Based on the title, I expected this to be something like A Short History of the World by H. G. Wells, which offers a complete world history in a piece of writing the length of a novel. Though I was disappointed that this isn’t what this is, I was equally pleased by what it actually was – which is a history of science. It goes into many areas of scientific knowledge, and does so in such a way that somebody with next to no knowledge can appreciate and understand what’s being explained.

My favourite parts dealt with the creation of the Earth in space, and the creation of the universe before it. Bill Bryson talks about the Creationist theories from a couple of hundred years ago, and explained how they slowly evolved into current ideas of evolution, and offers examples of different historic beliefs, such as the person who was sure that the Earth was created in late October, some several thousand years B. C. and that the even happened around midday.

As much as it is fascinating to learn about what we now know about the early days of the universe and of our planet, I found it even more interesting to learn about what we don’t know – which is a lot. The universe is a very mysterious place, and this book does a wonderful job of highlighting that.

The universe is also a very bleak place, which this book also highlights well. If you are quite an anxious person, then you might want to avoid reading this, because the author goes over several ways in which our species, or at very least our civilisation, could be wiped out relatively easily. He also really highlights how miniscule we are in occupying such a tiny amount of space and time. I could imagine somebody becoming quite low-spirited after read those parts.

On the flip-side of that, it’s quite a funny book sometimes. It goes into a lot of detail about things that scientists just happened to name after their home town, or people they know, that we take for granted as the name for certain scientific terms. It also explains many of the petty rivalries and disputes that they had which each other throughout history, with many of these scientists having eccentric personalities. The human drama element was often quite entertaining.

So if you’ve ever wanted to know more about the history of science, to find out what we know so far, and where that knowledge came from, I definitely recommend this book. Bill Bryson’s light and conversational tone is highly accessible and I think most people will learn a thing or two from it.

Rating: 8.8/10

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This is a novel about young love, and how obsessive, and even dangerous, it can be. It tells the tale of a young woman (Emily) who died suddenly – seemingly as the result of a suicide pact that she had with her boyfriend (Chris), though he is alive and (for the most part) well. It’s an emotionally intense piece of literature, and one that gives a look into the hearts and minds of lots of well developed characters.

The character I felt most strongly for throughout this was Emily. While she dies right at the start of the novel, you afterwards get to see her life up until that point through a series of flashbacks. Although the ultimate reason for her death felt a bit off to me (for reasons not fully addressed), what I admired about her story was that it perfectly highlights the risk of not having the right support network in place for somebody. The lack of respect and understanding for her needs from everyone in her life felt so true to things I’ve seen happen to people I know.

Chris, meanwhile, is a typical teenage boy – and I don’t mean that he’s a negative stereotype of a teenage boy, but that he feels very believable. He’s a well-intentioned person and I felt very sorry for him because of the situation he’s been thrust into – but equally, I sometimes got very frustrated with him. Like most teenagers, he doesn’t make the right decisions in emotionally intense situations and he’s far too driven by sex. By the end of it, I wasn’t sure what to think of him, but I could totally believe him as a character.

Though those two characters are the ones at the heart of the novel, there’s also Chris’s mother, Gus, who I loved for being so endlessly devoted to her son, Emily’s father, Michael, who has a kind and thoughtful sort of nature, even after the loss of his daughter, and Jordan McAfee, Chris’s no-nonsense lawyer. There are others too, but these were my favourites, and one of the big strengths of this novel was that it is essentially built upon the interactions between lots of very interesting and likeable characters.

It did have its issues, for sure, and while the ending was very thought-provoking, my interpretation of events was never really properly acknowledged – I don’t know if it was an interpretation that the author intended, or if I’m just reading it in a strange way, but I would have liked to have seen that (and I can’t say more without spoiling it). Though I felt one aspect of the backstory could have been handled a little better, I was still very impressed overall, and recommended it to anyone who likes very human dramas that deal with very complex situations.

Rating: 9.2/10

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This is a delightfully cosy novel about a boy named Copper growing up in 1930s Japan (which is when the book was written). The chapters switch between Copper’s life and the situations he gets into with his friends, and letters written to him by his uncle, who offers many sage insights for his nephew.

Story-wise, there’s no overly-dramatic tension in Copper’s life – the things that happen to him are very much the kind of things that would happen to an ordinary boy. He hangs out with his friends, deals with bullies, has falling out with friends, has fun with his friends, and wonders about how different things in the world work. He always means well, but he doesn’t always do the right thing. He’s an endearing character – especially right at the end.

Meanwhile, his uncle is trying to teach Copper different things in his letters – not only does he try to instil in him good values (and there are some pretty good messages in this book about being a decent human being and respecting others) but he also tries to teach him about science, history, and philosophy too. It’s a progressive piece of work, especially for the time and place it was written, with criticisms of society that remain relevant to this day.

Beyond the morals of the story, it is also a pretty educational book. His uncle writes a lot about the life of Napoleon (which I found interesting as someone with only a rough idea of his life), about the work of Copernicus (after whom Copper gets his nickname), about Buddhism, and much more. In the intro by Neil Gaiman, it says that it is similar to Moby Dick in that regard, but unlike Moby Dick (which is filled with a bunch of outdated whale biology and a bunch of dodgy moral stances), this book is filled with some genuinely insightful stuff.

Overall, though it is a short book, it’s one that left quite an impact on me. The opening in particular, which has Copper looking out on a city from on top of a tall building, and pondering the inter-connected nature of life, was really beautiful – and there’s a lot of beauty contained within this pages. I’m glad I read it. (Though annoyingly, the translator isn’t credited in my edition, so I don’t know who did it).

Rating: 9.1/10

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I have a complicated relationship with this book, which is fitting, because the author seems to love to write about complicated relationships. On the one hand, it was very much one of those books that had me saying “just one more chapter” because the story was told across lots of shorter chapters (ideal) and they always seemed to end on some kind of cliff hanger or revelation. On the other hand, every character was just so nasty and toxic, that I just found myself getting quite worked up about it sometimes.

The story follows two close friends named Ivy and Zara who are extremely close with one another. I liked this. I’m always pleased when stories show platonic relationships as just as deep and as meaningful and romantic ones – though at the same time, it’s just as toxic as a lot of romantic ones too. Ivy is often very mean and controlling with Zara, and at times I wondered why the two of them were even friends, but it seemed to be born out of Zara’s deep-rooted insecurity.

Something that was frustrating, but also very realistic, was the way that Zara seems convinced that just about everybody is against her. People say thing to her that seem perfectly normal and ordinary, and she’ll have an inner monologue about how it was a disguised slight, and how she’s really upset as a consequence. They’ll then inevitably end up falling out. I know there are a lot of people who do think like that, and it is sad, but it’s stressful to read and you just want to say to her “not everyone is out to get you!”

Then there’s Ivy who is just awful. She’s constantly making nasty comments about other people on all things from the way they look, to their choices in life. She’s so mean-spirited, and Zara always seems to go along with it, in a kind of “she’s saying what we’re all thinking” kind of way, but I think only mean people think the things that Ivy says and it made it very hard to warm to her – though I’ll admit that she has some more noble intensions later on that made me like her a bit more. I guess later it’s more that she looks better because she’s compared to an even worse person.

The third major player in it all is Henry, an arrogant CEO who starts dating Zara. The relationship between these two is just as central to the story as the relationship between Zara and Ivy. Right from the start, Henry is disrespecting boundaries and acting in a really controlling way, but Zara never sees it. This is likely intentional, but gosh, having known several people who have gotten involved with really toxic partners, it was hard to watch it happen here all while Zara is talking about how wonderful he is.

There’s a lot of very serious stuff in this book, and to be honest, I think it went a bit too far as it went on, and started to feel more like melodrama, rather than the more rooted story that it was at the start. It will be very raw for anyone who has experienced these things first or even second hand. It’s basically a book about horrible things happening to horrible people (similar to the author’s first book One Small Mistake – which, fun fact, is set in the same universe) and it makes for a very unique reading experience.

I’d definitely enjoy the book more if every single character wasn’t out to lift themselves up by pushing everybody else down. Or even if there was just one genuinely nice character in the mix, but all of them are just repugnant. I felt bad for them a lot of the time, and maybe that’s the point, to make you feel something for otherwise unsympathetic characters.

And so that’s the conundrum in me – the complicated relationship. I admire it for tackling certain aspects of sexism and misogyny, and I appreciate the realistic portrayal of really unhealthy relationships (even if it gets a little bit over the top towards the end)… but being inside the heads of these characters is genuinely a bit too stressful for me.

On another note, the author describes the ending as being a bit “marmite”. I’m not going to spoil anything, but it ends kind of abruptly. I can see why it was done that way and in my mind, what would have happened next was quite obvious, but leaving it open ended lets the reader decide, and I don’t mind that. As far as marmite goes, I guess I’m one of the people who likes it. It’s the kind of thing that would be fun to discuss with other people who have read it.

All in all, its a book that I do recommend – but only if you have a lot of patience for unkind people. I didn’t like it quite as much as One Small Mistake, which felt a bit more focused in its storyline, but while complicated, I ultimately think that I enjoyed reading it, and think it’s a good book to dissect and analyse with fellow readers.

Rating: 6.7/10

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This was a book that I’d heard was good, but I wasn’t too sure what to expect from it. I typically enjoy stories about ordinary people, rather than the lives of world leaders, so a part of me was worried that this wouldn’t be quite for me. However, I had no need to worry, because I loved this book – partially because, to my surprise, Michelle Obama’s life started out in much the same way as many ordinary people’s.

Descended from somebody who was enslaved, Michelle Obama grew up with her working place family in a place called Euclid Avenue in Chicago. I didn’t expect her to have had such humble beginnings, and it certainly helped endear me to her. As she talks about the days of her youth, you get a sense of her values and where they came from, and why she’s passionate about looking out for ordinary people.

It’s really emotional at times, especially when she writes about the death of her father. Even if she weren’t somebody who would eventually become First Lady of America, I’d have enjoyed it as a story of just one woman’s relationship with her family. Though of course, what comes later helps make it even more interesting.

I am very guilty of not thinking of world leaders as regular people sometimes. I know that they hold human flaws, but I don’t think of them leading everyday lives, and the way in which being a major public figure plays into that. The stories about how she and her family had to adapt to the changes that came when Barrack became president are really insightful, and cover many things I’d never considered before – especially the dilemmas she faced as a mother.

Meanwhile, the story of her relationship with Barrack is also fascinating to me. Again, I would never really think about the romantic lives of world leaders, so it was really interesting to me to read about Michelle Obama meeting her future husband, not initially being hugely impressed by him, and then slowly building a relationship, a life, and a family with him.

I also felt for her as she described the way in which the opposition party, and various publications, would do everything they could to try and make her and her family look bad at every turn. It highlights some of the real ugliness of the political world, and how ridiculous (and insincere) some people are when criticising those they disagree with politically.

As much as Michelle Obama will forever be associated with politics, this isn’t book about politics, or even a book with a political message (other than certain basic levels of respect which are sometimes considered political). Rather, it’s a human story about the emotions involved with being a regular person cast onto to world stage, and that was really interesting to me.

Rating: 8/10

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This was the first novel I ever read by Anne, the lesser known of the three Brontë sisters. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’d really enjoyed the other Brontë novels that I’d read. Now that I’ve finished The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I actually think that Anne might be my favourite of the three – compared to Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights (the other Brontë novels I’ve read), I think this one has a storyline much more grounded in reality, and with a better message to it.

The story is told through a series of letters, in which a man named Gilbert Markham writes to a friend to tell him about the goings on in the small countryside town where he lives. Markham is particularly intrigued by an enigmatic woman who moves into a dilapidated old building in the area (Wildfell Hall) along with her young son. Though she tries to lead a very solitary existence, Markham and his friends and family begin to absorb her into their social circles, and Markham strikes up a bond with she and her son. Little by little, clues about her past are revealed, and eventually the perspective shifts and you read her diary and find out what circumstances brought her to the hall.

I don’t want to spoilt too much about her history, but the titular Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Helen Graham, is by far the coolest character in the book, and, in my opinion, one of the best female characters in all nineteenth century literature. She is a flawed character who has made some mistakes, but somebody who has learned from those mistakes and grown as a person. Without going into too much detail, she takes a stand against misogyny and does things which would make her a social outcast, but everything she does is done in the name of fairness, and she remains a person of strong moral convictions throughout. She’s so cool.

I’ll admit that the ending was slightly too cliché for me (and that Markham isn’t really the ‘nice guy’ he thinks he is), but it’s fairly standard for its time, and overall I was very impressed with it. It’s a book which takes a stand against domestic abuse and which highlights the injustices faced by women at the time and which, sadly, will still be faced by women today. A progressive novel with a powerful message of kindness and compassion that I strongly reccommend.

Rating: 8.9/10

Buy it here.

I really quite enjoyed the fifth book in The Wheel of Time series, which was something of a relief for me, because the fourth one felt like a significant step down in quality. Though there were still little bits here and there that made me role my eyes, overall, it was a much more engaging read.

One of my favourite things about it was how it explored the breaking of the White Tower as seen in the end of the last book. The newly stilled Siuan Sanche essentially becomes one of the new main characters, and the idea of this formerly extremely powerful figure (both magically, and politically) having to go on the run after being deposed is very cool, and her perspective is so different to that of Rand or any of the main characters, so I always enjoyed the chapters about her.

Of course, Siuan is just part of it. This novel also gives us a look at the Aes Sedai who refused to accept their new Amyrlin. They’re based within a obscure and quiet little village where they are trying to figure out exactly what they should do next. As the Aes Sedai had seemed to be an almost unstoppable force in earlier novels, I enjoyed seeing them in a completely new light. Seeing them broken into different factions like this helps make the world feel a lot more three dimensional.

One thing I didn’t like so much was how Aviendha was written in this one. With so many other female characters seemingly getting caught up in how much they love Rand, it was nice to have one who seems to regard him as an irritation that she’s been thrown together with by circumstance. Unfortunately, it seems that once again Robert Jordan was doing the “they seem to hate each other because they secretly love each other” trope, just like he did with Perrin and Faile (neither of whom are in this one). For me, this kind of thing is quite tiresome, and not good romance writing at all, but there’s not enough of it to spoil things this time.

Something else that I actually did like was the plot thread about Nynaeve and Elayne. As they make a long journey to try and return to the White Tower (having completed their mission) they end up joining a travelling circus, which I found very entertaining. The legendary hero Birigitte also plays a pretty important role in their part of the story, and I really enjoyed her becoming more of a main character.

All thing considered, I think anybody who has gotten this far in the series will be quite pleased with this book. While some of the novels can feel a bit meandering at times, this one was well paced and had a pretty explosive finale too (literally), even if part of it was a little too convenient.

Rating: 8.2/10

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The fourteenth volume of Assassination Classroom picks up where the previous one ended – with Class-E holding a festival and selling food in competition against Class-A. This is a fairly fun, light-hearted storyline, with the most appealing part of it being that it brings back a number of characters from previous volumes. It’s a nice little treat for fans, and helps make things feel more closely tied together.

While that is an enjoyable storyline, the most interesting part about this volume is it’s focus on Principle Asano. Until now, he’s just been a fairly shady side character who doesn’t do a huge amount (other than be a pretty abusive father). In this one, he throws his hat in the ring and decides to try his own assassination attempt on Koro-sensei.

For the first time, the status quo for Class-E feels at stake. Koro-sensei is even given his walking papers. To me, this was the most tense the story had become since they went to the island, and it’s really cool to see Asano as a really competent foe for Koro-sensei. This volume even made me feel something for him, so it was good to see Asano used in an interesting way, at last.

Though it was a slightly more easygoing instalment compared to the previous volume on the whole, I think I enjoyed it just as much. There’s some good character development and the feeling that things are coming towards an ending continues to forebode.

Rating: 9.3/10