Reading log - zerosleeps

November 2025

Your Life Is Manufactured

Tim Minshall
★★★☆☆

I’m not sure if I really learned much from this. As is often the case, I came away with the agreement that I am part of the problem, but way too small a part to make any difference whatsoever.

The most interesting part of this book was the last couple of pages which went into excruciation detail about exactly how the (print) book was manufactured!

August 2025

QF32

Richard de Crespigny
★★★★☆

I’ve read this before but I was in the mood for a technical non-fiction story. Astonishing.

You Called An Ambulance For What?

Tim Booth
★★★★★

Ooh it’s been a while since I’ve found a new 5-starrer. Excellent stories and very funny. Everyone should read this.

The Book of Doors

Gareth Brown
★★☆☆☆

This was an easy 3-stars until about three-quarters of the way through when it just went off the rails for me. It got lazy (a gun fight in a magical world??) and confusing.

Bored Gay Werewolf

Tony Santorella
★★★☆☆

Um… There’s a sweet message in this one somewhere…

July 2025

The Bookseller at the End of the World

Ruth Shaw
★★★★☆

The lady has lead an interesting life! A very pleasant read.

May 2025

Missing in Flight

Audrey J. Cole
★★★☆☆

You know what, this was a wee bit cheesy and more than a little far fetched, but it kept me guessing most of the way through, and everything was neatly tied up at the end.

A Three Dog Problem

S. J. Bennett
★★★☆☆

Much to my own surprise, I really enjoyed the setting and the characters: The actual British royal family in the actual Buckingham Palace! But when you get down to it this was one of those “cosy” murder mysteries which had way too many characters for me to keep track of, especially towards the end, by which stage I didn’t really care or understand who had murdered who.

Babel

R.F. Kuang
★★★☆☆

A recommendation from a friend 😏 It took me ages to get through this one. It had some properly thought-provoking ideas, but it had too many of them so as a result nothing was properly explored. It kept turning in directions I didn’t expect though which I always enjoy, so it gets a star for that at least.

Also it has footnotes? A fictional story with fictional footnotes?? No. No no.

March 2025

Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir
★★★★★

Sixth read. I could feel my love of reading waning after the last book so I reached for an old friend.

I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom

Jason Pargin
★★★☆☆

Good grief this was a long book that took me ages to get through. Always fun enough to keep me interested though. There were a few long-winded monologues that perhaps could have been cut. Thought provoking in a pointing-out-the-obvious kind of way.

February 2025

Milk

Matthew Evans
Abandoned

I got fed up reading lists of what is and is not in milk. Was hoping it would be more about the production and distribution of milk.

January 2025

The Examiner

Janice Hallett
★★★☆☆

This was on track for an easy 4-stars until about 80% of the way through, at which point it kind of went off the rails and lost me. Up until then I was enjoying the storytelling method and the twists, but it ended up feeling more complicated and far-fetched than it needed to be.

Casino Royale

Ian Fleming
★★★☆☆

Decent beginning, exciting middle, but the final third was repetitive and unsatisfying.

The Martian

Andy Weir
★★★★★

As is tradition around here, starting the year by reading my favouritest of all time 🙂

A Voyage Around The Queen

Craig Brown
★★★★☆

A good title - loads of stories of stuff that happened around the queen. A behind-the-scenes, if you will. Good fun.