FrancescaJ

FrancescaJ , 21 days ago to bookstodon

I waited almost 6 months for my library hold of #Doppelganger by #NaomiKlein to turn up - a fact I’m extremely heartened by. It’s intelligent & insightful & compassionate in its exploration of online #misinformation, conspiracy theories & the descent into these of the woman the author is frequently confused with #NaomiWolf @bookstodon

FrancescaJ , 28 days ago to bookstodon

#BirnamWood couldn’t be more different from #EleanorCatton’s previous Booker prize winning novel. It’s a fairly straightforward literary thriller and one that is very much of the zeitgeist with environmentalism, social media & billionaires under the microscope. Even the morally upright journalist thinks about his scoop as a path to fame. It’s very readable but also, particularly at the end, just a little bit silly. #bookstodon @bookstodon

FrancescaJ , 1 month ago to bookstodon

Straight to the top of best book I’ve read this year is Translation State by #AnnLeckie. High concept #scifi shot through with delicious black humour. @bookstodon #reading #books

FrancescaJ , 1 month ago to bookstodon

I recently read a compilation of #UrsulaKLeGuin short stories- The Unreal & The Real volume 1 Where On Earth. These are her realist stories. Her writing never fails to illuminate & this line from Unlocking the Air was a gut punch in the context of modern times #books @bookstodon

FrancescaJ , 2 months ago to bookstodon

I’m a sucker for historical fantasy so A Radical Act of Free Magic by NZ author H.G. Parry is right up my alley. The second book in a duology which began with A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians it centres on Williams Wilberforce & Pitt & the history of the British governments failures to ban the slave trade but with a hefty dose of vampires & krakens thrown in to the mix. Thoroughly enjoyed it & the depiction of the men’s friendship was beautiful @bookstodon #reading

FrancescaJ , 4 months ago to bookstodon

George Monbiot really threw down the gauntlet with this one. I get his frustration. The planet has warmed and we’ve waited to long to start mitigation meaning we need more extreme mitigation efforts. Have I gone vegan after reading it? No. Do I consume large amounts of animal products? Also no. Did it make me think about how so much of what we consider ’better’ alternatives actually aren’t. Yes. #ClimateChange #Regenesis #FoodSecurity #Reading @bookstodon

[free range chickens] are allowed outdoors. While this is better for their welfare, it means they lay a scorching carpet of reactive phosphate across the fields on which they roam, often at far greater concentrations than any farm would spread manure. When rain falls, their droppings are washed off the land and into the rivers even faster, and in a rawer state, than the excrement extracted from the factories and spread deliberately on the fields. Because they use more energy than confined birds, free-range chickens also need more feed, exerting even greater pressure on the ecosystems of South America. But this is just the beginning of the problem. The chicken factories in the Wye Valley testify to the wider economic failure of free-range farming. Many of the farmers who have built these barns once made their living from pastured (free-range) sheep or cattle.

FrancescaJ , 4 months ago to bookstodon

Catching up on my #reading over the last few weeks. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell was compelling dive into the world of the Medici family, and I am in awe of how she can keep you riveted even when you know how the story ends. It’s not as breathtakingly good as Hamnet. But that’s a high bar. @bookstodon #books