"I was very impressed and entertained with this debut novel. It's fast paced, with explosive on-the-edge action, suspense, great fight scenes, and enough humor to occasionally lighten the mood. I’m all in for the next book!"
Book 25: Becoming, by Chris Ord.
Gaia lives in 'the community' on an island off post-apocalypse Northumberland, but longs to escape the reign of control and fear. Aran offers her that chance. Great story, especially the parts where the pace picks up. But I'd have liked more parts of the story to have been resolved in the end.
#FinishedReading this #AlanMoore collection. As a prose writer he has much flair but little restraint, which makes for stimulating but frustrating reading. The book is unfortunately dominated by a novel-length Tom Sharpe style ribald satire of the comics industry which was too didactic and mean-spirited to work for me. I liked his wild story of intelligent life emerging in the 1st femtosecond after the big bang, and the creepy story told in dialogue that ends the book. @bookstodon#Bookstodon
Okay, this hot weather is way too hot, so I'm highlighting one of my snowiest mountain man romances! 🥵❄
In Saved by the Mountain, a runaway bride crashes her car on an icy mountain road & is rescued by a sexy recluse. It was a blast to narrate, & it has an incredibly steamy shower scene. It's fun, light & spicy.
On the eastern cape of southern Africa a land existed for but a brief moment in time, formed by a group of cultural castaways, strengthened via European investment and terrorized by dark forces. Amid this searing slice of savannah, male ambition, feminine yearning and the hunger of an ancient evil clash … with catastrophic results.
Young readers will enjoy celebrating the animals’ birthday ! Every page is a new discovery as the children learn skills in the process. I love the interactivity and sensory stimulation of this board book : children learn and practice tying, zipping, sticking, buttoning and snapping. All the adorable bright and colorful illustrations make the reading fun as children recognize all the farm animals. It is very engaging and fun !
I am on vacation and buying too many ebooks. I was supposed to wait until I go to the Bigger City to buy physical ones.
Please stop me, or refrain from suggesting fun things to read. @bookstodon#bookstodon
I’m reading the first 3 volumes of this by way of preparation for China Miéville’s(!) forthcoming contribution to the IP. Pretty good writing for a Hollywood actor, I thought, and brilliant art, but basically pretty pedestrian.
QSFer K.L. Noone has a new MM fantasy romance book out: The Isle of Skiy.
The Isle of Skiy, surrounded by ocean, is a beautiful, prosperous land where no one ever arrives and no one ever leaves. According to myth, mysterious ocean-dwellers protect the isle, but no one’s ever seen them, and seeking to ...
As a science-fiction reader I had a little trouble with in ascension
At first I was happy to read a big dumb object book that focuses on the psychology of the characters more than on the science.
But as I went on reading I had more and more trouble with the lack of scientific curiosity and engineering prowess in a book about scientists and astronauts.
In Ascension is the opposite of a competence porn novel. The protagonists are cogs in a machine they don't control. While this is more true to life, it is less true to the lives of scientists, engineers and astronauts.
The scientific information peppered throughout the book is given as exposition, and while it's worth paying attention to and is the best way to try and figour out what's going on, it has little to do with the characters thoughts and behavior. The only people who try to find anything out, who actually do research, are relatives trying to figure out what happened.
For example, after an inexplicable incident the crew finds that everything is covered in a layer of dust. What do they do? Do they attempt to find out what it's made of? No. They make an effort to clean things up and that's it.
Where is the curiosity and sence of wonder of people that worked so hard to go beyond where man has gone before?
I understand that living with our impotence when facing large systems that don't care about us as individuals is what this novel is about. But it is hard for me to relinquish the illusion of control the scientific method gives us.
"Noone has an amazing style, sketching her worlds with deceptive ease, an artist whose cursor is her brush... The consummate skill of the Noone’s worldbuilding, and her glorious mastery of the language, make this a must-read. Highly recommended."
I keep the books I haven't read yet separate from the ones I have read. Finishing a book, especially if I liked it, and placing it in its new spot, among the other read books is something that brings me a little bit of extra pleasure.
I mostly read ebooks these days, but this is a tiny part of why I like physical books. @bookstodon#Bookstodon
I really loved Kat Chen’s previous board book Play with Me, and Play Outside with Me is just as cute. Following the same concept of “playdate in a book”, this book is an interactive read, inviting the young reader to play time.
Full review : https://ablueboxfullofbooks.wordpress.com/2024/06/28/play-outside-with-me/
Kim Bolan writes a convincing storyline, with red-herrings and twists in the plot, excellent pacing w/ delightful surprise reveals in this #MurderMystery about a #gang hit of a ranking #MoneyLaundering boss in #Richmond, #BC.
#BookReview Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers
Read on audio
Narrator: Stephen Jack for RNIB
Pub. 1932, 499pp
Victor Gollancz
I picked up this novel for the continuation of the relationship between private detective Lord Peter and novelist Harriet Vane that started in Strong Poison, and I’m looking forward to going on to her famous novel Gaudy Night after this one as they appear together again there.
This novel has a grisly murder (or was it suicide?) centred around a seaside town that Harriet’s visiting. She discovers the body on the beach and Lord Peter hot foots it down to help her try to figure out the details and ensure she’s not considered a suspect. Throughout the mystery Lord Peter and Harriet seem to have more creative ideas than the local police and Harriet even moves into the victim’s old lodgings!
The victim, Alexis, was a dancer at a large hotel and had been engaged to be married to one of the wealthy guests, and the mystery concerns the question of why would he have contemplated suicide when he had a secure life ahead of him?
There are so many quirky little moments to lighten the mood as things progress, such as this description of a policeman taking notes during an interview:
“The pencil happened to be an indelible one and had left an unpleasant taste in the mouth.he passed a pink tongue along his purple stained lips, looking to Mr Perkins’s goblin-haunted imagination like a very large dog savouring a juicy bone .”
Lord Peter continues to try to romance Harriet and she is still not having any of it, resulting in some amusing exchanges between them and this book is strongest when they’re interacting.
I also enjoyed the description of Harriet reading through the books on the victim’s shelves as she tried to jog her subconscious for her detective novel, then turning to crosswords to try to get her writing going again.
The eventual solution was rather long winded with an overlong description of solving a cipher (which was tedious on audio), but otherwise entertaining. It took me a long time to read and the ending was rather abrupt, with Lord Peter and Harriet solving the mystery then speeding off to London to go out to lunch! A good read but not my favourite of hers so far. #bookstodon#audiobook#AmReading@bookstodon