#sunshinewellness

#WhereAreYouMonday
@Cupcake12

#SeptemberReadingPlans

On a five-year voyage to colonise a planet orbiting Beta Virginis, the Leonora Christine meets with an accident in space and is unable to decelerate.

This was one of my favourite SF novels in my teens and twenties, when I thought I more or less understood the science as presented. This time I consciously just accepted it. Still a great story, though.

#coffeeandabook

A biography of the historian Steven Runciman. I found it rather heavy going during his childhood, only picking up once people I'd heard of before were introduced. But then it became an absolutely fascinating look at intellectual and celeb life from the 1920s onward.

@ShyBookOwl
#FirstLineFridays

#coffeeandabook

A collection of poems which was first published in 1798. Some of the poems were easy to follow, others more difficult, but in either case, I can't see what makes them so well thought of. Narrowly avoiding a Pan.

A translation of an 18th century Chinese novel about a 7th century judge-detective. He was a real person, but as far as we know the cases presented here are fictitious.

Historical mysteries are one of my favourite genres, so I was naturally intrigued by the idea of a historical mystery written 200-odd years ago in China, long before the genre existed in the West. ⬇ ⬇

#coffeeandabook

The vill of Sticklepath holds many dark secrets and when the skeleton of a young girl is found and rumours of cannibalism abound, Sir Baldwin and friends come to investigate.

The author is very good at invoking an atmosphere but be warned, it's a very depressing one.

#coffeeandabook

Angel travels down to London to stay for a week with her online friend Juliet, the climax of the trip being to see their favourite boy band, The Ark, perform.

Told alternatively from the viewpoints of Angel and Jimmy, The Ark's lead singer, this was a quick read exploring the nature of fandoms and fanfics and the pressures on their recipients of such adoration.

@PuddleJumper
#queerBC

#sunshinewellness

#queerbc
@PuddleJumper

Simon Puttock organises a tournament for Lord Hugh, only to find his efforts come to nothing when bodies turn up and he is cast as main suspect.

Not 1 of the author's best. I kept getting some of the potential suspects muddled and realised who the murderer actually was pretty early on. Also 2 of the victims (out of 5) were a gay couple, IIRC the 1st gay characters in this series, but our sympathies were obviously meant to lie with the murderer.

#coffeeandabook

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

Does what it says on the tin, taking us from 1917 to 1928, although the author did sometimes overwhelm me with statistics.

#teaandabook

Classic SF novel about an ice age planet where the inhabitants are neither male nor female except at certain points in their reproductive cycle when they may become either.

I first read this around 1980 and found it enthralling, loving the exploration of the ideas. I then read it again 20-odd years ago when I found the journey across the icecap tedious. This time it was more enjoyable but it didn't have the wow factor from when I first read it.

#coffeeandabook
#ClassicLSFBC
@RamsFan1963

#whereareyoumonday

Hard-boiled story of two cops the chief is trying to get rid of being assigned to a cold-case of gay men being beaten up outside gay clubs in Philadelphia.

It was OK. I got tired of all the unelaborated hints about the “Incident“ which caused one of the cops to become a pariah at the station. The book was very obviously a prequel showing how the two main characters left the police to become PIs. I might continue one day but not immediately.

Morton Farrier is hired to find out what happened to a dying man's great-aunt, who disappeared in 1911 only to reappear briefly at his grandmother's funeral in 1962.

I worked out the basics of what had happened in 1911 quite early on but the details of the present-day coverup were beyond my little grey cells. The side characters I enjoyed in the first story were offstage for this installment. The next in the series is going on my wishlist.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

A client engages Morton Farrier's services in the morning but is dead by nightfall. The client's ex agrees to continue on behalf of their son. But how did the deceased come up with the enormous fee, way beyond any amount Morton could have reasonably expected?

It didn't really pull me in so it took a while to finish this one. But the premise was interesting enough to want to make me want to read on, more for the side characters than the main duo.

#whereareyoumonday

(Map from author's website)

Modern re-telling of “The Merchant of Venice“ transposed to Cheshire explores antisemitism but I was never really sure whether Shylock was really there or just a mental construct of Simon Strulovitch's.

#AugustReadingPlans

Honourable mention: The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection

Steve Levitan finds problems brewing at work when booty from a museum robbery is found during a demonstration of sniffer dogs' capabilities and at home when the complex's HOA has to deal with encroaching tree roots.

Another enjoyable romp with Steve and Rochester. The murder doesn't happen until almost 3/4 of the way through, so very cozy.

In the lift down to the ground floor a boy intent on revenge for the death of his older brother meets the ghosts of figures from his past and explores the chain of violence that led him to this point.

Bleak.

#coffeeandabook

@ShyBookOwl
#FirstLineFridays

n Shoreham, Edwin and Natalka are asked to look into the deaths of writers by relatives unsatisfied by the official explanation of death by natural causes. Are these cases related to some of Harbinder Kaur's cases up in London?

Harbinder was very much taking a back seat in this one, with just a few perfunctory appearances. Big changes in the Shoreham characters' lives gave the book an air of a wrapping up of the series.

#coffeeandabook

A generous donor to the orphan farm is putting unacceptable conditions on his donations. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi investigate his reasons. One of the Speedy Motors apprentices is arrested for handling stolen goods. And the ladies get the chance to meet a very famous person.

I did worry just how disappointed Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi were going to be by their special guest.

#coffeeandabook

Mma Ramotswe takes on the case of a farmer whose cattle are being mutilated, and Mma Makutsi prepares for her wedding to Phuti Radiphuti.

I always enjoy visiting Botswana in the company of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

🎵 I'm reading on a jet plane 🎵

"Mma Ramotswe had by no means forgotten her late white van."

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

An IKEA-esque store contains wormholes/maskhål which may carry unwary shoppers into alternative universes from which hapless junior staff must then retrieve them.

In the 1st chapter or so I found it too reminiscent of Horrorstör but then it took off in its own direction and I found the story great fun. Not so keen on Jules and Ava's rehashing of their recently ended relationship but I will definitely be watching out for the next in the series.

#coffeeandabook

@puddlejumper
#QueerBC

Travelling downriver from the Tidal Head at Teddington Lock to the Estuary, the author reminisces about her experiences as a mudlark and memorable pieces she has found, with their historical context in so far as it can be known or imagined.

Interesting but not as gripping as I hoped. It confirmed that I don't like lists.

#WhereAreYouMonday

Exploring the Thames foreshore

@Cupcake12
@Cupcake12

#coffeeandabook

In the 1970s, an unnamed narrator goes to India, using diaries and letters to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather's first wife, who caused a 1920s scandal.

The dual timeline with the present mirroring the past was effective. The book wasn't terrible by any means, but I can't see why it won the Booker.

Shortly after Olivia went away with the Nawab, Beth Crawford returned from Simla.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl