Sir Furboy's 75 books in 2001

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Sir Furboy's 75 books in 2001

1sirfurboy
Jan. 4, 2021, 6:11 am

A new year, time for a new thread! Blwyddyn newydd dda i chi gyd.

I am Stephen, or Sir Furboy. I live in Aberystwyth, on the west coast of Mid Wales. My hobbies include walking, cycling, kayaking and surfing (obviously), although these days I mostly just surf in my kayak. I also like languages and reading (of course), and thus also reading in other languages.

Oh yes, some of my favourite genres are Young Adult, Sci Fi, Coming of Age, Fantasy and Historical. I also try to read some classics each year, as well as some non fiction and other works out of those genres.

I start the year with 132 books on my TBR list. It is my firm intention to reduce that number substantially - but I am not so foolish as to think I will get anywhere near clearing it, as the more I read the more I want to read.

Anyway, I hope you will star my thread and stop by every now and again. Coffee is available (not necessarily from me! But its definitely available) and the sofa is comfy :)

2sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Jan. 4, 2021, 6:57 am

1. The Trouble with Jacob - Eloise Jarvis McGraw



An enjoyable story by a writer who never lets you down. Eloise McGraw has written some very fine books, such as the brilliantly imagined and researched "Master Cornhill". This one is a little more of a classic children's adventure. A ghost story with a nice little twist.

Twins Andy and Kat get sent to rural Oregon for what they expect will be a dull summer, but it does not stay dull when Andy meets an enigmatic boy called Jacob, looking for his stolen bed, and unseen by his twin sister.

The description of rural Oregon is very rich, and well done. This intermingles nicely with the ghost story. The "party line" telephone was amusing, as were other descriptions of the town's inhabitants.

I felt that the division of the twins into rational Andy and believer-in-ghosts Kat was a little overdone. All the same it was nice that it was rational Andy that could see the ghost to start with, which created a nice dynamic.

It was a light opening read for the year - nothing hugely memorable or profound here but a nice read that the intended audience should love.

Eloise McGraw really should be better known.

3FAMeulstee
Jan. 4, 2021, 7:02 am

Happy reading in 2021, Stephen!

4scaifea
Jan. 4, 2021, 8:26 am

Hello, Stephen!
Your first read of the year sounds good - I'm adding it to my list!

5PaulCranswick
Jan. 4, 2021, 9:12 am



And keep up with my friends here, Sir F Have a great 2021.

6drneutron
Jan. 4, 2021, 1:03 pm

Welcome back!

7PawsforThought
Jan. 4, 2021, 4:55 pm

Hi Stephen! 132 TBR books? I'd be scared to run out of reading materials if mine was that small! ;)

8ronincats
Jan. 4, 2021, 6:15 pm

Dropping off my and wishing you the best of new years in 2021!

9EllaTim
Jan. 4, 2021, 6:32 pm

Happy New Year, Stephen!

10thornton37814
Jan. 4, 2021, 6:39 pm

Welcome back and happy reading!

11sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Jan. 5, 2021, 6:42 am

2. The Sound that Remains - Roderick Jellema



I found this fascinating book in a second hand bookshop. It is a collection of historical and more modern poetry composed in Frisian, but with a handy side by side English translation for each poem. Handy because I will never speak Frisian well enough to read these well (although an understanding of Dutch and Scots can get you pretty close with familiar words like "Bern" for children (Scots Bairn), and all kinds of Dutch words that are the same or close cognates in Frisian.

It is Frisian poetry so inevitably there had to be an ode to a bicycle! Other poems of note were the Frisian Don Quixote, adapted to Frisian culture which, according to the notes, has no experience with feudalism, so those aspects of the poem are toned down, but klompen (wooden shoes) make an inevitable appearance.

I was also surprised to find some German cognates that are not found in English or Dutch. The word "bisto" appeared a lot, meaning "are you" and cognate with German "Bist du". In any case it had me thinking "ah..." every time I read it.

Frisian is a fascinating language. Closer to English than any other language that is not derived from Old English, it is still quite a long way from mutual intelligibility. It appears closer to Dutch, but also really quite different from Dutch in many ways. Books such as this, preserving the Frisian cultural heritage and the language itself are really very important, but also interesting too.

12scaifea
Jan. 5, 2021, 8:49 am

>11 sirfurboy: Well, that sounds fascinating! I don't know much at all about Frisian, but it sounds very interesting. Adding that one to the list - thanks for the great review!

13richardderus
Jan. 5, 2021, 10:25 am

>11 sirfurboy: what >12 scaifea: said

Happy to see you back in '21. I'm looking forward to what Open University treats are in store!

14calm
Jan. 5, 2021, 10:50 am

Blwyddyn newydd dda Stephen. I'll be lurking :)

15weird_O
Jan. 5, 2021, 1:41 pm

I followed you from Richard's thread to see what's up. As Calm says just above, I'll be lurking. Not sure I'll have anything to contribute.

16SirThomas
Jan. 6, 2021, 3:32 am

Happy New Year, Happy New Thread and a healthy life with a lot of books!

17sirfurboy
Jan. 6, 2021, 4:55 am

>12 scaifea: Thanks scaifea, I hope you enjoy it (if you can find a copy!)

>13 richardderus: Thanks Richard. Openlearn is having issues at the moment so I may not be reading more of those just yet. (I like to rtead the books in conjunction with the course exercises online).

>14 calm: Good to have you hear, calm.

>15 weird_O: Nice to see tou wierd_o. I need to hunt out your thread. :)

>16 SirThomas: Thanks SirThomas.

18sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Jan. 6, 2021, 4:57 am

3. Sleepless - Ali Sparkes



Ali Sparkes is a great children's writer, and this book starts off a new series of hers that will surely be loved by mid grade children. Children with special powers, a vampire and a monster. What could possibly go wrong?

Tima, Matt and Elena don't know each other but they find one another once they all start waking up at 1.34 every morning. Three very different children but with this in common. They also discover that they can communicate with animals.

There is a nice interplay with the characters and with the supporting cast. It is all well written and well plotted.

I don't think I will continue with the series myself though. There is nothing very deep or memorable for us older young adult readers. This is just a great children's story that would rightly be lapped up by the intended age group. Thoroughly recommended for them. It would make a good gift.

19PersephonesLibrary
Jan. 6, 2021, 5:15 am

>11 sirfurboy: That sounds like a very intriguing read! I like how different languages and dialects move and develop. I even tried to learn Dutch - and still can understand a lot just because of my German mother tongue. And I didn't know that Frisian goes as far as GB.

20sirfurboy
Jan. 6, 2021, 5:35 am

>19 PersephonesLibrary: Welcome :) And thanks.

Frisian does not exactly reach GB, but many of the Anglo Saxon settlers were Frisian and so the languages have a common root. An old common root though!

The reason Scots is of help in understanding Frisian is that Scots and English diverged in the Old English period, and Scots is a more conservative form of English in many ways. Many words are preserved in Scots that were replaced by Norse or French words in English, and it appears that many of the same words were also preserved in Frisian.

It is indeed all very fascinating.

21PersephonesLibrary
Jan. 6, 2021, 1:35 pm

>20 sirfurboy: That's what I meant. :) It's also fun to notice that if you take a look at very old texts from e.g. Middleages with old/young middle german. When terms and words are overlapping and you discover the roots.

22sirfurboy
Jan. 7, 2021, 5:10 am

>21 PersephonesLibrary: Indeed. Thanks :)

23sirfurboy
Jan. 7, 2021, 5:11 am

4. Glencoe: The Story of the Massacre - John Prebble



This is the story of the Glencoe massacre told as popular narrative history. It is very well done, eliciting a good sense of place and setting for one of the darker events of Scottish history. The author approaches the subject in a fair manner, and does not over-romanticise the events.

It is not the last word on the subject. In some ways he may be importing too much into the events, but this is still a good book and well researched. Not quite as readable as his excellent Culloden, he does nevertheless manage to look at the history from the perspective of those who experienced it close up.

The Glencoe massacre saw the deaths of about 30 people. This was by no means a unique event, but it became a symbol and that symbol of something and thus knowledge of it endures. This book will not look at other massacres, and doesn't really go into a deep analysis of the rise of the symbolism that followed, but it does carefully look at the events themselves and finds plenty of blame for the event to share around. A recommended read.

24EllaTim
Jan. 7, 2021, 9:26 am

>11 sirfurboy: Interesting Stephen.
It is fun, comparing languages. Frisian is different enough from Dutch to be difficult to understand for us. Lots of more modern words are the same, but the more basic ones have the differences.
When we visited Scotland I was surprised by how easy it was to understand the Scots. Their pronunciation of English is so clear for us.

25sirfurboy
Jan. 8, 2021, 7:23 am

>24 EllaTim: Interesting about finding Scots easier to understand - but it does make sense, yes.

Thanks :)

26sirfurboy
Jan. 8, 2021, 7:24 am

5. Robin Hood: Hacking, Heists & Flaming Arrows - Robert Muchamore



Robert Muchamore wrote the CHERUB series, loved by mid grade children, and this new story about Robin Hood but in the modern day will happily fill the same niche, and the same readers will love this.

Robin and his big brother John live with their father in an alternate Nottingham that has been taken over by the evil gangster Guy Gisbourne. John is huge and Robin is tiny as they are half brothers so they call John "little John" as a joke. At the start of the book Robin gets int trouble for breaking into the head master's office and changing his grades on the school computer.

That should set the scene enough that you can probably guess where a bunch of other characters are going to come from. Oh, and yes, Robin is very much into speed archery.

The book mentions a video on the Internet of speed archery - a video that actually exists and that I have seen. Sadly the video is carefully edited. In archery you can have speed or you can have accuracy, but you can't have both. Still, this is a children's book, so Robin does indeed have speed and accuracy... luckily.

Its all good and harmless fun. Not deep or meaningful, but an enjoyable and fantastical adventure.

And even if the archery exploits stretch the imagination a little, I though the description of a later bit of hacking was actually very well done. So many writers just write a bunch of nonsense when describing computer hacking, but this description was plausible and actually possible (even though it did rely on Gisbourne being so greedy it had made him foolish).

I may carry on with the series as it was available from the library. However it is really going to be enjoyed most by mid grade children so I won't be in a huge hurry to do so.

That was also my feeling about CHERUB - but I would definitely recommend the books to the age group.

27PersephonesLibrary
Jan. 8, 2021, 8:17 am

Interesting adaptation on the Robin Hood-story! Though I think nobody will ever top my first crush (I was in kindergarten, okay?). ;-)

28scaifea
Jan. 8, 2021, 8:28 am

>26 sirfurboy: Oh, that one sounds good! Adding it to the list.

>27 PersephonesLibrary: *snork!* You are definitely not alone with that first crush, Kathy. *swoons*

29PawsforThought
Jan. 8, 2021, 9:04 am

>27 PersephonesLibrary: I still fancy cartoon Robin Hood and I'm in my mid-30's. He's gorgeous!

30sirfurboy
Jan. 8, 2021, 10:56 am

>27 PersephonesLibrary: >28 scaifea: and >29 PawsforThought: Well this is amusing. I always liked the cartoon Robin Hood too, but don't think I can describe that as a crush ;)

31PersephonesLibrary
Jan. 8, 2021, 2:00 pm

>28 scaifea: & >29 PawsforThought: O-de-lally, I am not alone!

>30 sirfurboy: He is very likable, indeed. :D

32sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Jan. 11, 2021, 5:31 am

6. The Highland Clearances - John Prebble



This is a popular history book describing the Highland clearances. It is a good work, quite readable, but I think my worst Prebble book so far. That does not mean it is terrible. It is definitely worth reading, but it will be less memorable and falls short in some other ways.

Prebble definitely has a knack for speaking history from the ordinary person's perspective. He makes good use of a wide range of sources, although I am aware that his use of sources for this book in particular was criticised. He relied almost entirely upon later 19th century secondary sources. It is popular history though, and although purists might tut at that, reliance on secondary sources can actually be preferable in what is ostensibly a tertiary source. Yet maybe his range of such sources should have been improved to take more account of later scholarship.

But sources aside, the author's objectivity seems to have deserted him somewhat in this book. One thing I liked about his other works was that he did spend time trying to show that no one came away from the events entirely vindicated nor entirely condemned. In this book, however, he does not seem to dig around for truth and perhaps just accepts the colouring of his sources or maybe his own preconceptions.

Nevertheless the highland clearances represent a dark piece of British history that should not be forgotten nor neglected, and despite its failings, this book still deserves its place on bookshelves.

33lkernagh
Jan. 11, 2021, 5:15 pm

Hi Stephen, stopping by to wish you a wonderful year of reading and see that you are well on your way with 6 books read!

34sirfurboy
Jan. 12, 2021, 11:41 am

>33 lkernagh: Thanks Lori, good to see you and I am looking forward to seeing your reading choices for the year too.

35mstrust
Jan. 12, 2021, 3:14 pm

Am I too late to wish you Happy New Year? How 'bout Happy New Thread?

36sirfurboy
Jan. 13, 2021, 6:18 am

>35 mstrust: Never to late. Welcome and happy new year to you too.

37sirfurboy
Jan. 13, 2021, 6:23 am

7. Ready Player Two - Ernest Cline



This was a book that probably should not have been written, although that does not mean that I disliked it. Indeed it was good - just not as good as Ready Player One. Like a movie sequel, it reprised the themes of the first book with a brand new quest through the online Oasis, exploring gamer memorabilia and trivia from the 1980s and 1990s. Wade Watts goes through a bit of a crisis but comes back to lead the new quest, surrounded by his old team (the High Five) and a new one (the Low Five).

Ready Player one was a brilliant concept, well executed. This book had some flashes of that brilliance, but at times I felt it was a bit of a slog. The setting was no longer novel, and holes in the concept began to show.

This is a book for gamer nerds, but true geeks would no doubt feel that the obvious workaround to limitations in the game layer of the oasis application could be resolved by hacking into the underlying communications layers. But hey, it makes a good story if we just assume that everything is in the hands of the gamers.

Still, the action was well written, the characters gained some depth, and the ending was interesting, if ultimately unsatisfying to anyone who wishes to examine the assumptions of it in more detail. I probably cannot get away with saying more without giving spoilers.

Anyone who enjoyed the first book will probably enjoy this one too, and a significant number will no doubt love it, but I don't think there will be many who feel that this was a sequel that *needed* writing.

38fairywings
Bearbeitet: Jan. 13, 2021, 8:19 am

>37 sirfurboy: That one is on my list. Great review, I loved Ready Player One but wasn't quite ready to rush out and find this one, it can stay near the bottom of the pile for a little longer I think.

39FreyaAshton
Jan. 13, 2021, 8:34 am

Dieser Benutzer wurde wegen Spammens entfernt.

40drneutron
Jan. 13, 2021, 1:13 pm

>38 fairywings: Yup, I agree.

41PersephonesLibrary
Jan. 13, 2021, 1:34 pm

>37 sirfurboy: It's such a pity when sequels are just the "warmed up" first book...

42richardderus
Jan. 14, 2021, 7:00 pm

>32 sirfurboy: That one sounds like one I should read! Ancestral connections and all...so thanks for bringing it onto my radar.

43avatiakh
Jan. 14, 2021, 8:56 pm

>26 sirfurboy: I'm a fan of Muchamore and have this book and the last few of his Henderson Boys books on my tbr. I haven't considered his Rock Wars series as yet.

44SirThomas
Jan. 15, 2021, 1:20 am

>37 sirfurboy: Thank you for the warning, Stephen.
It's not like I don't have alternatives on my book pile ;-)
I wish you a wonderful weekend!

45sirfurboy
Jan. 15, 2021, 6:14 am

>28 scaifea: >40 drneutron: >44 SirThomas: Thanks all. I should say again that I did enjoy the book. It was never terrible - just disappointing in some ways. But yes, no need to hurry with it!

>42 richardderus: Yes, all Prebble's books are interesting, but I would recommend Culloden as a starting point. We have some family heirlooms passed down to us from a highlander ancestor, and there is an accompanying note from one of my Victorian forebears who claims that this ancestor fought in Culloden for the Jacobites, was wounded and escaped. On reading Prebble's history, I found myself suspecting my Victorian ancestor had this wrong. His clan fought for the Government at Culloden.

However Prebble does make the point that some chief hedged their bets and gave men to both sides, so maybe he fought for the Jacobites.

Prebble's book on the Glencoe Massacre was even more telling. A generation before this ancestor, it digs up reference to someone of the same name who may (but only possibly) have been involved. Very possibly his father.

So yes, fascinating books.

>43 avatiakh: I haven't read Rock Wars either. I shall look out for them now though. Thanks.

46sirfurboy
Jan. 15, 2021, 6:15 am

8. Enacting European Citizenship - Open University



My first OpenLearn course and associated free ebook of the year. This one is all about EU citizenship but with a focus on applying that, being active citizens and examining how even those without formal citizenship in the EU can act as EU citizens.

It is interesting, but not clear to what level it is truly relevant.

47PaulCranswick
Jan. 16, 2021, 9:13 pm

>46 sirfurboy: May be quite relevant to a number in coming times, Sir F. I saw that Simon Rattle has decided to apply for German citizenship.

48sirfurboy
Jan. 18, 2021, 6:08 am

>47 PaulCranswick: And who can blame him. Good to see you Paul. I hope you had a good weekend.

49sirfurboy
Jan. 18, 2021, 6:08 am

9. Psychology in the 21st Century - Open University



This free book and associated OpenLearn course is an introduction to the study of psychology. It is interesting, covering the history and development of psychology, methods and ethics. Some interesting cases are referred to, and it acts as an excellent gateway into the subject.

50EllaTim
Jan. 18, 2021, 6:23 am

>46 sirfurboy: Hm, I must have a look into that one, Stephen! Active citizen, really? how?

51sirfurboy
Jan. 19, 2021, 5:50 am

>50 EllaTim: The idea of active citizenship is about political and community engagement. There were examples of people who did not have formal citizenship who were making use of EU law to stand up for their rights. In this way, the argument was that they were claiming citizenship.

Thanks. :)

52sirfurboy
Jan. 19, 2021, 5:52 am

10. Les deux nigauds - Comtesse de Ségur



The title translates as "The two simpletons", but perhaps here the term simpleton just means a person of a simpler life.

This is a graphic adaption of a classic French story about two young people from Brittany who are determined to go to Paris and live a more sophisticated life. Their parents do not want them to go but their father finally relents. They are sent with their nanny to stay with their aunt. The journey is eventful from the start and then they are the object of derision in Paris for their provincial ways.

The story is, I suppose, a cautionary tale. It is also one that takes issue with the attractions of a city and pushes the merits of provincial life.

I did not know the story before reading this. I picked the book up in a second hand bookshop. It was an easy enough read, but I am not convinced this was really a story suited to the graphic novel format.

53EllaTim
Jan. 19, 2021, 2:25 pm

>51 sirfurboy: Then I get it, Stephen. I think the EU does have a problem when it comes to democratic influence of citizens. Some change is definitely wanted.

>52 sirfurboy: I remember a comic called "Bécassine". Wikipedia: "The character Bécassine is a young Breton housemaid, usually depicted wearing a green dress pastiching traditional Breton peasant costume, with lace coiffe and clogs. She is said to come from Finistère, the area most associated with traditional Breton culture. However, her clothing has non-Breton elements, reminiscent of the local costume of Picardy. She is usually portrayed without a mouth.

Seen as a stereotype and remnant of the contempt with which the Bretons were long seen, she is the typical provincial girl as seen by the more refined city people of Paris, the target audience of the young girls' magazine La Semaine de Suzette. But over the course of the stories, and coupled with the success she has, she is depicted more and more favourably. "Bécassine" is a nickname, derived from the French word for a number of birds of the family of the snipe, which is also used as a way of saying "fool" in French.


54PersephonesLibrary
Jan. 19, 2021, 2:30 pm

>52 sirfurboy: That one looks like a lot of fun to read!

55sirfurboy
Jan. 20, 2021, 5:32 am

>53 EllaTim: That sounds like an interesting comic. Developing characters in that way could be a clever way to challenge, rather than reinforce the stereotypes.

>54 PersephonesLibrary: Thanks. Good to see you. :)

56sirfurboy
Jan. 20, 2021, 5:33 am

11. Introducing the Philosophy of Religion - Open University



This is another interesting free course and free ebook from the Open University, looking at the issue of the philosophy of religion. There are multimedia elements of the course that can be accessed through the openlearn website. It looks at the issue of philosophy of religion and some arguments for or against the existence of God and why and how we should think about the question. It then goes into more depth on Aquinas' second way (the uncaused cause argument).

There is a short discussion of logic, but I found that way to short - just an introduction to the concept of a sound argument.

The discussion of Aquinas' argument was a real strength of the course. Although only a small part of the whole, it did convince me there was more going on in the uncaused cause argument than I have generally thought in the past. I always found this an unsatisfying proof of the existence of God, because of certain objections that are easily made (such as "if God is the first cause, who caused God"). Yet the course shows that Aquinas considered these objections and the argument was more subtle than that.

When the new atheists dismiss these arguments, they show their ignorance of Aquinas. On the other hand, the course rightly then quotes Hume and introduces and element of doubt regarding infinities of causes. Infinities are tricky things, so we must approach with caution the idea that what is reasonable in the finite is also reasonable with infinities.

So ultimately I think the course sided with my own view that there are no valid and sound logical arguments for God's existence or non existence.

Anyway this is an interesting short course for anyone interested in the subject - but its little more than a taster into what is, naturally, an enormous subject.

57PersephonesLibrary
Jan. 22, 2021, 4:03 pm

Have a lovely weekend with many interesting books, Stephen! Hope you are doing well!

58sirfurboy
Jan. 23, 2021, 7:18 am

>57 PersephonesLibrary: Thanks, and you too. All is good here, although a touch busy with work. Hopefully it won't too badly impact my reading time!

59sirfurboy
Jan. 25, 2021, 5:27 am

12. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix



Garth Nix is an excellent writer with a big imagination, and this book demonstrates that. Yet I also felt that in some ways, in this story, I was reading Neil Gaiman. The reason is that Nix has ventured onto a territory that Gaiman has firmly inhabited - an alternative near present with a cross over to the fairy realm.

It is 1983 and Susan Arkshaw has come to London to search for her father. She begins with Uncle Frank, whom she has never met, but her mother has mentioned. Things turn awry quickly when it turns out that Frank is more than just a crime boss, and is then despatched by someone who calls himself Merlin. Not THE Merlin, but Merlin the left handed bookseller, who is also more than that. He is part of a secret organisation of booksellers who investigate and deal with the encroachment of the fairy realm into the real world.

There are plenty of 1980s cultural references in this work. It is not overloaded with them, but it does ground itself nicely in the era. It also plays with them, changing the sex of The Professionals for instance. Susan Cooper, Alan Garner and other writers get a mention - which is fair enough because several of these are tapped for ideas. But all in all this is a very well done story, that is very creative and original.

My only niggle with the cultural references was where people talked about wearing pants - meaning trousers. That seemed odd when so much else was deliberately and carefully constructed in the story. A very minor thing though in an otherwise excellent story.

But I wonder if anyone else will get confused as to whether they are reading Nix or Gaiman!

60PaulCranswick
Jan. 25, 2021, 6:28 am

>59 sirfurboy: I have that one on the shelves Sir F, so I'll look out for the Gaiman similarities.

61Jaded_Kiwi
Jan. 25, 2021, 6:36 am

>27 PersephonesLibrary: I was the same. And I still have a deep love of anything Robin Hood related. He was always more of a hero to me than classic super heros.

62PersephonesLibrary
Jan. 25, 2021, 1:49 pm

>61 Jaded_Kiwi: Agreed! He is a human being (well, not so much in the Disney movie but you know what I mean) and doesn't need any superpowers. Just his cleverness, his friends and his bow! (I wanted to learn archery before The Hunger Games :D!)

63richardderus
Jan. 25, 2021, 4:00 pm

>59 sirfurboy: I think Australians, like Nix, use "pants" in the American sense of "trousers." Otherwise it really is a bizarre lapse.

Pleasant week's reads, Stephen!

64sirfurboy
Jan. 26, 2021, 6:21 am

>60 PaulCranswick: I hope you enjoy it, Paul. I will be interested to see what you make of it. Roni loved it too.

>61 Jaded_Kiwi: Oh yes, I agree. Super heros have it easy! :)

>62 PersephonesLibrary: I was in our school archery club many years ago. I still occasionally get a chance to do it.

>63 richardderus: Yes, that may be it - but the author had been so careful elsewhere that I wondered if it was the attention of an editor who saw fit to adapt the book for the larger US market. Oh well.

65sirfurboy
Jan. 26, 2021, 6:38 am

13. THE LOST BOY an unputdownable psychological thriller full of breathtaking twists - Margaret Murphy



Calling a book "unputdownable" is a questionable marketing ploy in my opinion. I tend to treat the word as a warning. Putting it in the title seems doubly questionable. It looks naff, but most of this author's list has "unputdownable" or "gripping" in her titles. I also read the book with Kindle Unlimited - another warning.

But on the plus side, this book was published by an actual independent book publisher (not self published). It had a good cover, and competent writing. The premise had potential. One boy goes missing, and another one is found, but is unable to speak. Perhaps a little harrowing, but definitely a mystery worth exploring and the opening chapters were quite good.

The book, however, suffers from an overly complicated plot, which nevertheless failed to really surprise, and an enormous and confusing cast of characters.

It was a nice try by the author, but one to miss. It is unputdownable in the sense that you cannot put down what you never picked up.

66PersephonesLibrary
Jan. 26, 2021, 12:53 pm

>65 sirfurboy: That "unputdownable" made me laugh! Authors and publishers really try everything! :D

67sirfurboy
Jan. 28, 2021, 5:46 am

>66 PersephonesLibrary: Yes, they will. :) Thanks.

68sirfurboy
Jan. 28, 2021, 5:47 am

14. Intermediate French - Understanding spoken French - Open University



This is the course book that accompanies the free intermediate level French course of the same name.

As suggested by the title, the course has a strong audio-visual element that you won't find in the book itself. In fact the course studies a number of videos of native speakers and looks at strategies for understanding and learning from such content, as well as looking at patterns and features of spoken French, different pronunciations etc.

This is a good and interesting course, and I rate the book highly for that reason, but note that you won't get much from the book unless you sign up for the free course at the Openlearn website:

https://www.open.edu/openlearn

69EllaTim
Jan. 28, 2021, 7:08 am

>68 sirfurboy: Seems like an interesting course Stephen. I started Duolingo French, and am really enjoying the opportunity to practice listening and speaking, sorely missed at school. Seems like this course is filling in the same gap.

Have a nice weekend!

70sirfurboy
Jan. 28, 2021, 7:49 am

>69 EllaTim: Oh yes, Duolingo is great. This course is intended for B1/B2 level though, and has useful tricks for when you can understand the language quite well but need help understanding it as it is spoken.

71figsfromthistle
Jan. 28, 2021, 8:04 am

>68 sirfurboy: Glad you are enjoying the course.

72PersephonesLibrary
Jan. 28, 2021, 9:45 am

>68 sirfurboy: Est-ce que ça veut dire qu'on peut parler en français ici?

73sirfurboy
Jan. 28, 2021, 6:35 pm

>72 PersephonesLibrary: Certainement, si vous le souhaitez.

Sie könnten auch Deutsch versuchen. :)

I can't promise that my grammar will be great though.

74EllaTim
Jan. 28, 2021, 6:57 pm

>70 sirfurboy: It's a different and very useful approach that course. More similar to the real-life experience I think. I try listening to French radio sometimes, really hard though.
Duolingo is so nice and reassuring, you can always listen again, the app can slow a sentence down. It's a bit like laying some groundwork that was inadequate with me.

75PersephonesLibrary
Jan. 29, 2021, 3:09 am

>73 sirfurboy: Impeccable!

76sirfurboy
Jan. 29, 2021, 5:41 am

77sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Jan. 29, 2021, 6:00 am

15. The Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Gospels in Parallel Columns, with the Versions of Wycliffe and Tyndale: Arranged, with Preface and Notes



This fascinating work is available at the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/gothicandanglos00ulfigoog/page/n372/mode/2up

It contains, as the title suggests, four parallel columns across each pair of pages with the gospels in Gothic (which I cannot read at all) Old English, and the Wycliffe and Tyndale versions in English (albeit middle English and late middle English).

I didn't really spend much time on the Gothic columns, although I did notice quite a few similarities between Gothic and Old English. Nevertheless they are clearly two divergent languages and there was no way I was going to be able to read the Gothic text at all.

The various English renderings were very interesting though, and it was a good Anglo Saxon reader.

As per the title, this book only covered the four gospels.

78PaulCranswick
Jan. 30, 2021, 8:34 pm

>77 sirfurboy: It wasn't a tad heavy going? Old English is pretty tough stuff to wade through at the best of times although Middle English I find more decipherable.

79sirfurboy
Feb. 1, 2021, 6:45 am

>78 PaulCranswick: Oh yes, I will never be fluent in Old English, but at least I had a good enough grounding to make sense of it. The Tyndale translation in particular helped a lot when I got stuck.

I hope you had a good weekend.

80sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Feb. 1, 2021, 7:07 am

My January Summary:

15 books read.

11 In English
1 in French
1 in Frisian (and English)
1 in Old English (and Gothic, and middle English)
1 In French and English (text book/course)

7. Fiction
1. Poetry
7. Non Fiction

TBR: Now down to 120 books (60 of which I have started! Working to get that number down). That is 12 books fewer than last month. I am doing well at dodging the book bullets ;)

81sirfurboy
Feb. 1, 2021, 7:08 am

16. The Wishing Game - Patrick Redmond



I am not sure how I came to add this to my list of books to read, but I decided to reduce the length of that list by actually finishing some of them!

This book was marketed as a dark psychological thriller, and that does not badly misrepresent it, but on completion, I think I would place it firmly in the category of horror. Not a genre I read often, and if horror is your thing, this is a fine example that should be worth reading.

I did like the author's writing, and he described the 1954 boarding school very well, complete with all the social conventions and pressures, and a nasty bullying element. To start with, I thought this book might be something like the classic "The Chocolate War", but it took a very different turn with the captivating and then domination presence of Richard Rokeby who befriends and comes to the aid of Jonathon, a victim of the bullying.

The story is interesting and engrossing. I did enjoy reading this, despite the growing sense of dread throughout. The narrator of the story perhaps finds himself able to recount events that he ought not really have known. The author might argue that he had discovered information with the passage of time, but I would not be convinced. Still we needed the information for elements of the story, so I will forgive that. Also, the author's frequent use of all caps for shouting was forgivable, if a little strange. As for the ending - well I must avoid spoilers, but I felt it was all a little too... dare I say, twee? Maybe not the right word - but really it did not resolve well.

Worth reading, especially for horror fans. It won't be a favourite of mine.

82sirfurboy
Feb. 2, 2021, 5:24 am

A quick question - does anyone know how I can change my topic title? I appear to have a typo and I have lost 20 years! :)

83SirThomas
Feb. 2, 2021, 5:41 am

I think this can only be done within half an hour of creating the thread.
If you continue it in a new thread, you can edit the title there again.

84sirfurboy
Feb. 2, 2021, 7:54 am

>83 SirThomas: Ah, that explains why I could not find it. Thanks :)

85sirfurboy
Feb. 2, 2021, 7:55 am

17. The Politics of Devolution - Open University



Another OpenLearn free course and free course book. This one looked at the devolution settlement in the UK, and larger aspects of the politics of devolution. There were some external readings, and plenty of good information. One point I did not know (or had forgotten) was the suggestion that the asymmetric devolution settlements in the Home Nations were perhaps a deliberate ploy to fend off federalism. Yet another politics book I have been reading sees the UK as quasi federal in any case (and indeed, the devolution settlements have changed since this course was written, with Wales now much closer to the Scottish model).

A touch dated but very interesting all the same.

86AnnaBarber
Feb. 2, 2021, 8:01 am

Dieser Benutzer wurde wegen Spammens entfernt.

87PersephonesLibrary
Feb. 2, 2021, 1:38 pm

>80 sirfurboy: Impressive statistics, Stephen!

>82 sirfurboy: I detected a typo in my thread when it had about 180 messages... :)

88richardderus
Feb. 2, 2021, 5:33 pm

>85 sirfurboy: The UK's shuddering horrors over federalism have never made the slightest sense to this Murrukun.

A darn good January, and while February's first wasn't a goal, at least it wasn't an own goal either.

89sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Feb. 3, 2021, 5:05 am

>88 richardderus: Oh I agree regarding Federalism. But then, a lot of UK politics does not make sense - especially of late!

Thanks.

>87 PersephonesLibrary: Yep, it would be nice if editing the first message would allow a change of the title. Oh well. Thanks. :)

If it is any comfort, I did not notice the missing s!

90sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Feb. 3, 2021, 10:32 am

Duplicate of post below.

91sirfurboy
Feb. 3, 2021, 5:24 am

18. The Second Sleep - Robert Harris



I was recommended this one by a LibraryThing user - sadly I forget who! They were blown away with a clever early plot twist and loved the book.

Perhaps because I was warned of the twist, and because of something on the cover, I spotted it. Nevertheless I won't explain it here to avoid spoilers, and as such, I will find it hard to provide a story synopsis. So all I will say that this is a story about a young clergyman who comes face to face with heresy and finds himself torn between the knowledge of what he knows and a truth that has been covered up. Along the way there will be love, friendship, betrayal and some stunningly bad decisions.

It was a good read, and the author does very well in world building and capturing a sense of place, but I had a few issues with it. Christopher Fairfax, the clergyman, is definitely a flawed character, but I felt that he sprang from a blank page. He goes from dutiful cleric to something else, but the sense of internal conflict was unconvincing for me, and perhaps largely because we have almost no insight into who he was before the story started.

Other character interactions appeared to be ticking off the checklist for a story such as this, and simply did not seem to make much sense.

I also found the ending somewhat unsatisfying.

Despite that, it is worth reading for being a somewhat innovative take on idea that has been explored elsewhere, and should delight readers more if they don't already see where this is heading.

92PersephonesLibrary
Feb. 3, 2021, 6:25 am

>89 sirfurboy: Well, I forgot to put in my name, too. In thread 2 I had the possibility to correct. :)

>90 sirfurboy: Uh, that sounds great! I need to put that on my list to remember it!

93FAMeulstee
Feb. 3, 2021, 7:20 am

>90 sirfurboy: I had the same problem with the ending, Stephen. A bit of a disappointment, as I have loved other books by Robert Harris.

94sirfurboy
Feb. 4, 2021, 9:48 am

>92 PersephonesLibrary: Ah yes, putting a name is helpful or I would just think you are called Persephone :)

>93 FAMeulstee: So did I get the idea of reading this book from you? Or did we both perhaps follow someone else's recommendation? Sadly it took me too long to get around to it to remember who recommended it!

Anyway nice to see you both.

95SirThomas
Feb. 4, 2021, 11:14 am

>94 sirfurboy: I have the same memory gaps.
Therefore, I record Book Bullets immediately in the wish list and in the private comment who recommended the book to me.

96sirfurboy
Feb. 4, 2021, 11:51 am

>95 SirThomas: Great idea. I should do that from now on. Thanks.

97SandDune
Feb. 5, 2021, 10:53 am

>91 sirfurboy: I actually really liked the ending of The Second Sleep, perhaps ‘like’ is the wrong word, but I found it satisfying, and different to where I expected the book to end up.

98PersephonesLibrary
Feb. 5, 2021, 1:00 pm

>94 sirfurboy: I would probably listen to that, too. I love Greek mythology. :)

99richardderus
Bearbeitet: Feb. 5, 2021, 6:06 pm

>91 sirfurboy: What >97 SandDune: said...I saw the direction we were going but didn't think Harris would do it, but would be more likely to use a familiar trope.

A lovely weekend's reads to you.

100PaulCranswick
Feb. 7, 2021, 10:29 am

I bought The Second Sleep probably based on the same strong group review, Sir F. I will be looking out for being surprised!

101sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Feb. 8, 2021, 5:28 am

>97 SandDune: and >99 richardderus: Well okay, we will all have different perspectives on that. :)

>100 PaulCranswick: I hope you enjoy it. It was definitely a good book - just a little flawed in my view.

102sirfurboy
Feb. 8, 2021, 5:27 am

>98 PersephonesLibrary: Well... its this a good time to admit I once owned a guinea pig called Persephone?

:)

Well she did spend half her life in a dark hutch, and the other half outside in the garden!

103PersephonesLibrary
Feb. 8, 2021, 5:28 am

>102 sirfurboy: This is hilarious!

104sirfurboy
Feb. 10, 2021, 6:35 am

19. Understanding Spoken German - Open University



This intermediate level (B1/B2) German course book accompanies an OpenLearn free online course. The book needs to be read alongside the course, because the subject matter is strategies for understanding German as it is spoken, as well as looking at pronunciation, regional accents etc.

The book makes use of a number of video clips of real German speakers and is accompanied by a set of exercises.

I recently also finished the Understanding Spoken French OpenLearn course, and some of the ideas and tips and tricks were the same in both courses (although obviously applied to different video clips).

This is a helpful and well put together free course that should be of benefit to language learners at any level, although the vocabulary would perhaps be a struggle in this one for a beginner.

105sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Feb. 11, 2021, 5:21 pm

20. Uncle Tom's cabin - Harriet Beecher-Stowe



This is a classic story about the horrors and brutality of slavery, centering around several characters but particularly Uncle Tom. I was surprised by quite how overtly Christian the book was. The stories are interesting, sometimes exciting, often harrowing. The writing is typical of the age it was written, and yet surprisingly easy to read for the most part.

It is not a perfect work but it is easy to see how it gained its importance at once and became a classic.

106richardderus
Feb. 11, 2021, 3:53 pm

>104 sirfurboy: It sounds (!) like a great accompaniment to a basic written-language course.

>105 sirfurboy: Not perfect, not even particularly stylistically good, but crucial and formative resistance literature. Deserves to be studied, though not something I'd tell a casual reader to glom onto for a good time.

107PersephonesLibrary
Feb. 11, 2021, 3:57 pm

>105 sirfurboy: Like Richard said... sometimes it's the time and situation a book is published. I just made that experience with Solchenizyn's Ein Tag im Leben des Iwan Denissowitsch. It's probably not the best book written about that part of the history - but considering when/where/how it was published it deserves nothing but admiration.

108sirfurboy
Feb. 11, 2021, 5:27 pm

>106 richardderus: Yes, stylistically it definitely had problems.

>107 PersephonesLibrary: Oh yes, I quite agree. If the book had not been written into the situation, I think I would find it quite forgettable. Context is everything with that one.

I haven't read Ein Tag im Leben des Iwan Denissowitsch but it seems that I should look out for that.

109FAMeulstee
Feb. 13, 2021, 6:42 am

>105 sirfurboy: I felt the same about Uncle Tom's cabin, Stephen, when I read it a few years back. I wrote "overly religious and preachy".

110sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Feb. 13, 2021, 7:39 am

21. Behind the Falls - Terry Dean McMillan



Kindle unlimited warning. This is a very linear tale of a bunch of teens who find an anti gravity belt, inexplicably refuse to hand it back after the CIA are chased off by the Royal Candian Mounted Police and then use it to prove some very silly conspiracy theories.

No character development. Omniscient third person point of view. Daft plot, poor proof reading and formatting was bizarre in places.

111sirfurboy
Feb. 13, 2021, 7:41 am

>109 FAMeulstee: Yep, "preachy" seems a fair description. Still, maybe that was what it needed at the time it was written.

112FAMeulstee
Feb. 13, 2021, 7:54 am

>111 sirfurboy: No doubt it was an important book, maybe still is important. The preachy was probably needed at the time, but I didn't expect it in advance.

113sirfurboy
Feb. 13, 2021, 8:55 am

>112 FAMeulstee: Yes, me neither! Thanks.

114PaulCranswick
Feb. 13, 2021, 10:14 pm

Given all the Uncle Tom's Cabin talk here Sir F, I might brave it myself some time this year.
Have a great Sunday in a hopefully not too freezing West Wales.

115sirfurboy
Feb. 15, 2021, 7:52 am

>114 PaulCranswick: Definitely worth braving, Paul. Wales was indeed pretty cold over the weekend but warming up now. I hope your weekend was good.

116sirfurboy
Feb. 15, 2021, 7:54 am

22. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott



This is a book that I have been meaning to read for years and have also been avoiding because the synopsis makes it sound like a slightly preachy sweet novel for women. Still, I was recommended it by Roni (I can't find her message to that effect which must be years old, but I recall that she loved the book) and I wanted to finally give it a go, and I am glad I did.

In short, this will never be a favourite of mine, but it is definitely an excellent story, worth reading. It has humour and love and sadness and a sense of reality that tells you it was written out of personal experience - sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter, but ultimately uplifting.

The characters are what make the book so great. The author has created many good characters and put the whole narrative together in a captivating way.

Definitely to be recommended. I doubt I will re-read it, but I am glad I read it once.

117PaulCranswick
Feb. 15, 2021, 8:00 am

>116 sirfurboy: Your final sentence encapsulated my thoughts on the book too, Sir. F.

We didn't tend to read too many American children's classics in my schooldays and it was only a few years ago that I got to it too.

118sirfurboy
Feb. 16, 2021, 6:35 am

23. Mystery of the Egyptian Scroll - Scott Peters



First in a set of adventures for a couple of ancient Egyptian children. I got the book through Kindle Unlimited, and it is one of the better offerings under that scheme. Zet witnesses a theft and then sets out to solve it. The crime turns out to be much more than a petty theft though. Not a huge amount of depth but a nice adventure.

A quick and educational read for children.

119sirfurboy
Feb. 17, 2021, 5:41 am

24. The Unseen World - Liz Moore



Ada is the home schooled daughter of single father, David Sibelius, the brilliant MIT professor whose expertise lies in AI research. Ada is something of a prodigy. At the age of 12 she holds her own in meetings of her father's research group. She loves cracking codes and has advanced mathematical skills. But she also lacks any friends her own age, has a crush on a neighbour's son, and here world is also about to be turned upside down.

David is ill. He has Alzheimer's disease. Also Ada will come to understand the faults in the father she loves, and most shocking of all, she will find he is not the person she always thought he was.

This leads to some intriguing puzzles, that build to a very interesting conclusion.

This book is clever, deep and novel. I found the opening a little slow, but not in a way that was actually off putting. It took a long time for the first major plot twist to kick in and re orientate things, but even before that, Ada's world was described in an intriguing way, and the Alzheimer's narrative was gradually established, which kept the book interesting.

When things do change, there is then a whole lot of unravelling, re-evaluation and mystery to be resolved.

Characters are drawn strongly and well. The author spent a lot of time on these, and made them interesting, flawed, loveable. Another rare strength of Liz Moore is that she clearly understood the tech she was talking about. When she describes how natural language processing was being approached in the MIT lab, for instance, the descriptions were clear and accurate. Her ideas for the technical aspects were all plausible, and her resolution of the mystery followed exactly the course a professor like David Sibelius would have taken, and that all made sense too.

This is a profound and interesting novel. I find it hard to characterise it, but I would recommend it.

120richardderus
Feb. 17, 2021, 3:23 pm

>118 sirfurboy: Strangely, that one is a book bullet...I don't usually do kids' books, but I *do* do Egyptian mysteries!

>119 sirfurboy: One day, you might give a chance to another dementia novel, Care Giver by Richard Blanchard. One of my all-time favorite novels.

121sirfurboy
Feb. 18, 2021, 5:24 am

25. Banished (Street Rats of Aramoor #1) - Michael Wisehart



This is a title I got hold of on Kindle Unlimited as an Amazon recommendation. Despite the Kindle Unlimited warning, this is actually a decent story, that I was happy to read through to completion. The author knows how to write, and has spent considerable care and attention on the story. I am not a huge fan of self published works, but this one is more "independently published" than self published. The author put together a team of friends that included editors, proof readers and illustrators, and teh care shows in the story.

Ayrion is born to a feared tribe of assassins, outcasts from society, they live a harsh warrior life. Ayrion is himself a prodigy, and this raises envy and injustice. But despite being a prodigy, he is also sensitive - he does not want to kill the innocent, even though that is what they do. In time he will be banished and forced to make his own way in life at the age of 13.

The author does well in creating a sense of injustice and his action sequences are very well done. His prose is good, and he has spent some effort on his characters. The whole story is a good adventure that kicks off a series.

It is not the story a professional publisher would have put out, perhaps. Also, despite the attention to detail, some dialogue came off as incongruous or flat, but none of that prevents it being a good story. My biggest problem with it was that Ayrion had a touch of "Mary Sue" about him. In a couple of important battles there was not really any sense that he could fail, and he doesn't mess up in any other big ways. Despite being 13 he is the one people are turning to for planning and advice. In many other ways he just seemed a bit too special.

Although that was a flaw and there were a number of other flaws, this is still one of the best Kindle Unlimited / self published works I have read. I think mid grade children would lap it up, even though maybe it was intended for young adults.

122sirfurboy
Feb. 18, 2021, 5:27 am

>120 richardderus: Thanks Richard. It was definitely a children's book, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. A slightly more involved children's book, also set in Egypt, that I read last year was The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. That one had a bit more depth to it.

I am sure you must have read River God. I thought that was very good.

I shall add Care Giver to my list. Thanks.

123sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Feb. 19, 2021, 5:34 am

26. Europe and the Law - Open University



A free OpenLearn course on Europe, EU law and how it interacts with national law through treaties etc. Plenty of reading in this one, but I found it somewhat out of date, with very little about the post Lisbon treaty situation. The course was written before the Lisbon treaty was ratified.

The subject is fascinating, and it would have been so much better if the information in this course had been studied by everyone before voting for Brexit. But all the same, the fact it is so out of date can only allow a partial recommendation. If someone studied it without knowing the changes the Lisbon treaty brought, they would be left with the wrong impression of the current situation.

124PersephonesLibrary
Feb. 20, 2021, 7:14 am

>119 sirfurboy: This sounds very interesting and your review really gets me in the mood to read it. Thank you for that! :)

>118 sirfurboy: Laugh at me but I am a big fan of Horrible Histories - a history series for children: very informative and a lot of fun to read. I found a book in a charity shop in Cornwall and later bought the whole set.



Happy reading weekend, Stephen!

125PaulCranswick
Feb. 20, 2021, 9:13 am

>123 sirfurboy: That is the problem in keeping some of these things up to date - one of the more genuine of the Brexiteer's claims and Tony Benn, who I campaigned for and worked for briefly in Chesterfield, felt very strongly about the ability of the UK parliament to make all its own laws. I distinctly recall hearing Tony Blair addressing this issue by stating that he honestly couldn't think of a single instance when he was prevented from making law in the UK because of statutes in Brussels. According to him the main import was in the minutiae of VAT and immigration rules. Of course it was the latter that was picked on more firmly and somewhat xenophobically to justify coming out.

126sirfurboy
Feb. 21, 2021, 6:52 am

27. The Satyricon - Petronius



This Roman novel is quite readable (in translation at least) and frequently very funny. The story is a little disjointed because we do not have the whole work. Indeed we are not even sure how long the original work was. We are thus dropped into the middle of the story of Encolpius, apparently an ex gladiator, and his slave, Giton.

The best part of the story is Trimalchio's feast, a fully extant section of the narrative that is frequently hilarious and heavily satyrical. Trimalchio is an uneducated but astoundingly rich freedman who ostentatiously shows off his wealth in a feast that is so long that he has to lock the guests in, but Encolpius finally makes his mistake when the vigiles respond to a suspected fire.

All great stuff. The lacunae are unfortunate, but there is still plenty to enjoy in this story. There is a very Roman philosophy of life on display though (which also makes it great from a historical perspective).

127sirfurboy
Feb. 21, 2021, 6:53 am

>124 PersephonesLibrary: Oh I wouldn't laugh. Horrible Histories are great :)

128sirfurboy
Feb. 21, 2021, 7:00 am

>125 PaulCranswick: Yes, absolutely. And the course itself discusses the "democratic deficit" that existed pre Lisbon treaty, and what the community was doing to address this. The problem in the UK was people did not understand that the greatly more empowered European Parliament was a direct response to that. Unfortunately Tony Blair chose to present the Lisbon treaty as a "tidying up exercise" rather than "a reorientation of the EU institutions to return power to the people." Of course, some people don't want to return power to the people, they want to return it to a tightly managed elite... but I digress! :)

129scaifea
Feb. 21, 2021, 8:40 am

>126 sirfurboy: I've said this already over on Goodreads, but I'll say it again here: It makes me so happy that you enjoyed this one! It's one of my favorites and so fun.

130sirfurboy
Feb. 22, 2021, 5:25 am

>129 scaifea: Thanks Amber. I was surprised by just how amusing it was. Definitely a worthwhile read.

131sirfurboy
Feb. 22, 2021, 5:41 am

28. Armada - Ernest Cline



This is a novel Ernest Cline wrote before Ready Player One, and I was aware before reading it that it had mixed reviews, but still I decided to give it a go... eventually. And now I have. In short, this was an enjoyable book, with a bit of a twist. Perhaps Cline wrote this, thought "I can do better" and wrote Ready Player One. All the same, it was an enjoyable story, if not a classic.

Zack Lightman is a gamer. It is one thing he is good at. Anger management is one thing he is not so good at. But he really is an exceptional gamer, which is why he gets inducted, through a secret training programme, into the Earth Defence League to save the world from an alien invasion.

OK so far it is juyst a rip off of Ender's Game and The Last Starfighter among others. Indeed it is self consciously so - those stories all get a mention, as do many other 1980s games and movies (just like Ready Player One).

Its a fun story line, but the lack of originality threatened it. Fortunately Cline added a bit to the basic story. Big questions as to why the aliens were acting dumb had to be answered.

When the answers came, I thought "meh, ok, but that could have been better".

Although there is plenty of gamer nerd trivia, this one trips up on some basic physics. You can't remote control a spaceship in the orbit of Jupiter from Earth in real time. It takes light over 40 minutes to reach there. Even controlling stuff on the moon would have an unacceptable latency of a couple of seconds round trip. Oh well. Let's just ignore that for story purposes.

So all in all it was a well put together story, with plenty for gamer nerds, but little originality. Cline writes well, and I did enjoy the book. I noticed in Ready Player One that it was written like a three act movie script, and so was this one to some extent. I was thus unsurprised to fine that the author is a screenwriter. Makes sense. I think he must be good at it.

132sirfurboy
Feb. 23, 2021, 2:57 am

29. The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde



Oscar Wilde's classic comedy, written as a play, but not quite in the modern conventional way. It was perfectly understandable, and funny too. Farcical with plenty of wry observations. The play follows the conventions of a classic comedy, with the classical resolution.

A good, enjoyable work.

133PersephonesLibrary
Feb. 23, 2021, 2:59 pm

Wilde is one of the personalities I would have loved to have a drink with.

134SirThomas
Feb. 24, 2021, 1:28 am

you got me with this one, Stephen - again.
I ordered it at my local bookstore - and it is translated by Elfriede Jelinek - a Nobel laureate. Double the fun.

135sirfurboy
Feb. 24, 2021, 12:40 pm

>134 SirThomas: Oh excellent. I hope you enjoy it. :)

136sirfurboy
Feb. 24, 2021, 12:41 pm

30. The Old Man and the Wasteland



A lot of people seem to like this book a lot. I just liked it a little.

The eponymous Old Man in this story lives in a village, but owing to his age and bad luck, he has not found salvage for a long time - and salvage is essential to this community in post apocalyptic America. Thus he sets off into the wasteland to proved that he is not cursed and find the best salvage of all. Once in the wasteland, he fights off various dangers in his hunt for salvage.

I would probably have got more from this book had I read "The Old Man and the Sea" as plenty of people seem to agree that this story is self consciously based on that one. It is also a standalone story though, and the writing is powerful, the characters well done. There was a definite feeling of "The Road" about this one.

Some people will love the writing style too, but I found it slow and the start was somewhat shaky. As the adventure went on, I also felt (as with "The Road") that I was ready for something less depressing now. Somewhat hard in a world where humanity has all but wiped itself out!

It was worth reading. I was not blown away by it though.

137sirfurboy
Feb. 25, 2021, 6:10 am

31. William Bradford: Plymouth's Faithful Pilgrim - Gary D. Schmidt



Having read through Gary Schmidt's fiction catalogue, I decided to read this historical account of William Bradford and the Plymouth Colony in New England. It is clear from Schmidt's other works that he loves New England and its history. He does not let us down in this one.

This is a very sympathetic account of Bradford. That is not a bad thing though. It seems quite clear that Schmidt thinks highly of his subject and his beliefs. He has also clearly read widely and especially Bradford's own journals in constructing this account of the famous colony at Cape Cod.

What the account perhaps lacks is a more critical voice that would spend more time on what others were saying about and thinking about the Plymouth colonists and Bradford in particular. Nevertheless it is what it is, and Schmidt does a great job with the material he has selected.

Despite having twice visited Plymouth MA, I have always been a little unclear as to why Plymouth Colony is so revered in the foundational stories of the United States. As a child at school I first heard the story of the Pilgrims and assumed they were the first settlers, but that is not so. Schmidt tells us they were the first permanent and successful colony, but that is not quite true either. They are probably the second on that score.

But Schmidt does provide the correct answer to that question too. It was the Plymouth Compact, adopted by others, broadened and changed, but with a democratic principle from the start, which was so foundational.

138sirfurboy
Feb. 26, 2021, 3:03 am

32. Getting started on Classical Latin - Open University



Another free course book for a free OpenLearn course. This one was an introduction to Latin. The information is all good, and available for free but it was very basic indeed. If you know some basic grammar concepts, and understand the case system already, there is nothing new here. Worth reading for an absolute beginner though.

139sirfurboy
Feb. 26, 2021, 11:18 am

33. The Savage Boy - Nick Cole



A second story in Nick Cole's post apocalyptic Wasteland saga. In this story we meet Boy who is sent on a mission by a dying soldier, Sergeant Presley, who had looked after Boy but has now died. Presley tells Boy to complete his mission to report back what is left of America - which is essentially nothing.

Boy takes his horse called Horse and seeks to complete the mission. On the way he finds people, danger, betrayal, bears and lions. He also finds love and hardship.

As before, the writing is powerful, characters and imagination are very good, but I was still not gripped by the storyline, and I was a little unconvinced about the whole love at first sight element. I have the last book in the series so will keep going.

140PersephonesLibrary
Feb. 26, 2021, 1:51 pm

Until around two years ago I loved dystopian stories... currently, I cannot read them. But I will put the Nick Cole stories on my wishlist for later - they sound intriguing. I hope you are doing well - and enjoy a lovely weekend, Stephen!

141sirfurboy
Mrz. 1, 2021, 7:00 am

>140 PersephonesLibrary: Well I can see why dystopian stories may have fallen out of favour in the last year :)

The stories are indeed intriguing. I think it is his writing style that many people value in these.

I hope you had a lovely weekend. The weather was good here so I spent a good amount of time outside.

142sirfurboy
Mrz. 1, 2021, 7:12 am

My February Summary:

18 books read. Three more than in January.

All 18 In English (although one was a German course and another a Latin course)

13. Fiction
5. Non Fiction
4. Classics

TBR: Now down to 120 books (60 of which I have started! Working to get that number down). That is 12 books fewer than last month. I am doing well at dodging the book bullets ;)

Totals this year:

33 books read.

27 In English
1 in French
1 in Frisian (and English)
1 in Old English (and Gothic, and middle English)
1 In French and English (text book/course)
1 In German and English (text book/course)
1 In Latin and English (text book/course)

20. Fiction
1. Poetry
12. Non Fiction
5. Classics

TBR: Now down to 111 books, 51 of which are "on the go". That is 9 fewer than last month and 21 fewer this year. I remain determined to bring that number down and am being very careful only to add books to my TBR that I have a definite intention to read.

143sirfurboy
Mrz. 1, 2021, 7:15 am

34. Rage - Bob Woodward



Bob Woodward has deservedly gained great respect for his journalism and his books on many US presidents. He researches widely and carefully. He speaks to many sources and verifies what he hears. These books are notable for their accurate account of what really happened in a presidency, and this particular book looks at the latter half of Trump's one term presidency, but stops before he lost decisively and then created a false narrative that led to the attacks on the Capitol.

The largest source for this book is Trump himself, and his telephone interviews are largely reported almost verbatim - although Woodward does insert some fact checking (a thankless task in the case of Trump, and Woodward only really pick up on his more egregious lies). I didn't feel we learned a great deal from Trump, because (1) Trump already told everyone and anyone what he thought on so many things through Twitter and (2) because Trump is about as un-self-aware as they come. But Woodward still manages to curate a selection of revealing interviews that do show us something of the real man. Still, so much of this book is Trump's words that I sometimes had to wonder what Woodward was adding here.

Still it would be very unfair of me to say Woodward did not add anything. We learn that things were much closer to a nightmare scenario in North Korea than anyone supposed. We saw Trump's flaws on display. We heard from Jared Kushner as a pro Trump voice. We saw Trump through Kushner's eyes, even if we might suspect his glasses were rose tinted. We also saw Kushner's role dissected in a response to the Coronavirus and other things in which his task was impossible because of the nebulous position he held.

All in all this is another excellent book by Woodward. It is balanced and fair, thorough and impeccably researched. At times Woodward almost admits to crossing the line from a journalist asking questions to someone trying to influence the president. His wife pulls him up short on that. The detail was interesting and tells us about the writer as well as his subject.

In his final assessment he is under stated, but not wrong when he concludes the book by saying Trump was "the wrong man for the job."

144sirfurboy
Mrz. 2, 2021, 5:45 am

35. Who are Europeans - Open University



Another OpenLearn coursebook looking at Europe, the EU and a European cultural and political identity. As fpr the "Europe and the Law" course, this course and accompanying free book is quite dated - clearly pre Lisbon treaty. It discusses the concept of European Citizenship as something for the future, and other future questions show it is quite dated. At one point the question is asked about whether Russia will slip further into chaos or be transformed into a liberal democracy - which turns out to be a false dichotomy as Putin clearly turned it into quite a stable authoritarian regime.

The big questions are still relevant. Language barriers, education systems that are targeted nationally, the issue of nationalism etc. are all relevant and important issues. It is quite an interesting work, and still with useful material, but hard to give a strong recommendation when there must surely be newer treatments of the subject out there.

145sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Mrz. 5, 2021, 6:48 am

36. Tribute at the Gates: An Epic Fantasy Saga (Catalyst Book 1) - C J Aaron



Good story concept, poor execution. Kindle unlimited warning, although this one is published by an actual small publisher, who seem to have delivered a good cover and competent (although not perfect) proof reading. I am less sure how good their editor was though, as I think this book could benefit from some serious editing. I also think it is naff when a publisher titles a book "an Epic Fantasy". Treat that as another warning.

Plusses: the story concept is somewhat unusual and potentially allows a powerful polemic. Children who are found to possess the blood of the ancients are sold by or taken from their parents and forced to grow up in "The Stocks", apart from others, until they are fully grown and old enough to be harvested for a magical elixir coveted by the ruling class. Ryl is one such tribute, approaching his harvest.

The concept is good but sadly the execution is not. There are a few problems:

1. It is a miserable read. There are pages and pages of mistreatment in the stocks, particularly from a sadistic and nasty guard who has a personal vendetta that really makes little sense within the story concept. The author clearly wanted a powerful antagonist, but this one just came of clumsily.

2. The prose was plodding and long winded. Narrative was also overwritten. There were pages and pages of description that were entirely unnecessary. Quick and sharp dialogue was all but non existent. I found myself skim reading, and even that seemed to take too long to get past it all. Here is where a professional editor should have made drastic edits throughout.

3. Characterisation was not well considered. The Tributes are all of one mind. The guards are irredeemably bad. There is no character development and it was just unconvincing.

4. The whole story logic needed a step back and a rethink. Did this need to be book 1 of a series? Maybe the whole of this book could just have been the first act of a single complete work.

I will say again, however, that the story concept had potential, and the writer's prose, although overwritten, is not without merit. I think this writer could write a story I would love to read - but this is not it. Sorry, I can't recommend it.

146PaulCranswick
Mrz. 5, 2021, 8:38 am

>131 sirfurboy: I didn't realise it was written before his more famous book.

>133 PersephonesLibrary: Agree with that - I am sure that he would have been wonderful company.

>143 sirfurboy: Book bullet, Sir F. Who better to "do" Trump?

147PersephonesLibrary
Mrz. 8, 2021, 5:47 am

Ah, shucks... it's such a pity when the "good idea, bad execution" happens. Sometimes just a good editor would be needed to make a text much better.

148sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Mrz. 8, 2021, 7:18 am

37. Nyxia Uprising - Scott Reintgen



The third book in the Nyxia trilogy rounded off this story nicely. This is a good tale with plenty of classic elements in it. An evil corporation bent on its own nefarious purposes, an alien species that turns the tables, and crews of young people trained by the corporations but with a will of their own. The trilogy develops nicely, and I liked the way things branched out into anew direction in book 2 that led to a solid and powerful conflict narrative in book 3 that resolved well too.

My only irritation with the books is the Point of View. Each chapter starts with a different character POV, which is not unusual, but as the chapters are written in first person, I did find myself getting confused. It was a strange choice - but hard to say it was wrong. It just did not work so well for me.

Oh and I have to mention an odd line, although generally the prose in the book was very good. Still, this one seemed odd:

"The sword slides from Longwei’s straps like a poem."

I am sorry, but I don't really see how a poem slides from a strap. A little confused by that line.

But the story itself is very good and this is an author I will be watching now.

149sirfurboy
Mrz. 8, 2021, 7:19 am

>146 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, I hope you had a good weekend. Thanks for the comments :)

>147 PersephonesLibrary: Yes indeed. Oh well.

150PersephonesLibrary
Mrz. 8, 2021, 3:37 pm

>148 sirfurboy: Didn't the author mark the chapters with the narrator's name?

151sirfurboy
Mrz. 9, 2021, 6:09 am

>150 PersephonesLibrary: Yes, he did. It would not have been a problem in limited third person POV. The problem I had was that psychologically I internalised the first person voice so it did not matter who I was told "I" was, they all felt the same. It was not a big deal, and as I say, it is not definitely wrong, but I am easily confused. ;)

152sirfurboy
Mrz. 12, 2021, 12:34 pm

38. Wranglestone - Darren Charlton



Brokeback Mountain and Zombies. Or something like that.

Pluses for this book are that it is well written, and with a variation on the strangely popular zombie theme that gave it a nice air of mystery and an interesting conclusion. It is a young adult book that makes you look at things twice and reminds you that first impressions are not always right.

Then there is the romance. For me that was all just too trite and easy. Boy meets boy, both have known each other for years (they are 16) but now they talk and are instantly in love with each other. Everyone thinks that's fine. I didn't think it worked. But here's the thing - to what extent can I really complain about an unrealistic relationship when the primary subject of the book is zombies? This book is about suspension of disbelief. So let's give that a pass.

Dialogue was a little odd at times. The writer seemed to attempt an authentic American vernacular, but it felt intermittent to me. I think Americans would notice this more. Not a major negative, but it was a bit strange.

Ultimately though I think Zombie stories are going to have a hard time convincing me they are great literature. This was quite a good one as they go, but The Girl with All The Gifts was significantly better.

153PaulCranswick
Mrz. 14, 2021, 1:53 am

How are the life restrictions in West Wales, Stephen, are things getting easier over there?

154PersephonesLibrary
Mrz. 14, 2021, 7:27 am

>151 sirfurboy: Ha, especially in English novels it's easy to confuse me, too. I remember some novel by Philip Roth which was a novel only consisting of dialogue... At the beginning he mentioned names and clues - but after a while I just lost who was talking at the exact moment.

>152 sirfurboy: Zombies? On my list it goes... :)

Have a lovely Sunday, Stephen!

155sirfurboy
Mrz. 15, 2021, 8:51 am

39. The Boy Who Fell from the Sky - Jule Owem



This book is a dystopian young adult novel (currently in vogue) that manages a new slant on the theme. A Chinese-British 16 year old student in London on a world on the brink of war and suffering climate catastrophe shows academic talent and gets swept into something much bigger, and linked to the opening section of the book where he literally falls from the sky into what he assumes is a virtual reality world, but readers will suspect is more than that.

The writing was quite fluid, the prose well done, the characters competently drawn. Calling the American space warships "battlestars" was a gaff that an editor ought to have caught, but on the whole this was competently done.

The story meandered though. It had two timelines and after being introduced to one, we went to the other and then took forever to get back to the first. Worse than the meandering storyline was the almost total lack of resolution. Yes, once again we have a writer writing half a story hoping to sucker the reader into finishing the series. Thus, sadly, my advice with this one is "don't bother start it". Neither character nor mysteries in this one are so deep that I would bother with the next in the series.

156sirfurboy
Mrz. 15, 2021, 8:54 am

>153 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, we just had a slight lifting of lockdown, so now we are officially allowed to travel a few miles for exercise. This is good as all the local footpaths are quite muddy now and I had reached the range of my by ability on my bike. Will be returning to the nearest mountain (Plynlimon) soon.

>154 PersephonesLibrary: Oh you like zombie novels? As I say, I liked The Girl With All The Gifts a lot.

157sirfurboy
Mrz. 16, 2021, 7:05 am

40. Killer of Men - Christian Cameron



This is the story of Arimnestos from his childhood through to a great betrayal and beyond. There are many bloody battles, and plenty of plotting and good characters. The resolution is well done, and the last part of the book was the best.

I was irritated by a stylistic choice. Many books like these have the conceit of this being the story told by the protagonist in old age, and that is what the author does here. However usually this just becomes a first person narrative except for the beginning and end of the tale where some reflections occur. Not this book. Here the narrator is interrupting throughout, which really didn't work for me.

I also found the author's prose to be a little to flowery at times, but that seems to come with the genre. There was nothing wrong with that - the author writes well - it is more a matter of personal preference.

There is, however, no doubt that the writer knows his subject and spins a great tale. This was a good example of historical fiction, and the world building is particularly good. Although all fiction is fiction, I could not find any way to quibble with the facts presented. A good example of the genre.

158sirfurboy
Mrz. 17, 2021, 8:05 am

41. Geological Processes in the British Isles - Open University



This is one of the better free Open Learn courses and accompanying free course books. Most of the information needed in this course is included in the free book, but exercises all relate to a geological 10 mile map of the British Isles that would need to be purchased separately. Despite that, there really is a very great deal of good information about the fascinating geological history of the British Isles.

Geologists use a lot of jargon. This book explains some of it, but there were words here that are non in common use outside the field that make this a more difficult read. On the other hand, using the terminology does introduce it in context. I think it was right to use it, but the book could do with a glossary of terms.

In terms of information presented, this is definitely a very good book, and as it is free it is well worth getting hold of if you have any interest in geology.

159m.belljackson
Mrz. 20, 2021, 3:01 pm

>158 sirfurboy: You might also really enjoy the historically related THE MAN WHO FOUND TIME.

160richardderus
Mrz. 20, 2021, 5:11 pm

I can't help but wonder, he delurked to say, what makes zombies so damned popular at this cultural crossroads? I've always found them unpleasant but unfrightening.

I am defective, it seems.

Any road, happy weekend's reads, Stephen.

161PersephonesLibrary
Mrz. 22, 2021, 5:16 am

I finished Wranglestone yesterday and liked it very much. Thank you for the BB, Stephen!

Richard: I don't want to get all philosophical - but I think they are symptomatic for our society at the moment... in the sense of where Captalism, greed and following the masses lead to. It's also about how people you know well can change to be unrecognizable. ...and they are creepy, rotting things infecting you!
Zombie stories in general do only work like all other horror stories work - if there is an intense atmosphere created.

162ronincats
Mrz. 24, 2021, 5:35 pm

Since I am not at all into horror, zombies stories have always repulsed my interest. I did get through Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but did not enjoy it.

163sirfurboy
Mrz. 26, 2021, 6:24 am

Sorry, not been around much for a few days. Trying to catch up...

>159 m.belljackson: Thanks, that looks interesting. Adding to my TBR.

>160 richardderus: Yes, when you can "outrun" the horror at a brisk walk, they don't seem quite so scary! I think "The Walking Dead" did a good job of making a horror story, but in that case all the darkness really came from the other survivors. In that sense, zombies are just another apocalypse scenario. However The Girl With All the Gifts impressed me by digging deeper and finding a new angle on the zombie story. I think Wranglestone (published 6 years later) copies some of those ideas, but adds its own twist.

I don't want to try to convert you to zombie stories - I largely agree with your analysis - but if you did read just one, I would suggest The Girl With All the Gifts.

>161 PersephonesLibrary: I am glad you enjoyed Wranglestone. As I say, it added its own twist, and I will take a look at your thread with interest to see what you say about it. :)

>162 ronincats: I haven't read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies yet, but I really should. Not because I love Zombie stories, but because I do love a tongue in cheek story sometimes - and surely this must be one.

164sirfurboy
Mrz. 26, 2021, 7:06 am

42. The Good Thieves - Katherine Rundell



Katherine Rundell is a great writer of enjoyable children's adventure stories, including award winning books. This is another fine example of her work.

Vita is a tough and determined girl who is brought to New York during the prohibition era to bring her grandfather home to Britain after the death of his wife and loss of his home to a fraudster. But Vita is not content to let the bad guys win, and allies herself with an unlikely troupe of circus entertainers and a pick pocket.

A good, feel good adventure with some nice historical background. Rated highly for its intended audience, but nothing too profound for adult readers.

165PersephonesLibrary
Mrz. 28, 2021, 11:32 am

>164 sirfurboy: The cover looks very nice! It's a particular talent to write children books which are also interesting to older audiences.

166richardderus
Mrz. 28, 2021, 11:48 am

>163 sirfurboy: As it happens, I possess The Girl with All the Gifts, so permaybehaps its turn will come one day.

Lovely week-ahead's reads, Stephen!

167sirfurboy
Mrz. 29, 2021, 5:31 am

>165 PersephonesLibrary: Yes indeed on both counts. I hope you had a good weekend.

>166 richardderus: Thanks Richard. You too.

168sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Mrz. 29, 2021, 7:14 am

43. The Road is a River - Nick Cole



The third and final book in Nick Cole's post apocalyptic "Wasteland Saga," and in my opinion this one was the best. Cole's style is distinctive and his writing is powerful, yet his first two books never really gripped me like this one did. It was probably the human dynamic between the Old Man and his granddaughter that hooked me in.

In this book the threads of the first two come together as the Old Man sets out on a desperate and dangerous mission to save people trapped in the old NORAD bunker, who are at great peril of being dug out by people who will kill them in the process because of the high radiation levels at the entrance.

The story explores the characters of the wasteland once again, that being one of its great strengths. There is an unexpected twist with one character towards the end. Also the very end of the book had an unexpected metaphysical moment that I won't say more about to avoid spoilers (but don't worry, there is no "Deus ex machina" spoiling the story. It is nicely done. All the books are worth reading, but this one was definitely the best in my opinion.

169sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Mrz. 30, 2021, 6:08 am

44. La Garde - Faith Kean



Kindle unlimited warning.

A novella in French that supplements the vampire stories, Les Chroniques de Ren. It is basically une scène de sexe trop longue, wrapped inside a bit of justification. It looks like someone published the scene that was excised from the longer work. Ick! Vampires are squicky, and this one proves it.

170sirfurboy
Bearbeitet: Mrz. 31, 2021, 5:56 am

45. The Last of the Wine - Mary Renault



This is a powerful and careful retelling of the history of the Peloponnesian War through the eyes of an Athenian noble and student of Socrates, Alexias. The story begins with the Mutilation of the Herms (415 BC), through to the end of the war, the rule of the Thirty and their eventual overthrow and return of democracy (403 BC).

Mary Renault mines an incredibly rich period of Greek history to excellent effect. We see Athenian life in all its glory and with all its problems too, as the Golden Age gives way to its defeat to Sparta. We hear a lot from Socrates, and are introduced to others of his students (known primarily through the writings of Plato, who is one of them). Xenophon gets some attention, and at the end of the book is off to Persia to fight for Cyrus - which leads directly into Conn Iggulden's "The Falcon of Sparta" (or, indeed, Xenophon's own account, "Anabasis").

Of course, Socrates left no actual writings and other sources are mined for this reconstruction. It is fiction, and written as such, with an enjoyable and compelling story. Yet it is very well done as fiction, a classic of the genre, and thoroughly recommended.

This book deserves to be considered a classic, but I note that the prose does show its age a little. It was not really a problem, but a more recent book would probably have chosen slightly less fussy language.

171sirfurboy
Mrz. 31, 2021, 6:14 am

My March Summary:

12 books read. That is down by 6 on last month.

Languages

11 - English
1 - French

Genres

9. Fiction
3. Non Fiction
1. Classic

Totals this year

45 books read.

38 In English
2 in French
1 in Frisian (and English)
1 in Old English (and Gothic, and middle English)
1 In French and English (text book/course)
1 In German and English (text book/course)
1 In Latin and English (text book/course)

29. Fiction
1. Poetry
15. Non Fiction
6. Classics

Progress on TBR List

TBR: Now down to 99 books, 39 of which are "on the go". That is 33 fewer this year. I remain determined to bring that number down and am being very careful only to add books to my TBR that I have a definite intention to read.

172PersephonesLibrary
Apr. 1, 2021, 2:28 pm

Great statistics, Stephen! Happy reading April!

173sirfurboy
Apr. 3, 2021, 4:33 am

46. The Territory, Escape - Sarah Govett



Book 2 of yet another dystopian world. This one is set in future Britain after catastrophic climate change and some bio-engineering mistakes. But although the genre is crowded, Sarah Govett manages something that feels fresh and interesting, and this is largely down to her characters. She writes them well, makes them interesting and places them into a setting that is new and different enough that I have no hesitation in recommending this book. It deserves to be much better known.

The Territory is a corrupt haven in a malaria infested flooded world. Noa has passed her TAA, an assessment that allows her to stay in the Territory, and go on to a good University. However, best friend Jack has failed and been expelled, and Noa is not going to settle for that.

I liked the concept, and enjoyed the first book too. I shall certainly be reading this through to the end.

174sirfurboy
Apr. 3, 2021, 4:35 am

>172 PersephonesLibrary: Thanks Käthe. And have a wonderful Easter.
Dieses Thema wurde unter Sir Furboy's 75 books in 2021 weitergeführt.