C.H. Lynn gives just enough information to let readers know the situations Miss Belle and Lacey run into. And despite the subject area, the spice level is low allowing readers who want to read a little bit of risque content at a happy level. #books#BookReview#bookstodon@bookstodon
You are much older, somehow guests staying over doesnt excite as much. Then you break free, realise the journey each life had to take. Back to the circle of life again. The endless love and excitation but now there is a stability to this. This love is calmer. It isn't obsessive, it understands. They don't tell you, but getting old is #beautiful
RICHARD OSMAN’S LATEST Thursday Murder Club adventure is his best one yet. Impeccably plotted, full of wit and fun, it’s also a marvelously observant portrayal of the power of love and friendship. A MINUS
#BookReview Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, tr. Angela Rodel
Read on audio
Pub. 2020
This book centres around the narrator and someone he meets throughout the novel, Gaustine, who’s obsessed with the past and how people relate to it as they age, particularly those who develop conditions like Dementia or Alzheimer’s. He sets up “clinics of the past” where people can immerse themselves in a decade that brings them comfort.
This is such an engaging idea and the 1st part of the book which explores how it could work is so enjoyable:
“Reading magazines and newspapers from 30 or 40 years ago, what was worrisome then is not worrisome now.news has become history. Breaking news has long since broken. The paper is slightly yellowed, the scent of damp wafts from the magazine’s glossy pages. But what is going on with the ads? The ones we passed by with annoyance back then have now taken on a new value. Suddenly the ads have become the true news about that time.”
The aim of the therapy is to draw out conversation from the patient as they recognise items, allowing them to recall lost memories. This improves their mood and they relate better to their family.
Following the popularity of the clinic, Gaustine decides to create entire cities set in the past. In one based in the 70s, a patient runs away, and when he returns he reports:
“everyone was being subjected to an experiment. They were playing out the future if you can believe it guys? Some people are walking around with wires in their ears and little TV sets in their hands and they never look up”
Word of the clinics spreads and people want to join who have no memory problems and things then start to get really twisted! some want to join out of nostalgia and others through fear of the future.
The 2nd part pushes things further, exploring a world where European countries decide to hold referendums about living in the past.
This is a novel full of ideas; disturbing, funny and poetic. #bookstodon@bookstodon
Today's indie author review! Chaos and Conjurations by K.L. Noone & K.S. Murphy:
"An entertaining MM romance set in a Regency England ... builds well on the plot arcs of Spells and Sensibility. Recommended, especially for fans of alt-historical fantasy romance."
Today's indie author review! Sting in the Tail by TA Moore:
"A horror-filled, dark fantasy tale that doesn't shy away from the grit and gore. The connection between Ledger and Wren filled with snarky banter and a steamy romance. Scarily entertaining and worth the read!"
Just posted some brief thoughts on Life by Keith Richards - which I had expected to find interesting (as a fan of the band), but ended up finding fascinating, and turning into an admirer of the man (and not just because he's amazingly still alive!)
A dementia diagnosis reveals clues to a decades-old mystery in this new novel from the author of The Secrets of Strangers – Charity Norman’s third to be shortlisted for NZ’s Ngaio Marsh Awards.
"Cascade had the most memorable quotes I’d seen in a while: "it was orderly, a very Canadian kind of apocalypse.”... A four-star story about environmental disaster, the sudden emergence of magic and psychic abilities in groups of people, and the seeming sleep of reason in everyone concerned."
@bookstodon My #review of #TheVoidAscendant (The Void #3) by #PremeeMohamed is now live! A fantastic conclusion to the trilogy that breaks your heart and puts it back together again in a way that's not quite perfect, but still good anyway.
Today's indie author review! Into the Glittering Dark by Kelley York:
"A spectacular, immersive wonderfully written novel, a rollercoaster ride of excitement, suspense, and tragedy, with a budding romance and magic. I highly recommend this outstanding novel. I was thoroughly captivated and never disappointed."