Ted's bookshelf: all

Ted's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 19 Apr 2025 15:20:47 -0700 60 Ted's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Heart of Darkness 4900
A reflection on corruptive European colonialism and a journey into the nightmare psyche of one of the corrupted, Heart of Darkness is considered one of the most influential works ever written.]]> 188 Joseph Conrad 1892295490 Ted 2 literature, did-not-finish 3.43 1899

author: Joseph Conrad
name: Ted
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1899
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/19
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: literature, did-not-finish
review:
This was supposed to be a quick read. Nearly a month later I was still only a little over halfway through this and last night I found myself thinking "I have literally no idea who is talking or what they are talking about" and I decided I simply wasn't getting anything out of this. :/
]]> <![CDATA[The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon]]> 3398625 The Lost City of Z is a blockbuster adventure narrative about what lies beneath the impenetrable jungle canopy of the Amazon.

After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, New Yorker writer David Grann set out to solve "the greatest exploration mystery of the 20th century": What happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett & his quest for the Lost City of Z?

In 1925, Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization, hoping to make one of the most important discoveries in history. For centuries Europeans believed the world's largest jungle concealed the glittering kingdom of El Dorado. Thousands had died looking for it, leaving many scientists convinced that the Amazon was truly inimical to humans. But Fawcett, whose daring expeditions inspired Conan Doyle's The Lost World, had spent years building his scientific case. Captivating the imagination of millions round the globe, Fawcett embarked with his 21-year-old son, determined to prove that this ancient civilisation--which he dubbed Z--existed. Then his expedition vanished. Fawcett's fate, & the tantalizing clues he left behind about Z, became an obsession for hundreds who followed him into the uncharted wilderness.

For decades scientists & adventurers have searched for evidence of Fawcett's party & the lost City of Z. Countless have perished, been captured by tribes or gone mad. As Grann delved ever deeper into the mystery surrounding Fawcett's quest, & the greater mystery of what lies within the Amazon, he found himself, like the generations who preceded him, being irresistibly drawn into the jungle's green hell. His quest for the truth & discoveries about Fawcett's fate & Z form the heart of this complexly enthralling narrative.]]> 339 David Grann 0385513534 Ted 4 non-fiction 3.87 2009 The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

author: David Grann
name: Ted
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: non-fiction
review:
Just as great as everyone said it was, though probably not my single favorite non-fiction book in this arena (for that I'd lean more toward Into the Wild).
]]> <![CDATA[The Sapling Cage (Daughters of the Empty Throne, #1)]]> 205668510 In the gripping first novel in the Daughters of the Empty Throne trilogy, author Margaret Killjoy spins a tale of earth magic, power struggle, and self-invention in an own-voices story of trans witchcraft.

Lorel has always dreamed of becoming a witch: learning magic, fighting monsters, and exploring the world beyond the small town where she and her mother run the stables. Even though a strange plague is killing the trees in the Kingdom of Cekon and witches are being blamed for it, Lorel wants nothing more than to join them. There’s only one problem: all witches are women, and she was born a boy.

When the coven comes to claim her best friend, Lorel disguises herself in a dress and joins in her friend’s place, leaving home and her old self behind. She soon discovers the dark powers threatening the kingdom: a magical blight scars the land, and the power-mad Duchess Helte is crushing everything between her and the crown. In spite of these dangers, Lorel makes friends and begins learning magic from the powerful witches in her coven. However, she fears that her new friends and mentors will find out her secret and kick her out of the coven, or worse.]]> 343 Margaret Killjoy 1558613315 Ted 4 anarchist, fantasy
Well-plotted, well-paced, and a pleasure to read—and the first really interesting, original "fantasy" setting I've seen in a long time. It takes a lot of known tropes that would be otherwise be potentially boring or overdone (knights, witches, etc) and reinvents each in some way. Furthermore, although the anarchist themes are clear (the witches tend to be anarchists in one sense or another, the knights tend to be, you know, knights), they're not simplified. Not all witches are good, not all knights are bad, and no one way of thinking is "correct" (outside, perhaps, of simply not oppressing others).

The Sapling Cage has a simple core hook—the protagonist wants to be a witch, but only girls can be witches—and drives a strong narrative about a young person discovering/inventing herself. If I'm not mistaken, it's the first in an intended trilogy ("Daughters of the Empty Throne") and I look forward to continuing the story, though this book definitely stands on its own.

Edit: oh, and by the way, the cover art is really outstanding!]]> 4.03 2024 The Sapling Cage (Daughters of the Empty Throne, #1)

The Sapling Cage (Daughters of the Empty Throne, #1)

author: Margaret Killjoy
name: Ted
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: anarchist, fantasy
review:
As I understand it, this is Magpie (as I was originally introduced to her)'s first full-length novel. I have read and enjoyed a number of her previous works, and this is a really excellent work of anarchist fantasy fiction.

Well-plotted, well-paced, and a pleasure to read—and the first really interesting, original "fantasy" setting I've seen in a long time. It takes a lot of known tropes that would be otherwise be potentially boring or overdone (knights, witches, etc) and reinvents each in some way. Furthermore, although the anarchist themes are clear (the witches tend to be anarchists in one sense or another, the knights tend to be, you know, knights), they're not simplified. Not all witches are good, not all knights are bad, and no one way of thinking is "correct" (outside, perhaps, of simply not oppressing others).

The Sapling Cage has a simple core hook—the protagonist wants to be a witch, but only girls can be witches—and drives a strong narrative about a young person discovering/inventing herself. If I'm not mistaken, it's the first in an intended trilogy ("Daughters of the Empty Throne") and I look forward to continuing the story, though this book definitely stands on its own.

Edit: oh, and by the way, the cover art is really outstanding!
]]> The Complete Tales and Poems 837021
Best known for his poems and short fiction, Poe perfected the psychological thriller, invented the detective story, and rarely missed transporting the reader to his own supernal realm.

He has also been hailed posthumously as one of the finest literary critics of the nineteenth century. In Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales and Poems fans may indulge in all of Poe's most imaginative short-stories, including The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders in Rue Morgue, The Tell-Tale Heart, Ligeia and Ms. In a Bottle,.

His complete early and miscellaneous poetic masterpieces are also here, including The Raven, Ulalume, Annabel Lee, Tamerlane, as well as select reviews and narratives.]]> 1092 Edgar Allan Poe 1566196035 Ted 5 poetry, essays, literature 4.49 1849 The Complete Tales and Poems

author: Edgar Allan Poe
name: Ted
average rating: 4.49
book published: 1849
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: poetry, essays, literature
review:
This old edition is as perfectly musty and decayed as Poe himself.
]]> When the Moon Hits Your Eye 211004190
It's a whole new moooooon.

One day soon, suddenly and without explanation, the moon as we know it is replaced with an orb of cheese with the exact same mass. Through the length of an entire lunar cycle, from new moon to a spectacular and possibly final solar eclipse, we follow multiple characters -- schoolkids and scientists, billionaires and workers, preachers and politicians -- as they confront the strange new world they live in, and the absurd, impossible moon that now hangs above all their lives.]]> 326 John Scalzi 0765389096 Ted 0 to-read 3.86 2025 When the Moon Hits Your Eye

author: John Scalzi
name: Ted
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wool - Holston (Wool, #1) 12287209
Or you'll get what you wish for.]]> 56 Hugh Howey Ted 1 apocalypse, did-not-finish Too boring. Didn't finish. 4.14 2012

author: Hugh Howey
name: Ted
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 1
read at: 2022/10/25
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves: apocalypse, did-not-finish
review:
Too boring. Didn't finish.
]]> <![CDATA[Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Maus, #2)]]> 15197 Maus introduced readers to Vladek Spiegleman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist trying to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and History itself. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiararity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive.

This second volume, subtitled And Here My Troubles Began, moves us from the barracks of Auschwitz to the bungalows of the Catskills. Genuinely tragic and comic by turns, it attains a complexity of theme and a precision of thought new to comics and rare in any medium. Maus ties together two powerful stories: Vladek's harrowing tale of survival against all odds, delineating the paradox of daily life in the death camps, and the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. At every level this is the ultimate survivor's tale - and that too of the children who somehow survive even the survivors.]]> 144 Art Spiegelman 0679729771 Ted 5 graphic-novel, history 4.42 1991 Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Maus, #2)

Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Maus, #2)

author: Art Spiegelman
name: Ted
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/07
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: graphic-novel, history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History (Maus, #1)]]> 15196
A brutally moving work of art—widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written—Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author’s father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats.

Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history's most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.]]> 159 Art Spiegelman 0394541553 Ted 5 graphic-novel, history
It's exactly as outstanding as it's cracked up to be, so I'm not sure I have much to add. Its 1992 Pulitzer Prize is well-deserved. One of the things I really appreciate about it is that the art and graphic style is a little rough compared to the factory-perfect young-adult graphic novels that my kids are used to, especially when you get to "Prisoner on the Hell Planet," the expressionist comic Spiegelman had drawn years earlier reprinted in Maus. It really throws into relief how uncreative the page layouts are for the many previously-mentioned graphic novels (which, I suspect, are cranked out as quickly as humanly possible).

I requested part II from the library so I'll read that when it arrives. Part I was a quick read��2 sittings—that will stay with me for a long time.

Also: holy fucking shit, I just learned that Art Spiegelman was also the creator of Garbage Pail Kids!!!! WHAT!!! My mind is blown.]]> 4.39 1986 Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History (Maus, #1)

Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History (Maus, #1)

author: Art Spiegelman
name: Ted
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1986
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/28
date added: 2024/12/30
shelves: graphic-novel, history
review:
I had known about this book for years but never read it until now, after I suggested to one of my daughters that she give it a try (yes, I had some explaining to do about the swastika on the cover and everything that entails).

It's exactly as outstanding as it's cracked up to be, so I'm not sure I have much to add. Its 1992 Pulitzer Prize is well-deserved. One of the things I really appreciate about it is that the art and graphic style is a little rough compared to the factory-perfect young-adult graphic novels that my kids are used to, especially when you get to "Prisoner on the Hell Planet," the expressionist comic Spiegelman had drawn years earlier reprinted in Maus. It really throws into relief how uncreative the page layouts are for the many previously-mentioned graphic novels (which, I suspect, are cranked out as quickly as humanly possible).

I requested part II from the library so I'll read that when it arrives. Part I was a quick read��2 sittings—that will stay with me for a long time.

Also: holy fucking shit, I just learned that Art Spiegelman was also the creator of Garbage Pail Kids!!!! WHAT!!! My mind is blown.
]]> <![CDATA[What We Talk About When We Talk About Love]]> 11438 Alternate-cover edition can be found here

In his second collection, Carver establishes his reputation as one of the most celebrated and beloved short-story writers in American literature—a haunting meditation on love, loss, and companionship, and finding one’s way through the dark.]]> 159 Raymond Carver 0679723056 Ted 5 short-fiction, short-stories
My first impressions were strongly informed by the cover art of my edition (Vintage Books), an incredibly evocative photo of a house and driveway at night by contemporary photographer Todd Hido (the photo is untitled but appears to be numbered #7373, and can be seen in with the photographer).

Just as these stories are perfect examples of the medium, Todd Hido's photo is a perfect accompaniment to (or maybe evocation of) Carver's world(s): spare, nocturnal, cold, in some sense desolate, and so very, very American. They're a lot like Andrew Wyeth or Edward Hopper paintings in literary form. These are stories of average Americans, living in average homes and places, living average lives. These are stories of relationships and the ends of relationships, families, blue-collar jobs, violence (or threats or implications of violence), fishing, and above all, drinking.

I found the first handful of stories vaguely interesting or unusual but not necessarily memorable—and then I got to "The Bath." The Bath is simple, short, and utterly, utterly haunting. Frankly I consider it to be, quite literally, a perfect short story. This perfection is achieved principally through its ambiguous ending, which leaves you never knowing the outcome, forever wondering. Its last sentence gives me chills—especially as a parent.

That piece is followed directly by "Tell the Women We're Going," another standout, which has a sudden, unexpected and shocking turn, just as harrowing as The Bath, leaving you with a disturbed lump in your stomach.

I could say more about some other individual stories—the first one, "Why Don't You Dance?" is acutely surreal—but suffice to repeat what many have already observed: Carver is an undisputed master of this art form.]]> 4.11 1981 What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

author: Raymond Carver
name: Ted
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1981
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/26
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: short-fiction, short-stories
review:
Short stories are their own, unique medium, fundamentally different than novels, and many of the stories in this collection are basically perfect examples of the medium.

My first impressions were strongly informed by the cover art of my edition (Vintage Books), an incredibly evocative photo of a house and driveway at night by contemporary photographer Todd Hido (the photo is untitled but appears to be numbered #7373, and can be seen in with the photographer).

Just as these stories are perfect examples of the medium, Todd Hido's photo is a perfect accompaniment to (or maybe evocation of) Carver's world(s): spare, nocturnal, cold, in some sense desolate, and so very, very American. They're a lot like Andrew Wyeth or Edward Hopper paintings in literary form. These are stories of average Americans, living in average homes and places, living average lives. These are stories of relationships and the ends of relationships, families, blue-collar jobs, violence (or threats or implications of violence), fishing, and above all, drinking.

I found the first handful of stories vaguely interesting or unusual but not necessarily memorable—and then I got to "The Bath." The Bath is simple, short, and utterly, utterly haunting. Frankly I consider it to be, quite literally, a perfect short story. This perfection is achieved principally through its ambiguous ending, which leaves you never knowing the outcome, forever wondering. Its last sentence gives me chills—especially as a parent.

That piece is followed directly by "Tell the Women We're Going," another standout, which has a sudden, unexpected and shocking turn, just as harrowing as The Bath, leaving you with a disturbed lump in your stomach.

I could say more about some other individual stories—the first one, "Why Don't You Dance?" is acutely surreal—but suffice to repeat what many have already observed: Carver is an undisputed master of this art form.
]]> Pride and Prejudice 1885 Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780679783268]]> 279 Jane Austen 1441341706 Ted 4 literature in history, which is why I decided to finally read it, but—I'll just come out and say it—I'm not really clear on why.

I mean, I guess it's because humans like stories about human relationships, and Pride and Prejudice is (apparently) the prototypical romance novel? The entire thing is literally about who's going to marry who. Are people really that crazily interested in marriage?

I'm obviously not in the target audience for this book but I still find myself mystified by its insane popularity. The prose is not especially interesting or poetic. It's in the characteristically "elevated" style of the era, but I don't find it to be a work of literary art.

Don't get me wrong, I certainly didn't dislike the book. I really liked the characters of Elizabeth and her father. Elizabeth has this wonderful acerbity and Mr. Bennet is rational and sarcastic. Actually Elizabeth kept reminding me of the character of Mary Crawley from Downton Abbey (who could, for all I know, be inspired by Elizabeth).

In conclusion, I leave you with this questionable tidbit from Wikipedia: "In 2010, scientists named a pheromone identified in male mouse urine darcin, after Mr Darcy, because it strongly attracted females."]]> 4.28 1813 Pride and Prejudice

author: Jane Austen
name: Ted
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1813
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: literature
review:
Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is one of the most popular English-language novels in history, which is why I decided to finally read it, but—I'll just come out and say it—I'm not really clear on why.

I mean, I guess it's because humans like stories about human relationships, and Pride and Prejudice is (apparently) the prototypical romance novel? The entire thing is literally about who's going to marry who. Are people really that crazily interested in marriage?

I'm obviously not in the target audience for this book but I still find myself mystified by its insane popularity. The prose is not especially interesting or poetic. It's in the characteristically "elevated" style of the era, but I don't find it to be a work of literary art.

Don't get me wrong, I certainly didn't dislike the book. I really liked the characters of Elizabeth and her father. Elizabeth has this wonderful acerbity and Mr. Bennet is rational and sarcastic. Actually Elizabeth kept reminding me of the character of Mary Crawley from Downton Abbey (who could, for all I know, be inspired by Elizabeth).

In conclusion, I leave you with this questionable tidbit from Wikipedia: "In 2010, scientists named a pheromone identified in male mouse urine darcin, after Mr Darcy, because it strongly attracted females."
]]> Comfort Me with Apples 56179382
It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.

But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze...

But everything is perfect. Isn't it?]]> 103 Catherynne M. Valente 1250816211 Ted 0 to-read 3.58 2021 Comfort Me with Apples

author: Catherynne M. Valente
name: Ted
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making]]> 59696349
Each quick 5-20 page entry builds on the previous one, charting Tony’s personal journey from a product designer to a leader, from a startup founder to an executive to a mentor. Tony uses examples that are instantly captivating, like the process of building the very first iPod and iPhone. Every chapter is designed to help readers with a problem they’re facing right now—how to get funding for their startup, whether to quit their job or not, or just how to deal with the jerk in the next cubicle.

Tony forged his path to success alongside mentors like Steve Jobs and Bill Campbell, icons of Silicon Valley who succeeded time and time again. But Tony doesn’t follow the Silicon Valley credo that you have to reinvent everything from scratch to make something great. His advice is unorthodox because it’s old school. Because Tony’s learned that human nature doesn’t change. You don’t have to reinvent how you lead and manage—just what you make.]]> 416 Tony Fadell 1787634116 Ted 0 to-read 4.28 Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

author: Tony Fadell
name: Ted
average rating: 4.28
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Bell Jar 6514 294 Sylvia Plath 0571268862 Ted 5 literature, feminism
The Bell Jar is an outstanding novel about depression, especially with regards to the treatment (both societally and medically) of mid-century women. It is largely autobiographical, to the point that Plath published it under a pseudonym and didn't want it published in the US in the fear that friends and family would read it, recognizing themselves.

The prose is as tight and effortlessly impressive as her poetry, and though it's not plotted, per se, it reads very compellingly. I breezed through it, despite the overwhelming heaviness of its subject. Suffering from clinical depression myself, I recognize her state of mind exactly, and she conveys it in a way that only she could:

"To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream."

To my amazement, The Bell Jar did not, in fact, make me feel depressed (or more depressed). It actually has a distinct hopeful note. I only wish that the rest of Plath's life had somehow held onto that note. We can only imagine what else she could have written.]]> 4.05 1963

author: Sylvia Plath
name: Ted
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1963
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: literature, feminism
review:
Continuing my "Books I Never Actually Read" list. One of the first things that struck me about this book was: "Damn, Sylvia Plath really knew how to write a novel." I had previously only been (somewhat) familiar with her poetry, but knew her reputation and relationship with sorrow and suicide.

The Bell Jar is an outstanding novel about depression, especially with regards to the treatment (both societally and medically) of mid-century women. It is largely autobiographical, to the point that Plath published it under a pseudonym and didn't want it published in the US in the fear that friends and family would read it, recognizing themselves.

The prose is as tight and effortlessly impressive as her poetry, and though it's not plotted, per se, it reads very compellingly. I breezed through it, despite the overwhelming heaviness of its subject. Suffering from clinical depression myself, I recognize her state of mind exactly, and she conveys it in a way that only she could:

"To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream."

To my amazement, The Bell Jar did not, in fact, make me feel depressed (or more depressed). It actually has a distinct hopeful note. I only wish that the rest of Plath's life had somehow held onto that note. We can only imagine what else she could have written.
]]> The Old Man and the Sea 2165 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

This short novel, already a modern classic, is the superbly told, tragic story of a Cuban fisherman in the Gulf Stream and the giant Marlin he kills and loses—specifically referred to in the citation accompanying the author's Nobel Prize for literature in 1954.]]> 96 Ernest Hemingway 0684830493 Ted 5 literature
But when I finished this book I was moved more than I was expecting. I think what The Old Man and the Sea is rightly famous for is the pure distillation of narrative into The Struggle. For the entire book, the reader struggles along with the Old Man as he tries to fish. That's it. But importantly, you want him to succeed. This is the purest essence, the most central principle, of narrative. You want the protagonist to succeed, no matter what they're trying to achieve, and you follow along with them, experiencing the ups and downs and obstacles and setbacks and wins and triumphs.

The Old Man and the Sea zeroes in on this notion and nails it, and concludes the question of "Well, how does it end for the Old Man? In success or failure?" with "Both!" Simplicity itself, but totally ineffectual without the detail to back it up and make it real for the reader. Without the level of detail of this book—where you imagine Hemingway must have been the Old Man himself in order to have written this—it would be nothing. It would be a diagram, not a story. Detail on this level has always impressed the hell out of me, because it makes me wonder what on earth I could possibly detail with that much authenticity and authority.

In any case, Hemingway brings it. And, if you look again, you'll find that his prose is not actually that famously spare.]]> 3.81 1952 The Old Man and the Sea

author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Ted
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1952
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/01
date added: 2024/09/01
shelves: literature
review:
Continuing in my "Books I Never Actually Read" list. For a while I didn't really get the big deal about this book—many people seem to focus on Hemingway's comparatively spare prose, which I don't think is an interesting or useful angle at all. Evidently most people don't like Melvillian prose—I do—and seem to need to whine about it by lauding the opposite.

But when I finished this book I was moved more than I was expecting. I think what The Old Man and the Sea is rightly famous for is the pure distillation of narrative into The Struggle. For the entire book, the reader struggles along with the Old Man as he tries to fish. That's it. But importantly, you want him to succeed. This is the purest essence, the most central principle, of narrative. You want the protagonist to succeed, no matter what they're trying to achieve, and you follow along with them, experiencing the ups and downs and obstacles and setbacks and wins and triumphs.

The Old Man and the Sea zeroes in on this notion and nails it, and concludes the question of "Well, how does it end for the Old Man? In success or failure?" with "Both!" Simplicity itself, but totally ineffectual without the detail to back it up and make it real for the reader. Without the level of detail of this book—where you imagine Hemingway must have been the Old Man himself in order to have written this—it would be nothing. It would be a diagram, not a story. Detail on this level has always impressed the hell out of me, because it makes me wonder what on earth I could possibly detail with that much authenticity and authority.

In any case, Hemingway brings it. And, if you look again, you'll find that his prose is not actually that famously spare.
]]> The Yellow Wall-Paper 286957
In a private journal, the woman records her growing obsession with the “horrid�� wallpaper. Its strange pattern mutates in the moonlight, revealing what appears to be a human figure in the design. With nothing else to occupy her mind, the woman resolves to unlock the mystery of the wallpaper. Her quest, however, leads not to the truth, but into the darkest depths of madness.

A condemnation of the patriarchy, The Yellow Wallpaper explores with terrifying economy the oppression, grave misunderstanding, and willful dismissal of women in late nineteenth-century society.

First published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine.

Excerpt:
Out of another I get a lovely view of the bay and a little private wharf belonging to the estate. There is a beautiful shaded lane that runs down there from the house. I always fancy I see people walking in these numerous paths and arbors, but John has cautioned me not to give way to fancy in the least. He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited fancies, and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency. So I try.]]> 62 Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1558611584 Ted 5 literature, feminism 4.11 1892 The Yellow Wall-Paper

author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
name: Ted
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1892
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/24
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves: literature, feminism
review:
An absolute classic in the history of feminism, The Yellow Wall-Paper speaks to undiagnosed postpartum depression and the infuriating, and still living, tradition of male ignorance of female experience.
]]> Play Unsafe 6082103
In Play Unsafe, Graham Walmsley explores what happens when you throw the serious stuff away: when you stop working, stop planning and start playing.

This book explains how to make roleplaying less like work and more like play; stop killing other players' ideas and build on them instead; and put stories at the heart of your game.]]> 82 Graham Walmsley Ted 4 rpgs, non-fiction 3.55 2007 Play Unsafe

author: Graham Walmsley
name: Ted
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/21
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves: rpgs, non-fiction
review:
A very brief but useful guide to basic improvisation, storytelling, and RPG collaboration. It emphasizes taking chances, building on others ideas (yes-and-ing), and reversals of fortune (though it doesn't use that term) as a means of telling memorable stories.
]]> Animal Farm 170448 Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.

A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned –a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.
When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell’s masterpiece have a meaning and message still ferociously fresh.]]> 141 George Orwell 0451526341 Ted 5 fiction, literature 4.07 1945 Animal Farm

author: George Orwell
name: Ted
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1945
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/06
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves: fiction, literature
review:
One of the definitive allegories, especially among political satires. Animal Farm tells the terrifying tale of Stalinism, the rapid transformation from socialist utopia to autocratic dystopia. A classic by every measure. I only wonder how many people will or have read it and completely misunderstand it as a denunciation of socialism instead of dictatorship.
]]> The Alchemist 18144590 The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, following our dreams.]]> 182 Paulo Coelho 0062315005 Ted 4 4.01 1988 The Alchemist

author: Paulo Coelho
name: Ted
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/19
date added: 2024/08/26
shelves:
review:
Despite the vague spiritualism and hackneyed mystical philosophy, I actually liked this book. I think you can subtract the bullshit (god, Personal Legend, etc.) and still get a reasonable message: don't stop working towards your dreams.
]]> Blindsight (Firefall, #1) 48484 Two months since the stars fell...

Two months since sixty-five thousand alien objects clenched around the Earth like a luminous fist, screaming to the heavens as the atmosphere burned them to ash. Two months since that moment of brief, bright surveillance by agents unknown.

Two months of silence while a world holds its breath.

Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune’s orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever’s out there isn’t talking to us. It’s talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route.

So who do you send to force introductions on an intelligence with motives unknown, maybe unknowable? Who do you send to meet the alien when the alien doesn’t want to meet?

You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees X-rays and tastes ultrasound, so compromised by grafts and splices he no longer feels his own flesh. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won’t be needed, and a fainter hope she’ll do any good if she is needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called “vampire,�� recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist �� an informational topologist with half his mind gone �� as an interface between here and there, a conduit through which the Dead Center might hope to understand the Bleeding Edge.

You send them all to the edge of interstellar space, praying you can trust such freaks and retrofits with the fate of a world. You fear they may be more alien than the thing they’ve been sent to find.

But you’d give anything for that to be true, if you only knew what was waiting for them…]]> 384 Peter Watts 0765312182 Ted 5 scifi
This is what I call science fiction: strange premise, stranger execution, good pacing, and fascinating theme: what is consciousness? Or better yet—does consciousness exist?

Good literature invokes a theme and examines it from many angles, often via the experiences of its characters. Blindsight achieves this in a number of ways, each very different and uniquely compelling. Space vampires? Giant hell-torus filled with unseeable (different than invisible!), unconscious monsters?

Blindsight's core hypothesis is that consciousness either doesn't exist or is irrelevant, and its principal manifestation of this hypothesis is a species that has human-level intelligence but no consciousness; no self-awareness. This idea is developed early on by reference to the "Chinese Room" experiment famed in AI research, wherein language use is considered to be nothing more than blind information processing, and is no proof of intelligence.

Much of the story revolves around these attempts to figure out what the alien is or is not. But the idea is also approached through a 'vampire' antagonist, bred for hyperintelligence, whose actions and conflicts with the protagonist suggest that the brain is "always already" (my invocation of Derrida's words) thinking without your say-so. "Blindsight," in this context, is your brain perceiving and processing without your awareness, and there is actually direct experimental confirmation of this that's already been around for years, which I suspect is Watts's inspiration for the book.

In a sense, the idea is "your brain doesn't need you'—and that's exactly what the aliens exemplify: beings at least as capable as humans (probably far more so), but seemingly unthinking, like highly advanced insects, and utterly, utterly inscrutable.

As an aficionado of consciousness studies, I personally already held to these notions—that 'consciousness' is an overrated construct in some ways, purported to be more important and complex than it is—so it was especially exciting for me. If I were to extend these lines of inquiry, I'd ask whether or not morality can exist without consciousness, [spoilers removed]

Also, and irrelevantly, the sequences in the alien hive thing reminded me of parts of "Event Horizon," which was cool (and terrifying).

"Blindsight" is just plain unexpected, fascinating and weird, and that's how I like my literature. 5/5 stars.]]> 4.01 2006 Blindsight (Firefall, #1)

author: Peter Watts
name: Ted
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2018/12/15
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: scifi
review:
Also published here:

This is what I call science fiction: strange premise, stranger execution, good pacing, and fascinating theme: what is consciousness? Or better yet—does consciousness exist?

Good literature invokes a theme and examines it from many angles, often via the experiences of its characters. Blindsight achieves this in a number of ways, each very different and uniquely compelling. Space vampires? Giant hell-torus filled with unseeable (different than invisible!), unconscious monsters?

Blindsight's core hypothesis is that consciousness either doesn't exist or is irrelevant, and its principal manifestation of this hypothesis is a species that has human-level intelligence but no consciousness; no self-awareness. This idea is developed early on by reference to the "Chinese Room" experiment famed in AI research, wherein language use is considered to be nothing more than blind information processing, and is no proof of intelligence.

Much of the story revolves around these attempts to figure out what the alien is or is not. But the idea is also approached through a 'vampire' antagonist, bred for hyperintelligence, whose actions and conflicts with the protagonist suggest that the brain is "always already" (my invocation of Derrida's words) thinking without your say-so. "Blindsight," in this context, is your brain perceiving and processing without your awareness, and there is actually direct experimental confirmation of this that's already been around for years, which I suspect is Watts's inspiration for the book.

In a sense, the idea is "your brain doesn't need you'—and that's exactly what the aliens exemplify: beings at least as capable as humans (probably far more so), but seemingly unthinking, like highly advanced insects, and utterly, utterly inscrutable.

As an aficionado of consciousness studies, I personally already held to these notions—that 'consciousness' is an overrated construct in some ways, purported to be more important and complex than it is—so it was especially exciting for me. If I were to extend these lines of inquiry, I'd ask whether or not morality can exist without consciousness, [spoilers removed]

Also, and irrelevantly, the sequences in the alien hive thing reminded me of parts of "Event Horizon," which was cool (and terrifying).

"Blindsight" is just plain unexpected, fascinating and weird, and that's how I like my literature. 5/5 stars.
]]> Selected Poems 166004
The poems of Charles Baudelaire are filled with explicit and unsettling imagery, depicting with intensity every day subjects ignored by French literary conventions of his time. 'Tableaux parisiens' portrays the brutal life of Paris's thieves, drunkards and prostitutes amid the debris of factories and poorhouses. In love poems such as 'Le Beau Navire', flights of lyricism entwine with languorous eroticism, while prose poems such as 'La Chambre Double' deal with the agonies of artistic creation and mortality. With their startling combination of harsh reality and sublime beauty, formal ingenuity and revolutionary poetic language, these poems, including a generous selection from Les Fleurs du Mal , show Baudelaire as one of the most influential poets of the nineteenth century.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]> 229 Charles Baudelaire 0140446249 Ted 5 poetry 4.16 1860 Selected Poems

author: Charles Baudelaire
name: Ted
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1860
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: poetry
review:

]]> A Clockwork Orange 41817486 A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom. This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition, and Burgess’s introduction, “A Clockwork Orange Resucked.”]]> 240 Anthony Burgess 0393341763 Ted 0 to-read 4.04 1962

author: Anthony Burgess
name: Ted
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream]]> 7745 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.]]> 204 Hunter S. Thompson 0679785892 Ted 0 to-read 4.08 1971 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

author: Hunter S. Thompson
name: Ted
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1971
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Bluebeard 9601 318 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 038533351X Ted 4 fiction, literature
Combine that with the fast readability (you don't want to put it down and can't wait to pick it back up) and you've got a truly outstanding book. My only complaints are that, for a book sort of about the Abstract Expressionists, there's not really much Abstract Expressionism, and Vonnegut's reveal at the end (the mystery in the potato barn) makes a pretty clear statement that he thinks that very Abstract Expressionism is basically soulless and not "real" art. That's an interpretation, but I think there's a strong basis for it in the text. Happy to argue about it. X-)]]> 4.06 1987 Bluebeard

author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Ted
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: fiction, literature
review:
Man, but Vonnegut makes it look easy. "Bluebeard" is the completely fictional autobiography of an erstwhile artist named Rabo Karabekian. The amount of pure invention in this book is mind-blowing. The book is packed full of microstories of friends, acquaintances, cab drivers, World War 2 casualties, and anything else you can imagine. This is what impresses me most: the real, believable detail. It all sounds so natural, like it's being plucked from memory instead of being made up from whole cloth.

Combine that with the fast readability (you don't want to put it down and can't wait to pick it back up) and you've got a truly outstanding book. My only complaints are that, for a book sort of about the Abstract Expressionists, there's not really much Abstract Expressionism, and Vonnegut's reveal at the end (the mystery in the potato barn) makes a pretty clear statement that he thinks that very Abstract Expressionism is basically soulless and not "real" art. That's an interpretation, but I think there's a strong basis for it in the text. Happy to argue about it. X-)
]]> <![CDATA[The Last Wish (The Witcher, #0.5)]]> 40603587
But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good... and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

Librarian's Note: Alternate cover edition of ASIN B0010SIPT4]]> 400 Andrzej Sapkowski Ted 4 fiction, fantasy
The Last Wish is a collection of a short stories about the now well-known Witcher, and from what I understand is considered a good introduction to the books. I would say it is, not knowing anything about the other ones. Full of memorable characters and plots and very well-paced.]]> 4.12 1993 The Last Wish (The Witcher, #0.5)

author: Andrzej Sapkowski
name: Ted
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/13
date added: 2024/07/15
shelves: fiction, fantasy
review:
What a great read! I hadn't read any kind of fantasy in possibly decades, so I wasn't sure if I'd get into it or not, but I didn't want to put it down and really blew through it. I rarely pursue series(es?), but I might even consider reading more of these at some point.

The Last Wish is a collection of a short stories about the now well-known Witcher, and from what I understand is considered a good introduction to the books. I would say it is, not knowing anything about the other ones. Full of memorable characters and plots and very well-paced.
]]> Intruder in the Dust 72228 247 William Faulkner Ted 4 to-read, literature, fiction
This style is effective at creating an atmosphere of description and meaning that envelops you, such that even if you literally don't understand what the words are saying, you still get a rich impression of the time and place: the racist American South in the 1940s. It's an incredibly detailed and compelling atmosphere, but I nonetheless had to confer with a synopsis in order to understand what was happening.

Books could be written just about individual paragraphs of this book: decoding these rambling, continuous, and (to me) largely incoherent masses of incredible language. Make no mistake, Faulkner is an absolute master of the English language.]]> 3.78 1948 Intruder in the Dust

author: William Faulkner
name: Ted
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1948
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/30
date added: 2024/07/03
shelves: to-read, literature, fiction
review:
I'm going to go ahead and call this a work of art despite the fact that I found it mostly incomprehensible. It is one of the densest and most difficult books I've ever read, written in a stream-of-consciousness style featuring multiple-page-spanning paragraphs and run-on sentences.

This style is effective at creating an atmosphere of description and meaning that envelops you, such that even if you literally don't understand what the words are saying, you still get a rich impression of the time and place: the racist American South in the 1940s. It's an incredibly detailed and compelling atmosphere, but I nonetheless had to confer with a synopsis in order to understand what was happening.

Books could be written just about individual paragraphs of this book: decoding these rambling, continuous, and (to me) largely incoherent masses of incredible language. Make no mistake, Faulkner is an absolute master of the English language.
]]> I, Robot (Robot, #0.1) 41804
I, ROBOT

They mustn't harm a human being, they must obey human orders, and they must protect their own existence...but only so long as that doesn't violate rules one and two. With these Three Laws of Robotics, humanity embarked on perhaps its greatest adventure: the invention of the first positronic man. It was a bold new era of evolution that would open up enormous possibilities—and unforeseen risks. For the scientists who invented the earliest robots weren't content that their creations should ' remain programmed helpers, companions, and semisentient worker-machines. And soon the robots themselves; aware of their own intelligence, power, and humanity, aren't either.

As humans and robots struggle to survive together—and sometimes against each other—on earth and in space, the future of both hangs in the balance. Human men and women confront robots gone mad, telepathic robots, robot politicians, and vast robotic intelligences that may already secretly control the world. And both are asking the same questions: What is human? And is humanity obsolete?

In l, Robot Isaac Asimov changes forever our perception of robots, and human beings and updates the timeless myth of man's dream to play god. with all its rewards—and terrors.
--front flap]]> 224 Isaac Asimov 0553803700 Ted 3 scifi
I say this is absurd because that movie has effectively nothing to do with this book except ripping off the title. It contains exactly 3 references to the book: the Laws of Robotics, the name of the company (nearly), and the idea of an AI that manages everything. That's it. The rest is completely made up and has absolutely nothing to do with the stories in this book.

Anyway, as for the book itself, it's historical scifi, which is subject to a certain number of modern criticisms (including some eye-rolling sexism). Most of the stories revolve around extrapolated effects of the Laws of Robotics, but it constantly stipulates that Robots definitely follow these laws without ever seriously delving into how that would even be possible.

It is admittedly interesting reading this in an age of burgeoning AI, because nobody today is even TRYING to come up with some kind of similar protections for humanity. Oh well!]]> 4.22 1950 I, Robot (Robot, #0.1)

author: Isaac Asimov
name: Ted
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1950
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/04
date added: 2024/06/04
shelves: scifi
review:
It's completely absurd that the edition I have of this book is the promotional version for the embarrassing 2004 Will Smith movie. It features Will Smith on the cover with the tagline "One man saw it coming."

I say this is absurd because that movie has effectively nothing to do with this book except ripping off the title. It contains exactly 3 references to the book: the Laws of Robotics, the name of the company (nearly), and the idea of an AI that manages everything. That's it. The rest is completely made up and has absolutely nothing to do with the stories in this book.

Anyway, as for the book itself, it's historical scifi, which is subject to a certain number of modern criticisms (including some eye-rolling sexism). Most of the stories revolve around extrapolated effects of the Laws of Robotics, but it constantly stipulates that Robots definitely follow these laws without ever seriously delving into how that would even be possible.

It is admittedly interesting reading this in an age of burgeoning AI, because nobody today is even TRYING to come up with some kind of similar protections for humanity. Oh well!
]]> Fahrenheit 451 13079982 Sixty years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.�� But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.]]> 194 Ray Bradbury Ted 4 scifi 3.97 1953 Fahrenheit 451

author: Ray Bradbury
name: Ted
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1953
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/06
date added: 2024/05/08
shelves: scifi
review:
I'm sympathetic, of course, to Fahrenheit 451's anti-anti-intellectual message. But jesus fuck the prose style is SO overloaded I found it hard to get into. Nearly every single paragraph is full of run-on-sentence metaphor and simile. Are all his books like this!?
]]> <![CDATA[Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1)]]> 50027 Discover the origin story of one of the greatest heroes of the Realms—Drizzt Do’Urden—in this thrilling first installment of the Dark Elf Trilogy

Drow ranger Drizzt Do’Urden, first introduced in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, quickly became one of the fantasy genre’s standout characters. With Homeland, Salvatore pulls back the curtain to reveal the startling tale of how this hero came to be—how this one lone drow walked out of the shadowy depths of the Underdark; how he left behind an evil society and a family that wanted him dead.

As the third son of Mother Malice and weaponmaster Zaknafein, Drizzt Do’Urden is meant to be sacrificed to Lolth, the evil Spider Queen, per drow tradition. But with the unexpected death of his older brother, young Drizzt is spared—and, as a result, further ostracized by his family. As Drizzt grows older, developing his swordsmanship skills and studying at the Academy, he begins to realize that his idea of good and evil does not match up with those of his fellow drow. Can Drizzt stay true to himself in a such an unforgiving, unprincipled world?

Homeland is the first book in the Dark Elf Trilogy and the Legend of Drizzt series.]]> 343 R.A. Salvatore Ted 4 4.26 1990 Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1)

Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1)

author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Ted
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2016/11/28
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed this! I have a very low expectation of D&D fantasy novels, but this exceeded it. The overall themes are straightforward and timeless: fish-out-of-water, nature-vs-nurture, good-vs-evil. I'm curious to see where Drizzt goes next and will likely read the rest of the trilogy.
]]> Lord of the Flies 7624 182 William Golding 0140283331 Ted 4 fiction
As a story, I can't help but feel like it's lacking a little something. I'm honestly not sure what, but overall it felt simpler than I was expecting. The prose is vibrant and enveloping, though at times it's hard to really understand what exact desert-island-rock-formation-jungle-situation is being described.]]> 3.70 1954 Lord of the Flies

author: William Golding
name: Ted
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1954
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/23
date added: 2024/04/24
shelves: fiction
review:
One of the classics of "are humans inescapably savages at heart?" The conclusion, if any, is: "some—but not all—of us." Ralph and Piggy are the forces of Civilization, desperately trying to cling to some kind of order and larger plan; Jack and his hunters are the "savages," driven by violence and hunger.

As a story, I can't help but feel like it's lacking a little something. I'm honestly not sure what, but overall it felt simpler than I was expecting. The prose is vibrant and enveloping, though at times it's hard to really understand what exact desert-island-rock-formation-jungle-situation is being described.
]]> A Confederacy of Dunces 310612
His mother thinks he needs to go to work. He does, in a succession of jobs. Each job rapidly escalates into a lunatic adventure, a full-blown disaster; yet each has, like Don Quixote's, its own eerie logic.

His girlfriend, Myrna Minkoff of the Bronx, thinks he needs sex.

Ignatius is an intellectual, ideologue, deadbeat, goof-off, glutton, who should repel the reader with his gargantuan bloats, his thunderous contempt, and one-man war against everybody: Freud, homosexuals, heterosexuals, Protestants, and the assorted excesses of modern times.

A tragicomedy, set in New Orleans.]]> 394 John Kennedy Toole 0802130208 Ted 5 literature
A Confederacy of Dunces is smart, funny, well-paced and hard to put down. Highly recommended.]]> 3.89 1980

author: John Kennedy Toole
name: Ted
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1980
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/03
date added: 2024/04/03
shelves: literature
review:
What an outstanding, terrific farce of a novel. Wholly unexpected. I had known of the title and knew it was well-regarded, but I didn't know I'd be encountering one of literature's most fantastically revile-able characters in Ignatius J. Reilly. Articulate, well-written, despicable, loathsome, unappealing in nearly every way, and a consummate and compulsive liar, Ignatius Reilly creates a chaos tornado in his waddling wake, upsetting and twisting the lives of the colorful, memorable cast around him in the vibrant setting of 1960s New Orleans.

A Confederacy of Dunces is smart, funny, well-paced and hard to put down. Highly recommended.
]]> The Invincible 251633 The Invincible (Polish: Niezwyciężony) is a science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, published in 1964. The Invincible originally appeared as the title story in Lem's collection Niezwyciężony i inne opowiadania ("The Invincible and Other Stories"). A translation into German was published in 1967; an English translation by Wendayne Ackerman, based on the German one, was published in 1973.

An interstellar 2nd-class cruiser called Invincible, lands on Regis III which seems bleakly uninhabited, to investigate the loss of sister ship, Condor.]]> 223 Stanisław Lem 0283979623 Ted 4 scifi 4.15 1964 The Invincible

author: Stanisław Lem
name: Ted
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1964
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/07
date added: 2024/03/08
shelves: scifi
review:
Sci-fi from a certain historical time range tends to be big on ideas and small on story. Lem's "The Invincible" does fall into this category, though it's plenty readable and not too slow. Still, though, there's just not really that much story, and halfway through the whole premise of the book is just handed to the reader in a giant infodump. It's all about the concept of autonomous machine evolution, which, if that doesn't feel groundbreaking now, it's because this is the book that broke that ground in 1963.
]]> The Haunting of Hill House 89717 182 Shirley Jackson 0143039989 Ted 4 literature 3.85 1959

author: Shirley Jackson
name: Ted
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/23
date added: 2024/02/23
shelves: literature
review:
I can't think of the last time a book genuinely creeped me out, reading alone late at night. Shirley Jackson is a master of the psychotic main character with a mysterious past that is slowly parceled out but still leaves questions in its wake.
]]> The Great Gatsby 4671 The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family and from his lifelong publisher.

This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author’s own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0743273567 Ted 4 literature 3.93 1925 The Great Gatsby

author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Ted
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/12
date added: 2024/02/13
shelves: literature
review:
I thought I had read this in high school, but I didn't remember any of it. Contains a good amount of pure poetry, but some of the prose is just plain overwrought. A historic portrait of a time, place and culture.
]]> The Sun Also Rises 3876 The Sun Also Rises (Fiesta) is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.]]> 189 Ernest Hemingway Ted 4 literature 3.81 1926

author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Ted
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1926
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/25
date added: 2024/01/26
shelves: literature
review:
Part travelogue, part portrait of France and Spain in the 1920s, "The Sun Also Rises" accurately and realistically simulates what it's like to spend a lot of time with drunk assholes.
]]> Slaughterhouse-Five 4981 Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.��

An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it.

Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.]]> 275 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Ted 5
Slaughterhouse-Five is clearly the former, as in a work of literary art. It's not about the prose so much, in this case, but rather the vivid detail, startling creativity, and effortless storytelling.]]> 4.10 1969

author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Ted
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1969
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/08
date added: 2024/01/09
shelves: scifi, literature, recommended
review:
I continue to be mildly obsessed with the question of why one book can be considered literature, and the next be little more than the pulp it's printed on?

Slaughterhouse-Five is clearly the former, as in a work of literary art. It's not about the prose so much, in this case, but rather the vivid detail, startling creativity, and effortless storytelling.
]]> <![CDATA[Pandora's Star (Commonwealth Saga #1)]]> 45252 Second Chance, is dispatched to learn what has occurred and whether it represents a threat. In command is Wilson Kime, a five-time rejuvenated ex-NASA pilot whose glory days are centuries behind him.

Opposed to the mission are the Guardians of Selfhood, a cult that believes the human race is being manipulated by an alien entity they call the Starflyer. Bradley Johansson, leader of the Guardians, warns of sabotage, fearing the Starflyer means to use the starship's mission for its own ends.

Pursued by a Commonwealth special agent convinced the Guardians are crazy but dangerous, Johansson flees. But the danger is not averted. Aboard the Second Chance, Kime wonders if his crew has been infiltrated. Soon enough, he will have other worries. A thousand light-years away, something truly incredible is waiting: a deadly discovery whose unleashing will threaten to destroy the Commonwealth... and humanity itself. Could it be that Johansson was right?]]> 768 Peter F. Hamilton 0345461622 Ted 3 scifi 4.23 2004 Pandora's Star (Commonwealth Saga #1)

author: Peter F. Hamilton
name: Ted
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/23
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: scifi
review:
Well, I read the whole thing out of pure stubbornness. This book is... detailed. It lends the Commonwealth some realism, but for some reason I can't find much reason to care. If there's one thing this author likes even more than putting words on paper, it's introducing new characters. Some of the storylines approached interesting and memorable, but... it was just too long and tedious. I won't be continuing on in the series.
]]> The Etched City 944555 382 K.J. Bishop 0553382918 Ted 5
First of all, the prose is outstanding. This is the kind of prose that surrounds you like water, prose that you bathe in much the same way you bathe in the steaming, gaslit detail of the city of Ashamoil. And Bishop makes it look easy, effortless.

The more I read and thought about it, the more I realized the parallels to Blood Meridian: the expected and unexpected shocking violence of lawless countries, the poetic meditations on life and death, god and godlessness.

I considered knocking off a star for the overall lack of a story, but put it back because 1) it does have elements of story, just not a single overarching one and 2) I consumed it eagerly and readily regardless. Be aware that it's much more of a picture of times and places and a handful of the denizens of those times and places—but an incredibly vivid, detailed picture, one that you can still see in your mind well after the book is over.]]> 3.69 2003 The Etched City

author: K.J. Bishop
name: Ted
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/07
date added: 2023/08/07
shelves:
review:
"The Etched City" is a strange and beautiful novel that, like its two protagonists, comes seemingly out of nowhere, and all signs point to it being an incredible one-off (its author has stated baldly that she has no other novels in sight).

First of all, the prose is outstanding. This is the kind of prose that surrounds you like water, prose that you bathe in much the same way you bathe in the steaming, gaslit detail of the city of Ashamoil. And Bishop makes it look easy, effortless.

The more I read and thought about it, the more I realized the parallels to Blood Meridian: the expected and unexpected shocking violence of lawless countries, the poetic meditations on life and death, god and godlessness.

I considered knocking off a star for the overall lack of a story, but put it back because 1) it does have elements of story, just not a single overarching one and 2) I consumed it eagerly and readily regardless. Be aware that it's much more of a picture of times and places and a handful of the denizens of those times and places—but an incredibly vivid, detailed picture, one that you can still see in your mind well after the book is over.
]]> R.U.R. 436562 58 Karel Čapek Ted 4 plays, scifi 3.85 1920 R.U.R.

author: Karel Čapek
name: Ted
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1920
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/07
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves: plays, scifi
review:
An incredibly prescient play for 1920 but also highly revealing of the times. Kind of a weird story overall and not honestly *great* by modern standards, but an important piece of science fiction history.
]]> <![CDATA[I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer]]> 35068432
"You’ll be silent forever, and I’ll be gone in the dark."

For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area.

Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called "the Golden State Killer." Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was.

At the time of the crimes, the Golden State Killer was between the ages of eighteen and thirty, Caucasian, and athletic—capable of vaulting tall fences. He always wore a mask. After choosing a victim—he favored suburban couples—he often entered their home when no one was there, studying family pictures, mastering the layout. He attacked while they slept, using a flashlight to awaken and blind them. Though they could not recognize him, his victims recalled his voice: a guttural whisper through clenched teeth, abrupt and threatening.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark—the masterpiece McNamara was writing at the time of her sudden death—offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman’s obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Framed by an introduction by Gillian Flynn and an afterword by her husband, Patton Oswalt, the book was completed by Michelle’s lead researcher and a close colleague. Utterly original and compelling, it is destined to become a true crime classic—and may at last unmask the Golden State Killer.]]> 352 Michelle McNamara 0062319809 Ted 4 memoir, non-fiction, crime 4.12 2018 I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

author: Michelle McNamara
name: Ted
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2023/07/06
date added: 2023/07/08
shelves: memoir, non-fiction, crime
review:
It's amazing that this book is so compelling even though you know the crime is still unsolved—it's a testament to McNamara's outstanding writing.
]]> Hothouse 845078
Contents:

· Hothouse · Brian W. Aldiss · nv F&SF Feb ��61
· Nomansland · Brian W. Aldiss · nv F&SF Apr ��61
· Undergrowth · Brian W. Aldiss · na F&SF Jul ��61
· Timberline · Brian W. Aldiss · nv F&SF Sep ��61
· Evergreen · Brian W. Aldiss · na F&SF Dec ��61]]> 309 Brian W. Aldiss 0671559303 Ted 2 3.66 1962 Hothouse

author: Brian W. Aldiss
name: Ted
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1962
rating: 2
read at: 2023/06/17
date added: 2023/06/19
shelves: fuckingweird, fiction, scifi, weird, wtf
review:
What a completely bizarre book. Unfortunately, bizarre doesn't always translate to "good." It's a series of mostly disconnected weird events in a weird (though interesting) setting, featuring despicable, hateable main characters (Gren and the morel). It won a Hugo award, presumably due to the sheer level of creativity, but as a story it falls very flat.
]]> Starter Villain 61885029
Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.]]> 264 John Scalzi 0765389223 Ted 0 to-read 4.09 2023 Starter Villain

author: John Scalzi
name: Ted
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Deploy Empathy: A Practical Guide to Interviewing Customers]]> 58713729 #1 on Product HuntOver 2,500 copies sold worldwide!"Deploy Empathy is, far and away, the best book I've ever read on user interviews, filled with tactical insights that were new even having done hundreds of them." - Patrick McKenzie (aka patio11), Founder, Kalzumeus SoftwareIf you're interested in implementing Jobs to be Done—whether you're a seasoned practitioner or new to the JTBD world—this practical guide to qualitative customer interviews belongs on your bookshelf alongside the books of Bob Moesta, Jim Kalbach, and Clayton Christensen.Deploy Empathy is underpinned by a key how you ask a question matters just as much as the questions you ask. In order to thoroughly understand customer jobs to be done and pull out their hidden needs, desires, and processes, you need to ask questions empathetically.Thankfully, empathy is a skill that anyone can learn. Deploy Empathy will help you learn the skill of interviewing your customers and help you learn to truly listen to them. Armed with the tactics you’ll learn in this book and the toolbox of scripts and phrases, you'll be able to sell more of your existing product, build the right features that will delight your customers, and stop churn in its tracks.

By the end of this book, you’ll be able to interview customers, clients, stakeholders and potential customers with confidence.

"A smart look at one of business's most overlooked but critical topics." - Morgan Housel, Partner at Collaborative Fund and Author of the International Best-Seller The Psychology of Money]]> 324 Michele Hansen Ted 5 non-fiction 4.43 Deploy Empathy: A Practical Guide to Interviewing Customers

Deploy Empathy: A Practical Guide to Interviewing Customers

author: Michele Hansen
name: Ted
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/25
date added: 2023/05/26
shelves: non-fiction
review:
A clear, highly-readable but deep dive into customer interviewing. I learned a lot.
]]> A Darker Shade of Magic 61885115 From #1 New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab, return to the beginning of the phenomenal Shades of Magic series with A Darker Shade of Magic, now in a brand new trade paperback edition

Kell is one of the last Antari��magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes��Red London��and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

Other books by V. E. Schwab

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Shades of Magic series
A Darker Shade of Magic
A Gathering of Shadows
A Conjuring of Light

Villains Duology
Vicious
Vengeful]]> 401 Victoria E. Schwab 1250891213 Ted 0 to-read 4.06 2015

author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Ted
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We Have Always Lived in the Castle]]> 89724 Shirley Jackson’s beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family’s dark secret

Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate. This edition features a new introduction by Jonathan Lethem.]]> 152 Shirley Jackson 0143039970 Ted 4 fiction 3.93 1962 We Have Always Lived in the Castle

author: Shirley Jackson
name: Ted
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/17
date added: 2023/05/17
shelves: fiction
review:
A haunting story of isolation and cruelty, told from the perspective of a psychotic kid.
]]> <![CDATA[Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1)]]> 26118426 Ninefox Gambit, centers on disgraced captain Kel Cheris, who must recapture the formidable Fortress of Scattered Needles in order to redeem herself in front of the Hexarchate.

To win an impossible war Captain Kel Cheris must awaken an ancient weapon and a despised traitor general.

Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next.

Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress.

The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao–because she might be his next victim.]]> 384 Yoon Ha Lee Ted 3 scifi 3.76 2016 Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1)

Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1)

author: Yoon Ha Lee
name: Ted
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2023/04/30
date added: 2023/05/01
shelves: scifi
review:
Well, this is definitely one of the more creative space operas I've read in a while, with enough unexplained neologisms to make Neal Stephenson bat an eyelash.
]]> LaserWriter II 56269270
LaserWriter II is a coming-of-age tale set in the legendary 90s indie NYC Mac repair shop TekServe―a voyage back in time to when the internet was new, when New York City was gritty, and when Apple made off-beat computers for weirdos. Our guide is Claire, a 19-year-old who barely speaks to her bohemian co-workers, but knows when it’s time to snap on an antistatic bracelet.

Tamara Shopsin brings us a classically New York novel that couldn’t feel more timely. Interweaving the history of digital technology with a tale both touchingly human and delightfully technical, Shopsin brings an idiosyncratic cast of characters to life with a light touch, a sharp eye, and an unmistakable voice.

Filled with pixelated philosophy and lots of printers, LaserWriter II is, at its heart, a parable about an apple.]]> 224 Tamara Shopsin 0374602573 Ted 4 fiction 3.74 2021

author: Tamara Shopsin
name: Ted
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/17
date added: 2023/03/20
shelves: fiction
review:
What an absolutely delightful little slice-of-life of mid-90s Manhattan. Weird and wonderful.
]]> The Doors of Eden 48643567
When government physicist Kay Amal Khan is attacked, the security services investigate. This leads MI5’s Julian Sabreur deep into terrifying new territory, where he clashes with mysterious agents of an unknown power who may or may not be human. And Julian’s only clue is some grainy footage �� showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor.

Khan’s extradimensional research was purely theoretical, until she found cracks between our world and countless others. Parallel Earths where monsters live. These cracks are getting wider every day, so who knows what might creep through? Or what will happen when those walls finally come crashing down...]]> 609 Adrian Tchaikovsky Ted 4 scifi 3.76 2020 The Doors of Eden

author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Ted
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/13
date added: 2023/03/20
shelves: scifi
review:
I'm a big fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky, and "Doors of Eden" doesn't disappoint. It starts out very strong with a weird mystery and turns into a gripping and unusual adventure. My only complaints are that, as with many novels, once the secret of what's really going on is revealed, it loses a bit of mystique, and the climax is a little underwhelming.
]]> <![CDATA[The Spider's Thread: Metaphor in Mind, Brain, and Poetry]]> 40916983 An examination of metaphor in poetry as a microcosm of the human imagination—a way to understand the mechanisms of creativity.

In The Spider's Thread, Keith Holyoak looks at metaphor as a microcosm of the creative imagination. Holyoak, a psychologist and poet, draws on the perspectives of thinkers from the humanities—poets, philosophers, and critics—and from the sciences—psychologists, neuroscientists, linguists, and computer scientists. He begins each chapter with a poem—by poets including Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Theodore Roethke, Du Fu, William Butler Yeats, and Pablo Neruda—and then widens the discussion to broader notions of metaphor and mind.

Holyoak uses Whitman's poem “A Noiseless Patient Spider�� to illustrate the process of interpreting a poem, and explains the relevance of two psychological mechanisms, analogy and conceptual combination, to metaphor. He outlines ideas first sketched by Coleridge—who called poetry “the best words in their best order”—and links them to modern research on the interplay between cognition and emotion, controlled and associative thinking, memory and creativity. Building on Emily Dickinson's declaration “the brain is wider than the sky,�� Holyoak suggests that the control and default networks in the brain may combine to support creativity. He also considers, among other things, the interplay of sound and meaning in poetry; symbolism in the work of Yeats, Jung, and others; indirect communication in poems; the mixture of active and passive processes in creativity; and whether artificial intelligence could ever achieve poetic authenticity. Guided by Holyoak, we can begin to trace the outlines of creativity through the mechanisms of metaphor.]]> 288 Keith James Holyoak 0262039222 Ted 4 non-fiction 3.82 The Spider's Thread: Metaphor in Mind, Brain, and Poetry

The Spider's Thread: Metaphor in Mind, Brain, and Poetry

author: Keith James Holyoak
name: Ted
average rating: 3.82
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/10
date added: 2023/02/11
shelves: non-fiction
review:
Talk about up my alley: a book about the cognitive neuroscientific basis of metaphor in poetry? Sign me up. I fairly devoured this book.
]]> Sea of Tranquility 58446227 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - The award-winning, best-selling author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel returns with a novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.

One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times, NPR, GoodReads

"One of [Mandel's] finest novels and one of her most satisfying forays into the arena of speculative fiction yet." --The New York Times

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal--an experience that shocks him to his core.

Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.

When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.]]> 259 Emily St. John Mandel 0593321448 Ted 4 fiction, scifi 4.04 2022

author: Emily St. John Mandel
name: Ted
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/17
date added: 2023/02/04
shelves: fiction, scifi
review:
I was a big fan of Station Eleven, and "Sea of Tranquility" starts with a totally gripping vibe, but in the end I feel like it lacks something. Nonetheless, it's a memorable story with an unexpected scifi skeleton that I can recommend for a quick read.
]]> One Hundred Years of Solitude 320 417 Gabriel García Márquez Ted 4 4.10 1967

author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: Ted
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1967
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/07
date added: 2023/01/08
shelves:
review:
Well, I can objectively recognize that this is a work of poetic literature, and occupies a special place in history owing to more or less inventing a genre, but I didn't enjoy this the way I've enjoyed other works of literature because this isn't really a story—it's a thousand microstories. It's one huge, astonishingly inventive, rambling, surreal, run-on series of forkloric anecdotes about one strange family over the course of over 100 years. The sheer amount of creativity needed to assemble this book is seriously impressive, and there are many fragments of poetry to love. But if you're expecting a traditional coherent story, you won't find it here.
]]> The Candy House 61272660 Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by Time, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Oprah Daily, Glamour, USA TODAY, Parade, Bustle, San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times, The Boston Globe, Tampa Bay Times, BuzzFeed, and Vulture

“A compelling read that showcases Egan’s masterful storytelling.�� Time
“Dazzling.�� Vogue
“Radiant, exhilarating.�� Slate
“Mesmerizing…A thought-provoking examination of how and why we change.�� People

From one of the most celebrated writers of our time comes an “inventive, effervescent�� (Oprah Daily) novel about the memory and quest for authenticity and human connection.

The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is “one of those tech demi-gods with whom we’re all on a first name basis.�� Bix is forty, with four kids, restless, and desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or “externalizing�� memory. Within a decade, Bix’s new technology, “Own Your Unconscious”—which allows you access to every memory you’ve ever had, and to share your memories in exchange for access to the memories of others—has seduced multitudes.

In the world of Egan’s spectacular imagination, there are “counters�� who track and exploit desires and there are “eluders,�� those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles—from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter, and a chapter of tweets. Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also a moving testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for connection, family, privacy, and love.

“A beautiful exploration of loss, memory, and history�� (San Francisco Chronicle), “this is minimalist maximalism. It’s as if Egan compressed a big 19th-century novel onto a flash drive�� (The New York Times).]]> 368 Jennifer Egan 1476716773 Ted 0 to-read 3.52 2022 The Candy House

author: Jennifer Egan
name: Ted
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022]]> 60012514 Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author and guest editor Rebecca Roanhorse and series editor John Joseph Adams select twenty pieces that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year and explore the ever-expanding and changing world of SFF today.

Today’s readers of science fiction and fantasy have an appetite for stories that address a wide variety of voices, perspectives, and styles. There is an openness to experiment and pushing boundaries, combined with the classic desire to read about spaceships and dragons, future technology and ancient magic, and the places where they intersect. Contemporary science fiction and fantasy looks to accomplish the same goal as ever—to illuminate what it means to be human.

With a diverse selection of stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and guest editor Rebecca Roanhorse, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022 explores the ever-expanding and changing world of contemporary science fiction and fantasy.]]> 432 Rebecca Roanhorse 0358690129 Ted 2 anthology 3.72 2022

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022

author: Rebecca Roanhorse
name: Ted
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2022/12/03
date added: 2022/12/03
shelves: anthology
review:
What a disappointing collection. There was exactly one story I liked (and I really liked it)��"The Pizza Boy" by Meg Elison. What an outstanding little sci-fi short that demonstrates just what a short story can do.
]]> <![CDATA[Lovecraft Country (Lovecraft Country, #1)]]> 25109947 400 Matt Ruff Ted 3 fiction 3.99 2016

Lovecraft Country (Lovecraft Country, #1)

author: Matt Ruff
name: Ted
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/13
date added: 2022/11/14
shelves: fiction
review:
An interesting and unique book that I didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would.
]]> <![CDATA[The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America]]> 397483
Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison.

The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims.

Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. - John Moe]]> 464 Erik Larson 0609608444 Ted 4 history 4.02 2003 The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

author: Erik Larson
name: Ted
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/10
date added: 2022/10/17
shelves: history
review:
An impressive and entertaining history book, written with the pace and plotting of outstanding historical fiction—but it's all true.
]]> Exhalation 41160292
In "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," a portal through time forces a fabric seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past mistakes and second chances. In "Exhalation," an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications that are literally universal. In "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom," the ability to glimpse into alternate universes necessitates a radically new examination of the concepts of choice and free will.

Including stories being published for the first time as well as some of his rare and classic uncollected work, Exhalation is Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic—revelatory.]]> 368 Ted Chiang Ted 4 4.27 2019

author: Ted Chiang
name: Ted
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2022/09/14
date added: 2022/09/14
shelves: fiction, short-fiction, collection
review:
Ted Chiang is a genius, though the longer stories in this collection ("The Lifecycle of Software Objects" and "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom") drag a bit for me. My single favorite is the eponymous "Exhalation," which is an absolutely brilliant look at thermodynamics, entropy and consciousness all in one.
]]> The Terror 3974 Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in.

When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Inuit woman who cannot speak and who may be the key to survival, or the harbinger of their deaths. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear that there is no escape.]]> 769 Dan Simmons 0316017442 Ted 5 fiction, historical-fiction 4.06 2007

author: Dan Simmons
name: Ted
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/27
date added: 2022/08/29
shelves: fiction, historical-fiction
review:
What an absolutely incredible book. I know people say this all the time but I literally couldn't put it down at the end, and I feel a bit bereft that it's over. I don't want to read anything else. God damn.
]]> <![CDATA[The Jennifer Morgue (Laundry Files, #2)]]> 14150 Pimpf tale - Bob in virtual game; Afterword; Glossary.]]> 292 Charles Stross 1930846452 Ted 3 fiction, scifi 4.01 2006

author: Charles Stross
name: Ted
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2022/08/12
date added: 2022/08/12
shelves: fiction, scifi
review:
Pretty fun even if I didn't REALLY completely follow the entire ending.
]]> <![CDATA[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Ted 4 4.33 2011

author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Ted
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2022/07/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fuller Memorandum (Laundry Files, #3)]]> 7149287 312 Charles Stross 044101867X Ted 4 4.16 2010

The Fuller Memorandum (Laundry Files, #3)

author: Charles Stross
name: Ted
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/24
date added: 2022/07/24
shelves:
review:
Fun, fast, cosmic-horror-filled!
]]> Ogres 58438207
Ogres are bigger than you.
Ogres are stronger than you.
Ogres rule the world.

It’s always idyllic in the village until the landlord comes to call.

Because the landlord is an Ogre. And Ogres rule the world, with their size and strength and appetites. It’s always been that way. It’s the natural order of the world. And they only eat people sometimes.

But when the headman’s son, Torquell, dares lift his hand against the landlord’s son, he sets himself on a path to learn the terrible truth about the Ogres, and about the dark sciences that ensured their rule.]]> 159 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1786185288 Ted 4 fiction, scifi 4.17 2022 Ogres

author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Ted
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/12
date added: 2022/07/13
shelves: fiction, scifi
review:
A short but well-written and -paced novel of rebellion and revolution with an equally well-executed ending.
]]> <![CDATA[Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering]]> 1785704 32 SJG 1556346298 Ted 4 non-fiction, gaming 4.16 2002

author: SJG
name: Ted
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/09
date added: 2022/07/11
shelves: non-fiction, gaming
review:
It's more of a long pamphlet than a book, but there were a few interesting tidbits in there.
]]> <![CDATA[A Theory Of Fun For Game Design]]> 18182 A Theory of Fun for Game Design is not your typical how-to book. It features a novel way of teaching interactive designers how to create and improve their designs to incorporate the highest degree of fun. As the book shows, designing for fun is all about making interactive products like games highly entertaining, engaging, and addictive. The book's unique approach of providing a highly visual storyboard approach combined with a narrative on the art and practice of designing for fun is sure to be a hit with game and interactive designers.

At first glance A Theory of Fun for Game Design is a book that will truly inspire and challenge game designers to think in new ways; however, its universal message will influence designers from all walks of life. This book captures the real essence of what drives us to seek out products and experiences that are truly fun and entertaining. The author masterfully presents his engaging theory by showing readers how many designs are lacking because they are predictable and not engaging enough. He then explains how great designers use different types of elements in new ways to make designs more fun and compelling. Anyone who is interested in design will enjoy how the book works on two levels--as a quick inspiration guide to game design, or as an informative discussion that details the insightful thinking from a great mind in the game industry.]]> 279 Ralph Koster 1932111972 Ted 4 non-fiction, game-development 3.88 2004 A Theory Of Fun For Game Design

author: Ralph Koster
name: Ted
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/05
date added: 2022/07/05
shelves: non-fiction, game-development
review:
The eponymous Theory of Fun is actually only a small part of this book—the rest is a semi-rambling essay about games place in history and society and games as art. Which is all interesting and worthy, but I wish the Theory of Fun was focused on for longer and developed further. We're desperately missing case studies of games and how the Theory fits them. Nonetheless, a modern classic of game studies.
]]> The Grapes of Wrath 18114322
First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.]]> 496 John Steinbeck 067001690X Ted 5 4.06 1939 The Grapes of Wrath

author: John Steinbeck
name: Ted
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1939
rating: 5
read at: 2022/07/01
date added: 2022/07/01
shelves:
review:
A truly great work of art. Poised on the knife-edge between hope and despair.
]]> <![CDATA[Lady Windermere's Fan / A Woman of No Importance / An Ideal Husband / The Importance of Being Earnest / Salomé]]> 122632
This volume also includes Lord Alfred Douglas's translation of Salomé a short drama which Wilde wrote in French.]]> 348 Oscar Wilde 0140480161 Ted 0 literature, plays 4.21 Lady Windermere's Fan / A Woman of No Importance / An Ideal Husband / The Importance of Being Earnest / Salomé

Lady Windermere's Fan / A Woman of No Importance / An Ideal Husband / The Importance of Being Earnest / Salomé

author: Oscar Wilde
name: Ted
average rating: 4.21
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/06/30
shelves: literature, plays
review:

]]> The Catcher in the Rye 5107 It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school...

Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning.

The Catcher in the Rye is an all-time classic in coming-of-age literature- an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind.

J.D. Salinger's (1919��2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769177 Ted 4 fiction 3.81 1951 The Catcher in the Rye

author: J.D. Salinger
name: Ted
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/16
date added: 2022/06/16
shelves: fiction
review:
I think I partly understand why this book is famous and revered, but I found it mostly tedious and irritating, about as tedious and irritating as hanging out with an actual teenager.
]]> Shōgun, Volume 1 12319445 533 James Clavell Ted 4 historical-fiction 4.52 1975

author: James Clavell
name: Ted
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/08
date added: 2022/06/10
shelves: historical-fiction
review:
A monumental dive into 17th-century Japanese history and culture, and very well-plotted and -paced for historical fiction. I enjoyed it, and learned a lot, though I was surprised at what the ending was and wasn't.
]]> Hummingbird Salamander 57693582 Annihilation, a brilliant speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things.

Security consultant “Jane Smith�� receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, is a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control.

Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina’s footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As she desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out—for her and possibly for the world.

Hummingbird Salamander is Jeff VanderMeer at his brilliant, cinematic best, wrapping profound questions about climate change, identity, and the world we live in into a tightly plotted thriller full of unexpected twists and elaborate conspiracy.]]> 384 Jeff VanderMeer 1250829771 Ted 0 to-read 3.36 2021 Hummingbird Salamander

author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Ted
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Solaris 95558
When Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the living physical likeness of a long-dead lover. Others examining the planet, Kelvin learns, are plagued with their own repressed and newly corporeal memories. The Solaris ocean may be a massive brain that creates these incarnate memories, though its purpose in doing so is unknown, forcing the scientists to shift the focus of their quest and wonder if they can truly understand the universe without first understanding what lies within their hearts.]]> 204 Stanisław Lem Ted 3 scifi 4.00 1961 Solaris

author: Stanisław Lem
name: Ted
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1961
rating: 3
read at: 2022/03/15
date added: 2022/03/15
shelves: scifi
review:
It's aggravating reading a book where you just don't understand why the characters are doing and saying the things they are. I honestly can't tell if it's a cultural or time-period difference, or something lost in translation, but so much of the action and dialog seems strange and unmotivated, and it makes reading this tedious—not to mention that there's barely any action or story in the first place. Quite a bit of this is just an overdetailed history of the fictional academia that studies the eponymous planet. The only redeeming and memorable things about this book are the dramatic and vivid descriptions of the living architectures of the ocean. Very cool, but doesn't really balance out the rest of it.
]]> <![CDATA[The Traitor Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade, #1)]]> 23444482
The Empire of Masks is coming, armed with coin and ink, doctrine and compass, soap and lies. They'll conquer Baru’s island, rewrite her culture, criminalize her customs, and dispose of one of her fathers. But Baru is patient. She'll swallow her hate, prove her talent, and join the Masquerade. She will learn the secrets of empire. She’ll be exactly what they need. And she'll claw her way high enough up the rungs of power to set her people free.

In a final test of her loyalty, the Masquerade will send Baru to bring order to distant Aurdwynn, a snakepit of rebels, informants, and seditious dukes. Aurdwynn kills everyone who tries to rule it. To survive, Baru will need to untangle this land’s intricate web of treachery - and conceal her attraction to the dangerously fascinating Duchess Tain Hu.

But Baru is a savant in games of power, as ruthless in her tactics as she is fixated on her goals. In the calculus of her schemes, all ledgers must be balanced, and the price of liberation paid in full.

]]> 399 Seth Dickinson 0765380722 Ted 0 to-read 4.04 2015 The Traitor Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade, #1)

The Traitor Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade, #1)

author: Seth Dickinson
name: Ted
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Roadside Picnic 331256
First published in 1972, Roadside Picnic is still widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years.]]> 145 Arkady Strugatsky 0575070536 Ted 3 scifi, fiction 4.16 1972 Roadside Picnic

author: Arkady Strugatsky
name: Ted
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1972
rating: 3
read at: 2022/03/05
date added: 2022/03/06
shelves: scifi, fiction
review:
I know it's highly influential but it's still a weird book. Not as much great, cool weird (though the Zone does have plenty of that), but more of a "huh?" at the end. There seems to be some kind of cultural commentary in there but I don't really get it. I wonder if you have to be Russian.
]]> <![CDATA[The Player of Games (Culture, #2)]]> 18630 293 Iain M. Banks 0061053562 Ted 5 scifi, fiction
But The Player of Games is focussed, clear and well-paced, with a thrilling conclusion that I couldn't put down. It also paints a fascinating picture of the Culture by contrasting it with a power-hungry and ruthless empire that couldn't be more its opposite.

This one I suspect I will not forget.]]> 4.28 1988 The Player of Games (Culture, #2)

author: Iain M. Banks
name: Ted
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/21
date added: 2022/02/21
shelves: scifi, fiction
review:
NOW I see why the Culture books are revered. I'm fairly sure I read "Consider Phlebas" but for some reason I don't remember any of it.

But The Player of Games is focussed, clear and well-paced, with a thrilling conclusion that I couldn't put down. It also paints a fascinating picture of the Culture by contrasting it with a power-hungry and ruthless empire that couldn't be more its opposite.

This one I suspect I will not forget.
]]> The Candy House 58437521 From one of the most dazzling and iconic writers of our time and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, an electrifying, deeply moving novel about the quest for authenticity, privacy, and meaning in a world where our memories are no longer our own—featuring characters from A Visit from the Goon Squad.

It’s 2010. Staggeringly successful and brilliant tech entrepreneur Bix Bouton is desperate for a new idea. He’s forty, with four kids, and restless when he stumbles into a conversation with mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or “externalizing�� memory. Within a decade, Bix’s new technology, Own Your Unconscious—that allows you access to every memory you’ve ever had, and to share every memory in exchange for access to the memories of others—has seduced multitudes. But not everyone.

In spellbinding linked narratives, Egan spins out the consequences of Own Your Unconscious through the lives of multiple characters whose paths intersect over several decades. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of styles—from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter, and a chapter of tweets. In the world of Egan’s spectacular imagination, there are “counters�� who track and exploit desires and there are “eluders,�� those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House.

Intellectually dazzling and extraordinarily moving, The Candy House is a bold, brilliant imagining of a world that is moments away. With a focus on social media, gaming, and alternate worlds, you can almost experience moving among dimensions in a role-playing game.�� Egan delivers a fierce and exhilarating testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for real connection, love, family, privacy and redemption.]]> 352 Jennifer Egan 1476716765 Ted 0 to-read 3.61 2022 The Candy House

author: Jennifer Egan
name: Ted
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Termination Shock 57094295 A visionary technothriller about climate change.

Neal Stephenson's sweeping, prescient new novel transports readers to a near-future world where the greenhouse effect has inexorably resulted in a whirling-dervish troposphere of superstorms, rising sea levels, global flooding, merciless heat waves, and virulent, deadly pandemics.

One man has a Big Idea for reversing global warming, a master plan perhaps best described as "elemental." But will it work? And just as important, what are the consequences for the planet and all of humanity should it be applied?

Ranging from the Texas heartland to the Dutch royal palace in the Hague, from the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert, Termination Shock brings together a disparate group of characters from different cultures and continents who grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming. Ultimately, it asks the question: Might the cure be worse than the disease?]]> 708 Neal Stephenson 0063028050 Ted 0 to-read 3.68 2021 Termination Shock

author: Neal Stephenson
name: Ted
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/02/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Permutation City 156784 Permutation City is the tale of a man with a vision—how to create immortality—and how that vision becomes something way beyond his control. Encompassing the lives and struggles of an artificial life junkie desperate to save her dying mother, a billionaire banker scarred by a terrible crime, the lovers for whom, in their timeless virtual world, love is not enough—and much more—Permutation City is filled with the sense of wonder.]]> 352 Greg Egan 006105481X Ted 2 fiction, scifi
But jesus fucking christ, I had to FORCE myself to make it through this book. For the last 1/4 I was just skimming at a rate of a page a second just so it would be over already. 99% of it is descriptions of ideas or dialog of arguments about ideas. Very little actually *happens*. Is it anti-intellectual to expect things to happen in what is ostensibly a novel?]]> 4.08 1994 Permutation City

author: Greg Egan
name: Ted
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1994
rating: 2
read at: 2022/02/11
date added: 2022/02/12
shelves: fiction, scifi
review:
I really don't want to be an asshole, but... I found much of this book to be unreadably tedious. I'm interested in and familiar with the subject areas—simulation, uploaded consciousness, cellular automata, etc.—but I just can't stand a book with no story. I mean, there were hints or echos of a story: something about an insurance salesman with a crackpot theory about unlimited computing power, and then also something about building a new simulated cellular-automaton lifeform.

But jesus fucking christ, I had to FORCE myself to make it through this book. For the last 1/4 I was just skimming at a rate of a page a second just so it would be over already. 99% of it is descriptions of ideas or dialog of arguments about ideas. Very little actually *happens*. Is it anti-intellectual to expect things to happen in what is ostensibly a novel?
]]> <![CDATA[The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency, #1)]]> 30078567
Our universe is ruled by physics and faster than light travel is not possible -- until the discovery of The Flow, an extra-dimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transport us to other worlds, around other stars.

Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war -- and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

The Flow is eternal -- but it is not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well, cutting off worlds from the rest of humanity. When it’s discovered that The Flow is moving, possibly cutting off all human worlds from faster than light travel forever, three individuals -- a scientist, a starship captain and the Empress of the Interdependency -- are in a race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.]]> 336 John Scalzi 0765388898 Ted 3 fiction, scifi-fantasy, scifi
Oh, found my original review, which was accidentally on the wrong book:

I'm a fan of Scalzi on the strength of Old Man's War, but nothing else I've read by him I really liked. "The Collapsing Empire" felt bland and uninspired to me. For something that's supposed to be on an epic, galactic scale, it felt small and trivial. ¯\_(��)_/¯]]> 4.08 2017 The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency, #1)

The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency, #1)

author: John Scalzi
name: Ted
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2022/02/08
shelves: fiction, scifi-fantasy, scifi
review:
I'm always confused when I read Very Popular Books and find it completely "meh." I don't get it. The only thing I remember about this book at this point is something about the price of foodstuffs from some planet or another.

Oh, found my original review, which was accidentally on the wrong book:

I'm a fan of Scalzi on the strength of Old Man's War, but nothing else I've read by him I really liked. "The Collapsing Empire" felt bland and uninspired to me. For something that's supposed to be on an epic, galactic scale, it felt small and trivial. ¯\_(��)_/¯
]]> <![CDATA[The Verdant Passage (Dark Sun: Prism Pentad, #1)]]> 497317 A new creed kindled from despair...

Kalak: an immortal sorcerer-king whose evil magic has reduced the majestic city of Tyr to a desolate place of dust, blood, and fear.

His thousand-year reign of death is about to end.

Banding together to spark a revolution are a maverick statesmen, a winsome half-elf slave girl, and a man-dwarf gladiator bred for the arenas. But if the people are to be freed, the mismatched trio of steadfast rebels must look into the face of terror and choose between love and life.]]> 341 Troy Denning 1560761210 Ted 2 fantasy, fiction 3.63 1991 The Verdant Passage (Dark Sun: Prism Pentad, #1)

The Verdant Passage (Dark Sun: Prism Pentad, #1)

author: Troy Denning
name: Ted
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1991
rating: 2
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2022/02/08
shelves: fantasy, fiction
review:
This book asks the question: what makes a work of writing mediocre? I don't want to sound like an asshole, but I think about this all the time. It's got plenty of interesting setting but practically nothing about it compelled me or seemed memorable.
]]> <![CDATA[The Atrocity Archives (Laundry Files, #1)]]> 101869 Bob Howard is a low-level techie working for a super-secret government agency. While his colleagues are out saving the world, Bob's under a desk restoring lost data. His world was dull and safe - but then he went and got Noticed.

Now, Bob is up to his neck in spycraft, parallel universes, dimension-hopping terrorists, monstrous elder gods and the end of the world. Only one thing is certain: it will take more than a full system reboot to sort this mess out ...]]> 345 Charles Stross 0441013651 Ted 4 3.89 2004 The Atrocity Archives (Laundry Files, #1)

The Atrocity Archives (Laundry Files, #1)

author: Charles Stross
name: Ted
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2021/01/01
date added: 2022/02/08
shelves: fiction, scifi, scifi-fantasy, weird
review:
Super fun—which is an odd thing to say considering the eponymous atrocities involved.
]]> <![CDATA[Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything]]> 1202
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and -- if the right questions are asked -- is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
(front flap)]]> 268 Steven D. Levitt 0061234001 Ted 4 4.01 2005 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

author: Steven D. Levitt
name: Ted
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/01
date added: 2022/02/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Darwin's Radio (Darwin's Radio, #1)]]> 64923 is waking up.

Molecular biologist Kaye Lang has spent her career tracing ancient retroviruses in the human genome. She believes these microscopic fossils can come to life again. But when Dicken’s discovery becomes public, Lang’s theory suddenly turns to chilling fact. As the outbreak of this terrifying disease threatens to become a deadly epidemic, Dicken and Lang must race against time to assemble the pieces of a puzzle only they are equipped to solve—an evolutionary puzzle that will determine the future of the human race . . . if a future exists at all.]]> 448 Greg Bear 0345459814 Ted 3 fiction, scifi
I get that not every book needs to be written the way a movie would be, but I still found the majority of Darwin's Radio to be shockingly tedious and boring. There is SO MUCH extraneous detail about phone calls, conversations, eating, etc. that really contributes little, if anything, to the actual plot. This is not a thriller. It's like a Michael Crichton book without the fast pacing and action.

That said, the premise is kind of interesting, though I'm still not sure I really understand what the premise is. Not sure I would recommend.]]> 3.73 1999 Darwin's Radio (Darwin's Radio, #1)

author: Greg Bear
name: Ted
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/31
date added: 2022/02/01
shelves: fiction, scifi
review:
There are two ways to interpret the idea of "realistic:" "fictional but with believable foundations," or "written as though documenting real events." The problem with the second approach is that real life has lots of boring downtime, lots of minor and trivial events that don't relate directly (or at all) to the "story."

I get that not every book needs to be written the way a movie would be, but I still found the majority of Darwin's Radio to be shockingly tedious and boring. There is SO MUCH extraneous detail about phone calls, conversations, eating, etc. that really contributes little, if anything, to the actual plot. This is not a thriller. It's like a Michael Crichton book without the fast pacing and action.

That said, the premise is kind of interesting, though I'm still not sure I really understand what the premise is. Not sure I would recommend.
]]> <![CDATA[The Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, #1-3)]]> 46654 Foundation begins a new chapter in the story of man's future. As the Old Empire crumbles into barbarism throughout the million worlds of the galaxy, Hari Seldon and his band of psychologists must create a new entity, the Foundation-dedicated to art, science, and technology-as the beginning of a new empire.

Foundation and Empire describes the mighty struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars in which man stands at the threshold of a new enlightened life which could easily be destroyed by the old forces of barbarism.

Second Foundation follows the Seldon Plan after the First Empire's defeat and describes its greatest threat-a dangerous mutant strain gone wild, which produces a mind capable of bending men's wills, directing their thoughts, reshaping their desires, and destroying the universe.

This adaptation for BBC Radio 4 was first broadcast in 1973 with a cast which included Lee Montague, Maurice Denham, John Justin, Angela Plesence, Wolfe Morris, Julian Glover and Prunella Scales.]]> 679 Isaac Asimov 0380508567 Ted 4 4.42 1953 The Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, #1-3)

The Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, #1-3)

author: Isaac Asimov
name: Ted
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1953
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/01
date added: 2022/02/01
shelves:
review:
I get that it's historically significant but I still find it mostly boring and unconvincing to read today. The concept of chaos theory kind of ruins the premise of a highly predictable future.
]]> Cloud Cuckoo Land 56783258 When everything is lost, it’s our stories that survive.

How do we weather the end of things? Cloud Cuckoo Land brings together an unforgettable cast of dreamers and outsiders from past, present and future to offer a vision of survival against all odds.

Constantinople, 1453:
An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love.

Idaho, 2020:
An impoverished, idealistic kid seeks revenge on a world that’s crumbling around him. Can he go through with it when a gentle old man stands between him and his plans?

Unknown, Sometime in the Future:
With her tiny community in peril, Konstance is the last hope for the human race. To find a way forward, she must look to the oldest stories of all for guidance.

Bound together by a single ancient text, these tales interweave to form a tapestry of solace and resilience and a celebration of storytelling itself. Like its predecessor All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr’s new novel is a tale of hope and of profound human connection.]]> 626 Anthony Doerr 1982168439 Ted 5 fiction, literature 4.24 2021 Cloud Cuckoo Land

author: Anthony Doerr
name: Ted
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/19
date added: 2022/01/31
shelves: fiction, literature
review:
Outstanding. Un-put-downable. Very memorable. Doerr is a genius.
]]> <![CDATA[The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021]]> 55959478 The best science fiction and fantasy stories of 2021, selected by series editor John Joseph Adams and guest editor Veronica Roth.

This year’s selection of science fiction and fantasy stories, chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and bestselling author of the Divergent series Veronica Roth, showcases a crop of authors that are willing to experiment and tantalize readers with new takes on classic themes and by exchanging the ordinary for the avant-garde. Folktales and lore come alive, the dead rise, the depths of space are traversed, and magic threads itself through singular moments of love and loss, illuminating the circulatory nature of life, death, the in-between, and the hereafter. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 captures the all-too-real cataclysm of human nature, claiming its place in the series with compelling prose, lyrical composition, and curiosity’s never-ending pursuit of discovering the unknown. ]]> 432 Veronica Roth 0358469961 Ted 3 3.81 2021 The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021

author: Veronica Roth
name: Ted
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/27
date added: 2022/01/31
shelves:
review:
Disappointing! After the 2020 edition, I was expecting at least a few outstanding pieces, but not one of these did anything for me.
]]> All the Light We Cannot See 18143977
In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the stunningly beautiful instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here]]> 544 Anthony Doerr 1476746583 Ted 5 4.31 2014 All the Light We Cannot See

author: Anthony Doerr
name: Ted
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/01
date added: 2022/01/31
shelves: literature, historical-fiction, fiction
review:
In lieu of a proper review at this time: one of the best books I've ever read.
]]> <![CDATA[The Kaiju Preservation Society]]> 57693406
What Tom doesn't tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world. They're the universe's largest and most dangerous panda and they're in trouble.

It's not just the Kaiju Preservation Society that's found its way to the alternate world. Others have, too--and their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.]]> 264 John Scalzi 0765389126 Ted 0 to-read 3.93 2022

author: John Scalzi
name: Ted
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)]]> 56179373 move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope...]]> 880 Christopher Paolini 1250762928 Ted 0 to-read 3.81 2020 To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)

author: Christopher Paolini
name: Ted
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Redshirts 15793281 Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.

Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that:
(1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces
(2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations
(3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues�� understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.]]> 320 John Scalzi 0765334798 Ted 0 to-read 3.94 2012 Redshirts

author: John Scalzi
name: Ted
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Emperox (The Interdependency, #3)]]> 45046555 The Last Emperox is the thrilling conclusion to the award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling Interdependency series, an epic space opera adventure from Hugo Award-winning author John Scalzi.

The collapse of The Flow, the interstellar pathway between the planets of the Interdependency, has accelerated. Entire star systems—and billions of people—are becoming cut off from the rest of human civilization. This collapse was foretold through scientific prediction . . . and yet, even as the evidence is obvious and insurmountable, many still try to rationalize, delay and profit from, these final days of one of the greatest empires humanity has ever known.

Emperox Grayland II has finally wrested control of her empire from those who oppose her and who deny the reality of this collapse. But “control�� is a slippery thing, and even as Grayland strives to save as many of her people form impoverished isolation, the forces opposing her rule will make a final, desperate push to topple her from her throne and power, by any means necessary. Grayland and her thinning list of allies must use every tool at their disposal to save themselves, and all of humanity. And yet it may not be enough.

Will Grayland become the savior of her civilization . . . or the last emperox to wear the crown?

The Interdependency Series
1. The Collapsing Empire
2. The Consuming Fire
3. The Last Emperox

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

]]> 320 John Scalzi 0765389169 Ted 0 to-read 4.10 2020 The Last Emperox (The Interdependency, #3)

author: John Scalzi
name: Ted
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Unsong 28589297
Aaron doesn't care about any of this. He and his not-quite-girlfriend Ana are engaged in something far more important �� griping about magical intellectual property law. But when a chance discovery brings them into conflict with mysterious international magic-intellectual-property watchdog UNSONG, they find themselves caught in a web of plots, crusades, and prophecies leading inexorably to the end of the world.]]> 795 Scott Alexander Ted 5
Like computer science? Like literal interpretations of the Bible? Welp, I simply never would have thought those two would ever be combined—and that I would love it.

I thought I had read astonishing, monumental books, but I was wrong. "Unsong" puts all those others to shame. It is the one of the most jaw-droppingly dense, massive, exhaustively researched, bizarre and funny books I've ever read. Scott Alexander, author of the (apparently controversial?) blog Star Slate Codex (both are anagrams of his real name) is a walking encyclopedia of computer science and Abrahamic religion.

There are so many crazy things about this book, but let me start with the extremely unusual fact that it is, in a sense, an open-source book. It is not traditionally published. It is not actually published at all [except online.]()

But, if you're like me and prefer paper, I actually put together a printable version of the book, and in the best traditions of open-source, [the source is, uh, open](), and it was a [collaborative effort of internet strangers]().

This particular version is optimized for the Lulu online printing service. It cost less than $20 I believe and was absolutely worth it. Beware: this thing is a beautiful monster (meaning: large and heavy)!]]> 4.41 2017 Unsong

author: Scott Alexander
name: Ted
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2020/08/31
date added: 2021/07/06
shelves:
review:
[Originally published at: ]

Like computer science? Like literal interpretations of the Bible? Welp, I simply never would have thought those two would ever be combined—and that I would love it.

I thought I had read astonishing, monumental books, but I was wrong. "Unsong" puts all those others to shame. It is the one of the most jaw-droppingly dense, massive, exhaustively researched, bizarre and funny books I've ever read. Scott Alexander, author of the (apparently controversial?) blog Star Slate Codex (both are anagrams of his real name) is a walking encyclopedia of computer science and Abrahamic religion.

There are so many crazy things about this book, but let me start with the extremely unusual fact that it is, in a sense, an open-source book. It is not traditionally published. It is not actually published at all [except online.]()

But, if you're like me and prefer paper, I actually put together a printable version of the book, and in the best traditions of open-source, [the source is, uh, open](), and it was a [collaborative effort of internet strangers]().

This particular version is optimized for the Lulu online printing service. It cost less than $20 I believe and was absolutely worth it. Beware: this thing is a beautiful monster (meaning: large and heavy)!
]]> Piranesi 50202953
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.]]> 272 Susanna Clarke 163557563X Ted 0 to-read 4.22 2020

author: Susanna Clarke
name: Ted
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020]]> 48932359
Today’s readers of science fiction and fantasy have an appetite for stories that address a wide variety of voices, perspectives, and styles. There is an openness to experiment and pushing boundaries, combined with the classic desire to read about spaceships and dragons, future technology and ancient magic, and the places where they intersect. Contemporary science fiction and fantasy looks to accomplish the same goal as ever—to illuminate what it means to be human. With a diverse selection of stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and Diana Gabaldon, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020 explores the ever-expanding and changing world of SFF today.]]> 407 Diana Gabaldon 1328613100 Ted 5
A worthy collection with some absolutely outstanding, memorable pieces. I might just start reading these every year—I think it's important to regularly read short fiction in addition to novels because the constraints tend to open up new ideas and techniques.

The highlights:

- **"Life Sentence" by Matthew Baker:** what an opener. Chilling, unsettling, deeply thought-provoking, and impressively simple.
- **"Between the Dark and the Dark"** by Deji Bryce Olukotun: Took me a minute to get into, but wow, that was fucking awesomely weird and fucked up. Stories about the far-future evolution of human cultures are my jam and this delivered in a very unique, memorable way.
- **"Sacrid's Pod" by Adam-Troy Castro:** Holy freaking shit this was amazing. Started off really disturbing and scary and ended with a very satisfying turn on a seemingly-done concept.

And some notable mentions:

- **"The Archronology of Love"** had some very interesting and cool scifi ideas but the story itself didn't do that much for me.
- **"The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex"** by Tobias S. Buckell was really fun. I'm so glad to be reminded of this kind of very short, funny scifi.]]> 3.71 2020 The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020

author: Diana Gabaldon
name: Ted
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/08/01
date added: 2021/07/06
shelves: scifi, scifi-fantasy, fantasy, anthology, collection
review:
[Also published at ]

A worthy collection with some absolutely outstanding, memorable pieces. I might just start reading these every year—I think it's important to regularly read short fiction in addition to novels because the constraints tend to open up new ideas and techniques.

The highlights:

- **"Life Sentence" by Matthew Baker:** what an opener. Chilling, unsettling, deeply thought-provoking, and impressively simple.
- **"Between the Dark and the Dark"** by Deji Bryce Olukotun: Took me a minute to get into, but wow, that was fucking awesomely weird and fucked up. Stories about the far-future evolution of human cultures are my jam and this delivered in a very unique, memorable way.
- **"Sacrid's Pod" by Adam-Troy Castro:** Holy freaking shit this was amazing. Started off really disturbing and scary and ended with a very satisfying turn on a seemingly-done concept.

And some notable mentions:

- **"The Archronology of Love"** had some very interesting and cool scifi ideas but the story itself didn't do that much for me.
- **"The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex"** by Tobias S. Buckell was really fun. I'm so glad to be reminded of this kind of very short, funny scifi.
]]> <![CDATA[The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)]]> 5043 Ken Follett is known worldwide as the master of split-second suspense, but his most beloved and bestselling book tells the magnificent tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known.

Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time the twelfth century; the place feudal England; and the subject the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape.

Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters into their dreams, their labors, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life.

The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the center of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.

For the TV tie-in edition with the same ISBN go to this Alternate Cover Edition
]]> 976 Ken Follett 045122213X Ted 4 fiction, historical-fiction
Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book, I'm happy I read it, and if you enjoyed it too then great! I'm not a prescriptivist. You don't have to read further or listen to what I'm about to say.

But holy SHIT I swear to fucking god this book would have been *half the length* if Follett took out every "So-and-so felt happy" and "so-and-so was disappointed". By the end of the book I was laughing out loud with the shocking frequency of these sentences. I'm not fucking joking, on some pages it's in *every other paragraph.*

The thing is, even if you don't care about the supposed "rules" about showing-not-telling, a lot of these are simply not even necessary, because he's already doing the showing. Reacting in horror means you don't ALSO have to say "so-and-so was horrified." Why?? Just force of habit??

Anyway, this book has sold a shitload of copies, so who cares, right? It's kind of like how some of the painters I know actually admire Thomas Kinkade because the motherfucker was able to bank the fuck out on mall art shlock. I mean... I'm not saying Pillars of the Earth is THAT bad. Not bad at all.]]> 4.34 1989 The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)

The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)

author: Ken Follett
name: Ted
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/05
date added: 2021/07/06
shelves: fiction, historical-fiction
review:
Well, I wouldn't have expected a book wanting to build a cathedral a page turner—but of course it's not just about that. This is a highly soap-operatic, semi-romantic historical fiction novel that's very well-paced and -plotted—and is also the most fantastically egregious offender of "telling" instead of "showing" I've ever read.

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book, I'm happy I read it, and if you enjoyed it too then great! I'm not a prescriptivist. You don't have to read further or listen to what I'm about to say.

But holy SHIT I swear to fucking god this book would have been *half the length* if Follett took out every "So-and-so felt happy" and "so-and-so was disappointed". By the end of the book I was laughing out loud with the shocking frequency of these sentences. I'm not fucking joking, on some pages it's in *every other paragraph.*

The thing is, even if you don't care about the supposed "rules" about showing-not-telling, a lot of these are simply not even necessary, because he's already doing the showing. Reacting in horror means you don't ALSO have to say "so-and-so was horrified." Why?? Just force of habit??

Anyway, this book has sold a shitload of copies, so who cares, right? It's kind of like how some of the painters I know actually admire Thomas Kinkade because the motherfucker was able to bank the fuck out on mall art shlock. I mean... I'm not saying Pillars of the Earth is THAT bad. Not bad at all.
]]> <![CDATA[The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay]]> 3985 639 Michael Chabon 0312282990 Ted 5 fiction 4.18 2000

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

author: Michael Chabon
name: Ted
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/02/08
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> Nexus (Nexus, #1) 13642710 Mankind gets an upgrade

In the near future, the experimental nano-drug Nexus can link humans together, mind to mind. There are some who want to improve it. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it.

When a young scientist is caught improving Nexus, he’s thrust over his head into a world of danger and international espionage �� for there is far more at stake than anyone realizes.

From the halls of academe to the halls of power, from the headquarters of an elite US agency in Washington DC to a secret lab beneath a top university in Shanghai, from the underground parties of San Francisco to the illegal biotech markets of Bangkok, from an international neuroscience conference to a remote monastery in the mountains of Thailand �� Nexus is a thrill ride through a future on the brink of explosion.]]> 460 Ramez Naam 0857662937 Ted 0 to-read 4.04 2012 Nexus (Nexus, #1)

author: Ramez Naam
name: Ted
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dragonlance Chronicles (Dragonlance, #1-3)]]> 68380 1030 Margaret Weis 0880386525 Ted 4
Instead of putting the book down and engaging with the 3 attractive girls, I moved to another table so I could read.

Although I can reasonably attribute the Dragonlance series to stunting my relationship growth by who knows how long, I'd still give it 4 stars.]]> 4.23 1985 Dragonlance Chronicles (Dragonlance, #1-3)

Dragonlance Chronicles (Dragonlance, #1-3)

author: Margaret Weis
name: Ted
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/01/05
shelves:
review:
It was my first year of high school and I was still working my way through the Dragonlance series. I sit down at an empty lunch table, content to read by myself, when 3 attractive girls sit down next to me. "Hi!" "Whatcha reading?" "What's your name?"

Instead of putting the book down and engaging with the 3 attractive girls, I moved to another table so I could read.

Although I can reasonably attribute the Dragonlance series to stunting my relationship growth by who knows how long, I'd still give it 4 stars.
]]> <![CDATA[To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)]]> 48829708 move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope...]]> 880 Christopher Paolini 1250762847 Ted 0 to-read 3.77 2020 To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)

author: Christopher Paolini
name: Ted
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Last Tango in Cyberspace 41150524 New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler crafts a near-future thriller about the evolution of empathy.

Hard to say when the human species fractured exactly. Harder to say when this new talent arrived. But Lion Zorn is the first of his kind--an empathy tracker, an emotional soothsayer, with a felt sense for the future of the we. In simpler terms, he can spot cultural shifts and trends before they happen.

It's a useful skill for a certain kind of company.

Arctic Pharmaceuticals is that kind of company. But when a routine em-tracking job leads to the discovery of a gruesome murder, Lion finds himself neck-deep in a world of eco-assassins, soul hackers and consciousness terrorists. But what the man really needs is a nap.

A unique blend of cutting-edge technology and traditional cyberpunk, Last Tango in Cyberspace explores hot topics like psychology, neuroscience, technology, as well as ecological and animal rights issues. The world created in Last Tango is based very closely on our world about five years from now, and all technology in the book either exists in labs or is rumored to exist. With its electrifying sentences, subtle humor, and an intriguing main character, readers are sure to find something that resonates with them in this groundbreaking cyberpunk science fiction thriller.]]> 336 Steven Kotler 1250202078 Ted 0 to-read 3.46 2019 Last Tango in Cyberspace

author: Steven Kotler
name: Ted
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]> 36402034 258 Philip K. Dick Ted 5 scifi 4.16 1968

author: Philip K. Dick
name: Ted
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1968
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/02/28
shelves: scifi
review:

]]> Lolita 9216051 The most famous and controversial novel from one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century tells the story of Humbert Humbert’s obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze."The conjunction of a sense of humor with a sense of horror [results in] satire of a very special kind." ��The New YorkerAwe and exhilaration—along with heartbreak and mordant wit—abound in Lolita, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsession for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love—love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.]]> 376 Vladimir Nabokov Ted 0 to-read 3.86 1955 Lolita

author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Ted
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Await Your Reply 6251222
Longing to get on with his life, Miles Cheshire nevertheless can't stop searching for his troubled twin brother, Hayden, who has been missing for ten years. Hayden has covered his tracks skillfully, moving stealthily from place to place, managing along the way to hold down various jobs and seem, to the people he meets, entirely normal. But some version of the truth is always concealed.

A few days after graduating from high school, Lucy Lattimore sneaks away from the small town of Pompey, Ohio, with her charismatic former history teacher. They arrive in Nebraska, in the middle of nowhere, at a long-deserted motel next to a dried-up reservoir, to figure out the next move on their path to a new life. But soon Lucy begins to feel quietly uneasy.

My whole life is a lie, thinks Ryan Schuyler, who has recently learned some shocking news. In response, he walks off the Northwestern University campus, hops on a bus, and breaks loose from his existence, which suddenly seems abstract and tenuous. Presumed dead, Ryan decides to remake himself through unconventional and precarious means.

Await Your Reply is a literary masterwork with the momentum of a thriller, an unforgettable novel in which pasts are invented and reinvented and the future is both seductively uncharted and perilously unmoored.
(jacket)]]> 324 Dan Chaon 0345476026 Ted 0 to-read 3.54 2009 Await Your Reply

author: Dan Chaon
name: Ted
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Selected Poetry and Prose 1456924 311 Samuel Taylor Coleridge 014058501X Ted 4 poetry, theory, philosophy 3.84

author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
name: Ted
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/10/15
shelves: poetry, theory, philosophy
review:

]]>