Reviews and Comments

This volume collects twelve Gothic tales, all from the 1890s, with an introduction by Roger Luckhurst. Oscar Wilde is, as expected, stunning, Henry James is also really rather good, and Arthur Machen creates a wonderful air of mystery and menace. Other stories were decidedly mediocre and I'd have happily not seen the ones by Kipling and Croker. Probably good as a survey of late nineteenth century Gothic, and I've at least found authors to pursue, but more mixed as an enjoyable read.

For a book that's intended as the coursebook for an MA module, this turned out (with the exception of one chapter) to be surprisingly enjoyable and accessible. Perhaps a bit more coverage of Twilight, True Blood, and Vampire Diaries than I'd have liked, but still a good read.

I'd forgotten just how much fun Dracula is, and how wonderfully creepy it is in places, despite the rather forced epistolary style and the somewhat anti-climactic ending.

A perceptive analysis of the rise of Thatcherism, and the failure of the left to successfully combat it, this book reprints 19 essays that Hall wrote between 1978 and 1988. A couple of the essays around the middle of the book seemed a bit misplaced, including an analysis of the decline of liberalism around the turn of the 20th century, but so much of the rest of the book could, rather depressingly, have been written last week rather than 40 years ago. In particular, the emphasis on narratives and culture over policies, seems still hugely relevant. Also refers to his concept of "Authoritarian Populism" which, again, seems rather pertinent...

A host of likeable, though varied, characters, good representation and a fun plot. Highly recommended.

Apart from a brief survey of Fevre's distinction between 'sentimental' and 'cognitive' individualism, and the (short) concluding chapter, the book mostly consists of a narrative of the last forty years of UK politics, though through the lens of the Conservative party (i.e., there's no discussion of the internal struggles in the Labour party during the Thatcher/Major years, but there is coverage of the various Conservative leaders during the Blair/Brown years). Thus, it doesn't feel as if there's much/any room for discussion of the thesis that the party is in structural decline, though the narrative did serve to remind me just how incredibly awful they are.

Maybe this is just my inner science nerd, but I was hoping for more of an explanation of how attribution science works. Instead, this is more the story of the creation of the World Weather Attribution project, and their ongoing work. Not a bad book, as such, but a bit unsatisfying.

Diary of a year in the life of a Northern Irish teenager, describing his (and his family's) close connection with the natural world, his keen observations, and their various expeditions, primarily in Fermanagh and County Down, interwoven with stories from Irish history and mythology. Also talks about his internal experience of autism in a remarkably evocative way. Highly recommended.

Given that it took me more than two months to read "Das kurze Leben der Sophie Scholl", this feels like it might be a bit ambitious, but: a) it (or, more accurately, "Inkheart") has a special place in my heart as the book that took my eldest from being able to read a couple of pages at a time to being able to read whole chapters at a time, and b) when I mentioned to them that I was thinking of reading it, but was daunted by the length, they said "go big or go home" which... I think was meant as encouragement ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Admittedly I'm probably not part of the target audience for this book; it was recommended to me by someone with a BA in English Lit, though I never went past O-level, and that was quite some time ago. Still, this felt like hard work. There's a phrase in English something like "wears its learning lightly" and, to be frank, this book isn't it.

This book has been quite hyped, and the reviewer quotes from the back cover certainly sing its praises, but I'm struggling to see how this sets itself apart from the other books that have come out more recently, inspired by the idea of a Green New Deal. If anything, the litany of tales of corruption and regulatory capture just felt rather disempowering, and the concluding chapter, which might have been a chance to pull it all together, just felt a bit all over the place.

Fantastic introduction to Indigenous issues in Canada, structured as 31 relatively self-contained essays, each of which has lots of endnotes/references for those who want to take it further. The author has lots more resources at apihtawikosisan.com

Very good autistic representation and a sweet relationship between the two leads. Enjoyable read.

CW (from the publisher's website): Ableism, graphic violence, allusions to past emotional abuse, abduction, hate groups