#books

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Elizabeth Alker: Everything We Do Is Music (Hardcover, 2025, Faber & Faber, Limited)

Back on the call to Young, I sense he is getting tired we've been speaking for well over an hour, and I've been informed that he has been working round the clock preparing for his forthcoming performance. I start to wrap up our interview, and as I get ready to say goodbye, he says, very sincerely: 'I really hope I have answered your questions and that my answers have been useful to you,' and thanks me for taking an interest in his work.

I thank him back and, although I've been advised not to ask about his influence on pop and rock musicians - apparently he takes no interest in it-I decide that, since we've stayed on such good terms, I'll venture one last question about his legacy and how it feels to have shaped the careers of so many other artists within and far beyond his own practice.

'Is it true?' he asks, before chuckling to himself for a while. And then finally he replies, 'The thing is, it's not about ego gratification. It's about trying to do the right thing, and if you try to do the right thing with your life and other people agree you're doing the right thing, then that's very satisfying.'

Everything We Do Is Music by 

reviewed Cables and Conjurers by Nancy Warren (Vampire Knitting Club, #15)

Nancy Warren: Cables and Conjurers (EBook, 2024, Ambleside Publishing)

Lucy Swift, witch and knitting shop owner, thought her biggest challenge at a marketing course …

A great cozy mystery

I always look forward to these books. They are reliably funny, engaging, warm and with a good, old fashioned mystery to engage the little grey cells. I always look forward to finding out what is happening to the characters that feel more and more like old friends. This book did not disappoint and I look forward to the next book to see what happens next!

#NowReading #book #books

J. R. R. Tolkien(duplicate): The Fellowship of the Ring : being the first part of The Lord of the Rings (2011, Harper Collins)

The first part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Tolkien’s classic epic of Good …

A truly special tale

Every time I return to Middle Earth, it's like visiting an old friend. The familiar faces, the smells of pipe smoke and trees, the quiet hum of the river – it all washes over me with a sense of peace and belonging. Tolkien's world-building is so immersive that I can almost feel the road going ever on beneath my feet and the cool breeze on my face.

The setting is truly a masterpiece, but it's not just that which draws me back. It's the characters. Frodo, with his quiet courage and unwavering determination; Gandalf, Sam all all the fellowship – these are people I've grown to love. Their journeys, their triumphs, and their struggles feel deeply personal.

Then there's the story itself. With each reread, I discover new nuances, hidden meanings, and deeper connections between the characters and the themes. I mentioned the sense of peace in my first paragraph. …

China Miéville: The City & the City (Paperback, 2010, Del Rey)

When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge …

One of the most thought-provoking books that I have read

This is a darn good detective story but also seriously gets you thinking (it’s also a totally different thing to the TV series once you get into it).

Minor – Chapter 1 style - spoilers ahead

The basic plot revolves around two seemingly normal cities existing in the same space somewhere in Europe. One city, Besźel, really reminds me of Bratislava when I first moved there. Lots of beautiful old architecture showing past wealth, but currently crumbling away from neglect. The other city, Ul Qoma is surging ahead economically and is full of glass and steel new construction.

The story follows Inspector Tyador Borlú, of the Besźel Extreme Crime Squad (who strikes me as if Inspector Frost grew up in Bratislava) who stumbles upon a crime that forces him to confront this very complex situation.

This is very much our world with Google and Microsoft Word and without any magic …