vivdunstan

Squeezing in another of these before my end of year final post.

Got through another 8 books since the last update.

( earlier books )
1. Katabasis by RF Kuang
2. Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
3. Mr Villain's Day Off volume 1 (manga) by Yuu Morikawa
4. Born With Teeth (play script) by Liz Duffy Adams
5. A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
6. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
7. Doctor Who Tales of Terror (short story anthology)
8. Crossroads of Twilight (Wheel of Time book 10) by Robert Jordan

Of the newly finished books, Katabasis was a lot of fun, with a dark journey into the Underworld, but not as good as RF Kuang's superb Babel or even Yellowface for me. Carmilla was a book club read, and frankly disappointing, and a struggle to read. Though Hammer made a good stab at filming a better version in the early 1970s. Mr Villain's Day Off was a chance find in Angus libraries catalogue, so borrowed that way. Fun manga, but I wasn't inspired to read other volumes. Born With Teeth, the Marlowe/Shakespeare play performed recently on stage by Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel, was a brilliant read, though it would be better to see it performed in person. Yes, I did my usual Roger Zelazny pre-Halloween reread of A Night in the Lonesome October. Still love it. T. Kingfisher's A Wizard's Guide to Contemporary Baking was fun, but a bit unevenly paced, and younger than I'd usually read. It also took too long to get to dangerous fighting gingerbread men. Doctor Who Tales of Terror is a fun spooky anthology collection, with short stories by multiple authors for each of Doctors 1-12. A bit uneven, but overall fun. Wheel of Time book 10 was the slog that I expected, though still fun in many parts. But I needed a very specific approach to reading to get through it successfully. But things should be better again in the remaining books. Book 10 is generally regarded by readers of the whole series as the worst by a long way.

Another bunch of books finished since my last post.

( earlier books )
1. The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi
2. The Fiddle in Scottish Culture: Aspects of the Tradition by Katherine Campbell
3. Voices of Scottish Librarians: The Evolution of a Profession and its Response to Changing Times edited by Ian MacDougall
4. Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Volume 1: Terrorformer (graphic novel)
5. Some of Us Just Fall: On Nature and Not Getting Better by Polly Atkin
6. The Whisperwicks: The Labyrinth of Lost and Found by Jordan Lees

Of the newly finished ones, The Lantern of Lost Memories was a novel idea, and explored a serious subject, but was rather unbalanced in its few main sections, and frustratingly left some key questions unanswered. It did feel reminiscent of, though not as good as, the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series of books. It certainly fits into that genre of Japanese fiction.

The fiddle history book was clearly a repackaged PhD thesis, and full of interesting content, but often lacking sufficient analysis, or otherwise unbalanced. Somewhat frustrating to be honest. Though not so much as how unobtainable the book is today, having been originally printed in a very limited print run, and going out of print rapidly. I was lucky to be able to borrow it from my local library in Angus, sent over from their Forfar store.

More successful for me was the collection of working memories from librarians working through twentieth and early twenty-first century Scotland. I was most interested in their accounts of their working lives, revealing changes in library practice over time, but there were many other pages to wade through of earlier childhood experiences. I cherry picked the most relevant portions for me.

The Doctor Who graphic novel was a Twelfth Doctor and Clara one. But very disappointing. Too much tell and not show, and hefty info dumps mid way through each story, about things I couldn't bring myself to care about. It was also plagued by repeatedly splitting into multiple POVs, with muddy artwork not differentiating them clearly enough.

Polly Atkin's book was good, and overall I rated it 4/5. But it felt overlong to me, and often padded with lengthy digressions, which made it hard for this chronically ill person to keep reading and following. Though it was very interesting to hear her story, not least as the sister of a friend.

The first Whisperwicks novel was a children's book, telling the story of a child drawn into a mysterious steampunk-like world of magic and quests, and much danger. Felt very Harry Potter like, but original in its approach. I could certainly see me reading the sequel.

More fresh strawberries, grown here in Monifieth, Angus, the town we live in on the edge of Dundee. Yum! And lashings of extra thick Scottish cream.

Book haul from Monifieth Library (4 books from elsewhere in Angus, found in the library catalogue and transferred over to Monifieth for me) plus a small book about the Greek Myths I'd ordered from our local bookshop in Broughty Ferry.

A whole punnet of Angus (Monifieth!) strawberries plus lashings of cream.