I loved The Good Place, especially the discussions of Moral philosophy, so Michael Schur’s How to be perfect was the perfect and hilarious introduction.
Source- My own
Genre- Non- fiction
Most people think of themselves as “good,” but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “good” or “bad”—especially in a world filled with complicated choices and pitfalls and booby traps and bad advice. Fortunately, many smart philosophers have been pondering this conundrum for millennia and they have guidance for us. With bright wit and deep insight, How to Be Perfect explains concepts like deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism, ubuntu, and more so we can sound cool at parties and become better people.
Book review
I loved The Good Place, especially the discussions of Moral philosophy, so Michael Schur’s How to be perfect was the perfect introduction to this complex subject.
Michael Schur’s writing is hilarious, making what could be a dry and boring subject fun and I loved the little footnotes by him and his Professor Todd May the Philosophical Professor. His writing style makes sense of various philosophical discussions such as the Trolley Problem, Contractualism, Utilitarianism, etc.
Schur discusses the teaching and thoughts of various philosophers from Aristotle to Kant to Scanlan to Phillipa Foot – their pros and cons and how they relate to modern-day problems. Questions such as Should I tell my friend her shirt is Ugly or I screwed up should I say I’m sorry.
I really enjoyed the discussion around unintended consequences and how difficult it is to try and lead an ethical life as well as the realities of trying to be charitable.
There is of course, chapters dedicated to the Trolley Problem and What we owe to each other – major concepts in The Good Place ( an some of the funniest!)
The book has made me want to learn more about Moral Philosophy but after reading this book I do feel more optimistic that perhaps even making small changes can help me be a better person.
Perfect for
People who want to dip their toes in Moral Philosophy and of course fans of the Good Place.
The Stranger Times newspaper continues to report strange and weird things in this hilarious urban fantasy set in Manchester- Here is my review of This Charming Man by C.K Donnell.
Review
(may contain spoilers for The Stranger Times
After I finished reading The Stranger Times ( review here) , I had to jump into This Charming Man by C. K Donnell, the second book in this urban fantasy series and I loved it.
I received a copy of this book for a free and unbiased opinion,
How did I miss The Stranger Times by C.K McDonnell here is my review of this hilarious, action-packed urban fantasy filled with memorable characters and set in Manchester.
The Stranger Times is dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable. At least that’s their pitch. The reality is less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered, and foul-mouthed husk of a man who thinks little of the publication he edits. His staff are a ragtag group of misfits. And as for the assistant editor… well, that job is a revolving door–and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who’s got problems of her own. When tragedy strikes in Hannah’s first week on the job, The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious investigating. What they discover leads to a shocking realisation: some of the stories they’d previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker forces than they could ever have imagined
Review
One of the amazing joys of being a book blogger is discovering new books that I never would have normally come across. The Stranger Things by C K Mc Donnell was one of those books and I devoured it book in one sitting.
I received a free copy of this book for a free and unbiased opinion.
This urban fantasy has everything a cast of memorable characters -I’m not sure if I admire or despise the outspoken, drunk, intelligent Bancroft the trigger-happy editor of The Stranger Times. Grace, Reggie, and Ox form the rest of the team at The Stranger Times newspaper ( funny extracts included in the book) and are all quirky and fascinating characters that bring this urban fantasy to life.
Hannah is the new assistant editor escaping her former life as a socialite and is thrown into a new world of UFOs, aliens and monsters and has a bit of fright when she learns ( along with the rest of the team ) that one of these things is real.
The underlying plot of good vs evil, secret societies and magic are well written and the book has a fresh take on this by basing this in a Northern City in England- Manchester and its people form part of the cast in its own way. The plot and underlying mystery kept me reading right till the end. Some vivid and original descriptions made an impression.
But the main strength of the book is the humour which is truly British ( and Northern) and there were several times when I couldn’t stop laughing.
I have to confess I jumped straight into the sequel The Charming Man as soon as I finished.
Perfect for Fans
The Dresden Files (review here), The Tarot Card Sequence, ( review here) Swashbucklers (review here),Terry Prachett
Here is my review of Where it rains in Colour by Denise Crittendon-an Afro-futuristic science-fiction
Lileala has just been named the Rare Indigo – beauty among beauties – and is about to embrace her stardom, until something threatens to change her whole lifestyle and turn the planet of Swazembi upside down.Colonized by the descendants of Earth’s West African Dogon Tribe, the planet of Swazembi is a blazing, color-rich utopia and famous vacation center of the galaxy. No one is used to serious trouble in this idyllic, peace-loving world, least of all the Rare Indigo. But Lileala’s perfect, pampered lifestyle is about to be shattered. The unthinkable happens and her glorious midnight skin becomes infected with a mysterious disease. Where her skin should glisten like diamonds mixed with coal, instead it scabs and scars. On top of that, she starts to hear voices in her head, and everything around her becomes confusing and frightening.Lileala’s destiny, however, goes far beyond her beauty. While searching for a cure, she stumbles upon something much more valuable. A new power awakens inside her, and she realizes her whole life, and the galaxy with it, is about to change…
Review
Where it rains in Colour by Denise Crittendon is the perfect title for this book- I felt like I was hit was explosion of colour as I was reading.
I received a copy of this book for a free and unbiased opinion.
The world-building in the book is unlike anything I have read before- so vivid and rich, bursting with colour and originality Swazembi is a modern, high-tech future society but with a difference, it is bright, vivid, happy utopia where colour plays an important role. The people in Swazembi have skin that can shimmer and shine future leader Lileala has been chosen as the Rare Indigo because of her outstanding radiance. The technology in the book is truly unique and magical, people get swept up in gusts of wind to travel to destinations which I think should be viable mode of transport in the future.
While I liked Lileala arc from a girl spoilt and pampered for her beauty that’s places values outer looks to a person concerned for other people and an ambassador for peace, I really didn’t warm to her as character.
I struggled with the pace of the book and just couldn’t follow the story at places which was disappointing as I wanted to like it so much. I wish I had been aware of the glossary at the end of the book which may have helped a little ( I which all ebooks would put the glossary in the front of the book!). I’m still not sure what the overall plot of the book was after finishing this
Even though this book wasn’t for me, I imagine many other readers will love the descriptive prose and the world-building.
It’s another Tuesday and another Top Ten- this time it’s the top ten books on my winter to read list.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
It is going to be a challenge narrowing down my list to just ten but here we go.
The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix
I read the intriguingly titled The Left Handed Booksellers of London ages ago and I imagine The Sinister Booksellers of Bath which is set in the same world will be just as good- urban fantasy with booksellers.
Gin Palace by Tracy Whitwell
This looks a fun, urban fantasy featuring an accidental medium and set in Newcastle, my favourite ‘toon’ ( city).
The Spice Road by Maya Ibrahim
This YA fantasy set in middle-eastern inspired world and featuring magic and spice looks like colourful and epic read.
The Launch Party by Lauren Forry
I love locked room mysteries and all it its permutations, so a murder mystery set on a isolated hotel on the moon is something I have to read.
Love will Tear Us Apart by C K McDonnell
I’ve been working my way through The Stranger Times books and I cant wait to read the next book in this urban fantasy series set in a madcap newspaper in Manchester with eccentric staff- a newspaper dedicated to documented the weird and unusual as the while dealing with ghosts,possession and nutty health farms.
The Discord of Gods by Jenn Lyons
The sheer size of he book has put me off reading this but I am going to finish the last book in the epic fantasy series, The Chorus of Dragons.
Song of Silver ,Flame Like Night by Ameile Wen Zhao
I fell in love with this cover and blurb , I think it will be a colourful epic fantasy
One for My Enemy- Olivie Blake
I can’t resist another retelling of Romeo and Julliet- this time featuring warring witching families.
Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
I have heard such good things about this book, that sounds like a cross between Harry Potter and the Hunger Games.
The Blue Bar by Damyanti Biwas
I was so excited when this this mystery set in the underworld of Mumbai was one of the Kindle Prime Picks.
Thanks for stopping.by
Please leave a link to your TTT, so I can read your TTT
I’m so pleased to be a part of the Random Things Tours blog tour for The Witch and The Tsar a historical fantasy by Olesya Salinikova Gilmore- an imaginative retelling of Baba Yaga’s story.
As a half-goddess possessing magic, Yaga is used to living on her own, her prior entanglements with mortals having led to heartbreak. She mostly keeps to her hut in the woods, where those in need of healing seek her out, even as they spread rumors about her supposed cruelty and wicked spells. But when her old friend Anastasia—now the wife of the tsar and suffering from a mysterious illness—arrives in her forest desperate for her protection, Yaga realizes the fate of all of Russia is tied to Anastasia’s.Yaga must step out of the shadows to protect the land she loves.As she travels to Moscow, Yaga witnesses a sixteenth century Russia on the brink of chaos. Tsar Ivan— soon to become Ivan the Terrible—grows more volatile and tyrannical by the day, and Yaga believes the tsaritsa is being poisoned by an unknown enemy. But what Yaga cannot know is that Ivan is being manipulated by powers far older and more fearsome than anyone can imagine.
Review
The Witch and The Tsar by Olesya Salinikova Gilmore- is a beautifully written retelling of Baba Yaga’s story turning her into a feminist heroine.
I’ve come across Baba Yaga and her mobile house as the evil witch in several fantasy books and TV shows, so it was refreshing to read a different on her story.
Yaga is the first-person narrator aware of her own immortality as a half-goddess yet also aware of her vulnerability as a half human and has a great love for Russia. It is this love for Russia and her love for Anastasia, the Tsarina that forces her to move from the safety of the forest into a battle to save the people of Russia from the Tsar or Ivan the terrible.
Yaga is the woman of place not just because of her magic but because she is a woman happy to be alone when marriage was the only way for a woman, a worshipper of the old gods instead of being a Christian and she does pay the price by being alone for a long time. I thought this was a realistic way of portraying a different version of her and possibly a nicer way of humanising a woman who is usually depicted as an evil and immoral witch.
The world-building and descriptions of Russia during this dark and cold time was detailed and beautifully written. The old gods and myths of Russia and interwoven in the main historical plot and plays a major part in the story rather than just being an add on. I haven’t read a lot of historical fiction based in Russia and after reading this I certainly will be reading more
There is plenty of action, brutal violence and unpleasantness as would be expected in a book about Ivan the Terrible but there is plenty of magic and romance- I loved the relationship between Vasily and Yaga.
The author has a detailed Glossary at the end ( which I wish I had picked up on earlier) which helped me keep track of the characters- sometimes the almost familiar names did make it hard to keep track of the characters ( this is in keeping with names of the period) as well as the old gods and their powers. And don’t forget to read the authors note at the end which was just as fascinating and puts the book in context.
Content warning
References to deaths of children, threats of sexual violence
Olesya Salnikova Gilmore was born in Moscow, Russia, raised in the United States, and graduated from Pepperdine University with a BA in English / political science, and from Northwestern University School of Law with a JD.She practiced litigation at a large law firm for several years before pursuing her dream of becoming an author. She is happiest writing historical fiction and fantasy inspired by Eastern European folklore. She lives in a wooded lakeside suburb of Chicago with her husband and daughter. The Witch and the Tsar is her debut novel.
I’m pleased to be part of the Random Things Tours blog tour for Dashboard Elvis by David F Ross. Here is my review
Renowned photo-journalist Jude Montgomery arrives in Glasgow in 2014, in the wake of the failed Scottish independence referendum, and it’s clear that she’s searching for someone.Is it Anna Mason, who will go on to lead the country as First Minister? Jamie Hewitt, guitarist from eighties one-hit wonders The Hyptones? Or is it Rabbit – Jude’s estranged foster sister, now a world-famous artist?Three apparently unconnected people, who share a devastating secret, whose lives were forever changed by one traumatic night in Phoenix, forty years earlier…Taking us back to a school shooting in her Texas hometown, and a 1980s road trip across the American West – to San Francisco and on to New York – Jude’s search ends in Glasgow, and a final, shocking event that only one person can fully explain…
Review
Dashboard Elvis is Dead by David F Ross is just as intriguing as the title!
I received a copy of the book for a free and unbiased opinion
Dashboard Elvis spans decades from the 1980s to the 2000s following the life of Jude Montgomery. Jude is the main character, and her perspective is the one that dominates the story with a brief perspective from Jamie Hewitt a guitarist whose one song burnt brightly and then the band crashed. But Jude remains an enigmatic character whose behaviour seems strange and forms strong attachments with very little basis. But like a complicated onion, each chapter slowly reveals a little more about Jude and why she is the way she is until the final reveal at the end that makes sense of the whole story and how these characters and events are all connected. And like peeling an onion you may feel a little tearful.
The book features some historical events as seen through Jude’s eye and the impact of this on her life including 9/11 and the Scottish referendum. The description of 9/11 was harrowing and had an emotional resonance I wasn’t quite expecting.
I did struggle with a few initial chapters from Jaime’s view with its very authentic language but I’m glad I stuck with the book.
This is a book about loss and grief, but thriving in any way you can- even though Jude can be a difficult character to understand, I couldn’t help but root for her as she overcame obstacles and struggled to form meaningful relationships – she was one of those characters that left me thinking about her long after I finished the book
About the Author
David F. Ross was born in Glasgow in 1964 and has lived in Kilmarnock for over 30 years. He is a graduate of the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art, an architect by day, and a hilarious social-media commentator, author and enabler by night. His debut novel The Last Days of Disco was shortlisted for the Authors Club Best First Novel Award, and optioned for the stage by the Scottish National Theatre. All five of his novels have achieved notable critical acclaim and There’s Only One Danny Garvey, published in 2021 by Orenda Books, was shortlisted for the prestigious Saltire Society Prize for Scottish Fiction Book of the Year. David lives in Ayrshire.
Terms and Conditions of giveaway
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Here is my review of Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson an urban fantasy
Review
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson has been on my to-read list for a long time and I was so excited to finally bought the book. But I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I thought I would, which was surprising.
HMSC has a cast of four childhood friends- Helena, the tough head of the Coven, Niamh, the powerful witch who has left the coven to become a vet in Hebben Bridge, Elle, a healer who has hidden her power from her husband and family and Leonie, the witch who has left the government coven to form her own inclusive and diverse coven.
The once-tight friends are thrown together when a prophecy about The Sullied Child seems to come true and then thrown apart when confronted when their own fears.
The best part of the book besides the premise was the diversity in the characters- there is a range of people of all races, ages and genders and they all fit organically into the story and are the story.
The book had all the things that appeal to me-magic, strong and diverse women, unapologetically morally grey women and plenty of action ending with an almost cinematic finale. So why did I feel disappointed after finishing the book?
I didn’t like Helen and felt perhaps her hatred was to push the plot and create conflict – her inability to contain her prejudices and her reaction to this seemed a little extreme (although I am aware there are woman like in real life, so maybe not so OTT).The men in the book are mostly window-dressing without any depth, and some of the plot outcomes were a little predictable, especially the whole prophecy of an evil child who will destroy the world.
There is a humdinger of a cliffhanger which was truly breathtaking but again left me disappointed and not to keen to pick up the sequel.
I think this book will appeal to a lot of urban fantasy fans. I will probably read the sequel, but I don’t think I will be quite so excited.
I’m pleased to share an excerpt from Under a Veiled Moon by Karen Odden- historical mystery set in old London
Book description
September 1878. One night, as the pleasure boat the Princess Alice makes her daily trip up the Thames, she collides with the Bywell Castle, a huge iron-hulled collier. The Princess Alice shears apart, throwing all 600 passengers into the river; only 130 survive. It is the worst maritime disaster London has ever seen, and early clues point to sabotage by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who believe violence is the path to restoring Irish Home Rule. For Scotland Yard Inspector Michael Corravan, born in Ireland and adopted by the Irish Doyle family, the case presents a challenge. Accused by the Home Office of willfully disregarding the obvious conclusion and berated by his Irish friends for bowing to prejudice, Corravan doggedly pursues the truth, knowing that if the Princess Alice disaster is pinned on the IRB, hopes for Home Rule could be dashed forever. Corrovan’s dilemma is compounded by Colin, the youngest Doyle, who has joined James McCabe’s Irish gang. As violence in Whitechapel rises, Corravan strikes a deal with McCabe to get Colin out of harm’s way. But unbeknownst to Corravan, Colin bears longstanding resentments against his adopted brother and scorns his help. As the newspapers link the IRB to further accidents, London threatens to devolve into terror and chaos. With the help of his young colleague, the loyal Mr. Stiles, and his friend Belinda Gale, Corravan uncovers the harrowing truth—one that will shake his faith in his countrymen, the law, and himself.
Here’s an excerpt from the book to tempt you!
Having finished writing my daily report, I left Wapping, walking past the London Docks to Sloane Street, where the Goose and Gander stood at the corner of Hackford. The sight of it brought back the afternoons Pat Doyle and I would come here, our spirits buoyed by the shillings in our pockets from working on the docks. We steered clear of most public houses—like the English Pearl, a few doors down, or the Drum and Thistle—but we two Irish stevedores found a welcome here, in this low-ceilinged room with a pair of rusted swords and a Celtic Cross over the mantle. Joining in on the bawdy choruses after a few pints made Pat and me feel like men—Irish men—and, for a while, as if we belonged. I’m not proud to admit it, but I liked it when someone who wasn’t Irish was scowled out of the place. Life was hard on the docks. The dockmaster, named Smithson, always hired Pat and me as a pair because he knew that together we could accomplish four times what any other single man could. It didn’t keep Smithson from treating us the worst, though. If there was a swan-necked cart with a wheel that wasn’t working properly, that would be ours for the day. If we took time to fix the wheel, our wages would be docked.
Sometimes we didn’t get a cart at all and had to haul the goods on our backs. If a bag of tea burst because it was roughly handled or at the bottom of a heavy pile, we’d be blamed. Pat and I kept to ourselves, mostly, though after a time we banded with a few older Irishmen who were hired regularly. We did our work, held our heads down, stayed out of people’s way. Still, most days Smithson would shout at us for being feckin’ Irish eejits, which worried me because Pat was quick to throw down whatever bag he was toting in order to free up his fists, and I’d have to remind him that we needed the money more than we wanted Smithson to pay for his spite. I hated it too. But we had no choice but to stay and take it.
It was the docks that taught me what being Irish meant because growing up in my partof the Chapel, Irish was all I knew. Like hundreds of others during the famine years, my parents sailed from Dublin to Liverpool, making portions of that city along the Mersey River more Irish than English. My father was a silversmith, and a skilled one, but there wasn’t enough work for all the silversmiths who had landed in Liverpool, so he and my mum came down to the Irish part of Whitechapel. With anti-Irish feeling running high, shops elsewhere in London wouldn’t hire a man with black hair and blue eyes named Corravan, with an accent straight out of County Armagh. My mum never told me so, but my father did what many Irishmen had to do—plied their trade sideways. He became a counterfeiter, making two-bit coins in a cellar somewhere, with fumes that clung to him when he came through our door at night. He died when I was three years old, too young to remember him well, but old enough that the odor of suet and oil and the bitter tang of cyanide had rooted itself in my brain. During one of my earliest cases in Lambeth, I walked into a house and recognized the smell straightaway, like I knew the smell of tea or hops or onions. That’s when I realized how my father had put bread on our table.
The rancor against the Irish grates at me sometimes. Not to say we don’t deserve some of it. Four years ago, two Irishmen in Lambeth threw firebombs into one of Barnardo’s English orphanages, to protest that Parliament had just prohibited the Irish from setting up orphanages for our own. The next morning, the corpses of twenty-six children were laid out on the street and on the front page of every newspaper in London. For weeks after, shame hacked at my insides. I could barely meet anyone’s eye. But we Irish don’t all deserve to be tarred with the same brush, and it’s hard to bear the ugly opinions printed in the papers. Nowadays, I stop reading if I catch a hint of hatred in the first lines, but there was a time when I would read the articles and letters from “concerned citizens” and “true Englishmen” because I wanted to know the worst that could be said of us. That was before I realized that words could be infinitely malicious.
There was no worst; there was only more. I still remember the conclusion of one letter because it seemed so preposterous: “The Irish are the dregs in the barrel, the lowest of the low. They kill their fathers, rape their sisters, and eat their children, stuffing their maws with blood and potatoes indifferently, like wild beasts.” Well, that wasn’t true of any of the Irish I knew. Indeed, as I laid my hand on the doorknob of the Goose and Gander, I was reasonably certain that inside I’d find Irish folks sitting, eating normal food, and playing cards. I pushed open the wooden door, greeted the barmaid, and asked if O’Hagan had been in.
She shook her head. “Not yet. He usually comes around eight.”
I’m pleased to be part of Austenprose booktour for Death on a Winter Stroll by Francine Mathews- murder mystery set in Nantucket post pandemic
Nantucket Police Chief Meredith Folger is acutely conscious of the stress COVID-19 has placed on the community she loves. Although the island has proved a refuge for many during the pandemic, the cost to Nantucket has been high. Merry hopes that the Christmas Stroll, one of Nantucket’s favorite traditions, in which Main Street is transformed into a winter wonderland, will lift the island’s spirits. But the arrival of a large-scale TV production, and the Secretary of State and her family, complicates matters significantly. The TV shoot is plagued with problems from within, as a shady, power-hungry producer clashes with strong-willed actors. Across Nantucket, the Secretary’s troubled stepson keeps shaking off his security detail to visit a dilapidated house near conservation land, where an intriguing recluse guards secrets of her own. With all parties overly conscious of spending too much time in the public eye and secrets swirling around both camps, it is difficult to parse what behaviour is suspicious or not—until the bodies turn up. Now, it’s up to Merry and Detective Howie Seitz to find a connection between two seemingly unconnected murders and catch the killer. But when everyone has a motive, and half of the suspects are politicians and actors, how can Merry and Howie tell fact from fiction?
Review
I enjoyed Death on a Winter Stroll by Francine Mathews- my first murder mystery in a post-pandemic Nantucket where Covid-19’s presence is still felt.
I received a copy of this book for a free and unbiased opinion
This is a book in a series featuring no-nonsense detective Merry Folger but I found not having read the other books in the series made no difference in my enjoyment of the book or understanding of Merry and her colleagues’ characters.
A range of murder suspects descend on Nantucket for the Christmas stroll including powerful politicians, controlling fathers, Hollywood producers happy to abuse their power, rich tech people, actors, and their young grown-up children. Merry has to navigate carefully to find out who the murderer is while dealing with her own grief. I liked Merry- sensible and patient and her sidekick Howie and their need to balance investigating the murder and not to upset powerful was interesting with bonus points for having a tortured backstory.
The author makes Nantucket a character in its own right with her beautiful description of the environment, the joy of the Christmas Stroll but also the inequalities between the rich visitors and the not well-off permanent residents of the area.
The plot paces along with plenty of motives and revelations. I initially found myself disliking many of the characters, but the author’s writing shows them as deeply flawed but human. Despite the deaths and some of the dark themes, the book ends with hope for a few of the characters.
But it is the description of the new and strange world we find ourselves in post covid that particularly caught my interest and it was refreshing to read a book that didn’t dwell on this but didn’t ignore it either.
Content warning
References to alcohol and drug addiction, suicide, sexual assault
Perfect for fans who
Like non-gory murder mysteries with an edge.
About The Author
Francine Mathews was born in Binghamton, New York, the last of six girls. She attended Princeton and Stanford Universities, where she studied history, before going on to work as an intelligence analyst at the CIA. She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the Agency a year later. Since then, she has written thirty books, including six previous novels in the Merry Folger series (Death in the Off-Season, Death in Rough Water, Death in a Mood Indigo, Death in a Cold Hard Light, Death on Nantucket, and Death on Tuckernuck) as well as the nationally bestselling Being a Jane Austen mystery series, which she writes under the pen name Stephanie Barron. She lives and works in Denver, Colorado.
Series Book Lover 