Nicky's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 17 Feb 2025 01:08:46 -0800 60 Nicky's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (A New Verse Translation) by Simon Armitage]]> 1253621 116 Unknown 057122329X Nicky 5
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Paperback) (isbn )
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Paperback) (isbn 0140440925)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Paperback) (isbn 0140424539)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (isbn 0719055172)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (isbn 0571223281)
Sir Gawain & the Green Knight (Paperback) (isbn 0030088801)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Paperback) (isbn 1146360738)"

Oops.

Anyway, I reread Simon Armitage's translation in honour of getting a signed copy (I was going to go to his talk about his new book in Leeds, but I ended up being in Cardiff due to my grandfather's death, so we phoned up and Waterstones arranged for him to sign a copy of Sir Gawain for me, which isn't as good as getting to speak to him but is still pretty good).

For my money, though Simon Armitage's translation isn't the most accurate academic translation, it captures something that even Tolkien doesn't manage to grasp, despite the care he took translating the poem, and that I haven't seen anywhere else. I remember doing a course on this poem (in the Middle English), and we talked about the poem being playful, and in part mocking the court and Gawain (but with affection). I feel like Simon Armitage's translation brings out that aspect very well, without losing the sense of nobility and chivalry that the poem is so rightly known for.

It also barrels along at a tremendous pace, and reads a lot more like popular literature than Tolkien or Brian Stone's translations. You might not think that a good thing, of course, but I think it suits the story.]]> 4.12 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (A New Verse Translation) by Simon Armitage
author: Unknown
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2012/09/20
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: poetry, medieval-literature, favourites, arthurian, myth-legend-saga-etc
review:
"Note: you have also reviewed the following editions of this book:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Paperback) (isbn )
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Paperback) (isbn 0140440925)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Paperback) (isbn 0140424539)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (isbn 0719055172)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (isbn 0571223281)
Sir Gawain & the Green Knight (Paperback) (isbn 0030088801)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Paperback) (isbn 1146360738)"

Oops.

Anyway, I reread Simon Armitage's translation in honour of getting a signed copy (I was going to go to his talk about his new book in Leeds, but I ended up being in Cardiff due to my grandfather's death, so we phoned up and Waterstones arranged for him to sign a copy of Sir Gawain for me, which isn't as good as getting to speak to him but is still pretty good).

For my money, though Simon Armitage's translation isn't the most accurate academic translation, it captures something that even Tolkien doesn't manage to grasp, despite the care he took translating the poem, and that I haven't seen anywhere else. I remember doing a course on this poem (in the Middle English), and we talked about the poem being playful, and in part mocking the court and Gawain (but with affection). I feel like Simon Armitage's translation brings out that aspect very well, without losing the sense of nobility and chivalry that the poem is so rightly known for.

It also barrels along at a tremendous pace, and reads a lot more like popular literature than Tolkien or Brian Stone's translations. You might not think that a good thing, of course, but I think it suits the story.
]]> The House on the Strand 50246
Alternate cover is available here.]]> 329 Daphne du Maurier Nicky 4
The narrator's background contempt for Vita, not fully realised by himself, is both well written and discomforting: the hints at the end that it could have been all in his mind are interesting -- it seems almost a cliché looking at it that way, but it read well here, and oh, the ending.

I got into the medieval story than the modern one; like the narrator I found it more real, full of passion and life -- which really, I suppose, shows it to be a fiction, or at least that the narrator experiences it in the episodic manner of fiction, while his real life remains unsatisfactory.

Anyway, like the narrator I'm glad to have experienced Roger and Isolda's stories. And I can understand the draw of them for the protagonist, and how prepared he is to throw what he has away to see them, to know them.

I'm half wishing I was writing the dissertation on time travel we all joked about in the first semester of my MA. It'd give me an excuse to keep on thinking about this book.]]> 3.85 1969 The House on the Strand
author: Daphne du Maurier
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at: 2012/08/09
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: classics, speculative-fiction, historical-fiction-alternatehistory
review:
I don't know why I've always been reluctant about reading Daphne du Maurier's work: I don't know what I thought it was going to be like, because both this and Rebecca were atmospheric and intriguing. Slower than your average thrillers maybe, but I do think there's something in them that captures the mind. A little patience works wonders.

The narrator's background contempt for Vita, not fully realised by himself, is both well written and discomforting: the hints at the end that it could have been all in his mind are interesting -- it seems almost a cliché looking at it that way, but it read well here, and oh, the ending.

I got into the medieval story than the modern one; like the narrator I found it more real, full of passion and life -- which really, I suppose, shows it to be a fiction, or at least that the narrator experiences it in the episodic manner of fiction, while his real life remains unsatisfactory.

Anyway, like the narrator I'm glad to have experienced Roger and Isolda's stories. And I can understand the draw of them for the protagonist, and how prepared he is to throw what he has away to see them, to know them.

I'm half wishing I was writing the dissertation on time travel we all joked about in the first semester of my MA. It'd give me an excuse to keep on thinking about this book.
]]> Wool - Holston (Wool, #1) 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]> 56 Hugh Howey Nicky 3
We don't learn much about the whys and wherefores: we're as stuck in the world of the silo as the characters. That might pique your interest or irritate the bejesus out of you, depending on personal taste. I liked the way the end was done, anyway: another reviewer (can't find it again to quote it exactly) mentioned that it was using their own cynicism about the dystopic world against them. That's exactly right, it does. Again, it depends on how cynical you were.

I'd like to know a few of the whys and wherefores sooner rather than later, but we'll see...]]> 4.14 2012 Wool - Holston (Wool, #1)
author: Hugh Howey
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2013/04/08
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: speculative-fiction, short-stories-novellas, post-apocalyptic
review:
This is an interesting set-up for a world, with quite a good twist in the end -- a sting in the tale, as I like to refer to it, which I most often see with short stories. I wonder how that will fit in with it being part of a series.

We don't learn much about the whys and wherefores: we're as stuck in the world of the silo as the characters. That might pique your interest or irritate the bejesus out of you, depending on personal taste. I liked the way the end was done, anyway: another reviewer (can't find it again to quote it exactly) mentioned that it was using their own cynicism about the dystopic world against them. That's exactly right, it does. Again, it depends on how cynical you were.

I'd like to know a few of the whys and wherefores sooner rather than later, but we'll see...
]]> <![CDATA[AA Theory Test and the Highway Code]]> 2893985 304 AA Publishing 0749552557 Nicky 4 non-fiction 3.44 2004 AA Theory Test and the Highway Code
author: AA Publishing
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2010/06/23
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: non-fiction
review:
Pretty helpful, though I used an up to date CD-rom and an iTouch app a lot more. Probably a bit out of date by now.
]]> <![CDATA[The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (Lord Peter Wimsey, #5)]]> 838672 3 Dorothy L. Sayers 1846071488 Nicky 3 audio, mystery, crime
I really forgot how long it takes for there to be much of an overarching plot. I think it took until Harriet Vane enters the scene for me to be entirely hooked.

Of course, now I already know and love Peter Wimsey, so it's different with the radioplays, but still... I'm rather tempted to skip onto Strong Poison.]]> 3.56 1928 The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (Lord Peter Wimsey, #5)
author: Dorothy L. Sayers
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1928
rating: 3
read at: 2011/12/23
date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: audio, mystery, crime
review:
Not my favourite when I read it, I remember, and rather too predictable, I think. I remembered most of the twists and turns, and figured out what I didn't. The best part about this radioplay was Wimsey and Parker and Wimsey figuring out to some extent that his meddling messes things up and gets people into trouble. Decidedly lacking in Bunter, though.

I really forgot how long it takes for there to be much of an overarching plot. I think it took until Harriet Vane enters the scene for me to be entirely hooked.

Of course, now I already know and love Peter Wimsey, so it's different with the radioplays, but still... I'm rather tempted to skip onto Strong Poison.
]]> <![CDATA[At Bertram's Hotel (Miss Marple, #10)]]> 16333
When Miss Marple comes up from the country for a holiday in London, she finds what she's looking for at Bertram's: traditional décor and impeccable service. But she senses an unmistakable atmosphere of danger behind the highly polished veneer. Not even Miss Marple can foresee the violent chain of events set in motion when an eccentric hotel guest makes his way to the airport one day late!

Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "At Bertram's Hotel." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on ŷ. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching ŷ for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."]]> 223 Agatha Christie Nicky 3 crime, mystery 3.72 1965 At Bertram's Hotel (Miss Marple, #10)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1965
rating: 3
read at: 2010/05/06
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: crime, mystery
review:
This one was quite nice. I loved the description of the hotel -- it's really really vivid: I could imagine it perfectly. It was a bit slow to kick off, in terms of action, though, and Miss Marple wasn't terribly central. I wasn't sure what the real point was going to be; it didn't seem as neatly tied together as I would like. I did enjoy it, though, and the last few pages were really rather good.
]]> Tales from the Perilous Realm 4653703 ‘The Hobbit�, fully corrected and reset for this edition and all beautifully illustrated in pencil by the award-winning artist, Alan Lee.

The five tales are written with the same skill, quality and charm that made The Hobbit a classic. Largely overlooked because of their short lengths, they are finally together in a volume which reaffirms Tolkien's place as a master storyteller for readers young and old.

� Roverandom is a toy dog who, enchanted by a sand sorcerer, gets to explore the world and encounter strange and fabulous creatures.
� Farmer Giles of Ham is fat and unheroic, but - having unwittingly managed to scare off a short-sighted giant - is called upon to do battle when a dragon comes to town;
� The Adventures of Tom Bombadil tells in verse of Tom's many adventures with hobbits, princesses, dwarves and trolls;
� Leaf by Niggle recounts the strange adventures of the painter Niggle who sets out to paint the perfect tree;
� Smith of Wootton Major journeys to the Land of Faery thanks to the magical ingredients of the Great Cake of the Feast of Good Children.

This new collection is fully illustrated throughout by Oscar-winning artist, Alan Lee, who provides a wealth of pencil drawings to bring the stories to life as he did so memorably for The Hobbit and The Children of Húrin. Alan also provides an Afterword, in which he opens the door into illustrating Tolkien's world.

World-renowned Tolkien author and expert, Tom Shippey, takes the reader through the hidden links in the tales to Tolkien's Middle-earth in his Introduction, and recounts their history and themes.

Lastly, included as an appendix is Tolkien's most famous essay, "On Fairy-stories", in which he brilliantly discusses fairy-stories and their relationship to fantasy.

Taken together, this rich collection of new and unknown work from the author of The Children of Húrin will provide the reader with a fascinating journey into lands as wild and strange as Middle-earth.]]> 403 J.R.R. Tolkien 0007280599 Nicky 4
Anyway, today this arrived -- since my first copy, most irritatingly, did not include 'Roverandom', which is a fun story aimed at younger readers than the others, involving the adventures of a puppy who gets turned into a toy, and his marvellous journeys. It's the longest story in the collection -- the only one to be chaptered -- and has, I think, more illustrations than the others. The illustrator is Alan Lee, about whom I probably have to say very little -- I think his drawings capture the things and mood described pretty well, for this volume. This edition also has an introduction, which helps contextualise each story and draw out a few things of interest. It includes 'On Fairy-Stories', as well.

I think one of the most charming things about Tolkien's fairy tales is the lack of moralising. Roverandom doesn't learn any big life lessons, except perhaps to mind his Ps (not so sure about his Qs) and not to bite a chunk out of a magician's trousers.]]> 4.08 1997 Tales from the Perilous Realm
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2011/11/24
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: short-stories-novellas, fairytales
review:
ŷ librarians really need to work on Tales from the Perilous Realm. Some editions contain four stories, others five, and some also contain Tolkien's 'On Fairy-Stories'. I'm not sure they should all be combined.

Anyway, today this arrived -- since my first copy, most irritatingly, did not include 'Roverandom', which is a fun story aimed at younger readers than the others, involving the adventures of a puppy who gets turned into a toy, and his marvellous journeys. It's the longest story in the collection -- the only one to be chaptered -- and has, I think, more illustrations than the others. The illustrator is Alan Lee, about whom I probably have to say very little -- I think his drawings capture the things and mood described pretty well, for this volume. This edition also has an introduction, which helps contextualise each story and draw out a few things of interest. It includes 'On Fairy-Stories', as well.

I think one of the most charming things about Tolkien's fairy tales is the lack of moralising. Roverandom doesn't learn any big life lessons, except perhaps to mind his Ps (not so sure about his Qs) and not to bite a chunk out of a magician's trousers.
]]> <![CDATA[The House at Pooh Corner (Winnie-the-Pooh, #2)]]> 776407 180 A.A. Milne 0525444440 Nicky 5
I think I prefer The House at Pooh Corner to the first book, somehow -- but the end makes me sad. Christopher Robin should never leave Pooh (I will never leave Helen or Edwin or all the rest).

My favourite thing is definitely still the rhymes.

I do have Academic Things to say about these books, I swear, only it feels rather silly to do so on the Internets.]]> 4.37 1928 The House at Pooh Corner (Winnie-the-Pooh, #2)
author: A.A. Milne
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1928
rating: 5
read at: 2011/02/03
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: for-class, children-s-and-ya, favourites
review:
I do love doing a class in Children's Lit. It just feels like an excuse to spend a Thursday afternoon and evening indulging in nostalgia, and calling it work.

I think I prefer The House at Pooh Corner to the first book, somehow -- but the end makes me sad. Christopher Robin should never leave Pooh (I will never leave Helen or Edwin or all the rest).

My favourite thing is definitely still the rhymes.

I do have Academic Things to say about these books, I swear, only it feels rather silly to do so on the Internets.
]]> Feminine Gospels 1209054 65 Carol Ann Duffy 0330486446 Nicky 4 poetry, queer 3.78 2002 Feminine Gospels
author: Carol Ann Duffy
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/08
date added: 2024/10/17
shelves: poetry, queer
review:
This collection doesn't contain any of my favourite poems, but it's good nonetheless. I like the first poem, "The Long Queen", and one of the later ones, "The Light Gatherer". I always love Duffy's use of imagery. I like the way she themes her poetry collections -- this one is all about women, Rapture was all about love, The World's Wife is all about the women who married/lived with famous men...
]]> The World's Wife: Poems 820442 96 Carol Ann Duffy 033037222X Nicky 4 favourites, poetry, queer 4.11 1999 The World's Wife: Poems
author: Carol Ann Duffy
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2007/01/02
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: favourites, poetry, queer
review:
Funny, dark, brilliant. Some of them more so than others. I like "Anne Hathaway" the best, probably, but am very fond of "Salome".
]]> <![CDATA[Touch: The Science of the Hand, Heart, and Mind]]> 25716561
Dual-function receptors in our skin make mint feel cool and chili peppers hot. Without the brain’s dedicated centers for emotional touch, an orgasm would feel more like a sneeze—convulsive, but not especially nice. From skin to nerves to brain, the organization of our body’s touch circuits is a complex and often counterintuitive system that affects everything from our social interactions to our general health and development.

In Touch , neuroscientist and bestselling author David J. Linden explores this critical interface between our bodies and the outside world, between ourselves and others. Along the way, he answers such questions Why do women have more refined detection with their fingertips than men? Is there a biological basis for the use of acupuncture to relieve pain?How do drugs like Ecstasy heighten and motivate sensual touch?Why can’t we tickle ourselves? Linking biology and behavioral science, Touch offers an entertaining and enlightening answer to how we feel in every sense of the word.]]> 272 David J. Linden 0143128442 Nicky 3 non-fiction, science-fact
It’s also pretty focused on stuff like orgasms and sensual touching, sometimes with fairly explicit (and somewhat unnecessary) examples, e.g. a description of a couple having sex. You may or may not find that helps your understanding; I found it intrusive to be told to imagine these things in which I have no interest! Particularly as some of these descriptions are addressed to you, the reader.

I felt that it got a bit scatterbrained at times � sometimes I felt that it wandered away from touch onto other aspects of our sensory experiences, though that’s almost to be expected. We divvy up our senses into some rather artificial boxes at times; just think of how linked scent and taste are. But mostly I found it interesting and easy to read.

]]> 3.95 Touch: The Science of the Hand, Heart, and Mind
author: David J. Linden
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2017/02/18
date added: 2024/10/01
shelves: non-fiction, science-fact
review:
Touch is a pretty fascinating book, delving into the importance of the sense of touch for us and what it would mean to lose that sense. It’s not just losing the sensation of your skin touching something, after all: touch receptors also play a part in interpreting pain, heat, etc. In a way, the book as a whole tells you about more than just touch, since it also gives a solid background in the nervous system and the brain.

It’s also pretty focused on stuff like orgasms and sensual touching, sometimes with fairly explicit (and somewhat unnecessary) examples, e.g. a description of a couple having sex. You may or may not find that helps your understanding; I found it intrusive to be told to imagine these things in which I have no interest! Particularly as some of these descriptions are addressed to you, the reader.

I felt that it got a bit scatterbrained at times � sometimes I felt that it wandered away from touch onto other aspects of our sensory experiences, though that’s almost to be expected. We divvy up our senses into some rather artificial boxes at times; just think of how linked scent and taste are. But mostly I found it interesting and easy to read.


]]> The Dark Farewell 7747038
It’s the Roaring Twenties. Skirts are short, crime is rampant and booze is in short supply. Prohibition has hit Little Egypt, where newspaperman David Flynn has come to do a follow-up story on the Herrin Massacre. The massacre isn’t the only news in town though. Spiritualist medium Julian Devereux claims to speak to the dead—and he charges a pretty penny for it.

Flynn knows a phoney when he sees one, and he’s convinced Devereux is as fake as a cigar store Indian. But the reluctant attraction he feels for the deceptively soft, not-his-type Julian is as real as it gets.

Suddenly Julian begins to have authentic, bloodstained visions of a serial killer, and the cynical Mr. Flynn finds himself willing to defend Julian with not only his life, but his body.]]> 189 Josh Lanyon 1605049441 Nicky 4 queer, romance, mystery
Not that it's all about the sex. There's the mystery, of course, in the background, and the supernatural elements, and the relationship which grows between Julian and David. I didn't like either of them much at first -- David is too closed off, and Julian too... flamboyant. But I got to like both of them, even in such a short space.

The mystery itself, I should've seen the end coming more clearly than I did. I got distracted by the misdirection! One part of the end is terribly convenient, really, removing a certain problem from the equation... and I do wish, in some ways, there was more of it, and it went on to show how Julian and David get on. Still, everything wraps up nicely.

There's a pretty good sense of place and time, too. It's not a setting that's particular familiar or resonant to me, being a Brit, although there are aspects that Britain and the US share -- the strikes the characters talked about, and the young war veterans...

Josh Lanyon is pretty good for light reading. I'm tempted to read more of his stuff when I'm on the train, on Saturday, but on the other hand, reading sexy stuff on the train... Hmmm!

Merged review:

I've been meaning to read more of Josh Lanyon's work for a while. Wanted to grab something for my iPod tonight -- I was going to a gig where I knew I didn't care for the support band -- and ended up getting this from the Kindle store. It's quite a short book -- nine chapters -- and easy to read, though I felt weird about reading the sex scenes while leaning up against the barrier in front of the stage!

Not that it's all about the sex. There's the mystery, of course, in the background, and the supernatural elements, and the relationship which grows between Julian and David. I didn't like either of them much at first -- David is too closed off, and Julian too... flamboyant. But I got to like both of them, even in such a short space.

The mystery itself, I should've seen the end coming more clearly than I did. I got distracted by the misdirection! One part of the end is terribly convenient, really, removing a certain problem from the equation... and I do wish, in some ways, there was more of it, and it went on to show how Julian and David get on. Still, everything wraps up nicely.

There's a pretty good sense of place and time, too. It's not a setting that's particular familiar or resonant to me, being a Brit, although there are aspects that Britain and the US share -- the strikes the characters talked about, and the young war veterans...

Josh Lanyon is pretty good for light reading. I'm tempted to read more of his stuff when I'm on the train, on Saturday, but on the other hand, reading sexy stuff on the train... Hmmm!]]> 3.85 2010 The Dark Farewell
author: Josh Lanyon
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2010/11/11
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: queer, romance, mystery
review:
I've been meaning to read more of Josh Lanyon's work for a while. Wanted to grab something for my iPod tonight -- I was going to a gig where I knew I didn't care for the support band -- and ended up getting this from the Kindle store. It's quite a short book -- nine chapters -- and easy to read, though I felt weird about reading the sex scenes while leaning up against the barrier in front of the stage!

Not that it's all about the sex. There's the mystery, of course, in the background, and the supernatural elements, and the relationship which grows between Julian and David. I didn't like either of them much at first -- David is too closed off, and Julian too... flamboyant. But I got to like both of them, even in such a short space.

The mystery itself, I should've seen the end coming more clearly than I did. I got distracted by the misdirection! One part of the end is terribly convenient, really, removing a certain problem from the equation... and I do wish, in some ways, there was more of it, and it went on to show how Julian and David get on. Still, everything wraps up nicely.

There's a pretty good sense of place and time, too. It's not a setting that's particular familiar or resonant to me, being a Brit, although there are aspects that Britain and the US share -- the strikes the characters talked about, and the young war veterans...

Josh Lanyon is pretty good for light reading. I'm tempted to read more of his stuff when I'm on the train, on Saturday, but on the other hand, reading sexy stuff on the train... Hmmm!

Merged review:

I've been meaning to read more of Josh Lanyon's work for a while. Wanted to grab something for my iPod tonight -- I was going to a gig where I knew I didn't care for the support band -- and ended up getting this from the Kindle store. It's quite a short book -- nine chapters -- and easy to read, though I felt weird about reading the sex scenes while leaning up against the barrier in front of the stage!

Not that it's all about the sex. There's the mystery, of course, in the background, and the supernatural elements, and the relationship which grows between Julian and David. I didn't like either of them much at first -- David is too closed off, and Julian too... flamboyant. But I got to like both of them, even in such a short space.

The mystery itself, I should've seen the end coming more clearly than I did. I got distracted by the misdirection! One part of the end is terribly convenient, really, removing a certain problem from the equation... and I do wish, in some ways, there was more of it, and it went on to show how Julian and David get on. Still, everything wraps up nicely.

There's a pretty good sense of place and time, too. It's not a setting that's particular familiar or resonant to me, being a Brit, although there are aspects that Britain and the US share -- the strikes the characters talked about, and the young war veterans...

Josh Lanyon is pretty good for light reading. I'm tempted to read more of his stuff when I'm on the train, on Saturday, but on the other hand, reading sexy stuff on the train... Hmmm!
]]> <![CDATA[Fadeout (Dave Brandstetter #1)]]> 19437216 Fadeout is the first of Joseph Hansen's twelve classic mysteries featuring rugged Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator who is contentedly gay. When entertainer Fox Olson's car plunges off a bridge in a storm, a death claim is filed, but where is Olson's body? As Brandstetter questions family, fans, and detractors, he grows certain Olson is still alive and that Dave must find him before the would-be killer does. Suspenseful and wry, shrewd and deeply felt, Fadeout remains as fresh today as when it startled readers more than thirty years ago.]]> 202 Joseph Hansen 0299205533 Nicky 4 crime, mystery, queer
The main character � Dave � is completely unstereotyped. He misses his partner, whom he loved, and he’s not ashamed of that fact � and okay, his partner was a bit of a cliché and rather camp, but the point is that there are a lot of gay people in these books, and they’re all different. They have different interests and different ideas about how to live their lives. Dave is comfortable with himself, and not compensating either � he doesn’t mind people knowing he’s gay, he doesn’t overcompensate, etc. He’s just himself and lets people take him as they find him � and finding a character like that in a mystery novel that otherwise feels pretty hardboiled is a lovely thing.

The plot itself is convoluted, of course, and it’s amazing how Dave’s cases always manage to be about gay people. If you’re straight, apparently you don’t get life insurance from Dave’s dad’s company? Or if you do, your death isn’t investigated by Dave? Of course, all the cases where Dave signs off on it without lengthy investigation aren’t mentioned either, so� Perhaps it’s just that Hansen was interested in how a gay detective made his way in that societal climate, and how being gay affected how people treated you, and how gay people interacted.

I love the series, personally; it’s really easy to read, but there’s depth here (like Dave’s grief for Rod, and in later books, his relationships with other men) and I have no doubt I’ll come back to Dave again in the future. (As I type this, I’ve already gone on to reread the second and third books, as well.) If there is a flaw, it’s perhaps that (at least at this point), I’m more focused on Dave and the whole fact of gay representation in hardboiled crime fiction, and much less on the actual mystery. On the other hand, I focus more on Chandler’s prose than his plot, too, so there’s that.

]]> 4.15 1970 Fadeout (Dave Brandstetter #1)
author: Joseph Hansen
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at: 2016/08/28
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: crime, mystery, queer
review:
It’s been a while since I read these, and when I noticed they’re now available for Kindle, I kind of fell upon them. Hansen’s writing is really readable: something like the economy of Chandler, and the turn of phrase, but somehow more streamlined and quick to read. And somewhat less problematic in terms of the representation, since we have a gay detective and generally more up to date models of how people interact and what women are capable of, etc. I can’t recall any exact examples where I wasn’t comfortable, though I think the handling of the Japanese pool boy incident felt a bit off, and maybe some other references to racial issues.

The main character � Dave � is completely unstereotyped. He misses his partner, whom he loved, and he’s not ashamed of that fact � and okay, his partner was a bit of a cliché and rather camp, but the point is that there are a lot of gay people in these books, and they’re all different. They have different interests and different ideas about how to live their lives. Dave is comfortable with himself, and not compensating either � he doesn’t mind people knowing he’s gay, he doesn’t overcompensate, etc. He’s just himself and lets people take him as they find him � and finding a character like that in a mystery novel that otherwise feels pretty hardboiled is a lovely thing.

The plot itself is convoluted, of course, and it’s amazing how Dave’s cases always manage to be about gay people. If you’re straight, apparently you don’t get life insurance from Dave’s dad’s company? Or if you do, your death isn’t investigated by Dave? Of course, all the cases where Dave signs off on it without lengthy investigation aren’t mentioned either, so� Perhaps it’s just that Hansen was interested in how a gay detective made his way in that societal climate, and how being gay affected how people treated you, and how gay people interacted.

I love the series, personally; it’s really easy to read, but there’s depth here (like Dave’s grief for Rod, and in later books, his relationships with other men) and I have no doubt I’ll come back to Dave again in the future. (As I type this, I’ve already gone on to reread the second and third books, as well.) If there is a flaw, it’s perhaps that (at least at this point), I’m more focused on Dave and the whole fact of gay representation in hardboiled crime fiction, and much less on the actual mystery. On the other hand, I focus more on Chandler’s prose than his plot, too, so there’s that.


]]> <![CDATA[The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks (The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks, #1)]]> 6033480
Reno doesn't have a lot of time for drama queens, but, convinced that Perry's jitters are based on something more than caffeine overdose, he heads upstairs to investigate. By then the body has disappeared. If there's one thing Nick has learned the hard way, it's to mind his own business. But Perry Foster doesn't believe in ghosts and isn't willing to let sleeping dead men lie. And Nick just can't convince himself to walk when it's becoming increasingly obvious someone wants the sexy young artist out of the way � permanently.]]> 160 Josh Lanyon 159632810X Nicky 3 mystery, queer, romance
The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks is the usual fare for Josh Lanyon. A fun story: both a romance between the two main characters, and a mystery story. To some extent, if you know one of Josh Lanyon's books you know them all. I mean, it's obvious who is going to get together and how it's going to go, at least to me. But that doesn't really matter that much. It's the getting there that matters.

The mystery story was, honestly, not really something I cared about in this one. A house with secret passages and so on... it makes me think more of the Famous Five than anything serious. Still, again, it was fun, so I forgive it the flaws. The romance is sweet, and the mystery is a bit of a spice to it, giving the reader one more reason to keep turning the pages.

Merged review:

Sixth book for the readathon!

The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks is the usual fare for Josh Lanyon. A fun story: both a romance between the two main characters, and a mystery story. To some extent, if you know one of Josh Lanyon's books you know them all. I mean, it's obvious who is going to get together and how it's going to go, at least to me. But that doesn't really matter that much. It's the getting there that matters.

The mystery story was, honestly, not really something I cared about in this one. A house with secret passages and so on... it makes me think more of the Famous Five than anything serious. Still, again, it was fun, so I forgive it the flaws. The romance is sweet, and the mystery is a bit of a spice to it, giving the reader one more reason to keep turning the pages.]]> 3.95 2008 The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks (The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks, #1)
author: Josh Lanyon
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2011/04/10
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves: mystery, queer, romance
review:
Sixth book for the readathon!

The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks is the usual fare for Josh Lanyon. A fun story: both a romance between the two main characters, and a mystery story. To some extent, if you know one of Josh Lanyon's books you know them all. I mean, it's obvious who is going to get together and how it's going to go, at least to me. But that doesn't really matter that much. It's the getting there that matters.

The mystery story was, honestly, not really something I cared about in this one. A house with secret passages and so on... it makes me think more of the Famous Five than anything serious. Still, again, it was fun, so I forgive it the flaws. The romance is sweet, and the mystery is a bit of a spice to it, giving the reader one more reason to keep turning the pages.

Merged review:

Sixth book for the readathon!

The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks is the usual fare for Josh Lanyon. A fun story: both a romance between the two main characters, and a mystery story. To some extent, if you know one of Josh Lanyon's books you know them all. I mean, it's obvious who is going to get together and how it's going to go, at least to me. But that doesn't really matter that much. It's the getting there that matters.

The mystery story was, honestly, not really something I cared about in this one. A house with secret passages and so on... it makes me think more of the Famous Five than anything serious. Still, again, it was fun, so I forgive it the flaws. The romance is sweet, and the mystery is a bit of a spice to it, giving the reader one more reason to keep turning the pages.
]]> Chalice 8162148 284 Robin McKinley 1101208953 Nicky 5 fantasy, favourites
Mirasol makes a great character: neither so knowledgeable about the world she lives in that worldbuilding ends up being 'as you know, Bob', but not so ignorant that she's completely at sea. We come into the story when she's starting to find some purchase, starting to figure out what she needs to do, but even by the end of the story, she's not all-powerful, so special she can fix everything. I like that a lot: the down-to-earthness of her; the fact that she turns to books for the knowledge she needs and just reads desperately, almost indiscriminately; the fact that she is so overwhelmed, unready and untrained, and yet does what she has to do.

I also like the sense of strain and work that comes through. It's not effortless for Mirasol and the Master to save their land; it comes slowly, in fits and starts, as they adjust to each other and to the circumstances. The last section is one long hard slog for Mirasol, and she isn't even sure she's doing the right thing, only that she knows she has to do something.

I think I can still understand why people find it disappointing or unsatisfying -- there's so much unsaid about the world, so much more that could be done with it, and Mirasol's story is only beginning here. And yet Chalice is whole in and of itself, a standalone fantasy story in a world that feels bigger than the story, which is exactly the kind of thing I like.

Despite the fantasy setting, it's not really something to read for the sense of magic. One comparison that comes to mind now is Lifelode (Jo Walton) -- the importance of the domestic in that. ]]> 4.21 2008 Chalice
author: Robin McKinley
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2014/10/13
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: fantasy, favourites
review:
For a book that I originally gave three stars, and found somewhat... disappointing, it probably seems weird that I've come back to it for a second time. But actually, I've grown very fond of it. I love the fact that it isn't just a generic medieval Europe, but something that has some of those aspects while having rules, rituals, histories and roles of its own. And yet at the same time, it's still rooted in the earth: in the common elements, in water and milk and honey, in the straightforward clear sight of a beekeeper called to higher things.

Mirasol makes a great character: neither so knowledgeable about the world she lives in that worldbuilding ends up being 'as you know, Bob', but not so ignorant that she's completely at sea. We come into the story when she's starting to find some purchase, starting to figure out what she needs to do, but even by the end of the story, she's not all-powerful, so special she can fix everything. I like that a lot: the down-to-earthness of her; the fact that she turns to books for the knowledge she needs and just reads desperately, almost indiscriminately; the fact that she is so overwhelmed, unready and untrained, and yet does what she has to do.

I also like the sense of strain and work that comes through. It's not effortless for Mirasol and the Master to save their land; it comes slowly, in fits and starts, as they adjust to each other and to the circumstances. The last section is one long hard slog for Mirasol, and she isn't even sure she's doing the right thing, only that she knows she has to do something.

I think I can still understand why people find it disappointing or unsatisfying -- there's so much unsaid about the world, so much more that could be done with it, and Mirasol's story is only beginning here. And yet Chalice is whole in and of itself, a standalone fantasy story in a world that feels bigger than the story, which is exactly the kind of thing I like.

Despite the fantasy setting, it's not really something to read for the sense of magic. One comparison that comes to mind now is Lifelode (Jo Walton) -- the importance of the domestic in that.
]]> <![CDATA[The Crochet Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You'll Ever Ask]]> 14610
Being a "good" crocheter is not about making perfectly stitched, elaborate, artful creations. It is rather a matter of confidence. You need to be confident in what you are doing and in how to figure out what to do if things aren't going quite right. Understanding why you do certain things and why they turn out the way they do increases confidence and leads to successful crocheting.

This book answers some of the most common questions crocheters have, and anticipates some questions you didn't know you had. The Crochet Answer Book will lead you down the road to gaining the confidence that makes for good crocheting.]]> 320 Edie Eckman 1580175988 Nicky 4 The Crochet Answer Book is a great resource, especially for people who are just beginning to crochet or who know the basics and want to add some embellishments. It has very clear illustrations and explanations, and shows pretty much everything from both a right-handed and a left-handed perspective -- having tried to teach a leftie to crochet, I definitely appreciate that and would probably use this in future rather than trying to crochet left-handed myself or something like that.

Especially useful for me is the stuff about gauge, because I've never made anything that needed me to pay strict attention to that. I'm not sure about "answers to every question you'll ever ask", but this is definitely a good resource and worth picking up if a Q&A style book seems likely to help you.]]> 4.26 2005 The Crochet Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You'll Ever Ask
author: Edie Eckman
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2014/09/22
date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: crafts, non-fiction, netgalley
review:
The Crochet Answer Book is a great resource, especially for people who are just beginning to crochet or who know the basics and want to add some embellishments. It has very clear illustrations and explanations, and shows pretty much everything from both a right-handed and a left-handed perspective -- having tried to teach a leftie to crochet, I definitely appreciate that and would probably use this in future rather than trying to crochet left-handed myself or something like that.

Especially useful for me is the stuff about gauge, because I've never made anything that needed me to pay strict attention to that. I'm not sure about "answers to every question you'll ever ask", but this is definitely a good resource and worth picking up if a Q&A style book seems likely to help you.
]]> <![CDATA[The Crochet Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You'll Ever Ask]]> 24356304

Edie Eckman's classic Q&A reference is better than ever! You'll find helpful answers to even more crochet questions, including new questions on broomstick lace, linked stitches, crochet cables, and much more. You'll also find illustrations for left-handed crocheters; up-to-the-minute information on new internet resources; and an expanded section on unusual techniques like Tunisian crochet. Whatever your level of expertise, you'll love having Edie Eckman's expert advice available at the turn of apage!

]]> 399 Edie Eckman 1612124070 Nicky 4 The Crochet Answer Book is a great resource, especially for people who are just beginning to crochet or who know the basics and want to add some embellishments. It has very clear illustrations and explanations, and shows pretty much everything from both a right-handed and a left-handed perspective -- having tried to teach a leftie to crochet, I definitely appreciate that and would probably use this in future rather than trying to crochet left-handed myself or something like that.

Especially useful for me is the stuff about gauge, because I've never made anything that needed me to pay strict attention to that. I'm not sure about "answers to every question you'll ever ask", but this is definitely a good resource and worth picking up if a Q&A style book seems likely to help you.]]> 4.39 2005 The Crochet Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You'll Ever Ask
author: Edie Eckman
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves:
review:
The Crochet Answer Book is a great resource, especially for people who are just beginning to crochet or who know the basics and want to add some embellishments. It has very clear illustrations and explanations, and shows pretty much everything from both a right-handed and a left-handed perspective -- having tried to teach a leftie to crochet, I definitely appreciate that and would probably use this in future rather than trying to crochet left-handed myself or something like that.

Especially useful for me is the stuff about gauge, because I've never made anything that needed me to pay strict attention to that. I'm not sure about "answers to every question you'll ever ask", but this is definitely a good resource and worth picking up if a Q&A style book seems likely to help you.
]]> <![CDATA[The Boy Who Lost Fairyland (Fairyland, #4)]]> 23257480 "One of the most extraordinary works of fantasy, for adults or children, published so far this century."—Time magazine, on the Fairyland

Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a green jacket), who invites her on an adventure, implying that her help is needed in Fairyland. The new Marquess is unpredictable and fickle, and also not much older than September. Only September can retrieve a talisman the Marquess wants from the enchanted woods, and if she doesn't . . . then the Marquess will make life impossible for the inhabitants of Fairyland. September is already making new friends, including a book-loving Wyvern and a mysterious boy named Saturday.

With exquisite illustrations by acclaimed artist Ana Juan, Fairyland lives up to the sensation it created when the author first posted it online. For readers of all ages who love the charm of Alice in Wonderland and the soul of The Golden Compass, here is a reading experience unto unforgettable, and so very beautiful.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making is a Publishers Weekly Best Children's Fiction title for 2011.]]> 256 Catherynne M. Valente 1250072794 Nicky 4 fantasy
It’s rather weird and jarring to go from the last book into this one focused on someone who isn’t September. The narrator nods to that fact, but really it’s no less infuriating: the last book left September in the lurch and I needed to know. It wasn’t so bad on this reread, but still. Still!

It’s not that Hawthorn isn’t a darling and his companions aren’t excellent and that the depiction of our world through the eyes of Fairylanders isn’t funny and wry and all wonderfully aslant, because all of those things are there. Hawthorn is a darling, his Rules for understanding the world are great, Tam is great. But. September!

Reading it a second time and knowing that, though, and having some more patience with it, I did love all the callbacks to September’s story, the little narrative references and mirrorings. It’s all very clever, in a very typically Valente-ish way, and it’s enjoyable to read it and notice what she’s up to. (And that level of the reading is what makes me think the series had so much to offer older readers as well as young: there’s just so much cleverness to savour.)

But I’m still very glad to get back to September and Ell and Saturday when this book is over.]]> 4.24 2015 The Boy Who Lost Fairyland (Fairyland, #4)
author: Catherynne M. Valente
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2018/07/17
date added: 2024/09/11
shelves: fantasy
review:


It’s rather weird and jarring to go from the last book into this one focused on someone who isn’t September. The narrator nods to that fact, but really it’s no less infuriating: the last book left September in the lurch and I needed to know. It wasn’t so bad on this reread, but still. Still!

It’s not that Hawthorn isn’t a darling and his companions aren’t excellent and that the depiction of our world through the eyes of Fairylanders isn’t funny and wry and all wonderfully aslant, because all of those things are there. Hawthorn is a darling, his Rules for understanding the world are great, Tam is great. But. September!

Reading it a second time and knowing that, though, and having some more patience with it, I did love all the callbacks to September’s story, the little narrative references and mirrorings. It’s all very clever, in a very typically Valente-ish way, and it’s enjoyable to read it and notice what she’s up to. (And that level of the reading is what makes me think the series had so much to offer older readers as well as young: there’s just so much cleverness to savour.)

But I’m still very glad to get back to September and Ell and Saturday when this book is over.
]]> <![CDATA[Around the World in Eighty Days]]> 161842 Excellent Book 256 Jules Verne 014062032X Nicky 4 classics
I loved the end a lot more than I expected to. I thought it was clever, and I enjoyed seeing a softer side of Phileas Fogg (one that I had, of course, been suspecting for a while).]]> 3.86 1872 Around the World in Eighty Days
author: Jules Verne
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1872
rating: 4
read at: 2010/05/17
date added: 2024/08/29
shelves: classics
review:
I read the Project Gutenberg version of this, in the end: I don't know who translated it, but the translation was really quite nice. I enjoyed this book more than I expected to. For all that he bribes his way around the world, really, Phileas Fogg has some interesting adventures, including saving a lovely young woman and commandeering a ship. I thought the characters were all quite fun. There are stereotypes and so on, and it's very very biased toward all things English, seemingly, but knowing about that in advance, I could ignore it.

I loved the end a lot more than I expected to. I thought it was clever, and I enjoyed seeing a softer side of Phileas Fogg (one that I had, of course, been suspecting for a while).
]]> <![CDATA[Siege: To Green Angel Tower, Part 1 (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #3: Part 1)]]> 1014321
Across the face of Osten Ard, lines are drawn as the final battle approaches, and the struggle between Light and Dark reaches a climax.]]> 816 Tad Williams 1857237870 Nicky 4 fantasy 4.14 Siege: To Green Angel Tower, Part 1 (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #3: Part 1)
author: Tad Williams
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.14
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2008/02/22
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: fantasy
review:
I loved this book. Unfortunately, Simon wasn't all that enchanting to me, and Miriamele really annoyed me.
]]> The Christmas Proposition 12961168 95 K.A. Mitchell Nicky 2 queer, romance 3.63 The Christmas Proposition
author: K.A. Mitchell
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.63
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2012/01/25
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: queer, romance
review:
This one is mostly sex, sex and more sex. Not badly written, and with a bit of emotional engagement if you can get into the characters, but I really don't think I'll remember it in a week or two -- and I think that says about all I need to say about what I think about it. There was even an attempt at angst, but considering I didn't care enough about the characters yet -- and was pretty sure of a happy ending -- it fell flat.
]]> <![CDATA[Grimms' Fairytales - Illustrated: The Professor's Bookshelf #10]]> 18177475 332 Jacob Grimm 0987555480 Nicky 3 classics, fairytales 4.12 1812 Grimms' Fairytales - Illustrated: The Professor's Bookshelf #10
author: Jacob Grimm
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1812
rating: 3
read at: 2013/09/29
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: classics, fairytales
review:
Read for the Coursera Fantasy & Science Fiction course -- which I think it going to be interesting, perhaps especially because I'm not sure I agree with the set texts or with the course description. Anyway, the Grimms' fairytales are obviously classics, and worth reading for that, though the selection here includes some very similar stories. And, of course, the same kind of logic is shared by most fairytales, so it's similar in that way too. Some of the illustrations in this version are quite lovely, though.
]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Sonnets and Poems]]> 2403024
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
]]> 750 William Shakespeare 0199535795 Nicky 5 poetry 4.35 The Complete Sonnets and Poems
author: William Shakespeare
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2008/11/23
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: poetry
review:
I never thought much about Shakespeare, or really tried to investigate his writing beyond the plays I was forced to read, which is a shame. His sonnets are lovely, and some of them are supremely clever. I love the inversions in sonnet 130, for example, and the sting in the tail of sonnet 18, "shall I compare thee to a summer's day"...
]]> Mansfield Park 45032 488 Jane Austen Nicky 3 classics, romance
I didn't hate the character of Fanny in the way some people do -- I could sympathise with her a lot, being pretty shy myself -- but she wasn't bright and intriguing as some other Austen heroines are. Edmund is nice, very nice, and I was quite fond of him from the beginning, but he was perhaps too nice. That might've been counteracted if there'd been more of his and Fanny's feelings for each other, a few extra chapters, but as it stands, neither of them particularly stood out for me, not even in affection for each other.]]> 3.86 1814 Mansfield Park
author: Jane Austen
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 3
read at: 2010/05/15
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: classics, romance
review:
I really enjoyed the beginning of Mansfield Park: if it had been shorter, I might have given it four stars, but there were parts that dragged a lot, for me, and the part I was more interested in was shockingly truncated. I couldn't care less about Henry Crawford, I wanted Edmund! I was somewhat prepared for that, from reading reviews of it, but the social commentary didn't really replace strong characters for me.

I didn't hate the character of Fanny in the way some people do -- I could sympathise with her a lot, being pretty shy myself -- but she wasn't bright and intriguing as some other Austen heroines are. Edmund is nice, very nice, and I was quite fond of him from the beginning, but he was perhaps too nice. That might've been counteracted if there'd been more of his and Fanny's feelings for each other, a few extra chapters, but as it stands, neither of them particularly stood out for me, not even in affection for each other.
]]> The Once and Future King 10571
Exquisite comedy offsets the tragedy of Arthur’s personal doom as White brings to life the major British epic of all time with brilliance, grandeur, warmth and charm.]]> 823 T.H. White 0006483011 Nicky 4 4.07 1958 The Once and Future King
author: T.H. White
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1958
rating: 4
read at: 2000/08/14
date added: 2024/07/31
shelves: arthurian, fantasy, classics, based-on-myth-saga-etc
review:
I can never remember whether I've read all of this or not, but a quick scanning says yes. I remember liking it, but not much about it. Rereading seems in order!
]]> <![CDATA[Conquistadors: The Spanish Explorers and the Discovery of the New World]]> 8721711
In Conquistadors, Michael Wood follows in the footsteps of some of the greatest of the Spanish adventurers travelling from the forests of Amazonia to Lake Titicaca, the deserts of North Mexico, the snowpeaks of the Andes and the heights of Machu Picchu. He experiences the epic journeys of Cortes, Pizarro, Orellana and Cabeza de Vaca, and explores the turbulent and terrifying events surrounding the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires.

Wood brings these stories to vivid life, highlighting both the heroic accomplishments and the complex moral legacy of the European invasion. Conquistadors is Michael Wood at his best - thoughtful, provocative and gripping history.]]> 336 Michael Wood 1846079721 Nicky 3 history, non-fiction
This is a period of history that's not entirely new to me, but pretty nearly -- we were taught a bit about the Aztecs and Cortes back in primary school, but that was about the extent of it. Wood evokes all this pretty clearly, though some colour photographs may have helped -- my edition only has a small section of black and white ones. He uses sources from both sides of the conflict, and I think he kept a balance reasonably well. He obviously admired some of the conquistadors, but he kept in mind that even those of a more exploratory bent still thought and acted as conquistadors, save perhaps Cabeza de Vaca.

I think it interesting that one review complains of a completely one-sided view of the conquistadors "ethnically cleansing" the lands they conquered, while another complains about the British self-loathing. I think actually, there's a pretty good balance between the two: Wood rightfully points out the excesses of the Spanish, but he also explains some of their reactions and doesn't gloss over the issues of human sacrifice, etc.]]> 4.02 2000 Conquistadors: The Spanish Explorers and the Discovery of the New World
author: Michael Wood
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2014/03/12
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:
I'm pretty willing to pick up any of the books Michael Wood has written. They're obviously more popular history than anything, pitched at BBC documentary level, but that is the level of knowledge I have for a lot of historical subjects. Conquistadors is in the usual format familiar from Wood's book on Alexander: he retraces the steps of the conquistadors, in some cases clarifying their routes where they weren't completely known before.

This is a period of history that's not entirely new to me, but pretty nearly -- we were taught a bit about the Aztecs and Cortes back in primary school, but that was about the extent of it. Wood evokes all this pretty clearly, though some colour photographs may have helped -- my edition only has a small section of black and white ones. He uses sources from both sides of the conflict, and I think he kept a balance reasonably well. He obviously admired some of the conquistadors, but he kept in mind that even those of a more exploratory bent still thought and acted as conquistadors, save perhaps Cabeza de Vaca.

I think it interesting that one review complains of a completely one-sided view of the conquistadors "ethnically cleansing" the lands they conquered, while another complains about the British self-loathing. I think actually, there's a pretty good balance between the two: Wood rightfully points out the excesses of the Spanish, but he also explains some of their reactions and doesn't gloss over the issues of human sacrifice, etc.
]]> <![CDATA[Martin the Warrior (Redwall, #6)]]> 201345 376 Brian Jacques 0441001866 Nicky 4 children-s-and-ya, fantasy
One of the awesome things is the way it talks about food; all kinds of food that animals would actually eat, yet cooked in human ways. It’s a weird combination, or sounds it, until you read the book and then it just sounds tasty. I’m sure I’d like Grumm or Polleekin’s cooking�

Martin the Warrior ends on a sour, sad note. I think ultimately the sympathies lie with the peace of Noonvale, even while there’s understanding of the need for revenge that drives Felldoh and, to a lesser extent, Martin. It doesn’t bring any good to the characters, even though they’ve removed a threat from the world.

Definitely a good nostalgia read, despite the sadness, and perhaps a bit more nuanced than I remembered.

]]> 4.16 1993 Martin the Warrior (Redwall, #6)
author: Brian Jacques
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2015/08/13
date added: 2024/07/13
shelves: children-s-and-ya, fantasy
review:
I hadn’t thought of rereading these seriously until I realised that reading a childhood book was on the list for a reading challenge, and then my sister returned all my copies to make room on her shelves for her own books. Then I thought, well, why not? I remember that I found the books getting a bit repetitive as the series went on (and on, and on) but Martin the Warrior was the first I read, and it’s obvious why it hooked me as a kid. It’s a little bit deterministic � rats are evil, mice are good, shrews are quarrelsome, etc � but I know that’s tackled a little in later books with characters like Veil. I’m not sure it’s ever really dealt with, though.

One of the awesome things is the way it talks about food; all kinds of food that animals would actually eat, yet cooked in human ways. It’s a weird combination, or sounds it, until you read the book and then it just sounds tasty. I’m sure I’d like Grumm or Polleekin’s cooking�

Martin the Warrior ends on a sour, sad note. I think ultimately the sympathies lie with the peace of Noonvale, even while there’s understanding of the need for revenge that drives Felldoh and, to a lesser extent, Martin. It doesn’t bring any good to the characters, even though they’ve removed a threat from the world.

Definitely a good nostalgia read, despite the sadness, and perhaps a bit more nuanced than I remembered.


]]> <![CDATA[Angels and Demons (Robert Langdon, #1)]]> 578587
A devastating new weapon of destruction.
When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati...the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy -- the Catholic Church.

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.
Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair...a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.

An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.]]> 620 Dan Brown 0552150738 Nicky 4 crime, mystery 3.82 2000 Angels and Demons (Robert Langdon, #1)
author: Dan Brown
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2006/01/19
date added: 2024/07/05
shelves: crime, mystery
review:
This was probably my favourite of Dan Brown's books. I'm not sure why: it's just as formulaic, and the writing level is about the same. I just enjoyed it more.
]]> <![CDATA[Gilgamesh: A New English Version]]> 1969108 In the ancient city of Uruk, the tyrannical King Gilgamesh tramples citizens "like a wild bull". The gods send an untamed man named Enkidu to control the ruthless king, but after fighting, Enkidu and Gilgamesh become great friends and embark on a series of adventures. They kill fearsome creatures before Enkidu succumbs to disease, leaving Gilgamesh despondent and alone. Eventually, Gilgamesh moves forward, and his quest becomes a soul-searching journey of self-discovery.

Mitchell's treatment of this extraordinary work is the finest yet, surpassing previous versions in its preservation of the wisdom and beauty of the original.

©2004 Stephen Mitchell (P)2004 Recorded Books LLC]]> 304 Anonymous 1419308181 Nicky 5
I really love the poem itself. The relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu is touching and heart-rending, and the descriptions of Gilgamesh's grief feel so real. It's amazing how readable and relevant it is -- partly due to the translation, I'm sure, but in general it seems closer to a modern reader's interests than other ancient stories, even ones a lot closer to us in time.]]> 3.93 -1200 Gilgamesh: A New English Version
author: Anonymous
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.93
book published: -1200
rating: 5
read at: 2010/03/10
date added: 2024/06/16
shelves: myth-legend-saga-etc, classics
review:
I knew very little about Gilgamesh before I picked up this book in the library. I knew I wanted to read it, and I had a vague idea it was one of the oldest works of literature, but other than that, I was relatively ignorant. This edition helped a lot with that, since it has an informative introduction. It's not exactly a new translation, being based on (if I remember rightly) seven earlier literal translations, but it is lovely and clear and also, where the story needs it, tender and touching.

I really love the poem itself. The relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu is touching and heart-rending, and the descriptions of Gilgamesh's grief feel so real. It's amazing how readable and relevant it is -- partly due to the translation, I'm sure, but in general it seems closer to a modern reader's interests than other ancient stories, even ones a lot closer to us in time.
]]> <![CDATA[If on a Winter's Night a Traveller]]> 52513609 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino. You like it. But there's a printer's error in your copy. You take it back to the shop and get a replacement. But the replacement seems to be a totally different story. You try to track down the original book you were reading but end up with a different narrative again. This remarkable novel leads you through many different books including a detective adventure, a romance, a satire, an erotic story, a diary and a quest. But the hero of them all is you, the reader.]]> 260 Italo Calvino Nicky 2 classics
Secondly, the whole construction of the thing is just infuriating. It’s not what I look for in a novel at all, because the entire point is that disconnectedness and incompleteness, the constantly broken thread of story.

Besides, this might sound weird, but the way he writes, he seems untrustworthy. I can get behind a good unreliable narrator, but I don’t like it when I feel as if the writer himself is deceiving me, sneering at me.]]> 3.83 1979 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller
author: Italo Calvino
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1979
rating: 2
read at: 2014/12/15
date added: 2024/06/11
shelves: classics
review:
I can appreciate Calvino’s prose (albeit veiled through translation), but I can’t seem to get on with his work as a whole. If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller is just really frustrating to me, no matter how good he is at conjuring up a scene, an atmosphere, an intriguing idea. I’ve never been much for experimental novels and the like, so it was probably inevitable I wouldn’t like this, but I had hoped I’d like it more than I did � it’s all about books, after all! But it annoyed me from the start, first because it’s not written for me at all. I don’t think Calvino thought for a moment about a female reader really picking up the book, because it’s all addressed to a male reader who you can supposedly, as a reader, relate to. So he wasn’t talking to me, but to some man: isn’t there enough literature that does that?

Secondly, the whole construction of the thing is just infuriating. It’s not what I look for in a novel at all, because the entire point is that disconnectedness and incompleteness, the constantly broken thread of story.

Besides, this might sound weird, but the way he writes, he seems untrustworthy. I can get behind a good unreliable narrator, but I don’t like it when I feel as if the writer himself is deceiving me, sneering at me.
]]> Deception Point 977
With the Oval Office in the balance, the President dispatches White House Intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton to the Artic to verify the authenticity of the find. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatics academic Michael Tolland, Rachel uncovers the unthinkable - evidence of scientific trickery - a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy.

But before Rachel can make her findings known, she releases, perhaps too late, that such knowledge puts her and Tolland in deadly jeopardy. Fleeing for their lives in an environment as desolate as it is lethal, they possess only one hope for survival: to find out who is behind this masterful ploy. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all...
(back cover)]]> 585 Dan Brown 0552151769 Nicky 3 mystery, crime Big Mystery + Male Protagonist + Female Protagonist + Code to Solve + OMG TRAITOR WITH TWISTED MOTIVES = Best Selling Novel.

And it's worked, so I guess we can't hate on him too much. There are people who swear his books are the best thing they've ever read -- I certainly wouldn't say that. But they are successful and I have to confess, even I like them, and when it comes to books I am Picky with a most definite capital P.

Digital Fortress is the first one I've reread -- I read it yesterday. Coming straight from that into Deception Point, I've noticed very quickly that Dan Brown recycles description/emotional response.

"Although she had practically lived in Crypto since its completion three years ago, the sight of it still amazed her. The main room..." - Digital Fortress
"As Rachel made her way into the maze of bustling corridors beyond, she was amazed that even after six years she was still daunted by the collosal scope of this operation. The agency..." - Deception Point
"Susan waited for the punchline, but it never came." - Digital Fortress
"Rachel waited for the punchline. It never came." - Deception Point

All his characters might as well be the same people -- David Becker (Digitial Fortress) might as well be Robert Langdon (Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code) -- ordinary people caught up in higher things, in over his head and things somehow work out fine. Susan Fletcher (Digital Fortress) is, like Rachel Sexton (Deception Point) a professional woman, pretty, the best in her field, similarly in over her head and somehow coming out okay.

Also, the infodumps get terribly annoying. A brief bit of dialogue and then an absolute shedload of explanation. Another characteristic of Dan Brown's novels -- all very formulaic, as I said.

But hey, it's a formula that works.]]> 3.44 2001 Deception Point
author: Dan Brown
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2006/01/17
date added: 2024/05/19
shelves: mystery, crime
review:
The formula is pretty simple:
Big Mystery + Male Protagonist + Female Protagonist + Code to Solve + OMG TRAITOR WITH TWISTED MOTIVES = Best Selling Novel.

And it's worked, so I guess we can't hate on him too much. There are people who swear his books are the best thing they've ever read -- I certainly wouldn't say that. But they are successful and I have to confess, even I like them, and when it comes to books I am Picky with a most definite capital P.

Digital Fortress is the first one I've reread -- I read it yesterday. Coming straight from that into Deception Point, I've noticed very quickly that Dan Brown recycles description/emotional response.

"Although she had practically lived in Crypto since its completion three years ago, the sight of it still amazed her. The main room..." - Digital Fortress
"As Rachel made her way into the maze of bustling corridors beyond, she was amazed that even after six years she was still daunted by the collosal scope of this operation. The agency..." - Deception Point
"Susan waited for the punchline, but it never came." - Digital Fortress
"Rachel waited for the punchline. It never came." - Deception Point

All his characters might as well be the same people -- David Becker (Digitial Fortress) might as well be Robert Langdon (Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code) -- ordinary people caught up in higher things, in over his head and things somehow work out fine. Susan Fletcher (Digital Fortress) is, like Rachel Sexton (Deception Point) a professional woman, pretty, the best in her field, similarly in over her head and somehow coming out okay.

Also, the infodumps get terribly annoying. A brief bit of dialogue and then an absolute shedload of explanation. Another characteristic of Dan Brown's novels -- all very formulaic, as I said.

But hey, it's a formula that works.
]]> <![CDATA[Brut or Hystoria Brutonum (English, Middle English and Middle English Edition)]]> 3919160 Here, for the first time in eight centuries, the poem is published complete and fully edited with modern punctuation and paragraphing. The text is accompanied by textual notes and commentary which take account of the most recent scholarship, and is presented in parallel with a close, literal translation. Unique to this edition, textual divisions expose the thematic structure of the work.]]> 0 Layamon 0582246512 Nicky 3
(It scares me that I now feel qualified to comment on the accuracy of translations. Eek!)

In any case, having read Geoffrey and Wace, this doesn't offer much new.]]> 4.20 1190 Brut or Hystoria Brutonum (English, Middle English and Middle English Edition)
author: Layamon
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1190
rating: 3
read at: 2010/12/08
date added: 2024/05/17
shelves: arthurian, medieval-literature, myth-legend-saga-etc, historical-fiction-alternatehistory
review:
Another version of the same "history" Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote, only filtered through Wace and then expanded upon. The translation is clunky, not idiomatic, and can be hard to read. If I'd been the one to translate this, okay, I haven't seen the original text, but I get the feeling from looking at this translation that it's quite close to literal in places. It'd benefit from having the word order changed, at the very least.

(It scares me that I now feel qualified to comment on the accuracy of translations. Eek!)

In any case, having read Geoffrey and Wace, this doesn't offer much new.
]]> Beowulf 863467 Beowulf is one of the important Northern epics and a classic of European literature.
In his new translation, Seamus Heaney has produced a work which is both true, line by line, to the original poem, and an expression, in its language and music, of something fundamental to his own creative gift.]]> Unknown 1565114272 Nicky 4
There's something magical about this reading of Beowulf, I think. I found myself losing track of my stitches to pay attention to his voice (even though crochet and listening are not mutually exclusive). It doesn't sound like poetry, which reminds me of Tolkien's theory that the alliterative metre matches the rhythms of spoken English better than iambic pentameter, because it's our ancestral form of poetry. Not that Heaney's translation obeys all the strict rules of alliterative metre, but it's still there, and he clearly relishes saying it. There was something very soothing about it, lulling, though; if I wasn't so interested in Beowulf I think I might have been bored, as I didn't find Seamus Heaney's reading that expressive.

Also, hearing him read it aloud made me much more inclined to argue with his translation, for some reason.

Still, it's a very interesting performance, and probably a better way to experience it than reading it in a book. It feels less foreign that way.]]> 3.93 1000 Beowulf
author: Unknown
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1000
rating: 4
read at: 2011/11/11
date added: 2024/05/08
shelves: poetry, medieval-literature, audio, classics
review:
I've had a recording of Seamus Heaney's reading of his translation of Beowulf on cassette for a long time, but I only got round to listening to it just today, while I was crocheting. It was terribly old school -- my dad brought my old stereo from home, from when I was about eight, so I could listen to it.

There's something magical about this reading of Beowulf, I think. I found myself losing track of my stitches to pay attention to his voice (even though crochet and listening are not mutually exclusive). It doesn't sound like poetry, which reminds me of Tolkien's theory that the alliterative metre matches the rhythms of spoken English better than iambic pentameter, because it's our ancestral form of poetry. Not that Heaney's translation obeys all the strict rules of alliterative metre, but it's still there, and he clearly relishes saying it. There was something very soothing about it, lulling, though; if I wasn't so interested in Beowulf I think I might have been bored, as I didn't find Seamus Heaney's reading that expressive.

Also, hearing him read it aloud made me much more inclined to argue with his translation, for some reason.

Still, it's a very interesting performance, and probably a better way to experience it than reading it in a book. It feels less foreign that way.
]]> <![CDATA[One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich]]> 17125 The only English translation authorized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

First published in the Soviet journal Novy Mir in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich stands as a classic of contemporary literature. The story of labor-camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, it graphically describes his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of communist oppression. An unforgettable portrait of the entire world of Stalin's forced work camps, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the most extraordinary literary documents to have emerged from the Soviet Union and confirms Solzhenitsyn's stature as "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dosotevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy"--Harrison Salisbury

This unexpurgated 1991 translation by H. T. Willetts is the only authorized edition available, and fully captures the power and beauty of the original Russian.]]> 182 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Nicky 4 classics
When I read Gulag Archipelago, I was sure that the very existence of such accounts would help to prevent such a thing from happening again. I'm less sure, now. But it's still worth reading to understand the depths to which we can sink.]]> 3.98 1962 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at: 2013/10/21
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves: classics
review:
If you can't face the idea of reading the entirety of Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago, this makes a good second choice. It follows a day in the life of one of the prisoners in a Russian gulag, and touches on a lot of issues that faced them -- and, of course, the author really was one of those prisoners himself, so it is very close to not being fiction at all. It's not an easy read, emotionally, but it's easier than Gulag Archipelago for sure.

When I read Gulag Archipelago, I was sure that the very existence of such accounts would help to prevent such a thing from happening again. I'm less sure, now. But it's still worth reading to understand the depths to which we can sink.
]]> Blood Price (Vicki Nelson #1) 1599142 273 Tanya Huff 0756405017 Nicky 3 fantasy
It’s a pretty light read, but the kind which comes gloriously without guilt for me. It’s free of homophobia (there’s a gay character, Tony); Vicki can handle herself and when she does need help, it’s not because she’s a woman; men and women can be friends; relationships can be complicated; the Alpha-Hole character’s chauvinism is called out, etc, etc. I feel like I can always rely on Tanya Huff’s work for something which includes people like me, while also delivering an absorbing story. (And the occasional giggle, e.g. when excerpts of Henry’s novels are included.)

The story itself is more or less secondary to the characters, for me: in this book, Vicki Nelson finds herself facing a young man who summons demons to get everything he wants, not knowing that he is also being used by them. The important part is not so much the mystery, but the way it brings the characters together. And while Henry Fitzroy is fiercely attractive, he’s also frightening, and we see that side of him as well. No sparkly or idealised vampires here.

Solid and entertaining; it almost deserves to get four stars, even just because I’m comparing it to M.C. Beaton’s Snobbery With Violence, which I gave three stars. This is definitely a better book, in terms of both the plot and the execution. Still, at least in this first book, I haven’t tipped over into adoring the book and the characters yet.

]]> 3.58 1991 Blood Price (Vicki Nelson #1)
author: Tanya Huff
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at: 2016/05/25
date added: 2024/02/11
shelves: fantasy
review:
I read this first book of the series ages ago and enjoyed it, but didn’t go on to read the rest of the series at the time. Now I’m determined to read them all: it’s such a cool set-up, the retired police officer turned private detective who, by the way, has retinitis pigmentosa, meets a vampire romance novelist. They fight crime. I’m not even kidding: it’s supernatural crime, but nonetheless, that is essentially what Vicki Nelson and Henry Fitzroy do. (And by the way, the detective is Vicki; the romance novelist is Henry.)

It’s a pretty light read, but the kind which comes gloriously without guilt for me. It’s free of homophobia (there’s a gay character, Tony); Vicki can handle herself and when she does need help, it’s not because she’s a woman; men and women can be friends; relationships can be complicated; the Alpha-Hole character’s chauvinism is called out, etc, etc. I feel like I can always rely on Tanya Huff’s work for something which includes people like me, while also delivering an absorbing story. (And the occasional giggle, e.g. when excerpts of Henry’s novels are included.)

The story itself is more or less secondary to the characters, for me: in this book, Vicki Nelson finds herself facing a young man who summons demons to get everything he wants, not knowing that he is also being used by them. The important part is not so much the mystery, but the way it brings the characters together. And while Henry Fitzroy is fiercely attractive, he’s also frightening, and we see that side of him as well. No sparkly or idealised vampires here.

Solid and entertaining; it almost deserves to get four stars, even just because I’m comparing it to M.C. Beaton’s Snobbery With Violence, which I gave three stars. This is definitely a better book, in terms of both the plot and the execution. Still, at least in this first book, I haven’t tipped over into adoring the book and the characters yet.


]]> Fahrenheit 451 160014
The classic novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.

Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a classic of twentieth-century literature which over fifty years from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.]]> 172 Ray Bradbury Nicky 4 dystopia, speculative-fiction intended -- but this doesn't supersede, necessarily, what he didn't intend to write. Death of the author, and all that.)

His own message, that tv rots the brain and ruins everything is... only true in excess. I watched plenty of tv as a kid; I don't watch much at all now. I'd rather read the book than watch the series, most of the time. But there's some good stuff on the tv, in the same way that there's only a certain amount of the available reading material that's good. Consuming tv and consuming written literature aren't mutually exclusive, any more than reading comics means you can't read War and Peace.

Still, there's a truth in it.

I think my favourite part of Fahrenheit 451 is the end, the way in which everyone has their own book to save, and does so.]]> 3.89 1953 Fahrenheit 451
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1953
rating: 4
read at: 2006/06/18
date added: 2024/01/14
shelves: dystopia, speculative-fiction
review:
Fahrenheit 451 is an interesting, depressing picture of a somewhat dystopian world. It has become, to many readers, a book about censorship, and I think that message is relevant. It doesn't matter what an author intends, once the book is out there in the world -- the important thing is what people find in it. (There's some merit in reading it the way Bradbury intended it to be read, of course -- some merit in seeing it the way he does, and seeing what messages he intended -- but this doesn't supersede, necessarily, what he didn't intend to write. Death of the author, and all that.)

His own message, that tv rots the brain and ruins everything is... only true in excess. I watched plenty of tv as a kid; I don't watch much at all now. I'd rather read the book than watch the series, most of the time. But there's some good stuff on the tv, in the same way that there's only a certain amount of the available reading material that's good. Consuming tv and consuming written literature aren't mutually exclusive, any more than reading comics means you can't read War and Peace.

Still, there's a truth in it.

I think my favourite part of Fahrenheit 451 is the end, the way in which everyone has their own book to save, and does so.
]]> <![CDATA[The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3)]]> 899790 Brian Sibley 0563536586 Nicky 5 audio, fantasy
Like most BBC adaptations, I think this is stunningly well done. As I've said with the other instalments, it's perfectly cast -- I do think J.R.R. Tolkien would have approved. It's a testament to how good they are that a housemate of mine who isn't at all interested in fantasy got hooked and wouldn't leave my room and stop listening -- and the one who is into fantasy got that it was LOTR within two minutes of listening and was wildly excited.

It does help, of course, that I have a certain amount of childhood nostalgia for this stuff. One very bored holiday with my grandparents' was spent listening to these.]]> 4.67 1955 The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3)
author: Brian Sibley
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.67
book published: 1955
rating: 5
read at: 2012/01/11
date added: 2023/12/27
shelves: audio, fantasy
review:
Finally got to sit down and finish listening to this. I started with the cassette, but I actually finished using the audio CDs, which some kind soul bought me for Christmas. (Definitely recommended: they come with a CD of the soundtrack music too. I love it.)

Like most BBC adaptations, I think this is stunningly well done. As I've said with the other instalments, it's perfectly cast -- I do think J.R.R. Tolkien would have approved. It's a testament to how good they are that a housemate of mine who isn't at all interested in fantasy got hooked and wouldn't leave my room and stop listening -- and the one who is into fantasy got that it was LOTR within two minutes of listening and was wildly excited.

It does help, of course, that I have a certain amount of childhood nostalgia for this stuff. One very bored holiday with my grandparents' was spent listening to these.
]]> The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun 25370837 The Lay of Aotrou and Itrounis a poem of 508 lines, written byJ. R. R. Tolkienin 1930 and published, in this edition, in the literary magazineWelsh Reviewin December, 1945.

The more recent publication of 2016 is here.]]> J.R.R. Tolkien Nicky 4 based-on-myth-saga-etc
Personally, I was glad to get to read this and the extra material, because Tolkien’s work and scholarship fascinates me. Where he edited his own work, which he did obsessively and meticulously, he rarely puts a foot wrong; in his drafts and rough copies there’s still a lot of beauty and interest. But I’m also interested because this was inspired by a Breton lai, and attempts to keep some of the same atmosphere while dealing with the Breton folklore � though also creating something distinctly Tolkien’s own.

I think it’s a fine piece of work � if you know what you’re going into. Not Mordor, nor Lothlorien (though you might glimpse Galadriel), but perhaps a little bit of Mirkwood.

]]> 3.88 1945 The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1945
rating: 4
read at: 2017/02/28
date added: 2023/12/27
shelves: based-on-myth-saga-etc
review:
I still have a whole rant about the way the Tolkien estate is putting out these books, padded out with excerpts from Tolkien’s drafts, and yet marketing them to a general rather than scholarly audience. If you’re here for Gollums and hobbitses, you’ll be disappointed, though you can see some seeds for and parallels with Tolkien’s later, greater work.

Personally, I was glad to get to read this and the extra material, because Tolkien’s work and scholarship fascinates me. Where he edited his own work, which he did obsessively and meticulously, he rarely puts a foot wrong; in his drafts and rough copies there’s still a lot of beauty and interest. But I’m also interested because this was inspired by a Breton lai, and attempts to keep some of the same atmosphere while dealing with the Breton folklore � though also creating something distinctly Tolkien’s own.

I think it’s a fine piece of work � if you know what you’re going into. Not Mordor, nor Lothlorien (though you might glimpse Galadriel), but perhaps a little bit of Mirkwood.


]]> Diamond Dogs 893596
The planet Golgotha—supposedly lifeless—resides in a remote star system, far from those inhabited by human colonists. It is home to an enigmatic machine-like structure called the Blood Spire, which has already brutally and systematically claimed the lives of one starship crew that attempted to uncover its secrets. But nothing will deter Richard Swift from exploring this object of alien origin�

Turquoise Days

In the seas of Turquoise live the Pattern Jugglers, the amorphous, aquatic organisms capable of preserving the memories of any human swimmer who joins their collective consciousness. Naqi Okpik devoted her life to studying these creatures—and paid a high price for swimming among them. Now, she may be the only hope for the survival of the species—and of every person living on Turquoise . . .]]> 111 Alastair Reynolds 1902880269 Nicky 4
It’s creepy and psychological and well structured. It’s just one of those novellas which perfectly gets under the skin, scratches that itch, etc, etc. I won’t give away anything else�

]]> 4.14 2001 Diamond Dogs
author: Alastair Reynolds
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2016/12/24
date added: 2023/12/19
shelves: short-stories-novellas, speculative-fiction
review:
Diamond Dogs is a really effective novella, for my money. I reread it recently, but I remembered the key points from the first time I’d read it � a twisty story that got under my skin. There’s lots of little references and clues to point you to what the story is going to do, and there’s plenty of worldbuilding and detail to keep you wondering. It helps to know a little bit about the larger universe of Reynolds� books, just for background� but it’s not necessary.

It’s creepy and psychological and well structured. It’s just one of those novellas which perfectly gets under the skin, scratches that itch, etc, etc. I won’t give away anything else�


]]> The Death of King Arthur 8796792 316 Peter Ackroyd 1846141931 Nicky 2 dumbed down, then Peter Ackroyd's retelling might save you the long (but rewarding, in my opinion) job of reading Malory's original text. On the other hand, I don't think it adequately captures the original text, so perhaps you'd be better reading one of the countless modern retellings, or one of the more dynamic texts in translation (Simon Armitage's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is fun) -- Malory's work was itself a retelling, after all.

I didn't find it enthralling, as you can tell. I didn't find it -- here, let's find some quotations from the blurb and such -- a 'magical and moving evocation of humanity's endless search for perfection, nor did I find it a 'dramatic modern story', or that it brought 'new life' to the story for our times.

One thing I did appreciate was that the introduction and even the dust jacket acknowledge that Malory was no paragon of virtue (how ironic that he wrote about chivalry and the finest knights in the world).

While this review seems fairly scathing, I didn't hate the book, either. I simply found it completely unremarkable.

I think I might start rereading Malory, now...

Wait. The GR blurb says, 'This title presents readable accounts of the knights of the Round Table.' Readable, yes. That's about the most positive I can be about it, too.]]> 3.25 The Death of King Arthur
author: Peter Ackroyd
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.25
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2011/02/24
date added: 2023/11/15
shelves: arthurian, fantasy, based-on-myth-saga-etc
review:
Peter Ackroyd's retelling of Malory's tales purports to be a modernisation, a revivification, even. I don't think it really achieves its goals. Flawed as Malory's work is, to the modern reader at least, I think there's a passion there and a meaning that slips through Ackroyd's fingers. He cuts liberally from the text, so that it certainly doesn't hold the richness of Malory -- if you're looking for something simplified, abridged, I might even venture to say dumbed down, then Peter Ackroyd's retelling might save you the long (but rewarding, in my opinion) job of reading Malory's original text. On the other hand, I don't think it adequately captures the original text, so perhaps you'd be better reading one of the countless modern retellings, or one of the more dynamic texts in translation (Simon Armitage's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is fun) -- Malory's work was itself a retelling, after all.

I didn't find it enthralling, as you can tell. I didn't find it -- here, let's find some quotations from the blurb and such -- a 'magical and moving evocation of humanity's endless search for perfection, nor did I find it a 'dramatic modern story', or that it brought 'new life' to the story for our times.

One thing I did appreciate was that the introduction and even the dust jacket acknowledge that Malory was no paragon of virtue (how ironic that he wrote about chivalry and the finest knights in the world).

While this review seems fairly scathing, I didn't hate the book, either. I simply found it completely unremarkable.

I think I might start rereading Malory, now...

Wait. The GR blurb says, 'This title presents readable accounts of the knights of the Round Table.' Readable, yes. That's about the most positive I can be about it, too.
]]> <![CDATA[Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)]]> 16034235
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.]]> 406 Sarah J. Maas 1619630346 Nicky 3 fantasy, children-s-and-ya
Given the hype, I guess I was expecting more of this. It is great that there’s a female main character who is very capable, who is a good assassin, and yet who has morals and a softer side. It’s nice that she’s both kickass and in love with gorgeous dresses: it’s counter to something that always rubs me wrong, for example like Katsa in Graceling, where she totally rejects femininity (if I remember rightly; must reread that soon and get onto the other books). And I liked the tension between her and Chaol, her and Dorian, up to the point where things started happening and then I just� didn’t get it. If you have feelings for either or both, treat them with a little more care! It’s like she expected them not to mind that they both had feelings for her, were both close to her?

I mean, if it’s going to end up as a polyamorous relationship then that’s fine, but it’d surprise me greatly from a YA book.

I’m intrigued enough that I’ve reserved Crown of Midnight from the library; ambivalent enough that I’m not going to buy it.

]]> 4.15 2012 Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2015/04/20
date added: 2023/10/12
shelves: fantasy, children-s-and-ya
review:
I’m a little bit disappointed about this one, I’m afraid. I’ve been hearing so much hype about Sarah J. Maas� work. And it was fun, but it felt thin. There is clearly a world built up behind this, but we see so little of it, and so much of it is introduced according to convenience. Suddenly a Wyrdmark! Suddenly magic powers! Suddenly that’s why that character did X! Lots of jumping! to! conclusions!

Given the hype, I guess I was expecting more of this. It is great that there’s a female main character who is very capable, who is a good assassin, and yet who has morals and a softer side. It’s nice that she’s both kickass and in love with gorgeous dresses: it’s counter to something that always rubs me wrong, for example like Katsa in Graceling, where she totally rejects femininity (if I remember rightly; must reread that soon and get onto the other books). And I liked the tension between her and Chaol, her and Dorian, up to the point where things started happening and then I just� didn’t get it. If you have feelings for either or both, treat them with a little more care! It’s like she expected them not to mind that they both had feelings for her, were both close to her?

I mean, if it’s going to end up as a polyamorous relationship then that’s fine, but it’d surprise me greatly from a YA book.

I’m intrigued enough that I’ve reserved Crown of Midnight from the library; ambivalent enough that I’m not going to buy it.


]]> The Time of the Ghost 1018240 I'M ALL RIGHT. I'M HERE. I'M ME. IF I WASN'T, I WOULDN'T EVEN BE FRIGHTENED. I WOULDN'T KNOW. BUT SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED TO ME. I CAN'T SEE MYSELF AT ALL, NOT EVEN A SMEAR OF SHADOW ON THE ROAD. THERE'S BEEN AN ACCIDENT.

STOP THAT!


The ghost turns up one summer day, alone in a world she once knew, among people who were once her family. She knows she is one of four sisters, but which one? She can be sure of only one thing � that there's been an accident.

As she struggles to find her identity, she becomes aware of a malevolent force stirring around her. Something terrible is about to happen. One of the sisters will die � unless the ghost can use the future to reshape the past. But how can she warn them, when they don't even know she exists?]]> 222 Diana Wynne Jones 0007112173 Nicky 3 fantasy, mystery toned down to be at all believable in the story. Of course, it still has that expansive, slightly breakneck pace of most of Jones' work -- there's something a little, well, mad about it. Colourful. I don't know how to describe it -- it's a swirl of colours and impressions. A child's imagination.

I read this all in one go; the biggest hook is the confused narrator, the way you can't quite get things straight. The plot itself -- I don't know, I wasn't so keen on the whole Monigan thing. (Intentional closeness to Morrigan?) I suppose that's my adult way of demanding explanations, though: as a child I'd probably just have accepted that an evil goddess clung to the land and somehow possessed a doll.

(The last bit of this review is a reaction to Diana Wynne Jones' thoughts on the differences between writing for children and writing for adults. Children, she found, make the connections much more readily and instinctively than adults. She had to do more explanation when she wrote for adults.)]]> 3.64 1981 The Time of the Ghost
author: Diana Wynne Jones
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1981
rating: 3
read at: 2012/11/09
date added: 2023/09/10
shelves: fantasy, mystery
review:
It's quite strange reading this after reading the Reflections collection, knowing how autobiographical this happens to be. And how things that really happened to Diana Wynne Jones had to be toned down to be at all believable in the story. Of course, it still has that expansive, slightly breakneck pace of most of Jones' work -- there's something a little, well, mad about it. Colourful. I don't know how to describe it -- it's a swirl of colours and impressions. A child's imagination.

I read this all in one go; the biggest hook is the confused narrator, the way you can't quite get things straight. The plot itself -- I don't know, I wasn't so keen on the whole Monigan thing. (Intentional closeness to Morrigan?) I suppose that's my adult way of demanding explanations, though: as a child I'd probably just have accepted that an evil goddess clung to the land and somehow possessed a doll.

(The last bit of this review is a reaction to Diana Wynne Jones' thoughts on the differences between writing for children and writing for adults. Children, she found, make the connections much more readily and instinctively than adults. She had to do more explanation when she wrote for adults.)
]]> <![CDATA[Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening]]> 55883882
Collects MONSTRESS #1-6

About the Creators:

New York Times bestselling and award-winning writer Marjorie Liu is best known for her fiction and comic books. She teaches comic book writing at MIT, and leads a class on Popular Fiction at the Voices of Our Nation (VONA) workshop. Ms. Liu's extensive work includes the bestselling "Astonishing X-Men" for Marvel Comics, which featured the gay wedding of X-Man Northstar and was subsequently nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Prior to writing full-time, Liu was a lawyer. She currently resides in Boston.

Sana Takeda is an illustrator and comic book artist who was born in Niigata, and now resides in Tokyo, Japan. At age 20 she started out as a 3D CGI designer for SEGA, a Japanese video game company, and became a freelance artist when she was 25. She is still an artist, and has worked on titles such as "X-23" and "Ms. Marvel" for Marvel Comics, and is an illustrator for trading card games in Japan.]]> 192 Marjorie M. Liu 1632157098 Nicky 3
Unfortunately, the story itself� there’s a lot of interesting stuff there, and in a book about a ‘monstress�, you’d expect some exploration of monstrosity. (And, no surprises, it’s not always the literal monsters who act in a monstrous way.) Buuut, there’s also a lot of world-building to keep up with, and I didn’t follow it very well. I’m fully aware that a lot of that might be because I’m just not that good at reading comics. This book has such a rich background and history that there’s a lot to keep track of. Add that to following the action, and I definitely needed the semi-regular info dumps at the ends/beginnings of issues. (Though those felt a little clumsy.)

Character design is really cute and it looks gorgeous, but I’m not invested. I’m not sure what I was meant to get invested in. I feel like I missed half the story.



Merged review:

Monstress is definitely a beautiful book. Takeda’s work makes it worth reading just for the sake of looking at it, though I could’ve done with some brighter colour palettes in places. As it was, the tone felt consistently� subdued, dulled.

Unfortunately, the story itself� there’s a lot of interesting stuff there, and in a book about a ‘monstress�, you’d expect some exploration of monstrosity. (And, no surprises, it’s not always the literal monsters who act in a monstrous way.) Buuut, there’s also a lot of world-building to keep up with, and I didn’t follow it very well. I’m fully aware that a lot of that might be because I’m just not that good at reading comics. This book has such a rich background and history that there’s a lot to keep track of. Add that to following the action, and I definitely needed the semi-regular info dumps at the ends/beginnings of issues. (Though those felt a little clumsy.)

Character design is really cute and it looks gorgeous, but I’m not invested. I’m not sure what I was meant to get invested in. I feel like I missed half the story.

]]> 3.96 2016 Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
author: Marjorie M. Liu
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2016/12/24
date added: 2023/08/28
shelves: graphic-novels-and-manga, fantasy
review:
Monstress is definitely a beautiful book. Takeda’s work makes it worth reading just for the sake of looking at it, though I could’ve done with some brighter colour palettes in places. As it was, the tone felt consistently� subdued, dulled.

Unfortunately, the story itself� there’s a lot of interesting stuff there, and in a book about a ‘monstress�, you’d expect some exploration of monstrosity. (And, no surprises, it’s not always the literal monsters who act in a monstrous way.) Buuut, there’s also a lot of world-building to keep up with, and I didn’t follow it very well. I’m fully aware that a lot of that might be because I’m just not that good at reading comics. This book has such a rich background and history that there’s a lot to keep track of. Add that to following the action, and I definitely needed the semi-regular info dumps at the ends/beginnings of issues. (Though those felt a little clumsy.)

Character design is really cute and it looks gorgeous, but I’m not invested. I’m not sure what I was meant to get invested in. I feel like I missed half the story.



Merged review:

Monstress is definitely a beautiful book. Takeda’s work makes it worth reading just for the sake of looking at it, though I could’ve done with some brighter colour palettes in places. As it was, the tone felt consistently� subdued, dulled.

Unfortunately, the story itself� there’s a lot of interesting stuff there, and in a book about a ‘monstress�, you’d expect some exploration of monstrosity. (And, no surprises, it’s not always the literal monsters who act in a monstrous way.) Buuut, there’s also a lot of world-building to keep up with, and I didn’t follow it very well. I’m fully aware that a lot of that might be because I’m just not that good at reading comics. This book has such a rich background and history that there’s a lot to keep track of. Add that to following the action, and I definitely needed the semi-regular info dumps at the ends/beginnings of issues. (Though those felt a little clumsy.)

Character design is really cute and it looks gorgeous, but I’m not invested. I’m not sure what I was meant to get invested in. I feel like I missed half the story.


]]> Year of Wonders 4965
Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition.

As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love.

As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. ]]> 304 Geraldine Brooks 0142001430 Nicky 3
At times, it seems pretty melodramatic, to me. The whole situation between Michael and Elinor, for example, seemed completely unnecessary (and barely even seemed to make sense to me); sometimes it just seemed to pile too much into the story that on its own would've seemed to make sense. The ending was worse; it felt like a complete flight of fantasy beside the historically grounded, patiently explored situation in the village.

So... overall, parts of this are a very powerful exploration of the tensions and also the support in Eyam at the time, and of the faith and fear and superstition of the time. But other parts of it work against the simple, touching aspect that those things give the story. I know it's fiction and flights of fantasy are all a part of it, but it didn't feel right to me.]]> 4.00 2001 Year of Wonders
author: Geraldine Brooks
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2013/12/15
date added: 2023/08/03
shelves: historical-fiction-alternatehistory
review:
I read this for Bruce Holsinger's historical fiction course on Coursera. It's based on the true story of the village of Eyam, during the 1665 epidemic of plague in Britain, though Geraldine Brooks doesn't stick too closely to the names and details of exactly what happened there, but rather tries to recreate the sense of it. For her own comfort, I think, even where she's based her characters on real people, she's taken them a step or so away from them so that William Mompesson becomes Michael Mompellion, allowing her to take greater liberties.

At times, it seems pretty melodramatic, to me. The whole situation between Michael and Elinor, for example, seemed completely unnecessary (and barely even seemed to make sense to me); sometimes it just seemed to pile too much into the story that on its own would've seemed to make sense. The ending was worse; it felt like a complete flight of fantasy beside the historically grounded, patiently explored situation in the village.

So... overall, parts of this are a very powerful exploration of the tensions and also the support in Eyam at the time, and of the faith and fear and superstition of the time. But other parts of it work against the simple, touching aspect that those things give the story. I know it's fiction and flights of fantasy are all a part of it, but it didn't feel right to me.
]]> Heresy (Giordano Bruno, #1) 6611809
Giordano Bruno was a monk, poet, scientist, and magician on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies and magic.

In S.J. Parris's gripping novel, Bruno's pursuit of this rare knowledge brings him to London, where he is unexpectedly recruited by Queen Elizabeth I and is sent undercover to Oxford University on the pretext of a royal visitation. Officially Bruno is to take part in a debate on the Copernican theory of the universe; unofficially, he is to find out whatever he can about a Catholic plot to overthrow the queen.

His mission is dramatically thrown off course by a series of grisly murders and a spirited and beautiful young woman. As Bruno begins to discover a pattern in these killings, he realizes that no one at Oxford is who he seems to be. Bruno must attempt to outwit a killer who appears obsessed with the boundary between truth and heresy.

Like The Dante Club and The Alienist, this clever, sophisticated, exceptionally enjoyable novel is written with the unstoppable narrative propulsion and stylistic flair of the very best historical thrillers.]]> 435 S.J. Parris 0385531281 Nicky 3
The historical setting and the mystery both work reasonably well, but I found it difficult to care about. There were few characters I wanted to care about; the only one was Sophia, and she was badly treated by the plot and just about every other character. Oh, and Cobbett, the alcoholic but devoted doorkeeper of the college.

If you’re interested in the period and into mystery stories, I’d give it a try � there’s a lot to enjoy about the way the mystery is set within the historical plot. I wouldn’t read the rest of the series personally, but it was okay for a one-off.

]]> 3.74 2010 Heresy (Giordano Bruno, #1)
author: S.J. Parris
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2016/08/23
date added: 2023/08/03
shelves: historical-fiction-alternatehistory, mystery
review:
I’ve had this on my to-read list so long, it’s ridiculous. And finally I got round to it! In tone, it’s very like C.J. Sansom’s Shardlake books, but I have to confess that I think I enjoyed those more. Giordano Bruno’s role in this book was just� he was seeking out secret Catholics, to betray them to Walsingham, okay. But he was a Catholic and he faced the Inquisition, and he was well aware of what would happen to the people he betrayed � some of whom trusted him. It doesn’t sit well with me, and he barely even tried to justify it. It’s not as though he fervently believed that the Catholics were actually going to harm Queen Elizabeth; quite the reverse.

The historical setting and the mystery both work reasonably well, but I found it difficult to care about. There were few characters I wanted to care about; the only one was Sophia, and she was badly treated by the plot and just about every other character. Oh, and Cobbett, the alcoholic but devoted doorkeeper of the college.

If you’re interested in the period and into mystery stories, I’d give it a try � there’s a lot to enjoy about the way the mystery is set within the historical plot. I wouldn’t read the rest of the series personally, but it was okay for a one-off.


]]> Between the Acts 526033
Between the Acts is also a striking evocation of English experience in the months leading up to the Second World War. Through dialogue, humour and the passionate musings of the characters, Virginia Woolf explores how a community is formed (and scattered) over time. The tableau, a series of scenes from English history, and the private dramas that go on between the acts are closely interlinked. Through the figure of Miss La Trobe, author of the pageant, Virginia Woolf questions imperialist assumptions and, at the same time, re-creates the elusive role of the artist.

Annotated and with an introduction by Melba Cuddy-Keane.]]> 190 Virginia Woolf 0141184523 Nicky 1 classics, for-class
I'm hoping studying this novel and hearing lectures on it will make it a bit less impenetrable. If it does, I swear I'll give To The Lighthouse another chance, too. I just feel like you shouldn't require one hundred and thirty-one footnotes to understand a one-hundred and thirty page long story published in the nineteen forties...]]> 3.50 1941 Between the Acts
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1941
rating: 1
read at: 2008/10/25
date added: 2023/07/31
shelves: classics, for-class
review:
I really, really don't like Virginia Woolf's fiction. There's a nice flow to the writing, a nice lyrical feeling, but the way she chooses to write about things seems to me pretentious and boring, and sort of... scatterbrained. I'd like to love Woolf's writing, as my favourite writer Ursula Le Guin does, but I just can't seem to connect with or get anything out of her writing. I didn't see the "point" in it, I suppose. There were bits I liked about it -- the play, for example, at the part where they hold the mirrors up to show the audience themselves, and the concept of 'between the acts', which can be taken to mean so many things.

I'm hoping studying this novel and hearing lectures on it will make it a bit less impenetrable. If it does, I swear I'll give To The Lighthouse another chance, too. I just feel like you shouldn't require one hundred and thirty-one footnotes to understand a one-hundred and thirty page long story published in the nineteen forties...
]]> <![CDATA[What on Earth Evolved? ... in Brief]]> 7938901 480 Christopher Lloyd 1408802899 Nicky 3 non-fiction, science-fact
Easy enough to read, though perhaps one you might prefer to dip in and out of than just read straight through.

]]> 4.34 2009 What on Earth Evolved? ... in Brief
author: Christopher Lloyd
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2017/11/01
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves: non-fiction, science-fact
review:
It’s pretty much what it says on the tin. To a biologist, the choices of species aren’t particularly surprising, though I might perhaps have included fewer animals and more bacteria and plants. Even though this is a cut-down version of the full book, it’s still pretty exhaustive (and at times a bit exhausting). It’s full of interesting titbits, but nothing at great length, and a large portion of the back is taken up by charts attempting to put things into some sort of ranking as to how much it has affected the world. The focus is very much with Lloyd’s subtitle, �100 Species That Have Changed the World�.

Easy enough to read, though perhaps one you might prefer to dip in and out of than just read straight through.


]]> Coraline 1967070
But there's another mother there and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Coraline will have to fight with all her wit and all the tools she can find if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.

This beloved tale has now become a visual feast. Acclaimed artist P. Craig Russell brings Neil Gaiman's enchanting nationally bestselling children's book Coraline to new life in this gorgeously illustrated graphic novel adaptation]]> 192 P. Craig Russell 006082543X Nicky 2 4.07 2008 Coraline
author: P. Craig Russell
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2009/08/06
date added: 2023/07/22
shelves: graphic-novels-and-manga, fantasy
review:
I've already reviewed the novel Coraline, but this time I was reading the graphic novel adaptation, which was illustrated by P. Craig Russell. The art is okay, but since I've seen the 3D movie -- and liked it -- it took some getting used to. The graphic novel is a more faithful adaptation of the book than the movie was, from what I can remember. It's pretty much exactly the same, I think. It doesn't bring anything new to the book, apart from the visuals. Reading my original review, it seems like maybe the graphic novel has less to offer in some ways -- part of reading Neil Gaiman's work is his style and his wry little observations. Some of those are intact, but not as many as I remember.
]]> <![CDATA[Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening]]> 30333227
Collects MONSTRESS #1-6]]> 208 Marjorie M. Liu Nicky 3
Unfortunately, the story itself� there’s a lot of interesting stuff there, and in a book about a ‘monstress�, you’d expect some exploration of monstrosity. (And, no surprises, it’s not always the literal monsters who act in a monstrous way.) Buuut, there’s also a lot of world-building to keep up with, and I didn’t follow it very well. I’m fully aware that a lot of that might be because I’m just not that good at reading comics. This book has such a rich background and history that there’s a lot to keep track of. Add that to following the action, and I definitely needed the semi-regular info dumps at the ends/beginnings of issues. (Though those felt a little clumsy.)

Character design is really cute and it looks gorgeous, but I’m not invested. I’m not sure what I was meant to get invested in. I feel like I missed half the story.

]]> 3.93 2016 Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
author: Marjorie M. Liu
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/07/11
shelves:
review:
Monstress is definitely a beautiful book. Takeda’s work makes it worth reading just for the sake of looking at it, though I could’ve done with some brighter colour palettes in places. As it was, the tone felt consistently� subdued, dulled.

Unfortunately, the story itself� there’s a lot of interesting stuff there, and in a book about a ‘monstress�, you’d expect some exploration of monstrosity. (And, no surprises, it’s not always the literal monsters who act in a monstrous way.) Buuut, there’s also a lot of world-building to keep up with, and I didn’t follow it very well. I’m fully aware that a lot of that might be because I’m just not that good at reading comics. This book has such a rich background and history that there’s a lot to keep track of. Add that to following the action, and I definitely needed the semi-regular info dumps at the ends/beginnings of issues. (Though those felt a little clumsy.)

Character design is really cute and it looks gorgeous, but I’m not invested. I’m not sure what I was meant to get invested in. I feel like I missed half the story.


]]> <![CDATA[The Hobbit, or There and Back Again]]> 437049
"If you care for journeys there and back, out of the comfortable Western world, over the edge of the Wild, and home again, and can take an interest in a humble hero (blessed with a little wisdom and a little courage and considerable good luck), here is a record of such a journey and such a traveler. The period is the ancient time between the age of Faerie and the dominion of men, when the famous forest of Mirkwood was still standing, and the mountains were full of danger. In following the path of this humble adventurer, you will learn by the way (as he did) - if you do not already know all about these things - much about trolls, goblins, dwarves, and elves, and get some glimpses into the history and politics of a neglected but important period."

"For Mr. Bilbo Baggins visited various notable persons; conversed with the dragon, Smaug the Magnificent; and was present, rather unwillingly, at the Battle of the Five Armies. This is all the more remarkable, since he was a hobbit. Hobbits have hitherto been passed over in history and legend, perhaps because they as a rule preferred comfort to excitement. But this account, based on his personal memoirs, of the one exciting year in the otherwise quiet life of Mr. Baggins will give you a fair idea of the estimable people now (it is said) becoming rather rare. They do not like noise."

Description from back cover]]> 275 J.R.R. Tolkien 0618002219 Nicky 5
In this case, the context is that I was in Oxford yesterday to see the Magical Books exhibition at the Bodleian, and to listen to the lecture on Tolkien & Manuscripts -- so this time I keep thinking about the manuscripts within The Hobbit. There's the text itself, which is Bilbo's memoirs/The Red Book of Westmarch; there's the various maps; there's songs... Which brings me to my other bit of context: I'm taking a course on Online Gaming and Narrative, and a big thing we're talking about is "remediation", the representation of one kind of media in another kind of media. Tolkien had tremendous fun with it, I think: it's most apparent in his more serious work, but it's here in The Hobbit too.

I really need to go to the Shire in LOTRO (also part of my gaming course) and take a look around there -- and various other locations from The Hobbit, of course -- because I think they've done a really good job of creating Middle-earth as a game world. I've never been a visual person -- the Shire comes most alive for me by imagining it as essentially West Yorkshire, where I grew up -- and I think Tolkien would approve of the way LOTRO brings his world to life.

Now for a reread of Lord of the Rings itself. What a chore...]]> 4.36 1937 The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at: 2013/09/26
date added: 2023/07/06
shelves: children-s-and-ya, fantasy, dragons
review:
It's a good thing there's so many editions of this book on goodreads, because if there weren't, I'd run out of places to put my reviews. Not that I have anything particularly new to remark upon each time, but I do like to keep a record, and of course every reading is influenced by the context.

In this case, the context is that I was in Oxford yesterday to see the Magical Books exhibition at the Bodleian, and to listen to the lecture on Tolkien & Manuscripts -- so this time I keep thinking about the manuscripts within The Hobbit. There's the text itself, which is Bilbo's memoirs/The Red Book of Westmarch; there's the various maps; there's songs... Which brings me to my other bit of context: I'm taking a course on Online Gaming and Narrative, and a big thing we're talking about is "remediation", the representation of one kind of media in another kind of media. Tolkien had tremendous fun with it, I think: it's most apparent in his more serious work, but it's here in The Hobbit too.

I really need to go to the Shire in LOTRO (also part of my gaming course) and take a look around there -- and various other locations from The Hobbit, of course -- because I think they've done a really good job of creating Middle-earth as a game world. I've never been a visual person -- the Shire comes most alive for me by imagining it as essentially West Yorkshire, where I grew up -- and I think Tolkien would approve of the way LOTRO brings his world to life.

Now for a reread of Lord of the Rings itself. What a chore...
]]> <![CDATA[Anansi Boys (American Gods, #2)]]> 569978 Librarian note: Alternative covers for this edition can be found here and here.

GOD IS DEAD
MEET THE KIDS

Fat Charlie Nancy is not having a good week. His estranged father recently dropped dead on a karaoke stage and has left Fat Charlie with much more than embarrassment. Because, you see, Charlie has discovered that his dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi the trickster spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and even baffle the devil. No wonder Fat Charlie’s life is about to be turned upside down.

Written by one of fiction’s most audaciously original talents Anansi Boys is a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth that is at once startling, terrifying and fiercely funny.

Includes extra material: An interview with Neil Gaiman and reading-group discussion questions.]]> 457 Neil Gaiman 0755305094 Nicky 3 4.05 2005 Anansi Boys (American Gods, #2)
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2007/02/08
date added: 2023/06/26
shelves: fantasy, based-on-myth-saga-etc
review:
I have no idea why, but I didn't like this book anywhere near as much as American Gods. It's still interesting and fun to read, but... there's a different tone, definitely.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wasps / The Poet and the Women / The Frogs]]> 1576 224 Aristophanes 0140441522 Nicky 2 3.96 -422 The Wasps / The Poet and the Women / The Frogs
author: Aristophanes
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.96
book published: -422
rating: 2
read at: 2006/11/20
date added: 2023/02/15
shelves: plays, greek-roman, for-class, classics, myth-legend-saga-etc
review:
I don't like Aristophanes. Perhaps it's in part because his political humour is based on things that, while I can study them and look them up and piece apart why it's funny, I can't understand in the way the intended audience could. Sometimes it's because it's just crude and silly.
]]> <![CDATA[Busman's Honeymoon (Lord Peter Wimsey #13)]]> 155679
Dramatised by Alistair Beaton for BBC Radio 4 with Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey, Sarah Badel as Harriet Vane and Peter Jones as Bunter. It was first broadcast from 2 January to 7 February 1983.]]> 3 Alistair Beaton 0563525479 Nicky 5 audio, crime, mystery
They managed to keep the balance between the mystery and the new marriage very well, in this adaptation. Although by this point I'm flaily over Peter and Harriet's marriage, so I don't know how a person starting with this one would feel. Probably not as enraptured as I did -- but really, very enjoyable.

And now I don't know what to do with my life while I crochet. No one's quite like Ian Carmichael as Peter Wimsey.]]> 4.06 1937 Busman's Honeymoon (Lord Peter Wimsey #13)
author: Alistair Beaton
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at: 2012/02/28
date added: 2022/10/28
shelves: audio, crime, mystery
review:
I really don't want to be on the last radioplay (though I suppose the Paton Walsh books might've been recorded too?). By this point in reading the books, I was in love with both Peter and Harriet and I never wanted to leave them. It's worse coming to the book a second time -- and with the fact that it's a full cast audiobook. (And I've been watching Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter in the mini-series, too.)

They managed to keep the balance between the mystery and the new marriage very well, in this adaptation. Although by this point I'm flaily over Peter and Harriet's marriage, so I don't know how a person starting with this one would feel. Probably not as enraptured as I did -- but really, very enjoyable.

And now I don't know what to do with my life while I crochet. No one's quite like Ian Carmichael as Peter Wimsey.
]]> <![CDATA[Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town]]> 8526786 'The world's most controversial classicist debunks our movie-style myths about the Roman town with meticulous scholarship and propulsive energy ... scrutinising and animated in equal measure' Laura Silverman, Daily Mail .

WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2008

'The world's most controversial classicist debunks our movie-style myths about the Roman town with meticulous scholarship and propulsive energy' Laura Silverman, Daily Mail

The ruins of Pompeii, buried by an explosion of Vesuvius in 79 CE, offer the best evidence we have of everyday life in the Roman empire. This remarkable book rises to the challenge of making sense of those remains, as well as exploding many the very date of the eruption, probably a few months later than usually thought; or the hygiene of the baths which must have been hotbeds of germs; or the legendary number of brothels, most likely only one; or the massive death count, maybe less than ten per cent of the population.

An extraordinary and involving portrait of an ancient town, its life and its continuing re-discovery, by Britain's favourite classicist.]]> 368 Mary Beard 1846684714 Nicky 5 non-fiction, history
I actually recommend you read it before visiting Pompeii, because you'll have a much clearer understanding of what you're seeing. (And you won't need a tour guide, which considering the urban myths they propagate, is all to the good.) It might even be useful to carry around Pompeii with you to help identify and understand some of what you're seeing -- it's not a guide book, it is a narrative, but if you've read it already, you could flip through to refresh your memory on details.

But reading it after a visit to Pompeii works, too, or even if you don't plan to go to Pompeii at all. Remembering or imagining the hot and dusty streets is easy: Mary Beard is always careful to keep in touch with what Pompeii looks like now (even if that is sometimes disenchanting, for example when she points out that some of the paintings have been totally restored, not always perfectly accurately, by modern work), as well as trying to imagine a time when it was a living town.

Actually, that's the part I find hardest: imagining Pompeii as a living town. Maybe it's partially because my memories of Pompeii are often without context: a random house with tumbled-down walls, grass growing in the remains of an oven, the partial remains of mosaics and paintings. I'm not a visual person anyway, so the images of Pompeii that stay in my head are the ones I saw myself. Pompeii is a hushed town, in my mind, with wind and hot sun and pumice sand in your shoes.

Mary Beard does very well at speculating what it might really have been like, nonetheless, and I definitely recommend this if you have any interest in the site.]]> 4.11 2008 Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town
author: Mary Beard
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2012/08/07
date added: 2022/07/29
shelves: non-fiction, history
review:
I've been meaning to get hold of and read this since my visit to Pompeii last September. I was worried it might be quite dry and spoil the fun, since it's billed as being very sceptical and as cutting things down to the facts, but I needn't have worried. It's an easy enough read despite all the detail, and Mary Beard's speculations are as interesting as anything she refutes.

I actually recommend you read it before visiting Pompeii, because you'll have a much clearer understanding of what you're seeing. (And you won't need a tour guide, which considering the urban myths they propagate, is all to the good.) It might even be useful to carry around Pompeii with you to help identify and understand some of what you're seeing -- it's not a guide book, it is a narrative, but if you've read it already, you could flip through to refresh your memory on details.

But reading it after a visit to Pompeii works, too, or even if you don't plan to go to Pompeii at all. Remembering or imagining the hot and dusty streets is easy: Mary Beard is always careful to keep in touch with what Pompeii looks like now (even if that is sometimes disenchanting, for example when she points out that some of the paintings have been totally restored, not always perfectly accurately, by modern work), as well as trying to imagine a time when it was a living town.

Actually, that's the part I find hardest: imagining Pompeii as a living town. Maybe it's partially because my memories of Pompeii are often without context: a random house with tumbled-down walls, grass growing in the remains of an oven, the partial remains of mosaics and paintings. I'm not a visual person anyway, so the images of Pompeii that stay in my head are the ones I saw myself. Pompeii is a hushed town, in my mind, with wind and hot sun and pumice sand in your shoes.

Mary Beard does very well at speculating what it might really have been like, nonetheless, and I definitely recommend this if you have any interest in the site.
]]> The Mabinogion 3263729
This new translation, the first for thirty years, recreates the storytelling world of medieval Wales and re-invests the tales with the power of performance.]]> 293 Unknown 0199218781 Nicky 5
As for the tales, they are always a thing of unchanging delight, for me. Especially nice to reread them after reading Seren's New Stories from the Mabinogion series.]]> 3.88 1400 The Mabinogion
author: Unknown
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1400
rating: 5
read at: 2013/02/07
date added: 2022/07/25
shelves: classics, welsh-writing, medieval-literature, dissertation
review:
Supervisor wanted me to use a different translation to my old one (the Everyman 1993 edition). So I had to get this one. It's supposed to be more accurate -- I don't know about that, but it does seem a bit more immediate and colourful than the old Everyman edition. The little I know suggests it is a good translation, and it's certainly readable, and has a full complement of explanatory notes, introduction, etc, which is more than I can say for the Everyman edition. Slightly odd order of tales, not sure what she's organising them by -- certainly not date, as Culhwch and Olwen is almost the last.

As for the tales, they are always a thing of unchanging delight, for me. Especially nice to reread them after reading Seren's New Stories from the Mabinogion series.
]]> The Last Defender of Camelot 1942065 The Dream Master?

Contents
Passion Play
Horseman!
The Stainless Steel Leech
A Thing of Terrible Beauty
He Who Shapes
Comes Now the Power
Auto-Da-Fe'
Damnation alley
For a Breath I Tarry
The Engine at Heartspring's Center
The Game of Blood and Dust
No Award
Is There a Demon Lover in the House?
The Last Defender of Camelot
Stand Pat, Ruby Stone
Halfjack]]> 308 Roger Zelazny 0671417738 Nicky 4 The Last Defender of Camelot is a collection that, according to the back cover, 'spans the full spectrum of Zelazny's remarkable career'. I enjoyed all of them, more or less: 'He Who Shapes' was interesting, and I loved 'For a Breath I Tarry'. I could almost like Launcelot, in 'The Last Defender of Camelot', and I did rather like Morgana. It's an interesting version of Merlin.

He is, at least, very good at the short story as a form, which is more than I can say for a lot of the writers I've seen attempting it. He makes the form his own, and gives it a twist in the right places. All the stories here are satisfying, whether long or short.]]> 4.11 1980 The Last Defender of Camelot
author: Roger Zelazny
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at: 2011/07/18
date added: 2022/07/15
shelves: fantasy, speculative-fiction, short-stories-novellas, based-on-myth-saga-etc
review:
Roger Zelazny's The Last Defender of Camelot is a collection that, according to the back cover, 'spans the full spectrum of Zelazny's remarkable career'. I enjoyed all of them, more or less: 'He Who Shapes' was interesting, and I loved 'For a Breath I Tarry'. I could almost like Launcelot, in 'The Last Defender of Camelot', and I did rather like Morgana. It's an interesting version of Merlin.

He is, at least, very good at the short story as a form, which is more than I can say for a lot of the writers I've seen attempting it. He makes the form his own, and gives it a twist in the right places. All the stories here are satisfying, whether long or short.
]]> <![CDATA[Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories]]> 9889 here.

It's New York in the 1940s, where the martinis flow from cocktail hour till breakfast at Tiffany's. And nice girls don't, except, of course, Holly Golightly. Pursued by Mafia gangsters and playboy millionaires, Holly is a fragile eyeful of tawny hair and turned-up nose, a heart-breaker, a perplexer, a traveller, a tease. She is irrepressibly 'top banana in the shock department', and one of the shining flowers of American fiction.

This edition also contains three stories: 'House of Flowers', 'A Diamond Guitar' and 'A Christmas Memory'.]]> 157 Truman Capote Nicky 4
It's very readable. The narrator is just easy to get along with, even if he isn't like fireworks, not like Holly Golightly. She's hard to get along with, because she's so flippant and careless, and she is a wild thing, but in the end I found myself feeling for her and feeling just a little bit trapped myself.

If you've been sort of thinking you should read it, you probably should.]]> 3.76 1958 Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories
author: Truman Capote
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1958
rating: 4
read at: 2010/10/17
date added: 2022/06/15
shelves: short-stories-novellas, classics
review:
I've never seen the movie. The song by Deep Blue Something was in my head this morning, though, so I just, on a whim, got hold of a copy and read it. I know a little about Truman Capote, mostly because I've studied Harper Lee, so I'd sort of decided to read something of his someday.

It's very readable. The narrator is just easy to get along with, even if he isn't like fireworks, not like Holly Golightly. She's hard to get along with, because she's so flippant and careless, and she is a wild thing, but in the end I found myself feeling for her and feeling just a little bit trapped myself.

If you've been sort of thinking you should read it, you probably should.
]]> Clouds of Witness 1090891 3 Tania Lieven 1846071496 Nicky 4 audio, mystery, crime
I think it's perhaps a bit less funny than the first book, but there are still points that made me smile -- particularly the ending, and Parker's crush on Lady Mary. I'm really excited to listen to more of the series, actually. I think it's perfectly done.

In terms of the plot itself, it's a bit of a classic. A country house mystery, really. ]]> 3.87 Clouds of Witness
author: Tania Lieven
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2011/12/22
date added: 2022/03/23
shelves: audio, mystery, crime
review:
Like the first Sayers radioplay, Whose Body?, Clouds of Witness is well cast and well dramatised. I can't think of anything it left out or changed, from the original book, yet it was just as interesting and exciting to listen to it as to read the book the first time. Again, I'd forgotten how everything worked out, so I was surprised all over again.

I think it's perhaps a bit less funny than the first book, but there are still points that made me smile -- particularly the ending, and Parker's crush on Lady Mary. I'm really excited to listen to more of the series, actually. I think it's perfectly done.

In terms of the plot itself, it's a bit of a classic. A country house mystery, really.
]]> The Capricorn Bracelet 780193 149 Rosemary Sutcliff 0809831139 Nicky 3
I liked it. It wasn't the kind of story to blow someone away, I think, but one to sit with quietly and absorb. There are lovely details in it, lovely moments, and small quick glimpses of lives...

My only argument with it is that the narrators, the six different narrators, don't sound very different. It's hard, I suppose, to differentiate, but it felt like one voice. Could be partly choice, keeping the family link clear, but it bugged me.]]> 3.79 1973 The Capricorn Bracelet
author: Rosemary Sutcliff
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1973
rating: 3
read at: 2009/10/01
date added: 2022/02/19
shelves: children-s-and-ya, greek-roman, historical-fiction-alternatehistory
review:
I loved Rosemary Sutcliff's historical fiction, when I was younger. I read two copies of The Eagle of the Ninth to pieces. This book is also about Roman Britain, although it's more focused on the area around the wall, and is also less about big epic deeds, and more about ordinary people -- focusing on a single family through a period of a couple of hundred years. There's less excitement, I suppose, but there are fascinating little details about how Sutcliff imagines life to have been then -- realistic, so far as I can tell.

I liked it. It wasn't the kind of story to blow someone away, I think, but one to sit with quietly and absorb. There are lovely details in it, lovely moments, and small quick glimpses of lives...

My only argument with it is that the narrators, the six different narrators, don't sound very different. It's hard, I suppose, to differentiate, but it felt like one voice. Could be partly choice, keeping the family link clear, but it bugged me.
]]> Pet (Pet, #1) 43568395 A thought-provoking and haunting novel about a creature that escapes from an artist's canvas, whose talent is sniffing out monsters in a world that claims they don't exist anymore. Perfect for fans of Akata Witch and Shadowshaper.

There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught. Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their life. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colors and claws, who emerges from one of her mother's paintings and a drop of Jam's blood, she must reconsider what she's been told. Pet has come to hunt a monster--and the shadow of something grim lurks in Redemption's house. Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also uncover the truth, and the answer to the question How do you save the world from monsters if no one will admit they exist?

In their riveting and timely young adult debut, acclaimed novelist Akwaeke Emezi asks difficult questions about what choices you can make when the society around you is in denial.]]> 208 Akwaeke Emezi 0525647074 Nicky 4 children-s-and-ya, fantasy
It’s hard to put a finger on quite where Pet sits, though it’s labelled as YA: Jam feels rather young, despite the fact that she’s older than fifteen. I suspect that’s partly because of her naïveté, though. I don’t know how old I was when I first understood that children around me were being abused by family members, but I can’t have been more than ten. The idea of children being able to be that naïve is a pretty shocking one from that perspective: of course they wouldn’t have to grow up as fast. Of course they could have space to figure out their way through their lives.

So despite how young it feels in that way, YA is probably fair � especially because of the things Jam discovers while she’s on the hunt with Pet.

I really enjoyed the different kinds of representation here: there’s a family with three parents, one of whom is non-binary; Jam is trans; Jam prefers not to vocalise and uses signs and alternative ways to communicate; race feels unimportant to the world but is clearly signalled to the reader (with Jam’s afro, learning to do her hair in cornrows, etc � not to mention the cover)�

And as for the story� It feels simplistic, but there’s a lot of stuff to untangle. I enjoyed Jam’s friendship with Redemption, and the easy way they help each other, make each other better, and figure out their way around their problems. The relationships between Bitter and Aloe, Jam’s parents, and within Redemption’s family as well, have that feel to it as well. A world where people communicate and figure things out � and yes, are awful to each other sometimes, but figure things out as well. And there’s the whole issue of the monsters in Lucille, which people don’t want to see: we’ve done the work, they say. The work’s been done, there are no monsters.

There are always monsters, and we can’t pretend we’ve got rid of them for good, no matter how righteous we are, no matter how we purge and purge. We always have to be ready to listen, to accept that we could have been wrong.

Pet does a lot in a very short space, and it’s very worth a read at this particular moment in time especially. It has the simplicity of a fable or a parable, but within that simplicity is a hell of an idea to have to wrestle with.]]> 4.14 2019 Pet (Pet, #1)
author: Akwaeke Emezi
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/18
date added: 2022/02/13
shelves: children-s-and-ya, fantasy
review:
Pet takes place in the utopian city of Lucille. They’ve rooted out all the evil at their core: the violent policemen, the corrupt politicians, the liars and abusers� It wasn’t easy, and those who had to hunt for the evil in their midst had to do terrible things, but now there are no monsters in Lucille. Jam has been raised in this world, and is shocked when a spatter of her blood combines with a painting made by her mother and calls forth a monster which calls itself Pet and says there is a monster in Lucille, in the home of her dearest friend. Worse, it says she has to help it hunt down that monster.

It’s hard to put a finger on quite where Pet sits, though it’s labelled as YA: Jam feels rather young, despite the fact that she’s older than fifteen. I suspect that’s partly because of her naïveté, though. I don’t know how old I was when I first understood that children around me were being abused by family members, but I can’t have been more than ten. The idea of children being able to be that naïve is a pretty shocking one from that perspective: of course they wouldn’t have to grow up as fast. Of course they could have space to figure out their way through their lives.

So despite how young it feels in that way, YA is probably fair � especially because of the things Jam discovers while she’s on the hunt with Pet.

I really enjoyed the different kinds of representation here: there’s a family with three parents, one of whom is non-binary; Jam is trans; Jam prefers not to vocalise and uses signs and alternative ways to communicate; race feels unimportant to the world but is clearly signalled to the reader (with Jam’s afro, learning to do her hair in cornrows, etc � not to mention the cover)�

And as for the story� It feels simplistic, but there’s a lot of stuff to untangle. I enjoyed Jam’s friendship with Redemption, and the easy way they help each other, make each other better, and figure out their way around their problems. The relationships between Bitter and Aloe, Jam’s parents, and within Redemption’s family as well, have that feel to it as well. A world where people communicate and figure things out � and yes, are awful to each other sometimes, but figure things out as well. And there’s the whole issue of the monsters in Lucille, which people don’t want to see: we’ve done the work, they say. The work’s been done, there are no monsters.

There are always monsters, and we can’t pretend we’ve got rid of them for good, no matter how righteous we are, no matter how we purge and purge. We always have to be ready to listen, to accept that we could have been wrong.

Pet does a lot in a very short space, and it’s very worth a read at this particular moment in time especially. It has the simplicity of a fable or a parable, but within that simplicity is a hell of an idea to have to wrestle with.
]]> Five Red Herrings 338797
His talent proves great in that arena but, when his broken body is found at the foot of a ravine, the local constabulary are convinced the argumentative painter was merely the victim of a tragic accident rather than vengeful murder.

Enter Lord Peter Wimsey, who almost immediately discovers some highly suspicious clues which the police have missed. Before long the hunt is on for an ingenious killer.

Faced with six men, all of whom have a motive for murder, the aristocratic amateur-sleuth must deduce who are the five red herrings and exactly who has blood on his hands.

Adapted by Alistair Beaton and starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey it was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 4 January to 22 February 1978.

Running time: 3 hours, 35 minutes]]> 4 Alistair Beaton 0563557508 Nicky 3 audio, mystery, crime
Of course, the attraction in Sayers� clever dialogue and Ian Carmichael’s perfect delivery remains, and with some crochet to occupy my hands, it’s still a pleasant interlude.

]]> 3.85 1998 Five Red Herrings
author: Alistair Beaton
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2016/09/02
date added: 2022/01/21
shelves: audio, mystery, crime
review:
I have to confess I got an awful shock when Inspector Parker made his brief appearance in this book � it’s no longer Gabriel Woolf! I knew it was coming, but gah, I hate the transition every time. And it doesn’t really help that this might be my least favourite of the mysteries: in the original book, it relies on suppressing information that, in the end, wouldn’t actually help the uninformed reader that much. At least that doesn’t happen in this version, but it’s also a murder mystery worked to a very specific timetable, and on a second, third or fourth reading it gets a little tedious. To me, anyway. I’m sure there’s someone for whom Five Red Herrings is their favourite.

Of course, the attraction in Sayers� clever dialogue and Ian Carmichael’s perfect delivery remains, and with some crochet to occupy my hands, it’s still a pleasant interlude.


]]> <![CDATA[Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 4: Lancelot Parts III and IV]]> 7771894 416 Norris J. Lacy 1843842351 Nicky 4
The hinting and teasing about the Grail continues, and towards the end of book IV, Bors comes back into the story. The very end of the book pauses to describe Gawain and his brothers more fully than it has done so far, and introduces Mordred, so I assume he's about to become more important. Or it's just clumsily foreshadowing Mordred's usurpation of Arthur's throne -- which wouldn't surprise me.

As with the other books of this series, it seems to be well translated and the footnotes pick out any areas of confusion, and attribute the statements to whichever manuscript is deemed more likely to be accurate.]]> 4.40 1995 Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 4: Lancelot Parts III and IV
author: Norris J. Lacy
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.40
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2011/07/14
date added: 2022/01/08
shelves: arthurian, myth-legend-saga-etc, medieval-literature
review:
The fourth book of this translation of the Vulgate Cycle covers several episodes of Lancelot's life as an adult and of the Arthurian court, including the death of Galehaut, the imposter Guinevere, and the Knight of the Cart. The latter incident does not differ substantially from its treatment in Chrétien de Troyes' version; the others, I don't know of any sources for them (or, indeed, any other medieval versions of them outside the Vulgate Cycle).

The hinting and teasing about the Grail continues, and towards the end of book IV, Bors comes back into the story. The very end of the book pauses to describe Gawain and his brothers more fully than it has done so far, and introduces Mordred, so I assume he's about to become more important. Or it's just clumsily foreshadowing Mordred's usurpation of Arthur's throne -- which wouldn't surprise me.

As with the other books of this series, it seems to be well translated and the footnotes pick out any areas of confusion, and attribute the statements to whichever manuscript is deemed more likely to be accurate.
]]> <![CDATA[Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 3: Lancelot Parts I and II]]> 7649592 474 Norris J. Lacy 1843842262 Nicky 4
In terms of modern reading, just for fun, there are parts that drag, but there are a lot of knightly deeds and even some funny bits. For example:

[Galehaut asks the king how much he would give in order to have Lancelot's company forever. Arthur says he would share half his kingdom with him, apart from his wife. Galehaut then poses the same question to Gawain, who replies:]

"I'd immediately wish to be the most beautiful maiden in the world, happy and healthy, on condition that he [Lancelot] would love me above all others, all his life and mine."

[The same question is posed to Guinevere.]

"Sir Gawain has proposed all that a lady can give, and a lady can offer no more."


Slash and genderswap fic in the thirteenth century.

The translation is, as in the other volumes of this series, pretty good, and the translator's decisions and changes (to make the translation make sense) are well-documented in the footnotes. The tenth volume, with chapter summaries and such, can be very helpful when mired in fifty page long chapters, too.]]> 4.43 1995 Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 3: Lancelot Parts I and II
author: Norris J. Lacy
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2011/07/13
date added: 2022/01/08
shelves: arthurian, myth-legend-saga-etc, medieval-literature
review:
Unlike the first two books of the Vulgate Cycle -- The History of the Holy Grail, and The Story of Merlin -- the Lancelot doesn't seem to have source texts that I know of. There are some similarities to the Lanzelet written by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven (which I quite like, actually, given it's a Lancelot text and I'm not fond of Lancelot). This book covers Lancelot's childhood, and also the childhood of Lionel and Bors, his cousins; the second part covers his early knighthood, when he has gone with the knight Galehaut, who loves him above all others.

In terms of modern reading, just for fun, there are parts that drag, but there are a lot of knightly deeds and even some funny bits. For example:

[Galehaut asks the king how much he would give in order to have Lancelot's company forever. Arthur says he would share half his kingdom with him, apart from his wife. Galehaut then poses the same question to Gawain, who replies:]

"I'd immediately wish to be the most beautiful maiden in the world, happy and healthy, on condition that he [Lancelot] would love me above all others, all his life and mine."

[The same question is posed to Guinevere.]

"Sir Gawain has proposed all that a lady can give, and a lady can offer no more."


Slash and genderswap fic in the thirteenth century.

The translation is, as in the other volumes of this series, pretty good, and the translator's decisions and changes (to make the translation make sense) are well-documented in the footnotes. The tenth volume, with chapter summaries and such, can be very helpful when mired in fifty page long chapters, too.
]]> <![CDATA[Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 2: The Story of Merlin]]> 7709949 497 Norris J. Lacy 1843842343 Nicky 4
There's a fair amount of this that I don't know from anywhere else -- for example, Gawainet and his brothers defending Camelot for Arthur while Arthur is away. For those who are fans of a heroic Gawain, the young Gawain here is very positively treated: a very good knight and a very good man, both.

The later sections of the book seem to me to come from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, and maybe the Bruts, along with some original material (or at least, some material whose source I'm not familiar with).

The translation seems to me to be good -- it's certainly readable, and like the first volume, there are footnotes commenting on the translations, and offering rationalisations for why things have been translated in a certain way.]]> 4.00 1993 Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 2: The Story of Merlin
author: Norris J. Lacy
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2011/07/11
date added: 2022/01/08
shelves: arthurian, myth-legend-saga-etc, medieval-literature
review:
The first book of this translation of the Vulgate Cycle focused on the Holy Grail, shortly after the death of Christ and onwards. That fades out, in this book, and it finally becomes about Arthuriana as we know it -- starting with the birth of Merlin, very much as in the work of Robert de Boron, and moving onto the birth of Arthur. I've read enough Arthurian texts by this point that I can't pinpoint the exact sources without some hefty comparison work I'm not willing to do at this point, but it does crib heavily from Robert de Boron. Obviously, the Cycle is pretty concerned with Christian matters, but much less so once we get onto Arthur.

There's a fair amount of this that I don't know from anywhere else -- for example, Gawainet and his brothers defending Camelot for Arthur while Arthur is away. For those who are fans of a heroic Gawain, the young Gawain here is very positively treated: a very good knight and a very good man, both.

The later sections of the book seem to me to come from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, and maybe the Bruts, along with some original material (or at least, some material whose source I'm not familiar with).

The translation seems to me to be good -- it's certainly readable, and like the first volume, there are footnotes commenting on the translations, and offering rationalisations for why things have been translated in a certain way.
]]> <![CDATA[Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 1: The History of the Holy Grail]]> 8213290 339 Norris J. Lacy 1843842246 Nicky 3
This edition is very carefully prepared, with notes on the translation on almost every page, along with a helpful and informative introduction. If you get the set, the final book holds chapter summaries and an index.]]> 3.58 1992 Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 1: The History of the Holy Grail
author: Norris J. Lacy
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.58
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 2011/07/05
date added: 2022/01/08
shelves: arthurian, myth-legend-saga-etc, medieval-literature
review:
Despite the Vulgate Cycle's status as one of the most important works of medieval Arthurian literature, this first book is not about Arthur himself. It focuses on the grail, and most specifically on the time just after Christ's death. How it wasn't considered wildly heretical, I don't really get. It retells parts of the Bible, interweaving it with stories of great conversions, and the kind of marvels you'd expect from a romance text. It does foreshadow the coming of Arthurian characters -- most often specifically Sir Galahad, although Arthur, Lancelot and the Orkney brothers are mentioned, and some of the others usually important during the grail quest. Some of the material is recognisable from Robert de Boron, but a lot has been added.

This edition is very carefully prepared, with notes on the translation on almost every page, along with a helpful and informative introduction. If you get the set, the final book holds chapter summaries and an index.
]]> Collected Poems 247319 352 Arthur Rimbaud 0140420649 Nicky 4 poetry, classics
I'm going to keep working on understanding this fully...]]> 4.27 1873 Collected Poems
author: Arthur Rimbaud
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1873
rating: 4
read at: 2012/12/22
date added: 2021/08/09
shelves: poetry, classics
review:
I can translate French well enough that I could grasp some of this, though I have no prior experience with other French poetry of the period. What I understood was gorgeous -- and the prose translations underneath did help, despite being, well, prosaic.

I'm going to keep working on understanding this fully...
]]> <![CDATA[A Dictionary of Tolkien (Tolkien Illustrated Guides)]]> 20513872
- Perfect for Tolkien fans, linguists, or anyone prone to fantasy. A Dictionary is a beautiful addition to any home library, and makes a great conversation piece.

Please note that illustrations are not included with the eBook edition.

This work is unofficial and is not authorized by the Tolkien Estate or HarperCollins Publishers.]]> 274 David Day 1607109697 Nicky 5 non-fiction, fantasy
Just flicking through it, I’d find myself drawn in and reading an entry or two in whole: the one on dragons spans several pages, for example. It covers a lot of the more obscure stuff, from The Silmarillion and beyond; I’m not sure how much it draws on Tolkien’s unpublished papers, given the difficulty of figuring out what is meant to be canonical. I’ll update this if I ever find out definitively.]]> 4.19 A Dictionary of Tolkien (Tolkien Illustrated Guides)
author: David Day
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.19
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2014/12/25
date added: 2021/04/22
shelves: non-fiction, fantasy
review:
I may love Tolkien’s worlds, but my knowledge isn’t encyclopaedic. I didn’t read this cover to cover � I’m sure some people would, but it’s not the kind of thing I enjoy � but it strikes me as a good encyclopaedia for the world (less a dictionary, I think: it’s not just about the etymology and meaning of words, or even mostly) and a good reference, especially for those who find things like genealogies and far off cities difficult. It’s a well presented book, too: faux-leather, with an embossed cover and nice pages, some illustrations included, and the maps on the endpapers.

Just flicking through it, I’d find myself drawn in and reading an entry or two in whole: the one on dragons spans several pages, for example. It covers a lot of the more obscure stuff, from The Silmarillion and beyond; I’m not sure how much it draws on Tolkien’s unpublished papers, given the difficulty of figuring out what is meant to be canonical. I’ll update this if I ever find out definitively.
]]> <![CDATA[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]> 1253620 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was rediscovered only 200 years ago, and published for the first time in 1839. One of the earliest great stories of English literature, after Beowulf, the poem narrates the strange tale of a green knight on a green horse, who rudely interrupts the Round Table festivities one Yuletide, casting a pall of unease over the company and challenging one of their number to a wager. The virtuous Gawain accepts, and decapitates the intruder with his own axe. Gushing blood, the knight reclaims his head, orders Gawain to seek him out a year hence, and departs. Next Yuletide Gawain dutifully sets forth... His quest for the Green Knight involves a winter journey, a seduction scene in a dream-like castle, a dire challenge answered - and a drama of enigmatic reward disguised as psychic undoing.]]> 114 Simon Armitage 0571223281 Nicky 5
It's also very readable, and rich in its own way. If you want to read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and you're daunted by the idea of the "Old English"*, this translation is great -- lively and, I think, playful. I enjoyed the language a lot, not least because of how very Yorkshire it is (I grew up in Yorkshire). Armitage makes a good attempt at using the alliterative metre, and the poem practically begs to be read aloud and savoured.

The story itself has become less and less important to me as I've read the poem in various different translations (Armitage's, Brian Stone's, a prose translation, the original...) and instead I've found myself focusing on the tone of the poem (is the narrator being ironic?) and details like the missing day (count 'em up carefully), and the use of adjectives ("good Gawain", etc). Still, there's an interesting story there, too -- the testing of Sir Gawain, a tension between courtly manners and Christianity, etc, etc.

*It's actually in Middle English, and all of the translations will be Modern English.]]> 4.04 1375 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
author: Simon Armitage
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1375
rating: 5
read at: 2010/03/14
date added: 2021/04/08
shelves: arthurian, classics, contemporary, myth-legend-saga-etc, medieval-literature, poetry
review:
Simon Armitage's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is certainly a very modern one. I think it's important to remember, when reading anything in translation, that nothing is immune to the translator's own views and intentions. This is especially apparent in translations like Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf, and this translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but it's always the case. Even when it's a group of undergrads doing awkward prose translations -- I always use the example of Wulf and Eadwacer. There is no way you can translate that poem without personal interpretation. Even if you consciously translate the poem in order to keep all the ambiguities in place, that's an interpretation. Knowing this, and having read the introduction to this translation, it was easy for me to settle down and just enjoy Simon Armitage's translation. It's not literal, and it's colloquial, and it's contemporary, and it will probably quickly become dated. I don't think it's suitable for commenting on the poem in an academic context, unless you're actually commenting on the different translations, because it's very much an interpretation and in "plain English" and doesn't hold all the richness of the original.

It's also very readable, and rich in its own way. If you want to read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and you're daunted by the idea of the "Old English"*, this translation is great -- lively and, I think, playful. I enjoyed the language a lot, not least because of how very Yorkshire it is (I grew up in Yorkshire). Armitage makes a good attempt at using the alliterative metre, and the poem practically begs to be read aloud and savoured.

The story itself has become less and less important to me as I've read the poem in various different translations (Armitage's, Brian Stone's, a prose translation, the original...) and instead I've found myself focusing on the tone of the poem (is the narrator being ironic?) and details like the missing day (count 'em up carefully), and the use of adjectives ("good Gawain", etc). Still, there's an interesting story there, too -- the testing of Sir Gawain, a tension between courtly manners and Christianity, etc, etc.

*It's actually in Middle English, and all of the translations will be Modern English.
]]> <![CDATA[Symphony in C: Carbon and the Evolution of (Almost) Everything]]> 41817536 An enchanting biography of the most resonant� and most necessary—chemical element on Earth.

Carbon. It’s in the fibers in your hair, the timbers in your walls, the food that you eat, and the air that you breathe. It’s worth billions as a luxury and half a trillion as a necessity, but there are still mysteries yet to be solved about the element that can be both diamond and coal. Where does it come from, what does it do, and why, above all, does life need it?

With poetic storytelling, earth scientist Robert Hazen leads us on a global journey through the origin and evolution of life’s most ubiquitous element. The story unfolds in four movements—Earth, Air, Fire, and Water—and transports us through 14 billion years of cosmic history.

From the archives of Harvard to the cliffs of Scotland and into the preciousmetal mines of Namibia, Symphony in C is a sweeping chronicle of carbon: the most essential element on Earth.]]> 288 Robert M. Hazen 039360943X Nicky 3 non-fiction, science-fact
Often enthusiasm gives life to writing, but I did find that there were bits of this I got a bit stuck on just through not getting involved enough... and knowing that e.g. Richard Fortey can get me excited about rocks with the way he writes, that I do put down to a certain dryness in the writing. Oddly enough, it was the parts on biology I yawned through; I don't need the facts to be new to me, but if you're explaining to me about why carbon is the ideal element for life, I need you to make it more exciting than my textbook. (This may not be fair, as I find certain aspects of my textbooks very exciting. The membrane attack complex is a marvel! No, friends who have been subject to me exclaiming about the MAC -- I'm not over it yet! Biology is amazing!)

Anyway, if you're interested in carbon, in the history of how we understand carbon as well as the current state of the field, it's not a bad read. It's lacking in tables and images that can really talk people through the data rather than just explaining like a story, so it's very pop-science in that sense, so I'm not sure how much of it will stick for me. The symphony conceit got old for me/didn't always feel like the right way to balance/organise the material, but I learned some new things and cemented some others in my mind, and really, that's all I ask.]]> 3.86 2019 Symphony in C: Carbon and the Evolution of (Almost) Everything
author: Robert M. Hazen
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2021/02/20
date added: 2021/03/03
shelves: non-fiction, science-fact
review:
Honestly, I could've picked this up just for the title, which I thought was clever. But of course, carbon is an intensely important element for life, so it ties in very much with my interest in biology -- no carbon, no us! -- and it didn't seem like it'd be too far off the random path of my current interests. Which proved to be mostly true: I found it harder going than a book about biology, my preferred science, but Hazen's enthusiasm for his subject carried me along to a great extent.

Often enthusiasm gives life to writing, but I did find that there were bits of this I got a bit stuck on just through not getting involved enough... and knowing that e.g. Richard Fortey can get me excited about rocks with the way he writes, that I do put down to a certain dryness in the writing. Oddly enough, it was the parts on biology I yawned through; I don't need the facts to be new to me, but if you're explaining to me about why carbon is the ideal element for life, I need you to make it more exciting than my textbook. (This may not be fair, as I find certain aspects of my textbooks very exciting. The membrane attack complex is a marvel! No, friends who have been subject to me exclaiming about the MAC -- I'm not over it yet! Biology is amazing!)

Anyway, if you're interested in carbon, in the history of how we understand carbon as well as the current state of the field, it's not a bad read. It's lacking in tables and images that can really talk people through the data rather than just explaining like a story, so it's very pop-science in that sense, so I'm not sure how much of it will stick for me. The symphony conceit got old for me/didn't always feel like the right way to balance/organise the material, but I learned some new things and cemented some others in my mind, and really, that's all I ask.
]]> <![CDATA[A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome]]> 54776211 An entertaining and informative look at the unique culture of crime, punishment, and killing in Ancient Rome

In Ancient Rome, all the best stories have one thing in common—murder. Romulus killed Remus to found the city, Caesar was assassinated to save the Republic. Caligula was butchered in the theater, Claudius was poisoned at dinner, and Galba was beheaded in the Forum. In one 50-year period, 26 emperors were murdered.

But what did killing mean in a city where gladiators fought to the death to sate a crowd? In A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Emma Southon examines a trove of real-life homicides from Roman history to explore Roman culture, including how perpetrator, victim, and the act itself were regarded by ordinary people. Inside Ancient Rome's darkly fascinating history, we see how the Romans viewed life, death, and what it means to be human.
]]> 352 Emma Southon 1419753053 Nicky 5 history, non-fiction
The idea of a book about murder in Rome gave me a bit of pause, since I didn’t think they really had such a concept� and indeed, I was right, and Southon acknowledges that it’s a very modern way to interrogate these sources, and that in many of the cases described, no one batted an eyelid (the murder of slaves, particularly). As she says, though, the deaths and the attitudes to those deaths still tell us a lot about Roman society and the place of various people within it.

I was intrigued by the topic, but didn’t expect to find it a pageturner; that it was says something about how engaging Southon’s writing was. I found it deeply enjoyable � particularly as it was one of those books that had me turning to my wife to delightedly ask ‘did you know?� and read bits out or wave my hands excitedly as I connected up bits and shared the fun.]]> 4.09 2020 A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome
author: Emma Southon
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/02/28
date added: 2021/02/28
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:
I worried from the title and first few pages that this might prove too flippant and shallow from me, but I was wrong to worry. I quickly settled into it, and it’s obvious that Southon knows her stuff, takes deep joy in it, and knows where she can skimp on explanations a bit in order to get to the meat of things. She gives a lot of context without getting too bogged down in it, while telegraphing that the point is coming; if you really hate comments like “bear with me, we’re getting to the good stuff�, then it won’t work for you� but mostly, I thought she did a really good job.

The idea of a book about murder in Rome gave me a bit of pause, since I didn’t think they really had such a concept� and indeed, I was right, and Southon acknowledges that it’s a very modern way to interrogate these sources, and that in many of the cases described, no one batted an eyelid (the murder of slaves, particularly). As she says, though, the deaths and the attitudes to those deaths still tell us a lot about Roman society and the place of various people within it.

I was intrigued by the topic, but didn’t expect to find it a pageturner; that it was says something about how engaging Southon’s writing was. I found it deeply enjoyable � particularly as it was one of those books that had me turning to my wife to delightedly ask ‘did you know?� and read bits out or wave my hands excitedly as I connected up bits and shared the fun.
]]> <![CDATA[The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women’s Lives, 1660�1900]]> 41962911
This first book-length study of the tie-on pocket combines materiality and gender to provide new insight into the social history of women’s everyday lives—from duchesses and country gentry to prostitutes and washerwomen—and explore their consumption practices, work, sociability, mobility, privacy, and identity.The authors draw on an unprecedented study of surviving pockets in museums and private collections to identify their materials, techniques, and decoration; their use is investigated through sources as diverse as criminal trials, letters, diaries, inventories, novels, and advertisements. Richly illustrated with paintings, satirical prints, and photographs of artifacts in detail, this innovative book reveals the unexpected story of these deeply evocative and personal objects.
]]> 264 Barbara Burman 0300239076 Nicky 3 non-fiction, history
What really surprised me was how long the tie-on pocket lasted, and the wealth of evidence the authors were actually able to show about how they were used, made, obtained, bought, bartered, pawned and gifted. They really do make a good entrée for the history of women’s lives; I thought one of the most interesting parts were the court records, giving us a glimpse into what women carried in their pockets and why.

Not the most riveting read, even for non-fiction, but the photographs are beautifully done and in full colour, and the subject is fascinating enough that I found it well worth the slightly dry and academic approach.]]> 4.08 2019 The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women’s Lives, 1660–1900
author: Barbara Burman
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2021/02/28
date added: 2021/02/28
shelves: non-fiction, history
review:
Focusing on 1660 to 1900 (a very precise time range!), this book uses the tie-on pocket as an ‘in� to dig into women’s lives via the historical records, including the physical records (pockets which have ended up in collections and museums), writing and court records. It’s a fairly academic book � lots of “meaning resides in the blahblahblah� type language � and also serves as a pretty comprehensive repository for photographs of extant pockets and their details, but it’s accessible enough if you have enough of an interest, and there’s a lot of fascinating detail.

What really surprised me was how long the tie-on pocket lasted, and the wealth of evidence the authors were actually able to show about how they were used, made, obtained, bought, bartered, pawned and gifted. They really do make a good entrée for the history of women’s lives; I thought one of the most interesting parts were the court records, giving us a glimpse into what women carried in their pockets and why.

Not the most riveting read, even for non-fiction, but the photographs are beautifully done and in full colour, and the subject is fascinating enough that I found it well worth the slightly dry and academic approach.
]]> <![CDATA[Nodding Off: The Science of Sleep from Cradle to Grave]]> 36873429
Using cutting-edge findings in the field, Gregory tackles the big questions, such

- How do things that happen before we are even born affect our sleep?
- What sleep problems should raise a red flag in children?
- How do genes influence the way we sleep?
- What are the consequences of sleep problems in the elderly?
- Why are scientists turning to sleep disorders such as sleep paralysis to try to understand paranormal experiences?

Most of us spend a large portion of our lives asleep without ever thinking about why we do this. Nodding Off lifts the lid on this mysterious and universal past time. It examines all of the biggest sleep secrets, and Professor Gregory provides solutions to some of the common sleep problems that people suffer throughout their lives.]]> 304 Alice Gregory 1472946189 Nicky 2 science-fact, non-fiction
However, and this is a really big but, I lost count of how many times Gregory proclaims something and then admits in the next sentence or a footnote that it was a 'small study' and hadn't been replicated in other studies, especially when she says it hasn't been replicated in larger studies. The fact that she made it sound like these things were facts, when actually it was that shaky, gave me pause about more or less everything she said.

You can't make big claims from small, underpowered studies. That's just not how it works. They can be a testing ground, a starting point, but there's no way you should be presenting them as fact in a pop-science book where people might actually think these are tried and tested facts, even if you explain the study is small. People just don't grasp the significance of that (or rather, the fact that it's probablynot significant!).

I've also definitely had more engaging pop-science reads lately; Sue Armstrong comes to mind. Sleep can be a fascinating topic, but I found myself nodding off overNodding Off.]]> 3.39 2018 Nodding Off: The Science of Sleep from Cradle to Grave
author: Alice Gregory
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2021/02/28
date added: 2021/02/28
shelves: science-fact, non-fiction
review:
This book is about the importance of sleep: the functions it fulfils for us, how that changes throughout our life cycles, and the consequences of not getting enough. It has a wealth of citations, and most of it was unsurprising to me, suggesting it's a reasonable synthesis of the current state of our knowledge.

However, and this is a really big but, I lost count of how many times Gregory proclaims something and then admits in the next sentence or a footnote that it was a 'small study' and hadn't been replicated in other studies, especially when she says it hasn't been replicated in larger studies. The fact that she made it sound like these things were facts, when actually it was that shaky, gave me pause about more or less everything she said.

You can't make big claims from small, underpowered studies. That's just not how it works. They can be a testing ground, a starting point, but there's no way you should be presenting them as fact in a pop-science book where people might actually think these are tried and tested facts, even if you explain the study is small. People just don't grasp the significance of that (or rather, the fact that it's probablynot significant!).

I've also definitely had more engaging pop-science reads lately; Sue Armstrong comes to mind. Sleep can be a fascinating topic, but I found myself nodding off overNodding Off.
]]> Fireheart Tiger 53317495 Award-winning author Aliette de Bodard returns with a powerful romantic fantasy that reads likeThe Goblin EmperormeetsHowl’s Moving Castlein a pre-colonial Vietnamese-esque world.

Fire burns bright and has a long memory�.

Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.

Thanh’s new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won’t take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions.

Can Thanh find the freedom to shape her country’s fate—and her own?]]> 103 Aliette de Bodard 1250793262 Nicky 3 received-to-review, netgalley
This is blurbed asThe Goblin Emperor meetsHowl's Moving Castle... and it's really not like either of those, to my mind, so I really wouldn't recommend it as such. There's a touch of politics, yes, but Thanh isn't much like Maia and nor is her position very similar except in that they're both in a precarious position in a court (though Maia's risks feel quite different to Thanh's)... though now, a few weeks after reading the story, I suppose I do recognise Maia's road to taking control of some of his power echoed in Thanh's story. It might be more alike than it seemed on the surface, now it's settled.

When it comes to its other big comparison point, for me it lacks the humour of Howl's Moving Castle. It is also obviously completely devoid of any Welsh influence, and is not aimed at the same age group. It shares one central plot element, sort of. I'm a little confused about these comparisons, to be honest; I always suck at comparing books to one another, but I still don't see the comparison here.

In any case, it's a queer story set in a Vietnamese-influenced court. Thanh is a princess, but she's most definitely a spare: originally sent away as a hostage, now returned and asked to negotiate with those who previously held her hostage. She has two main memories of her time at the other court: her affair with another princess, and a massive fire that overtook the palace and nearly left her stranded.

Both of these things are, obviously, relevant.

I found the way the plot played out fairly obvious; as a novella, it paints in pretty broad strokes. There are some hints of nuance in Thanh's mother's characterisation and motivations, which helps, but mostly it's fairly straight-forward and works out the way I expected. (I'm very surprised by people who don't recognise the abusive relationship for what it is, though, and think that's intended to be the romance -- so maybe it's more subtle than I thought and I just trust Aliette de Bodard a bit too much!) For a story of this length, I don't usually expect to be surprised, though, and I did very much enjoy the queer relationships and the glimpses of a different kind of court life and attitude to that more familiar to me from history and Western-inspired fantasy.

In the end, it didn't blow me away as much as I'd hoped or expected -- which is partly, I think, due to those comparisons to two books that mean a lot to me. It was enjoyable to read, but not like The Goblin Emperor in the ways I hoped for, and even less like Howl's Moving Castle. We all take different things away from stories, and it's clear that my version ofThe Goblin Emperor andHowl's Moving Castle don't overlap with the understanding of them taken away by those who made these comparisons. It's worth keeping that caution in mind when comparison titles make something sound like it's going to be completely up your alley, I guess!]]> 3.33 2021 Fireheart Tiger
author: Aliette de Bodard
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/02/01
date added: 2021/02/24
shelves: received-to-review, netgalley
review:
Received to review via Netgalley

This is blurbed asThe Goblin Emperor meetsHowl's Moving Castle... and it's really not like either of those, to my mind, so I really wouldn't recommend it as such. There's a touch of politics, yes, but Thanh isn't much like Maia and nor is her position very similar except in that they're both in a precarious position in a court (though Maia's risks feel quite different to Thanh's)... though now, a few weeks after reading the story, I suppose I do recognise Maia's road to taking control of some of his power echoed in Thanh's story. It might be more alike than it seemed on the surface, now it's settled.

When it comes to its other big comparison point, for me it lacks the humour of Howl's Moving Castle. It is also obviously completely devoid of any Welsh influence, and is not aimed at the same age group. It shares one central plot element, sort of. I'm a little confused about these comparisons, to be honest; I always suck at comparing books to one another, but I still don't see the comparison here.

In any case, it's a queer story set in a Vietnamese-influenced court. Thanh is a princess, but she's most definitely a spare: originally sent away as a hostage, now returned and asked to negotiate with those who previously held her hostage. She has two main memories of her time at the other court: her affair with another princess, and a massive fire that overtook the palace and nearly left her stranded.

Both of these things are, obviously, relevant.

I found the way the plot played out fairly obvious; as a novella, it paints in pretty broad strokes. There are some hints of nuance in Thanh's mother's characterisation and motivations, which helps, but mostly it's fairly straight-forward and works out the way I expected. (I'm very surprised by people who don't recognise the abusive relationship for what it is, though, and think that's intended to be the romance -- so maybe it's more subtle than I thought and I just trust Aliette de Bodard a bit too much!) For a story of this length, I don't usually expect to be surprised, though, and I did very much enjoy the queer relationships and the glimpses of a different kind of court life and attitude to that more familiar to me from history and Western-inspired fantasy.

In the end, it didn't blow me away as much as I'd hoped or expected -- which is partly, I think, due to those comparisons to two books that mean a lot to me. It was enjoyable to read, but not like The Goblin Emperor in the ways I hoped for, and even less like Howl's Moving Castle. We all take different things away from stories, and it's clear that my version ofThe Goblin Emperor andHowl's Moving Castle don't overlap with the understanding of them taken away by those who made these comparisons. It's worth keeping that caution in mind when comparison titles make something sound like it's going to be completely up your alley, I guess!
]]> <![CDATA[Cemetery Boys (Cemetery Boys, #1)]]> 52339313
When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.

However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie up some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.]]> 344 Aiden Thomas 1250250463 Nicky 3 fantasy, queer, romance
I wasn't entirely sure how Yadriel and Julian could work together, knowing that this also featured a romance between them, but even as Julian annoys the heck out of Yadriel... the attraction and connection between them also makes sense. It's somewhat forced on them by circumstance, but Julian's unexpected kindnesses -- and Yadriel's desperateness to prove himself -- speak volumes, and they become quite close. With the help of Yadriel's cousin Maritza, a bruja also somewhat ostracised for her refusal to use blood to channel her healing powers (she's a vegan), they try to figure out why Yadriel's brother is missing, and what the heck is going on.

There was a certain aspect of the plot which I saw coming from a bit too far away, and I really wish it hadn't worked out that way because I liked the character, and I was more in the mood for a different kind of story there. It's not that it doesn't make sense, because it does, but it wasn't how I'd hoped things would turn out.

I adore how fiercely protective of Yadriel Julian becomes; the ending is a smile a minute, honestly. The overall feel of the book is rather young, but that rather suited my need for something that felteasy to read (even as it deals with some difficult topics, like being trans and fitting into your very gendered community properly). Definitely one I'm happy to recommend!]]> 4.26 2020 Cemetery Boys (Cemetery Boys, #1)
author: Aiden Thomas
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/02/24
date added: 2021/02/24
shelves: fantasy, queer, romance
review:
I really wanted to read this as soon as it came out, but I'm a mood-reader and it kept not being the time. Whoops. Anyway, now I have: it's the story of a trans brujo, someone who can summon the souls of the dead and lay them to rest. Yadriel is a part of the brujx community, but somewhat kept apart because they're handling the fact that he's trans quite badly. In his desperation to prove himself, he summons a spirit... and it turns out to be the ghost of Julian, a boy from school who is rather wayward and not at all like Yadriel himself.

I wasn't entirely sure how Yadriel and Julian could work together, knowing that this also featured a romance between them, but even as Julian annoys the heck out of Yadriel... the attraction and connection between them also makes sense. It's somewhat forced on them by circumstance, but Julian's unexpected kindnesses -- and Yadriel's desperateness to prove himself -- speak volumes, and they become quite close. With the help of Yadriel's cousin Maritza, a bruja also somewhat ostracised for her refusal to use blood to channel her healing powers (she's a vegan), they try to figure out why Yadriel's brother is missing, and what the heck is going on.

There was a certain aspect of the plot which I saw coming from a bit too far away, and I really wish it hadn't worked out that way because I liked the character, and I was more in the mood for a different kind of story there. It's not that it doesn't make sense, because it does, but it wasn't how I'd hoped things would turn out.

I adore how fiercely protective of Yadriel Julian becomes; the ending is a smile a minute, honestly. The overall feel of the book is rather young, but that rather suited my need for something that felteasy to read (even as it deals with some difficult topics, like being trans and fitting into your very gendered community properly). Definitely one I'm happy to recommend!
]]> <![CDATA[How to Read a Dress: A Guide to Changing Fashion from the 16th to the 20th Century]]> 31816490
Each entry includes annotated colour images of historical garments, outlines important features and highlights how styles have changed (whether in shape, fabric choice, trimming, undergarments) from those shown previously. Readers will learn how garments were constructed and where their inspiration stemmed from at key points in history, as well as the differences between dress types for various occasions, variations in detailing, cut, and popularity, and the class, age and social status of the wearer.

This beautifully illustrated guide equips students, researchers, curators and anyone interested in historical fashion with the tools to 'read' a dress. Using this book, readers are able to identify specific period styles, and will really know their cartridge pleats from their Récamier ruffles. - See more at: ]]> 288 Lydia Edwards 1474286240 Nicky 3 non-fiction, history
The annotation is very good, but the introductory paragraphs for each section are a bit less organised. It doesn't refer to specific examples of dresses in that chapter, but stays totally general... meaning it's hard for me -- a not especially visual person -- to link the dresses up with the trends they illustrate. Sometimes I'd look through the dresses for a specific feature, but not really see anything that seemed to match. In addition, sometimes the text would mention a specific photograph or illustration, but it wasn't next to the text, and there was no helpful "(figure 3)" or anything; instead it would say something like "this photograph of a gentleman..." Which photograph of a gentleman?

Anyway, I found it really interesting, and useful, with a few flaws. It would probably work better for someone with a visual memory!]]> 3.95 2017 How to Read a Dress: A Guide to Changing Fashion from the 16th to the 20th Century
author: Lydia Edwards
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2020/12/30
date added: 2021/02/23
shelves: non-fiction, history
review:
This book is a handy survey of women's fashion (mostly of dresses, but occasionally including titbits about other aspects of dress and accessorising, like necklaces and shoes) from the 16th to the 20th century. It features full-colour photographs, carefully annotated with useful pointers as to what to notice, and introductory essays explaining the trends of each period.

The annotation is very good, but the introductory paragraphs for each section are a bit less organised. It doesn't refer to specific examples of dresses in that chapter, but stays totally general... meaning it's hard for me -- a not especially visual person -- to link the dresses up with the trends they illustrate. Sometimes I'd look through the dresses for a specific feature, but not really see anything that seemed to match. In addition, sometimes the text would mention a specific photograph or illustration, but it wasn't next to the text, and there was no helpful "(figure 3)" or anything; instead it would say something like "this photograph of a gentleman..." Which photograph of a gentleman?

Anyway, I found it really interesting, and useful, with a few flaws. It would probably work better for someone with a visual memory!
]]> <![CDATA[The Duke and I (Bridgertons, #1)]]> 56468652 An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here

Can there be any greater challenge to London's Ambitious Mamas than an unmarried duke?—Lady Whistledown's Society Papers, April 1813

By all accounts, Simon Basset is on the verge of proposing to his best friend's sister—the lovely and almost-on-the-shelf—Daphne Bridgerton. But the two of them know the truth—it's all an elaborate ruse to keep Simon free from marriage-minded society mothers. And as for Daphne, surely she will attract some worthy suitors now that it seems a duke has declared her desirable.

But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, it's hard to remember that their courtship is a sham. Maybe it's his devilish smile, certainly it's the way his eyes seem to burn every time he looks at her . . . but somehow Daphne is falling for the dashing duke . . . for real! And now she must do the impossible and convince the handsome rogue that their clever little scheme deserves a slight alteration, and that nothing makes quite as much sense as falling in love.]]> 433 Julia Quinn Nicky 1 romance
Reader, it can be pretty bad.

I enjoyed it a lot, initially. The connection formed between Simon and Daphne is funny and sweet, and the love between Daphne and her family is really nice -- especially the differing ways it expresses itself between different members of the clan, each according to their own character.

However, then it gets toward That Scene, and things fall apart. First Simon totally fails at any kind of communication. Then, once she's figured things out, Daphne decides that Simon owes her a child, and retreats to her own bedroom to stay away from him to punish him in turn. He responds to this with violent rage, telling her that he literally owns her. (Such a nice Regency romance!) Finally, when he gets drunk, she realises she can take advantage of this and force him to come inside her, because she knows better than him and knows that the real way to cure his childhood trauma is to have a baby he doesn't want. So she does that, with lots of self-justification, and is shocked and appalled that he's then furious about being raped for his own good (though Daphne admittedly has the self-awareness to realise that it's mostly all about herself and her desire for a child).

After that, it becomes a paean to corrective rape for childhood trauma. Simon is, of course, miraculously healed by having kids with her, and neither his violent anger directed at her nor her rape of him are ever really addressed. Sure, they kiss and make up, but it's pretty much that -- no acknowledgement on either side that they did something destructive and awful.

It's all very sweet at the end, providing of course that you don't mind that one of the main characters raped the other, or that your oh-so-romantic male lead shouted at his wife that he owns her. And yes, I get that a robust discussion of consent might not feel period appropriate to you, or you might feel it's unsexy, or whatever, but on that subject K.J. Charles would like to have a word. Her novels Any Old Diamonds orBand Sinister serve as a riposte in and of themselves, but you can also read .

In conclusion: The Duke & I? ]]> 4.00 2000 The Duke and I (Bridgertons, #1)
author: Julia Quinn
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2000
rating: 1
read at: 2021/02/23
date added: 2021/02/23
shelves: romance
review:
I went into this book somewhat forewarned about the consent issues, but I was curious enough to give it a try given the amount of Bridgerton allll over my Twitter feed, Litsy, etc. People who are normally pretty on the ball have reviewed it as a "nice Regency romance", so hey, how bad can it be?

Reader, it can be pretty bad.

I enjoyed it a lot, initially. The connection formed between Simon and Daphne is funny and sweet, and the love between Daphne and her family is really nice -- especially the differing ways it expresses itself between different members of the clan, each according to their own character.

However, then it gets toward That Scene, and things fall apart. First Simon totally fails at any kind of communication. Then, once she's figured things out, Daphne decides that Simon owes her a child, and retreats to her own bedroom to stay away from him to punish him in turn. He responds to this with violent rage, telling her that he literally owns her. (Such a nice Regency romance!) Finally, when he gets drunk, she realises she can take advantage of this and force him to come inside her, because she knows better than him and knows that the real way to cure his childhood trauma is to have a baby he doesn't want. So she does that, with lots of self-justification, and is shocked and appalled that he's then furious about being raped for his own good (though Daphne admittedly has the self-awareness to realise that it's mostly all about herself and her desire for a child).

After that, it becomes a paean to corrective rape for childhood trauma. Simon is, of course, miraculously healed by having kids with her, and neither his violent anger directed at her nor her rape of him are ever really addressed. Sure, they kiss and make up, but it's pretty much that -- no acknowledgement on either side that they did something destructive and awful.

It's all very sweet at the end, providing of course that you don't mind that one of the main characters raped the other, or that your oh-so-romantic male lead shouted at his wife that he owns her. And yes, I get that a robust discussion of consent might not feel period appropriate to you, or you might feel it's unsexy, or whatever, but on that subject K.J. Charles would like to have a word. Her novels Any Old Diamonds orBand Sinister serve as a riposte in and of themselves, but you can also read .

In conclusion: The Duke & I?
]]> Pride and Prejudice 746967 ISBN 9781853260001.

Alternate-cover editions for this ISBN by cover art: Portrait of a Mother and Her Four Daughters (detail) by Sir George Hayter, Illustration by C.E. Brock, "Feeding the Doves" by Edward Killingworth Johnson, A Bonnet by Nathan Clair, "Portrait of A Woman" by Paul Prosper Tillier on black cover and on blue cover, "A Stolen Kiss" by Marcus Stone with the title on blue background, on black background and on blue cover
If you didn't find your cover, please don't change any of the above, just add another edition.

Pride and Prejudice, which opens with one of the most famous sentences in English Literature, is an ironic novel of manners. In it the garrulous and empty-headed Mrs Bennet has only one aim - that of finding a good match for each of her five daughters. In this she is mocked by her cynical and indolent husband.

With its wit, its social precision and, above all, its irresistible heroine, Pride and Prejudice has proved one of the most enduringly popular novels in the English language.]]> 329 Jane Austen Nicky 4 classics, romance
I'm still not sure it's so utterly vital, or the pinnacle of wit or writing talent, but I do confess to enjoying it. Given how famous and influential it is, if you are in the position I adopted before, do give it a try. I don't blame you if you don't find it interesting. I obviously eventually got into it. The characters were really what got me, with their little quirks and flaws. Even Mrs Bennet, who is irritatingly hysterical, is kind of endearing -- heck, even Lydia and Wickham are kind of endearing in their lack of repentence and their silliness. I know a lot of girls swoon over Darcy, and maybe this is the fact that I haven't seen any tv/movie adaptation, but I didn't at all: I was rather of Lizzy's opinion to begin with. Still, he became more likable later on, and I enjoyed that. Lizzy herself -- well, she jumps to conclusions, but she has a mind of her own and isn't afraid to snub and refuse a man. I imagine that would have taken some guts, in that period.

I have to say, I still found the plot fairly boring. If I didn't kind of want to see how the characters reacted and eventually got together, I probably wouldn't have stuck with it. It's not that the pacing is bad or anything, not when you consider the novel in context, but I'm just not really one for books in which the main object is everyone getting together at the end. Especially when the supposed love and affection between the characters falls relatively flat for me.

I swear I'm not a pod person. And I still defend people's right to utterly loathe and detest Austen. ]]> 4.21 1813 Pride and Prejudice
author: Jane Austen
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1813
rating: 4
read at: 2009/06/18
date added: 2021/02/13
shelves: classics, romance
review:
I tried to read Pride and Prejudice once before, but stalled out on it. I was determined to read it this summer, though -- we're often told at my university that to really join in the 'conversation' that is the study of English Literature, we've got to be familiar with Jane Austen. I'll have to look up what the other requirements are, but I'm steadily plodding onward with Jane! This time, I actually enjoyed Pride and Prejudice rather more -- to the point where my mother, who has no affection for Austen, wondered if I was sick. I read it in ebook format, three or four pages at a time, and got it finished very quickly.

I'm still not sure it's so utterly vital, or the pinnacle of wit or writing talent, but I do confess to enjoying it. Given how famous and influential it is, if you are in the position I adopted before, do give it a try. I don't blame you if you don't find it interesting. I obviously eventually got into it. The characters were really what got me, with their little quirks and flaws. Even Mrs Bennet, who is irritatingly hysterical, is kind of endearing -- heck, even Lydia and Wickham are kind of endearing in their lack of repentence and their silliness. I know a lot of girls swoon over Darcy, and maybe this is the fact that I haven't seen any tv/movie adaptation, but I didn't at all: I was rather of Lizzy's opinion to begin with. Still, he became more likable later on, and I enjoyed that. Lizzy herself -- well, she jumps to conclusions, but she has a mind of her own and isn't afraid to snub and refuse a man. I imagine that would have taken some guts, in that period.

I have to say, I still found the plot fairly boring. If I didn't kind of want to see how the characters reacted and eventually got together, I probably wouldn't have stuck with it. It's not that the pacing is bad or anything, not when you consider the novel in context, but I'm just not really one for books in which the main object is everyone getting together at the end. Especially when the supposed love and affection between the characters falls relatively flat for me.

I swear I'm not a pod person. And I still defend people's right to utterly loathe and detest Austen.
]]> <![CDATA[You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack]]> 15793709 “Precise and wryly hilarious...Gauld's both a literature nerd and a science-fiction nerd whose deadpan mashups belong on the same shelf as R. Sikoryak, Michael Kupperman, and Kate Beaton.”—NPR, Best Books of 2013

Anew collection from the Guardian and New York Times Magazine cartoonist

The New York Times Magazine cartoonist Tom Gauld follows up his widely praised graphic novel Goliath with You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack, a collection of cartoons made for The Guardian. Over the past eight years, Gauld has produced a weekly cartoon for the Saturday Review section of Britain’s best-regarded newspaper. Only a handful of comics from this huge and hilarious body of work have ever been printed in North America—and these have been available exclusively within the pages of the prestigious Believer magazine.
You�re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack distills perfectly Gauld’s dark humor, impeccable timing, and distinctive style. Arrests by the fiction police andimaginary towns designed by Tom Waits intermingle hilariously with piercing observations about human behavior and whimsical imaginings of the future. Again and again, Gauld reaffirms his position as a first-rank cartoonist, creating work infused with a deep understanding of both literary and cartoon history.]]> 160 Tom Gauld 1770461043 Nicky 3 graphic-novels-and-manga
I'm still glad I got it, because there are some great ones, including the one that gives the collection its title. But at the same time, I probably wouldn't recommend it... you can follow Tom Gauld on Twitter to see many of his cartoons there, and that's usually more fun -- you get to see them one at a time, as they come out, and then the less amusing ones fare better because you're not reading a whole book of them.

It's also a matter of taste, of course, and maybe it's best read a little bit at a time anyway!]]> 3.85 2013 You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack
author: Tom Gauld
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2021/02/06
date added: 2021/02/06
shelves: graphic-novels-and-manga
review:
I expected to really really love this, because I generally enjoy Tom Gauld's humour and style, and most of the Snooty Bookshop postcard collection are great (if niche, and thus sometimes difficult to place with appropriate recipients on Postcrossing)... but actually, I found that it all got a bit samey after a while, and some of them just weren't that funny or worth noting.

I'm still glad I got it, because there are some great ones, including the one that gives the collection its title. But at the same time, I probably wouldn't recommend it... you can follow Tom Gauld on Twitter to see many of his cartoons there, and that's usually more fun -- you get to see them one at a time, as they come out, and then the less amusing ones fare better because you're not reading a whole book of them.

It's also a matter of taste, of course, and maybe it's best read a little bit at a time anyway!
]]> <![CDATA[The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence]]> 50711143 315 Lizzie Collingham 1847926126 Nicky 4 non-fiction, history
This was exactly what I was hoping for: a microhistory on a really narrow topic that used that topic to reflect on larger issues. You might not automatically think of looking at the Industrial Revolution through the role of biscuits, or realise the extent to which naval voyages of exploration relied on ship's biscuit, or appreciate the fact that the original biscuits were twice-baked bread made a couple of times a year in communities that couldn't afford to bake fresh bread every day... but all those different topics can open out when you start digging in.

You don't just get to learn about when they started making Jammie Dodgers, or that the company was notoriously cheapskate and used plums for the "raspberry" jam in them because it was cheaper than raspberries... that's certainly one of the things I learned, but I also learned that the custom of following savoury food with a sweet dessert has come down in a very long tradition from when the stomach was thought to putrefy food, and Arab ideas that sugar was ideal to help seal off the stomach from harmful vapours caused by that process.

In the end, it's a history of biscuits and it comes back to that pretty swiftly when it strays away, but using the biscuit as a home base, it can tell you an awful lot.

In addition, it also contains some recipes between chapters, some of them traditional and others from modern sources. I haven't tried any, since I'm not the baker of the family and I'm also very lazy, but it's a nice touch and we'll probably keep my copy in order to give them a try someday.]]> 4.08 2021 The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence
author: Lizzie Collingham
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/02/07
date added: 2021/02/06
shelves: non-fiction, history
review:
When I mention that I've been reading a history of biscuits, people's usual response is confusion about why that would take a whole book or be particularly interesting. The answer is that Collingham discusses the social, economic and political circumstances surrounding the development of biscuits, and though the subtitle calls it a “British indulgence�, it discusses other countries too and the colonial uses of biscuits (yes, really -- they were thought to be useful in 'civilising' places like India).

This was exactly what I was hoping for: a microhistory on a really narrow topic that used that topic to reflect on larger issues. You might not automatically think of looking at the Industrial Revolution through the role of biscuits, or realise the extent to which naval voyages of exploration relied on ship's biscuit, or appreciate the fact that the original biscuits were twice-baked bread made a couple of times a year in communities that couldn't afford to bake fresh bread every day... but all those different topics can open out when you start digging in.

You don't just get to learn about when they started making Jammie Dodgers, or that the company was notoriously cheapskate and used plums for the "raspberry" jam in them because it was cheaper than raspberries... that's certainly one of the things I learned, but I also learned that the custom of following savoury food with a sweet dessert has come down in a very long tradition from when the stomach was thought to putrefy food, and Arab ideas that sugar was ideal to help seal off the stomach from harmful vapours caused by that process.

In the end, it's a history of biscuits and it comes back to that pretty swiftly when it strays away, but using the biscuit as a home base, it can tell you an awful lot.

In addition, it also contains some recipes between chapters, some of them traditional and others from modern sources. I haven't tried any, since I'm not the baker of the family and I'm also very lazy, but it's a nice touch and we'll probably keep my copy in order to give them a try someday.
]]> <![CDATA[Borrowed Time: The Science of How and Why We Age]]> 40046090 272 Sue Armstrong 147293606X Nicky 4 science-fact, non-fiction
The answer to the question of how and why we age is, of course, "lots of ways and lots of reasons", and the science isn't all the way yet on understanding exact mechanisms and unpicking the many small effects that can add up over a lifetime. Armstrong avoids giving any false certainty, but makes it clear how people in the know expect things to go, and what they're cautious about. Unlike some writers, she doesn't intrude a lot into the narrative (we don't have to hear stories about her neighbour's sister's dog's brother, which some science writers lean on a bit too heavily), or when she does it feels relevant and useful to understand where she stands.

For a field with so many different puzzle-pieces, Armstrong really brings it together well, and I actually found myself reading this all in one day, in great big chunks. Now that's good science writing!]]> 3.60 2019 Borrowed Time: The Science of How and Why We Age
author: Sue Armstrong
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/30
date added: 2021/02/05
shelves: science-fact, non-fiction
review:
I've read one of Sue Armstrong's books before, on the role of the p53 gene in cancer, so despite aging and the science thereof not really being my thing, I thought I'd give it a try. And it was, in fact, riveting. I knew a little about some of the experiments -- I read a paper on sirtuins and resveratrol for my final exam of my BSc, so that gave me some extra context -- but much of the detail was new to me, and Armstrong explains things beautifully and keeps things very clear.

The answer to the question of how and why we age is, of course, "lots of ways and lots of reasons", and the science isn't all the way yet on understanding exact mechanisms and unpicking the many small effects that can add up over a lifetime. Armstrong avoids giving any false certainty, but makes it clear how people in the know expect things to go, and what they're cautious about. Unlike some writers, she doesn't intrude a lot into the narrative (we don't have to hear stories about her neighbour's sister's dog's brother, which some science writers lean on a bit too heavily), or when she does it feels relevant and useful to understand where she stands.

For a field with so many different puzzle-pieces, Armstrong really brings it together well, and I actually found myself reading this all in one day, in great big chunks. Now that's good science writing!
]]> <![CDATA[The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)]]> 52092636
The End of Everything is a unique exploration of the destruction of the cosmos. Drawing on cutting edge technology and theory, as well as hot-off-the-presses results from the most powerful telescopes and particle colliders, astrophysicist Katie Mack describes how small tweaks to our incomplete understanding of reality can result in starkly different futures. Our universe could collapse in upon itself, or rip itself apart, or even - in the next five minutes -succumb to an inescapable expanding bubble of doom.

This fascinating, witty story of cosmic escapism examines a beautiful but unfamiliar physics landscape while sharing the excitement a leading astrophysicist feels when thinking about the universe and our place in it. Amid stellar explosions and bouncing universes, Mack shows that even though we puny humans have no chance of changing how it all ends, we can at least begin to understand it.]]> 240 Katie Mack 024137233X Nicky 3 non-fiction, science-fact
Unfortunately, for me, physics is one of those topics that I don't dislike because it's hard -- though I do find it to be difficult -- as because it leaves me very much wondering what the point of everything is. Even biology will leave me feeling that way once I dig too deep, and this isn't a dig at Mack at all... but it definitely made it harder for me to enjoy this book, because it does deal with those really big topics, and where some people can take joy in all the unknowns and the deep weirdness that we manage to exist at all, it really gets under my skin and makes me feel very small and pointless. I can't really recommend that as an experience, but if entropy doesn't get you down and a cold empty universe doesn't bother you, then this will be much more to your taste!]]> 4.36 2020 The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)
author: Katie Mack
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/30
date added: 2021/02/05
shelves: non-fiction, science-fact
review:
The End of Everything is about all the potential ways the universe can end. Katie Mack describes the various scenarios and why they're likely or unlikely, the evidence for them, and what looking into these possibilities can teach us about the universe, even if they all turn out to be wrong. She has a fairly breezy style, but some of the actual physics is pretty hard to understand, so it's to her credit that it feels comparatively light while also making what she describes clear enough.

Unfortunately, for me, physics is one of those topics that I don't dislike because it's hard -- though I do find it to be difficult -- as because it leaves me very much wondering what the point of everything is. Even biology will leave me feeling that way once I dig too deep, and this isn't a dig at Mack at all... but it definitely made it harder for me to enjoy this book, because it does deal with those really big topics, and where some people can take joy in all the unknowns and the deep weirdness that we manage to exist at all, it really gets under my skin and makes me feel very small and pointless. I can't really recommend that as an experience, but if entropy doesn't get you down and a cold empty universe doesn't bother you, then this will be much more to your taste!
]]> <![CDATA[Superior Saturday (The Keys to the Kingdom, #6)]]> 1030316 324 Garth Nix 0007175116 Nicky 4 children-s-and-ya, fantasy
...if I wasn't enchanted by the re-emergence of Elephant. If there's anything that would keep someone human, it'd be a childhood toy. I'm pretty sure that's what my conscience would look like, if it were a separate being. I am kind of desperately hoping that that's what Elephant will do in the story. I actually had kind of a lump in my throat when Arthur picked up Elephant and cuddled him hard, even though it was just a tiny moment. (I hugged my own teddy tight in sympathy, and was terribly glad I have never lost her.)

One other thing I enjoyed especially about this book was Arthur's struggle between the part of him that is a Denizen (or something higher), and the part that is still a mortal. By this point, his mortality is seriously dwindling, but there's still enough of it to seriously fight against that influence.

I rather hope he loses the fight not to become a Denizen, but wins the fight to keep loving and caring, with the help of Elephant.

Oh, I was also pleased to see the Old One again, and I rather hope he does get free.]]> 3.82 2008 Superior Saturday (The Keys to the Kingdom, #6)
author: Garth Nix
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2010/11/20
date added: 2021/02/05
shelves: children-s-and-ya, fantasy
review:
Eeek! Even less resolved than all the rest so far. We don't even really get to see Arthur's claiming of the key, here, and the pace is absolutely frantic. I was wrong, in my last review, about getting to see more of Leaf the more inhuman Arthur becomes. We didn't get to see much of her at all, here. In fact, I'm not sure we got to see much of anything in this book, somehow. I think I'd dock a star for that...

...if I wasn't enchanted by the re-emergence of Elephant. If there's anything that would keep someone human, it'd be a childhood toy. I'm pretty sure that's what my conscience would look like, if it were a separate being. I am kind of desperately hoping that that's what Elephant will do in the story. I actually had kind of a lump in my throat when Arthur picked up Elephant and cuddled him hard, even though it was just a tiny moment. (I hugged my own teddy tight in sympathy, and was terribly glad I have never lost her.)

One other thing I enjoyed especially about this book was Arthur's struggle between the part of him that is a Denizen (or something higher), and the part that is still a mortal. By this point, his mortality is seriously dwindling, but there's still enough of it to seriously fight against that influence.

I rather hope he loses the fight not to become a Denizen, but wins the fight to keep loving and caring, with the help of Elephant.

Oh, I was also pleased to see the Old One again, and I rather hope he does get free.
]]> <![CDATA[Genuine Fakes: How Phony Things Teach Us About Real Stuff (Bloomsbury Sigma)]]> 43263199 Is the distinction between “real� and “fake� as clear-cut as we think?

Does an authentic Andy Warhol painting need to be painted by Andy Warhol? Should we be outraged that some of those famous scenes in Blue Planet were filmed in a lab? Who are the scientists putting ever-more improbable flavors in our Jelly Belly beans? Welcome to the world of “genuine fakes�--the curious objects that fall in between things that are real and things that are not. Unsurprisingly, the world is full of genuine fakes that defy simple categorization. Whether or not we think that those things are authentic is a matter of perspective.

In Genuine Fakes, historian Lydia Pyne explores how the authenticity of eight genuine fakes depends on their unique combinations of history, science and culture. The stories of art forgeries, fake fossils, nature documentaries, synthetic flavors, museum exhibits, Maya codices and Paleolithic replicas shows that genuine fakes are complicated and change over time. Drawing from historical archives, interviews, museum exhibits, science fiction as well as her own research, Pyne brings each genuine fake to life through unexpected and often outrageous stories.

Can people move past assuming that a diamond grown in a lab is a fake? What happens when a forged painting or manuscript becomes more valuable than its original? Genuine Fakes will make readers think about all the unreal things that they encounter in their daily lives and why they invoke the reactions--surprise, wonder, understanding or annoyance--that they do.]]> 304 Lydia Pyne 147296182X Nicky 3
And then there's a bit about wildlife documentaries and how they're kind of fake (sometimes, depending on how they're filmed) and kind of not, and the point kind of dissipated somewhere in there for a while in favour of just explaining how much money it takes to create a documentary likeBlue Planet II.

That all said, though, even if Pyne's examples don't all hang together, I enjoyed her dissection of each item and the things it has to tell us. I didn't know anything about the Spanish Forger before, and that was maybe my favourite thing to learn about. Interesting stuff here, just... not really very organised.]]> 3.50 2019 Genuine Fakes: How Phony Things Teach Us About Real Stuff (Bloomsbury Sigma)
author: Lydia Pyne
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/29
date added: 2021/02/03
shelves: non-fiction, science-fact, history
review:
I didn't really expect this book to be so riveting, but it really was. The central idea is a bit shaky, because Lynda Pyne's definition of "genuine fakes" is very, very elastic: one example is lab-created diamonds, another is the Spanish Forger's faked medieval illustrations, another is the faked Archaeoraptor fossil... The things that make each item "genuine" or "fake" are pretty flexible. The reasoning is most solid when it comes to art like the Spanish Forger's work, which has now become desirable in and of itself. The reasoning for the Archaeoraptor fossil is basically "well, it's made up of real fossils!" Yeah, who cares, those fossils have been ripped from their original correct context in a desperate attempt to deceive people and get more money. That's not a genuine fake, that's just a fake.

And then there's a bit about wildlife documentaries and how they're kind of fake (sometimes, depending on how they're filmed) and kind of not, and the point kind of dissipated somewhere in there for a while in favour of just explaining how much money it takes to create a documentary likeBlue Planet II.

That all said, though, even if Pyne's examples don't all hang together, I enjoyed her dissection of each item and the things it has to tell us. I didn't know anything about the Spanish Forger before, and that was maybe my favourite thing to learn about. Interesting stuff here, just... not really very organised.
]]> <![CDATA[The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2)]]> 17214743 One of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time

The Newbery Honor–winning second novel in the renowned Earthsea series from Ursula K. LeGuin.

In this second novel in the Earthsea series, Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, and everything is taken from her—home, family, possessions, even her name. She is now known only as Arha, the Eaten One, and guards the shadowy, labyrinthine Tombs of Atuan.

Then a wizard, Ged Sparrowhawk, comes to steal the Tombs� greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Tenar’s duty is to protect the Ring, but Ged possesses the light of magic and tales of a world that Tenar has never known. Will Tenar risk everything to escape from the darkness that has become her domain?

With millions of copies sold worldwide, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle has earned a treasured place on the shelves of fantasy lovers everywhere, alongside the works of such beloved authors as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.]]> 196 Ursula K. Le Guin Nicky 5 fantasy
And that impression pretty much stayed with me. I love learning more about this part of Earthsea, seeing a whole other perspective. Though she didn’t know it yet, according to her own discussions of her writing process, so many foundations for the later books were laid here, asking new questions of what was established in the first book.

The only thing disappointing about this reread was reading Ursula Le Guin’s afterword, which feels like such an odd thing to say � but I so often agree with Ursula Le Guin that it really pulls me up short when something strikes such a discordant note for me. Here it is:

When I was writing the story in 1969, I knew of no women heroes of heroic fantasy since those in the works of Ariosto and Tasso in the Renaissance. These days there are plenty, though I wonder about some of them. The women warriors of current fantasy epics � ruthless swordswomen with no domestic or sexual responsibility who gallop about slaughtering baddies � to me they look less like women than boys in women’s bodies in men’s armor.


It sort of depends exactly what heroines Le Guin had in mind with that, but “no domestic or sexual responsibility� rings horribly to me. I enjoy the attention to domestic tasks in Le Guin’s work (Yarrow making the wheat cakes in A Wizard of Earthsea; the endless work of spinning and weaving at the Place in The Tombs of Atuan�) � and I certainly wouldn’t want Tenar to run around in armour with a sword. I think it’s important that Tenar, with those skills and her later trajectory, is a heroine� but she’s not the only kind of heroine there can be. (And a woman who wants to have “no domestic and sexual responsibility� is no less of a woman for it.)

Bit odd to end on that note, given that I dearly love The Tombs of Atuan. Still a great read.]]> 4.29 1971 The Tombs of Atuan (Earthsea Cycle, #2)
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1971
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/23
date added: 2021/01/27
shelves: fantasy
review:
Again, I read this in the version illustrated by Charles Vess, this time. I noticed fewer corrections/changes in the text for this one, but perhaps I know it a little less well � though the opening chapter with the ceremony where Arha is ‘eaten� has always stuck in my head (the drum beating at heart-pace, the ritual word that has lost all meaning) and the descriptions of the Labyrinth, the treasures of the temple� these have made a really big impression on me. As a kid, I think it was my favourite.

And that impression pretty much stayed with me. I love learning more about this part of Earthsea, seeing a whole other perspective. Though she didn’t know it yet, according to her own discussions of her writing process, so many foundations for the later books were laid here, asking new questions of what was established in the first book.

The only thing disappointing about this reread was reading Ursula Le Guin’s afterword, which feels like such an odd thing to say � but I so often agree with Ursula Le Guin that it really pulls me up short when something strikes such a discordant note for me. Here it is:

When I was writing the story in 1969, I knew of no women heroes of heroic fantasy since those in the works of Ariosto and Tasso in the Renaissance. These days there are plenty, though I wonder about some of them. The women warriors of current fantasy epics � ruthless swordswomen with no domestic or sexual responsibility who gallop about slaughtering baddies � to me they look less like women than boys in women’s bodies in men’s armor.


It sort of depends exactly what heroines Le Guin had in mind with that, but “no domestic or sexual responsibility� rings horribly to me. I enjoy the attention to domestic tasks in Le Guin’s work (Yarrow making the wheat cakes in A Wizard of Earthsea; the endless work of spinning and weaving at the Place in The Tombs of Atuan�) � and I certainly wouldn’t want Tenar to run around in armour with a sword. I think it’s important that Tenar, with those skills and her later trajectory, is a heroine� but she’s not the only kind of heroine there can be. (And a woman who wants to have “no domestic and sexual responsibility� is no less of a woman for it.)

Bit odd to end on that note, given that I dearly love The Tombs of Atuan. Still a great read.
]]> <![CDATA[A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem (Ladies Most Scandalous, #1)]]> 52041374 An intrepid female reporter matches wits with a serious, sexy detective in award-winning author Manda Collins' fun and flirty historical rom-com!

England, 1865 : As one of England's most notorious newspaper columnists, Lady Katherine Bascomb believes knowledge is power. And she's determined to inform and educate the ladies of London on the nefarious-and deadly-criminals who are preying on the fairer sex. When her reporting leads to the arrest of a notorious killer, however, Katherine flees to a country house party to escape her newfound notoriety-only to witness a murder on her very first night. And when the lead detective accuses Katherine of inflaming-rather than informing-the public with her column, she vows to prove him wrong.

Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham's refusal to compromise his investigations nearly cost him his own career, and he blames Katherine. To avoid bad publicity, his superiors are pressuring him to solve cases quickly rather than correctly. When he discovers she's the key witness in a new crime, he's determined to prevent the beautiful widow from once again wreaking havoc on his case. Yet as Katherine proves surprisingly insightful and Andrew impresses Katherine with his lethal competency, both are forced to admit the fire between them is more flirtatious than furious. But to explore the passion between them, they'll need to catch a killer.]]> 352 Manda Collins 1538736136 Nicky 3 mystery, romance, crime
Naturally, the two get drawn together personally, particularly after the killings start getting very close to Kate, who discovers a body while on a visit to a friend's country home. The murders were confined to London at first, but suddenly they seem to have followed her... and thus so does Eversham. The sparks of attraction between them are very obvious, and this was the shakiest part of the book for me: they leapt from lust to love in mere pages, with very little provocation. I'd expected a bit more will-they-won't-they, but it was remarkably straightforward. At least they mostly managed to communicate like adults, which can be a big bugbear for me.

I thought it was light and frothy and fairly inconsequential, and for the most part, I was fine with that. Kate and her friend Caro were fun, and I appreciated the friendship between Kate and Val, as well -- I was very relieved when there was no sign of sexual interest or jealousy on either of them's part, and their quasi-sibling relationship was rather fun. Much of the setting and characters are sketched in fairly lightly; historical fiction this is not, if that's what you're hoping for... and the mystery was fairly light too.

When I try to sum it all up, it all seems pretty thin and like I'm damning it with faint prize, but it was a genuinely fun reading experience, and a nice way to spend my day, picking it up here and there to read a chapter whenever I could. It's unlikely to stick in my head, but I'd happily read another Manda Collins book or even another book in this series.]]> 3.42 2020 A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem (Ladies Most Scandalous, #1)
author: Manda Collins
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/25
date added: 2021/01/27
shelves: mystery, romance, crime
review:
A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem is a light mystery-romance, where the romance feels like the more important element of the two. Kate Bascomb is a reporter, the owner of a newspaper she took over after her husband died, and she's determined to champion women and shine a light on things women are kept sheltered from in England of 1865. Andrew Eversham is a detective inspector, and her investigative reporting endangers his career as she quickly finds a witness his team entirely neglected to speak to, with crucial evidence about a string of murders.

Naturally, the two get drawn together personally, particularly after the killings start getting very close to Kate, who discovers a body while on a visit to a friend's country home. The murders were confined to London at first, but suddenly they seem to have followed her... and thus so does Eversham. The sparks of attraction between them are very obvious, and this was the shakiest part of the book for me: they leapt from lust to love in mere pages, with very little provocation. I'd expected a bit more will-they-won't-they, but it was remarkably straightforward. At least they mostly managed to communicate like adults, which can be a big bugbear for me.

I thought it was light and frothy and fairly inconsequential, and for the most part, I was fine with that. Kate and her friend Caro were fun, and I appreciated the friendship between Kate and Val, as well -- I was very relieved when there was no sign of sexual interest or jealousy on either of them's part, and their quasi-sibling relationship was rather fun. Much of the setting and characters are sketched in fairly lightly; historical fiction this is not, if that's what you're hoping for... and the mystery was fairly light too.

When I try to sum it all up, it all seems pretty thin and like I'm damning it with faint prize, but it was a genuinely fun reading experience, and a nice way to spend my day, picking it up here and there to read a chapter whenever I could. It's unlikely to stick in my head, but I'd happily read another Manda Collins book or even another book in this series.
]]> <![CDATA[The Golden Mean (Griffin & Sabine #3)]]> 402022 I received your Paris card. I waited but you did not return the 23rd. I waited until the 31st, but you did not return. What happened? Where are you?
Ա

Sabine's Notebook ended with a disturbing disclosure—Gڴھ and Sabine had somehow eluded each other once again. The Golden Mean beings with an even more disturbing development:

I was sure I understood. Yet you were not here when I returned and there was no sign that you ever had been here... Today comes your card saying you were in this house for three days after my return. I am bewildered...
—Gڴھ

It seems that each cannot exist in the presence of the other. Yet neither can continue without the presence of the other. And so, in this final volume of the Griffin & Sabine trilogy, they struggle against the mysterious forces that keep them apart. Time is running out: Sabine's crystalline visions of Griffin's artwork grow cloudy and dim, and a threatening stranger begins to appear everywhere she goes. The Golden Mean is the tale of Griffin and Sabine's journey towards one another, sometimes dreamy, sometimes desperate, sometimes nightmarish. The golden mean—the harmony of perfect balance—is what they seek in the haunting conclusion of this extraordinary correspondence.

Told in the compelling style of the first two best-selling volumes of the trilogy, The Golden Mean allows readers to open richly decorated envelopes and draw forth intricately illustrated letters, to decipher the quirky handwritten postcards with their macabre and magical artwork, to indulge, in other words, in the wonderfully illicit activity of reading someone else's mail.]]> 46 Nick Bantock 0811802981 Nicky 4 fantasy, romance
But� this particular volume felt a little bit thinner, and the fact that the later books are all available second-hand only (and expensive) is really sad.

It’s still absolutely beautiful, with letters each in their own envelopes (though the envelopes are a little less well stuck to the page in this than in my copies of the first two books). It’s a lovely, tactile, multimedia experience, and I thoroughly recommend it even with its frustrations. I’ll continue reading the series when I can, though sadly it won’t be soon, unless I have a Fairy Godmother somewhere!]]> 4.17 1993 The Golden Mean (Griffin & Sabine #3)
author: Nick Bantock
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/21
date added: 2021/01/23
shelves: fantasy, romance
review:
I loved The Golden Mean maybe a little bit less than the other books, even though the plot definitely advances here. It’s the end of the original trilogy, and there’s just so much that we don’t know because of the frustrating format. It makes sense that we can’t know it, but it’s still infuriating to get to the end and be left with so many questions about the story and what exactly happened. I’m very curious about that last postcard, don’t get me wrong! I’d love to read more!

But� this particular volume felt a little bit thinner, and the fact that the later books are all available second-hand only (and expensive) is really sad.

It’s still absolutely beautiful, with letters each in their own envelopes (though the envelopes are a little less well stuck to the page in this than in my copies of the first two books). It’s a lovely, tactile, multimedia experience, and I thoroughly recommend it even with its frustrations. I’ll continue reading the series when I can, though sadly it won’t be soon, unless I have a Fairy Godmother somewhere!
]]> <![CDATA[A History of the Paper Pattern Industry: The Home Dressmaking Fashion Revolution]]> 18402897 272 Joy Spanabel Emery 0857858300 Nicky 4 history, non-fiction
It seems that paper patterns have a surprising amount to tell fashion history: although paper patterns for home sewers were behind the fashion by a little, they couldn't bethat far behind or they'd be pointless, so they did follow fashion and sometimes inform it (for instance, in the length of mini-skirts). Patterns have survived well, despite the flimsy paper, because the paper was acid-free, and often systems of notches and punched holes were used instead of ink. Carefully unfolded, very old patterns are still useable and useful.

It's surprising to me that the companies which established themselves early in the history of providing patterns for home sewers still exist! It was a little odd to meet their names back before printed patterns became possible, for instance.

The book is richly illustrated with images of the fashions and pattern-packets discussed, showing the trends through time very visually as pattern companies started putting the pattern pieces in envelopes, providing more instruction, and expanding their ranges to tempt younger sewers into following fashions. It also comes with some vintage patterns, which make no sense to me, but might interest people with a less academic interest in sewing and actually making garments.]]> 3.69 2014 A History of the Paper Pattern Industry: The Home Dressmaking Fashion Revolution
author: Joy Spanabel Emery
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/23
date added: 2021/01/23
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:
I don't think this book would be of great interest to someone who isn't interested in sewing at all, but you don't have to actually sew to take an interest -- a couple of episodes of the Great British Sewing Bee should set you up with all you need to know for background, if you feel you need to know a little more. Mostly, what you need to know is explained in the text, as the history goes through the development of early patterns from "rock of eye" to printed patterns showing various different sizes.

It seems that paper patterns have a surprising amount to tell fashion history: although paper patterns for home sewers were behind the fashion by a little, they couldn't bethat far behind or they'd be pointless, so they did follow fashion and sometimes inform it (for instance, in the length of mini-skirts). Patterns have survived well, despite the flimsy paper, because the paper was acid-free, and often systems of notches and punched holes were used instead of ink. Carefully unfolded, very old patterns are still useable and useful.

It's surprising to me that the companies which established themselves early in the history of providing patterns for home sewers still exist! It was a little odd to meet their names back before printed patterns became possible, for instance.

The book is richly illustrated with images of the fashions and pattern-packets discussed, showing the trends through time very visually as pattern companies started putting the pattern pieces in envelopes, providing more instruction, and expanding their ranges to tempt younger sewers into following fashions. It also comes with some vintage patterns, which make no sense to me, but might interest people with a less academic interest in sewing and actually making garments.
]]> <![CDATA[He'd Rather Be Dead (Chief Inspector Littlejohn #8)]]> 53800234
What was once a quaint little harbour is now miles of level, concrete promenade, and acres of pleasure-beach, embracing every kind of device for human entertainment and sensation. Sir Gideon Ware has put Westcombe on the map through bribes, intimidation and threats.

When Ware drops dead in the middle of his annual lunch, no one is surprised to hear that murder is suspected.

But with so many enemies surrounding Ware, Inspector Littlejohn has his work cut out shifting through Ware’s past to find the likely killer.

Especially with the Chief Constable so keen on covering up vital facts in the investigation.

It becomes clear that Ware was poisoned.

But everyone else ate and drank the same things, and no one appeared to have been near enough to Ware to have done the deed.

Before Littlejohn can get to the bottom of it, a second murder is committed�

Can he crack the case before more lives are put in jeopardy?

Or will the long list of suspects help the killer to get away with it�?

‘He’d Rather Be Dead� is a classic detective mystery by one of the masters of the genre.]]> 243 George Bellairs Nicky 3 crime, mystery
As with The Case of the Famished Parson, which I read recently, a lot of the opening detail is a red herring: the events of the banquet are relatively unimportant, and Boumphrey -- who gets a decent introduction -- quickly fades into the background and even becomes rather a suspicious character.

I do enjoy that with George Bellairs' work, you can usually follow Littlejohn's reasoning. As the evidence comes to light, the reader gets to see it too. He's no Sherlock Holmes, all ego and long explanations of his own cleverness; he's decent and honest, and basically what an ideal policeman should be.

The kind of odd thing with this particular instalment was that it ended with several chapters of the killer's diary, which just went over information we already knew, in a rather florid style. It doesn't add much, and honestly... I'd skip it. Otherwise, an enjoyable enough mystery, with George Bellairs' usual qualities.]]> 3.99 1945 He'd Rather Be Dead (Chief Inspector Littlejohn #8)
author: George Bellairs
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1945
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/23
date added: 2021/01/23
shelves: crime, mystery
review:
He'd Rather Be Dead is another of George Bellairs' Inspector Littlejohn stories; I'm not reading them in any kind of order, just picking them up as I come across them or find them on Kindle Unlimited, and luckily that doesn't matter -- you can jump in anywhere. Littlejohn's character doesn't really change or develop: it's purely about the mystery he's investigating. In this case, it's the death of the local Mayor, who died at a banquet surrounded by potential enemies made due to his corruption and efforts to revitalise the town in a way the inhabitants see as vulgar.

As with The Case of the Famished Parson, which I read recently, a lot of the opening detail is a red herring: the events of the banquet are relatively unimportant, and Boumphrey -- who gets a decent introduction -- quickly fades into the background and even becomes rather a suspicious character.

I do enjoy that with George Bellairs' work, you can usually follow Littlejohn's reasoning. As the evidence comes to light, the reader gets to see it too. He's no Sherlock Holmes, all ego and long explanations of his own cleverness; he's decent and honest, and basically what an ideal policeman should be.

The kind of odd thing with this particular instalment was that it ended with several chapters of the killer's diary, which just went over information we already knew, in a rather florid style. It doesn't add much, and honestly... I'd skip it. Otherwise, an enjoyable enough mystery, with George Bellairs' usual qualities.
]]> <![CDATA[Sabine's Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues (Griffin & Sabine Trilogy, #2)]]> 9473378 children book 46 Nick Bantock 0732907608 Nicky 5 fantasy, romance
Sabine, meanwhile, stays in Griffin's flat in London, giving him the time to get things figured out. And then -- well, I'll let you discover it for yourselves, but suffice it to say that I loved this one as well. The ending is another kick in the gut, same as the ending of the first, and the letters between the two of them are tender and hopeful amidst the fear. And of course, the illustrations are beautiful, and the format with the envelopes and postcards remains really engaging.

I'm keen to see what the last book will do. In a way, the plot of this book is kind of demanded by the format. Once they meet, the conceit kind of falls away. So I'll be interested to see how that gets resolved...]]> 4.17 1992 Sabine's Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues (Griffin & Sabine Trilogy, #2)
author: Nick Bantock
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2021/01/21
date added: 2021/01/21
shelves: fantasy, romance
review:
Sabine's Notebook more or less immediately followsGriffin & Sabine, and has the same format. Though they were so close to meeting in the first book, Griffin gets scared at the last minute: can he have imagined Sabine? Is it possible that he's invented her somehow? So he runs, and his letters to Sabine come from all over the world as he tries to figure things out, travelling to Florence, to Greece, to Japan... and attempts to visit Sabine's home island.

Sabine, meanwhile, stays in Griffin's flat in London, giving him the time to get things figured out. And then -- well, I'll let you discover it for yourselves, but suffice it to say that I loved this one as well. The ending is another kick in the gut, same as the ending of the first, and the letters between the two of them are tender and hopeful amidst the fear. And of course, the illustrations are beautiful, and the format with the envelopes and postcards remains really engaging.

I'm keen to see what the last book will do. In a way, the plot of this book is kind of demanded by the format. Once they meet, the conceit kind of falls away. So I'll be interested to see how that gets resolved...
]]> <![CDATA[Threshold (Whyborne & Griffin #2)]]> 56438058
Whyborne, Griffin, and their friend Christine travel to Threshold Mountain, a place of dark legend long before the mine burrowed into its heart. A contingent of Pinkertons—including Griffin’s ex-lover Elliot—already guard the mine. But Griffin knows better than anyone just how unprepared the detectives are to face the otherworldly forces threatening them.

Soon, Whyborne and Griffin are on the trail of mysterious disappearances, deadly accidents, and terrible secrets. Is Elliot an ally, or does he want to rekindle his relationship with Griffin? And how can Whyborne possibly hope to compete with the stunningly handsome Pinkerton—especially when Griffin is hiding secrets about his past?

For in a town where friends become enemies and horror lurks behind a human mask, Whyborne can’t afford to trust anything—including his own heart.

Threshold is the second book in the Whyborne & Griffin series, where magic, mystery, and m/m romance collide with Victorian era America.]]> 172 Jordan L. Hawk Nicky 4
The relationship stuff is� a bit frustrating to me, mostly, because I felt that it was somewhat contrived. We can’t have them be too settled in themselves, so Whyborne has to be jealous and Griffin has to be hiding something, and no one can just talk about it and tell the truth. They figure themselves out without it being dragged out too long, but Whyborne’s huff with Griffin felt very similar to his reaction in the last book, and that� bothers me. Like, can you ever just sit down and listen to Griffin’s explanations? Maybe trust him a little?

I really hope this will not continue to be a theme of these books, because it’s one that I’ll get tired of pretty quickly� and otherwise it’s a lot of fun! And it’s not that I don’t want to see any conflict between the leads, but I’d prefer it not to be something that is so thin and well-worn. I’m still enjoying this series a lot, but one more book of this kind of lack-of-communication will quickly start turning me off. Here’s hoping some more trust develops between Whyborne and Griffin!

All that aside, I tore through the book. The mystery and its explanation are perhaps a little obvious, but some of the details come as a gruesome surprise, and there are some genuinely horrifying moments. Christine is amazing throughout, and I have a feeling that � support Whyborne though she does � she’d concur with my second paragraph completely. She’s a joy, and a breath of no-nonsense fresh air.]]> 4.12 2013 Threshold (Whyborne & Griffin #2)
author: Jordan L. Hawk
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2020/07/01
date added: 2021/01/17
shelves: romance, horror, fantasy, queer
review:
Threshold takes Whyborne, Griffin, and their friend Christine to a mining town, after Whyborne’s father (who has a large stake in the company) asks him to investigate the strange rumours coming from the town. It’s time for more horrors, some amateur spellcraft on Whyborne’s part, and an awkward meeting with one of Griffin’s former coworkers. They investigate the mystery � and the mysterious changes of personality from a prominent member of the company � while Griffin and Whyborne trip over their relatively-new relationship and their insecurities.

The relationship stuff is� a bit frustrating to me, mostly, because I felt that it was somewhat contrived. We can’t have them be too settled in themselves, so Whyborne has to be jealous and Griffin has to be hiding something, and no one can just talk about it and tell the truth. They figure themselves out without it being dragged out too long, but Whyborne’s huff with Griffin felt very similar to his reaction in the last book, and that� bothers me. Like, can you ever just sit down and listen to Griffin’s explanations? Maybe trust him a little?

I really hope this will not continue to be a theme of these books, because it’s one that I’ll get tired of pretty quickly� and otherwise it’s a lot of fun! And it’s not that I don’t want to see any conflict between the leads, but I’d prefer it not to be something that is so thin and well-worn. I’m still enjoying this series a lot, but one more book of this kind of lack-of-communication will quickly start turning me off. Here’s hoping some more trust develops between Whyborne and Griffin!

All that aside, I tore through the book. The mystery and its explanation are perhaps a little obvious, but some of the details come as a gruesome surprise, and there are some genuinely horrifying moments. Christine is amazing throughout, and I have a feeling that � support Whyborne though she does � she’d concur with my second paragraph completely. She’s a joy, and a breath of no-nonsense fresh air.
]]> The Tightrope Walker 149339 “They’re going to kill me soon…�

When the quiet and shy Amelia Jones reads these words, her life changes irrevocably. She’s just become the new owner of the Ebbtide Shop, a musty antique store filled with merry-go-round horses and hurdy-gurdies, and it is while fixing one of these barrel organs that the scrawled and threatening note falls out. Armed only with the strange woman’s first name and the note written years before, Amelia begins a journey into the past, a search that takes her from the protective cocoon she’s wrapped herself in to a precarious world where passions boil underneath the surface, where nothing is the way it seems, where fear is second nature, and dark secrets just might uncover murder—her own…]]> 223 Dorothy Gilman Nicky 3 mystery, crime
Amelia's had a life half-sheltered by adults (her father, and then a psychiatrist her father paid to help her) and half-wrenched awry by the suicide of her mother when she was a child; she's very naive at times, and yet surprisingly strong and driven once she finds something to care about... and she quickly comes to care about the contents of that note, which allege that the writer was held captive and forced to sign some kind of document she didn't want to sign, and that she knows she will soon be killed. Amelia wants to find her, wants to know what happened, and she sets about doing just that.

I found myself caring a lot about Amelia and her quest; it all fell together almost too neatly, the coincidences all lining up to provide clues and to hook Amelia closer into her little quest... but something about her frank tone and determination won me over. Joe's less knowable, given the narration, but the way he decides to help her with her little quest makes his character work for me as well. The relationship between them is a little quick, but it's kind of like in Mary Stewart's novels -- in the context, I don't really question it.

Pretty enjoyable, anyway! And I will have to read more of Dorothy Gilman's work.]]> 4.00 1979 The Tightrope Walker
author: Dorothy Gilman
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1979
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/17
date added: 2021/01/16
shelves: mystery, crime
review:
I got this because a) someone in the Legendary Book Club of Habitica guild on Habitica named it as one of their favourite books for a group readalong, and b) I've been meaning to try Dorothy Gilman's books for a while (albeit I usually get recommended the Mrs Pollifax books). At the beginning, Amelia finds a note hidden in a hurdy-gurdy in the antique shop she's recently purchased.

Amelia's had a life half-sheltered by adults (her father, and then a psychiatrist her father paid to help her) and half-wrenched awry by the suicide of her mother when she was a child; she's very naive at times, and yet surprisingly strong and driven once she finds something to care about... and she quickly comes to care about the contents of that note, which allege that the writer was held captive and forced to sign some kind of document she didn't want to sign, and that she knows she will soon be killed. Amelia wants to find her, wants to know what happened, and she sets about doing just that.

I found myself caring a lot about Amelia and her quest; it all fell together almost too neatly, the coincidences all lining up to provide clues and to hook Amelia closer into her little quest... but something about her frank tone and determination won me over. Joe's less knowable, given the narration, but the way he decides to help her with her little quest makes his character work for me as well. The relationship between them is a little quick, but it's kind of like in Mary Stewart's novels -- in the context, I don't really question it.

Pretty enjoyable, anyway! And I will have to read more of Dorothy Gilman's work.
]]> Fence, Vol. 1 36373825 here.

Combines Issues #1-4.

Nicholas, the illegitimate son of a retired fencing champion, is a scrappy fencing wunderkind, and dreams of getting the chance and the training to actually compete. After getting accepted to the prodigious Kings Row private school, Nicholas is thrust into a cut-throat world, and finds himself facing not only his golden-boy half-brother, but the unbeatable, mysterious Seiji Katayama...

Through clashes, rivalries, and romance between teammates, Nicholas and the boys of Kings Row will discover there’s much more to fencing than just foils and lunges. From acclaimed writer C.S. Pacat (The Captive Prince) and fan-favorite artist Johanna the Mad.]]> 112 C.S. Pacat 1684151929 Nicky 4
The art is clear and easy to follow, and I like the character designs. The story hasn't really got very far at this point, but I'm definitely ready to keep following it up -- Nicholas' motivations aren't super unique or anything, but it could be a fun trope-filled ride, and I'm here for it. It feels like a shounen manga with queer characters, and I'm happy with that. Let's see where the next volumes go!]]> 3.92 2017 Fence, Vol. 1
author: C.S. Pacat
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/08
date added: 2021/01/15
shelves: graphic-novels-and-manga, queer
review:
I don't know anything aboutfencing, so I can't really comment on how well this portrays fencing, and indeed, that's kind of not what I was interested in. It kept popping up when people were talking aboutHeartstopper, though, which I really enjoy, so I thought I'd give it a chance. It follows two fencers: Nicholas Cox and Seiji Katayama, plus other fencers at the school they both attend. They are, of course, bitter rivals -- each with their own reasons for needing to become better fencers and beat those at another school, Exton. We don't see much of Seiji's motivations so far, but I'm sure we will.

The art is clear and easy to follow, and I like the character designs. The story hasn't really got very far at this point, but I'm definitely ready to keep following it up -- Nicholas' motivations aren't super unique or anything, but it could be a fun trope-filled ride, and I'm here for it. It feels like a shounen manga with queer characters, and I'm happy with that. Let's see where the next volumes go!
]]> <![CDATA[So You Want to Talk About Race]]> 35099718 In this breakout book, Ijeoma Oluo explores the complex reality of today's racial landscape--from white privilege and police brutality to systemic discrimination and the Black Lives Matter movement--offering straightforward clarity that readers need to contribute to the dismantling of the racial divide

In So You Want to Talk About Race, Editor at Large of The Establishment Ijeoma Oluo offers a contemporary, accessible take on the racial landscape in America, addressing head-on such issues as privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "N" word. Perfectly positioned to bridge the gap between people of color and white Americans struggling with race complexities, Oluo answers the questions readers don't dare ask, and explains the concepts that continue to elude everyday Americans.

Oluo is an exceptional writer with a rare ability to be straightforward, funny, and effective in her coverage of sensitive, hyper-charged issues in America. Her messages are passionate but finely tuned, and crystalize ideas that would otherwise be vague by empowering them with aha-moment clarity. Her writing brings to mind voices like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxane Gay, and Jessica Valenti in Full Frontal Feminism, and a young Gloria Naylor, particularly in Naylor's seminal essay "The Meaning of a Word."]]> 248 Ijeoma Oluo 1580056776 Nicky 4 non-fiction
I fear that if you're not willing to go into it with an open mind, you won't get anything out of it. The author asks the reader to sit with some pretty uncomfortable concepts, and goes to some pains to try and make that palatable, to try and convince the reader to open up to it. She's very aware that people find it difficult to let go of their own preconceptions and their own view of themselves and dig into whetherthey might be contributing to racism in some way (or benefitting from it, or all unwittingly helping it along)... so if you're already affected by racial issues, you might find that aspect a bit frustrating. She does mention it being for everybody, but it's pitched at people who are largely unaffected by race.

I found it useful, though sometimes not very in-depth. Certainly a starting point, though.]]> 4.48 2018 So You Want to Talk About Race
author: Ijeoma Oluo
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/16
date added: 2021/01/15
shelves: non-fiction
review:
This is a short primer to various concepts that inevitably come up when you want to sit down and talk about race: how race affects people, your relationship to it, privilege, cross-sectionality, microaggressions... If you've been wondering what some of those concepts or buzzwords mean and you need a little more detail, this book has your back. It's very readable, and well-organised into chapters that develop and build up an overall understanding of some of the major issues you're likely to encounter.

I fear that if you're not willing to go into it with an open mind, you won't get anything out of it. The author asks the reader to sit with some pretty uncomfortable concepts, and goes to some pains to try and make that palatable, to try and convince the reader to open up to it. She's very aware that people find it difficult to let go of their own preconceptions and their own view of themselves and dig into whetherthey might be contributing to racism in some way (or benefitting from it, or all unwittingly helping it along)... so if you're already affected by racial issues, you might find that aspect a bit frustrating. She does mention it being for everybody, but it's pitched at people who are largely unaffected by race.

I found it useful, though sometimes not very in-depth. Certainly a starting point, though.
]]> <![CDATA[Ruddy Gore (Phryne Fisher, #7)]]> 25267540
Denying divinity but accepting cognac, she later continues safely to the theatre where her night is again interrupted by a bizarre death onstage.

What links can Phryne find between the ridiculously entertaining plot of Ruddigore, the Chinese community of Little Bourke St., or the actors treading the boards of His Majesty’s Theatre?]]> 217 Kerry Greenwood 1472115813 Nicky 4 mystery, crime
Never having really known a serious actor personally, I find the way Greenwood portrays them bewilderingly malicious at times. I mean, Sir Bernard isn't so bad, and Mollie Webb, but there's so much spite, vanity and callousness flying around... particularly in the person of the beautiful Leila Esperance.

In any case, it's a pretty fun one, and especially entertaining to see Greenwood portray a Welshman (even one who's such a cad).]]> 4.13 1995 Ruddy Gore (Phryne Fisher, #7)
author: Kerry Greenwood
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/16
date added: 2021/01/15
shelves: mystery, crime
review:
Blood and Circuses didn't quite satisfy the hunger for rereading Phryne's adventures, since it's atypical in some ways. I joked on Litsy that I was rereading the series for the delicious dresses and beautiful food (with the adjectives that way round!) -- and there's certainly a good helping of that here, along with the first appearance of Phryne's Chinese lover, Lin Chung. I can't speak for how accurate or respectful his portrayal is; Greenwood is certainly sympathetic to the Chinese people living in Melbourne at the time, but there's a fair amount of exoticisation going on there (as there is with Phryne herself, of course, but still).

Never having really known a serious actor personally, I find the way Greenwood portrays them bewilderingly malicious at times. I mean, Sir Bernard isn't so bad, and Mollie Webb, but there's so much spite, vanity and callousness flying around... particularly in the person of the beautiful Leila Esperance.

In any case, it's a pretty fun one, and especially entertaining to see Greenwood portray a Welshman (even one who's such a cad).
]]> <![CDATA[Life in Miniature: A History of Dolls' Houses]]> 51351983
Popular in Britain since the late seventeenth century, dolls� houses are tiny slices of social history that give us a fascinating glimpse into domestic life over the last 300 years.

In this beautifully-illustrated book, Nicola Lisle explores the origins and history of dolls� houses and their furnishings, from the earliest known dolls� house in sixteenth-century Bavaria to the present, and looks at how they reflect the architecture, fashions, social attitudes, innovations and craftsmanship of their day. She discusses the changing role of dolls� houses and highlights significant events and people to give historical context. She also takes a look at some of the leading dolls� house manufacturers, such as Silber & Fleming and Lines Brothers Ltd (later Triang).

The book includes numerous examples of interesting dolls� houses, the stories behind them and where to see them. This includes famous models such as Queen Mary’s spectacular 1920s dolls� house at Windsor Castle and the eighteenth-century baby house at Kew Palace.

There is also a chapter on model towns and villages, which became popular in the twentieth century and also give us a window on the past by replicating real places or capturing scenes typical of a bygone era.

There is advice for dolls� house collectors, as well as a detailed directory of places to visit, a timeline of dolls� house history and recommended further reading.

One of the most comprehensive guides available on the subject, this book offers unique insights into the world of dolls� houses and is a must for anyone with an interest in the history and appeal of these miniature treasures.]]> 184 Nicola Lisle 152675181X Nicky 3
Life in Miniature is a bit of a survey of dolls' houses, mostly a descriptive one, which talks about some key examples in order to illustrate trends over the years, and ends with a chapter of advice for those interested in collecting dolls' houses themselves. I'm not; I was more interested in this as a microhistory, and it does do a little of that, discussing the things dolls' houses stood for, for those who owned them, and how trends developed.

For me, though, it was a bit too much plain description, too many descriptions of particular houses rather than the higher-level trends. Maybe there isn't more to analyse about dolls' houses, or the style is different to other microhistories I have loved... but it just didn't turn out the way I hoped.

That said, if you're a big fan of dolls' houses and you'd like to know more about what's out there, this book would be a great guide.]]> 3.89 Life in Miniature: A History of Dolls' Houses
author: Nicola Lisle
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/15
date added: 2021/01/15
shelves: netgalley, received-to-review, history, non-fiction
review:
Received to review; published November 23rd 2020

Life in Miniature is a bit of a survey of dolls' houses, mostly a descriptive one, which talks about some key examples in order to illustrate trends over the years, and ends with a chapter of advice for those interested in collecting dolls' houses themselves. I'm not; I was more interested in this as a microhistory, and it does do a little of that, discussing the things dolls' houses stood for, for those who owned them, and how trends developed.

For me, though, it was a bit too much plain description, too many descriptions of particular houses rather than the higher-level trends. Maybe there isn't more to analyse about dolls' houses, or the style is different to other microhistories I have loved... but it just didn't turn out the way I hoped.

That said, if you're a big fan of dolls' houses and you'd like to know more about what's out there, this book would be a great guide.
]]> Defekt (LitenVerse, #2) 53261640
To test his commitment to the job, Derek is assigned to a special inventory shift, hunting through the store to find defective products. Toy chests with pincers and eye stalks, ambulatory sleeper sofas, killer mutant toilets, that kind of thing. Helping him is the inventory team � four strangers who look and sound almost exactly like him. Are five Dereks better than one?]]> 170 Nino Cipri 1250787505 Nicky 4
I didn't loveFinna, though I liked it; it felt it leaned a bit too much on being angry about soul-sucking capitalism (which, same, but the choir can get tired of being preached to).Defekt is set in the same world, and briefly crosses over withFinna (we see Jules right before the events of that book), but for whatever reason it worked a bit better for me -- it felt alittle less preachy, and I loved the idea of all those sentient furnishings. The toilet is a highlight (seriously).

I was a little bit put off by the "self-cest" thing, though: Derek is the main character, and after he takes an uncharacteristic sick day, he has to do a special inventory shift. During the shift, he meets four of his clones, and finds himself particularly drawn to one of them. Sure, that one is quite different to him in many ways, but the potential romance between them was a bit of an odd note for me.

Still, a fun novella, and I suspect those who already enjoyedFinna will enjoy this at least as much.]]> 4.09 2021 Defekt (LitenVerse, #2)
author: Nino Cipri
name: Nicky
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/15
date added: 2021/01/15
shelves: netgalley, received-to-review, speculative-fiction, queer
review:
Received to review via Netgalley; publication date 20th April 2021

I didn't loveFinna, though I liked it; it felt it leaned a bit too much on being angry about soul-sucking capitalism (which, same, but the choir can get tired of being preached to).Defekt is set in the same world, and briefly crosses over withFinna (we see Jules right before the events of that book), but for whatever reason it worked a bit better for me -- it felt alittle less preachy, and I loved the idea of all those sentient furnishings. The toilet is a highlight (seriously).

I was a little bit put off by the "self-cest" thing, though: Derek is the main character, and after he takes an uncharacteristic sick day, he has to do a special inventory shift. During the shift, he meets four of his clones, and finds himself particularly drawn to one of them. Sure, that one is quite different to him in many ways, but the potential romance between them was a bit of an odd note for me.

Still, a fun novella, and I suspect those who already enjoyedFinna will enjoy this at least as much.
]]> <![CDATA[Blood And Circuses (Phryne Fisher, #6)]]> 4445060 218 Kerry Greenwood 1590585208 Nicky 4 mystery, crime
There's also Lizard Elsie, and her adventures with Miss Parkes and Constable Harris, which keep things entertaining (to say the least).

It always feels like it takes a while to heat up, and then suddenly flies by once Phryne's there in the circus. It's surprising to realise how fast it goes. I always enjoy this one, and I'm particularly entertained (as ever!) by the scene in which the clown and the carnie have to cuddle Phryne to help her get over her shock...]]> 3.86 1994 Blood And Circuses (Phryne Fisher, #6)
author: Kerry Greenwood
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/13
date added: 2021/01/12
shelves: mystery, crime
review:
Blood and Circuses is, of course, a reread for me -- the book in which Phryne Fisher joins the circus to work out a mystery, at the pleading (and goading) of her carnie friends... while at the same time, a horrible murder has taken place which Jack Robinson must investigate. It's always interesting to see Phryne out of her element, because that's when she has to be her most resourceful, and the circus is a whole new world for her.

There's also Lizard Elsie, and her adventures with Miss Parkes and Constable Harris, which keep things entertaining (to say the least).

It always feels like it takes a while to heat up, and then suddenly flies by once Phryne's there in the circus. It's surprising to realise how fast it goes. I always enjoy this one, and I'm particularly entertained (as ever!) by the scene in which the clown and the carnie have to cuddle Phryne to help her get over her shock...
]]> <![CDATA[The Citadel of Weeping Pearls (Xuya Universe)]]> 34713572 Thirty years ago, threatened by an invading fleet from the Dai Viet Empire, the Citadel disappeared and was never seen again.
But now the Dai Viet Empire itself is under siege, on the verge of a war against an enemy that turns their own mindships against them; and the Empress, who once gave the order to raze the Citadel, is in desperate needs of its weapons. Meanwhile, on a small isolated space station, an engineer obsessed with the past works on a machine that will send her thirty years back, to the height of the Citadel's power.
But the Citadel's disappearance still extends chains of grief and regrets all the way into the fraught atmosphere of the Imperial Court; and this casual summoning of the past might have world-shattering consequences...
A new book set in the award-winning, critically acclaimed Xuya universe.]]> 164 Aliette de Bodard 1625672551 Nicky 4 mystery, speculative-fiction
I found that the only thing that bothered me was the number of POVs, and that was mostly while I was settling into the story. It was obvious why we needed the various POVs by the end; without them, the Empress seems just horrible (instead of a woman who makes horrible decisions believing they are for everyone's good, which is a different sort of horrible), Ngoc Ha seems too wishy-washy... but together they all work out and show a sad story, examining the bonds between families, and the terrible things an Empress might do for the good of everyone (or not).

It works really well as a novella; I think it's perfect at this length.]]> 3.71 2015 The Citadel of Weeping Pearls (Xuya Universe)
author: Aliette de Bodard
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/12
date added: 2021/01/12
shelves: mystery, speculative-fiction
review:
I really need to read more of the Xuya stories and novellas all at once, because I like the world but it always takes me some adjustment time.The Citadel of Weeping Pearls stands alone, though, and once you get your head around the fact that it's based on Vietnamese culture and customs (but in a space empire), it flows along smoothly. Bright Princess Ngoc Minh has been missing for years, along with her Citadel, after her mother the Empress sent armies against her. Grand Master Bach Cuc has been searching for her, and seemed to be close to a breakthrough, but now she's missing -- and Diem Huong, a commoner who lost her mother on the Citadel, is also about to conduct an experiment that may send her to the Citadel.

I found that the only thing that bothered me was the number of POVs, and that was mostly while I was settling into the story. It was obvious why we needed the various POVs by the end; without them, the Empress seems just horrible (instead of a woman who makes horrible decisions believing they are for everyone's good, which is a different sort of horrible), Ngoc Ha seems too wishy-washy... but together they all work out and show a sad story, examining the bonds between families, and the terrible things an Empress might do for the good of everyone (or not).

It works really well as a novella; I think it's perfect at this length.
]]> The Bookseller's Tale 50389563
Part cultural history, part literary love letter and part reluctant memoir, this is the tale of one bookseller and many, many books.]]> 349 Martin Latham 0241408814 Nicky 2 non-fiction, history
It was also full of this... reverence for the codex (not the contents) as a physical object, and being passionately in love with the physical form of a book. He's a fan of physical books you can fondle, annotate, spill things on, write your name in... And I can get it, to some extent, but you'd think people aren't real readers if they don't like to caress books or crease spines or whatever. He does bring across the sensual enjoyment of books, and what a delight that can be for some people, but, yeah, just not sure about this absolute lionising of the codex-form of books above all else, above even the contents (which he rarely discusses in detail).

I expected to love this, but found myself fairly nonplussed. Overall, I can't say I really enjoyed it -- something about Latham and me just didn't click, for a start.]]> 3.82 2020 The Bookseller's Tale
author: Martin Latham
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2021/01/12
date added: 2021/01/11
shelves: non-fiction, history
review:
I feel like this book wasn't quite sure what it was. History of the book? History of access to books? History of what people think about books? Autobiography of Martin Latham? There's some genuinely interesting stuff sandwiched in between Latham making sure we know that he worked for Tim Waterstone and knew a bunch of famous people before you could Google them. Sometimes his anecdotes work to illustrate the narrative he's trying to spin... and sometimes he's telling us about weird dreams he had.

It was also full of this... reverence for the codex (not the contents) as a physical object, and being passionately in love with the physical form of a book. He's a fan of physical books you can fondle, annotate, spill things on, write your name in... And I can get it, to some extent, but you'd think people aren't real readers if they don't like to caress books or crease spines or whatever. He does bring across the sensual enjoyment of books, and what a delight that can be for some people, but, yeah, just not sure about this absolute lionising of the codex-form of books above all else, above even the contents (which he rarely discusses in detail).

I expected to love this, but found myself fairly nonplussed. Overall, I can't say I really enjoyed it -- something about Latham and me just didn't click, for a start.
]]> <![CDATA[The Case of the Famished Parson (Inspector Littlejohn #15)]]> 30131529
Inspector Littlejohn faces an incredibly peculiar case and must figure out how to explain the savage murder of a gentle Bishop? Perhaps he know too much about the secretive citizens of Cape Marvin, the seaside resort and the place of his murder. Or did it have something to do with the strange family he had left behind in Medhope?

Above all, why was the Bishop’s body so undernourished that death by violence won out by only a few days over death by starvation?

The Case of the Famished Parson was first published in 1949.
Inspector Thomas Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is a shrewd yet courteous sleuth who splits his time between quaint English villages, the scenic Isle of Man and French Provinces. With a sharp tongue and a dry sense of humour, Littlejohn approaches his work with poise and confidence, shifting through red-herrings and solving even the most perplexing of cases.
‘One of the subtlest and wittiest practitioners of the simon-pure British detective story� � The New York Times
‘Mr Bellairs always gives good value� � The Sunday Times
‘Pure British detective story� � The New York Times]]> 207 George Bellairs Nicky 4 mystery, crime
When I first read one of Bellairs' books in the British Library Crime Classics, I thought it was fun, and I've definitely found that to be so with all his books. Maybe not the most inventive or technically brilliant, but likeable. I feel like Bellairs really enjoyed writing these books, these competent mysteries where the world is restored to rights by the finding and apprehending of the killer -- without police violence, without prying too deeply into people's psyches. Somehow cosy, even when the crimes are horrible.The Case of the Famished Parson fits well into that mould, and I enjoyed it very much.

I do have to say that I'd expected something a bit more weird, from that title. In the end, the fact that the man was starving is the least part of the mystery -- easily sorted out, though it does have a part to play in explaining what happened.

I probably won't be picking up another book by Bellairs immediately -- but I'll definitely be picking one up again in the near-ish future. They're even on Kindle Unlimited!]]> 3.76 1949 The Case of the Famished Parson (Inspector Littlejohn #15)
author: George Bellairs
name: Nicky
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1949
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/12
date added: 2021/01/11
shelves: mystery, crime
review:
Inspector Littlejohn is supposed to be on holiday, taking a break after running himself into the ground on too many cases. As ever, a busman's honeymoon is sure to follow, and Littlejohn finds himself investigating the murder of a parson, found in an astonishingly emaciated state with his head bashed in. Needless to say, it isn't a very restful holiday, and Littlejohn even finds himself shot while he's still making routine inquiries...

When I first read one of Bellairs' books in the British Library Crime Classics, I thought it was fun, and I've definitely found that to be so with all his books. Maybe not the most inventive or technically brilliant, but likeable. I feel like Bellairs really enjoyed writing these books, these competent mysteries where the world is restored to rights by the finding and apprehending of the killer -- without police violence, without prying too deeply into people's psyches. Somehow cosy, even when the crimes are horrible.The Case of the Famished Parson fits well into that mould, and I enjoyed it very much.

I do have to say that I'd expected something a bit more weird, from that title. In the end, the fact that the man was starving is the least part of the mystery -- easily sorted out, though it does have a part to play in explaining what happened.

I probably won't be picking up another book by Bellairs immediately -- but I'll definitely be picking one up again in the near-ish future. They're even on Kindle Unlimited!
]]>