More reviews for books this writer perused in 2016 AD and put on Goodreads.
The Whispering Swarm by Michael Moorcock
3 out of 5 stars
A work of semi-autobiographical fiction which has the author as one of the characters.
I didn’t always understand what the people of Alsacia, a world somehow hidden in London, were talking about, at least when it came to explaining the scientific reason for the existence of time travel. (Radiant Time? The Black Aether? The Grey Fees? What was going on?)
Also I did not see the significance of the numbers that kept cropping up in Michael’s head when he was leading the King’s rescue party through the fog. Something to do with the tarot he read when he was younger, perhaps.
I can’t say I felt I sympathised with the narrator, particularly in his attitude towards women – in the book he has an affair, then hates the woman he was “seeing” when he finds out she’s been seeing someone else as well, and seems to hate her more than the man she was seeing [even though that man was supposed to be his friend]. It kind of felt all “guys together” and at times like a preadolescent boy’s power fantasy. But it was interesting.
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
5 out of 5 stars
One of the first books, in a long while, that I couldn’t bring myself to shut!
Rogues
edited by George R R Martin & Gardner Dozois
4 out of 5 stars
I especially liked “The Lightning Tree,” “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane,” and “The Caravan to Nowhere.”
Tales from 1,001 Nights: Aladdin, Ali Baba and Other Favourites (A Penguin Classics Hardcover)
3 out of 5 stars
Some very interesting little details in here, though I have to say that the next time I read about someone being like the full moon or like a gazelle, or having feet like little white birds, I will go stark raving mad.
Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon, #1) by China Miéville
4 out of 5 stars
N/B. The edition I read had about 840 pages. China has a very strange, brilliant, disturbing imagination (the author, that is, not the country). And it got quite gory as the story went on, what with people’s brains being eaten by giant hypnotic moths and people… well, I won’t spoil it for you.
I was a little disappointed to learn that a character I really liked, and was rooting for right the way through, turned out to be an utter slimeball, but apart from that I enjoyed it immensely.
The Sagas of Icelanders
4 out of 5 stars
I think my favourite character is Egil. No, Thorstein Shiver. No, wait… Sarcastic Halli.
The Bumper Book of Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz
5 out of 5 stars
Returning to the both comfortingly simple and yet thought-provoking philosophical outlook of these strange prodigy-type children and their dog, whom I first saw on the TV when I was three, was a much-needed experience.
The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien
5 out of 5 stars
I shall never look at a bicycle the same way ever again.
Le Morte D’Arthur, Volume I by Thomas Malory
3 out of 5 stars
Slow going in some of the parts at the beginning, but towards the end with the stories of Gareth and Lynet, and Tristram and Isoud, it gets really fascinating. Now just have to find volume two…
The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer by Jesse L. Byock
4 out of 5 stars
Really strange story. Some of the characters’ motivations would probably seem insane in this day and age, but that just adds to the unusualness of it.
If you’re not much of a history buff (I know I’m not) there’s a helpful introduction which explains who the different characters might have been in reality, and there is a glossary of terms at the back.
The saga itself is not very long. It reminded me more of a novel outline than an in-depth story, but that only makes me want to find out more and write another version of it!
Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art
5 out of 5 stars
I’ve just realised I love Surrealist art.
A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Non-Fiction by Terry Pratchett
5 out of 5 stars
One of the writers I think I shall miss most.
Selected Poems by Dylan Thomas
4 out of 5 stars
I will be honest. I couldn’t understand all of the poems in this book (it was only after beating my head up against Google trying to decipher some of them that I realised there were Explanatory Notes in the back of the book….D’oh. I swear, if Life came with instructions I’d lose them) but I don’t read poetry primarily for understanding. I read it for the words used, the images and places and people it delivers into my quivering soggy-walnut brain.
I especially liked “A Winter’s Tale” for its otherworldliness and “Lament” because it made me laugh. So much.
The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends (Mammoth Books) by Peter Berresford Ellis
4 out of 5 stars
Phew, what a binge. I am now mentally full.
This collection of folktales and myths from all the Celtic places (6 each for Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, Brittany…) and they were all inspiring and unusual.
As I was getting towards the end of the book I got a little frustrated with the way most of the female characters were portrayed (either evil and duplicitous or incredibly wet-blanket) but I presume that was down to over-exposure on my part.
I found the tales from Cornwall the most weird and they gave me all sorts of ideas for writing stories of my own. Truly mesmerising.
Wintersmith (Discworld, #35; Tiffany Aching, #3) by Terry Pratchett
5 out of 5 stars
One of my favourite books. I love to re-read it when I am feeling Autumn’s approach, which is usually around this time of year.
Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction by Damien Keown
4 out of 5 stars
Very interesting. Despite its short length, there is a lot to take in here for a complete novice, but it is clear and succinct with a list of recommended books for further reading at the back.
A Trick of the Dark by B.R. Collins
5 out of 5 stars
I actually read this two or three times. It is amazing. Think Jekyll and Hyde crossed with something by Philip Pullman, with a little bit of J.M. Barrie thrown in, and you’ll come close to what this novel is like.
The Golden Bough by James George Frazer
4 out of 5 stars
This is a really interesting study of how belief in magic leads to religion and sometimes to science, using examples from all kinds of different cultures of the world.
It is verbose, and in-depth, but it rarely ceases to be absorbing (I found some of the harvest customs a little bit dry, because the various examples of these were too alike, but the other stuff was good – e.g. how Indian tribes used to try and injure a man by damaging his footprints.)
Admittedly, he uses ten words when one would do fine, but James George Frazer reaches his readers on a personal level, using a more narrative approach, which I like in a piece of non-fiction.
Relics, Wrecks, & Ruins
5 out of 5 stars
This is a nice curation of SF tales (most of it is sci-fi but there is fantasy and some horror elements) from a few familiar names (Garth Nix, Ken Liu, Robert Silverberg) and some new faces I hadn’t known about before. It’s difficult to pick which story was my favourite. Would heartily recommend.
Metamorphoses by Ovid
3 out of 5 stars
Though I do not speak Latin (mea culpa) I was pleased to find this translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, because it covers such a wide range of mythology – practically the whole of Greek and Roman legend, in fact.
One or two of the ‘sections’ I found a bit too disturbing for my taste, and often I would get confused as to who was who (the gods are referred to by lots of different names) however, it piqued my curiosity and gave me some ideas for writing of my own.
Nightwalks 