The far pavilions author does Agatha Christie. A few hours escape into another time. 🙂

Yeah, selected book does not match image, but faraway was not available for selection. A groovy, dated, fun trip to the South seas.. with some interesting insights of the human condition.. It's got a tang of flying the aspidistra..

My third by this author.. its a sprawling epic of the first Afghan war.. it's a good read! And muy different to the northern clemency and the emporer waltz.. maybe a bit scattershot? But, a damn fine trip anyway..

One of my most fave authors 🤪 honestly this guy is da reading bomb! 😁 meanwhile, how about the odds of two books in as many months including character on a plane with a taxidermied dog tho? 😁

Reading more Mant - a journo doin what a journo does. Always interesting. 🙂

Fun, kinda dark romp.. I enjoyed 4321 by the same author.. he seems obsessed with refractions/reverberations across (shared) lives/timelines? I'll pick up any other Austers I stumble across..

Pretty good, the main part of the novel set in the Crimean war is good.. it just kinda took a while to find its feet, and after a good middle.. seemed to lose its feet again in the last part..

Absolutely a pick, set on a coffin ship outta Ireland.. cool cast of characters, well paced.. historical illustrations and quotes interspersed. This is a ripper 🙂

I think the cheerful denouement may be unnecessary.. but this is a sweet and funny read. Young boy bonding with his grandpa and associated pals - survivors of the burma railway

It's all about the decadent prose.. 🙂 dank, dark, and dramatic..

An epic roller coaster ride with old and new gods, criminals and grifters and weird roadside attractions.. good fun! 🙂

Coulda been so good, is so-so because It's a pick for Little Bee's chapters and a pan for Sarah's.

Not bad, it's good.. but I wanted more.. I like the writing though so I might look up some of the authors non fiction...

This book doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up.. it's bloated and confused. Feels like the author mashed in absolutely way too many different themes and genres.. and forgot about creating a cohesive plot.. 😐

I'm a fan of John Irving, this is another lovely, loopy and lewd read from him. 🤪

This is a double biography of the authors aunt and uncle.. which also tells a bit of Seth's life.. it's peppered with excerpts from letters and interviews etc.. I couldn't put it down.

I never regret a little trip to Prince Edward island.. 🙂

Really slow start, I nearly bailed a few times.. but glad I stuck it out. The imagery is wonderful! Ghosts, camels, grave robbing, a mostly catatonic random granny.. it's defo a very different take on the American western theme...

A rollicking great adventure!! Thoroughly enjoyable! This book tells the whole life of a rather bizarre protagonist..

Yay! Sneaky sequel to the Raj quartet!! 😁 Very short read, like a denouement of Britain's exit from India..

Part four, the epic conclusion.. I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in the last days of the British Raj.. 🙂

Part three.. can't stop with this epic series...

Second installment.. I like it better than the first.. expands upon what came to pass in first book. Author still hell bent on anacondaesque sentences.. but it's a gymnastic reading pleasure to follow these from nose to tail 😁 one thing tho.. the bits about Indian people are dismissed quickly.. it's all about the whites. I suppose that's the point tho? Tally ho chaps! Onto the third installment!!

Got this for $4 at the op shop, all 7 books! Bargain! Obviously these stories are a product of their time, and have 'issues'.. luckily I'm a discerning reader.. 🤪 I never read these when I was young, overall they were a lovely little escape!

A candid first person real life account of three years as a P.O.W. of the Japanese in WW2, including the year the Burma railway was built. His writing is clear and detailed but not over wrought (the gruesome bits are not sensationalized). It's an unusual choice to use the present tense for a memoir.. it works! 🙂

Strange little tale that reminds me a bit of John Irving's writing.. meandering storyline, weird characters.. interesting read though.. third book not as tip top as first two.. that one reminds me a bit of Thomas Mann the magic mountain - pages of philosophical discussion.. 🙂

Set in the end days of the British Raj. I enjoyed it even with its epic sentences. 😁 Lots of different characters - story is progressed by changing narrators and p.o.v's, letters, diaries etc - which I quite like. Bring on book two of the quartet...

An interesting read.. his own personal narrative, but also/mostly a journos p.o.v. of failings in WW2 especially the Malay campaign. Thought provoking and entertaining..conversational style; a little, not overly, didactic.. I'm up for more Mant.