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Though I am not religious, and do not celebrate Christmas, I have always loved this story. Whether you call it “the spirit of Christmas”, or simply kindness, generosity and love, Dickens does a marvelous job of stirring the heart to some of the best qualities any of us might possess. It had been a very long time since I had read this, and I had forgotten some of its humor, but well had I remembered its message, and this re-read disappointed not in the least.

The publisher’s description invokes Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Golden Girls. I’m less familiar with the latter, but I know Buffy well, and I can definitely confirm that kinship. This book is creepy, disturbing, funny and generally great entertainment with a lot of heart.

I really loved this book, and that is mainly because I am very fond of the main character, Xandri, and find that I relate to her in many ways. I also quite like Diver, who alternates with Xandri for POV. I read this as a buddy read, and one of my fellow readers noted plot points that were at least questionable, if not actual holes, but those did not detract for me (perhaps because they mostly had to do with military strategy, which interests me not in the least).

I am not a big reader of poetry, and don’t necessarily know how to talk about it. This is one of two books of poetry that I read this month for my book club. There are several poems in this collection that brought tears to my eyes, and at least as many that made me laugh. This is a book about being, about surviving joyfully, and most of all about love.

Too much time spent on Kirball, way too much time spent on self-centered, adolescent stupidity, and yet, as is almost always the case with Lackey, a rather compelling read.

My favorite part of this book is the title story (and my favorite part of the story called “The Beatrix Gates” is the section of it which is also called “The Beatrix Gates”). The essay, “Trans Central Station” is very interesting and informative. The odd story, “Burning Beard”, seems to be a retelling of something from the Torah, but I am not familiar enough with that to have any sense of how closely it follows the original. The interview with Terry Bisson makes me wish that I had met Pollack. I think I would have really enjoyed chatting with her.

I was in need of some comfort reading, and this re-read did the trick. I have always felt that this was Lackey’s response to Rowling, being about the founding of the closest thing to Hogwarts that exists in Valdemar. However, aside from some superficial similarities, it is not much like the HP books. While Mags is somewhat different than other Herald-trainees in this universe, the book still fits very comfortably into the Valdemar saga. A very engaging coming of age adventure.

An atmospheric novel, this starts as a mystery, then becomes somewhat philosophical, and ends as a thriller.

A sixty-five year old book about an artificial intelligence. Like today’s AI, it occupies a huge structure and consumes vast resources. Unlike today’s AI, it could not be described as a “large language model”. Its designer specifically aimed to create a superior intelligence by not burdening it with any language.

Like most novels of scientific hubris, this one ends up being essentially a horror story.

An interesting and informative book. The first part of the book, on the history of the San Francisco People’s Food System, and on the cooperative businesses that grew out of it, is the most engaging part of the book. The second part is packed with information about co-op resources and organizations. Being much less narrative—it’s mostly just an info dump—this part is much drier, but quite valuable.

I find myself surprised at how little connection I felt to this book, given that the author and I are of the same generation (he’s slightly younger than me), and especially given that it is almost entirely about three of the cities where I myself had most of my experiences in gay bars—Los Angeles, London and San Francisco (where the author’s period of residence actually overlapped with my own). But he and I had different goals when we went out, and thus, different experiences, even in the same venues.

I enjoyed the history, especially of London, and some of the musings are interesting, but the author’s perspective and my own are so different that even when he’s writing about a bar or club where I spent a good amount of time, I seldom recognized anything but the name.

A very interesting little book. I am not currently involved with a mutual aid group, so I cannot compare the suggestions to reality, or attempt to put them into practice. However, thinking about them in the context of workplaces and groups that I have experienced, I find them to be sound. A few challenged me to examine things that I had given little thought to before. Many of the suggestions are applicable to life, in general. I think that I would be quite happy in a group which followed these recommendations.

What an odd book. It has some interesting world building. The plot…does it have a plot? I really don’t know.

I loved this book! Somehow, I think that it was my first Bisson, but it certainly will not be my last. His sense of…humor…is an almost perfect fit for me. This was such an appropriate book to read right now, too. Not recommended for fans of police states, genocide, racism, or religious fundamentalism.