Book Post: Aaronovitch, Hornby, Lowry, Blish, Vernon and Kelk
My July books:
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch, 323pp [Rivers of London 5]
The fifth book of the series. I did enjoy it but again this series for me is firmly in the like but not love column. I did like the book a lot and I like Peter and I liked his investigations in the countryside. I'm neutral on his relationship with Beverley but I'm glad he is happy. I did like the fairy plot and the changeling shenanigans. I really like Dominic and his reaction to the supernatural and how he and Peter worked together. Peter has to deal with everything himself here, since Nightingale is off in London for most of the book and he is still reeling from the Leslie thing, so it was nice to see him handle things himself for the most part. I even like that he had to be rescued at the end. This book did edge me more toward really like column and I will certainly pick up the two novellas and the next novel in the series next year.
Several "reveals" were not really surprises like the paternity of the girls - it was hinted along. And some plot points like who the changeling actually is was a bit telegraphed. And of course bee girl will be named Melissa - that was a bit on the nose. But I did like the plot and it was nice to get outside of London for a bit.
Just Like You by Nick Hornby, 355pp
I wanted a beach read or basically a book I could just read quickly without engaging my brain. I saw this one in the bookstore awhile ago so I borrowed it from the elibrary. It is told from two perspectives, Lucy, a 42 year old white middle class woman who is divorcing her formerly alcoholic husband and who has two pre-teen boys and who works as a teacher in a school but someone can afford to stay in her expensive house, and Joseph, a 22 year old black man who has several part time jobs, including working at the butcher on Saturdays, which is where he meets Lucy, and he is also hired to babysit her boys. And then romance develops. They are different generations, and different races and a lot of plot is dealing with what that actually entails. But the book got pretty boring around the middle with manufactured conflicts and a bit of predictability. It is not exactly a happily ever after romance - they are just together for now and they recognize that but that just seems pointless to me. And Lucy started promising but ended up kind of bland, there was nothing particular about her that stood out. And Joseph is a pretty typical young person. I don't know. It is sort of petered out for me and I ended up wondering why I read this.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, 132pp
This is a book for children but it is also about the Holocaust. It is from the perspective of a Denmark girl whose family is protecting her Jewish best friend and helping to smuggle her and her parents to Sweden. It didn't take me long to read it at all and I thought it was pretty well done and a lovely book from a child's perspective of the situation. I certainly want the girls to read it at some point, I just wonder at what age they should - 10 like the character? I grew up with World War II reminders all around me, there was books of partisan kid stories when I was a kid, I visited Yama, the site where Minsk ghetto was liquidated, which included my great grandmother and her mother, so I was sort of exposed to this at the young age and wasn't shielded. But I wonder when would be the right time to bring this stuff up with my kids who are still very much in kid world and don't pay attention to the news or know much about the horrible things in the world. The book itself is classic for a reason and it was a very good read.
A Case of Conscience by James Blish, 191pp [Hugo book]
Hugo Award winning novel of 1959. It had a promising premise - a Jesuit scientist who is part of a committee of four evaluating a new planet, with reptile like people, who don't seem to have religion or conflict at all. The committee is deciding what to recommend to the UN - to open this new planet to people of Earth or not. And Father Ramon's religious opinions are challenged in the society where morality doesn't come from religion. Sounded very promising. Until he basically wants to close the planet off since he thinks this planet is actually a creation of Satan to tempt humans. Even his friendship with a native Lithian is strange since he likes him but thinks him a creature of Satan. After that plot revelation and others taking his arguments seriously, I stopped taking this book seriously, since that is where the logic went?
The first part of the book takes place on the planet Lithia (no women are anywhere) and the second part takes place on Earth, when they come back with a baby Lithian who grows up on Earth (given to Father Ramon by the father as a gift - where his name and his father's name is encoded on his genes, but not the mother's of course). The Earth is also pretty dystopian where most of humanity lives underground in giant tunnels and bunkers as a response to nuclear threat. Baby Lithian will destabilize that further. There is a woman scientist in this one (who of course becomes the love interest in the end to one of the other committee guys) and also a one other woman character but for a 50s book it is not unusual.
When I read up on the book I saw that the first part was a separate novella first, which makes a lot of sense. But I found the whole thing ridiculous.. It is sort of sad what actually happens to the Lithians ones the humans get involved and no one seems particularly sorry about it. There is also an exorcism in this book. It is a very strange book and it is kind of interesting to see what people thought was awesome in 1959.
Dragonbreath: No Such Things as Ghosts by Ursula Vernon, 201pp [Dragonbreath 5].
The fifth book in the Dragonbreath series that Tanya and I read (reading next to each other to ourselves with Tanya only reading outloud the comic book parts). This one takes place on Halloween where Danny, Wendell and their classmate Christiana (the sceptic) get trapped in the spooky house that may or may not be haunted. It was pretty fun. I love Wendell's costume that his mother made and how he went with it to get pity candy. I liked Christiana's skeptical nature - she doesn't believe in dragons. And I like Danny's enthusiasm at the possibility of a ghost. No magical bus this time or any educational knowledge but a fine take on a spooky story.
On a Night Like This by Lindsey Kelk, 342pp
I picked this up after reading Jo Walton's article on the books she's read last month on Tor.com and she highly recommended it. It is a modern romance but not really a romance, most like a woman stuck in her life in unhappy relationship and location and figuring her life out after getting a temp job being a PA for a famous signer on a yacht in Italy. There is romance too, but it is mostly about Fran sorting her life. But I must say, why in these types of books the boyfriend/fiancee is always not just terribly wrong but also might be cheating or cheated in the past. I mean there is a sort of explanation of why she just stuck to this person who clearly doesn't see her, since for her he was a chap her mother approved of before she died and that relationship with her mother was complicated but still. Can I read one story where even there is a boyfriend, he is not a bad sort, just incompatible. Part of this book is Cinderella, since Fran gets to sneak in to a fancy celebrity/rich people ball. Of course I could figure out pretty early on who Evan was.
Overall it was a cute romp through Italy an the ball and sorting your life and Fran is a sympathetic character even if the plot is a bit fantastical. It was nice, maybe 4 out 5. I didn't love this book but I liked it and I did enjoy reading it.
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch, 323pp [Rivers of London 5]
The fifth book of the series. I did enjoy it but again this series for me is firmly in the like but not love column. I did like the book a lot and I like Peter and I liked his investigations in the countryside. I'm neutral on his relationship with Beverley but I'm glad he is happy. I did like the fairy plot and the changeling shenanigans. I really like Dominic and his reaction to the supernatural and how he and Peter worked together. Peter has to deal with everything himself here, since Nightingale is off in London for most of the book and he is still reeling from the Leslie thing, so it was nice to see him handle things himself for the most part. I even like that he had to be rescued at the end. This book did edge me more toward really like column and I will certainly pick up the two novellas and the next novel in the series next year.
Several "reveals" were not really surprises like the paternity of the girls - it was hinted along. And some plot points like who the changeling actually is was a bit telegraphed. And of course bee girl will be named Melissa - that was a bit on the nose. But I did like the plot and it was nice to get outside of London for a bit.
Just Like You by Nick Hornby, 355pp
I wanted a beach read or basically a book I could just read quickly without engaging my brain. I saw this one in the bookstore awhile ago so I borrowed it from the elibrary. It is told from two perspectives, Lucy, a 42 year old white middle class woman who is divorcing her formerly alcoholic husband and who has two pre-teen boys and who works as a teacher in a school but someone can afford to stay in her expensive house, and Joseph, a 22 year old black man who has several part time jobs, including working at the butcher on Saturdays, which is where he meets Lucy, and he is also hired to babysit her boys. And then romance develops. They are different generations, and different races and a lot of plot is dealing with what that actually entails. But the book got pretty boring around the middle with manufactured conflicts and a bit of predictability. It is not exactly a happily ever after romance - they are just together for now and they recognize that but that just seems pointless to me. And Lucy started promising but ended up kind of bland, there was nothing particular about her that stood out. And Joseph is a pretty typical young person. I don't know. It is sort of petered out for me and I ended up wondering why I read this.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, 132pp
This is a book for children but it is also about the Holocaust. It is from the perspective of a Denmark girl whose family is protecting her Jewish best friend and helping to smuggle her and her parents to Sweden. It didn't take me long to read it at all and I thought it was pretty well done and a lovely book from a child's perspective of the situation. I certainly want the girls to read it at some point, I just wonder at what age they should - 10 like the character? I grew up with World War II reminders all around me, there was books of partisan kid stories when I was a kid, I visited Yama, the site where Minsk ghetto was liquidated, which included my great grandmother and her mother, so I was sort of exposed to this at the young age and wasn't shielded. But I wonder when would be the right time to bring this stuff up with my kids who are still very much in kid world and don't pay attention to the news or know much about the horrible things in the world. The book itself is classic for a reason and it was a very good read.
A Case of Conscience by James Blish, 191pp [Hugo book]
Hugo Award winning novel of 1959. It had a promising premise - a Jesuit scientist who is part of a committee of four evaluating a new planet, with reptile like people, who don't seem to have religion or conflict at all. The committee is deciding what to recommend to the UN - to open this new planet to people of Earth or not. And Father Ramon's religious opinions are challenged in the society where morality doesn't come from religion. Sounded very promising. Until he basically wants to close the planet off since he thinks this planet is actually a creation of Satan to tempt humans. Even his friendship with a native Lithian is strange since he likes him but thinks him a creature of Satan. After that plot revelation and others taking his arguments seriously, I stopped taking this book seriously, since that is where the logic went?
The first part of the book takes place on the planet Lithia (no women are anywhere) and the second part takes place on Earth, when they come back with a baby Lithian who grows up on Earth (given to Father Ramon by the father as a gift - where his name and his father's name is encoded on his genes, but not the mother's of course). The Earth is also pretty dystopian where most of humanity lives underground in giant tunnels and bunkers as a response to nuclear threat. Baby Lithian will destabilize that further. There is a woman scientist in this one (who of course becomes the love interest in the end to one of the other committee guys) and also a one other woman character but for a 50s book it is not unusual.
When I read up on the book I saw that the first part was a separate novella first, which makes a lot of sense. But I found the whole thing ridiculous.. It is sort of sad what actually happens to the Lithians ones the humans get involved and no one seems particularly sorry about it. There is also an exorcism in this book. It is a very strange book and it is kind of interesting to see what people thought was awesome in 1959.
Dragonbreath: No Such Things as Ghosts by Ursula Vernon, 201pp [Dragonbreath 5].
The fifth book in the Dragonbreath series that Tanya and I read (reading next to each other to ourselves with Tanya only reading outloud the comic book parts). This one takes place on Halloween where Danny, Wendell and their classmate Christiana (the sceptic) get trapped in the spooky house that may or may not be haunted. It was pretty fun. I love Wendell's costume that his mother made and how he went with it to get pity candy. I liked Christiana's skeptical nature - she doesn't believe in dragons. And I like Danny's enthusiasm at the possibility of a ghost. No magical bus this time or any educational knowledge but a fine take on a spooky story.
On a Night Like This by Lindsey Kelk, 342pp
I picked this up after reading Jo Walton's article on the books she's read last month on Tor.com and she highly recommended it. It is a modern romance but not really a romance, most like a woman stuck in her life in unhappy relationship and location and figuring her life out after getting a temp job being a PA for a famous signer on a yacht in Italy. There is romance too, but it is mostly about Fran sorting her life. But I must say, why in these types of books the boyfriend/fiancee is always not just terribly wrong but also might be cheating or cheated in the past. I mean there is a sort of explanation of why she just stuck to this person who clearly doesn't see her, since for her he was a chap her mother approved of before she died and that relationship with her mother was complicated but still. Can I read one story where even there is a boyfriend, he is not a bad sort, just incompatible. Part of this book is Cinderella, since Fran gets to sneak in to a fancy celebrity/rich people ball. Of course I could figure out pretty early on who Evan was.
Overall it was a cute romp through Italy an the ball and sorting your life and Fran is a sympathetic character even if the plot is a bit fantastical. It was nice, maybe 4 out 5. I didn't love this book but I liked it and I did enjoy reading it.