Sir Furboy's 75 Books in 2022

We are a quarter way through the year so it is probably time I *start* on my 75 book challenge for the year. Apologies for being absent for the last few months. I hope you all remember me ;)

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.

I have said before that I was a late reader but quickly became an avid reader once I started reading at age 7 and a half, and have always said that this was down to being allowed to read interesting books. I have recently discovered there is a bit more to it than that, and I expect to say more soon.

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.

Last year I wanted to get my TBR down from 132 books to something more manageable. I did manage to get it to about the 80 book mark so let's hope I can do the same again this year.

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

>1 sirfurboy: Better late than never! Still plenty of year left, Stephen. I will pass on the coffee, being a died-in-the-wool tea drinker.

Welcome back, Stephen!

Nice to see you back Stephen.

Thanks all. Good to see you too. I need to go star a bunch of threads now.

Folks, I am not sure if I am doing this right.

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Welcome back!

>1 sirfurboy: Welcome back, and happy reading!

Thanks both. :)

So happy to discover your 2022 thread, Stephen, welcome back!

Happy new thread, Stephen - and welcome back!

What are you reading, Sir F?
Are you still managing prodigious walks?

>10 FAMeulstee:, >11 SirThomas:, >12 PaulCranswick:

Thanks all.

Yes, Paul, still walking. I have some pictures to share from this year's walks.

1. Caged in Chaos - Victoria Biggs



The author was 16 when she wrote this very personal book about her dyspraxia (also known as Developmental Coordination Disorder). She does an amazing job of describing what life is like for her and giving fellow dyspraxics a day to day guide about coping with the condition.

Amazon and Goodreads tell me I made 107 highlights in this book! That will probably tell you something!

Here is the first of those highlights:

"For a teenager, this isn’t just a dry medical term. It is the fight to produce readable handwriting and a good essay at the same time. It is the frustration that you feel when you’re trying to cross the road, but don’t dare to move because you can’t judge the speed of oncoming traffic. It is the chaos that whirls through your head when someone asks you to plan ahead. It colours every area of living."

I have long suspected I have undiagnosed dyspraxia myself. But since November or December I have been reading quite a lot on the subject, and you will see it in other books I shall be reviewing soon. I had always assumed dyspraxia was the reason I cannot catch a rugby ball or even a giant slow moving beach rounders ball. However I did not think my inability to catch needed a label. But some years ago I worked with the mother of a dyspraxic boy and she told me some things that set me wondering. In particular, inability to write on a line of a lined page, and chronically sloping bad handwriting. And then I read that people think Einstein was dyspraxic, explaining the fact that he was a very late reader.

And then anyone who has read my bio text over the years will notice I too was a late reader. I could not read at all aged 7 and a half, but then it clicked and I made rapid progress. The same actually happened with my talking, walking and riding a bike. In fact in all kinds of things.

What I came to realise was that not only was I almost certainly dyspraxic, but that it affected every aspect of my life. Talking it through with friends and reading on the subject led to speak to my GP about it and then I took an adult assessment and now have a formal diagnosis.

So reading this book was very powerful, because the author's struggles were my struggles and her strengths were my strengths. There have been so many discoveries too. The author writes:

"Many of us have strong aversions to certain tastes, textures, sounds, or smells. Itchy wool or lace and the feel of mashed potato or lumpy sauces in my mouth drive my senses mad."

And I was like "yes! mashed potato". Because I have never liked mashed potato, and no one has ever understood why! My mother used to say "but you liked it before it is mashed. What is the difference?"

So many discoveries like that!

And the author does follow up the observations with good advice, like cutting all the tags out of your clothes before wearing them. Well yes, I do that! I have learned many of the lessons for myself over the years, but it is good advice - excellent advice to the parents of a dyspraxic child.

Anyway there is so much I could say about this book, but then this message would be so long that no one would read it! So I will stop there. Very much a recommended work though for anyone with dyspraxia, or who knows anyone with it, or who works in education, where you *will* come across people with the condition.

>14 sirfurboy: Never heard before about dyspraxia, interesting.
Odd, I can relate to almost all of these, except the late reading. I learned to read very early, when I was 4.
Tastes not as much as textures: itchy wool drove me insane, and I was forced to wear it. And indeed I do remove all tags from clothes that are in direct contact with my skin.

>15 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, good to hear from you.

Dyspraxia is a spectrum (and also related to other conditions such as ADHD and dyslexia, so there is some cross over). Not everyone has all the symptoms, but if you found yourself relating somewhat, you might like to look at this online test. It is not diagnostic but it will indicate if dyspraxia is likely or not:

https://neuroknowhow.com/dyspraxia/adult-dyspraxia-questionnaire/

In my dyspraxia assessment, a paper version of that same test was one of the non standardised tests I undertook, but they have to do standardised tests too to diagnose.

I think dyspraxia is primarily a term used in the UK, and the World Health Organisation refer to it as DCD, but names may vary in other countries.

>16 sirfurboy: In Dutch it is called dyspraxie, Stephen, according to wikipedia, and a few other sources. I saw DCD as well.
Like you at first I have no need for a diagnose, plenty of those throughout my life. I did the test and got "PROBABLE". I will try to read a bit more about dyspraxia.

Some walking pictures. Starting with a Sunday afternoon walk at the start of January to Wallog.

This is a bit of an experiment to see if I can share images I posted to Facebook here. Please let me know if the images do not display for you.





There is a legend about Wallog, that it contains the remains of the wall of the lost city of Cantre'r Gwaelod. You can see it in that second picture although the tide was in so you can't see it stretches out a long way into the sea. Anyway the myth is described here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantre%27r_Gwaelod

Wow, beautiful pics!

>19 drneutron: Thanks Jim.

2. The Mirror and the Light - Hilary Mantel



At some point between last autumn and the first months of this year, I finally found the wherewithal to read this over-written book to its conclusion. I may have skimmed some of it. It is not a terrible work but it is definitely overhyped and with all the problems I noted in the earlier volumes.

3. Das Kind - Sebastien Fitzek



This is a German language crime novel that I plodded through very slowly, aided by short chapters and a reasonably fast moving plot. I first saw it on Sir Thomas' feed, but maybe as much as 2 years ago!

The story is about a washed up lawyer with a reputation for helping criminals escape conviction, whose life was damaged by the loss of his newborn son. Now he is asked to act for a new client - a terminally ill 10 year old boy who thinks he is a reincarnated serial killer. Add to that a shadowy figure who seems to know too much about the lawyer's past and it is a mystery that feels like it can only have a supernatural explanation.

The plot makes use of some coincidences and the occasional touch of pseudo science but mostly it comes to a very satisfying and unexpected resolution. It was a good read - probably a quick read if you are fluent in German or can find it in translation. It wasn't quick for me though! All the same, enjoyable and interesting.

Thanks for the mention, Stephen, that must have been a different book by the author, but this book has now landed on my TBR list.
My favorite Sebastian Fitzek book is Der Augensammler, by the way....
>18 sirfurboy: Unfortunately the pictures are not visible for me, when I open them in a new tab the message "URL signature expired" appears.
Have a wonderful day!

>23 SirThomas: Hmm, I had *thought* the recommendation came from you, but maybe someone else then. Or maybe, as you say, it was a different work by this author that you reviewed. I will have to look at Der Augensammler.

I was afraid the photos might not work. Thanks for pointing that out. I will see if I can replace them with uploaded versions.

Have a wonderful day too.

4 Sleep: The Myth of 8 Hours, the Power of Naps... and the New Plan to Recharge Your Body and Mind - Nick Littlehales



This book is written by Sports Sleep Coach, Nick Littlehales. A onetime employee of Slumberland, he carved out a new role for himself as a sleep coach to top flight sports people. He has given TED talks and there are articles on the media about his work. Now he has put his attained wisdom to print.

The book is well structured. The author tells us what he will tell us, and then there are a series of chapters looking at various subjects around sleep, and at the end of each chapter he tells us what he told us in a useful summary.

There is good and practical advice on how to sleep, how we should not worry about the concept of 8 hour sleeps, but how we should approach sleeping better and more. He quotes scientists and is clearly well versed in the scientific literature. He spurns the pseudo-scientific stuff, so it came over as excellent practical advice and he has a wealth of experience.

This is perhaps not the book a sleep scientist would have written. He doesn't set out to demonstrate what he has learned has been tested in clinically controlled trials. Those who want to establish evidence for his claims about sleep cycles, for instance, need to read further. That does not mean he is wrong about such things, but this book does not provide the evidence that he is right.

All the same, this does appear to be substantially more than one person's self help diagnosis. It is clear that he has used an evidence base to come to his views, even if he does not provide it all here.

As a sleep coach to some very famous sports people, the author has created a vocabulary (some might call it jargon) around sleep. Beds are replace by sleep kits. Bedrooms are the recovery room. A night's sleep is measured in R90 cycles. He does explain why he uses all these terms, and they all make sense, but even if I take all his advice, I cannot see myself going each night to my "sleep kit".

All in all, however, a good and recommended read.

>14 sirfurboy: Stephen, I saw your review on Goodreads and came looking for you here...glad you're all threaded up!

The first I'd even heard of dyspraxia was when Tom Gilliford, from GBBO, wrote an essay about having it. It explains so much to so many...I wonder that it isn't much more commonly diagnosed, given how many people I know who have signs of it.

Any road, I'm wishing you a good weekend ahead's reads.

>21 sirfurboy: I haven't started this one yet, Sir F, because of precisely the concerns you have always mentioned. I'm not surprised she was late delivering this one to the publishers given that it is probably three hundred pages too long.

>25 sirfurboy: Thanks for the recommendation, my library has it and I checked it out. I am looking forward to it.
Have a wonderful Sunday, Stephen.

>26 richardderus: Thanks for this. Yes, it is surprising how little it is understood still. Things are getting better though. When I was in school there was basically no accommodation for it. Nowadays it is a better recognised condition, even if it is not picked up all the time.

>27 PaulCranswick: Yes, I think Richard actually told me he was appalled I was still soldiering on with those! :)

>28 SirThomas: Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy it.

5. They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera



This was a pretty good tale in a world where an organisation known as Death-Cast will call you on the day of your impending death, and let you know that you will die that day and should set your affairs in order. They also give helpful ideas of things you can do on your last day.

The book follows two young adult Deckers (people who have received the call) who come from very different lives and backgrounds, but team up as "last friends". Mateo and Rufus find courage, friendship and healing together and then find love. The character study is well done and poignant, and the title does give the ending away, obviously! So you know it is going to be sad.

There is good writing here, and a good story, but I always have a bit of an issue with completely preposterous scenarios. I know the Death-cast is just the hook around which the character based story is wound. I get that it is not meant to be examined too closely... but this one really requires a challenging level of willing suspension of disbelief.

How Death-cast came about or works is just unexplained "magic". There is no exploration of the extremely strong predestinarian vengeful universe it implies. As soon as people get the call, their whole life changes, and whatever their cause of death might have been before, it seems inevitable that for most of them, their actual cause of death is something else entirely. The event is foretold and despite their choices and despite anything anyone can do for them, it is utterly locked in. If they avoid death by X then Y will get them *every single time*.

So yes, I didn't like that aspect. But once I forgave this gaping hole in the plot, and the failure to engage with it, I found the story as a whole was well done and the characters had a depth to them that made the journey worth the effort.

I was wavering between "it was okay" and "I liked it", but I think the story telling makes it a "like".

>30 sirfurboy: There is no exploration of the extremely strong predestinarian vengeful universe it implies.
Is one necessary? Is this not the world that religious nuts everywhere tell us that we live in already? The only thing this adds is an actual *date* on which the Inevitable will happen.

>29 sirfurboy:, >27 PaulCranswick: I'm astounded and slightly horrified that you're using this "one wild and precious life" to glom this glop. I hope whatever value you're getting from the exercise is sufficient recompense for the agonies you're enduring.

Anyway...onward! Excelsior!

>31 richardderus: No, an explanation is not really necessary I think - that was why I did my utmost to engage my willing suspension of disbelief. But I could not understand why there was no reflection at all on the fact that if we *change* what we do, why can't we change the fact of our death?

I think this is actually worse than religious predestination. Or at least it is a different animal. A Calvinist argues that something is predestined because every aspect of the created universe inevitably led to the choices that caused that outcome. This book is saying that given the certain knowledge of your death on a certain day, if you warn that person of their death and they avoid the things that would have killed them, they will die somehow else.

Well actually, there *is* a way to make this consistent. It is not pretty though! If Death Cast can know that the act of phoning someone will *cause* them to die that day, then they can phone them - and thus kill them. Everyone they phone dies, but at least some of those phoned would not have died had they not been phoned.

But I am certain I am overthinking this!

It is young adult fiction, and there is a temptation to say that as such it doesn't need to think into these things... but some young adult fiction can be extremely deep, so I don't think that is an excuse.

But what I will admit is that it works as a story if you just let that bit slide. :)

>32 sirfurboy: If Death Cast can know that the act of phoning someone will *cause* them to die that day, then they can phone them - and thus kill them. Everyone they phone dies, but at least some of those phoned would not have died had they not been phoned.

I think that's an absolutely wonderful kludge, one that could lead to so much interesting theorizing.

>33 richardderus: Yes indeed. :) Thanks Richard

6. The Dream Master - Theresa Breslin



I first read this book in the summer of 2000, and it has been one I have recommended frequently over the years to young readers. It is aimed at late primary or mid grade readers, and the story is definitely age appropriate and good and enjoyable stuff for young readers. But why would I re-read it? We will get to that! But first what is it about?

Cy is a boy in upper primary school with a big imagination, but problems of his own. He suffers the attention of the two class bullies, and also struggles with aspects of his school life. However, his dreams are rich and imaginative, aided by a magical dream master. But there is a magical mishap and a boy from Cy's dreams crosses over from ancient Egypt into the modern world, and fun and mayhem ensue.

The book has educational elements about Ancient Egypt, and a very enjoyable plot. It is a quick read, and the characters are well done. Theresa Breslin knows how to write well and she does so here. There are good reasons I have often recommended this book.

But now why would I re-read it? Well that comes down to the protagonist, Cy. When I read this in 2000 I recall being blown away by the fact I was at last reading a protagonist who just seemed to be me! Some excerpts I have highlighted this time around are:

His terrible handwriting:
"Cy hated writing in class. He was so clumsy, his wrist and fingers didn’t seem to be in tune with his brain."

Clumsiness :
"Cy looked at the mess. As usual, panic was slowing him down. He couldn’t think what to do."

Coordination, imagination, thinking on the spot:
“Imagination is everything”.’ Grampa knocked the top of Cy’s head very gently. ‘And you’ve certainly got dollops of that in there.’
‘Yeah,’ said Cy gloomily. ‘But a lot of crossed wires as well. Nothing co-ordinates. And the harder I try, the worse it gets.’

Obligatory Einstein reference:
‘Einstein never passed a single maths exam at school.’

And an absolute stunning ability that Cy and I share (including the last sentence):
Cy frequently forgot things. If he was asked at home to fetch something, by the time he got to his room he often hadn’t a clue what he was looking for. Once he even forgot that he was actually on an errand.

The author never states it outright, but Cy is dyspraxic. She has a wonderfully observed dyspraxic protagonist here with all his strengths and weaknesses. I strongly identified with Cy when I first read this book, but it was only when I realised that this was meant to be a dyspraxic boy that I went back and re-read the story and saw just how well the author has captured what it is like to have dyspraxia.

And it is a wonderfully positive book for children with dyspraxia, so thoroughly recommended for that reason.

It is not *especially* deep and meaningful for adults. If you don't identify with Cy, your mileage will vary, but there were some profound words here, all the same. Such as:

‘As I said, truth is a gift offered. Although,’ Aten paused, ‘it is sometimes not offered alone. One has to choose carefully. There can be dung amongst dates. Your sister and her friends selected the truth they wished to hear.’

I liked that quote. We can all do that so often and it was nicely put.

7. Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen (farbig illustrierte Schmuckausgabe) - J K Rowling



The first of the Harry Potter books needs no review from me. The story is as good as ever, but this edition, bought for me as a Christmas present in 2020, is in German and with some lovely illustrations. It took me a while to work my way through it. Got there in the end.

8. Sincerely, Your Autistic Child: What People on the Autism Spectrum Wish Their Parents Knew About Growing Up, Acceptance, and Identity - Sharon daVanport et al.



This is a set of essays by autistic people telling us things they would have liked their parents to know as they grew up. In the telling they also tell us what it is like to be autistic, and also tell us so much about society's attitude to autism and neurodiversity in general.

There is a saying: "If you know one autistic person, then you know one autistic person." What is meant by this is that neurodiversity is a spectrum and no two people experience the world in the same way. But what all autistic people share is a unique view on the world that has strengths as well as weaknesses. In this book we hear from an autistic girl who was and remains almost non verbal, and we hear from someone with a high flying professional career who did not even know she was autistic until she was an adult and had children of her own.

The essays are authentic, heart warming in places. Elsewhere we hear about bullying, misunderstanding and some downright bad behaviour. There is criticism and praise, but one of the essays ends up with the all important advice: that the most important thing is to love your autistic child. And the writer acknowledges that this hardly needs saying to someone who is already reading this book. She then gives advice how to show that love even when the child does not have the tools to acknowledge it. She reminds us that the child *does* understand and feel it.

Autism is often viewed so negatively. One moment that caught me off guard, and was really just from a small point being made, was how the false (and thoroughly debunked) claims about vaccines being linked to autism were so harmful, not just because of the whole vaccine nonsense but because of what it told us about the parents who withheld the vaccine and society's attitude in general to autism. Parents were willing to risk their child's *death* rather than risk them getting autism. They actually saw autism as a fate worse than death!

So much of our perception of autism, the book reminds us, comes from perceptions from visible autism in boys (and white boys at that). Autism presents differently in girls and is under diagnosed in them. It is also under diagnosed in ethnic minority populations. There is so much to know about autism, and listening to autistic voices (not just their parents and the professionals) is so important to understanding and learning more.

Having said that, there were things in this book that a professional would have been more careful about. One of the writers suggests the removal of leg braces she had at age 2 may have triggered her becoming non verbal. It is an interesting anecdote and sounds plausible, but this correlation of two things in time does not imply causation and was behind the vaccine nonsense too. On that one "more research is necessary" and there were other such things too.

The book mentions practical questions too, such as what is wrong with certain therapies, and why many but not all autistic people prefer identity first language, "autistic person," rather than "person with autism".

Also the book was originally just about girls: "Sincerely, Your Autistic Daughter". It has been edited to make it inclusive, but it is almost entirely female voices, and sometimes the essays assume you are only reading about girls. That is not a bad thing, because autism in girls is so under-reported, but it didn't tell you much about what autistic sons wanted to tell their parents. And although what was said will apply to boys too, you have to bear in mind that if you know one autistic person then you know one autistic person.

This is definitely a book a parent of an autistic child should read. It is also one I would recommend to anyone, really. It will challenge your ideas about what autism is, and it is really good to hear the voices of autistic people.

>37 sirfurboy: Parents were willing to risk their child's *death* rather than risk them getting autism. They actually saw autism as a fate worse than death!

This is what got my goat all these years. "You think death is preferable to autism?!" is something I shouted at large numbers of deniers.

>38 richardderus: For some reason I had not seen just how pernicious that line was. But yes. :(

9. Dutch in 40 Minutes - Collins



This was an audio book borrowed from the library. It was very basic, and I probably should not have bothered. It will give you a basic grasp how to order a beer on a visit to the Netherlands, but you are definitely not going to learn to speak Dutch in 40 minutes.

Of course, the whole premise is flawed. 40 minutes is a single short language lesson. If you want a single language lesson in a new language, this will be good enough but nothing is going to teach you a language in 40 minutes. Not even if you listen to it over and over.

Audio materials are good in general though, so this was ok.

>40 sirfurboy: Made me think how many Dutch words I could get into 40 minutes ;-)

Stephen! You sneaked in on me this year with your late arrival, but I have found you now and it is very good to see you here.

>41 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita - I guess you could find quite a lot of Dutch words in 40 minutes... but making sense of them would be harder :)

>42 ronincats: Thanks Roni! Yes, sorry.. I was very late this year! Glad you found me.

10. Dream Master: Nightmare! - Theresa Bereslin



This is the second of the Dream Master books by Theresa Breslin, revolving around a boy with a big imagination and the trouble he gets into when he starts to learn to control his dreams with the help of a magical dream master.

Engagingly written, this is meant for late primary school children or mid grade children. There are a couple of bullies, a school trip to Jorvik, and some magical mishaps that make for a great read. What I really like about these books is the protagonist, Cy, who is clearly dyspraxic (although the condition is not named). We see him with all his strengths and weaknesses, so well observed by the author. I felt instantly drawn to him when I read the first of these, and once again the author does an amazing job here.

It is not really a book for adults but I liked reading about such a carefully observed dyspraxic protagonist.

>44 sirfurboy: Jorvik? As in Viking York? Interesting! I'm so glad bullying is getting the attention it deserves in kids' worlds. It is, I feel safe asserting, a formative/deformative influence on almost all our childhoods.

Happy week-ahead's reads.

>45 richardderus: Yes, that Jorvik. There is a well known Jorvik Viking Centre in York, which is the destination for a lot of school trips. Having said that, I should probably have made that clearer!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope youre week's reads are good too.

11. Dream Master: Gladiator - Theresa Breslin



This is the third book in Theresa Breslin's Dream Master series, aimed at primary school children. Again we have good and enjoyable writing, a lovely protagonist in Cy, and another (mis) adventure with the Dream Master as Cy takes control of his own dreams once more. This time he is exploring volcanoes and winds up in Ancient Rome, where possibly the most famous eruption in history is about to take place.

History pedants will notice a few lapses, but it is meant for children, and provides some good age appropriate information about the Roman first century.

I think children can get into this one more than adults. I enjoyed it a lot for the protagonist, but adult readers please be aware your mileage will vary.

12. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz



I think I saw this first on Amber's feed.

A story of two teens growing up in 1980s California who become friends. Ari is the protagonist, a boy growing up in a good Mexican American home, with parents who love him but also with unspoken secrets. His brother is in prison and his father will not talk of his time in the army, or really of anything much. Ari cannot swim but Dante befriends him and teaches him and a wonderful friendship blossoms.

The story takes place over a couple of years, and contains trials and challenges and good points too. It is a very well written coming of age story, that I really liked.

I have to admit, however, that some things didn't initially ring quite true - but maybe they are just part of the depth of the book. Sometimes Dante seems too wise for his years... and yet that could be forgiven as being part of his very unusual character. Also Ari does not discover something about himself until the very end that he must surely have known. Yet there is a hint that this is actually just because he is an unreliable narrator. Thinking about it, it seems that Ari did know this about himself, but didn't let on. So what at first seems like a sudden and unlikely reveal is more about a moment of honesty. I best not say more for fear of spoilers.

The family narratives are a real strength of the book. The characters are well written and sympathetically described. A very good book.

>48 sirfurboy: I quite enjoyed the read but felt no need to read the others in the series.

>47 sirfurboy: What a great series this sounds to be! Never heard of her, or them, and now think I need to get one to see how I fare with it.

Cheers, Stephen, good reads ahead for you. The Tom Daley should be interesting.

>46 sirfurboy: Spent many a happy afternoon there with my kids, Stephen.

>49 richardderus: I hadn't even particularly noticed that there *were* more in the series. I think it is a pity there are. To me the story was finished nicely at the end of the book. It sounds like a sequel that did not need writing.

I hope you enjoy the Dream Master series, but as I said in my reviews, they are meant for children so your mileage may vary. But yes, I liked them.

I have been reading the Tom Daley one at a leisurely pace. There has been some very interesting stiff in it, and some poignant moments, but it is not a biography with a clear timeline. He jumps around a bit, focussing around topics rather than an order of events. I will say more when I am done.

Thanks for the comments.

>50 PaulCranswick: Yep, a great place. Thanks Paul.

13. Alix l'intrépide - Jacques Martin



First of the adventures of Alix, a comic book hero in the mould of Tintin, but in Roman times. It is less well known than Tintin, and although it has been translated into some other languages, there does not seem to be an English version. I read it in French. I suspect the reason it is less well known than Tintin is the lack of humour.

On the plus side, this is a high action story with historical breadth and very carefully researched and executed illustrations. The history is a touch strained in places, and later titles suggest it will become downright anachronistic, but it does well enough for a child's eye view on the Roman world. Indeed it does the illustrations exceptionally well.

Alix is a kind of Roman superman type (less obvious super powers, and a lot more luck but the general idea seems the same). He rises from slavery to an adopted Roman and friend of Julius Caesar. He makes many friends along the way, although some of the characterisations of that are a bit wooden. It is all a bit unrealistic but good fun comic book stuff.

The level of French needed to read this is, in my opinion, higher than that required for reading some other French comic books, and there is quite a lot of text. I read it slowly with some long breaks. It was not captivating enough for me to sustain the effort, I suppose. However it was a worthwhile story.

>53 sirfurboy: Not appealing to me, as a not-graphic consumer.

>51 sirfurboy: I think the story moving ahead in time was part of what he planned from the start.

Have a wonderful weekend ahead.

>54 richardderus: Thanks Richard :)

14. Coming up for Air - Tom Daley



This is an autobiography by Tom Daley, the diver who won the World Championships and several Olympic medals including a gold. However it is not arranged as a classic autobiography but as a series of chapters looking at various issues or wrapped around certain events. It is well thought out though, and all interesting.

There is probably a danger that younger writers who have excelled in sports will linger too long on the sport because so much of their life was wrapped around that. Of course, if you love diving you won't think so, but for a general audience it could get to be too much. On the other hand, if you didn't want to read about diving, you wouldn't read a diver's biography and I thought the balance was about right in this book. I did not feel I was given too much detail, but as he described the work that he put into his very own Firework dive, I found it quite fascinating understanding the psychological difficulties he had that got him to that point.

Beyond this we do hear about his father, who died from a brain tumour, and the sadness around that. We hear a little about his childhood (but not very much actually), and quite a lot about his falling in love and coming out. I also learned a lot about surrogacy in this book. An area around which I had only hazy knowledge.

Where he goes into depth, I felt we got the authentic Tom Daley, and there was so much in this book that allows us to really get to see him. I feel, however, that there may be areas he skirted over. This may be because that was not his focus in this book, or it may be because some of these gaps were areas that are still painful to him.

One area that was a surprise was the section where he was talking about a fight to keep his weight down, and some inappropriate pressure to do so. The comment "should you be eating that?" directed at him on one occasion is probably something many people will have heard directed at them with a tone of disapproval. It was perhaps just one of a few hints we see of the very unreasonable pressures that young and aspiring athletes suffer.

There is plenty of good stuff in this book.

15. How to Write Really Badly - Anne Fine



Chester Howard moves around a lot on account of his mother's work, and so when he starts in yet another school, he arrives with a bit of an attitude and low expectations. He quickly finds, however, that this school is worse than anything he has experienced before because everyone here is so nice! He is sat next to Joe, who does not understand Chaster's sharp wit and use of irony and takes him seriously. Meanwhile his teacher confuses his name and insists on calling him Howard.

What follows is often hilarious and always both funny and insightful as you would expect from Anne Fine (who also writes under several "Anne" pseudonyms). Joe appears to me to be classically dyspraxic, although the term is never used. His writing is so abysmal that Chester persuades him that writing badly is his superpower, and he should do his school project on "how to write badly". He also has issues with sports and other activities but makes the most amazing models and Chester realises he is also intelligent. Chester asks his father how this can be and his father just says "wiring".

The book is a lovely story of friendship that grows between the boys and leads to a heartwarming conclusion. It is a fine book, which is no surprise as I don't recall Anne Fine ever writing a bad book!

Some minor criticisms I might have: I am not certain I would recommend it to dyspraxics or others with a neurodiversity because Joe is not the protagonist, and is often - at least to start with - the foil of Chester's wit. Yet maybe that is not a problem. I would have to consider that more.

The other criticism is that Chester seems to be a little old for his years at times. It made him a very enjoyable and quick witted character though.

Neither of those things detract from what is a very good story.

>57 sirfurboy: That sounds very cute indeed.

>56 sirfurboy: That sounds very much like something I'd like to read!

Happy midweek's reading.

>58 richardderus: Thanks Richard. Yes, if you decide to read that one too, I will be interested in what you make of it.

16. The Road to Reckoning - Robert Lautner



Samuel Colt has invented the revolver, and 12 year old Thomas Walker from New York cannot believe his luck when he is allowed to accompany his father on a sales trip to sell the new guns. However tragedy will strike on this trip and Thomas is left to fight for himself and to return home to his aunt.

This book is a first person narrative account of this trip. The characterisations are strong, and Thomas will meet various characters, but most particularly an old ranger called Henry Sands who does not want to take Thomas home, but who does like to shoot guns.

There is a lot of great historical detail in this story, and some social comment which is not in your face, but very powerful for that. The writer has one a great job here in producing a tale that is thoroughly engaging, in no way cliched, and faithful to a particular time and place.

>60 sirfurboy: Sounds like you enjoyed it, Stephen, but I won't be joining you on this one.

Wonderful week-ahead's reads.

17. Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch



OK the short review is: I liked this book, recommended by a friend. It was a modern day crime novel set in a well described London, with lots of magical elements, and some tongue in cheek references to Harry Potter as a consequence. Ultimately it was something of an urban fantasy crime novel.

To expand on that a bit, I note that Aaronovitch is an excellent writer, who has created a world that reminded me of Neil Gaiman's writing. Mundane and magical, intertwined and often butting up against each other with dry humour. Indeed the author's dry wit runs through the novel making it very entertaining.

His knowledge of London is obvious, and he writes that in in ways that sometimes made me snort with laughter. Such as:

"Next stop was Purley, famous place, Purley, know what I mean?"

London has a lot of rivers and most of them are heavily culverted so no one knows they are there! This book brings some of them back to life, and also does a lot with the idea of river deities, which again put me in the mind of Gaiman, and his American Gods.

Police Constable Peter Grant knows London and knows policing well but wanders into this magical world and quickly becomes more than just a police constable. His wry observations on policing are funny throughout, and he is a well constructed character for this story. I was surprised, however, that he was not just a bit more over-awed by his realisation that existence was not as mundane as he had supposed.

So with all those positives, I clearly liked it. Why didn't I love it? Well partly because it is crime - not my favourite genre (although it is supernatural crime!), and partly because the story seemed to drag a bit in the middle (but maybe that was because it was crime!) So if you like the crime genre you will probably rate this higher.

It is, however, well written, funny and clever. Definitely an author I will read again, and indeed I will continue to the sequel of this series.

>62 sirfurboy: Fair review, I think, Sir F. The Peter Grant gets a lot of love in the group and I can see its charm but, like you, I do perceive something missing from it somehow. The supernatural is not my bag generally but it is a series that is passably interesting.

>63 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul, and
>61 richardderus: Thanks Richard.

Happy Monday, both.

>64 sirfurboy: Happy Monday, Stephen. I'm glad you liked Rivers of London...I did, too, but never felt compelled to read more because Neverwhere satiated that particular Urban Fantasy need of mine.

I confess it seems odd to me that no one's picked the series up for TV. After all, Aaronovich is a TV person of long standing.

>65 richardderus: You are right, that is odd!

Also apologies for the silence for a couple of weeks, I have been away!

18. On Writers and Writing - Margaret Atwood



Margaret Atwood knows a thing or two about writing, and so it is no surprise that she was asked to lecture on the subject. This book grew out of those lectures, and she imparts much wisdom and experience in this book. We learn about her own journey to becoming a writer, and much more.

I lied this book, and it was worth reading. It does not give aspiring writers tips and guidance on how to be a writer - not directly at least - because that is not what the author sets out to do. Instead she talks about writers, writing, and what makes a story. She refers back to various pieces of literature and cites many sources.

There were some oddities though. Some of the sources she cited didn't always seem to obviously support the points she was making. As an example, she talks about twins in stories and cites Cain and Abel in Genesis. This would be fine, except that I don't ever recall anyone saying they were twins before! Brothers, certainly, but the Bible does not call them twins. They could have been twins, I suppose, but if that is mere speculation then it doesn't make her point. There were other examples of this kind of thing.

That criticism is very minor though, because the points she made were still good, and supported by other evidence.

I particularly liked where she was talking about the situation as it was for Canadian writers when she was beginning her career. She obviously speaks from great experience and that was worthwhile.

19. The Money Room - Eloise Jarvis McGraw



Eloise Jarvis McGraw writes great books for middle school grade children. Many years ago I loved one of the few of these that was then published in the UK - Master Cornhill (about the Great Fire of London). The books can be hard to track down, except that the Internet Archive's Open Library has many of them so I got hold of this one and read it. That is a fantastic resource.

The Money Room is about a family who move back into a family home in Oregon. The great grandfather of the two children in the story reputedly had a hidden money room and so they go searching for it. Most adults dismiss that as childish fantasy, but it seems not all. It seems someone else is after the contents of the money room, and seeks out to defraud the family of it.

As with many of this author's books, there are lessons about history (specifically the great depression for this one) intertwined with a good plot and wonderful characters. There is good reason why this author one three Newbery honours. I will read more of her work as and when I can find it.

20. Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors - Matt Parker



Matt Parker has a wonderful tongue in cheek approach to presenting issues and stories about mathematical challenges and errors. He does it on his podcast as well as in this book. He is also occasionally invited to speak on BBC's More or Less and elsewhere for good reason. He makes maths interesting and fun, and in this book he looks at all kinds of errors and problems in mathematics (like engineering, security, calendars and lots more). He also takes a good and well informed look at some issues in computer science, such as rounding and bit size limits.

It is all great stuff, and you don't need to be a mathematical genius to understand it. His engaging style leads you through, and you don't need to understand mathematical processes to know what he is talking about. He also makes hilarious references to some bizarre online conversations, and even quotes the venerable Risks Digest - of which I heartily approve.

21. The Memory Cage - Ruth Eastham



The memory cage is Ruth Eastham’s first novel, and it is a good one. Alex’s grandfather has Alzheimer’s disease, And Alex seeks to help him through creating a scrapbook of memories for him. In the process of making it, however, he uncovers much more about his grandfather, and their family than he anticipated. Meanwhile, Alex has his own battles to fight, and his own memories to deal with.

The book is well written, with a great little family mystery, intertwined with memories of Dunkirk and other wars. There are some good characterisations and some gripping moments. Definitely a good read.

There were maybe a couple of places where things were very slightly clunky, but easily forgiven in what was an excellent debut novel.

Hi Stephen! Glad to see you're back, and have been reading stuff that makes you happy.

About Aaronovich...as it happens he's got his own production company now and is entering the lists of selling a Rivers of London series of his own now. (If Simon Pegg and Nick Frost couldn't do it, though...)

>71 richardderus: Thanks Richard. Interesting news about Aaronovich. As they say, watch this space!

22. A Town Divided by Christmas - Orson Scott Card



In a small town a couple of scientists do genetics and sociological studies, looking to see if there is a "homebody" gene. The town itself is a classic rural small town where there are annually tow competing Christmas pageants, and have been ever since a row, many years ago, as to which baby should play the baby Jesus. Card examines scientific method and pressures on scientists as well as small town life in a competent story.

Card was once my favourite writer but recently I came to the conclusion I did not need to read any more of his books. Somehow this one sneaked through, however. Despite that, I don't find any reason to change my mind on this. It is a good enough story, but very noticeably a Card story. Also, from my point of view, I was very distracted by the language, where a word that has a particular unfortunate slang meaning in the UK at least was splattered liberally across nearly every page.

23. The Celts: A History - Peter Berresford Ellis



An interesting and fairly thorough history of Celtic peoples in pre-history and into the Roman period, this book is written with authority by an eminent and prolific writer in the field of Celtic studies. There is a lot of good information in here, although the organisation of the chapters and the material within them did not always seem logical to me.

Understanding the pre-literary Celts is a tricky business. We have Roman writers whose biases must be acknowledged. We have archaeology and some linguistic evidence and such like, but it is very hard to say anything definitive about pre-history. It is called pre-history for a reason. The author recognises this issue and wrestles with it. He seems to do an admirable job, but then he made the case for far more complex Celtic life than is generally supposed (e.g. suggesting the Celts had a sophisticated network of wooden roads that left little trace as they were made of wood and replaced by Roman stone roads). He has some evidence of such roads preserved in anaerobic bog conditions, but he doesn't mention that it may be that such roads were only in such places because they *were* bogs, and that rough tracks probably sufficed elsewhere. So I started to suspect he was overstating his case.

Elsewhere there were statements made that just seemed to be wrong. An example was the idea that Saxons slaughtered Celts in England and pushed them to the Celtic fringe. These days the idea of slaughter and replacement is not popular, refuted by genetic evidence. It seems that largely the Celts remained in England but the language was replaced by English. I thought he must have known this, and wondered why he made the statement he did with no recognition of the new thinking. I now realise the book was actually written in the 1980s and although updated, maybe that part was not revised. Or maybe he disagrees - but in that case, he ought to discuss the disagreement.

So all in all, I think this book maybe has something of an agenda, which does not deny its wealth of interesting and good information presented carefully and thoroughly. Worth reading, but as with so many books on pre-history, reader beware!

24. Mais c'est à toi que je pense - Gary A. Braunbeck



I started this some years ago, when a friend pointed out Amazon were having a massive sale on some books in French. When I bought it, I did not take note that this one is also available in English (under the title "Prodigal Blues"), and it was a taxing read for me in French, which explains why I have only just finished it.

Mark Sieber finds himself stranded on a road trip after the expiry of his death trap loan car. Description of the car sets up a tone for this book, and the scenes and characters can be amusing and somewhat entertaining. Nevertheless things take a dark turn. First Mark finds himself at the centre of the discovery of a missing child. Next he is kidnapped himself, and we are propelled into a savagely dark world that was heartbreaking and also ensured I needed a number of breaks from this story before I could finish it.

Resolution was well done, although some scenes bordered on the farcical.

This was not high literature but it was a well done plot driven story by a writer who knows how to write and employed his skills well. The choice of subject was a dark one, but the author did not dwell overlong on the dark aspects and he had characters with just enough of a sense of humour to remain believable while maintaining the story.

For all that I cannot say I *really* liked it, and that is no doubt down to the subject matter. When I need to take a break from a book, it is never going to be a favourite.

25. The Other Boy - M.G. Hennessey



I am not sure when I added this book to my TBR - maybe when I went to Foyles last year. It is meant for mid grade children and focuses on Shane, who knows he is a boy even though he was born in a girl body. His father calls him a tom boy but his mother just accepts he is boy. At school he presents as a boy and his classmates do not know any different. This inevitably leads to an outing moment from a school bully, and chaos ensues.

It is a brave subject, sympathetically written. However it is not really a very good story, sorry. I think the intended audience will enjoy it more than I did, because they will see past the weak characterisations and fairly basic plot which is focussed entirely upon the character being trans and really with nothing much else.

It is not a terrible story. It is fast moving, and with some tension, and a little bit of humour. The writer's prose is pleasurable to read. Nevertheless the characters are poorly developed. The bully is a cardboard cut out, and even Shane is largely defined in terms of liking boy sports, games and writing comic books. His father (and their relationship with him) is the biggest character change in the book, but even that is not huge.

Messages were trite, there was little deep exploration of ideas, but it is meant for mid grade children, so am I expecting too much? Maybe. But I still think this book would have been so much better if it had been actually about *something*.

>76 sirfurboy: Sounds like a perfect middle-grade book to me! I'm not sure nuance is really in an 8-12YO's wheelhouse. I'm more surprised >74 sirfurboy: wasn't more, um, rigorous? evidence-based? Anyway, I'm kinda over message-y non-fiction not connected to climate stuff.

>77 richardderus: Thanks Richard. I can think of plenty of books that do have more nuanced stories for the age group, but then again this one is not alone in lacking it. I liked it, but maybe it failed just because I wished it was something the author had not intended it to be. And when I say failed, that is too strong too. I liked it, just didn't love it.

As for The Celts: A History, I was a bit surprised about the failures too because the author spoke with authority on the subject and has written on it extensively. It seemed to me that he had a bit of an agenda, but there was a lot in there where he did make good use of the evidence base, so all in all it was a good book. But yes, message-y non fiction is problematic.

Thanks for commenting.

26. That's the Way that I Think: Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and ADHD explained - David Grant



Written by a chartered psychologist who specialises in the identification of specific learning differences in adults, this is a book that looks at a group of related conditions, some commonalities, as well as unique characteristics of each. He speaks at length about use of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale to understand cognitive profiles and makes the point that one thing people with any specific learning difference have in common is that their cognitive profile is spiky. He speaks particularly about problems with working memory being key here, and cites papers (his own and others) and other research to make this point and other observations he makes throughout the book.

Very interesting stuff, and I have a number of highlights in this book. One point he makes:

"It is important to note that dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD are not clear-cut categories. Each has a spectrum, and the decision as to whether a specific learning difference is present is a clinical judgement rather than a statistical one."

This spectrum thing is important, particularly when you see statistics that 30% of people with dyspraxia also have ADHD. Where does one thing end and another start? It is not always clear.

He also has a great quote from Andrew Ellis (1985), who said ‘Whatever dyslexia turns out to be, it is not a reading disorder’.

By which he meant that dyslexia may affect reading but for most of human history/prehistory we have not read anything but the neurodiversity that is now identified in dyslexia was always present. Indeed he makes a case that this neurodiversity has a positive selection bias, citing the higher numbers of dyslexics involved in certain elite sports.

That point was maybe a bit speculative (and he admits as such) but it was an interesting thing to note that it only *presents* in the modern world as a reading disorder.

Very interesting stuff.

27. The Layman’s Guide to the Greatest Scientific Fraud in History - Joseph E. Postma



This review is long for a short book with a kindle unlimited warning.

The TL;DR is:

Utterly ridiculous, preposterous even, and almost delightfully barmy... until you get to the end, when it becomes deeply deeply chilling.

This book purports to teach you:

All physicists are wrong and they all think the world is flat! (they don't)
Existence is mathematics and that is a proof of God
The author has read Plato and wants you to know it
That Ayn Rand is the one way forward for civilisation (he doesn't name her... but he might as well have)
That the left wing are... I have no idea where he was going with this... but basically he clearly thinks wrong.
And then he gets onto getting rid of parasites and war... and that is where it is quite disturbing.

So now the rest of the review:

The man is a loony! He claims to be an astrophycist and he does appear to actually be a research analyst, who gets occasional minor credits on papers and wrote something about operating space telescopes, so he probably understands maths well enough. You would think he understood physics too, but he tells us he wrote a paper about his barmy anti-global warming theory and it was rejected.

"They rejected the paper because they said that I couldn’t prove that any of this makes a difference."

Not surprising as it clearly *doesn't* make a difference.

He doesn't really do a good job of putting *anything* in layman's terms, but his point about "flat earth" is actually an objection to a model that averages solar radiation over the whole globe (and one of the diagrams he includes to support this contention that physicists think the earth is flat shows a curved Earth). Yes, he complains scientists are treating the earth as flat because hey take account of the fact the earth is a globe... hmmm.

But his solution, which seems designed to convince us there is no back radiation from the earth's atmosphere will only appeal to people who only ever stand in full sunshine in hot places like death valley (he talks about how you can fry an egg in full sunlight). If you go up a high mountain in full sunshine you will feel the sun's warmth still, but you will be disabused of the idea that the temperature of the planet surface and the atmosphere can simply be ignored. As you would be if you lived in places closer to the poles where you never get such strong sunshine. He just hand-wavy ignores back radiation by saying it is all just sunlight and nothing more. Kind of hard to explain what is happening on Venus in that case... but in any case he is just demonstrably wrong on this. He may work on telescopes but he doesn't understand atmospheric physics.

Mathematically too, it is easy to prove, as the reviewers of his paper did, that the averaging over a whole globe done by physicists may be a convenient fiction, but it does produce pretty much exactly the same result as doing it his way. (he mentions that one needs a bit of calculus to do it his way, but the calculus is well known, and the funny thing about calculus is sometimes you go through all the steps and find you get exactly the same answers you got doing it some other way).

So yeah, nothing to see here.

On to the proof of God and ontological mathematics...

His layman's guide talks about Euler...but never enough that anyone reading this would have any idea of the wonderful discoveries of Euler. You will need to go somewhere else to find that. Studying about Euler is worth it. Reading what he says about Euler - not so much.

Then he says things like:

"The Heisenberg uncertainty relations are simply Fourier pairs."

Which I can't imagine any layman understanding what on Earth he is on about. The uncertainty principle finds its way into a lot of philosophy, but how is this a layman's guide???

Or how about this self aggrandizing nonsense:

"Now if the substance of existence is a living substance of ontological mathematics, then one should be able to find instances of this substance autonomously modifying itself such as to respond to and adapt to changing conditions. Because that is what something which is alive, does. And I found this to be occurring with the exact mathematical equation which ontological says that it should, and further, in the only possible place in the equation where internal change can occur which affects the physical outcome of the computation of the equation. If I’m correct, it might represent the first quasi-empirical detection of the universal mind of the ontological mathematical substance of existence. "

So, like...er... wow... I me an, just wow!!

But not content with wrestling with science, ontology and philosophy, he then launches into some kind of right wing political rant. He says things like:

"The right finds it disgusting that the left refuses to acknowledge that their very own diagrams and mathematical geometry of climate change alarm is founded upon flat lines representing the entire Earth with sunshine spread over the entire surface at once."

Wait, what? Science is a matter of political creed now? All actual physicists are left wingers? Since when? Surely not! This guy comes from Canada but he sounds like someone who has swallowed the very worst of American political discourse that says one should be *tribal* in one's scientific beliefs! Sheesh.

And then he generalises...

"Western society has been fully polarized."

Wrongly as it happens. It is in America that this polarisation is most evident. It has bled into the discourse abroad, of course, but not in the same way. Let's hope it doesn't do so more. The idea that scientific thinking should be the preserve of just one political wing is pretty abhorrent.

His layman's guide continues with this very simple and easy to understand description of how he sees left and right:

"The right is Becoming and evolutionary, while the left is uniform and static. The right is alive, while the left is dead. The right is negentropic, while the left is entropic. Evolution and existence is meritocratic and eugenic while parasitism is communistic and dysgenic."

Not liking where this language is taking us.

He doesn't actually define left and right, which is pertinent because in America there is an assumption that liberalism is left wing, and socialism hardly exists in the US, which is odd because elsewhere liberals are often considered right wing or right of centre. But why bother defining your terms when you can just call everyone you disagree with "dysgenic, entropic parasites".

Not mincing his words there. I am also sure any layman will have no trouble with terms like dysgenic and entropic.

He has a remedy:

"One promising avenue of rectification is an updated system of law called Propertarianism."

and:

"A society simply gets rich when it reduces parasitism within it."

So yep, weed out the parasites... wait, did he say the right wing was eugenic? Or was that just implied?

Now this sounds really kind of scary!

Yep...it is. Look:

"The application of the philosophy of mathematics, Ontological Mathematics, to our educational pedagogy would I think be central to ensuring that academia become and remain free of the subtle methods of parasitism which Propertarianism identifies as being an obstruction to the maintenance and nurturing of a healthy developing polity."

Let's re-educate everyone with ontological mathematics. Then we can drum out the parasites with the introduction of our new system or Rand law.

Lastly, his call to arms:

"When you realize that you are facing people, scientists at that, who will not have a rational discussion about whether flat line Earth theory can be valid, then you realize that you are not in a discussion at all. And if you are not actually in a discussion with people who should be capable of such discussion with you, then what do you realize that you are in fact in? The answer is that: You are in a war."

So, in summary, only this guy can do science, he has proved God's existence with mathematics and he will teach the world the power of this, and then he can get rid of the parasites and the left wing and advance Propertarianism.

All I can say is if this guy applies for an art school... someone please make sure he gets in, and doesn't get rejected, okay?

That sounds scary.
But it's a pleasure to read your review, Thank you, Stephen.

>81 SirThomas: Thanks SirThomas. Glad you dropped by :)

>80 sirfurboy: It sounds like something I'd really, really hate. I should probably read it.

But I won't.

Huh. Wow. That's just... I can't even...

>83 richardderus: Yeah, I don't think you need to :) Probably better for the blood pressure!

To be clear, I only read it because I started a kindle unlimited free trial again (and promptly cancelled it) and because someone "recommended" him.

>84 drneutron: Hi Jim :) Yes... wow indeed!

I think you would have been very frustrated though by his "I'm an astrophysicist who knows big words, believe me," and his lack of any real physics. Nothing for you to tear into - just flim-flam and verbiage.

He has another book or two, apparently in more depth, but I am not going to pay for them so I just looked at the first 5% preview including contents pages. He doesn't appear to get any better in those books.

28. The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne



I have read a few of John Boyne's books, and liked them all, but I was a bit blown away by this one, which goes in quite a different direction to his young adult works. Or maybe it doesn't, because there are hidden depths to those other works too. This is an adult work that looks at how Ireland has changed and adapted over the last 70 years, from a deeply conservative state in which the Catholic church held inordinate sway, to where it is now. It does this by following the life of Cyril Avery, who grows up at war with himself over his sexuality in a state where, at his birth, the murder of another man was not punished, because the man was gay.

We have all Cyril's inner turmoil, his fear of discovery, and some terrible mistakes. Cyril is a wonderfully written character, feeling so very real, a long way from perfect, and yet having a character that made him interesting, relatable and charming too.

The book doesn't hold back, exploring troubles, the IRA, religious and political tensions, the sway of the church in life and politics, and plenty more about Irish politics too. There is art and literature and more. Cyril Avery is the protagonist, but the setting is so well drawn, you could almost be forgiven that Ireland, the country, usurped that position!

If I had a criticism, it would be that there appear to be a series of Dickensian coincidences that draw certain characters together in this story. At the end this is acknowledged and put down to fate, and it was by no means a grievous sin.

From the opening lines there was a kind of tongue in cheek feel to the writing that offset the deep and sometimes dark themes of the story. The author's wit was not overdone, but expressed perfectly in the character of Cyril. Some of the conversations were hilarious, and yet never frivolous.

I expect time will tell whether this joins a list of my all time great reads, but I have no hesitation in saying it is the finest work I have read by this author and an excellent one by any measure.

>86 sirfurboy: The Dickensian-coincidence thing was the book's besetting sin to me, but like you I was so gobsmacked by its particular beauties that I put that aside.

Boyne's got a rhetorical gift!

>87 richardderus: Thanks Richard. Yes he has. Unlike me perhaps.. on re-reading what I wrote I found some of my statements a bit opaque ;) Edited a bit now.

But I agree completely about the book.

29. Ice Diaries: An Antarctic Memoir - Jean McNeill



This is a fascinating book by a writer who spent a year as writer in residence in the British Antarctic Survey. She is a fiction writer but this story was largely autobiographical. She tells us of her experience there, and how it changed her. She mixes it up with memories from earlier life, and then adds in a whole bunch of interesting science and geography stuff. No really, I said interesting. She also talks quite a lot about the process of writing.

Her descriptions are really very good. Without making you feel like you are having things described to you in laborious detail, she manages to draw a picture of what it is like to travel to, and to love in Antarctica. We understand the dangers and the beauty and the isolation and the characters that are drawn to the place. Some scenes are beautifully done.

The book is not overloaded with science, nor does it get too introspective. Instead it makes you feel like you have visited this place with the author. It is hard to categorise the book, and it certainly doesn't have a strong plot arc, being largely memoir. However it is worth reading.

Greetings, Stephen! I'm glad to see you back and posting.

Thanks Richard. I have been so busy. So the reason for that is because earlier this year I was accepted onto a Creative Writing MA course, part time and online with the University of Hull. This has now started, so I am spending a LOT of my free time on that (commitment is 20 hours per week). On the plus side, it involves reading, so I will be posting up some more reviews and at the rate I am reading right now, I have half a chance of meeting my book target for the year.

>91 sirfurboy: Yay for unintended consequences of excellent investments!

30. First you write a sentence - Joe Moran



A very interesting book taking a long hard look at sentences. The book is about writing generally, but true to its title, it focuses the whole discussion around the importance of the sentence to writing. Packed with good advice, and the writing of this work itself demonstrates the author's competence on the subject. The subject is dealt with fluently and in an interesting manner. Essential reading for anyone who likes to write sentences and wants to think about how to do so.

31. The Deconstruction of Professor Thrub - D. D. Johnston



This book is hilarious in parts and very clever. It purports to be the PhD. thesis of a graduate student in Creative Writing. Professor Thrub is the student's supervisor, and even the acknowledgements page at the front of the book is hilarious in the way it portrays Thrub. Apparently this book really was the writer's thesis, although clearly Thrub and other characters are entirely fictional. Or maybe not entirely fictional. Rather there are plenty of places where the author really does capture, with good humour, the nature of academia.

A case in point was the chain of emails regarding kettles in offices. These were both darkly funny but also very authentic. I was put in mind of the memo sent out to staff in the novel Snow Crash. Different type of memo, but the passage was as funny and well observed.

Being a thesis, the work jumps off into some philosophical discussion, and does it well by placing the summary of philosophical ideas in the mouth of an unlikely expert with a very novel approach to the discussion.

There is another story, apparently being studied by the writer, as well as his own memoir of the period of writing his PhD. in this book. It is all a very clever idea and in places just brilliant.

Having said all that, I did feel that this book was a little too clever in places. It was trying to be everything, and so there was a very nasty assault in there, which was also good writing, but was not in the least humorous (and an attempt to make some humour about the after effects drifted into the disgusting - I use the word advisedly. It triggered my sense of disgust). Some humour was too in your face and fell flat for that.

The philosophy too, and the linkage of the various sub narratives were all very clever but almost too much.

It is a good book, worth reading and hilarious in places, but I can't say I loved it, despite that.

Just dropping by to wish you a great weekend in West Wales, Sir F.

>95 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul, good to hear from you.

32. Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them - Francine Prose



Francine Prose has written an excellent book filled with good advice and numerous examples about the art of writing, but also the art of reading the writing of others to learn from it. The book follows a logical order, examining words, sentences, paragraphs etc before moving on to things like character. I highlighted quite a lot of sections, and I am making just some of the highlights visible as examples of good advice and keen observation, all based on excellent examples.

The examples, however, were all very literary. Literary classics are classics for good reason, and there is much to learn from these, but the book would still benefit from demonstrating how the writer's craft is also found in popular and more modern fiction. The examples would not be better in themselves, but the reader would feel that this is advice that applies across the board, and not just in literary criticism classes.

At the end of the book there is a huge list of books that should be read immediately. I have read a lot of books but I have only read a handful of this list. A list I shall now completely ignore. If a book wants to recommend a title I should read NOW, it should be one book. Two at most. And there needs to be good reason why that book jumps past 100 other books on my TBR list and gets read right away. The existence of over 100 titles in a list entitled "Books to be read immediately" just comes over as pretentious, sorry. Certainly wholly unrealistic.

But all the same, I will forgive that bit of silliness, because the book does contain good advice and a lot of interesting information. It isn't the best book on writing out there but it is nevertheless an interesting one, and much of the advice is spot on.

*

Highlights

"In life, it’s rare that we truly are able to listen and find someone who will listen to us. And yet it’s unusual to find the more common phenomenon—inattention—appearing on the page."

"a good writer understands that characters not only speak differently depending on whom they are speaking to, but also listen differently depending on who is speaking—"

"On hearing that his business partner has just committed a murder, a man might be quite upset, and we can intuit that without needing to hear about the speed of his heartbeat or the dampness of his palms."

"On the other hand, if he’s glad that his partner has been caught, or if he himself is the murderer, and he smiles . . . well, that’s a different story."

"If a character’s going to light a cigarette, or almost light a cigarette, it should mean something,"

33. The Sellout - Paul Beatty



This one comes with a Man Booker prize warning. It won in 2016. Despite that, it began well and I thought maybe the panel had chosen the wrong book for that year - that there was a prize winner I would love for its biting satire and great humour. The book pokes fun at a post racial America, and opens with the protagonist standing trial for attempting to reintroduce slavery! The writing is strong, there is humour and poignancy and plenty of biting satire. All the same, it dragged on a bit, and as I read on, I began to see why the Man Booker panel liked it so much.

34. Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott



The writer of this books sets out to tell us what she knows of writing, and she knows a good deal about the subject. It is not an instructional book though, although it contains a lot of good advice. Instead it is more of a personal account of her journey into the world of writing and writers and things she picked up along the way. There is plenty of autobiographical information and anecdote in this book, and that may tell us a lot about the writer, but perhaps less about the process of writing. All the same, even this material was interesting and provided a whole second aspect to the book. Not the most instructive book on writing out there, but like Margaret Atwood's "On Writing and Writers", there is still a wealth of information to be gleaned from this.

>98 sirfurboy: This one comes with a Man Booker prize warning. LOL!
I probably liked it more than you did. I have liked most Booker prize winners that I have read, but some were a total miss. You seem to take the prize as a vote against the book ;-)

>100 FAMeulstee: & >98 sirfurboy: I must admit Anita I am more with Stephen than you on this one. It wasn't a favourite of mine and I would place it in the lower echelon of winners I have completed to date.

I have so far read 36 of the winners and I would place in the top echelon (8)
The Siege of Krishnapur, Saville, Midnight's Children, Sacred Hunger, Last Orders, Life of Pi, Wolf Hall & The Promise

My bottom 8 would be :
Holiday, The Gathering, The Sea, The Sellout, Offshore, The Old Devils, The God of Small Things, Lincoln in the Bardo.

>101 PaulCranswick: I have only read half of yours, Paul, I am at 18 now.

I loved Shuggie Bain, Girl, Woman, Other, The Sense of an Ending, The Narrow Road to the Deep North and The Line of Beauty. (5 or 4.5 stars)

I didn't like Lincoln in the Bardo, Wolf Hall, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and The Luminaries. (2.5 or 3 stars)

And then I wasn't able to finish A Brief History of Seven Killings because all the violence against women at the start.

>102 FAMeulstee: I haven't read The Line of Beauty, Anita and I didn't finish Paddy Clarke or the The Luminaries.

This year's winner was definitely a better than average winner and would be close to my top ten.

>100 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. Yes, I do take a Booker prize as a vote against a bookl I am more likely to enjoy longlisted books than winners in my experience.

>101 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. Life of Pi was not so bad, but I expect I would have enjoyed it more if it had not been so overhyped. Wolf Hall was a very clever book, but I think I reviewed it above and found some significant issues with the way it was written. Mostly I expect I am just not high-brow enough for Man Booker prize winners (although I think I may have inadvertently enjoyed some).

>102 FAMeulstee: Shuggie Bain was a good book, but also hard going. I am not sure now what happened to Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha... I recall the cover and would have thought I would have given it a go but I have no recollection of buying it. Your lack of recommendation (and Paul's similar lack) is noted though, so I won't rush to correct that :)

Thanks all.

>99 sirfurboy: I loved that read...especially how the title came to be.

(The Life of Pi is pretentious, overrated twaddle.)

35. The Savage - David Almond



David Almond is a great writer whose genre is children's and young adult fiction. He often writes about magical realism, and always creates great characters and thoughtful works that asking searching questions and bear careful reading.

This book is another great work by him. In this one the magical realism can be interpreted instead as an unreliable narrator, and is probably better for such an interpretation.

Blue's father dies suddenly, and Blue, the imaginative writer of tales, writes about a savage, but the savage is real.

The work is short, and intended for, I think, mid grade children - but all the same, I enjoyed this one.

>106 richardderus: Thanks Richard. Yes, can't really disagree.

36. Bloodchild - Tim Bowler



Will, 15, wakes up from a coma after a road accident, with no memory. He does not remember his parents, or where he lives, nor why people look at him the way they do. He does not remember his visions. All he remembers is a girl's face. Black hair, blue eyes.

We slowly come to understand that Will is a person tormented by visions and shunned by many people, but he has the respect of a lcoal vicar and a few others. But what does it all mean? And what does the 10 year old boy who hangs around with a local beggar/drunk have to do with it all?

Great mystery in this piece, a good plot, some good characters too. I like Tim Bowler's writing, which is why I re-read this one. However Bowler often indulges in magical realism, and this is no exception. If that is not your cup of tea, then be aware. If you like that genre, this is a good one.

37. Their Heads are Green and Their Hands are Blue: Scenes from the Non-Christian World



Some amazing travel essays, richly describing the places he visited in pursuit of cultural recordings. Both the detail of his work and the detail of the places he takes you too are written so well that this becomes an incredibly interesting piece even if it is not the kind of thing you would normally read.

There are some wry and amusing stories in there. I especially liked the man who objected to the way his people were being described, because Bowles had said so many could not read. The man objected that they all can read, and some had been taught how. It was an insightful comment, and one of so many. The world he described may already be largely gone, but we can be grateful that a writer such as this took the time and effort to record life as it was not so many years ago.

>110 sirfurboy: I've never heard of this title by Bowles! I'm glad you enjoyed it, Stephen.

>111 richardderus: Thank Richard. I think I like everything by Bowles.

38. Black Swan Green - David Mitchell



Re-read. I loved it the first time round despite a flaw or two. This time around I forgave it one flaw, found another (wrong date for Skylab re-entry), but I was looking a bit more at the writing as a semi-biographical account. The stammer, personified as Hangman, is a major feature of this book, but also helps us understand David Mitchell's own linguistic talents. The struggle with the stammer is the crucible in which the writer was forged.

Just to add to that last one, I read your review, Richard! We had quite a different view on this one, although I think there were points you made about Mitchell's writing that were quite pertinent and not wrong with this book. In attempting to be clever, authors should never stray from the importance of good storytelling.

I really enjoyed this one though. Part of that may be he was writing about a time that was contemporary with my own childhood (within a year or two). So he was describing things I was familiar with and there was a nostalgic element that might be absent for people from a different generation or in a different country.

There is also the fact that he deliberately does not wrap up each chapter, leaving threads hanging. Although we can deduce what happened in many of these from snippets in later chapters, it is a potentially frustrating thing to do, and a major reason for why I dislike Murakami (who leaves a lot hanging in all the books of his I read). Mitchell clearly likes Murakami, and has written whole book homages to the man. This book contains a couple of throwaway Murakami references and didn't need them.

So I still love this book but fully admit your mileage can vary. People who love Murakami would no doubt say the same.

39. The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer



"I’ll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name’s Simon. I think you’re going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he’ll be dead. And he was never the same after that."

This line sold me on this book and I bought it. Not because I wanted to read about Simon dying, you understand, but because this is just such a brilliant paragraph. The whole book was not as good as that, but the writing was frequently excellent, and the story was incredibly well told.

But despite that enthusiasm, the story is a book about a struggle with mental health. Part of its brilliance is to show the reader what that is like, and that is not always a pleasant journey. Nevertheless it is an important one. This is a book with a real purpose, a message to tell. It is an interesting story with engaging and good characterisations. It is an honest one too.

A very good read with great writing, a complete and satisfying narrative arc, great humour and a powerful and educational message.

>115 sirfurboy: Very much agree, Stephen, one of the better books on this subject.

>115 sirfurboy: It's a real pleasure to me that books dealing openly and as honestly as is possible with mental health struggles are becoming ordinary. I can't say I like, or want to, read them, but they're finally present and in numbers that give me real hope for better and better outcomes for some people's struggles. It is always much easier to cope, defeat, thrive over problems one can name out loud.

>114 sirfurboy: I'm not a Mitchellite or a Harukista, so the styles resembling each other...well...not for me.

Generational and national differences play a role in the way we perceive books, for sure. Ready Player One left a Brazilian friend of mine utterly at sea, and he read a Portuguese translation. So there's that.

I'm just not interested in the things that interest Murakami or Mitchell. It might be their hetero-ness, it might be their angle of view on their subjects, I can't really be arsed to poke around too deeply, but they're writers who speak to others just not to me.

>116 FAMeulstee: Glad you agree, Anita. :)

>117 richardderus: Thanks Richard. Definitely agree about books on mental health struggles. As for Mitchell and Murakami... well your view is more consistent than mine I think. I dislike Murakami but like a lot of Mitchell's work. I freely admit that this is probably illogical. :)

40. Treacle Walker - Alan Garner.



I really have no idea how to categorise this book. It is about a boy, Joe, but it is not a children's story, nor young adult. Not really. It has fairy tale elements and is perhaps magical realism, but is it really? It is highly allegorical, full of enjoyable nonsense and the most amazing prose, but what on earth is it? No one seems to really have a good answer for that. It explores themes found in Garner's earlier books, and feels like memoir and something else. It is potentially Garner's most important work yet, and perhaps ever, as one feels the 87 year old author must stop writing at some point. It was nominated for the Booker prize and shortlisted (needless to say I didn't hold that against it on this occasion). One can see why it was nominated, and yet, it was better than that - presumably why it didn't win.

The book is written in dialect, and Garner's use of language is incredibly inventive. He rehearses themes of earlier works, and there are call backs to his earlier novels. The book is filled with strange and enjoyable characters, and myth and folklore run through it all.

If you are not a fan of Garner already, and particularly if you don't get the cultural context, then this Cheshire dialect and highly contextual novel may make little sense. Yet it may still be a good fun romp. I liked the references to some very old comic books, and indeed the old Rag n Bone man. In fact, I liked a lot of elements in this book, especially the quality of the writing. It has deep themes, and I doubt I got all of them, but I understood enough to say I really liked this book.

If you read anything by Garner before, you should read this, but otherwise I think your mileage may vary. Probably still worth it just to enjoy the prose, which really is something else!

41. Microsoft Virtualization Secrets - John Savill



This is a historical tour-de-force, hurling the reader back into the bygone era of 2012, when Windows 8 was a thing. Characterisation lacked a little, and I felt the descriptions were somewhat didactic and lacking in metaphor, but the whole concept of this virtualised environment was well thought out, and you really felt like the author knew what he was talking about. This was no Dan Brown novel. In this story, the author was clearly an expert in the field he described.

The secrets, as they unfolded, were revealing and yet so cleverly done that you felt this was information everyone must know. I would only criticise it for having so many clever secrets but no grand reveal at the end. Despite all the elegant world building, there was no sudden reversal, no grand climax, not discovery that Windows is just Linux all the way down. Maybe the author's next book will build on this excellent start.

>119 sirfurboy: Sort of agree with that review, Sir F.

Certainly the prose was lyrical to the point of being occasionally breathtaking. I did feel though that the whole thing was a little too obtuse as a story to fully grasp the point of it all.

I think that of the three Booker shortlisted books I have currently read I think it was a little behind the beautiful but brief Small Things Like These and the rambunctious Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, but that is not a slight particularly as they were both very good in their different ways.

>121 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. As Small Things Like These is a short work, I may forgive it its Booker nomination and give that a go too. :)

Hmmm... maybe it is time to move on from my digs at the Booker Prize... no, wait, there's always time for another dig at that! ;)

Thanks for stopping by.

42. Analecta Anglo-Saxonica: Selections, in Prose and Verse, From the Anglo-Saxon Literature: With an Introductory Ethnological Essay, and Notes, Critical and Explanatory; Volume 2



A scanned 1927 volume of Anglo Saxon readings, some of which I have seen before and still had a lot of trouble with, and others that were new to me. The notes and commentary are very helpful - indispensable really, and even though it might feel a bit dated, we are talking Anglo Saxon prose and poetry here so that's not going to be a problem!

>123 sirfurboy: Oh my. I'm awfully glad such a thing exists for you, but I will be backing away slowly, hands in the air....

>120 sirfurboy: *snort* "Linux all the way down" *chortle*

>124 richardderus: Thanks Richard :)

43. Astérix le Gaulois (Asterix, #1)



What can I say? Brilliant, fun, classic. Oh and French too.

Great for practicing or learning French, and enjoyable stories. It is just so sad that the genuine French article is so expensive.

>126 sirfurboy: I read that one this year for the first time and loved it too.

I can't say that I got all the humour but enough of it to really enjoy the experience.

44. Revelation For Everyone - Tom Wright



A lot of rubbish gets written about the book of Revelation, but Tom Wright doesn't write rubbish, so this is a pretty good antidote to it, with clear historical insight and very much a modern application, he comes down firmly on the side of "not rubbish". He takes seriously interpretations of the book that set it in the context of the book's occasion and historical setting, and this then makes a lot of sense of what is written in there. He writes the book in a friendly and accessible style, and although it is not an academic work, the rigour behind the scenes shows it was written by an academic.

Too much money and too much vested interest is tied up in certain dubious readings of revelation for a book like this to make much of a difference. But anyone who is serious about understanding what the last book of the Bible is actually about could do a lot worse than starting here.

>127 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. Yes, fun books :)

>128 sirfurboy: "certain dubious readings"

LOL

Y'all Brits and y'all's penchant for understatement...oh the irony...

Lovely weekend-ahead's reads, Stephen!

>130 richardderus: Sorry for the 2 weeks radio silence. I had an assignment with a deadline to do! Thanks for that, Richard. :)

45. How to Write - Alastair Fowler



Plenty of good advice in this book on style and editing. It is concisely written. quickly getting to the point, and the points made are good ones. A quick but useful read and potentially a handy reference guide too.

46. Stay Where You Are and Then Leave - John Boyne



Another great children's story by John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Boyne is a great writer and he writes engaging and interesting tales for all ages. He has a bit of a tendency for introducing Dickensian coincidences in his stories, this one is no exception, but as a children's book, that really can be forgiven. It is probably intended for mid grade children.

Alfie's father goes to war. The first world war. But then the letters home stop coming and his mother tells him his father is on a secret mission and so can't write. However, through inquisitiveness, Alfie's shoe-shine trade, and some of those Dickensian coincidences, Alfie discovers the unexpected truth. His father is not on a secret mission, but neither is he missing...

I'll stop there to avoid spoilers. It really is a lovely tale though, and worth the reading.

>133 sirfurboy: Oh dear...well. It sounds like Boyne's working the vein he's happiest in.

I'm glad your assignment's in, and hope you're now free for a time.

Thanks Richard, Yes, I should have a good deal more free time for a few weeks at least... although this Christmas thing seems to consume a lot of it! I shall be glad when it's over....bah humbug!

Happy Christmas from my Christmas gnome!

Diolch, a nadolig llawen i chi gyd hefyd.

47. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories - Angela Carter



This book of short stories contains well known fairy tales but recast in a way to make plain the underlying misogyny that exists in the old stories. The tales were not just stories but also contained cultural assumptions that became a cultural reinforcement through these tales (e.g. that women should stay home and keep house, rather than go venturing forth into dark and dangerous woods).

The strengths of the book are the quality of the writing, and the way that human truth is made plain without being too in your face. I am not an avid reader of either collections of short stories, nor of feminist literature, so I was not going to love this work, but it was well written. It was also over-sensualised though. It might have made sense to do that in some stories, and I see why she did it, but it was at that point I just found the feminist literature part a bit too "in your face" at times.

All the same it was cleverly done, and a very interesting and thought provoking book.

48. Beginners’ Spanish: Getting around - Open University



An open university free course from OpenLearn looking at some basic Spanish.

As with others of these I have done, the book works best in conjunction with the online course, and is not going to be the most detailed of text books. But it is free and the online courses make it worthwile.

49. Intermediate German: The World of Work - Open University



Another excellent free course by the Open University. As with others of these, this free text book works best used in conjunction with the free online course, but then available to keep as a reference work.

50. Dubliners - James Joyce



James Joyce's classic book of short stories describing the lives of ordinary people from Dublin. Some of the stories are very short, the last one is almost novella length. They are well written, well observed and there seem to be certain themes, some of them dark (death, for instance), but also of a kind of paralysis.

These are clever stories, but I am not the greatest fan of the short story form (something I am trying to get over, as I will be studying short stories this term!) Most of these didn't grab me, and although they bear thinking more about, they are also frustrating for not finishing things off. That is clearly a decision of the author. As in life, things don't get wrapped up neatly. In some cases this worked better than others. Eveline has an unfinished ending that is, I think, an ending. That one also had the advantage of being very brief.

Reading these again, I am sure I will get a lot more from them. The writing is excellent, and the book is given power for being a commentary on a turbulent time in Irish history, and giving insight into the world of the time. All the same, I can't imagine this would ever be a go-to book of mine. Sorry.

>141 sirfurboy: You're certainly working to desensitize your story-averse muscle...this one *and* The Bloody Chamber! It makes all the sense in the world what with your upcoming course, but wow are you choosing some tough ones.

Maybe V.S. Pritchett or Mavis Gallant? Permaybehaps a little Hemingway (he was bloody brilliant at short stories!) or some Irwin Shaw? These are easier, as in less abstruse of subject, ways into the form.

At all events, I wish you and all yours a very healthy and happy 2023.

Thanks Richard. Yes, Hemingway is on my list. I will look out for those others.

Hope you had a good holiday period and best wishes for 2023.