Speed-reviewing - Books 41-75

We've got a loooong way to go in one post, so much so that I've even used a break. I'll only give more than a passing comment for books that stood out from the crowd for some reason, and I've grouped the series items for the benefit of all, with one exception. I notice that there is a very high proportion of graphic novels, probably in part a reflection on how crazy the last months have been. They're wonderful when you don't want to commit to a novel with its much longer read-time.

41 - I Think You'll Find it's a Bit More Complicated Than That - Ben Goldacre

Examining the use of data, statistics and scientific research in media and beyond, this book is excellent. It shows many of the ways in which numbers and research findings can be used or misused to mislead or misrepresent on any number of topics. That's good in itself, but it also goes some way to teaching the reader how to critically evaluate claims they might encounter, what is a good quality standard and how professional areas can reform to ensure that they adhere to high information and quality standards.

This is a collection of newspaper columns and other articles written over a number of years, polished up a bit and ordered so that there's a sense of order to the book. One of the longer ones is readily available on the author's site here, and it's interesting reading.

Review: Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

Okay, let's clear up some myths about vampires. First of all, you won't see me using the V-word much. In the Night Watch we prefer the term parasite-positives, or peeps, for short.
The main thing to remember is that there's no magic involved. No flying. No transforming into rats or bats either... [blurb]


I made some mistakes with vampire and urban fantasy type books lately as my reviews will tell. I remain hopeful of finding some GOOD ones. I know they're out there but there's a lot that's not to my taste obscuring the great reads. I made a rather different mistake here. That was to start reading late at night. I thought I'd read a chapter or two then get some sleep.

Here I found a very different vampire novel and a very well researched book. I particularly love books that have great research at the centre - other examples are The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. They gain a great deal of strength from their research and I love to gain knowledge while enjoying a fantastic story. The depth and integration of research into Peeps is brilliant. I think this is what kept me reading past so many just-one-more-chapter deadlines.

Like The Historian, Peeps suffers from a weak ending. The fantastic research and resulting species and world-building appears to be the point, but whilst most of the story worked well certain aspects of the ending felt contrived - they were just there so that things could be brought neatly to a close to create a story rather than a fascinating study. Also like The Historian I can forgive Peeps because I loved the rest of the book so much.

Peeps won't be for everyone. There's a crash-course in parasitology and epidemiology strewn throughout - pretty much every second chapter is mostly factual research. It's well written and concise to keep the reader's attention. It is, however, probably not for those who are very squeamish.

On the other hand, if you like urban fantasy, less starry-eyed-and-too-perfect vampires and a well researched story I'd definitely recommend this book. It's a few years old now but not too hard to find.

There's a second novel, The Last Days, that connects to this one though according to the summary I have read does not focus on the same characters. I'll be looking forward to reading this one soon and seeing what it has to add.

Scott Westerfeld was an author I'd noticed enjoying some popularity a while ago - but as I find popularity and quality don't necessarily have a whole lot to do with each other in the book world I'd not been in any particular hurry to read his work. I believe I've found a new author to explore the works of here!

Book review catchup

Keeping these relatively brief so I can catch up without writing a blog post that'd border on being long enough to make into a book. I'm including only books I actually finished, nothing that was so terrible or dull that I couldn't bring myself to keep reading.

“Do I have to talk to insane people?"
"You're a librarian now. I'm afraid it's mandatory.”
- The woman who died a lot, Jasper Fforde


The woman who died a lot is the seventh Thursday Next book by Jasper Fforde and at this point we've almost caught up with the alternate modern-day. Some of the things that were so central to the earliest books are missing entirely. Whilst before reading this I might have called that a deal-breaker, especially as book six, One of our Thursdays is missing did not particularly live up to the high standard set by the earlier books, I thought this book worked brilliantly without those things, and delved far deeper into things that were important before but clearly had a lot more to offer. What they are, I shan't say, because I don't want to ruin such a fantastic series for other people.

Despite the big changes, this book was fantastic. It had a bit of the whodunnit mystery about it, after a while the reader can cotton on to what's going on - but there are things stopping the characters from seeing this. It's a lot of fun, especially trying to work out how the main characters might go about finding out. If you haven't read the series, just do. They're brilliant.

I'm a long-time fan of fantasy short story collections and with names like these on the cover, how could I resist? Under my hat contains a lot of stories, and pleasantly every single one of them was new to me. I often find that modern collections contain quite a few that have been recycled over and over. I'm not sure if they can be found elsewhere or not but they're a great read! Don't be turned off by the book being listed as for children - the stories are full of depth and detail and are really wonderful. Three favourites of mine were A handful of ashes by Garth Nix, B is for bigfoot by Jim Butcher and Great-Grandmother in the cellar by Peter S. Beagle. There were plenty more great stories in here, once again a thoroughly recommended read.

I picked up The vampire shrink by Lynda Hilburn for two reasons. First, the premise, a psychologist treating those who might or might not be vampires or just pretending. Second, the reviews about the place promised me that this was, if not entirely free of the paranormal romance angle, not suffering from the same things that generally drive me away from that particular genre.

They lied.

The first half of the book was quite good. The premise and character were interesting, well detailed and developing quite well. Then along came the designated love interest and the strong heroine started, with what felt like token doubts, just following about and Being Protected. A real pity, because the first half of the book was shaping up quite well. I'm not averse to romance in a story, I just wind up frustrated that it so often ruins what might have otherwise been a pretty respectable book. If you're into paranormal romance you might well enjoy this, but if it's not your thing this, like the others, is probably not for you.

After three fantasy books in a row, here's a change... animal-centric autobiography. I read Cleo by Helen Brown a couple years ago and quite enjoyed it so when I saw a fluffy kitten and it was a sequel to a book I enjoyed I knew I had to read After Cleo came Jonah. It was a good book - as much about family and dealing with the coming-of-age of others as it is about the cat Jonah. Another enjoyable book recommended to those who have an interest in biography.