February Reading Round Up

February has rushed past, and it is time for another monthly reading recap. This month I have read ten books and enjoyed every single one. I truly can’t remember when I had such a great month in books, made especially pleasurable by sending off my new manuscript to my agent early in the month and settling into some truly guilt free reading.

Monsters – A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer

This book was recommended by the girls of my favourite podcast, Celebrity Memoir Book Club, and I found it very thought provoking. It talks about the difficulty in separating the art from the artist and how to feel about writers, painters, directors we love who do terrible things. The author focused the first part of the book on the works of Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, a pair of auteur directors and rapists, who have made incredibly meaningful art even as they ruined lives. The author loses her way a bit with a tangent about Nabokov and to my mind doesn’t come up with any comparable examples of monstrous female artists (I would probably have mentioned MZB) which is a shame as the gender of monstrous artists seems very relevant to the discussion. I would also have liked some discussion over artists with physical harm vs problematic views, eg Orson Scott Card’s homophobia set against Polanski’s violent attacks. However, on the whole I enjoyed this book and spent a lot of time thinking about it. 

The City Inside by Samit Basu

Excellent Indian sf-dystopia set a few years into the future and focusing on the hyper-online life of Joey, an influencer’s PR advisor/director working in an incredibly divided New Delhi. The set up for this book was excellent and I could have read much more in the same vein but the author made some interesting choices and finished the book earlier than I expected. I was also very surprised to get to the author note at the end of the book and discover he was a man, his writing of Joey felt so authentically female. Overall, a very good read and I will definitely pick up more of his work.

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Another highly enjoyable book from Ali Hazelwood, proving that her talents extend beyond the excellent STEM-romances. I liked the characters and worldbuilding but it’s the authors writing style which make these so much fun to read. I flew through this in a day or so and will certainly pick up for a re-read at some point.

Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo

Audiobook reread. This was always a childhood favourite of mine and now that Spotify is offering 15 hours of audiobooks in my subscription, I have been exploring some old books I listened to on tape in the car. I can confirm that this absolutely holds up. Derek Jacobi’s narration is incredibly moving and the story is as simple and enchanting as it ever was. Caused me to cry like a baby.

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

My second Buehlman read and while it didn’t quite hit the dizzy heights of Between Two Fires it was still a fantastic fantasy book. Within a few days of finishing it I had recommended it to friends, struck up multiple conversations about the worldbuilding and am eagerly awaiting the prequel this winter. This is a classic fantasy journey book where the titular Thief needs to travel to distant lands, running into witches, minotaurs and whales along the way. Buehlman’s fantasy reminds me of Joe Abercrombie’s First Law books in the gritty realism and constant sense of tension and danger but they have a tiny spark of optimism and for me that makes them both more realistic and more enjoyable.

Britannia

Re-read. This is a compendium of stories from British history, stretching from Brutus’ escape from Troy to Bannister's four minute mile. I loved this as a kid and love it now for it’s inclusion of half forgotten stories beyond the usual soap opera of kings and queens. I really value the inclusion of workers and scientists and ordinary acts of heroism and it made me want to share their stories so they are not forgotten.

Part of Your World

Graphic novel adaption of the Little Mermaid where Ariel didn’t win at the end of the film. Interesting concept and nicely drawn although I felt it lacked real artistic verve – probably because it was so Disneyfied.

City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Dense but Brilliant. This is a sort of fantasy Les Miserables, set in the complicated city of Ilmar. It felt realistic even when confronting gods and demons and man-eating centipedes. It follows the simmering revolutionary groops as they plot against the occupying force of the Palleseen. I liked how each group couldn’t see past their own factioneering to do the best thing for their city, it all felt sadly true to life.  This was my first Tchaikovsky and it was not at all how I expected it to be but I enjoyed it a great deal once I got into it and I will definitely be reading the sequel and trying a few more of his books.

I who have never known men – Jacqueline Harper

Incredible book! I didn’t know much about this, having added it to my TBR based off a throwaway recommendation but I found it beautiful and haunting. It follows the life of an unnamed girl trapped in a mysterious bunker with 40 other women. At first they have no hope of escape or idea of where they are but as the story develops they come to grapple with what it means to be a community and what lives are worth living. This was somehow both grim and graceful and it really hit me hard.

 Being Seen – Else Sjunneson

A memoir from a deafblind writer on finding her own space in the world and in pop culture. As a memoir I enjoyed and found it very interesting, but I disagreed with some of Sjunneson’s more sweeping statements, and the book got weaker when she delved more into cultural criticism. I think I also struggled because much of what she was saying was very familiar to me as a friend to many disabled people and general bleeding-heart lib. It would be a great first introduction to disability rights however and I did like the author’s writing style and might dip into some of her SF writing.