The Omnivore

A little reminder, for those who have not yet explored it (we know that Alison has already wasted an afternoon there) of www.theomnivore.co.uk.  It's a wonderfully quick (?) and absorbing way of taking the critical temperature of a book, film or play.  They claim to have reviews for over 5,000 books on the site and say that with 40 books a week being reviewed in the national press, the archive is rapidly growing.  The headline star rating is their own: an "ominscore" which is their interpretation of the aggregate of the published critical opinion.

Of course, critics are not always right (she says pompously).  For example, I disagree with their views of Isa & May by Margaret Forster which I thought was an disappointing, pointless and tedious read and of which, mostly, they seem to have  approved.  I must be a poor judge as when the Times writes "This is a sensitive and intelligent novel with passages of beautifully modulated pathos while being, in parts, hugely funny" all I can think of is how quickly I can finish it and how the characters seem to display as little self awareness and emotional intelligence as it is possible to imagine.

In contrast, the assembled reviews of The Hand That First Held Mine are much more in keeping with my own thoughts about the novel and are worthy of skimming through before our next meeting.  In the meantime, here is a picture of a cuddly omnivore which rather took my fancy.  Not all bears are omnivores, apparently, as Polar Bears are carnivores (there being a lack of vegetation on the ice cap I suppose) and Pandas, of course, are herbivores as they munch away on bamboo shoots most of the time. I didn't know that ravens are omnivores.... but Wikipedia assures me that they are.