This was my first full year of book blogging so I thought I’d take a look over what I’ve done…
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Yearly Archives: 2011
On the bright side
December 30, 2011 – 9:29 am
Candide: or, Optimism
by Voltaire
translated by John Butt
This wasn’t as intimidating to read as I feared but it’s definitely intimidating to write about! On the one hand a short picaresque novel about the many adventures of a young German, it’s also a study of philosophy, humanity and life itself…
Girls and guns and science
December 22, 2011 – 11:52 am
Echo: the Complete Edition
by Terry Moore
So I quite liked this graphic novel, then Tim said that the maths that the whole storyline is based around is complete rubbish and now I’m not sure if that makes a difference or not. I think I still like it…
More of the cold stuff
December 18, 2011 – 1:06 pm
Antarctica
by Kim Stanley Robinson
I seem to be on a bit of an Arctic/Antarctic bent – had you noticed? After the last two titles I read, Tim suggested this as an appropriate follow-on and it did indeed fit in well. A lot of the history of Antarctica, especially the famous great expeditions of Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen, is recounted here amidst the near-future politics and sometimes scary tale of global warming and eco-terrorism…
When men were men
December 14, 2011 – 8:28 am
Escape from the Antarctic
by Ernest Shackleton
I bow down in awe to this man. Seriously. Ernest Shackleton was a proper, honest-to-goodness hero, and a pretty good writer to boot…
Musical interlude: Lana Del Ray
December 10, 2011 – 12:25 pm
I like a current song! This is a rare thing indeed. Not that I never like new music, but I tend to be at least six months behind discovering it. This is one of the few things that make me feel old. But back to that song…
In the spirit of winter
December 6, 2011 – 6:11 pm
Dark Matter: a Ghost Story
by Michelle Paver
This book has all the perfect elements to interest me and yet somehow I hadn’t heard of it until I stumbled across it in a shop. An excellent find…
Secrets and gangs
December 4, 2011 – 1:16 pm
20 Years Later
by E J Newman
The synopsis of this book greatly appealed to me – a story for young adults about people trying to survive in London 20 years after a mysterious event has destroyed humanity as we know it – so I jumped at the chance to get an advance copy. I may also have been attracted by the fact that one of the rival gangs in the story is called the Gardners. Sadly they turned out to be nasty nasty people. Darn…