Review - The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Better than the The Thursday Murder Club in many ways: e.g. we find out about Elizabeth's past instead of getting loads of stupid hints; we get to know most of the characters better; I didn't have the same moral unease about the character's actions this time (although some of their actions were still morally dubious); one of the characters has an Instagram account that exists in the "real" world and one of the new characters, Connie Johnson, was very good value (I hope Richard Osman finds some way to bring her back in book 3).

It is not all positives though. For example, while it had me laughing out loud within the first few pages ("I thought I might either get a dog or join Instagram... Not a big dog, of course," says Joyce. "I haven't got the hoover for a big dog.") I didn't find it as consistently funny as the first book. I also have a slight concern that Bogdan has turned from a character who was more than a little dodgy into a lovable rogue but, as I like the new Bogdan better, I'm willing to turn a blind eye on this occasion.

I have one major issue though and, while I admit that it is a fairly small hill to die on, I'm going to complain about it anyway. (I don't think this is a spoiler... but look away now if you are of a nervous of such things.) A character uses an "infra-red light" to read something. No, no and once again, no! An ultraviolet light perhaps but "infra-red" - NO! At first I thought that Richard is a clever bloke, this must be an infra-red herring that will pay off in a joke later but he just seems to have got it wrong. If I ever bump into him, I'll give him a piece of my mind... before gushing stupidly like a fanboy about how much I enjoyed the books.

Overall though, I thoroughly enjoyed the second outing of the Thursday Murder Club. The observations about old age remain razor sharp: "Joyce thinks about kneeling, but really, kneeling over the age of sixty-five is a pipedream, so she sits on the step above instead." and the plot carried me along effortlessly. I hope I have companions as lively and fun as the Thursday Murder Club in my retirement years.

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Review: Burning Chrome by William Gibson

Burning Chrome by William Gibson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A collection of short stories from the man who defined cyberpunk. Some (inevitably) were better than others. For example, I couldn’t quite get my head around “New Rose Hotel” but “The Winter Market” conjured up believable technology and the society it would create. The big surprise for me was “Johnny Mnemonic” an interesting short story that spawned a truly awful film; William Gibson deserves better from Hollywood.

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Read This Year - 2022

Thanks to our wonderful librarian's project to promote a reading community in the school, I have a "Currently Reading" poster on my door. The first poster of the year has been prepared:

This is the page that the QR Code for "Read this year" will link to. The widget below should update automagically as the year progresses.

Mr Muir's bookshelf: read-in-2022

Burning Chrome

by William Gibson

A collection of short stories from the man who defined cyberpunk. Some (inevitably) were better than others. For example, I couldn’t quite get my head around “New Rose Hotel” but “The Winter Market” conjured up believable technology and ...

tagged: read-in-2022

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century: 1910

by Alan Moore

tagged: read-in-2022

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen

by Alan Garner

tagged: read-in-2022

Around the World in Eighty Days

by Jules Verne

Good fun and not quite what I expected. One surprise is that there is no balloon trip ! Also, crossing Europe is barely mentioned; we go from London to the Suez Canal in pretty much a single bound. Clearly, travel in Europe was considere...

tagged: read-in-2022

Annual Update

 Time for the annual update...

2022 Reading Challenge

Mr Muir has read 4 books toward their goal of 50 books.

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4 of 50 (8%)

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I was pleased I made my target in last year's reading challenge, so I've left it the same this year. As always, too many distractions get in the way of reading, so it's as well I have this challenge to turn it into a game! For a summary of my reading in 2021, see Goodreads' My Year in Books.

New Year's resolution: cross-post more of my Goodreads reviews hear and on my social media accounts.