August books

Just wrote an opening sentence here and then realised it was almost exactly the same as the start of August. Oops. Maybe I'll just get on with the books and try and post something update-y later/separately.

Complete mixed bag this week - I think a lot of you would like Olivia and basically everyone should be reading Rejected Princesses online already.

Kraken - China Mieville
Olivia - Dorothy Strachey
The Bird of the River - Kage Baker
The Encyclopedia of Early Earth - Isabel Greenberg
John Aubrey: My Own Life - Ruth Scurr
Mr Majeka on the Internet - Humphrey Carpenter
Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics - Jason Porath

August reviews

Kraken - China Mieville Well this was a very strange book. Then again all his books are strange and I was fairly engrossed in this one. It helped that the central character works in a museum and the central mystery starts in the Natural History Museum but also it had some interesting magic and a fascinating series of rivalries and doublecrossing. It just might have been a smidge too complicated for the state of my brain right now.

Olivia - Dorothy Strachey I enjoyed this a lot. I said on twitter it's a bit like the Chalet School only if crushes weren't discouraged and Hilda & Nell really were a couple. It's very sentimental but I liked the writing style and although it got a little overwrought in places it was only as appropriate when dealing with teenaged girls. I don't know why I hadn't come across it before, I loved finding older examples of LGBTQ+ books and this is a lovely one. Plus a lovely Girls Own story too technically!

The Bird of the River - Kage Baker Dad keeps recommending Kage Baker books to me and this is the first I tried. It's an interesting story which brings in dangerous jobs, orphans, blended families, mixed race families and an intriguing murder plot all without ever feeling too heavy handed for me. I'll definitely be trying some of her other books.

The Encyclopedia of Early Earth - Isabel Greenberg Picked this up in the library when I was there for a meeting. It's beautifully drawn and tells a creation myth (or two) alongside a love story with a lot of biblical references re-drawn. I really enjoyed it.

John Aubrey: My Own Life - Ruth Scurr I really enjoyed this. I can't quite remember who got it for me but it's a biography of the father of the modern biography John Aubrey written as if it's his diary. The style means Scurr has obviously taken a few liberties, but everything is very well sourced, and it makes it very easy to read. Aubrey was desperate to protect buildings, natural history, manuscripts and everything else from the cutting room floor of history and although he barely published anything in his life he's had a surprisingly large impact on all kinds of fields since (biography obviously but also archaeology, natural history, antiquarian studies...) He also met and corresponded with the most incredible range of people in a really turbulent time (he lived through the Civil War, the Restoration and then the Glorious Revolution).

Mr Majeka on the Internet - Humphrey Carpenter Fun, quick read. I loved these books as a kid and I didn't know there was an internet one. It uses Gulliver's Travels as it's structure and it's kind of hilarious and lovely. And took about 5 minutes to read but I'm still counting it :-P

Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics - Jason Porath How to review this book? If you've ever explored Jason's website (https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/) you'll already know how brilliant these are and if you haven't then you should! The stories he picks are fascinating, his research is really impressive and he does a great job at always pointing out when the existing sources are biased or heavily fictionalised already. And I love look at all the detail in the illustrations. Took me most of the year to read but thank you

astoreth!