Playing catchup

As the school year comes to an end for the year here is Aus, work usually becomes a little hectic. This year that’s been compounded by my reduced but vastly improved mobility, coupled with a principal who decided to completely change ALL the IT plans for next year and waited until 2pm on Thursday to tell us. I mention this because I’m woefully behind, both in book posts and festive task posts. My ability to ‘like’ posts here has suddenly stopped working and I can’t be bothered to figure out why yet, because … ugh. IT.

But today is a gorgeous day out and MT and I survived the annual trek with all three cats to the vet for their annual checkups. Even better, all three are healthy, and the vet could not say enough great things about how healthy Easter-cat is – he said for a 15 year old cat her kidney function is phenomenal – he actually used the word phenomenal. Squee! We were a tiny bit worried about ‘Lito because he felt too skinny, but it turns out we were just unconsciously comparing him to Pikachu (the vet said she’s healthy and at a good weight – she’s just going to be a big cat). He’s healthy and the vet’s happy, although he’s got to have a broken incisor pulled next month.

I’ve been reading – and listening to audiobooks while I work on jigsaw puzzles, so I have a mini-mudslide of reviews coming up.

15 and I still look like a kitten – my secret is sleep; lots of sleep.

Salt: A World History

Salt: A World History
by Mark Kurlansky, Scott Brick (narrator)
Rating: ★★★★½
isbn: 9781597770972
Publication Date: May 1, 2006
Pages: 828
Genre: History, Science
Publisher: Phoenix Books

Homer called it a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. As Mark Kurlansky so brilliantly relates here, salt has shaped civilisation from the beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of mankind.

Wars have been fought over salt and, while salt taxes secured empires across Europe and Asia, they have also inspired revolution - Gandhi's salt march in 1930 began the overthrow of British rule in India.

From the rural Sichuan province where the last home-made soya sauce is made to the Cheshire brine springs that supplied salt around the globe, Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of world history, a multilayered masterpiece that blends political, commercial, scientific, religious and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It’s a straight up history, and I found it not at all boring. On some level I knew salt was historically important, but that’s about it. Its importance, it’s perceived rarity, the lengths cultures would go to for salt – I had no idea. Needless to say, I learned a lot, and I liked it. So much so that I found myself listening to this outside my car trips as I did mundane tasks at work that didn’t require my attention (cleaning tech). Included throughout the text are recipes – mostly historical, but even so, it makes me wish I had a printed copy of this book for my shelves.

The narrator, Scott Brick, gets a lot of credit for the rating. He did a fantastic job, reading this as if the thoughts were his own and you were in the midst of an enjoyable conversation. Very natural, and his voice extremely pleasant to listen to.

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven

Her Majesty's Royal Coven
by Juno Dawson
Rating: ★★
isbn: 9780008478513
Publication Date: August 3, 2022
Pages: 452
Genre: Fiction, Paranormal
Publisher: HarperCollins

Hidden among us is a secret government department of witches known as Her Majesty’s Royal Coven.

They protect crown and country from magical forces and otherworldly evil, but their greatest enemy will come from within…

There are whisperings of a prophecy that will bring the coven to its knees, and four best friends are about to be caught at the centre.

Life as a modern witch was never simple … but now it’s about to get apocalyptic.

Another reminder that it doesn’t do for me to impulse buy books while the parking meter is running.

I actually quite liked the story itself. It’s a 3.5-4 star level read with a diverse cast, interesting characters that are well written, three dimensional participants in a well plotted story.

Unfortunately, the author’s need to … politicize? that’s not quite the right word, but it’s the closest I can come up with … to politicize the diversity, to make this book a passive-aggressive lecture on societal ills, ruined the story for me completely. I didn’t DNF it because the story kept me going while the society bashing kept me fuming. Also, I paid something like 30 bucks for this book and I was, literally, invested in it.

The thing is, I know there are social problems concerning diversity and race. It’s been a talking point now for long enough that I can’t believe there are any cave dwellers left who haven’t gotten the memo. I don’t need to be beat about the head with stories that are constantly telling me there is a problem. I know there’s a problem – how about we focus on how to fix said problems instead of wallowing in the crisis of their existence? If this story had all the same characters, doing the same things, being the same people but without all the social commentary, I’d have loved this story. It would have gripped me and I’d have been totally on-board for the sequel. And I’d argue it would have ultimately been a book that accomplished more, because it would have been an example of healthy, functional diversity in action, taking on a pivotal point of prejudice and dealing with it appropriately. A fictional good example, sure, but good examples have to start somewhere and that’s what stories are meant to do anyway. I just think they’re more effective without the lecturing. Or, at least, I sure as hell enjoy them more.

So, yeah. If you don’t mind the social commentary, this is a good story that ticks a lot of diversity boxes. If you don’t like to be constantly reminded of the problem, stay away from it.

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

An Immense World
by Ed Yong
Rating: ★★★★½
Publication Date: June 30, 2022
Pages: 449
Genre: Non-fiction, Science
Publisher: Penguin Books

The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every animal is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving only a tiny sliver of an immense world. This book welcomes us into previously unfathomable dimensions - the world as it is truly perceived by other animals.

We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth's magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and humans that wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile's scaly face is as sensitive as a lover's fingertips, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision.

We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries which lie unsolved.

Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the threads of scent, waves of electromagnetism and pulses of pressure that surround us. Because in order to understand our world we don't need to travel to other places; we need to see through other eyes.

I’d been looking forward to this book since I heard it was coming out, and I started it soon after I received it, but Halloween Bingo came up and the book got set aside for the duration of the game. I had to go back and re-read a few bits to refresh my memory before picking it back up. I mention this because the fact that it took me over 100 days to read this book isn’t a reflection on the book itself.

An Immense World is a very readable exploration of how non-human animals perceive the world, with Yong trying very hard to connect the reader to perceptions that he’s the first to admit are almost impossible for us to imagine. Starting with the 5 senses we ourselves use, and how they differ wildly, and sometime dramatically, from animal to animal (peacock shrimp have 16 different visual receptors – we have 4) and why that’s not always the good or bad we imagine it to be, Yong than expands into the senses we can only imagine, like the use of electric and magnetic fields.

He’s right, of course, that it’s impossible to experience the world as another animal does, but occasionally Yong comes close to bringing the reader at least a hint of what that other perception might be like. He does this with a modicum of charts and as little rock-hard science as he can get away with, allowing any reader to expand their thinking without intimidating them. On the other hand, as someone who enjoys rock-hard science, I wasn’t disappointed or left wanting either. I think he found a decent balance between both audiences, and I really appreciated the color photo inserts in my hardcover edition, especially for those animals discussed that I’d never heard of before (knifefish, for example, which generate their own electricity).

There’s a lot to take in here, but I found it all interesting. Enough so that I might re-read this via audiobook in the new year, in hopes that a bit more of what I read will sink in.

Legends & Lattes

Legends & Lattes: High Fantasy, Low Stakes, Good Company
by Travis Baldree
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781035007318
Publication Date: August 11, 2022
Pages: 312
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Books

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

I first heard about this book from H.C. Newton at The Irresponsible Reader, and while it sounded interesting, it didn’t really seem like my kind of thing. And then I read about it again somewhere else (I can’t remember) and thought … maybe. So when I saw it at the shop, I just picked it up and thought what the hey?

It wasn’t at all what I feared it would be – a former adventurer trying to retire but being forced out of retirement for reasons. Instead it’s a very … gentle book. Even sweet. There’s very little plot in the obvious sense; the book is entirely about friendships and how they can often develop in the most unexpected ways.

On the surface this might make it sound like a dull book, but it’s very readable and the characters all offer something interesting. There’s a dire-cat named Amity that’s fabulous, and I’d have liked more of her (him?), and there’s a gnome whose cryptic comments about time left me wanting more explanation, or at least more information about him. But overall the characters are all well fleshed out and likeable. There’s a low-key, back burner romance that would qualify this book as a diverse read.

Overall, a surprisingly enjoyable read. Yes, all the typical obstacles just melt away in a way that’s usually catnip to a critic, but somehow, that’s ok. It just works – and maybe I was just looking for the literary equivalent of a serotonin drip. If you enjoy fantasy and are looking for a happy read, you might enjoy this one.

In the Shadow Garden

In the Shadow Garden
by Liz Parker
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781538708798
Publication Date: September 13, 2022
Pages: 326
Genre: Magical Realism
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

There’s something magical about Yarrow, Kentucky. The three empathic witches of the Haywood family are known for their shadow garden—from strawberries that taste like chocolate to cherry tomatoes imbued with the flavors of basil and oregano. Their magic can cure any heartache, and the fruits of their garden bring a special quality to the local bourbon distillery. On one day every year, a shot of Bonner bourbon will make your worst memory disappear. But the Haywoods will never forget the Bonners’ bitter betrayal.

Twenty years ago, the town gave up more than one memory; they forgot an entire summer. One person died. One person disappeared. And no one has any recollection of either.

As events from that fateful summer start to come to light, there must be a reckoning between the rival Haywood and Bonner families. But untangling the deep roots of this town’s terrible secrets will expose more than they could ever imagine about love, treachery, and the true nature of their power.

Both what I was expecting and what I wasn’t. Elentarri read this recently and liked it and the whole idea of a shadow garden that feeds off pain and sorrow appealed to me.

The story more or less covers three generations of the Haywoods; a family of witches whose gift is to remove some of the pain and sorrow of their fellow townspeople as a way to help them heal. This pain and sorrow is fed into the shadow garden and helps the plants within to grow with extraordinary gifts themselves.

My only, biggest, issue was – and I have no idea why – I kept thinking of the youngest Haywood as a teenager. She’s not, she’s in her latish-20’s. Some of her behaviour probably contributed to this misconception, but either way it was a bit jarring. I also kept mixing up who was with whom in a couple of the relationships – fortunately there was a family tree to reference.

I really like where Parker took the story; it was a direction I hadn’t anticipated, but it worked beautifully, even if some of the characters weren’t as wholly developed out as they could have been. This appears to be Parker’s first book – if her character development catches up to her story and plotting development, she’ll have a lot of very good books ahead of her.

When Gods Die (Sebastian St. Cyr, #2)

When Gods Die
by C.S. Harris
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780451219688
Series: Sebastian St. Cyr #2
Publication Date: January 1, 2006
Pages: 338
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Mystery
Publisher: NAL Hardcover

The young wife of an aging marquis is found murdered in the arms of the Prince Regent. Around her neck lies a necklace said to have been worn by Druid priestesses-that is, until it was lost at sea with its last owner, Sebastian St. Cyr’s mother. Now Sebastian is lured into a dangerous investigation of the marchioness’s death-and his mother’s uncertain fate.

As he edges closer to the truth-and one murder follows another-he confronts a conspiracy that imperils those nearest him and threatens to bring down the monarchy.

Much better than the first one, What Angels Fear, in that it is a far less graphically violent story line, which allowed me to thoroughly enjoy this one in a way I could not with the first.

I really like Sebastian, but as I mentioned in my thoughts on the first book, he needs his friends around more; Harris wrote a nice scene at the start of the first book with some banter between St. Cyr and his friend that I’d like to see more of in future books. While this book isn’t weighty and depressing, it could use some lightness that friends would bring to the table. As it is, When Gods Die is a very earnest read that gets a little bogged down in the forbidden-love dynamic between St. Cyr and his love interest, Kat.

The mystery was good though – extremely well plotted and the motivation not at all clear.

I’ll definitely be checking out more of this series from my library.

Buried in a Good Book (By the Book Mysteries, #1)

I saw this in my local bookshop last week and almost fell over in shock – I’ve never seen a cozy – especially not a mass market cozy – for sale in an Australian bookstore before. It sounded promising, and I want to encourage bookstores here to embrace a wider variety of sub genres, so I picked it up.

It wasn’t bad – I’ll happily read the second one – but it wasn’t without its problems. The MC thinks she’s going to be more capable of solving the crime than the local sheriff, which is always a turn off for me. I dislike arrogance in my amateur detectives unless their names are Sherlock Holmes. But on the plus side, she’s humbled a time or two and she’s graceful about it. The dynamic between her and her ex-husband was a bit cliche, as was the tension between herself and the sheriff.

The plotting was ambitious; Berry made it work, but it was just this side of a stretch even for cozy mysteries.

There is a second one out now and I’ll happily give it a try to see if the kinks in characterisation is worked out, but it definitely has potential.

Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop

Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop
by Alba Donati, Elena Pala (translator)
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9781399605519
Pages: 196
Genre: Books and Reading, Memoir
Publisher: Orion Books

The diary of a publicist-turned poet-turned bookseller who decided to open a tiny bookshop on the hills of the small village of Lucignana, Tuscany.

'Romano, I want to open a bookshop where I live.'
'Great. How many people are we talking about?'
'180.'
'Right, so if 180,000 people live there, then...'
'No, not 180,000, Romano. 180.'
'Alba... Have you lost your mind?'

Conversation between Alba Donati and Romano Montroni, former CEO of Italy's largest bookselling chain
Alba used to live a hectic life, working as a book publicist in Florence - a life that made her happy but also left her feeling like a woman constantly on the run.

So one day she decides go back to the small village in the Tuscan hills where she was born and open a tiny bookshop.
Alba's enterprise seems doomed from day one, but it surprisingly sparks the enthusiasm of many across Tuscany - and beyond. And after surviving a fire and the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the 'Bookshop on the Hill' soon becomes a refuge and beacon for an ever-growing community of readers.

Meh. I was expecting, and looking forward to, a diary about a ‘micro bookstore’ in a small village of 180 people in Tuscany. Sort of like Sean Bythell’s books, only sunnier and happier.

Only about half the book is about the bookshop. Those bits were good, as were the bits about some of the villagers. But really, the bookshop just serves as a prop for going off on tangents about the author’s childhood, her family, her philosophising, and her literary criticism about books I’ve never heard of, because most of them were poetry and I’m a troglodyte when it comes to poetry (the author herself is an Italian poet).

The book is supposed to be a diary of the first 6 months in 2021 and that’s the way it’s formatted, but there’s almost no adherence to this structure, as every entry Donati goes ‘off-date’ to talk about something else – how the bookstore got started, the fire that destroyed it only months after opening, it’s rebuilding, her childhood, etc. Since the bookstore opened just months before the pandemic, the entires that touched on how that affected her bookstore and the village were interesting. But all the interesting bits were just that: bits. I craved more detail about the bookstore’s conception, creation, restoration, and operation. I did not crave more information about the house she grew up in that didn’t have a bathroom, but about which I had to hear about a disquieting number of times.

It’s not a bad book, just not the book I was looking for.

Never Home Alone

Never Home Alone
by Rob Dunn
Rating: ★★★★
isbn: 9781541645769
Publication Date: January 9, 2009
Pages: 323
Genre: Science
Publisher: Basic Books

In NEVER HOME ALONE, biologist Rob Dunn takes us to the edge of biology's latest frontier: our own homes. Every house is a wilderness -- from the Egyptian meal moths in our kitchen cupboards and the yeast in a sourdough starter, to the camel crickets living in the basement, to the thousands of species of insects, bacteria, fungi, and plants live literally under our noses. Our reaction, too often, is to sterilise. As we do, we unwittingly cultivate an entirely new playground for evolution. Unfortunately, this means that we have created a range of new parasites, from antibiotic-resistant microbes to nearly impossible to kill cockroaches, to threaten ourselves with and destroyed helpful housemates. If we're not careful, the "healthier" we try to make our homes, the more likely we'll be putting our own health at risk.

A rich natural history and a thrilling scientific investigation, NEVER HOME ALONE shows us that if are to truly thrive in our homes, we must learn to welcome the unknown guests that have been there the whole time.

Another long-term resident of Mt TBR, I decided to tackle this in audio, since it was available. I thoroughly enjoyed it, for the most part. It’s sometimes hard with an audiobook: am I getting too much of the narrator’s personality and not enough of the authors?

I’ve been interested in the beneficial role of microbes since reading Yong’s I Contain Multitudes, and for the most part this one didn’t disappoint. Beneficial microbes is an emerging science so there aren’t any hard answers here, but there are some very intriguing studies including one involving Amish dust. Toxoplasma gondii will continue to give me significant pause, although won’t keep me from snuggling with my cats, and I have another reason not to love sourdough, in spite of it being good for me. So those are some of my takeaways.

As I said, I listened to the audiobook and the narration was competent. I will likely skim re-read the hardcover soon because there are charts/graphs in the hardcover that he referred to in the audio that I’d like to re-visit, and bits I’d like to read out loud to MT – his patience hasn’t been tested in awhile.