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  2. When are you going to read "Fourth Wing"?
  3. A very quick catch up: Just like the curate's egg part of The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne are very good, others bits not so much. 80 year old Georgy, a Russian exile, looks back to when he was pitchforked out of his peasant upbringing into the middle of the Tsar's family in the years just before the Revolution. The early bits were wonderful then the plot line gradually got sillier and sillier. The last scene in Russia was just ridiculous. John Boyne has written some grat books but this isn't one of them, imo. Everyone Here is Lying - Shari Lapena A decent thriller with one or two seriously unbelievable plot twists but that isn't unusual with this sort of book! Destroying Angel - S J Maclean Excellent historical fiction set in Cromwellian times, the 3rd in her series about Damien Seeker. Recipe for a Perfect Wife - Karma Brown A Kobo cheapie which turned out to be much better than I thought it would be, not profound but easy reading and enjoyable. Fatal Legacy - Lindsay Davies I think I've come to the end of reading about Flavia Albia, I love the Falco books, both in print and on audio but this series about his adopted daughter, also a private investigator in Ancient Rome, lacks the humour and lightness of touch that Falco has.
  4. Currently reading Dreams of Fire, Shauna Lawless. A novella set a century before her Children of Gods and Fighting Men, first book in her Gael Song Series.
  5. Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight - Louis Armstrong
  6. Several figures from the music industry over the last few days: Eric Carmen (All by Myself, Hungry Eyes) Karl Wallinger (The Waterboys and World Party) and over the weekend Steve Harley from Cockney Rebel - "Come up and see me (make me smile)".
  7. What a great history! If I ever travel nearby, I will definitely get some ice cream. I want the peachy one 😄. My favourite ice cream place here is Henley ice cream. I’d link to them but their website seems to be having issues, so here’s a picture! The building is older than the actual company (it’s from the 16th century). They won an award for having the best ice cream in the country before
  8. I hope so too MN. I loved it, the story gets better and resolves beautifully.
  9. he'd run any faster he'd have stood a good chance of beating Usain Bolt! I didn't expect to see him again but I hoped his charges would return, they'd got through a pile of work that had been falling on my stooped and overburdened shoulders. There was enough time now for me to take a break so I reclined my lazy boy, put my feet up and took forty winks. I was in the middle of a very pleasant dream where ...
  10. I was watching Season 3 of the Orville and it struck me how typical of the genre both on page and on screen the combat was, "Fly fleet A into fleet B, hope for the best, repeat" seems to about sum it up, or you end up with Webber and his "The fleets faced off over the planet and fired a billion missiles at each other" style of 'combat'. I know the Lost Fleet series makes an effort to subvert this, does anyone know of other series that do the same?
  11. Last week
  12. I felt the same way about this one. It was an intriguing concept but there was something missing. I also found the purpose of the relationship to be confusing. Almost as though the author intended for there to be a romance at the beginning, then changed their mind? This one sounds interesting and (although I know this shouldn’t be the important thing) I love the cover!
  13. I am 25% into The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden and am really impressed with the book. Arden has taken a big leap in her writing. The story, so far. is a joy to read. I am in wonder that a person can write a book with a storyline this good. I hope the book continues to be of my liking.
  14. confess..my conversion to a multifaceted, full on combo of Communism, Islam, and anarchosyndicalism, was smooth,concise and true as an arrow..' The old parson ran so fast , it was like Matt Hancock hearing the word 'truth', indeed if....
  15. The Surface Breaks – Louise O’Neill (YA, feminist, re-telling) 4.25/5 This book is a feminist re-telling of The Little Mermaid. I was a little apprehensive as this is quite a popular story when it comes to re-tellings and wondered what O’Neill could do to make it unique, however I was pleasantly surprised. Gaia is the youngest daughter of the mer-king and is closely approaching her birthday, the birthday that means she is permitted to go to the surface for the very first time. At the surface Gaia sees a boy who she is immediately drawn to, unfortunately however her controlling father hates humans and would forbid her ever to be with him. Desperate to get away from her father and the awful merman she is to marry Gaia seeks the help of the sea-witch. I really loved this book. I very much enjoy feminist focussed books but was worried it was going to take a very basic angle i.e. criticising the classic fairy tale trope of ‘love at first sight’, however it was so much deeper than I expected. The story explored many different aspects of being a woman in a male dominated world; how girls are taught to view each other and the impact this has on their relationships with each other, how women are taught that their value lies in how much they appeal to men, how women who stand up against how men treat them are cast out, plus more. I really enjoyed this book and think it is a good book for young girls and women to read Opening line: You are not ready my child, be patient, your time will come. Format: audiobook 309 pages Published in 2018
  16. The Library of the Dead – T. L. Huchu (YA, urban fantasy, paranormal) 3.75/5 The Library of the Dead is set in a post-catastrophe Edinburgh that has become lawless and dangerous. Ropa is a young girl whose job is to speak to the dead of the city, in which she carries messages between them and their still living loved ones. Whilst doing her job Ropa learns that children have been going missing, and that although some of them have been found, they have been found awfully disfigured and mentally scarred. Ropa decides to investigate, a decision that takes her to the darkest places of the city. This book was overall and enjoyable read, I liked the setting and enjoyed learning about the way the city functioned. I did however find it a little lacking on an explanation of the reason as to why the world is in the state that it is, there is reference to the event but it is never really explained. This is the first book in a series however so this will possibly be explained more in future books. Also, despite being the title of the book, The Library of the Dead did not really feature much in the story, it also felt a little irrelevant to the main plot, however again maybe this is explored more later in the series. I probably won’t be reading anymore in the series, it just didn’t intrigue me enough. If you are very familiar with Edinburgh then I think you will enjoy this book as it refers to a lot of specific locations within the city. Opening line: I’m really not supposed to be doing this, but a girls got to get paid, so here we go. Format: audiobook 330 pages Published in 2021
  17. The One – John Marrs (contemporary, romance, sci-fi) 4.25/5 I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book as, although it has a semi-sci-fi tone to it, it's really more of a contemporary, not a genre I read an awful lot of. The story follows five different POVs, each a person who has recently been informed that they have been matched with their true love. They live in a time where science has discovered the gene that determines who you are genetically predisposed to fall in love with, and by sending off your DNA you can receive the contact details of your match. The five people that the story follows all have very different experiences of the process and it takes their lives in directions they never expected. The book jumps between each POV and the chapters are pretty short therefore it keeps the book interesting and fast paced. I enjoyed all the characters storylines and felt invested in them. A TV series was made based on the book a number of years ago which I had watched and so I had an understanding of the premise however the storyline and characters were completely different so nothing had been spoilt for me. I would recommend this book if you like fast paced multiple POV stories. Opening line: Mandy stared at the photograph on her computer screen and held her breath. Format: audiobook 418 pages Published in 2018
  18. I'm offering The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden as a read in this category. Part of it is set in winter and one of the characters is called Winter. Does that qualify?
  19. The Green Face (1916) Gustav Meyrink This was both strange and creepy. I'm tempted to describe it is a horror novel but it goes beyond that and is more surreal and disturbing. It reminded me a little of 'The Tenant' by Torpor in the sense that it was just a little unnerving and obscure. Written at the height of the war in 1916, the book actually takes place after the war has ended and implies (quite correctly as it turns out) that the consequences of this war will change the world and lead to even greater upheaval. Especially, Meyrick predicts, for the Jews. A man named Hauberisser lives in Amsterdam and visits a magic shop where he encounters a creepy old Jew who works there. As the book goes along, his friends and others have also seen this 'wandering' Jew either in paintings or in real life. He has a green, bronze face and seems to be neither a harbinger of good nor bad. What follows is Hauberisser trying to make sense of what he has seen and what it might mean. He returns to the magic shop only to discover that it has a new name and no-one knows anything about the Jewish bookkeeper. Meanwhile, Hauberisser has a friend named Pfeill who has friends who appear to be in a spiritualist cult. One of them is murdered by a Zulu warrior (did I mention there's a Zulu warrior?). Then he meets a woman called Eva who he instantly falls in love with (there follows a chapter where the Zulu warrior follows her and tries (via some African magic) to control and rape her). She then disappears. But reappears in a haze of fog and dies. I mean... it's all a bit weird and hard to explain. But it's good. I enjoyed it a lot and was fascinated by the creepiness of it all. There are huge swathes of Jewish and Christian myth involved and, to be fair, those parts of the book were the only ones that I didn't care for. I find it hard to take religion seriously especially when it takes itself so seriously. Meyrink throws a lot of this stuff at the reader and talks about Elijah and Cabala and a bridge from this world to the world beyond. From a religious point of view it didn't interest me. But from a creepy novel point of view it was highly effective. A strange and interesting book. 7/10
  20. This is my second Eric Ambler book. It was written in the late 30s. Like the other one I read, The Mask of Dmitrious, it is about an Englishman who finds himself in deep water in Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe in Ambler's books starts around Paris. I quite like all the clipped English speech, and the courteous language, which somehow sounds threatening, when spoken by a member of the underworld or secret police. Think Peter Lorre, think Orsen Wells, think Marlene Dietrich.
  21. I had to put up with so many pillocks. How I missed Rosie, she was so good with people, with her charming and winning ways she could convince the most truculent to co-operate and had boundless patience with sops like Cross. Admittedly, there were times when I felt she was a little over-friendly with young Lotharios and I'd had cause to have a few words, but generally I'm happy to be hard at it behind the scenes and leave the public relations to her. I wonder when she'll be home. 'Arr humm ... are you listening to me?' Pastor Cross had been wittering on apparently. 'Not particularly, I really must ...
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