The Brick Moon

Edward Everett Hale and Adam Roberts, 2014

(May 2014)

  

Something of a curiosity, this. Better yet, let’s call it a curio, because that’s shorter and ends with an ‘O’ so if I type it in italics it’ll look all foreign and sophisticated.

The Lesser of Two Evils

Pecan and Maple Syrup, so a vaguely North American vibe to this one. While this is not something of which I'd usually approve, my wife really liked it so might go for something other than coffee and bloody walnut next time I ask her to choose what she wants. Not massively important in the grand scheme of things, I agree, but marriages have foundered on less. It's the little things, eh?

Peacemaker

Marianne de Pierres, 2014

(May 2014)

  

This is, in places, quite hilariously awful. However, simply by virtue of the fact that you’re reading this here, you’ll be able to tell that I found something to like about it. More than that even, because there’s clearly going to be a sequel and I’m more than tempted to get it whenever it may come out.

Excession

Iain M. Banks, 1996

(May 2014)

  

After the rather underwhelming The State of the Art I figured I may as well plough straight on to the next one, ‘cos that was this and this was where it all started and when it did it was good.

They Just Make You Worse

We’re all feeling much better now, thanks for asking. Well, the eldest still has sporadic diarrhea, my wife has an eye infection, and I still can’t fucking speak properly, but in general this represents a considerable improvement on the situation two or three weeks ago. I also now know that the Japanese word for phlegm is ‘tan’, so every cloud and all that.

The State of the Art

Iain M. Banks, 1991

(April 2014)

  

This, this is the one. In many ways this book is responsible for the continued existence and most of the posts on this blog, so feel free to laud and/or blame it as you will.

A Dance with Dragons

George R.R. Martin, 2011

(April 2014)

What to add to the massive multimedia behemoth that is a Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones? Not sure there’s really all that much, though the little that follows will probably have some spoilers, if you care about that sort of thing.

Master of Ceremonies

The kids started nursery school a few weeks back, and so hopefully you’ll understand why things have been a little slow on the blogging front of late. You’d have thought that getting someone else to knacker them out look after them all day would have provided us with a bit more free time of an evening, but apparently not. Ah well, we always knew it was going to be an awkward period of adjustment, just not quite like this.

Autofiction

Hitomi Kanehara, 2006 [David James Karashima, 2007]

(April 2014)

Try as I might I cannot get it out of my head that Kanehara is, at least partially, the real-life inspiration for Fuka-Eri in 1Q84. And that, you’ll understand, creates all sorts of associations and images in my head, very few of which are anything other than uncomfortable.

Boxers and Saints

Gene Luen Yang, 2013

(March 2014)

This is phenomenal.