Tag: books

Stacking the Shelves

Posted March 24, 2018 by Nicky in General / 24 Comments

Well, I’ve been too good to be true lately with my reasonably small hauls, so here’s a nice big one! Granted, this includes some books that were sent to my parents’ place over the last couple of months that I’ve only just picked up, but it’s still… well… a little unwieldy.

I’ll start off with the review copies and stuff from subscription boxes… although first you get a bunny picture because I’m away from my precious idiots. (Hulk update: this week she ate a rubber band. It has not yet reappeared. Breakfast update: he only needs meds in the morning now, and he’s very pleased by this.)

Hulk and Breakfast snuggle together under our duvet

Review copies and subscription boxes:

Cover of The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green Cover of The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton Cover of The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse

Cover of Fury of the Tomb by S.A. Sidor Cover of Blood and Sand by C.V. Wyk

An odd mix, perhaps! Looking forward to some of these a lot, though. Fury from the Tomb in particular sounds like a lot of pulpy fun.

Books bought:

Cover of Autonomous by Annalee Newitz Cover of Stone Mad by Elizabeth Bear Cover of The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang Cover of They Both Die At the End by Adam Silvera

Cover of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton Cover of Witcheskin by Nem Rowan Cover of The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude Cover of Murder in the Channel by Freeman Wills Croft

Cover of An Incredible Crime by Lois Austen-Leigh Cover of Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith Cover of Bats in the Belfry by E.C.R.Lorac Cover of Catullus' Bedspread by Daisy Dunn

Again, quite the mixture, I know! I’ve been curious about the British Library Crime Classics for a while, and especially since reading Martin Edwards’ The Golden Age of Murder. I don’t expect to be blown away by most of them, but they’ll be entertaining and unlikely to be horribly traumatising (sorry, modern crime fiction lovers — Val McDermid and Tess Gerritsen’s works turn my stomach).

Read this week:

Cover of Ironclads by Adrian Tchiakovsky Cover of A Borrowed Man by Gene Wolfe Cover of Masquerade by Laura Lam Cover of Sum by David Eagleman

I haven’t read the most ever this week, but I did enjoy these books and read all of them in one or two sittings each! So that’s something.

Reviewed this week:

–Ironclads, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Fairly good adventure story with an anxiety-making (or anxiety-reflecting, maybe) Brexity corporate background. I didn’t love it, but I found it entertaining. 3/5 stars
–A Borrowed Man, by Gene Wolfe. Fascinating background, but the execution is basically pretty typical noir. The more I think about it, the less I think of it. 3/5 stars
–Experiment Eleven, by Peter Pringle. This had much less about TB than I’d hoped, but it is a rather interesting examination of two scientists and their intellectual property battle over the antibiotic streptomycin. 3/5 stars
–Masquerade, by Laura Lam. Yaaaaas. Micah is awesome, the supporting characters continue to be awesome, and there’s an epic showdown. Only quibble is that some of the political aspects feel too easy. 4/5 stars
–Sum, by David Eagleman. Interesting collection of short stories based around a single theme. They got a bit repetitive, but there are some really good bits too. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday: My usual weekly update on what I’m reading, what I’ve just read, and what I might read next.

How’s everyone doing? Brought in a massive haul this week, or practising restraint? Lemme know in the comments!

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Review – Sum

Posted March 23, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Sum by David EaglemanSum, David Eagleman

Sum is a slim book, just 100 pages long, with 40 different views of what the afterlife might be like. Some of them feel too glib and flippant for me (though no doubt the same stories would make others smile), but there are some that are really inventive, bittersweet and clever, and some that just have really good lines. Like this one:

There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time.

Yow. That’s just true in a sad way: the only afterlife everyone can be sure of is when people speak of them once they’re gone. There’s definitely poignancy in the idea of waiting for that last time your name is spoken before you move on.

I found some of the stories a little too similar in tone or basic idea, but it’s still a creative collection.

Rating: 4/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository
The above affiliate links, at no extra cost to you, provide a small commission for me if you purchase something.

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Review – Masquerade

Posted March 22, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Masquerade by Laura LamMasquerade, Laura Lam

I was pretty much glued to this for a train journey in which I just ate it up. There are some very satisfying reveals, and one particular plot element I was somewhat dreading was actually handled in a way that made me feel not so terrible about it. Content note, though, if you have problems with addiction — there’s quite a few references to drugs and craving in this one. There’s a lot I still want to know — how can Cyan be Matla and Micah, Dev? What exactly did Doctor Pozzi do? And other aspects wrapped up a little too easily; the change in the aristocracy was just, whomp, suddenly there in the epilogue.

But it was still really satisfying, and what I really loved is the relationship between Drystan and Micah. I wasn’t sure I’d support it from the first book, got fully on board in the second, and have now decided they’re a definite favourite fictional couple. I adore that they make mistakes and have trouble with communication, but they deal with it. And where authors often have adversity tearing characters apart, straining the relationships almost to breaking point, Drystan and Micah turn to each other even more, and that’s just… yeah.

Also, shoutout for Cyril as a pretty awesome secondary character in his unwavering acceptance of his sibling, always.

Rating: 4/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository
The above affiliate links, at no extra cost to you, provide a small commission for me if you purchase something.

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WWW Wednesday

Posted March 21, 2018 by Nicky in General / 4 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.

What are you currently reading?

Cover of An Accident of Stars by Foz MeadowsI still have two books in progress: Masquerade, by Laura Lam, and An Accident of Stars, by Foz Meadows. I have actually made some progress with both since my last post, but I’m still spending possibly far too much time crocheting… I have a train journey today, so I’m hoping to finish one of them — probably Masquerade.

What have you recently finished reading?

Cover of A Borrowed Man by Gene WolfeThe last thing I read was A Borrowed Man, which I’ve already reviewed here. I found some of the ideas really fascinating, but in execution… well, I wasn’t sold, anyway.

What will you be reading next?

Cover of Evolution in Four Dimensions by Eva JablonkaOther than my books on TB from the WHO, I’ve packed Evolution in Four Dimensions, which is all about epigenetics. I’ve been meaning to read it for ages, so maybe my long (long, long) train journeys today will give me a chance to get started, once I’ve polished off Masquerade.

Knowing me though, I might read something totally different. I’ve given up trying too hard to predict it.

What are you reading?

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Review – Experiment Eleven

Posted March 20, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Experiment Eleven by Peter PringleExperiment Eleven, Peter Pringle

I initially picked this up because of the subtitle, which specifically mentions the discovery of a cure for tuberculosis. In fact, for the most part it isn’t about the science, but more about the intellectual property battle that surrounded the discovery of streptomycin. It’s more about the two main scientists it discusses, and their struggle over who really found streptomycin. The way the book tells it, I think it’s clear that Waksman was wrong to claim all the credit, and knew he was; Schatz should have received much more credit and recognition for what he did.

It’s interesting in the sense of illuminating what goes on to get drugs from the lab bench to actual development, where Waksman really did play a key role. It might be a bit wearing if you’re not that interested in what’s essentially a biography of the two scientists, though.

Rating: 3/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository
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Review – A Borrowed Man

Posted March 19, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of A Borrowed Man by Gene WolfeA Borrowed Man, Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe’s work is reliably weird, and this is another example. It’s nearish-future SF with a noirish mystery plot — I say noir because of the characterisation and treatment of women, and some of the protagonist’s ways of talking. He sounds like he stepped out of Chandler, and some of the narration feels like that too. The background idea, that an author can be scanned, cloned, and then the clone be made available like a book to be borrowed from libraries, is intriguing and weird and creepy all at once. Honestly, I’m not sure this book really used to the idea to its fullest extent: in a way it’s just Castle, only with a clone of the author coming along to solve things based on his books instead of the author himself.

(Except Ern is less charming than Rick Castle.)

I was hooked as long as I didn’t think too much about it, and then I took a moment to think about the way Colette (the main female character) and Arabella (love interest, ex-wife) are treated and just felt kind of grossed out. Curves in all the right places, every man’s daydream kind of women — bleh. They’re just there to be desired, particularly in Arabella’s case.

I worked out the mystery fairly easily too. Overall, it’s entertaining, but I doubt I’ll keep thinking about it or come back to it in the future. The idea is pretty awesome; the execution is pretty slender.

Rating: 3/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository
The above affiliate links, at no extra cost to you, provide a small commission for me if you purchase something.

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Review – Ironclads

Posted March 18, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Ironclads by Adrian TchiakovskyIronclads, Adrian Tchaikovsky

It’s frightening to me that the UK separating from Europe and ending up alone (and usually screwed, as in this case) is a theme in fiction these days. I feel like there’s no positive (and believable) predictions for how this is going to go and — although I’m a Remainer myself — I do wish we had a little more hope all round. So in this one, the UK splits off and ends up on its own, and has to call in the US to save them. That’s just background to this story, but gah!

I wasn’t totally in love with the story in general. It’s entertaining enough, and it’s interesting to see the point of view of the grunts and cannonfodder in a world of people fighting in big mechs. There are some really fun moments, like when someone complains about being bombed by regiments from Ikea — not fun for them, I mean, but for that recognition for the reader. I found the plot pretty predictable after the aftermath of one of the characters’ injuries, and I felt like the story just stopped without much by way of payoff. Big things happened for society, maybe, but I wanted something more emotional — and I didn’t want the characters to all go their separate ways.

Still, it’s an interesting take on a near-future world where knights in shining armour are basically a thing again, only mechanised.

Rating: 3/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US
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Unstacking the Shelves

Posted March 17, 2018 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

It’s been a quiet week for me, book-wise — actually, I’m really stressed — but I did read the books below…

Cover of The Gene by Siddhartha Mukkherjee Cover of The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson Cover of The Mummy Congress by Heather Pringle

… and these things were posted.

Reviews from this week:

–Kushiel’s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey. Okay, it’s a problematic fave in some ways, but I still adored it. Joscelin is just… gah. <3 5/5 stars
–An Unnatural Vice, by K.J. Charles. Not my favourite of the trilogy, but that’s mostly because I didn’t love the characters. Still a fun read. 3/5 stars
–The Master Magician, by Charlie N. Holmberg. More of the same if you’ve read the previous books; wraps things up neatly. 3/5 stars
–The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson. Lots of interesting stuff on this specific cholera outbreak, though the coda about living in cities is kind of weird. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday: The usual weekly update on what’s currently on my side table.

How’s everybody doing?

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Review – The Ghost Map

Posted March 15, 2018 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Ghost Map by Steven JohnsonThe Ghost Map, Steven Johnson

This is a really good account of the outbreak of cholera that led to John Snow’s famous map, showing that a particular water pump was the culprit. He traces the history of how London dealt with sewage and how it became such a big issue, and also examines some of the main characters in the drama of trying to stop the outbreak — and trying to challenge miasma theory, which was so much the paradigm at the time. There isn’t a lot of specific science stuff here, but Johnson makes clear why the cholera pathogen is so deadly in a very accessible way.

The only weird part is in the conclusion/afterword to the book, where Johnson talks more generally about the risks to city life and starts discussing nuclear war and terrorism. It seems very much a non-sequitur, and adds nothing to the book to my mind.

Rating: 4/5

Buy this book: Amazon UK | Amazon US | The Book Depository
The above affiliate links, at no extra cost to you, provide a small commission for me if you purchase something.

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WWW Wednesday

Posted March 14, 2018 by Nicky in General / 2 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.

What are you currently reading?

Cover of The Ghost Map by Steven JohnsonMost actively, I’m reading The Ghost Map, which is about the cholera outbreak in London which began in Broad Street and resulted in John Snow figuring out where the contagion was coming from (and removing the pump handle). I also have Masquerade and An Accident of Stars still on the go.

What have you recently finished reading?

Cover of The Gene by Siddhartha MukkherjeeThe Gene, by Siddhartha Mukherjee. I was enjoying it a lot, but I wasn’t so sure of his genetic determinism in the sections about gender and identity — I think it’s a bit off for him to be declaring that the genders of intersex people are all determined by one particular genetic switch and there’s no variation. It doesn’t ring true from people I actually know. But for the most part he’s a fascinating writer.

What will you be reading next?

Cover of An Accident of Stars by Foz MeadowsI’ll probably focus on finishing An Accident of Stars, and then I want to start on Cibola Burn, after taking a bit of a break from reading the Expanse books. It’s right there! And I’d like to read it soon! But who knows…

What are you reading?

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