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shanaqui's reviews
893 reviews
Murder in Vienna by E.C.R. Lorac
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I really love E.C.R. Lorac's work, for a lot of reasons I've written about before, and it boils down to two gifts that she had. One, she was good at characters, and especially at creating likeable characters. Two, she has a great sense for place, and for showing how a place is lived in -- I thought at one point she was mostly good at describing rural locations and small towns, but this book (and others set in London) show she just had a gift in general of making anywhere sound lovely in its way. In this case, post-WWII Vienna.
The other thing to bear in mind is that even a character you like a lot might turn out to be a murderer, and that someone who's a bit of a slimeball needn't be the one who killed someone. If you read only one or two of her books, it's easy to think that she'll always point the finger at a certain type of character, but it isn't the case.
Murder in Vienna captures the unsettled feeling of a city uneasy with what some of its inhabitants have done. The collaborators walk free, and it's unclear who collaborated because they felt that they had to and who collaborated willingly. That isn't completely germane to this story, it's just part of the feeling of everything. But Vienna itself is beautiful in Lorac's words, and through the eyes of Macdonald, one of the most human of the detectives of classic fiction (in my view). I found it all really enjoyable, not so much the mystery itself, but how the mystery inhabited Vienna and the anxious minds of those trying to believe that the ordeal is over and normality has returned.
Poor Macdonald really should be allowed a proper holiday at some point, though. If he could please be returning from holiday at the start of a book or something, that'd be nice. No more busman's holidays for him, please.
The other thing to bear in mind is that even a character you like a lot might turn out to be a murderer, and that someone who's a bit of a slimeball needn't be the one who killed someone. If you read only one or two of her books, it's easy to think that she'll always point the finger at a certain type of character, but it isn't the case.
Murder in Vienna captures the unsettled feeling of a city uneasy with what some of its inhabitants have done. The collaborators walk free, and it's unclear who collaborated because they felt that they had to and who collaborated willingly. That isn't completely germane to this story, it's just part of the feeling of everything. But Vienna itself is beautiful in Lorac's words, and through the eyes of Macdonald, one of the most human of the detectives of classic fiction (in my view). I found it all really enjoyable, not so much the mystery itself, but how the mystery inhabited Vienna and the anxious minds of those trying to believe that the ordeal is over and normality has returned.
Poor Macdonald really should be allowed a proper holiday at some point, though. If he could please be returning from holiday at the start of a book or something, that'd be nice. No more busman's holidays for him, please.
The Cactus Hunters: Desire and Extinction in the Illicit Succulent Trade by Jared D. Margulies
informative
reflective
slow-paced
1.0
This is much less about succulents than I hoped, and much more about the author's theories of psychoanalysis surrounding that. Academic and dry.
Didn't help that I'm not a fan of Lacan.
Didn't help that I'm not a fan of Lacan.
Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
informative
slow-paced
4.0
It would be easy for a book like Cat Bohannon's Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution to get all gender essentialist about things, and I was completely braced for it. I also wouldn't have been surprised if the book just ignored the existence of trans people, since how we currently understand and perceive gender variance is often quite divorced from stuff that might be obviously related to evolution.
So I'm going to say up front that it doesn't go in that direction, and Bohannon mentions trans people and trans bodies where relevant, often with the caveat that (unfortunately) we don't have the same volumes of data to go on, and in some cases studies just haven't been done. The book does focus on sex rather than gender, mostly (there's some stuff about stereotype threat that's more gendery), but transness is mentioned where appropriate.
It's a chonky book, and there are a lot of footnotes, sometimes multiple per page; at times, that makes it a bit too dense and overwhelming. Each aside takes you away from the main point of the narrative, and ultimately I found it rather distracting, even where the footnotes were useful or interesting. Sometimes it kind of had the effect of a student trying to show you they know a lot about a topic by inserting an only slightly relevant footnote on the topic (I've never done that, I swear); sometimes it just felt like a digression.
Regardless, I really enjoyed it, even if the organisation felt a little overwhelming at times. It focuses on the ways evolution had to work on female bodies: pregnancy and lactation, the implications of pair-bonding for offspring, behaviours that needed to go with the physical changes, etc. It isn't my exact area of interest, so it's hard to evaluate some of the claims: evolution must've acted on male bodies too, but sometimes it seems like there's not much left that can be about the males of the species, based on this! But it's interesting, and Bohannon writes very clearly about a whole range of topics.
So I'm going to say up front that it doesn't go in that direction, and Bohannon mentions trans people and trans bodies where relevant, often with the caveat that (unfortunately) we don't have the same volumes of data to go on, and in some cases studies just haven't been done. The book does focus on sex rather than gender, mostly (there's some stuff about stereotype threat that's more gendery), but transness is mentioned where appropriate.
It's a chonky book, and there are a lot of footnotes, sometimes multiple per page; at times, that makes it a bit too dense and overwhelming. Each aside takes you away from the main point of the narrative, and ultimately I found it rather distracting, even where the footnotes were useful or interesting. Sometimes it kind of had the effect of a student trying to show you they know a lot about a topic by inserting an only slightly relevant footnote on the topic (I've never done that, I swear); sometimes it just felt like a digression.
Regardless, I really enjoyed it, even if the organisation felt a little overwhelming at times. It focuses on the ways evolution had to work on female bodies: pregnancy and lactation, the implications of pair-bonding for offspring, behaviours that needed to go with the physical changes, etc. It isn't my exact area of interest, so it's hard to evaluate some of the claims: evolution must've acted on male bodies too, but sometimes it seems like there's not much left that can be about the males of the species, based on this! But it's interesting, and Bohannon writes very clearly about a whole range of topics.
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
Nothing madly innovative here. Listen to people, show them you're doing so, make them think you care, identify what's at stake in conversations to get on the same wavelength as the person you're talking to. Revolutionary...
If you struggle with specific ways to do the above, it's probably more helpful.
If you struggle with specific ways to do the above, it's probably more helpful.
The Missing Lynx: The Past and Future of Britain's Lost Mammals by Ross Barnett
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Once upon a time, megafauna were common all over the world, but after a certain point in time, they began to disappear. Mammoths. Mastodons. Cave lions. Cave bears. Aurochs. Irish elk. And what was the common factor? Well, as Ross Barnett says in The Missing Lynx, probably us. Probably humans.
The Missing Lynx digs into the lives of a few of these different creatures, trying to understand where they came from and where they went, focusing mostly on the lives of animals once found in the British Isles which are extinct now (in some cases worldwide, in others just in the UK). In some ways it's a sad story -- think of all we've lost. But Barnett is enthusiastic, fascinated, and that made the book pretty compulsive reading.
I did find it weird that beavers apparently count as megafauna: I always think way bigger, somehow! But apparently beavers count, and they are indeed pretty cool.
It's easy to get pessimistic when you read books like this, showing how humans were a major driver in extinctions. Somehow Barnett's enthusiasm wins out over that, with some optimism that if we can learn to look at ourselves, we can begin to fix this through reintroductions, rewilding, and perhaps (though he's sceptical of this and rightly so) resurrection.
The Missing Lynx digs into the lives of a few of these different creatures, trying to understand where they came from and where they went, focusing mostly on the lives of animals once found in the British Isles which are extinct now (in some cases worldwide, in others just in the UK). In some ways it's a sad story -- think of all we've lost. But Barnett is enthusiastic, fascinated, and that made the book pretty compulsive reading.
I did find it weird that beavers apparently count as megafauna: I always think way bigger, somehow! But apparently beavers count, and they are indeed pretty cool.
It's easy to get pessimistic when you read books like this, showing how humans were a major driver in extinctions. Somehow Barnett's enthusiasm wins out over that, with some optimism that if we can learn to look at ourselves, we can begin to fix this through reintroductions, rewilding, and perhaps (though he's sceptical of this and rightly so) resurrection.
Network Effect by Martha Wells
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Poor Murderbot and its emotional breakdown. I actually liked Kevin R. Free's voices for everyone here.
Exposed: The Greek and Roman Body by Caroline Vout
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
First things first: as a physical object, Caroline Vout's Exposed: The Greek and Roman Body is beautifully done. There's lots of images included, arranged around the text in a usually sensible manner, and in colour. (I generally don't ever look at the glossy included pages in books, in part because I wouldn't retain any impression of the image while reading as I don't have any kind of "mind's eye", so this worked especially well for me.) It's really well presented in sections that make good sense.
In terms of the written content, I found most of it surprisingly familiar. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprise: I've read plenty about the Greeks and Romans, if not directly about their bodies and their perceptions of their own bodies, and I did study classics up to A Level. But still, I'd kind of expected more surprises, e.g. around attitudes to disability... There were some titbits that were new to me, but mostly it wasn't.
Which doesn't mean it wasn't a good summary: I found it an enjoyable read, and as I said, very well presented. Sometimes it felt like it was a little less in-depth than I'd like, and I didn't (personally) hit that level of "huh, interesting!" that made me want to go and tell my wife about it, which is my real marker for interesting non-fiction, but it makes for a pretty good overview and summary, and is likely more surprising to people who've done less reading on related topics.
In terms of the written content, I found most of it surprisingly familiar. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprise: I've read plenty about the Greeks and Romans, if not directly about their bodies and their perceptions of their own bodies, and I did study classics up to A Level. But still, I'd kind of expected more surprises, e.g. around attitudes to disability... There were some titbits that were new to me, but mostly it wasn't.
Which doesn't mean it wasn't a good summary: I found it an enjoyable read, and as I said, very well presented. Sometimes it felt like it was a little less in-depth than I'd like, and I didn't (personally) hit that level of "huh, interesting!" that made me want to go and tell my wife about it, which is my real marker for interesting non-fiction, but it makes for a pretty good overview and summary, and is likely more surprising to people who've done less reading on related topics.
If Found, Return to Hell by Em X. Liu
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I love playing around with point of view, and Em X. Liu makes an interesting choice: the book is narrated in second person, which I feel like a lot of people will bounce right off. I love playing with it myself, and I think it was pretty well done here.
I loved Shine and Wang Ran, their negotiation of their situation, the way they quickly decided to make the best of it. You end up with certain expectations from the opening, from other stories like it, and then there's Wang Ran, and really he's just a kid. The way all that plays out -- and Wang Ran and Shine's relationship with the character addressed by the narrative -- is all really fun.
Things did seem to happen really suddenly, though, and I wasn't so sure about that part. On the one hand, it is a novella, but... I don't know, the bond between Shine, Wang Ran and the main character feels a little undercooked for me. I wanted to believe in it, I just didn't quite. I don't know what more I'd have liked that wouldn't feel like filler, but still, I wasn't quite 100% there in time.
On a side note, I feel like I was oddly better prepared for some of this through becoming such a fan of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System.
I loved Shine and Wang Ran, their negotiation of their situation, the way they quickly decided to make the best of it. You end up with certain expectations from the opening, from other stories like it, and then there's Wang Ran, and really he's just a kid. The way all that plays out -- and Wang Ran and Shine's relationship with the character addressed by the narrative -- is all really fun.
Things did seem to happen really suddenly, though, and I wasn't so sure about that part. On the one hand, it is a novella, but... I don't know, the bond between Shine, Wang Ran and the main character feels a little undercooked for me. I wanted to believe in it, I just didn't quite. I don't know what more I'd have liked that wouldn't feel like filler, but still, I wasn't quite 100% there in time.
On a side note, I feel like I was oddly better prepared for some of this through becoming such a fan of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System.
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Still not 100% a fan of Kevin R. Free's reading, but at the same time, someone else would probably sound weird right now.
And I still think he does Gurathin perfectly.
And I still think he does Gurathin perfectly.
London Particular by Christianna Brand
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Christianna Brand's mysteries aren't entirely my thing, and London Particular is perhaps the not-my-thingest. One of the major characters, Rosie, has been sleeping around and got pregnant, and much of the narrative revolves around tearing her down for it -- exposing her petty lies without sympathy, and to put it baldly, slut-shaming her all the way. Some of the other characters pity her, and yet it's not a kind sort of pity.
Of course, the book and its judgements are a product of their time, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant to read. Rosie's a careless girl, true enough, and her actions make her a little unlikeable at times, but none of that is helped by the fact that the narrative doesn't like her. Oddly enough, she reminds me of Thea Gilmore's song "Rosie", not just in name.
Anyway, the mystery itself is alright. It avoids some of the trends I've seen in Brand's other books, so it surprised me a little in that sense, and there's some genuine tension in the court scenes, and in the way some of the characters try to shield each other, stand up for one another. But... mostly Brand's work isn't quite my thing. I don't think she had much sympathy for other women who didn't fit her mould, and it shows.
Of course, the book and its judgements are a product of their time, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant to read. Rosie's a careless girl, true enough, and her actions make her a little unlikeable at times, but none of that is helped by the fact that the narrative doesn't like her. Oddly enough, she reminds me of Thea Gilmore's song "Rosie", not just in name.
Anyway, the mystery itself is alright. It avoids some of the trends I've seen in Brand's other books, so it surprised me a little in that sense, and there's some genuine tension in the court scenes, and in the way some of the characters try to shield each other, stand up for one another. But... mostly Brand's work isn't quite my thing. I don't think she had much sympathy for other women who didn't fit her mould, and it shows.