Grumpy Scottish late career librarian living in Dublin and working in Further Education. Open scholarship enthusiast. Shill for Big Library. Power-hungry gatekeeper. King of infinite space. He/him/his. I read a lot. I "like" (some) sport, politics, walking and my family. Happy to be here and eager to see what happens next ...with everything.
The Blade Artist is a 2016 novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. The story follows …
You can take the boy out of the scheme but...
4 stars
A follow up to Trainspotting that focuses on the rehabilitated(?) Begbie; now a successful artist living in California and married with two daughters. When his estranged son is murdered, Begbie returns to Edinburgh for the funeral and to investigate the death.
Is the bold Franco a new man? What do you think? It's a shit detective novel and it's ultra, ultra-violent but it's a decent attempt at looking at the roots of violence in the male psyche; in the novel, frequent reference is made to Franco reading A Clockwork Orange on his e-reader, duh! Begbie is a memorable character and it's nice to give him some depth as well as fill in his back story. Nurture or nature? A bit of both. Welsh's reach exceeds his grasp, but it's an entertaining ride. Killer ending too.
“Good. Let me ask you something, Brian. Do you believe in this stuff?"
5 stars
Disillusioned PhD student Brian take a gig assisting former alien abductee and current monster hunter Mark Sandoval in his investigation of a unicorn sighting on an island off the coast of Iceland. While the unicorn proves elusive, maybe there's Something Else lurking in the surrounding woods and why exactly is there a US military base on the island? More importantly, will both men face up to the real monsters they're running from from?
There's a lot to unpack in this wonderful novel which defies classification. Maybe a horror/magical realism/family drama mashup; it covers so many bases and it covers them so bloody well. I really loved the "first there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is" nature of the preternatural elements of the book. There's a big reveal, in passing, because that's not really what the novel's about. The worst monsters are in ourselves: literally and …
Disillusioned PhD student Brian take a gig assisting former alien abductee and current monster hunter Mark Sandoval in his investigation of a unicorn sighting on an island off the coast of Iceland. While the unicorn proves elusive, maybe there's Something Else lurking in the surrounding woods and why exactly is there a US military base on the island? More importantly, will both men face up to the real monsters they're running from from?
There's a lot to unpack in this wonderful novel which defies classification. Maybe a horror/magical realism/family drama mashup; it covers so many bases and it covers them so bloody well. I really loved the "first there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is" nature of the preternatural elements of the book. There's a big reveal, in passing, because that's not really what the novel's about. The worst monsters are in ourselves: literally and metaphorically and we must face up to them sometime. Wouldn't the world be a more interesting and larger place if people were abducted by aliens and forests are littered with roaming unicorns?
Funny, poignant, with a terrific ending. Good luck, Brian!
Perhaps a bit out-of-date now (but only a little), but an interesting introduction to the allure and consequences of conspiracy theories with a heavy emphasis on the far right. Thankfully includes ideas for deradicalisation. Perhaps also, there could have more more written about who stands to gain from promulgating conspiracy theories as it's bloody obvious that these don't arise in a vacuum. Gains a star for talking to media researcher Mike Caulfield and mentioning the SIFT technique for evaluating information sources, which is far more useful than the CRAAP test.
With help from a 12-year-old. Fans of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett may appreciate the "quirkiness". If you like it, this is the first in a series. Some dead horses ought not to be flogged, however.
In the first book in a brilliant new fantasy series, books that aren't finished by …
Charming, despite itself
4 stars
Perhaps too long, the plot meanders somewhat, a big reveal is predictable bur nevertheless this is charming and engaging. Not sure why Hell has a library in the first place, but I'll throw my hat into the ring to take over the role and commence digitising all those books.
Misanthropic psychologist Dr. Grace Park is placed on the Deucalion, a survey ship headed to …
Awful and frankly, insulting
1 star
The best thing I can say about this is that it is decently written in part; there's the kernel of a good story here and Nguyen does enough to make you want to keep turning the pages, but as mentioned in enne's review below, the science is laughable. Take the book description for example - "an icy planet in an unexplored galaxy". Really? Ok fair enough, I can let that pass - maybe Eos is in an unexplored galaxy, but then very early on there's this, which stopped me completely:
"She’d brought a MAD—a Mood-Altering Device that shot soothing gamma rays into a patient’s eyes". There's nothing soothing about DNA damage, burns or radiation sickness!
Nguyen uses scientific jargon without appearing to know or care what the concepts mean and I found it really jarring. At best it demonstrates a lack of research, at worst it suggests a belief that …
The best thing I can say about this is that it is decently written in part; there's the kernel of a good story here and Nguyen does enough to make you want to keep turning the pages, but as mentioned in enne's review below, the science is laughable. Take the book description for example - "an icy planet in an unexplored galaxy". Really? Ok fair enough, I can let that pass - maybe Eos is in an unexplored galaxy, but then very early on there's this, which stopped me completely:
"She’d brought a MAD—a Mood-Altering Device that shot soothing gamma rays into a patient’s eyes". There's nothing soothing about DNA damage, burns or radiation sickness!
Nguyen uses scientific jargon without appearing to know or care what the concepts mean and I found it really jarring. At best it demonstrates a lack of research, at worst it suggests a belief that the audience for the book is, I don't know - unsophisticated? I'm surprised these weren't picked up before publication. But then neither were the numerous continuity errors and plot holes. There's a flashback to training in the Antarctic where Park adjusts well to the "blank, razor line of the arctic horizon". Quite poor from DAW, honestly
Why does Park act like she has no aptitude or interest in her role? Is psychology a good career for someone so obviously neurodivergent? Why would anyone choose to have someone so wooden to be part of the crew? Why does a crew of 13 humans need two psychologists but only have one engineer? Park is supposedly an expert in body language but misses so much of what is going on. For all the that the crew have been assessed and tested before selection, they act like young children. You get the impression the author was constrained by her plot and needed the crew to act as they do much like the way folk in horror films do really stupid and counter-intuitive things. Some of the crew want to do something, but having the maturity and planning skills of your average nine-year-old, they do it all wrong, but the plot dictates they do what they do.
There might be some interesting ideas about the nature of consciousness, but with all the pseudosciency hand waving, I didn't really care.
The best novel about life on a Norwegian island in first half of the twentieth century ever written. The book tells the story of the Barrøys, who live on a small island north of the Arctic circle .Nothing much happens; there are births, deaths, coming and goings but the rhythms and cycles of island life take centre-stage and are exquisitely delineated . Quite simply one of the best novels you're never read
Walled Culture is the first book providing a compact, non-technical history of digital copyright and …
Turgid but essential reading
5 stars
Despite the undergraduate essay level of writing, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of the Internet. Some may find the the chapter on academic publishing a real eye-opener and the discussion of the EU copyright directive terrifying. Though heavy going at times, the book is extensively referenced (with all links using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine). It's a pity that the book's publication preceded the rise of generative AI, as the liberal use of ChatGPT and suchlike does raise some interesting questions about copyright.
That’s what New York City cop Barry Sutton is learning as he …
Actually quite good.
5 stars
The other Crouch books I've read have been better plotted than written. Happily that isn't the case here. I wasn't expecting much, but the whole false memory premise does take very interesting and thoughtful directions. Happy to give it five stars, for the plot, the exploration of the central conceit and the open-ended... ending which is bound to disappoint all those who like things wrapped up neatly (I like to think of "Don't Stop Believin'" playing on the jukebox in the bar), but it really is a pale imitation of Ken Grimwood's 'Replay', which I heartily recommend to the two or three people who'll see this review (and to everyone else who won't).
The author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and …
Delighful
5 stars
Mary Roach hits the sweet spot of being informative and entertaining; I really love her sense of humour. It's written with a light touch that often brings through the personalities of the astronauts. As a librarian who gives classes on digital literacy, I especially enjoyed the shredding of the Enos the chimp anecdote - check the sources, people. Not sure I can use it in class though.
Shady private investigator Lennox is a hard man in a hard city at a hard …
Fails to transcend the cliches of the genre
2 stars
The eponym is a hard-boiled Canadian ex-serviceman plying his trade as a private dick in early 1950s Glasgow. He's also a gangland gopher for the three bosses who run crime in the city. When a second-tier gangster with aspirations is murdered, Lennox investigates. Femme fatales, thuggish cops, morally ambiguous heroes; the author rummages through the big bag of noir tropes to serve up a bland and convoluted tale with too high a body count. I didn't find the period setting authentic and do Canadians really play "ice" hockey? The constant dissing of Glasgow, the Scots and Scotland was very tedious and the distal good guys were not to my taste. Lennox has potential and the first in a series always suffers from the world-building that has to be done. Reading subsequent books in series might be a worthwhile journey, but not one I'll be undertaking.
This is an utterly charming story about twelve families and their tightly knit street in …
Niche
4 stars
Charming, if quite anodyne, tale of life in a Glasgow tenement in the immediate post-WWII period. Outside of those - like myself - who have a link to [Glasgow] tenement life, perhaps this is more interest for its historical aspects. Yeah there's a little "poverty, religious bigotry, racism, heartbreak, lies, violence, and death" but its mostly quite ...cosy. There's a rank bad yin, whom to call one-dimensional would be to grossly overstate his depth. Potentially interesting storylines are often resolved too quickly and without any great drama. Still, it rattles along and the author provides plenty of verisimilitude. I'll happily look out for the sequels. With a little tinkering would make a decent TV miniseries.
When Daniel Blackland was six, he ingested his first bone fragment, a bit of kraken …
Middle of the road
2 stars
Every year, on my summer holiday, I read a lot of books; there are days where I do nothing but read. Reading so many books in such a short space of time, you get a real feel for author styles and ability to turn a phrase. Therefore I might have enjoyed this more if I'd read it more in isolation, but it suffered by being read immediately after the Connolly and Kadrey books. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but it doesn't stand it out. It chugs along at a decent pace but is all a bit meh - doesn't transcend its tropes.