nitroglycerin's Reviews (952)

 I read A Man Called Ove back in 2018 and absolutely adored it. Since then I’ve wanted to read every Backman I could get my hands on, yet this is the first one I have actually read.
Britt-Marie is a “socially awkward, fussy busybody” who finds herself in a new town full of interesting characters and with a job that brings unexpected responsibility after walking out on her cheating husband.
Britt-Marie’s story is a journey of self discovery at an older age, of small triumphs and of learning what football is all about. I’m not the biggest football fan but it’s not really the main point of the book so don’t let that deter you. 
Honestly, this is no Ove, but Britt-Marie has the same core to it: be kind, love, make friends, take risks with people, don’t judge on first appearances. A Man Called Ove just did this better though and for that reason I can’t give this the same 5 stars I have Ove.

 So I’ve left it way way to long to post this review, I barely even remember the details, so sorry this is a bit of a rubbish wrap up.
So the main take away is I really truly enjoyed Neverwhere. The world Gaiman created in London Below was brilliant. When Richard Mayhew, a bit of a pathetic drip of a man, in my opinion, helps a woman he finds injured in the street, his life changes.
Gaiman plays on the classic human desire for a change of pace, an adventure, something new, the humdrum of a ‘normal’ life not being enough for some people and becoming the unexpected hero, the Everyman caught in a supernatural Good vs Evil story is the great escape from that boring old life.
It’s done well, the characters are all likeable in their roles, aside from Richard being, as I’ve said, a bit pathetic, and the ending is satisfactory.

Sky Song was a bit of a disappointment for me. Admittedly I bought it because of the cover, and it is a children’s book (“middle grade” as it’s called now).
My main problem was an the antagonist who was a cookie cut snow queen without a story. Her backstory is delivered in a prologue which instead of setting the scene, used a style completely different to the story so it felt disconnected to the character.
Eska, one of the protagonists was a good character in that she showed courage, bravery and resilience, but her co-protagonist Flint was incredibly predictable.
The world building, prologue aside, was interesting, but not developed enough for an adult reader. While the story was generally predictable.
On the whole, I wasn’t the target audience for the book, but as someone who often enjoys children’s fiction I found this lacking.

This was my first proper Pratchett book, besides Good Omens. It was the one that you guys voted for the #20readsin2020 (a book chosen by a friend) and my February #unreadshelfproject2020 prompt. I also snuck it onto #20booksin2020 (author from my country) because why not.
Anyway, thoughts on the book. It was alright. I wasn’t blown away. The story was predictable, the characters were pretty basic and the humour is very much the style I would have chosen 10 years ago. That doesn’t mean I didn’t find it funny now, because I did. It’s just I think I’d have enjoyed it more then. 22 year old Kirsty missed a trick by not starting Discworld sooner. Will I read more of them? Sure. Am I going to rush out and buy them all? No I have 251 unread books and 15 unlistened to audiobooks to get through.

636 pages of Japanese police politics was never so enjoyable. 
While I’ve marked the pace as slow, it’s mainly because I’m not a good judge of pace, or because I haven’t read anything fast paced in such a long time I’ve lost the ability to compare. 
Mikami is the Director of media relations. He finds himself stuck in the middle of a battle between Criminal Investigations and Administrative Affairs, while an old kidnapping case (named Six-Four) is being re-examined, a new kidnapping case opens up, and his own teenage daughter has ran away. Mikami used to be a detective with Criminal Investigations, and even though he is now placed in Admin, the detective in him can tell there’s something amiss going on and he can’t help but figure it out. All the while, the local press is getting riled up and making his day job difficult. 
For such a long book, where there is little action (the last it’s pretty intense for about 100 pages towards the end), I had to know what was going on. The story is crafted in a way that you want to understand what the fudge everyone is up to. Why is there another detective seemingly asking the same questions as Mikami? Why does the head of the NPA suddenly want to come visit? What is the connection to Six-Four? Where is his daughter?
The author manages to tie up almost everything very well at the end. He also provided a very handy guide at the front of the structure of the departments and the names of the people in each position. By the end I didn’t need to use it so much though, but it certainly helped in the beginning. 
Not quite a 4 star for me though so I’m going with a 3.75

A short but useful guide to how to limit plastic uses in every day life. Some things are common sense, others are less so.
The information about plastic, it’s properties, and how it affects us and the environment was scary but interesting too. 
Recommend for people who want to cut down on plastic but don’t know where to start.