Goldberry long biography of lionel
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Non-fiction – paperback; Vintage; 276 pages; 2008. Review kopia courtesy of the publisher.
I have read some interesting and unusual books in my time, but Druin Burch’s Digging Up the Dead must be the most interesting and unusual book inom have ever read. Indeed, when inom was offered it for review, inom had initially been drawn to the dark, Gothic nature of the subject, but hadn’t quite clocked the fact it was a non-fiction title. So when it popped through my door I was slightly taken aback to discover that it was actually a biography. But what a biography it turned out to be!
Digging Up the Dead looks at the life and times of arguably the world’s first famous surgeon, Astley Cooper (1768-1841), whom Burch — himself a medical doctor — describes as vain, egotistical, nepotistic and “rather wonderful”.
Astley was born into a highly educated family — his father was an Oxford-educated vicar, his uncle was senior surgeon at G
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So, after last week’s teaser, Cathy (from 746 Books) and I are happy to reveal who we will be spending 2024 with — in a literary sense, of course.
Congratulations to Cherie, who guessed John Banville in the comments on my original post, and Glenda, who also guessed correctly on my Facebook post. I think the two of you know my reading tastes too well!
Why choose John Banville?
John Banville (born in Wexford, Ireland in 1945) has long been a favourite of mine. In fact, in my early 20s, he was my favourite writer of all. I think that’s largely to do with the fact he was one of the first literary novelists I’d read. Prior to that, my tastes were largely commercial fiction, horror and crime.
But when I read the extraordinary Book of Evidence, first published in 1989, I discovered someone who could write compelling stories that appealed to the darker side of my nature. I later went on to read The Revolutions Trilogy but then I discovered other Irish writers and
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A difficult semester finally came to an end. After all the ends were tied up (always takes longer than I expect) I sort of collapsed, emotionally and bodily. Had some tough days there, but to my surprise a family trip to Houston put me on a better keel—not least by filling my belly with good food. Through it all I was reading, to whit:
Kaoru Takamura, Lady Joker [Vol 1] (1997) Trans. Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell (2021)
A 600-page crime novel set in 90s Japan? A positively Tolstoyan character list, covering many different institutions and social classes?? A book willing to take its time, building terrific suspense through care and attention??? And it’s only volume one, there’s a whole other 600-page second part???? (Cue that meme of the guy, I don’t even know who he is, with his eyes bugging out in increasing ecstasy.) Hell to the yeah. I spent the last part of November and the first days of December with Takamura’s opus, time that was richly rewarded.
At the h