Dad, software engineer, physics grad. But really, I can't think of many better ways to get to know me than to see what books I've read.
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"The bestselling author of the groundbreaking novels Under Heaven and River of Stars, Guy Gavriel …
It's been a while since I read something by Guy Gavriel Kay. I really enjoyed Under Heaven, and I'm in the mood for some fantastical historical fiction.
From the acclaimed author of Dreaming in Cuban, a follow-up novel that tracks four …
An interesting read. I want to come back to this one someday, perhaps after reading the book to which this is the sequel. I felt like I was a step behind for a lot of it, trying to catch up. A second read and more context would significantly improve the experience, I think.
Security consultant “Jane Smith” receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that …
I've seen some reviews that I think were a bit confused by the framing, or maybe some for whom it just didn't work for them. The framing is that you are reading a sort of letter left by a woman after the world is ending, hoping but uncertain if her last writing will ever be read. I think there are some "I'm writing my story" narratives that are really no different from the usual way a story would be told except for the use of personal pronouns and perhaps some perspective differences, and perhaps that's what some were expecting. But nope. This lady is baffled by her past actions, and pretty bitter, even a bit self-loathing maybe. It really makes sense though, and the way that Vandermeer weaves in factoids and statistics about extensions sticks with you.
I won't lie, it's a grim read. And it hits close to home. …
I've seen some reviews that I think were a bit confused by the framing, or maybe some for whom it just didn't work for them. The framing is that you are reading a sort of letter left by a woman after the world is ending, hoping but uncertain if her last writing will ever be read. I think there are some "I'm writing my story" narratives that are really no different from the usual way a story would be told except for the use of personal pronouns and perhaps some perspective differences, and perhaps that's what some were expecting. But nope. This lady is baffled by her past actions, and pretty bitter, even a bit self-loathing maybe. It really makes sense though, and the way that Vandermeer weaves in factoids and statistics about extensions sticks with you.
I won't lie, it's a grim read. And it hits close to home. This was published in 2021, probably written in 2020 and IT SHOWS. But in a beautifully subtle way...this witness to the end of the world is so busy she barely records it ending.
There's a quote I doubt I'll ever forget. I listened so I can find it or copy it easily, but in one of the narrator's meditations, she talks about the petering out of the last hummingbirds, about their great migrations, and how there must have been a last migration. The valor of those last birds. Both their fading hope, but also the moments of rest and peace and joy along the way. Before the end.
It's a fairly short read. If I have any critique of the book, I think it probably could have been shorter. I think it might have tried just a bit too hard to be a "normal" thriller. On the other hand, I'm not sure the author could have sold her emotional journey quite as well.
In a world locked in eternal winter and haunted by prophecy, a young boy trains …
I love me a meandering fantasy novel. Another gripping story from the author of my favorite Tide Child Trilogy, RJ Barker. With a similar grim world yet full of life, this book is a love letter to the woods, much as Tide Child was a love letter to the sea. I look forward to reading the sequel.
Una historia de conspiraciones políticas e intereses encontrados durante la Guerra Fría. Una mentira que …
It took me a while to get through this, but it was an interesting read nevertheless. The author is definitely biased, and I don't think this is a work that benefits from separating art from artist.
Although the subject of the study is a farming community in Malaysia, the insights are far reaching. Scott's insights into the workings of capitalism and communism and other intellectual systems of government, and how they contrast with the day-to-day needs of working people have stood the test of time.
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and …
Content warning Some spoilers, discussion of sexual depictions
This book really left a mark on me. The big ideas were compelling, and hard hitting. My only real critique is that, especially given that the main protagonist was a self-insert character, the time devoted to sex scenes felt just a bit indulgent. But I really enjoyed the blending of genres and the overall narrative and conceptual trajectory.
The climate message, and particularly the message about how we shouldn't respond to it is acute and punchy. The handling of the time travel was really neat and pretty original, especially the original concept presented at the start of the book.
I think the book was (from my admittedly very white perspective) really good at shining a light on the marginalized perspective of institutions of power, and of the ladder-climbers that ignore the problems in the hopes that they'll be one of the "good ones".
The thematic core connection 19th century values with the lingering worst impulses that seem to come out to play as the climate gets worse was brilliantly embodied through the time travel mechanics. It was the perfect plot devices to engage with questions about where we are going and where we have been, and how the we haven't really gone that far from the past which could totally screw over the future.
I appreciated the centering of the woman's experience in those scenes, refreshing for a sci-fi book, and the way the scenes were written was interestingly stylized. But with the relationship feeling a bit forced, and again the main character being a self-insert, it almost felt like the fictional character, over which the author has total control, was being coerced. Even more so because love interest was based on a real historical person.
A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on …
Although I know physicists and our like can be insufferable when approaching another field, I do wish writers would let go of this tired trope of the anti-curious "scientist" who always works on the big name projects and has a mental breakdown if the textbooks are wrong. For heavens sake most of us are nerds that read science fiction and fantasy for fun, and even those that don't are immersed in a culture defined by genre fiction. Any physicist I know would just be fascinated by a magical world that doesn't match "real" world observations.
All that being said, the story told by the book was sweet and entertaining. Yambao's imaginative world of ideas and imagination is compelling and satisfyingly strange. The twists and turns of the story keep the action moving, although a few of the stops felt like they were there just for the neat idea. I was …
Although I know physicists and our like can be insufferable when approaching another field, I do wish writers would let go of this tired trope of the anti-curious "scientist" who always works on the big name projects and has a mental breakdown if the textbooks are wrong. For heavens sake most of us are nerds that read science fiction and fantasy for fun, and even those that don't are immersed in a culture defined by genre fiction. Any physicist I know would just be fascinated by a magical world that doesn't match "real" world observations.
All that being said, the story told by the book was sweet and entertaining. Yambao's imaginative world of ideas and imagination is compelling and satisfyingly strange. The twists and turns of the story keep the action moving, although a few of the stops felt like they were there just for the neat idea. I was entertained by them though, so I can't say I'm sad they were there.
An excellent book.
A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on …
Although I know physicists and our like can be insufferable when approaching another field, I do wish writers would let go of this tired trope of the anti-curious "scientist" who always works on the big name projects and has a mental breakdown if the textbooks are wrong. For heavens sake most of us are nerds that read science fiction and fantasy for fun, and even those that don't are immersed in a culture defined by genre fiction. Any physicist I know would just be fascinated by a magical world that doesn't match "real" world observations.
All that being said, the story told by the book was sweet and entertaining. Yambao's imaginative world of ideas and imagination is compelling and satisfyingly strange. The twists and turns of the story keep the action moving, although a few of the stops felt like they were there just for the neat idea. I was …
Although I know physicists and our like can be insufferable when approaching another field, I do wish writers would let go of this tired trope of the anti-curious "scientist" who always works on the big name projects and has a mental breakdown if the textbooks are wrong. For heavens sake most of us are nerds that read science fiction and fantasy for fun, and even those that don't are immersed in a culture defined by genre fiction. Any physicist I know would just be fascinated by a magical world that doesn't match "real" world observations.
All that being said, the story told by the book was sweet and entertaining. Yambao's imaginative world of ideas and imagination is compelling and satisfyingly strange. The twists and turns of the story keep the action moving, although a few of the stops felt like they were there just for the neat idea. I was entertained by them though, so I can't say I'm sad they were there.
An excellent book.
Content warning Major spoilers
A conclusion to all the poetic world building mysteries that cheapens them all. Perhaps this was an early example of the "love is another dimension/force/whatever-law-of-nature", but since Interstellar it's nothing but a goofy meme. Honestly, I don't think it ever was anything more. It's one of those lazy world building details that seems kinda like "whoaaaa" when you first read it, but if you think about it for two or three seconds it falls apart.
That said, there were some cool bits. The way everyone developed a sort of hive mind at the end was neat, and almost redeamed the book up to 2 stars.
But it also featured a sexual relationship between a man and the girl he'd cared for like a daughter or maybe younger sister. A girl he continued to call "kiddo" even as they commenced their sexual relationship. Absolutely disgusting. Gross. I struggled to finish the book, and in the end I don't think it deserved the time I gave it.
Just read Hyperion, and leave it at that. If you must, read Hyperion Falls. But the Endymion duo is pure disappointment.
Originally written and slated for publication in 1939, this long-forgotten masterpiece was shelved by Random …
Sanora Babb grew up on one of those midwestern farms that got hit by the dust bowl. She grew up with those people. She was one of those people. She was also probably one of the most remarkable women to ever grace this country. While working in aid camps, she compiled notes of experiences refugees shared with her, and from those notes, and her own childhood experiences, she wrote a book about the experiences of the refugees. She even got a publisher to agree to publish it. But then one of the most famous authors in America publish a remarkably similar book (John Steinbeck, the Grapes of Wrath), and the publisher pulled out of the deal. Who would read a book by an unknown author when a very similar book was already flooding the market?
It turns out that the manager of the camp Sanora Babb was working at, one …
Sanora Babb grew up on one of those midwestern farms that got hit by the dust bowl. She grew up with those people. She was one of those people. She was also probably one of the most remarkable women to ever grace this country. While working in aid camps, she compiled notes of experiences refugees shared with her, and from those notes, and her own childhood experiences, she wrote a book about the experiences of the refugees. She even got a publisher to agree to publish it. But then one of the most famous authors in America publish a remarkably similar book (John Steinbeck, the Grapes of Wrath), and the publisher pulled out of the deal. Who would read a book by an unknown author when a very similar book was already flooding the market?
It turns out that the manager of the camp Sanora Babb was working at, one Tom Collins, had invited John Steinbeck to visit the camp for a week so that he might write a book about their experiences. To assist in the project, Tom Collins gave Steinbeck a collection of his employees' notes, most of which were written by Babb herself. It seems neither Steinbeck nor Babb knew at the time that this had happened. Tom Collins though, he had to know. F*** him for that.
Fortunately, Sanora Babb was able to get her book published eventually....in 2004. And this is that book. And it is SO much better than The Grapes of Wrath.
The multiple-award-winning SF master returns to the universe that is his greatest success--the world of …
Content warning Sexualization a child, Some spoilers
I think the paternal/older brother relationship between Endymion and Aenea is quite sweet. If only the author didn't decide to then indicate that lovely dynamic would become a twisted sexual fantasy, I might rate this book with 3 or more stars. Sadly, that isn't what happened (and the next book offers only stronger condemnation of this choice).
I enjoy the Odyssian adventure along the river, through the different worlds, and I enjoy the sci-fi Catholic church that Simmons imagines. However, some cracks in the world building are beginning to show, and the big picture questions so eloquently posed by Hyperion, all they world building that was left vague and mysterious, are increasingly looking like they were better left that way.
This was obviously not the first time I've read Lord of the Rings. I had have listened to it since I was a kid, and read it by eye once even. This time, I was listening to the new audiobook recordings made by Andy Serkis. His reading of the first book was phenomenal, really bringing the weird and creepy adventures to life. I don't think you could see Tom Bombadil as anything but essential in Serkis's reading. But I think his more casual reading style was less well adapted to Return of the King in particular, which towards the end is just full of grand pronouncements, both by the author and the characters in their speeches. For this, I think Inglis provides a better performance.
To begin where my own experience of this book began, the cover art for this book is stunning, and a significant part of what drew me to it. When I put this book on hold in my library app, it was one I looked forward to the most. It didn't disappoint.
Emilia has no particularly special abilities. She is fairly clever, well read due to growing up with a school teacher for a farther, but most of all she is sure of herself, and willing to take bold risks in search of the adventure she craves. Her extraordinary story stems most of all from her restlessness, and its infectious.
Taking place at the edge of the popular consciousness (for US folks at least), we get to know an early San Francisco and Los Angeles at a time when their domination of the pacific coast was far from assured, when in …
To begin where my own experience of this book began, the cover art for this book is stunning, and a significant part of what drew me to it. When I put this book on hold in my library app, it was one I looked forward to the most. It didn't disappoint.
Emilia has no particularly special abilities. She is fairly clever, well read due to growing up with a school teacher for a farther, but most of all she is sure of herself, and willing to take bold risks in search of the adventure she craves. Her extraordinary story stems most of all from her restlessness, and its infectious.
Taking place at the edge of the popular consciousness (for US folks at least), we get to know an early San Francisco and Los Angeles at a time when their domination of the pacific coast was far from assured, when in fact they were small players compared to the powerful trade empire of a nation like Chile. And we see how foreign fueled political conflict begins the process of weakening Chile's hold on Pacific trade. We are also introduced to the culture and landscape of a nation that is far too often less than a footnote in US cultural consciousness.
A memorable book that was damn hard to put down. It turns out you can judge this book by its cover.
Autism is usually portrayed as a checklist of deficits, including difficulties interacting socially, problems in …
The book was originally published in 2015, which means it is a solid decade of intense discussion out of date. I think the shift from "person with autism" to "autistic person" had only just begun, and though the author acknowledges it, he still chooses the more outdated language. In fact, his explanation for why "autistic person" makes sense was much better articulated than his explanation for why he used "person with autism". To me, it read as a mind in the process of changing.
If you read this book and follow what it says, I think you will be on the right track. There are some nuances, such as the credence given for Asperger's as a diangosis which read as particularly dated, and I suspect a few of the people (particularly those that advocate for "Asperger's") that he promotes might have since drifted in more problematic directions. If you follow …
The book was originally published in 2015, which means it is a solid decade of intense discussion out of date. I think the shift from "person with autism" to "autistic person" had only just begun, and though the author acknowledges it, he still chooses the more outdated language. In fact, his explanation for why "autistic person" makes sense was much better articulated than his explanation for why he used "person with autism". To me, it read as a mind in the process of changing.
If you read this book and follow what it says, I think you will be on the right track. There are some nuances, such as the credence given for Asperger's as a diangosis which read as particularly dated, and I suspect a few of the people (particularly those that advocate for "Asperger's") that he promotes might have since drifted in more problematic directions. If you follow the right detour you might find yourself in Aspie Supremacy, but as long as you avoid that, I think this book has few pitfalls.
I also think, lastly, that this book is written primarily to parents, less to other caregivers. In particular, he avoids criticizing parents, not touching the question of parents that don't have the "it" factor, as he discusses at length for caregivers and other service providers. In light of this book being intended for parents, that makes sense: he doesn't want to alienate his readers. Given the value of what he has to share, I can accept that. But for those out there that are not parents, just know that the entire discussion of people that get "it" most definitely also applies to some parents of autistic kids.