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| 1838296409
| 9781838296407
| 1838296409
| 4.26
| 293
| unknown
| Mar 24, 2020
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really liked it
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4.54� “Kitty’s nearly fifteen with bumps in all the right places, and she makes the most of them. Leaning against the wall in her thin summer dress sh 4.54� “Kitty’s nearly fifteen with bumps in all the right places, and she makes the most of them. Leaning against the wall in her thin summer dress she shakes her dyed blonde hair and sucks on her smoke through bright red lips.� “Like Magic� is the third of fourteen stories in this delightful collection of short, fictionalised anecdotes based on famous people. Kitty isn’t one of them, but her younger friend is, the one who idolises her. Sometimes I was quick to know whose story it was, and sometimes I had to do what so often passes for research these days and google a name. The author does a good job of capturing the style and the vibe of his people and their times. Many involve bullies and schoolyards and kids who were misunderstood. � ‘But she can’t help it,� Miss Lund blurts. ‘Can’t she?� Mrs Wallin lets the words hang, but only for a moment. ‘The truth is those parents are to blame. No control. No boundaries. They give in to every whim and expect us to do the same. I mean this obsession she’s developed. Such foolishness. Mark my words, it’s always the same. Look at the parents, you see the child, and that child is in for one hell of a shock when she comes up against the real world.�� Actually, the shock is the other way around. I will say no more about her. Then there was a different girl, who grew up knowing her grandma’s history, and was warned against butting up against the real world. � ‘Don’t matter why. You better understand, child. Them white boys are right, even when they’re wrong. Hell, especially when they’re wrong.� ‘But Grandma…� ‘Nuhuh. But nuthin. You wise up, girl. Better know your place or you’re gonna get what’s comin.�� Here’s a boy, a short boy, who also faced bullies, but survived to become a world favourite. “For that hour at lunchtime they could be free of themselves, laughing fearlessly while they pushed the little guy around the yard and asked him what he was doing out of kindergarten, or where he’d left Snow White. . . . And Dad was just a musician. He saved what he could, called in a favour, and on the kid’s thirteenth birthday he gave him a guitar, and probably saved his life.� Thank goodness for that guitar! This girl is down on her luck, run away from ‘the home�, and it’s pouring rain. “So I’m here, in this crappy cafe on Hodge Street, sipping muddy water from the bottom of a cracked Silver Jubilee mug. Tastes like muddy water anyway, and she charged me thirty-nine bloody pence. Felt like chucking it in her face, but the old cow kicks you out if you don’t buy anything. She’s looking over now. Sh*t. I haven’t got enough for another one, and my sleeping bag’s soaked. I take another sip. It’s cold, horrible, but I wish there was more.� She’s a down-and-outer, for sure, and this guy has been warned off heading for danger, too. “I’m wheelin my bike along the sidewalk, watchin all the white faces, watchin me. This pinched kinda woman gives me a glare and then her man bumps me onto the road. I shrug like it don’t bother me none, but I can’t help thinkin Daddy was right. Only a damn fool goes up west of Walnut Street.� Each story has its own voice, which is why I included the excerpts, and I enjoyed them all. I believe Backstories II is coming, and I look forward to it. These could be good choices for school discussions, too. Older kids could be encouraged to pick a story find the real person or people, and give a report. Or get a group to talk about them. Thanks to the author for the copy for review. These are fun! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 07, 2023
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May 09, 2023
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May 08, 2023
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Kindle Edition
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| 1953534651
| 9781953534651
| 1953534651
| 3.82
| 7,198
| Mar 07, 2023
| Mar 07, 2023
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DNF - no rating “Perhaps my mother is right. I’ve carried it all with me for too long. I need to find a place to put it all down. For so long I have li DNF - no rating “Perhaps my mother is right. I’ve carried it all with me for too long. I need to find a place to put it all down. For so long I have lived like the woman in the parable, looking back to see whatever ruins lay behind me. If I had remained at Sailors Beach and had a child with Jude, if I had married him, as I once imagined I would, my bridal train would have been made of salt and sand.� I read about 50 pages, skimmed another 50 and decided it’s not for me. It begins as a not unusual summer romance (although she, the unnamed protagonist would disagree) in a beachside holiday town. A 24-year-old woman falls for a 42-year-old local and ruminates on life, love, and most especially the 18-year gap between their ages. Her mother had a colourful background and the two of them were alone and close for many years. Now there’s a little half-brother, and mother is looking forward to grandchildren while also sounding somewhat surprised to be turning 50. The daughter has not told her mother about her secret afternoons with Jude. I left after the affair began. I know a very happy marriage with this same age gap, so that’s not what bothered me. With no names and no quotation marks, the story just flowed through what felt like a wistful, somewhat bitter store of memories. Perhaps they were intended to be bittersweet, I don’t know � I didn’t get that far. Read some other reviews � this might be your thing, just not mine. Thanks to Allen & Unwin for the copy for review. I appreciate the opportunity, and I’m sorry I’m not more positive. I recommend the recent article (2 April 2023) about the book and the author in The Guardian. "My parents� divorce reshaped our family � but it wasn’t the end of their story" ...more |
Notes are private!
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0
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not set
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not set
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Mar 28, 2023
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Paperback
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| 1250280117
| 9781250280114
| 1250280117
| 4.13
| 12,129
| Sep 20, 2022
| Sep 20, 2022
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really liked it
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3.54� [WARNING: abuse and language] “By the mid-seventies an estimated thirty thousand people were on the active membership rolls of the Children of G 3.54� [WARNING: abuse and language] “By the mid-seventies an estimated thirty thousand people were on the active membership rolls of the Children of God from all over the US and the group had spread to at least fifteen countries. Spotting a way to differentiate himself from all the other new religious movements sprouting up, [David] Berg started preaching how much God loved sex, that the Devil was the one who had demonized it.� The author was one of those Children, the child, in fact, of one of the earlier Children. Later in life, when her commander was introduced to her mother, he said: � ‘You look far too young to have so many children. What were you, fourteen?� My mother, an expert in cult Uncles, the woman I had always seen as shy, looked my commander straight in the eye and said with her chin high and a confident, unwavering voice, ‘Yes, I was. That was Daniella.�� Like many readers, I was expecting a memoir mostly about life in the cult, what it meant to be born into it, what the day-to-day routines were, what the relationships were like. I knew she joined the army after escaping but didn’t realise that most of the book is about her time there. To be fair, it is Daniella’s memoir, not a history of the cult in which she spent ‘only� the first 15 years of her life, formative though they were. She is under no obligation to limit her story to the part that is hidden from outsiders, just because we’re curious. In her case, the cult prepared her for life in the army as one of the rare women in combat. Resilient doesn’t begin to describe her. She grows up small, tough, competitive, fleet-footed and quick-witted. If she can’t do something better than everyone else, she keeps working at it until she can. Of course we hear about the Uncles and abuse of women and children. We are told the children perform and beg on the streets in public, but I didn’t get much of a sense of what it was like, other than she learned to ‘perform� as necessary, a skill that was useful as an adult. When the leader, Berg, died, the cult modified some rules (no more babies at 14), but after living in other countries all her life, Daniella escaped to Texas where her mother and some sisters joined her, aced her way through high school and college, and found another cult, the US Army. Most of the book is about her time in the Army and how she tries to maintain some sense of stability. She’s a runner, one of the fastest the Army has seen, so she runs, but she has to choose her times and places carefully. Her friend John is also fast and often runs with her. She also likes salsa dancing as a release, but she is warned by a captain. � ‘Daniella, I know you’re new, but you need to be very careful. People are already talking about you and he guys you hang out with. Be careful with John.� This topic exasperated me. Maybe it was the familiar salsa beat echoing in the restaurant, but I had just enough stamina to attempt to navigate it. ‘Sir, I appreciate the concern, but who should I hang out with, honestly?� I gestured to Tiffany.� The only other females are on different shifts in different places. She asks should she just sit in her room for a whole year, to ‘be respected�? Tiffany asks the same. The captain replies. � ‘I mean, I get it. It’s hard for you ladies� you know, before I got over here, I used to think that the women who said they were scared were just being dramatic. But the more I get used to what it’s like over here, the more I think that you probably WILL get raped on this deployment.� For a moment, I thought maybe I had misheard him. But he barreled on, completely unaware of my shock or the stunned look on Tiffany’s face.� That conversation echoes in her mind often after that. She knows she needs structure in her life, the kind of structure a military life provides, where someone else decides what is your responsibility and what isn’t . She has developed survival instincts as a cult child that continue to serve her well in the army � tune out, separate your mind from your body so you’re not really ‘here� when the Uncles are beating you � or worse. In the Army, it’s not the Uncles. She was raised in several countries, speaking different languages, and she now has a formal education about the real world outside the cult. She is both fearless and fearful, a powerful combination. Even if she has little to lose, she’s absolutely determined not to lose it. Her story is unique, going from a religious (so-called) cult into the army. I can only admire her tenacity. It isn’t a page-turner, and I didn’t learn anything new about cults or army life, but I’m sure this will be an eye-opener for a lot of readers. Thanks to Allen and Unwin for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 06, 2023
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Jan 10, 2023
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Dec 18, 2022
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Hardcover
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| 1982177624
| 9781982177621
| 1982177624
| 3.52
| 4,601
| Jul 19, 2022
| Jul 19, 2022
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it was amazing
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5� [Book content warning: graphic, explicit sex] “At Citi Field, with forty thousand men as witnesses, the rabbis decreed that the internet, with filte 5� [Book content warning: graphic, explicit sex] “At Citi Field, with forty thousand men as witnesses, the rabbis decreed that the internet, with filters, could be used only at work. And yeshivas* were not to admit any student with internet in the home. Raizl heard about it from some other students in her all-girls high school, who’d gotten the news on a livestream. The internet informed them that they were not allowed to use the internet. � *[religious schools for boys and men] From the very beginning of this book, you get a sense of the contradictions and the irony, the very real fear of transgression and the thrill of breaking the rules. Raizl may be a seventeen-year-old girl in a strictly Hasidic Jewish family, but she is also a seventeen-year-old girl in New York, where everything in the world is available. If you hadn’t guessed from the title that shmutz is smut, you’ll figure it out soon enough. [The word does go through some changes from the German ‘schmutz�, but I digress.] This is full of it � smut, pornography and graphic descriptions of sexual acts � but it isn’t erotic, and I think it’s unlikely to turn any readers on. It isn’t sexy. The following does not have spoilers. Everything below is in the beginning of the novel. The book opens with Raizl talking to a doctor because she says she’s afraid to get married, and her mother is desperate to find a match for her. She tells the doctor she can’t get married. � ‘Too much watching . . . on the computer.� . . . ‘Wait, you mean pornography?� Raizl nods slightly, a hint of yes. Porn, that’s what she watches. Shmutz.� That’s on the first page. So how did this cloistered, Jewish girl get from ‘go to whoa�, as the saying goes? And WHOA, does she ever get there! Raizl’s father, Tati, surprisingly allowed her to attend college to become an accountant. She has a head for numbers and is already working part-time as an assistant and helping to support the family. Meanwhile, her brothers are yeshiva students, studying religious texts, and contributing only their large appetites for Mami’s home cooking. Raizl’s scholarship included a computer, which was required for her courses, so Tati had to relent. A librarian showed her how to use it, how to access the college website, and � most importantly � how to use Google. � ‘I googled “der Bashefer� ‘to see what the internet says about the Creator, and then I googled � She can’t mention the holy names. It was easier to type them than it is to say them.� She saw paintings, googled the word “kiss�, and from there she fell down the rabbit hole from which she is unwilling or unable to escape. This is her secret, hers alone, under the covers at night, but we see it explicitly. She is a consumed (and exhausted) sex addict. This is written in many very short chapters, some only a couple of pages long. That makes it easy to move between college, work, bed, goth friends, and Mami’s continued matchmaking attempts. Nobody knows, nobody suspects. She wears the prescribed clothing � pretty much full-body armour � heavy, long, layered skirts, tops, and cardigans plus thick stockings. Very little flesh showing. Once she’s out in the world at college, she is an outsider, except to the goth students, who wear only black. She almost fits in. She also has a pronounced accent, and they mistake her name for Razor � which they like. � ‘Hey, Razor,� Sam says. Raizl’s heart skips a beat, to be acknowledged, even by the wrong name. ‘You’re looking good today. Nice skirt.� A plain wool, but it’s black so Sam likes it. Raizl makes a mental note to wear it again soon. . . . But Raizl’s long skirt and tights are nothing special compared to Sam’s gothic maxi dress, yards of black lace over black boots that have thick rubber soles and steel at the toes. Sam clinks as she walks, the chains around her neck beating time against a studded belt with every step.� At the same time that she begins to understand the porn industry, she is being prepared for marriage, which means a financial arrangement between families as well as the marital one between the bride and groom. Nobody really escapes the realities of life. I thoroughly enjoyed this, partly because I have had friends who were raised in strict religious families, and I watched them buck the system in their own ways. My heart went out to Raizl when she was tempted to break the dietary restrictions, It was both funny and poignant. “She practices ordering in the mirror. ‘BԳ,� she says. ‘F,� she says. Tries to say it fast, to get any hint of Yiddish out of it.� It was wrong on so many counts: unclean animal (pig) plus meat and dairy in the same mouthful. Bacon is the downfall of a lot of diets. I will hide my personal anecdotes under a spoiler, since this is already long. I couldn’t help being reminded of them all, though. (view spoiler)[One devout Catholic girl and I used to have lunch together, and once in a while it would be Friday and we would order hamburgers. “Look what you made me do!� she’d shout. Then she’d shrug her shoulders and say that God didn’t want us to waste food, so she’d eat it rather than order a tuna fish sandwich instead. This same friend’s best pal in high school was Jewish, from a kosher family, and when my friend went there for dinner, she insisted she had to have milk with her meal (an American custom), forbidden when eating meat, of course. So the family compromised by putting her glass of milk on a table in another room, so she could leave the table and drink it in there. An older Jewish couple I know used to keep a kosher household but admitted they were sometimes tempted by bacon sandwiches. So they would eat them outside in the yard, presumably so as to not contaminate the house. (hide spoiler)] Thanks to Allen and Unwin for a copy of the book for review. I loved it. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 29, 2023
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Feb 2023
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Nov 12, 2022
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1761101366
| 9781761101366
| 1761101366
| 4.08
| 1,270
| unknown
| May 04, 2022
|
liked it
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3� � ‘You are personally invited to a séance. We are going to ask the spirits for guidance and need many hands. Meet us tonight at the playground at 1 3� � ‘You are personally invited to a séance. We are going to ask the spirits for guidance and need many hands. Meet us tonight at the playground at 11 pm. Come alone.� Despite everything that had happened, all the recent trouble and misunderstandings, Ricky felt her spirits lift. Someone wanted her.� Ricky Bird is almost thirteen, as she insists on answering when asked her age. She also insists that she be called Ricky, not Vicky (Victoria), and she wants short hair. Mum has moved her and little brother Ollie to a different town where Mum has a new boyfriend, Dan, whom Ricky hates. She adores her dad and doesn’t seem to mind that he has a new girlfriend, which is what caused the separation. Ollie is only a little fellow, six years old, and not very well. Ricky adores him, and it’s easy to see why. She loves making up stories to entertain him, and he has a wry sense of humour for a kid. He’s a perfect audience for her increasingly wild imagination. When he is ill, she tells him he has a parasitic twin inside that is angry because it wasn’t born, so it’s trying to get out. She goes for a wander around the tower blocks, sorry to see no gardens, because she used to love working with her dad on the allotment. Digging her hands in the soil was soothing, and being with Dad was where she loved to be. “She paused as something familiar beside a bin caught her eye. It was a ‘baggy� like the ones she often saw discarded around her old estate. The small plastic bags were what dealers used to package their drugs. ‘H!� She looked up and saw that she was not alone. Halfway down the lane were four teenage boys. They had seen her first and were already moving toward her, jostling in the way youths did with elbows and shoulders, out to prove something. One of the boys shouted again and they started running. In an instant, Ricky was in flight. She was blood and adrenaline, an animal fleeing predators. She could hear the pounding of their trainers behind her as she sprinted back the way she’d come. The boys were yelping, voices high with excitement. They were no longer individuals with their own thoughts but a pack of dogs caught up in the chase, bound together by a single, dangerous purpose.� Welcome to the neighbourhood. Oh to be back in Brixton with Dad. It’s the summer holidays, so there’s no school yet where she can meet friends. She talks to three girls about her age in the playground. One lives next door, one is the sister of one of the mob of boys, and one is an already-developed pretty girl who is desperate to seem glamorous. The local community centre is running a summer writing workshop during the mornings, but her mother thinks it’s an all-day activity, which suits Ricky fine. That gives her afternoons free. She is becoming an accomplished liar. She is also writing some inventive stories and filling the notebooks teacher Katie gives her. Ricky finds it a good outlet. As Ollie needs more medical tests and hospital trips, her mother gets her boyfriend, Dan, to look after Ricky, which Ricky loathes. He insists they come to some sort of truce, or he will tell her mother that she’s been lying about things. Mum, meanwhile, is totally absorbed in taking care of Ollie, which is understandable, but impossible for Ricky to deal with. She has a wild imagination, wild dreams and nightmares, and keeps getting into trouble. For me, the explanations at the very end didn’t ring true. If Ricky had been narrating her own story, I might have accepted it. I’ve looked back through the book, and I’m still not convinced. I thought the ending was abrupt and awkward. I was also disappointed to find no real connection to the books to which it is claimed to be similar. Ricky and her story are nothing like Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is one of my favourite books. Nor is she remotely like A Man Called Ove, whose story is also one of my all-time favourites. The similarity between Ricky and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is slight, at best. Thanks to Simon and Schuster for the preview copy which I didn’t even know I had. I only just discovered it buried under some old mail, for which I apologise, (not that S&S will be happy with my review, anyway). This seems to have a lot of fans, and I’m sure there will be plenty more. I imagine it will appeal to Young Adult readers, too. The books mentioned above: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon My review A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman My review Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman My review ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 16, 2022
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Sep 18, 2022
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Sep 15, 2022
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1800556861
| 9781800556867
| B09ZDZD3Y1
| 4.14
| 96
| unknown
| Aug 05, 2022
|
liked it
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3� “It also houses the rooms for post-mortem examinations and has an anteroom where relatives can view the bodies of their loved ones. A place where he 3� “It also houses the rooms for post-mortem examinations and has an anteroom where relatives can view the bodies of their loved ones. A place where hearts are cut into little pieces, both of the dead and of those who loved and cared for them. Neither would be whole again.� At the local city hospital is a building most people would just walk by, and with any luck, that’s as much as they will ever know of it. It is the mortuary, where Rohan Sharma, a new detective inspector, is unlucky enough to be attending the examination of a young woman who was found dead from unknown causes, but her body had been twisted and defaced and left at the foot of a tree. Rohan had been walking through the zoo on an outing with his kids when he was called urgently to attend the site of an unusual murder. The kids, 8 and 12, are upset and disappointed. Their mother has left Rohan and taken their kids to live with her new boyfriend, so life has changed � a lot. But he had to go. The body had been found by a farmer in a fallow field, south of Leicester. Rohan asked the seargant, a friend of his, what had been found so far. � ‘Nobody’s been to see her yet. I didn’t want the site contaminated. Oh, by the way she’s uh � she’s Asian.� I wasn’t sure why he was uncomfortable with this information.� Well, I certainly understood why the officer would have felt uncomfortable. Rohan’s Asian family migrated from Kenya when he was five, so he looks more like the victim than anyone else. It is a good example of the awkward conversations people have every day in increasingly diverse communities. Now he’s with Dr Nasreen Khan, who is about to examine the body. “As we walked towards the mortuary table, she asked if I wanted some Vicks VapoRub to smear under my nose. I told her there was no need as I could breathe easily. ‘It’s not what you breathe in that matters but what it keeps out, Inspector. The menthol, camphor and eucalyptus smell will help enormously.� ‘Some of us are made of sterner stuff,� I replied, trying to be brave. ‘Have it your own way, Inspector,� she said, raising a finely plucked eyebrow.� Of course, that raised eyebrow said it all, and at the doctor’s first cut, exposing the victim’s innards, and “the most overpowering stench I’d ever smelt� he bolts from the room and is violently sick, over and over again. Welcome to your first homicide, Inspector Sharma! When he recovers, somewhat, he returns, and Dr Khan adds to the clues found at the site by describing two puncture marks on the victim’s foot, and a leaf found inside the vagina. The puncture marks look like snake bites Dr Khan had seen when working in Western India, and her guess is that they are from a cobra or krait or black mamba. In Leicester? This seems crazy to them, and it complicates what is already a complex crime. Then there are more bodies found � under trees and with the same tell-tale puncture wounds. Why snakes? Why these victims? Are they specific targets, and if so, what or whom might they represent? They try to keep some information hidden from the public, but there are leaks, and details show up on the news. More problems and nothing at home to unwind with except for a cold wine, a hot microwave meal, and Fernando, his talking parrot. It seems a lot for newly-minted Inspector Sharma to be in charge of, but he does have some skills the rest of the force probably doesn’t � a bit of Swahili, an understanding of Hindu and other religious practices, and a respect for the large migrant population. The author explains his choice of city and protagonist in his Note to the Reader. His family moved from Kenya to Leicester when he was a boy, and it’s the city he refers to as home. “I wanted to write about an ordinary detective of South Asian origin who is trying to make a positive difference within his home city. But he also faces particular challenges because of his background and which he tries to overcome.� I like his characters and settings. Fernando, his parrot, is an entertaining addition, and it’s obvious Rohan’s family story has scope to be ongoing. There seemed to be a lot of extra information I found myself skimming, but other readers may appreciate it. [I know my reviews are the same, skimmable!] Thanks to Sapere Books for the copy for review. I see that number two in the series is coming out next year, so I’d say that Inspector Rohan Sharma is on his way. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 25, 2022
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Oct 26, 2022
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Aug 09, 2022
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Kindle Edition
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| 1800556268
| 9781800556263
| B09TNJK2JF
| 3.86
| 433
| May 19, 2022
| May 20, 2022
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None
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Notes are private!
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0
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not set
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not set
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May 25, 2022
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Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
| 1398813710
| 9781398813717
| 1398813710
| 4.52
| 29
| unknown
| Jul 30, 2022
|
it was amazing
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4.55� ‘Sherlock Holmes, meet Dr. John Watson,� said Stamford. ‘Pleased to meet you,� said Holmes, shaking my hand. ‘You’ve been in Afghanistan, I see.� 4.55� ‘Sherlock Holmes, meet Dr. John Watson,� said Stamford. ‘Pleased to meet you,� said Holmes, shaking my hand. ‘You’ve been in Afghanistan, I see.� ‘How on earth did you know that?� I asked in astonishment. ‘Never mind,� he said. ‘Come and observe this test.�� Those of us familiar with Sherlock Holmes will recognise his rather off-hande manner and enthusiasm for his own current project. This series of sixteen Holmes stories has been retold for kids, but the telling is not childish. I like the quirky little black and white cartoon illustrations by Eve O'Brien, which break up the text, and the stories seem complete and satisfying. I chose Book One, “A Study in Scarlet�, because this is where Dr Watson meets Holmes. Watson had indeed returned recently from Afghanistan recovering from a bullet wound. One of his old friends, Stamford, spotted Watson in the bar of the hotel where he was staying, and Watson said he was looking for lodgings. As luck would have it, Stamford said a man in the hospital laboratory had also just mentioned he was looking for a place. � ‘He was complaining this morning because he couldn’t find anyone to go halves with him on some lovely rooms he’d found on Baker Street.� ‘Well, if he’s looking for a roommate, I’m the man for him,� I said. ‘I’m fed up with living alone.� ‘I warn you, he’s a little strange� said Stamford. ‘Strange in what way?�� Anyone who has read about Sherlock Holmes or seen one of the countless films or television productions of the stories knows how strange he is. Watson is intrigued, so Stamford takes him to the hospital lab to introduce them. The opening quotation is their ‘introduction�. After the hello, Watson gets his first glimpse of his soon-to-be housemate's behaviour. [image] “At the sound of our steps, he glanced around and uttered a cry of pleasure. ‘I’ve found it!� he cried. ‘I’ve found the perfect test for identifying blood stains.� � At the end of this story, after Watson has seen how Holmes works with his ‘clients�, he asks if Holmes really solves everything with observation and deduction. Holmes said that’s exactly how he knew Watson had been in Afghanistan. � ‘Well, Stamford introduced you as ‘Doctor� and you have a military way of walking, so most likely an army doctor. Your tan wasn’t your natural skin tone because your wrists were pale, so you’d been somewhere hot. Your haggard face and the stiffness in your arm suggested you’d undergone hardship and injury. The most recent military action involving the British army in a hot country was in Afghanistan, so that had to be where you’d been.� ‘It’s quite simple when you explain it,� I said. Holmes sighed. ‘Everyone says that—yet no one seems able to do it but me.�� You can say that again. You can see that this is not all simple words. “Haggard� and “undergone� might send some readers to a dictionary, but the phrasing is such that you’d follow the sense without knowing the words. It’s a subtle way of introducing more complex language. But the covers in full colour will entice young readers, I’m sure. Who could resist this?! [image] “It was an enormous coal-black hound, unlike anything seen before in nature. Fire burst from its mouth, its eyes glowed red, and its whole body was outlined in flickering flames.� “The Hound of the Baskervilles� is a famous thriller, and I don’t think this version loses anything in the retelling. The fog and the hound and the mysterious events are just as scary here as in the real thing. Inside each cover is a table of contents, like a ‘regular� book, and I know this is important to a lot of young readers who want to graduate to chapter books. [image] Table of Contents for “The Hound of the Baskervilles� I’ve read some Holmes but possibly watched more. Not long ago, I enjoyed “The Six Thatchers�, with Benedict Cumberbatch. (No, I wasn’t with him, but Martin Freeman, aka Watson, was. But I digress.) Now I realise, of course, that it was based on “The Six Napoleons�, about someone who keeps smashing plaster busts of Napoleon. [image] “The fragments of the great emperor’s head lay scattered on the grass, the product of a seemingly frenzied hatred. Holmes picked up several of the shards and examined them carefully. From the spark in his eye, I sensed he had glimpsed a clue.� There is an illustration on most pages which can help readers remember the story and find their place when they leaf through the book. There are only 100 words or so on each of the 64 pages, enough to enjoy plenty of story and intrigue (and humour), but not enough to scare off a reader. Something I like about these is that they don’t talk down to readers. Anyone can enjoy them, young, old, and those new to the English language. I haven’t read them all . . . yet! These are to be published in July and there are individual books as well as sets and large print and Kindle versions. Thanks to Arcturus Publishing for the copy for review. This is a great set to add to a school or home library, and I’d recommend it for English-learners, too. I’d have loved this when I was a kid. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 20, 2022
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Jun 23, 2022
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May 13, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1398813702
| 9781398813700
| 1398813702
| 5.00
| 4
| unknown
| Jul 30, 2022
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it was amazing
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4.55� “King Ferdinand has decided to ban women from his court to focus on his studies. This seems like a great plan� until the Princess of France and 4.55� “King Ferdinand has decided to ban women from his court to focus on his studies. This seems like a great plan� until the Princess of France and her ladies arrive and he falls in love! Can Ferdinand and his friends break their own law?� This is the back cover blurb on this children’s version of Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labours Lost�. Each book has an equally enticing question or statement on the back to hook young readers. The covers are colourful, while the stories themselves are illustrated in black and white, like Manga comics. [image] The cover of ‘Love’s Labours Lost� These are written as short stories, rather than plays, and the action is obviously compressed. The dialogue is modern, but for anyone familiar with Shakespeare, they will recognise references to the original. I think you will recognise some from “Romeo and Juliet� later. “Love’s Labours Lost� is a comedy. The telling is humorous and the drawings are comic. The opening quotation above sets the scene that the young king wants to concentrate on his studies without the distraction of women. Of course, his fellow courtiers must make the same sacrifice. Someone is caught instantly. [image] �’But didn’t you hear the big announcement of my new law?� the king asked exasperatedly. Costard nodded. ‘I did, but I didn’t pay much attention to it, to be honest. It doesn’t make much sense to me. Why would we want to stay away from women?� The king sighed and rolled his eyes. ‘Because we are trying to concentrate on reading and study. I want our kingdom to be the wisest kingdom ever! You’re meant to go to prison for a year if you are caught with a woman,� ‘Seems a bit harsh for a first violation,� Costard shrugged. ‘How about I say a prayer of penance?�� When a friend reminds the king that the French princess is on her way for a meeting, he says “she won’t stay here, and it won’t be a fun visit.� Considering women are banned within a mile of the court, negotiations will be awkward. The inevitable ensues, with King Ferdinand and the others falling in love (it seems to be instant in Shakespeare) with the princess and her ladies, causing much merriment as letters are exchanged secretly but swapped to make mischief. I chose to concentrate on “Romeo and Juliet� because it is so well-known and one of the first that kids will recognise, after all of the films that have been made and the many references to Romeos still today. From the back cover: “It’s the greatest love story ever told. When Romeo and Juliet meet, they fall in love—but how can they ever be together when all their families know is hate for one another?� The feud between the Capulet (Juliet) and Montague (Romeo) families is explained, and then Romeo falls in love instantly when he sees Juliet dancing at a masked ball. �’She’s brighter than a flame,�Romeo murmured to himself. ‘She’s a jewel, too precious for this world. She’s like a dove among crows. How did I ever think I was in love with Rosaline? I never felt true love before this moment. And I never saw true beauty before tonight.�� It would be remiss of me to skip the balcony scene, which is on the cover. After the ball, Romeo slips back to the Capulet mansion and sees a light in the window. Here’s how Samantha Newman simplifies it for kids. “All the party lights were out, and the house was mostly dark, but Romeo spotted a light on upstairs in a room that led out to a balcony. ‘What’s that light?� he murmured to himself. ‘Perhaps it’s Juliet’s light. Well, I will wait here until sunrise. All I want is to see her face again.� At that moment, the balcony door opened, and Juliet stepped out. [image] ‘It’s Juliet!� Romeo exclaimed to himself. ‘Oh, she looks sad. How can that be? She is the most beautiful creature in the world. Nothing should ever make her sad.� Juliet sighed and spoke to what she thought was the empty courtyard below. ‘Oh Romeo, Romeo, why must you be Romeo? I wish you weren’t a Montague and I weren’t a Capulet.� Romeo was stunned and thrilled to hear that Juliet cared for him as much as he cared for her. ‘If that’s what you want, I’ll do it,� he called up. ‘If you say you’ll love me, I’ll never be a Montague again.� Juliet gasped and stared down into the courtyard, gripping the railing of the balcony. It was dark so she couldn’t see Romeo right away, but she knew it was him. His voice was already familiar to her, as if she’d heard it a hundred times.� Romeo meets Juliet’s nurse and tells her to send Juliet to Friar Lawrence so they can be married. Juliet is anxious for the news, but the nurse says she’s oh so tired and needs some attention. [image] Juliet rubbing the Nurse’s feet The rest of the story is clearly told with clever little illustrations to help clarify the confusion over a swordfight and poisons and pretend suicides and then the real ones. [image] Juliet, with the potion she will take to make her look as if she’s dead, after which she will wake and escape to meet Romeo [image] Juliet’s nurse and mother, who thinks her daughter died of a broken heart because her cousin was killed by Romeo in a swordfight (after the cousin killed Romeo’s best friend) Meanwhile, Romeo has been in hiding, gets news, races to see Juliet, and kills yet another man (Juliet’s former would-be suitor, Paris), who is guarding her ‘tomb�. [image] Romeo finds Juliet, apparently dead, and takes real poison himself. [image] Juliet wakes up and sees the bodies of Romeo and Paris, both truly dead. “In desperation, she looked around and saw Romeo’s dagger. She drew it and killed herself.� Because there is violence and bloodshed, I appreciate the note to parents at the end, since we never know what might be a trauma trigger for some children. “Note to Parents Shakespeare’s plays sometimes contain difficult themes. We have handled these sensitively, but would recommend that younger children in particular read the stories aloud with a trusted adult, so that they can discuss anything that causes them concern.� I haven’t read all sixteen, but I’ve seen enough to realise that these should give kids a good idea of the stories so that when they do see or read the real thing, they may find it easier to follow the plot. After all, Shakespeare’s tales do have twists. I used to love Classics Illustrated (‘Classic Comics�, as we called them), when I was young, and I imagine kids will enjoy these, too. Something I particularly like is that the characters are diverse, not all white Anglo-Celtic players, but people of all colours and styles. They are also different shapes and sizes, you know, like real people. These are the sixteen titles. 1. The Comedy of Errors 2. Love’s Labour’s Lost 3. A Midsummer Night’s Dream 4. Romeo and Juliet 5. The Merchant of Venice 6. Much Ado About Nothing 7. As You Like It 8. Hamlet 9. Twelfth Night 10. Othello 11. All’s Well That Ends Well 12. King Lear 13. Macbeth 14. Antony and Cleopatra 15. The Winter’s Tale 16. The Tempest It’s another good collection, a companion for Sherlock Holmes Retold for Children. I reviewed that set here: My review Thanks to Arcturus Publishing for the copies for review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 02, 2022
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Aug 04, 2022
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May 13, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1922458643
| 9781922458643
| 1922458643
| 4.03
| 691
| unknown
| Aug 02, 2022
|
really liked it
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4� “I don’t want to be like this. I don’t want to be ruled by fear. I’ve tried so many times to beat it with sheer will power, but it never works. I si 4� “I don’t want to be like this. I don’t want to be ruled by fear. I’ve tried so many times to beat it with sheer will power, but it never works. I sit there beside Mason, watching my hand tremble.� This is one of Leonardo’s chapters. He is the good-student, pity-invite on the school leavers� trip where they will party-party-party with other school leavers until they run out of steam or grog or drugs. Leonardo and the leader of the group, Jared, were good pals when they were little kids, but since year 7, Jared has pretty much cut him dead. Today, Jared has his father’s Troopy (Landcruiser Troop Carrier) and has included Leonardo in the group. Jared is the acknowledged leader and his girlfriend Val is the queen. It’s that kind of group. One of the girls, Kaiya, asks Jared how he knows Leonardo. “His face is nearly as pale as the zinc on his nose. ‘Our dads used to be mates,� he says. He guns the engine as he overtakes a hatchback. ‘They arranged it.� This stings. Our dads used to be mates.� This is a story about teens, for teens, and anyone with teens in their life. Leonardo’s mother was extremely controlling and babied him, but she has died, so now he’s finally allowed to be a normal kid. He’s bought some brand-name clothing and wants to fit in, but of course she’s left him with a legacy of anxiety and fear of dying from an asthma attack. He is certainly not the kind of kid who would ever want to find himself accidentally on a remote island off the coast of Western Australia with a bunch of would-be drunks with raging hormones, but somehow, that’s where he ends up. Leonardo, Mason, and Kaiya, are the three points of view of the story. Kaiya, who asked the earlier question, is slightly outside the group and is teased for being a virgin. She seems friendlier to Leonardo than the others, but she questions why he’s there. In one of Leonardo’s chapters, while they are sorting out rooms and she’s hanging up her clothes, she asks again. � ‘Not to be mean, but I’m not sure why you came. This group isn’t even nice to the people who are actually in it.� I stand frozen, smiling politely at Kaiya’s back. ‘Jared’s an old friend. I guess I wanted to reconnect.� ‘What makes you think that’ll happen?� She unpacks her beach towel and drapes it lightly over a hook on the door, as if we’re talking about the weather. I don’t have an intelligent answer. ‘I guess because school’s over now, so-� ‘Exactly my point. This is the end of high school. The last hurrah. This isn’t where new things start.� Kaiya turns, sliding her pink-rimmed sunglasses on as she goes to join the others on the beach. ‘This is where old things end, Leonardo. I genuinely don’t think you get that.�� Welcome to Brink Island. The third point of view is Mason’s. He’s a big, boofy (oafish) footy player and sports star whose idea of friendship is to thump people on the arm, crack insults, and make a general nuisance of himself. But he’s not a bad guy. In fact, he discovers something unexpected about himself. In one of Mason’s chapters, while they’re out on jet skis, Leonardo comes a cropper and Mason helps him back up, saying nobody can expect to be perfect on their first try. � ‘I wish I was like you, Mason.� Nothing’s ever stopped me dead like that. Leonardo wins prizes for chemistry and physics. And he wants to be like me? I guess he has no idea what goes on in my head. S’pose I have no idea what’s going on in his, I always thought he knew he was better than the rest of us. That’s why I give him shit. Gotta take the squares down a peg or two. Maybe he’s not what I thought he was. I’m definitely not what he thinks I am. ‘You don’t wish that,� I tell him, over the engine as we chug back to the beach. ‘Trust me.�� Danger is everywhere, including threats from ‘Machete Max� and the alternatives who live in a community on the islands. Alcohol, drugs, sex, and eventually death. What a heady mix for teens. (P.S. Don’t assume who’s gay, or tough, or innocent, or . . . just don’t assume.) Although this got off to a slow start, my interest picked up, and I’m sure this will be popular with young readers. Thanks to Text Publishing for the preview copy. This will be out in August. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 03, 2022
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Jul 07, 2022
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Apr 27, 2022
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1800555806
| 9781800555808
| B09R522DY8
| 4.32
| 125
| Apr 08, 2022
| Apr 08, 2022
|
liked it
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3� “Maybe he should go under hypnosis. See if he really could remember what happened. It might help him see who tried to kill him. Who murdered his bel 3� “Maybe he should go under hypnosis. See if he really could remember what happened. It might help him see who tried to kill him. Who murdered his beloved family. Hamlet snapped his eyes shut. Part of him wanted to lock out the horrors, but a larger part wanted to remember.� Hamlet Mottrell wakes up in pain, with heavily bandaged arms, in hospital. He has vague memories of screaming and a lot of blood. He can’t quite focus, but someone is speaking to him. �‘Hamlet Mottrell, I am here to tell you that I am arresting you for the murder of your wife and unborn daughter, and for the murders of your adoptive parents Robert and Mary Mottrell. Do you understand me?� Hamlet didn’t understand anything. Nothing of what she had just said made any sense at all.� It appears that whoever broke into his house not only stabbed his family to death, they also slashed his wrists. The authorities can’t prove anything, but he is the only suspect. He was a forensic psychologist, and old habits die hard. When he reads in the paper about a reported suicide, he contacts Detective Sergeant Alix Rainbow, the one who arrested him, to say he’s sure it was murder, and he has reason to believe it’s connected to the attack on him and his family. She immediately says she can’t discuss his case � but � what does he know about this one? From there, the story moves on as he explains the victim’s connection to a bad guy he treated in the past. The police are stand-offish until another possible link is found, and we begin to see that he’s finding a pattern. Eventually, they end up in a graveyard, at night, looking for hidden bones. “It was still the middle of the night, a good few hours before dawn, and Hamlet was standing in Abbey Lane Cemetery surrounded by cops, forensic officers, and officials from the local council, overlooking two police officers in boiler suits digging up a grave. Arc lights on tripods gave everything a top-lit, silhouette effect, enhancing the ground mist that was swirling around the cemetery. The only sound in the graveyard was a mushy thump and sucking noise as shovels delved into clods of damp earth.� It sounds like a miserable way to spend the night, but neither Hamlet nor Alix have been sleeping well anyway as the case has worn on, because each has nightmares from past traumas, and Hamlet has had a strong sense of begin watched. It’s the first of a new series and a pretty good read, currently available on Kindle Unlimited. Thanks to #NetGalley and Sapere Books for the copy for review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 08, 2022
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Apr 11, 2022
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Apr 08, 2022
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 1760878588
| 9781760878580
| 1760878588
| 3.88
| 656
| unknown
| Feb 01, 2022
|
it was amazing
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4.5� “Twenty-one corrugated-iron camps now lined the island’s eastern flank, from which a series of topsy-turvy jetties extended like fractured finger 4.5� “Twenty-one corrugated-iron camps now lined the island’s eastern flank, from which a series of topsy-turvy jetties extended like fractured finger bones. It resembled a small, ramshackle village.� The Houtman Abrolhos, a group of tiny islands in the Indian Ocean, about 80km off the west coast of Western Australia, are where Finnish fishermen established these (mostly) summer camps. The men came from Finland to make money in the WA mines, but gradually some moved to the coast to take up fishing. When Onni Saari, who is still at the mines, is told his brother Nalle has disappeared at sea, he goes to help with the search. An old fisherman, Sulo, takes him out, and when they haven’t found Nalle, he advises Onni against taking up the fishing lease himself. ‘Think hard on it, Onni,� Sulo advised . . . ‘You lot, you’re farm boys.� . . . It was true, Onni and Nalle Saari came from central Finland, from undulating hills and flat cow paddocks, from dense forests of spruce, pine and birch. The water lived in the people there too, but in narrow stretches traversed in rowboats. In the summer months, before the lakes and rivers froze over, they’d drop small nets and pull up ‘a� to salt or smoke or char on the sauna rocks.� But Onni doesn’t dispel the thought that Nalle may turn up, so he and Alva move out to Nalle’s humpy to work the lease and become part of the tiny community. [The women] “had come from Finland, enticed by the sun and a young man with ideas of making good in this place of opportunity. Both women had spent a stint in the outback first, though at separate times, when their husbands had tried their hands at prospecting. But they both preferred a fisherman’s shack to a miner’s humpy. Preferred the sea breeze to the stifling inland heat.� Fishing on the islands is a summer life, with hard work, a lot of mess and smell and blood and guts, but they seemed to take naturally to it. Many couldn’t swim (including Nalle), but they don’t want to think about the dangers. Alva worries. “But he could not talk about what happened. Onni was a house with all its doors and windows closed. Alva longed to be let in. Petra nodded. It was no surprise to her. ‘I know a joke that will cheer you up.� Alva waited. ‘There was once a Finn who loved his wife so much, he almost told her.�� Onni isn’t the only man who keeps his feelings to himself. Also on the island is an older fellow, Latvian Igor, as they call him. He lives out there all year round, completely alone, seeming to be punishing himself. Unlike the other men, he has no woman. “It was a good place for getting pregnant, the women on the islands joked. By which they meant that once the boats were in and the fishing was done, there was little else to do. Yes, the islands had a way of coaxing you into the quiet belly of a tin hut on a lazy afternoon.� Alva becomes pregnant (those sleepy afternoons) and has to go to Geraldton on the mainland to have the baby. Like many of the others, she speaks very little English. She is already terrified, and when the pains start, she goes a bit nuts. Finally, after the birth, a nurse sits with her, but I doubt her words would have been of any comfort. �‘You know,� said the nurse, watching Alva watch the infant, ‘you’ll never have another worry-free day for the rest of your life.� Alva went back over the words, trying to decipher them. She felt the nurse had said something profound. For Alva, trying to interpret the strange drawling English of Australians was like being on one side of a thick stone wall while a conversation took place on the other side. Her ears were always pricked.� Back on the island with a new baby, Alva makes a home. “Each day Alva would walk along the rocky perimeter of Little Rat with Hilda wrapped tight and slung across her chest. She scanned the ground, looking for small treasures. A knob of dried coral to sit on the windowsill, an abalone shell in which to place the soap. A splinter of driftwood, its surface rubbed smooth by the water, on which she wrote ‘Little Rat Island, April 1960�, before putting it next to the coral fragment.� It's a long way from Finland, and she’s surprised to find herself here. “The islands were a poor excuse for a home, thought Alva, as she took in the view of the archipelago. To think that people had looked at them and thought: yes, these should do just fine! She looked about and shook her head in wonder, her watery blue eyes giving away her overwhelming delight � for how glad she was to be here!� Baby Hilda grows up loving the islands and the fishing. She shadows (pesters) old Igor, who puts up with her because she seems genuinely interested in what he knows. He’s another collector of artefacts, bits and pieces, some of them from the wreck of the ‘Bٲ�, which sank on the reef in 1629. When the kids hit school age, they live in Geraldton with their mothers and go the islands only during the holidays. Hilda wants to fish, like her father, like the boys who fish with theirs, and she’s far less squeamish about killing and cleaning the fish and crays than the others. As she and the other girls and boys grow up, they are Australian teens, very unlike their parents. The story is told from different points of view and sometimes in flashback. This gives us the opportunity to see an event firsthand when it happens and then again from someone else’s memory. It’s an unusual story in that life on the islands sounds more like colonial history than modern, but the author knows her characters and handles them well. The Finns adopt some Aussie ways, as they move around the country, but their ‘pagan� customs and holidays are still celebrated. There are many Finnish expressions and words, not all of which are translated, but the sense is never in doubt. The moods and settings change from lazy shell collecting to intense personal relationships to wild storms at sea. This is a chilling excerpt: “Then the first liquid mountain rose up before him and Onni felt an awful lightness take hold. The boat lurched over the summit, dropped out of the ceiling and came slamming down on the other side. Onni lost his footing, ramming his shoulder into the side panel of the wheelhouse. It was the valley between waves that scared him the most. Down there in the crooked elbow of the sea, where it was eerily still. Then the sudden rush of wind as the boat heaved skywards again. The world now shattered at intervals under an electric shimmer. It was the most beautiful and terrifying sight Onni had ever seen.� This is an unusual debut novel and a great read. I certainly look forward to more from Emily Brugman. Thanks to NetGalley and Allen and Unwin for the copy for review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 09, 2022
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Mar 12, 2022
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Feb 09, 2022
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 176106570X
| 9781761065705
| 176106570X
| 4.18
| 220
| Feb 01, 2022
| Feb 01, 2022
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it was amazing
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A timely reminder, as pertinent today as when it was written. 5� � ‘Just remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.� P A timely reminder, as pertinent today as when it was written. 5� � ‘Just remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.� President Donald J. Trump . . . ‘What is the cost of lies? It’s not that we will mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that, if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all.� Prof Valery Legasov in ‘CԴDz�� Coper opens his book with the Trump quotation. One of the last chapters begins with the memorable statement from Prof. Legasov, which sums up the problem we’re facing now. (Whether HBO’s television mini-series, ‘CԴDz� quoted him accurately or not is beside the point.) This is a fascinating, page-turning, mind-boggling book that is subtitled, ”Welcome to the Disinformation Age�. Right � thanks. Coper has a good sense of humour and knows how to entertain as well as inform. He is a leading expert in communications for impact, the field in which he works. This has impact! Here, he describes truth: “a topic of much discussion at the original toga parties. That gaggle of verbose Greek men we usually trace our Western ideas back to (and made famous to a larger audience through Keanu Reeves� philosophical masterpiece ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure�) had a fairly simple explanation: the truth was what you got when describing things you could actually see and touch.� I was reminded of the famous poem by John Godfrey Saxe that my father used to quote (probably when we disagreed about something) which was based on an old Indian parable, The Blind Men and the Elephant. It’s too easy to make up your mind when you don’t have all the facts. If you don’t know the story, I’ve included the short poem under a spoiler at the end, or you can read it here: In ye olden times, as civilisations grew, we peasants received ‘the truth� from rulers and/or religious leaders. Most of us couldn’t read or write, and what was written was probably in Latin, not the language that we spoke. The leaders weren’t stupid. They less we knew, the more we relied on them. We could gossip amongst ourselves, spread rumours, and pretty much change the stories the way the party game of telephone or whispers goes. It’s fun to hear the original story and the final one after people have taken turns whispering it to each other. But that was small potatoes compared to what was ahead. Then came the printing press! As people learned to read and write and print, “what the church gained in codification they lost in autonomy.� People could print up their own pamphlets and circulate them, so that “the church fragmented into almost as many splinters as there could be pamphlets printed. . . . Martin Luther, the original ‘Old York Times� bestselling author, had copies of his manuscript show up in London just seventeen days after he first nailed it to the door of a German church. He sold 5000 copies in just two weeks (the equivalent of a record going multi-platinum despite only 10 percent of people owning a record player).� The author says that this moved us from the Greek truth we could touch to something that we could reason ourselves. It meant we no longer had to accept what rulers and religious leaders told us. We could figure it out ourselves with reason. He quickly moves from history to science and what we are still learning about how our brains work. It’s disconcerting to realise that we think we form opinions based on what our brains receive. The truth, in fact (believe me here) is that it works the other way around. We think we’re absorbing new information and filing it away, but “in reality, you have already formed your opinions and instead file it based on whether it supports them or not.� Pretty disheartening, isn’t it? Surely not ME! Like everyone else, I imagine, I like to think I keep an open mind, but I know I catch myself wanting to skip over articles that I’m sure are going to annoy me. He points out that each time you hear a mistruth, a little bit sinks in, and because it starts sounding familiar, part of you kind of believes it. Creepy! It’s a book full of facts and figures and examples an quotable quotes. He covers everything from those early Greeks to Murdoch, Fox, Trump, and the MAGAphone and QAnon. There are six parts: THE INFORMATION ECOSYSTEM The really worrying thing to me is that the real enemy of the truth is the division that has been generated by those who just want to disrupt things to make it easier to attract disaffected people to their own tribe. It’s a power thing. This is a really good example of how things happen that we could all fall for, if the issue were one that were dear to us. In May 2016, in Houston, Texas, there was a routine opening of a library in an old mosque. Routine, except for some reason there was a mob of angry White supremacists, neo-Nazis and others, attending the “Stop Islamification of Texas� event promoted on Facebook. Across the road was a group of socialists, Antifa, and citizens worried about the anti-immigration, racist movement. They were attending the “Save Islamic Knowledge� event promoted on Facebook. Police came, journalists came, and nobody could find any leaders to interview. There weren’t any. Want to know why? A year later, Washington DC released the findings. The Facebook ads for BOTH ‘events� were set up by the “Internet Research Agency � the Kremlin-backed ‘dezinformatsiya� machine. The ads had deftly promoted these conflicting protests for the exact same time and location.� Too easy. “For the bargain basement price of US$200 worth of Facebook advertising that brought opposing groups to the concurrent physical events, the Russian agency had successfully sown violent division on the streets of Texas.� Cold War bean counters no doubt rolled in their graves. Now we’ve got bots and automatic ‘things� operating in places we don’t even know how or where to look for. I’ve ‘chatted� with enough bots doing online shopping and banking to know how pleasantly interactive ‘they� try to make them. I don’t use Siri, or Alexa or Hey Google, but lots of people do, and it’s hard not to humanise them. Because this is a recent book, there’s plenty here about the spread of misinformation and disinformation regarding Covid. He has some good advice about how we should talk to each other when we disagree and what to do when we see posts or tweets. He has an easy memory tip: ERR (on the side of caution) “EVALUATE: Am I seeing/posting disinformation? REPORT: Flag the disinformation for the platform. RESPOND: If you have to, in private.� IN PRIVATE He stresses to respond only if you HAVE to. Do not respond online. Whenever you reply to a post or tweet, it raises the profile of the post and the platform will spread it further, because you’ve helped to make it more popular. Also, it is always better to let people save face by not being corrected in public. They may even amend or remove their post. (It can work, I know.) If someone posts that “The United States Has Invaded Canada�, you are probably going to question it. If lots of people comment “how ridiculous�, the post will get more airtime, but I suspect not many people would bite. However, if someone posts “Mexicans Have Invaded Texas�, I bet there will be lots of responses, good, bad, and otherwise. You can imagine how much airtime that would get as a result. So if you see a friend share a post like the Mexican one, it’s better to contact them privately (email, text, Messenger, Direct Message) and let them know it has been debunked. With accusations, we say some mud always sticks. The same is true with falsehoods and misinformation. As Professor Legasov said, “if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all.� Be careful out there, folks! And read this book. Thanks to Allen and Unwin for the preview copy of this terrific book! Under the spoiler is “The Blind Men and The Elephant�. (view spoiler)[ “The Blind Men and the Elephant (based on an old Indian parable) By John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887) It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined, who went to see the elephant (Though all of them were blind), that each by observation, might satisfy his mind. The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall, against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl: "God bless me! but the elephant, is nothing but a wall!" The second feeling of the tusk, cried: "Ho! what have we here, so very round and smooth and sharp? To me tis mighty clear, this wonder of an elephant, is very like a spear!" The third approached the animal, and, happening to take, the squirming trunk within his hands, "I see," quoth he, the elephant is very like a snake!" The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee: "What most this wondrous beast is like, is mighty plain," quoth he; "Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree." The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said; "E'en the blindest man can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can, This marvel of an elephant, is very like a fan!" The sixth no sooner had begun, about the beast to grope, than, seizing on the swinging tail, that fell within his scope, "I see," quothe he, "the elephant is very like a rope!" And so these men of Indostan, disputed loud and long, each in his own opinion, exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong! So, oft in theologic wars, the disputants, I ween, tread on in utter ignorance, of what each other mean, and prate about the elephant, not one of them has seen!� (hide spoiler)] For a good read about how we ended up with Trump and Brexit courtesy of Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, have a look at Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America by Christopher Wylie. He was in from the beginning before he realised what was happening. Here's a link to my review. /review/show... ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 09, 2022
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Feb 24, 2022
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Feb 09, 2022
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0994462085
| 9780994462084
| 0994462085
| 4.20
| 188
| unknown
| Mar 22, 2022
|
liked it
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3� “Dark images plagued Brooke’s mind. A moodboard made up of the photos in her hand and those in the post-mortem report, her imagination filling the g 3� “Dark images plagued Brooke’s mind. A moodboard made up of the photos in her hand and those in the post-mortem report, her imagination filling the gaps in terrifying detail.� Brooke Palmer has flown from Auckland to Christchurch to support her best friend, Lana. They’ve been close since school days, when Brooke’s younger brother, Jack, was murdered at 15, and now, almost two decades later, the body of Lana’s son Evan has been found at the foot of Taonga Falls. Taonga is their hometown over near Greymouth, on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island, where the weather can be wild and wet and bitterly cold. The situation is going to be awkward because the news services are all bringing up Jack’s murder now, and everybody knows who Brooke is. Because she’s a police sergeant herself and a local, or used to be, Detective Collins asks if she’d join the investigation. He himself has come across from Christchurch and is living in a motel room. �’Once the post-mortem results came through, I was assigned to the case. Packed my bags as quickly as I could and checked into a motel on the way into town. They’re down a senior detective here.� Brooke peered out at the unrelenting rain. ‘Things have gone downhill then. They at least had a detective living in Taonga when–� She clipped her sentence short. ‘I heard about your brother,� Collins said delicately. ‘I’m sorry.� Brooke fluttered her hand as if to say it was okay. ‘That’s why I’m not completely surprised. About Evan being murdered. My brother’s killer � he bullied him throughout school because of our family’s…� She looked for a word to soften her privilege. � “Demographic�. I hoped � for the town’s sake � that it was an accident this time. Even suicide. But like the press is already reporting, it looks like a similar scenario. A copycat crime.�� We learn later (it’s not a spoiler) that Brooke’s family “demographic� is that they are considered rich by the locals, because her stepfather is well-off. So the kids were bullied for being “privileged�. The story is told from Brooke’s point of view with long italicised sections that are flashbacks from Evan’s point of view before he was killed. It’s the only way we really learn what his life was like. It’s a pretty good story which I ended up enjoying, but I nearly didn’t read it because of the many instances of phrases like “returning his mahogany-eyed gaze to the road� and “[he] gave her his eyes. They were a hypnotic hazel.� and “A sense of foreboding clasped the air.� This hasn’t been published yet, so I won’t quote more in case someone edits them out (I hope), but there are so many, that I think this is the author’s style. I find it more prevalent in romance novels than mysteries, (which is why I read so few romances), but it's obvious there must be readers who like these kinds of descriptions. Really, with a slightly tighter edit, this could have been so much better. Thanks to the author and PRNTD Publishing for the copy for review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 13, 2022
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Feb 13, 2022
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Jan 30, 2022
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Paperback
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| 1800554206
| 9781800554207
| B09C41V63R
| 4.35
| 1,245
| Oct 19, 2021
| Oct 19, 2021
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really liked it
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4� “The Journal of Ginny Farmer. 18th September 1785. Oh, I am so miserable I really don’t know what to do. Yesterday had started so well. It was my se 4� “The Journal of Ginny Farmer. 18th September 1785. Oh, I am so miserable I really don’t know what to do. Yesterday had started so well. It was my seventeenth birthday� We first meet Ginny when she is fourteen, working as a cinder maid for her master’s household. She was lucky to be raised in a foundling hospital (many babies were simply abandoned), and she was also lucky to gain a position with meals and roof over her head. The reason we are reading her journals is that Professor of History James Postlethwaite was told by a friend of a large cache of records found in an attic in Elloughton Park. “Juicy personal journals� he called them. Curious, James goes to have a look and is surprised at the large trunk and the simple servant’s box, both full of papers and journals. James can’t handle this much information on top of his professorial duties. Ginny Farmer’s name reminds him of Grace Farmer, one of his adult students in her early thirties, who could use this as the subject of her planned dissertation. Grace is keen and they’re on the hunt! First to the old Foundling’s Hospital, where Grace rocks up in one of her collection of statement t-shirts, this one saying “WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.� She’s a bit of an outspoken rebel, it seems, and possibly quicker on the uptake than the professor. The book is divided into chapters of Ginny Farmer’s journals and the concurrent journals of Corbyn Carlisle, one of the sons of Lord Carlisle of Elloughton Park. James and Grace are each reading the different papers, and every so often, we have a chapter from today where they discuss their findings and guess why these papers from the late 1700s would be found together in an old manor house. Both sets of journals are private and filled with those personal feelings that are hard to share as well as a lot of historical details about the time. This is from Corbyn Carlisle. The ladies include his two sisters, and Carlton is one of his brothers. �5th June 1785. I have received a very disturbing letter from that terrible woman Alice Clough, my father’s old mistress. I am to stay away as there is smallpox at Elloughton Park. . . . The ladies it seemed already had the symptoms, and in Carlton’s case the variolation seems to have induced a severe course. All three are abed with the fever.� Ginny, meanwhile, has problems of her own. She has moved slightly up and across in the world of servants. She’s bright, attractive, and clever and seems to ingratiate herself with the people she works for until . . . There is always an “until everything falls apart�, isn’t there? Both Ginny’s and Corbyn’s stories are engrossing, as we see upstairs and downstairs life, and how people cross over (or not) on the stairs, so to speak. Corbyn and Ginny do meet through a mutual acquaintance, and that’s not a spoiler � just something to look forward to. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 22, 2021
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Oct 24, 2021
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Oct 18, 2021
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 1800552408
| 9781800552401
| B08XJPYKC2
| 4.31
| 320
| unknown
| Mar 30, 2021
|
liked it
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3� �‘He is fast, if not exactly painless,� said Richard. ‘But see how people like to see blood, Hubert. The dentist pulling teeth on his stage and the 3� �‘He is fast, if not exactly painless,� said Richard. ‘But see how people like to see blood, Hubert. The dentist pulling teeth on his stage and the executioner exacting pain and humiliation on the scaffold; they are not so different, one is just more spectacular and final than the other.� This is a history told in blood and treachery, curses and counter-curses. It sees the return of Sir Richard Lee and Hubert of Loxley, sent out by King Edward II to investigate a suspicious death. As the story moves along, the bodies pile up, one after the other. as apparently unconnected characters die horrible deaths. It is gory. The historical research is obvious. England and Europe in the 1300s was smelly as well as bloody. “Once again they were struck by the stench of the tallow works, so important to the manufacture of precious candles, which was accompanied by the eye-watering smell of boiling horse urine from the tanneries that lined the south bank of the river.� There is plenty of information about the politics of the times, why curses were being flung and why people believed in them. But things get awkward. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, had been beheaded by order of the king, his cousin. Before that, he had cursed Andrew Harclay, the Warden of Carlisle. “And among the throng the chatter was of the curse upon the traitorous Harclay, delivered by Thomas the Earl of Lancaster. The fact that their deaths were just a few days short of a year apart, within the time given in the curse, was taken to be of great significance. Indeed, it had been mere days after Lancaster’s death that miracles were reported in his name, and he was not only declared a martyr, but a saintly one. Such was the perfidious nature of the people that even those who had harangued Thomas of Lancaster at his death turned to praise and exalt him but days later.� Now, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, is being referred to as a saint, and people are flocking to his tomb to pray for miracles and to be healed. How fickle we are and how easily influenced still. The story follows Sir Richard and Hubert, of course, but we also see the point of view of the Summoner in the beginning and other characters as they appear. Hint: nobody is who they seem to be! I’m sure Moray’s fans will enjoy this one. I would prefer the history and historical details to be woven in a bit more subtly, but that may be just me. They were grim times, and the author doesn’t shy away from the details that will make you squirm. Thanks to Sapere Books for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 14, 2021
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May 20, 2021
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May 13, 2021
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 1800552300
| 9781800552302
| B091FW9P43
| 3.82
| 797
| unknown
| May 11, 2021
|
it was ok
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2.5� “Daniel pointed to himself with his free hand. ‘DԾ.� When there was no reaction, he tried again. ‘DԾ.� The man was clearly struggling to ge 2.5� “Daniel pointed to himself with his free hand. ‘DԾ.� When there was no reaction, he tried again. ‘DԾ.� The man was clearly struggling to get the word out. ‘D-´Ǵ.� That would do for a start, Daniel decided, and he pointed back at the man with raised eyebrows, hoping he would follow suit. ‘BԲԱDzԲ,� the man announced.� Daniel is a British officer who has arrived in Australia on one of the first convict ships of the First Fleet. He is the main character in this historical fiction that includes many real people, and it’s interesting to make him the man who first approaches Bennelong. Bennelong is well-known in Australian history, and the Sydney Opera House is situated where he lived on what is now Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour. Generally, I enjoy historical fiction as a way to combine my interest in history with a love of good stories. It can also be a good way to introduce young readers to history they might otherwise never hear of. As I was reading this, I thought it might be useful for a YA audience, as it is written in a simple, straight-forward fashion with a bit of romance and adventure. “Martha slammed the soup pot back on the stove, put her hands on her hips in a defiant gesture and said, ‘You know nothing, Daniel! You don’t have to spend every day in this dump of a house, with a child that’s determined to find every possible way of hurting himself, wondering what on earth I can cook that isn’t made from lentils, cabbage, potatoes or John’s sheep. So don’t tell me “you know�, because you Dz’t!’� It reads like a relatively modern story with a colonial flavour which will appeal to readers of light fiction. Unfortunately, although I’m no expert on Australian history, I would recommend it only as a fictional story to enjoy for the plot and characters. [I realise I may be too sensitive to inaccuracies others may not give a hoot about, so I'll put them under a spoiler and knock off half a star, not anyone will notice.] (view spoiler)[ This book said Macarthur found wild sugar cane growing (Sydney) and was making his own rum. Sugar cane was brought to Australia later and they had trouble getting it to grow even in warmer, more northern zones. Back then, I understand the word "rum" was used kind of the way "grog" is used today, meaning spirits. As far as I can find, the only real rum that was sold was imported and used as currency. A roaring trade! This is only one of the weird 'facts' that ticked me off. We have friends who are sugar cane growers, so I was startled to see this "wild" claim, particularly so far south. (hide spoiler)] Thanks to Sapere Books for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 29, 2021
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Jul 31, 2021
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May 11, 2021
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 1760878766
| 9781760878764
| 1760878766
| 4.41
| 4,082
| May 04, 2021
| May 18, 2021
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it was amazing
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5� “Back at work, I was reviewing a toddler language assessment I completed when something struck me.‘If Stella is already gesturing at eight weeks old 5� “Back at work, I was reviewing a toddler language assessment I completed when something struck me.‘If Stella is already gesturing at eight weeks old, what other communication skills does she display that overlap with those of toddlers?�� The author is a speech therapist who specialises in AAC, augmentative and alternative communication. She works with toddlers and small children who aren’t speaking, some of whom have already had countless therapists who have had little success. The point of AAC is to find ways for people to communicate, perhaps by using a device with pictures to point to or even a speech program like English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking used with a computer. When Christina and Jake got a puppy, she noticed very quickly how the puppy did what children do. Stella had wandered around the place, sniffing all the toys, interested in everything. “Stella approached her dishes and pawed her water bowl. ‘Oh, you need water? Let’s get more water, Stella�. In only two days of living here, Stella learned what each dish was for. She even gestured by pawing her dish to let me know that she needed more water.� This is an eight-week old puppy, remember, not an experienced older dog, so it’s natural that Christina might start making comparisons with her very young clients. She began making lists of the prelinguistic skills that she assessed in the kids and the milestones that Stella had already reached. Stella cries to get attention, stands by her food bowl when she sees Jake or Christina go to the shelf where here food is, and interacts with adults when she drops the ball at their feet. There are milestones parents look for in their kids - first smile, first word, first step. We help kids reach these by smiling, repeating simple words over and over, helping kids when they indicate what they want. When a tiny tot says “Up�, they reach up to be carried. They’ve learned to add the word to the gesture. Anyone who has had a dog knows how expressive they can be. Dogs will bring you their leash, push their empty food bowl around, paw at your leg if you’re on the phone (ignoring them) � the list is endless. We had working dogs, so we knew how smart they are at interpreting our verbal commands and gestures even when they were a long way across a paddock and a mob of sheep. They are magic! But that’s as far as it goes. That’s dogs understanding our words and actions while they have only the most rudimentary gestures to indicate what they want. Christina decides to embark on Speech Therapy for Dogs. She started simply, by getting a few buttons that when pressed would say a pre-recorded word. “Outside�, “play�, “water� - that sort of thing. As time went on, she added words. The way Stella learned to use them was remarkable and sometimes hilarious! She began to put a few together or use them in ways to make comments, rather than just tap out “Wٱ�. There’s a funny episode where after they’d changed the clocks back, they wanted to move Stella’s dinner to an hour later to keep her in synch with their work schedules next week. Stella kept saying (tapping the button) ‘E�. “I gave Stella a couple of treats to tide her over but kept saying, ‘No eat now, eat later�. Fifteen minutes passed. ‘Help eat� Stella said then barked. ‘I know Stella, good waiting. Eat later� Stella sighed. She stood still for about ten seconds. ‘Love you, no� she said. Stella walked away into the bedroom.� Christina and Jake were astounded! They had added a “n� button earlier. The “love you� button came later, and they used the phrase a lot when they were cuddling and tummy tickling. They had added the “h� button for when Stella had a ball stuck under the couch or something like that. They wanted to make it possible for Stella to express herself, and by golly she did! Another time, when they had late visitors who were taking a long time to leave at the end of the evening and were standing around the door, as you do, having another conversation, Stella got up, walked over to her button board, and said “B�, then walked back to her bed and curled up. Everyone cracked up . . . and left! This all took place over Stella’s first months with Christina. Her story has now been featured in magazines and on TV and Christina’s website Hunger for Words, if you would like to know more. She has included tips at the end of each chapter as well as footnotes and references. It’s an enjoyable read, especially for anyone who lives with dogs. From personal experience with dogs, conversation is all very well, but when someone is on a motorbike in a paddock shouting “Oh, for crying out loud what do you think you’re doing? Get back here!� what the dog hears is BACK, which is generally the command to run further around the other side of a mob of sheep. Stick to the simple words, the commands they know. For us, either COME BEHIND or ALL ABOARD. Poor old Bluey is going to do what he thinks he’s been told. [The same is true of computers - they do what you tell them, not what you want. Dogs are more intuitive, at least!] And when we look at our dogs as they paw at the door and tilt their heads at us, and maybe make a small woof, we don’t know if they want to go chase something outside, or find a toy they left outside, or go for a piddle, but with the right training and the right buttons, they can tell us a lot. I look forward to the continuing adventures of Stella and the Hunger for Words program. Thanks to Allen and Unwin for the beautiful preview copy for review from which I’ve quoted, so it’s possible some quotes may have changed. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 07, 2021
|
May 08, 2021
|
May 07, 2021
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 064511250X
| 9780645112504
| B08YN9JF3F
| 4.14
| 7
| unknown
| Mar 13, 2021
|
liked it
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3� “But who doesn’t do something crazy at twenty-two? he thought. It was so long ago, so much had happened since that it seemed like someone else’s lif 3� “But who doesn’t do something crazy at twenty-two? he thought. It was so long ago, so much had happened since that it seemed like someone else’s life, not an earlier time in his.� Mark is a maths teacher who had a great time backpacking around the world, finishing up in Israel for several weeks � a crazy time when he was twenty-two. Now, eighteen years later, he’s back in London, happy, married, with two young sons. He’s a bit of a numbers geek who likes to make decisions by scoring the pros and cons of taking different actions. He’s always done so, although I’m not sure I understood how he decided which consequence to choose and how many points to score it. But I was happy that it made him happy, and I’ve certainly never found a better method of weighing up the options. While he was in Israel, he met and fell for a lovely young American idealist, Lauren, who was committed to helping the situation there. She spoke both Hebrew and Arabic and was based in the Arab part of Jerusalem, so most of the subsidiary characters are Arabs rather than Jews. Israelis are portrayed mostly as the soldiers who are ever-present. Lauren also knew the best places to eat and drink and get ‘Sinai hash�. “He recalled the dreams he and Lauren both had of working in international aid, or as they put it at the time, saving the world. But half the backpackers he met then had the same aspiration. And the other half were too stoned to care.� Yes, it was a freewheeling time while he was on vacation. There are several graphic sex scenes and a lot of discussion about hash-smoking � more than necessary. I did enjoy the food (mmm�) and the setting. The history is somewhat dumped into dialogue, and I found myself skimming. Lauren was not on vacation � she was working. She was the one who added a lot of information about the charities and NGOS trying to help with the peace-keeping efforts. Eventually, she talked Mark into volunteering. �‘I heard about this fabulous charity that brings Israeli and Palestinian children together,� Lauren stated after they’d ordered. ‘They’re looking for volunteer chaperones.� . . . ‘They get kids together, between twelve and eighteen years old, and give them an opportunity to see how each other lives. They visit schools, play soccer, go to the movies, whatever.�� This past part of the story is interspersed with Mark’s present life. We follow only Mark, not Lauren, and we get to know his delightful wife and boys. He adores them all. He’s got a good career and he’s highly regarded in his field. Then, he gets a card from Lauren, eighteen years since they last communicated, and he can’t help wondering if she’s still involved in peace-keeping and if so, how do his life choices stack up against hers? What if? Should he have stayed? The author draws some good contrasts between backpacker Mark and family man Mark, and between the two settings, England and Israel. He introduces some interesting twists, and dilemmas, which would pull anyone in two directions, I think. There are a number of anomalies, things that don't match, like Mark's Jewishness (or not). It's like continuity in a film. If the shirt the hero is wearing changes colour in the middle of the scene, we notice it and are jarred out of the story. That happened to me too often. This is a debut novel, and I thank the author for the copy for review. He’s got plenty of talent and I’d love to see what he does next. I hope it includes getting a good literary editor to smooth out the bumps. A fresh pair of eyes would be well worth it! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 28, 2021
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May 29, 2021
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May 06, 2021
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 1949472310
| 9781949472318
| 1949472310
| 3.45
| 20
| unknown
| Apr 16, 2021
|
liked it
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3� “And the truth is that everything that has happened and everything that will happen is happening right now. Not a new concept, but why would you thi 3� “And the truth is that everything that has happened and everything that will happen is happening right now. Not a new concept, but why would you think the truth would be something new? Quite the opposite � it has always been and always will be. There are no choices. Everything has already been written.� This is hard for me to discuss, because I liked how this book was written, but I didn’t like the story or the subject matter. The beginning was promising � a guy in college meets another guy, BB, who convinces him to pull off a prank. Well, I mean he convinces him by using the philosophy above: what will be, will be, it has already been written. So you’re wasting your time trying to fight it. Edwin Block has been skating through school with his native intelligence until he hits another block, a roadblock. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself.) “Nevertheless, when the going gets tough and natural faculties and good guesswork are no longer enough to allow people like me to pull another Houdini-style escape act, we find ourselves at a distinct disadvantage. I do not know how to ‘c�. It is simply not in my nature.� He spectacularly fails an exam, a foreign feeling for him, and is easy pickings for BB to pounce on to help steal a statue as a protest prank. “But now that I had seen it, that �38� scrawled in blood-red ink across the top of my test, a final judgment unassailable in its mathematical certainty, I felt failure’s full brunt like a blow to the sternum.� BB approaches him, they chat, and BB says he wants to tell Edwin a story about a boy. That story is BB’s family history, which was an interesting, if violent, addition to the main story. A book could have been developed from these characters. I became more interested in them than in the two main characters. Here’s one: “BB’s grandfather, a hard-bitten scarecrow of a man who looked as if he had been stitched together from cowhide, sinew and scar tissue.� But we leave them in the past. There’s the heist, a cross-country escape, riding the rails, (broke, of course), a weird cult, and even weirder dreams. OK, maybe not weirder � equally weird. I lost track and began skimming, which I really hate to do, and I didn’t care how or where anyone ended up. I really read nothing about the cult. Eventually, when the narrator, Edwin, gets in trouble, he explains himself thus, going back to the opening philosophy. “I am wholly innocent, yet guilty. The things I did I have always done, and will continue to do until the universe’s end.� It’s what we used to say when we were kids: “He made me do it�, as if it weren’t our fault. I wish I’d liked the story, because I did enjoy the writing. I realise that sounds like a back-handed compliment, but I would enjoy reading something of his that isn’t speculative fiction, or whatever this is supposed to be. This is a little like someone trying to tell you about a wild party they went to or a bad dream they had (or maybe a bad ‘trip�), and you love how enthusiastic they are and the way they’re describing it, but it’s ultimately boring, because “you had to be there�. And I wasn’t there. Thanks to BookSirens for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. I will look for something else by this author to see where he goes next. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 25, 2021
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May 26, 2021
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Apr 12, 2021
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Paperback
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PattyMacDotComma
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Books:
arc-done
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| 4.26
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really liked it
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May 09, 2023
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May 08, 2023
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| 3.82
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not set
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Mar 28, 2023
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| 4.13
|
really liked it
|
Jan 10, 2023
|
Dec 18, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.52
|
it was amazing
|
Feb 2023
|
Nov 12, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.08
|
liked it
|
Sep 18, 2022
|
Sep 15, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.14
|
liked it
|
Oct 26, 2022
|
Aug 09, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.86
|
not set
|
May 25, 2022
|
||||||
|
| 4.52
|
it was amazing
|
Jun 23, 2022
|
May 13, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 5.00
|
it was amazing
|
Aug 04, 2022
|
May 13, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.03
|
really liked it
|
Jul 07, 2022
|
Apr 27, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.32
|
liked it
|
Apr 11, 2022
|
Apr 08, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.88
|
it was amazing
|
Mar 12, 2022
|
Feb 09, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.18
|
it was amazing
|
Feb 24, 2022
|
Feb 09, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.20
|
liked it
|
Feb 13, 2022
|
Jan 30, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.35
|
really liked it
|
Oct 24, 2021
|
Oct 18, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 4.31
|
liked it
|
May 20, 2021
|
May 13, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 3.82
|
it was ok
|
Jul 31, 2021
|
May 11, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 4.41
|
it was amazing
|
May 08, 2021
|
May 07, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 4.14
|
liked it
|
May 29, 2021
|
May 06, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 3.45
|
liked it
|
May 26, 2021
|
Apr 12, 2021
|
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