Dawn

Absolutely ridiculous piece of holiday nonsense reading. The author states that there are “a few things that surely seemed made up, but it's likely they're actually real or at least based on reality.” The entire storyline and all the characters are so incredibly over-the-top and completely unbelievable. The goodies are just so buff, cool and good and the baddies are nasty, evil fascists - like James Bond, Die Hard and the Da Vinci Code turned up to eleventy-stupid! I'm not saying that it wasn't entertaining but really, wow, what a load of absolute absurdity!

Very funny and incredibly weird little book about friendship, life and death. Pretty crude at times with a lot of Language - not your typical YA - I'd definitely recommend it and am surprised so many people hate it.

Loved this from the first page, maybe I was even hooked from the cover but by the epigraphs, the pencil sketch of Caesura and the prologue Sternbergh had me captive.
The Blinds is a place where people go to forget, literally - they've had part of their memories shaved away. Are they odious criminals or innocents in the ultimate witness protection scheme? But when a murder follows a recent suicide, the relative peace of the township is threatened. Sheriff Copper and his deputies start looking into it but there's also interest from outside the complex which could blow the whole place apart.
I've read Sternbergh's Spademan novels and Cooper has a similar style - protective with a dark undercurrent. Same too is the gutteral nastiness that pops up now and again, an electric shock that leaves a bad taste in your mouth and clouds the rest of your reading. But it's worth it, because when it comes down to it we all just want to KNOW!

I'm not sure a book like this will ever be a “safe” read for me. I hadn't realised what this book was about, just saw someone else had given it a good rating so in I jumped without reading the blurb (something I often do with e-book library books). Self-harming is like an addiction, a coping mechanism for me and I found this very triggering but also quite cathartic. Glasgow understands, she's been there. She doesn't apologise or excuse, she just presents Charlie as a complete person - not broken but slowly fixing. This book is full of people who've made mistakes, lost something or nearly fallen apart. Each one is searching for a way out of the mess they've found themselves in. There's so much positivity towards the end, Charlie's so young - I hope she does okay.
The author understands, she's been there, she's writing this to get a greater understanding and to support people like me who see every sharp edge as a possibility. I wear my scars with pride, they show my journey, Kintsugi.

Re-read: I loved this, much preferred it to the 1st. Sad to see there is no 3rd, as yet, but perhaps for the best. Leave it hanging there Mr Spademan.
I was invested in the characters to a greater extent, they felt more believable. I wanted what they wanted. The “good” guys flawed but ultimately right and the “bad” hideously evil.
I hope they're happy and safe now, here and not lost in the limnosphere.

Definitely better than the last one, possibly better than the first also. Seemed to have more plot and depth, characters were fleshed out and had layers. There was actual threat and horror which could be quite frightening for younger readers.

As with the previous two it relies on the photographs perhaps too muchand nothing in the sequels stands up to the peculiarities of those in the first.

3.5* overall but that's me, I doubt I'll read anything further or return to these works.

Nasty business, clowning! Laughed out loud on several occasions and also fought back nausea on a few. Preferred this book to its predecessor (which one should really read beforehand or this one will make no sense at all). What a twisted mind Mr Elliott has, hope to read more from him in the future (and not to bump into him in a dark, sideshow alley....)

Dystopian fiction, oh how I love it! Slightly uncomfortable reading at times, dealing with a global pandemic as it is, but far enough away from reality that there were only a few crossovers with reality (thankfully we still have tea and coffee... oh and men!).
A mysterious virus starts rapidly killing males and only 10% are immune. Christina Sweeney-Baird weaves together the stories of survivors to build a timeline of the societal changes that ensue.
The characters are well-written and believable and, for such a multitude of narrators, distinct. Each short chapter is narrated by a, usually female, voice giving an insight into some aspect of their life. The short chapters were both a blessing and a curse as I literally could not put down the book (oh, just one more chapter - it's only a few pages... I may as well read the next one too then...).
I enjoyed the gentle nod to Atwood, queen of feminist dystopian fiction, in one of the early chapters. Later, Sweeney-Baird's bright new world retains reflections of Gilead in some countries' repopulation programmes. The remaking of the world to fit women seemed to be a response to Caroline Criado Pérez's Invisible Women, I would be most surprised if Sweeney-Baird has not read this (just checked - she gave it 5 stars, as did I).
Overall I found it a fun, quick read and only one thing grated with me - I just couldn't believe there would ever be an A&E at Gartnavel!

Cute little Japanese book, I loved the illustration on the front and the folded cover. Almost more poetry and painting than prose. Not a lot of plot but plenty of observation.

Deliciously spooky book that got under my skin and buzzed in my ears when I wasn't reading it.

Danforth's tale within a tale (within a tale) surprised me at times and also made me laugh. The descriptionns were vivid, clear and at times cloying. I loved the catty omniscient narrator channeling Jane Eyre and found myself unable to put it down like the very heroines with their tattered, cursed manuscript.

I found the ending somewhat disjointed as it both seemed to stop short and just whither away. I was disappointed that such premise seemed to come to little, I wanted so much more.

But while I read it the high-pitched voices of the girls haunted me from the pages and I heard the yellow jackets in the air. Definitely a book to immerse oneself in.

Well I'm definitely not the target audience, maybe if I was 12 I'd have loved it. It just didn't draw me in and I never became emotionally invested in the characters. The fact that my daughter, who lent me it, couldn't remember anything about is not a great sign. Annoyingly the ending made me want to read the next one. Clever Ms Cleverly!

Keeping to the dark and dirty YA theme of the previous things get even worse for the youngsters. Hunger strikes and some people are willing to do anything not to starve!

I like that we get to follow multiple characters from every part of the story. It's also still keeping me entertained and interested. Not sure I'll make it for the full 9 books in the series but I'll definitely not be stopping yet.

Take Lord of the Flies and give it the YA twists, add a bit if Sci-Fi and we're set to go. Interesting novel, not afraid to get it's hands dirty. I'll definitely read a few more to see if it improves or fades away. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Weird, disturbing mix of sci-fi future and noir-ish thriller. Our narrator/protagonist is a cold-blooded, emotionless killer whom the plot heats up to luke warm. He quips like Philip Marlowe and kills like Bond - impassioned, with no regrets. Yet, somehow, you care about him, want him to survive and succeed.
This was a re-read, I'd given it 3 stars previously, 4 this time. Don't know what pushed it towards the mediocre end last time. I like the way it's written, it does draw a lot on Chandler, not sure if that's deliberate. Certainly Spademan has Marlowe's honesty and integrity but he's an accidental detective, doing the right(?) thing in a world gone wrong.

As a teen I read this and loved it, I felt I knew Alice and despite an ocean between us (not to mention a couple of decades) I could have been her had I made different life choices.
I reread this as an adult and was again struck by how I identified with Alice would happily have given it 4 stars..... but instead I find out it's a lie. I've reduced my rating as I think it's bad form to fake a diary and hide behind anonymous. I'm all for using realism to put kids off drugs but I feel lying to your audience dilutes the message.

“But it's the reading just for the sake of it that I find irritating. Jake will read anything - a newspaper, a magazine, a cereal box, a crappy flyer, a take-out menu, anything.”

A strange little novel that got under my skin and creeped me out. I worked out where we were going towards the end but that didn't matter, I couldn't stop it and I couldn't put it down.

When I started this novel I wrote this:
“So bleak, I mean I knew it was meant to be but I i just didn't realise how bleak it could be.
Prose is beautiful, almost poetic. Images flashing like photographs into your mind. Shame so many are so, well, bleak!”

But having finished it, no spoilers, there was such beauty in the writing that the bleakness and the horror (and there were terrible things) were balanced by the hope and the love.

Stick with it, it's worth it - a short and powerful essay on humanity.

Woah! There's a lot going on (not that that wasn't the case in the previous volumes but it's even more so here) so many characters and stories. It's almost like flicking through the TV channels and trying to make an overall plot out of the snapshots.

I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it because I did. I'm just not quite sure what I enjoyed! Bá's artwork is delightfully graphic, bright and garish and at times the only thing holding the whole thing together. Way's ideas are huge, probably too big to be confined to even a double spread but worth letting yourself go along for the ride.

As before it ends with a beginning, probably this time a beginning that wil never end.

Overall: flawed - yes, yet I am sure I will return to this series again and again.

Tony and Susan is a novel where a woman reads another novel written by her ex-husband, Edward. But it's not as simple as that...

“Putting herself into a special state, like a trance, while someone else (Edward) pretends certain imaginings are real. A question for another time: What am I really doing? Am I learning something? Is the world better, Edward, because of this cooperation between you and me?”

The book-within-a-book is a disturbing tale of fear, murder and distrust. As Susan reads she is drawn in, drawn back to Edward and the memories of the past, imaginings of his present.

She sees reflections of herself in Edward's protagonist, Tony, his weaknesses become hers. She examines herself, her relationships with husband, Arnold and her ex-husband.

I suppose it examines maleness through the female gaze, as Susan reads, yet ultimately it is written written by a man.

Is there closure? Perhaps, in the novel-within-the-novel but not in Susan's musings where the stories continue. Ultimately, Susan's story ends with so many questions. Has she learned anything, will she change anything? The real story continues in your imagination.

“Dear Edward,
I finally finished your novel
Sorry it took so long. Drop me a line if you want my opinion
Love, Susan”

3.5* rounded up.

Reading club read [EOTWRC]: Dystopian fiction is definitely one of my favourite genres, this one didn't disappoint. 10 years after the aliens have landed, those left in a flooded England are surviving, just.

Not sure what the piano was all about but I quite enjoyed the rest of it. Characters were suitably rounded and there were surprises in the plot.

Nice cover too.

Demon has all the luck, all the bad luck. Whatever you can think of, he's got it worse. But deep down he remains a good guy. Loves his friends and those who look out for him. Perhaps it's all going to work out for him now. I hope so.
I didn't think it was as brilliant book as many did. It felt like a loooonngg read and wanted a lot of investment - which I just couldn't give. I'm glad there's a glimmer of hope though. We could all do with that after so much awfulness!

I knew nothing about this book. I only started reading it because of the Irvine Welsh plaudit on the front. I thought it might be interesting. I'd worked in spinal as a student and enjoyed it. I'd seen the strength needed to accept your new self. I'd watched people struggle. I thought I knew it all.
I wasn't expecting to get so emotionally involved. I didn't expect to read the last few pages through a blur of tears.
It's not a memoir, I thought it was when I realised the protagonist was called Jarred McGinnis. But it's not the author.
The fictionalising of the author isn't new, it's been done well and badly by better and worse than McGinnis. But it's a bold move for a debut novel. I think it worked well. To paraphrase McGinnis (the author) if someone in a wheelchair writes about a guy ending up in a wheelchair everyone is going to assume it's about him. May as well jump right into it and name that protagonist after yourself. Whatever.
It's a good story, he writes well and is engaging. And it made me cry, not many books do that to me. I'd recommend it to anyone and look forward to reading more of his writing.

Another re-read (chosen as it was the “if you enjoyed ... look out for ...” at the end of The Atrocity Files).

I didn't remember anything really from my previous read, which probably reflects negatively on the author (sorry Brookmyre, I love your work, honest). However, I thoroughly enjoyed it and my forgetfulness meant the plot twists were ably to creep up and surprise me as intended.

Love, love, love the swearing! It's a matter of pride that us Scots have the ability to be so inventive and cutthroat with our vocabulary. Who would have thought there were so many different words for testicles?

Definitely worth a read for anyone who like Sci-Fi and/or gaming. An inventive plot and down-to-earth details that meld beautifully


On a sidenote, if I continued my reading progress as recommended by the “if you enjoyed ... look out for ...” bit at the end of the novel I would find myself marching along a Mobius strip. The recommended read was The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross!

This could have been so bleak, so depressing, the endless deaths and the pointlessness of the central rebellion in the novel should have made it so. But somehow it was hopeful, beautiful and redemptive. Peopled by nobodies who seemed to cower and creep whether supporters or secret adversaries of the Nazis. But somehow these nobodies became somebodies in Fallada's hands. It is a book full of humanity, morality and peace and, in that way, it could even be a testament of hope.

The novel defies its own title, no one appears to ever be Alone In Berlin, even in solitary there is a sense of those around you. In the same way the tale of Otto Quangel's defiance was just one of many stories in a book that rounded out the city, and beyond, in those final years of the war. These tales crisscrossed, back and forth, pulling the reader into their lives and making you care for them all.

In reading the afterward I find so much more to be amazed by. That Fallada survived so much to ever write this book (but not to see it published). That it was based on a true case of a couple dropping laboriously printed postcards in the stairwells of Berlin – how could people be so brave? That it was written in only 24 days but is so complex in its weaving of tales yet simple in the tales it does tell – reflecting the simplicity of the central character.

And Otto Quangel himself? Perhaps he does stand Alone In Berlin, alone in standing up for his beliefs (even if no one reads or redistributes his words). Alone in his solitude, in his peace and his acceptance of himself. Alone in his quiet defiance that achieved nothing tangible but is still affecting readers today.



This book sat by my bedside for months before I bothered to pick it up. I thought it would be a struggle to read, dull and something that I would have to just “get through”. I couldn't have been more wrong. I encourage everyone not to be dismayed by the premise or put off by the idea that “it's not my sort of thing”. It's a truly wonderful book and deserves to be read by everyone!

Book-club read [UoG]:
I liked this but didn't love it. Perhaps it's just a little bit too clever for its own good (or maybe I'm just slightly stupid). At its core it's a man trying to see who he is and where he fits in the world. Wu, the protagonist, is attempting to progress through the hierarchy of Chinese-American stereotypes.
I found the teleplay format interesting but it prevented me from fully immersing myself in the book. Perhaps the characters themselves were too insubstantial to encourage empathy. Excepting the background stories of Wu's parents, when Yu wants he can paint perfect images with his words.
I recognise that being White I am naive and privileged, the American laws which suppressed Asians and particularly Chinese citizens until quite recently horrified me (I'm also not American, much of their law would probably horrify me if I knew about it). Having read this book I think I will look differently at the ways characters are portrayed on screen, how often (or perhaps seldom) they just get to ‘be'.