By @edent · Book Review · 1 comment · 350 words
I was 25% of the way through reading this when I purchased the sequel. It is an utterly compelling murder mystery - not least because the death doesn't occur until well after the halfway point. Who dies? Why? Who did it? Why?! With every paragraph I felt myself trying to decipher the characters' motives. A […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review · 3 comments · 1,550 words
I think I highlighted something in every chapter of this book. If you live an average lifespan, you'll probably be alive for around 4,000 weeks. I've used up over half of mine. Fuck. This book is a slightly curious mix of the practical and the philosophical. It makes a compelling case that, insignificant as we […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review · 3 comments · 400 words
This is a fucking audacious thriller! I literally stayed up way past my bedtime, tearing through the chapters, gasping out loud. The core of the story is simple - a woman steals her dead friend's manuscript and passes it off as her own. Will she get caught? The hook (for want of a better term) […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review science · 300 words
This is an excellent pop-science book. It gently weaves a personal tale (nearly getting crushed by a whale) into the current cutting-edge research of animal communication. It takes in along the way philosophy, geopolitics, and the crushing inevitability of death. At its heart is this question - if modern AI is brilliant at extracting semantic […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review · 200 words
I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series - Her Majesty's Royal Coven. The basic premise is that there is a secretive cabal of witches which run a shadow government organisation. There's skulduggery, slattern-ish behaviour, and sexy scandals. And lots of violence and death. And a big dollop of modern-misogyny to make it particularly […]
Continue reading →By @edent · autobiography Book Review · 250 words
What is our life? Is it the days we live or the way others perceive us? The comedian Adrian Edmondson steps us through his life. But, as he points out, what we remember and what we're interested in isn't necessarily the most significant part of the subject's life. In 2016 I adapted William Leith’s book […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review feminism history · 1 comment · 700 words
I'm not a paper fetishist. The smell of old books does nothing for me. But I'll admit to a slight sense of wonder when I held this 86-year old book in my hands. What is feminism? This is an out of print, and somewhat obscure, attempt to answer that question. Out of the shadow of […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review Sci Fi · 2 comments · 250 words
Turns out, you can just relive your childhood for £2.99 on eBay! I was exactly the right age when this book came out, and I was the perfect target audience. A boy in a sleepy suburb finds a mysterious device which allows him to understand every language. Could it be… Aliens?!?!?! It's all biking to […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review fantasy · 1 comment · 200 words
My friend has published their first novel - and it is a cracker! After a calamitous accident, the Fairy realm is cut off from the mundane world. Only one trickster remains, a sprite by the name of Mainder who is now trapped on our side. All seems to be going well in his little corner […]
Continue reading →By @edent · Book Review · 3 comments · 1,000 words
I want to live in the world where this book is true. But I think I'm too cynical. Adam Greenfield has expertly diagnosed the problem we're all about to face. With ecological collapse comes societal breakdown. This "failure cascade" will bring unimaginable suffering. What can we do to give mutual aid and help save ourselves […]
Continue reading →