Infectious

[altariel]

I finished the post-9/11 spy thriller Due Preparations for the Plague by Janette Turner Hospital last night, and it depressed me and gave me slight nightmares. I was really very impressed with it - particularly the pace of it and its ambitions - although I was left uncertain about the fate of two characters (intentionally ambivalent, I think), and also I thought the end was a bit artificial. But very effective despite this; I have had to read some Alexander McCall Smith No 1. Ladies' Detective Agency books to get me back out of the rather bleak mental place it put me into.

Comments

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Well, there's two books I haven't read.

*hugs* for your nightmares - I hope they don't come back tonight.

What are the McCall Smith books like? I've been slightly put off them by the fact that they're in huge piles everywhere.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The book builds up to an incredibly depressing scenario (I won't explain in case you ever read it), which is also very claustrophobic. My subconscious needed to do some serious rearrangement of the furniture. Plus I think I'm mulching right now. Thank you for the hugs.

The McCall books are perfectly amiable pieces of entertainment. Not too much in the way of detection. Actually, they're structurally very like the Amanda Cross books (the Kate Fansler books - did you borrow them?). I can read one in a couple of hours, it would probably take you twenty minutes, and certainly not the duration of, say, a train trip between Cambridge and Edinburgh :-D You're very welcome to borrow them if you like.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've read the Amanda Cross books - I read a bunch from library here, and then borrowed the ones from you that the library didn't have.

Hmm, sounds like I'd have to be in a strong frame of mind to read the Janette Turner Hospital book.

Mulch away!

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

It always seems hard for the ending of any suspense-type novel to live up to its build-up - perhaps the reader's imagination gets too much play in between - so it must be a pretty excellent book if it impressed you nonetheless. Better than Pestilence, anyway :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The bit where the suspense plays out is actually one of the best bits of the book; she's quite cunning in the way she structures this so that you can't guess what's going to happen to the characters at this point (although I cheated and flipped ahead). And she makes very good use of flashbacks. The artificiality came in having a link made between two characters at the end which doesn't seem to add anything to her themes - unless I've missed something obvious (distinct possibility).

I think I've managed to get away without spoiling anything here, should you ever choose to read it...!

Pestilence... *shivers*

[cruisedirector]

Hospital is probably my favorite living novelist. Borderlines and The Last Magician are just phenomenal, too.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I read it partly because of your recommendation of her a while back; partly because a friend said it was just my kind of book (spies, terrorism, nihilism, etc). I have Oyster and The Last Magician (*love* that title!) on request from the library as a result. Have you read Due Preparations yet? I would be interested in reading your thoughts on it.

[cruisedirector]

I am somewhat ashamed to admit that it has been sitting here on my table for a year, since the last winter holidays, because the ONLY fiction I have read in 2004 has been Patrick O'Brian. Am finishing Blue at the Mizzen now, will read 21, and then will be lost at sea with no more sailors.

Last Magician starts with a line from Dante and never lets up. It's one of my all-time greats. And if you need a break from Hospital: Marina Warner's The Leto Bundle is utter genius.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

the ONLY fiction I have read in 2004 has been Patrick O'Brian

Heh, just like me and Tolkien in 2003! Enjoy the last O'Brians. When you pick up Due Preparations you won't be able to put it down. It took me three sittings, and that was only because I had to stop and sleep.

And if you need a break from Hospital: Marina Warner's The Leto Bundle is utter genius.

I haven't read any of her fiction, although I loved Alone of All Her Sex. Thank you for the rec!