Books I Enjoyed Earlier

In the run up to Christmas, I daren't buy books that anyone else might have bought for me. Thus, I tend to buy wierd things, and they don't come much more obscure than

"Paris in the Twentieth Century", by Jules Verne, translated by Richard Howard [0-345-42039-X]

I'm assuming that this is precisely what it purports to be - a novel his publishers rejected as too way-out. If it's a Hitler Diaries job, then it's still worth reading. The reason I make that aside is that some of the predictions which feature in the background are almost toogood to be true if this really was written in 1863.

I suspect that it's an allegorical novel about how Verne saw his time, but it features faxes, the RER and house music. I found it fascinating - other Verne fans probably will too, but if you hate Verne or find him dated, don't bother. Oh, and it's begging for a mickey-take, by the way.

I had intended to review "Speak Daggers to Her" here, but instead I've got to post a review of

"Met by Moolight", by Rosemary Edghill, [0-7860-0482-7]

which is the latest addition to the volume of trans-atlantic packages which have gone both ways since I discovered "Book of Moons" by the same author, in Forbidden Planet. I guess UPS and Swiftair have probably made more out of these books than Ms Edghill (who is also Eluki bes Shahar). Romances and Time Travel novels aren't my normal fare, although I'm aware that they have a large following. However, I've enjoyed her other stuff, so when this arrived for my birthday I was really looking forward to it. And I wasn't disappointed - I read it at one go, surfacing briefly for coffee at Strensham services.

It's hard to review without spoiling the plot but it seems fair to say as much as is in the blurb - that this is a book featuring a young lady who is displaced in time to Hampshire, England in the latter half of the seventeenth century. If I suggest that she originates from present-day Salem, Mass., then you'll be able to work out the start of the story if you know your history. And if you don't, then read the book and learn some. Well researched, her fictional setting turns out to be more real than the real thing, when you delve into the details. Read the author's note at the end carefully. But don't do it until you've finished the book.

Then there's

"MIR", by Alexander Besher, [1-85723-531-2]

which I was also looking forward to. I bought RIM on the basis that someone told me it had my sig line in it, and so it does. That previous book also contains speculations about the development of what is now commonly called cyberspace, feudal Japan and Tantra.

I confess to being a tad disappointed in RIM. It's a fine read, well-crafted and a page-turner but it doesn't, for me, have quite that "oh wow I never considered that!" feeling about it. There are some neat ideas, but he's covered many of them before and this isn't a sequel, (well, not really) so I was kind of expecting more. But do read it. Then, if you haven't read RIM, read that as well and see if you agree.

Talking of my sig line, try

"Scarlet Music", by Jane Ohanesson, [0-8245-1646-X]

for what is probably the most readable account of Hildegard of Bingen yet. A fine book which will probably only sell to a limited audience of people like me but deserves wider coverage - not just because Vollmar features so strongly. It covers the whole of her life in a series of important linked scenes, has well-selected excerpts from the visions and draws the whole together without either wielding a religio-feminist axe too heavily or tending towards fluffy bunnies. Several of the more poignant scenes had me perilously close to tears, which is kinda dangerous when riding on public transport. If you don't know what I'm on about, check out the page and by then you'll know whether you want to buy it or not.