Author: Nicky

Weekly Roundup

Posted July 10, 2021 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

Happy Saturday! I’m in the middle of watching the Wales v Argentina rugby game, with a British and Irish Lions game to follow later. So much rugby. <3 And books! It’s my day off, so it’s a good day for reading — and I haven’t been doing much of that this week!

New books:

Cover of Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

I’ve had my eye on this one for a while. It’s actually releasing in hardback in the UK… but Bookshop.org have some paperback editions from a different press, and I snapped one up when I saw it was less than £10!

Received to review:

Cover of Index, A History of the by Dennis Duncan Cover of The Bone Wars by Erin Evan

I was pretty fascinating by a book about working on dictionaries recently (by Kory Stamper), so a book about indices is more exciting to me than it sounds. And The Bone Wars sounds like a lot of fun.

Read this week:

Cover of Ancestors by Alice Roberts

Not much reading this week, as I said… alas.

Reviewed this week:

So that’s everything from me this week! How’re your shelves looking, folks?

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Review – Reinventing the Wheel

Posted July 9, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Reinventing the Wheel by Francis and Bronwen PercivalReinventing the Wheel, Bronwen and Francis Percival

I thought this would be a great companion to The Cheesemonger’s [safdf], though probably more academic and less rich in anecdote. It was probably equally as rich in anecdote, and though the authors’ passion is clear, it somehow didn’t come through nearly as well because other parts of the book felt so dry. It also doesn’t help that they’re very judgemental about what constitutes real cheese, how cheese should be made, how cheese should taste, and yes, also how you should buy and enjoy cheese.

I’m sure the experience they describe as being the only way to eat “proper” “real” cheese is very enjoyable, if expensive and time-consuming; it’s the way they present it as the only way, and as a moral choice, that somewhat bugs me, because it blames consumers and producers for problems introduced by a capitalist system in which profit is more important than most anything else. I’m not sure that if everyone did try to live the way they say cheese should be made, bought and eaten whether that would actually work.

Possibly they’re right, but being judged for enjoying Mexicana Cheese or Applewood or whatever I bought from the supermarket just gets a little wearing.

In any case, it’s a good overview of how pasteurisation and anti-microbial measures have nearly killed the old ways of making cheese, and how that can in many ways be a bad thing. They discuss the fact that the balanced microbial communities in milk that hasn’t been pasteurised — at least in the past — tended to keep each other in balance and avoid some of the spoilage problems that modern cheese is prey to.

Their passion is clear, like I said, but it didn’t make me want to go and eat cheese like Palmer’s book did.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Magic Bites

Posted July 8, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Magic Bites by Ilona AndrewsMagic Bites, Ilona Andrews

I read this relatively recently already, but sometimes you just want to turn to familiar books — and I couldn’t get back into the book I was up to in my last read through the series, just starting cold from the first page. So I went back to the beginning, which is a) a very good place to start (sorry, couldn’t resist) and b) has the start of the relationship between Kate and Curran, which is always entertaining.

I didn’t giggle as much at this one as I remember, but there were some great moments (here, kitty, kitty) and Kate’s smart mouth remains a joy to me. I love the way the books build up the hints about who she is and what she’s hiding, and that she and Curran are not obviously star-crossed lovers right from the start — you genuinely don’t know if they’re going to end up hating each other or loving each other, and both feel possible (though the former admittedly feels a little more likely).

One thing that did annoy me a lot on this readthrough was that Kate figures things out, after some healthy hints around her (really, she is slow on this one), and then Curran immediately jumps to a conclusion about who the bad guy must be. He decides she’s wrong altogether when he’s wrong about who he assumed was the problem. Dude, you’re the one who jumped to conclusions, not Kate!

Anyway, it’s a bag of fun and remains so, with lots of hints of what’s to come. Kate is pretty epic, and it’s a fun fast read for me. Maybe it’s not the best book in the world, but… the fascinating setting drew me in and the character arcs have kept me. One day I’ll actually catch up to the most recently published volume.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – After the Dragons

Posted July 7, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of After the Dragons by Cynthia ZhangAfter the Dragons, Cynthia Zhang

Received to review via Netgalley; publication date 19th August 2021

I seem to have picked this up mostly on a whim and for the promise of dragons, because I didn’t know much about it going in. Which was quite nice, actually: I wasn’t looking for the love story, wasn’t expecting the discussions of chronic illness, responsibility, family, etc. I just knew there were dragons, and I wasn’t disappointed there!

If you’re looking for Western-style dragons, of course, you might find this disappointing. So too if you’re wanting huge dragons that rule the skies. The dragons of this alternate world are small, stunted by pollution, and used and abused by humans for fights and as pets. Kai cares deeply about dragons, carefully taking them in and splicing their broken wings, disinfecting their cuts, and trying to bring them back to health. Eli is in Beijing to study and do research, but his supervisor drags him out to the dragon fights — which is where he meets Kai. They’re instantly antagonistic, not dramatically so, but because Eli wants to help and heal, and Kai refuses to be pitied.

The love story that develops is a quiet one, wrapped around Kai’s concern for the dragons and Eli’s exploration of some of his family roots. It feels a very tender story: there are no huge dramatic events, but a normal and healthy relationship that’s trying to find room for both parties, and find a balance.

As a warning, the ending is not a “Happy Ever After” but a “Happy For Now”; much can happen, given Kai’s illness and the plans he makes. The future isn’t wrapped up neatly in a bow — but nonetheless the story is one of hope.

Rating: 5/5

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Review – Hollywood Homicide

Posted July 6, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Hollywood Homicide by Kellye GarrettHollywood Homicide, Kellye Garrett

This book was really not for me, in the end. It’s narrated by Dayna, an out of luck actress who latches on to investigating a death in a hit and run accident which she happened to witness very briefly, without initially really noticing. Her motive: to receive the reward for turning in information that leads to a resolution in the case.

I don’t mind her motive so much as I mind the whole way she decides to go about it. She doesn’t take it very seriously, and she has clearly no idea about what to do, or any kind of process of problem-solving. Or any kind of reality. She expects to be able to phone up with a piece of evidence and then for an arrest to be made the next day, and she blunders in and accuses people herself without much by way of proper evidence, assuming the police to be incompetent. In this case, lady, it’s not them, it’s you. Very definitely you.

It’s light-hearted and it might turn out quite funny, but I can’t bear incompetence as humour (I get vicariously embarrassed) — so I noped out.

Rating: 1/5

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Review – The Map of Knowledge

Posted July 5, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Map of Knowledge by Violet MollerThe Map of Knowledge, Violet Moller

I didn’t really expect to enjoy this as much as I did, because this isn’t really my area of history and it started out kind of dry. Somehow, though, I did get sucked in by the author’s enthusiasm for the subject and the slightly gossipy tales about some of the ways these texts survived and how they influenced societies — and how societies influenced their transmission, of course.

It’s quite a narrow book in the sense that it focuses on seven specific cities where manuscripts survived. It does peek around at the world and how outside events affected things, of course, but it narrows the scope of what could be a huge topic by focusing in on those cities.

In the end, it was a little slow/dry in places, but I found myself picking it up whenever I had a spare minute. It’s a good potted history of the survival of some of the pre-Christian texts that were so influential, and it’s definitely worth it, in my view. It’s not my subject, so I can’t speak to the quality of the research, but where it did intersect my other interests, it matched up. There are plenty of references, too, so that’s reassuring.

Rating: 4/5

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Weekly Roundup

Posted July 4, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

I swear, I have the best intentions about keeping up with everything and posting here, but with some of my job stuff changing at the moment… well! It’s a busy time, again, as ever. Will I ever not be busy? I’ll let you know once I’ve just finished this one thing…

Anyway, this should be a quick update — no books added to my shelves, and no reviews to highlight, so it’s just the books I’ve read this week and then I’ll see myself out…

Read this week:

Cover of Seashaken Houses by Tom Nancollas Cover of What it Means When A Man Falls From The Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah Cover of After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang Cover of Walls: A History of Civilization by David Frye

After the Dragons is really my highlight this week: quiet and tender, but with an ache of grief all through it. I recommend it.

And that’s all for me this week! How’s everyone doing?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted July 1, 2021 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Anyyyy day now I’ll get round to scheduling more of my backlogged reviews, but for now, here’s the WWW Wednesday post!

What are you currently reading?​

Cover of After the Dragons by Cynthia ZhangAbout eight books at once, last I checked! So I’ll just pick a couple to talk about: first on my mind is After the Dragons, by Cynthia Zhang. It involves dragons, biology, and a prickly love interest with whom things will (presumably) get figured out. I hadn’t realised it was queer, actually, somehow — or hadn’t remembered it, anyway. I am promised there will be cuddles soon, and I wonder quite how they’re going to get there.

I’m also reading Ancestors: The Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials, which would be more accurately but less catchily titled “Ancestors: The Prehistory of Britain, with seven key burials discussed to varying degrees, and mostly lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of description of non-British archaeology”. Which is cool, but I actually wanted a closer focus on particular burials — that’s what I was interested in.

Finally, I’m now reading Anthony Berkeley’s The Wychford Poisoning Case, which is fun: the detective character is very glib and smooth-talking, in a way familiar to those who love Lord Peter. Mind you, Lord Peter never tried to turn his grown-up female cousin over his knee to spank her, so there are definitely bits that ring very oddly to a contemporary reader.

Cover of What it Means When A Man Falls From The Sky by Lesley Nneka ArimahWhat have you recently finished reading?​

I am really bad at keeping track of that recently, so the thing that mostly jumps to mind is that I finished Seashaken Houses, by Tom Nancollas. He made the cardinal sin (to me) of getting something wrong about Arthurian myth — the very briefest of references, but infuriating. That said, it definitely scratched the curious itch I had when looking at it on the shelf, so it worked out.

Oh, and I finished What It Means When A Man Falls From the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah, which has a lot of clever stories in it, and which I’m still mulling over.

Cover of Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmererWhat will you be reading next?

No idea at all. Chances are high that I’ll be picking up Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, since it’s a book club read for this month. Black Water Sister by Zen Cho is also coming up soon, so that might be a choice. But really, who knows?

What are you folks reading?

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Weekly Roundup

Posted June 26, 2021 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

Good afternoon! I ran out of pre-scheduled posts this week, and promptly ran headfirst into a busy time… but the backlog of reviews will be back soon, promise. In the meantime, I did get some new books!

Received to review

Cover of Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes Cover of A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske Cover of Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Thanks as ever to the publishers for these! I feel like Dead Silence is more my wife’s thing than mine, but we share a Kindle account so there won’t be any jealousy…

New books

Cover of Subtle Blood by K.J. Charles Cover of Honeycomb by Joanne Harris Cover of Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Yesss, Subtle Blood is out — now I can start this trilogy! Have faithfully bought each book on release day, and the paperbacks as soon as possible… but until the HEA was assured, I couldn’t tuck in.

I’m also keen to read Honeycomb; I actually had an eARC through the Secret Readers programme, except then they decided to withdraw that month’s books early without explanation when I was 20% of the way through. It was infuriating.

Read this week

Cover of Bloodline by Jordan L. Hawk Cover of A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander Cover of Elephants on Acid by Alex Boese Cover of The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth by Thomas Morris

And that’s all for this week! How’s everyone doing? Got anything good this week?

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WWW Wednesday

Posted June 23, 2021 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

Greetings! How’s everyone doing? I ran out of scheduled posts and have been too busy/tired this week to get the queue set up again (there’s plenty more reviews written and ready, fear not!) but that’ll be back soon, I promise. In the meantime, here’s the usual Wednesday post!

What are you currently reading?

Cover of Seashaken Houses by Tom NancollasA whole bunch of things at once, of course! Most notably, I’m most of the way through Thomas Morris’ The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth and other Curiosities from the History of Medicine, which is okay but in the end fairly meh. Nothing too surprising, and most of it is about hoaxes or obvious misunderstandings.

I got a new book last week, totally on a whim, about lighthouses: Seashaken Houses, by Tom Nancollas. I picked it up briefly and just felt kinda drawn to it, and I do like indulging my random curiosities, so I went ahead. I started it right away to catch that feeling, and am enjoying it — some of the daydreams about the inhabitants of the lighthouses and the descriptions of things get a bit purple prosey, but I’m enjoying some of the local history and the overaching development of lighthouses. I especially enjoyed the chapter about Haulbowline, which had to be consecrated by priests in 1958 because the keepers were convinced the place was haunted.

What have you recently finished reading?

Bloodline, by Jordan L. Hawk. Once I got past the part where Whyborne was lying to Griffin, I flew through the rest of the book. I wasn’t too shocked by any of the shocking revelations, but it’s an enjoyable addition to the series, and it’ll be interesting to see what comes of it in future — and how it crosses over with K.J. Charles’ Green Men world.

What will you be reading next?

Beats me! There are a ton of books all stacked up waiting for me. I really, really should work on reading What It Means When A Man Falls From the Sky, though: it’s this month’s book club read in my capricious book club where all the choices are made by me, so it’d be bad form not to keep up!

What are you currently reading?

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