Nosemonkey > Recent Status Updates

Very readable and great full-colour illustrations are making this the most engaging book on Japanese history I've read so far. Good stuff.

Charity shop purchase a while back, picked because I recognised the name. Didn't know what to expect - but so far seems to be a straight-faced Flashman, to an extent. Readably entertaining so far.

First few chapters are very good, with some solid examples (a fair few of which I'd not heard before) and a strong point of view. Then it starts feeling like he's run out of things to say a bit. Hoping it'll pick up again...

Still can't tell if I like this or not. Seems a bit heavy-handed and obvious, as well as full of rather anachronistic behaviour. Can't tell if this is deliberate and I'm missing the point, or it's just not as good as the blurb and four star average rating on here makes out.

Cheerful reading for cheerful times...

Considering this is a novel in verse based around a "Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare" conspiracy theory, I should hate it. But it's really rather good.

This has been sitting on the shelf for the best part of 20 years. I finally feel in the right mindset to tackle it. Paradoxes, logic puzzles, theories of AI from long before today's AI was a thing (this was originally published in 1979, and this is the 1999 anniversary edition), Lewis Carroll, and a fair bit of both maths and philosophy. And I'm enjoying it so far. Good stuff.

I'd forgotten I was reading this one. Enjoyably written, and easy to follow. Will try and remember to pick it up again soon - but the economics of WWI and the Great Depression is a bit much for a Saturday night...

A bunch of influential business classics here - good to have, even if some of the case studies are rather outdated now (a fair few of the examples of best practice companies are now bankrupt...)

This is rather good so far. Very readable. Haven't yet worked out the structure (and from reading an interview with the author I'm not sure there necessarily was a real plan behind what is apparently a mishmash of genres), but the multiple perspectives approach is a good one for this kind of novel. Like it.

Good stuff, this. Surprisingly entertaining, considering the constant underlying theme of the Holocaust...

Random charity shop buy based on a vague recollection of the name, and really rather good so far. Feels a bit Pynchon in the rhythm, but much easier to follow.

Much more sex than I was expecting. Also lots more obsession with black men shagging people's wives. And people being turned into animals for some reason.

Still very readable, though - despite the tiny print I'll probably work my way through all three volumes one of these days.

This is very nicely paced indeed. Someone needs to turn this into a TV series.

Another random charity shop purchase, and very promising so far. Well paced, easy reading, an obviously considered world without belabouring the point, building up subtly. Very neatly done - hopefully it keeps this up.

Jumping back in having lost this for a few weeks. Continues to intrigue.

Tricky to keep track of everyone, it must be said - but good for building a solid impression of the development of Al-Andalus within the context of both modern scholarship and past historiography.

Solid start. Very readable, in that "this is basically a YA book, but as it's fantasy we'll market it to adults too" kind of a way. A bit of Jonathan Strange to it, which is no bad thing, but simpler. Is depth going to come? Possibly.

Good whenever I pick it up. Why don't I pick it up more? It's too heavy, that's why...

Culturally unfamiliar, but highly readable. Good stuff so far.