Tag: books

February TBR

Posted February 3, 2016 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

I don’t know why anyone believes the TBR stacks I make, since I so often randomly deviate and wander off. Nonetheless, I’m behind on my reading goal already and need, to catch up, to read 37 books in February. Eek. So here’s a somewhat random selection, for inspiration if I’m wondering what to read…

Already reading:

  • The Tiger and the Wolf, Adrian Tchiakovsky. Also a review copy and due out in a few days, so yeah, hurry up, self.
  • Song for the Basilisk, Patricia McKillip. I’m quite a way through this, so it should be easy to finish!
  • Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller, Jennifer Kloester. Partway through this, and I believe the library wants it back. So hurry up, self!
  • Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater. This is a really fast read for me and I’m not sure why I haven’t finished it already. Got distracted, I guess…
  • The Genome, Sergei Lukyanenko. I was pretty captivated by this a few weeks ago, so hopefully I can get back into it and eat it up.
  • Guardian of the Dead, Karen Healey. Though the library hasn’t called to ask when the hell I’m going to return this, they’d have a perfect right…

ARCs/new releases:

  • Dreams of Distant Shores, Patricia McKillip. Even my review isn’t due until May 10th, but shush. I want to get to this one.
  • Different Class, Joanne Harris. Got this for review, and I typically eat up Harris’ prose, so…
  • City of Blades, Robert Jackson Bennett. have to read this, omg.
  • Lois Lane: Fallout, Gwenda Bond. Slightly demanding email saying my deadline is 15th February for a book I won, but okay.
  • Rebel of the Sands, Alwyn Hamilton. Found in a Belgian bookshop in advance of the release date, so it’s fate, right?

Argh, read some books you already own:

  • Saints Astray, Jacqueline Carey. Should be a fast read, judging from how fast my sister tore through it, and it’s why I reread Santa Olivia…
  • Library of Souls, Ransom Riggs. Finishes up the trilogy!
  • Death by Water, Kerry Greenwood. It’s inevitable I’m going to read at least one Phryne book, let’s be honest.
  • The Boy Who Lost Fairyland, Catherynne M. Valente. I’ve been craving this for a while, it’s about time.
  • Dreamer’s Pool, Juliet Marillier. Before the people waiting for me to read it eat me or something.
  • The Wrath & the Dawn, Renee Ahdieh. People have ARCs of the next book. Clearly it is time to get off my butt.
  • Carry On, Rainbow Rowell. I need to stop just admiring the cover and peeking at the end.
  • A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Becky Chambers. I am so sold on this book, you don’t need to say a word more. I’m convinced I’ll like it.
  • Companion to Wolves, Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear. I love both authors (or at least, Monette’s work as Katherine Addison). It’s time!
  • Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo. Everybody seems to love this even more than the Grisha books. So okay, it’s time!

Obviously, I’m hoping to read a lot more than this. But if I manage to read this bunch, I’ll be happy!

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Review – Signal to Noise

Posted February 3, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Signal to Noise by Sylvia Moreno-GarciaSignal to Noise, Sylvia Moreno-Garcia

Someone in my book club in Cardiff mentioned Signal to Noise to me with some enthusiasm, and I’d already looked at it speculatively a few times, so I was quite eager to give it a go. Music and magic being linked is hardly a revolutionary idea for me: Orpheus, the enchantment of a good song, the Pied Piper… But this uses music like Bowie and Nina Simone; songs like ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’. Popular music, recent music. It’s an accessible sort of magic, and the perfect kind of magic for a teenager to use.

The characters are very teenage: a mismatched group who don’t get along with other people so well, at least as teens; who grow apart, as adults, so that the first moment of recognition is a strange one. The pushy prickly leader and the gentle follower, the bond between a boy and a girl of understanding, of seeing a future… The teenage versions of the characters definitely work well, though as adults there’s still something so teenage about them — or at least about Meche, Mercedes, the main character.

The two plots run parallel: Meche, Daniela and Sebastian as teens, casting spells using vinyl, and then the same characters as adults, grown far apart — wrenched far apart, it turns out, by what happened when they were teens. That plot is kind of interesting, though I didn’t really feel Meche’s power trip. It got way too menacing too fast, and after that I couldn’t understand Sebastian and Daniela still wanting to be anywhere near Meche. Sure, the spells she wanted to cast were understandable — but also manipulative, and in one case, really dangerous. It doesn’t feel like Meche deserves Daniela and Sebastian’s patience and forgiveness, however close Sebastian and Meche were before.

I found it an overall entertaining story, but not as great as I’d hoped. I liked the fact that it was set in Mexico City, and the little flavours of food and stories which reminded you, every now and again, where the characters were and what shaped and constrained their lives — those subtle differences from the typical American teenagers. It’s not a hugely marked thing, though, now I think about it in retrospect — the story could be the same without the setting, I think.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Dreamsnake

Posted February 2, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyreDreamsnake, Vonda N. McIntyre

Received to review via Netgalley

It’s been quite a while since I read this, and I remembered it fondly enough, so when it came up on Netgalley, I decided to request it and do a reread. I only gave it three stars the first time, which surprised me when I looked it up and saw the raft of awards it got: Nebula, Hugo, Tiptree nomination, National Book Award finalist… I remembered it being quite like The Steerswoman in the narrative style, in the capable heroine; I remembered that the background of the story including queer and polyamorous characters in a casual, natural way — as well as plenty of capable women who knew what they were doing, who talked to each other (about things other than men!), who worked together.

Happily, all of that is still there, especially Snake’s care for others: for Melissa, and also for Gabriel, for Arevin, for the people she treats as a healer. Even for her snakes, though that’s not so surprising given that her livelihood relies upon them. And there are some quite lovely tender moments between Snake and the people she helps and becomes friends with.

The background of the story is fascinating too, and I don’t seem to have thought much about it before. It’s basically Earth, post-apocalypse, but exactly what that apocalypse was and how the aliens might have been involved, or even how long ago it was, are all shrouded and mysterious. And that background just lies behind the story, mostly not even used except in little bits — like the solution to breeding dreamsnakes. And there’s the whole issue of the healers using snake venom, how and why they would have begun that, how it all works. There’s room for half a dozen other stories here, though the one we’re told is a fairly straightforward redemption/quest story.

It’s still not quite a five star read for me: there’s something rather detached about it, emotionally, despite the tender moments. Sometimes the background feels a little too much like painted scenery. But for the most part, it was enjoyable to revisit Dreamsnake, and worth the time.

Rating: 4/5

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted February 2, 2016 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

This week’s theme from The Broke and Bookish is about past and future settings, so I decided to pick out ten historical/alternate history settings which I’ve loved. I’m pretty eclectic and a good story can get me interested in just about any period, so this might be a rather mixed list…

Cover of Farthing, by Jo Walton Cover of Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates by Kerry Greenwood Cover of The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro Cover of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke Cover of Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan

  1. Farthing, Jo Walton. This alternate history is set post-WWII, and asks, what if we compromised with Nazi Germany? What happens then? What societal creep, what slow insidious curtailing of freedom? It’s a heartbreaking trilogy, full of characters to love and hate, and I think Jo does a great job evoking that version of Britain.
  2. The Phryne Fisher books by Kerry Greenwood. I never thought of Australia as a setting I’d like to read about, but I am greatly enjoying this whole series, and the era. I have ghostwritten a book with a flapper heroine, so that might help with my fascination with Phryne and her Melbourne.
  3. Arthurian Britain, in all kinds of books. Or post-Arthurian, in the case of The Buried Giant. It’s quite a wide field, really; some people have a Romanised Arthur, some a very Saxon Arthur. There’s some great stuff which contextualises Arthur in various historical periods — Bernard Cornwell being a good example of an anti-Saxon, post-Roman Arthur.
  4. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke. The way the magic is integrated into the early nineteenth century and its history works perfectly for me. It’s a long book, but so rich in detail and care that I don’t mind a second of it.
  5. Voyage of the Basilisk, Marie Brennan. That whole series, really — and some other books featuring the exploits of women in that sort of period, like Mary Robinette Kowal’s Regency fantasies. Finding a bigger place for women in history? A+++.
  6. The Eagle of the Ninth, Rosemary Sutcliff. Whatever inaccuracies there might be in Sutcliff’s work, it feels right. I’ve always loved her Roman/post-Roman Britain books, and pretty much everything she writes has a fantastic sense of time and place. The Eagle of the Ninth I’ve always loved especially, because it takes a historical mystery and examines it, tries to explain it through fiction.
  7. The Bearkeeper’s Daughter, Gillian Bradshaw. Along with Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sailing to Sarantium and the sequel, this book opened my eyes to the possibility of historical fiction set in Constantinople. This wasn’t a period of history I knew well or thought much about, but now I’d happily pick up more books set there.
  8. Dissolution, C.J. Sansom. And other medieval/renaissance detective stories, like the Cadfael books, too. But this one felt especially rooted in the time period, shaped by the politics and issues of the time.
  9. Outlaw, Angus Donald. Okay, that book itself wasn’t one of my favourites, but that whole period dealing with Robin Hood? Like the Arthurian stories, I love it when writers choose to make Robin Hood feel as real as possible.
  10. Greek/Roman settings. That encompasses Rosemary Sutcliff’s work in some ways, and Jo Walton’s Thessaly books too. It’s just a great period of time with all kinds of things going on, where you can introduce mythic elements or figures that have become legendary now, at the same time as peopling the streets of Rome or Pompeii with ancient people.

Cover of The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff Cover of The Bearkeeper's Daughter, by Gillian Bradshaw Cover of Dissolution by C.J. Sansom Cover of Outlaw by Angus Donald Cover of The Just City by Jo Walton

So yeah, quite a mixed bag. Looking forward to seeing what other people have this week!

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ShelfLove February Update

Posted February 1, 2016 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

ShelfLove Challenge 2016

ShelfLove Update!

It’s February already?! Who let that happen? Okay, first up, the theme for this month is about fictional boyfriends/girlfriends/best friends. I think anyone who knows me well, or even knows this blog quite well, knows that my immediate choice for a friend would be Mori, from Jo Walton’s Among Others. Okay, I’m rather older than her, but she’s mature for her age and we have experiences in common (like being Welsh in a posh English school and, you know, books). I feel like we could quite happily co-exist, elbow to elbow, each reading a book and demanding nothing of the other — and yet also talk endlessly about books when we feel like it. Or philosophy, or the strangeness of people, or fairies, or whatever else came to mind.

  • Books bought this year so far: 0.
  • January budget: £0 spent of £30.
  • Owned books read: 13/200.
  • Books read overall: 23/365.

A good start, I think! It’s actually been three months since I bought myself any books, though as this goes live I am probably in a bookshop, spending the last of my euros in a guilt-free, non-budgeted spree. (Basically, all my euros are from the January budget, and were originally for food, laundry, whatever came up while visiting my partner. I’m going back to Britain on Saturday, so my remaining euros are now game to use for anything. Of course, the rule of only buying books I really want is still in place, and any euros left over will be saved for my next visit. I won’t buy books just for the sake of buying books!)

Reading-wise, I need to read on average 16 owned books a month to hit that 200 book target, and an average of a book a day to hit my overall target. So clearly, I need to cancel work and read more, right? And, ahem, spend less time playing Assassin’s Creed Unity…

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Review – Time’s Anvil

Posted February 1, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Time's Anvil by Richard MorrisTime’s Anvil: England, Archaeology and the Imagination, Richard Morris

I really need more books on archaeology; it’s a relaxing thing to read about, somehow, and I prefer it to biography because it can be so varied. Time’s Anvil certainly delivered on the ‘varied’ front, though it is very varied in a way that does feel odd at times: one moment it reflects on the personal life of Morris’ forebears, the next on the historical landscape of Britain, and the two are rather mingled. It meanders, is the best way I can think of to put it. It’s not uninteresting, but some chapters feel immensely dense while others just don’t go into the depth I’d like.

Stuff I did find interesting: the battlefield archaeology stuff, particularly on placing battle sites like that of Bosworth more precisely; the attention to that moment of thrill in holding an artefact that links you somehow to someone hundreds or thousands of years before you; examining the role of metal detecting; examining problems with excavation vs preservation, and in addition, what should be preserved and how we should do that…

There’s a lot of interesting stuff touched on, but it’s not really a book about any one thing, save for the development of English archaeology in general. A book like Seahenge is much more satisfying to me: it sets out a problem, a mystery, and seeks to solve it — knowing always that we can’t have that final scene where the culprit is decisively named. I like the chains of evidence, comparisons between sites, the surprises that crop up during excavations… In that sense, this book isn’t specific enough for me.

So, all in all, enjoyable enough, but not what I really wanted.

Rating: 3/5

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Unpopular Opinions Tag

Posted January 31, 2016 by Nicky in General / 18 Comments

I got tagged by Kaja @ Of Dragons and Hearts to do the Unpopular Opinions tag, which I’ve been tagged for and tempted to do before, so clearly it’s about time…

Cover of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. RowlingA popular book or series you didn’t like: Uh, Harry Potter? Sorry, sorry, I just really don’t get on with the books, even when I tried to reread them!

A popular book/series everybody hates but you love: Well, everyone loves to rag on David Eddings’ work, but I do still enjoy The Diamond Throne. It was funnier Cover of Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugothan I remembered, and I really should finish my reread.

A love triangle where you didn’t like who the main character ended up with: Mal/Alina/Nikolai in Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha books. I liked the idea of Mal and Alina at first (friends to lovers is one of those tropes I like!), but Mal ended up being so jealous and unsupportive and just… no. Nikolai was much more charming.

A popular genre you hardly read: Hmm, this is a difficult one, because I read a bit of everything. I guess contemporary fiction that doesn’t contain any magic anywhere!

Cover of The Winter King by Bernard CornwellA popular/beloved character you dislike: Well, I don’t get it when people like Lancelot, 99.999% of the time? Mind you, I was pretty much trained to dislike him by Bernard Cornwell’s books. I also don’t get it when people like characters like Draco or Snape. Not so much my thing.

Cover of The White Queen, by Philippa GregoryA popular author you can’t seem to get into: Philippa Gregory. I have bounced so hard off every single one of her books that I tried.

A popular trope you’re tired of reading: Love triangles… who isn’t?

A popular series you have no interest in reading: Divergent et al, I guess. I do actually have Divergent somewhere on my Kindle, and my partner quite enjoyed the series, but it’s not really speaking to me.

A movie you liked better than the book: I don’t watch that many movies, honestly. Captain America: The Winter Soldier? Does that count? I thought the adaptation was absolutely amazing.

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Review – Queen of the Flowers

Posted January 31, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Queen of the Flowers by Kerry GreenwoodQueen of the Flowers, Kerry Greenwood

Queen of the Flowers is one of the better Phryne books, to my mind. It features pretty much all of the main cast, albeit some of them briefly: Dot, the girls, Jack, Hugh, Lin Chung and his wife, Bert, Cec, the Butlers… There are some new characters, but there’s a very personal element to this book. It explores Ruth and Jane a little more — mostly Ruth — and shows us Ruth’s roots, finally following up on her love of romances to put her in one of her own — the long lost child finding her father. Maybe.

The other plot, with the flower girls and the pageant, etc, is fairly typical and more or less unremarkable, and there are some odd moments here; for example, when Ruth is missing, presumed kidnapped, life goes on in a rather casual way. Which is rather surprising when you consider Phryne’s protectiveness of those she considers her own. It makes some sense in context (e.g. Phryne figures out that Ruth is embarrassed and staying away of her own accord after being a bit of an idiot), but it still feels wrong — especially when Phryne knows her adopted daughters have been targeted to get to her in the past, and are undoubtedly vulnerable.

And I must admit to a longing for Phryne to go after someone other than Lin Chung for once. It’s been books and books since she was with someone else — Death Before Wicket, I think? — and it feels odd. I know she loves Lin Chung, but after everything she’s said about not settling down… she seems remarkably settled. It doesn’t feel quite right, and it’s a shame whenever Phryne or another character calls her(self) a concubine. I do love the old Phryne too, much as I like Lin Chung…

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Kingfisher

Posted January 30, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Kingfisher by Patricia A. McKillipKingfisher, Patricia A. McKillip

Received to review via Netgalley

The formatting of this was less than ideal on my Kindle, since I think it’s a proofing copy and thus there were numbers all through the document, and bizarre sections with no paragraph breaks, and all sorts of fun things like that. I did read some of it on my computer, which was better in one way, but not the most comfortable way to read either. In a way, I wish I hadn’t read this now, despite my eagerness for it — there’s a thread of McKillip’s usual enchantment and strangeness here, but I’m pretty sure that some of the odd moments were just caused by the formatting. Not really experienced as the author intended, I think.

I don’t know to what extent I’m typical of the audience for this book. To me, the Arthurian influence was immediately apparent — the Fisher King, some of the names (Vivienne?), the relationship between Sir Leith and Queen Ginevra, the king Arden. The strange ceremony, the issue of someone outside the ritual needing to ask, the grail-like object. Pierce’s story is almost like that of Percival, and yet not always, not quite. At least, not a version I know. It felt all askew, because I know the Arthurian versions so well, and particularly because I really don’t like the Percival story, in general. I don’t like it when he’s Welsh and ignorant, and yet at the same time I don’t like his Welsh background being ignored either. The grail story just loses me entirely, in general, even when it’s closer to the Welsh sources than to Chrétien’s.

On the other hand, I love McKillip’s work a lot. She does magic and enchantment so well, and writes so beautifully. That is certainly in evidence here as much as ever. She makes something interesting and different of the old stories, of the grail-seeking. I felt like the Severluna/Calluna stuff never quite worked itself out fully — it seemed a fairly typical god/goddess dichotomy/conflict, complete with god-obsessed young men making nuisances of themselves to older/feminine magics. I wanted more, something different. Stranger? Stranger is a good word for what McKillip usually manages.

The Stillwater character and what he did was interesting — very classically mythological, and yet fresh too. It took me some time to fit that into the plot, because it’s not an intrinsic part of the Arthurian story — perhaps one reason why someone less familiar with the legends might enjoy this more. I always find myself playing puzzle pieces with Arthurian stories, or even ones that’re just inspired by Arthuriana.

I don’t know how to assess it, at the end of all this. For holding me rapt despite misgivings, I think I’m going to go ahead and give it four stars, “really liked it”. In an ambivalent, intrigued sort of way.

Rating: 4/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted January 30, 2016 by Nicky in General / 30 Comments

Wait, it’s Saturday again already? Well, I haven’t bought any books this week (despite some temptation), so once again I get to showcase what I’ve been reading. It isn’t a true “Unstacking” week, though, because I did get a review copy… although technically, I got it last week and forgot to include it in the stack.

Cover of The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Hellig Cover of The Collectors by Philip Pullman Cover of Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood Cover of The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers Cover of Signal to Noise by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia

 Cover of Time's Anvil by Richard Morris Cover of Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart Cover of Kingfisher by Patricia A. McKillip Cover of Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey

It was a very good reading week, despite the struggle I had with the maths assignment that just wouldn’t die.

And here’s a book I was sent by the author:

Cover of Chameleon Moon by RoAnna Sylver

Aaaand the weekly round-up…

Reviews this week:

City of Stairs, by Robert Jackson Bennett. Loved this one, really looking forward to City of Blades5/5 stars
Unnatural Death, adapted from the book by Dorothy L. Sayers. I think in previous readings I rated it higher, but I got a bit tired of the convolutions in this one. Still, 3/5 stars
Santa Olivia, Jacqueline Carey. Actually a reread for me, but it still had some surprises. Lots of fun! 4/5 stars
Phonogram: Rue Britannia, by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. I was toddling in the 90s, so a lot of the references were lost on me. The art’s great, though. 3/5 stars
How Not to Summon Your True Love, by Sasha L. Miller. Cute story, kinda fun, but the asexual relationship wasn’t as big of a feature as I’d have liked. 3/5 stars
The Girl from Everywhere, by Heidi Heilig. I read it in two sittings, so despite having some quibbles about characterisation later on, the setting and worldbuilding definitely worked for me. 4/5 stars
Flashback Friday: Camelot’s Shadow, by Sarah Zettel. An old review of a series that’s turned into comfort reading for me, and this is the book that features Sir Gawain the most! 4/5 stars

Other posts:

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Picked Up At Random and Loved. It was a freebie week, so it took me a while to think of a topic, but this one was fun.
On reading kinks (that one trope). Is there something in a story that will always make you love it? I had a go at dissecting mine here.

How is everyone? Eating up books as much as you’d like? Tempted by anything in particular? Update me!

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