Hey guys! I’m back from my holiday, which included a trip to Amsterdam to ABC (mostly for me) and Stephen and Penelope (mostly for Lisa). I was good and stuck well within budget, but I do have some new shinies! I also have a new ereader: I’ve switched back to Kindle, since I didn’t like some of the design choices for the Kobo Clara, so I have a Kindle Paperwhite (2018 edition) now. By next week, my personalised case should have arrived to be shown off, too…

For now, here goes the haul!

Received to review:

Bought:

Finished this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–The Edge of Memory, by Patrick Nunn. I have concerns about this one. The basic premise is okay, but then I think it tries to go too far and gets rather circular in argument. Interesting, but the methodology doesn’t seem sound. 2/5 stars
–Rose Daughter, by Robin McKinley. Still a nice retelling, with some definite advantages over the earlier Beauty, but ultimately not a favourite. 3/5 stars
–Spirals in Time, by Helen Scales. Are you fascinated by shelled creatures? If so, this is probably more for you than for me. I got a little bored before the end, to be honest. 2/5 stars
–The Unexpected Truth about Animals, by Lucy Cooke. Kind of meh in the end? Much of it was not unexpected at all, for me. Some interesting titbits, though! 2/5 stars
–The Human Planet, by Mark Maslin and Simon Lewis. Got a bit bogged down in how to define the Anthropocene, for me, instead of sticking to the slightly broader topic of human impacts on Earth. A lot of fascinating stuff, though! 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. The usual weekly update!

Out and about:

–NEAT science: ‘More accurate gene editing?‘ Some CRISPR news, with a dose of caution.

It’s been a busy week — I feel like I need a holiday from my holiday. How are you guys doing? Reading anything awesome?

Good morning, folks! I missed my STS post last week due to sporadic posting, which was mostly because my WordPress install (or rather, the security enabled by my host) occasionally decides to not allow me to insert images into my posts. But here I am again!

Also, I know I’m doing badly at returning comments and dropping by people’s blogs. I’m still adjusting to some schedule changes with work, and doing a bad job of keeping everything balanced. I haven’t forgotten you all!

Books received to review:

Books read in the last two weeks:

Reviews posted since the last roundup:

–How the Irish Saved Civilization, by Thomas Cahill. Rather misleadingly titled: it’s more about how Irish monasteries copied Greek and Roman works so they weren’t lost. So a very specific definition of civilization. 2/5 stars
–Beauty, by Robin McKinley. A relatively simple retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but effective! 4/5 stars
–The Etruscans, by Lucy Shipley. Not a subject I knew much about, and this book makes a beautiful introduction to various Etruscan objects and what we understand about the people. 4/5 stars
–The Lost Girls, by Sarah Painter. I’m honestly still pondering the review and rating, even though it’s already posted. There’s definitely interesting stuff, but I found the ending kind of unsatisfying, and the romance particularly so. But then, that’s not really what the book was doing, in the end… 3/5 stars
–A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. This didn’t quite work for me, partially because it’s very like two series I really love and admire. 3/5 stars
–T. Rex and the Crater of Doom, by Walter Alvarez. Engaging and surprisingly riveting for me, given I knew the theory in quite a bit of detail. Alvarez is great at explaining the evidence. 4/5 stars
–The Golden Thread, by Kassia St Clair. A history of fabric, from Viking sails to modern high performance fabric. Pretty riveting, from my point of view! 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. The update on what I’ve been reading this week.

Out and about:

–NEAT science: ‘The Red Queen.‘ Inspiration from classic children’s literature in the world of biology.
–NEAT science: ‘A cool customer.’ Another vertebrate without haemoglobin!

So that’s it; that’s the update. How’s everyone else doing? Busy week? Reading anything good?

Good morning, folks. I am writing this the night before, as usual, and very very sleepy. Thank you wife for once more coming to my rescue and setting most of this up!

Books acquired:

Books read this week:

Reviews posted this week:

The Hollow Man, by John Dickson Carr. I know Dickson Carr is the king of the locked room mystery, but this just wasn’t my thing. It’s all about the puzzle, not people. 2/5 stars
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, by Adam Rutherford. Some interesting stuff, but a bit basic for me and very disorganised. 3/5 stars
A Kiss Before Dying, by Ira Levin. Meh, charming psychopath story. Well-written, but I’m sick of charming psychopaths. 2/5 stars
Threads of Life, by Clare Hunter. A fascinating history of embroidery and sewing; necessarily cherry picks some particularly interesting individual stuff, and no doubt misses out a lot of other things, but fascinating. 4/5 stars
The Copernicus Complex, by Caleb Scharf. I agree with Scharf mostly, but he takes a long time to get to actually expressing an opinion. It’s more a primer on factors that might be involved when you try and guess whether there’s life elsewhere in the universe. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

WWW Wednesday. Such book, very update, wow.

How’s everyone doing? Good week?

Hey guys! It’s been a good week for me, with plenty of reading! And Record of a Spaceborn Few is out in paperback, so I’ve snapped that up, obviously!

Books acquired:

Books read this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–Fayke Newes, by Derek Taylor. Not a bad history of the press vs people in power, but not properly sourced and thus rather hypocritical. 3/5 stars
–The Bell at Sealey Head, by Patricia McKillip. Beautifully written fantasy, as ever, with only a couple of hitches. 4/5 stars
–The Case of the Murdered Muckraker, by Carola Dunn. Very different setting and feel for Daisy; includes an epic cross-country plane chase. 3/5 stars
–The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison. Yep, again. What can I say? 5/5 stars
–Pale Rider, by Laura Spinney. A good history of the 1918 flu pandemic. 4/5 stars
–My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite. This felt kind of predictable for me? Like most of it was just following an obvious path. The ending didn’t exactly surprise me, but it was nicely done. 2/5 stars
–Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente. Not a winner for me. Holy cow, I am tired of the TORRENT OF GLITTER just thinking about it. 1/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. The usual weekly update!

Out and about:

–NEAT science: ‘Blue-blooded.‘ Ever wanted to know how copper-based blood works? Tahdah!

That’s it for the week! How’s everyone else been doing? Reading anything good?

Good morning, folks! It’s been a good week for finally catching up on the reviews I’ve needed to write for a while; I’m really getting somewhere! And it felt like a good week for reading, even though I finished fewer books than I thought.

Books acquired:

Books read this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–Murder Most Unladylike, by Robin Stevens. Not 100% my thing, but fun for a change, and something I would recommend for someone in the right age group. 3/5 stars
–Rosewater, by Tade Thompson. For me, the intriguing setting and ideas were eclipsed by the main character being a sex-obsessed misogynist. 2/5 stars
–Stars Uncharted, by S.K. Dunstall. A ragtag crew end up being something like a found family, after being chased around the universe by bad guys. Sounds familiar? Yeah. Fun, though, and with a couple of elements that stood out. 3/5 stars
–Kill the Queen, by Jennifer Estep. Very very typical fantasy tropes in a blender, but it’s nice brain-candy, and does not take itself overly seriously. This is like… an urban fantasy feel on an epic fantasy scale. 3/5 stars
–How Do We Look / The Eye of Faith, by Mary Beard. Really, this is best viewed as two separate books bound into one. Both topics are fascinating, although the analysis here is fairly shallow — an introduction and overview. 3/5 stars
–A Local Habitation, by Seanan McGuire. A reread; not the strongest of the series, I think, though there’s some intriguing stuff going on. 3/5 stars
–Death at Bishop’s Keep, by Robin Paige. A kind of meh mystery with an interesting female lead. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. The usual weekly update on what’s on my reading pile right now.

Out and about:

–NEAT science: ‘Burning questions‘. Your chance to ask the science questions you’ve been wondering about!

So how’re you doing? Good reading week? Wish you’d had more time for books? Something you’re excited about?

Almost forgot to set this up — in fact, have snuck out of bed because I know I’ll forget in the morning! 2019 continues with me being very good about book purchases, and better about what I ask for to review — only one new book this week, from Pan Macmillan!

Books acquired:

I’m not sure whether I want to reread Sorcerer to the Crown first. Hmm…

Books finished this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–The Raven Tower, by Ann Leckie. I was so excited to get this advance copy, and it did not disappoint me. 5/5 stars
–To Davy Jones Below, by Carola Dunn. Fairly typical Daisy story with a slightly different setting and some recurring characters. 3/5 stars
–What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape, by Souhaila Abdulali. A frank and freeing look at a taboo subject, treating rape as the violence it is and as something that doesn’t have to be defining, while looking at the social issues surrounding it. 4/5 stars
–Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal. This novel actually grows on me every time I read it. This one is primarily romance, but the later books expand the world and feature a lot more politics and world events. 4/5 stars
–Band Sinister, by K.J. Charles. Like Georgette Heyer, but with more free-thinking and queerness. 5/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. The usual update, featuring my thoughts primarily on Space Opera by Cat Valente.

How’s everybody doing? Read anything good this week?

Today I’m going to keep this quick, because one of my rabbits has been sick* and I’m really tired and worn down. And starting to get a cold myself! Gah. So, keeping it quick…

(*It’s Biscuit. She was spayed on Wednesday and hasn’t been eating too great since then. Cross your fingers for her!)

Books acquired: 

Books read: 

Reviews posted:

–Stitches in Time, by Lucy Adlington. A restful read that goes into some details about the history of the clothes we wear. 4/5 stars
–Busman’s Honeymoon, by Dorothy L. Sayers. This might not be the height of the series, but it’s lovely for those who know and love Peter and Harriet. They are my idea of romance. 4/5 stars

Other posts:

–Discussion: Book Blanket. A progress pic (with a scene-stealing hedgehog) and some pondering on how to fit it together.
–WWW Wednesday. The usual update.

How’s everyone else doing? Read anything good this week?

Right. Writing this the night before, so hello from the wrong side of sleep, and goodbye!

This post is prepared well in advance, as I’m away this weekend! I’ll pop by and see everyone as soon as I’m back, though: pinky-promise! We’re just off to Wales to see some of my friends from university (*waves*) and my aunt. Road trip time!

Books read this week:

Reviews posted:

–Gaudy Night, by Dorothy L. Sayers. It’s a lovely book that is the culmination of so much in the other books, while being unlike them in some ways. (For instance, it’s largely Harriet’s point of view, and it’s mostly not a crime story but a story about a long process of trying to prevent a crime… but mostly coming to terms with personal and philosophical pros and cons of married life vs vs a job vs academia.) It’s well worth it for people who are fans already, but I wonder how interesting it is to new folks. 4/5 stars
–Breaking the Maya Code, by Michael D. Coe. Really fascinating history of how the Mayan glyphs were finally, finally decoded. 4/5 stars
–Mystery in White, by J. Jefferson Farjeon. Rather incoherent and reliant on coincidence, actually; I turned out not to be much of a fan, despite enjoying Farjeon’s other work. 2/5 stars
–The Cobbler’s Boy, by Katherine Addison and Elizabeth Bear. A historical fiction/mystery about how Kit Marlowe first became a spy… I really enjoyed it, though the decision to render the dialogue somewhat realistically for the time period might throw people off. 4/5 stars
–Ninja, by John Man. Eminently skippable. Bleh. 2/5 stars
–Molecules at an Exhibition, by John Emsley. Kind of interesting but got boring fast as the novelty wore off. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–WWW Wednesday. The usual weekly update!

Out and about:

–Once Upon a Blue Moon: ‘A Woman Skilled in Physic.’ A short story which will turn out to be a retelling if you give it a few moments…
–Once Upon a Blue Moon: ‘A Room Without A Soul.’ An attempt at making books creepy.

So how’s everyone doing?

Hey folks! Another week, another… total lack of new books?! What’s wrong with me??

Anyway, so that was January, I guess. I read 15 books, bought only a handful, and generally behaved myself pretty well.

Books read this week:

Reviews posted this week:

–The Nine Tailors, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Beautifully atmospheric, and always one of my favourites of the series. I love how much work Sayers did to integrate change ringing into the fabric of the story. 4/5 stars
–Seahenge, by Charlie Watson. Definitely a good primer on what Seahenge was and what was done to preserve it; Francis Pryor’s book does more work on interpretation, though, if that’s your interest. 4/5 stars
–Styx and Stones, by Carola Dunn. Okay, one aspect of this book really annoyed me: that stupid scene where Daisy and Alec briefly break up. What’s the point? Otherwise a fairly standard entry in the series, with a couple of twists you may not expect. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–A Personal Note. In lieu of a discussion post this week, I wrote about my feelings on Brexit.
–WWW Wednesday. The usual weekly update!

Out and about:

–NEAT Science: ‘Is there any (intelligent) life out there?‘ My answer is ‘I really don’t know, and I don’t think anyone else has any idea how likely it is either’ — and I touch a little bit on why I think so and why other people think it might be likely or unlikely.

So that’s this week. How’s everyone else been doing? Any good books? Anything you’ve been dying to get your hands on finally fall into your lap?