Unruly by David Mitchell

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PREMISE: A rollicking history of England’s earliest kings and queens, a story of narcissists, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and more, from award-winning British actor and comedian David Mitchell

Think you know the kings and queens of England? Think again.

In Unruly , David Mitchell explores how early England’s monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects’ destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky bastards who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear to us today in their portraits.

Either we let/make David Mitchell write every history book from now or we bring in a law that says that every author has to copy him. This is how history books should be written. Informative whilst being funny as fuck. Loved it.

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

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PREMISE: In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan’s ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die.

Standing in their way is Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet, and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan’s demons straight to Hell. But something awful’s brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up.

A book about a group of demon hunters who kill Ku Klux Klan members who are actually demons from Hell? Fuck yes. Aside from all those redneck, racist motherfuckers in the States, I’m assuming there’s nobody who can argue with the fact that book premises don’t come much better than this. Short, but great fun to read.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

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PREMISE: Constantinople, 1453:
An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love.

Idaho, 2020:
An impoverished, idealistic kid seeks revenge on a world that’s crumbling around him. Can he go through with it when a gentle old man stands between him and his plans?

Unknown, Sometime in the Future:
With her tiny community in peril, Konstance is the last hope for the human race. To find a way forward, she must look to the oldest stories of all for guidance.

Bound together by a single ancient text, these tales interweave to form a tapestry of solace and resilience and a celebration of storytelling itself. 

Weirdly (or not…I don’t know) I’ve not read All The Light We Cannot See and went straight to this as I liked the sound of it. Man, Anthony Doerr can write. Got absolutely lost in this and that’s exactly why I read. Fantastic book.

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

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PREMISE:  By placing ordinary characters in extraordinary situations, Adjei-Brenyah reveals the violence, injustice, and painful absurdities that Black men and women contend with every day in this country.

These stories explore urgent instances of racism and cultural unrest, and the ways we fight for humanity in an unforgiving world. In “The Finkelstein Five,” Adjei-Brenyah reckons with the brutal prejudice of our justice system. In “Zimmer Land,” we see a far-too-easy-to-believe imagining of racism as sport. And “Friday Black” and “How to Sell a Jacket as Told by IceKing” show the horrors of consumerism and the toll it takes on us all.

My second book of 2024, which I picked up after reading the jaw-droppingly great Chain-Gang All Stars. A collection of dark-as-fuck stories which are well worth reading. Top notch.