"History is the witness of the times..."
If you need something to do in the down time between World Cup Games may I suggest "An Instance of the Fingerpost" by Iain Pears...
Canny readers will have already spotted that I tend to enjoy historical fiction like "Labyrinth" & "The Historian". Now I've added Fingerpost to the list! This intriguing tale looks at a murder from the viewpoint of 4 witnesses...and each character interprets the same event in widely divergent ways.
Where exactly does the history come in? The story is set in Oxford, England in 1663 and is jam packed with fascinating descriptions of "technological" breakthroughs and "scientific" discoveries as well as some famous - and infamous - historical figures.
Let me leave you with a teaser, courtesy of a meme I lifted from
Stepping Stones ...
"Until I escaped." (p 161)
Picture from Amazon.co.uk
Canny readers will have already spotted that I tend to enjoy historical fiction like "Labyrinth" & "The Historian". Now I've added Fingerpost to the list! This intriguing tale looks at a murder from the viewpoint of 4 witnesses...and each character interprets the same event in widely divergent ways.
Where exactly does the history come in? The story is set in Oxford, England in 1663 and is jam packed with fascinating descriptions of "technological" breakthroughs and "scientific" discoveries as well as some famous - and infamous - historical figures.
Let me leave you with a teaser, courtesy of a meme I lifted from
Stepping Stones ...
"Until I escaped." (p 161)
Picture from Amazon.co.uk
posted by verniciousknids @ 12:23 pm
31 Comments:
At 1:11 pm,
Unknown said…
Oh, I just LOVE those kind of books. Have you read SImon Winchester? He writes wonderful stuff like that! I think I'll put in a request at the library for this book. I'm almost done with the pile I have sitting on my bedside table.
Although, I don't know how much time I'm going to have because we're in World Cup fever around my house. We watched one game today on the Spanish channel (we don't DO cable) with a German announcer speaking Spanish. It was hilarious. Tomorrow we're up at 9 to watch England. Yawn!
Here from Michele
At 1:15 pm,
Anonymous said…
Hi! I'm here from Michele's.
Oh, this world cup stuff... My British colleagues pushed a meeting up to 6AM on Monday so it doesn't conflict (that is 6AM MY time, of course). Darn football interfering with my sleep!
At 1:17 pm,
Canadian Mark said…
Here from Michele's. Cool meme - I just opened "The Last Coin" by Jame's P. Blaylock and came upon the fifth sentance of the 161st page:
"Rose's company, even if she was asleep, was worth the company to him."
I'm not that far in the book yet - hope it doesn't ruin anything for me. Have a good night - think I might poke around here for a while.
At 1:25 pm,
shpprgrl said…
Hi again! I'm back from Michele's!
At 1:49 pm,
verniciousknids said…
Hi Margalit, I haven't read any of those...guess my Amazon wishlist will now expand further! I'm watching the games with Japanese announcers! Thanks for visiting.
Hi Justlinda, 6am is way too early for any kind of meeting...thanks for stopping by!
Hi Canadian Mark, enjoy your stay, and thanks for joining in the meme!
Welcome back shpprgrl!
At 2:09 pm,
David Edward said…
saaw you on Michele's
At 2:32 pm,
verniciousknids said…
I'm off to "see" you now David!
At 3:42 pm,
wendela said…
Hi, I'm here from Michele's. I'll take a look around. Hope you have a great weekend! :)
At 4:18 pm,
Catherine said…
World Cup? what World Cup? the book looks way more interesting.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I love your blog title, I just had to check it out
At 9:42 pm,
verniciousknids said…
Welcome Wendela...enjoy your stay!
LOL Catherine!
At 9:52 pm,
Red said…
Like catherine im here, by way of micheles, because i liked your name.
At 9:53 pm,
David Edward said…
* bowing *
"Konichi wa"
At 10:12 pm,
verniciousknids said…
Thanks for visiting Red :D
You're very polite David!
At 10:21 pm,
kenju said…
That sounds like a very interesting story, and since I enjoy mysteries, I will probably find that one to read.
Thanks for the visit earlier...Michele sent me.
At 10:29 pm,
rashbre said…
Sounds interesting as an idea, particulalry with the historical/technological aspects. Maybe you'd also consider donating a brief review across to Bob's Books?
Check my sidebar links if you'd like to do so.
rashbre
At 10:42 pm,
Anonymous said…
Michele sent me... going to look around a bit. Hope the sleepless nights pay off for you. Thanks for the book tip
At 11:00 pm,
Michelle said…
Here via Michele. Not really watching the World Cup Games but I love the pictures on your blog. It's always interesting to see things from another part of the world :)
At 11:13 pm,
Jean-Luc Picard said…
I like the sound of Fingerpost. Michele sent me here.
At 11:23 pm,
Mitey Mite said…
Thanks for stopping by my place. I had to run right over to see what your name was all about. SO glad you told us. I was in Tokyo and Hiroshima over Thanksgiving -- they call it a "mileage run" -- but I loved it and can't wait to go back and see more.
At 11:29 pm,
verniciousknids said…
Hi Kenju, I liked your frogs!
Welcome Rashbre, I'll go back and check your sidebar!
I will resist making any corny pop song references and will instead say "Yokoso Jude"...welcome ;)
Welcome Michelle...you've hit upon one of the best parts of blogging -seeing what others are interested in!
Michele sent me to you to J-LP...welcome!
Welcome PJ and you're welcome! I love your icon :D
At 11:30 pm,
verniciousknids said…
Hi Mitey Mite...glad you enjoyed the story behind the name! And "yokoso" - welcome!
At 12:21 am,
Bearette said…
Hi VK...i'm not from Michele's ;) I may have to read that book.
At 12:31 am,
verniciousknids said…
Hi Bearette...you know you're always welcome here, regardless of how you arrive :D
I think you'd enjoy this book...and your nasty librarian wouldn't give you any grief over this one!
At 12:35 am,
Elsa said…
I'm not from Michele's, either :-D Lots of traffic here - good thing it's a multi-lane highway ;)
I just read about the book on Amazon and it sounds really good - so I added it to my wishlist (which is now at 486 books - but let's not talk about that!).
Thanks for the recommendation, VK!
At 12:39 am,
verniciousknids said…
I'm glad I can help to expand your wishlist Elsa :D BTW This is the book I recommended for your book club a long time back in response to one of your posts...enjoy
It really is the information superhighway today - but like I just said to B...you are always welcome :D
At 2:46 am,
Elsa said…
VK - Oh yes, now I remember! Sorry for not realizing sooner - but you know what happens in old age? Oh, you don't? Well, this is it. ;)
At 2:05 pm,
verniciousknids said…
Elsa, you are still a young bunny :D
At 8:08 pm,
My float said…
Ooh, sounds great. hey, did you end up finishing the Diana Galbaldon? Have you ordered the rest of the series? Warning: they're highly addictive!!
At 8:24 pm,
verniciousknids said…
Hey MF, I finished Outlander and haven't ordered the rest yet...mainly due to the fact that, as you so correctly point out, they are addictive! I'll be rationing myself :D
At 5:18 am,
Miss Kim said…
Well well.... Instance of the Fingerpost is one of my absolute all-time favourite books! As is the Outlander series- have read them all! You might like Neal Stevenson's Quicksilver series too.
Great find on the meme thing! Very intriguing quote.
(Who the heck is Michelle??)
ROFLMAO
At 1:28 am,
verniciousknids said…
T1, you never fail to impress me with your superb taste :D
At first I was disappointed in having a 3 word sentence for the meme...but then I realised that it was actually quite cool!
The mystery of Michele will be revealed soon ;)
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