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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51% complete! Pretty Greene Leaves 🌿 has read 51 of 100 books.
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.
From the acclaimed author of Dreaming in Cuban, a follow-up novel that tracks four generations of the del Pino …
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.
The unmissable follow-up to the highly acclaimed Children of Time and Children of Ruin.
Earth is failing. In a desperate …
The astonishing sequel to Children of Time, the award-winning novel of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.
Thousands …
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.
Examines how (sometimes quasi-) authoritarian high-modernist planning fails to deliver the goods, be they increased resources for the state or …
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.
A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a …
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.
