It’s 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is well and truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel’s life is as it should be: led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis delivers his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, at Isabel’s doorstep-as a guest, there to stay for the season…

Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: sleeps late, wakes late, walks loudly through the house and touches things she shouldn’t. In response Isabel develops a fury-fuelled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house-a spoon, a knife, a bowl-Isabel’ suspicions spiral out of control. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to desire – leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva – nor the house in which they live – are what they seem.

My Concise View:

What a marvellous novel. Isabel is a wonderful literary creation. A character hard to really like (you really do want to shout at her throughout the novel) –  ‘not even honey could sweeten that vinegar’ but she is never less than compelling. She is lost, abandoned, trapped. You want to see the good inside her, even though you’re not sure she deserves it.  Eva, whilst less complex and totally different on the surface, is actually quite similar to Isabel in that they both have a sense of loss, of belonging (and yet not belonging), a mistrust of others.  

The result is a surprisingly tense and very sensuous novel – there is a wonderful bit in the acknowledgments where she thanks her family for ‘not talking to me about Chapter 10, you’re very respectful people’ – where a house is more than a house and emotions complicate easy atonement.

The main reveal is, perhaps, a bit obvious but it does not take away at all from your investment in the central characters and the ending might not be everyone’s cup of tea but I was fine with it. The main thrust of the book and the points it is making have already been made.

Loved it.

A few people I know will be getting this as a Christmas Present.

The post 2024 Booker Time: Yael van der Wouden – The Safekeep appeared first on Information Overlord.

I can still remember what a game changer RSS feeds were to me as a librarian/information professional . I could bore for team GB on the subject and why not having a feed reader and hundreds of feeds was a crime.

Today, no one really cares about RSS. It is no longer something that is actively promoted on most websites (even if it still exists on those websites). So, should you still care about RSS? Do you still need an RSS reader?

When Google pulled the plug on Google Reader (one of their best products) seven years ago it seemed that Google had decided RSS was over, forcing many people to accept the same or migrate to a variety of less good options. I started with Feedly then ended up in a few cul-de-sacs before eventually settling on the free version of Inoreader – which, for the record, is still a really good RSS reader. Their paid for tier options also quite reasonable for the money. But over the past 12 months I realised that even I no longer needed to see updates from around 85% of the things I have RSS feeds for. They were either no longer relevant to what I was doing or I just picked up on their updates elsewhere – on Twitter, for example. So, I was ready to pretty much pull the plug.

The new and shiny

And then. I’ve been going a bit web 2.0 again recently, by which I mean returning to that phase where I’d sign up to try out lots of new tools just because they were new and shiny. I may come back to some of them over the coming months but they include: Reflect, Mem, Raindrop, Napkin, Beeper, Snipd, Structured, Perplexity, Raycast and more.

But one of the first things I really liked the idea of was Readwise. The basic sales pitch for Readwise is whilst many of us capture highlights from things we read in Kindle, IBooks, Instapaper etc, how many of us actually go back and revisit them? There solution is to sync these accounts into Readwise and allow it to show you six of these every day for your review. You can keep, discard, tag, like, annotate, share (which they do very nicely – see image below). You can also snyc your highlights to Evernote, Notion, Reflect etc.

A simple idea. I liked it. My kindle notes were a mess a combination of nice writing passages, useful quotes/advice, and random plot points to help me remember what a book was about. Seeing some of these again and being able to discard the latter ones and be reminder of the others was enlightening and educational.

But what, you are thinking. Does any of that have to do with RSS and thoughts of keeping or discarding the practice of following any RSS feeds?  Well, not long ago Readwise also decided to launch Reader. This is an RSS reader and then some. A place to subscribe to RSS, to subscribe to web-based newsletters with a ‘reader’ email address, to store youtube videos, pdfs, epub content, tweets, web highlights (if use browser extensions) and more. And what’s best – The Readwise reading app is built on a local-first foundation enabling blazingly fast, full-text search of your entire library of books, articles, annotations, and highlights. You can find whatever you’re looking for, even if all you can remember is a single word. Even offline. Every highlight you make in Reader also instantly syncs with Readwise and then from Readwise to any linked note-taking apps.

There is build in AI too to allow you to ask questions about any highlighted text, summarise documents or sections of documents, add your own prompts etc. Although, it is starting to reach point where it will be odd if products/apps don’t have this baked in.

I decided I needed to give this a go – and so I have jumped in with a full sub (you can still try it – and Readwise – free). I pulled in some PDFs, some ePubs, signed up for some newsletters, and imported some RSS feeds. Not a lot. I probably only have two dozen in total, but I am liking that, finding it manageable and liking how I have the options to highlight and capture within the app. One negative – had I been wanting to import a lot more feeds – Reader doesn’t offer any folders in the rss reader part, so it’s just one feed, but -for me these days – this is not a problem.

Now, I’ll be honest, I’m still not to biggest fan of the web version of reader but the Android version works a treat and is my preferred way of interacting with it thus far – especially as an RSS reader.

I am probably not yet getting my value for money or really using Reader to its max, but I am starting to get into a flow with it and Readwise. Will it be enough to make me pay again next year, we shall see.

The post Readwise, Reader and the ‘death’ of RSS appeared first on Information Overlord.

Enthralling and ferociously funny, James by Percival Everett is a profound meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love. It is also a bold reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as the enslaved Jim emerges to reclaim his voice and defy the conventions that have consigned him to the margins.

The Mississippi River, 1861.When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson’s Island until he can formulate a plan.

Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town. Thus begins a dangerous and transcendent journey by raft along the Mississippi River, towards the elusive promise of the free states and beyond. As James and Huck navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise.

With rumours of a brewing war, James must face the burden he carries: the family he is desperate to protect and the constant lie he must live. And together, the unlikely pair embark on the most dangerous, and life-changing, odyssey of them all . . .

My Concise View:

Whilst the idea of revisiting an artistic work to tell the story from a different vantage point is not a new one I’m not sure its has rarely been done better than this warm and compelling retelling of Huck story.

In James, bycentering the narrative on Jim, you – at long last – get the story you didn’t know you were missing from Twain’s original tale.  Jim/James is an engaging, empathetic and compelling central character. Proud, intelligent, angry. A man of words and learning. I love how he draws attention to how language/education has been used over the ages to keep people down. The novel does not flinch from the horrors and injustices of slavery, but it also a novel told with wit and humour – a common part of all of Everett’s work. The plan absurdity of the travelling minstrel troop scenes a prime example of the juxtaposition of the light and dark. Where the novel really succeeds is in its humanity and for me the desire to re-read Twain’s book to see where Everett has drawn his story from the hidden narratives and complexities we overlooked.

This will certainly be on the short list and may well win.

The post 2024 Booker Time: Percival Everett – James appeared first on Information Overlord.

So, what next? I’m not going to make promises about regular postings, because, well, that won’t happen (or at least it won’t happen if I say so here). But, I will be doing some random Booker Prize stuff over the next few months and I may find time to throw in a few other things too if the mood takes me once again.

Of course I have no followers anymore. Those RSS feeds will have gone by the wayside along with the RSS readers once used to consume them. Actually, maybe I’ll do a post on Readwise/Reader and my re-embracing of a much more limited selection of RSS?

The post Twenty appeared first on Information Overlord.

Creation Lake is a novel about a secret agent, a thirty-four-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics, bold opinions, and clean beauty, who is sent to do dirty work in France.

“Sadie Smith” is how the narrator introduces herself to her lover, to the rural commune of French subversives on whom she is keeping tabs, and to the reader.

Sadie has met her love, Lucien, a young and well-born Parisian, by “cold bump”—making him believe the encounter was accidental. Like everyone Sadie targets, Lucien is useful to her and used by her. Sadie operates by strategy and dissimulation, based on what her “contacts”—shadowy figures in business and government—instruct. First, these contacts want her to incite provocation. Then they want more.

In this region of centuries-old farms and ancient caves, Sadie becomes entranced by a mysterious figure named Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to the young activists who communicates only by email. Bruno believes that the path to emancipation from what ails modern life is not revolt, but a return to the ancient past.

Just as Sadie is certain she’s the seductress and puppet master of those she surveils, Bruno Lacombe is seducing her with his ingenious counter-histories, his artful laments, his own tragic story.

Written in short, vaulting sections, Rachel Kushner’s rendition of “noir” is taut and dazzling. Creation Lake is Kushner’s finest achievement yet as a novelist, a work of high art, high comedy, and unforgettable pleasure.

My Concise View:

This was a struggle. A book with characters I didn’t really care about, including an unlikable central character (not always a deal breaker). Is it badly written? No (although the breast moments are comically bad – I hope intentionally). Are there moments of interest? Some of the Neanderthal stuff is quite fun. But. I felt like just ditching it on a number of occasions because, mostly, I was bored by the tedium of the whole thing. It really is a dull novel.

Back in 2018 I also read The Mars Room for the Booker. In my head I thought I quite liked that book and I did not reread the review until just now, but it seems I had some of the exact same issues – “why was this book such a struggle? I almost gave up on it a handful of times. I found it emotionally unengaging and distant. Whilst a couple of characters peaked my interest, I didn’t care about any of them ” … “I felt weighed down by the book: distracted; bored; tired.”

But hey, Booker jurys have clearly like her stuff, so what do I know.

The post 2024 Booker Time: Rachel Kushner – Creation Lake appeared first on Information Overlord.

According to the brewer

Think of it as honeycomb covered in chocolate, because that’s exactly what it tastes like: rich, unctuous and an absolutely decadent treat of a beer.

Colour: Black
Carbonation: Light
On the Nose: Bready with hints of chocolate
Taste: Heavy on the coffee with a smoothness from the lactose and a dry finish
Mouthfeel: light but smooth
Sugar: 10.2g per 330ml can

This just about manages to pull of the trick of being a drink in its own right. You could just about be fooled into thinking it was just a low (say 3-3.5%) alcoholic beer. It is easy to see why it has won a LOT of awards. It gets the balance just right to produce something that is enjoyable to drink. You have coffee, chocolate, rye and some malt sweetness. Nice.

It again shows why Big Drop have emerged as one of the leaders in the non-alcoholic beer market. They are consitently producing drinkable beers.

This beer currently has a 2.88 (out of 5) rating on Untapped 

Overall this beer is: Quality

Rok Soba – Lucky 777 Triple (0.5%)

According to the Brewer:

Inspired by the Belgian Trappist tradition, the Rok Soba 777 alcohol-free Tripel is packed with complex aromas with spice and esters, offering a pleasant creaminess to the medium, effervescent body. A classic!

Colour: Amber
Carbonation: Low
On the Nose: Soft drink sweetness
Taste: Flat cola. Quite sweet, bit of maltiness.
Mouthfeel: Slighly sticky but not thin.
Sugar: Sorry, binned to can before noting this.

I was promised fruit and spice, but can’t say I was personaly getting any of that. It just tasted like a flat cola or similar to me. So, whilst, not horrid, I can’t see a reason why I’d want to drink it again.

This beer currently has a 3.02 (out of 5) rating on Untapped 

Overall this beer is: Bog

The post Big Drop – Galactic Milk Stout and Rok Soba – Lucky 777 appeared first on Information Overlord.

According to the brewer:

Our latest AF beer has all of the grapefruit treble notes of his stronger sibling, Elvis Juice. Followed by a chorus of orange and pine, loud citrus flavors groove on a solid malt base foundation, giving the hop aromas a stage to shine for an all-night show.

Colour: Gold
Carbonation: Medium
On the Nose: big hit of proper citrus fruits
Taste: Gentle malt base with a touch of those citrus fruits coming through. Not the punchy grapefruit of it’s full alc sister sadly, in fact more of a tangerine feel. But this fruit is a bit lost in the wateriness.
Mouthfeel: Bit thin and watery.
Sugar: 6g per 330ml can

The biggest disappointment with this is that after smelling better than any non alc beer I’ve tried – it really does smell lovely – it is let down by the taste, which is a bit wishy washy really. Inoffensive, and it slides down ok, so could drink a few, BUT… this could be really good beer with a bit more effort. Although, I will say hat’s off to BD for doing a range of non-alcohol beers, not just a token one. Indeed reviews of some of the others to come.

This currently has a rating of 3.24 (out of 5) on Untapped.

Overall this is: Standard

Peroni Libera 0.0%

Colour: Pale Straw
Carbonation: Medium
On the Nose: Nothing much. Hint of corn
Taste: Sweetness to the fore. But otherwise clean and crisp with a gentle biscuity maltiness
Mouthfeel: Bit thin and watery.
Sugar: 10g per 330ml can

Packing around 10% sugar this is always going to be tasting sweet, and it does , but, that aside, it is drinkable – if bland. Not sure I could drink more than a couple though.

This currently has a rating on 2.36 (out of 5) on Untapped

Overall this is: Standard

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According to the Brewery

A delight for the senses, this beer delivers on all levels. Rosy floral aromas are immediate as you pour, with a light and limey citrus bite on the palate and a balanced but obvious bitterness to finish

Colour: Light gold
Carbonation: Medium
On the Nose: Slight floral notes
Taste: (second time around) Nice touch of lime paired well with a bit of bitterness in the finish.
Mouthfeel: Light and crisp

So, this was weird. I had a can of this in the house, and then two days later had a bottle out in a pub. Nothing strange there, I hear you say. True. BUT. When I drank this in the house, poured from the can, it was light but I wasn’t get a lot from it. Two days later, from the bottle, it was all there – the limey citrus notes and the nice bitterness at the end. The canned version was indifferent, the bottled version was, yes please, I’ll have another one.

Now it could have been a different batch, or an older batch in the can (even the colour looked different between the two), or it could just have been the experince of being out that made the bottled version seem to taste better. I don’t know. But it is the version in the bottle I’d want again.

This beer currently has a 2.88 (out of 5) rating on Untapped (mostly based on canned version)

Overall this beer is: Quality

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Guiness ‘0.0’ (ABV 0.0%)

According to the brewer

Introducing Guinness 0.0. Brewed with our new cold filtration process. This ensures you get the same beautifully smooth taste, perfectly balanced flavour and unique dark colour of Guinness Draught, just without the alcohol…The brewing process starts just as it always has, but with 0.0 the alcohol is gently removed through a cold filtration method. This helps to preserve its natural flavour, ensuring that the all important sweetness of the malt, the bitterness of the hops and the unique Guinness Roasted Barley flavours are all perfectly balanced.

Colour: Black
Carbonation: Light
On the Nose: Coffee grounds and
Taste: Rosted malts, coffee grounds but with a slight sourness undercutting them.
Mouthfeel: Smooth and creamy. Ever so slighly thinnner than full alc Guiness.
Sugar: 3.1g per 440ml can

The non-alcohol version of Guinness follows the ‘draft in a can’ route of using a widget with the nitrogen filled capsule that surges with bubbles when the ring pull is opened – replicating the draught experience (if not the taste) in a can. This means that straight from the off, this beer looks the part: It looks like you’ve poured a Guinness.

For a geniune 0% beer, this is a revelation.  It has flavour, it has body. This may have just jumped into my top five ‘go to’ list. Suprisingly good.

This currently has a rating of 3.18 (out of 5) on Untapped.

Overall this is: QUALITY

Lucky Saint

According to the brewer

Lucky Saint doesn’t taste like an alcohol-free beer because it’s not brewed like one. Our lager is satisfyingly fruity with a refreshing, crisp citrus finish. Our beer is left unfiltered allowing for maximum flavour without the alcohol.

Colour: Pale straw
Carbonation: Light
On the Nose: Not a lot, but smells like a lager
Taste: Crisp and clean, without too much sweetness. Easy to drink and just the hint of citrus hops on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Light
Sugar: 0.3g per 330ml Can/Bottle

Lucky Saint has fast become one of the best rated non-alcoholic beers on the market. Like much of this market, there isn’t much to it, but it is crisp and clean, and easy to drink. Good summer BBQ beer.

This currently has a rating of 2.97 (out of 5) on Untapped

Overall this is: STANDARD

The post Guinness ‘0.0’ and Lucky Saint appeared first on Information Overlord.

What there is still NOT a lot of, even in ‘Dry January’ is pubs with a non-alcohol option on draft. This is despite the fact that when Kam Media asked pub visiters in 2020 whether a non-alcoholic draft beer on tap would make them more or less likley to visit a pub, 53% said more.

BUT, it is starting to happen. Brewdog have obviously been selling draft versions of their non alcohol beers at their bars and some others are breaking through too. Lucky Saint (review coming soon) have their unfiltered lager at several All Bar One branches and other bars in London.

But, to get to the point, BIg Drop are also getting their beer into taps in bars too. This lead me to Eltham’s finest pub, The Rusty Bucket yesterday for a lunchtime beer.

Big Drop – Citra IPA (0.5%) – Draft

According to the Brewery

This IPA radiates citrus fruit from the moment you pour it to the second you finish that last sip with a satisfied sigh. The bright, sharp twist of bitterness on the end makes you want to dive back in for one more.

Colour: Medium gold
Carbonation: Medium-high
On the Nose: Slight floral notes
Taste: On tap, this definetly gets away with making you think you may be drinking an actual beer. Light but pronounced hops give it a touch of bitterness, but still more like a lager or light ale, than an IPA.
Mouthfeel: Light and crisp

Aside from a pint of Brewdog AF purchased last year at BrewDog Canary Wharf, this was my only other experince of a draft pint of AF beer. Thankfully, it was also a positive one. This was nice. It was very light, but it did still taste like it was a beer despite that, even it it was more akin to a light ale. There is a bit of hoppiness which brings in hints of orange peel.

The carbonation was a bit high, so you could find yourself a bit gassy and bloated after a few, but I think I’d put up with that for it just managing to taste vaguely like an actual beer.

It drank well, with nice lacing on the glass, and had I had the time, I would have happily ordered a second. I did, instead, get into a nice AF conversation with the lovely lady at the bar for ten minutes.

This beer currently has a 3.18 (out of 5) rating on Untapped (mostly based on canned version)

Overall this beer is : Quality

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