Tag: books

Review – Stonehenge: The Story of a Sacred Landscape

Posted February 6, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Stonehenge: The Story of a Sacred Landscape

Stonehenge: The Story of a Sacred Landscape

by Francis Pryor

Genres: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 208
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

A beautifully illustrated account of the history and archaeology of an iconic feature of the English landscape, as part of the stunning Landmark Library series.

Perched on the chalk uplands of Salisbury Plain, the megaliths of Stonehenge offer one of the most recognizable outlines of any ancient structure. Its purpose - place of worship, sacrificial arena, giant calendar - is unknown, but its story is one of the most extraordinary of any of the world's prehistoric monuments.

Constructed in several phases over a period of some 1500 years, beginning c. 3000 BC, Stonehenge's key elements are its 'bluestones', transported from West Wales by unexplained means, and sarsen stones quarried from the nearby Marlborough Downs.

Francis Pryor is one of Britain's most distinguished archaeologists. In Stonehenge, he delivers a rigorous account of the nature and history of the monument, while also placing the enigmatic stones in a wider cultural context, exploring how antiquarians, scholars, writers, artists, 'the heritage industry' - and even neopagans - have interpreted the site over the centuries.

Francis Pryor’s Stonehenge: The Story of a Sacred Landscape is a good summary of the current consensus around Stonehenge, inasfar as I understand it. It’s not really much of a step forward from Mike Parker Pearson’s book on Stonehenge from ~2012, which is probably a good place to go if you want something in-depth.

Still, it’s presented beautifully here, with photos, art, coloured maps and plans, etc, and it does a good job of condensing down what we know and how we know it, and theorising from what we do know about the reasons for Stonehenge’s building, the phases of activity there, the traces of those who built there, etc. It discusses Mike Parker Pearson’s theory that the people who built Stonehenge built in wood for the living and stone for the dead, and makes that pretty clear (though I think there’s supporting evidence he chooses not to discuss that would firm up that point).

However, I do keep in mind with Francis Pryor that he does deliberately cherry-pick sources that agree with him (he’s said as much, explicitly, in Britain AD), so it’s important to read him sceptically.

Rating: 4/5

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WWW Wednesday

Posted February 5, 2025 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

February’s a marathon of studying; I’m having fun with it, but it does put a bit of a damper on reading time. Still, here we go with the usual weekly update!

Cover of The Spellshop by Sarah Beth DurstWhat have you recently finished reading?

I’m about to (finally) finish The Spellshop. I stalled on reading it at first, mostly just because of mood reasons, but I got back into it in the last week and read it in big chunks. I love Meep and Caz (the sentient plants), and I do enjoy the cosiness of it, though I found Kiela’s relationship with Larran a bit rushed.

Before that, I finished up Around the World in 80 Birds, by Mike Unwin, which I liked — it’s really beautifully illustrated, though a bit less whimsical than some of the illustrations in other books of this series.

Cover of The Light Eaters by Zoe SchlangerWhat are you currently reading?

The Light Eaters, by ZoĂ« Schlanger, a book about plant intelligence. So far it’s discussing plant senses, not so much intelligence — which is fascinating in its own right, since a lot of people don’t even realise plants have senses, let alone imagine the idea of plant “intelligence”. I’m not sure how we’re going to define intelligence for these purposes, but I look forward to finding out.

Cover of The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine AddisonWhat will you be reading next?

Uhhh, good question! I have a few eARCs lined up, and I’ve finished my reread of Katherine Addison’s The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones, so I might start by reading The Tomb of Dragons. After that, I just got approved for T. Kingfisher’s Hemlock & Silver, and Robert Jackson Bennett’s A Drop of Corruption, so I miiiight focus on those. I’m trying not to let a backlog of books acquired in 2025 develop to go with the older backlog of… everything else. We’ll see!

How about you?

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Review – The Teller of Small Fortunes

Posted February 4, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Teller of Small Fortunes

The Teller of Small Fortunes

by Julie Leong

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 336
Rating: five-stars
Synopsis:

Fleeing a troubled past, immigrant fortune teller Tao roams the dusty countryside with only her mule for company, telling small fortunes, for small prices. Big fortunes come with big consequences . . . which she knows from bitter experience.

It's a lonely life, until she encounters an ex-mercenary and a (semi) reformed thief, who recruit her into their desperate search for a lost child. Soon, they're joined by a baker with a knead for adventure, and - of course - a slightly magical cat.

Tao sets down a new path with companions as big-hearted as her fortunes are small. But as her friends break down her walls, the shadows of her past close in. Now, Tao must decide whether to risk everything to save the family she never thought she could have . . .

Julie Leong’s The Teller of Small Fortunes turned out to really hit the spot for me. It’s cosy-ish fantasy, with mostly personal stakes (I won’t say small stakes, because firstly one of the main characters faces a bunch of racism, secondly there’s a child in potential peril who has definitely been lost by her parents, and there’s other family stuff going on which is huge for the person in question). It’s a bit of a found-family/ragtag band type story, as well, because Tao collects a (former) thief, a former soldier, a young baker and a cat, along the road.

I love that Tao’s trying to tell “small” fortunes, as well, but it’s clear that those aren’t always small in impact: we’re shown this early on when she reads Mash’s fortune, and tells him that he’ll give his daughter a kitten. Sure, it’s a small moment, but not for Mash, who has lost his daughter and doesn’t know if he’ll ever see her again.

In the same way, Tao makes an outsize impact on her travelling companions, as they do on her. I don’t want to say too much about the journey, because I enjoyed discovering it myself — the small cosy moments, the moments of peril (because despite the overall cosiness of it, there are some of those), the camaraderie, and the bits of magic. There are some really touching moments, and they work even though I found them somewhat predictable.

I liked that it’s self-contained, as well. Tao and her friends will undoubtedly continue to have small adventures as they travel, but their story is as complete as any stories get.

Rating: 5/5

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Review – Against Technoableism

Posted February 3, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Against Technoableism

Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement

by Ashley Shew

Genres: Non-fiction
Pages: 148
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

A manifesto exploding what we think we know about disability, and arguing that disabled people are the real experts when it comes to technology and disability.

When bioethicist and professor Ashley Shew became a self-described “hard-of-hearing chemobrained amputee with Crohn’s disease and tinnitus,” there was no returning to “normal.” Suddenly well-meaning people called her an “inspiration” while grocery shopping or viewed her as a needy recipient of technological wizardry. Most disabled people don’t want what the abled assume they want—nor are they generally asked. Almost everyone will experience disability at some point in their lives, yet the abled persistently frame disability as an individual’s problem rather than a social one.

In a warm, feisty voice and vibrant prose, Shew shows how we can create better narratives and more accessible futures by drawing from the insights of the cross-disability community. To forge a more equitable world, Shew argues that we must eliminate “technoableism”—the harmful belief that technology is a “solution” for disability; that the disabled simply await being “fixed” by technological wizardry; that making society more accessible and equitable is somehow a lesser priority.

This badly needed introduction to disability expertise considers mobility devices, medical infrastructure, neurodivergence, and the crucial relationship between disability and race. The future, Shew points out, is surely disabled—whether through changing climate, new diseases, or even through space travel. It’s time we looked closely at how we all think about disability technologies and learn to envision disabilities not as liabilities, but as skill sets enabling all of us to navigate a challenging world.

Ashley Shew’s Against Technoableism is a fairly short book divided into chapters that don’t need to be read linearly. It has a few different themes: one is that technology isn’t the cure-all that people are suggesting for various disabilities, and that even if it was, is that really for the best for people with disabilities, and is it what they want? And why, either way, is assistive technology often developed without reference to what disabled people actually want?

It also delves into the social model of disability, and spares a chapter to discuss neurodiversity (though Shew acknowledges that that isn’t her lane, so she does a lot of talking with others). She points out throughout the book that the way we look at people with disabilities is often what is disabling: if we stopped policing how autistic people express themselves, for example, they would be healthier, happier, and more able to contribute in the ways they are interested in doing.

None of it was an enormous surprise to me; I’ve been lucky enough to be exposed to a lot of similar discussion through friends, discussions I’ve followed online, etc. But it’s very readable and clear, and I think a good start if you’re interested in the topic.

As a note, Shew does discuss why she became an amputee, though not immediately, and talks frankly about the cancer that led to it. If you have any health-focused anxiety, it’s worth being aware of that going in!

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Star Collector, vol 2

Posted February 2, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Star Collector, vol 2

Star Collector

by Anna Backhausen, Sophie Schönhammer

Genres: Manga, Romance
Pages: 209
Series: Star Collector #2
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Fynn's favorite activities are skipping class, smoking, and lying around. So when he's told it's time to shape up and try doing something else for a change, he has no idea where to even start.

Then, on a nighttime walk around his neighborhood, he sees a stranger with a telescope up on a hill: his name is Niko, and he loves to watch the stars. Intrigued, Flynn decides to find out more about this nerdy boy and what could be so interesting about the night sky that he loves so much.

This is the second and final volume of the Star Collector series.

Like the first volume of Sophie Schönhammer and Anna Backhausen’s Star Collector, this just feels a bit half-baked and rushed. I like the art and think it’s cute, and the enthusiasm and intensity of the crush and their first fumbling attempts to have sex ring very true for teenagers.

Buuut Fynn’s headlong rush into things still feels a bit off, even for a teenager. Parts of it make sense, like being mad at Niko not explaining what’s going on, but in other ways he’s going waaaaay too fast.

It’s all very melodramatic and teenage, in any case; it’s cute, but too rushed.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Tea on Sunday

Posted February 1, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Tea on Sunday

Tea on Sunday

by Lettice Cooper

Genres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 288
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

On a cold winter's afternoon, Alberta Mansbridge waits at a table set with teacups for eight, musing over her guests. The ex-jailbird Barry, the nephew and his ghastly new flibbertijibbet of a wife, the Italian playboy, the old friend with whom she had so recently fallen out... Alberta returns upstairs to get herself ready. When the guests arrive, the door is locked and there is no response to their knocking. Alberta has been murdered, and with no sign of robbery or break in, the killer must have been somebody she let into the house herself - somebody who was due for tea on Sunday. Inspector Corby is soon on the case, faced with eight suspects without a concrete alibi between them - and a raft of motives steeped in mystery which will take him from London back to Alberta's roots in Hithamroyd, Yorkshire in search of the truth. First published in 1973 but written in the vintage mystery mode, Lettice Cooper uses her literary sensibilities to deliver a strong detective story with a well-brewed psychological depth.

Lettice Cooper’s Tea on Sunday is only from the ’70s, but the introduction is right: it certainly feels like it fits within the British Library Crime Classics series, and that might well because of the author’s generation. There are hints here and there of a slightly more modern world than the one the likes of Lorac, Sayers and Christie were writing about, but for the most part, it’s of a piece with them. I did find it fascinating to learn about Lettice Cooper and, for example, her work toward establishing the Public Lending Right (which pays authors for their work when borrowed from libraries in the UK).

As a story, we have a closed circle of suspects: eight visitors who were invited for tea with the victim, the only ones she was likely to have let in (due to her suspicious nature). A former friend, a young Italian she was patronising, a former convict, her nephew and his wife, her doctor, a man who worked for her father, and a solicitor who helped manage her affairs. Few of them stand to benefit from her death, leaving the motive feeling tangled — but Corby, the police detective, methodically works away at it.

A good chunk of the book is spent introducing the suspects and their view of the crime through his interviews with them, with some glimpses into Corby’s methods, attitudes and home life: it felt like a glimpse of a series detective who could have been pretty solid, somewhat in the Inspector Macdonald line (E.C.R. Lorac’s detective).

As with many classic stories, there are some… questionable attitudes, with the victim’s nephew and his wife having what looks pretty much like an abusive relationship (and characters seeming to feel that if the nephew would just beat her properly he might do better). That part is a bit unpleasant, though it’s not enormously prominent.

In the end, the solution doesn’t come as a surprise, because you’re honestly shown all the clues as you go, and they point clearly at one of two people. It feels less like a puzzle and more a bunch of character sketches wrapped around a mystery story. I quite enjoyed it for what it was, but those looking for a tricky mystery with a twist might be disappointed.

Rating: 3/5

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted February 1, 2025 by Nicky in General / 30 Comments

Good morning! I’m back in my usual abode, and settled back in — after a bit of a struggle because our internet connection had cut out. (Even worse, turns out it’s because a rodent bit through the cable.) It was good to have a change, and now it’s good to be home!

Without further ado, let’s dig into the doings of this week.

Books acquired this week

Just one, and of course I positively leapt upon it: The Orb of Cairado is out!

Cover of The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison

I’m hoping to read that this weekend, since I’m currently rereading The Grief of Stones and preparing to read the third of that trilogy.

Posts from this week

Time for the round-up of posts from this week. Let’s see…

And of course, my What Are You Reading Wednesday post!

What I’m reading

As always, let’s start with what I’ve finished up this week (at least, assuming I plan to review it). Here’s a quick peek!

Cover of The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong Cover of Murder as a Fine Art by Carol Carnac Cover of Sheeplands: How Sheep Shaped Wales and the World by Alan Marshall

Cover of A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland Cover of Who Owns This Sentence: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs by David Bellos and Alexandre Montagu Cover of Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell

I did also finish up a reread of The Witness for the Dead, and start on rereading The Grief of Stones, which I intend to finish today. Other than that, my reading plans involve the new novella in that world mentioned above, The Orb of Cairado, and then probably I’ll try to get back into reading Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop.

And of course I’ll leave room to read whatever strikes my fancy…

Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, as usual!

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Review – Breakfast Cereal

Posted January 31, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Breakfast Cereal

Breakfast Cereal

by Kathryn Cornell Dolan

Genres: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 144
Series: Edible
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

A global history of breakfast cereal, from the first grain porridges to off-brand Cheerios.

Simple, healthy, and comforting, breakfast cereals are a perennially popular way to start the day. This book examines cereal’s long, distinguished, and surprising history—dating back to when, around 10,000 years ago, the agricultural revolution led people to break their fasts with wheat, rice, and corn porridges. Only in the second half of the nineteenth century did entrepreneurs and food reformers create the breakfast cereals we recognize today: Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Cheerios, and Quaker Oats, among others. In this entertaining, well-illustrated account, Kathryn Cornell Dolan explores the history of breakfast cereals, including many historical and modern recipes that the reader can try at home.

A while ago I read a history of bread in the US, and found it fascinating, which means that there were some things that just weren’t surprising in Kathryn Cornell Dolan’s Breakfast Cereal: some of the same ideas circulated around plain wholemeal cereals and bread, albeit in slightly different ways. What I hadn’t really appreciated was how very much the modern boxed cold cereals originated from the US, and how ubiquitous they swiftly became: it was really surprising.

The title Breakfast Cereal might suggest Cornell Dolan’s talking about boxed cereal only, but actually she also discusses older and more traditional cereal-based breakfasts (porridge, congee, etc) as well. That said, the real focus is really the boxed cereals, and it’s fascinating that despite their global reach, that is pretty much a US story. Sometimes I quibble about that with the books in the Edible series, where they discuss US history way more than “global” history — but in this case, it seems that the US really was an origin point.

It’s funny to think about how cereal has evolved, and that (like bread) it’s actually a point of contention in terms of health, nutrients, emotional importance, etc, etc.

A slim book, as with all in this series, but interesting.

Rating: 3/5

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WWW Wednesday

Posted January 29, 2025 by Nicky in General / 7 Comments

Wednesday again! How does that keep happening, and why do I keep making the same semi-joke?

Cover of Who Owns This Sentence: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs by David Bellos and Alexandre MontaguWhat have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I finished two books! The first was a book about copyright, Who Owns This Sentence? A History of Copyrights and Wrongs, by Alexandre Montagu and David Bellos. It wasn’t as dry as you might think, though it gets a bit repetitive; it’s fairly anti-copyright, wanting to reduce copyright terms and the ability of companies to own those rights. It seemed fair enough on most points.

I also finally got round to rereading The Witness for the Dead, preparatory to rereading the second book and then finally getting to my ARC of the third. For some reason, even though I’ve read it multiple times, I can never remember the culprit of the main mystery. In a way it’s unimportant, compared to the journey.

I do love Pel-Thenhior so, though.

Cover of Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah CaudwellWhat are you currently reading?

My most “active” read is Thus Was Adonis Murdered, by Sarah Caudwell, which I started last night. I’m not very far into it yet, so it’s hard to judge, but I’m enjoying the tone — it’s light-hearted and witty without trying too hard to be laugh-out-loud funny.

I’m still reading The Leavenworth Case via Serial Reader, which is an interesting endeavour as someone interested in the development of crime/mystery fiction, but somewhat irritating in terms of all the swooning etc etc.

Cover of The Grief of Stones by Katherine AddisonWhat will you be reading next?

I don’t know for sure, but I’d like to continue with The Apothecary Diaries light novels soon, before my brain forgets what I know so far, and of course I want to reread The Grief of Stones (Katherine Addison) in order to get on to the third book of the trilogy.

But as ever, it could be almost anything.

How about you? Reading anything good?

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Review – The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses

Posted January 28, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses

by Malka Older

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Science Fiction
Pages: 256
Series: The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti #3
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

When a former classmate begs Pleiti for help on behalf of her cousin—who’s up for a prestigious academic position at a rival Jovian university but has been accused of plagiarism on the eve of her defense—Pleiti agrees to investigate the matter.

Even if she has to do it without Mossa, her partner in more ways than one. Even if she’s still reeling from Mossa’s sudden isolation and bewildering rejection.

Yet what appears to be a case of an attempted reputational smearing devolves into something decidedly more dangerous—and possibly deadly.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The third book in Malka Older’s Mossa and Pleiti series, The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses sticks to the basic formula: an intro where Mossa appears (which gives us something of her situation and thoughts), followed by narration by Pleiti of the main plot.

For a good chunk of this one, Mossa and Pleiti are apart, and feeling more mismatched from each other in the previous book, due to a fit of depression on Mossa’s part. Given that the chemistry between them is part of what I’m attracted to in these books (not just in relationship terms, but as two people playing off each other), it’s not surprising that things picked up in pace once Mossa arrived in the story, though she and Pleiti continue to be out of step with each other. It feels like there’s a reckoning still to come there — or a constant, ever-shifting dance of adaptation and compromise, which might in the end be more realistic.

One thing I noticed a lot in this installment was the use of language. There were a lot of borrowed words I didn’t immediately know the meaning of, which I don’t remember happening in the previous two books. Mostly it’s clear by context (or similarity to an English word), but once or twice I was stymied enough to try to look up a translation, which I definitely didn’t have to do with the previous books. I wonder if I was just flowing with it better, in the past? But it definitely struck me very strongly this time.

My overall impression was that this book was a bit longer than the other two, and the pace didn’t quite work for me — but that should be taken with a pinch of salt since I still read it in half a day, in just four reading sessions! It might not be my favourite of the series, but I enjoyed it.

Rating: 4/5

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