Author: Nicky

WWW Wednesday

Posted April 11, 2018 by Nicky in General / 6 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.

Cover of Lost for Words by Stephanie ButlandWhat are you currently reading?

I just started Lost for Words, by Stephanie Butland, mostly because hey! Set in a bookshop! I’m enjoying it, even though it’s perhaps not my usual genre, though a little apprehensive about what the awful thing that happens to Loveday’s family is.

Cover of The Atrocities by Jeremy C. ShippWhat have you recently finished reading?

I read The Atrocities by Jeremy C. Shipp. It wasn’t quite my thing, really, and I’m not sure what to make of it. Before that, I finished Dan Ariely’s book on dishonesty, which I found as unsurprising as his book on irrationality — not knocking his scholarship, but I think the popular psychology type stuff is usually all things I’ve read before. Boo.

Cover of Murder in the Channel by Freeman Wills CroftWhat will you read next?

Haven’t decided! I just shipped myself a ton of books to Belgium, so I might just stick a hand in the box and see what I grab. Or, you know, I’ll be good and focus on the ARCs I should be reading… that could work too. Or another British Library Crime Classic!

The possibilities are endless!

What are you reading?

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Review – The Prince and the Dressmaker

Posted April 10, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen WangThe Prince and the Dressmaker, Jen Wang

This story is just adorable. The setting is a little odd — half realistic, set in places like Belgium and Paris, but half invented (at least I don’t think it fits into our timeline), but I really enjoyed the designs and the cute relationship between Sebastian and Frances. I love the fact that Frances is never really bothered by what Sebastian wants: okay, he wants dresses, that’s her job, so she’ll do it. The best bit was maybe her telling the king that Sebastian himself was perfect, and it was the expectations and the fear of disappointing his family that ruined things.

It’s not exactly period appropriate in terms of how easily Sebastian seems to be accepted, but hey, when reality sucks, why not fix it sometimes?

I’m glad I own this. Warm fuzzy feelings ahoy!

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Meddling Kids

Posted April 9, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Meddling Kids by Edgar CanteroMeddling Kids, Edgar Cantero

There’s a lot that I found annoying about this book: the allergy to using the word “said” (in one page: smirked, ranted, argued, retorted, started — and not one ‘said’), some of the made-up words and over-enthusiastic descriptions of Kerri’s hair being alive, the breaking of the fourth wall… On the other hand, it’s all part of the exuberant pastiche, I think. And mostly it does work, for me anyway: I had a lot of fun. It’s goofy, but it’s pretty much Scooby Doo: of course it is.

For that reason, it’s reasonably predictable if you’ve seen a couple of episodes of classic Scooby Doo (plus maybe the movies like Zombie Island where it turns out that some supernatural stuff is real). Well, except for the Latina heroine, the lesbians, and the fact that one of the four is already dead.

It’s not the best thing I’ve read all year, but it was such solid fun I can’t give it less than four stars. I can understand those who find it too annoying, but for me it just about toed the line.

ETA: It was later pointed out to me that this book leans on a weird transphobic trope which I originally missed, and now (even later) I’m coming back to correct the record a bit. I don’t actually remember it well enough to comment; I think I was distracted by how fun the idea of playing around with the Scooby Gang could be. The Book Smugglers‘ review has some detail on this, and on the way the relationship between Andy and Kerri is presented, and these are (as far as I remember) good points. If those things had struck me at the time, I would probably have given a lower rating — though the fact remains that I found it good fun to read.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Hazel Wood

Posted April 8, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 5 Comments

Cover of The Hazel Wood by Melissa AlbertThe Hazel Wood, Melissa Albert

It took me a while to get a handle on where this would fall exactly in terms of genre and audience; part of it really strongly reminded me of Joanne Harris’ Chocolat, though I think it’s more intended for the YA market than that book was. Once I got into it, I really enjoyed it: some lovely writing, some very creepy scenes, and lovely use of fairytale tropes — the original sort of brutal, horrible fairytales, not the sanitised versions. I think the pacing was a bit jerky at times. Given the fairytale setting, I don’t think I can really complain about some of the rules not seeming clear/consistent at times… Fairytales are like that, and it spills into the book as a whole.

I enjoyed the fact that the ending didn’t go with anything too easy… though I’ve learnt that this is a series, or at least that there’s going to be another book. I’m somewhat reluctant to read it, actually, in case it changes Finch’s ending — that just seemed so apropos after what we see through the rest of the book.

Rating: 4/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted April 7, 2018 by Nicky in General / 20 Comments

Good morning, folks. I am still in the UK, despite intending to go back last week, due to the rail strikes in France and ensuing mayhem. New departure date to get back to wife and bunnies for a while: Tuesday. Wish me luck.

But hey, since I’m away, that means you get one more lot of bunny photos because I miss them. Here they demonstrate the principle “I fits therefore I sits”.

And since last week was Easter, have the Easter Egg I gave my sister…

New books from various sources

Cover of Head On by John Scalzi Cover of Ash and Quill by Rachel Caine Cover of The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso

Cover of Meetings With Remarkable Manuscripts Cover of The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Looking forward to all of these, different as they are from one another!

Books read this week:

Cover of Murder in the Museum by John Rowland Cover of A Matter of Oaths by Helen S. Wright Cover of Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R.Lorac Cover of The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley Cover of Improbable Destinies by Jonathan Losos

Reviews posted this week:

–Murder in the Museum, by John Rowland. Entertaining but fairly typical Golden Age crime story. 3/5 stars
–A Matter of Oaths, by Helen Wright. Why did I wait so long to read this one? I loved it and it’s high time it got more attention. 5/5 stars
–The Genius of Birds, by Jennifer Ackerman. Entertaining, but not much that was new to me. 3/5 stars
–Improbable Destinies, by Jonathan Losos. A fascinating examination of the idea about evolution being repeatable. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday: The usual update on what I’m reading, what I might read next, etc.

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Review – Improbable Destinies

Posted April 6, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Improbable Destinies by Jonathan LososImprobable Destinies, Jonathan Losos

The question Losos asks, and tries to answer, is this: can we predict evolution? Are certain things inevitable in development — birds, humans, antibiotic resistance, etc, etc? He writes engagingly about field work, experiments, thought experiments, the various theories and people who have supported them… I definitely want to do more reading on this.

Am I convinced? Well, I’m not sure Losos is convinced that evolution can be predicted in detail; he presents some good evidence that suggests that you can predict the sorts of changes in gene function that will be beneficial in a certain environment, but that you can’t predict exactly how those changes will come about. Sometimes one gene might be altered, sometimes another. The phenotype is predictable (unsurprisingly: look for what would benefit the species in breeding successfully) but the genotype is not, unless it’s a fairly simple case of one particular molecular switch needing to be flipped on or off. There is a great deal of contingency in the process of evolution: Gould was (at least to some extent) correct in suggesting that we can’t “rewind the tape of life” and then see things proceed in exactly the same way.

As with determinism in any sense, I generally believe that if all factors were known, we would also know the result. I’m just not sure we can know those factors (and I dislike and squirm away from applying it to human ethics — our actions may be caused by previous events, but we don’t experience the process that way, so it’s irrelevant in how to be moral) — especially given events on a quantum level.

Rating: /5

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Review – The Genius of Birds

Posted April 5, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Genius of BirdsThe Genius of Birds, Jennifer Ackerman

If you’ve read much about animal intelligence, most of the stuff in this book won’t be all that surprising, though of course since it’s entirely about birds, it includes a lot more anecdotes and bird-focused studies. As a whole, the book definitely makes a case for birds as specialised, well adapted, and very intelligent in their own spheres. We won’t be having philosophical discussions with them any time soon, though, if that’s what you thought ‘genius’ meant. And I think honestly that Ackerman makes less of a case for bower birds’ displays being art than others I’ve read.

It’s an easy read, and good for some ‘huh, cool’ moments, but not the most rigorous or unmissable popular science book out there.

Rating: 3/5

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WWW Wednesday

Posted April 4, 2018 by Nicky in General / 12 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.

Cover of Improbable Destinies by Jonathan LososWhat are you currently reading?

Some of the same books as last week, plus Jonathan Losos’ Improbable Destinies. It discusses whether evolution can be repeated, and mostly suggests that yes, evolution does tend to repeat itself through convergence. I’m not entirely sold on it because there are some flaws in the experiments as described; I’ll probably look them up for myself and see if the authors address those at all. There are some compelling points, though. Hopefully, I’ll have actually finished this by the time this post goes live in the morning; I’m about to retreat to bed with it for a cwtch.

Cover of A Matter of Oaths by Helen S. WrightWhat have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was A Matter of Oaths, I think! I thought it was great, but my review is already up, so you can go there to see me babble about it.

Cover of Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R.LoracWhat will you be reading next?

I rather fancy picking up another of the British Library Classic Crime series, so I’m thinking of Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R. Lorac. Of course, the ‘Belfry’ in the title is making me think of Sayers’ The Nine Tailors, but I love that book so much I think it’s best to try not to think of it, lest this one suffer in comparison.

I’m also quite tempted to pick up City of Brass finally, since I accidentally read the first chapter today and was quite intrigued.

What are you currently reading?

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Review – A Matter of Oaths

Posted April 3, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of A Matter of Oaths by Helen S. WrightA Matter of Oaths, Helen S. Wright

Throughout reading this, there were basically two major thoughts in my mind: one, why didn’t I read this sooner? And two: fans of Ann Leckie and Becky Chambers are probably the ideal audience (and maybe fans of Yoon Ha Lee, as well). And hurrah! It’s been republished recently, so it’s out there and ready to be picked up by just those people. I can’t quite put my finger on all of the things that reminded me of those authors, but nonetheless, remind me it did (without them being in any way derivative — that’s not what I’m saying).

Worldbuilding? Got it in spades. A unique way of interfacing between ship and crew, two warring empires, a mystery plot that turns out to reflect on the politics quite significantly, overt and perfectly matter of fact queerness… I loved the characters, even though they have their flaws (and I think I’d have liked to see more of Vidar, who kept fading in and out). I loved the way things came together, one question raising other questions while answering things you wouldn’t expect it to answer. And I read it really fast, too: I’d look up and I’d be 50 pages down the line with no real sense of time having passed.

And the ending. So much potential, without the need for more but just… telling you that more is there: the world goes on after you’ve left, as it began before you arrived. I’d love more time with Rafe and Joshim and Rallya; I’ll probably eventually reread this to get that. But the ending in itself is satisfactory and doesn’t, to my mind, leave anything hanging in a bad way.

I’m trying to think if I have criticisms, and really, I don’t. What the hey: I’m going for five stars here.

Rating: 5/5

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Review – Murder in the Museum

Posted April 2, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Murder in the Museum by John RowlandMurder in the Museum, John Rowland

I’ll admit that I was hoping for more of the Museum atmosphere from this, and that I was a little sad that the academic rivalry subplot peters out. But it’s still entertaining: nothing too solid, fairly stereotyped cast of characters for a Golden Age crime novel, quick to read… I wasn’t expecting anything revolutionary (and indeed, don’t remember Martin Edwards mentioning this author at all in The Golden Age of Murder, which talked about some of the more interesting members of the Golden Age crime fiction movement and particularly the Detection Club), but this was the sort of undemanding, mild fun I imagined. Despite involving murder, it’s pretty darn cosy. The only uncomfortable bit is the abduction of the female character.

So not an enormously high rating, but it deserves at least a three. I had fun. Not recommended if you don’t like Golden Age tropes, though!

Rating: 3/5

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