I love to read, I just don't do it as often as I'd like. The book is always greener on the other side.
I read more fiction than non-fiction, and more science-fiction than fiction.
My bookshelf has a row dedicated to older O'Reilly books, one dedicated to one-off hardbacks of long series I've read, such as Expanse, Harry Potter, H.P. Lovecraft, Shakespeare, and one dedicated to shoe-horning in board games.
This link opens in a pop-up window
Checked out from the library to mark the end of dry January, I'm working my way through the stories and some of the cocktails, necessitating a number of trips to pick up ingredients I didn't have on hand.
Checked out from the library to mark the end of dry January, I'm working my way through the stories and some of the cocktails, necessitating a number of trips to pick up ingredients I didn't have on hand.
The legendary Keanu Reeves and inimitable writer China Miéville team up on this genre-bending epic of ancient powers, modern war, …
“Is Google making us stupid?” When Nicholas Carr posed that question, in a celebrated Atlantic …
This looks like something I should really dig into this year.
So far, this is reading just as relevant and modern today as it was 50 years ago when many of the stories were written.
You are invited to a ball given by Lord Semichastny at his estate on Delbalso. …
a really strange little novel. Maybe it wasn't the best to start with the third in the series, but now I'm kind of sad there won't be a fourth, just because the characters are so idiosyncratic.
a really strange little novel. Maybe it wasn't the best to start with the third in the series, but now I'm kind of sad there won't be a fourth, just because the characters are so idiosyncratic.
THEY THOUGHT SHE’D BE EASY. THEY THOUGHT WRONG.
It all began with the phone …
Or maybe do, as you'll be about half right, at least. I've read a few Hard Case Crime novels, having bought a dozen or so from Humble Bundle years back. Most have been good, one was a dud, but then I decided to read this one while traveling for the holidays.
This story is a gripper. It gets you right from the beginning and hardly lets up. This is Pulp Noir at its finest, with a combination of 2-dimensional throw-away characters that the well-rounded protagonist and her associate have to navigate through. The author does a great job of relaying Angel's, the main character, thinking and reactions to everything she gets herself into.
Or maybe do, as you'll be about half right, at least. I've read a few Hard Case Crime novels, having bought a dozen or so from Humble Bundle years back. Most have been good, one was a dud, but then I decided to read this one while traveling for the holidays.
This story is a gripper. It gets you right from the beginning and hardly lets up. This is Pulp Noir at its finest, with a combination of 2-dimensional throw-away characters that the well-rounded protagonist and her associate have to navigate through. The author does a great job of relaying Angel's, the main character, thinking and reactions to everything she gets herself into.
Looks like a fun read from an early author who orbited the #Cyberpunk genre. There are some cute anachronisms along side with some really forward-thinking content.
Looks like a fun read from an early author who orbited the #Cyberpunk genre. There are some cute anachronisms along side with some really forward-thinking content.
A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the …
I've just never gotten around to reading Earthsea, so I finally did it, and it was an enjoyable fantasy novel that is technically YA but doesn't feel icky reading as an adult.
Do yourself a favor and read the author's afterword at the end. It's a nice perspective and a wonderful message by Ursula K. Le Guin, who has such an amazing talent and voice.
I've just never gotten around to reading Earthsea, so I finally did it, and it was an enjoyable fantasy novel that is technically YA but doesn't feel icky reading as an adult.
Do yourself a favor and read the author's afterword at the end. It's a nice perspective and a wonderful message by Ursula K. Le Guin, who has such an amazing talent and voice.
You are invited to a ball given by Lord Semichastny at his estate on Delbalso. …
I found this lurking on my bookshelf and have no idea where it came from.
I've had The Night Always Comes on my bookshelf for 7-8 months now. After picking it up at the Powell's on Hawthorne, I read the first three chapters and knew this was a book that needed to be read after the weather turned colder and wetter. So, on this Thanksgiving break, I pulled it down and ticked in.
It did not disappoint.
This book is an edge-of-your seat thriller best consumed in one or two sessions. Not because it's action-packed (though it does have its share of harrowing scenes), but because the author has done a masterful job at building up the protagonist into someone you just cannot peel your eyes away from. Lynette's 48 hour journey is filled with sentiment, luck, horror, and white-knuckle scenes that the reader will not soon forget.
I've had The Night Always Comes on my bookshelf for 7-8 months now. After picking it up at the Powell's on Hawthorne, I read the first three chapters and knew this was a book that needed to be read after the weather turned colder and wetter. So, on this Thanksgiving break, I pulled it down and ticked in.
It did not disappoint.
This book is an edge-of-your seat thriller best consumed in one or two sessions. Not because it's action-packed (though it does have its share of harrowing scenes), but because the author has done a masterful job at building up the protagonist into someone you just cannot peel your eyes away from. Lynette's 48 hour journey is filled with sentiment, luck, horror, and white-knuckle scenes that the reader will not soon forget.
"Whether the subject of her fancy is the lowly, unassuming potato or the love life …
I picked this up at the library after another book, Provence 1970 tells a story of culinary luminaries, including Julia Child and James Beard in addition to M.F.K. Fisher basically all met and changed the course of culinary history. I knew the other two, of course, but needed to read something from a woman who is apparently one of the best culinary writers of all time.
I picked this up at the library after another book, Provence 1970 tells a story of culinary luminaries, including Julia Child and James Beard in addition to M.F.K. Fisher basically all met and changed the course of culinary history. I knew the other two, of course, but needed to read something from a woman who is apparently one of the best culinary writers of all time.
Death's End (Chinese: 死神永生, pinyin: Sǐshén yǒngshēng) is a science fiction novel by the Chinese …
Content warning Some references to other works may hint at spoilers
I couldn't resist and had to finish my binge of the series. This one is truly big, spanning billions of years and tying together many themes and concepts. Cixin Liu will casually cover a topic that in other works would constitute the entirety of the novel, but he does it as a throwaway chapter. Well, not throwaway, but in some cases a topic is introduced, and closed out so quickly that in many cases, the reader is left wanting more or perhaps thinking to themself "was this topic so obvious that the author didn't deem it worthy of covering further?"
The beginning was very confusing and it does seem like this was a dumping ground for some of the conceptual content that had been created while doing some world-building. After about the first quarter of the book, the threads come together and the story really gets going. Strung together like this, the book is like three novels in one. I could see the author having stretched those out into 1 or even 2 more books (after all, this is the longest of the three novels), but I'm thankful it all wrapped up here.
Whereas the first two novels spent a lot of time building up to their point, as in the concept of the Dark Forest in the second novel, this one essentially hurls concepts at you one after another as if you're in a batting cage. It makes for a fun but sometimes bewildering ride and may not be for everyone. Still, this has Cixin Liu's signature high-concept, big universe ideas in it and it is fun to work through them with his story-telling of this expanding universe as we come to know about more than just the Trisolarans.
A couple of the concepts reminded me of the Priscilla Hutchins series by Jack McDevitt, which I also greatly enjoyed for its whole "the Universe is a lot bigger than you think, kid" way of story-telling.
At a time when Steve Jobs was only a teenager and Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t even …
If @spacerog@mastodon.social is going to recommend a book, I'm going to add it to my reading list. This sounds pretty interesting.
If @spacerog@mastodon.social is going to recommend a book, I'm going to add it to my reading list. This sounds pretty interesting.
Heading to Northern Italy next year and they have a convoluted history, and I realized I know very little of Italy's history between the fall of the Roman Empire until World War II. Looking to fill that gap, I found this historical novel about the kidnapping of a Jewish boy at his family's home in Bologna by the Papal State. Written by an historian, this should provide a lot of color to the political forces from the 16th to 19th centuries.
Heading to Northern Italy next year and they have a convoluted history, and I realized I know very little of Italy's history between the fall of the Roman Empire until World War II. Looking to fill that gap, I found this historical novel about the kidnapping of a Jewish boy at his family's home in Bologna by the Papal State. Written by an historian, this should provide a lot of color to the political forces from the 16th to 19th centuries.
"With the scope of Dune and the rousing action of Independence Day, this near-future trilogy is the first chance for …