Books read in 2020 📚 log(book)

In the previous book, Senlin was swallowed up by the Tower of Babel, lost his wife, and underwent all sorts of terrors and indignities and character growth, until finally breaking free with a truly motley group of friends. Now he's become a dread pirate (though still recognisably the old school teacher, if you know how to look).

Blindsight

by Peter Watts · published 2006 · last read 2020-11-26

Re-read notes: I love a couple of things about this book. I love that it is well-written, particularly for sci-fi, particularly for hard sci-fi. It reads well, if you're into sci-fi in the first place. I love that it is clever, and that it is also not stupid. There is a lot of clever sci-fi that is also very stupid. I love the vampires.

No One Could Have Known

by Josef Pieper · published 1970 · read 2020-11-26

Maybe, if you should never meet your heroes, you should not read their autobiographies either. Not that Pieper was my hero before that, but he did provide some interesting insights and made me think better of Catholic philosophers collectively. Well, about that.

Traktat über die Klugheit

by Josef Pieper · published 1960 · read 2020-11-23

Josef Pieper on prudence as the most important of the cardinal virtues, following (as always) Thomas of Aquin.

Über das christliche Menschenbild

by Josef Pieper · read 2020-11-20

A short book by Pieper, which I read mostly because it was there (and I like Pieper). Not as impressive as some of his work, it struck me more like one of the notebook blogs – a bit unfinished, a bit WIP, scoring points against other philosophers and theologists who I don't know or care about. Not worth the read unless you're actively interested in a Christian take on virtues.

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

by Jenny Odell · published 2019 · last read 2020-11-09

DNF: The writing style was grating for me, and the book opened with such strong tech pessimism ("kids these days don't know how to talk to each other", phrased more nicely) that I disengaged very soon. Later she goes on to say that she only objects to commercial social networks, and that she's sure that decentralised communal ones are perfectly nice, but she had already lost me.

Vita Brevis

by Jostein Gaarder, Anne Born · published 1996 · read 2020-11-02

Jostein Gaarder is hit-and-miss for me at the best of times, and this wasn't the best of times. Vita Brevis is the fictional letter (complete with frame plot about finding it in an old book store blah blah) of St Augustine's wife to the man himself after he became famous. It's St Augustine fanfiction. Not my genre.

The Library of the Unwritten

by A.J. Hackwith · published 2019 · read 2020-10-30

★★☆☆☆ (did not finish)

The Library of the Unwritten clearly caters to book readers more than every book does in general: Fantasy where the hero is a supernatural librarian, on a quest to retrieve souls and books? Starring in a conflict between Hell and Heaven? Hell yeah.

The Drama of the Gifted Child

by Alice Miller, Ruth Ward · published 1979 · read 2020-10-25

Some self-help books are for a very specific audience. The Drama of the Gifted Child is one of those, and I am not its audience. I buy the claim that children do a lot of things to fulfil expectations rather than out of their own desire, but at least for me, this behaviour never reached the pathological levels that this book assumes as the baseline shared experience.

A Traitor in Skyhold

by John Bierce · published 2019 · read 2020-10-23

Isn't it weird how fanfics often are obsessed with presents that characters give one another? It's as if the author yells "birthday o'clock motherfuckers" and has to follow up with a list of presents, and then, of course, also fit all of the presents into the future storyline. I call it Pavlov-Chekhov's Present. It's obnoxious and one of the things that makes the Mage Errant books read like fanfic, and great passages to illustrate how the writing could be so much more.

Jewel of the Endless Erg

by John Bierce · read 2020-10-22

More Mage Errant: Learning magic and running into catastrophes. Our plucky heroes predictably save the day at scale, and also experience personal growth and friendship and blah blah. The story isn't bad, as YA goes, and the worldbuilding is in many ways cool, but the writing is shoddy.

Into the Labyrinth

by John Bierce · published 2018 · read 2020-10-20

Magic school fantasy, including a sentient library, actual magic with actual learning, and a misfit band of three friends, standing up to the bullies. It's post-Harry-Potter and it shows, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Native Tongue

by Suzette Haden Elgin · published 1984 · read 2020-10-19

Interesting, but ultimately not satisfying. Imagine a Handmaid's Tale style dystopian future but with xenolinguistics. There's a subtle female language-based resistance, and the whole setup is neat, but it doesn't really go anywhere. Life goes on, women are mistreated, leadership remains the samel

Against the Grain

by James C. Scott · published 2017 · read 2020-10-18

Impressive and intriguing: Against the Grain tells the story of early state-building as a story of agriculture – that's not new. What's new is that James Scott has spent years aggregating the current insights of history and archaeology to paint the same idea from a new angle: What if early states did not naturally arise with the cultivation of grain – what if they required a food staple as grain (divisible, countable, and with a strict yearly cycle) to establish a bureaucracy?

The Embedding

by Ian Watson · published 1973 · read 2020-10-10

I am into linguistics sci-fi, and it was in search of more of it that I read this book. Or, at least, tried to read it: I gave up about 60% in, and it didn't work for me at all. First Contact, dodgy language experiments on kids, just as dodgy writing, some rainforest activism, plus no women (released in 1973, and I know for a fact that there were women on Earth even back then), … there was nothing to keep me going.

A Little Book on the Human Shadow

by Robert Bly · published 1988 · read 2020-10-09

On a whim, I read A Little Book on the Human Shadow. It's very short, and it felt very much worth my time.

Confessions of the Fox

by Jordy Rosenberg · published 2018 · read 2020-10-08

Apparently my reading choices are now powered by spite: I'm reading Confessions of the Fox that I partially picked up because a negative review complained about a) the amount of dirty Elizabethan English ("many crude terms appeared only once, so the author apparently just wanted to show off his research") and b) "If you like to constantly check footnotes whilst reading a novel, some of which are pages long, you might enjoy this book."

Hellspark

by Janet Kagan · published 1988 · read 2020-10-07

Hellspark is not without faults, but faults do not remove a five-star rating given out of pure joy. This is what I want my scifi to be like, and the fact that Kagan has not published much (and died in 2008) was rough to discover in a world where it seems like every book has a sequel. Sadz.

The Mechanical

by Ian Tregillis · published 2015 · read 2020-09-30

The Mechanical by Ian Tregellis is a case of the scenario being better than the implementation (though not as bad as it could've been). The scenario: in the late 1400s, a Dutch alchemist manages to create quasi-robots, the titular Mechanicals. With this power, the Dutch take over the world in place of the British. In roughly our time, the only remainder of non-Dutch Europe is a French resistance in North America. The Dutch are extremely Calvinist and say that machines can't feel or think, while the French are naturally Catholic and have decided that the mechanicals do have souls and enslaving them is bad (mostly to spite the Dutch, I think). Also, their spymaster is called Talleyrand (and happens to be female and one of the POV characters). Which is very cool.

Two Serpents Rise

by Max Gladstone · published 2013 · read 2020-09-30

Three Parts Dead was lots of fun, and I had high expectations of this book. I was not disappointed. Max Gladstone has now a firm place among my favourite authors!

Lexicon

by Max Barry · published 2013 · read 2020-08-21

Neat enough premise: NLP is magic, special words can persuade and coerce humans into any action. With a few well-chosen questions you can figure out any person's category (out of <1000), and then apply magic words that bypass consciousness and allow for deep manipulation and commands. These words are taught in a school that is – surprise – not exactly lawful-good.

The Vor Game

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 1990 · last read 2020-08-20

The Vor Game is another Miles book in the Vorkosigan Saga, and as usual, it is a lot of fast-paced fun. I was lost over the first third or so, where it wasn't clear where the plot was going, and every time I thought I had it figured out, it switched to an entirely new track. I spent a good amount of time wondering how those threads would be tied back together, and the story did not disappoint at all – but it does turn out that the first third was a standalone novella at first, explaining the break.

The Warrior’s Apprentice

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 1986 · last read 2020-08-19

Wow! If you're new to the series, … start here. This book has all the fun, and action, and, y'know, forwards momentum.

Barrayar

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 1991 · last read 2020-08-19

Update: This book is a perfect read after Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen. Sadly, Gentleman Jole is also the perfect read after Barrayar, somebody send help, please?

Cryoburn

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 2010 · read 2020-08-18

Miles does his thing, and he does it well. Side characters are strong and complex. The plot is a mess, intentionally and outrageously, though no more so than usually. Bujold shows that she can do precocious children – they and their treatment by the adults broke my immersion at times, but Miles addresses this issue in an attempt to appease the readers and editors, so that's covered. Nothing else is really strange or new, except maybe the lack of a strong woman pulling the plot together – it's the first Vorkosigan book in quite a while where the main female character is mostly being rescued (though she does have some offscreen badassery).

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 2016 · read 2020-08-18

by Hannu Rajaniemi · published 2010 · last read 2022-02-18

❤

The Quantum Thief

Sometimes, a book is just so busy enjoying itself that I have to like it, no matter its faults. The Quantum Thief starts out in the Dilemma Prison, where the virtualised prisoners are forced to go through various versions of philosophical puzzles or game theory scenarios. If you win enough games, some poor sod in a surrounding cell gets deleted and replaced with a copy of you. If this doesn't sound hilarious or intriguing to you, then this book is safe to skip (despite the fact that the Dilemma Prison only takes up the first ten pages or so).

The Flowers of Vashnoi

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 2018 · read 2020-08-17

Headcanon: Bujold discovered that her vaguely-somewhat-Russian scifi setting allowed her to tell a Chernobyl Baba Yaga story, and then she just had to do it. Sometimes the prompt is stronger than the story.

Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 2012 · read 2020-08-16

Captain Ivan Vorpatril finally gets his own book, after decades – both in our world and theirs – of grumbling in Miles' shadow. Unfortunately for him, he gets his book at the point in life when Miles' bad habits have finally rubbed off enough to push him into a chivalrous-if-ill-advised wedding. Bujold has the decency to show up front that this will be a romance, so that the inclined reader doesn't have to fret about the ending, and just gets to guess how she'll bring it off.

Diplomatic Immunity

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 2002 · read 2020-08-15

Among the Miles Vorkosigan books, Diplomatic Immunity did not impress me. Among wider sci-fi books, it was warm, clever, with deep character and worldbuilding, and the ability to make me laugh out loud multiple times. It is a credit to the Vorkosigan series that this book does not stand out as good.

Winterfair Gifts

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 2002 · read 2020-08-15

Wedding stories – I accidentally read this one out of order, as it belongs before Diplomatic Immunity, both to get the couple settled, and to introduce Roic as a character in his own right. Oh well. The wedding was, of course, very Milesian in every way. As this a novelly, Bujold mostly uses it to show us all our old favourites again, and still manages to cram new characters in there, plus something resembling a plot.

A Civil Campaign

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 1999 · read 2020-08-14

Most Vorkosigan fans seem to like A Civil Campaign a lot, and this may or may not have screwed with my expectations. I liked it less than Komarr, which I read directly beforehand.

Komarr

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 1998 · read 2020-08-13

Komarr reads so much like Gaudy Night to me, it's ridiculous (although it doesn't go to the same romantic height). That is to say: I liked it very much.

Berlins Drittes Geschlecht

by Magnus Hirschfeld · published 1904 · read 2020-08-12

Berlin's Third Gender (Berlins drittes Geschlecht) by Dr Magnus Hirschfeld is a description of queer lives in Berlin around 1900 (published 1905). Even though it's naturally sad in some ways, it's also encouraging: Berlin was comparatively liberal at the time, and I enjoyed the descriptions of queer groups, events, relationships, and creative side-stepping of general conventions. The descriptions are very vivid and obviously well-researched, and contain lots of amusing facts about everyday life in different social circles.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

by Jules Verne · published 1864 · last read 2020-08-10

Journey to the Center of the Earth may have been my first sci-fi book, and it's hard to decide if I want to read the book as a story or as a historical document.

The Ruins of Gorlan

by John Flanagan · published 2004 · last read 2020-08-08

This book goes beyond just comfort food and makes straight for "guilty pleasure": While it's simple, formulaic (if well-executed!) Fantasy, I can't help but feel good when I read it. Its plot and characters trigger all the right pleasure centres: Sympathetic but imperfect orphan boy becomes the mysterious ranger's apprentice, learns the nearly supernatural arts of tracking, hunting, espionage, and hiding in plain sight. Saves the day, keeps his friends, and one former enemy also turns into a friend. The series goes on (forever, it seems), but the book stands on its own and has a satisfying ending. It's very easy to make me happy, really.

Soulsmith

by Will Wight · published 2016 · read 2020-08-08

After resenting the cliffhanger ending in Unsouled, I'm more reconciled with this one. Once you expect the cliffhangers, after all, they can't hurt you. This second part of the Cradle series shows off why people praise it as progression fiction: There's exponential progression all over the place.

Ender’s Shadow

by Orson Scott Card · published 1999 · read 2020-08-04

Re-reading Ender's Game before reading Ender's Shadow – the book that tells the same story, only from the perspective of Bean – was not the best idea. I think I would have liked this book better if I had had only a hazy memory of Ender's Game.

The March North

by Graydon Saunders · published 2014 · last read 2021-05-16

Sometimes I read books that make me very happy, so that I have to focus a lot to find reasons why other people would not be into them. Not so for The March North.

Roadside Picnic

by Arkady Strugatsky · published 1972 · read 2020-08-03

Roadside picnic was a good book to read, and I was surprised that I didn't find it depressing. It takes place in a small town in roughly-Canada, where an alien exclusion zone has spawned that is very much like a radioactive dump: People around it experience mutations, people at the site when it spawned lost their lives or were injured in weird ways, you should only enter the zone in a special suit, but of course people do enter without one anyways. This was published 14 years before Chernobyl, mind.

Ender’s Game

by Orson Scott Card · published 1985 · last read 2020-08-01

Rereading Ender's game six years later, I found it better than I remembered it. Sure, you'll never see the twist coming the way you saw it the first time, and when I read it the first time I didn't know about OSC's personal politics. But regardless: The book sucked me in, dragged me through a story as relentlessly cruel as it was enjoyable, and then spit me out three hours later, not without delivering a last minute kick straight to the feelings.

Dark Lord of Derkholm

by Diana Wynne Jones · published 1998 · read 2020-07-30

It has been over a decade since I read my last book by Diana Wynne Jones, but I'd like to think that I would have recognised this as hers by the playful prose and convoluted plot where you will miss half the fun if you blink. I had left this book on my reading list as a guaranteed good book, and after being so disappointed by Romanitas, I needed the palate cleanser badly.

Romanitas

by Sophia McDougall · published 2005 · read 2020-07-29

After reading The Dragon Waiting, I wanted more Alternate History, and Romanitas seemed like an obvious choice. It's, to say it with the recommendation, Fatherland but with Rome. In a world with current-time tech, the Roman Empire has never fallen, it never even moved to Byzantium. All of society is just as in the Rome of Tiberius, only with tech. So we have no emancipation, an Imperial family with an Emperor choosing his successor, and of course: slavery and crucifiction, with high-tech iron crosses along major roads.

The Dragon Waiting

by John M. Ford · published 1983 · read 2020-07-25

Sometimes I'm reading a book and won't be very into it – only to discover that it grows on me after I've finished reading it, like some wines only really develop in the aftertaste. Dune was one such book for me, as was The Dragon Waiting.

Magician: Apprentice

by Raymond E. Feist · published 1982 · read 2020-07-24

This was a nice read – It's very much a classical fantasy book in the better sense. The arc is generally coming-of-age of the poor underdog boy, but in a sensible (while generic) setting. It was especially refreshing that all people in the book are not generally malevolent, are able to talk about their differences, and that the rags-to-riches part happens early and isn't dangled under the reader's nose forever.

Soulless

by Gail Carriger · published 2009 · read 2020-07-22

Victorian London, just with vampires and werewolves – both of which very proper and integrated – and propriety, corsets, hats, gossip, and all other Victorian stereotypes. It's Urban Fantasy, complete with the sassy, abrasive, clever, female protagonist and a handsome werewolf.

The Drawing of the Dark

by Tim Powers · published 1979 · read 2020-07-21

Taking place in Vienna, 1529, during the Turkish attack, this book is showing the struggle of "The West" and "The East" in the form of historical fantasy. The premise is, more or less, that the forces of East and West live in a constant struggle, magical and political, and at the same time, the world of magic has been losing power for the last 1500 years, because Christianity is hacking away at the root of it – soon, within 200 years, magic will be mostly gone.

The Legions of Fire

by David Drake · published 2010 · read 2020-07-20

The Legions of Fire is Historical Fantasy: It takes place in Ancient Rome while Tiberius is emperor, only that Rome is called Carce, so that Drake doesn't get punched by history nerds. Though the history nerds would have just about zero reason for punching him – Drake majored in history (with honours) and Latin, and it shows in loving background details. All other names stayed the same as in our history – Gaul, Carthage, Germany etc, even Octavianus Augustus, so I didn't quite see the point of calling it Carce. Either do Rome, or go the Codex Alera route.

Die Habsburger ohne Reich

by Dieter Kindermann · published 2010 · read 2020-07-18

This book was honestly, truly, terrible. I picked it up because as a history nerd, "where did this family end up" is always an interesting prompt. I had not thought that a single book could contain this amount of disjointed anecdotes, self-important injections, and – most damningly – humble and meek servility towards a dead monarchy. If I have to read books by monarchists, I'd prefer them to be stylish and clever instead of sleazy and obnoxious.

A Darker Shade of Magic

by V.E. Schwab · published 2015 · read 2020-07-18

A Darker Shade of Magic should be a book I like a whole lot: Decent writing, imperfect characters, parallel worlds – particularly parallel Londons – connected by magic, this book has it all.

Existential Kink

by Carolyn Elliott · read 2020-07-17

First off, a caveat: I do not recommend this book, and I can't say that it was a particularly good book. The five-star rating is due to the fact that it was tremendously helpful to me personally, and was the right book at the right time.

Magic Burns

by Ilona Andrews · published 2008 · read 2020-07-11

Magic Burns continues where Magic Bites left off. It continues to be pulpy urban fantasy, and if that's what you're looking for, this is a decent series to go for. This time we have power-hungry Celtic gods and goddesses, plus more preparation for a reluctant snarky romance in following books – at least it's explicit, I'd be very annoyed otherwise. The worldbuilding holds up, but has slowed down a lot, which left me a bit disappointed.

Shards of Honour

by Lois McMaster Bujold · published 1986 · last read 2020-07-04

I re-read "Shards of Honour" somewhat by accident while looking up a quote for a writing exercise. I had remembered it as a decent first entry in brilliant series: Okay sci-fi, but nothing special.

The Magpie Lord

by K.J. Charles · published 2013 · read 2020-06-30

Romance, mysterious curse, estate management: A queer/gay romance in a fantasy version of Victorian England. The youngest exiled son of a lord returns to England after his father and brother die, and has to contest with the curse that led to their deaths. Luckily, he finds a strange but attractive young wizard blah blah blah, you see where this ends. Very atmospheric, and too well-written to deserve to be labeled as "enjoyable trash".

The Engines of God

by Jack McDevitt · published 1994 · read 2020-06-29

This one is hard for me to rate, because I like scifi very much. And if anything is scifi, this book is! We have aliens, and space ships, and deep space puzzles, daring rescues that require engineering and science knowledge, some actual characters (some even with motivations! … at least a little).

Gate of Ivrel

by C.J. Cherryh · published 1976 · read 2020-06-29

Gate of Ivrel hit a lot of sweet spots for me. I mean, Fantasy in a scifi/Stargate universe? Hell yeah. It relies on the reader to think along, and the characters are certainly far from perfect, while also being relatable. I went through it in a day or so, because wow.

Nine Princes in Amber

by Roger Zelazny · published 1970 · read 2020-06-29

I wish I could have liked Nine Princes in Amber. It has a lot going for it: It is Fantasy, but very nonstandard, all the while playing with the default Fantasy tropes. It's unapologetically weird. I adored the weirdness. I could even have lived with the lame storytelling device of "protagonist loses memory, brings reader up to speed", if only …

The God Engines

by John Scalzi · published 2009 · read 2020-06-22

The God Engines is a fantasy-in-space novella that involves space ships powered by imprisoned gods.

Magic Bites

by Ilona Andrews · published 2007 · read 2020-06-21

Magic Bites was honestly decent Urban Fantasy. Strong characters with more than one dimension (admittedly sometimes only barely), a mythology that doesn't suck, real life that's not just "grizzled detective showing off his depression" – yeah, I can get behind this.

Bring Me the Rhinoceros

by John Tarrant · published 2004 · read 2020-06-21

I read this book after seeing it recommended on Twitter, and I'm glad I did. It's an introduction to Buddhist/Zen koans, with context and interpretative options supplied for each of the koans presented. It felt like a gentle and good way to approach this general area of interest.

The ABC Murders

by Agatha Christie · published 1936 · read 2020-06-20

Another Poirot mystery. I liked how self-aware Christie is in this book – Poirot routinely mocks (gently, even!) mystery stereotypes in hilarious ways. Hastings as a narrator continues to be stupid in an intentionally pompous, upper-class way, which is tedious if you read too much of it. The case in itself is not terrible, but nothing great either.

The Butcher of Anderson Station

by James S.A. Corey · published 2011 · read 2020-06-20

This is a short story in the Expanse universe, with a backstory on Fred Johnson. It's not bad, but I had very high hopes – I loved Fred's character and wanted to see more, look deeper. I didn't feel that the Novella reached the depth I would have liked, even though it was solid throughout, and the interactions had the Expanse-y style of solid reality that I like so much about the series.

Curtain

by Agatha Christie · published 1975 · read 2020-06-18

After reading the first Poirot the other day, I thought I'd continue with the last one. Agatha Christie takes Poirot full circle, with the last novel playing in the same place as the first one, with plenty of reminiscing going on.

The Thirteen Problems

by Agatha Christie · published 1932 · read 2020-06-15

This collection of short Miss Marple stories was enjoyable. While Agatha Christie mostly follows her pattern of "the most vulnerable-looking person is most suspicious", I don't read mysteries for the plot, so I didn't care all that much. But the characterisation of poor old Miss Marple was very entertaining to read! I remember how this narration device got boring and even annoying when I read most of the Miss Marple books in one go, but over longer intervals, it works very well.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

by Agatha Christie · published 1920 · read 2020-06-14

I'm not really one for mysteries, and I enjoyed this book more than I expected. This is the first of the Poirot books, and it is already a near-perfect example of its genre. It opens by describing, at length, the initial setting, implying heavily who will die, and shows off how everybody has means and/or motive to become a murderer, all the while being very proper and British about it. Then, the murder, then, the curious Belgian detective, then, an unbelievable amount of clues and red herrings. Final clarity to be delivered on the last pages in a dramatic manner, exit villain left, curtains.

Escape from Baghdad!

by Saad Hossain · published 2012 · read 2020-06-14

tl;dr: Fun, violence, fun.

The Canterville Ghost

by Oscar Wilde · published 1887 · read 2020-06-13

I was prompted to read this book by the extremely underwhelming experience that was A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The last time I read The Canterville Ghost, I was 10, read it in German, and enjoyed it very much. Reading it again did not reduce my enjoyment: Wilde pokes fun at both British and American stereotypes with a light recklessness that holds up nearly 150 years later.

Whit

by Iain Banks · published 1995 · read 2020-06-12

I can't write a good review for this book, because it was clear that I was in the wrong headspace for it. Banks describes a modern-day cult from the inside perspective of the potential next leader, a devoted young woman. She has a strong voice, strong opinions, and the narration mirrors her perspective beautifully. I suspect this book can be enjoyable, but to me it felt only depressing.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

by Mark Twain · published 1889 · read 2020-06-08

I only barely finished this book. I picked it up on a whim – Twain sounded like fun, time travel into old England sounded like it could be hilarious. Which it really wasn't.

Knightley Academy

by Violet Haberdasher · published 2010 · read 2020-06-04

Knightly Academy is, in a sentence, a conservative Harry Potter knockoff without magic.

Have Space Suit—Will Travel

by Robert A. Heinlein · published 1958 · read 2020-06-01

I usually avoid classic sci-fi: I've had mostly negative run-ins, where books had aged badly and either didn't interest me or felt off-putting. So, like Zelazny and Clarke and a bunch of others, I've been postponing Heinlein.

The Last Starship from Earth

by John Boyd · published 1967 · read 2020-06-01

I don't really know what to think about this book, because I'm not sure how much of it is serious, and how much is tongue-in-cheek. It takes place in a future where the state is run by Soc(iologists), Psyc(hologists), and the Church (led by a mechanical pope, a huge computer in a monstrous church building). People have their life and careers regulated by their family status, with the state assigning partners and keeping tabs. Also, there are starships that are only used to bring prisoners to the planet Hell. Apparently their history diverged from ours when Jesus didn't die young, but instead marched on Rome, successfully. (The divergance is tiny for a change like that, but hey.)

The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer

by Neal Stephenson · published 1995 · read 2020-05-31

My relationship with Neal Stephenson is marked by frustration and enjoyment alike. I liked Anathem a lot despite it's many flaws, because it hit the perfect sweet spot in subject matter for me. Diamond Age did not, so it's flaws stood out more.

Twilight of the Idols

by Friedrich Nietzsche · published 1888 · read 2020-05-25

Nietzsche – in this book, he is equally malevolent spirit, joyfully brilliant shitposter, and asshole. The full title is Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer (Götzen-Dämmerung, oder, Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophiert). It's a dense book – not in that it is complex, but that it is just stuffed with aphorisms and opinions.

Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict

by Tsultrim Allione · published 2008 · read 2020-05-24

Feeding Your Demons is woo. It introduces a meditation technique that is rooted in Buddhism and was adapted by the author (a once-Buddhist-nun, now American coach) to a Western audience. The author's voice is a bit grating and, as is required for a woo book, it includes more about the author's personal journey and all the people she has helped than I cared to know.

Leisure: The Basis of Culture

by Josef Pieper · published 1948 · read 2020-05-24

This book is A Lot. It's a Christian philosopher arguing for the value of Tao, that is, work-transcending leisure.

Cat’s Cradle

by Kurt Vonnegut · published 1963 · read 2020-05-17

(Spoiler free note to future self when I once again start confusing the different Vonnegut titles: This is the ice one.)

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed

by Eric H. Cline · published 2014 · read 2020-05-16

This book was a great overview of the wider mediterranean civilisations during the Bronze Age, with a short discussion of the so-called collapse towards the end. I went into it expecting a lot of content about the collapse itself, and the book turned out to be 80% stage-setting. I happen to be into this, so it was a pleasant surprise, but depending on your tastes, this could also be less fun.

I, Claudius

by Robert Graves · published 1934 · read 2020-05-15

This book has been languishing on my to-read pile for nearly two years, and when I saw it mentioned in Among Others, I was reminded of it and plunged into it. I'm a bit of a history nerd, but I never got too much into Roman history beyond the basics: Nine years of learning Latin left me scarred, and it just felt a bit icky because I mostly see military history fans being into it. Pre-imperial Rome is fun though, and then later East Rome, too, because who can resist a good collapse?

Borgia

by Klabund · published 1928 · read 2020-05-11

This was nice, but not more than nice. The book tells episodes of the life of the Borgias, without much connecting tissue. I had expected it to be carried by witty or lyrical language (because Klabund), but found myself disappointed.

Among Others

by Jo Walton · published 2011 · read 2020-05-10

Among Others worked super well for me, especially considering that there is little-to-no plot and the whole book is a well-dressed bibliography. But the protagonist's (diary author) voice is super strong and realistic, and … okay, let's be honest here: I felt very pandered to in the best way. This book is in some way a modern equivalent to Gaudy Night, intellectual+atmospheric pandering to an in-group, and I'm in the in-group, and that's all there is to it.

In the Teeth of the Evidence

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1933 · read 2020-05-09

Collection of short stories: A Wimsey, two-ish Eggs, and then a lot of random stuff. Sadly I like Sayers best when she does characters and snark, and least when she concentrates on plots (her plots are not great), so this wasn't for me.

Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction

by Ian J. Deary · published 2001 · read 2020-05-09

Good example of science writing that is useful and accessible without dumbing things down beyond reason. I learnt some things and was surprised how much Ian Deary managed to fit into the slim book.

On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious

by Douglas E. Harding · published 1961 · read 2020-05-09

DNF. Not right for me, not right for now. It talks about Zen and Buddhism, but not in a way that's accessible to me.

Range of Ghosts

by Elizabeth Bear · published 2012 · read 2020-05-08

Good worldbuilding on the Mongolian inspired Fantasy, but I'm generally not a fan of books that end on a cliffhanger without even an attempt at providing an internal arc, and this bothered me a lot. First book by Elizabeth Bear and not something I'll continue reading any time soon, I think.

The Customer Service Survival Kit: What to Say to Defuse Even the Worst Customer Situations

by Richard S. Gallagher · published 2013 · read 2020-05-08

Really really good and helpful. This is a short book that is full of helpful rules (of-thumb of course) and anecdotes that further your understanding of how to deal with customers. The author has an understanding of why and how customer interactions fail, and what fears are involved. It has solid guiding principles like "Lean in and acknowledge your customer", while also talking about deescalation and how to deal with terrible people. I liked the point that all interactions go smoother once you're confident that you can handle worst-case interactions.

City of Stairs

by Robert Jackson Bennett · published 2014 · read 2020-05-08

Extremely strong, vivid story. I'm left with a lot of impressions – because the worldbuilding was good, because the characters were strong, because the story was better than decent. A couple of minor points like a predictable staple plot twist or sudden relationship building dialogues while in a dangerous situation didn't detract from my enjoyment. The first book in a long time that led to me just devouring it.

The Alchemists of Loom

by Elise Kova · published 2017 · read 2020-05-06

Decent enough generic fantasy, but ends on such a blatant cliffhanger that I feel mor appalled then compelled to read the next part.

The Magicians

by Lev Grossman · published 2009 · read 2020-05-05

I enjoyed this one, and not just for the digs against Fillory (which is a transparently renamed Narnia). The darkly realistic magic school: good. The annoying, whiny, dickish protagonist getting his comeuppance: yeah, dig it. No magic reform arc, either. In total it was rough and not particularly fulfilling as a book, but individual parts all worked really well for me.

Sorcerer to the Crown

by Zen Cho · published 2015 · read 2020-05-03

Really didn't like this one, partly because I'm not in the target group (not female, not PoC), partly because I thought the worldbuilding was shoddy. Pre-victorian British wizards have been done better, and I thought the Montague siblings series did a better job of portraying racism in Great Britain at the time.

The Light Brigade

by Kameron Hurley · published 2019 · read 2020-05-03

Time-travel military sci-fi that would've been better if it hadn't gone full-throttle on the ideology. Also of course has to go with the time-travelling storytelling where everything is neatly wrapped up by time travel, which makes the whole thing uncomfortably predictable.

Un Lun Dun

by China Miéville · published 2007 · read 2020-05-02

Exactly how you'd imagine a magical London YA novel by China Mieville to turn out: appropriately wonderful weird worldbuilding, good enough story arc. Above average amount of painful puns. Plus, and this is something you might not think, actually suited for kids. I wasn't sure Mieville would reign in his weirder tendencies.

A Brother’s Price

by Wen Spencer · published 2005 · read 2020-04-30

This is comfort food, but it's GOOD comfort food. Fantasy world with inverted gender roles (only one man per 20 women, group family marriages ensue). It follows the Regency romance arc perfectly except for leaving out that relationship building part in the second third, which actually might've been better to include. But it's really enjoyable – takes the gender role reversal seriously, isn't stupid about it, but also clearly just has a lot of fun telling the story.

The Door Into Shadow

by Diane Duane · published 1984 · read 2020-04-30

Brutal, in a good way. Incredible character-building. Story arc is so Duane that you'd recognise it anywhere, but let's not pretend that this is a bad thing.

Unsouled

by Will Wight · published 2016 · read 2020-04-30

This was nice. Chinese inspired fantasy, but with a high escalation path into stellar politics among superpowered/ascended beings. The juxtaposition of the two ("low level farm boy" vs "god-like beings") was clumsy at times, and it cuts off early, but it was still relaxing to read.

Second Person, Present Tense

by Daryl Gregory · published 2005 · read 2020-04-24

Yes, wow, please. Cuts off rudely instead of being a book. I'm slightly shaken, for the better. Also, note how this is a zombie story, and not a zombie story at all. If not for the lack of a catchphrase, I might make this my new go-to reference instead of Omelas.

The World of Poo

by Terry Pratchett · published 2012 · read 2020-04-23

An adorable Discworld book, really. As Ankh-Morpork adventures go, definitely better than some of the very early ones. Though very different in tone, of course – it's about Vimes jr, after all.

A Tall Tail

by Charles Stross · published 2012 · read 2020-04-22

A nice Stross short story. Interesting how different cultures show off about different things, but in completely similar ways. Umberto Eco will throw down with medieval/literature facts, and Charlie just needs you to know how much he knows about chemistry off the top of his head.

The Reawakening

by Primo Levi · published 1963 · read 2020-04-22

Primo Levi's way home after the end of WW2, from Auschwitz to Italy. So matter-of-fact that it reads as deadpan when Europe consists only of remains and confusion.

Descartes’ Error

by António R. Damásio · published 1994 · read 2020-04-18

Didn't hold much new information for me, because its contents have grown so accepted and foundational in the 25 years since publication. Nevertheless it provides a solid fundamental overview in a very readable way, despite also dealing in a bit of technical details.

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language

by Gretchen McCulloch · published 2019 · read 2020-04-18

Excellent book on internet linguistics! Touches all the important points and then some. I learnt about Third Places and where thankful!Tobias notation originates, and felt myself and my internet habits covered quite comprehensively.

The Tyranny of Metrics

by Jerry Z. Muller · published 2017 · read 2020-04-17

Good points, tediously made. Metrics are problematic, both in expected and in surprising ways. Once you target a metric instead of using it, you have lost.

Models: Attract Women Through Honesty

by Mark Manson · published 2011 · read 2020-04-16

Do not read this book, except if you're not interested in dating women. In that case, read my objection below and replace all "woman" with "person" and "women" with "people" so that the ridiculous parts stand out better.

If This Is a Man

by Primo Levi · published 1947 · read 2020-04-15

For once, I have nothing to say. This first-hand account of one year spent in Auschwitz is very calm, deliberately matter-of-fact, and inevitably painful to read.

Gavroche

by Victor Hugo · published 1957 · read 2020-04-12

Heavily edited short excerpt from Les Mis. The most enjoyable part was the short Hugo bio after the main part, which was extremely biased – the edition is from Eastern Germany after all.

The Communist Manifesto

by Karl Marx · published 1848 · read 2020-04-12

Short, readable, to the point. The predictive parts were outdated shortly after publishing the manifesto, but the analytical parts were highly interesting and often spot on.

Where Good Ideas Come from

by Steven Johnson · published 2010 · read 2020-04-11

This book has got a couple of good things to say (be playful, be prolific, facilitate accidents and clashes), and tells a bunch of really neat anecdotes of past inventions and big ideas. I don't really think the anecdotes are good arguments for any of the points the book makes, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. As a whole, it's not terribly deep, and for some reason that I can't put my finger on, reading it felt very tedious.

How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method

by George Pólya · published 1944 · read 2020-03-31

How to Solve It is decent, but overrated – the first 10% are pretty good, and then there are a few nuggets of really good advice interspersed with the neverending examples of the principles introduced in the first part.

The Inner Game of Tennis

by W. Timothy Gallwey · published 1974 · read 2020-03-31

I hadn't expected a Zen book, but here we are. This book is short and to the point, and presents a couple of very good takes on not-just-tennis. It applies at the very least to every physical activity and anything that works like a competition. The insights on physical activity have been immediately helpful for me in everyday life, and the thoughts on competition will do the same once I've had time to think about them. Highly recommended.

Tao Te Ching

by Lao Tzu · published -600 · read 2020-03-26

This review is for Ursula K. le Guin's rendition of the Tao Te Ching. It's not exactly a translation (she didn't know Chinese) – she compared a bunch of translations and consulted experts, but also wrote poetry and what seemed right to her. A translation with more poetic license than usual. Some chapters have end notes with her interpretation – surprisingly (to me) I did not care for those at all. The book closes with notes on her choices of phrasing and with some specific comments for individual chapters, plus a short commentary on the translations she relied on, which I enjoyed to read.

All About Love: New Visions

by bell hooks · published 1999 · read 2020-03-15

This book has good, true sentences. It also has weird stretches. It reads like a time capsule into late 70s/early 80s feminism, so I was surprised at the 1999 release date. I liked it for the respectful discussion of agency and how both men and women suffer from oppressive structures and structural terribleness. At the same time there were things that I didn't agree with, and I did some heavy skipping around the Jesus parts (I'm not a Jesus person).

The Courage to Be Disliked

by Ichiro Kishimi · published 2013 · read 2020-03-11

I strongly disliked many parts of this book. The writing is obnoxious, self-righteous, pseudo-Socratic without ever coming close. I fundamentally disagree with a lot of its premises, and it's in many ways /r/wowthanksimhealed material. This book is very punchable.

The Just City

by Jo Walton · published 2015 · read 2020-03-10

A very cerebral, nearly clinical book, and I wanted to like it more than I actually liked it. I'm very here for the character of Socrates, and … not much else, to be quite honest. It's a fun concept, but I felt that even where it tried to go past the clinical, detached nature, it remained off. High quality, but not for me.

Get Together: How to build a community with your people

by Bailey Richardson · read 2020-03-05

This is an alright book if you want to build a "community" for a corporate entity. It tries to provide more than that, but everything it suggests is just slightly icky and tainted with this corporate language. But it does provide actionable advice, and a solid focus on engagement and growth.

The Steerswoman

by Rosemary Kirstein · published 1989 · read 2020-02-29

Gooood Fantasy! Highly likable characters, good world, good plot, excellent eye for detail. The concept of a mostly-female order/guild/group of scientifically minded truth seekers is very cool, and yet not overdone. Science Fantasy in an NK Jemisin way. Way to go on the emancipation side: women being equal to men is just a non-issue in all jobs (guards, merchants, sailors, etc). If I had read this a couple of years ago, I might have been less susceptible to HPMOR. Good reviews elsewhere: Max Gladstone with comments on moral fantasy and fantasy violence (which are part of the book, but have consequences) Jo Walton with a strong endorsement

A Family Like None Other

by Aspen in the Sunlight · read 2020-02-29

Look, this is still farly decent in writing (though it continues the big fault of spending 90% of time on telling, not showing, and processing). But the "problems" posed are so contrived, so frustrating, that I really fail to see the point. An author is supposed to chase the protagonist up the tree and pelt them with coconuts, yes, but making the floor magically vanish, have them fall onto a tree, and have it rain coconuts is a bit much.

Harleen

by Stjepan Šejić · published 2020 · read 2020-02-29

Stjepan Šejić is a brilliant artist, and he's done right by Harley Quinn. Good origin story, great writing, and brilliant artwork. I'm not really one for graphic novels and even I can tell that this goes above and beyond.

A Year Like None Other

by Aspen in the Sunlight · published 2006 · last read 2022-06-06

Decent Severitus, I suppose – okay writing, absurd amounts of processing, and follows the hurt/comfort rules to a t.

A Summer Like None Other

by Aspen in the Sunlight · published 2008 · read 2020-02-28

Doubles down on the weaknesses of the first part: excessive processing, repetitive and predictable. Okay writing, occasionally humorous dialogue, bug still little action spread out by virtue of extreme blathering.

Digging for the Bones

by paganaidd · published 2011 · read 2020-02-25

Decent enough hurt/comfort Severitus. Nothing special, but nothing stupid either.

FINDING HIMSELF

by Minisinoo · published 2008 · read 2020-02-25

Decent for fanfic, better representation of minorities than the original books.

A Study in Winning

by Jupiter_Ash · published 2012 · read 2020-02-24

Too much steam, too much tennis puns, but undeniably good pacing. Follows a formula but follows it well.

A Study in Doubles

by Jupiter_Ash · read 2020-02-24

Bit less inspired than the first part, but still solid writing. Thankfully less of the tennis puns.

Striding Folly

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1972 · read 2020-02-22

Three Wimsey short stories, one of which doesn't really feature him at all. The other two show him as a family man, first on the night of the birth of his first child, then as the father of three children. Beautifully one as family study (neither he nor Harriet have really changed, with hilarious results). Weird to see such a well-written and snarky defense of spanking (some) children at the detriment of a nosy and stupid woman with ridiculed modern views.

To Say Nothing of the Dog

by Connie Willis · published 1998 · read 2020-02-22

This book as good as advertised – even better than that, because part of it is targeted at people who had their heart broken by Gaudy Night, which I just had two weeks ago. I'm very happy I didn't accidentally read this one before Gaudy Night, that would've ruined the reading experience.

The Goblin Emperor

by Katherine Addison · published 2014 · read 2020-02-22

Fun, well-written Fantasy with very strong characters and great character development. Bit predictable, and a large cast, but still a good read – and that's saying something for a novel that may be Fantasy, but has not the least bit adventure in it, instead going for ALL the politics.

The Warlock in Spite of Himself

by Christopher Stasheff · published 1969 · read 2020-02-20

The Warlock in Spite of Himself has a really good setting.

Silver in the Wood

by Emily Tesh · published 2019 · read 2020-02-20

Good forest fairytale. Heavier on the "hurt" side of hurt/comfort that I initially thought. Good characters, good writing, and only a bit low on substance.

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel: Gay Men’s Dress in the Twentieth Century

by Shaun Cole · published 2000 · read 2020-02-18

This book is a treasure! It follows the history of gay men's dress from the days of Oscar Wilde to the 90s, and by necessity along the way explains the cultural changes in and around gay groups. It explains hidden and implicit cultural meanings, is sourced from interviews, magazines, and lots and lots of other books and articles. I can't overstate how in-depth and conscientously the information is presented.

Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving

by Pete Walker · published 2013 · read 2020-02-16

First off: I'm not quite the target group for this book, and this has influenced my rating. I think the book says a lot of true things and reading it will do no harm and may significantly help you if you're in the right place. I think the acknowledgement and descriptions of the specific types of cPTSD and childhood trauma will be helpful for people impacted by this.

Gideon the Ninth

by Tamsyn Muir · published 2019 · read 2020-02-15

Gideon the Ninth is popular, but didn't work for me – the first third (or so) felt very muddled and I was wondering why everybody seemed to love this book so much. It got better, but the world it played in never felt quite solid to me, and I'd have liked it much more with just a bit less flippancy? Grimdark with aggressively flippant protagonist has been done to death. Quality of writing and worldbuilding increased throughout the book, apart from the final battle, and I enjoyed how the characters were fleshed out (for most of them, at least).

A Time to Reap

by Elizabeth Bear · published 2019 · read 2020-02-12

A Time to Reap by Elizabeth Bear was a very solid time travel story, probably even better for people from the US. Extremely strong atmosphere – I remembered both the characters and the atmosphere mostly by way of the plot.

I (28M) created a deepfake girlfriend and now my parents think we’re getting married

by Fonda Lee · published 2019 · read 2020-02-12

About as good as the title suggests (and about as much content, too). Got the tone of voice right, more or less, though catering to the wider crowd/immersion break with the user names.

For He Can Creep

by Siobhan Carroll · published 2019 · read 2020-02-12

Cat-lovers, take note: This short story lovingly combines cat stereotypes, and then goes two steps further. Very enjoyable.

Tiamat’s Wrath

by James S.A. Corey · published 2019 · read 2020-02-11

I don't think I could review this book without spoilers, but it wowed me, and angered me, and is generally VERY VERY good.

Busman’s Honeymoon

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1937 · read 2020-02-11

I think at this point (or earlier, but who knows) Dorothy Sayers had understood that her forte was in the characters and the dialogue, and WOW does she ever deliver. It's a honeymoon with a murder, of course, and I can't get over my love of the characters, so I won't even try.

Gaudy Night

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1935 · read 2020-02-08

Gaudy Night is the first book on my Wimsey re-read that I hadn't read before. In truth, it's about 3.5-4 stars, but it gets five for breaking my heart.

SSH Mastery: OpenSSH, PuTTY, Tunnels and Keys

by Michael W. Lucas · published 2012 · read 2020-02-05

Well-written as usual. Teaches both implicit cultural knowledge and exciting obscure details in a structured, concise, and comprehensive way.

Hangman’s Holiday: A Collection of Short Mysteries

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1933 · read 2020-01-27

This collection has two types of stories: Lord Peter Wimsey ones and Montague Egg ones. On the upside, the Lord Peter stories have great characters and witty banter, so they are fun to read even though their plots are a bit stupid or dull. On the other hand, the Montague Egg stories have mind-numbingly stupid and dull pts, so not even a witty character with good dialogue manages to save them.

Clockwork Boys

by T. Kingfisher · published 2017 · read 2020-01-26

Excuse me, a ninja assassin and an anti-stereotype paladin? I'll have to read the second part right away. Both quippy and touching, manages to strike a balance between excitement and character growth (while admittedly favouring excitement a bit.)

Come Tumbling Down

by Seanan McGuire · published 2020 · read 2020-01-26

I liked Come Tumbling Down okay, but I feel it repeated previous plots. The worldbuilding and writing was still good, but I felt that character growth was taking place mostly between books. Both the boys involved were useless for most of the time, which is especially unfortunate with the trans guy cast in a (learned?) helplessness and inability to be of help.

Never Let Me Go

by Kazuo Ishiguro · published 2005 · read 2020-01-25

Excellent dystopian storytelling in Never Let Me Go – not loud, not ostentatious, not yelling "THIS IS A DYSTOPIA, GET IT?!" at every opportunity. The narrator's voice was extremely well-done – strong, recognisable, but realistic at the same time. The unveiling of their lived reality was slow, and good – it allowed you to stay a step ahead, without that victorious feeling of having pulled one over the book. Interesting how the world described is terribly depressing, yet the book didn't once feel sad or depressing or tedious to me.

The Songs of Distant Earth

by Arthur C. Clarke · published 1986 · read 2020-01-24

A future human settlement gets visited by the last travellers from the doomed planet earth, on their way to their final destination, a new earth. Very calm, slow, slightly utopian.

Bloodchild

by Octavia E. Butler · published 1984 · read 2020-01-24

I first read Bloodchild last year, I think, and re-read it now. It's a very Octavia Butler story – aliens cohabitating with humans and making ties that touch on reproductive and life cycles is a thing she does. But she does it well, and it's not a repeated shtick. I didn't enjoy the story as such, but it was expertly written, and viscerally stuck in my memory. (Also: ew.)

Have His Carcase

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1932 · read 2020-01-23

This was a fair Wimsey novel – banter (especially between Him and Her), with the mystery being less important than the people (who cares about a dead body on the beach). The strong focus on their non-relationship detracted a bit from my carefree enjoyment, though, and made me read the book more through a historian's lense: Gender roles, social norms, and general expectations have changed so much, and Dorothy L. Sayers' take on them is fascinating and utterly foreign to me.

The Five Red Herrings

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1931 · read 2020-01-22

I tend to like the Lord Peter Wimsey novels a lot – but I dislike mysteries in general, and I like these particular mysteries because Dorothy L. Sayers wrote brilliant dialogue and characters. This book has decidedly less dialogue and less Lord Peter than any of the previous one. Instead it focuses on the local artists and fishing – and in turn felt just as tedious as having to live with people who are only interested in their own drawings and catching fish. It dragged on and on and was no fun. I couldn't manage to care about the accused, or the victim, or the train schedules that were recited for pages on end.

Clouds Cannot Cover Us

by Jay Hulme · read 2020-01-13

Rilke-style modern poetry, targeted to adolescents and adults. I don't read much poetry, but I am a fan of Rilke, for reference.

I Sexually Identify As An Attack Helicopter

by Isabel Fall · published 2020 · read 2020-01-12

Original review: I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter is just very, very good. You are cringing from the title? Good, that means it works as intended. This piece is really good scifi – and not transphobic in the least, quite intentionally spiting the title. Read it here.

HTTP/3 explained

by Daniel Stenberg · published 2018 · read 2020-01-12

HTTP/3 Explained is a little free booklet by curl developer Daniel Stenberg explaining the principles and history behind HTTP/3. I liked the inclusion of recent history and explanation of discussions in the working groups. There is also some frank discussion of potential downsides in terms of security, performance, and adaptability, but usually there is one argument presented per point, so I had the impression that my opinion was being nudged (because of the lack of differing arguments). This is mostly due to the booklets short texts that don't expand much upon anything. Both the writing and the general structure are a bit rough around the edges.

Strong Poison

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1930 · read 2020-01-10

I like Strong Poison a whole lot – Peter meets Harriet for the first time, and behaves like a bit of an idiot, which is both realistic and appreciated. Lots of terrible things about society in those days are displayed ostensibly without judgement, but with lots of judgement just by the looks Mrs Sayers throws at said society. It's delightful.

The Sparrow

by Mary Doria Russell · published 1996 · read 2020-01-08

I liked The Sparrow a whole lot. Part of that is just that I like the premise: Jesuit First Contact? Hell yes! The Jesuits are the science-minded and intellectual ones among the Catholic orders, and at the same time very capable of actions and decision-making. There are some things I positively adored about this book: I liked the world-building, both on Earth and off, and found the near future very relatable and not overdone towards u- or dystopia. Honestly, the character building and especially the dialogue were excellent. The characters were super alive and will stay with me for a while, as will their dialogue and development. The pacing was also excellent for me. The plot and the aliens on the other hand were only so-so. The plot had its strengths, was well-told and not overly predictable (packed some punches towards the end). The aliens were too human/mammalian for my tastes. Communication has only a language/culture barrier, and is apparently easily overcome with a year or two of work and play. Much meh. My real problem with the book involves how everybody in there deals with sexuality, namely prostitution and sexual assault. Apparently nobody is able to think when it comes to these things, or to talk, or to be sensible in any way. That's not because the people involved are Catholic monks (believe me), it's straight up the author's culture creeping in. Big time. It was distracting and made me increasingly annoyed, to the point of probably keeping me from reading the second book. (Whereas, by contrast, the fact that the entire mission to the aliens is naive and unable to think critically or bring some science is completely in line with the author attempting a take on Columbus, so bringing your own culture to everything and not stopping to think is part of the deal.)

Lord Peter Views the Body

by Dorothy L. Sayers · published 1928 · last read 2020-01-05

This collection is a very nice mix of Lord Peter Wimsey stories. I particularly liked the ones where he's an under-cover spy, and the one where he and his nephew go on a treasuer hunt. While the plot quality varies a bit, the writing and character building are delightful.

The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

by Steven Sloman · published 2017 · read 2020-01-03