vivdunstan

Bit late in posting my first version of this for 2026. I'm not reading as many books as a year ago. But I have now finished a fair number.

1. The Hobbit: Graphic Novel by JRR Tolkien, illustrated by David Wenzel
2. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
3. Stone & Sky (Rivers of London) by Ben Aaronovitch
4. A Venetian Bestiary by Jan Morris
5. Doctor Who: 1001 Nights in Time and Space by Steve Cole and Paul Magrs
6. Everything Will Swallow You by Tom Cox
7. Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal: My Adventures in Neurodiversity by Robin Ince

Of these books The Hobbit graphic novel, Hamnet and A Venetian Bestiary were all 5-star reads.

The graphic novel version of The Hobbit was quite enchanting and engrossing in its approach, though it took me a few pages to get used to how the characters were depicted visually. Bilbo in particular had an extremely pudding bowl haircut!

Hamnet is one of the most astonishing novels I have read for a long time. I wrote a fuller review of it here a few weeks ago.

And A Venetian Bestiary was a gift for any lover of Venice, myth and legend, and animals and more fantastical creatures.

The Tom Cox novel was a 4-star read for me. A strange book to describe, a mix of life story and magical realism, set in the West Country. A lot felt autobiographical, knowing the author's life, e.g. the setting and frequent references to old vinyl records. Also the travails of living a peripatetic renters life, and difficulties finding a place to rent with pets. But it's also remarkably imaginative, and moving too. And very, very strange, while still being refreshing in its approach. Recommended.
 
The Rivers of London book, the Doctor Who collection and the Robin Ince book were all 3-star reads for me.

The Rivers of London book had an original Scottish setting for a change, in Aberdeenshire, but felt rather scrappy in its plotting and storytelling, and the relocation of Peter and so very many of the other core "cast" to from London to Scotland also felt forced and unrealistic. I also found some of the storytelling too predictable, especially nearer the end of the book.

The Doctor Who book is presented as a storyteller telling folk tales, but is more retellings of Doctor Who adventures from the past. Many of these retellings were fresh in their approach, but not nearly enough of them. And it didn't work so well for me if I didn't recognise which TV story it was retelling, especially when I struggled to visualise some of the creatures described.

And the Robin Ince was an interesting read about neurodiversity, but not general enough for me. Though I appreciated a lot of the insights into ADHD (which Martin clearly has) and anxiety (which I have - generalised anxiety disorder) particularly. It was just too tied to the author's own life story, and framed through that, in a way that wasn't generally applicable enough for me.

Just finished this, my second book finished of the New Year. And it was honestly one of the most powerful and affecting books that I've read for a very long time. A tale of Shakespeare, yet not of Shakespeare, a moving family story, an immersive glimpse of Tudor England. I'm reluctant to say too much in detail to spoil things.

Structurally it was really interesting, different in some ways I gather from the film version. I also found it phenomenally immersive, similar to the effect that Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall series had on me. I wondered if this was due to the present tense used throughout much of the book, but I don't think that's so much the reason, as an acute sense of authorial observation and description. And just thoroughly good writing.

It has big standout moments that are particularly powerful, but also moved me constantly throughout, both by the feelings conveyed, and the power of the writing, which was both lyrical and addictive in equal measure.

Just an incredible achievement. And one that I would recommend without question.

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.

Just finished my 50th book of 2025, Liz Duffy Adams's Born With Teeth, the two-hander play featuring Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. I wish I'd seen the current RSC production with Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel. But reading the play script was great fun.

It does help enormously knowing both actors from past TV productions. So I can visualise them really well performing the roles. And as a two-hander it's also more approachable as a play script to read than a play with a much larger cast. Very readable anyway, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Continuing our latest Babylon 5 rewatch, and we’re up to S2E20 "The Long, Twilight Struggle". And it’s peak Shakespearean tragedy.

The only downside for me in this otherwise superb episode is the poor overacting by the recast Draal actor. Which is a big problem for me. But the rest of the episode is stunning.

I've just finished my marathon viewing of a large bunch of videos on catchup from the Glasgow Worldcon this summer. Watching on catchup I missed out the chance to take part in the live Q&As. And I also found the user interface rather cumbersome, that I had to watch on my laptop, which limited how frequently I could do so. But I still managed to get through quite a large number of talks.

Here are the events I watched, each one about an hour long, typically with 45 main minutes of discussion, followed by 15 minutes of audience Q&A:

• AI and Work - Do Androids Dream of Taking Your Job?
• ENIAC and the Post-War Dawn of the Computer age
• The Horror Out Of Space
• *Scot-ish: The Influence of Scotland on Fantasy Worldbuilding
• It's Life, Jim, but Not as We Know It
• *Iain Banks: Between Genre and the Mainstream
• All the Shakespeare: the Bard's Influence on SFF
• The Untold History of Worldcons
• Inadvisable Rocket Science
• A Fireside Chat with Samantha Béart
• Guest of Honour Interview: Ken MacLeod
• *The Many Legs of SF: Creepy Crawlies in Space
• 50 Years of TTRPGs
• Comics Can Save Your Life
• Faeries in Fantasy Literature

I've marked out above those with asterisks that I especially enjoyed. To pull those out specifically these were:

• Scot-ish: The Influence of Scotland on Fantasy Worldbuilding
• Iain Banks: Between Genre and the Mainstream
• The Many Legs of SF: Creepy Crawlies in Space

The first two of these had obvious Scottish connections, which I unsurprisingly appreciated. But I also found them particularly rewarding in other respects. But I enjoyed something in everything I watched, not just these particular highlight talks.

Martin and I had originally hoped to be at the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon in person. We had low cost attending memberships in place. But things didn't work out that way. However I was able to watch on catchup, and have very much enjoyed that. I was also active in the Discord during the convention, and treated myself to some purchases inspired by the Dealers' Hall.

The books I'm currently reading. A mix of fiction (historical and fantasy), history, architecture/religion, Tolkien and space/astronomy.

Although I struggle hugely with print now I can still generally read plays in that format. And rarely read them in ebook. But I did this time, to reread Macbeth, which I probably last read 35 or so years ago in school. I've also more recently seen other televised or movie versions. So do remember much of the plot.

Reading a play script book is often rather strange. This time I decided to ignore the lengthy analytical introduction, which to be honest was better read after I'd finished. And dived straight in. Much of the play has a very minimal cast, but there's backstory and wider things early on that can get confusing. The scenes focusing on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are best. And why does Banquo talk in such a flowery long-winded way?!

Reading an ebook version of a play text had the advantage that it allowed lots of useful jumping about easily to footnotes. And this Penguin edition was well footnoted. Usually to explain specific words rather than lengthy academic history paper type digressions! For example I was thrown by the word "sewer", thinking it literally meant that place. But no, it was a servant. Thank goodness for footnotes.

I am amazed just how many key quotes there are in this particular Shakespeare play. Many of which I remembered from long ago, but others surprised me by popping up here. It's remarkably packed full of stuff.

And action packed. Oh yes, action packed. Staging it must also involve a lot of fake blood ...

As a Scottish historian it's also fascinating to see this depiction of Scottish history, through a 17th century English lens, with the complex situation of James VI and I not long on the throne in London.

I plan to watch the Ian McKellen and Judi Dench 1970s stage version soon. Meanwhile yes, that was a good read.

Both poring over the 400th anniversary British Library facsimile Shakespeare First Folio we bought. It is a very accurate reproduction of an excellent BL copy of the original. And yes we had to look up the bear stage direction. Very nice item to have, large, with sturdy hardback binding in slipcase. Unlike the Norton one it uses just a single copy of the original book as its source. Which may mean it is less clear to read in places. But book historian me - and Martin too! - is a lot happier with this for authenticity and provenance reasons. Now the challenge is where we will shelve it. It's a whopper! 4kg and 35cm x 23 cm x 8 cm.