#bookstodon

See tagged statuses in the local bookrastinating.com community

Too many novels is definitely how I want to go, but I'm probably more likely to suffer from a stong bout of drawing-room anguish 😜😂


@bookstodon @books @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop



Historic painting of a woman lying in bed. Caption: Things Women In Literature Have Died From The list: Cold hands Pony exhaustion Beautiful face Strolling congestion Missing slippers Sherry served too cold Wrist fevers Ship infidelity Night brain Going outside at night In Italy Shawl Insufficiency Clergyman's dropsy Too many pillows Flirting headaches Garden troubles River unhappiness Someone said "No" very loudly General bummers Letter-reading fits Mmmf Drawing-room anguish Beautiful chestnut hair Not enough pillows Spinal degeneration as a result of pride Haven't seen the sea In a long time Parents too happy Too many novels The Unpleasantness

I've finished: Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

I was a bit worried about the premise of this novel, I don't usually like when cliche historical monsters are recycled into a new setting. Many times it is just name dropping.

I was pleasantly surprised by Of Monsters and Mainframes. The monsters are characters in their own right and are more than a place marker for evil antagonist.

The AIs are the traditional kind, expert systems rather than the LLM type, finding human interaction difficult rather than built to simulate human interaction. For this is essentially a found family story, and the AI is coded autistic.

It is fun and funny, but also dark, there are cozy elements but I hesitate to categorize it as cozy.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/df12836a-b0dd-416c-b75f-32f0d6f390db

@bookstodon @audiobooks

Well this is ridiculous. Currently checked out from the public I have 35 books (20 fiction, 15 nonfiction), 9 DVDs, and a kit.

The Genius of Trees, Around the World in 80 Trees, Around the World in 80 Birds, and Is A River Alive? I checked out in order to decide which one I wanted to buy someone as a Christmas present, but now I need to read them all anyway.

I'll put the titles in a comment.

Two tall stacks of library books and DVDs with a plastic bag containing a calligraphy kit between the two stacks

This week's at the library: I bought used copies of Biology and of from Comstock Publishing Associates, and Imperial Nature: and the Practices of Victorian Science from the University of Chicago Press, both at very sharp prices. I also adopted a damaged copy of @bugmanjones's Shieldbugs from HarperCollins.

@bookstodon

A photo of three hardback books standing on a small, brown, wooden table. The out-of-focus background shows black shelves full of books and part of the beech-coloured laminate floor. On the left, Biology and Evolution of Crocodylians, showing a photo of a crocodile in water, with only its head visible. In the middle, Imperial Nature: Joseph Hooker and the Practices of Victorian Science, showing dark red wooden shelves densely packed with folders containing dried plants. In the foreground are two herbarium sheets with dried plants On the right, Shieldbugs, showing a colour drawing of a red-and-black shieldbug.
A photo of three hardback books standing on a small, brown, wooden table. The out-of-focus background shows black shelves full of books and part of the beech-coloured laminate floor. On the left, Biology and Evolution of Crocodylians, showing a photo of a crocodile in water, with only its head visible. In the middle, Imperial Nature: Joseph Hooker and the Practices of Victorian Science, showing dark red wooden shelves densely packed with folders containing dried plants. In the foreground are two herbarium sheets with dried plants On the right, Shieldbugs, showing a colour drawing of a red-and-black shieldbug.

Just when I thought I couldn't love the library's Christmas tree even more, I read the sign.

'Come and pluck our book tree! Between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on the 22nd, you can pick free books from our Christmas tree and give them a new home. Bring a bag - enjoy your new reads!'


Christmas tree at Dokk1 Aarhus Main Library Denmark. A book tree about 2 metres tall made of about 60 ever-decreasing circles of used surplus library books, topped by a big star made of book pages. The titles are spine out. White fairy lights are wound all around it. At the foot of the tree, a framed sign - Santa beside a Christmas tree holding a pile of books and the message: 'Come and strip our book tree! Between 10 and 1 on December 22nd, you can pick free books from our Christmas tree and give them a new home. Bring a bag - and enjoy your new reads!'

Dec 19: What's the first thing readers learn about your MC(s)?

That Squire Jonathan is a good fighter but humble. At the beginning, he's practicing swords with a fellow squire, Berny, and he wins but does so with good humor.

I finally read "I, Robot" by Asimov. I think it is good, and especially with and here now, so many tech-bros citing stuff like the three laws, think it is worthwhile to go read the actual book. It is not about robot crimes, at all. It feels astonishingly up to date for something written during and shortly after WW2. I guess because people now aren't that different from people who lived 100 years ago. @bookstodon

bookcover of I, Robot by Asimov. the cover is a dark blue with the outline of a human head in light blue dots and lines representing circuits.

QSFer Lui Petri has a new queer sci-fi book out (ace, bi, gay, lesbian, poly): Earth Warriors: The Four Heroes of Peace.

What does it take to survive in a hostile universe?

The alien empire, Zlocu, has dedicated itself to evolution through violence after a civil war ravaged its planet. Now, as part of its plan, it has declared...

https://www.queerscifi.com/new-release-earth-warriors-the-four-heroes-of-peace-lui-petri/

@LGBTQBookstodon @diversebooks @bookstodon

Things from the Flood. By Simon Stalenhag. Translated by Martin Dunelind.

You are a young Swedish teen, growing up in the aftermath of a failed industrial project that may have opened a portal to another world, but the poisoned and destroyed landscape is your playground, and the agonies of adolescence find a comfortable home there.

4 of 5 library cats 🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈.

@bookstodon

Book cover featuring a beat up android alone in the wilderness