Some time in the past, I put this book on my "want to read" list, but I don't remember why.
This week, it was available, and I wanted something to read, so I borrowed the ebook.
As soon as I started it, I wondered why. There's no talking cats, no robots, no spaceships. It's a couple of hired guns on their way to California to kill somebody during the gold rush.
Absolutely compelling. Reminded me in a good way of a [a:Guy Vanderhaeghe|98125|Guy Vanderhaeghe|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1253558267p2/98125.jpg] western story or the TV series Deadwood.
I looked it up on Wikipedia and it turns out to be a hugely award-winning Canadian novel. It is also supposed to be "darkly comic". So comic that it won the 2012 Stephen Leacock medal.
This has taught me that I'm not up at all on Canadian literature and maybe I don't have the great sense of humour that …
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An avid sci-fi and fantasy reader who sometimes does historical fiction or even mainstream.
You might notice that most of my reviews are 5 stars. That's because if I start reading a book that doesn't engage me, I stop reading it. Life is too short. I've realized that it's not fair to review a book I haven't read and nobody really needs to hear why I didn't get into a book especially when they might like it.
My goals with reviews are to be brief and give other potential readers an idea of why they might like the book. I leave it to the marketing people and other reviewers to describe the plots.
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David Scrimshaw's books
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David Scrimshaw rated Protector (Known Space): 4 stars
David Scrimshaw rated Line War: 5 stars
David Scrimshaw rated River of Gods (India 2047, #1): 5 stars
David Scrimshaw rated Catch-22: 4 stars

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, Heller, Joseph
Catch-22 is like no other novel. It has its own rationale, its own extraordinary character. It moves back and forth …
David Scrimshaw rated 1Q84, Livre 2: 5 stars
David Scrimshaw rated All Tomorrow's Parties (Bridge, #3): 4 stars
David Scrimshaw rated The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1): 3 stars
David Scrimshaw rated Wireless: 4 stars
David Scrimshaw rated Les misérables, Victor Hugo: 3 stars

Les misérables, Victor Hugo by SparkNotes Staff, Victor Hugo (SparkNotes)
Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, each title in the 'Sparknotes' series contains complete plot summary and analysis, key …
David Scrimshaw rated The Ophiuchi hotline: 5 stars
David Scrimshaw rated A Fire Upon The Deep: 5 stars

A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge (Zones of Thought, #1)
Thousands of years in the future, humanity is no longer alone in a universe where a mind's potential is determined …
David Scrimshaw rated Curse Of The Wolf Girl: 5 stars
David Scrimshaw rated The science of homeopathy: 5 stars
David Scrimshaw reviewed The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
The Sisters Brothers is a 2011 Western novel by Canadian-born author Patrick deWitt. The darkly …
Review of 'The Sisters Brothers' on 'Storygraph'
5 stars
Some time in the past, I put this book on my "want to read" list, but I don't remember why.
This week, it was available, and I wanted something to read, so I borrowed the ebook.
As soon as I started it, I wondered why. There's no talking cats, no robots, no spaceships. It's a couple of hired guns on their way to California to kill somebody during the gold rush.
Absolutely compelling. Reminded me in a good way of a [a:Guy Vanderhaeghe|98125|Guy Vanderhaeghe|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1253558267p2/98125.jpg] western story or the TV series Deadwood.
I looked it up on Wikipedia and it turns out to be a hugely award-winning Canadian novel. It is also supposed to be "darkly comic". So comic that it won the 2012 Stephen Leacock medal.
This has taught me that I'm not up at all on Canadian literature and maybe I don't have the great sense of humour that I thought I had.
I really liked this book, but it did not make me laugh.

















