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In a Sunburned Country
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson Published: 2000 Length: 319 pages This is Bill Bryson’s Australian travelogue, called Down Under outside of Canada and the US, and it details two back-to-back trips to the country. He begins by travelling across Australia by train, from Sydney to Perth, and then recounts his time in the southeastern cities of the country. He then returns with a friend of his to visit the Great Barrier Reef, Alice Springs in the north and then down to Uluru, which I guess is a very impressive rock. The people are immensely likable— cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted, and unfailingly obliging. Their cities are safe and clean and…
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Atonement
Atonement by Ian McEwan Published: 2001 Length: 371 pages This is the story of a young teen Briony Tallis, her older sister Cecilia, the housekeeper’s son Robbie Turner, and how the actions of one day changed the rest of their lives. This is a bit of a hard one to summarize without giving away important plot points. He does some very interesting things with plot structure in this, and a lot of the suspense in the novel is waiting to see what happens and how it plays out. The main crime is telegraphed quite far in advance, but exactly what happens and what the repercussions will be is what’s really…
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French Lessons
French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle Published: 2001 Length: 240 pages I read a couple of Peter Mayle’s books prior to this one, and I really enjoyed them. A life in the south of France as a writer, drinking pastis and eating three-hour lunches, is a life I’d gladly live. He’s a British ex-pat who’s been living in France since the late 80’s, so he’s in the interesting position of being integrated into the culture enough to really understand the day-to-day life, while also having a different enough background that he can pick out what’s interesting to foreigners. He’s also an incredible descriptive writer, and…
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A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32)
A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32) by Terry Pratchett Published: 2004 Series: Discworld #32 Length: 352 pages When Terry Pratchett passed away, I dropped what I was reading and picked up one of his novels. I still have a lot to get through, but the last I read was The Wee Free Men, so I decided to carry on with the Tiffany Aching books. In this second novel, Tiffany leaves her hometown for the first time to apprentice under a woman named Miss Level, a witch that has two bodies that share one mind. Her apprenticeship isn’t what she imagined, however, as it seems to mainly entail taking care…
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The Ghost Brigades
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi Published: 2006 Series: Old Man’s War #2 Length: 347 pages I loved Old Man’s War, and for some reason I waited a year and a half to read the sequel, which I actually loved even more. In a way it was good to wait. The main character and cast are largely ignored in this next book, and it’s even written in a different narrative perspective, third person rather than first person. That would have made for a jarring transition if I had read them back to back, I think. The first book starts with John Perry leaving earth as a seventy-five-year-old man and joining…