Review – Around the World in 80 Plants

Posted November 24, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Around the World in 80 Plants

by Jonathan Drori, Lucille Clerc

Genres: History, Non-fiction, Science
Pages: 216
Rating: five-stars

Synopsis:
Jonathan Drori takes a trip across the globe, bringing to life the science of plants by revealing how their worlds are intricately entwined with our own history, culture and folklore. From the seemingly familiar tomato and dandelion to the eerie mandrake and Spanish "moss" of Louisiana, each of these stories is full of surprises. Some have a troubling past, while others have ignited human creativity or enabled whole civilizations to flourish. With a colorful cast of characters all brought to life by illustrator Lucille Clerc, this is a botanical journey of beauty and brilliance.

The first thing to know is that this book is beautifully illustrated by Lucille Clerc, full colour, at least one full-page image per plant. Sometimes these images show details of the plants, and sometimes they include aspects of the accompanying text explanation.

Jonathan Drori’s discussion of each plant is often brief, and the order is not necessarily in order of the origin of a given plant, but rather a place where they might be encountered now, along with the story of how they got there. The stories vary by plant, often including the human history of how we’ve used the plant, and what the plant has done for us.

I found it fascinating, and I’m definitely passing this on to the plant lover in my life; I think he’ll enjoy it even more.

Rating: 5/5

Tags: book reviews, books, history, Jonathan Drori, Lucille Clerc, non-fiction, science

Review – Shady Hollow

Posted November 23, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Shady Hollow

by Juneau Black

Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 208
Series: Shady Hollow #1
Rating: four-stars

Synopsis:
The first book in the Shady Hollow series, in which we are introduced to the village of Shady Hollow, a place where woodland creatures live together in harmony — until a curmudgeonly toad turns up dead and the local reporter has to solve the case.

Reporter Vera Vixen is a relative newcomer to Shady Hollow. The fox has a nose for news, so when she catches wind that the death might be a murder, she resolves to get to the bottom of the case, no matter where it leads. As she stirs up still waters, the fox exposes more than one mystery, and discovers that additional lives are in jeopardy.

Vera finds more to this town than she ever suspected. It seems someone in the Hollow will do anything to keep her from solving the murder, and soon it will take all of Vera’s cunning and quickness to crack the case.

Juneau Black’s Shady Hollow fell into my hands right when I needed something to restore my faith that I actually enjoy reading and don’t just do it because I always have. In theory I was still fascinated by books, but in practice everything seemed a bit tedious — and then I came across Shady Hollow from someone’s Top Ten Tuesday blog post, and decided… I’ll just give it a chance.

In the end, it’s basically a mystery story like so many others… except that the characters are all animals. Our heroine is a fox, the police detective is a bear, the medical examiner is a snake, and the guy who sells everyone coffee is a moose. If you stop too long to wonder about it, you’ll get jolted out of the story — how does a raven turn the pages of a book, or a moose serve coffee? But you can just settle in and enjoy what there is, and the way the animals’ abilities occasionally give things a bit of flavour (like Lenore’s ability to fly), and the way the various different animals interact.

(And of course, of course, a beaver runs the sawmill. Of course.)

In the end, the mystery didn’t surprise me much, and I was a bit disappointed that while abilities like flight are used, it doesn’t mention scent at all. Vera’s a fox! There’s surely some degree of ability to track there — and Orville too!

But mostly I just had fun, and breezed straight through the book, and felt immensely grateful it fell into my paws — sorry, hands — right now.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, crime, Juneau Black, mystery, SF/F

Review – The One Hundred Nights of Hero

Posted November 23, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

One Hundred Nights of Hero

by Isabel Greenberg

Pages: 224
Rating: four-stars

Synopsis:
In the tradition of The Arabian Nights, a beautifully illustrated tapestry of folk tales and myths about the secret legacy of female storytellers in an imagined medieval world.

In the Empire of Migdal Bavel, Cherry is married to Jerome, a wicked man who makes a diabolical wager with his friend Manfred: if Manfred can seduce Cherry in one hundred nights, he can have his castle -- and Cherry.

But what Jerome doesn't know is that Cherry is in love with her maid Hero. The two women hatch a plan: Hero, a member of the League of Secret Story Tellers, will distract Manfred by regaling him with a mesmerizing tale each night for 100 nights, keeping him at bay. Those tales are beautifully depicted here, touching on themes of love and betrayal and loyalty and madness.

The One Hundred Nights of Hero is a fun take on the Scheherazade-type story, in graphic novel form. I quite enjoyed the art, though a few of the female characters who were mentioned very briefly aren’t very distinguishable from other female characters who are mentioned briefly (which is really kind of ironic, given the strong feminist bent of the story — though I’m not very good with noticing small details, so this is probably partly on me).

It’s not terribly original, but it works, and I enjoyed reading it. I did find the lettering and colouring a little distracting at times: it’s all very deliberately quirky and stylised, and sometimes it’s difficult for me then to know where I’m supposed to be following the panels, or to make out the text.

This feels like I’m damning it with faint praise, but I enjoyed myself reading it, and I’d happily give it as a gift or recommend it to people. It just didn’t completely blow me away the way it did some others.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, graphic novels, Isabel Greenberg, queer fiction, SF/F

Review – The Theft of the Iron Dogs

Posted November 21, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

The Theft of the Iron Dogs

by E.C.R. Lorac

Genres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 284
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Rating: four-stars

Synopsis:
While hot on the heels of serial coupon-racketeer Gordon Ginner, Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard receives word of an intriguing incident up in Lancashire – the summer cottage of local farmer Giles Hoggett has been broken into, with an assortment of seemingly random items missing which include a complete reel of salmon line, a large sack, and two iron dogs from his fireplace.

What first appears to Insp. MacDonald as a simple break-in quickly spirals into a mystery of contested land grabs for fishing between farmers, made all the more enticing to MacDonald when a body is then found in the river – the body of Gordon Ginner. It’s up to Insp. MacDonald, aided by the locals of Lunesdale, to determine who broke into Hoggett’s cottage, where his irons dogs have gone, and how Ginner met his watery end.

For my money, E.C.R. Lorac is one of the finest classic crime writers. She writes compelling mysteries with an amazing sense of place and setting, and characters who are enjoyable, if sometimes idealised. There’s a sense with her books that the mysteries arise out of place and personality, rather than coming up with a mystery and then inventing a setting to fit around it, which is probably true if Martin Edwards’ introductions about Lorac and her love for Lunesdale are true.

The Theft of the Iron Dogs returns to Lunesdale, in fact, and the mystery is only unravelled because the people of the area have habits, patterns and expectations which aren’t obvious to people from outside the area, meaning the cover-up of the crime isn’t as perfect as the perpetrator thinks. The story features Macdonald, of course, Lorac’s series detective, with his usual conscientiousness and care, and his sense of compassion for the people affected by his investigations.

It’s a slow one, country-paced, in a way that feels right for the place and the story. I really enjoyed this one, and though the crime itself is not terribly “cosy” (is any crime?), the overall feel is a pretty cosy, lower-stakes kind of story.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, British Library Crime Classics, crime, E.C.R. Lorac, mystery

Top Ten Tuesday: Gratitude

Posted November 21, 2023 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is a US-centric one, in honour of Thanksgiving, but it’s never a bad idea to think about the stuff we’re grateful for. So the theme is “reasons why I’m thankful for books”.

They help me learn new things. I always like to be learning stuff. And sure, I’m studying for my MSc at the moment, and that’s a lot of stuff to learn… but even in my downtime, I like to learn, and informal learning from books is a lot of fun. I’ve been reading a lot of the Object Lessons and Edible books for bite-size non-fiction, for example.
They’ve often given me stuff to talk about. Sometimes that’s in an awkward moment, but I also mean the in-depth rambling conversations with like-minded people where books allow us to just… ramble around in each other’s minds for a while. Many, many conversations about books with my mother, for example.
They help my mental health. The more I’m reading, usually, the better I feel. It’s all about making time for myself, and also about taking my mind away from whatever I’m lingering on. Also, it’s just fun.
They’re exciting… in a way that doesn’t involve me having to do adrenaline-inducing things. Okay, sometimes even reading about it is a little much. But really, it’s fun to have adventures without much skin in the game, beyond my own emotional involvement.
Books are literally always there as an option. They’re never too busy, they don’t get tired or get headaches or have crises in their own lives. So if I need a break from reality, or to read something comforting and familiar, books always have the time.
They make any room look nice and lived in. First thing I move into a new place is at least some of my books…
Some of them smell really nice. Some glue smells are bad, and old books can get really musty. But books that are just right smell delicious somehow.
Books are an experience you can revisit. Sometimes it’s a whole new experience the second time (there are several books I didn’t like at first and tried again and loved them!), but still, books are there for you to come back to, to re-experience, or experience anew.
Books make a lovely gift that you can personalise to a high degree. I can choose books for most of my family that make meaningful, exciting gifts! (Spoiler: if it has dragons, my sister is thrilled.)
You can put a book aside and pick it up easily, at any moment. Reading can be as flexible an experience as you need it to be, whether you’re reading a page a day, a chapter, a whole book… you can pause, restart, etc.

And after I finished all ten, here’s a bonus thought: books make a lovely excuse to be an introvert. You’re not just going off on your own, you’re reading. People find that much more acceptable!

Okay, I struggled a bit with this and what to share, but I think that made a good start. Fascinated to see what other people have come up with!

Tags: books, Top Ten Tuesday

Review – Three Kings

Posted November 20, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Three Kings

by Freydís Moon

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 154
Rating: four-stars

Synopsis:
Ethan Shaw — lighthouse keeper and local witch — lives a charmed life in his chilly, coastal hometown. Blessed with a flourishing garden and a stable livelihood, Ethan can’t complain. But when his husband, Captain Peter Vásquez, brings home a wounded leopard seal after an impromptu storm, Ethan is faced with a curious situation: caring for a lost selkie named Nico Locke.

As Ethan struggles with the possibility of being infertile, insecurities surrounding his marriage, and a newly formed magical bond with a hostile, handsome selkie, his comfortable life begins to fracture. But could breakage lead to something better?

With autumn at their heels and winter on the horizon, Ethan, Peter, and Nico test the boundaries of a new relationship, shared intimacy, and the chance at a future together.

Freydís Moon’s Three Kings is a m/m/m romance where one of the protagonists (the character we follow most closely) is a trans man. Just to be clear up front since I think some people would find this difficult to read (for a bunch of reasons), the novella focuses partly on Ethan’s problems with conceiving, after months of trying to start a family with his husband Peter, and with his feelings of worthlessness as a result.

It also involves a selkie called Nico who is bad-tempered and distrustful, and can’t entirely be blamed for it, since he’s injured due to being caught in Peter’s nets. Ethan is a witch and uses his power to bring Nico back to life, forging a connection between the two of them — and over the following days, as Nico heals, another connection begins to grow. What’s enjoyable is that Peter and Ethan’s relationship is rock-solid, and they don’t bring in Nico as some kind of fix for their problems: they’ve got that covered, and this is just about their connection with Nico, as Nico, not as a stop-gap or a patch or anything like that.

It’s also worth noticing that there’s some dubious consent here — while everyone’s into one another and it seems inevitable that they’re going to explore it, they also accidentally take a magical aphrodisiac. They’re all happy about it and there are no regrets, but that’s an important theme here that I wouldn’t want someone to be startled by.

In any case, I found the book smuttier than I’d have liked, not because I’m being a prude, but because it feels like that slightly took the place of the three of them working through their awkwardnesses, getting to know each other, and forging something based on their personalities. There are hints that it can happen, that it will happen… but it doesn’t really happen here.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Freydís Moon, queer fiction, romance, SF/F

Review – Being Human

Posted November 19, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Being Human: How Our Biology Shaped World History

by Lewis Dartnell

Genres: History, Non-fiction, Science
Pages: 368
Rating: three-stars

Synopsis:
We are a wonder of evolution. Powerful yet dextrous, instinctive yet thoughtful, we are expert communicators and innovators. Our exceptional abilities have created the civilisation we know today.

But we're also deeply flawed. Our bodies break, choke and fail, whether we're kings or peasants. Diseases thwart our boldest plans. Our psychological biases have been at the root of terrible decisions in both war and peacetime.

This extraordinary contradiction is the essence of what it means to be human - the sum total of our frailties and our faculties. And history has played out in the balance between them. Now, for the first time, Lewis Dartnell tells our story through the lens of this unique, capricious and fragile nature. He explores how our biology has shaped our relationships, our societies, our economies and our wars, and how it continues to challenge and define our progress.

Lewis Dartnell’s Being Human was okay, but not too surprising for me: it explores the links between our biological constraints (such as our immune systems and adaptive immunity) and historical events (such as the enslavement of millions because white people had no immunity to various diseases and thus were dying).

It discusses some other types of issue, such as cognitive biases, and briefly gestures toward mismatch theory… but mostly it skims over each topic, and doesn’t feel like it goes into depth on anything. The incidents chosen are illustrative rather than exhaustive, so it’s usually an idea, one example, and then move on.

I didn’t notice any glaring errors where it concerned things I know, but I think it rather lightly touched on most things, so there weren’t major opportunities for it to go wrong.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, history, Lewis Dartnell, non-fiction, science

Review – Yellow Jessamine

Posted November 18, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Yellow Jessamine

by Caitlin Starling

Genres: Fantasy, Horror
Pages: 140
Rating: three-stars

Synopsis:
Powerful shipping magnate Evelyn Perdanu lives a tight, contained life, holding herself at a distance from all who would get close to her. Her family is dead, her country is dying, and when something foul comes to the city of Delphinium, the brittle, perilous existence she's built for herself is strained to breaking.

When one of her ships arrives in dock, she counts herself lucky that it made it through the military blockades slowly strangling her city. But one by one, the crew fall ill with a mysterious sickness: an intense light in their eyes and obsessive behavior, followed by a catatonic stupor. Even as Evelyn works to exonerate her company of bringing plague into her besieged capital city, more and more cases develop, and the afflicted all share one singular obsession: her.

Panicked and paranoid, she retreats to her estate, which rests on a foundation of secrets: the deaths of her family, the poisons and cures that hasten the dissolution of the remaining upper classes, and a rebel soldier, incapacitated and held hostage in a desperate bid for information. But the afflicted are closing in on her, and bringing the attention of the law with them. Evelyn must unearth her connection to the spreading illness, and fast, before it takes root inside her home and destroys all that she has built.

Caitlin Starling’s Yellow Jessamine is a horror novella, following a young woman who fell heir to her family’s estate and business after the tragic deaths of all her family. Evelyn Perdanu likes to tightly control her life, managing the business around the war that will all too soon come to her home, and managing her household according to her own (slightly eccentric) needs. Her solace is her garden, where the things she grows can both heal and harm.

Slowly, the extent of what she does becomes clear — in response to the sudden appearance of something like a new plague, which leaves people empty and catatonic, after a brief period of total obsession with Evelyn. It’s all very creepy and tense, both with the plague and with the fear of the enemy and the eventual death of the town, and the fear of being found out for what she’s done.

Where it failed for me is that Evelyn is hard to pity, since she’s ruthless despite her fragility. She thinks nothing of blinding a man, even as she’s supposed to be nursing him to health. Poison is an answer that comes easily to her hand. It’s hard to feel sorry for her — for me at least — given how culpable she is. Points for atmosphere, but the character didn’t work for me: just a step too far into her own private madness to ever seem sane and worth investing in as a reader.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Caitlin Starling, horror, SF/F

Stacking the Shelves

Posted November 18, 2023 by Nicky in General / 24 Comments

Well, folks, it’s been a looong time since I did one of these! Lately I don’t get books every week, so I’m not sure what I’ll do on “off” weeks — maybe I’ll go back to showcasing what I’ve read that week, instead.

Books acquired this week:

For this week I do have some books to show off: my British Library Crime Classics subscription book came in for this month, which is always exciting. Sadly, there was no bookmark with it this month (I hope they haven’t stopped doing the matching bookmark thing!

Aaaand I got hooked on the Shady Hollow series, thanks to somebody’s Top Ten Tuesday post making me curious about it, so after devouring the first one, I quickly grabbed the three sequels and the two short stories.

I must confess I’ve already got through Cold Clay, Evergreen Chase and Phantom Pond, and I expect Mirror Lake to follow in short order. And then I suppose I’ll be bereft!

Reviews posted this week:

And while we’re here, a quick recap on the reviews I’ve posted this week. Each thumbnail links to the review of the book!

So that’s what’s new around here. I expect I’ll miss this post next week, since I’m away and I’m not taking a laptop with me (gasp!), but otherwise… I think I’m back! How’s everyone doing?

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves

Review – The Seat of the Scornful

Posted November 17, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The Seat of the Scornful

by John Dickson Carr

Genres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 240
Series: Dr Gideon Fell #14
Rating: four-stars

Synopsis:
Judge Horace Ireton didn't care about the letter of the law. He was interested in administering absolute, impartial justice as he saw it. To some, his methods of meting out justice made him seem hardly human, for they were coldly calculated - the same type of "cat and mouse" technique that he used in his chess games with Dr. Gideon Fell, the elephantine detective. The system, as he explained it, consisted in "letting your opponent think he's perfectly safe, winning hands down: and then catch him in a corner." But the system was not infallible. One day Judge Ireton was found with a pistol in his hand, beside the body of his daughter's fiancé, a man he had every reason to dislike, as many people knew; and he found that when one was on the inside looking out, the game had to be played differently.

I really thought I disliked John Dickson Carr’s writing, and didn’t pick up most of his books republished in the British Library Crime Classics series. It seems I was wrong: after I enjoyed He Who Whispers, I decided to give a couple more a shot, and this is the first one I got to. It concerns a judge who is particularly merciless in court, dealing out justice according to his own sense of it, who becomes entangled in a murder case — the murder of his daughter’s undesirable fiancé.

It’s not the usual locked-room puzzle, but more of a puzzle of how people work, and how appearances can be made to serve one narrative or another. It has a bit more humanity to it than some of Carr’s other books (perhaps ones written earlier), and the characters feel a little more real, a little less like archetypes acting out their stories.

It made for a fun puzzle, at least, and I’m convinced enough to try reading John Dickson Carr’s other novels — clearly they can be either hit or miss for me, and must each be judged on their own merits, despite my run of bad luck with his other work that I’d read before.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, crime, John Dickson Carr, mystery