#Sonnets by Lucien Young - Blog Tour Review

Life Of A Nerdish Mum is closing out the blog tour for #Sonnets by Lucien Young with a review of this hilarious collection.

#Sonnets

'I thought I could, with verse iambic, pry

Some sense from nonsense, and our modern scene 

Depict and mock, while using "thee" and "thy" 

In pages fit to rest by thy latrine.'

Lucien Young

Shakespeare's sonnets are among the great achievements in world literature. Alas, the immortal Bard never used his command of iambic pentameter to explore such themes as porn, Snapchat and Austin Powers.

#Sonnets is a collection of hilarious and inappropriate poems complete with illustrations of Elizabethan RoboCop and Snoop Dogg in tights. Musing on everything from Donald Trump to Tinder, comedy writer Lucien Young offers a Shakespearean take on the absurdity of modern life.

My Review

When I first heard about #Sonnets, I absolutely knew I had to check it out as it sounded so absurdly brilliant! I was right.

There are 167 sonnets in #Sonnets and there is absolutely something for everyone. The topics are incredibly wide ranging and random, jumping from auto-correct to Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I haven't read in iambic pentameter since I think secondary school, which was *mumble mumble* years ago, so it took me a couple of sonnets to fall back into the reading rhythm, but once I was there it flowed really well.

I chose to read #Sonnets by jumping in and out and reading one or two at a time, taking my time to enjoy each one as the small masterpiece it was. I had to google a couple of things as I had no idea what they were and I haven't watched Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, so though those sonnets probably had slightly less impact on me, I could still appreciate the quality of the writing and the humour within.

I liked the fact there were some sonnets dedicated to the man himself, Shakespeare, it was a nice touch at the end of the book. I have three absolute favourite sonnets though, Darth Vader, Liam Neeson, and Batman. Both Vader and Batman are from my top fandoms and so they really made me laugh.

I've picked up #Sonnets a few times since finishing it and re reading some of my favourites. I really feel it's a book that can be enjoyed over a long period of time and more than once. It's also just a really pretty book with some really brilliant illustrations throughout.

I gave this book 5 stars.

About The Author

"Thy poet was in Northern England born,

Upon the Geordie Shore in '88.

He spent his adolescent years forlorn,

Bereft of hope that he might find a mate.

But reading Shakespeare's verse, it did occur

To him that he should master sonnetry

And write some stanzas to a fancied her,

Escaping thus his cruel virginity!

Of course, that did not happen: they were shit

And, filled with shame, the lad set down his quill,

Then left his teens with naught to show for it,

Beyond a new and truly pointless skill.

So now he doth, in quasi-comic guise,

Attempt his wasted youth to monetise."

(Lucien Young is a comedy writer who has worked on various TV programmes, including BBC Three's Siblings and Murder in Successville, as well as authoring three humour books, Alice in Brexitland, Trump's Christmas Carol and The Secret Diary of Jeremy Corbyn. He was born in Newcastle and read English at the University of Cambridge, where he was a member of the world-famous Footlights Club).

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Help The Witch by Tom Cox - Blog Tour Review

Life Of A Nerdish Mum is super excited to be part of the blog tour for Help The Witch by Tom Cox, a collection of weird and wonderful short stories. 

Help The Witch

Inspired by our native landscapes, saturated by the shadows beneath trees and behind doors, listening to the run of water and half-heard voices, Tom Cox s first collection of short stories is a series of evocative and unsettling trips into worlds previously visited by the likes of M. R. James and E. F. Benson.

Railway tunnels, the lanes and hills of the Peak District, family homes, old stones, shreds fluttering on barbed wire, night drawing in, something that might be an animal shifting on the other side of a hedge: Tom has drawn on his life-long love of weird fiction, folklore and nature's unregarded corners to write a collection of stories that will delight fans old and new, and leave them very uneasy about turning the reading lamp off.

My Review

I would firstly like to say just how absolutely stunning the cover is, if I was walking past this book in a bookshop I would buy it just on the basis of its cover without knowing another thing about it! Seriously just look at it. 

It seems to be tradition now that I read a collection of short stories around this time of year and I'm really glad that this year, Help The Witch came along. Each and every one of the stories is just as strong as the last. While reading I was trying to choose my favourite story like I would normally do, but I really struggled. So the one I chose to highlight was the one I thought was the most original and left me feeling uncomfortable as I read it, Listings. Listings is incredibly clever and it tells the story of a cave Goblin, a Tunk, through the medium of listings in a newspaper. Things like house lettings, lost pets and obituary's, give you small snippets of the story and the things that are happening in and around a house with a "cavern" underneath it. It's I think the shortest story in the book, but it's very impactful and the cleverness of it's telling rally stands out. 

There's such a wide range of topics in Help The Witch, it really keeps you interested. Though with short stories, you can read one story, put the book down and then come back at another time; with Help The Witch you want to keep seeing what the next story will be about and how it will be told. Because of this I ended up reading it all in just one sitting and I loved it. 

This is definitely a big recommendation from me and this time of year is the absolute perfect time to cuddle up in a blanket with a brew and this book. 

I gave this book 5 stars. 

About The Author

Tom Cox has written nine books, including the Sunday Times top ten bestseller The Good, The Bad And The Furry. His account of his year as Britain's most inept golf professional, Bring Me The Head Of Sergio Garcia, was long listed for the William Hill Sports Book Of The Year Award in 2007. Tom gave up writing for traditional media outlets in summer 2015 and now writes fiction and pieces about nature, folklore and the British countryside for his voluntary subscription website www.tom-cox.com. His last book, 21st Century Yokel - a nature book, but not quite like any you'll have read before - was the fastest ever book to fund with the crowdfunding publisher, Unbound, taking just seven hours.

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The Black Prince by Adam Roberts and Anthony Burgess - Blog Tour Review

I'm super happy to be part of an exciting blog tour for The Black Prince. The Black Prince is written by Adam Roberts, based on a 90 page script written by Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange). 

The Black Prince

‘I’m working on a novel intended to express the feel of England in Edward III’s time ... The fourteenth century of my novel will be mainly evoked in terms of smell and visceral feelings, and it will carry an undertone of general disgust rather than hey-nonny nostalgia’ – Anthony Burgess, Paris Review, 1973

The Black Prince is a brutal historical tale of chivalry, religious belief, obsession, siege and bloody warfare.

From disorientating depictions of medieval battles to court intrigues and betrayals, the campaigns of Edward II, the Black Prince, are brought to vivid life by an author in complete control of the novel as a way of making us look at history with fresh eyes, all while staying true to the linguistic pyrotechnics and narrative verve of Burgess’s best work.

My Review

The minute I saw the cover and title of this book, I knew I wanted to read The Black Prince. The minute I found out that it was based on writings by Anthony Burgess, I knew I needed to read The Black Prince. This book has been one of my most highly anticipated books of this year. 

If you're of a squeamish disposition, this book is not the book for you. The war scenes are brutal, vicious, visceral, bloody and real. The writing really catches the horror of war. At times I found myself breathless reading the fight scenes as if I was taking part. I feel very much that this book will easily convert to a film! 

The Black Prince demands your attention as you read, as it jumps between poems and memories from different perspectives. It's all fascinating and extremely well done and once you get used to the rhythm changing up it is a really excellent read. It isn't an easy read, but its definitely worth the effort. 

I liked the fact that we got a darker and more realistic look at this time in history, as in a lot of historical books, you get a dulled down version which doesn't really reflect how things actually were. I also felt that this meant you were more invested in the story as you could actually picture it all, no matter how bad the scene was. 

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I was happy that the content lived up to the covers promise! 

I gave this book four stars. 

About The Authors

Adam Roberts

Adam Roberts is a writer, critic and academic. He is the author of sixteen novels and many shorter works, including the prize-winning Jack Glass (2012). His most recent novel is The Real-Town Murders (2017). He is Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London, and has published critically on a wide range of topics, including nineteenth- and twentieth-century fiction and science fiction. He lives in the south-east of England.

Anthony Burgess

Anthony Burgess was a British novelist, critic and composer. He was also a librettist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, travel writer, broadcaster, translator, linguist and educationalist. Born in Manchester, he lived for long periods in Southeast Asia, the USA and Mediterranean Europe as well as in England. His fiction includes the Malayan trilogy (The Long Day Wanes) on the dying days of Britain's empire in the East; the Enderby quartet of novels about a poet and his muse; Nothing Like the Sun, a recreation of Shakespeare's love-life; A Clockwork Orange, an exploration of the nature of evil; and Earthly Powers, a panoramic saga of the 20th century. He published studies of Joyce, Hemingway, Shakespeare and Lawrence, produced the treatises on linguistics Language Made Plain and A Mouthful of Air, and was a prolific journalist, writing in several languages. He translated and adapted Cyrano de Bergerac, Oedipus the King, and Carmen for the stage; scripted Jesus of Nazareth and Moses the Lawgiver for the screen; invented the prehistoric language spoken in Quest for Fire; and composed the Sinfoni Melayu, the Symphony (No. 3) in C, and the opera Blooms of Dublin.

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Artemis by Andy Weir - Blog Tour Review

Life Of A Nerdish Mum is very excited to be a part of the blog tour for the paperback and ebook release of Artemis by Andy Weir. 

Artemis

Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of Jazz's problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself - and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even more unlikely than the first.

My Review

Wow! Artemis certainly gets started with a bang and had me on the edge of the seat from pretty much page one. I loved that the action got started straight away and swept me up into the story effortlessly. 

Jazz is a fabulous character, just the kind of main character I enjoy reading. She's sarcastic, intelligent, hard working and a bit of a badass. Jazz very much made me think that Artemis is more YA-ish than The Martian, I think because I've read a lot of YA with a strong female protagonist recently, she fits perfectly in with them. However there was just as much science throughout Artemis as there was in The Martian, but don't worry if you don't have PhD in chemistry, you can read it or skim and you'll still be following the story. 

Andy Weir has done an excellent job at world building. I really think having an author with so much knowledge about the subject they are writing about shows through in the world. I have wanted to read a moon based story for a long time and this really hit the spot for me. I could picture it all perfectly and the science and explanations for how things worked just made it very realistic. 

The pacing was excellent throughout and kept me wanting to read just a bit more. The ending let me down a little bit as it felt a bit rushed, but it was still thoroughly enjoyable and I felt it fit with the rest of the book. 

Overall a really engaging and enjoyable read and one I have recommended to others already. 

I gave this book 4 stars. 

About The Author

ANDY WEIR built a career as a software engineer until the success of his first published novel, THE MARTIAN, allowed him to live out his dream of writing fulltime. He is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects such as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. He also mixes a mean cocktail. He lives in California. Andy’s next book, ARTEMIS, is available now.

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