Books & Stuff (NS, No 32) - Reading in Sep 2022

Matt Ruff, Lovecraft Country

Another book that has been made into a tv series that I haven't seen.  

This set of connected stories concerns an extended family/community of Back Americans living in 1950s Chicago.  For reasons of ancestry, they find themselves entangled in a power-struggle within an esoteric cult.  However, the skills learned to survive racist 1950s America are well-suited to dealing with Lovecraft's unfeeling, uncaring universe, and they more than hold their own.

I enjoyed this and the dry humour in it.  I'll keep my eye out for more of Ruff's work.

Shaun Bythell, Remainders of the Day

This is the third volume of Bythell's diaries of running the largest second-hand bookshop in Scotland, and covers 2016.  He cultivates a grumpy, "all-customers-are-idiots" persona that is reminiscent of Bernard Black.

For some reason (possibily because he's being lest cutting) I found this one less funny.  But it appeals to me on many levels.

Mike Ashley (ed), Lost Mars: The Golden Age of the Red Planet

The British Library publishing arm has been issuing a series of reprints of classic works of science fiction (they also did the same for crime fiction).

This one is an anthology of ten short stories relating to Mars from Wells in 1897 to Ballard in 1963.  Interesting and enjoyable reading, and I'll pick up more from the series (my local remaindered book store has a whole run of them).

Currently Reading

Ken Liu (ed & trans), Broken Stars

Another Sci-Fi anthology - the blurb on the cover says it all - "Sixteen Stories from the New Frontiers of Chinese Science Fiction".

Books & Stuff (NS, No 23) - Reading in Dec 2021

Coming soon...  (In theory at least)  ...my over-view of reading in 2021.

 Books Read

Shaun Bythell, Confessions of a Bookseller

A diary of a year in the running of Scotland's largest bookshop (The Bookshop, Wigtown), apparently covering 2015.

I read Bythell's previous diary - The Diary of a Bookseller - some time ago (checking on Goodreads, I see that it was way back in 2018) and enjoyed it a lot.  Bythell writes well and amusingly in the most-customers-are-idiots school.  In spots the all-pervading grumpiness reminded me of the old sitcom Black Books, though with less wine.

Recommended.

Marcus Berkmann, Set Phasers to Stun: 50 Year of Star Trek

A light-hearted and opinionated whistle-stop tour of the first 50 years of the Star Trek franchise, the bulk of which covers The Original Series - how and why it was made, cancelled and revived.

Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

This was a big hit when it came out, and deservedly so.  It a fun and fairly fluffy book about crime-busting pensioners.

As Osman certainly knew (being the consumate TV professional that he his), if it was put on the screen (and is going to be), it would be a very enjoyable Sunday evening's watch.  One of those books you read with half a mind to who will be cast to play each part.

Margaret Atwood, The Testaments

The Handmaid's Tale is so frighteningly topical that it's hard to remember that it was published 35 years ago.  With The Testaments, Atwood has given us a worthy sequel.

Here, we have the inside story of the Gilead regime, one of the leading players being a point-of-view character and driving the story.  Atwood is always worth reading, this is a good and rewarding read.

Currently Reading

William Dampier, A New Voyage Around the World

As I predicted when I started this, it's been slow going.  That's not because it isn't interesting, merely that an eighteenth-century account isn't easy reading.  But Dampier has a good story to tell (half explorer, half pirate), and I think it worth perseverely.