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Matthew

picard@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 7 months ago

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Currently Reading (View all 6)

started reading The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #2)

Terry Pratchett: The Light Fantastic (Paperback, 1988, Penguin)

The Light Fantastic is a comic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, the second of the …

Really needed to read something light and gentle. Only a dozen pages into this so far, but really enjoying this. I read The Colour of Magic last year, and enjoyed it - but this really feels like his writing leveled up between the two books. I know later books are even better, but am surprised by the difference between these two.

Serhii Plokhy: The Russo-Ukrainian War (EBook, Penguin Books Ltd)

On 24 February 2022, Russia stunned the world by launching an invasion of Ukraine. In …

Read a bunch of this late last year and was really enjoying it, but had to take a break for various reasons. But the last week, I've got back into it. Really fantastic book exploring the 1990s and early 2000s background to the war.

Serhii Plokhy: The Russo-Ukrainian War (EBook, Penguin Books Ltd)

On 24 February 2022, Russia stunned the world by launching an invasion of Ukraine. In …

I have to say, I much prefer the UK cover over the American one that showed up when I searched for this in Bookwyrm. The colour scheme the font, the layout - and most importantly the image selected for the cover - just feel so much better to me. Had to add this version myself as a new book, which may seem excessive, but it was worth it to me.

Anton Eine: Human Kind (2022, Independently Published) No rating

Anton Eine's “Human Kind” is a thematic compilation of science fiction short stories dedicated to …

I read the first story in this collection of science fiction from a Ukrainian author. I enjoyed it, it made me smile. I will try to read a bit more in the coming weeks.

Nina Murray, Oksana Lutsyshyna: Ivan and Phoebe (EBook, 2023, Deep Vellum Publishing) No rating

Ivan and Phoebe chronicles the lives of several young people involved in the Ukranian student …

I was enjoying this book a lot, but for life reasons was not enjoying reading anything for a time. Now I feel like trying again this book is maybe a bit too serious - I need something more light-hearted. I really enjoyed what I read of this before I stepped away, though - I look forward to returning to it next time.

Марія Василівна Матіос, Michael Naydan, Olha Tytarenko: Sweet Darusya (2019, Spuyten Duyvil Publishing)

Найвідоміший і найпопулярніший роман Марії Матіос «Солодка Даруся» справедливо назвали «трагедією, адекватною історії XX століття», …

Sweet Darusya review

Sweet Darusya tells the life story of a Hutsul woman through a series of shorter stories depicting the important scenes in her life that made her who she became. Unusually (for me, at least), the story is told in a reverse chronological order: we meet Sweet Darusya in her later life, and gradually Matios unfolds what came before.

Hutsuls are an ethnic group from Western Ukraine - around Zakarpattia (Transcarpathia) - and Romania, and Matios uses the story of Sweet Darusya to paint a picture of Hutsul life in the mid-20th century. I wonder how much of that life remains, and how much has been lost forever?

Set roughly during the late 1930s up to the 1960s, Matios brings to life the culture and history of these people through the life of Sweet Darusya.

This story is so powerful and moving; incredibly emotional, at once the story of a single …

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Children of Memory (2022, Pan Macmillan)

Earth is failing. In a desperate bid to escape, the spaceship Enkidu and its captain, …

Fascinating continuation of the Children series

Really enjoyed this. Wish Bookwyrm allowed for half stars - would be 4.5 here. So many interesting ideas, explored well. Always kept me guessing what was happening, and the story unwound at a (mostly) pleasing pace. A slow pace, mind - not one for action-science fiction fans; this is very thinky, philosophical stuff.

A couple of the chapters didn't quite work for me - more narrative background than story, they contributed to the overall understanding but I found them harder to get through than the rest - but Tchaikovsky really does explore some fascinating concepts here and I recommend this one for anyone into this slower style of science fiction.