Something rich and strange
919612
The time was 1663. The place, England. The monarchy had been restored only three years before, and Charles II's crown rested uneasy on his head, in a country still divided by the effects of the civil war of Cromwell's time, and the bitter division between Protestant and Catholic.
And in Oxford, at the time the home of the likes of John Locke, Richard Lower, and Robert Boyle (all of whom play a part in the story), a gentle Oxford Don was murdered, and his sometime servant was accused of the crime, confessed to it,  and was hanged.
Now, at some unspecified time in the future, four people who were involved in the affair have set down their versions of the story. This multiple-narrator mystery  has (not unjustifiably) been compared with Umberto Eco's novel _In The Name of the Rose_, and it has elements in common with the film _Roshomon_ as well. But you may well see it as more like the Dickens novel Dickens never got around to. Those familiar with the works of the contemporary novelist Peter Ackroyd may also discern some parallels.
Most of the characters, down to the apothocary who makes an appearance in the first segement,  actually existed (there's a list of them in the back). But the story is Pears's own, and it gets increasingly complicated as each chronicler, the fictional da Cola and Prestcott, followed by the real John Wallis and Anthony Wood,  supply their own take on the sad events of the hanging of Sarah Blundy (fictional) and offer their opinions on why she did confess to the crime she clearly did not commit. Each of the narrators is not quite what he seems to be, and  each one adds more facts to the tale until at the end, the entire events are apparently revealed.
While a knowledge of English history is helpful, it isn't necessary for the enjoyment of the tale. More important is to read carefully. The novel may be long, but nothing is wasted.
1028782
This is a delightful book because it manages to achieve what few books do: It makes the ordinary seem extraordinary. Antiques Don't bounce by British author Richard Bullivant is proof that craft of writing will never go stale as long as there are authors who can look around their ordinary worlds with a sharp eye and tell us about what they see and experience in a way that seems magical.

The story follows the journey of a young college student seeking a business degree performing a mandatory year of work service in the "real world" doing an ordinary job. Out of sheer lack of direction he drifts into a bottom-basement, entry-level position with a firm whose primary function is transporting antiques. It's basically a glorified moving company, or what the Brits call "a removal service" -- although what they move in this case is often unique and highly valuable. The year is 1977.

This is not a plot driven book, and the view-point character is merely a voice in the background. But think of it more like Homer's Odyssey. In that epic tale Ulysses find himself blown off course, cast away and thrust into a vast world of strange unknowns. He encounters bizarre characters and experiences strange new lands.

In this case, the sprawling London firm, Lloyd & Taylor Ltd., is the ocean, and our student, like Ulysses, is tossed about from department to department to work as a common gopher or more accurately: "a jack-of-do-whatever-we-tell-you-to-do." Like Ulysses, he grapples with confounding situational problems and meets eccentric (or comically dull) characters in each department.

Bullivant's ability to bring alive common folks as vibrant, fascinating characters is a primary strength of this book. You'll meet drab clerks, salty truckers, smooth salesmen, cagey warehouse workers, a boozed up messenger grunt, prissy art dealers, small-town blokes - each an absolute enchantment.

The author is also able to convey to the reader a marvelous feeling - such as the joy of a breezy drive through the countryside on a lovely spring day - in a way that makes you feel you're actually riding along on a lark through Merry Old England. It's great escapism.

As the year comes to an end, I have read and written reviews for more than 100 books, and Antiques Don't Bounce easily makes my Top 10.  If this book doesn't find best-seller status, I hope it achieves a significant niche audience or cult following. It's the kind of book that you "discover" and makes you feel like you found a gem.
3024321
I have to agree with the author thar this is a strange and unusual book that fits no particular mold.  But I found it wonderful, eccentric and heart warming.  I also found it disturbing and thought provoking.  In the end it touched my heart and I fell in love with Auri and wanted to hug her.  Thank you for sharing this story.
744362
The Mediaeval Baebes combine elements ancient and modern into something uniquely wonderful.  Their music defies categorization: authentic medieval lyrics set to compositions that are mostly modern but still atmospheric, and sung by a chorus of outrageously costumed women who perform in venues as unusual as graveyards and S&M clubs.  The acoustic instrumental accompaniments provided by Dorothy Carter and other group members add a mellow, period touch, while the synth and percussion on some numbers hearken to the modern age.  In all, there's something for everyone here, and the artistry and variety of the arrangements makes listening to this CD like exploring a roomful of lost treasure--never quite sure what you'll uncover next, but certain that it will be delightful.  And their next release, "The Rose", kicks it up a notch further.
2631238
I really did enjoy this book, and if it were not for some messy spots and dragging, I would have given it another star.  Very unusual and for the most part, enjoyable and mesmerizing.

The book opens with a young boy, on his way home, who suddenly and inexplicably disappears without a trace.  But this is not the first, or last eerie thing to happen in Niceville.  In fact, these odd types of disappearances and crimes have been going on for generation.  Cops are killed in broad daylight, during a bold and bloody robbery.  A wealthy widow just disappears.  You'll be sucked in by the characters and the unusual happenings, and even the worst character is oddly likable and almost endearing.

It will pull you in fast, then you may feel that the story has lost it's way.  Stick with it though, cause it will pick up again and blow your mind.  This is one you really can't pin any specific genre on, it crosses way too many fields for that.
1004973
I heard really good things about this book, and saw it in a list of books you should not miss even if you normally never read those genres. So I was in a post holiday funk and decided to order the paperback knowing that I sometimes like ghost stories.

This is one strange and original ghost story. I like it but I don't love it. I like the concept of two ghosts finding each other after decades of wandering invisibly and unheard. I like the idea that some bodies are abandoned and soulless. I think I had an administrator like that actually. I like the indulgence of the senses once given a chance to reawaken them, smell and taste and sound and sight - but most of all touch and passion. I feel that the shy, Lonely woman who is suddenly seen after 130 years, exploding into an ecstasy of self indulgence after suddenly regaining a body is an interesting story.

I have problems with some of the author's choices. Most of all the ending leaves me feeling I can't feel sympathy for a woman, ghost or not, who can act so selfishly and use a 15 year old girl's body so harshly and leave that girl "deflowered" (for a term appropriate to her era) but also poisoned and pregnant.

But there is much I do like, beautifully imagined settings and emotions, wonderful voiced characters. Very flat secondary characters perhaps but Helen and James feel very well imagined.

I wonder if I hadn't read so many glowing comments if I would be less disappointed in the story, but honestly I think I'd forgive almost everything if only the bodies which were possessed were not do much younger and more innocent than the spirits who move in and make themselves at home.
2549618
Occasionally you read a sci fi novel whose creativity in imagining an unfamiliar world opens your own horizons. This is one of those rare gems.
1306657
I have not quite finished this book as I am reading it slowly in order to savor the wonderful stories in Balm. It is an unusual book that is full of thought provoking things. I am enjoying it a lot. The characters are quite interesting especially with their odd and strange gifts. I have some clear visual pictures of the setting and I think that the writer has done a wonderful job with some difficult periods of history. This is a book that I will keep for myself and will think about it in the future. Most likely I will read it again which is something that I don't do very often. That is one of my highest compliments.
774792
I came across this quite extraordinary novel by Naeem Murr while looking through some books by Iris Murdoch; which is to say, accidentally or, put in a happier light, fortuitously. I was intrigued by its title, the description on the back cover, the fact that The New York Times listed it as a notable book and, especially, its opening lines. In fact, the first chapter promised a novel of an unusual degree of finish and ingenuity. Broadly, the book tells the story of a teenage male prostitute (or rent-boy, to use the deliciously apt descriptor favored by the author) and the devastation he brings to the people around him. Said people are, primarily, Sean, his (foster) father, who spends the book searching for him; Megan, his step-sister; Ronan, Theresa, and Caitlin, caretakers at a home for boys where he lived; and a wonderfully drawn character called the Fatman (a cunning reference to the bomb dropped on Japan during World War II?), with whom the boy is having an affair. The boy may be pure evil, but the tragedy of the story derives from the emptiness of the lives of the people around him. Each one is seeking to fill a need and, so, finds him attractive in their own way (although we are told repeatedly that the boy is beautiful): for Sean the attraction is primarily familial, for Megan it is (for lack of a better term) psychological (she suffers from clinical depression), for Ronan it is sexual, for Theresa it is religious, and for the Fatman it is emotional. But even though the boy is an instrument of nothing but death and ruin, the characters are convinced that, without him, their lives would hardly be worth living: Faulkner once wrote that, forced to choose between grief and nothing, he would choose grief.
The book is not perfect. Although the writing and plotting are extraordinary, some passages are (as the British would say) too clever by half. The male characters emerge as much more fully drawn than the female characters. In particular, the character of Ricky, the 12-year-old rent-boy with a cold sore under his nose and a head too large for his body, and whose greatest fantasy is to convince people that his mother works as a make-up artist (or is it a hair stylist?) for the BBC, is supremely touching. On the other hand, Theresa, Caitlin, and Megan too often emerge as caricatures, and the dialogue between Sean and Caitlin, who develop a relationship of their own, has a cutesy awfulness out of keeping with the rest of the book. The conclusion, while dramatically satisfying (in fact, the lengthy final chapter represents some of the most sustainedly dramatic writing in the novel), is not (quite) intellectually convincing: while the final act that Sean commits is understandable given the circumstances, nothing in the 200-some-odd pages that preceded it led me to expect it could really happen. And yet, the most devastating moment of all comes just before the end. Sean, confronting the boy about something that occurred between him and his half-brother and -sister, says, But they were innocent, to which the boy replies, They were not innocent. I loved them both. In its context, that line is shattering.
I see that this book was published 4 years ago. I have no idea whether Mr. Murr has written anything since, but even if not, he has given the world a novel to reckon with, and that is something for which I, for one, am profoundly grateful.
770757
This book is strange at times, but I have to say I'm liking it. The writing, right from the first page, is beautiful. It didn't take me long, however, to note this book wasn't going to be for everyone. Anyone who is primarily reading it for plot and characterization probably will be disappointed. I see the author lives in Buenos Aires, but throughout I had trouble deciding what of her wonderful description was real and what was fantasy. Maybe some of both. My impressions kept changing. Daisy seemed like an empty character, led around by Leonarda. Leonarda seemed more surreal than real. I see one other reviewer described her as a chamaleon, which is pretty accurate. While many of the people in the book did not seem entirely real, I think the author must have known some of these people. This entire story couldn't have been made up. But as Leonarda drags Daisy to weird bars and parties, using her to set up others according to her Master Plan, what Daisy reminded me most of was Janet in a modern day Rocky Horror Picture Show. Go ahead, laugh, this is what entered my head. Isolde is on the brink of middle age, no money, relying on connections in a foreign country. Isolde comes out with a truth that I related to when she talked about the lonliness of a foreigner. If you are alone in another country, or even a different part of your own country, without a lot of money, you feel totally outside of everything. You feel conspicuous sitting by yourself in a restaurant or cafe. You don't really know anybody, and unlike Daisy, I never liked to encourage strangers. No wonder it's a big deal for Isolde when she meets Diego. One other thing, without giving anything away. I liked Diego's interest in science and his discussing it with Isolde, even if some of it may have been pseudoscience. I'm interested in the same things. The book is well-written and makes some interesting points. If you stop looking for a coherent plot, you may enjoy it.
2403904
Every now and then you stumble on a surprising book. Something entertaining that also makes you think. I would characterize Mad Gods and Englishmen by Ian Armer in that category. It is a fast-paced novel that almost from the first page is deliciously off-the-wall and yet takes the form of a familiar detective story set on the west coast of the USA. The hero or more likely, ant-hero, is one Tommy Storm; a down on his luck alcoholic private detective whose brains are more than likely situated in his trousers. He's a loathsome character if the truth be told. The kind of chap I would go miles to avoid. However, there is his doppleganger, the other Tommy Storm who is the light to the other's darkness. Right from the off, this is a story with a theme and that theme is the nature of reality. In Armer's reality, opposite twins had suddenly appeared, and so there are two Tommy Storms; like ying and yang. Armer has some fun with this as you might expect and some rather comedic dialogue ensues as Tommy and himself talk.

On the surface, the story is of a Hollywood movie magnate who hires a private detective to find his daughter who is having an affair with the lead man in his latest movie. As the story progresses however, it becomes a unique view of a reality that is more than tinged with Gnosticism. God is involved, of course, as the title suggests but this is a God that few would recognize and a version of the Universe that puts a unique and interesting spin on the entire story. It makes you think.

Armer's story telling is fluid and witty but a tad coarse. The dark Tommy is not a nice man and he is constantly threatened by other not very nice men. In a sense, the darkness of the character is also comedic at times as he tries to make sense of a series of bizarre events when actually he would rather be drunk or satiating his sexual energy - or both. The way in which events unfold and entangle Tommy is written with pace - almost staccato which accentuates Tommy's unwholesomeness somehow as well.

In the end, Mad Gods and Englishman is an ambitious book and Ian Armer pulls it off very well.
4855521
I thoroughly enjoy any novel that takes facets of American society and zooms in to a level that reaches absurdity. This is one of those. It's odd, in a good way. Really strange elements mixed together, and written well, make for an interesting and overall fun read.
52496
I've not heard anything quite like this.  Electronics are heavily mixed in with the varied instrumentation.  Some sort of psychedelic electronic aural orgasm.  The whole thing is overall wonderfully bizarre and unique.  It's a shame nobody knows about Whales & Cops, this is way too unique--and good--to fall by the musical wayside.  I'm desperately hoping we see more of their output.
1995195
Ukrainian author Tetiana Aleksina (new writer of surrealism, absurdism, horror, fantasy and poems) and Australian author Tony Single (writer, cartoonist, with a freelance illustration business) join minds and imaginations on a blog Unbolt. Here they combine talents to create this imaginative eleven-page gig.

Mooreeffoc is defined as a word that is rare and is almost never used used in its ostensible sense  relating to things suddenly seen in a new and different way  but only as a keyword to initiate discussion, denoting the queerness of things that have become trite, when they are seen suddenly from a new angle.

The tale is a conversation that relates a pick-up line between a girl and a guy  as observed by a cat, opening with this delectable bit of repartee  Tell me all about yourself. I sniff the air. Cinnamon and anise do play well together, and the smell of coffee is an expected though welcome.
Downright crappy you could say. Ive imbibed once or twice but I don't seem to have developed a taste for that lurid bean. I prefer a good smoked tea with milk. Sigh. Another evening. Another stranger. And probably the same outcome. Do you really want to know all about me? Her voice is playful. Thats  a change. Usually she won't make the effort to hide her boredom. She must be in a good mood. Of course! Her legs shift beneath me. She leans forward. I have no intention of moving so I gently dig in. She doesnt notice. Something about this stranger intrigues her. Thats fine. Im sleepy and this lap is my soft, warm throne. I purr more insistently, just to remind her that royalty is still present.  For the rest, read it in context.

Actually, to appreciate the writing of these two it is necessary to flow with it  it is a bit naughty, but nice, and it makes sense until it tangles your brain for a moment of escape. Short, funny, clever, unique  this pair of artists have their own language and it is very inviting! Grady Harp, October 16
4360232
Strange and different.  Watch and see what you think.
2553469
Full of surprises. You will enjoy this unusual novel which combines an interesting travelogue of sorts with vignettes of people you don't expect appearing in unusual circumstances
646616
This is a strange book that put me in mind of Pauline Fisk's award winning "Midnight Blue". Dinah is a bright young girl with a challenging childhood. Her mother has a new boyfriend with a dilapidated house in Cardiff that they move into. But the relationship between Dinah and the boyfriend - Gomer - is a poor one, with no love lost on either side.

Somehow Dinah manages to unleash forces relating to the stone images at the nearby castle. The ensuing story is somewhat disturbing - and the question is whether she will be able to control the forces she has unleashed. Will her school friends be able to help?

This is an interesting, and somewhat strange book. Worth reading though.