Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series has been on my radar for years, so when the first book in the series popped up as a Kindle Daily Deal I pounced. A pandemic seemed like a great time for an overdue dive into a highly rated series that ticks so many of my boxes – fantasy, crime, humour, and many more to look forward to. I’m sorry to say I was not impressed. What ticked me off the most was the gender politics. Maybe it was so […]
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
An elderly professor gives lectures on Greek history on a cruise ship, a Polish family vacations in Croatia with dramatic consequences, an immigrant tries to build a new life on a remote island in the north. In the 17th century, Filip Verheyen discovers the Achilles tendon, and Frederik Ruysch revolutionizes embalming techniques, while today, plastination makes it possible to preserve bodies in an incredibly detailed and lifelike fashion. These are just some of the stories told in this book, and in between, there are musings […]
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr
Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen
Orange World by Karen Russell
The Fall by Albert Camus
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield
CBR12Bingo – Gateway (Author) Her Smoke Rose Up Forever: 4/5 Stars This is one of those books that I spent multiple years trying to get myself through. I read one of the stories “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” awhile ago and really liked it. It’s almost like a play on a kind of Twlight Zone type stories with a big twist, but it’s longer and more nuanced and more realized than one of those stories. Instead, it feels like a heavy influence on someone like […]
Places in the Darkness by Chris Brookmyre
#CBR12 Bingo: Book Club (this was a pick in my fantasy/sci-fi book club a few months back) Offical book description: Hundreds of miles above Earth, the space station Ciudad de Cielo – The City in the Sky – is a beacon of hope for humanity’s expansion into the stars. But not everyone aboard shares such noble ideals. Bootlegging, booze, and prostitution form a lucrative underground economy for rival gangs, which the authorities are happy to turn a blind eye to until a disassembled corpse is […]
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Cbr12bingo Book Club Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine begins with the premise of many a romantic comedy but takes the reader into serious and unexpected territory. Gail Honeyman’s debut novel, which garnered numerous awards, tells the story of 30-year-old Eleanor from her unique and often hilarious point of view as she plans to win over the man of her dreams. Yet Eleanor’s romantic aspirations are only a small part of this entertaining and thought-provoking novel which examines depression, abuse, and the power of true friendship. […]
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
#CBR12 Bingo: UnCannon (YA fantasy, written by a woman, about dark-skinned heroine, with several queer characters as supporting cast) Official book description: Eight years have passed since the young Princess Bitterblue, and her country were saved from the vicious King Leck. Now Bitterblue is the queen of Monsea, and her land is at peace. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisers, who have run the country on her behalf since Leck’s death, believe in a forward-thinking […]
