Dawn

Aimed at student doctors this was an extremely useful study guide for the Human Disease and Pathology section of my nursing degree. I also decided to read it from beginning to end and found it both educational and enjoyable.
Although crammed with medical information it was never too complicated to understand and the handy bullet points gave an overview of a wide range of common and rare diseases and complications. Basically exactly what student doctors would need to prepare them for their final exams and the start of their careers. However, for detailed pathophysiology etc. other medical textbooks also need be perused.
Some of the information, particularly on investigations and treatments, is already slightly out of date and will need to be revised for future editions. Despite this I have no doubt that I will return to this as a reference throughout my nursing career as the rest of the information is unlikely to become obsolete.
There were a few repeated misspellings which had crept past the proof readers (maybe “public hair” really is a thing but I'm sure it's nail POLISH remover as opposed to “nail remover”) but I know that these things don't annoy everybody as much as they do me.
My biggest problem with this book was that the headings are written in white on a yellow background which I found really difficult to read. I assume this is a design feature of the series as a whole rather that this individual book and it is probably less relevant if one is just dipping in and out rather than reading it in its entirety.
I am unable to comment on the Student Consult as I didn't use it but I'm sure that it is handy for those that like that sort of thing (I'm more of a coloured pens and large sheets of paper person).

I swithered between 3 and 4 stars for this book (oh for a 3.5).
I could not put it down, admittedly I cannot resist dystopian fiction especially with a feminist slant. The description, whether landscape or portrait, external or internal, was vivid yet poetic. Some may have found Sister a little thin in comparison to the depth of character around her but I thought the internal glimpses created an “every-woman” that I could entirely relate to.
However, [Data Lost] seemed unnecessary, a clunky plot device rather than adding to the realism. Perhaps the best bits of the book were not there, only in your imagination. I keep imagining a safe full of the pages Sarah Hall didn't put in and wondering if they were just not good enough?
In the end it went too fast, I felt I'd invested so much and was returned so little. I felt robbed and read every word of the acknowledgments and ‘also bys' as if searching for a clue.

I'm always going to be won over by contempory magic more than a swords-and-sandals fantasy and Blunt Force Magic is squarely in the former camp. Davis introduces Janzen Robinson, just your usual delivery bloke with a past who gets sucked into saving the day (and very possibly the world). Along the way we meet up with an intriguing collection of characters who help or hinder him. As a first novel it's well-written with nice twists on fantasy folklore. It does feel rather like it's setting up the world for the next book(s) but it was a fun read and I was swept along even if I saw some of the plotlines coming. I'm sure I'll reread it and I'll definately read the sequels too.

A book “written” by an orca?!? It shouldn't work but it does.

Who better to reflect the idiocy of man than Zindell's newest creation Arjuna. Not only is he a truly believable character but he leaves you pondering your purpose (both as an individual and a species).

The best parts of Arjuna's story follow him as he travels the waters of our shared planet Ocean (for we are presumptuous to call it Earth). Zindell paints such pictures with his words that you could be swimming alongside these magnificent creatures, listening as they sing their rhapsodies.

I was originally loath to read it as I feared it would be a somewhat silly story (I detest anthropomorphism) but it sucked me in and blew me away. I didn't want it to end but end it did, and well. Closed, yet open, complete but unfulfilled.

Zindell wrote my favourite book, Neverness, and the Idiot Gods is almost an updated version of this. Arjuna, like Mallory Ringess, discovers the beauty of mathematics and the poetry of life. They both explore the outer limits of their universes in an attempt to understand the complexities of man and, ultimately, god(s).

I loved this book, not quite as much as Neverness but enough to know that I will revisit it and recommend it to like-minded readers.

This is the final book in Zindell's trilogy “A Requiem for Homo Sapiens”. It has sat, unread, on my bookshelf for 20 years. While I'd loved book 1 (nearly as much as my favourite book, Zindell's 1st novel Neverness) I struggled to finish the 2nd volume the first time I read it and never even commenced the 3rd. Having re-read Neverness and books 1 and 2 in the last few months it made sense to attempt this one and get some closure.
It was so much better than I expected, thankfully there wasn't too much spaceship fighting (book 2 was bogged down with it). The best bits are always when the protagonist, Danlo, is interacting with others, especially his best friend/worst enemy Hanuman. Characters returned from the stars (and previous tales) and were folded back into the narrative. It's was good to have Bardo back, he's always good value.
I always loved Zindell's use of poetry and mathematics, but was disappointed that there wasn't much poetry this time. The use of the words “fearful symmetry” to describe Danlo made me smile but the word “tiger” did get overused and felt clumsy. At times the author writes like poetry, the words flow across the page and paint pictures in my mind. Unfortunately sometimes he almost writes like a child, clumsily stacking words like building bricks. Perhaps this is meant to reflect Danlo's childlike character but I think not.
The philosophies touched on in the previous novels were rounded out and explored well. Can a person truly face themselves, the universe and all it contains and say “yes”? What will one have to sacrifice in order to make this acceptance?
There was an actual proper twist at the end that I did not see coming! Definitely worth a re-read of the whole trilogy again to see if I can spot any clues or to see if it changes the way I read them. Probably not for a while though, these are hefty tomes with this book covering 791 pages. I'm off to read something a bit shorter next!

I bought this for my daughter studying from home during the lockdown. I read Frankenstein when I was not much older than her and was interested to see how Pullman adapted it for the stage.
The play seemed short, it took little more than an hour to read the entire thing (and that includes coffee breaks). I liked that he introduced another female character as they were sorely missing from the novel. Mostly it just made me want to read Shelley's book again, I probably will soon!
The best thing in the book was not the play or the activities for school children to work through (although they were very interesting) but the addition of Dylan Thomas's ‘The Hunchback in the Park'. I've never actually read any of his poetry before but I'm off to buy a book right now!

First up, an admission. I didn't mean to read this, I was planning on reading An American Scream - the biography of Bill Hicks and only realised my mistake halfway through the intro when that very book was mentioned. But I thought, hey, I'll just read this first and get an overview of the guy from his writing (yeah, I've seen the shows - just not for about 20 years though) then read the other book.
Unfortunately this book is actually a bit off-putting. I mean, the content is good, it's all well-written but it becomes repetitive. It's an editing issue rather than content. I'm sure the point was to show how Bill's comedy evolved over the years but he did pretty much the same thing! Basically, there's a bit too much “recorded live”. But the last chapter, where there's an amalgamation of the best bits of his shows, is great.
I loved the bits around the Letterman show and his interviews and letters, even the foreword. That all gave an insight into the guy more than repeating his stand up routines every few pages. Think I'll take a break before hitting the biography!

This is the story of Lenny Bruce, in his own words. A man who used words for a living. A man who was villified for his words. A man who was arrested for his words. Yeah, he's got a way with words but he didn't get away with them (I'm so sorry, I couldn't resist).
The first half of the autobiography is just a joy to read, I whizzed through it, funny yet poignant. Little Lenny, looking for love and acceptance. Funny tales and sad stories with that satirical slant.
After the glossy photos it takes a different path, mostly covering his various trials for obscenity. Bruce details the words of prosecutors and defence, decriers and supporters interspersed with the onstage ramblings that led to the charges.
The world wasn't ready for Lenny Bruce and it let him down. Alll he wanted to do was make people laugh, and make them think, but the clubs (and some countries) just wouldn't let him perform. He used semantics and satire but all the authorities could see was dirty words.
As Dick Schaap says in the Afterward: “One last four-letter word for Lenny. Dead. At 40. That's obscene.”
I found this book funny and heartbreaking and was particularly moved by his final line: “I am influenced by every second of my waking hour.” This is sage advice to the many comics following in his footsteps and to anyone who wants to learn from their own life.

This manual didn't contain any information that I did not already know from my previous studies and nursing. However, it was useful as revision. It was simply written with good illustrations and had been well researched. The final chapter on legal aspects was particularly enlightening!
Having been published in 2007 it could probably be doing with updating in some areas but much of the basic first aid remains timeless.

This was a re-read in preparation for the next installment so I was less involved in the ‘whodunnit' being, as they say, in the know. Instead I enjoyed just losing myself in this portrayal of Victorian Edinburgh. For all the all the death and darkness the city is vividly alive.
The true historical details were initially discovered during Dr Haetzman's studies for her masters in the history of medicine. These incidents and characters are seamlessly integrated into the fiction, giving it credence.
Most fascinating, for me, was the way females were depicted. Strong and inspiring, flourishing despite the obstacles of the era. I look forward to seeing what Sarah accomplishes next.
Overall, a great historical novel, an intriguing mystery with the dark humour to be expected of Brookmyre.
Finally, it is a beautiful book with its ex libris stamp and illustrated drop caps it is a pleasure to look at as well as read.

warning - contains spoilers

I love a post-apocalyptic dystopian novel and can forgive them almost anything. However, I found this just terribly bland. It was a simple plot buried under pretentious quasi-poetic prose.
Basically, educated city girl is told exotic Barbarians are bad meanwhile Barbarians, stuck in the middle, are taught to fear both the Professors and the mutated Out People. City girl runs away and ends up captured/saved by a beautiful Barbarian man. His tribe fear and distrust her, the man emotionally/physically/sexually abuses her (tableaus painted with abstract imagery interspersed with blunt dialogues). She loves/hates him. He dies, she remains - pregnant with his child and planning to rule his tribe.
Ultimately the title itself sums up and overemphasises Carter's point. There are no Heroes and Villians - everyone is horrific, pitiable and ultimately destroyed. There is no catharsis or hope or even a real ending. Their ugly little world will just continue to turn but I don't need to know any more about it.

I picked this up in Oxfam Bookshop last week purely on its cover art - a bizarre cross between Neptune and a crowned man-in-the-moon. Having previously read, and enjoyed (definitely NOT the right word) ‘Lord of the Flies' I also thought you couldn't really go wrong with William Golding - I wasn't entirely correct.
What we read is essentially Edmund Talbot's journal that he is writing for his godfather. He is a rather snobbish young man with few pleasant characteristics. His observations on the passengers and crew are condescending and reveal more about Edmund himself. I didn't really like him, I don't imagine that you are meant to like him, but I absolutely loved the way he wrote! Golding's words are a joy to read, I laughed out loud on many and occasion and adored his many “paranomasia”.
There is little plot, it could be whittled down to a couple of lines and would sound rather dull. Essentially it, like Lord of the Flies, examines the breaking down of society and the darkness that lurks inside each and every one of us, but it's not nearly as good. I'd like to think that young Edmund has learned a lesson from this tale. Perhaps at some point I shall rejoin his journey, apparently there are a further 2 volumes, but I'm in no hurry!

“A genius of spleen” shouts the Independent on the front cover and indeed Brooker is. Unapologetically opinionated he doesn't care if you agree with him, or even want to read what he says, the mere writing of these columns appears cathartic (until the next Big Brother/Apprentice contestant makes him rage himself into a puddle of spit).
Reading this in 2021/2022 it actually made me nostalgic, Aww remember pre-Trump (who makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it-cameo), before Brexit and when swine flu had us all triple washing our hands. Bring back 2007/2008 - all is forgiven!!

The Detective Society are back and this time Daisy and Hazel have a couple of friends to help out! But they'll need all the help they can get to save Daisy's family from being murdered or, even worse, being murderers!
Another rollicking fun read from Stevens, even though I'd guessed the murderer I still didn't work out the motive. Well done Wells and Wong (and Kitty and Beanie).

Concrete Rose follows 17 year old Maverick while he copes with teenage fatherhood and gang life. It's a world I really don't know, I have only read about or seen it on TV. Thomas writes her characters so well you can see them, and feel them, you can't help but empathise. The moment where Mav struggles with Li'l Man's crying brought tears to my eyes. And Dre, man, I had a lump in my throat just wouldn't go for pages!
I flew through this book and would quite happily have spent more time in Maverick and Lisa's company, just watching them be. I'm off to re-read The Hate U Give now to see them all grown up!

This is the tale of the Time Traveller as re-told by the unnamed first person narrator. It's is an easy read with lovely language which paints pictures in your mind (however, my ongoing image of the Time Machine as some kind of mutated Harley Davidson is not entirely true to Wells' words).
Much of the Time Traveller's adventure is set in the year 802,701 AD where humanity has evolved into the childlike surface-dwelling Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks. Initially the Time Traveller assumes these underground engineers have evolved from the working class to serve the gentry- derived Eloi. However, the truth appears to be darker as the innocent, fruitarian Eloi are the fattened calves for the Morlocks. Is this a warning of how machinery will make intelligence obsolete? An example of the horrors underpinning a seemingly utopian life?
This is not a book to give you hope for the future of humanity despite the climactic phrase “even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man”. In Wells' 802,701 humanity may have actually devolved, intellectually inferior to the late Victorian protagonist. Further forwards in time the Earth itself has reverted to a form of prehistoric nightmare bereft of cognizant life.
It offers no security or answers, we will never know where the Time Traveller has ended up. However, despite its dark depictions it is actually a very enjoyable and entertaining adventure story which I encourage everyone to read.

As a child I had my mother's beautiful hardback copy of this book, I can still remember the illustration on the front. It didn't have quite the same emotional edge, reading on my phone, but it is still a sweet little book.
Written from Beauty's perspective, it is the ups and downs of a horse's life. Barely buried beneath are lessons still relevant today - be kind to man and beast, be honest, work hard, be selfless, money does not maketh the man, be kind, be kind, be kind.

Another great outing for the detecting duo, despite being expressly forbidden to get involved! Daisy and Hazel, with a little bit of help from a new friend, prove themselves the best detectives on the Orient Express! Jam packed with suspicious characters, delicious food and topped off with a mysterious and macabre murder.
Steven's tribute to the Agatha Christie classic (which I'm embarrassed to admit I've never read) is an intelligent and enjoyable novel.

This wee book has sat on my to-read shelf for many months . I just didn't feel drawn to it until yesterday - maybe I finally needed to celebrate!
It's a short book of short stories and poems, some by more established authors and other by new writers, published for the first time.
Some were very Scottish and others placeless, all were true and personal to the author. Most moving, for me, were Marianne L Berghuis' family beach trip and the poem from the Edinburgh Syrian Women's Group:

How I Celebrate

They are more like quiet flowers, really,
my celebrations now. They unfurl softly -
more like small gifts of gentleness
than huge horse-heart triumphs.

I don't want to come in first. I want
to reach the end of the day without tears,
to see my friends again and hug them,
to feel depression lift like tiredness
after a nap. This is how I celebrate,
these days: a slow smile for each coffee
finished, each hope nourished, each small
joy.

A selection of short stories that never quite become the horror/thriller that I want from one of my favourite authors. While it's obviously an influence for Stephen King's twisted tales it lacks the disturbing depth I expected.
Some stories are lazy and pointless whereas others nearly get there then pull back at the last moment. I'm surprised the tale that gave this compilation it's title was made into a film. I found it fairly generic and boring.
“Mute” has the best storyline, more Sci-Fi in style whereas “The Dying Room” could have been a great horror but let itself down at the end. I quite enjoyed the weirdness of “‘Tis the Season to be Jelly” but maybe I was just relieved to be at the end of the book?
“A Flourish of Strumpets” was awful and pointless - you've not just let yourself down, you let the whole class down Mr Matheson - and the rest of the stuff was so-so. All-in-all a rather forgetful, uninspiring bunch of stories.

For a fairly thin book it really packed in lots of good information! It was easy to read and I liked the layout - a 2 page spread for each topic with illustrations on one side and text on the other. Obviously they couldn't have been expected to put in everything but they did cover way more than I expected. Only complaints are that sometimes the pictures weren't that clear and I got an extra age 13/14 in my copy which confused me for a second!
Particularly liked the red flag boxes on diagnoses not to miss. I'll definitely be looking at others in this series.

I have a love/hate relationship with Choose Your Own Adventure books. While I obsessively re-read every permutation of The Curse of the Golden Idol in my childhood, I also read the back of the ketchup bottle and the cereal box. I was terrified to miss out on any written word. This meant that I would have to ‘go to' every option and back again, my books were a mess of scraps of paper and bookmarks as I attempted to leave no option unexplored.
I started NPH Choose Your Own Autobiography in the same way, enjoying that the e-book ‘back' button simplified the messy method of my childhood. However, quickly I gave up and decided to read it straight through despite the author's intentions (it's not as though NPH is going to find out and turn up on my doorstep to give me a talking to!).
It really didn't matter! I thoroughly enjoyed walking through NPH's life with him even if it was a bit mixed up. He seems like a genuinely lovely guy who I'd love to just sit and blether with. And there's a cocktail recipe, how to make the best Spaghetti Bolognese from scratch, a NPG cryptic crossword and some extremely embarrassing photos of our host!
Loved, loved, loved it!

I've read some of the community reviews (thankfully before reading the book - my advice, read it first and make your own mind up) and there's a lot of haters out there. I've got to admit I was a bit wary after rereading, and still loving, Ready Player One.

I didn't love this sequel but I did really like it, I was intrigued by how the science of the Oasis evolved. The quests didn't grip me quite as much as RP1 however, John Hughes-land was sweet and nostalgic. I did get a little lost with the Purple One (it just seemed to go on so long) and I'm a bit gubbed with LOTR these days. But then I was sucked right back in and stayed gripped through the final standoffs in the Oasis and reality.

My biggest problem was just how utterly odious Wade had become and so quickly, I was really disappointed in him as I'd totally rooted for him in RP1. But that's the point I guess, you need to to be a total dick to eat humble pie and learn your lesson!

It's a sign of good writing, that I didn't just throw the book down when one of my favourite characters in recent books becomes a knob. I like that Cline is easy to read but has depth and intelligence too. And he throws in references so subtly that I know I'll have missed a good 75%! But it doesn't really matter to the story if you don't get them, it's just fun if you do. And once again my complete lack of knowledge, or interest, in computer gaming wasn't a hindrance and didn't exclude me from enjoying the book at all. I actually really like all the old video game scenes and references in both novels but wouldn't last 5 minutes playing one!

Overall, the novel calls for acceptance and equality, which is a pretty fine message. I particularly enjoyed the examination of what it means to be alive and whether that included AI. Yes, it's been done before, and it's also been done better before, but I think it was an interesting take.

All in all, a big thumbs up for me but I don't think we need anything else from this universe. The characters are going to be pretty busy just living their lives so let's leave them to it. I'll be interested to see what Cline turns his hand to next ...

I read this because I recently watched the film for the 1st time. It was quite different and I believe suffered from the editing decisions forced on the young author by his publishers. Nonetheless, it was an entertaining and gripping mystery but I could have done without the '70s sex and sexism.
Malcolm is not a sexy suave spy, it's hard to imagine Redford playing this version, but you can't help but root for him as everyone conspires against him.
This copy featured a modern “reimagining” of the novel - condor.net - which I found completely unnecessary. It detracted from Six Days of the Condor and should have been placed at the end of the book (or better yet posted on a blog somewhere instead). Not sure if I'll bother with the sequels but this was definitely worth a read.

A great fun sequel where O'Malley really got to play with the world he had created in The Rook. Some of the old characters and lots of surprising new ones. With 580 pages - and these pages bigger than the usual paperback, more like a hardback size - it's a hefty tome (and a challenge for the weak-wristed) but it never felt overlong and was always entertaining. Looking forward to reading the next one but hoping it'll be a bit less unwieldy!