Reviews and Comments

This book is for you. Fellini shooting Casanova, Pasolini shooting Salo. They're all here, following the meandering through life of a young British man. If you've ever read Pasolini's early novels, you will find the structure of this one very similar.

I'm surprised Wu, who's usually prescient, is behind on this. That or he underestimates how much power the tech platforms have already accumulated. Suggesting as a possible, partial solution that tech platforms should not be allowed to invest in AI is closing the barn doors after the horses have already escaped.

I don't care much for Doctorow's fiction but he has a knack to explain complicated things clearly. And this is true here, as he explains all the ways we got to our enshittified stated. As importantly, the last part of the book is dedicated to potential solutions. 4 stars instead of 5 because the idea that Trump might have an "anti-trust agenda" is laughable.

Lightning did not strike twice. As much as I loved Cultish (Montell's previous book), this one bored me. It's all over the place. There is not much that is new. The examples feel shoehorned. And way, way too many personal stories.

This is the first volume of the Penn Cage set. You can already see the different themes that you find in Iles's contemporary Southern gothic + thriller (the least interesting part of these books, to me, so far). Off to the next one.

This was my first book form this author. I only heard about him because he recently died. It was so good that I'm going back to all his previous work. It's contemporary Southern gothic, and quite a page turner.

There is no foolproof way to prevent cheating or the use of LLMs, but there are ways to try to limit their use. Luckily for us, they happen to also be good pedagogy. Some of this stuff is not new. But the book provides a new review of all the way we can try to counter cheating without turning into cops. I don't agree with everything but it's worth reading.

It's another murder mystery with layers upon layers, which I like. But this time, the setting is Dicker's Switzerland, and himself as a character. As always, a very engaging page-turner.

If you like birds, this book will delight you. This lady has decades of experience rehabilitating and releasing birds. One day, someone brings her a baby blue jay. The book combines personal narrative, scientific info about jays, and is just a delightful read. She's a bit into some woo woo stuff but it's minimal in the book. If you need a nice summer read, that's the book to pick.

This is the 3rd novel in the Marcus Goldman trilogy. It's as well written and intriguing as the previous two. There is an English translation.

In this second entry in the trilogy, we get more into the childhood and family of Marcus Goldman (whom we met in the Harry Quebert affair). As with the first novel, there are layers upon layers of complexities. It's gripping.

This very much reminded me of The Nix (which I really liked too). It's way more than just "murder in a small town". So many layers, twists, and turns, I could not put it down.

A great graphic novel using a fictional conversation between Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells on how the convict lease system long preceded the 13th Amendment, especially in Kentucky. The illustration is brilliant as well. Not five stars because of some anachronisms in language but I'm guessing the targeted audience is Gen Z.