two-volume generally available for the first time.

Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) was born in Derbyshire, the son of a joiner. He received little formal education, but in 1706 was apprenticed to a London printer, going on to become a leading figure of the trade in the capital. Pamela originated as a volume of model letters for unskilled letter-writers, but as Richardson became more fascinated by the characters in his letters than the letters themselves, the germ of a novel began to emerge. Upon its publication in 1740 Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded became a national sensation.

If you enjoyed Pamela, you might like Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, also available in Penguin Classics.]]> 544 Samuel Richardson 0140431403 Boadicea 5 favourites
However, what I can say, is that this is a blast! It's funny, provocative particularly the 1st volume, a rough diamond and all the better for this. It's scathing in its depiction of the class attributes of the Enlightenment period in England; and excoriating in descriptions of the attitudes towards servants, particularly women and the licence to freely abuse employees without legal redress, because the landed gentry controlled the legal system.
Whilst I can see people upset by these customs today, this was a book written 280 years ago and needs to be read, in my estimation, with those in mind.

People describe its length but it only took me a day and a half to get through, I really struggled to put it down. As an epistolary novel told through letters, with a few voices only, it's repetitive but, like that elderly relative or neighbour, all the more truthful because of it.

Whilst reviewers have queried the authenticity of a 15 year old lady's maid spoiled by the attentions firstly of her female employer, then his son, her resolute rejection of his impolite and unwelcome advances makes me advocate for his simple device. It was a novel intended to discuss morals, psychology and spirituality, and is all the more authentic. Whilst Pamela remains the heroine, whilst it would appear that she capitulates, it's actually her aggressor who alters the most and becomes her disciple, for want of a better word.

For a debut novel written by a printmaker in late middle age this is stunning: his mastery of the intricate customs of conversation between the classes, the age gap reflected in her father's letters relative to Pamela's: all this leaves me in awe of his command of the subject. That it was a bestseller immediately and drove other literary responses such as lampoons, as well as fan clubs which modified further editions so there was less breast fondling, for example, amuses and impresses me, (think focus groups and Book Clubs).

Whilst there are flaws, these are largely to be found in the 2nd volume, which was, apparently, a sequel that was not initially planned by the author but precipitated by the threat of imminent sequestration by other authors. It's more lugubrious and platitudinous, to my mind but still features an escape from a furious sister-in-law that has me chuckling some months later!

So, this was a surprise 5* read and has had me searching for a 2nd hardback edition, so I can lend my paperback Penguin Classics edition, derived from the 1801 version, out without remorse. This edition has an Introduction by Margaret A Doody, which is, I think, the most useful discussion of this book.
If you missed her thoughts, or want to know more, this is the link to a recent article that she wrote on the subject.

https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-ce...]]> 2.63 1740
author: Samuel Richardson
name: Boadicea
average rating: 2.63
book published: 1740
rating: 5
read at: 2020/11/06
date added: 2026/03/22
shelves: favourites
review:
This is a book that I somehow chanced on in my quest for good pre-loved books at my favourite haunt, an old corrugated iron agricultural barn re-purposed as a bibliophiles' treasure cave. I hadn't been prepared to enjoy it, not being either an English major or a prior enthusiast of 18th century English literature. After all, it only scores a measly 2.79 on the great GR rating scale!

However, what I can say, is that this is a blast! It's funny, provocative particularly the 1st volume, a rough diamond and all the better for this. It's scathing in its depiction of the class attributes of the Enlightenment period in England; and excoriating in descriptions of the attitudes towards servants, particularly women and the licence to freely abuse employees without legal redress, because the landed gentry controlled the legal system.
Whilst I can see people upset by these customs today, this was a book written 280 years ago and needs to be read, in my estimation, with those in mind.

People describe its length but it only took me a day and a half to get through, I really struggled to put it down. As an epistolary novel told through letters, with a few voices only, it's repetitive but, like that elderly relative or neighbour, all the more truthful because of it.

Whilst reviewers have queried the authenticity of a 15 year old lady's maid spoiled by the attentions firstly of her female employer, then his son, her resolute rejection of his impolite and unwelcome advances makes me advocate for his simple device. It was a novel intended to discuss morals, psychology and spirituality, and is all the more authentic. Whilst Pamela remains the heroine, whilst it would appear that she capitulates, it's actually her aggressor who alters the most and becomes her disciple, for want of a better word.

For a debut novel written by a printmaker in late middle age this is stunning: his mastery of the intricate customs of conversation between the classes, the age gap reflected in her father's letters relative to Pamela's: all this leaves me in awe of his command of the subject. That it was a bestseller immediately and drove other literary responses such as lampoons, as well as fan clubs which modified further editions so there was less breast fondling, for example, amuses and impresses me, (think focus groups and Book Clubs).

Whilst there are flaws, these are largely to be found in the 2nd volume, which was, apparently, a sequel that was not initially planned by the author but precipitated by the threat of imminent sequestration by other authors. It's more lugubrious and platitudinous, to my mind but still features an escape from a furious sister-in-law that has me chuckling some months later!

So, this was a surprise 5* read and has had me searching for a 2nd hardback edition, so I can lend my paperback Penguin Classics edition, derived from the 1801 version, out without remorse. This edition has an Introduction by Margaret A Doody, which is, I think, the most useful discussion of this book.
If you missed her thoughts, or want to know more, this is the link to a recent article that she wrote on the subject.

https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-ce...
]]> 25167837 'They could not have had a more perfect day for a garden-party if they had ordered it.' A windless, warm day greets the Sheridan family on the day of their garden party. As daughter Laura takes the reins on party preparations the news of a neighbour's demise casts a cloud over the host and threatens the entire celebration.]]> Katherine Mansfield Boadicea 4 3.72
author: Katherine Mansfield
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.72
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2020/11/26
date added: 2025/10/18
shelves: 20th-century, nz, nz-authors-2020, short-story
review:

]]> 1472 Euripides, wrote Aristotle, ‘is the most intensely tragic of all the poets’. In his questioning attitude to traditional pieties, disconcerting shifts of sympathy, disturbingly eloquent evil characters & acute insight into destructive passion, he's also the most strikingly modern of ancient authors. Written in the period of 426-415, during the fierce struggle for supremacy between Athens & Sparta, these five plays are haunted by the horrors of war & its particular impact on women. Only the Suppliants, with its extended debate on democracy & monarchy, can be seen as a patriotic piece. The Trojan Women is perhaps the greatest of all anti-war dramas; Andromache shows the ferocious clash between the wife & concubine of Achilles’ son Neoptolemos; while Hecabe reveals how hatred can drive a victim to an appalling act of cruelty. Electra develops & parodies Aeschylus’ treatment of the same story, in which the heroine & her brother Orestes commit matricide to avenge their father Agamemnon. As always, Euripides presents the heroic figures of mythology as recognizable, often very fallible, humans.]]> 224 Euripides Boadicea 0 to-read 4.04 -420
author: Euripides
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.04
book published: -420
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61771953 0 Cecilia Whitford 0831751754 Boadicea 4 3.80
author: Cecilia Whitford
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.80
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/08/17
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]]> 35407581

Stellar contributors to Bloody Scotland include Val McDermid, Christopher Brookmyre, Denise Mina, Peter May, Ann Cleeves, Louise Welsh, Lin Anderson, Doug Johnstone, Craig Robertson, E. S. Thomson, Sara Sheridan and Stuart MacBride explore the thrilling potential of Scotland’s iconic sites and structures. From murder in a Hebridean blackhouse and a macabre tale of revenge among the furious clamour of an eighteenth century mill, to a dark psychological thriller set within the tourist throng of Edinburgh Castle and an ‘urbex’ rivalry turning fatal in the concrete galleries of an abandoned modernist ruin, this collection uncovers the intimate—and deadly—connections between people and places.

Maeshowe --
Orkahaugr by Lin Anderson --
The Hermit's Castle --
Ancient and Modern by Val McDermid --
Stanley Mills --
Kissing the Shuttle by E S Thomson --
The Forth Bridge --
Painting the Forth Bridge by Doug Johnstone --
Bothwell Castle --
The Last Siege of Bothwell Castle by Chris Brookmyre --
Kinneil House --
Sanctuary by Sara Sheridan --
Kinnaird Head Lighthouse --
Stevenson's Candle by Stuart MacBride --
Crookston Castle --
History Lesson by Gordon Brown --
Crossraguel Abbey --
Come Friendly Bombs by Louise Welsh St Peter's Seminary, Cardross --
The Twa Corbies of Cardross by Craig Robertson --
Edinburgh Castle --
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit by Denise Mina --
Mousa Broch --
The Return by Ann Cleeves --


Prepare for a dangerous journey into the dark shadows of our nation’s architecture—where passion, fury, desire, and death collide. ]]> 336 James Crawford 1681776545 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.65 2017
author: James Crawford
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/08/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 406373 Faust reworks the late medieval myth of a brilliant scholar so disillusioned he resolves to make a contract with Mephistopheles. The devil will do all he asks on Earth and seeks to grant him a moment in life so glorious that he will wish it to last forever. But if Faust does bid the moment stay, he falls to Mephistopheles and must serve him after death. In this first part of Goethe’s great work, the embittered thinker and Mephistopheles enter into their agreement, and soon Faust is living a rejuvenated life and winning the love of the beautiful Gretchen. But in this compelling tragedy of arrogance, unfulfilled desire, and self-delusion, Faust heads inexorably toward an infernal destruction.]]> 503 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 0385031149 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.90 1808
author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1808
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 13630406 207 Sam Mannering 0473173271 Boadicea 5 21st-century, cookery, nz The photographs celebrate Central Canterbury throughout the year, and the environment of Camla Farm, now denuded of its heritage apple trees, and Selwyn Orchard, which supplied produce to the kitchen. It enthusiastically promotes local produce but with a strong emphasis on Northern European cuisine-Sinead is Irish so there's Irish Soda Bread for example.
And it's not just recipes for food, there's instructions on building forts for indoor play, and go carts for outside.
The recipes are straightforward and include many of the much-missed café staples. Plus the interesting specialities of the area, specifically elderflower in champagne, syrup and vinegar form.
Now promoted to my cookery bookshelves permanently, or coffee table, as the presentation is superb. If there's one quibble, there's a slightly bizarre index but once you comprehend the logic of the layout, it works.

5🌟]]> 4.75 2010
author: Sam Mannering
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.75
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/06/18
shelves: 21st-century, cookery, nz
review:
I am guilty of hoarding cookery books often in a box as potential Xmas presents so I've had this since its appearance in the institution that was the Dunsandel Store presided over by its then owner, Annabel Graham, managed by Sue Nixon, with Sam in the kitchen aided by Sinead Dolan. This book celebrates a decade of good food delivery plus various community entertainments and, since its sale, is very sadly missed as a cultural icon.
The photographs celebrate Central Canterbury throughout the year, and the environment of Camla Farm, now denuded of its heritage apple trees, and Selwyn Orchard, which supplied produce to the kitchen. It enthusiastically promotes local produce but with a strong emphasis on Northern European cuisine-Sinead is Irish so there's Irish Soda Bread for example.
And it's not just recipes for food, there's instructions on building forts for indoor play, and go carts for outside.
The recipes are straightforward and include many of the much-missed café staples. Plus the interesting specialities of the area, specifically elderflower in champagne, syrup and vinegar form.
Now promoted to my cookery bookshelves permanently, or coffee table, as the presentation is superb. If there's one quibble, there's a slightly bizarre index but once you comprehend the logic of the layout, it works.

5🌟
]]> 7828343 1 John Gordon Morrison 0140060340 Boadicea 0 to-read 5.00 1983
author: John Gordon Morrison
name: Boadicea
average rating: 5.00
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1227206 64 Elizabeth Gaskell 1425009646 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.32 1850
author: Elizabeth Gaskell
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.32
book published: 1850
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 138995 221 Graham Greene 0671474707 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.95 1982
author: Graham Greene
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1982
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 3300915 210 John Mackay 1842820400 Boadicea 0 to-read 4.01 2002
author: John Mackay
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 13449471 205 Edward Fairbrother Strange Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.25 1925
author: Edward Fairbrother Strange
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.25
book published: 1925
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/13
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 40075136 50 W. Somerset Maugham 1565437373 Boadicea 4 https://archive.org/details/trembling...]]> 3.79 1974
author: W. Somerset Maugham
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1974
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/22
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves:
review:
Read for free here:
https://archive.org/details/trembling...
]]> 128083000 522 George Meredith 9357484078 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.00 1910
author: George Meredith
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1910
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 25242058
The story of a passionate young woman who escapes her stifling marriage through adultery and murder, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is now the basis for an acclaimed new film starring Florence Pugh.

Nikolai Leskov is one of the most unique voices of nineteenth-century Russia, with a fascination for idiosyncratic characters, lurid crimes, comic absurdity, spirituality and the joy of pure story. This volume contains five of his greatest short tales, including the matchless masterpiece Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

Translated with an introduction by David McDuff]]> 448 Nikolai Leskov 0141396741 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.74 1865
author: Nikolai Leskov
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1865
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 776407 TIGGER COMES TO THE FOREST and other stories
Story 1 In which a house is built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore

Story 2 In which Tigger comes to the forest and has breakfast

Story 3 In which Tigger is unbounced

Story 4 In which Eeyore finds the Wolery and Owl moves into it

Story 5 In which Christopher Robin and Pooh come to an enchanted place

POOH INVENTS A NEW GAME and other stories
Story 1 In which Rabbit has a busy day

Story 2 In which Pooh invents a new game

Story 3 In which it is shown that Tiggers don’t climb trees

Story 4 In which a search is organized

Story 5 In which Piglet does a very grand thing]]> 180 A.A. Milne 0525444440 Boadicea 0 to-read 4.38 1928
author: A.A. Milne
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1928
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 45032 488 Jane Austen Boadicea 5 3.86 1814
author: Jane Austen
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 5
read at: 2020/01/10
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 8677681 155 Peta Mathias 1869412486 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.00 1995
author: Peta Mathias
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 2433637 0 Peta Mathias 1869413059 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.33
author: Peta Mathias
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.33
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 2250626
If Peta hadn't known of her Irish ancestry, her love of potatoes would have betrayed it. Peta always connects with a place through its food, and in visiting the country of her forebears she set herself a difficult task. But it didn't take long for Peta to find the world-class restaurants hidden up windy cobbled streets, to savour the delights of grand country cooking, high-quality primary produce and seafood from sleepy fishing villages. She dances her way between such traditional fare as Guinness, barmbrack and black puddings and refined fusion dishes of roasted tomato and goat cheese charlotte with lentils and basil oil and cured wild salmon topped off with slugs of fine Irish whiskey.

In this wonderful account of travelling through Ireland, Peta searches for its gastronomic heartland, introduces her intriguing relatives, discovers her love of music is intricately intertwined with Irish social life and eating habits, and spins tales both traditional and true.]]> 0 Peta Mathias 1869414276 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.68
author: Peta Mathias
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.68
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 884288
The oldest and most inscrutable empire on the Discworld is in turmoil, brought about by the revolutionary treatise "What I did on My Holidays." Workers are uniting, with nothing to lose but their water buffaloes. War (and Clancy) are spreading throughout the ancient cities.

And all that stands in the way of terrible doom for everyone is:

Rincewind the Wizard, who can't even spell the word "wizard"...

Cohen the barbarian hero, five foot tall in his surgical sandals, who has had a lifetime's experience of not dying...

...and a very special butterfly.]]> 368 Terry Pratchett 0061056901 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.14 1994
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 9581283 What can a modestly capable man of adventure do when every mountain has been climbed, every river navigated to its source, and every Guinness record stretched to impossibility? He can spin a globe of the world and discover that his small country has its own antipodes - yet unknown and unexplored! He can take 360-degree photos of 'Perfect Places' in New Zealand, dub himself 'El Lider' and his partner 'La Campana', and set off to find the exact opposite points in Spain and Portugal. In New Zealand, the expedition is somewhat downbeat. Members are not always cognizant of being on an expedition - if they knew in the first place - as they sample budget margarine in a Canterbury camping ground, traipse from cellar to cellar in Marlborough vineyards, or search an Auckland shopping mall for a soft drink that can be bought with a credit card. Across the world, with the aid of a rented Ford Focus, a GPS system, six white shirts and the intrepidly frugal La Campana, El Lider's expedition forges paths where no New Zealander has gone before: through gorse and pines, skirting quarries and ponds, nimbly evading horses, pigs, nude farmers' wives and the much-feared El Toro, into the heart of noparticular - where in Spain, to photograph his 'Perfect Place' antipodes. Wryly, drily and with an economy that would do La Campana proud, author Mark Price tells the bare truth which is funnier than any fiction.]]> 203 Mark Price 1877460362 Boadicea 3 3.00 2009
author: Mark Price
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 400
In this powerful, unsettling novel, Don DeLillo chronicles Lee Harvey Oswald's odyssey from troubled teenager to a man of precarious stability who imagines himself an agent of history. When "history" presents itself in the form of two disgruntled CIA operatives who decide that an unsuccessful attempt on the life of the president will galvanize the nation against communism, the scales are irrevocably tipped.

A gripping, masterful blend of fact and fiction, alive with meticulously portrayed characters both real and created, Libra is a grave, haunting, and brilliant examination of an event that has become an indelible part of the American psyche.]]> 480 Don DeLillo 0140156046 Boadicea 0 to-read 4.09 1988
author: Don DeLillo
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 175416227 Wrong Norma is a facsimile edition of the original hand-designed book, drawn and annotated by the author. Several of the twenty-five startling poetic prose pieces have appeared in magazines and journals like The New Yorker and The Paris Review.

Anne Carson is probably our most celebrated living poet, winner of countless awards and routinely tipped for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Famously reticent, asking that her books be published without cover copy, she has agreed to say this: "Wrong Norma is a collection of writings about different things, like Joseph Conrad, Guantánamo, Flaubert, snow, poverty, Roget's Thesaurus, my Dad, Saturday night, Sokrates, writing sonnets, forensics, encounters with lovers, the word 'idea', the feet of Jesus, and Russian thugs. The pieces are not linked. That's why I've called them 'wrong'."]]> 192 Anne Carson 1529919983 Boadicea 0 to-read 4.23 2024
author: Anne Carson
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 16181775
Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.]]> 292 Graeme Simsion 1476729085 Boadicea 5 4.00 2013
author: Graeme Simsion
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/09
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review:

]]> 43798993
Elizabeth Taylor is a gifted surgeon—the only female consultant at her hospital. But while operating on a young woman with life-threatening blood poisoning, something goes horribly wrong. In the midst of a new scheme to publicly report surgeons' performance, her colleagues begin to close ranks, and Elizabeth's life is thrown into disarray. Tough and abrasive, Elizabeth has survived and succeeded in this most demanding, palpably sexist field. But can she survive a single mistake?A Mistake is a page-turning procedural thriller about powerful women working in challenging spheres. The novel examines how a survivor who has successfully navigated years of a culture of casual sexism and machismo finds herself suddenly in the fight of her life. When a mistake is life-threatening, who should ultimately be held responsible?]]> 192 Carl Shuker 1640092501 Boadicea 5 3.22 2019
author: Carl Shuker
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 20141348 352 Euripides 0141960930 Boadicea 0 to-read 4.22 -416
author: Euripides
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.22
book published: -416
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1147633 466 Thomas Hughes 0192835351 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.40 1857
author: Thomas Hughes
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1857
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 58342127 212 Carl Nixon 1642860956 Boadicea 4 3.90 2020
author: Carl Nixon
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/09
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 19279189
Hofmiller, an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer stationed at the edge of the empire, is invited to a party at the home of a rich local landowner, a world away from the dreary routine of the barracks. The surroundings are glamorous, wine flows freely, and the exhilarated young Hofmiller asks his host—s lovely daughter for a dance, only to discover that sickness has left her painfully crippled. It is a minor blunder that will destroy his life, as pity and guilt gradually implicate him in a well-meaning but tragically wrongheaded plot to restore the unhappy invalid to health.]]> 393 Stefan Zweig Boadicea 0 to-read 4.20 1939
author: Stefan Zweig
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1939
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> 114939 320 George MacDonald Fraser 0006513034 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.27 1985
author: George MacDonald Fraser
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 542011

The British Empire needs a man to satisfy insatiable lust and indulge in ungentlemanly acts – fortunately it has Harry Flashman. And with the mighty Sikh army poised to invade India, Flashman must go back into secret service and this time contend with the intrigues of the Court of Punjab.]]> 400 George MacDonald Fraser 0006513042 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.22 1990
author: George MacDonald Fraser
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 263156 This is a classic work of the world, a precious jewel in the world literature, which has inspired many generations of readers. We are pleased to bring readers full version. with a clear, attractive expression of this work. Hope you have enjoyable hours!
--Book Introduction--

""Married Love"" is one of the most famous 'sex education' manuals. First published in 1918, it sold tens of thousands of copies, and was one of the first publications to openly discuss issues such as variations in male and female sexual desire in a form which could be easily read and understood by the ordinary reader. This is the 6th, revised and expanded, edition, from 1919. The main text is mostly unchanged. An appendix has been added with some extra information on subjects such as sex during pregnancy.
"
]]> 172 Marie Stopes 0192804324 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.38 1918
author: Marie Stopes
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.38
book published: 1918
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 54479
Inspired by Jules Verne’s own sea travels and his fascination with circumnavigating the globe, the avid dreamer’s picaresque voyage inspired generations of adventurers who were eager to best Verne’s challenge—from nineteenth-century journalist Nellie Bly to Monty Python’s Michael Palin.]]> 252 Jules Verne 014044906X Boadicea 0 to-read 3.95 1872
author: Jules Verne
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1872
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> 609062 Nigel Slater 0140232834 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.82 1993
author: Nigel Slater
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 398197 208 Joseph Conrad 0375760148 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.58 1892
author: Joseph Conrad
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1892
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 3131202 304 Dan Davin 1877372420 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.56 2007
author: Dan Davin
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 997335 367 P.C. Wren 0899681352 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.03 1924
author: P.C. Wren
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1924
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 997336 370 P.C. Wren 0685030490 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.98 1926
author: P.C. Wren
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1926
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/11
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 250839 334 Siegfried Sassoon 1931313814 Boadicea 0 to-read 4.07
author: Siegfried Sassoon
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> 33969477
Dublin is in the middle of a heat wave and tempers are running high. The Celtic Tiger is well and truly dead, activists have taken over the headquarters of a failed bank, the trial of three unscrupulous property developers teeters on the brink of collapse, and in the midst of all this, along comes a mysterious organisation hell-bent on exacting bloody vengeance in the name of the little guy.

Paul Mulchrone doesn’t care about any of this; he has problems of his own. His newly established detective agency is about to be DOA. One of his partners won’t talk to him for very good reasons and the other has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth for no reason at all. Can he hold it together long enough to figure out what Bunny McGarry’s colourful past has to do with his present absence?

When the law and justice no longer mean the same thing, on which side will you stand?

The Day That Never Comes is the second book in Caimh McDonnell’s Dublin Trilogy, which melds fast-paced action with a distinctly Irish acerbic wit.]]> 362 Caimh McDonnell 0995507538 Boadicea 0 to-read 4.26 2017
author: Caimh McDonnell
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> 5945902 A Modest Proposal and Other Writings is edited with an introduction and notes by Carol Fabricant.

To ease poverty in Ireland by eating the children of the poor was the satirical 'solution' suggested by Jonathan Swift in his essay 'A Modest Proposal' (1729). Here Swift unleashes the full power of his ironic armoury and corrosive wit, finding his targets - the British ruling class and avaricious landlords, and the brutalized Irish, complicit in their own oppression - with deadly precision. His masterly essay is accompanied by a generous selection of prose works, among them pamphlets attacking British rule in his native Ireland, periodical essays critiquing the new capitalist and military classes, a journal detailing his political activities in London, a loving tribute to his beloved 'Stella' after her death and pieces on such diverse subjects as the absurdities of astrology, the joys of punning and comical rules for servants. Ingenious and unconventional, Swift is revealed here as one of the greatest satirists in the English language.

In her introduction to this new edition, Carol Fabricant discusses Swift's life and turbulent times, his political views and his powers as a writer of complex irony and intricate word play. This volume also includes a chronology, further reading, a glossary, notes and a biographical dictionary.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was born in Dublin. Sent to Kilkenny Grammar School when he was six, Swift later attended Trinity College, Dublin, where he received his BA degree in 1686. He is considered the foremost prose satirist in the English language, which stemmed from his criticism of Britain's repressive colonial policies in Ireland. Among Swift's best known works are his ironic masterpiece, 'A Modest Proposal' (1729), and his novel, Gulliver's Travels (1726).

If you enjoyed A Modest Proposal, you might like Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings, also available in Penguin Classics.]]> 412 Jonathan Swift 0140436421 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.46 1729
author: Jonathan Swift
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.46
book published: 1729
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> 1168233 0 Lionel Stevenson 0846209551 Boadicea 0 to-read 4.00 1967
author: Lionel Stevenson
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1967
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 12523965 208 Stella Tillyard 0297825054 Boadicea 0 to-read 4.10 1999
author: Stella Tillyard
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> 199538 History remembers King George III of England as the mad monarch who lost America. But as a young man, this poignant figure set aside his own passions in favor of a temperate life as guardian to both his siblings and his country. He would soon learn that his prudently cultivated harmony would be challenged by the impetuous natures of his sisters and brothers, and by a changing world in which the very instituation of monarchy was under fire.

At the heart of Stella Tillyard’s intimate and vivid account is King George’s sister Caroline Mathilde. Married against her will at fifteen to the ailing king of Denmark, she broke all the rules by embarking on an affair with a radical young court doctor. Their rash experiment in free living ended in imprisonment, death, and exile and almost led their two countries to war. Around this tragedy are woven the stories of King George’s scandalous brothers, who squandered their time and titles partying and indulging in disastrous relationships that the gossip-hungry press was all too delighted to report.

Historians have always been puzzled by George’s refusal to give up on America, which forced his government to drag out the Revolutionary War long after it was effectively lost. Tillyard suggests that the king, seeing the colonists as part of his family, sought to control them in the same way he had attempted to rule his younger siblings.

In this brilliantly interpretive biography, Stella Tillyard conjures up a Georgian world of dynastic marriages, headstrong royals, and radical new ideas. A compelling story of private passions and public disgrace, rebellion and exile, A Royal Affair brings to life the dramatic events that served as a curtain-raiser to the revolutions that convulsed two continents.]]> 352 Stella Tillyard 140006371X Boadicea 0 to-read 3.75 2006
author: Stella Tillyard
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 306822 412 Stella Tillyard 0374524475 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.10 1994
author: Stella Tillyard
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/04
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 8195202 335 1869418964 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.94 2007
author: Christine / Louise Fernyhough & Callan
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/03
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 43686953 482 Edgar Allan Poe Boadicea 0 to-read 4.00
author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> 15753740
Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she’s ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she’s made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?

In this searingly honest novel, Jodi Picoult gracefully explores the lengths we will go in order to protect our families and to keep the past from dictating the future]]> 461 Jodi Picoult 1439102767 Boadicea 0 4.28 2013
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/10
shelves:
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]]> 2832850 94 Joan Bishop 0723307326 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.50 1986
author: Joan Bishop
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/03
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 7419595 Book by Brown, Sarah 240 Sarah Brown 0563210346 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.94 1984
author: Sarah Brown
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1984
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/03
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 1202871
It includes the screenplays for "The Magic Toyshop" and "The Company of Wolves"; a draft for an opera of Virginia Woolf's "Orlando"; and reworkings for radio of "Puss in Boots" and "Dracula".]]> 510 Angela Carter 0099586215 Boadicea 0 to-read 4.10 1996
author: Angela Carter
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 298762
Angela Carter is a great traveller, on many fronts. Long autobiographical pieces on her life in South Yorkshire and South London are followed by highly individual inspections of home and abroad. Some of her most brilliant writing is devoted to Japan, that strange and unfathomable country—exotically and erotically described here—so perfectly suited to the Carter pen. Domestically, Angela Carter used her mordant wit and accurate eye to inspect England and Englishness as it manifested itself throughout the land.

On the home front, she writes on Zoos and Fun Fairs, on fashion and make-up, on sexual fads and fripperies, on film and television—and Britain in the gone-but-not-forgotten 60s and 70s springs to life. Finally she turns her attention to her own craft, and her book reviews are masterpieces—at last Katherine Mansfield and Colette are assessed by their equal; Linda Lovelace, Gay Talese and Judith Krantz get a literary spanking where it hurts most; D.H. Lawrence may rise again, but it seems unlikely.

Critics have always used superlatives to describe the work of Angela Carter. What these writings show is that she is also one of the funniest, most perceptive critics of our age, a maverick who has lived through our life and times, and hasn't missed a thing.]]> 226 Angela Carter 0860682692 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.96 1982
author: Angela Carter
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1982
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 1215293
Angela Carter was one of the most important and influential writers of our time: a novelist of extraordinary power and a searching critic and essayist.This selection of her writing, which she made herself, covers more than a decade of her thought and ranges over a diversity of subjects giving a true measure of the wide focus of her interests: the brothers Grimm; William Burroughs; food writing, Elizbaeth David; British writing: American writing; sexuality, from Josephine Baker to the history of the corset; and appreciations of the work of Joyce and Christina Stead.]]> 240 Angela Carter 0099222817 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.87 1992
author: Angela Carter
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 144099 191 Kim Heacox 0792275365 Boadicea 0 bought-to-read 4.12 1999
author: Kim Heacox
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/02
shelves: bought-to-read
review:

]]> 54872309 A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome to…
The Thursday Murder Club

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it’s too late?]]> 12 Richard Osman 0593289501 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.73 2020
author: Richard Osman
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 56489711 A tale of daring, deception and unceasing action, The Saffron Runners will have your heart pounding as you urge the Heavenly Horses on, Gallup with the Drinkers of the Wind, and thrill to hot-blooded chases spiced with mystery, romance and always, always, the lure of a destiny to be fulfilled.]]> 335 B.G. Fox 099513295X Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.17
author: B.G. Fox
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/02
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 529243 Clarissa is a richly ambiguous study of a fatally attracted couple and a work of astonishing power and immediacy. A huge success when it first appeared in 1747, and translated into French and German, it remains one of the greatest of all European novels.]]> 1536 Samuel Richardson Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.40 1748
author: Samuel Richardson
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1748
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/02
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 53403812 alternate cover edition of ASIN B0887Z7P1V

A sexy, emotional, heart-stopping romance novel from #1 New York Times Bestselling author Lauren Blakely…

Ten years ago, I let the love of my life slip through my fingers. It’s my greatest regret, especially since she’s all but disappeared. When she walks back into my world unexpectedly, I have one mission — win her back. Whatever it takes.

But the gorgeous, brilliant, tough-as-iron Shannon has secrets of her own, and a family past she’s trying to escape.

Slowly but surely, I break down her walls over our sinful nights together, with a connection more passionate than ever, an intimacy more fiery than it was before.

But the past can only stay behind you for so long. And when the people who want a piece of her family start circling her, I’ll have to prove I’m the man to protect her from her suddenly dangerous present.

MY SINFUL NIGHTS is a reimagining of the 2015 story SWEET SINFUL NIGHTS (no longer available for sale). MY SINFUL NIGHTS has been rewritten in first person with an entirely new romance for Shannon and Brent, new characterizations and new conflict in this second chance romance! THE SINFUL MEN SERIES includes the following titles: MY SINFUL NIGHTS, MY SINFUL DESIRE, MY SINFUL LONGING, MY SINFUL LOVE, and MY SINFUL TEMPTATION.]]> 326 Lauren Blakely Boadicea 0 bought-to-read 3.72 2015
author: Lauren Blakely
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/20
shelves: bought-to-read
review:

]]> 1460357 Nigel Tranter 0340202998 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 4.02 1974
author: Nigel Tranter
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1974
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/02
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 14524113 91 M.J.A. Parr 1859960677 Boadicea 0 books-4-pete 0.0 1998
author: M.J.A. Parr
name: Boadicea
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/31
shelves: books-4-pete
review:

]]> 159651721 705 MD Robert Berkow Boadicea 0 books-4-pete 0.0
author: MD Robert Berkow
name: Boadicea
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/31
shelves: books-4-pete
review:

]]> 200341343 0 Visionären Boadicea 0 books-4-pete 0.0
author: Visionären
name: Boadicea
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/31
shelves: books-4-pete
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]]> 14846773 128 Paul A. Dieppe 0397445881 Boadicea 0 books-4-pete 0.0 1991
author: Paul A. Dieppe
name: Boadicea
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1991
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/03/31
shelves: books-4-pete
review:

]]> 17125 The only English translation authorized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

First published in the Soviet journal Novy Mir in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich stands as a classic of contemporary literature. The story of labor-camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, it graphically describes his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of communist oppression. An unforgettable portrait of the entire world of Stalin's forced work camps, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the most extraordinary literary documents to have emerged from the Soviet Union and confirms Solzhenitsyn's stature as "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dosotevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy"--Harrison Salisbury

This unexpurgated 1991 translation by H. T. Willetts is the only authorized edition available, and fully captures the power and beauty of the original Russian.]]> 182 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Boadicea 0 to-read 3.98 1962
author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1065487 Hardcover Book. 150 Theodore Dalrymple 0233990127 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.88 1994
author: Theodore Dalrymple
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 12293274 112 Graham Greene Boadicea 4 3.40 1950
author: Graham Greene
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1950
rating: 4
read at: 2020/08/04
date added: 2024/02/23
shelves: 20th-century, english-literature, short-story
review:

]]> 3763434 432 Pamela Neville-Sington 014024333X Boadicea 5 3.91 1998
author: Pamela Neville-Sington
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/16
date added: 2024/02/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 125009 254 Janet Frame 0704338610 Boadicea 0 4.09 1961
author: Janet Frame
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1961
rating: 0
read at: 2024/01/20
date added: 2024/01/20
shelves:
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]]> 1574321 112 Pierre Abélard 0141034807 Boadicea 0 to-read 2.88 1133
author: Pierre Abélard
name: Boadicea
average rating: 2.88
book published: 1133
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 241469 208 Graham Greene 0140185410 Boadicea 3 3.31 1934
author: Graham Greene
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.31
book published: 1934
rating: 3
read at: 2020/03/15
date added: 2024/01/07
shelves:
review:
It's life-a confusing cacophony crammed with caricatures.
]]> 122552442 The exploits of Ernest Trugood are a refreshing antidote to the grim 1990s and will appeal to Catholics, lapsed Catholics and non-Catholics alike.]]> 114 John Trenwith 1869480619 Boadicea 0 to-read 5.00
author: John Trenwith
name: Boadicea
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/01/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> 18373 Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache.
 
Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence – a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.

As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?]]> 311 Daniel Keyes 015603008X Boadicea 0 re-read 4.21 1966
author: Daniel Keyes
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/17
shelves: re-read
review:

]]> 16006192 Thomas Hardy Boadicea 4 3.54 2013
author: Thomas Hardy
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/22
date added: 2023/08/22
shelves:
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]]> 6865943 36 Thomas Hardy 0340743077 Boadicea 4 3.57 1888
author: Thomas Hardy
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1888
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/22
date added: 2023/08/22
shelves:
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]]> 1075283
Virginia Spencer Carr brings her own sharply focused biographer's eye to the introduction, further illuminating the story and the superb critical essays that it provokes. The casebook includes the authoritative text of the story itself, Porter's own statement regarding the genesis of this highly acclaimed work, an important interview, a collection of significant essays on "Flowering Judas" and the historical, cultural, and personal milieu from which the tale evolved, a bibliography, and a chronology of Porter's life and work.]]> 216 Katherine Anne Porter 0813519799 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.44 2011
author: Katherine Anne Porter
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/08/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> 5634324 0 James Runcieman Sutherland 0860075427 Boadicea 3
Occasionally I chance on a book that I feel is just not my cup of tea: sometimes I will leave it be and cast it aside; other times I’ll pause it and pick it up sometime later and finish it; then there’s the third option, just grind through at a set rate and finish the damn thing.

So, this became boring strategy option 3, and my review reflects my dissatisfaction with possibly my approach to this book. However, I needed to conquer this book for a couple of reasons, not least for personal kudos, but also the fact than it was influenced by Dan Davin, an expat New Zealand author and UK publisher with the Oxford University Press who was one of the masterminds behind this project.

Overall, it’s an interesting concept-a collection of the great and the good and their various sayings-the witty and wise, the funny and mad, the good and the bad. Obviously, the irony and sarcasm wielded in the name of upholding the English language by writers and their circle of friends is celebrated but the way these “bon mots” are arranged left this reader oddly unimpressed.

Essentially, it’s a chronological collection organised by the year the writer was born, and is heavily skewed in favour of the patriarchy-it’s certainly an “Oxford collection” reflecting the author’s bias concentrating on mainland UK authors of the 18th and 19th centuries. This means it jumps all over the various literary cabals and feels quite disjointed.

The lack of notable 20th century writers left me feeling shortchanged-no Ian Fleming, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, let alone the surreal Flann O’Brien. So, I feel this concept could be criticised for being an early example of data mining using hapless researchers in the long gone days before the internet existed.

However, it is what is says on the tin, and there are indeed a few gems, but overall the collection of 484 items over 449 pages contained little that was memorable. Failing the dross, the paragraphs that did resonate were both more explanatory and somehow better curated. These included HG Wells’ account early in his theatrical reviewer career of Henry James’ play “Guy Donville” and the superbly written account of the tragedy when Percy Bysshe Shelley died in a Mediterranean storm.

“A story may be credible when attended with circumstances, which seems false if detached.” P.131 art.150.

But perhaps, Frank Muir’s tongue in cheek assessment of this book to me seems apt as in the GR description😉

2.5 halfway 💥]]> 4.00 1975
author: James Runcieman Sutherland
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1975
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/11
date added: 2023/08/14
shelves:
review:
Anglocentric (g)lit(t)erati gossip

Occasionally I chance on a book that I feel is just not my cup of tea: sometimes I will leave it be and cast it aside; other times I’ll pause it and pick it up sometime later and finish it; then there’s the third option, just grind through at a set rate and finish the damn thing.

So, this became boring strategy option 3, and my review reflects my dissatisfaction with possibly my approach to this book. However, I needed to conquer this book for a couple of reasons, not least for personal kudos, but also the fact than it was influenced by Dan Davin, an expat New Zealand author and UK publisher with the Oxford University Press who was one of the masterminds behind this project.

Overall, it’s an interesting concept-a collection of the great and the good and their various sayings-the witty and wise, the funny and mad, the good and the bad. Obviously, the irony and sarcasm wielded in the name of upholding the English language by writers and their circle of friends is celebrated but the way these “bon mots” are arranged left this reader oddly unimpressed.

Essentially, it’s a chronological collection organised by the year the writer was born, and is heavily skewed in favour of the patriarchy-it’s certainly an “Oxford collection” reflecting the author’s bias concentrating on mainland UK authors of the 18th and 19th centuries. This means it jumps all over the various literary cabals and feels quite disjointed.

The lack of notable 20th century writers left me feeling shortchanged-no Ian Fleming, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, let alone the surreal Flann O’Brien. So, I feel this concept could be criticised for being an early example of data mining using hapless researchers in the long gone days before the internet existed.

However, it is what is says on the tin, and there are indeed a few gems, but overall the collection of 484 items over 449 pages contained little that was memorable. Failing the dross, the paragraphs that did resonate were both more explanatory and somehow better curated. These included HG Wells’ account early in his theatrical reviewer career of Henry James’ play “Guy Donville” and the superbly written account of the tragedy when Percy Bysshe Shelley died in a Mediterranean storm.

“A story may be credible when attended with circumstances, which seems false if detached.” P.131 art.150.

But perhaps, Frank Muir’s tongue in cheek assessment of this book to me seems apt as in the GR description😉

2.5 halfway 💥
]]> 13229728 112 Chris Stone 1907554556 Boadicea 2 It’s slightly smutty and reminds me of a punchline for a joke that’s repetitive and subsequently gets boring very quickly. It’s overall a “lazy” editorial project that left this reader unimpressed as it’s the contributors that have done all the legwork by recording the various incidents.
There really is little reason to publish this in paper format and every reason to banish it to the dunny.
1.5 occasional firefly glimmer💫]]> 2.75 2012
author: Chris Stone
name: Boadicea
average rating: 2.75
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at: 2023/08/03
date added: 2023/08/14
shelves:
review:
This is a collection of pictures sourced from international contributors detailing various abuses visited on primarily the English language, but not always.
It’s slightly smutty and reminds me of a punchline for a joke that’s repetitive and subsequently gets boring very quickly. It’s overall a “lazy” editorial project that left this reader unimpressed as it’s the contributors that have done all the legwork by recording the various incidents.
There really is little reason to publish this in paper format and every reason to banish it to the dunny.
1.5 occasional firefly glimmer💫
]]> 36809135
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 384 Delia Owens 0735219117 Boadicea 3
Now and again, one meets a novel which is brilliant in parts but grates in others. This is, indeed, one of them.

The good bits:

The nature writing is very good, perhaps too detailed for the non-biologist but I enjoyed the minutiae of flora and fauna. It worked well for me.

The environmental setting was great, which is why I have compared it to one of Charles Dickens' masterpieces. However, in the latter's case, the marsh has a definite darkness and malevolence which is not reproduced here, and the seasonal variations are strangely absent.

The central protagonist, Kya, is a fascinating character as she grows up in isolation deserted by her family members after an early childhood scarred by domestic violence and parental alcoholism, and avoids compulsory school attendance.

The 2 boyfriends are not so compelling as characters, and I found them a little less credible.

The harassment and social isolation of Kya is well documented but even Huck Finn had more social interventions and skills than she did!

For a debut novel, there's some great writing and it's undoubtedly an entertaining if unmemorable read.

The bad bits:

Oh dear, where do I begin!

There's too much going on here, overall. It's a romance, but also murder mystery and a bildungsroman, very similar to Great Expectations. However, Dickens used about twice the length to complete his masterpiece and, in doing so, gave far more meat to the bones than I got here.

Too much telling, not enough showing, particularly later in the narrative. It read like a YA book particularly with the narrative arc

Implausibility of which there really are multiple examples-linguistic development, intellectual development all in absence of social and formal educational interactions(p-lease, pull the other leg, it's got bells on); ability to live unaided by the age of 10 years of age without any ability to count beyond the number 29? Cultural change, etc. And the poetry sampling... That really is stretching the imagination.

The trial scene is strangely bizarre and I can't quite comprehend its brevity. Whilst I can appreciate Kya's diffidence, even depersonalisation, at no stage was I emotionally affected by the prospect of an imminent death penalty-the author had lost me.

So, another on the bestseller lists which I expect not to figure in the 100 best books of the 21st century.

3.25 murkily illuminating🎇 (3-4GR range for debut fictional author=2.75 for equivalent experienced writers)]]> 4.34 2018
author: Delia Owens
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/22
date added: 2023/08/13
shelves:
review:
A 1950s American answer to Great Expectations

Now and again, one meets a novel which is brilliant in parts but grates in others. This is, indeed, one of them.

The good bits:

The nature writing is very good, perhaps too detailed for the non-biologist but I enjoyed the minutiae of flora and fauna. It worked well for me.

The environmental setting was great, which is why I have compared it to one of Charles Dickens' masterpieces. However, in the latter's case, the marsh has a definite darkness and malevolence which is not reproduced here, and the seasonal variations are strangely absent.

The central protagonist, Kya, is a fascinating character as she grows up in isolation deserted by her family members after an early childhood scarred by domestic violence and parental alcoholism, and avoids compulsory school attendance.

The 2 boyfriends are not so compelling as characters, and I found them a little less credible.

The harassment and social isolation of Kya is well documented but even Huck Finn had more social interventions and skills than she did!

For a debut novel, there's some great writing and it's undoubtedly an entertaining if unmemorable read.

The bad bits:

Oh dear, where do I begin!

There's too much going on here, overall. It's a romance, but also murder mystery and a bildungsroman, very similar to Great Expectations. However, Dickens used about twice the length to complete his masterpiece and, in doing so, gave far more meat to the bones than I got here.

Too much telling, not enough showing, particularly later in the narrative. It read like a YA book particularly with the narrative arc

Implausibility of which there really are multiple examples-linguistic development, intellectual development all in absence of social and formal educational interactions(p-lease, pull the other leg, it's got bells on); ability to live unaided by the age of 10 years of age without any ability to count beyond the number 29? Cultural change, etc. And the poetry sampling... That really is stretching the imagination.

The trial scene is strangely bizarre and I can't quite comprehend its brevity. Whilst I can appreciate Kya's diffidence, even depersonalisation, at no stage was I emotionally affected by the prospect of an imminent death penalty-the author had lost me.

So, another on the bestseller lists which I expect not to figure in the 100 best books of the 21st century.

3.25 murkily illuminating🎇 (3-4GR range for debut fictional author=2.75 for equivalent experienced writers)
]]> 13530283
“Hilarious…Rodi’s title is a tribute. He’s angry that the Austen craze has defanged a novelist who’s ‘wicked, arch, and utterly merciless. She skewers the pompous, the pious, and the libidinous with the animal glee of a natural-born sadist’…Like Rodi, I believe Austen deserves to join the grand pantheon of gadflies: Voltaire and Swift, Twain and Mencken.” Lev Raphael, The Huffington Post]]> 424 Robert Rodi 0983484465 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.87
author: Robert Rodi
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 358902 191 A.E. van Vogt 0671431293 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.96 1951
author: A.E. van Vogt
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1951
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 254308 586 Ivan Goncharov 1933480092 Boadicea 0 to-read 4.10 1859
author: Ivan Goncharov
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1859
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 26014651
Twenty-two-year-old Jane Fairchild has worked as a maid at an English country house since she was sixteen. For almost all of those years she has been the clandestine lover to Paul Sheringham, young heir of a neighboring house. The two now meet on an unseasonably warm March day—Mothering Sunday—a day that will change Jane's life forever.

As the narrative moves back and forth from 1924 to the end of the century, what we know and understand about Jane—about the way she loves, thinks, feels, sees, remembers—expands with every vividly captured moment. Her story is one of profound self-discovery, and through her, Graham Swift has created an emotionally soaring, deeply affecting work of fiction.]]> 177 Graham Swift 1101947527 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.70 2016
author: Graham Swift
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 392274
"By all that’s wonderful, it is the sea, I believe, the sea itself—or is it youth alone? Who can tell? But you here—you all had something out of life: money, love—whatever one gets on shore—and, tell me, wasn’t that the best time, that time when we were young at sea; young and had nothing, on the sea that gives nothing, except hard knocks—and sometimes a chance to feel your strength—that only—what you all regret?"]]> 30 Joseph Conrad 1406922269 Boadicea 4 Which is much like this book. It's fizzing with hope, excitement & adventure in faraway parts despite the environment of a very doubtful voyage, like Enid Blyton written for young adults!
However, therein the comparison ends as the reality of the ending is vastly different, the language is far more eloquent & the emotional component is addressed with aplomb.
Terrific. 4.5 *.]]> 3.64 1857
author: Joseph Conrad
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1857
rating: 4
read at: 2019/11/24
date added: 2023/07/23
shelves:
review:
My first introduction to the writing of Joseph Conrad & I feel like I have made a dazzling new acquaintance with great potential. What fun & games are in store?
Which is much like this book. It's fizzing with hope, excitement & adventure in faraway parts despite the environment of a very doubtful voyage, like Enid Blyton written for young adults!
However, therein the comparison ends as the reality of the ending is vastly different, the language is far more eloquent & the emotional component is addressed with aplomb.
Terrific. 4.5 *.
]]> 3208890
Much more than a straightforward memoir, this book is an astute and sometimes wry observation of social interaction, of New Zealand's recent history and of the place that food has in our everyday lives. It is also the intriguing story of a unique writer, of her life, her thoughts and her work.]]> 191 Shonagh Koea 1869419189 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.42 2007
author: Shonagh Koea
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 61237033 —Apple Books

"Scrumptious...This book was meant to be devoured."
—Roy Peter Clark, author of  Murder Your Darlings

Romaine calm and read on for a deliciously detailed digest of food language throughout time from celebrated linguist and historian Judith Tschann that is guaranteed to "make you a hit at dinner parties" ( New York Times ).

Food and words—we rely on both to sustain our daily lives. We begin each morning hungry for nourishment and conversation, and our happiest moments and fondest memories are often filled with ample servings of both.

Food historian Judith Tschann celebrates this glorious intersection of linguistic and culinary affinities with  Romaine Wasn't Build in a Day , an irresistibly charming and deliciously decadent romp through the history of food words. On the hunt for the hidden stories behind hundreds of dishes and ingredients we take for granted, Tschann takes us on an expedition through the centuries and around the world, illuminating the ways in which language is always changing, ever-amusing, and entirely inseparable from culture, history, identity, and such as: Full of endless morsels of fascination for word nerds and foodies alike,  Romaine Wasn't Built in a Day  will beguile history buffs, captivate crossword fiends, satiate Scrabble nerds, and feed our fondness for our two favorite pastimes: eating and talking. ]]> 240 Judith Tschann 0316389374 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.28
author: Judith Tschann
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.28
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1983769
Their nearest neighbor is Blanche Silcox, a plain, tweed-wearing woman of 50 who rides, shoots, fishes, and drives a Rolls Royce -- in every way the opposite of the domestic, loving Imogen.

Their world is conventional country life at its most idyllic: how can its gentle surfaces be disturbed?]]> 272 Elizabeth Jenkins 0860682722 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.97 1954
author: Elizabeth Jenkins
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1954
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 159734 414 John Freely 0140244611 Boadicea 0 currently-reading 3.77 1996
author: John Freely
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/11
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 51074937 364 Dan Davin 1988531829 Boadicea 4 3.75
author: Dan Davin
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/09
date added: 2023/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 5214540 Phantastes is the first of the modern fantasy novels, an important milestone in literary history and a great influence on modern writers: C. S. Lewis said that reading it had transformed his whole outlook. Its Victorian surface in no way detracts from the compelling tale which MacDonald has to tell, in which he shows a remarkably strong sense of the deeper layers of the mind, such as Freud and Jung were soon to explore; his work is no mere allegory, to be explained in terms of correspondences between the events in the story and those of the real world, but a creation of a new world with its own self-contained logic. MacDonald draws on traditional tales and half-familiar images, but the result is fresh and exciting even today: Phantastes is a 'fairy-tale for adults' and, like all good fairy-tales, it is above all a story, skilfully [sic] told.

George MacDonald was born in 1824 in Aberdeenshire and made his living as a writer and lecturer in London: he is best remembered today for his children's stories, At the Back of the North Wind and The Princess and the Goblin. He died in 1905.

[Description from back of the book.]]]> 167 George MacDonald 0851152015 Boadicea 4 4.00 1858
author: George MacDonald
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1858
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/09
date added: 2023/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 2012407
Here are interplanetary adventures such as THE FIRST MARTIAN, THE EARTH KILLERS, and FULFILLMENT. Here are fantasy stunners as THE SHIPS OF DARKNESS, here are the unclassifiable "specials" such as THE ULTRA MAN, THE REPLICATORS, and THE CATAAAAA. And more!

THE FAR-OUT WORLDS OF A.E. VAN VOGT is a far-out event in science-fiction writing.
Contents

7 • The Replicators • (1965) • novelette by A. E. van Vogt
28 • The First Martian • (1951) • shortstory by A. E. van Vogt
42 • The Purpose • (1945) • novelette by A. E. van Vogt
82 • The Earth Killers • (1949) • novelette by A. E. van Vogt
110 • The Cataaaaa • (1947) • shortstory by A. E. van Vogt
124 • Automaton • (1950) • shortstory by A. E. van Vogt
135 • Itself! • (1963) • shortstory by A. E. van Vogt
138 • Process • (1950) • shortstory by A. E. van Vogt
143 • Not the First • (1941) • shortstory by A. E. van Vogt
157 • Fulfilment • (1964) • novelette by A. E. van Vogt (variant of Fulfillment 1951)
182 • Ship of Darkness • (1948) • shortstory by A. E. van Vogt
198 • The Ultra Man • (1966) • novelette by A. E. van Vogt]]> 222 A.E. van Vogt 0450017354 Boadicea 3 3.60 1968
author: A.E. van Vogt
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.60
book published: 1968
rating: 3
read at: 2023/07/09
date added: 2023/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 1632399 192 Fiona Kidman 1869411900 Boadicea 5 4.00
author: Fiona Kidman
name: Boadicea
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/09
date added: 2023/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 29633832 272 Fiona Kidman 1910709174 Boadicea 4 3.58 2003
author: Fiona Kidman
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/09
date added: 2023/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 60766186
It is a little over a decade since Fiona Kidman wrote her last volume of memoir. But her story did not end on its last page; instead her life since has been busier than ever, filled with significant changes, new writing and fascinating journeys. From being a grandmother to becoming a widow, from the suitcase-existence of book festivals to researching the lives and deaths of Jean Batten and Albert Black, she has found herself in new territory and viewed the familiar with fresh eyes. She takes us to Paris and Pike River, to Banff, Belfast and Bangkok, searching for houses in Hanoi and Hawera, reliving her past in Waipu and creating new memories in Otago.

These locations and experiences – among others – have shaped Fiona’s recent years, and in this lively book she shares the insights she has picked up along the way.]]> 0 Fiona Kidman 0143775812 Boadicea 0 to-read 3.95
author: Fiona Kidman
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40798194 Christchurch is very prettily situated; for although it stands on a perfectly flat plain, towards the sea there are the Port Hills, and the town itself is picturesque, owing to the quantities of trees and the irregular form of the wooden houses; and as a background we have the most magnificent chain of mountains--the back-bone of the island--running from north to south, the highest peaks nearly always covered with snow, even after such a hot summer as this has been.]]> 238 Lady Barker Boadicea 0 3.67 1870
author: Lady Barker
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1870
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/07
date added: 2023/07/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 3578693 352 Mary McAuley 0140809295 Boadicea 0 bought-to-read 3.88 1977
author: Mary McAuley
name: Boadicea
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/07
shelves: bought-to-read
review:

]]>