Review – DNA: The Secret of Life

Posted March 2, 2014 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of DNA: The Secrets of Life by James WatsonDNA: The Secret of Life, James Watson

This is much, much better than James Watson’s 1968 The Double Helix, which is full of unbearable ego and sexist opinions. It even contains a chapter which explains the discovery of the double helix sans most of the commentary that made the earlier book annoying. Watson has definitely matured, thank goodness, and into a man I wouldn’t mind discussing genetics with. For example, he emphasises choice for pregnant women who know their babies have genetic disorders, insists that women have a right to decide on abortion which it is barbaric to deny, which I wouldn’t have predicted from his earlier book and which suggests a more liberal outlook than I expected.

In terms of the science alone, minus any comments on the writer, this is an excellent primer on DNA, covering most of what we currently understand about DNA. Being published nearly a decade ago now, it doesn’t comment on newer discoveries like the epigenetic control of gene expression, but it does cover just about everything in my college level online genetics class right now, with the added benefit of being something you can take at your own pace and without the horrible quantity of math that actually putting theories into practice requires (for example, he talks about finding a gene by reference to its association with a marker: I can calculate that if you give me half an hour, a calculator and a piece of paper — and allow me to cuss a good bit). It’s accessible to the layman, I think, but I still found it of interest despite my genetics classes and general interest in the field.

Some books leave me feeling that I’ve taken the wrong path in life. This is one of them. We know so many amazing, beautiful, astonishing things about DNA — and we have so much more to learn. This book made me long to have taken the other path in which I forced myself through the sciences for my A Levels, took a degree in genetics or something related, and became a geneticist. Watson clearly evokes the potential for this knowledge, and makes me wish I could add whatever intelligence I have to the process.

Skip The Double Helix, except as a historical document, but I do recommend DNA: The Secret of Life with little reserve.

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Review – Silent City

Posted March 1, 2014 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Silent City by Alex SeguraSilent City, Alex Segura

I was hopeful about this one when the publicist contacted me via my blog to offer me a copy. Chris F. Holm and Adam Christopher blurbed it, and I’ve certainly enjoyed their books. Plus there was a reference to similarities between the main character and Matt Fraction’s Clint Barton, which… hmm, I don’t really see.

Anyway, the problem with this is for me, it felt like a pretty standard detective story in style, tone, plot, characters… There’s nothing surprising about an alcoholic PI, though Pete Fernandez is a bit more the worse for wear than most. One aspect I did like was some of the relationships in the story, like Pete’s with his ex-girlfriend. That felt a bit more nuanced than typical for these stories.

It’s a quick read, and if you have a particular affection for the genre or the city-scape of Miami, then it might be worth checking out, but if your tastes in crime fiction are more for the excellent outliers and stuff that breaks the mould, then I probably wouldn’t go for this one.

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Review – Batwoman: Hydrology

Posted March 1, 2014 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Batwoman: Hydrology by J.H. WilliamsBatwoman vol. 1: Hydrology, J.H Williams III, W. Haden Blackman

So here I am, jumping into another New 52 title. I was mostly interested in Batwoman/Kate Kane because I know she’s a lesbian, but I knew very little else about her, so it was a bit tough to just jump right in here, even though the New 52 is supposed to be a reboot.

I enjoyed it, though; I like that in contrast to what I normally think of when I think of the Batfamily, without supernatural elements, here we’ve got Kate Kane basically going through an episode of Supernatural. It’s interesting reading that at the same time as I’m getting into Batgirl — and I like that there’s plenty of stuff around in Kate’s normal life, too. More than Batgirl’s, maybe; I got more of a sense of the wider world surrounding Kate, anyway.

The art looks really cool; I love the red/black look Kate’s got going on.

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted March 1, 2014 by Nicky in General / 41 Comments

I thought I wasn’t gonna have anything this week, but then I won some ARCs from LibraryThing and ended up going shopping as well, so, uh. Whoops?

So, as usual, the Stacking the Shelves meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews!

ARCs/review copies

Cover of The Normans: From Raiders to Kings by Lars Brownworth Cover of the anthology Long Hidden

Comics

Cover of Spider-woman: Origin by Brian Michael Bendis Cover of Spider-woman: Agent of Sword by Brian Michael BendisCover of Batgirl by Gail Simone Cover of Batwoman: Hydrology by J.H. Williams

Other

Cover of Derrida: A Very Short Introduction by Simon Glendinning Cover of Barthes: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan Culler Cover of Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody Cover of The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges

Of the ARCs, I’m more enthusiastic about Long Hidden, but a book on the Normans hits me right in my interests too. Of the comics, Spider-woman! Because I’ve loved her appearances in Captain Marvel. And of the other books, well, Barthes and Derrida come from a feeling of, crap, I have an MA in literature and I don’t know much about literary theory, so they’re kind of a guilt thing. Though a bit of an interest thing too, since I’m TAing a class on Coursera where I’ve ended up talking ‘The Death of the Author’ and so on with the students.

I finished The Book of Imaginary Beings yesterday morning, which leaves only Dying in the Wool — which caught my eye because I’ve been looking for a cosy mystery type series since I ran out of Mary Stewart books, and Dying in the Wool is set in an area I know pretty well: Yorkshire. Also features a just-post-war widow, running about being a detective. Uh, so very sold. Incidentally, my copy happens to be signed, presumably because she’s a local author.

What’s everyone else been getting their grubby little hands on?

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What are you reading Wednesday

Posted February 26, 2014 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

What did you recently finish reading?
It hasn’t been such a busy week this week, reading-wise. The last thing I finished was The Double Helix, James Watson’s account of the discovery of DNA. God, he has an ego on him, and he’s sexist about it too, at least back in 1968 when it was published. Rosalind Franklin, “Rosy”, would have been much improved by doing something novel with her hair, apparently.

What are you currently reading?
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and DNA by James Watson. Yes, that same James Watson. It’s better because it’s not focused on himself, and it even includes the account from The Double Helix in miniature, so just… stick to that one. I understand everything in it without a struggle: sometimes I think he does get beyond what most people are used to, like recombination, but heck, I’ve done the math on recombination — if a simple description stumped me, my genetics grade would be in trouble.

The Thirteenth Tale is quite good. It’s reminding me of something else, several somethings, but that doesn’t bother me too much — in some cases, I think the allusions are intentional anyway. It’s definitely better than Bellman & Black. And I love the book-obsessed main character largely because her thirst for books mirrors my own.

What do you think you’ll read next?
The plan is to finish reading Retribution Falls (Chris Wooding) and Augustus (John Williams). But I think everyone’s pretty used to how little my plans relate to what actually happens.

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Review – Captain America: The Red Menace

Posted February 24, 2014 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Captain America: The Red MenaceCaptain America: The Red Menace, Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Mike Perkins, Javier Pulido, Marcos Martin

Yep, I get the feeling I’m going to love Brubaker’s entire run on Cap. This was a lot of fun, even when it brought in players I’m not terribly familiar with — Crossbones and Sin, Union Jack and Spitfire; actually, they made it more fun. I liked the interactions between Union Jack, Spitfire and Steve, and I actually found myself weirdly rooting for Sin and Crossbones in that messed up way where, well, it’s kinda not her fault she’s completely nuts, and they take such bizarre joy in the destruction they cause.

I also loved how damn happy Steve was when he realised Bucky really was alive and nearby. That bit where he picks Sharon up and twirls her around — just lovely.

The little flashback comic in the middle was good, too, Bucky being Bucky and getting to see the Howling Commandos and more of how Steve was involved with the war.

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Review – Alcestis

Posted February 24, 2014 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Alcestis by Katharine BeutnerAlcestis, Katharine Beutner

I’m torn on this one. It was spellbinding, but in a soft, dusty way — Alcestis as a character is too obedient for most of her life to have any colour to her. The bit in the Underworld is still quite colourless, quite literally, except for Persephone. I was actually more interested in the relationship between Hades and Persephone than that between Persephone and Alcestis. I wanted to understand them, what made them tick, what made them volatile.

I understand that there’s actually a degree of historical accuracy here to way a real Alcestis would’ve lived, just with the gods treated as a rational part of everyday life as well, but she seems so meek and resigned — until she’s in the Underworld. I can appreciate the liberation of a female character from a stifling traditional role that must have been so flattering to the men in that male dominated world, and it makes sense it could happen in the Underworld, where the rules of life don’t apply.

I guess in summary, I just didn’t fall for it. There were some lovely sections, gorgeous imagery, and there was some interesting interplay between characters, but all in all it didn’t work for me.

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Review – Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Posted February 23, 2014 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Winter Soldier comic by Ed BrubakerCaptain America: The Winter Soldier, Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Mike Perkins, Michael Lark, John Paul Leon

The film cannot come out soon enough. I need more Cap in my life. I have a wishlist of things I would like to see directly translated from book to movie — though many things will have to be changed, of course, to fit with MCU canon, there should be room for stuff like the “who the hell is Bucky?” moment. I’m looking forward to Falcon, who I haven’t seen before reading this TPB.

I also have a list of things I don’t want to happen, like that ending where Bucky just disappears leaving Steve believing he might be dead. Aaaah.

So in short, Brubaker is an amazing writer for Captain America — there are some moments where he just nails everything Steve is. The art’s good, too, and it all comes together really well in terms of pacing.

I don’t really get people who don’t like Steve. I mean, I can see plenty of reasons not to like the character, but the nobility and drive of him… It gets me right in all my feels.

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Clean out your ereader challenge!

Posted February 22, 2014 by Nicky in General / 9 Comments

March 2014 COYER Signups

Yep, sounds like a good plan. Here’s the rules and pledge levels:

    • Go through your E-readers and select books you’d like to read during the challenge. The book must have been Free or Nearly Free: under $5, Kindle Deals, Netgalley, Edelweiss & author review requests only (Blog Tour reviews are not accepted this time, sorry). Anyone caught not using a free book or a book that is pirated will be removed from challenge.
    • Sign up with the linky below letting us know that you plan to participate. Between now and March 8th create a post announcing that you’re participating and a list of books you hope to read during the challenge (this can change). If you don’t have a blog this can be done at the Goodreads group “Two Girls and A Challenge” Any participant that doesn’t have a starter post up by 11:59 PM EST March 8th (giving you procrastinators a little more time!) will be ineligible for the grand prize.
    • Start reading your books (starting March 1st) and reviewing them, either on your blog or Goodreads, Booklikes, etc. Put the link to your review (to the review URL, not your Web Address) on the review linky available March 1st, listing your blog name and the name of the book you reviewed. When you write your review, you MUST include the challenge logo and linky somewhere on the post so that we can all check out the reviews.

Lightly Clean – 1 to 4 eBooks
Spring Clean – 5 to 9 eBooks
Deep Clean – 10 to 14 eBooks
Xtreme Clean – 15 or more eBooks

Aaaand I’ll be going for the Xtreme Clean, because hey, I for damn sure need it.

  • Chris Amies, Dead Ground.
  • Allyson Bird, Bull Running for Girls.
  • Marie Brennan, Deeds of Men.
  • Lars Brownworth, The Normans: From Raiders to Kings.
  • Brenda Chamberlain, The Water-castle.
  • Anna Cowan, Untamed.
  • Doranna Durgin, Wolverine’s Daughter.
  • Frances Hardinge, Cuckoo Song.
  • Jason M. Hough, The Darwin Elevator.
  • Richard Kadrey, Sandman Slim.
  • Anna Kashina, Blades of the Old Empire.
  • John Lawson, The Loathly Lady.
  • J.M. McDermott, Maze.
  • Natasha Mostert, The Midnight Side.
  • Rachel Neumeier, Black Dog.
  • Marianne de Pierres, Peacemaker.
  • Jay Posey, Morningside Fall.
  • David Meerman Scott, Marketing the Moon.
  • Alex Segura, Silent City.
  • Laini Taylor, Night of Cake & Puppets.

Mostly ARCs/review copies, with a sprinkling of Kindle sales.

Blog hop thing —

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