A Short History of the World According to Sheep - Flockingly Good Read!

A Short History of the World According to Sheep, by Sally Coulthard is a gem of a book for anyone interested in sheep or history. Filled with fascinating facts and anecdotes, the author traces the impact that sheep - in all their many guises - have had on shaping and influencing the way we live, both in ancient times and right up to the modern day. Going back 10,000 years, we start in the Neolithic period where our ancestors began to gather and rear sheep - both for food and clothing. We then move through the millennia, finding out about the Roman's fireproof underpants, lactose intolerance, the world's oldest socks, extra soft loo roll, black sheep, wool churches, fishermen's jumpers and so much more. We move from the plains of Mesopotamia, to the rolling hills of Medieval England and right up to date with the vast sheep farms of Australia. Sheep have been a source of power and wealth over the centuries, as well as keeping us warm, but in the 21st century, what does the future hold for these domesticated ungulates? I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which has been meticulously researched and is written in an easy-to-read style that invites you to keep on going for just one more fact to amaze your nearest and dearest with. There will be a good few times when the phrase ... well, I didn't know that ... will spring into your mind as you consume page after page. I was sad when it ended and can definitely see myself returning to this book again in the future. I will also be looking out for more books by Sally Coulthard, as her writing is engaging and her subject matter is very much in my wheelhouse. Go sheep!

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 320 print pages.

Price I paid: free, was a present.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Monstrous Regiment - Monstrously Good!

Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett, is one of his many Discworld novels, and although this does feature a couple of characters who appear in other books, it can be read as a standalone novel. Polly Perks lives in a pub in the small, aggressive country of Borogravia, whose head of state - The Duchess - hasn't been seen for many, many years amidst rumours of her demise. Borogravia is always at war with someone, and Polly's brother joined the army to fight the foe, along with pretty much all the young men of the country, and has not been heard of since. Determined to find him, Polly disguises herself as a boy and enlists. Her regiment is led by an inexperienced officer and, luckily, the most artful (and brusque) sergeant in the whole army. However, before they have even begun their training, they are thrust into the thick of the conflict and are soon being hunted by the enemy. But slowly and surely, we find that all the recruits - whether they be human, coffee loving vampires, or trolls - have a secret in common, and together, they truly become a formidable enterprise. I don't know whether it's because I haven't read a Terry Pratchett book in a while but I could not get enough of this book. Full of great characters (both main and supporting), a fantastic storyline and full of social commentary without being dull, this book is so entertaining and incredibly funny - I laughed out loud on many occasions! Polly is feisty and determined, but also caring and clever. If only there was a little of Polly in all of us, the world might be a better place. I read the audio edition which I can highly recommend - it has the wonderful Katherine Parkinson narrating, but also has a couple of treats in the form of Bill Nighy reading the footnotes, and a cameo by Peter Serafinowicz playing Death! The incredible world of Terry Pratchett may not be for everyone, but it certainly is for me!

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 496 print pages.

Price I paid: £7.99

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Fleshmarket Close - horribly good!

Fleshmarket Close, by Ian Rankin, is the 15th novel to feature John Rebus, the very singular Scottish detective. The book opens with the murder of an illegal immigrant in an Edinburgh housing scheme, and Rebus is on the team investigating ... despite his superiors moving him to a different police station, where he hasn't even his own desk! Anyone might think about retiring, but not Rebus. Instead, he gets the bit between his teeth and picks his way through the evidence and suspects, to find out what happened and why. This takes him to an asylum seekers' centre, as well as having to have a quiet word with Big Ger Cafferty - the aged head of Edinburgh's sleazy underworld. Meanwhile, Siobhan, Rebus's closest colleague and friend is sucked back into one of her old cases, when the sister of a girl who killed herself following her rape disappears. And then there's the matter of two skeletons found buried in the cellar of a pub in Fleshmarket Close. Are all three cases linked in some way? Well, of course they are, but how and why provides the fun of reading the book. As always, Ian Rankin masterfully brings all the different threads of the story together and throws in some more of the personal relationship stuff suffered by Rebus and Siobhan. If only Rebus could get his head out of the bottle at times, maybe his love life would improve ... just saying! A very satisfying read and I raced through it!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 482 print pages.

Price I paid: free, borrowed from my husband.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Babel - the power of words

Babel, by R.F. Kuang is a historical fantasy novel set in Oxford, England in 1836. In this city of dreaming spires sits an imposing tower called Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation. It is from this tower that the real power of the Victorian Empire flows through the use of silver imbued with magical properties provided by words from different languages that have the same root. When these words are spoken by a person fluent in them, the silver takes on a power - anything from making the bearer invisible, to a steam engine needing less fuel. But where this silver goes and to whom is strictly controlled and is always of benefit to those who run the Empire rather than its citizens. Robin Swift, a young orphan from Canton, is "rescued" by institute member Professor Lovell, and brought to England where he is raised by his new guardian for the specific purpose of training in languages and becoming a key member of Babel. When Robin first arrives in Oxford to further his studies he thinks all his dreams have come true - but it isn't long before he and his friends, who also originate from different parts of the empire, experience racial prejudice. Robin tries to ignore this and keep his head down. However, when a half-brother makes himself known and opens his eyes to the realities of Babel and the subjugation of the masses through its work, he begins to question his place in this world and fight against it. This is an ingenious premise about the power of words, the cruelty of Empire and the imbalance between the haves and have nots. We see Robin's journey from starry eyed innocent to subversive activist. This takes time, which I liked, as we see him struggling to come to terms with the world that's been revealed to him - rather than a sudden change of attitude. The other characters are interesting, though a few are a bit one dimensional and it would have been great to delve a little deeper into them. One irritation was with the amount of footnotes, which can get a little tedious, but they do contain some gems, so I didn't dare ignore them. An interesting read that could have gone a little faster on occasion - with the pace slowing and actions/scenes feeling a little repetitive - but overall, a satisfying slice of a hidden, dystopian world set in the past rather than the future, especially if you are a lover of words! Oh, and I applaud the effort of the author who must have done a tonne of research!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 560 print pages.

Price I paid: free, was a Christmas present.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service - The softer side of Bond, well, almost!

On Her Majesty's Secret Service, by Ian Fleming, is book 11 of the James Bond series. In this outing, 007 has fallen out of love with his job in the aftermath of Operation Thunderbolt, when arch villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld completely disappeared. While contemplating his future, James finds himself back at the Casino Royale in France and comes across Contessa Teresa "Tracy" di Vicenzo. They spend an oddly dispassionate night together and Bond doesn't quite know what to make of this troubled woman - who, it turns out, is the daughter of Draco, the head of Union Corse - a Corsican crime organisation. Draco and Bond has a measure of respect for each other, to the extent that Draco suggests to Bond that he marries Tracy, but that's not on Bond's radar! Some time later, Bond gets a lead on Blofeld and is sent, undercover, to Switzerland to see if Blofeld has resurfaced. Not only is it Blofeld, but Bond discovers that he is working on a plot involving biological warfare, and must be stopped. But Bond's cover is blown and he barely escapes with his life down the mountain where, by a fortuitous stroke of luck, he bumps into Tracy once again, who helps him get to safety. After which, he surprises himself by proposing to her. They plan to marry as soon as Bond has resolved the Blofeld crisis - for which he recruits the help of Tracy's father. They foil the evil plot, but Blofeld escapes again, and manages to inflict a tragic revenge on Bond. This is an entertaining outing for Bond and I enjoyed it more than some of the previous books. It's nice to see a softer side to everyone's favourite spy, but there are still passages that troubled me about his attitude to women in general. It is a novel of its time I suppose and if you just take it as breathtaking, action-packed adventure, then you will enjoy it. The audio edition is narrated by David Tennant who does a great job, as you would expect!

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 368 print pages.

Price I paid: £4.00

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Saving Missy - Never too late!

Saving Missy, by Beth Morrey, features seventy-nine year old Missy Carmichael who is a prickly, stubborn and incredibly lonely woman. She lives alone in a large house and misses her beloved son and grandson who lives in Australia. She also has a daughter, but their relationship has broken down and she longs for Leo, her husband, to help mend fences, but he's not there (we eventually find out why much later in the book). One day, Missy has a chance encounter with two women and a boy in the local park who transform her life. She slowly starts to come out of her shell and involve herself in the world again, especially when she agrees to look after a dog called Bob ... just for a couple of days! The couple of days turns into weeks and months and Missy tells the dog about all her troubles and feels the companionship that her new furry lodger brings her. Through her new found friends (both the 2- and 4-legged varieties), we hear about Missy's early life, meeting her husband and how she sacrificed her own career for raising a family. We slowly see Missy come back out of her isolated shell and find herself again after all these years. She positively blossoms and, despite a few set backs, she sees hope for the future. This is a lovely book and Missy is a great character. Her friends, Sylvie and Angela, do stretch credibility a little ... if only the world was full of these types of people ... but they create an enjoyable and lively counterpoint to Missy's long-established stillness (at the start). Not earth shattering, but the story is interesting and you definitely become invested and keen to know what happens to Missy. This could be, in part, due to the fantastic narration by Harriet Walter in the audio edition that I used. A good holiday read.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 400 print pages.

Price I paid: £3.99.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio, ebook.

The Year 1000 - snapshot of history

The Year 1000, by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger is a look at what life was like for English people at the turn of the first millennium. Based around the Julian Calendar, it features a month per chapter. We follow the seasons and activities of everyday folk that were key to life at the time, but set against the background of the political goings on ... and there were a few! Full of interesting facts about farming, medicine, church, kings and queens, and how places got their names ... just to name a few ... this book will probably annoy anyone you live or work with as you share with them the latest nugget of information that has been presented to you. Life was tough and often short, but people were not starving - indeed, it may surprise many that people's stature was pretty much as it is today. Christendom loomed large in everyone's lives, but as the millennium approached, there were prophets of doom everywhere (maybe they were a 1000 years too early!!!). Also, fast approaching over the horizon were the abacus and the concept of infinity and zero ... after which, life would never be the same again. Written in an easy to understand style, but without being patronising or too simplistic, this is a great book for anyone who likes their history in bite size pieces.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 240 print pages.

Price I paid: free, was a present.

Formats available: print, abridged audio download, abridge audio cassette.