Review: Holiday in Death

Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Got to this book in the series at the right time of year (purely by accident!) as this is set around the Christmas period with a serial killer that dresses up as Father Christmas. Alongside this we have Eve trying to figure out what to by those people who have become part of her life over the past year since marrying Roarke, and decide what exactly to get the man who has literally everything. This one has another great mystery story arc, with a pair of creepily close twins who run a dating agency together, but I did feel that the character of Eve had become a bit of a parody of itself with Eve's grumblings and tough attitude almost magnified to comic proportions. Still, there were some nice dynamics in her relationship with Roarke and it was good to see more character development of Peabody and some of the other supporting characters.

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Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman! by Richard Feynman

It's really really hard to rate a book when its a memoir (or collection of transcribed conversations/lectures in this case) as it is someone telling you about their life, and who are we to say whether we enjoy reading about someone else's stories or not?!! Its a weird thing to do, in my opinion.  But hey ho, this was a fascinating insight into a brilliant man who had an incredible thirst for knowledge, passion for learning and curiosity about the world around him.  I love to watch videos of Richard Feynman talking as his sheer joy in explaining things is contagious, even when he is explaining why he can't explain something to you (see here for an example). I actually alternated between the audiobook of this and a physical copy and thought that the narrator of the audiobook did a fantastic job in mimicking Richard's vocal mannerisms, and just think it is a shame that he couldn't have told the stories himself.

Giovanni's Room

One of those few rare books that gave me lots of feels, this was beautifully written and heartwrenching to read. This is the story of a man unable to come to terms with his sexuality and then finding someone with whom he has a true connection but letting his own deep set prejudices plus the stigma of the times cloud his feelings.  I cannot begin to think about how this must be for someone, bearing in mind this is set in the 1950's where society wasn't quite as accepting as it is now (in most places anyway). 

Absorbing and beautiful.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

For me, this would fall somewhere between 3 and 4 stars - it was an excellent story with good plot twists and great relationships, particularly between our heroine Agnieszka and her best friend Kasia, but some points were a little *too* convenient. For example, Agnieszka discovers that she has a latent magical ability that develops, but the rate of which this happens is a little too unbelievable, one minute she is fluffing spells left right and centre, next she is summoning great illusions and casting spells that haven't been cast for hundreds of years!  The other part of the novel that felt a little odd for me, and i never thought that I would find myself writing this, was the sex scene...yes yes, that's right, I thought the sex scene was not in keeping with the rest of the story and was unnecessary! It kinda came from out of the blue (so to speak) and didn't really have much bearing on anything else in the story to be honest.  The rest of the book read like a grown up fairytale which would have worked perfectly well without the scene in question.  Still, it was a great read however I read it in fits and starts (as I have been having staying awake for more than 10 minutes at a time whilst reading recently) and I really would have benefited from reading it in bigger chunks to appreciate it more fully.  Plus the main baddy is great and would happily read a stand alone about them alone!

Still Here!

Hi!

Sorry for being so pants and not updating for a little while, been a little busy at work, life etc. and generally been rubbish at doing things like updating blogs!

I'm still reading as much as I can, and have updated my Read Harder list as appropriate, although I have read lots more that don't fit into those categories.  Still, it gives me some challenges to complete before the year is out.

I will try harder to update more often, but for now I'll leave you with a little music, with Notre Dame...

Girl in the Dark by Anna Lyndsey

Fascinating memoir from a girl who develops a light sensitivity so severe that she is unable to leave a completely blacked whilst being covered layer upon layer of special clothing. Confined to this half-life of darkness she has a trusty radio and audio books for company, plus her boyfriend in whose house she is confined as she would be unable to function on her own some days.  There is an interesting psychological perspective into how she finds ways to survive her situation and to cope with those days where dark thoughts creep in and she has to decide if it is worth carrying on.  There are good times too - we have almost heart wrenching memories of the life before and holidays with her partner, and the small advances that she makes, the joy of being able to stand on her back garden at night to look at the stars.  It also made me stop and think about what I would do if that were to happen to me, how would i cope if things that I loved were suddenly beyond my ability - reading, listening to music, even the internet and gaming. Would I be as strong and resourceful as Anna?

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Aaaaaaand done!  An okay story about Maia, an half elf/half goblin who is the (unwanted) fourth son of the Emperor living on a secluded estate in more or less exile, when an unfortunate 'accident' occurs which kills the Emperor plus other three sons, meaning that Maia is the heir to the throne.  From here on in his life becomes a whirlwind of protocols, servants and adjusting to court life, which was interesting, I liked this part of the story.

But, oh my, the names! So many of them and so complicated they were!  Each person seemed to have a number of names, ranging from titles, to formal, to informal, males and females would share the first part of their names but have a different suffix according to their sex and marriage status.  Plus the place names.....unfortunately I am the kind of reader who likes to be able to pronounce everything in the story so this issue caused a number of stumbling blocks for me.  My only other 'issue' was the inclusion of goblins.  Not that I am at all fantasy racist, just that I had a hard job imaging the goblins as they were represented in this novel, let alone an elf/goblin mixture...I still picture goblins as the things from the Hobbit films, or from the Goblin Banks in Harry Potter... (or David Bowie!) and also elves apparently have very animated ears...read it, you'll see!