into every generation a slayer is born: how buffy staked our hearts by evan ross katz

I can hear some of you rolling your eyes already. I don’t care! I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Love it love it love it.

Just finished my third rewatch of all of the TV series – and this time, with my daughter (her first watch – lucky!). There’s still so much to get from it. I guess some dismiss it as a silly, spooky show for teenagers, and sure, sometimes it goes down that route. But we’d do it a disservice to say that’s all it is. Buffy deals with huge themes, including grief, addiction, abuse, love, death, and everything in between – and makes it completely relatable. And it’s very funny too.

So this book came out around the time of the twenty-fifth anniversary. It has cast and crew interviews, insight into how the show was made, theories on how it gained its cult status, and brief overviews of what happens in each season. The author is an uber-fan (I mean, you’d have to be) and his devotion shines from every page. I do appreciate his willingness to acknowledge the TV show’s flaws, though – he readily admits that it’s not perfect.

The big thing this book deals with is the show’s creator Joss Whedon’s spectacular fall from grace, which has been widely documented in the media in recent years. The man is basically a horrid person, both personally and professionally – there are plenty of cast anecdotes to attest to that. Short of going into detail (read the book!) it does raise interesting arguments about separating art from the artist. My take is: I love Buffy, I do not love Joss Whedon.

In short…

If you’re a fan, you’re bound to enjoy this fascinating account of how Buffy came to be, and everything that followed. I thought it was great, 9/10

in the country of last things by paul auster

Who’s in the mood for a dystopian novel? Me! Or, I was, anyway – till I read this book and realised it wasn’t so much dystopian as current affairs. It was written in 1987 (I think – may need to fact check) so you could surmise that the events and locations presented in the narrative were but a horrible nightmare dreamt up by the author, trying to imagine the worst possible things he could think of for ordinary people to cope with.

Anna Blume is searching for her brother William, who moved to the ‘city’ and vanished – no one has heard from him for a long time. She fears the same will happen to her, as the city is a crumbling, bleak place, where corpses line the streets and people scavenge for food. Once you’re there, it’s impossible to leave (though Anna doesn’t try very hard IMO) and you risk starving or being chopped up and eaten by some downright wrong’uns.

OK, so that’s not exactly like anywhere I’m actually aware of, but it doesn’t feel like it’s so far in the future anyway. The societal structure is familiar, the behaviours of the people are familiar, and the absolute tyranny of the government/lawmakers is something you can watch with your own eyes on the evening news. Then the story loses some of its shock value – there was me, wanting to lift myself out of reality with a nice dark fiction, and oh – nope, it’s just another version of life.

Generally, though, the book is OK – not too writerly – a bit earnest in places, I feel like Paul Auster might be one of those ‘serious’ authors – and there’s some gratuitous lesbian/masturbation scenes that feel very much like a male author wanting to touch himself – but generally, it was OK.

In short…

Not quite what I was after, tbh, and though I’ve said it was OK, I was actually bored sometimes. Quite forgettable, 4/10

trustee from the toolroom by nevil shute

Is Nevil Shute underrated? I kind of feel like that’s the case. When I enthuse about him to other people they usually look blank. Nevil who? His most famous book – A Town Called Alice – is slowly sliding into relative obscurity. Which is a shame, as it’s really good. My fave is On the Beach, a perfect study of bleakness. And this one was rather satisfying too.

He tends to write about ordinary people in extraordinary situations. So in this story, Keith Stewart, a normal man from London, who enjoys a hobby making miniature engines and writing about them for a specialist magazine, is suddenly launched into an international adventure when his sister dies unexpectedly and leaves their daughter in his care. As her trustee, he feels it’s up to him to provide the best possible future for her, which results in a journey most people would balk at.

It’s amazing really, that this is the basis for a thrilling adventure. But it’s totally compelling. Set in the 1950s – without the modern conveniences of technology – it’s sort of fascinating to discover how you’d actually travel to a remote island in the Pacific Ocean on little to no money in your pocket. Of course, things go quite smoothly for Keith, which is convenient for the narrative – and he does have some very handy specialist knowledge which stands him in good stead.

I love Nevil Shute’s writing because there are no frills, no fancy devices – it’s all very straightforward and elegant. It reminds me of Daphne du Maurier in that regard. Substance is everything. Honestly, there is a whole chapter in this book about a yacht sailing into a storm that was the most tense thing I’ve read in a long time. Masterclass.

In short…

If you’ve never read Nevil then you’re missing out. Top writer with top stories. Give him a go – this book is a gentle winner, a solid 8/10

record of a spaceborn few by becky chambers

The final book in the science-fiction trilogy – I read the other two a (long) while ago, and as you know it all goes in my head then out again, so I hardly remember what the first two were actually about. I recall liking them? A lot? Maybe the first more than the second? And I have to say, I feel this is the weakest of the three, tho not terrible at all.

There’s no solid story, as such; it is – as the name suggests – a record of a few of the citizens who are born, and live, and die, in space – on one of the many ships that make up the Exodan Fleet (their ancestors were the ones who fled a dying Earth). We follow the varied lives of these different people (all Human, though other species figure) as they question the point of existing in space.

These books, for me, are easy access science-fiction – no complicated jargon or description, or reliance on some secret knowledge of reams of fantastical worlds – just stuff that makes sense to a world we live in now; a logical progression of technology and society. It bandies about ideas to do with how we live as communities, how we treat our dead, how we exist for each other rather than just ourselves. All terribly holistic of course.

The character arcs are not hugely dramatic and therefore fairly disappointing. I admit I kept waiting for something to happen – there was a tension that went sadly unfulfilled. The only unexpected moment of action kind of came and went. I found myself speed reading towards the end – the promise of picking something else to read was too tempting to take my time.

In short…

Not as strong as the first or the second, unfortunately – but still, an exciting writer to keep an eye out for, especially if you want your dip your toes in sci-fi every now and again. An all right 6/10

cousins by salley vickers

Remember how much I enjoyed The Librarian by Salley Vickers last year? Well, I bought a few more books by her almost immediately afterwards, in that excitement over finding a new good author type of thing. Chose this book to read thinking it sounded like my sort of thing; and it started well enough.

Told from the point of view of three women from the same family, it recounts an incident from recent memory and then moves back and forth in time. The incident – a young man, Will, related to all the women in some way – falls from a roof and is grievously injured. How this impacts the family is revealed as the story goes on.

The various narratives range in success. I’m not sure different viewpoints were necessarily needed. The notion of digging in the past and putting ghosts to rest is set up fairly successfully in the first part; why change that for the next part? It also feels like there’s a lot of muddying the waters… the story goes off on a tangent frequently and you’re playing catch up with different names and timelines. Maybe I’m getting old but I found it tricky to follow at times.

I definitely found myself bored by the last third, too. Maybe the author is aware of that as there’s a sudden, last minute injection of plot. But it wasn’t enough to save it in my opinion.

In short…

Started quite well but tailed off significantly. A shame as I thought this could be a new best author. Never mind, an OK 5/10

unsheltered by barbara kingsolver

This is a chunky book, though maybe not quite as hefty as The Poisonwood Bible and it feels a bit more accessible than that too. Still, there were times I was ploughing through. She can write a dense book, can’t she? Full of plot and info and character.

Two narratives: Willa is dealing with her house falling down around her and her family falling apart at the same time; and Thatcher Greenwood is living in that same house, only a hundred years ago. His neighbour is a female scientist who may hold the key to Willa saving her house. Lives intertwined and all that.

The modern plot worked better for me, though on paper the historical plot was more intriguing. Willa’s family are deftly realised in all their human complexities – they make questionable choices and definitely fuck up and are even a bit unlikeable, which is fine by me. No one wants perfect. The daughter, Tig, gets way too preachy and earnest towards the end but raises some valid points about existing and resisting in a capitalist society. Young people will change the world, for sure.

The historical plot feels contrived to me; characters not quite so well-drawn. Some scientific jargon slows the action. A sensationalist murder that is shoehorned in. All rushed towards the end but neatly wrapped up, I guess.

In short…

I enjoyed it but it didn’t rock my world. Nothing mind-blowing. A fair 7/10

the amateur marriage by anne tyler

Back on solid ground, phew. I can confidently say that I have not read a bad book by the great AT yet, and this is no exception. How does she do it? How does she craft such exquisite stories? They’re not even about anything! Just people, doing people things! But they’re brilliant!

This is pretty much a story about a married couple. Each chapter is at a different stage of their marriage: how they meet, a few years later with kids, a devastating situation, etc. It works supremely well, as each time you’re aware of the history and keen to know what’s occurred in the intervening years, which AT reveals with innate skill – no exposition here, no ma’am. And these people! Michael and Pauline: flawed human beings, with feelings and motives, they do terrible things to each other but there’s still love! You get why they’re together; you get why they fight. It’s real and complicated and totally believable.

There may not be the total emotional rush that some of her other books have; more a poignant acceptance of how things turn out – but it’s still an engaging read, precisely paced and so well written. I love AT.

In short…

Another top read from one of my faves. Yes queen 🙌🏽 9/10

the vaster wilds by lauren groff

Finished this a few days ago, only just had a chance to sit and write the review. But actually gave me time to absorb what I’d read – this is an odd book, I wasn’t certain what I was expecting, it didn’t grab me at the beginning, but by the end I was gripped.

A young girl escapes from a fortified town in the depths of winter. Something has occurred to make her flee; there’s plague in the town, and she’s being chased; it’s enough to make her face the dangers of the wilderness. As the book goes on we get more information – the girl is a servant in a family of pilgrims, the setting is somewhere in America in the 1600s. The girl is surprisingly resourceful. I’m not sure I’d survive ten minutes let alone several months. The peril is ever present and she suffers immeasurably. It’s a tough read on occasion.

The historical detail is fantastic, I especially liked the girl’s reminiscences about her life in London before they left on their voyage. There’s a particularly poignant account of the journey by sea. I also liked the incredible about of description of the landscape; the author manages to evoke a place of great beauty and horror.

The ending is no surprise really, but still a sad one. The reason as to why the girl escaped from the town is revealed and it’s not for the faint-hearted. Life back then was grim, to put it mildly. Makes me thankful for my creature comforts of the modern age.

In short…

Definitely tricky to get into, but once you’re there, this is a brilliant read. I’m keen to read other things by this author now. A solid 9/10

all the light we cannot see by anthony doerr

AT LAST. I have finished reading a book, AT LONG LAST. This one has taken AGES. Yes, because it’s a big book, but also because of life getting in the way of things like reading. My prime reading time had been superseded by essential sleep. So, it’s taken a while to get to this point: a finished book.

But what of it? Worth the wait? Ummm. I have a feeling this book is beloved by many, is that right? Can’t say I see why. It’s all right, I suppose – the writing is a bit effortful for my taste (some truly random but supposedly meaningful descriptors), the plot(s) are again quite contrived, and there’s no jeopardy to speak of despite it being set during the Second World War.

Two concurrent narratives: a blind girl in Paris flees with her father to St Malo, where they live with an eccentric uncle, and a precocious orphan boy in Germany is snapped up by the Nazis for his engineering skills. There’s also a missing diamond plot which barely raises the tension level. Of course the two kids end up meeting at the denouement but it’s so circumstantial and underwhelming that you kind of skim past it.

The only good thing going for this book is the short chapters: a lifeline while my attention span was so low. Otherwise, what was all the fuss about? There are countless other, better books set at this time that will satisfy any desire for a gripping historical yarn.

In short…

Dull, ultimately dissatisfying – handy if you need short bursts of reading material to send you to sleep, though. A paltry 4/10

memphis by tara m. stringfellow

Yeah, said I was going to read a light-hearted book and went and picked up this one instead. What was I thinking? Dunno – maybe the pretty colours on the cover fooled me. But here we go – rape, domestic violence, murder, gang warfare, racism, 9/11 – yes. A jolly yarn. Ha.

Told from the point of view of three women, the story starts as Miriam returns to her childhood home in Memphis with her daughters Joan and Mya in tow, after leaving their abusive dad. But old trauma resurfaces when they encounter Miriam’s nephew Derek. Fun times! Actually, as a story, it’s fairly engaging (though I wouldn’t say enjoyable), and I do like reading about families through the ages kind of thing. It’s an insight into the daily struggles Black people – and especially Black women – faced in the mid-twentieth century, and obviously still today. It’s also a love letter to Memphis (which I visited once, many many years ago).

Personally, the jumps back and forth in time did not quite work this time. Sometimes it’s a highly effective narrative tool – this just felt jarring – I couldn’t keep the sequence of events straight in my head (this could be entirely my issue, obvs), which means I lost any sense of the tragedy as a whole.

Also had a sense that this book is just not for me. You know? And that’s absolutely fine. Not every book has to reach everyone. Just pointing out why it probably didn’t hit home.

In short…

Structure a bit crunchy for me, but there was an OK story in there – even if it wasn’t the joy-fest I was after, 6/10