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Rachel’s Summer-ish Reads: The Parasol Protectorate

Genre: Fantasy/Steampunk As mentioned in my last post, my summer reading was dominated by Hugh Howey’s Wool Trilogy, and about a dozen books by Gail Carriger! I had read Gail Carriger’s Etiquette & Espionage in July (the first in her YA series), and in August quickly blew through the rest of The Finishing School series. These books were a blast – finishing school for intelligencers (spies) in a floating, steampunk school? Awesome. It didn’t take me long to move onto the next series, The Parasol Protectorate, of which Soulless is the first (and in fact the first book published by Carriger), set about 20 years after the Finishing School Series. Synopsis: Alexia Tarabotti is labouring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standard of social etiquette. Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire – and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can…

10 Years of Books Books Books!

Cast your mind back 10 years to when the global financial crisis hit, when America took North Korea off its list of terrorist countries, and Kim Kardashian chose a new dress. Lost amongst these headlines was the news that Lausanne had a new English bookshop. Situated in a converted fitness studio in the Globus building and stocking 6,000 new books, Books Books Books opened its doors on 13th October 2008. Feels to me like a good time for a drink! Two even! We’re so excited, we’re having two parties to celebrate!   Friday, November 2nd  The first party will feature Richard Williams, sometime founder of Holy Cow, now the owner of Blackbird and most recently author of Mostyn Thomas and the Big Rave (Graffeg, 2018). While running his casual dining empire Richard found time to write his first novel, and it’s a good one.   Set in Little Emlyn, Pembrokeshire, it tells the story of how Mostyn, a farmer on the brink of bankruptcy, and Jethro, a young raver, decide to hold a rave to save Mostyn’s farm. But as young revellers begin to pour in from all corners of the county things do not go to plan; moneylenders, drug dealers, the county council and the…

Rachel’s Summer-ish Reads: Wool

Genres: Sci-Fi/Dystopian Well booklovers, I meant to write about what I’d been reading this summer a long time ago, but somehow this autumn is flying by! In August, my list of books read was dominated by two authors: Hugh Howey and Gail Carriger (more on her later…). Hugh Howey’s Wool trilogy was a wonderful dystopian tale. The synopsis from the back of the book didn’t really grab me… but the book itself definitely did, and it’s hard to know what further to say without giving anything away:   In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo. Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies. To live, you must follow the rules. But some don’t. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside. Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last.   Like any good dystopia, it gave some moments of thought-provoking terror about the possibility of a…