Books read in May 2019 (Reply)

Another monthly book post! If it seems like I read less this month than in previous months, that’s because my exhaustion/breathing problems seem to finally be appropriately medicated, so I’ve been outside walking instead of inside reading.

Definitely recommend

The Just City, The Philosopher Kings, and Necessity, Jo Walton. An SF-flavoured fantasy exploration of what might happen if someone actually set up Plato’s republic. I tried to read the first one of these when it first came out, and just didn’t get it at all. I thought I’d give it another go, though, and managed to get into it properly this time, liking it enough that I read all three.

Maybe recommend

Witch, Cat, and Cobb, J K Pendragon. There's a good story in here, but it's all so rushed! Why is it so rushed? This should have been at least twice as long as it actually is, probably more like three times as long.

A Man of Independent Mind, L A Hall. A sweet and powerful exploration of finding love again after bereavement. As with The Ironmaster’s Tale last month, this is only in “Maybe” rather than “Definitely” because I’m not sure it makes sense if you haven’t read The Comfortable Courtesan (though this one does feel a little more as though it might work standalone).

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman (re-read). I'm not quite sure what I think of this; the first time I read it I thought it was great, but on a second reading some of it does feel a little bit too slick. I wish the author had left out the fatphobia — I get that she wants to show the main character’s difficulty with social skills, but she seems to have managed to leave out racism and homophobia. I do like that she’s explicitly stated (in a newspaper interview, I think?) that it’s about platonic friendship rather than romance.

Cinnamon and Gunpowder, Eli Brown. A sort of combination of pirate adventure story, romance, and food porn. I wasn't hugely interested in the adventure story or romance, and wished there had been more about food, because what there was was pretty good.

Wouldn’t recommend

The Lion and the Crow, Eli Easton (DNF). This was mentioned in a Twitter thread where a friend was asking for novels with gay protagonists, so I thought I’d give it a go. I found it... kind of odd. It’s written very simplistically, with hardly any worldbuilding or characterisation, and the occasional details that are specified seem incongruent with the setting. I got about a quarter of the way through then gave up.