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“Abandoned Train Stations” by David Ross
Abandoned Train Stations by David Ross My rating: 4 of 5 stars It does exactly what it says on the tin. A book full of beautiful photographs of abandoned train stations in different parts of the world; some repurposed, some falling into decay. I wouldn’t rush through it as it can become a bit if a blur, but read (looked…
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“Inhibitor Phase” by Alastair Reynolds
Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds My rating: 4 of 5 stars (This review was originally posted on Goodreads in 2021): I kept coming across Alastair Reynolds’ name in the reviews of a few trusted SF-reading friends for a while, and eventually gave him a try myself — and yeah, I found his hard-ish SF books fascinating but honestly difficult, a…
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“Boyfriend Material” by Alexis Hall
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall My rating: 3 of 5 stars (This review was originally posted on Goodreads in 2020): I’m not a romance connoisseur – most of romance-ish stuff I read tends to have at least some sort of other genre crossover – but I gotta admit this one was kinda adorable. Before I get any further, I just…
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“Antarctica: Life on the Frozen Continent” by Conor Kilgallon
Antarctica: Life on the Frozen Continent by Conor Kilgallon My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is perfect to read the week when temperatures are trying to reach close to 40 degrees Celsius.———— It’s a beautiful book, full of gorgeous photos of glaciers and icebergs, penguins and seals, and a few man-made structures. Antarctica is truly beautiful in a…
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“The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs” by Stephen Brusatte
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World by Stephen Brusatte My rating: 5 of 5 stars Dinosaurs are awesome. That’s a fact. Mind-boggling colossal creatures that ruled the prehistoric planet for so much longer than our own meager blip on the planetary timescale. The creatures who probably still would be thriving if not…
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Hot weather? Knit a hat.
Since in 2 days the temperature will hit 99 degrees Fahrenheit / 37 degrees Celsius, it’s only natural that I decide to knit some hats from my leftover blanket yarn. Right?
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“The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry My rating: 5 of 5 stars (This review was originally posted on Goodreads in 2014): *** For those who somehow have no idea about what happens in The Little Prince or cannot figure it out at a reasonable spot in the book, here is a warning – THERE WILL BE, as much as…
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“Hard to Be a God” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Hard to Be a God by Arkady Strugatsky My rating: 5 of 5 stars “Can you read? Off to the gallows! Write verses? Off to the gallows! Know your multiplication tables? Off to the gallows, you know too much!” Obviously, the question is twofold here. First, how long can you stand to be an impartial observer in the face of…
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“Hologrammatica” by Tom Hillenbrand
Hologrammatica by Tom Hillenbrand My rating: 5 of 5 stars The problem was obvious. On one hand, there’s a book in German, not translated.On another hand, there’s Nataliya who does not read German and whose German vocabulary starts and ends at “Spätzle” and “Ein Bier, bitte!” But where there’s a problem, there’s a solution. Obviously. Granted, my freaked out Kindle…
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“Rafa Nadal: The King of the Court” by Dominic Bliss
Rafa Nadal: The King of the Court by Dominic Bliss My rating: 2 of 5 stars There’s no question that Rafael Nadal is the shining star of tennis at a great time for the sport, being one of the Holy Triumvirate of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic. This book should have been perfect for me. I like tennis, and I love…
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“The Tiger and the Wolf” by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky My rating: 4 of 5 stars “She had three skins; none of them fitted her, and two of them were at war.” It’s not Adrian Tchaikovsky’s fault that I shamelessly prefer science fiction to fantasy; that I keep looking for those tell-tale clues in fantasy books that suggest that all that magic…
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“The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot
The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot My rating: 4 of 5 stars (This review was originally posted on Goodreads in 2021): You guys. YOU GUYS. So this is where all those lines come from? “April is the cruelest month”, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust” and “Consider Phlebas”? Well, damn. I was a science major in…
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“Wool” by Hugh Howey
Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey My rating: 4 of 5 stars (This review was originally posted on Goodreads in 2012 and updated in 2021): Back in the dark ages of early 2012 I came across a short story “Wool” by a then relatively unknown author Hugh Howey, and before I knew it, I flew through the entire pentalogy of it…
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“The Rise and Reign of the Mammals” by Steve Brusatte
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us by Steve Brusatte My rating: 5 of 5 stars “It was the Age of Dinosaurs, but in the smaller and hidden niches, it was already the Age of Mammals.” There’s something fascinatingly majestic about dinosaurs. Those colossal creatures ruling prehistoric planet, cut…
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“Chernobyl” by Ian Fitzgerald
Chernobyl: The Devastation, Destruction and Consequences of the World’s Worst Radiation Accident by Ian Fitzgerald My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve been quite fascinated with 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant explosion for a while, having read quite a few books on the subject (and perhaps having almost memorized the excellent HBO mini-series about it as well as even watching…
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“Amazing Stories of the Space Age” by Rod Pyle
Amazing Stories of the Space Age: True Tales of Nazis in Orbit, Soldiers on the Moon, Orphaned Martian Robots, and Other Fascinating Accounts from the Annals of Spaceflight by Rod Pyle My rating: 5 of 5 stars Ever since humanity started acquiring means to leave the surface of our planet and even graze the tantalizing expanses of space, it has…
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“An Island” by Karen Jennings
An Island by Karen Jennings My rating: 3 of 5 stars It’s sad and painful when human life is reduced to mere existence, tightly circumscribed by fear and loneliness and need to hang on to something after life has taken everything from them already. Mundane, pathetic and tragic mixed together, and you know nothing good can happen here, and you…
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“Guns” by Stephen King
Guns by Stephen King My rating: 4 of 5 stars (This review was originally posted on Goodreads in 2013) 2022 reread: The more things change, the more they stay the same. A decade later, King’s essay still is not only excellent but very relevant. —————2013 original review: The recent gun debate in America has reached the ‘chicken vs. egg’ level…
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“Daisy Jones & The Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid My rating: 4 of 5 stars “After we walked out of there that night, I thought, Holy shit. Daisy had just joined our band with top billing and fundamentally changed the dynamics of the group in a way that none of us had done before.” I was actually surprised how much…
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“The Promise of Lost Things” by Helene Dunbar
The Promise of Lost Things by Helene Dunbar My rating: 2 of 5 stars I wondered if maybe I didn’t like this book because I’m too old for it — but no, that’s not it. I do expect a bit of a different feel from Young Adult fiction, but I’ve read quite a few excellent offerings that appeal to my…
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books are life 
Hi! I’m Dania Khan, a book reviewer on Instagram and would like to quote a line from your ‘Piranesi’ review. It’s the line – ‘This is like a dream, slow, strange and intensely atmospheric, unbelievably immersive and engrossing.’ I would not be plagiarising your work, but instead, I will be using it to prove or further a point I will be trying to make in my review. My account is @bookomaniacal if you want to DM there about your response as I wasn’t sure as to how to contact you.
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As long as you credit it, I don’t see a problem.
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Ok! Thank you so much!
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