Monthly Archives: October 2021

Fifty Words for Snow

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Nancy Campbell. Elliott & Thompson. (224p) ISBN: 9781783966035
Fifty Words for Snow

Fifty Words for Snow

Picked this up at work a few weeks ago as one of the randoms that came through the door as I like non-fiction books that you can have by the bed with short chapters.

This book is specifically about these fifty words for snow and as such are easily digestible before falling asleep, or that was the plan.

I started this at 7:30am and had finished it by 12:30pm today, each chapter was so compelling and made you want more and more.

Each small chapter is preceded by a photograph of a snowflake by Wilson Bentley, the first known photographer of snowflakes setting us up perfectly for a snippet of information.

This information is from all around the world New Guinea, Patagonia, Ethiopia, Turkey, Latvia, and more, starting with a word in the highlighted language and then a small passage with information that could be culturally significant, explore the areas natural history, literary history, and its myth making.

Every passage opens up a language an culture in a compassionate manner and looks at what may be happening in that culture/land now with climate changes that are occurring now and what this may mean for the future.

A really interesting read that had me looking for more information on certain cultures and languages.

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Wayland Babes

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Judi Daykin. Hobeck Books. (173p) ISBN: 9781913793500
Wayland Babes

Wayland Babes

I was asked to join in with the book tour for Wayland Babes and was really glad I could accept.

Published by Hobeck Books, Judi Daykin’s ghost stories are set in Norfolk and hark back to the tale of Babes in the Wood, but these two babes never met any robins.

We are treated to ghostly five hauntings, each preceded by a part of the traditional verse of the myth which was published as a broadside ballad in 1595, and developed into the popular panto much later on.

These hauntings take place over a couple of hundred years and seem to take the period they are set into account in the style of ghost story telling, but for the most part had a feel of gothic ghost stories to it, full of upcoming doom but you never really know who to.

Judi does a great job of building up tension and expectation in each episode, keeping the flow all the way to the outcome. This made the read really easy and enjoyable, I was gripped enough to read this in just a day (didn’t do much else though).

Loved how the story built from the myth of the Babes and added to the depth of it, another layer of suspense and ghostly tension.

Overall a great read, well structured and executed, with enough suspense to have you on the edge of your seat.

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The Haunting of Aveline Jones

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Phil Hickes. Usborne. (224p) ISBN: 9781474972147
The Haunting of Aveline Jones

The Haunting of Aveline Jones

Talk about a gripping read, picked it up at noon, finished it by 4:30pm, just couldn’t tear myself away!

We follow the adventures of Aveline Jones (great name by the way) after she is left with her Aunt in Malmouth, a sea town on the south coast.

Aveline loves reading ghost stories…

The whole book was set at a pace that kept me hooked from start to finish with no spare fat on it at all, every word worked toward building up the characters and story in such a way that I hadn’t realised I’d almost got to the end in one afternoon.

All the main characters are great, but my favourite character is the bookshop, and of course Mr. Leiberman the owner.

Aveline discovers a ghost book in the shop which starts a chain of events that is scary but not too scary and is reminiscent of a good traditional folk ghost story.

Satisfying and full of bits that all add up in the end, really looking forward to reading book two tomorrow.

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Deep Wheel Orcadia

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Harry Josephine Giles. Picador Poetry. (164p) ISBN: 9781529066609
Deep Wheel Orcadia

Deep Wheel Orcadia

This has been one of my most anticipated releases of the year ever since I saw it mentioned in The Bookseller.

A space odyssey science fiction novel written in the Orcadian dialect in the form of an epic poem, if this isn’t enough to sell it to you read on.

Since I’m of a certain age and Scottish my first read of this was in the way it was originally set out, as an epic poem in Orcadian, and? For the most part I could understand what was written and in this form it was really satisfying, only rarely having to pop down to see the english translationinterpretationmeaning of the words used.

I then read the story in the english translationinterpretationsense and loved the way some Orcadian words were set down in this version and did think that this was the only way it could really be done.

Finally I scanned the Orcadian several times to get the rhythm of the words, then read it aloud and honestly this felt the beast way of interacting with the text. you got the strength of certain passages and lines, some words got greater strength from being spoken aloud. It really feels like a story that should be shared at night with friends.

Apart from all that it is a brilliant science fiction story, with good characterisation considering how little text there actually is in the end.

Well worth the chance on something different.

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