Before and After – Andrew Shanahan – 05.01.25

Flesh and Blood (Before and After Book 2) – Andrew Shanahan – 08.01.25

I was surprised by how much I loved these two post apocalyptic novels! Before and After begins with Ben Stone, a morbidly obese man living alone (with his dog) in an upstairs flat in London. He needs his leg amputated due to diabetes complications, and to get him to hospital involves removing the wall of his apartment and hoisting him out very securely strapped to a stretcher made for this purpose. In the middle of all this, just as he is strapped immobile something happens – first alerts coming into the radios of the people helping him, causing most of them to leave, then the remaining two men becoming enraged like berserkers and basically fighting each other to the death. Ben is trapped, listening to the world fall apart around him with the immediate problem of being strapped up with no food or water and a rotten leg to contend with.

I guess it’s a zombie novel, but so much more – I thought the writing was very engaging and intelligent and I loved the character of Ben and his dog and how they worked through the myriad of problems besetting them.

The second novel introduces a new (or nearly new since she was mentioned in the first book) character that adds interest and cleverness to what was already an interesting and clever set up. I loved the ending – very moving. Most enjoyable couple of books I’ve read in a while – highly recommended if you like this kind of thing!

The Swoon – Adam Roberts – 03.01.25

This novel by Adam Roberts (actually a YA novel) is about something that caused all the adults in the world (17 and over) to fall asleep and stay asleep. For some, obviously this had immediate devastating consequences – think airline pilots, or anyone driving a high speed vehicle, or performing surgery, or anything vital like that, but the slower repercussions were just as terrible – sleeping bodies become dehydrated, emaciated, etc and the young adults left behind had to take responsibility for the younger children as well as trying to keep their sleeping adult family members alive.

Some groups revelled in the removal of constraints – raiding off-licence shops and partying/looting/joyriding etc, others tried to organise rationing of resources, learning how to fix generators and grow food, ie, survival skills, as well as trying to figure out what had happened and what they could do about it, especially as anyone turning 17 would join the ranks of the sleeping (or mostly dead after not too long).

I mostly really enjoyed the novel – the main character was likeable and the situation was intelligently explored. I however, found the ending to be rushed and unsatisfactory – maybe a sequel is planned, or just the writer didn’t like pat endings that tied things up too neatly?

The Masquerades of Spring (AUDIOBOOK)  – Ben Aaronovitch Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith – 05.12.24

I do enjoy Ben Aaronovitch’s stories, and this is a fun insight into Nightingale’s back story set in 1920s New York with prohibition, Jazz clubs and of course, magic.

The Proof of My Innocence (AUDIOBOOK)- Jonathan Coe, Narrated by: Sam Woolf, Alana Maria, Charlotte Worthing, Mark Stobbart, Roy McMillan – 05.12.24

POSSIBLE SPOILERS SO READ ON AT YOUR OWN PERIL

This was a very clever and (mostly) enjoyable book to listen to. It is one of these meta book within a book type things and my head felt messed with over what was real (ie. made up by the author) and what was made up (ie. made up by the characters who have been make up by the original author). I don’t really like this because it feels to me like it breaks the ‘fourth wall’ or breaks a contract or breaks something – I feel like I want to be invested in a story so much that is feels as real to me as it does to the characters while I’m reading, and then to find out that some of it was ‘made-up’ within the world of the book kind of belittles this for me and I feel like, what’s the point of investing myself in these made-up characters – I know this is irrational since they’re all made-up, but still it upsets me!

Anyway, that aside, the plot and mystery and characters and stuff was good, and the narrators were good, so mixed feelings from me over this one.

Off to Be the Wizard: Magic 2.0, Book 1 – Scott Meyer (AUDIOBOOK) Narrator – Luke Daniels – 28.11.24

Hmm, not sure what I made of this audiobook. The American narrator was a bit winey and annoying, as was the main character (maybe well cast narrator !?). The premise was that a small number of people throughout history have figured out that reality as we know it is just a matrix like computer programme and have attempted to manipulate the programme to their own ends. Our hero (!?) I forget his name now, tried putting lots of money into his own bank account which instantly alerted the evil authorities to his discovery. He escaped by travelling into medieval England (as you do) and seemingly as many before him did do, because there is a thriving community of wizards (people who have discovered the matrix and can manipulate it so it seems like they can do magic) in medieval Europe. Stuff happened, it ended, turned out it is the first in a series. I really don’t think I could be bothered continuing the series (although I didn’t hate it enough to give up halfway through). Gets good reviews, so lots of people seemingly did like it a lot (or maybe the author altered the matrix so it seems that way, lol). Not for me though.

Thursday Nexts Books 1-7 – Jasper Fforde – 15.12.24

I was talking to the partner of one of my book group friends and it turns out that we share a love of Jasper Fforde books, also I learned that there is a new Thursday Next book coming out later this/next year, and both of these things prompted me to re-read books 1-7 in this series.

I really enjoyed refreshing my memory in the world of Thursday Next where some people are able to travel into fictional (or non-fictional) pieces of writing, and in some cases, fictional (or fictionalised versions of) people can come out of books into the real world. There is so much going for this series: humour, yes, Jasper Fforde while occasionally looming into too much silliness for my taste, is certainly funny; lots of nods to classic fictional characters and books and writers many of which I got and some which I didn’t but a real bookworm’s smorgasbord of tasty titbits (!); historical detail – aside from the fact that the books were written over quite a long time period, so the contemporary details read like a history of modern times, but also travelling into historical works gave a feel of time travel (the whole series reminds me very much of the equally enjoyable books by Jodi Taylor); great characters who go on real journeys, who I feel bonded with enough to really care about what happens to them. Good wicked baddies too, and conflicted characters – if you like quirky surreal type books then I definitely recommend this series and I’m very excited for the next instalment (the Thursday Next instalment – lol!)

A Beginner’s Guide To Breaking and Entering – Andrew Hunter Murray (AUDIOBOOK) Phil Dunster: narrator – 28.10.24

This is a ‘cosy mystery’ type story about a young man who illegally lives in rich people’s fancy houses when he knows they are going to be away for a while. Even though it is illegal, he doesn’t steal anything or hurt anybody, so feels it’s actually redressing a moral balance. Unfortunately he gets caught up in a murder mystery and has to join with some other ‘unofficial house-sitters’ to solve the crime and clear his name.

I liked it to begin with, but then I must say I got a bit bored – a lot of young people being awkward and finding their way – very sweet and all, but I’m like, I’m too old to be bothered with all this. I almost gave up on it, but I stuck it out and it did actually pick up again towards the end so I didn’t hate it completely.

1984 – George Orwell – 23.10.24

Recently the audible daily deal was the book Julia which is a sequel/companion book to George Orwell’s 1984 and I bought it and thought I’d better refresh my memory by re-reading 1984 first. When I used to go around schools doing author visits I had a power point slide show and talked about books that had made a big impact on me growing up, and this was one of them. I acutely remember reading this as a teenager (in the 1980s!) and being blown away by it, especially one particular jaw dropping moment. I don’t know why, maybe because I knew what was coming, but this time round I was much less blown away. Sure it’s an interesting and in some ways worryingly prescient (I know my smart devices listen to our conversations because I see ads for things we have discussed but that I hadn’t done any actual google searching or browsing about!) story, but I struggled to empathise with Winston Smith. I’m quite curious to see how I find Julia now all the same…

Peach Blossom Spring (BOOKGROUP) – Melissa Fu – 19.11.24

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Peach Blossom Spring was pretty well received by our book group, with us giving it an average score of 7/10. We liked that we learned something about the history of China during WWII (being invaded by the Japanese) and also the civil war that followed between communist and nationalist Chinese. The beginning of the story about Meilin, young widowed bride with her infant son (Renshu) having to flee mainland China over land and sea, sleeping rough and eating scraps and dodging air raids until eventually finding relative peace in Taiwan was heart-wrenching and many of the girls at book group found this was the part of the book that engaged them most. The large middle section follows Renshu after he moves to America as a student and stays in America with his Caucasian bride. Renshu has to tread lightly because secret police follow him and he is worried for his mother back home having to face consequences if he puts a foot wrong. His wife and daughter don’t understand his reticence to engage with Chinese American culture, and his daughter especially (her story is followed in the final part of the book) feels neither one thing or another as she is half Chinese but knows nothing about that side of her heritage. We found lots to discuss about the immigrant experience, and the imagery in the book from the folk tales threaded through the story and the allegorical attempts by Renshu to grow an orchard which do not succeed until he realises that uprooted shoots need to be cared for and nurtured to be able to thrive in a new environment.

Annie Bot – Sierra Greer – 17.10.24

This book had a very interesting premise: an AI ‘sex doll’ is allowed to develop her own thoughts and feelings and grows more and more toward actual sentience. The progression of Annie from just existing to please her owner/boyfriend to realising that she has worth and agency in her own right is well handled, and aside from the sci-fi element, is very much a study of a woman in a controlling relationship learning how to survive and protect herself.

Just when the book was starting to get interesting, I realised that it was almost over, and the ending felt wrong – like it can’t just stop there – I wanted to know what was going to happen next and what the consequences of the choices Annie made would lead to both for her and for the wider world. Maybe it is the first in a series, which may or may not be interesting – I don’t want it to be dragged out like a futuristic soap opera, but I would like to have seen Annie’s journey developed further.