First published 1944. House of Stratus paperback, 2000, pp 285, c. 90,000 words. Set in World War Two on and RAF base in England, the book’s backdrop is bombing operations on Germany. In the foreground is a romance between a pilot and a signals officer. It is largely written in a naïve style, with short […]
Pastoral — Nevil Shute Read More »
First published 2015. Oneworld paperback, 2022, pp 253 (190 main text), c. 44,000 words (main text). This book attempts to describe how engineers think, and what makes that different from, say, how scientists or artists think. To a degree this is a fool’s errand: there are as many ways of thinking as there are people
Think Like and Engineer — Guru Madhaven Read More »
First published 1981. Harper Collins paperback, 2017, pp 347, c. 112,000 words. This was the last of Bagley’s books published in his lifetime, although three more have been published under his name since. There is a degree of maturity in the complexity of the plot, but it falls off towards the end as the point
Windfall — Desmond Bagley Read More »
First published 1974. Panther paperback, 1984, pp 319, c. 118,000 words. This is a book more about conflict between ideas rather than people: the cold war, capitalism versus communism, and a strong feminist sub-text. In exploring these ideas, Le Guin doesn’t leap to simplistic solutions or attempt to browbeat with a relentless one-sided message. She
Dispossessed, The — Ursula K Le Guin Read More »
First published 2020. Profile Books paperback, 2020, pp 215, c. 53,000 words. In thirteen chapters, this book goes through each of the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions and explains what we (people, businesses and the government) need to do to reach net-zero by 2050. The book focuses on the UK, but the actions needed
What We Need to Do Now — Chris Goodall Read More »
First published 1992. Sphere paperback, 2014, pp 388, c. 94,000 words. This is a detective story concerning the mystery of the appearance of a mute child. That plot line is interleaved with an apparently unrelated tale of a pharmaceutical company. The main protagonist eventually emerges as a former policeman, Peter Diamond, who is intrigued by
Diamond Solitaire — Peter Lovesey Read More »
First published 2018. Harvill Secker paperback, 2018, pp 480, c.156,000 words. Set in late-eighteenth century Georgian London, this is a world of vice and virtue, and not the delicacy and decorum of Jane Austen. The protagonist, Angelica Neal, is high-end prostitute who is struggling to survive after her protector has died without securing her future,
Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, The — Imogen Hermes Gowar Read More »
First published 2003. Harper Perennial paperback, 2004, pp 294, c.88,000 words. This can be seen as a mash-up of previous Ballard books: The middle-class rebellion against the consumer/capitalist/rat-race society from High Rise, the charismatic but bonkers woman from Rushing to Paradise, and with a touch of the psycho-sexual energy linked to violence from Crash. These
Millennium People — J G Ballard Read More »
First published 1961. Panther paperback, 1964, pp 128, c.62,000 words. This is a collection of six stories, original published in magazines between 1952 and 1956. It includes one of the finest SF stories of the period, The Waitabits, that is also included in Edmund Crispin’s collection, Best S|F Six, reviewed elsewhere. Crispin, in his introduction
Far Stars — Eric Frank Russell Read More »
First published 1814. Penguin paperback, 1982, pp 464 (pp 417 main text), c.178,000 words (main text). This is the greatest novel ever written, or at least one of the very highest peaks. In it, Austen shows her absolute command of character and choreography; her rich, subtle and sophisticated prose cuts through to the human soul,
Mansfield Park — Jane Austen Read More »