Angelmaker | 
pickWhen I say spy/crime/mystery novel with hints of sci fi horror, let it be known I mean there are spies AND criminals AND mysteries and also truly original speculative elements. Still, I fear this description will not provide you with an adequate idea of how delightfully bonkers this book is. I do not mean that in a perjorative sense. This has to be one of my favourite madcap adventures of the year. 1/?
DUDE. 😖 Points for creative description of noise. Trying not to contemplate the level of mess involved in a sea sick elephant. 🤢🐘
Did I lug this book around all day and not read a single page? 🫣 YOU KNOW IT! 😜
Just realising how hard (with zero planning) I leaned into an art(ist) theme today 😂 dress, Ken Done ; mask, Vincent Van Gogh; tote bag, Ethel Carrick
Off to a delightfully strange start! ⛳️
The only Harkaway book that I have read is The Gone-Away World. Although I recall it was a bit of a slog at times, it 100% paid off & I ended up giving it 5 stars. Angelmaker, is not about #angels but rather about a doomsday device that is accidentally triggered by a clock repairman. He must team up with an octogenarian spy to save the world from destruction. It's been described as “gangster noir meets howling absurdist comedy.“ Sounds good to me.
pickThis book has a manic energy that got a little exhausting toward the end, but all in all it was a wild and fantastical ride full of gangsters, spies, scientists, monks and, at the center of it all, a clockmaker just trying to live his (quiet, lonely) life. Occasionally harrowing and frequently philosophical, Angelmaker packs a lot into its pages. Including intricate clockwork bees.
so-soSquidapus thought this book was very inconsistent; there are some great bits in there like the characters and the idea central to how the doomsday device works. But the author couldn't decide if this was a character study or a Hollywood movie. So a lot of the pacing and tone was all over the place. He'd have characters tell pages long stories that weren't important. Wasted talent because there's some great writing and characterization in there
Here's one for you; a man accidentally starts a doomsday device from the 50s and a secret agent tries to stop it while fighting a cornucopia of villainous characters. Squidapus is interested in trying this new author!
so-soNot my style - I read it for the #ReadHarder 2018 task of a book with a female protagonist over 60, if I hadn‘t been trying to complete the challenge only using books recommended on the Read Harder podcast, I‘d likely have moved on to something else.
so-soI have no idea what to think about this book.
I‘m pretty bad at shopping at local bookstores, amazon is just so cheap! But I checked out the new Moon Palace location in Minneapolis today and it‘s pretty great!
pickBoo the Yorkie: Aren't I angelic?
Mommy loves this novel ANGELMAKER. It's a steampunk-fantasy-gangster-espionage-romance genre mix up, with clockwork bees and old-fashioned villains in London's East End.
It's not the easiest read (verbose) but the (very British) humor makes the journey worthwhile. 9/10.
#dogsoflitsy #petsoflitsy #fantasy
panMeh. Not for me. Frenzied. Lots of jumping back and forth in time that lost me. Parts reminded me of “His Dark Materials” trilogy - which I‘m not a fan of, and Orwell‘s “1984”.
#septembowie #underpressure
Well Joe is under pressure when his simple life as a clockmaker gets turned around by a pair of villains - Edie (despite being an accomplished octogenarian spy) is probably under pressure as she tries to save the world - and Cuparah (the steampunk submarine!) is definitely under pressure submerged to 1000 feet! 😜
Right hand photos - thanks Google. Left hand photos - the Rotorua Settlers and Steam Museum (they rock!)
panThis was so super slow and I just couldn't get into it. I'm super disappointed because I was excited to read it, but it just didn't ever capture my interest!
Book Fair, day two! Because one visit simply isn't enough, amirite?
#bookhaul
Lazy Sunday morning ☕️📖. Started slow but starting to enjoy this one about 70 pages in.
Day 4 of the #Riotgrams challenge: favorite villain! I love Shem Shem Tsien, aka The Opium Khan.
"Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there was a boy born in the nation of Addeh Sikkim, in the royal palace, who wanted nothing more than to lead his people into a new world of prosperity and hope. He was suited to the task: clever and able and well-favored.” The Opium Khan looked nostalgic.
"I locked him in a steel box and burned him alive.”
pickA crazy, wacky, wonderful book that I couldn't even begin to describe. You just have to sign up and go along for the ride! 😀
Close-up of the cover of the edition of Angelmaker I read. This was a recommendation from my cousin & I enjoyed it. Bought my brother a copy and he enjoyed it too. Keep meaning to read more Harkaway!
#seasonsreadings2016 day 14: steampunk (this is the first book I saw tagged as "steampunk" in LibraryThing that I'd read)
pickI listened to this as an audiobook. I'm very slow with audiobooks, but that is not a reflection on the book. This was crazy fun. Very unique and irreverent, but well plotted and written. The narrator was great for this audiobook as well.
Based on currently available empirical data, this seems to be true.
#photoadaynov16 #day1 #novembertbr This is my preliminary TBR pile for this month.I have so many still plus all the books I've bought recently, so this is not a definitive list by any means. These are the ones I'd like to be reading next, until I get distracted by other pretty pretty books! To Kill A Mockingbird & The Secret Garden are top of the order, I've seen the movies but never read the books I'm ashamed to say. It's gonna be a great month.
For #unforgettablewomen I pick Edie Banister. She reminds me of the cool snowboarding granny in the movie Hoodwinked (never trust a bunny). #booktober.
pickWow, this was great. It started out slow and beautifully descriptive and I fell a little bit in love with this clockwork maker and his life. The shady but somehow good hearted underworld he's linked to was my favourite part. And then it started to go a lot faster and it got crazy and steampunk and superspies and horrendous villains and... WOW. Mind is blown.
(Picture is unrelated - lights I photographed today that felt a bit steampunk!)
Book club is Sunday and I don't think I'm going to finish. 😯
I. Have. No. Willpower. I'm in so much trouble,the husband was home & intercepted the large box these came in before I could get to the door😔But, look! Lovely lovely books make me feel better!😍 I've had to promise that October will be a #nobookbuymonth after I've already made September #allthebooksmonth.That's fair,I guess.Though I did point out I said nothing when he bought two quad bikes,a dirt bike & a caravan to put at his sisters property.
My #augusthaul for #augustofpages #photochallenge (minus my BOTM and books from book box subscriptions). There were a lot of ebook and audiobook sales this month and I clearly took advantage of them. 😬💸💸📚📚
Having trouble getting into this one. Not sure if it's the book or just in a bit of a reading funk 😦
Had many candidates but this is the first that leapt to mind, Edie Bannister the 90 year old ex super spy ably assisted by Bastion her blind pug #favefemalecharacter #augustphotochallenge
"Love causes people to do stupid things. That does not, she realizes now, make them the wrong things."
Just Nick Harkaway dropping some casual comic wisdom this morning.
It's a rainy road trip day! Good thing I have this to keep me distracted on the 5+ hour drive we have ahead of us.
My eyes are tired tonight. Thank goodness for audiobooks. I've heard good things about this one and have had it on my TBR list for awhile.
pickI'm even more terrified of bees than I was before. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ because bees are jerks, even if they're mechanical, and because there were a lot of really funny moments. Some parts didn't gel for me, but I was also pretty distracted reading it because I was in the middle of moving.
pickTook a couple of hundred pages to get going but once Polly turns up things really started to move. Steampunky lunacy with loads of London underworld gangster joy.
I bought this because I wanted to read The Regional Office is Under Attack and this was suggested as something similar. Chunkier and more literary than I expected but tons of fun.
https://caffeinatious.wordpress.com/2016/07/26/spygirl-and-an-angelmaker/
First pairing, The Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway and Spyhouse Coffee Roaster in Northeast Minneapolis ☺️☺️
There are strong themes around identity, family, and destiny, becoming your own person amidst the stories of others; what constitutes right v. wrong, especially when you tack on traditional moral and legal considerations, and modern bureaucracy and government and the suggestion of what is done in the shadows ostensibly for the greater good without oversight or citizen input; 8mo
Secondary character queer elderly lady spy (still a badass), get her story retroactively and it is largely a delight.
Interpreted thoughts/subtitles from fiesty elderly dog (who survives) that puts his one tooth to excellent use on a number of occasions
Harmlessly ludicrous sexcapades involving train timetables
Utterly charming criminal network 8mo
Creepy costumed cult - the reveals just make them creepier
Truly sick and twisted villain
Weird wobbling between fatphobia and fetishization of fatness in regards to how one character is described and interacted with. [Need own voices to weigh in on this one, but it felt more like objectification and denigration then positive representation.]
⚠️animal cruelty, animal death, torture, gore, cannibalism
8mo