Weekly Roundup

Posted September 28, 2019 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

Busy week! And lots of reading too, which is nice. Politics in the UK are… interesting at the moment, but for the comfort of all, let’s not discuss them here. Rugby World Cup also, but, samesies, unless you’re supporting Wales.

Here are some new books!

Acquired this week:

This week has been rather massive on the books front, so I’m splitting it into two! Next week will have this week’s fantasy/SF or other books, while this week is solely for crime/mystery books, most of them from the British Library Crime Classics series!

Cover of Death Has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert Cover of Fell Murder by E.C.R. Lorac Cover of Surfeit of Suspects by George Bellairs Cover of Murder in the Mill-Race by E.C.R. Lorac

Cover of Death in Captivity by Michael Gilbert Cover of The Belting Inheritance by Julian Symons Cover of Calamity in Kent by John Rowland Cover of Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert

Cover of It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr Cover of The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers

Read this week:

Cover of The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark Cover of Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert Cover of It Walks By Night by John Dickson Carr Cover of In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey

Cover of The Interstellar Age by Jim Bell Cover of The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers Cover of First Contact / The Cult of Progress by David Olusoga

Reviews posted this week:

The Haunting of Tram Car 015, by P. Djèlí Clark. I didn’t love this as much as the other novella I’ve read by Clark, but the setting makes a nice change, and I’d love to know more about  the world. 3/5 stars
It Walks by Night, by John Dickson Carr. Definitely not impressed by this — I’ve tried two novels by John Dickson Carr, and I don’t get the hype. 2/5 stars
Smallbone Deceased, by Michael Gilbert. This was a much better classic crime novel! Reminded me a little of Sayers in the way that Gilbert was obviously intimately familiar with the kind of office he was writing about. 4/5 stars
In the Night Wood, by Dale Bailey. I was not impressed by the angst and woe of the protagonist who let his daughter drown in the bath while arguing on the phone with his lover, and is all upset that his wife doesn’t want to speak to him. Even in a fantasy setting, that’s old now. 2/5 stars
The Interstellar Age, by Jim Bell. Some interesting stuff here! A bit too much about Bell himself at times, and not heavy on scientific detail, but a good history of the Voyager program on a high level. 3/5 stars
The Documents in the Case, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Interesting format, and Sayers’ usual deft touch with character and dialogue. 4/5 stars
Civilisations: First Contact / The Cult of Progress, by David Olusoga. Felt unfocused and kinda perfunctory at times. Meh? 2/5 stars

Other posts:

WWW Wednesday. The usual weekly update!

Out and about:

NEAT science: ‘Brain juice.‘ I explained what norepinephrine is, and how SNRI antidepressants work!

So that’s all for now! How’s your week been, folks?

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8 responses to “Weekly Roundup

  1. It’s been an unexpectedly emotional week (the unexpected death of my former boss, of whom I was very fond) and I seem to be exhausted all the time (…I may not be managing my iron count. Oops), but work has calmed down a bit so I can deal. I’ve got a staggeringly exciting weekend ahead of tax returns and sorting out my belongings – we bought a new wardrobe, so since everything is in boxes ANYWAY, I might as well have a Kondo session and admit that no, I’m really never going to be that size again rather than just hiding it at the back of this one, right?

    …tea and good books will be required to make this much adulting bearable. Luckily, I’m enjoying the shapeshifting retellings in Foxfire, Wolfskin by Sharon Blackie and I rather suspect I’ll just go ahead and finish The Poison Song, so watch out for helpless wailing on Twitter/Litsy by the end of the weekend 😉

    I just picked up Tram Car 015 this week, so I have held off reading your full review – I’ll be back in a few days to compare notes!
    imyril recently posted…Bite-size Books: The Ascent to GodhoodMy Profile

    • <3 Get thee some iron in you! *waves a box of ferrous fumarate at you pointedly*

      I bought so many books this week and I still have that vague "argh I need books to deal with all this" feeling. Life is A Lot, lately!

  2. Those covers all look really great! I’ve always liked how these books look. It makes me wish I read this kind of thing just so I can own the covers! I’m trying to stay away from the news at the moment as it is just getting my blood pressure up!

    • Ha, yeah, they look lovely together on a shelf!

      The news is… yeah. Whatever your opinions are, lately there’s always something to be angry/scared about.

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