A legal-ethical SF thriller/mystery, absolutely cracking.
The premise is terrific--young lawyer has a chance to right a possible hundred-year-old injuA legal-ethical SF thriller/mystery, absolutely cracking.
The premise is terrific--young lawyer has a chance to right a possible hundred-year-old injustice at a time of massive social turmoil. It's tense and twisty and engaging, with a mystery wrapped inside an enigma, and we're compulsively drawn along the path of breadcrumbs with Nila.
It also has a LOT to think about, largely the question of what is justice, what is solidarity, what happens when rights and freedoms clash, and the concept of being morally unlucky (aka whether your actions make you a hero or villain depend very much on how the dice fall). And there is also that rare and precious thing, a lovely depiction of a male/female friendship that isn't burdened by sex or attraction or gender bullshit.
It's far more exciting than a book about legal ethics has any right to be and I enjoyed this hugely. It's also terrifically edited and the Indian print edition is beautifully produced. ...more
Ideas book, with the premise that everyone aged 22+ gets a box with a bit of string whose length predicts your lifespan. It's basically about what wouIdeas book, with the premise that everyone aged 22+ gets a box with a bit of string whose length predicts your lifespan. It's basically about what would it be like if you knew how long you'd live, and you could also see how long other people would.
It's a really interesting premise that went some very good places (good as in interesting) eg the way a politician uses the strings to whip up fear against short-stringers and divide his way into power, and trhe way people invade each other's privacy, or react to the guarantee of a long life by increasingly risky behaviour. It's a pretty brutal look at human nature at first. Unfortunately, for me at least, it soon devolves into a very sentimental carpe diem philosophy of the true meaning of life being the people you help along the way, which I dare say is all true but...you know.
I also felt it missed some areas I really wanted explored. For one, the whole thing is from a predominantly white and entirely American perspective. I think the only non American given a voice is an Italian woman who explains that Italians aren't bothered about learning their date of death because they already know the important things in life are "art, food and passion" because, you know, that's just what all Italians are like. Petition for Americans to just, please, in the name of god, stop.
If we were going to look at different cultures, how about religious ones which don't treat this life as the only one? There's passing mention of belief in reincarnation and that's it. And also, there is a mysterious force out there that magically delivers a box with your exact fate mapped out, and that evidence of an omnipotent omniscient active Fate that dictates our lives doesn't, you know, affect people's religious beliefs at all? How could you doubt there was a god?
So yeah. Great idea, but needed to dig in a lot more, and waaaay too sentimental for my taste though I can see why it's exactly what a lot of people want to hear. ...more
The story of a sort of alt european land where an expansionist, colonialist empire comes up against an anarchist collective. It's really about exploriThe story of a sort of alt european land where an expansionist, colonialist empire comes up against an anarchist collective. It's really about exploring what an anarchist 'country' would look like and what it would mean, and what sort of people it might or might not work for. Sounds a bit dry but very much done as a story, with compelling characters and vivid descriptions. I can't say I was entirely convinced philosophically speaking, but it's a very interesting speculation. ...more
A hugely interesting and thought-inducing read about listening: how we do it, whether we do it, the transformational importance of doing it, when we sA hugely interesting and thought-inducing read about listening: how we do it, whether we do it, the transformational importance of doing it, when we should stop doing it. Immensely readable, with some great stories, and a lot to think about. Slightly heavy on the 'modern life is rubbish' side but the author is a journalist, they can't help themselves.
(Also there is an anecdote in here which the author has very clearly shoehorned in just to get back at a jerk years later, and I can only applaud my fellow member of the grudge-holding community, ahaha.)
Strongly recommended and I will be reading this again. ...more
Intriguing premise - an award-winning litfic author (a brown woman) decides that everyone ought to #ShutTheFuckUp, with hashtag, and starts with herseIntriguing premise - an award-winning litfic author (a brown woman) decides that everyone ought to #ShutTheFuckUp, with hashtag, and starts with herself. She just stops talking, or writing. As she does this at a huge event, and then a white influencer copies her without attribution, this catches on, and we see Non-Verbalism sweep the globe.
This opens up some fascinating vistas and questions - what does it really mean to renounce speech, or all verbal communication? Is it an act of overweening privilege when so many people are denied a voice, especially POC and women? Or is it the only protest that really means anything? Do we *really* have a voice now or are we just permitted endless talk to distract us from what people in power are doing? What would life be like without the constant babble and yattering? How do you know what really needs saying? What would life be like if we all had to think more, and to show ourselves in action, not soundbites and claims? How much of all this is navel gazing, or snobbery, or a mass fad? It's a profoundly intriguing concept, brilliantly explored from multiple angles, with a gloriously sour view of people underpinned by a profound need for improvement and justice.
In the olden days this would have been called a Novel of Ideas, as it's more a philosophical/psychological exploration (the characters are great fun, but we're really here to watch Non-Verbalism play out). Do not be offput by this: it's a tremendous philosophical piece, and also highly entertaining on book-publishing bullshit, absolutely skewering the ludicrous way British publishing treats people of colour. If you're looking for a book that's funny, absorbing and intensely thought-provoking, here you go....more
Not a self help book. This is really about how and why we find it so hard to predict how we're going to feel about things in the future. Which, of couNot a self help book. This is really about how and why we find it so hard to predict how we're going to feel about things in the future. Which, of course, has huge implications for happiness: if we decide money will make us happy and devote our lives to making as much money as possible, things are unlikely to end as hoped. It's basically about decision-making, risk aversion, and blind spots in our predictive abilities (especially how hard it is to work things out from absences). Very interesting, and written with a genuine wit and lightness of touch that many pop science books strive for but very few achieve. ...more
I really wanted to read about octopuses (I was on a sea binge) but the weighting of this is a lot more towards philosophising about consciousness thanI really wanted to read about octopuses (I was on a sea binge) but the weighting of this is a lot more towards philosophising about consciousness than actually telling me about cephalopods. Which it says in the title, so my bad. Heavier going than I am in any way up for. ...more
An overview of the history of homo sapiens, most of which will leave you concluding we are a goddamn blight on this planet. It's extraordinarily depreAn overview of the history of homo sapiens, most of which will leave you concluding we are a goddamn blight on this planet. It's extraordinarily depressing to consider how much damage our pestilent species has done, how much destruction we have wrought, and how much misery we cause ourselves as we lock ourselves into patterns that are obviously incredibly damaging to individuals, society and other life. Very much worth reading, full of intriguing rabbit holes and stuff to think about. ...more
I am not into self help books but that's alright because nor is Derren Brown. I picked this up on the grounds that you won't get a better guide to knoI am not into self help books but that's alright because nor is Derren Brown. I picked this up on the grounds that you won't get a better guide to knowing how human minds tick / can be manipulated, and found it actually strikingly useful, especially in the middle section focusing on Stoicism. There are a lot of very good quotes, a lot of really easy memorable nuggets of useful thought; I highlighted a huge amount.
I would say that despite the best efforts of both the Stoics and Brown it comes across as a pretty priviliged philosophy in that "external events can only affect you if you let them" does seem to rather assume the external events aren't that terrible, painful or ongoing. That said, the philosophy was founded by an abused slave and used by a number of concentration camps survivor so evidently it does work in terrible circumstances: possibly you need more moral fibre than I have. Certainly this is a very good book for stepping back and thinking about how one interacts with a relatively privileged Western life and especially with social media and city existence. And no self help fluffiness or jargon. ...more
I wolfed this down. It's a lovely and unusual read: a queer traveller comes to an off grid type settlement of anarchists and dropouts which has been sI wolfed this down. It's a lovely and unusual read: a queer traveller comes to an off grid type settlement of anarchists and dropouts which has been set up as a utopia to discover why her friend left it and killed himself. Part of the reason might be the giant murderous demon stag he helped summon. Oops.
This is on one level a tense horror novel, where forces of the State and society and male violence are as much a sinister and pervasive threat as the heart-eating magic deer. But, as that suggests, it's also a meditation on things like society, what anarchism means, how societies enforce rules and what it means to do so and who takes enforcement roles on themselves. How do we keep ourselves decent without a prospect of punishment for those who transgress? Who makes those calls?
Danielle has a terrific snarky narrative voice, without the smugness that often brings--she uses dark humour to hold herself together after a rough, rough life. I loved her and her band of new friends (it's an effortlessly diverse story with queer and trans and POC characters at front and centre) and I'm very excited this is the first in a series. More please!...more
Kepler is a ghost who can possess bodies by touching them. They don't get memories, just the body. So ghosts live a basically parasitic existence, stealing bodies and money; making people's bodies commit murder and then dumping them to face theconsequences; snatching someone's body if the one you're in is dying; living in one for 30 years, having a family, then bailing out and leaving the 20-year-old original owner in an old man's cancer-riddled shell, that sort of thing. Kepler is a monster, in fact, as are all the ghosts, but this existence is the only one they have and most of them don't want to die. (If the body dies with them in, that's it.)
The story is about Kepler running for their life from an organisation dedicated to destroying ghosts, which turns out to have been infiltrated by one of the worst ones. It's inevitably hard not to sympathise with Kepler, what with them being the viewpoint character (Kepler never discloses if they were originally male or female or what) and we can believe that Kepler has come to love the bodies they possess (and has even groped their way to a policy of consensual possession and 'leave it better than you found it') when not exploiting others in a desperate effort to survive. Kepler's efforts to form human connections--necessarily temporary--are tragic and pathetic and moving all together, and it's a fascinating read, if a very dark one. ...more
Interesting stuff about our susceptibility to manipulation. Particularly interesting in the light of current politics--lots about how we hold fast to Interesting stuff about our susceptibility to manipulation. Particularly interesting in the light of current politics--lots about how we hold fast to our beliefs in the teeth of reality because it's so much work psychologically to accept that what we've invested in was a mistake.
It's a few years old which shows, particularly in an absurd sexist sequence about "pretty girl" salespeople fantasising about the clever things the author could have said (?!) but also in a chapter about the bystander effect based on the now debunked Kitty Genovese story.
Still, lots of very powerful and quite disturbing stuff here. Well worth a read. Knowledge is power when it comes to manipulation techniques and we could all do with stepping back and thinking twice....more
The thing about self help type books, like writing advice books and management books, is they tend to have basically one genuinely useful nugget of adThe thing about self help type books, like writing advice books and management books, is they tend to have basically one genuinely useful nugget of advice and the rest of the £7.99 book is there as scaffolding for it. This book is all the nuggets of advice, no scaffolding. As such it's actually crammed with really useful thoughts, and extensively annotated so you can do some further reading for the points where you want depth. (Which you will not get here--it's an overview.) It's very funny at points and in no way proselytising, but does give respect to ideas that are clearly good ones.
I've annotated the heck out of it, bought two books from the bibiography, and got my email inbox down to under 20. I call that a success....more
A mostly very enjoyable and readable account of nightwalking in London from the eleventh century to the 19th, as mediated by literature.
(What? I don'tA mostly very enjoyable and readable account of nightwalking in London from the eleventh century to the 19th, as mediated by literature.
(What? I don't always read books about cannibal chefs, you know.)
I don't know if there's quite enough to the topic to support the length, and the author does fall into academic blether occasionally, but the medieval history parts and the section on Blake are tremendous, vivid and fascinating. Well chosen quotes and sources too. A really interesting perspective for the London lit lover....more
Less to it than meets the eye. Not enough plot--lots of terrible dystopian meaningful stuff isn't the same as a story--and it was clever but tbh it gaLess to it than meets the eye. Not enough plot--lots of terrible dystopian meaningful stuff isn't the same as a story--and it was clever but tbh it gave me the Dr Seuss feeling. (You know, how Dr Seuss does rhymes by just making up a goddamn word if he can't think of one, so it's not actually that impressive that it all rhymes.) It's not that hard to make a story read like fabulously clever allegory of racism and determination and terrorism if you set all the goalposts in the first place.
This was a fascinating read. Extremely bold storytelling with a dizzying ending and astonishing scope for a novella. We're plunged into a new world ofThis was a fascinating read. Extremely bold storytelling with a dizzying ending and astonishing scope for a novella. We're plunged into a new world of huge complexity and detail, the story leapfrogs back and forth, there's a huge amount to infer and a lot of people to get to know very intimately, and the author pulls it off. Masterly. I didn't get into Sorceror of the Wildeeps, it felt a bit epic fantasy for me (personal taste, not a criticism) but this was brilliant. And demonstrates once again that diversity of writers and characters makes for better books than homogeneity and narrowness of outlook does. Which is pretty obvious if you think about it. ...more
The characters. Grayson and Wyatt are so real and raw it pulls your heart out. Just trying to get by, struggling with the eWell that was bloody good.
The characters. Grayson and Wyatt are so real and raw it pulls your heart out. Just trying to get by, struggling with the endless crap, major and minor, the weary grind, and still managing to find hope and joy and inspiration in each other and for themselves. Incredibly human, for good or ill, and relatable.
The writing. I don't think I've read a romance where I highlighted so many quotes. This from Wyatt when he's trying to find the courage to tell someone, anyone, he's nonbinary:
When it came to trans people, he usually knew, no matter how stealth, real or passing. Like he'd been reaching out for something for so long, he didn't realise he still had his hand extended until someone reached back.
Nnnngg. So good.
And I loved the premise, the photograph, the thoughtfulness about history and power and representation. Just, loved it. A really intelligent, moving romance. You want this. ...more
Loved this. Terrific writing, deceptively simple, great plotting and set up. Makes mincemeat of the recent dystopia trend. I am off to get everything Loved this. Terrific writing, deceptively simple, great plotting and set up. Makes mincemeat of the recent dystopia trend. I am off to get everything else this author ever wrote....more
Written in a shadow version of 11th century English which is incredibly evocative, this is stark and brutal and magical. An invaded countryAstounding.
Written in a shadow version of 11th century English which is incredibly evocative, this is stark and brutal and magical. An invaded country, groups of men driven to the woods and fens, a land haunted by dying gods where Christianity is the first invader. Told by a magnificent creation, buccmaster of holland, an inarticulate, rage-filled, brutal man consumed by paranoia and self-doubt that expresses itself in visions of Odin as Wayland Smith.
This is a magnificent book. The author has tried to restrict the vocabulary to pre Norman English and the poverty of language is incredibly expessive - the struggles for expression, the grinding repetition. It's a difficult, struggling, dying language like the story it tells.
deop in the eorth where no man sees around the roots of the treow sleeps a great wyrm and this wyrm what has slept since before all time this wyrm now slow slow slow this wyrm begins to mof
It's pretty hard work at first and takes slow reading, but my God, it's worth it. ...more
A bit of an odd one, this. It started as very much an allegory and moved towards a more realistic sci-fi. I didn't really feel convinced by the alien A bit of an odd one, this. It started as very much an allegory and moved towards a more realistic sci-fi. I didn't really feel convinced by the alien planet/civilisation, but then that wasn't the purpose of the book, except we spent quite a lot of time acting as though it was.
It is, really, a long disquisition about what it is to be human, and the story is a framework for that. However, I'll happily read Matt Haig's thoughts on that for pages, because they're very good thoughts. It's eminently quotable. I like its attitude. I didn't feel it was a story, but I'm glad I read it. And, as he says, the only genre of fiction is 'book', so yeah. A thoughtful and well written book.
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