The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Read for: RIP V Challenge, Our Mutual Read Challenge

Despite never being particularly interested in the tales of Sherlock Holmes, I found myself gripped by the latest television adaptation of the famous sleuth's adventures. The BBC dramatisation was modern and inventive and persuaded me to try taste the source.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is perhaps the best known of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective's cases. However, what I did not expect was that despite being Sherlock Holmes' case, this particular novel focuses far more on his loyal assistant and narrator, Dr John Watson.

Based on the legend of a ghost dog from my neck of the woods, the Hound of the Baskervilles is the tale of Sir Charles Baskerville who is found dead of a heartattack in the grounds of his home in the centre of Dartmoor. Fearing for the life of Sir Charles' successor, Henry, a family friend Dr Mortimer contacts Sherlock Holmes about the curse of the Baskervilles and invites him to investigate the mysterious death. While Holmes remains in London, Watson accompanies Henry to Dartmoor and thus the mystery unravels.

The plot is a classic, elements of which will be very familar to readers of more modern mysteries. It is the characters however that make Conan Doyle's work so entertaining. Watson is engaging and likeable, his intelligent everyman the perfect foil for Holmes' astonishing yet somewhat egotistical genius.

According to all-knowing Wikipedia, there have been 24 film adaptations of Hound of the Baskervilles prior to 2006, which goes to show the durability of Conan Doyle's work. I thoroughly enjoyed my first Sherlock novel and will seriously consider another!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

The internationally acclaimed Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is not a book that I would generally pick up; crime fiction is not really my thing. But just as with the Da Vinci Code, this was recommended to me by several people, and I was intrigued by the trailer for the Swedish film, so decided to give it a shot.

Unlike the Da Vinci code, I found this to be stimulating, enjoyable and very readable novel...despite some of the more graphic scenes that I could probably have done without.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is Lisbeth Salander, a slightly unusual but highly gifted private investigator working in Stockholm. The titular girl is not the main protagonist in this first instalment. That falls to Mikail Blomkvist, the charming magazine publisher who at the start of the novel loses a libel case and exiles himself fom the business world to recover. He is soon approached to write a biography of the renowned Henrik Vanger, CEO of Vanger Enterprises, and his family. Part of his commission is also to investigate the disappearance of Vanger's great-niece decades earlier.

Yes this is a mainstream crime novel. But it is also primarily about sexual violence against women. Some of the descriptions are quite graphic and unpleasant and even shocked this steely blogger. But none of the references are overly gratuitous and are designed to be abhorrent to the reader rather than a form of entertainment. I have since read that the author, Larssen, had been emotionally affected by sexual violence against women after witnessing rape, and part of me finds it surprising that he would writew about such things with this amount of detail. Then again, with any type of trauma, confronting the issue is often the best way of dealing with it, so perhaps this was his way.

Violence aside, this is a highly readable book. The main character is a charming and likeable man, and there is something altogether appealing about Salander. The crime itself was intricate enough to keep the reader guessing up until the last, and left the characters wide open for further stories. An entertaining enough read, though perhaps not enough to sway me to other crime fiction novels.

Other blog reviews:
Gemini Moon
You Can Never Have Too Many Books

Gentlemen of the Road - Michael Chabon

Read for: A Tournament of Reading

Described as a 'swashbuckling adventure', this was hands down unlike anything I have ever read. Bought on a whim in a second hand bookshop purely because I loved the film adaptation of Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys. And because the blurb on the back of this book was unusual enough to pique my curiosity.

Although a very short novel, it took me a while to read. Most likely because the plot was something so very different from what I am used to, and also because of the language.

The titular Gentlemen are Amran and Zelikman, a mismatched duo of comrades travelling the road, living day to day, seemingly lacking any greater plan. That is until they meet the young Filaq, a displaced Khazar prince, and they join the rebellion to return him to the throne.

The language was quite frankly luscious. To begin with I almost felt as if I needed a dictionary and history book in order to understand the plot. But letting this book simply wash over me became the best option, and it was a truly enjoyable romp, whilst managing to also be an intelligent book with interesting characters.

I have now managed to get my hands on a copy of Wonder Boys and am thoroughly looking forward to reading it.

Other reviews:
A Fraternity of Dreamers

Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater

Grace has a fascination with wolves. Not just any wolves, but those that live in the woods behind her house. And one wolf in particular, a wolf with yellow eyes, who watches her just as she watches him. There is more to these wolves than meets the eye. Sam, a young yellow-eyed man, is torn between his two lives, but cannot bear to be separated from the girl who watches him.

This is a supernatural love story, a la Twilight, the love between a girl and a supernatural creature. A forbidden love. Nothing new there then.

While not a particularly original story however, there was a certain charm to this book. Stiefvater's descriptions of the wolves, cold winter and the woodlands were beautiful rather than overly romantic, and her portrayal of a strong heroine was worlds away from the passive Bella of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. The reasoning, or perhaps even science, behind the werewolves' change was also a nice touch, but overall I found it hard to become emotionally involved in this story.

Definitely a book for fans of supernatural romance, though perhaps not as thrilling as I had hoped. I probably won't be reading the sequel.

Other blog reviews:
Book Gazing
Becky's Book Reviews
Gemini Moon
Fluttering Butterflies
Melody's Reading Corner
Medieval Bookworm

The Foreshadowing - Marcus Sedgwick

Another Marcus Sedgwick novel, and another fantastic read. I swear the man can do no wrong. The Foreshadowing is something else. I tend to be drawn more to children's fantasy than historical fiction, but that has changed since I've started reading Marcus Sedgwick's work, as he so often combines the two, together with great characters and powerful storytelling.

The Foreshadowing is the tale of Alexandra "Sasha" Fox, a young girl living in London during World War I. Like her brothers, Sasha wants to help, and while Edgar enlists as a soldier and Tom trains as a doctor, Sasha persuades her father to let her begin training as a nurse in his hospital. But Sasha has a secret, a 'gift' that she cannot explain and that her family have never accepted - she can see the future. But the only future that Sasha sees is death, which soon takes its toll after seeing premonitions of the deaths of several patients in her care.

After the guilt of remaining away from active service drives her beloved brother Tom to the front line, Sasha is tormented by recurring visions of his death. Fear of losing what remains of her family, Sasha travels to France, disguised as a fully trained nurse, in an attempt to find and save her brother from the fate in her visions. Along her journey to the Somme, Sasha befriends the mysterious Hoodoo Jack, a man also cursed with visions of the future, and finds her life becoming linked to his in a way she could not possibly expect.

Although painfully naive, Sasha's bravery and single-minded determination end up teaching her a lot about herself, and her gift - or curse. Her journey is an emotional one, full with the horrors and reality of war. Sedgwick has clearly done his research into life in the trenches, making Sasha's experiences all the more real. There is also the connection between Sasha and Cassandra, the legendary character doomed with the knowledge of the fate of Troy, yet cursed to have noone believe her. What can Sasha really do about her own fate, or that of her brother?

This is a wonderful story of love, hope, fear and determination. It is also a tale of destiny, how one shapes it and make it one's own. Beautifully written and powerfully real, the supernatural aspects never seem out of place. And the ending...well you'll have to read that for yourself.

Other links:
Marcus Sedgwick's website and blog.

Monsters of Men - Patrick Ness

Wow...third and final book in Patrick Ness's fabulous Chaos Walking series. I actually read this several months ago now, but it was so hard to write this review at the time and then life caught up with me.

I can't say too much without spoiling events that occur in this book. Todd and Viola are caught in the conflict between three warring armies, all converging on New Prentisstown, desperate for dominance, or freedom.

The narrative of this final book is what makes it stand out, with Todd, Viola and the Return each telling their own stories. Each character brings their own distinct voice, making the story a very personal one and giving it a powerful emotional impact.

Monsters of Men is devastating, showing the horrors of war, and the terrible choices of those caught up in it. Ness continues to shock and horrify me, at one point I found myself completely disbelieving the events he had written...how could he do that to the characters I had grown to care about! I can't believe this is the final book in the series, but look forward to reading more of Ness' work. Wonderful stuff.

1. The Knife of Never Letting Go
2. The Ask and the Answer
3. Monsters of Men

Other blog reviews:
Stuff as Dreams are Made on
Things mean a lot
Fluttering Butterflies
Stella Matutina
Medieval Bookworm
Gemini Moon

Autumn festivals, woodlands, cakes and birthdays

I love that my birthday is in autumn, my favourite season. Tis a season for long misty walks, harvesting veggies from the garden, foraging for fruits, roots and mushrooms, and baking delicious cakes. Tis also a season for music and celebrating the land, both of which were in abundance at this year's Rivenstone festival, held on the beautiful Dartmoor landscape.

Weaving looms with the land

An offering

Nigel Shaw and Carolyn Hillyer performing at Rivenstone

Early autumn walks in Foxley wood

Anticipation of autumn gathering

Autumn cakes made with Foxley blackberries!