WWW Wednesday – 21/4/21

Although I’ve been having a fantastic time of reading others’ blogs since re-starting this one, I’ve been feeling a little isolated from the book blogging community, so I’m going to participate in this meme on a trial basis to see whether it helps me feel more connected to the community as a whole.

When I first started blogging, WWW was one of the first weekly events I discovered, and I got to know some fantastic books (and readers of said books), sadly we all stopped blogging at the same sort of time. So this is going to be a lovely walk down nostalgia lane.

 

Teaser Tuesday – 16/03/2021

This is Teaser Tuesday, a weekly Meme hosted by The Purple Booker. Anyone is welcome to join in!

In today’s world of cyber-warfare and Wikileaks it seemed like a good idea to try to learn about what intelligence actually is. As it can be quite a polemic subject I asked a friend to recommend a book that tries to show a more balanced overview of the subject.

I’m terrible at remembering dates and names, so I expect I’ll be reading this one for quite a while…

“It has saved thousands of British and American lives and, in no small way, contributed to the speed with which the enemy was routed and eventually forced to surrender.”

The general’s note encapsulated the value and the scope of the Anglo-American intelligence cooperation in its allusion to the codebreaking, human intelligence, and analytic successes of the combined effort. The fact that such a note could be sent by a general of one nation’s army to the secret intelligence chief of another nation also spoke volumes. A truly multinational intelligence instrument had been forged by the exigencies of war.

The Rise and Fall of Intelligence: An International Security History – Michael Warner

 

Sunday Post: a week of reading slowly

It’s Sunday Post time!  This is hosted by the awesome Caffeinated Book Reviewer and lets us recap our week in whichever way we want to.

On Monday, we celebrated International Women’s Day. Today is Mother’s Day in the UK. In light of everything that’s happened between the 3rd and today, both celebrations have rung even more hollow than usual.

I’ve been trying to keep busy this week, and spent a disproportionate amount of time on Zoom/ Skype/ Meets with friends. As it’s been difficult to focus on one thing for long, I’ve been playing a lot of Terraforming Mars, and Pokémon in French to get in some extra French content for this month’s Tadoku.

Just Finished

Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity – Felicia Day
This one got a mention in last week’s Sunday Post. This book aimed to do what it said in the title: face your fears and be creative. As someone who often struggles to be kind to herself, there was a lot to take away about embracing the joy of just doing A Thing and not worrying about it being a frivolous waste of time/ horrifically grotesque.

L’inconnu du donjon – Evelyne Brisou-Pellen
Set in the middle of the 100 Years War, L’inconnu du donjon follows Garin Trousseboeuf, a young scribe, who tries to solve the mystery of a prisoner’s disappearance in Castle Montmuran.
The story was a fun, frothy read in spite of the multiple murders that occur. Despite it being the second time I’ve read this book, the ending still took me by surprise. D’oh!

---

Currently Reading

Mousseline La Sérieuse – Syvlie Yvert
After finishing L’inconnu, and watching that documentary about Mousseline’s life, it’s been easier to pick up this book again. There is something quite moving about the current chapter I’m on where Mousseline talks about daring to hope that the worst is behind her and her family [spoiler: these are going to seem like halcyon days compared to what will follow].

The Rise and Fall of Intelligence: An International Security History – Michael Warner
Recommended by a friend who recently completed his PGDip in Terrorism and Security. It’s been interesting to learn how the definition of “intelligence” has changed over the centuries. I’m currently wading through a chapter on WWI and how the UK used “strategic insight [to] cause strategic effects through the control of communications”.

 

Sunday Post: a week of reading slowly

It’s Sunday Post time!  This is hosted by the awesome Caffeinated Book Reviewer and lets us recap our week in whichever way we want to.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who looked at the calendar today and said, “Wait, it’s the 7th of March already? I swear it was the 1st yesterday! Oops.” Time flies when you’re pottering around the house. Now that the end is (hopefully) in sight for the pandemic, I’m almost enjoying the quiet of being at home. Almost.

This week has been remarkably good for reading.

Just Finished

A Thousand Ships – Natalie Haynes
This was an excellent book. I listened to the audiobook, which was splendidly read by the author. I’ll probably do a review of this one as it was so good.

My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel – Kitty Curran
This book gently poked fun at the Regency romance genre. It was such a hoot that I re-read it twice(!) immediately after the first time I read it. It’s a pick-your-own adventure book, and the reader can choose to settle down with everyone from women to a postman. The smut was so punny that I fairly cackled with glee.

20 Ways to Draw a Tree – Eloise Renouf
It was an incredibly liberating book: instead of telling the reader the “right” way to draw X in one style, there were 20 different drawings/ doodles and plenty of space to try to draw the ones that looked coolest. Peacefully doodling in this book was a relaxing way to spend a couple of evenings.

Along for the Ride – Alix James
Some gentle Pride and Prejudice inspired romance. Nicole Clarkston (Alix Jones is her nom de plume) of has long been a guilty pleasure. This was the first of her Jane Austen-inspired romances that I’ve read.
It was enjoyable but I wish I knew how to apply my US to UK English browser extension to her work as she repeatedly uses words that absolutely jar to a UK reader’s ears and eyes.

A Thousand Li: The Second Expedition – Tao Wong
What a series! I’ve reviewed (or rather raved) about the first book in the series here. I’m now caught up with the series, and will have to wait a few months for the next novel. This is my second favourite book in the series after the first.

---

Currently Reading

Embrace Your Weird: Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity – Felicia Day
Patron Goddess of Nerds, Felicia Day’s second book was published 2 years ago, and being the staunch fan that I am it’s only taken me a couple of years to finally get my mitts on a copy of said book. I’ve been reading it slowly and engaging with all the exercises. It’s heaps of fun, and I’m feeling less self-conscious about my own lack of creativity. It’s because of this book that I worked my way through 20 Ways to Draw a Tree so Day’s definitely doing something brilliant to my self-esteem!

In Search of Hua Ma – John Pasden
This is part of the Mandarin Companion series, which is aimed at learners of Mandarin. This book uses 150 characters to create a story. Even though I know about 600 characters at the minute, I don’t know all of the ones they’ve chosen to use in this book. As such, it is taking a disproportionate amount of time to read this 70-ish page book. I keep stopping, giving it a day and then re-reading it from the beginning to see how many words I’ve remembered so it is slow going.

That said, I’m enjoying the story and cannot wait to read some of the others in the series when I finally finish this one.

The Rise and Fall of Intelligence: An International Security History – Michael Warner
A friend who recently completed his PGDip in Terrorism and Security has been sharing some of the things he’s been reading. As a complete newbie to this field, I thought this book would be a good starting point to learn something more about the subject. It is very different to the sort of book I usually read, so I’m not going to post any opinions on it until I’ve finished and have thought about it a bit.