Haven't been around LJ lately ... because I've been watcing Prince of Tennis (with show blather)

I haven't been around LiveJournal much lately, which isn't that big a deal but I suppose is worth noting at least to confirm that I've not died and become a book-reviews-only ghost. I just haven't felt like delving into the depths of my friend list for a while, but I will be back eventually. If I'm missing anything important—well, I am still checking comments, so feel free to leave me one and let me know if something big is going on. Other than that, I'll be back to regular posting and reading when I decide to come back to it.

( Meanwhile, I've been watching a lot of Prince of Tennis. A bit of series info and pairings chatter under the cut. )

Book Review: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Title: The Thirteenth Tale
Author: Diane Setterfield
Published: New York: Atria Books, 2006
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 406
Total Page Count: 49,231
Text Number: 142
Read For: personal enjoyment, checked out from the library
Short review: Vita Winter is the most famous English author of her time, but despite of the dozens of stories she has published, she has never told the single true story of her own life. Now, old and dying, she commissions amateur biographer Margaret Lea to record her story, and begins to tell of her past: the story of a gothic mansion, a pair of feral twins, a ghost, and a fire. Winter's tale is couched within Margret's own, and both stories are deep with secrets, unfolding like a traditional gothic novel. However, Setterfield's writing does not quite rise to meet her premise, and her ghost story is readable and intriguing but never quite engrossing—in the end, it falls a bit flat. Characterization is too simple, the trope of twins is stretched too thin, and Setterfield cannot convincingly write about "the best writer in the English language" when her own skills as a writer fall so far short of that ideal. The reading is enjoyable and the concept is quite clever, but on the whole the book is only somewhere just above average: capable, interesting, but never amazing. I recommend it only moderately.

( Long review. )

Review posted here at Amazon.com.