Not really SF but no idea how to classify it. I'm always wary of Connie Willis, having enjoyed several of her light comedies and then had my heart punNot really SF but no idea how to classify it. I'm always wary of Connie Willis, having enjoyed several of her light comedies and then had my heart punched out by The Doomsday Book. This one is safe, nobody will hurt you. It's a very entertaining, perhaps slightly picaresque account of a scientist who studies fads and the intersection of that with chaos theory, plus a bit of Robert Browning and a smidge of romance. Highly readable. ...more
I love the vibe of the Kyle Murchison Booth books. Elegantly created and written, though, as with her Katherine Addison books, I want more in the way I love the vibe of the Kyle Murchison Booth books. Elegantly created and written, though, as with her Katherine Addison books, I want more in the way of plot/narrative drive. However that's a me problem: this is super atmospheric and does exactly what it wants to do. ...more
Second in this outstanding pair of anthologies of post-war queer men in London up to the moment of legalisation of male homosexual behaviour. There's Second in this outstanding pair of anthologies of post-war queer men in London up to the moment of legalisation of male homosexual behaviour. There's a good balance between the utter hate-spewing awfulness of the Press and the politicians (then as now a twin pair of pustulent boils on the nation's arse) and the thoughtfulness, defiance, courage and joie de vivre of many individual lives in the face of everything thrown at them. Also some massive fuck ups, wild Establishment corruption, and the ever absurd censorship exercised over plays. A really involving slice of history. ...more
A short sweet queer fantasy romance, very slow burn due to misunderstanding, which isn't my favourite, but they do start to talk. Cosy and autumnal inA short sweet queer fantasy romance, very slow burn due to misunderstanding, which isn't my favourite, but they do start to talk. Cosy and autumnal in feel. ...more
Absolutely glommed these delightful books set among a pack of lawyers. In this one the locus for trouble is the Woosterish Michael Cantrip, handicappeAbsolutely glommed these delightful books set among a pack of lawyers. In this one the locus for trouble is the Woosterish Michael Cantrip, handicapped as he is by his educational disadvantages (Cambridge rather than Oxford). Very very silly in an extremely clever way and purely enjoyable....more
Second instalment in this delightful series about a ridiculous pack of lawyers solving a murder. Very old fashioned Golden Age vibe while being radicaSecond instalment in this delightful series about a ridiculous pack of lawyers solving a murder. Very old fashioned Golden Age vibe while being radically queer and messing about with gender expectations. I wish there were a dozen of these: straight into the Favourites collection. ...more
An account of George Blake, largely based on a two-hour interview with him in his old age. It's really mostly worrying away at how and why. The authorAn account of George Blake, largely based on a two-hour interview with him in his old age. It's really mostly worrying away at how and why. The author struggles to reconcile the two sides of Blake--a nice old man, genuine believer that Communism could have made the world better, non violent, whose actions directly and deliberately led to the killing of at least forty British agents at the hands of the KGB and Stasi. It pretty much sounds like Blake simply decided not to see those consequences.
In the end it feels sordid, futile, and kind of depressing. Not the book, which is well written and thoughtful, but the whole damn thing. ...more
Purely delightful murder mystery set among Oxbridge barristers and academics of the most absurd kind. It's set in 1977 (the bread strike) but the feelPurely delightful murder mystery set among Oxbridge barristers and academics of the most absurd kind. It's set in 1977 (the bread strike) but the feel is somewhere between Wimseycal golden age and 1950s/60s screwball comedy, with a touch of 1970s sex comedy (it's broad and there's a couple of eyebrow-raisers, be warned). Plenty of queerness taken as read, loads of hilarious snobbery, beautifully phrased, an absolute joy. Also the solution is absolutely impossible, while still being totally fair with loads of clear clues.
A total pleasure. I bought the next two immediately. ...more
Thoroughly engaging romance about runaway bride Yvonne, who legs it from her own wedding and chooses the groom's cousin as her getaway driver. Leo hasThoroughly engaging romance about runaway bride Yvonne, who legs it from her own wedding and chooses the groom's cousin as her getaway driver. Leo has had a crush on Yvonne forever, but struggles with high reserve and low self esteem (which he doesn't make other people's problem. We like Leo.)
It's mostly about Yvonne's slow realisation that she's lived most of her life attempting to fulfil everyone else's expectations--domineering father and nagging mother who can barely be placated by perfection, then a fiance with very little interest in her as a person. The abusive family dynamics are pretty painful, and it's not something that gets fixed over a week of hot sex, but we see Yvonne blossom with the support of loving and unjudgemental people (nit just Leo, but friends and family), and it's lovely. ...more
The extraordinary story of a German Jewish woman who became a Soviet spy and eventually Klaus Fuchs' handler, passing the atomic bomb secrets to StaliThe extraordinary story of a German Jewish woman who became a Soviet spy and eventually Klaus Fuchs' handler, passing the atomic bomb secrets to Stalin, while finding time for two marriages, several lovers, and three kids. And then became a successful children's writer, as you do.
It's a fascinating story, well told, with a good line in making complex stuff and a lot of history clear.
It's very domestic focused, with a lot on her relationship with her nanny, who she was in love with, her feelings about the kids etc. I get that part of her success was down to the 'housewife' cover and the era's general sexism, and that it was super important to her. I just can't help noticing I've read a lot of Ben Macintyre books about male spies where we barely hear a word about their domestic arrangements, what school their kids went to, their private concerns about balancing domestic life and espionage, etc. Maybe that simply tells us something about male spies, or about (a lot of) men (of the era), but it grated. ...more
A 1930s mystery that turns pretty much every convention of the genre on its head. We see the murder, we know who did it, and the plot is basically theA 1930s mystery that turns pretty much every convention of the genre on its head. We see the murder, we know who did it, and the plot is basically the Great Detective deciding the victim deserved it and doing his best to obstruct the police investigation, while finding out who did it for his own satisfaction. Plot twist: He is terrible at both.
It's hard not to conclude that in this, the ninth Roger Sheringham outing, the author had come to loathe his smug twat detective as much as any reader will. That said, it's written in an entertainingly breezy manner. You might also think the entire 'bitch had it coming' storyline was an exercise in misogyny, though it does have an excellent supporting cast of women, and the real villain (as so often in books of this period) is the divorce laws.
A weird but entertaining read. Roger Sheringham is still the most loathsome of all Golden Age tecs and it's nice to see him fail. ...more
The memoir of SOE's head of codes. Marks was 22, spoiled rotten, bursting with attitude, and a genius cryptographer. I'm not a zillion per cent sure IThe memoir of SOE's head of codes. Marks was 22, spoiled rotten, bursting with attitude, and a genius cryptographer. I'm not a zillion per cent sure I believe everything in this book (it's big on detailed recollections of conversations, poems, clothing, movements etc from fifty years ago) but in the round it's a remarkable read. The author's frequent expressions of humility and self doubt in no way disguise that he is massively full of himself, but then, he deserves to be. And what rings absolutely true is his feelings about being a 'backroom boy' while others went off to face appalling physical danger, the horror of watching them go, the greater horror of realising the backroom was failing them. Well written and fascinating....more
Office novel set during the Blitz. It's about a group of women translators, mostly a pack of silly biddies, focusing on the upper-middle country type Office novel set during the Blitz. It's about a group of women translators, mostly a pack of silly biddies, focusing on the upper-middle country type Anne (young, pretty, nice, deserves happiness) and the lower-middle self-made working woman Elsie (unattractive, embittered, sour, repressed lesbian, common, bad mannered, and every possible stereotype of a woman nobody wants).
It is not, frankly, a terribly pleasant book what with the massive misogyny and classism masquerading as observation. Interesting in the depiction of life in the Blitz. ...more
A collection of stories aimed at decolonising Kipling's Just So Stories. Kipling is always a fascinating one: steeped in Empire and white supremacy, yA collection of stories aimed at decolonising Kipling's Just So Stories. Kipling is always a fascinating one: steeped in Empire and white supremacy, yet constantly yearning for the country and cultures he is fully behind the pillaging of. There is so much to find loathsome about Kipling and yet at his best you can see the brilliant, sensitive writer he could be. And boy could he make phrases. 'The white man's burden' (of bringing his culture and supremacy to everyone else like it or not); 'the female of the species is more deadly than the male'. These concepts get a hell of a workout in this excellent collection. And if you don't really understand what 'decolonising Kipling' means: don't worry, you'll get it.
The collection kicks off with one of the best stories in it: Cassandra Khaw's 'How The Spider Got Her Legs', a depiction of how the spider goes from a creature very like a worm that turns to reinvent herself as a lethal monster in vengeance for the death of her children. Khaw is a genius horror writer and this was very much the point I decided this was in no way a collection for children because the ending is hide-behind-the-sofa horrific.
Some of the stories are direct riffs on Kipling down to the descriptions of the pictures: either new stories in his style like the Khaw or the charming paean to inclusive storytelling "How the Simurgh Won Her Tail" by Ali Nouraei, or retellings of actual Just Sos (eg the fantastic, savage feminist roar of rage 'The Cat Who Walked By Herself' by Achala Upendran). Others are more loosely related, reminding me much more of Plain Tales from the Hills and/or Kipling's ghost stories than the Just So Stories. Pretty much all of them are about power and its abuse--male power, white supremacy, colonialism, slavery. "How the Ants Got Their Queen" by Stewart Hotston is an excoriating fable about the aftereffects of colonialism and the recent history of the Indian subcontinent in particular. The collection ends with the hilarious "How the Camel Got Her Paid Time Off" by Paul Krueger, which is about unionising and capitalism and office culture, and works perfectly with the theme.
Overall this is really excellent. Thought-provoking in multiple directions, blood-boiling, great writing, diverse casts, and there's not a dud in the collection. Highly recommended.
Merged review:
A collection of stories aimed at decolonising Kipling's Just So Stories. Kipling is always a fascinating one: steeped in Empire and white supremacy, yet constantly yearning for the country and cultures he is fully behind the pillaging of. There is so much to find loathsome about Kipling and yet at his best you can see the brilliant, sensitive writer he could be. And boy could he make phrases. 'The white man's burden' (of bringing his culture and supremacy to everyone else like it or not); 'the female of the species is more deadly than the male'. These concepts get a hell of a workout in this excellent collection. And if you don't really understand what 'decolonising Kipling' means: don't worry, you'll get it.
The collection kicks off with one of the best stories in it: Cassandra Khaw's 'How The Spider Got Her Legs', a depiction of how the spider goes from a creature very like a worm that turns to reinvent herself as a lethal monster in vengeance for the death of her children. Khaw is a genius horror writer and this was very much the point I decided this was in no way a collection for children because the ending is hide-behind-the-sofa horrific.
Some of the stories are direct riffs on Kipling down to the descriptions of the pictures: either new stories in his style like the Khaw or the charming paean to inclusive storytelling "How the Simurgh Won Her Tail" by Ali Nouraei, or retellings of actual Just Sos (eg the fantastic, savage feminist roar of rage 'The Cat Who Walked By Herself' by Achala Upendran). Others are more loosely related, reminding me much more of Plain Tales from the Hills and/or Kipling's ghost stories than the Just So Stories. Pretty much all of them are about power and its abuse--male power, white supremacy, colonialism, slavery. "How the Ants Got Their Queen" by Stewart Hotston is an excoriating fable about the aftereffects of colonialism and the recent history of the Indian subcontinent in particular. The collection ends with the hilarious "How the Camel Got Her Paid Time Off" by Paul Krueger, which is about unionising and capitalism and office culture, and works perfectly with the theme.
Overall this is really excellent. Thought-provoking in multiple directions, blood-boiling, great writing, diverse casts, and there's not a dud in the collection. Highly recommended....more
An entertaining squib written by an obviously incredibly erudite author to basically take the mickey out of medieval monasticism. In particular the inAn entertaining squib written by an obviously incredibly erudite author to basically take the mickey out of medieval monasticism. In particular the incredibly long and detailed Lists Of Things which were a medieval speciality (lists of animals, lists of saints, lists of jewels, lists of sins and heresies, lists of meanings of numbers, et al ad infinitum). No wonder everyone died young, I was losing the will to live myself. The murder mystery is fun largely because of how it plays into the lists obsession. It's full of meta ness (the Holmes character is William of Baskerville, very good, and one of the monks is 'Jorge of Borges', etc). There is a lot of nitpicking heresy nonsense (very medieval), and a lot of semiotics (not). It's super clever in a very conscious way. If you don't see the setpiece ending coming a mile off, you might need to watch more gothic movies.
TBH the plots (murder and hidden book) are baggy in the extreme and very much just the vehicle for the author to play around, which he does with glee. I don't suppose anyone was more surprised than him when this "estimated sales of 2000, mostly to people with PhDs" book became one of the bestselling novels of all time. This is why publishers drink.
I will say the misogyny leaves a bad taste. Not the conscious misogyny of the medieval monks, which is pretty much a given and we see William (whose attitudes are impeccably modern) disapprove, but rather the entire premise of the simgle female character who exists only to fuck Monk Watson in a single scene, and doesn't even get a lead-in, a line of dialogue, any reason at all why a starving woman being sexually exploited by monks for food would abandon food because this one particular monk was just so hot. She exists so Eco can make a point about sex, and that is not the same thing as writing a character. ...more
A really excellent and comprehensive anthology focusing on queer men in London post war to the end of the 50s. Includes extracts from newspapers, lettA really excellent and comprehensive anthology focusing on queer men in London post war to the end of the 50s. Includes extracts from newspapers, letters, diaries, novels, plays, and quite a bit from the censors of plays. Many queer voices.
Obviously a lot of it is homophobic, and some of it really vile stuff. The last extract of the book is, jawdroppingly, a court report about a young man accused of sexual assaults on two women. The accused had had homosexual encounters before, and a psychologist literally described his attempted rapes *in court* as "a step in the right direction". I mean...fucking hell. Fuck.
A lot of this makes one feel, as one might feel now, that the British press en masse needs to be shot at dawn. However, there are also lots of non-awful pieces--loving, thoughtful, atmospheric, defiant, humane, and often very funny. I shall cherish Noel Coward's remark on seeing a poster of Michael Redgrave and Dirk Bogarde in The Sea Shall Not Have Them: "Why not? Everybody else has."
Brief but very useful annotations from the anthologist. This includes, in the biographical notes, a comment that one individual's book Come Cruising "disappointingly turns out to be about yachting".
A fantastic bit of work bringing the queer London 1950s to life. Highly readable and invaluable. I shall get the 1960s volume....more
Second in this exceedingly meta murder mystery series. I was unsure about the first one, in that the cleverness and self consciousness, deliberately tSecond in this exceedingly meta murder mystery series. I was unsure about the first one, in that the cleverness and self consciousness, deliberately telling you it's a puzzle playing by genre rules and so on, veered between interesting, amusing, and too clever by half.
Having read this one, I remain unsure about the above. Plus the plot hinges on a rape (that's not a giveaway, he tells you so early on) and tbh, I can enjoy a good murder without any moral qualms but I don't feel nearly as comfortable with rape as plot engine for witty meta shenanigans. I am not claiming this is logically or ethically consistent, but all the same it just didn't land for me in the end. ...more
This purports to be a memoir, with alll names and details changed, of the author's encounters with powerful people as a ... it's not clear to me what This purports to be a memoir, with alll names and details changed, of the author's encounters with powerful people as a ... it's not clear to me what he is, something involving being a lawyer with a 'programme' for Africa to make everything better. The pursuit of this programme means that he goes round the world meeting rich/influential people and discovering they suck.
Obviously I am bang alongside that in principle. However, in practice, what the book presents us with is a narrative whereby an obvious grifter arranges a meeting for our do-good hero with a clearly corrupt official. This generally involves no due diligence at all: he just leaps on a flight to the other side of the world or books an expensive restaurant. The official then bullshits or blusters until our hero takes him down with some cutting sarcasm or a heartfelt speech condemning his immorality, which has no effect on the bad person's invincible badness. Repeat every chapter.
By the point I DNF'd, about 70%, it was still unclear who's paying for all these jollies or what the hero's programme had actually achieved. I bailed out at the point where he talks to a massively corrupt and clearly mad Chinese official and decides, "well, on the one hand this guy has a Rhodes-like plan for literal one-man colonial expansion in Africa but on the other hand he might invest in my programme for making Africa independent" and decides to work with him (having fully condemned collaborations with companies trying economic colonialism previously). Make it make sense.
I have no idea what's going on in this book tbh. The pitch perfect recall of the conversations and descriptions suggests it's basically fiction; if the author does have any resemblance to the narrator, I would call this a massive self own because wow does he not come across well. I hope he's actually a brilliantly high achieving guy doing lots of good, but I only have this memoir to go on, so.
A bizarre and dislikeable experience which I was fully expecting to enjoy, and with more than a whiff of racism throughout. ...more
Therese Beharrie is my happy place. This is a very sweet romance with a bit of angst and a lot of kindness, between a man who runs a bunch of peoples'Therese Beharrie is my happy place. This is a very sweet romance with a bit of angst and a lot of kindness, between a man who runs a bunch of peoples' lives, and a woman who's sick of men running her life. This works out very nicely, as she clearly tells him she doesn't want taking charge of, and his efforts not to take charge are both sincere and revelatory to him that actually he's doing a lot of work that he shouldn't be. They're both quite hurt, but this author writes people unpicking their feelings brilliantly, and getting into the right place to make things work long term. Soothing to the soul.
Merged review:
Therese Beharrie is my happy place. This is a very sweet romance with a bit of angst and a lot of kindness, between a man who runs a bunch of peoples' lives, and a woman who's sick of men running her life. This works out very nicely, as she clearly tells him she doesn't want taking charge of, and his efforts not to take charge are both sincere and revelatory to him that actually he's doing a lot of work that he shouldn't be. They're both quite hurt, but this author writes people unpicking their feelings brilliantly, and getting into the right place to make things work long term. Soothing to the soul....more
A discursive read about Mr Ali a retired guy who opens a marriage bureau in an unnamed Indian city, with minor plotlines about his semi estranged son A discursive read about Mr Ali a retired guy who opens a marriage bureau in an unnamed Indian city, with minor plotlines about his semi estranged son and his assistant.
One one level it's a highly readable and pleasant story that focuses on the importance of love and family and mutual tolerance. Mr Ali is a Muslim running the bureau mostly for Hindus and there's no inter religious issues. There's a lot about reuniting divided families, as well as on solidarity, the pernicious effects of corruption, the importance of standing up for the poor and for women. It lacks a main driving plotline but the meandering sequence of events draws a vivid picture of the setting and characters. The writing is a bit naive, but in an enjoyably brightly coloured way.
On another level, I couldn't work out if Mr Ali is meant to be the world's hypocrite. He is full of wise marital advice but repeatedly bargains down desperately poor people for a couple of rupees, has a touching metaphor about how his lovely white cat had mongrel kittens because she didn't care for the 'perfect' mate and then casually says he dumped those kittens in a market. He tuts about the condemnation of divorced women and the effects of caste and demands for dowry, but nods happily along with colourism. The book presents all this without comment and I can't work out if it's the author's blind spots, Mr Ali's blind spots, or simply a magnificent exercise in letting the reader make up their own mind. ...more
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