Sarah Crown 

Reader reviews roundup

Wilkie Collins, Bruce Chatwin and the inimitable Herge win over our readers this week
  
  

Baker River flooded as part of controversial dam project in Chile Patagonia
Following in Chatwin's footsteps: EKareno reviews In Patagonia. Photograph: Maria Stenzel/NG/Corbis Photograph: Maria Stenzel/NG/Corbis

Greetings, critics. How goes it? Before we begin, let me say that the Friday task of selecting the reviews of the week is one of the few consolations of returning from a holiday that devolved into a whistlestop tour of the many and marvellous bookshops of New England. Favourites, for those interested: Raven Used Books in Northampton, Rivendell Books in Montpelier and the epicly stocked, ideally situated Montague Book Mill (slogan: 'books you don't need in a place you can't find'). If you haven't been, go! And if you live within striking distance, please offer me a position in your employ at the earliest opportunity.

Travel advice, base pleas and oleaginous compliments dispensed with, let us move swiftly on to the business of this week's winners. First up, tenuosfives' galvanic review of Wilkie Collins' big beautiful Christmas cake of a book, The Woman in White. He whets our appetites from the off, ratcheting up the drama in perfect potboiler style ("Will Marian get to the bottom of the conspiracy or will the brilliant Count Fosco prevail despite the impulsive outbursts and actions of Sir Percival? Will Walter return from South America alive to aid the women in peril …?"), then follows up with a celebration of Collins' glorious grotesques, from "pocket-sized" Professor Pesca to Count Fosco, "a mountebank, a cad, and glorious fun". As overblown and ripsnorting as the book itself, I defy anyone to read it and not set off in search of a copy. Great stuff.

EKareno's review of Bruce Chatwin's debut, In Patagonia, works for different reasons. It's meaty; a nuanced assessment of a flawed but excellent book. While EKareno's pleasure in the reading is clear ("Chatwin drills into the soul of Patagonia, and hauls up ninety-seven little gems of chapters, each beautifully crafted") s/he isn't blinded to the book's faults, which s/he picks apart with scalpel-accuracy. "There is little of [Chatwin's] presence in the text beyond a sense of his enthusiasm and joy," s/he notes, at one point. "His happiness in finding out about the land is almost his undoing …". A neat and illuminating piece of criticism.

And finally: Helen7 on Egmont's new, A3-sized edition of The Secret of the Unicorn, the 12th Tintin adventure. "Saw this book on display with Red Rackham's Treasure," she says. "My initial reaction was 'that won't work' as the books are much smaller than the original albums we grew up on. However, after flicking through one, I changed my mind … in addition, what I particularly like about these books is that they have about 20 pages of bonus material. It explains Herge's inspiration behind the story and some fascinating information about the detail and care Herge went to, in his process of researching his stories …" Nice to see an opinion changed, and I appreciate the piece's community spirit. Information is power.

That's it for this week: if we've mentioned your review, please write to me at sarah.crown@theguardian.com and I'll send you something tasty from our cupboards. Links to New England bookshops you have known are also welcome in the comments field, should you feel so inclined. Until next Friday, adieu.

 

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