Tag: books

Review – Surfeit of Suspects

Posted February 3, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Surfeit of Suspects by George BellairsSurfeit of Suspects, George Bellairs

I picked this up because it’s one of the British Library Crime Classics, of course, but also because I remembered one of the others in this series by Bellairs being pretty entertaining. Surfeit of Suspects begins with a bang, literally: dynamite is set off in the buildings of a small struggling joinery company, during a meeting of the directors. Scotland Yard get called in once the presence of dynamite becomes apparent, and Superintendent Littlejohn starts to pick his way through the tangled web of shell companies and marital mishaps to figure out what the motive might be.

It takes quite a long time to actually see the culprit; I never really suspected most of the potentials, though, because their motive didn’t seem clear enough, so surfeit of suspects is a bit of an exaggeration. There were lots of characters who could’ve done it, but you either suspected they didn’t have the guts or it was just too obvious and therefore obviously wrong. It’s not a bad set of thumbnail sketches of characters, though: you can almost smell the fug of old tobacco coming off some of them.

Bellairs was pretty workmanlike, and his writing is satisfying in that way I find specific to these Golden Age mysteries: you know that there’ll be no hanky-panky, you’ll find out whodunnit, and there’ll be a nice little puzzle along the way. The policemen are professionals, and there’ll be no intimidating of witnesses — though there might be (and there is) a clever scene in which the suspects are gathered to flush out the real criminal.

It’s a good thing I rate by enjoyment, rather than originality or any kind of objective measure like that, because I’d feel bad giving this a low score. If the formulaic nature of these Golden Age mysteries bothers you, most of the Crime Classics series won’t be for you; personally, there’s something very comforting about the world being put in its place. It’s all a mirage, of course — there never was a simpler time quite like this — but it’s a satisfying picture postcard of the past all the same.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Murder on the Ballarat Train

Posted February 2, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry GreenwoodMurder on the Ballarat Train, Kerry Greenwood

Aaand straight on to the third book. This introduces two more steadfast characters, Ruth and Jane, along with a new adventure for Phryne featuring chloroform on a train, hypnotism used to pull young girls away from their families to be raped and abused, and a young girl with a strange gap in her memory… It opens on the train, with Phryne waking to the smell of chloroform and desperately shooting a hole in the window to get fresh air in. She ends up taking under her wing a woman who was badly burned on her face by the chloroform, and agreeing to investigate the murder of her mother.

That gets her into all kinds of hot water, and into personal peril as well, with a horrible struggle between Phryne and the murderer at the climax of the book. It also brings her two adopted daughters, a cat, and a new lover. The fond amusement of her household is a joy, and as always she’s competent and (mostly) fearless and in control. When she doesn’t know what to do, she fakes it ’til she makes it.

It’s hard to keep describing these books in different ways, because in many ways they’re the same: it’s the cast of characters that makes them a joy. Bert with his secretish heart of gold; Cec with his love of waifs and strays; Mr Butler, with the right cocktail always on hand; Dot, who couldn’t be more different to Phryne, but adores her all the same…

It’s a little found-family, so of course it pulls on my heartstrings.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Flying Too High

Posted February 2, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Flying Too High by Kerry GreenwoodFlying too High, Kerry Greenwood

Apparently, all I feel like reading at the moment is the Phryne Fisher books, all rereads for me — and that’s fine with me. This one is the second, and it features a couple of mysteries at once: the kidnapping of a young girl called Candida, whose father recently won a large sum of money, and the death of a man whose wife asked her to “do something!” about her son’s vague threat to “remove” his father. Red herrings a-plenty, of course, as Phryne plunges in with her usual ruthless practicality. Gain the respect of the angry son by doing a controlled dive in an aeroplane and then walking out along the plane’s wings? Fine. Tie herself to the back of a car? Yep.

As always, she’s fashionable, well-fed, well… made-love-to, and capable of the most amazing feats of derring-do without batting an eyelid. There’s also an interesting little portrait of a man swept up in something criminal more or less against his will; I feel like his story isn’t wholly plausible (if he objects so much to certain aspects of the job, why did he agree at all?), but I enjoyed him and his protection of Candida nonetheless. Sometimes it’s nice to think that people aren’t all bad, and Mike gives us a chance at that.

One of the odd things that I noticed and really enjoyed this time through is also Phryne’s appreciation of Candida’s teddy bear; there’s a whole paragraph which shows she fully understands the importance of the bear. As someone still very much attached to my childhood teddy (or teddies, in fact, though I did have one main friend, Queen of all the others), I appreciated this bit a lot — and it makes one like Phryne all the more, if you have a bear of your own whose judgement you trust.

Very enjoyable again, in other words.

Rating: 4/5

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Weekly Roundup

Posted February 1, 2020 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

Aahh, it’s the weekend again!

Of course, this week was not wonderful: against my will, I have been stripped of my European citizenship. It is really difficult seeing other bloggers rejoicing about it, and really hard to keep those feelings from affecting my interactions with those bloggers. In case you’re wondering, my wife is currently allowed to stay, but she does not have settled status (and no, us being married doesn’t make the tiniest bit of difference at any stage in this process).

Still, the week has had its upsides: this week was the start of the Six Nations! I hope you’re all cheering for Wales with me… You must’ve been, since we pasted Italy! And my wife bought me a present: a triceratops footstool! Now I never thought about it that much, but my preferred reading posture is actually sitting up, with my feet on something to bring my knees closer to my chest. I can credit Matilda (after Robot Wars’ house robot) with some very comfy reading sessions this week.

Photo of a triceratops-shaped footstool

Isn’t she great?

Books read this week:

Cover of Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch Cover of The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski Cover of The Luck of the Vails by E.F. Benson Cover of Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates by Kerry Greenwood Cover of Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood

Reviews posted this week:

Bloodlust & Bonnets, by Emily McGovern. It had its moments, but I wasn’t a big fan of the quirkiness-by-way-of-randomness. 2/5 stars
Because Internet, by Gretchen McCulloch. I really enjoyed this, but it might not be for you if you find language change horrifying. McCulloch is just fascinating by  the changes, not prescriptivist in outlook. 4/5 stars
The Last Wish, by Andrzej Sapkowski. I read this all in one fell swoop! In retrospect I have more hesitations, but I’m intrigued enough to pick up the next book. 3/5 stars
The Luck of the Vails, by E.F. Benson. Atmospheric and a little surprising in the way it deals with the characters, though ultimately I can’t say it’ll particularly stick in my mind. 3/5 stars
Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates, by Kerry Greenwood. Phryne’s too good to be true, but that’s half the fun, watching her swan around in the most beautiful fashions waving a gun around. It was a lovely reread. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

WWW Wednesday. In which I mostly discussed The Luck of the Vails and The Last Wish.

Out and about:

NEAT science: What is R0? A hopefully reassuring explanation of the supposedly terrifying R0 of the novel coronavirus first found in Wuhan, China. This was written at the start of the week, so there have been more scientific papers since that might have changed the landscape, but it’s mostly still relevant.

That’s it for this week. How’s everyone been doing?

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Review – Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates

Posted January 31, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates by Kerry GreenwoodMiss Phryne Fisher Investigates, Kerry Greenwood

The first time I read this, it completely got on my every nerve. I don’t know what prompted me to try it again after that, but I’m glad I did, because this is now my fourth reading or so, and it’s a solid favourite. Phryne is a great character; her faults are all strengths as well, or only faults if you happen to disagree with her views, and that can be a little annoying — how can she be so cool and collected and capable of doing everything?

But it’s awesome to imagine, too; she’s refreshingly competent, in contrast to other female detectives set in that period. I can’t help but compare her to Carola Dunn’s detective: I enjoy Daisy Dalrymple a lot, really, but she gets by on coincidence, guileless charm and shameless bias. Phryne is deliberate in everything she does, even if it’s foolhardy, and clear-eyed about people and what they can be like. Daisy’s probably the easier to get along with, but there’s something delicious about Phryne’s pure determination. She expects she’ll get what she wants, so she does.

This first book introduces the characters who will appear again later (Jack, Cec, Bert, Dot…), and solidly sets the stage for Phryne’s love affairs and dalliances with her passion for Sasha (undeceived by his wiles though she is). She’s asked by a friend of her family to look into why their daughter seems so ill, and they hint that her husband must be poisoning her. It seems like a good break from the tedium of Britain, so Phryne agrees and sails off to the land of her birth, Australia. There she gets embroiled not only in the case she’s gone there for, but also in Bert and Cec’s concern over a girl’s botched abortion, the woes of a young housemaid (Dorothy), and the toils of a drug lord.

Near the end, the mystery is rather neatly turned on its head to give the reader a bit of a shock (but if you’re in on it, you get to watch the hints), and then all’s well at the end — all in all, it’s exactly the comfort-read I needed. Phryne’s too good to be true, but that’s the best part.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Luck of the Vails

Posted January 31, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Luck of the Vails by E.F. BensonThe Luck of the Vails, E.F. Benson

The Luck of the Vails is fairly slow, taking its time to build up an atmosphere to set the characters against. Harry Vail is the heir to his family, and he’s just found the most miraculous treasure: a cup called the Luck of the Vails, originally owned by a rather wicked ancestor and said to give the owner luck — whilst putting them in peril of fire, frost and rain. A rather lonely person before, he finds a close friend in his elderly uncle, and begins to go around in society and make friends there as well.

There’s just one slight hitch: an old story about his uncle and the accidental death of a man who happened to be in debt to him. It lies like a shadow across things, colouring Harry’s meeting with a young woman who happens to be the dead man’s daughter…

I was surprised that at every turn the author ducked the obvious next piece of events. Instead of scorning Harry and his uncle, the young woman forgives it all, despite her mother’s whispers of murder — indeed, instead of the characters dodging around it, trying to avoid the revelation, they get it right out in the open. Later, instead of doubting Harry for long, the young woman wrestles with her conscience about it and realises what a stupid mix-up has been made. It’s rather refreshing.

I can’t say too much about the characters or where the plot tends toward without giving it away. I did find myself very curious in the first third or so as to where things would go wrong, but once they did, they did so very obviously. The first third might lull you a little, but the clues are pretty obvious after that, and it’s just a matter of how things come to pass. I did think the somewhat ambiguous characters were fascinating; there’s genuine affection between a would-be murderer and the victim, and a rather ambivalent character who sounds like a villain but becomes an ally.

It wraps up much as expected, and there’s nothing really stunning about it, but I did find it interesting, and appreciated the avoidance of certain tropes.

Rating: 3/5

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WWW Wednesday

Posted January 29, 2020 by Nicky in General / 9 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. This week’s check-in is here!

Cover of The Luck of the Vails by E.F. BensonWhat are you currently reading?

I’m partway through The Luck of the Vails, by E.F. Benson, which is fairly typical for the era, and rather full of over-described scenery. I am interested in what’s going to actually happen, though from about the halfway point it’s fairly obvious where things are going to go. It’s kind of a shame, because I rather enjoyed the generalised sense of menace… but it’s a mystery story, after all, not SF, so of course it’s trundling slowly toward the reveal.

Cover of The Last Wish by Andrzej SapkowskiWhat have you recently finished reading?

The last thing I finished was The Last Wish, by Andrzej Sapkowski. I’ve reviewed it already, so I won’t say too much; suffice it to say that I enjoyed it and would quite like to pick up the rest of the series. I read it surprisingly fast, and… I don’t know, something about the covers had led me to expect something more tropey and less subtle.

Cover of A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra RowlandWhat will you be reading next?

Possibly I’ll reread Band Sinister, by K.J. Charles, because I do love it so and I just persuaded my wife to read it. Otherwise I might pick up one of the books I’ve had backburnered for a while and figure out if I want to finish it; A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland, probably, or Heartstone, by Elle Katharine White. I didn’t drop either because I wasn’t interested, I just had a lot going on. I might start Heartstone over, though; it really has been ages.

What about you? What’re you reading?

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Review – The Last Wish

Posted January 29, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 1 Comment

Cover of The Last Wish by Andrzej SapkowskiThe Last Wish, Andrzej Sapkowski

I’ve been meaning to pick up the Witcher books for a while, and my wife watching the series was a spur to actually pick the first one up. I didn’t watch it myself, but I’ve heard and seen enough about it that I knew I’d be interested. So in I plunged! And plunged and plunged, given I read this all in one day, with breaks to work and go for a walk. It’s very easy to read: I can’t judge the accuracy of the translation, but it’s good quality in that it barely feels like a translation. (Though I question the spelling of dandelion — “Dandilion”, really?)

The structure of the book is interesting: mostly disconnected episodes that illustrate the world and things about Geralt, with interludes in between them that bring us slowly toward understanding the current state of affairs. It doesn’t wrap everything up in a neat bow: there are questions remaining about all kinds of things, which no doubt the other books will help to resolve. It’s definitely not entirely satisfying on its own, but it sets the stage quite well.

I’m not always sure what to make of the gender politics in the book. There are several female characters who are largely treated as equals with men, but that is usually because they hold power of one sort or another. It’s less clear what non-royal and non-magical women are like; we really don’t see many of them. And when we actually see Yennefer, there’s the whole spiel about sorceresses being primarily ugly girls who made themselves beautiful through magic, and how they all have the resentment of ugly girls (because all ugly girls are resentful) even though now they’re pretty. It’s a bit… reductive, and I didn’t enjoy that part.

There’s also something opaque about the writing: it’s hard to understand why things are happening as they are, because you have to guess just as if you were there. We’re used to books giving us a bit more insight, weighting every action with significance; here, the really significant stuff is super-telegraphed in comparison to the relatively sparse narration.

Still, I’m quite intrigued by the world, and entertained by the fairytale stories that are adapted into it (Snow White, Beauty and the Beast) and given their own flavour. It was really more-ish while I was reading it, even though I have more doubts now I’m no longer reading it. I’m not sure whether I want to read the whole series, but I definitely want to try the next book.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Because Internet

Posted January 27, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Because Internet by Gretchen McCullochBecause Internet: Understanding How Language is Changing, Gretchen McCulloch

Because Internet discusses various ways the internet is changing language, including how that has changed between generations. If the idea of language-change makes you clutch your heart in horror, then this won’t be the book for you: McCulloch is fascinated by the changes to language and thinks it is wonderful, pointing out that teenagers using all-lowercase and “lol” on the internet has not actually changed formal writing one iota so far. If you’re looking for outrage and someone to worry about the malign influence of emoji on communication with, McCulloch’s not your friend.

If you just want to read her observations and analysis about how people use emojis (they replace gestures in spoken language! we’re using text to communicate conversationally now, so we’re replicating aspects of verbal communication through the tools available like emoji!), how different generations of “internet people” use language, and turn-taking in chats, without assuming these things are bad, then voila! This probably is for you.

I’ve seen people complain that it was dry, but I found it very engaging; it probably depends somewhat on your initial engagement with the subject, and also on your usual reading fare. If you’re used to reading non-fiction, I doubt it’ll be any problem, but of course, your mileage may vary. I found that McCulloch’s excitement shone through.

I think a mistake some people are making is to think that because some aspect of the way they communicate online contradicts McCulloch, she must be wrong. From this blog, you’d never guess if the current trends are minimal punctuation, all-lowercase writing and SHOUTY CAPS for emphasis; obviously, I’d be an exception. (For reasons you can easily figure out: I have three degrees, including two in English Literature, and thus am highly trained in how to do formal writing and the historically “proper” use of the English language; I’ve been writing fiction since my early teens; I’m a reader, so I’m exposed to a lot of formal writing; I’m used to using HTML and Markdown to use italics for emphasis… it goes on.) She’s not describing you, Individual McInternetPerson: she’s describing trends, and for the aforementioned trend, you don’t need to spend long on Tumblr to find many, many examples.

I think there is something in the complaint that she’s a little prone to description rather than analysis. It does also get a bit “here is a history of the trends in language on the internet”, with some brief explanations of why that should be. I still found her enthusiasm in doing this and her particular viewpoint on it interesting; I hadn’t thought about emoji as gestures, or encountered the understanding of the internet now as where teenagers — dispossessed of the places they used to hang out due to rules against loitering — aimlessly talk rubbish to each other all day. It’s clear when you say it, but I don’t think I’d consciously stopped and thought about it.

Like I said, there’s no alarmism about the death of the English language — no prescriptivism about how grammar ought to be — so if that’s what you want, you might find yourself wanting to throw the book across the room. I just nodded a lot, and read a fair number of lines out to my wife because wow, that’s right! that’s how it works!

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Bloodlust & Bonnets

Posted January 26, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Bloodlust & Bonnets by Emily McGovernBloodlust & Bonnets, Emily McGovern

I was sold on this pretty much right away by two things:

  1. “I hope you like honey, because I have a bee in my bonnet.”
  2. “It is I, Lord Byron. You know, from books.” “However did you find me?” “My eagle, Napoleon. He’s psychic.”

It’s a madcap ride, featuring Lucy (a girl who is rather unsure of her place in life and what her value might be), Lord Byron (from books), and Sham (“are you a boy or a girl?” “yes”). They’re not always in harmony (in fact, mostly they aren’t), but they’re hunting down vampires, each with their own motive. There are some great bits, including Lord Byron’s room full of rabbits, Sham’s bucking of gender norms (“is that Ms Sham or Mr Sham?” “no”) and fun dialogue.

However… it’s a bit too madcap, and that started to grate on me. It’s a bit “this is funny and quirky because I’m so ~*~random~*~!” I was in for a few chapters, and then my attention started to drift just because it was so scatterbrained. It sort of wraps itself up, but I found it kind of unsatisfying because it didn’t really seem to mean much. There was a bit of a power-of-friendship theme in the formation of the group, but otherwise… shrug. It sort of fizzled to a stop.

It was fun, but I’m glad it was from the library and can go back there now. If I ever gave half-stars, I might be inclined to now, to give it a 2.5.

Rating: 2/5

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