K.J.'s bookshelf: thinky-thinky en-US Tue, 11 Feb 2025 00:18:26 -0800 60 K.J.'s bookshelf: thinky-thinky 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Sentence 219730560 What if you’ve been frozen in stasis for a hundred years for a crime you may or may not have committed?

An impoverished young man, Jagat, is found guilty of murder. For his crime, he is sentenced to the highest form of punishment—the sleep of death for a century, with the promise of revival should his innocence ever be proven.

But his act sparks a bloody conflict in the great city of Peruma, with the Commune, an anarchist collective of workers, revolting against the Council, which has ruled Peruma for four hundred years. Drained by a war without end, Council and Commune negotiate a hundred-year treaty that is to be enforced by an impartial body: the guardians of the Confederation.

And now, a century later, the Charter is a week away from lapsing. Tensions run high in Peruma. As an uncertain future looms, Nila, a young guardian, is approached by a mysterious woman who insists that Jagat’s case be reopened before it’s too late. Drawn by the prospect of undoing a possible historical injustice at a fraught time, Nila agrees. But as she begins to unearth the past, forces, known and unknown, thwart her at every turn.

What secrets does the city hold? Who is working in the shadows against her—and why? What is the price of resurrecting a martyr? The Sentence raises questions of justice, rights and ethics that will echo in your mind long after you’ve turned the last page.]]> 396 Gautam Bhatia 9360451525 K.J. 0 sf, spec-fic, thinky-thinky
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. ]]> 4.40 The Sentence
author: Gautam Bhatia
name: K.J.
average rating: 4.40
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: sf, spec-fic, thinky-thinky
review:
A 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.
]]> The Measure 58884736
"A story of love and hope as interweaving characters display: how all moments, big and small, can measure a life. If you want joy, love, romance, and hope—read with us." —Jenna Bush Hager
A luminous, spirit-lifting blockbuster that asks: would you choose to find out the length of your life?

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

It seems like any other day. You wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and head out.

But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. The contents of this mysterious box tells you the exact number of years you will live.

From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise?

As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they’ll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge?

The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn’t have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything.

Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is an ambitious, invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest.]]> 353 Nikki Erlick 0063204207 K.J. 0 american, thinky-thinky
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. ]]> 3.96 2022 The Measure
author: Nikki Erlick
name: K.J.
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/10/02
date added: 2023/10/02
shelves: american, thinky-thinky
review:
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 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.
]]> A Country of Ghosts 58564202 200 Margaret Killjoy 1849354480 K.J. 0 4.17 2014 A Country of Ghosts
author: Margaret Killjoy
name: K.J.
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2023/02/20
date added: 2023/02/20
shelves: politics, thinky-thinky, spec-fic
review:
The 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.
]]> <![CDATA[You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters]]> 45892276 Who listens to you?

New York Times contributor Kate Murphy asked people on five continents this question, and the response was typically a long, awkward pause. People struggled to come up with someone, anyone, who truly listened to them without glazing over, glancing down at a phone, or jumping in to offer an opinion. Many admitted that they, themselves, weren’t very good listeners, and most couldn’t even describe what it meant to be a good listener.

Despite living in a world where technology allows constant digital communication and opportunities to connect, it seems no one is really listening or even knows how. And it’s making us lonelier, more isolated, and less tolerant than ever before. A listener by trade, Murphy wanted to know how we got here.

In this illuminating and often humorous deep dive, Murphy explains why we’re not listening, what it’s doing to us, and how we can reverse the trend. She makes accessible the psychology, neuroscience, and sociology of listening while also introducing us to some of the best listeners out there (including a CIA agent, focus-group moderator, bartender, radio producer, and top furniture salesman).

While listening is often regarded as talking’s meek counterpart, Murphy discovered it’s actually the more powerful position in communication. We learn when we listen. It’s how we connect, cooperate, empathize, and fall in love. Listening is something we do or don’t do every day. While we might take listening for granted, how well we listen, to whom, and under what circumstances determines who we are and the paths we take in life.

Equal parts cultural observation, scientific exploration, and rousing call to action that’s full of practical advice, You’re Not Listening is to listening what Susan Cain’s Quiet was to introversion. It’s time to stop talking and start listening.]]> 278 Kate Murphy 1250297192 K.J. 0 self-help, thinky-thinky
(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. ]]> 4.08 2020 You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters
author: Kate Murphy
name: K.J.
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2023/02/01
date added: 2023/01/31
shelves: self-help, thinky-thinky
review:
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 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.
]]> The Movement 60618850
Everywhere Sara Javed goes - online or outside - everyone is shouting about something. Couldn't they all just shut up? One day she takes her own advice.

At first people don't understand her silence and are politely confused at best. But the last thing Sara could anticipate is becoming the figurehead of a global movement that splits society in two.

The Silent Movement sparks outrage in its opposers. Global structures start to shift. And the lives of those closest to Sara - as well as strangers inspired by her act - begin to unravel.

It's time for the world to reconsider what it means to have a voice.

A sharply observed novel, charged with compassion and dark wit, that will spark important conversations about how we live, relate and communicate now.]]> 448 Ayisha Malik 147227931X K.J. 0
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.]]> 3.87 2022 The Movement
author: Ayisha Malik
name: K.J.
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2022/09/03
date added: 2022/09/02
shelves: feminist, lit-crit, thinky-thinky
review:
Intriguing 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.
]]> Stumbling on Happiness 56627 � Why will sighted people pay more to avoid going blind than blind people will pay to regain their sight?
� Why do dining companions insist on ordering different meals instead of getting what they really want?
� Why do pigeons seem to have such excellent aim; why can’t we remember one song while listening to another; and why does the line at the grocery store always slow down the moment we join it?

In this brilliant, witty, and accessible book, renowned Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert describes the foibles of imagination and illusions of foresight that cause each of us to mis-conceive our tomorrows and mis-estimate our satisfactions. Vividly bringing to life the latest scientific research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, and behavioral economics, Gilbert reveals what scientists have discovered about the uniquely human ability to imagine the future, and about our capacity to predict how much we will like it when we get there. With penetrating insight and sparkling prose, Gilbert explains why we seem to know so little about the hearts and minds of the people we are about to become.]]> 263 Daniel Todd Gilbert 1400077427 K.J. 0 3.82 2006 Stumbling on Happiness
author: Daniel Todd Gilbert
name: K.J.
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at: 2021/04/20
date added: 2021/04/20
shelves: science, thinky-thinky, non-fiction
review:
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 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.
]]> Other Minds 28116739
In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how subjective experience crept into being—how nature became aware of itself. As Godfrey-Smith stresses, it is a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the mind’s fitful development, Godfrey-Smith shows how unruly clumps of seaborne cells began living together and became capable of sensing, acting, and signaling. As these primitive organisms became more entangled with others, they grew more complicated. The first nervous systems evolved, probably in ancient relatives of jellyfish; later on, the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous mollusks, abandoned their shells and rose above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so. Taking an independent route, mammals and birds later began their own evolutionary journeys.

But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? Drawing on the latest scientific research and his own scuba-diving adventures, Godfrey-Smith probes the many mysteries that surround the lineage. How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually “think for themselves�? What happens when some octopuses abandon their hermit-like ways and congregate, as they do in a unique location off the coast of Australia?

By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind—and on our own.]]> 257 Peter Godfrey-Smith 0374227764 K.J. 0 3.86 2016 Other Minds
author: Peter Godfrey-Smith
name: K.J.
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2021/02/12
date added: 2021/02/12
shelves: dnf, nature, science, thinky-thinky
review:
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 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.
]]> <![CDATA[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari K.J. 0 non-fiction, thinky-thinky 4.33 2011 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: K.J.
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2018/08/27
date added: 2018/08/26
shelves: non-fiction, thinky-thinky
review:
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 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.
]]> <![CDATA[Happy: Why more or less everything is absolutely fine]]> 30142270 448 Derren Brown 0593076206 K.J. 0 non-fiction, thinky-thinky
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. ]]> 4.07 2016 Happy: Why more or less everything is absolutely fine
author: Derren Brown
name: K.J.
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2018/05/22
date added: 2018/05/21
shelves: non-fiction, thinky-thinky
review:
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 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.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion (Danielle Cain, #1)]]> 32606889
Danielle shows up in time to witness the spirit—a blood-red, three-antlered deer—begin to turn on its summoners. Danielle and her new friends have to act fast if they’re going to save the town—or get out alive.]]> 130 Margaret Killjoy K.J. 0
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!]]> 3.61 2017 The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion (Danielle Cain, #1)
author: Margaret Killjoy
name: K.J.
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2017/08/31
date added: 2017/08/31
shelves: feminist, horror, lgbt, fantasy, thinky-thinky
review:
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 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!
]]> Touch 22314178
Now Kepler is looking out through the eyes of the killer himself, staring down at a broken and ruined body lying in the dirt of the alley.

Instead of dying, Kepler has gained the ability to roam from one body to another, to jump into another person’s skin and see through their eyes, live their life � be it for a few minutes, a few months or a lifetime.

Kepler means these host bodies no harm � and even comes to cherish them intimately like lovers. But when one host, Josephine Cebula, is brutally assassinated, Kepler embarks on a mission to seek the truth � and avenge Josephine’s death.]]> 426 Claire North 0316335924 K.J. 0 The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and The Sudden Appearance of Hope, the question of being unmoored from other people's memories and your own identity, but this time from the other side, as it were.

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. ]]> 3.78 2015 Touch
author: Claire North
name: K.J.
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2017/08/29
date added: 2017/08/29
shelves: thinky-thinky, thriller, fantasy
review:
Completing my Clare North glom. This is exploring the same theme to which North returns in The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and The Sudden Appearance of Hope, the question of being unmoored from other people's memories and your own identity, but this time from the other side, as it were.

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.
]]> <![CDATA[Nightwalking: A Nocturnal History of London]]> 22889921 496 Matthew Beaumont 1781687951 K.J. 0 historical, thinky-thinky
(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.]]> 3.74 2015 Nightwalking: A Nocturnal History of London
author: Matthew Beaumont
name: K.J.
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2017/04/01
date added: 2017/08/29
shelves: historical, thinky-thinky
review:
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'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.
]]> <![CDATA[Help!: How to Be Slightly Happier, Slightly More Successful and Get a Bit More Done]]> 9411145 288 Oliver Burkeman 0857860259 K.J. 0 non-fiction, thinky-thinky
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.]]> 3.93 2010 Help!: How to Be Slightly Happier, Slightly More Successful and Get a Bit More Done
author: Oliver Burkeman
name: K.J.
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2017/05/02
date added: 2017/08/29
shelves: non-fiction, thinky-thinky
review:
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 advice and the rest of the ÂŁ7.99 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.
]]> <![CDATA[Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion]]> 28815
You'll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader—and how to defend yourself against them. Perfect for people in all walks of life, the principles of Influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a driving force for your success.]]> 320 Robert B. Cialdini 006124189X K.J. 0 non-fiction, thinky-thinky
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.]]> 4.21 1984 Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
author: Robert B. Cialdini
name: K.J.
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at: 2017/05/06
date added: 2017/05/06
shelves: non-fiction, thinky-thinky
review:
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.
]]> Genus 9818503 In the Britain of a few tomorrows time, physical perfection is commonplace and self improvement has become an extinct expression: all the qualities men and women could aspire to can be purchased prior to birth.

GENUS is a time of genetic selection and enrichment - life chances come on a sliding scale according to wealth. For some there is no money or choice, and an underclass has evolved; London's King's Cross, or The Kross as it is now known, has become a ghetto for the Unimproved. In The Kross, the natural, the dated, the cheap and the dull, live a brittle and unenviable existence. But unrest is growing; tension is mounting and a murderer is abroad in these dark quarters...

Acclaimed author Jonathan Trigell's third novel is a breathtaking tour de force, exploring a dystopia of the not-too-distant-a future which will leave readers wondering not 'what if', as the original audience of Huxley's Brave New World did, but 'when'.]]> 276 Jonathan Trigell 184901678X K.J. 0
Meh, basically.]]> 3.26 2011 Genus
author: Jonathan Trigell
name: K.J.
average rating: 3.26
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2017/01/02
date added: 2017/01/02
shelves: thinky-thinky, sci-fi, dystopia
review:
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 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.

Meh, basically.
]]> <![CDATA[A Taste of Honey (The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, #2)]]> 30197853
Aqib bgm Sadiqi, fourth-cousin to the royal family and son of the Master of Beasts, has more mortal and pressing concerns. His heart has been captured for the first time by a handsome Daluçan soldier named Lucrio. In defiance of Saintly Canon, gossiping servants, and the furious disapproval of his father and brother, Aqib finds himself swept up in a whirlwind gay romance. But neither Aqib nor Lucrio know whether their love can survive all the hardships the world has to throw at them.

A Taste of Honey is a new novella in the world of Kai Ashante Wilson's The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps.]]> 160 Kai Ashante Wilson 0765390051 K.J. 0 better books than homogeneity and narrowness of outlook does. Which is pretty obvious if you think about it. ]]> 3.85 2016 A Taste of Honey (The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, #2)
author: Kai Ashante Wilson
name: K.J.
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2016/12/12
date added: 2016/12/12
shelves: fantasy, gay, bi, m-m, thinky-thinky
review:
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 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.
]]> Documenting Light 31145748
When Wyatt brings an unidentified photograph to the local historical society, he hopes staff historian Grayson will tell him more about the people in the picture. The subjects in the mysterious photograph sit side by side, their hands close but not touching. One is dark, the other fair. Both wear men’s suits.

Were they friends? Lovers? Business partners? Curiosity drives Grayson and Wyatt to dig deep for information, and the more they learn, the more they begin to wonder � about the photograph, and about themselves.

Grayson has lost his way. He misses the family and friends who anchored him before his transition and the confidence that drove him as a high-achieving graduate student. Wyatt lives in a similar limbo, caring for an ill mother, worrying about money, unsure how and when he might be able to express his nonbinary gender publicly. The growing attraction between Wyatt and Grayson is terrifying � and incredibly exciting.

As Grayson and Wyatt discover the power of love to provide them with safety and comfort in the present, they find new ways to write the unwritten history of their own lives and the lives of people like them. With sympathy and cutting insight, Ottoman offers a tour de force exploration of contemporary trans identity.]]> 292 E.E. Ottoman 1942083432 K.J. 0
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. ]]> 3.82 2016 Documenting Light
author: E.E. Ottoman
name: K.J.
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2016/10/16
date added: 2016/10/15
shelves: contemporary, nonbinary, trans, thinky-thinky
review:
Well 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.
]]> <![CDATA[Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)]]> 52397
Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others.

When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean salvation for all mankind.]]> 345 Octavia E. Butler 0446675504 K.J. 5 sci-fi, thinky-thinky 4.21 1993 Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)
author: Octavia E. Butler
name: K.J.
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2015/04/13
shelves: sci-fi, thinky-thinky
review:
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.
]]> The Wake 19189785 408 Paul Kingsnorth 1908717858 K.J. 5 Astounding.

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. ]]> 4.18 2014 The Wake
author: Paul Kingsnorth
name: K.J.
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2014/04/28
date added: 2014/04/29
shelves: historical, thinky-thinky, written-in-11th-century-english-i-m
review:
Astounding.

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.
]]> The Humans 16130537
He is disgusted by the way humans look, what they eat, and the wars they witness on the news, and is totally baffled by concepts such as love and family. But as time goes on, he starts to realize there may be more to this weird species than he has been led to believe. He drinks wine, reads Emily Dickinson, listens to Talking Heads, and begins to bond with the family he lives with, in disguise. In picking up the pieces of the professor's shattered personal life, the narrator sees hope and redemption in the humans' imperfections and begins to question the very mission that brought him there--a mission that involves not only thwarting human progress...but murder.]]> 285 Matt Haig 1476727910 K.J. 4 ya, thinky-thinky
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.

]]> 4.05 2013 The Humans
author: Matt Haig
name: K.J.
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2013/09/19
date added: 2013/09/19
shelves: ya, thinky-thinky
review:
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.


]]>