Be Excellent To Each Other

1. The Sentinel - Lee Child

25th Reacher book. Usual type of Plot, Reacher arrives in a town, helps people, hits people and leaves.

1. A Deadly Education - Naomi Novik.

A story of a school for wizards, one which is safer for kids than the outside world but not by much, and in which everything is trying to kill the pupils. No teachers, because it's not safe enough, so instead the school itself looks after education, but capriciously. Great. I had two criticisms; occasionally the language gets in a tangle and I had to read sections a few times to follow what was going on (like when you get lost in double negatives). And once or twice I thought it showed its "oh god, please grab me for Netflix!" cards a bit too much - overly descriptive to no good effect, and I almost expected a stage direction. But outside of that, there are compelling characters, it's funny in places and vaguely unsettling in others, and the protagonist is full of hate for everyone but you learn why and watch her change through the book. I'll read the second, for sure.

2. Proud - Gareth Thomas.

His autobiography covering his rugby career and his first Ironman. About him living a lie for most of his life, and the problems it caused him, and him finally coming out.

I have always liked Alfie, he was an awesome rugby player and a great ambassador for the sport. Also one of the few openly gay sportsman, and it was a hard read learning how complex and hard emotionally his life was.

2. Sad Little Men - Richard Beard. The author is about the same age as Johnson, and went to a similar school, Radley. He now lives nearby, and uses pandemic walks to ponder the significance of a private education and how it shapes people. It mirrors, though more eloquently, my own pandemic experience, which made it particularly compelling, and I was already sold on the thesis - that traumatising kids with boarding schools is deeply unhealthy. I liked especially a sequence at the end, where he outlines the case for how such a school might produce a dangerous Johnson - and then says ah, but I was trained to argue either side of it, and then pick whichever side was most personally advantageous. Which I think is a much better criticism/satire than just making the argument.
There's a podcast from The Bunker with the author if you're interested.

What the actual fuck?

Haha oh my

How tall is the writer? I am guessing 5'

Is that hair that stretches down to her ass, or hair that is as long as the hair growing in the protagonist's natal cleft?

I think it's hair that's the same length as her black ass.

I think it's hair that's the same size as a certain colouration of donkey

That's what I said.

First book of the year!

1.) Seveneves - Neal Stephenson.

The moon explodes! Complicated stuff happens, resulting in the sole seven surviving female members of the human race being on the ISS! Five thousand years later, more complicated stuff happens! I really like Neal Stephenson, and have read most of his stuff. I can imagine this book irritating someone who is not a fan immensely though.

Hang on a minute, everyone is talking about her hair and not her TITS WITH EYES

2.) Neuromancer - William Gibson.

Man, this book takes me back. I first read it when I was about 15 and fucking loved it, and still do. What's not to love? Scheming AIs, Rastafarian astronauts with sawn-off shotguns, beautiful women with mirrored eyes and razorblade fingers, a grand heist, insane clones and genetically engineered ninjas.

How the hell is this not a Netflix / Amazon Prime series? Come on Bezos, pull your finger out and turn this genre defining novel into something awesome. But make it better than Johnny Mnemonic.

1) Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay

In true Jazzy fashion 100% of the books I've read so far this year have been by Linwood Barclay. This one was good! Apart from the "my tits are looking at you" extract above, obv. Who did it? Why they do it? What they do next? Find out in Trust Your Eyes!

Here's what Jazzy said about it: https://www.beexcellenttoeachother.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1073654#p1073654 . Clearly she has a higher tolerance for THE ALL SEEING TITTY than I do.

Yes, yes, alright, Jazzy! I already bought one on special, and I'm looking forward to popping up with it read very soon but now, um, crikey.

Ha! I still have about seven to read, but I haven't bought them yet. I need to make some space by reading what I already have.

I know I really enjoy them, but I think that's because they are easy reading when I am tired and I like books where the same characters run through them. Also, he does keep me guessing in some places.

Nothing deep and meaningful, but that's not what I'm after 30 mins before I go to sleep either.

Up your game, Joans.

3. The Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu. First book of a science fiction trilogy that reveals its plot and intrigues slowly and cleverly. The author's aiming for 'pure' sci-fi, not a commentary on current life, and succeeds, I think. It also, perhaps because it's from China, doesn't hit the sci-fi tropes I might have looked for. I enjoyed it, and I'll get onto the second eventually.

3.) Sharpe's Tiger - Bernard Cornwell

My Dad has all of these, so I'm going to try gradually going through them in chronological order. A young Sean Bean takes part in the Siege of Seringapatam, against the forces of Tipu Sultan. There's a secret mission! Tigers! All the Wonders of the Mysterious Orient! An evil sergeant and some drunken incompetent officers! Cornwell seems to be pretty solid at this sort of stuff and can probably write these in his sleep now. I like them, they're pretty easy reads and contain all the old-timey fighting adventures i could desire.

4. Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World - Otto English. Does a reasonable job of not allowing this to just be a gotcha-style debunking of 10 things, with a look at why such myths come about. I think there are one or two errors, or at least debatable points expressed as fact, but it's readable and interesting without being essential.