I thought I’d better make one of these posts explaining where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing in Chester at FantasyCon this weekend, just in case anyone has any interest. I’m on three panels with absolutely lovely folk, all of which I’m very much looking forward to, and I have a reading with some […]
Read more "Where I’ll Be: FantasyCon 2018"This was a book that hooked me on the blurb but then almost lost me in the initial reveal. Rosemary is in college, she never talks about her family so no one knows how dysfunctional her parents are, or that her brother has been missing for years, or that when she was little, she lost […]
Read more "2015 Reading Challenge, Book 36: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler"So this week’s book is magical realism for the modern age, and it’s delightful. Meche returns to Mexico City in 2009 after the death of her father, to attend his funeral and to sort his personal effects. She’s not seen him or spoken to him in twenty years, and hasn’t been back to Mexico City […]
Read more "2015 Reading Challenge, Book 35: Signal To Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia"Soooo, this is the book I tweeted about being absolutely amazing. It follows Mark Watney – astronaut, botanist and mechanical engineer – as he’s accidentally left for dead on Mars and has to try and find a way to survive on his own for long enough to meet up with the next batch of astronauts. Easy right? After all it’s […]
Read more "2015 Reading Challenge, Book 13: The Martian by Andy Weir"I chose to read two books for this category, both memoir as opposed to biography. Marya Hornbacher gets right to the nitty gritty in these books, she tears down any veils of gauze to show herself exactly as she was. That in itself is both vital and hugely helpful, especially for those of us who […]
Read more "2015 Reading Challenge, Book 11: Wasted and Madness by Marya Hornbacher"As I said last week, this book made me very angry. The whole TL;DR version is that the snobbery of the characters, including lower working class protagonist Richard Papen, was not a device but an attitude bled throughout the book. One too pervasive to be dismissed as a mere plot point or character facet. Yeah, […]
Read more "2015 Reading Challenge, Book 10: The Secret History by Donna Tartt"I made a decision with this book, the ‘Book with magic in’, to return to fantasy. I’ve avoided fantasy since my late teens as I kinda got super bored of it. A lot of it felt the same and/or too feckin’ long. Too much stodgy world building, sexist depictions of women, tiresome tropes used the same […]
Read more "2015 Reading Challenge, Book 9: The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin"I may have read this character entirely wrong, but these vlogs are all my opinion so I went with my opinion. I had significant problems with this book. Many thoughts about what concerned me reside within this week’s (much shorter) challenge vlog. I think it’s important to reiterate here that I enjoyed reading this book […]
Read more "2015 Reading Challenge, Book 7: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky"So, to book 6! Herein are my thoughts on the magnificent Ancillary Justice. After this there’s a bit of a scifi drought in the challenge, which to be fair was kinda the point, but I’ve wanted to read AJ forever, so in it went, I have zero regrets! Enjoy my ramblings, usual buying linkies below. Next week […]
Read more "2015 Reading Challenge, Book 6: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie"I’m two books ahead of this, so I’m feeling pretty smug right now. Of course, these vlogs are getting less and less views, so I’m pretty sure no one else is as delighted as I am of this swathe of reading. Anyhow, my aim is to get these vlogs shorter, punchier and more fun, especially as the […]
Read more "2015 Reading Challenge, Book 5: Ack Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell"
Word Bullets 