Tell Me How You Really Fell
This was a comfort re-read of a very enjoyable teen romance.
See the original review for more
Author: Greig
Professional Librarian from Fife who likes books and music.
subway?
A City Dreaming
M is a magician or as he would put in it “in with the management”.
This book is a series of rolling vignettes as we see what M gets up to after washing back up in New York after drifting all over the planet.
The main character is a charming rogue and the writing enjoyable.
The problem for me was that the story never coheres. Some vignettes are utterly trivial tales of life as a debauched New York who just happens to have magical abilities and others have a genuine sense of danger and high stakes.
The stories just feel random – there’s no sense of tension and release. It’s never building to something and certainly the war between magical queens promised in the blurb never materializes.
I don’t regret reading it – there was much to enjoy – but I just felt it could have been great if was a more conventional fantasy story.
princesses?
Holiday in the Hamptons
This is a re-read of a perfectly enjoyable romance novel. You can read my earlier, still accurate, review here. I picked it up because I’d just finished listening to the audiobook of New York Actually (which is the first of the Knight siblings books) and remembered that I liked this one best of the series and the audiobook wasn’t at a price I was prepared to pay.
2019 Albums of the Year
1Sharon Van Etten
Remind Me Tomorrow
radon?
Sensation
When Julia Hernandez is infected with parasitic wasps she walks out on her husband and her old life.
She accidentally initiates a new movement and becomes an infamous wanted felon only to vanish.
When Julia’s ex spots her in a grocery store we learn about the battle between parasitic wasps and the spiders that are their normal prey and about the Simulacrum – another world made up of the places that fall between the cracks of our world.
This is a weird and unsettling piece of present day science fiction.
I found it interesting enough to keep me reading but never quite satisfying enough to feel drawn in to the story.
Recommended if you want to read something a bit off the wall and you’re really interested in the way distributed movements act.
I would never have read this if I hadn’t come across it in the library. Just another reason why libraries are great – you can browse and randomly come across something interesting (the selection online is too vast to effectively do this) and take it home with you at no cost (definitely no way you can do this in a book shop).
2019 Books
While I would have like to have read more this year I’m actually pretty happy I managed to to get my total up to 26 or a book every two weeks with a late spurt in December. Add that to the pretty huge number of audiobooks I’ve listened to this year though and I’m very happy with my ‘reading’ total.
I read a lot of so-so to middling escapist fiction this year – which I do not regret for a second as I like a good escape. That did mean that there were only two books that really stood out.
Tell Me How You Really Feel hit my sweet spot in terms of a Romance and after the initial read I’ve gone back over a few sections several times. I’d love there to be an audiobook of this.
The Fantastic Beasts of Eld belongs to a type of Fantasy that I almost never read any more but I borrowed it from the library on a whim and I just really enjoyed it. I’ve highly recommended it to friends of mine who love Fantasy books.
- Fear of Music by Garry Mulholland, rated B
- Gentlemen by Bob Gendron, rated B
- The Ruby Knight by David Eddings, rated C+
- The Sapphire Rose by David Eddings, rated C+
- Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi, Rated A-
- Traveller In Black by John Brunner, rated B+
- In At The Deep End by Kate Davies, rated B
- Accidentally on Purpose by Jill Shalvis, rated B
- The Lemon Sisters by Jill Shalvis, rated B
- Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis, rated B-
- Domes of Fire by David Eddings, rated C+
- The Shining Ones by David Eddings, rated C+
- The Hidden City by David Eddings, rated C+
- Just Married? by Natasha West, rated B
- The Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis, rated B
- Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett, rated B+
- The Prenup by Lauren Layne, rated B
- Don’t Panic by Neil Gaiman, rated B+
- The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip, rated A-
- 99% Mine by Sally Thorne, rated C
- A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire, rated B
- This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone, rated A-
- Night And Silence by Seanan McGuire, rated B+
- The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire, rated B+
- The Human Division by John Scalzi, rated B+
- The End of All Things by John Scalzi, rated B+
2019 Audiobooks
As you can see I listened to a lot of audiobooks this year. In fact this marks the first year that I have listened to more books than I physically read. This was mainly because I spent a lot of time walking in the past twelve months. It also became a good excuse to revisit some beloved works/authors (including ELEVEN books from the Toby Daye series!).
This list is actually smaller than it could have been – there are at least another five books I’m a third of the way into that I’m sure I’ll be returning to in the future.
- The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien read by Rob Inglis
- The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien read by Rob Inglis
- The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien read by Rob Inglis
- Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett read by Martin Jarvis
- Mockingbird by Walter Tevis, read by Robert Fass and Nicole Poole
- The Rook by Daniel O’Malley, read by Katy Carmichael
- Strata by Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs
- Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley, read by Maggie Mash
- Agent To The Stars by John Scalzi, read by Wil Wheaton
- Eric by Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs
- The Diamond Throne by David Eddings, read by Greg Abby
- Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, read by Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse
- Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs
- Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett, read by Nigel Planer
- The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi, read by Wil Wheaton
- The Day of the Doctor by Steven Moffat, read by Nicholas Briggs
- The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs
- Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
- A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
- An Artificial Light by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
- We Are Legion by Dennis E Taylor read by Ray Porter
- For We Are Many by Dennis E Taylor read by Ray Porter
- All These Worlds by Dennis E Taylor read by Ray Porter
- Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
- One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
- Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
- Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
- The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
- Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie, read by Deanna Hurst
- Fast Women by Jennifer Crusie, read by Sandra Burr
- Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
- The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
- Night And Silence by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
- The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan read by Michael Kramer & Kate Reading
- Welcome To Temptation by Jennifer Crusie read by Aasne Vigesaa
- The Hating Game by Sally Thorne read by Katie Schorr
chandler?
The End of All Things
This book directly follows on from the stories told in The Human Division and thankfully starts to reveal the consipiracy behind events right from the start.
Again this is a series of connected novellas and short stories that make up a complete story.
Many characters return from The Human Division but a few new players have impactful appearances.
It’s a satisfying ending without leaving everything too neatly resolved.
Again, good solid Science Fiction written in an enjoyable fashion.
I really needed to know what happened after The Human Division and read this one as an ebook. It was nice to be that involved in a book/world.
abumwe?
The Human Division
The Human Division is an entry in Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War” universe. Following from the events of The Last Colony / Zoe’s Tale a new political reality faces Humanity and the other species of the universe.
The book itself is made up of a series of novellas and short stories. These are mainly from the perspective of the previously redundant diplomatic service of the Colonial Union as they try to mend fences with Earth and create alliances with alien races. The central character is a familiar face from earlier “Old Man’s War” books – Harry Wilson.
As events proceed it becomes clear that events are being manipulated through sabotage, cultural manipulation and political shenanigans.
Then the book ends and you’re still in the dark!
Thankfully all is dealt with the next book – The End of All Things.
This is good solid Science Fiction from Scalzi. I enjoy his prose style – it’s not flashy but it draws you in to the story without sacrificing character.
pete?
The Unkindest Tide
This is the very latest book in the October Daye series and another where the price of the audiobook just wasn’t justifiable (at least for now).
This the book where the long teased story of the Luidaeg calling in the debts of the Selkies is told.
It’s a cracking read but another one where things happen in the plot more to extend the length of the book than serve the story.
The accompanying novella is interesting but slight and only tangentially related the the main book.