Author: Nicky

Stacking the Shelves

Posted December 30, 2017 by Nicky in General / 18 Comments

Good morning, all! I hope you had a good festive season, whatever you celebrate — or a nice week, if you don’t celebrate! I certainly did, and I’ve got a heck of a haul to share with you guys.

New fiction

Cover of The End of the Day by Claire North Cover of The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman Cover of Runebinder by Alex R. Kahler

Cover of The Seafarer's Kiss by Julia Ember Cover of Jade City by Fonda Lee Cover of Ars Historica by Marie Brennan

I’ve been looking forward to some of these for quite a while, so I’m excited!

New non-fiction

Cover of Power, Sex, Suicide by Nick Lane Cover of The Story of Pain by Joanna Bourke Cover of A History of Ancient Egypt Volume 2 by John Romer Cover of Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are by Frans de Waal

Cover of Fossils by Richard Fortey Cover of Kin by John Ingraham Cover of Improbable Destinies by Jonathan Losos Cover of How Language Began by Daniel Everett

Cover of Into the Grey Zone by Adrian Owen Cover of The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu by Charlie English Cover of Almost Human by Lee Berger Cover of The Sutton Hoo Story by Martin Carver

Quite a stack, on all kinds of topics — but that’s me all over.

Comics

Cover of Captain Marvel: Alien Nation Cover of Spider-Gwen: Weapon of Choice Cover of The Unbelievable Gwenpool: Believe It Cover of Lumberjanes Vol 1

I’m interested to see what the new run of Captain Marvel is like! I did not like the direction they went with her for Civil War II etc, but this is a new volume one…

Books read this week:

Cover of How The Zebra Got Its Stripes by Leo Grasset Cover of Cro-Magnon by Brian Fagan Cover of The Sutton Hoo Story by Martin Carver Cover of Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers

Yeesh, I need to fit in some more fiction sometime soon!

Reviews posted: 

–Three Stones Make A Wall, by Eric H. Cline. This was a really fascinating survey of a lot of different archaeological sites, which mostly pointed me at things I want to read more about. 5/5 stars
–The Intimate Bond, by Brian Fagan. An interesting account of how human lives have been entwined with those of animals, for a long time. 3/5 stars
–Murder in Montparnasse, by Kerry Greenwood. Better on a second reading, with a lot going on. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. Updates from the TBR pile this week.

Tags: , , ,

Divider

Review – Murder in Montparnasse

Posted December 29, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Murder in Montparnasse by Kerry GreenwoodMurder in Montparnasse, Kerry Greenwood

Reading this a second time, I liked it more; I think my theory the first time I read it that it’d lost some of its freshness because I’d been reading too many Phryne books in a row was probably true. It gives us a glimpse of a different Phryne, and the experiences that made her the person she was, covering her life in Paris just after the war, and that’s pretty interesting — you can see it informing the way she chooses her lovers in the present-day of the books, and how she really became tough as nails.

It’s also nice because the book gives us a little more focus on Bert and Cec — a little more of a glimpse at their history and their bond, and some of their friends.

Against that, the plot with the girl who was going to marry a chef feels very light, almost inconsequential. It does help keep the book moving along when there’s a lot of other emotions that could make it heavy-going, but it’s not memorable or especially interesting in itself.

Rating: 4/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository
The above affiliate links, at no extra cost to you, provide a small commission for me if you purchase something.

Tags: , , , ,

Divider

Review – The Intimate Bond

Posted December 28, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Intimate Bond by Brian FaganThe Intimate Bond, Brian Fagan

This isn’t a bad book in terms of examining the relationship between humans and animals, and their impact on us… as long as you’re talking about the positive impact. The impact on health of close contact with animals leading to zoonotic illnesses is skipped entirely, though, and domestication/farming is generally painted as an unambiguously good thing. Not that Fagan is wrong in saying that animals have impacted us for the better in many ways, but it felt one-sided — especially given that there are various animal diseases that have become endemic in humans which we’d be rather better off without, and which probably wouldn’t have adapted so well to humans if we hadn’t given them such excellent opportunities.

Still, it’s an interesting book and Fagan works with archaeological and genetic evidence to give as complete a picture as he can.

Rating: 3/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository
The above affiliate links, at no extra cost to you, provide a small commission for me if you purchase something.

Tags: , ,

Divider

WWW Wednesday

Posted December 27, 2017 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

The three ‘W’s are what are you reading now, what have you recently finished reading, and what are you going to read next, and you can find this week’s post at the host’s blog here if you want to check out other posts.

What are you currently reading?

Cover of Cro-Magnon by Brian FaganI’m still halfway through Kushiel’s Dart, and I’m most of the way through Brian Fagan’s book on Cro-Magnon peoples. It’s interesting in itself, but a lot of the info isn’t new to me at all, and some of it is a little out of date. Also, it might not be the best choice while in the middle of some species of flu-like virus, though luckily that seems to be pretty much over now.

What have you recently finished reading?

Cover of How The Zebra Got Its Stripes by Leo GrassetNot much, regrettably. I just finished How the Zebra Got Its Stripes by Léo Grasset, though; it’s entertaining and sometimes informative, but pretty light and very short. And now I know more than I wanted to know about the sex lives of hyenas.

What will you be reading next?

I’m not sure, but I’m tempted to reread The Goblin Emperor to see out the year after my sister bet me that I’d read it at least twice this year and in fact, I proved that I haven’t even read it once in 2017. Oddly though, I’m not sure if I quite feel like it…

What are you reading? Get anything interesting for Christmas that you had to dive straight into?

Tags: ,

Divider

Review – Three Stones Make A Wall

Posted December 23, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Three Stones Make a Wall by Eric H. ClineThree Stones Make A Wall, Eric H. Cline

Three Stones Make a Wall is an overview of a lot of different archaeological sites and how archaeology is actually done there, and how it has been done in the past. It only glancingly deals with sites about which whole books can or should be written, but it does so by highlighting everything that’s so fascinating about them, and it definitely whetted my appetite for more. It’s easy to read and not technical at all, and if you have read specialist books on any of the digs mentioned — Schliemann’s dig at Troy, for instance — then it won’t be new to you, but Cline’s enthusiasm makes it worth reading anyway.

His choice of sites is reasonably diverse, too, including Greek and Roman sites, Native American sites, Biblical sites and more. Honestly, if you’re looking for a general book to give you a survey of archaeology, or give you some ideas for sites you want to learn more about, I recommend this whole-heartedly. It’s the pop-archaeology book I was longing for, after a childhood raised on Channel 4’s Time Team. It includes a list of sources, so you can look things up for yourself, and contextualises each dig and discovery beautifully. In retrospect, I’m giving it five stars for being exactly what I wanted at exactly the right moment.

If you’re looking for something substantial, it probably won’t be for you, but if you’re grasshopper minded like me and enjoy the idea of getting a tour of half the globe in archaeology, it’s great.

Rating: 5/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository
The above affiliate links, at no extra cost to you, provide a small commission for me if you purchase something.

Tags: , ,

Divider

Stacking the Shelves

Posted December 23, 2017 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

It’s nearly Christmas! I’m so excited to give my family their presents, I might explode! I’ve done a better job of keeping secrets than I normally do, at least… How’s everyone doing? Are you celebrating Christmas or an equivalent holiday, or is it just an ordinary day/week/month for you? Whatever it is, I wish you safe, happy and warm.

Like our bunnies, safely at the bunny hotel without us. But since we’re apart, here’s a picture of the two of them cuddling, last week.

New books

Cover of The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie Cover of The Picts by Tim Clarkson Cover of In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan Cover of The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

Cover of Artemis by Andy Weir Cover of Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas Cover of The Written World by Martin Puchner

Perhaps a slightly odd combination… but I’m looking forward to all three.

Books read this week:

Cover of Maps to Nowhere by Marie Brennan Cover of No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin Cover of Prime Meridian by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia Cover of The Glass Town Game by Catherynne M. Valente

Cover of Winterwood by Dorothy Eden Cover of Priam's Gold by Caroline Moorhead Cover of Carry On by Rainbow Rowell Cover of Bones of Contention by Paul Chambers

Reviewed this week:

–Zika: The Emerging Epidemic, by Donald G. McNeil. A good overview of what we know about Zika, at least as of the publication date. 4/5 stars
–Raven Stratagem, by Yoon Ha Lee. I stayed up all night to finish it, ’nuff said. 4/5 stars
–Locust, Jeffrey A. Lockwood. A little long-winded, but some interesting stuff. 3/5 stars
–Herding Cats, by Sarah Andersen. Fun, as with the rest of Andersen’s work. 4/5 stars
–Dark Sky, by Mike Brooks. This is still really really reminiscent of Firefly, but it’s fun. 3/5 stars
–The Viral Storm, by Nathan Wolfe. Not particularly stunning or new if you’ve read other pop-science on the topic, but well-expressed. 3/5 stars
–Maps to Nowhere, by Marie Brennan. A good collection, with one or two really great stories. 5/5 stars

Other posts:

–Project More Joy. Making my blog more about me again.
–WWW Wednesday. What I’m reading lately.

How’s everyone?

Tags: , ,

Divider

Review – Maps to Nowhere

Posted December 22, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Maps to Nowhere by Marie BrennanMaps to Nowhere, Marie Brennan

Almost all of these short stories worked for me, which is a wonder (I can be picky!). Each of them had some really fascinating ideas, and the only one that left me cold was ‘Love, Caycee’ (and even then, I liked the idea, it’s just I don’t think it quite came together into a story I found fun to read). Of course, one of my favourites is the one featuring Isabella Trent, particularly for the last letter in the narrative. Of course Isabella would get herself arrested over a matter of science!

But the others are all worth the time too, and I particularly liked ‘Once a Goddess’, the first story of the collection. Brennan is really great at atmosphere, as these stories show; each of them evoked its own landscape in my head.

Rating: 5/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US
The above affiliate links, at no extra cost to you, provide a small commission for me if you purchase something.

Tags: , , , ,

Divider

Review – The Viral Storm

Posted December 21, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Viral StormThe Viral Storm, Nathan Wolfe

If you’re already familiar with pop science books about diseases, this isn’t really going to surprise you any. It’s competently written, though at times the statistics are a little off (as another reviewer pointed out). I don’t agree that he’s too unduly alarmist, though; our current environmental and social conditions are just about perfect for a pandemic (viral or otherwise) to sweep through the world’s population. If you doubt it, The Great Influenza by John M. Barry should disabuse you of that notion, rapidly. And our world is more interconnected now, not less.

I hoped that this might be a little more in depth, given Wolfe being a biologist and all, but there’s nothing that really elevates it above other pop science books available. It’s honestly rather forgettable.

Rating: 3/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository
The above affiliate links, at no extra cost to you, provide a small commission for me if you purchase something.

Tags: , , ,

Divider

Review – Dark Sky

Posted December 20, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Dark Sky by Mike BrooksDark Sky, Mike Brooks

In the first book, sometimes I found myself doubting that the Firefly references were intentional because they just felt misplaced (“I am a leaf on the wind”… during a successful flight?! why would you do that to me?!). In this book, the references just… I don’t know it couldn’t be heavily inspired by Firefly, when there’s a scene in which one character wonders if “bi zui” (shut up) is the only Mandarin the captain knows. Hmmm… sounds so familiar… And if this is like Firefly, I think I know exactly what the next book is going to be like based on a tiny scrap of the summary. Two words (well, a name): Adelai Niska.

It’s not a bad thing that it’s reminiscent of Firefly, but it can be distracting. Still, it has a lot of features which aren’t like Firefly, like the Maori bruiser Apirana (who would actually prefer not to beat people up for a living). There’s sweet relationships between various members of the crew, and everything trucks along fast enough to keep me interested. It’s derivative, yeah, but it’s entertaining, and I’m along for at least one more book.

Rating: 3/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository
The above affiliate links, at no extra cost to you, provide a small commission for me if you purchase something.

Tags: , ,

Divider

WWW Wednesday

Posted December 20, 2017 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

The three ‘W’s are what are you reading now, what have you recently finished reading, and what are you going to read next, and you can find this week’s post at the host’s blog here if you want to check out other posts.

What are you currently reading?

Cover of Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline CareyActually, I’m not in the middle of anything at all, except Kushiel’s Dart, which I’ve been persistently not feeling like reading. Too much terrible stuff happens to Phèdre and Joscelin, and I’m just not in the mood for their world right now. Hopefully I’ll get it back soon…? I am 50% of the way through, so I don’t want to just stop, though of course it’s a reread so I know what happens.

What have you recently finished reading?

Cover of Priam's Gold by Caroline MoorheadI’ve just finished Priam’s Gold, by Caroline Moorehead. It’s about Heinrich Schliemann, the man who excavated at Troy to prove that Homer’s epics were referring to real historical events. It’s partly a biography of Schliemann, but it does also trace his whole archaeological career and the later movements of the treasure he found. That means there’s a couple of chapters on WWII and the way both sides looted art.

Other than that, I just read Winterwood, by Dorothy Eden. It’s a Gothic-ish mystery/romance, sort of in the vein of Mary Stewart’s work, and it actually gave me a couple of surprises…

What will you read next?

Cover of Carry On by Rainbow RowellI don’t know. I honestly feel like some very familiar rereads — Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell, maybe, or The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Cat Valente. Maybe even some Mary Stewart, though I’ve been spacing out those rereads a bit. It is the time of year to snuggle down and be cosy around here, after all…

And what about you, o gentle reader?

Tags: ,

Divider