What We Can Know, Ian McEwan

 

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

Started: April 11, 2026
Completed: April 17, 2026
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody
Media: Audio

Review:

I don't know what to say about this book.  It is well written.  It is composed of two very distinct parts told in two different voices.  They are (as one might expect) related.  The audio version surely helped.  I have to say, however, that the first part was not terribly compelling and I found the second part droll.  Yes, I said it.  I dunno why this is a book of the year.  It is complex and layered.  Maybe I just missed a bunch of stuff, so it gets the mild recommendation based on the quality of the writing which pulled it out of not recommended.  I will surely forget this book soon.

Hell's Heart, Alexis Hall

 

Hell's Heart by Alexis Hall is a retelling of Moby Dick as a science fiction novel

Started: April 1, 2026
Completed: April 11, 2026
Recommendation: Not recommended
Recommended By: I think I just saw a brief review of the book in a newly released list
Media:  Audio

Review:

There are things in this book that I liked.  There was a lot of sex and it felt like Hall seemed compelled to put in more sex, but opted not to do so.  The book itself, captured the feel of Moby Dick as it has frequently been retold, but missed the intimate detail of the process of whaling that was so fundamental to the original.  I'm not finding fault for that (and, surely, the original was painful to read in part due to this unending detail), but I'm just saying that I missed a nod to it.  Mostly, I didn't like the story...I didn't like how it felt 'constructed' instead of as a simple effort to retell a series of events.  I dunno.  Hard to nail down what I did not enjoy and capture it as one thing.

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, K.J. Parker

 

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker (the author is actually Tom Holt, but he writes fantasy under this pseudonym) is the first book in the Siege series

Started: March 24, 2026
Completed: April 1, 2026
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody
Media: Audio

Review:

I really enjoyed the writing style.  The protagonist is self-deprecating while at the same time being remarkably egotistical.  The situation was simultaneously silly and serious.  Even the ways some things were phrased caught me as funny while still being serious:  "She yawned so much it nearly tore her face."  These are not deeply thought out characters with immersive development, but this is a carefully crafted story.  Yes, several of the characters are shallow plot devices, but those devices are very effectively used.  A very fun read.

Heaven's River, Dennis E. Taylor

 

Heaven's River by Dennis E. Taylor is the next book in the Bobiverse series

Started: August 19, 2025
Completed: March 26, 2026
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is simply another great story.  I really enjoyed the way that Taylor continues to make this series fresh and useful.  It is truly an amazing series and I particularly enjoyed the way that Taylor is looking at how other possible intelligences might exist and how they might interact with humans in general and Von Neuman probes in particular.

The Fall of Carthage, Adrian Goldsworthy

 

The Fall of Carthage:  The Punic Wars 265-146BC by Adrian Goldsworthy

Started: 11/2/2025
Completed: DNF (March 26, 2026)
Recommendation: Cannot comment

Media: eBook
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

I just could not get into this book.  The preface was quite large and provided a ton of information that I could not correlate to anything.  It was also quite boring.  I never even got to the start of any war.

The Everlasting, Alix E. Harrow

 

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

Started: March 16, 2026

Completed: March 24, 2026

Recommendation: Recommended

Recommended By: Nobody, I saw promise in The Once and Future Witches and I thought I would give Harrow another chance

Media: Audio book

Review:

I enjoyed this time travelling story which sort of explains the logic that sits behind the Back to the Future series a little better.  Harrow does a good job of telling a similar story repeatedly and yet is able to raise tension and expectation.  I also liked the way that she handled memory.  The short comings include the obviousness of how it had to end as well as the awkward love story.  The epilogue left me wanting as the dragon logic collapsed.

A Marriage at Sea, Sophie Elmhirst

 

A Marriage At Sea: A true story of love, obsession, and shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst

Started: March 12, 2026
Completed: March 16, 2026
Recommendation: Mild recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody
Media: Audio

Review:

This is an odd book about an odd couple who had an odd experience.  How English.  The title is mildly misleading.  The couple spent their marriage at sea, they were not married on the high seas.  The only reason that they are known at all, I think, is that they were shipwrecked and eventually found in a raft near death.  Then, as one does, they built another boat and went sailing some more.  Their tale is mildly interesting.  It is not a swashbuckling tale, but more one of grueling survival.  Had I understood what it was when I picked it up, I think it is unlikely that I would have read it.  My mild recommendation is due mostly to there being no romanticization of their experience.  It is forthright, rugged, and rather unpleasant.