Gav Reads

A Web Log of Reading

  • Critique: Optimist Cleaver’s Last Transmission by J. C. Hsyu

    I’ve just updated my Read in 2023 page (this has since been updated to move the commentaries) with a ‘hot take‘ review of Optimist Cleaver’s Last Transmission by J. C. Hsyu:

    A courier is late for a handover, and then their night gets worse. Interesting set-up but the payoff lacked sense. It fell apart when revealed. Had some nice SF elements.

    I also gave it a star review of 2/5. I am sort of uncomfortable with my score and I’d like to explore the score and the story in a bit more detail.

    If you plan on reading this story in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2022 issue please read the it first and then come back.

    Warning: Potential Spoilers Start Here

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  • 2023: Playing Catch-Up

    The theme of 2023 is Playing Catch-up. I have this looming feeling of unfinished business where my reading is concerned as it feels like I’ve failed to keep promises to myself. And this weblog is part of my rebuilding trust with myself (deep or what).

    In this post I’m trying to get an overview of my reading intention for 2023.

    The question is, ‘How am I going to ‘catch-up’?’

    I plan on doing three things:

    1. Catching up on the books/series I’ve started
    1. Continuing with my Extended Dark Tower Reading Challenge 
    1. Reducing the overflowing physical and Digital TBR piles.
    2. Bonus Challenge: Read More Shorter Fiction
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  • Best of 2022 by Others

    I have read 26 books this year (I may finish my re-listen of Hogfather by midnight on New Year’s Eve so I’ll have read 27 books) and only 2 (I am as shocked as you!) were published in 2022.

    I’m posting more about my reading plans for 2023 in my next post. But if you check out my A Curated TBR Selection & More Books? posts you should spot a few 2022 releases… which will include some of the ones mentioned below.

    If you are as curious as me as to what has risen to the top peoples’ conscious for their ‘best’ books of 2022 then this is the post for you.

    Of the lists I’ve seen, I’ve highlighted some that I’m interested in reading… at some unknown point in the future.

    This post is also a chance for me to reflect on my taste in books at the end of 2022, also at some point in the future, as well as actually go through the best of lists I’ve found.

    I’ve also noted at the end of this post some books from 2022 that I want to read that didn’t seem to come up.

    But let us begin going through the lists…

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  • Review: The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal (2022)

    The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal (2022)

    Synopsis: Tesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is revelling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the newlyweds can get back to canoodling—and keep the real killer from striking again. 

    One Word Review: Crochet!

    One Sentence Review: A fun and twisty tale of murders, honeymooners and cocktails. 

    One(-ish) Paragraph Review: The Spare Man’s contains lots of brilliant parts: there is the normalisation of a mix of gender and pronoun expressions; the main character’s real world experience of her physical and mental trauma; the different gravities for the different passengers throughout the ship; the dialogue that works deftly around a time delay (you’ll see); the unsettling nature of the narrative; And everything keeps moving and keeps the tension. But there was also some awkward parts, at least to me. There is a scene where the two main characters leave another person alone in the next room way too long and that felt unrealistic and jarring. And there are a couple of moments where I felt I’d lost the thread or questioned the character’s uncharacteristic actions. I also think I missed out by not knowing some romance genre cues.  With minor faults,  I found The Spare Man very enjoyable and the reveal was a clever surprise. I’ll definitely read more Mary Robinette Kowal. 

    Stars:  3.75/5

  • A Little Reading Space

    Many moons ago, I had a book blog*(with the same name as this one). I quite enjoyed it. Then it sort of faded. I changed, book blogging changed, and it didn’t feel the same. 

    I am not trying to recapture that feeling by starting a ‘new’ blog. This was a post you may not have gotten to see (I started this post on the 8th Sept 2022) as I was planning a private blog to log my reading. 

    But partly what changed my mind was wanting a space to explore and then share the feelings that I’ve had from reading Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey and wanting to somewhere to say how much I’ve loved The Salvagers Trilogy by Alex White. 

    Another thing is I want a place where I can hold myself accountable to my now overwhelming book stacks (thank you BookTok). 

    I am going to set myself some rules (TBC). I’m definitely planning on sticking with books already on my shelves (physical & virtual). And not to start chasing the ‘latest’ or most ‘buzzed’ books (though I do plan on scattering some 2022/23 releases into the mix of the coming year’s reads). 

    I don’t know what sort of posts I want to add. Mini-reviews/reading summaries/spoiler-filled reflections are all options but I have added a page called Books Finished in 2022 that has my star ratings of what I’ve finished this year. This was originally shared on the Bird Site but that doesn’t look as stable as it once was. 

    I do want to log what I’ve read and be able to look back at my 2023 (and beyond) reading. And I got a bit nostalgic looking at my old posts and remembering forgotten books when I was considering reopening a reading space. I had completely forgotten that Anne Rice once answered questions for me!! 

    I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts on my #ExtendedDarkTowerReadingChallenge – based on a list by The Truth Inside the Lie – I’ve only just finished ‘Salem’s Lot so I do have a long way to go. 

    Happy reading and I’ll speak to you in the next post. 

    Gav.

    * I have found (I think) all my posts (over 1,100 of them!) though annoyingly I can’t find a batch of images to go with them. I want to reinstate the reviews at a minimum though I may reinstate more (if I can find the missing images).