Book Review: Babel Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators Revolution by R.F. Kuang

Babel Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators Revolution

by R(ebecca).F. Kuang (Downloadable Audio Kuang)

I found this book interesting on many levels. It is an historical fantasy novel about the British Empire but also deals with language, magic and secret societies. It also deals with the problems of colonialism and power. I think it has something for everyone!

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo or Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.)

( official R.F. Kuang web site )

 

Recommended by Susan S.
Eiseley Branch Library

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

A Promise on DVD

A Promise
[DVD Promise]

As a fan of the late Alan Rickman, I wanted to see this film to see one of Mr. Rickman’s last performances before his untimely death earlier this year. Alan plays a wealthy business owner in pre-war Germany who takes in a young man as his administrative assistant when his own health is rapidly failing. The young man becomes part of the family, living with them in their mansion. The story surrounds the relationship of the young man with both his employer and his young wife. The man falls in love with his employer’s wife then is sent to Mexico to follow through on a business venture that he had suggested. The man makes a promise to return to his love, but war breaks out in Europe preventing his return. The story is very interesting but seemed rather slow in pace. I recommend it just for Alan Rickman’s fine performance.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Sense and Sensibility, Howard’s End, or Enchanted April.] [ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ]

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you watched this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

The Bletchley Circle: Series 1 (on DVD)

Bletchley Circle: Series 1 [DVD Bletchley]

Set just after World War II this series is about four female friends who worked at Bletchley Park during the war as code breakers. While there is not really a main character, the story starts with Susan who has gotten married, had children, and is getting very bored being a housewife after her challenging job during the war. She hears on the news of murders occurring in London and takes it upon herself to put together the pieces. The police don’t take her leads seriously so she turns to her friends who attempt to find the killer themselves. Over the three episodes in this season there is a lot of character development which I really enjoyed. I like mysteries but the show is so much better when we see the characters grow too. This was also a nice glimpse into life in post war England.

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this series ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

Have you watched this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

The Bughouse Affair by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini

The Bughouse Affair
by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini

The Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group discussed the (supposedly) 3-volume “Carpenter and Quincannon” mystery series by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini for its August 2015 meeting. The Bughouse Affair was my first exposure to this series, and I’ll have to admit to some mixed feelings. The covers of the three volumes put out by Forge all make it look, vaguely, like these are mysteries crossed with paranormal and/or science fiction elements. The titles also made me think that — The Bughouse Affair, The Spook Lights Affair, The Body Snatchers Affair. However, this series turns out to be a pretty straight-forward historical mystery series, set in 1890s San Francisco. Sabina Carpenter is a former Pinkerton operative, and the widow of a fellow Pinkerton agent who died on the job. John Quincannon is a former U.S. Secret Service agent who left the service after a tragic accident has left him with a case of post-traumatic shock. Together, they’ve formed a San Francisco private detection agency. In The Bughouse Affair, they are each working on separate cases — she’s tracking a female pickpocket targeting carnival guests, he’s trying to identify and stop a skilled burglar who’s hitting the homes of the wealthy. By the end of the book, the two cases have tied together. I loved Sabina — she’s a remarkable, strong, level-headed female detective character in a time period where such accomplishments would be rare. Quincannon, on the other hand, I never warmed to. He’s bull-headed, brusque and full of himself. Yet…he’s observant and has uncanny intuition and stick-to-it-iveness.

I would recommend this series to anyone who likes humorous mysteries, witty banter or historical mysteries that don’t take themselves too seriously. At the top of this review, I stated “supposedly 3 volumes”. As the group discussed this series, we discovered that it is based on a series of earlier novels and/or story collections by Bill Pronzini alone, from the 1980s and 1990s, that introduced these characters. If you like this item, you might like these too – The earlier Carpenter & Quincannon stories and novels, most of which you would have to get through the libraries’ InterLibrary Loan service, as they don’t currently exist in the Lincoln City Libraries’ collection!

[ publisher’s official Carpenter and Quincannon web site ] | [ official Marcia Muller web site ] | [ Wikipedia entry for Bill Pronzini ]

See The Carpenter and Quincannon Series handout prepared for the Just Desserts group

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

The Bletchley Circle

The Bletchley Circle
[DVD Bletchley]

Set in Post-war England in 1952, four women who worked at England's Bletchley Park (a secret-service government operation of code-breakers) are reunited to solve a series of murders in the London area. The women run up against all kinds of bureaucratic obstacles in their effort to find information about the serial killer's identity. This series is one of the most gripping, tense thrillers I have ever seen. I highly recommend this but be warned that this contains adult content of a gritty nature. -- recommended by Kim J. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the DVDs Foyles War and Danger UXB.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Bletchley Circle web site from PBS ]

Have you seen this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Sacrilege

Sacrilege
by S.J. Parris

Parris gives us a mix of political intrigue, action, and sleuthing in this historical thriller. Multiple plots include the disappearance of a number of young boys to a plan to revive a Sir Thomas Becket cult, dormant ever since the disappearance of the saint's bones. A rich portrayal of daily life in Elizabethan England. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the first two titles in the Giordano Bruno series: Heresy (2010) and Prophecy (2011). The Roots of Betrayal by James Forrester, Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies.] -- this recommendation, based on the downloadable audio version of this title, is from Diane E. - Technical Processes Department

[Also available in print format.]

[ Publisher's official Sacrilege web page ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

The Fleet Street Murders

The Fleet Street Murders
by Charles Finch

This Victorian era series has shades of Sherlock Holmes. Like Holmes, Charles Lennox walked the fog-shrouded streets of London. Holmes had the loyal Watson while Lennox had James Dallington. Both men dealt with unimaginative Scotland Yard detectives. Holmes bested Lestrade and Lennox outdid Exeter. That is where the similarities end. Lennox was a warm man with many personal relationships while Holmes was aloof and acerbic. The Fleet Street Murders opens with the near-simultaneous murders of two journalists who lived in opposite parts of London. Gerald Poole is suspected of orchestrating the crimes. His motive? The journalists wrote critical articles about Poole's father while he was on trial for treason. James Dallington is convinced that his friend, Poole, is innocent and compels Lennox to investigate the murders. Lennox agrees even though that means that he has to balance the investigation with his run for a parliamentary seat. [If you like this, you may also enjoy: The St. Just series by G.M. Malliett; the Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn; The Thomas Pitt series by Anne Perry; and The Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.] -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department

[ Publisher's Fleet Street Murders web page ] | [ official Charles Finch web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

Australia

Australia

[DVD Australia]

This movie gives the feeling of being an epic as in films like Gone with the Wind or How the West was Won. The story begins in 1939 just as WWII is starting. Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) travels from Great Britain to Australia to meet her husband, Maitland, in northern Australia. The husband's drover (Jackman) takes her to the cattle station where they find Maitland murdered. The rest is your standard story of a woman forced to adapt to the situation, showing her strength of resolve to the doubting men around her, and winning the day and a new love. But there's more going on. The film also covers the sad treatment of the aborigines by the white settlers and does so as an integral part of the story line yet isn't preachy to the viewer. Also included is the devastating bombing of Darwin, Australia by the Japanese in Feb, 1942 (considered to be the "Pearl Harbor" of Australia), and not to forget, the bringing to justice of the murderer of Maitland. A very satisfying film with beautiful, scenic vistas of Australia's countryside. You'll find yourself pulling out an atlas while the film is running and then watching the "extras" on the DVD after the story is ended. Set the film to "subtitles" just to catch the slang, but the Australian accent is very understandable. -- recommended by Charlotte Kyriss - Bennett Martin Public Library

[If you liked this, you might like: Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington, 994.042 Pil or DVD Rabbit-Proof Fence. (FYI: In the film "Australia" we learned that half white-half aborigine children were forcibly removed from their families by the gov't and placed on an island to be re-educated and forget their families. This is the story of a girl and her two younger cousins who escape from that island and walk across Australia to return to their families using a white picket fence the gov't placed across Australia to try to thwart the rabbit population.) Or, The Far Country by Nevil Shute or DVD Shute. (FYI: Another romantic/adventure of Australia. A German doc is forced to work at a death camp for the Nazis then after the war is able to build a new life for himself in Australia. Of course he falls in love with someone but his hidden past may come to light.).]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] [ official Australia web site ]

Have you seen this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.