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What’s it all about?
The Explorer tells the story of Cormac Easton, a journalist who has been selected to take part in a major piece of space exploration, the only civilian in a crew of specialists on the good ship Ishiguro, though I suppose he’s a specialist in his own way as his job is to document the journey, interview the crew, put a human face on an expedition that’s partly designed to re-start humankind’s adventures in space after an earlier disaster and partly to investigate a phenomenon known only as the Anomaly.
Of course Things Do Not Go According To Plan, and it’s clear that there are deaths among the crew from the very beginning of the trip. But what’s going on?
Why did I want to read it?
I absolutely love sci-fi so this was always going to be of interest, but I would have missed this title if Simon at Savidge Reads hadn’t written an intriguing review, and of course once I’d read that I had to get the thing, didn’t I?
What did I think about it?
I absolutely loved this! It’s relatively short novel and I read it in two sittings which included staying up until 2am on a Sunday morning so that I could finish it. I was so desperate to find out what had happened to Cormac’s crewmates and of course what was going to happen to him; would he survive and if so how?
I sometimes find first person narratives difficult but the central idea in this story, the thing that happens in the middle when you think you’ve got it figured out and then suddenly WTF? was so engrossing that I didn’t experience my usual qualms.
I don’t want to talk too much about the plot; as mentioned above there is the Thing That Happens which for me turned the story around and it’s worth experiencing that for yourself. In terms of tone (first person storytelling, expedition gone wrong, something not quite right with the whole set-up) it made me think of The Annihilation which I also devoured earlier this year, and which, like The Explorer, is the first in a planned series.
I also thought afterwards about 2001; there are some similarities in that it’s an expedition going off to investigate something and it all goes wrong, but there is no HAL here, this is all (mostly) people stuff and it’s the relationships in a confined space that really push this along.
I loved it so much that apart from losing sleep to finish it I bought a copy for Silvery Dude (it’s the sort of book you want to share with people you know will appreciate it) AND discovered that the sequel had already been published so that was downloaded swiftly, but more of that anon.
If you love sic-fi I’m sure you’ll enjoy this, and even if you don’t it’s a very effective creepy thriller and well worth giving a shot.
What’s The Bleeding Heart all about?
The resolution of the Peculiar Crime Unit’s relationship with Oscar Kasavian which took place in the previous volume (reviewed here) means a new home for the team (now under the auspices of the City of London police) and a super duper new liaison person who has a great line in management-speak, the sort of thing that has you banging your head on the desk (or is that just me).
While they all try to work out exactly how (or even if) they’re going to get along under the new arrangements they have two cases to deal with; a man who may (or may not) have risen from his (recent) grave and the disappearance of the ravens from the Tower of London.
Why did I want to read it?
I’ve said it before but its worth repeating, this is one of the most consistently enjoyable series of books I’ve had the pleasure to read. Sadly it looks like this may be the penultimate Bryant & May story (at least in novel form) which will be a real shame.
What did I think of it?
As always I really enjoyed this. I read a chunk of it during a bout of insomnia and it was great fun to read about someone apparently climbing out of their grave while I was sitting in the relative dark in the wee small hours of the morning, quite creepy. The two story threads aren’t really connected apart from the involvement of Bryant but one of the great pleasures of these books is seeing the development of all of the characters and the new dynamic means that all of them are taking stock in one way or another.
And of course I learned fascinating stuff about London along the way. Bleeding Heart Yard is another one of those places that I walk past regularly on my way from my office on Kingsway to London Wall where Silvery Dude works and next time I’m heading that way I really will make a detour to have a look. St. George’s Gardens, where the rising takes place, is also close by and I’m sure is on my preferred route to St Pancras where I occasionally meet friends for drinks, and made me think a little bit of Postman’s Park which is a shortcut I often take and well worth a visit, though less extensive I think.
I was also interested to find out that the whole legend of the ravens and what may happen to the nation if they disappear is a relatively modern invention.
So, really enjoyable and what do I have to do to get you lot to read these if you haven’t started already?
Postscript: and the Book God reminded me that we have a copy of Andrew Taylor’s Bleeding Heart Square which is set in the same area so that’s now been pulled out of the stacks to be read shortly. I like making these connections!
And this is my 600th post on the blog which is very cool and mildly astonishing! Glad to be marking it with a favourite author.
This time it’s serious.
These are books that I started and then just stopped reading for whatever reason. Some of them have been lying around for absolutely AGES and a decision has to be made on whether to persevere or throw in the towel.
Sigh.
So here goes:
- The Thirties: An Intimate History by Juliet Gardiner – 98 pages (out of 763 (not including index, acknowledgements and bibliography). This starts out with the story of one of the great domestic disasters of the late 1920s which just so happened to take place win my home town. This was the Glen Cinema fire in Paisley on 31 December 1929 when 71 children were killed. This is the prologue to a general history of the 1930s which I really do want to read but will set aside for the moment. [Parked, to start again from the beginning]
- Wars I have Seen by Gertrude Stein – I think I started this because I was quite taken by the portrayal of Stein by Kathy Bates in Midnight in Paris, a film I wasn’t otherwise terribly enamoured of. 8 pages plus introduction. May come back to this another time. [Abandoned]
- Paris After the Liberation by Antony Beevor & Artemis Cooper – no idea when or why I started this, momentum entirely lost. One for another time I think [Abandoned]
- The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip – I feel like I’ve been reading this for years, and not getting any further with it. I’m 96 pages in, not quite halfway. I clearly have issues with high fantasy. It’s made it on to my reading lists for two previous Once Upon a Time Challenges. Other people speak very highly of it. One more chapter and then a decision [Read on then decide]
- When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson – hmm, loved Case Histories, liked One Good Turn, have bought Started Early, Took My Dog but stalled 56 pages into this one. deserves another chance though given it’s a mystery I think I need to go back to the beginning as I have (literally) lost the plot – [Restart]
- The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter – can’t remember why I picked this up other than general love for Carter – may have been triggered by one of the books I read during the 24 Hour Readathon in 2012. Hardly started. One for anther time [Abandon]
- Jigs & Reels by Joanne Harris – a book of short stories which I sort of stopped but as it’s stories easy to pick up again, about half way through and will continue [Keep going]
- Tales by HP Lovecraft – a re-read in a beautiful Library of America edition – will continue (stories again so easy to dip into) [Keep going]
- Foreign Devils on the Silk Road by Peter Hopkirk – triggered by either a TV programme or a lecture at the British Museum, either way can’t really remember why I started this so…. [Abandon]
- Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr – this was a planned re-read of the first three Bernie Gunther novels so I could start reading the rest in the series but I ran out of steam 178 pages into March Violets [Abandon]
- O Beloved Kids by Rudyard Kipling – went to visit his house a few years ago and came back with quite a few book. These are his letters to his children and easy to dip in and out of [Keep going]
- Snow White and the Seven Samurai – my second attempt at a Tom Holt comic fantasy novel (my first was a present and reviewed here). Tried to start it twice, haven’t been able to get to grips with it at all [Abandon]
- At Day’s Close: A History of Night Time by A Roger Ekirch – read an article about first and second sleep a while back and remembered I had this on the shelves; only 12 pages in, set down and not picked up again [Abandon]
- Lovecraft Unbound – tales inspired by the works of Lovecraft, another book of short stories, can dip in and out as with others so [Keep going]
- Bone Song by John Meaney – highly regarded and strongly recommended by the Book God, I’m 150 pages in so not quite halfway. I accidentally read ahead (don’t ask, it’s too complicated to explain but ha a lot to do with where I park my bookmark while I’m reading) and came across a plot spoiler which sort of put me off. I need to give this another try though as I do remember I was enjoying it [Read on then decide]
- The Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones – similar to the Meaney, 112 pages so far [Read on then decide]
- The Great Year by Nicholas Campion – I bought this around 1999 as part of my great Y2K it’s all going to end reading binge but didn’t start it, only dipped into the introduction [Abandon]
- The Mandlebaum Gate by Muriel Spark – this is the one that causes me the most pain, started a chronological re-read of Spark a few years ago and stalled on this one (I wrote about it here). I really feel I should give it another try and then I can move on to reading the rest of her works [Read on then decide]
(It’s all very embarrassing) (but also quite therapeutic)
The story so far……. can be found here
This lot is the pile of books where I remember when and/or why I started reading or why I want to read them for those ones which are part of my bad habit of pulling things out of the stacks because something was triggered by another book.
Really, it will all make sense, honestly.
Let’s go…..
- The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. Blimey, this was obviously meant to be a re-read, and almost certainly planned to be finished before the first of the Peter Jackson films came out which means I must have started this sometime during 2012? Reading the Book God’s lovely hardback copy (the 1974 ninth impression of the 1966 third edition). 54 pages in which means I have just got past the Trolls. I think I’ll tidy this one away for another day [abandoned]
- Sir John Hawkins by Harry Kelsey – subtitled “Queen Elizabeth’s Slave Trader”, I picked this up because I so enjoyed The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd which I reviewed here. 28 pages in, would like to have another go at this because of my general interest in 16th century history (it’s what I studied for my degree) [keep going]
- Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes – “Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World”. Another Book God volume, this is all to do with the novel I’m reading about Tesla mention in my first spring cleaning post. Not yet started, back on the stacks until I’m ready [parked]
- Moon Palace by Paul Auster. I have had this book for goodness knows how long but picked it up for the same reason as Empires of Light (Tesla is in it apparently). Not yet started, same fate as the Jonnes [parked]
- Justinian’s Flea by William Rosen – “Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe”. Yet another Book God volume, pulled off the shelf because of the excellent series about Byzantium we saw on BBC Four earlier this year. One for later [parked]
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins – book 2 of The Hunger Games, another one to be read before the film. Only got 20 pages in and didn’t get round to the movie either so we can all see how well that worked out! Do still intend to read this, especially as I also have Mockingjay tucked away somewhere, so stays on the pile [keep going].
- The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith – I struggled with this one all the way through to page 148 which is where I stopped. I feel I need to try to finish this as it’s such an influential novel and Highsmith is so well-rgarded. Only 100 pages to the end so…. [keep going].
- In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood. I was lucky enough to see her speak about MaddAddam in August last year (and to get my copy of the book signed – lots of stuff about that here) and I am really interested in her thoughts on SF given the occasional bad press she has had in that space. So far I’ve only read the introduction but want to work my way through this one [keep going]
- Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke was the book I identified for my participation on the Long Awaited Reads event in January which came to absolutely nothing. I really really want to read this but just haven’t been in the right frame of mind. Everyone tells me to persevere and who am I to argue so though I’m only 92 pages in and its an absolute chunkster I will [keep going]
- Blow by Blow – the biography of the fashionista Isabella Blow which I’ve had for ages and picked up after I went to the eponymous exhibition at Somerset House on my birthday. It’s a super breathless gossipy magazine-type biography written by her husband with a ghostwriter and I will definitely be finishing this one. [keep going]
- The Night Eternal by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan – the third and final book in The Strain Trilogy. The law of diminishing returns is seemingly in play here. I stopped reading this at page 80 in the middle of a chapter because I was getting very exasperated, and that was warring with my natural desire to find out how the story ends. Most annoying. [50 more pages then decide]
So not as conclusive as it might have been but at least I have a plan. But this isn’t all of it by any means, oh no! Wait for Part 3……
So, I’ve not been hitting the books quite as much lately. This isn’t a reading slump as such (or at least I don’t think so) but is partly due to the fact that there are just so many books in the house, leading to a TBR pile the size of Ben Nevis and too much choice. And that’s before I even get to the Kindle app.
I’ve always been someone who reads more than one book at a time because I like to ring the changes but I think things have got a tiny wee bit out of control.
Time for some bookish spring cleaning.
I’m going to go through the pile of stuff I’ve started and try to work out whether I’m just resting from that particular story or I really need to take the decision to *gulp* abandon the book.
So, Part 1 – the stuff I’m really seriously trying to read at the moment:
- The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt – the last days of Nikola Tesla alongside the story of Louise, a chambermaid in the hotel in which he is a resident. 166 pages in. Lovely story, just need to get on with it
- Bryant & May: The Bleeding Heart by Christopher Fowler – the 11th and almost certainly penultimate adventures of the Peculiar Crime Unit; bought this on the day it came out, expected to read it in a couple of sittings, not sure what happened. Likely to try to finish this one first. 86 pages in.
- Kraken by China Mieville – galloping ahead with this one and then stalled for some reason. 198 pages in, really want to know how this works out
Those are all physical books. On the Kindle app:
- LA Noir by John Buntin – picked up because the Book God and I thoroughly enjoyed the Frank Darabont mini-series Mob City which took its main plot from this non-fiction work. 21% read.
- The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers – like lots of other people I picked this up because of the references to it in True Detective (to which I am fairly addicted and looking forward to the final episode next Saturday….), though I think I’ve actually had it for ages. Only 3% in (which basically means I’ve read the introduction)
- The Medea Complex by Rachel Florence Roberts – an e-book supplied by the author for an honest review, all I’ve got to do is sit down and make a proper start. 5% in, really want to read this as hearing good things.
So, not that embarrassing in the end. Oh, but just you wait……
Bride of the Book God 