To call it well written would be an insult. It’s brilliant. It’s a compulsive read – which in other circumstances could be trying to other authors given the range of subjects covered, papers mentioned, people interviewed. The narrative is so beautifully crafted that its easily one of the most accessible and fascinating non-fiction books I’ve read in a long time. Continue reading
Short holiday review of The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher. Continue reading
What an angry book. No that this is a bad thing. I think there were two chapters that I found the most interesting and fascinating and one that I lost the plot a bit. The first chapter that I really liked was the whole exploration of nostalgia via things like ‘keep calm and carry on’. … Continue reading
Wow. So, I should know a lot about Moncure Conway, but I don’t. I’m rectifying that knowledge gap this year, for multiple reasons (one being PhD reasons). So I picked up Southern Emancipator: Moncure Conway: The American Years, 1832-1865 from the delightful library at Conway Hall (Conway Hall named after him, of course). It’s hard … Continue reading
I think if I needed to pick a single word to describe Kat Arney’s first (and fabulous) book on how genes work, it would be irreverent. And I mean that in the best possible way. Full disclosure, I know Kat and have brewed beer with her. To be fair, this is so far a one-off … Continue reading
I think I picked up this book by Grant Morrison at the comics exhibition at the British Museum. I have read a few comics by Morrison, like Joe the Barbarian and All Star Superman. I enjoyed both. So in the post-script to the paperback edition, he describes Supergods as a subjective history. Ah ha ha … Continue reading
The ends of the earth is the smooshing together of two anthologies about the arctic and antarctic. It’s a mixture of both the best fiction and non-fiction stories about these two interesting places. I think I preferred the old journals of the first explorers and the science excerpts more than any of the non-fiction prose. … Continue reading
