This unassuming, short novel doesn’t provide simple answers. It lets the reader judge the choices made by the characters without a heavy moralizing sometimes found in other WWII-related literature.

Purchased at the gift shop in Parliament at the end of the tour through Westminster. Completed Aug. 3, 2004.

Completed Oct 16, 2004

Fingersmith was remarkably enjoyable. I wasn’t expecting much when I picked it up for cheap at a used bookstore in Berkeley, CA.

A fast read that I found mildly enjoyable. At times the prose felt a bit too stylized, as if the author was more intent of expressing style over content.

I think I might have lost this book.

The book (mostly Hornby’s views on books and reading itself) was refreshing, but I think it could have used an introduction from the editors of “The Believer.”

Completed 31 January 2005.

Hitchens’ work, sectioned into thematic essays, mostly works. He calls other writers on their less-than-kind pinpricks towards Orwell, but he also engages in some petty sniping himself.

Completed on 24 Feb 2005.

Ali’s book is worth a read. The end tends to be a bit more abrupt than I would have expected from the occasionally ponderous prose early in the novel.