A.W. Sloan

Advantages: Well-written and researched
Disadvantages: Plot quite slow

...to doing so. Harvey has a degree in American studies, which undoubtedly helped him when writing this book. The plot Sloane (we never find out his surname) is released from jail after a sentence for art forgery. He arrives home to find a letter from a woman, Jane, with whom he had an affair in New York in his late teens. She is dying and wants to see Sloane for one last time. Sloane visits her in Italy, where she tells him shortly before breathing her last that they have a daughter, Connie, together and that she now lives in New York having fallen out with her mother some years earlier. Sloane decides to go to New York to track her down. Connie is a singer, living with Delaney, a dodgy ex-lawyer. It seems that Connie is in danger - Delaney has killed at least once before. Sloane is concerned, particularly when he finds out that two New York... Read review

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Advantages: Classic adventure story well told
Disadvantages: Some historical references may be obscure without notes

...Like most, I grew up with an some idea of the adventures of Lemuel Gulliver. Swift's wandering hero is thought of mainly as a subject for children these days but, as I recently realised, Gulliver's Travels is more than just a tale of small and big. There really is something for everyone here. Travels to new lands and meeting new peoples for the science fiction fan, political satire for the historian, gross out humour for the child in us all, and best of all a classic tale of humanity explaining what it means to be human for everyone. When I originally wrote this op in 2001 I had just re-read Jonathan Swift's classic novel as a part of a self-education scheme in early Georgian satire. I was and am still working on a biography of Sir Hans Sloane (althought the scope of the project has changed over time) and I wondered if any references... Read review

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Advantages: Interesting and a bit of fun
Disadvantages: None

...The Oxford University Press is know for the wide and eclectic range of the books that it publishes. Another example of such an interesting work id the Oxford Dictionary of Medical Quotations. What is this Oxford Dictionary of Medical Quotations about? It is a dictionary about… medical quotations. (NO?! Really? Yes, another one of Martin's stating the bloomin' obvious reviews!) But seriously, what IS this book about? It is a collection of quotations about medical matters, medicines, treatments, ailments, etc. etc. Some of them are written by doctors and other medical men and women, whilst others are from writers, humorists, politicians, rulers and patients. Some of the quotations selected by editor and compiler Peter McDonald are a little eccentric. For example, the quote from a Joe Orton play, Entertaining Mr Sloane: "It's all any... Read review

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