3/5

Audiobook narrated by Damian Lewis.

Another generic Bond adventure with the usual trimmings. Bond's mission is to investigate and disrupt a diamond smuggling racket, leading him to America.

- Fleming's attention to detail is as present as ever, be it horse racing, card games in casino's or describing large steam trains. 

- The plot and characters just didn't thrill me in this one. The book was okay, the characters were okay. The stand out was Felix Leiter who is my favourite Bond character.

- As with most Bond novels, be prepared for heavy doses of racism and sexism. In particular be aware of the Bond girl in this story. Her backstory has sexual assault and rape in it and subsequent trauma and this is dealt with by suggesting that the right man could fix her. 

A fun book for a seasoned Bond fan. New fans should start with Casino Royale.

An immersive and thought-provoking sci-fi novella. A crew of four go out on an exploratory space mission to other worlds and To Be Taught If Fortunate details what happens on that journey.

- I'm new to Chamber's work and I love her world-building. This book is less that 200 pages long yet through every part I felt the environments about me as I read. This also extends to the interpersonal relationships and character dynamics. Each character was their own person and reacted differently to events.

- Always happy for some LGBTQ+ content and I personally particularly enjoy seeing polyamorous and multisexual relationships. There is nothing graphic about the above relationships in this book and it is all so gently and naturally written.

- The descriptions of the xenofauna were amazing. I love the snippets of science that accompanied these discoveries and as someone who has an amateur interest in prehistoric and speculative life,  this book has given me some extra food for thought.

- My only real downside to this book was the ending. The ending made sense and I like Chamber's idea for this book but it did feel a little rushed. I think an extra chapter or so could have fleshed the ending out into something more substantial.

An emotional and enjoyable novella that makes the reader think and in vibe reminded me of The Martian a little. I would recommend this to anyone who like sci-fi with a quandary, natural LGBTQ+ relationships, realistic extraterrestrial life and hypothetical space travel.

A fun, little Murderbot mystery with our favourite paranoid construct.

- This novella seems to be set before the events of Network Effect but is fun and reminiscent of the other novellas in the series. 

- There's less touchy-feely sections of this book compared to Network Effect and a lot more of Murderbot's reasoning and technical skills. The same amount of sarcasm remains.

- I liked learning more about the Preservation and how it works. I hope we get to explore more in future novels.

A solid Murderbot Diaries entry and an enjoyable read.

Finally returned to the Murderbot universe and loved it. Who knew I would identify with this anxious construct more than most humans, real and fictional?

- Returning characters are amazing! I love how Murderbot is growing and changing and the intelligences it interacts with change with it. Also the exchanges with ART are some of my favourite bits of literature I've read for a while.

- I like that Murderbot doesn't skimp on the technicalities and everything unravels slowly and keeps you interesting. Sometimes the prose got a little messy when describing these things but it all made sense in the end.

- The setting was new and interesting and I liked that it involved the right balance of traditional Murderbot action and novel developments.

A wonderful book 5 in the series and now for the agonising wait for Fugitive Telemetry to be available from my library.

Audiobook narrated by Bill Nighy.

An enjoyable and standard entry in the Bond series. All the usual fun elements of espionage, villains and a pretty girl are present.

- The main villain was an interesting if slightly predictable reveal but definitely written so you would hate him from the beginning.

- Not so exotic this installment but as a local of some of the places described I enjoyed hearing them written well and with good detail.

- As with every Bond book I've read, there is sexism, misogyny and racism aplenty. Less racism than Live and Let Die but the sexism made up of the reduced quota on that front. I often wonder what Fleming thought of women. That said, Gala Brand did seem slightly less fawning than the average Bond girl and did things that actually helped.

A fun but not spectacular addition to the Bond series. Fans will enjoy.

Audiobook narrated by Mitch Riley & Peter Godfrey-Smith.

I listened to Other Minds by the author a while back and enjoyed his take on the lives and experiences of octopuses and their near kin so when this book came up I thought I'd give it a listen.

- Lots of detail and complex thought chains. This book delves into philosophy, anatomy, biology, physics and other areas in search of what it means to have a mind. Lots of options are explored and debated well and we'll referenced.

- I enjoyed that we started with earlier life forms from pre-Ediacaran life right through to the modern day, with a good portion focused on earlier life forms and their modern day equivalents/descendents. Discussion of whether their nervous systems, sensory inputs, memory abilities, ability to learn gave them a mind, sentience or conciousness was in depth and well rounded.

- Whilst the above points were both good, audiobook was definitely not the format to ingest this book. If I hadn't already had a basic grasp of a lot of the concepts I would have been thoroughly lost and not having the ability to flick back and reread a section had a negative impact her. Also, due to the complexity of the subject matter at times my brain would skip over bits and I would miss certain points.

Those interested in animal development, ancient life, discussions on the nature of sentience would enjoy this book but I would highly recommend getting it in a physical format.

I went into this book blind, based on a friend's recommendation and the vague description of "It's about two black sisters and their descendents. It's sooo good." I'm not sure "good" is the right word for the raw, serrated emotions this book brought from me. I cried with almost every chapter and have come away forever changed by this book.

- Each chapter has a different point of view, starting with the original sisters and flowing down the generations to modern day. You feel the weight of the ancestor's experience influencing the lives of the descendents. Despite the short time spent with each protagonist, the author's writing draws you in and you feel in your heart for each and every one of them.

- This book documents extremely well the challenges of black people from the slave trade, colonialism, segregation, gaining independence, workers' rights, drug addiction and so much more. This is the sort of book that should be studied in schools and used to spark discussions on history and the awful things white people did (and still do) to black people and forge a better future.

- The language used is beautiful and Gyasi's prose paints all these places and points in time so it's like you're there. The ending of one chapter almost made me vomit the imagery was so strong. It takes amazing skill to write something that produces such a visceral reaction and I am in awe of her talent.

Absolutely and irrevocably scarring in the best way. I will carry Homegoing with me for a long time and I felt it within me. Everyone should read this book.

Audiobook narrated by Liyah Summers.

Drawn in by the beautiful cover but put off by the length, I procrastinated in starting this book for a long time. Eventually, I started it and enjoyed every last moment of this behemoth.

- A very detailed tale. Shannon has exceptional talent in painting a scene, making the reader feel the atmosphere. My favourite part of her writing was the attention and focus she put in each scene. I particularly like when smell was used, especially when characters are recalling memories.

- There are several points of view in this book and each character very different, very interesting and flawed. I enjoyed getting to know them all and by the end even liked some of those I started out hating.

-It is a long and winding tale. Normally I would find that difficult to push through but in The Priory of the Orange Tree this never feels like padding. Each part is relevant and lots of foreshadowing and character work goes into each chapter.

- The world building was excellent. I loved how each society worked differently and how progressive compared to general fantasy they were. Queendoms, same-sex relationships, hierarchies based on skill not birthright all played a part in this book.

- Summers the narrator was an absolute asset to this book. She brought to life each and every character in the book andwove her voice into each place. Her accents worked well and suited each person within the narrative.

I will have a very large book hangover from The Priory of the Orange Tree and very much enjoyed being immersed. I highly recommend this for epic fantasy fans looking for something that is immersive and inclusive with brilliant world building and characters.

A good, autumnal mystery. My mum is a massive Christie fab and throughout my childhood I was exposed to and enjoyed many a cosy murder mystery. Poirot is one of my favourite fictional detectives and I was is the mood for something seasonal and comforting but also new to me.

- A solid Christie murder mystery. If you've read other before, it's not one of the best but it is still enjoyable. I did guess the outcome quite early on but it was fun to see how it turned out.

- This book is set in the late 60s and the contrast to earlier books is quite interesting. I must say I prefer pre WW2 Poirot as in this book he appears quite tired and not the sharp and witty detective of which I am fond.

- The set up and initial chapter was good fun and it was intruiging to glimpse back to how people in the 60s celebrated Halloween as opposed to now.

Enjoyable but not exemplary. Probably not a book I would revisit but I'm glad to have read it and would recommend it to fans of cosy mysteries and those who have already enjoyed some of Christie's works.

As a dungeon master, my players often require me to come up with completely random things off the top of my head. At least I can give them this when they next need some fantasy smut. 

- This is not a serious smut book! It is entirely meant to make fun of RPGs and satisfy the weird.requests of player and in that respect it achieves everything.

- The frequent cheesy D&D references made me laugh. Oddly, it also gave me several ideas for my home game.

Short, sweet, funny and perfect for the ever preparing dungeon master. Your players will love it's humour and it will save you some game prep.