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shanaqui's reviews
1073 reviews
Blind Spot: Exploring and Educating on Blindness by Maud Rowell
informative
medium-paced
4.0
A while back, I was a volunteer for the RNIB (that's the Royal National Institute for the Blind, in the UK), which means I have a bit more awareness of the accessibility options for the blind in the UK (and in general). Even so, I was trained by a sighted person, and all the volunteers I knew were fully sighted. Maud Rowell's Blind Spot makes me wonder what, in consequence, we missed.
If you're curious about accessibility for blind people (not just in the UK, but also in Japan), about experiencing art and museums as a blind person, being a visual artist while blind, and lost blind role models, this is definitely one for you.
It's short, like all books in the Inklings series, and thus it can't possibly be exhaustive -- but it's a window into that world, nonetheless.
If you're curious about accessibility for blind people (not just in the UK, but also in Japan), about experiencing art and museums as a blind person, being a visual artist while blind, and lost blind role models, this is definitely one for you.
It's short, like all books in the Inklings series, and thus it can't possibly be exhaustive -- but it's a window into that world, nonetheless.
Shiva Parvati by Kamala Chandrakant, Anant Pai
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited; it's the story of Shiva and Parvati, illustrated like a graphic novel. I can't judge faithfulness since I really only knew the bare bones of the story beforehand, but it was an interesting way to experience it.
Murder in the Bookshop by Carolyn Wells
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
I picked up Carolyn Wells' Murder in the Bookshop because 1) bookshop, 2) classic mystery, and 3) female author name from whom I hadn't read anything yet. It's American rather than British, which is part of why I hadn't come across the author before. This volume also contained a short story, "The Shakespeare Title-Page Mystery".
As far as the setup goes it's fairly typical, with various hallmarks of the genre: a controlling husband, a younger wife who has developed a relationship with someone who works for her husband, the murder of said husband, a private detective, and of course, suspicion of the wife and the employee. In addition we have the stolen book, and various legit-sounding details around rare books and the rare book trade.
It falls down on inconsistency, though. One moment Fleming Stone says it'd be dangerous for the young wife and her lover to seem close, and the next (without any debate or comment) he's talking to the police about it quite casually. "I'm not going to show this to her," he says, only a couple of pages before he promptly does so. It just feels like a bunch of steps are being missed out -- things there might be reasons for, but which you need to hear the reasons for before they make sense.
In addition, the ending is very, very rushed, and suddenly you no longer see any of the moving parts. It's also one of those mysteries that keeps key info from the reader, which is a pet peeve for some.
It's a shame, really, but I don't think I'd read anything by this author again -- it was too unsatisfying.
As far as the setup goes it's fairly typical, with various hallmarks of the genre: a controlling husband, a younger wife who has developed a relationship with someone who works for her husband, the murder of said husband, a private detective, and of course, suspicion of the wife and the employee. In addition we have the stolen book, and various legit-sounding details around rare books and the rare book trade.
It falls down on inconsistency, though. One moment Fleming Stone says it'd be dangerous for the young wife and her lover to seem close, and the next (without any debate or comment) he's talking to the police about it quite casually. "I'm not going to show this to her," he says, only a couple of pages before he promptly does so. It just feels like a bunch of steps are being missed out -- things there might be reasons for, but which you need to hear the reasons for before they make sense.
In addition, the ending is very, very rushed, and suddenly you no longer see any of the moving parts. It's also one of those mysteries that keeps key info from the reader, which is a pet peeve for some.
It's a shame, really, but I don't think I'd read anything by this author again -- it was too unsatisfying.
The End: Surviving the World Through Imagined Disasters by Katie Goh
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
It was really interesting, early in the pandemic, how people turned to disaster movies and books about the very same concept. Personally, I found myself rereading Mira Grant's Feed, which features a zombie apocalypse due to a virus that infects literally everyone, and led to severe restrictions on the number of people who can gather, fear of other people, etc, etc. Katie Goh's The End tries to examine why that might be, and comment on a few examples.
Like all the Inklings series, it's pretty short, so it's hardly exhaustive. A chunk of it is focused on COVID specifically, which makes sense giving the timing of the book. I think it makes a good case for why disaster fiction interests and engages us, and I enjoyed the reading process.
Like all the Inklings series, it's pretty short, so it's hardly exhaustive. A chunk of it is focused on COVID specifically, which makes sense giving the timing of the book. I think it makes a good case for why disaster fiction interests and engages us, and I enjoyed the reading process.
Now Go: On Grief and Studio Ghibli by Karl Thomas Smith
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
Now Go is basically an essay about Studio Ghibli's portrayal of grief and what that means to the author. It isn't really just about grief in Studio Ghibli movies, and sometimes the link feels a bit tenuous. I can understand feeling a very strong personal connection to movies, and seeing things in them which reflect on one's own grief and loss, but it ends up not being an inquiry into grief in Studio Ghibli, but very much the author's grief and Studio Ghibli. The actual analysis of the movies as texts is fairly surface-level.
I also wasn't super convinced that the author understood that, for example, Howl's Moving Castle is based on a book by Diana Wynne Jones, and not something that Miyazaki came up with in his own head alone. He didn't engage at all with the anti-war themes of this adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle, which are very much Miyazaki's thing, developed out of very small elements of the plot of the novel. It would have fit nicely with his themes, but... nope.
I also wasn't super convinced that the author understood that, for example, Howl's Moving Castle is based on a book by Diana Wynne Jones, and not something that Miyazaki came up with in his own head alone. He didn't engage at all with the anti-war themes of this adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle, which are very much Miyazaki's thing, developed out of very small elements of the plot of the novel. It would have fit nicely with his themes, but... nope.
The Loki Variations: The Man, The Myth, The Mischief by Karl Johnson
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
Karl Johnson's The Loki Variations digs into the character of Loki -- not specifically the Norse god in his original form, nor Loki just as portrayed by Tom Hiddleston, but Loki as an overall concept. Pretty much what it says on the tin, in fact: he's looking at the varied ways people have portrayed and enjoyed Loki's character, and what he's meant to people.
It's nice to read something that takes pop culture seriously, because -- regardless of how ephemeral or unimportant it can seem -- it's a great reflection of what's on people's minds. Johnson talks specifically about Loki's queerness, which is linked to how difficult he can be to pin down: he's not your typical Asgardian (in any incarnation), he's not exclusively bad or exclusively good; he slides past definitions adroitly.
(A sudden thought: given the red hair and general inclination to mischief over evil, I wonder if Good Omens' Crowley, as portrayed by David Tennant, is technically a bit of a variation on Loki himself. In some ways, no, but something of Loki's instinct for self-preservation, adaptability, and unwillingness to be pinned down and defined does ring true for Crowley as well.)
Anyway, it's a slim book and doesn't go into enormous depth, but it's written with a love for Loki and an appreciation for popular culture that I very much enjoyed.
It's nice to read something that takes pop culture seriously, because -- regardless of how ephemeral or unimportant it can seem -- it's a great reflection of what's on people's minds. Johnson talks specifically about Loki's queerness, which is linked to how difficult he can be to pin down: he's not your typical Asgardian (in any incarnation), he's not exclusively bad or exclusively good; he slides past definitions adroitly.
(A sudden thought: given the red hair and general inclination to mischief over evil, I wonder if Good Omens' Crowley, as portrayed by David Tennant, is technically a bit of a variation on Loki himself. In some ways, no, but something of Loki's instinct for self-preservation, adaptability, and unwillingness to be pinned down and defined does ring true for Crowley as well.)
Anyway, it's a slim book and doesn't go into enormous depth, but it's written with a love for Loki and an appreciation for popular culture that I very much enjoyed.
The New University: Local Solutions to a Global Crisis by James Coe
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
James Coe's The New University is a book very much of a particular moment during the economic and social recovery from COVID in Britain. Some of the policy concerns have moved on since it was written, but there is something still relevant here: the issue of what universities are meant to be doing, from how they relate to the local businesses around them to how they contribute to the economy, and how they should be funded.
I find it odd that Coe discusses things like providing flexible learning, and fails to mention the Open University even once. Many of the things he describes as being things universities need to do have a pioneer in the OU, and it isn't some upstart flash-in-the-pan newcomer. It's been established for a long time now and it's doing many of the things Coe thinks that traditional universities should do. I wonder if he's just blind to the OU because he works in a traditional university? Contemptuous of what the OU does and the value of its qualifications? I'm not sure, but it's a strange omission.
Coe is very optimistic about universities and what they can give to the country. He does touch on what they offer to individuals as well, to some extent (in part through his own nostalgia for his time at university), though it's very much about what universities can do on a broader level.
It's interesting, but obviously dated already, and containing some odd omissions. Also, like the other Inklings book I've read, it does need a better proofreader.
I find it odd that Coe discusses things like providing flexible learning, and fails to mention the Open University even once. Many of the things he describes as being things universities need to do have a pioneer in the OU, and it isn't some upstart flash-in-the-pan newcomer. It's been established for a long time now and it's doing many of the things Coe thinks that traditional universities should do. I wonder if he's just blind to the OU because he works in a traditional university? Contemptuous of what the OU does and the value of its qualifications? I'm not sure, but it's a strange omission.
Coe is very optimistic about universities and what they can give to the country. He does touch on what they offer to individuals as well, to some extent (in part through his own nostalgia for his time at university), though it's very much about what universities can do on a broader level.
It's interesting, but obviously dated already, and containing some odd omissions. Also, like the other Inklings book I've read, it does need a better proofreader.
Agatha Christie by Lucy Worsley
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Lucy Worsley's Agatha Christie tries to examine Agatha Christie and her work with affection and respect, but without taking her own words about herself too seriously. She considered herself to be basically an unworking lady, a homemaker in our terms, a wife. She wrote compulsively and prolifically, without ever admitting that she was a serious writer. Given that her work has enduring appeal, and a certain amount of influence, it's worth examining her life a bit. Not just the things people know about her (the famous disappearance), though Worsley covers that too, but her whole life and all the relationships that influenced her.
I have to say that I didn't really know much about Agatha Christie herself, other than that she'd dispensed medications during the war, and the disappearance. I knew more about her work, but didn't have that much experience with it (I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd when I studied crime fiction during my first degree, and at some point read my way through the books featuring Miss Marple, but remember little about them). It was a surprise to meet (through Worsley) a woman who generally had a gift for being happy -- at least as she grew older and met her second husband.
As you'd expect from her work, which I've now been reading via Serial Reader in the last couple of months, she wasn't always a nice woman. She could be pretty racist and anti-Semitic, she wasn't a great mother to her own daughter, she could be an awful snob, and regardless of how sympathetic you feel toward her reasons, it's possible she tried to frame her first husband for her murder. Worsley doesn't endorse that view, and there simply isn't real evidence either way, but it's something people have believed to some degree or another since it happened, something which rings tantalisingly true for a woman who specialised in writing murder mysteries and thrillers.
Overall, Worsley does a fairly good job of giving us Agatha Christie as a whole person, a woman who was wronged, a woman with faults, a woman who could demonstrate a wealth of generosity. Contradictory and flawed, as we all are.
I have to say that I didn't really know much about Agatha Christie herself, other than that she'd dispensed medications during the war, and the disappearance. I knew more about her work, but didn't have that much experience with it (I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd when I studied crime fiction during my first degree, and at some point read my way through the books featuring Miss Marple, but remember little about them). It was a surprise to meet (through Worsley) a woman who generally had a gift for being happy -- at least as she grew older and met her second husband.
As you'd expect from her work, which I've now been reading via Serial Reader in the last couple of months, she wasn't always a nice woman. She could be pretty racist and anti-Semitic, she wasn't a great mother to her own daughter, she could be an awful snob, and regardless of how sympathetic you feel toward her reasons, it's possible she tried to frame her first husband for her murder. Worsley doesn't endorse that view, and there simply isn't real evidence either way, but it's something people have believed to some degree or another since it happened, something which rings tantalisingly true for a woman who specialised in writing murder mysteries and thrillers.
Overall, Worsley does a fairly good job of giving us Agatha Christie as a whole person, a woman who was wronged, a woman with faults, a woman who could demonstrate a wealth of generosity. Contradictory and flawed, as we all are.
Stonehenge: The Story of a Sacred Landscape by Francis Pryor
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Francis Pryor's Stonehenge: The Story of a Sacred Landscape is a good summary of the current consensus around Stonehenge, inasfar as I understand it. It's not really much of a step forward from Mike Parker Pearson's book on Stonehenge from ~2012, which is probably a good place to go if you want something in-depth.
Still, it's presented beautifully here, with photos, art, coloured maps and plans, etc, and it does a good job of condensing down what we know and how we know it, and theorising from what we do know about the reasons for Stonehenge's building, the phases of activity there, the traces of those who built there, etc. It discusses Mike Parker Pearson's theory that the people who built Stonehenge built in wood for the living and stone for the dead, and makes that pretty clear (though I think there's supporting evidence he chooses not to discuss that would firm up that point).
However, I do keep in mind with Francis Pryor that he does deliberately cherry-pick sources that agree with him (he's said as much, explicitly, in Britain AD), so it's important to read him sceptically.
Still, it's presented beautifully here, with photos, art, coloured maps and plans, etc, and it does a good job of condensing down what we know and how we know it, and theorising from what we do know about the reasons for Stonehenge's building, the phases of activity there, the traces of those who built there, etc. It discusses Mike Parker Pearson's theory that the people who built Stonehenge built in wood for the living and stone for the dead, and makes that pretty clear (though I think there's supporting evidence he chooses not to discuss that would firm up that point).
However, I do keep in mind with Francis Pryor that he does deliberately cherry-pick sources that agree with him (he's said as much, explicitly, in Britain AD), so it's important to read him sceptically.
All the Violet Tiaras: Queering the Greek Myths by Jean Menzies
informative
4.0
Jean Menzies' All The Violet Tiaras is quite short, more a long essay than a book really, which means it doesn't waste much time, plunging straight in to discussing the modern takes on Greek myths, and the way that queer people in particular have adopted and adapted them, seeing ourselves in them, etc.
Menzies discusses some books/stories I was aware of, and some I wasn't, which means I now have a little wishlist of books/stories I want to look into (oh no). I think she handles well the line between what we think of as queerness now and how identities worked in Ancient Greece, without trying to project that kind of thing backwards.
It is a bit weird to have a book that so relies on Twitter/X as an institution that @usernames are included just like that (not "@username on X", just "@username"). It feels especially weird for a book published in 2024, as X crumbles and every week there's a new spurt of users heading off to Mastodon, Bluesky, and other alternatives. This might look very strange in a couple more years. It already feels weird to me; not having used it for two years makes me very conscious how inessential it actually is. The book could also use a solid proofread.
Menzies discusses some books/stories I was aware of, and some I wasn't, which means I now have a little wishlist of books/stories I want to look into (oh no). I think she handles well the line between what we think of as queerness now and how identities worked in Ancient Greece, without trying to project that kind of thing backwards.
It is a bit weird to have a book that so relies on Twitter/X as an institution that @usernames are included just like that (not "@username on X", just "@username"). It feels especially weird for a book published in 2024, as X crumbles and every week there's a new spurt of users heading off to Mastodon, Bluesky, and other alternatives. This might look very strange in a couple more years. It already feels weird to me; not having used it for two years makes me very conscious how inessential it actually is. The book could also use a solid proofread.