Category: Book Musings (Page 28 of 31)

Monthly Muse – August

05/09/2017 / Paul / 2 Comments

Even though I had two weeks off work in August and a lovely week in Jersey, I didn’t get as much read as I wanted too. This month’s reading was a varied selection, with everything from how they built one of the fastest and highest flying jets in the world to a man who rebuilds things just for the pure pleasure of it. These are the books I read:

Managed to read four books this month for the World from my Armchair Challenge; Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie, Walking Home from Mongolia, Land of the Midnight Sun and Cleopatra’s Needle. Two of the authors were cycling different ways across Europe, and Rob Lilwall decided to walk from Mongolia to Hong Kong, whilst Alexander Armstrong visited several countries that ring the Arctic Ocean. All very different perspectives and experiences of the countries that they travel through from the different authors. I much prefer Andrew Martin’s non-fiction to his novels and Night Trains lives up to expectations as he travels across Europe at night

Read a couple of science fiction books too, Touch by the very talented Claire North which was about a ghost who could travel between people at will and the search for this ghost to avenge a murder. Rule 34 was about near future police investigation into some very strange deaths, completely mad and great fun, i.e. classic Charles Stross! Turing’s Cathedral was about the very origins of computers and the men that made them, sadly there wasn’t much on Turing. The Secret Life is an investigative journalists stories about three modern day internet people, two real and one fake. Makes for interesting reading.

The science of gender is a sensitive subject, and in Testosterone Rex, Cordelia Fine looks at the issues and the stereotypes that exist. It is one of the shortlisted books for the Royal Society Prize, which is a great way of finding new authors and titles for high quality science writing. Blackbird is a compact volume about of one of the engineering marvels of the Cold War, this plane broke a number of records with regards to height and speed as well as pushing the technology in new materials for aerospace. The English Guide to Birdwatching is a novel about two authors with the same name as the authors of the book, and a stolen manuscript. There were elements that I liked, but there were several parts that I couldn’t get along with as they jarred with the rest of the book.

Gods of the Morning is the first of John Lister-Kays’ books that I have read. He has been based at the Aigas Field Centre for many years and this is a lovely little book of his observations of the natural world around him. Limestone Country is the latest addition to the Little Toller Monograph series. These are carefully chosen contemporary works that have a strong focus on either landscape or natural history. This is about four places where Fiona Sampson has lived that she has fallen in love with that all have limestone as their bedrock.

My book of the month though was Turning by Jessica Lee. An emigre from Canada to Berlin, Lee decides to swim over the course of a year in 52 of the lakes that surround the city. It is a beautifully written book that is quite astonishing for a debut author.

Monthly Muse – July

07/08/2017 / Paul / 3 Comments

Managed to read 15 books in July, which was more than I thought. Was distracted by having our kitchen and dining rooms knocked together to make a big open room. Whilst I didn’t do the structural changes and fitting, still had all the decorating and numerous other jobs to do.

Quite a big change and is already making a difference; just need the flooring to finish it now

Anyway to the reading:

Yet another varied selection with science, landscape, Laurie Lee’s classic memoirs, two books on Britain, a couple of natural history volumes and a one on a lady’s fight for justice in an authoritarian state. Even managed to read four fiction too.

Best of them was probably Until We Are Free. In this Ebadi describes how she has been hounded by the authorities in Iran to the point that they forced her into exile. It is not the easiest book to read, but it is well written and is a powerful message against those states that abhor democracy and freedom.

Really enjoyed the send and third memoirs by Laurie Lee, he is such a quality writer. Linescapes by Hugh Warwick is a book looking at the lines that we have created across the British landscape and how they can be used to revitalise the wildlife of our green and pleasant land. Signal Failure looks at it from the opposite way, Tom Jeffreys’ walks the proposed path of the HS2 from London to Birmingham and talks to those it will affect and the impact it will have on the countryside and ancient woodlands. Tom Fort took a nostalgic view of the role that the village has played in our landscape and culture and Bill Bailey’s book on his favourite birds was quite charming with his delightful little sketches throughout.

I am a big fan of China Miéville, so was really looking forward to The Census Taker. Whilst it had some charm, and some frankly quite chilling elements, it didn’t have the impact of some of his others that I have read. The Essex Serpent was good too, a gothic and richly imagined book set on the Blackwater Estuary. A Month in the Country is a story of subtle nuances about a man restoring an artwork and reflecting on his experiences spent during World War I. Ken Macleod’s The Corporation Wars was something completely different, sentient robots fighting a war against human AI. Good though.

Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs by Lisa Randell is a study of dark matter and how it has influenced our galaxy and solar system since the earliest times. My physics is a bit rusty so did occasionally struggle with this. The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu thou was really good, Charlie English tells the story of how the scholars and collectors took steps to ensure that their precious manuscripts were safe from the threat of terrorism. Beyond the Fell Wall is an immersive book about Richard Skelton in the landscape of the high fell.

Monthly Muse – June

10/07/2017 / Paul / 0 Comments

Managed to read 16 books in June, which were a pretty varied selection as you can see below:

It was a close call on the best but just nudging ahead was the classic Peregrine by J.A. Baker closely followed Walking the Nile by the adventurer Levison Wood. Others of note were the terrifying dystopian The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Long Way Back about Charlie Boorman’s road to recovery after a very serious accident and Summer: An Anthology for the Changing Seasons, another wonderful collection edited by Melissa Harrison. I managed to read two of Little Tollers books this month, they are becoming one of my favourite publishers with their focus on the natural world and the landscape. First was On the Marshes, where Carol Donaldson tells the history of the North Kent marshes, interwoven with her own personal story after a relationship disintegrated. The second was Orison for a Curlew where Horatio Clare tracks the last sightings of the Slender Billed Curlew, a bird that is thought to be, but not categorically proved to be extinct.

I managed to read three more for my World from My Armchair Challenge, Why the Dutch are Different, the story of how Ben Coates ended up in the Netherlands by accident and never left. Glass Half Full is the third in the series of Caro Feely’s trials and tribulations of running a biodynamic vineyard in South Western France and the third was the first book by Levison Wood, Walking the Nile about his tough journey walking from the centre of Africa to the Mediterranean.

Possibly the strangest book in June was To Be a Machine. In this Mark O’Connell talks to those that are looking at using technology to enhance or improve or extend their lives. Equally odd, but in a very different was Jules Evans seeks the ecstatic experience in The Art of Losing Control, which made for interesting and occasionally disturbing reading.

Also of note was Dadland, the story of Keggie Carew’s father’s secret wartime actions and his slow descent into dementia. Also learnt about Ben Fogle’s passion for the Land Rover and Gary Fildes’ obsession with the night sky. Finished the month of with a brief fantasy interlude into a Britain of the last millennium with the story of revenge. A good month of reading, looking forward to July, but as we are having the kitchen done then might not get as much read!

Monthly Muse – May

12/06/2017 / Paul / 3 Comments

Where are the days going? I though at the end of May, I’ll write this in a few days after the 31^st and bang we are all of a sudden on the 11^th June! Anyway here we are again. Managed to read 16 books in May. The majority of what I read was natural history, two or three travels books some memoirs and the odd fiction and science fiction thrown in for good measure. These are the quite beautiful covers:

For me best of the bunch was Wild Kingdom by Stephen Moss. Written in his engaging style he takes us around the UK looking at the state of the wildlife and the success stories and where things hang in the balance. Chris Packam’s memoir was a very intense read indeed, as an Asperger’s sufferer he was never really fully understood, which made for a sometimes traumatic childhood. Petley had a very different childhood growing up in post-war Kent, one that formed the person that he is today. Gurdon was a seventies child, and his obsession was with cars of any colour make and type, it did make for very funny reading though.

The Clocks in This House all Tell Different Time is Xan Brooks debut novel. Reading it was a surreal experience as you get further in you realise just what is happening to the main characters and was set in Epping Forest, tied in nicely to Strange Labyrinth which I read last month. Empire Games was one of those books that messes with your head, as all good sci-fi should do, with parallel worlds and sophisticated spy agencies. I also finished my second Anne Dillard book that I had been kindly sent by Canongate. She is a wonderful, perceptive and eloquent author and I cannot wait to read more of her work. Norman Lewis was a discovery too, I had not read any of his, and this one provided by Eland was quite special. Really enjoyed Pedal Power, a summary of all things cycling, and the Swordfish and the Star provided a very different perspective on the Cornish coast.

Where Poppies Blow was a different take on the horrors of World War One as Lewis-Stempel writes about the comfort that the soldiers took from the natural world around them. The Nature of Autumn is the second of Jim Crumbly’s books that I have read, he is a fine author as also Matt Merrit is as he takes us around the country in search of the spectacular bird displays that we have in the UK.

Favourite covers were Island home and A Sweet Wild Note, both beautifully done and stunning foil blocking to make them sparkle. Overall a great month of reading, not a single bad book amongst them.

Big Green Bookshop

11/05/2017 / Paul / 0 Comments

I follow a bookshop on Twitter called The Big Green Bookshop who are in Wood Green in London. A couple of weeks ago Simon tweeted that he was seriously skint and needed to sell a whole pile of books to pay the bills that week. His post went viral and his online orders jumped from 1 or two a day to around 100! This is also the same guy who after a spat between Piers Morgan and JK Rowling decided to tweet all of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to him. 800 tweets later Morgan blocked him…

Today he had a page about him and the bookshop in the Times. He is a great guy, I’m sure he find a book to sell you 🙂 

Monthly Muse

01/05/2017 / Paul / 0 Comments

Even though it is only a day shorter than March, April just seemed to zip by. Managed to read 16 books somehow and they are here:

Best of the bunch was Bee Quest by Dave Goulson. This is his third book, and probably the best so far. His enthusiasm for his buzzy subjects is infectious and he writes with wit and a bone-dry sense of humour. Others of note were Strange Labyrinth, Hidden Nature, Floating and Mend the Living and The Otters’ Tale. Miss-Adventures was a blast and Havergey was an unusual book, Little Toller have a fine range of natural history books and this was their first venture into fiction. It was good, and a bave move for them. The only one that I was not so struck on was Everything that I Never told You, it was beautifully written, but really didn’t work for me plot-wise.

Blog Tour

I was honoured to be asked to take part in the blog tour for the Wellcome prize shortlist of books, along with other experienced bloggers! The book that I was allocated was The Gene, a story of our discovery of the essence of life and also of Mukherjee’s story of his family woven within it. Sadly, I couldn’t make the prize announcement but it was won by Maylis de Kerangal with Mend the Living. My post is here.

Lounge Books

Sam Missingham has been with Harper Collins for a while now but as of a week ago, will be parting company with them. She had this idea about a place for book lovers to congregate and find new books and this was the opportunity for her to launch Lounge Books. Anyway, on there she had posted a list of 36 book bloggers that she would recommend that people should follow right now, and I was included on that list. To say I that I was flabbergasted would be an understatement, genuinely please to be forging my own path in this online world, and to be counted alongside stars of the blogosphere such as Simon Savage.

Who knows what May will bring?

Lounge Books

27/04/2017 / Paul / 0 Comments

Just found out that I am on this list of 36 bloggers. Staggered, to say the least

http://www.lounge-books.com/award-winners-we-lov/2017/3/12/20-book-bloggers-to-follow-right-now

Blog Birthday

13/04/2017 / Paul / 0 Comments

Just realised today that it is just over a year since I started blogging. I have posted just over 300 times, and have had over 8000 page views.

Thank you everyone!

Monthly Muse

08/04/2017 / Paul / 0 Comments

Bit late getting to this for March, had a manic two weeks, then underwent an operation and two weeks off of work. Back now and it has been insane this week… Anyway, reading wise, March was pretty productive. The two weeks at home meant that I could speak to the contractors that we need to quote for our kitchen revamp over the summer and I managed to make some inroads into my backlog of review copies. In all I read 21 books. It could have been higher, but social media does get in the way. And they were these:

Quite a varied collection this month. One of the best was The Art of Neil Gaiman, a behind the scenes look at the way that he creates his masterful works. Walking the Americas was really good too; will be watching the TV series soon, now I have finished the book. I bought the Wildlife Trust Series after I had some book tokens last year, and I am making point of starting each one of the first day of that season. This month was Spring, which I started on the 20^th March. Harrison has a knack of finding some absolute classic texts as well as some promising new authors.

I was vaguely aware of Anne Dillard, but have never read any of her work. Canongate had kindly arranged for me to get to of her book that were being re-printed for their Canons series. Teaching a Stone to talk was the first of Dillard’s book that I had read, well worth it, and I have the Abundance to read soon. How to Survive a Plague was worth reading, though it is an immense book full of detail and people with the fight that the gay community had to go through to get AIDS research on the agenda. Kapp to Cape was enjoyable too, an attempt at setting a record cycling from the very north of Norway to South Africa. Read (more inhaled) one graphic novel, but it was Gaiman so it had to be done and was partially mesmerised by Falling Awake.

Read more fiction this month that I would normally do, there was the disturbing Roanoke Girls, the creepy Behind Her Eyes and the out of this world Stars are Legion. Sealskin was a worthy retelling of the ancient legend of the selkies, Sleeping Giants was a sci fi book set on our planet and the new fantasy world that Terry Goodkind had created. The no fiction I had read was interesting too, from the quirky Adventures in Stationary, the future thinking Homo Deus, a lovely book on the fox and learnt how to make a hit. Paul Kingsnorth’s new book on his thoughts on how the green agenda is losing its focus was interesting too.

I have been asked by Rebecca at Bookish Beck to be a member of the shadow panel of readers who will make our way through the six titles shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize. We will be choosing our own winner shortly before the official prize announcement on Monday, April 24th. We are also joined on the panel by Amy Pirt who blogs at This Little Bag of Dreams. I will also be on the Wellcome Prize blog tour on the 19^th April. Never participated in one of these before so slightly nervous!

This coming month I will be ploughing through the backlog of review copies that I have.

London Book Fair 2017

18/03/2017 / Paul / 0 Comments

After last year’s successful trip to the fair, I had the opportunity to go up again to Olympia to visit the London Book Fair.

The conference centre is full to bursting with publishers large and small, as well as associated book related industries like printing, distribution and all things digital to do with books. Most of the fair is centred around the rights sales so British publishers offerings can be sold to many countries around the world.

Even though you are not able to get onto the big four publishers stands there is still so much to see for the reviewer thankfully. I got to visit some of the publishers who produce the sort of books that I like reading and meet up with some of the people that I have been corresponding with over the past 12 months or so. Even met the Queen of Twitter, Sam Missingham.

The place is huge as it covers the Grand Hall, the National Hall and all the upper galleries. It felt like I had walked for miles, and in all honest I probably did. I managed to collect an enormous pile of catalogues to scour over the coming weeks for interesting titles in the autumn releases, and secured some lovely review copies from a few publishers too:

So thank you to Summersdale, Head of Zeus, Angry Robot, Profile Books, Granta and Duckworth Overlook for the books. The lovley people at Literature Ireland gave me two poetry books and a pile of other goodies. When I arrived home I found two more from Mel at Nudge!

Great day out. Will definitely be attending next year too.