It looks not so long since I’ve done April’s post, but, thanks to the lockdown, I’ve been reading a lot, so I’m ready for another round.
Infected by Scott Sigler. This author is a recent discovery (I’ve featured him last month), but I must say I’ve been really fascinated by both prose and concepts. Here’s another one. “They dropped from the atmosphere like microscopic snow. Billions of seeds, smaller than specks of dust, spiralling down from the heavens. Most didn’t survive the journey. But not all. And those that made it… began to grow. Now three people face a race against time. Dew Phillips, an agent with a classified unit of the CIA, and Margaret Montoya, a government biologist, must try to stop a modern plague that drives its victims to insanity, murder and suicide. And Perry Dawsey, a former athlete in a dead-end job, must race to find a cure for the rash that has appeared on his arm. And his back. And his neck. It’s growing every day. And then the voices start.” This novel is not recent, and it is about a nasty, nasty pandemic, one that makes you glad it’s just SF. Maybe not the best possible reading during a lockdown, but hey, I’m enjoying it, and I’ve already bought the sequel.
Cesare Borgia: His Life and Times by Sarah Bradford. During the quarantine, I’m getting back to my ancient passions, and Cesare is one of them. I’m aware he cuts a very controversial historical figure, but as a trained (even though not practising) historian, I also know that the Renaissance was nowhere as fair and pretty as we imagine it to be. Cesare was a man of his time –therefore cunning, ruthless, at times even cruel– but a man with a vision. He lost his gamble, and history is never kind nor just with losers. But it’s not just Machiavelli who believes he could have made the destiny of Italy different. And, no matter where you stand, his life story is more adventurous and captivating than fiction.
Comet Weather by Liz Williams. I had the luck, and the pleasure, to meet Liz thanks to Milford SFF workshops (and for an idea about Liz’s writing and tastes in fiction, read this article). This novel is Liz at her best. “A contemporary tale of four fey sisters. Bee: the practical one, the lynchpin; still living in the family home of Mooncote in Somerset, where she has met an unconventional boyfriend that not even her sisters are aware of. Stella: a DJ among other things. Currently hanging around the Med after completing a series of gigs in Ibiza, she has vowed never to return to Mooncote following a row with Bee, but that was then…Serena: a single mother and fashion designer living in Notting Hill, increasingly uncertain of her relationship with long-term boyfriend Ben, a Camden-based rock singer and the son of a family friend. Luna: the youngest, head-strong and free-spirited, a wanderer living out of a horse-drawn van while she follows the Gypsy Switch: the route of horse fairs that spans the length of the country.” Liz’s writing is so good that it captures you straight away and before you know it, you’ll be caring about those characters and enjoying their adventures. Even if (like me) you don’t generally read fantasy– let alone if you do.
What about your reading in these strange weeks? Post some suggestions here!
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