Reviews and Comments

A very fascinating and disorienting first entry into a strange world.

This slim novel reads like fantasy, yet features very distinct science-fiction elements.

M. John Harrison has the wonderful ability to create very odd atmospheres with his writing and worlds.

Kind of lost interest. Maybe I'll read it later.

Re-read for me.

An introductory text straight from the source. Doesn't get into the nitty-gritty (only about 50 pages, after all), but does provide a basic exploration and codification of Marxist thought / philosophy. That said, there are quite a few moving parts and lines of thought here. This is a hugely influential and long-lasting text for a reason.

A lot of great quotes in this pamphlet and is written in fairly straightforward language.

A good jumping-off point to longer, more dense and complex works.

A straightforward memoir from heavy-hitting and always controversial journalist Seymour Hersh.

The always skeptical (and rightly so) Hersh covers his work on Vietnam and My Lai, the Nixon admin and Watergate, Kissinger, and the Bush admin and its War on Terror, with other forays here and there. Also delves into life as a freelancer and staff reporter at various publications and the struggles each can bring.

Found quite a few nuggets of journalistic wisdom throughout this book.

Definitely recommend to anyone interested in journalism, be it an aspiring journalist or someone simply interested in the behind the scenes work.

A sapphic doorstopper fantasy book. Standalone, too!

Quite enjoyed this. I thought the worldbuilding was well done and the characters interesting and memorable (I loved Ead and Loth). The plot felt very epic, too.

That said, I agree with another reviewer in that this felt like it could've been broken up into a trilogy. There's still so much going on, but then you realize there's only fifty pages left. This doesn't provide a real sense of urgency or depth, unlike the earlier parts.

Anyhow, I thought it lost a bit of steam near the middle, but picked up nicely near the end. However, like I mentioned, so much happened far too quickly towards the end. It almost felt like the author just wanted to end it, if that makes sense.

Regardless, I really enjoyed what I read.

A quite beautiful and perplexing exploration of love between two enemies.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. I especially loved the letters between the two. It was very sweet to see them slowly open up w/ e/o and reveal their inner feelings, and the mess and complexities that brings.

I did have a bit of trouble following who was who at times.

But other than that, this was fantastic.

A short and simple, albeit slightly dated, introduction to some of the core tenets / ideas / theories behind anarchism. Also looks at these theories in practice and what caused them to fail or become corrupted.

I quite liked how Guérin had no issue criticizing and pointing out faults in prominent anarchists and their thought.

A fascinating and well-realized world with an exploration into gender, sexuality, politics, societal expectations, and so on.

The start is a bit hard to get into, but it picks up its pace nicely.

I really liked the chapters that expanded on the world of Winter and the Gethenians.

I would've liked a more thorough exploration into Genly and Estraven's relationship, however.

All in all, a very interesting read from a wonderfully imaginative author.

Just not clicking, unfortunately. Maybe I'll come back to this later.

This was a re-read for me.

Enjoyed it just as much the second time around.

This is a well sourced and written account of Sidney Gottlieb and his work on MK-ULTRA, the CIA's attempt to discover and harness mind control.

Quite eye-opening.

Here's to 2025.

More like 3.75 than 3.5.

An interesting collection from Syrian writer and dissident Yassin al-Haj Saleh.

What I found unique about this collection was that it was largely written in Syria during the early years of the revolution. Moreover, it was written by an actual Syrian who was imprisoned by the (now deposed) Assad regime.

I do agree with another reviewer in that certain words and concepts were explained one too many times. It does make you want to skim those sections.

Either way, this was a very interesting essay collection from a unique perspective and context (timeline and locale wise).

I have no idea what I just read... and I'm totally cool with that.

A very short and very sweet story about a housekeeper, her young son, and an old professor.

A lot of sweet moments with philosophical tangents into the beauty and history of mathematics.

The epic conclusion of Lyra and Will's journey.

Had great fun with this book and the series as a whole. Per usual, Pullman has the great ability of interesting and intricate worldbuilding and plot threading.

Many questions left lingering in the previous entries were answered here.

That said, this book did go anywhere and everywhere, which I feel made things a bit hard to follow at times. Likewise, I felt the ending build-up/battle was a bit lacking w/ some of the messaging slightly unclear.

Either way, this was all around a fantastic trilogy.