hoarding-books

[hoarding-books]

Awkward Family Photos

By Mike Bender and Doug Chernack

I found this in a charity shop, thought it'd be a light-hearted break of a book - and I was right

Collected within are stories and photos submitted to their site, AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com, and they are real signs of the times - matching all-denim ensembles, tie-dye shirts and bowl-cuts all included

Honestly, I'd probably not have bought it full price, at a book store, and have little else to say about it. But if you also come across a copy second-hand, or want to see if the website's still up, then by all means - go for it

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The History Gossip

Katie Kennedy

This is one of those books with a historical event for each day of the year (yes, including 29 February), and going into it, I was pretty excited, despite history not being a major interest of mine

These events are all described using contemporary and modern slang, with references to events like Boris Johnson (former mayor of London, former UK Prime Minister and clown of epic proportions*) knocking over a child while playing rugby with them. All of which are compiled in a glossary at the back

Unfortunately, that's where errors start cropping up. Now, it's one thing to repeat a word, or overlook a typo when you can easily understand what's being said (I found something like 3 instances of this sort in the book. My copy of The Lightning Thief only has one (1) such error). At least 3 people messed up for a printed book - sold in a major bookstore, this was from Waterstones', not Amazon - to include the wrong year of an event

Again, history was never really my thing, so I can only name the one issue definitively, but Henry VIII was NOT crowned such in 1590. 1509, the other year mentioned in the section, is believable, but 1590 was about 20 years into Elizabeth I's rule, and at least 25-ish years after her father's death. A mistake like that - and any more I simply lack the knowledge to recognize - are on the author, editor and proofreader, and throw all confidence in the 'facts' within into question

Overall, while I finished reading this book, I can not recommend it, and especially not for anyone just wanting a casual foray into history. Honestly, it probably should've been a red flag when the author's name was literally only mentioned once, ever, in the middle of the blurb

*Unofficially, there've been memes about his own toupée for over a decade. He's incompetent, and got Covid numerous times during lockdown by breaking his own rules - alongside other party members - but he's not done anything nearly as terrible as Trump yet (as far as I'm aware)

[hoarding-books]

I can behave normally around books

[hoarding-books]

Above image is a pride flag with every color band represented by a NASA image. White is Earth clouds, pink is aurora, blue is the Sun in a specific wavelength, brown is Jupiter clouds, black is the Hubble deep field, red is the top of sprites, orange is a Mars crater, yellow is the surface of Io, green is a lake with algae, blue is Neptune, and purple is the Crab Nebula in a specific wavelength.

[hoarding-books]

Les Fragments Du Cœur

By Marion Fritsch

This was a French poetry book I saw extracts of on TikTok, and poetry's not usually my first choice - especially romantic poetry - but Fritsch is good, if you have an intermediate understanding of the language.

Admittedly, I knew from the start that I was never going to understand every word, as someone who only really took French to A-levels, but this only makes the poet even more impressive. You only need to get the gist, and it can still effectively affect your mood.

Overall, I would recommend 'Les Fragments Du Cœur' for those with a decent level of French knowledge

[hoarding-books]

The Dead of Winter

The Demons, Witches and Ghosts of Christmas

By Sarah Clegg

This was one I saw in a promo email maybe a week or so before Christmas and immediately knew either myself or my sister would love it. And it was a pretty brilliant read

Clegg doesn't just discuss the Krampus, she talks about a number of winter-time traditions across Europe, along with their connections to each other and their known- and theorised- history. Because as we all know, even history I'd littered with unreliable sources pushing their own agendas

Besides the obvious research, though, Clegg adds her own anecdotes from travelling to watch - and partake in - these traditions, giving some snarky insight in footnotes throughout the book.

Clegg is another author I'll be keeping an eye out for, considering the amount of personality in her writing is just as captivating as Robin Ince's works, which makes me think it's actually just passion. Either way, with under 200 pages, this was a fine length to unwind and relax after the previous book

[hoarding-books]

The Importance Of Being Interested

By Robin Ince

Admittedly, I finished this one back in December, but it lived up to my expectations. Ince delivers perspectives - both his own and those of experts- on different scientific concepts, without being a scientist himself.

Basically, Ince spoke to experts, and gives plenty of anecdotes, rather than equations, to discuss things like what happens after death, or how some people can get science and religion to kind of mesh, and it's written with the same kind of charisma as Bibliomania was, which kind of makes me think that maybe the thing about his writing I find so magnetic might just be passion or interest. At the start and end of each chapter are quotes, just to round them out

While this one was definitely relatively long ( about 380 pages), I would say it was well worth both the wait, and a read

[hoarding-books]

The Peasants' Revolting... Lives

By Terry Deary

I got this a few years ago - I couldn't find it in a store, but initially found out about it from The Peasants' Revolting... Crimes, back pre-pandemic (pre-release, really)

After what I remember of the previous book, which I remember I loved, and with this being a Terry Deary , I, naturally, had high hopes for this one... Which were not quite met

My guess is that I was still getting over Bibliomaniac, considering how none of the books I've read since have felt like something to gush over, and this one was the same

Nostalgia can taint expectations- we all know that- so maybe this one actually wasn't as good as Deary's last adult's book, but it still felt a bit lackluster. Doesn't necessarily mean it was, just that that's how it felt with where I am right now

Overall, another book which isn't bad, and I certainly enjoyed it more than The Rules to Break, but I won't be reaching for it again any time soon. Terry Deary's still good, and it's still a manageable history book, even if you're not necessarily a history person

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VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS

Volume 3: Still Awkward, Still Raining

By Rob Temple

Honestly this is my third time trying to post this and I'm kind of sick of having to type it out, even if I never check for more than typos anyway. I found this in a charity shop, and would probably call it a relatively successful fing, considering I managed to finish it in maybe a week, if that

It's one of those comedic compilation kind of books, with multiple brief entries per page (generally), which I would ordinarily find a bit hit-or-miss, but this one was alright

If there was such a thing as a literary pallette-cleanser, I might consider this an option, at least once. With it having been published in 2017, some references to the royal family might be considered outdated, but some of the book absolutely felt like a call-out

Overall, average, but not bad

[hoarding-books]

VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS

Volume 3: Still Awkward, Still Raining

By Rob Temple

Normally this king of book- a compilation of smaller things, like a social media compilation- would be hit-or-miss, but this one was good enough that I finished it in only a few days

I found it in a charity shop, but that's not all that relevant. What is is that it was published in 2017, so jokes and things to do with the royal family are a bit out of date, but that's unavoidable

Honestly, half of this book felt like a call-out - not unexpected, as a Brit. It was mostly sections related to alcohol and things like that I, personally, couldn't really relate to, but the overall book was alright. Not 'rave and tell everyone you know, but if there were book pallette-cleansers, I might consider this as an option

Overall, not bad, but also not extraordinary

[hoarding-books]

Queer Heroes of Myth and Legend

A CELEBRATION of GAY GODS, SAPPHIC SAINTS & QUEERNESS through the ages

By Dan Jones

This was another book which was good enough to finish- I was around page 43, maybe, when I remembered this book last month, and did actually manage to finish it in the 18 days between remembering it and the end of Pride Month, even if I kept forgetting to share my thoughts until now

Queer Heroes, as I'm just going to call it from here on our, gives a humourous chapter title (accurate or not- see 'Loki: The chaotic bisexual fart boy of Norse mythology' and 'Zeus: The supremely problematic power-daddy of the Greek gods'), followed by an overview of examples to back the author up.

Admittedly, I never really saw Artemis being a lesbian, and was sure there was at least one tale of her having a male lover, but can see how her hunt could have been seen as a haven for both a-spec and WLW girls at the time. Nor did I ever see Sir Lancelot as bisexual (but considering all I have to go on are vague snatches of memories of BBC's Merlin, there could be more to his character than I know

This book didn't make me feel almost hyper while reading it, and I didn't feel an urge to share what I'd read, but I'll probably read the other side by the same author, QUEER VILLAINS of MYTH and LEGEND, considering it wasn't bad- I've just read other books which felt more right relatively recently

So if you want to read an amalgamation of summarised parts of myths you might not get to otherwise, this could be a good choice

[hoarding-books]

The Rules To Break

By Richard Templar

Honestly, while I basically managed to finish this one, I probably shouldn't have read it right on the heels of Bibliomaniac. It's not a bad book, per se, but just didn't quite stand up to the book which had left me so happy

In 'The Rules to Break', Templar goes through 100 of the 'rules' people (at least in England) get told growing up, and talks through his interpretation of both the rule and it's place, or lack thereof, in your life, in order to reframe it, before then giving 10 he fully agreed with.

Again- this was not a bad book. Just the wrong timing for me to find it

I find it unlikely that I'll reread this one anytime soon, but it's still promising that the only things I didn't finish were the tester sections for Templar's other books (mostly so I could move onto something else)

[hoarding-books]

Bibliomaniac

An Obsessive's Tour Of The Bookshops Of Britain

By Robin Ince

(Tumblr/my phone aren't letting me take and upload photos as I go, so this'll just have to do)

So. This was one of the books I asked for for my birthday, and I've been slowly working my way through it- not due to any fault of either the book or the author, but I can't craft while holding a book, and with there omly being so many hours in a day...

Anyway, I'd only read a snippet of the preface before, and had no real idea what I was getting into

I would probably describe 'Bibliomaniac' as something like a travel log, except Ince focuses less on the places he travelled post-lockdown, and more on the people who attended his bookshop tour (even the ones which couldn't actually be hosted in said bookshops) and the books he either bought or otherwise received

Ince has a friendly, if perhaps scatterbrained /easily distractible tone on the page, and it certainly helps to keep you sucked in, with plenty of footnotes to keep you interested in his journey

Each of the eleven chapters is opened with an illustration of part of a map, with that leg of the journey roughly marked off, and some of the bookshops doodled along the way, which might be pretty helpful if readers wanted to try and visit any of the mentioned independent bookshops. There is also an index of books he mentions, bookshops visited -or otherwise mentioned- and references for each chapter, if you're interested in that kind of thing

Overall, by the end of the book I both didn't want to reach the end, and wanted to be able to start some of my other books, in the best way. Ince generally sticks with pretty common language, so I'm pretty sure I had nothing to complain about

(I'd say it's in the top 4 books relating to books I've read, but so far that's as many as I've managed, so you'll just have to take my word on it)

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Mid-read ramble

Ok, so I'm about halfway through reading 'Bibliomaniac' by Robin Ince- which felt like it'd probably be either relatively mediocre or the perfect hype book for his other books, all three of which I got for my birthday ('I'm a joke (and so are you)' and 'The importance of being interested' - which was the one I wanted most, so I'm saving it for after Bibliomaniac)

Honestly, this one felt half like it'd be somewhat relatable, and maybe suggest some places within my local cities I've never known of, but it feels... I don't know

Bibliomaniac is just Ince retelling a book tour he did after lockdown was lifted and the official tour had to be postponed/cancelled, but it doesn't feel like it's about the locations themselves or the books he got there, but the people, and he goes on tangents, but everything feels - familiar, I guess?

Don't get me wrong- I've never read any of his books before, and I'm not planning on starting his others until I finish this one, but if they can maintain a similar feel, somehow- like a discussion rather than a dry study, which I tend to avoid anyway- if they can do that then I'll just have to keep an eye out for more of his books

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Women In Science

50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed The World

Written/Illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky

Honestly, this was one of my sister's finds which just happened to look intriguing, and like a fairly light read.

I'm pretty sure the women in the book are ordered by when they were born, simply based on the contents page, considering how random the order seems otherwise

For each 2-page spread, barring a couple of extra timelines/honourable* mentions and one on lab equipment, the left is composed of an illustration of the person, with a quote by or about her, a few facts, and doodles relating to her work. The right has names, job titles, more factoids and doodles, and a handful of paragraphs about the person's life

Naturally, this makes for easily consumed information- it's just that I can never really remember names and dates myself. But Ignotofsky also points out just what these pioneers of science had to deal with- slander, being banned from science labs, having to work from broom closets and attics, or having their work stolen

In addition, while none of the illustrations are in a realistic art style or colour scheme, Ignotofsky still managed to make them clearly different, and show that there was racial diversity, with outfits relating, presumably, to either jobs or the woman's time period

Overall, 'Women In Science' serves to share the stories of women who had to fight for even the chance to learn, how things have improved, and how things can still be better

*Not 'honorable', as I am not American

** There is a chance of some of the women having died in the 6 years since my copy was (apparently) published

[hoarding-books]

The Word Hord: Daily Life In Old English

By Hana Videen

Following on from how much I loved reading 'The Etymologicon' (Mark Forsyth, probably a solid 9/10 read but from before I made this blog) I thought this looked interesting- one of the best parts of learning languages is looking at the different patterns and making connections. That's somewhat what this book is about

From daily life to poetry, 'Word Hord' collects words found throughout medieval England

Honestly, this is well written, and the vast majority of it is fascinating, particularly the parts referencing words which still exist, or which morphed into other words not too dissimilar to those found in manuscripts and other writings from around the 8th-12th centuries, like the 'hring-finger' (ring finger) or 'cū' (cow, apparently still pronounced as such in certain northern/rural parts of Britain)

Honestly, my only complaint's something unavoidable- the 'word-hord's at the end of each chapter are basically dictionary excerpts, even if it means you can reference and find spellings/pronunciations in set places

Overall, a brilliant read. If you have any interest in languages, or the history thereof (and are confident in modern English, preferably), I would highly recommend 'Word Hord'

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Gender Queer A Memoir

By Maia Kobabe

Honestly, I don't think I even need to reason away why I chose this book- it looked interesting, and potentially informative, without going on about complicated things I wouldn't understand

I was right

There were definite differences- I was never going to have the same experiences as the author, even as another ace, but the thing is, I still felt seen

Again, some differences- Kobabe seems to be from the US, for one, and while I don't even like the idea of sex (if you can't stand comic pages depicting or referencing sexual or medical acts, or nudity in general, this will not be for you), but eir journey still feels familiar in parts

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend letting younger teens see due to aforementioned nudity, but if you're questioning, especially your gender? It might give the perspective of someone who's more than been there Overall, a pretty good read, informative without being overwhelming