I've been on a big of a Sri Lankan binge (…3 novels, but that's 3 more than usual) recently, and Sashi's story of becoming a field medic in the middle of the civil war was my favourite of the three.
Brotherless Night is an excellent book that got my attention and broke my heart a few times, without just being sad. It's full of anger and love and hope and all these things th
I found out about this book through an article by The Guardian that copied an extract from it, and I'm planning on eventually posting my full reading notes here eventually.
The idea of « flat culture » really captivated me and I could recognize it easily, being used to international travel for work and seeing the same things everywhere wi
Review - Murder in the Basement, by Anthony Berkeley: really cleverly constructed, and actually pretty entertaining too. Not sure it's a 100% fair play mystery, but still entertaining. Rating: 4/5 ("really liked it").
🆕 blog! “Book Review: Relic - Alan Dean Foster”
★★★⯪☆
This is a decent slice of sci-fi. It's the sort of story that probably could have been written any time in the last 100 years. The sole survivor of the human race is picked up by friendly aliens and spends his life as a specimen of scientific and cultural curiosity. And then... events occur! It's […]
A VIRTUOSO RIFF ON AN AMERICAN classic: the inimitable Percival Everett retells the story of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective, transforming it from a familiar picaresque to a more complex adventure and a meditation on code-switching. A MINUS
Book Review: Bitter Waters by Vivian Shaw A barrow wight turns up with a recently turned 11 yr. vampire. Dr. Helsing and friends search for the attacker, and help the kid adjust.
My #bookreview is brief/won't spoil, to spread good, great, & spectacular #horror#books far & wide.
💙📚 You may presume you'll know the story that unfolds in I THINK I'M ALONE NOW, but you'll be wrong as hell. I read this novella in a single sitting: Ali Seay has written a thoroughly enjoyable, vivid, violent, deliciously dark chunk o' horror set in the 80's that's, like, totally rad. (Grindhouse Press)
@bookstodon Another really good graphic nonfiction book I've read recently, and recommend, is WE HEREBY REFUSE, regarding the Japanese-Americans forced into internment camps in WWII.
The story addresses a common victim-blaming response to the plight of others: "Why didn't they fight back?" It's almost always the wrong question, even though indeed, they did fight back. Victim-blaming is a pernicious permission structure, allowing us not to care about terrible events that happen to other people.
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon Most Japanese Americans & Asians (in US & outside of it) called them concentration camps - not internment camps. Colonial, racist governments called them internment camps in US & Canada but that's a dishonest word for them. Internment camps are for military personnel. Japanese & Asians(anyone who looked Japanese) were rounded up & imprisoned in colonial concentration camps. Many died in them.
A FORMER CHILD INFLUENCER comes to terms with how the exploitation of her image changed her life. More than just a “problem novel,” this thoughtful book deftly takes on issues of family trauma, love, friendship, racial and national identity. A MINUS
Today's review! Ice + Alligators by Angel Martinez:
"Ink is having a bad day... Pickerel is perfectly happy in the swamp.... a delightful romp through the swamp with laugh-out-loud funny author Angel Martinez, a great lighthearted read perfect for summer vacation."
1/ There are great books about mathematicians and about physicists. There are some good biology books. But chemistry seems to get very little coverage, despite being so fascinating and central. Sharon Bertsch McGrayne's /Prometheans in the Lab/ sets that straight. #BookReview ↵
"The interesting story is not whether psychohistory is correct or how it works. The interesting story is told around what people do when they assume "psychohistory" (prevailing philosophy) is correct, and what happens with people who don't subscribe to that "truth."
Determinism is so much fun to play with, even if there is really no way to determine whether determinism has any actual merits.
The recent series Devs is almost kind of a reboot/prequel almost - sort of, "what if psychohistory was developed as a routine on a really big and fast quantum computer?"