Quirkiness either charms or devolves. Unfortunately the premise that the Queen's personal zoo creatures would be simply transferred to a makeshift habitat, their nurturing be added to the job description of the full-time guards, any…
Mar 14, 2018SPPL_Betsy rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Balthazar Jones and his wife, Hebe, are mourning the loss of their only son. They live in the Tower of London with their ancient pet tortoise, and a community of eccentric characters who, like Balthazar, work within the Tower walls.…
Dec 28, 2016trudat rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
I love quirky English stories and wanted to like this one. Unfortunately it lacks the subtle wit I have come to expect - the humor feels like it's trying too hard. I actually even looked up the author to see if it was an American trying to…
Nov 01, 2014laratis rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
"The tassled flag flew high over the fulsom buttocks."
Please forgive my spelling, I am such a poor speller I am not even sure when I am misspelling a word.
But back to the book. I hope I got that quote correct, Miss Stuart! Your book…
Aug 22, 2012tls505 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Be off with you. It was a lovely book. Full of romance, with just enough pathos so it wasn't cloying. I'm thinking of carrying a copy around the Tower next time I go.
Feb 06, 2012VRMurphy rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Not sure why I bothered finishing this one. The overall tone is quite sad, and the style of forced whimsicality is both jarringly precious and off-key.
Oct 30, 2011Rhonwen rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
I normally dislike books filled with characters that are quirky just for the sake of being quirky, but while other authors create a cast of oddballs just to hide the fact that there's nothing else of interest to their story, there's…
May 04, 2011gopherguts rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I really liked this book. It was odd and funny and rambling and a bit melancholy. It had a happy ending though! Some people might be annoyed by her style of prose, but I think she wants to show the humour in the randomness of life.
Apr 18, 2011macierules rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Perhaps I was just too grumpy after the horrible weather this weekend, but I found the quirkiness of this book rather forced and I ended up irritated rather than amused.
Mar 06, 2011Palomino rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I couldn't put this down. It's like Christopher Fowler, Terry Pratchett, Anne Tyler, and Douglas Adams got together to write an M.C. Beaton cozy mystery.
It says something about how infatuated I was that I was 2/3 done before I…
Feb 15, 2011AnneDromeda rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
This was such a really lovely book, in every sense of the word. Reading it left me with the same sort of stinging, buoyant happiness I get from listening to Stuart McLean's *Vinyl Cafe* on CBC Radio One. Like McLean’s characters, the…
Feb 10, 2011GingerKaren rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Compelling contemporary story of a group of beefeaters and their families who live at the Tower of London. Interspersed with facts about the tower and the history, the descriptions of the quirky characters were riveting. When the Queen…
Dec 10, 2010debwalker rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
"Imagine a funny, poignant book, full of delightful and wacky characters, then add a bit of English history, and you've got The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise. When the Queen decides to house animals she's received as gifts from foreign…
Comments (22)
The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise