Book 63: "You Don’t Have to be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps" by Tom Holt

When I read "The Portable Door" I really liked the setting, at the company of J. W. Wells & Co. (Practical and Effective Magicians, Sorcerers and Supernatural Consultants)but didn’t like the hero of the tale, the wet as wet can be Paul Carpenter, or his sulky and unpleasant on-off girlfriend Sophie. After three books I was extremely glad to see the back of them, but I was happy to find out that this book was also set in the goblin-owned offices on St Mary Axe.

Colin Hollinghead works in the family widget business, and is concerned to find out that his father has employed J. W. Wells & Co. as lawyers to draw up a very unusual agreement to ensure the future of the family firm. My guess about the tree growing up through the middle of the Hollinghead's House was incorrect (although Connie Schwartz-Alberich of JWW's Mineral Rights department seemed to have a similar suspicions to me), but one of my guesses about Mr Hollinghead's first name turned out to be correct.

An enjoyable comic fantasy, which I will be keeping to re-read at a future date.

Book 64: "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly

I picked this up with the intention of reading a few pages to see what it was like before ditching it, as I thought that it would be too young adulty for my tastes. However, I was up to page 56 before I knew it and hooked by the tale of a boy whose mother dies after a long painful illness, and who bitterly resents the stepmother and baby half-brother who came into his life rather too soon after his mother's death.

The real world setting is the Home Counties early in the Second World War, with bombers flying overhead and David's father working at the top-secret decoding centre at Bletchley Park, and it is a crashing aeroplane that precipitates David into another world. Can a journey through a land populated with characters from fairy tales, help David come to terms with the changes in his life?

I was surprised to find the story coming to an end when there were still 150 or so pages left, but enjoyed reading the author's thoughts about his novel and the fairy tale land that David enters. He discusses each of the fairy tales that are referred to during the book, and how their themes relate to David's journey and the articles includes a classic version of each tale (two versions in the case of Beauty and the Beast) plus Browning's poem, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.