There are rivers in the sky by Elif Shafak

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

A beautifully written novel that follows three protagonists across different places and timelines. Their stories are linked by recurring themes of water and ancient Mesopotamia. 

The first story (2014) centres on a young girl in Turkey who travels to Iraq to be baptised in an ancient town—one associated both with the discovery of an early civilisation by a renowned Englishman and with more recent atrocities. 

The second (2018) follows a woman living in London with roots in the Near East. A scholar of water, she is also navigating the emotional upheaval of a marriage breakdown. 

The third narrative (1850s–1870s) traces the life of a boy, and later a man, whose passion for cuneiform script and the Epic of Gilgamesh defines him. This storyline is loosely inspired by George Smith, the scholar who deciphered the Gilgamesh tablets at the British Museum in the 1870s. 

For me, it was this final story that truly kept me turning the pages. The other two stories were okay, but marriage breakdowns and fantasy children stories are not my thing. I briefly read about George Smith in The Ark before Noah by Irving Finkel a few months ago. Although the book focuses on the flood texts, not Gilgamesh, it is good to understand all the work required to decipher the scripts and how the stories evolved over time.

Scene of the Crime by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark and Sean Phillips.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

Outstanding crime-noir comic. I enjoyed this story just as much, if not more, than The Fade Out. The protagonist, the crime, the villains, the setting, every detail oozes noir. It was an immersive, tightly gripping read. I definitely need to read more Brubaker. Recommend!

Weavers, Scribes and Kings. A new History of the Ancient Near East by Amanda H. Podany

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️ 

 The best way to finish my reading year. Using archaeological sources, mainly texts from cuneiform clay tablets, this book relates stories of people in Ancient Mesopotamia. Starting in 3500 BCE Mesopotamia, from the Sumerian civilisation and Akkadian dominion to the raise and fall of many Mesopotamian city states, from old and Neo Assyria, to old and Neo Babylonian empires. Each chapter deals with a place and a time frame, highlighting the main historical events, kings and gods. Chapters also include one or more stories of common people: traders, barbers, priestesses, scribes, Ashipus (physician-exorcists) whose lives we know about thanks to tablets found with their names and references to legal or business activities or sometimes incantations. The author reconstructs their lives vividly, transforming those clay tablets into real people who lived 3, 4, 5 thousand years ago. 

I loved this book because of all the history that I learned. Kings like Sargon, Ur-namma, and Hammurabi, as well as Sargon II, Sennasherib and Nebuchadnezzar. Priestesses like Enheduana and Adad-Guppi. Wars, conquers, defeats, and deportations. But on top of this knowledge, the stories told about common people gave me a new perspective, a deeper understanding of how people lived and felt in ancient Mesopotamia. Those people are more real to me now. In a way, their lives were no different than ours. 

Something else I found very helpful was the extras. In addition to the usual Index, Bibliography and Notes, I liked the Cast of Main Characters - with names, professions, dates and chapters of all people mentioned in the stories and historical accounts (there are so many, and the ancient names are so different from ours) and the Timeline with important people and events, from 3500 BCE to 330 BCE. 

Recommend.

Time is the simplest thing by Clifford D. Simak

A good read but not as good as the other two novels in this omnibus. My favourite is Way Station and then a close second A Choice of Gods. Time is the simplest thing follows an interesting premise about evolved human telepaths and with other powers but failed to grab my full attention. I liked the idea of the protagonist merging his mind with one of an alien being. But little of that is explored or developed. Unexplained are also the origins of Fishhook, an obscure organisation of paranormal humans, and their use of alien technology.

Maigret and the Saturday Caller by Georges Simenon

Simenon delivers. The writing is good and the prose is fluid. The story and the crime are original. I liked the way the Detective Chief Inspector Maigret looks for clues and analyses the situation. He is patient and observant. It seems effortless. As an extra we are given some glimses into his life at home with his wife.

The Darkening Age. The Christian destruction of the classical world by Catherine Nixey

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

This book's got some interesting insights. There are things a kind of knew, but not really. A bit slow and repetitive at points, but overall, I am happy I read it. This is the story of how Christianity conquered Rome and destroyed most traces of their culture, philosophy, and religion. Main themes are: 

• The story of Roman persecution of the Christians has been exaggerated. 
• Early Christians were obsessed with demons and evil. 
• Early Christians, obsessed with martyrdom provoked Roman authorities into torturing and executing them. 
• There's evidence that many roman authorities tried to persuade wannabe martyrs as they did not want them to die. 
• Once Christians got into power, they became even more oppressive than the Romans. Their aim was total control over the population, Christian and non-christian: 
• *Roman/Pagan writings, sculptures, paintings, and temples were systematically destroyed. 
• *Christians were monitored and fed ideas about God observing them even in the privacy of their homes. 

The book relates some fascinating stories like the one about famous Greek mathematician Hypatia, who suffered a violent death, and Damascius, one of the last Greek philosophers who was exiled twice because of his beliefs. 

 Quote: "Centuries later, an Arab traveller would visit a town on the edge of Europe and reflect on what had happened in the Roman Empire. 'During the early days of the empire of thr Rum,' he wrote- meaning the Roman and Byzantine Empire- 'the Sciences were honoured and enjoyed universal respect. From an already solid and grandiose foundation, they were raised to greater heights every day, until the Christian religion made its appearance among the Rum; this was a fatal blow to the edifice of learning, it's traces disappeared and it's pathways were effaced.' There was one final loss too. This loss is even more rarely remembered than all the others, but in its way it is almost as important. The very memory that there was any opposition at all to Christianity faded. The idea that philosophers might have fought fiercely, with all they had against Christianity was - is - passed over. The idea that many were alarmed at the spread of this violently intolerant religion fades from view. The idea that many were not delighted but instead disgusted by the sight of burning and demolished temples was - is - brushed aside. The idea that intellectuals were appalled- and scared - by the sight of books burning in tyres, is forgotten. Christianity told the generations that followed that their victory over the old world was celebrated by all, and the generations that followed believed it."

Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️ 

Third book in the Culture series and so far my favourite of the three I have read (I've also read Consider Phlebas and Player of Games). 

The novel follows Cheradenine Zakalwe, a murky character, with a more than obscure past. He's the perfect soldier who can turn almost anything into a weapon. He does not belong in the Culture but works for them in the Special Circumstances (division?). The Culture have a policy of not interfering with other civilisations, but obviously, they do, in "Special Circumstances". 

The structure of the novel is nonlinear, with chapters recounting Zakalwe's latest mission in the present, intercalated with flashback chapters (chronologically in reverse) narrating the story of Zakalwe since childhood and previous missions. Initially, this structure felt confusing and made my reading harder. The story seemed to be all over the place, just like the protagonist’s mind... and then it clicked. 

This is a powerful story with layers and layers of meaning. From the protagonist’s complexity, his questionable morality, violence and vulnerability to the backdrop of the Culture, of which we get only fragments of its ideologies, society and technology. But those bits and pieces are enough to imagine the enormous scale of their power and knowledge. The ending is great, shocking and unexpected. 

Recommend.