2010 March 13 » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Library Loot (March 7-13)

Posted by Anastasia on March 13, 2010 3 Responses »

Mar 132010

Library Loot meme Library Loot is a weekly meme hosted by Eva and Marg that encourage bloggers to talk about what books they’ve gotten from their library during the week. Anyone can participate any time during the week, so feel free to write up your own post and link it using Eva’s (or Marg’s) Mr Linky!

After getting off to a decent start on my Mount TBR expedition, I’ve fallen a little bit to the wayside. It’s the library books! They’re too tempting, and though I haven’t actually started reading any of the ones I’ve gotten this week, I can hear their siren song. I suppose it helps a little that I brought back most of the ones I’ve had since January? So I’m starting with a clean slate, kind of?

Anyway, here’s what I got this week (and partly from last week. Click on the book cover to go to the Amazon page for it.

Black Jack by Leon Garfield. Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey. Work Your Way Around the World by Susan Griffith.

The Calder Game by Blue Balliett. Lyonesse: Well Between the Worlds by Sam Llewellyn. My Autobiography by Charlie Chaplin.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.

Autobiography by A.A. Milne (no cover). Trailing the Giant Panda by Theodore Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt (no cover).

I’m actually most excited about the non-fiction books, because while I have an impressive collection of fantasy and sci-fi on my TBR mountain, I have very little non-fiction. It’s nice to have a variety! Although now I’m not sure when I’ll actually get to read them. One of them’s due back March 25th, so I suppose that’ll be first…

Review: Scales of Justice by Ngaio Marsh

Posted by Anastasia on March 13, 2010 No Responses »

Mar 132010

40. Scales of Justice by Ngaio Marsh
Publication: Jove (1980) originally published 1955, Paperback, 256pp / ISBN 0515054364
Genre: Mystery
Rating:
Read: February 24-25, 2010
Source: Bought
Summary from Amazon:

Swevenings village is pretty as a picture, but its secrets are ugly; and its gentry dread the publication of Sir Harold Lacklander’s memoirs. When one of them is murdered, Inspector Roderick Alleyn’s investigation takes him through petty vendettas, an ex-commander’s blend of whiskey and archery, and cocktails on the lawn with a femme fatale. But the motive he’s angling for lies even deeper than the trout stream beneath the rustic bridge…

Review

This is the second book I’ve read by Ngaio Marsh and though I can’t say she’s better than Christie, I do enjoy Marsh’s books. I really like Inspector Alleyn, and this book in particular was interesting because it gave a little look into the politics of a mid-1950′s English country village. It’s just about as twisted as you’d think, especially when everybody’s lives are tied up into one big ball of murder and betrayal.

I liked the mystery in this, for sure, but I was disappointed that Alleyn didn’t show up until nearly the whole way through. I didn’t particularly care about the inhabitants of Swevenings, and spending so much time reading about their weird habits and abrasive personalities was actually really boring. Plus, some of the dialogue was horrendously upper middle class, everyone-has-a-face-like-a-horse cliched. It was a good thing Alleyn eventually came in when he did, because I was really worried I’d end up not liking Scales of Justice.

I did like it, kind of. The mystery, Alleyn, and Fox almost completely made up for the rest of it, but I wish I had liked it more. I’m not sure if I just don’t like Marsh’s writing or if I’m just too used to Christie, who sometimes goes into the horse-faced dialogue herself but always makes it funny rather than grating. (Maybe I just don’t get Marsh’s humor?) I have at least one more Marsh book besides this one to read, so I guess we’ll find out!

And

Find your own copy @ Amazon or IndieBound

Other reviews: Community of Readers Book Reviews

That cover isn’t actually the one on my book, but I can’t find it online and I can’t be bothered to scan it even if it DOES both horrify and contain spoilers. It’s pretty bad.