R.E.'s bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 01 May 2025 15:33:13 -0700 60 R.E.'s bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Borders of Infinity (Vorkosigan Saga, #5.3)]]> 5073782 [Publisher's Note: The Borders of Infinity was originally published as a stand-alone novella in the anthology Free Lancers in September 1987. It was then included in the novel Borders of Infinity (October 1989). For the novel, Ms. Bujold added a short "framing story" that tied the three novellas together by setting up each as a flashback that Miles experiences while recovering from bone-replacement surgery. Fictionwise is publishing these novellas separately, but we decided to leave in Ms. Bujold's short framing story for those who may also wish to read the other two novellas (he Mountains of Mourning and Labyrinth).]
Locus Poll Award Nominee]]> 84 Lois McMaster Bujold R.E. 4 sci-fi 4.25 The Borders of Infinity (Vorkosigan Saga, #5.3)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2016/09/19
date added: 2025/05/01
shelves: sci-fi
review:

]]> The Toll 49540406 From Cherie Priest, the author of The Family Plot and Maplecroft, comes The Toll, a tense, dark, and scary treat for modern fans of the traditionally strange and macabre.

State Road 177 runs along the Suwannee River, between Fargo, Georgia, and the Okefenokee Swamp. Drive that route from east to west, and you’ll cross six bridges. Take it from west to east, and you might find seven.

But you’d better hope not.

Titus and Davina Bell leave their hotel in Fargo for a second honeymoon canoeing the Okefenokee Swamp. But shortly before they reach their destination, they draw up to a halt at the edge of a rickety bridge with old stone pilings, with room for only one car . . .

When, much later, a tow-truck arrives, the driver finds Titus lying in the middle of the road, but Davina is nowhere to be found.]]> Cherie Priest R.E. 5 audio, fiction, ghost-stories 3.45 2019 The Toll
author: Cherie Priest
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/12
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: audio, fiction, ghost-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker]]> 224403077
With The Politics of Resentment, Katherine J. Cramer uncovers an oft-overlooked piece of the rural political consciousness and the resentment of the "liberal elite". Rural voters are distrustful that politicians will respect the distinct values of their communities and allocate a fair share of resources. What can look like disagreements about basic political principles are therefore actually rooted in something even more who we are as people and how closely a candidate's social identity matches our own. Using Scott Walker and Wisconsin's prominent and protracted debate about the appropriate role of government, Cramer illuminates the contours of rural consciousness, showing how place-based identities profoundly influence how people understand politics, regardless of whether urban politicians and their supporters really do shortchange or look down on those living in the country. The Politics of Resentment shows that rural resentment - no less than partisanship, race, or class - plays a major role in dividing America against itself.]]> Katherine J. Cramer R.E. 5 audio, politics 5.00 2016 The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker
author: Katherine J. Cramer
name: R.E.
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/11
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: audio, politics
review:
Beautifully organized. Since none of the issues the author identifies have been sufficiently addressed, this still explains a lot of what's happening now.
]]> Mexican Gothic 53819302
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And NoemĂ­, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> Silvia Moreno-Garcia R.E. 5 audio, fiction, ghost-stories 3.53 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/07
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: audio, fiction, ghost-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors]]> 18747235
With these words, Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Copeland addressed the crew of the destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts on the morning of October 25, 1944, off the Philippine Island of Samar. On the horizon loomed the mightiest ships of the Japanese navy, a massive fleet that represented the last hope of a staggering empire. All that stood between it and Douglas MacArthur’s vulnerable invasion force were the Roberts and the other small ships of a tiny American flotilla poised to charge into history.

In the tradition of the #1 New York Times bestseller Flags of Our Fathers, James D. Hornfischer paints an unprecedented portrait of the Battle of Samar, a naval engagement unlike any other in U.S. history—and captures with unforgettable intensity the men, the strategies, and the sacrifices that turned certain defeat into a legendary victory.

Listening Length: 16 hours and 25 minutes]]> 17 James D. Hornfischer R.E. 0 history 4.52 2003 The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
author: James D. Hornfischer
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves: history
review:

]]> Camp Daze 210207460
�

Conifer was raised to survive the end of the world. Any end of the world. Except this one, alone in the woods with over a hundred-fifty kids to save and only a handful of other young counselors to help her.]]> 305 Katy L. Wood R.E. 5 fiction 4.21 Camp Daze
author: Katy L. Wood
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.21
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/28
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Quincy Harker: Year One (Quincy Harker, #1)]]> 28457383
Straight out of the pages of the legendary vampire novel Dracula comes a demon hunter for the modern world.Ěý

"There are things in this world that men and women aren't meant to understand. We aren't supposed to know these things exist, much less how to fight them. The things that go bump in the night, the monsters in the closet, the shadow out of the corner of your eye -- that's where I live."Ěý

Quincy Harker is the immortal magic-wielding son of Jonathan Harker and Mina Murray from the classic novel Dracula. Today he lives in Charlotte, NC, hunting demons and making the world a safer place while making wisecracks and tossing back shots.Ěý

"Quincy Harker - demon killer, monster hunter, & kin to Dracula, yeah, THIS is who i want protecting the world! I love these books." - Academy Award Winner Whoopi Goldberg

"If you love action-packed dark edged urban fantasy with mystery, humor and a lot of foul language then check this one out." - Sharon Stogner, I Smell Sheep


Year One collects the first four short novels in the Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter series

Raising Hell - Winner of the 2016 Manly Wade Wellman Award -
Quincy Harker takes on a demon-summoning entrepreneur that makes Gordon Gecko look like Santa Claus.Ěý

Straight to Hell
The Four Horsemen are back in Charlotte, NC, and I don't mean Ric, Arn, Tully, and Barry. Harker has to save the world from the forces of Apocalypse.Ěý

Hell on Heels
She's hot, she's mean, she's borderline psychotic and has a lot of issues with Harker and his people. She's Gabriella Van Helsing, and she's Hell on Heels.Ěý

Hell Freezes Over
Somebody is walking through dreams and murdering families all over Harker's city. Now the ghost of a murdered little girl is walking through Harker's dreams. Is he going to stand for this? Yeah, when Hell Freezes Over.]]> 422 John G. Hartness R.E. 0 to-read 4.21 Quincy Harker: Year One (Quincy Harker, #1)
author: John G. Hartness
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.21
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House at Pooh Corner (Winnie-the-Pooh, #2)]]> 776407 180 A.A. Milne 0525444440 R.E. 5 childhood-favorites, fiction 4.37 1928 The House at Pooh Corner (Winnie-the-Pooh, #2)
author: A.A. Milne
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1928
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: childhood-favorites, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Geek Feminist Revolution: Essays]]> 26792189
The Geek Feminist Revolution is a collection of essays by double Hugo Award-winning essayist and science fiction and fantasy novelist Kameron Hurley.

The book collects dozens of Hurley’s essays on feminism, geek culture, and her experiences and insights as a genre writer, including “We Have Always Fought,� which won the 2014 Hugo for Best Related Work. The Geek Feminist Revolution will also feature several entirely new essays written specifically for this volume.

Unapologetically outspoken, Hurley has contributed essays to The Atlantic, Locus, Tor.com, and elsewhere on the rise of women in genre, her passion for SF/F, and the diversification of publishing.]]> 285 Kameron Hurley 0765386259 R.E. 4 3.97 2016 The Geek Feminist Revolution: Essays
author: Kameron Hurley
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2016/07/31
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves:
review:

]]> From Below 63009607
Hundreds of feet beneath the ocean's surface, a graveyard waits....

Years ago, the SS Arcadia vanished without a trace during a routine voyage. Though a strange, garbled emergency message was broadcast, neither the ship nor any of its crew could be found. Sixty years later, its wreck has finally been discovered more than 300 miles from its intended course...a silent graveyard deep beneath the ocean's surface, eagerly waiting for the first sign of life.

Cove and her dive team have been granted permission to explore the Arcadia's rusting hull. Their purpose is straightforward: examine the wreck, film everything, and, if possible, uncover how and why the supposedly unsinkable ship vanished.

But the Arcadia has not yet had its fill of death, and something dark and hungry watches from below. With limited oxygen and the ship slowly closing in around them, Cove and her team will have to fight their way free of the unspeakable horror now desperate to claim them.]]> 13 Darcy Coates R.E. 5 audio, fiction, zombies 3.45 2022 From Below
author: Darcy Coates
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/26
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: audio, fiction, zombies
review:

]]> The Deep 43438782 Octavia E. Butler meets Marvel’s Black Panther in The Deep, a story rich with Afrofuturism, folklore, and the power of memory, inspired by the Hugo Award–nominated song “The Deep� from Daveed Diggs’s rap group clipping.

Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.

Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities—and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.

Yetu will learn more than she ever expected about her own past—and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity—and own who they really are.

The Deep is “a tour de force reorientation of the storytelling gaze…a superb, multilayered work,� (Publishers Weekly, starred review) and a vividly original and uniquely affecting story inspired by a song produced by the rap group clipping.]]> 175 Rivers Solomon R.E. 5 fiction, sci-fi 3.81 2019 The Deep
author: Rivers Solomon
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/03/20
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:
If you haven't read this but can bear to, then you should.
]]> A New Dawn 22054918
But Jarrus won't be fighting alone. Unlikely allies, including a bomb-throwing radical, a former Imperial surveillance agent, a vengeful security officer, and the mysterious Hera Syndulla--an agent provocateur with motives of her own--team up with Jarrus to challenge the Empire. As a crisis of apocalyptic proportions unfolds on the planet Gorse, they must stand together against one of the Emperor's most fearsome enforcers--for the sake of a world and its people.]]> 418 John Jackson Miller 0553392875 R.E. 0 fiction, sci-fi, star-wars 3.94 2014 A New Dawn
author: John Jackson Miller
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/22
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: fiction, sci-fi, star-wars
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What Feasts at Night (Sworn Soldier, #2)]]> 126917866 Alex Easton, retired soldier, returns in this novella-length sequel to the bestselling What Moves The Dead.

When Easton travels to Gallacia as a favor to Miss Potter, they find their home empty, the caretaker dead, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence.

The locals whisper of a strange breath-stealing being from Gallacian folklore that has taken up residence in Easton’s home . . . and in their dreams.]]> 145 T. Kingfisher R.E. 0 fiction, ghost-stories 4.04 2024 What Feasts at Night (Sworn Soldier, #2)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: fiction, ghost-stories
review:

]]> The Book of M 40786174 Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love. It is a sweeping debut that illuminates the power that memories have not only on the heart, but on the world itself.

One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow disappears—an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories.

Ory and his wife Max have escaped the Forgetting so far by hiding in an abandoned hotel deep in the woods. Their new life feels almost normal, until one day Max’s shadow disappears too.

Knowing that the more she forgets, the more dangerous she will become to Ory, Max runs away. But Ory refuses to give up the time they have left together. Desperate to find Max before her memory disappears completely, he follows her trail across a perilous, unrecognizable world, braving the threat of roaming bandits, the call to a new war being waged on the ruins of the capital, and the rise of a sinister cult that worships the shadowless.

As they journey, each searches for answers: for Ory, about love, about survival, about hope; and for Max, about a new force growing in the south that may hold the cure.]]> 496 Peng Shepherd R.E. 0 audio, fiction 3.68 2018 The Book of M
author: Peng Shepherd
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/21
date added: 2024/06/21
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> Earthcore 35268533 20 Scott Sigler R.E. 5 sci-fi 3.91 2001 Earthcore
author: Scott Sigler
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves: sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Haunting of Gillespie House]]> 34999972
If only the scratching in the walls would be quiet�

The house’s dark and deadly history quickly becomes tangled with Elle’s life. At the centre of it is Jonathan Gillespie, the tyrannical cult leader and original owner of the house. As Elle soon learns - just because he’s dead, doesn’t mean he’s gone.

Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins]]> 4 Darcy Coates R.E. 0 audio, fiction, ghost-stories 3.18 2015 The Haunting of Gillespie House
author: Darcy Coates
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2021/07/08
date added: 2024/06/10
shelves: audio, fiction, ghost-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Compulsory (The Murderbot Diaries, #0.5)]]> 195264190
While trying to watch episode 44 of The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, Murderbot is—again, what is it with humans?—distracted by something that is technically outside its purview. A miner is suddenly in danger following a pointless (to Murderbot’s way of thinking) argument, and the choice is to risk discovery and leap into action, which would require hitting the pause button during a very exciting part of SanctuaryMoon, or to follow orders and stay still.

This is a tougher choice than it seems. But then, when has Murderbot ever been faced with an easy choice?

A shorter version of this story originally appeared in Wired magazine.]]> 8 Martha Wells 1645241726 R.E. 5 car-books, fiction, sci-fi 4.32 2018 Compulsory (The Murderbot Diaries, #0.5)
author: Martha Wells
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/23
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: car-books, fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)]]> 75319056 Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells's New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series.

Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!

Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.]]> 248 Martha Wells 1250826985 R.E. 5 car-books, sci-fi 4.37 2023 System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)
author: Martha Wells
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: car-books, sci-fi
review:

]]> The Folcroft Ghosts 36364455
But strange things start happening.

The swing moves on its own. Peter paces around the house at night and is obsessed with the lake where his sister drowned. Doors slam. Indistinct figures glide through the fog.

When a storm cuts the phone line and blocks the only road to town, May shifts from doting to obsessive. Tara and Kyle try to keep up the pretext of a happy family, but an empty journal and locked room provide clues to the unforgivable lies, secrets and decades-old murders entwined with the Folcrofts� history.

Worse, the ghosts are growing agitated. Tara must confront the restless spirits if she and her brother have any hope of leaving the house alive.
]]> Darcy Coates R.E. 0 audio, ghost-stories, fiction 3.48 2017 The Folcroft Ghosts
author: Darcy Coates
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/27
date added: 2024/05/27
shelves: audio, ghost-stories, fiction
review:

]]> If You’ll Have Me 58183467
Momo Gardner is the kind of friend who’s always ready to lend a helping hand. She’s introverted, sensitive, and maybe a little too trusting, but she likes to believe the best in people. PG, on the other hand, is a bit of a lone wolf, despite her reputation for being a flirt and a player. Underneath all that cool mystery, she’s actually quick to smile, and when she falls for someone, she falls hard. An unexpected meet-cute brings the two together, kicking off the beginning of an awkward yet endearing courtship—but with their drastically different personalities, Momo’s overprotective friend, and PG’s past coming back to haunt her, Momo and PG’s romance is put to the test.]]> 336 Eunnie 0593403231 R.E. 5 The sweetest thing ever

Oh my goodness, I don't read a lot of romance stories, but I love this one so much! I'm so happy I saw it. I kept interrupting people doing other things so I could show them panels of this story, and they liked them, too!]]> 4.53 2023 If You’ll Have Me
author: Eunnie
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/22
date added: 2024/03/22
shelves:
review:
The sweetest thing ever

Oh my goodness, I don't read a lot of romance stories, but I love this one so much! I'm so happy I saw it. I kept interrupting people doing other things so I could show them panels of this story, and they liked them, too!
]]> <![CDATA[10 B.S. Medical Tropes that Need to Die TODAY: ...and What to Do Instead (The ScriptMedic Guides Book 0)]]> 35281695 58 Samantha Keel R.E. 5 writing 4.34 10 B.S. Medical Tropes that Need to Die TODAY: ...and What to Do Instead (The ScriptMedic Guides Book 0)
author: Samantha Keel
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.34
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/19
date added: 2024/03/19
shelves: writing
review:
Adventure story authors and script writers: If you haven't read this, I will probably be able to tell that from your work, and I will judge you a little bit.
]]> A House with Good Bones 123276443
A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.

"Mom seems off."

Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.

She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.

But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.

To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.]]> 7 T. Kingfisher 1250886368 R.E. 5 audio, fiction, ghost-stories 3.70 2023 A House with Good Bones
author: T. Kingfisher
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/17
date added: 2024/02/17
shelves: audio, fiction, ghost-stories
review:

]]> Gallows Hill 60211594 It’s time to come home�

The Hull family has owned the Gallows Hill Winery for generations. Their wine wins awards. Their business prospers. Their family thrives. People whisper that the curse has awakened once more.

The sprawling old house has long been perched on top of a hill overlooking the nearby town, jealously guarding the estate's secrets.

It's been more than a decade since Margot Hull last saw her childhood home. She was young enough when she was sent away that she barely remembers its dark passageways and secret corners. But now she's returned to bury her parents and reconnect with the winery that is her family's legacy―and the bloody truth of exactly what lies buried beneath the crumbling estate. Alone in the sprawling, dilapidated building, Margot is forced to come face to face with the horrors of the past―and realize that she may be the next victim of a house that never rests...]]> 386 Darcy Coates R.E. 0 audio, ghost-stories 4.10 2022 Gallows Hill
author: Darcy Coates
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/01
date added: 2024/02/01
shelves: audio, ghost-stories
review:

]]> The Mountain in the Sea 59808603 Humankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future.

Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them.

The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA’s team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android.

The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence. The stakes are high: there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of the octopuses� advancements, and as Dr. Nguyen struggles to communicate with the newly discovered species, forces larger than DIANIMA close in to seize the octopuses for themselves.

But no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. And what they might do about it.

A near-future thriller about the nature of consciousness, Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea is a dazzling literary debut and a mind-blowing dive into the treasure and wreckage of humankind’s legacy.]]> 456 Ray Nayler 0374605955 R.E. 5 audio, fiction, sci-fi 3.87 2022 The Mountain in the Sea
author: Ray Nayler
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/25
date added: 2024/01/25
shelves: audio, fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> Craven Manor 41460872 Als er dort ankommt, läuten seine Alarmglocken. Das Gelände ist völlig zugewuchert und es ist klar, dass in dem alten Haus längst niemand mehr wohnt.
Aber es erwarten ihn weitere schriftliche Anweisungen und sein erstes Gehalt �
Als Daniel sich abends einen Drink im Pub gönnt, erzählt ihm der Barkeeper die Geschichte von Craven Manor. Eine Geschichte über einen Familienfluch, eine Wahnsinnige, die ihre Tochter ermordete und deren Geist noch in dem Herrenhaus umherstreifen soll �
Daniel glaubt nicht an so etwas. Doch weshalb wurde er in das unheimliche Haus gelockt? Welches Geheimnis verbirgt sich in den Mauern von Craven Manor?

New York Journal of »Gespenstisch und unheimlich und äußerst spannend.«

Eine neue, fesselnde Spukhausgeschichte von Darcy Coates, der australischen Autorin vieler unheimlicher Bestseller.]]> 260 Darcy Coates R.E. 0 audio, ghost-stories, fiction 3.54 2017 Craven Manor
author: Darcy Coates
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/20
date added: 2023/12/20
shelves: audio, ghost-stories, fiction
review:

]]> The January 6th Report 75259093 This program includes a preface read by David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, and an epilogue read by Congressman Jamie Raskin.

Celadon Books and The New Yorker present the report by the Select Committee to Investigate the Jan 6 Attack on the United States Capitol.

On January 6, 2021, insurgents stormed the U.S. Capitol, an act of domestic terror without parallel in American history, designed to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. In a resolution six months later, the House of Representatives called it "one of the darkest days of our democracy," and established a special committee to investigate how and why the attack happened.

Celadon Books, in collaboration with The New Yorker, presents the committee's final report, the definitive account of January 6th and what led up to it, based on more than a year of investigation by nine members of Congress and committee staff, with a preface by David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and an epilogue by Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a member of the committee.]]> 1250879094 R.E. 0 audio, politics, history 4.43 2022 The January 6th Report
author: The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/12/17
date added: 2023/12/17
shelves: audio, politics, history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence]]> 60693610 A fascinating and authoritative account of espionage for the digital age, from one of America’s leading intelligence experts

Spying has never been more ubiquitous―or less understood. The world is drowning in spy movies, TV shows, and novels, but universities offer more courses on rock and roll than on the CIA and there are more congressional experts on powdered milk than espionage. This crisis in intelligence education is distorting public opinion, fueling conspiracy theories, and hurting intelligence policy. In Spies, Lies, and Algorithms, Amy Zegart separates fact from fiction as she offers an engaging and enlightening account of the past, present, and future of American espionage as it faces a revolution driven by digital technology.

Drawing on decades of research and hundreds of interviews with intelligence officials, Zegart provides a history of U.S. espionage, from George Washington’s Revolutionary War spies to today’s spy satellites; examines how fictional spies are influencing real officials; gives an overview of intelligence basics and life inside America’s intelligence agencies; explains the deadly cognitive biases that can mislead analysts; and explores the vexed issues of traitors, covert action, and congressional oversight. Most of all, Zegart describes how technology is empowering new enemies and opportunities, and creating powerful new players, such as private citizens that are successfully tracking nuclear threats using little more than GoogleEarth. And she shows why cyberspace is, in many ways, the ultimate cloak-and-dagger battleground, where nefarious actors employ deception, subterfuge, and advanced technology for theft, espionage, and information warfare.

A fascinating and revealing account of espionage for the digital age, Spies, Lies, and Algorithms is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the reality of spying today.]]> Amy B. Zegart R.E. 0 audio, politics, history 3.83 2022 Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence
author: Amy B. Zegart
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/11/09
date added: 2023/11/09
shelves: audio, politics, history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Martin the Warrior (Redwall, #6)]]> 201345 376 Brian Jacques 0441001866 R.E. 5 4.16 1993 Martin the Warrior (Redwall, #6)
author: Brian Jacques
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6)]]> 53413743 No, I didn't kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn't dump the body in the station mall.

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people-who knew?)

Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!

Again!


A standalone adventure in the New York Times and USA Today-bestselling, Hugo and Nebula Award- winning series! ]]> 172 Martha Wells 1250765382 R.E. 5 car-books, fiction, sci-fi 4.44 2021 Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6)
author: Martha Wells
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/24
date added: 2023/07/24
shelves: car-books, fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> Just Like Home 58267782
"...it’s compulsively listenable. That’s thanks in part to Sands� intense narration, whether she’s playing the inscrutable Vera or her wretched mother asking for yet another glass of lemonade." -Vulture

"The audiobook narrated by Xe Sands is a genuinely nail-biting listen." - Buzzfeed

"Gailey wisely unfurls this story at a delightfully excruciating pace. Accompanied by Sands’s versatile narration, this is a captivating listen."- Library Journal

Just Like Home is a darkly gothic thriller from nationally bestselling author Sarah Gailey, perfect for fans of Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House as well as HBO's true crime masterpiece I'll Be Gone in the Dark.

“Come home.� Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories � she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he'd built for his family.

Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting� but who else could it possibly be?

There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books]]> Sarah Gailey 1250840392 R.E. 5 audio, fiction 3.38 2022 Just Like Home
author: Sarah Gailey
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/14
date added: 2023/07/14
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cascade Failure (Ambit's Run, #1)]]> 127280776
There are only three real powers in the universe: the corporate power of the Trust versus the Union's labor's leverage. And between them, the Guild tries to keep everyone's hands above the table. It ain't easy.

Branded a Guild deserter, Jal "accidentally" lands a ride on a Guild ship. Helmed by an AI, with a ship's engineer/medic who doesn't see much of a difference between the two jobs, and a "don't make me shoot you" XO, the Guild crew of the Ambit is a little . . . different.

They're also in over their heads. Responding to a distress call from an abandoned planet, they find a mass grave, and a live programmer who knows how it happened. The Trust has plans. This isn't the first dead planet, and it's not going to be the last.

Unless the crew of the Ambit can stop it.]]> 407 L.M. Sagas 1250871255 R.E. 0 to-read 3.82 2024 Cascade Failure (Ambit's Run, #1)
author: L.M. Sagas
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency]]> 60808316 From the award-winning author of Sandworm comes the propulsive story of a new breed of investigators who have cracked the Bitcoin blockchain, exposing once-anonymous realms of money, drugs, and violence.

“A gripping, stranger-than-fiction tale of how a small team of geeks and federal agents cracked what was once thought to be untraceable cryptocurrency.� —Garrett M. Graff, New York Times bestselling author of The Only Plane in the Sky and Watergate

Over the last decade, a single innovation has massively fueled digital black cryptocurrency. Crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely—whether in drug dealing, money laundering, or human trafficking—than their analog counterparts could have ever dreamed of. By transacting not in dollars or pounds but in currencies with anonymous ledgers, overseen by no government, beholden to no bankers, these black marketeers have sought to rob law enforcement of their chief method of cracking down on illicit following the money.

But what if the centerpiece of this dark economy held a secret, fatal flaw? What if their currency wasn’t so cryptic after all? An investigator using the right mixture of technical wizardry, financial forensics, and old-fashioned persistence could uncover an entire world of wrongdoing.

Tracers in the Dark is a story of crime and pursuit unlike any other. With unprecedented access to the major players in federal law enforcement and private industry, veteran cybersecurity reporter Andy Greenberg tells an astonishing saga of criminal empires built and destroyed. He introduces an IRS agent with a defiant streak, a Bitcoin-tracing Danish entrepreneur, and a colorful ensemble of hardboiled agents and prosecutors as they delve deep into the crypto-underworld. The result is a thrilling, globe-spanning story of dirty cops, drug bazaars, trafficking rings, and the biggest takedown of an online narcotics market in the history of the Internet.

Utterly of our time, Tracers in the Dark is a cat-and-mouse story and a tale of a technological one-upmanship. Filled with canny maneuvering and shocking twists, it answers a provocative How would some of the world’s most brazen criminals behave if they were sure they could never get caught?]]> 512 Andy Greenberg R.E. 0 car-books, history, economics 4.59 Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency
author: Andy Greenberg
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.59
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/10
date added: 2023/07/10
shelves: car-books, history, economics
review:

]]> Nocturnal 4719232 Note: This edition is for the 2007 original podcast rough draft version, which greatly differs from the re-written 2012 version. It is not the same book as the 2012 edition.

Scott Sigler reinvented the alien-invasion story in his bestselling novels Infected and Contagious� rebooted the biotech thriller in Ancestor…now, in his most ambitious, sweeping novel to date, he works his magic on the paranormal thriller, taking us inside a terrifying underworld of subterranean predators that only his twisted mind could invent.

Homicide detective Bryan Clauser is losing his mind.

How else to explain the dreams he keeps having—dreams that mirror, with impossible accuracy, the gruesome serial murders taking place all over San Francisco? How else to explain the feelings these dreams provoke in him—not disgust, not horror, but excitement?

As Bryan and his longtime partner, Lawrence “Pookie� Chang, investigate the murders, they learn that things are even stranger than they at first seem. For the victims are all enemies of a seemingly ordinary young boy—a boy who is gripped by the same dreams that haunt Bryan. Meanwhile, a shadowy vigilante, seemingly armed with superhuman powers, is out there killing the killers. And Bryan and Pookie’s superiors—from the mayor on down—seem strangely eager to keep the detectives from discovering the truth.

Doubting his own sanity and stripped of his badge, Bryan begins to suspect that he’s stumbled into the crosshairs of a shadow war that has gripped his city for more than a century—a war waged by a race of killers living in San Francisco’s unknown, underground ruins, emerging at night to feed on those who will not be missed.

And as Bryan learns the truth about his own intimate connections to the killings, he discovers that those who matter most to him are in mortal danger…and that he may be the only man gifted—or cursed—with the power to do battle with the nocturnals.

Featuring a dazzlingly plotted mystery and a terrifying descent into a nightmarish underworld—along with some of the most incredible action scenes ever put to paper, and an explosive, gut-wrenching conclusion you won’t soon forget—Nocturnal is the most spectacular outing to date from one of the genre’s brightest stars.]]> 1 Scott Sigler R.E. 0 4.23 2007 Nocturnal
author: Scott Sigler
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic]]> 59047652
In Uncontrolled Spread, he shows how the coronavirus and its variants were able to trounce America’s pandemic preparations, and he outlines the steps that must be taken to protect against the next outbreak. As the pandemic unfolded, Gottlieb was in regular contact with all the key players in Congress, the Trump administration, and the drug and diagnostic industries. He provides an inside account of how level after level of American government crumbled as the COVID-19 crisis advanced.

A system-wide failure across government institutions left the nation blind to the threat, and unable to mount an effective response. We’d prepared for the wrong virus. We failed to identify the contagion early enough and became overly reliant on costly and sometimes divisive tactics that couldn’t fully slow the spread. We never considered asymptomatic transmission and we assumed people would follow public health guidance. Key bureaucracies like the CDC were hidebound and outmatched. Weak political leadership aggravated these woes. We didn’t view a public health disaster as a threat to our national security.

Many of the woes sprung from the CDC, which has very little real-time reporting capability to inform us of Covid’s twists and turns or assess our defenses. The agency lacked an operational capacity and mindset to mobilize the kind of national response that was needed. To guard against future pandemic risks, we must remake the CDC and properly equip it to better confront crises. We must also get our intelligence services more engaged in the global public health mission, to gather information and uncover emerging risks before they hit our shores so we can head them off. For this role, our clandestine agencies have tools and capabilities that the CDC lacks.

Uncontrolled Spread argues we must fix our systems and prepare for a deadlier coronavirus variant, a flu pandemic, or whatever else nature -- or those wishing us harm -- may threaten us with. Gottlieb outlines policies and investments that are essential to prepare the United States and the world for future threats.]]> Scott Gottlieb R.E. 0 audio, history, politics 3.76 2021 Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic
author: Scott Gottlieb
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2023/07/07
date added: 2023/07/07
shelves: audio, history, politics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)]]> 61389532 The Twisted Ones comes a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic 'The Fall of the House of Usher'.

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

5 hours, 11 minutes.]]> 6 T. Kingfisher R.E. 0 audio, fiction 3.62 2022 What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)
author: T. Kingfisher
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/24
date added: 2023/07/02
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> The Carrow Haunt 52095782 Remy is a tour guide for Carrow House, a notoriously haunted building. When she's asked to host seven guests for a week-long stay to research Carrow's phenomena, she hopes to finally experience some of the sightings that made the house famous.

At first, it's everything they hoped for. Then a storm moves in, cutting off their contact with the outside world, and things quickly become twisted. Doors open on their own. Seances go disastrously wrong. Red liquid seeps from behind the wallpaper. Their spirit medium wanders through the house during the night, seemingly in a trance.

Then one of the guests dies under strange circumstances, and Remy is forced to consider the possibility that the ghost of the house's original owner, a twisted serial killer, still walks the halls.

But by then it's too late to escape.]]> Darcy Coates R.E. 0 audio, fiction, ghost-stories 3.94 2018 The Carrow Haunt
author: Darcy Coates
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2023/06/25
date added: 2023/06/25
shelves: audio, fiction, ghost-stories
review:

]]> The Haunting of Ashburn House 38656963
By all accounts, Edith was a strange woman. She rarely let guests into her home and a myriad of rumours surrounded the property. The residents of the nearby town claimed to have seen a wraith-like figure pacing behind the drawn curtains and to feel ghostly fingers brush their necks when they passed the driveway.

Adrienne doesn't believe in ghosts, but it's hard to ignore the unease that grows as she explores her new home. Strange messages have been carved into the wallpaper, her pet cat stares at nothing, and an old gravestone hidden in the woods behind the house hints at a bleak and shocking history.

One thing quickly becomes clear: Ashburn's dead are not at peace.

*** Listening time 9hr 3 mins ***]]> 9 Darcy Coates R.E. 0 audio, fiction, ghost-stories 3.36 2016 The Haunting of Ashburn House
author: Darcy Coates
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/13
date added: 2023/05/13
shelves: audio, fiction, ghost-stories
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Vampire of the Mists (Ravenloft, #1)]]> 43287759

From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> Christie Golden R.E. 0 audio, fiction, vampires 3.25 1991 Vampire of the Mists (Ravenloft, #1)
author: Christie Golden
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.25
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/07
date added: 2023/05/07
shelves: audio, fiction, vampires
review:

]]> Dead Silence 89143957
A GHOST SHIP.

A SALVAGE CREW.

UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS.

Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.

What they find at the other end of the signal is a shock: the Aurora, a famous luxury space-liner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick trip through the Aurora reveals something isn’t right.

Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Words scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold onto her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora, before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.]]> 13 S.A. Barnes R.E. 0 3.44 2022 Dead Silence
author: S.A. Barnes
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/30
date added: 2023/03/30
shelves: audio, fiction, ghost-stories, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Take Over the World: Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain]]> 58902137 NAMED A BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR BY ESQUIRE“Comic book fans will fall hard for this delightfully daffy guidebook. . . . Exuberant, optimistic, and just plain fun, How to Take Over the World will both surprise and delight.� —EsquireA book this informative should be a crime! Taking over the world is a lot of work. Any supervillain is bound to have What’s the perfect location for a floating secret base? What zany heist will fund my wildly ambitious plans? How do I control the weather, destroy the internet, and never, ever die? Bestselling author and award-winning comics writer Ryan North has the answers. In this introduction to the science of comic-book supervillainy, he details a number of outlandish villainous schemes that harness the potential of today’s most advanced technologies. Picking up where How to Invent Everything left off, his explanations are as fun and elucidating as they are completely absurd. You don’t have to be a criminal mastermind to share a supervillain’s interest in cutting-edge science and technology. This book doesn’t just reveal how to take over the world—it also shows how you could save it. This sly guide to some of the greatest threats facing humanity accessibly explores emerging techniques to extend human life spans, combat cyberterrorism, communicate across millennia, and finally make Jurassic Park a reality.]]> 416 Ryan North 0593192036 R.E. 0 car-books, science 4.13 2022 How to Take Over the World: Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain
author: Ryan North
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/03/25
date added: 2023/03/25
shelves: car-books, science
review:

]]> Solutions and Other Problems 24493732
Solutions and Other Problems includes humorous stories from Allie Brosh’s childhood; the adventures of her very bad animals; merciless dissection of her own character flaws; incisive essays on grief, loneliness, and powerlessness; as well as reflections on the absurdity of modern life.

This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features all-new material with more than 1,600 pieces of art.]]> 528 Allie Brosh 0224101285 R.E. 5 4.24 2020 Solutions and Other Problems
author: Allie Brosh
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2022/11/28
date added: 2023/01/23
shelves:
review:
You might not want to read this on a plane. Laughing very hard can look like crying very hard, which worries the other passengers.
]]> <![CDATA[Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland]]> 44179520 From award-winning New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe, a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions

In December, 1972, Jean McConville, a 37-year-old mother of ten, was dragged from her Belfast home by masked intruders, her children clinging to her legs. They never saw her again. Her abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as "The Troubles." Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was her when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress - with so many kids, she always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes.
Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, who were scattered to orphanages, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders. From radical and impetuous I.R.A. terrorists - or volunteers, depending on which side one was on - such as Dolours Price, who, when she was barely out of her teens, was already planting bombs in London and targeting informers for execution, to the ferocious I.R.A. mastermind known as "The Dark," to the spy games and dirty schemes of the British Army, to Gerry Adams, who negotiated the peace and denied his I.R.A. past, betraying his hardcore comrades - Say Nothing conjures a world of passion, betrayal, vengeance, and anguish.]]> 15 Patrick Radden Keefe R.E. 5 audio, history, politics 4.37 2018 Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
author: Patrick Radden Keefe
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/23
date added: 2023/01/23
shelves: audio, history, politics
review:

]]> Crimea 59734888
Orlando Figes' major new book reimagines this extraordinary war, in which the stakes could not have been higher and which was fought with a terrible mixture of ferocity and incompetence. It was both a recognisably modern conflict - the first to be extensively photographed, the first to employ the telegraph, the first 'newspaper war' - and a traditional one, with illiterate soldiers, amateur officers and huge casualties caused by disease. Drawing on a huge range of fascinating sources, Figes also gives the lived experience of the war, from that of the ordinary British soldier in his snow-filled trench, to the haunted, gloomy, narrow figure of Tsar Nicholas himself as he vows to take on the whole world in his hunt for religious salvation.]]> 21 Orlando Figes R.E. 0 audio, history 3.33 2010 Crimea
author: Orlando Figes
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2022/04/15
date added: 2023/01/15
shelves: audio, history
review:

]]> Book Lovers 58690308 One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming....

Nora Stephens� life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters� trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.]]> 377 Emily Henry 0593334833 R.E. 0 to-read 4.09 2022 Book Lovers
author: Emily Henry
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Piranesi 52702097
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.]]> 246 Susanna Clarke R.E. 0 fiction 4.24 2020 Piranesi
author: Susanna Clarke
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2022/11/22
date added: 2022/11/21
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> The House Next Door 58973324
I live next to a haunted house.

I began to suspect something was wrong with the gothic building when its family fled in the middle of the night, the children screaming, the mother crying. They never came back to pack up their furniture.

No family stays long. Animals avoid the place. Once, I thought I saw a woman's silhouette pacing through the upstairs room... but that seems impossible; no one was living there at the time.

A new occupant, Anna, has just moved in. I paid her a visit to warn her about the building. I didn't expect us to become friends, but we did. And now that Marwick House is waking up, she's asked me to stay with her.

I never intended to become involved with the building or its vengeful, dead inhabitant. But now I have to save Anna... before it's too late for the both of us.]]> Darcy Coates R.E. 5 audio, fiction, ghost-stories 3.44 2017 The House Next Door
author: Darcy Coates
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/02
date added: 2022/10/02
shelves: audio, fiction, ghost-stories
review:

]]> Rabbits (Audiobook) 58609110
“A taut mystery for a time of conspiratorial madness.� (Cory Doctorow)

It’s an average work day. You’ve been wrapped up in a task, and you check the clock when you come up for air - 4:44 p.m. You check your email, and 44 unread messages have built up. With a shock, you realize the date is April 4 - 4/4. And when you get in your car to drive home, your odometer reads 44,444.

Coincidence? Or have you just seen the edge of a rabbit hole?

Rabbits is a mysterious alternate-reality game so vast, it uses the entire world as its canvas.

Since the game started in 1959, 10 iterations have appeared and nine winners have been declared. The identities of these winners are unknown.

So is their reward, which is whispered to be NSA or CIA recruitment, vast wealth, immortality, or perhaps even the key to the secrets of the universe itself.

But the deeper you get, the more dangerous the game becomes. Players have died in the past - and the body count is rising.

And now, the 11th round is about to begin.

Enter K - a Rabbits obsessive who has been trying to find a way into the game for years. That path opens when K is approached by billionaire Alan Scarpio, rumored to be the winner of the sixth iteration. Scarpio says that something has gone wrong with the game and that K needs to fix it before Eleven starts, or the whole world will pay the price.

Five days later, Scarpio is declared missing.

Two weeks after that, K blows the deadline: Eleven begins.

And suddenly, the fate of the entire universe is at stake.]]> 14 Terry Miles 0593414667 R.E. 0 audio, fiction, sci-fi 3.40 2021 Rabbits (Audiobook)
author: Terry Miles
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2022/09/30
date added: 2022/09/30
shelves: audio, fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Deep Roots (The Innsmouth Legacy, #2)]]> 36144841 "Wicked for the Cthulhu Mythos" —Seanan McGuire on the Innsmouth Legacy

Ruthanna Emrys� Innsmouth Legacy, which began with Winter Tide and continues with Deep Roots, confronts H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos head-on, boldly upturning his fear of the unknown with a heart-warming story of found family, acceptance, and perseverance in the face of human cruelty and the cosmic apathy of the universe. Emrys brings together a family of outsiders, bridging the gaps between the many people marginalized by the homogenizing pressure of 1940s America.

Aphra Marsh, descendant of the People of the Water, has survived Deep One internment camps and made a grudging peace with the government that destroyed her home and exterminated her people on land. Deep Rootscontinues Aphra’s journey to rebuild her life and family on land, as she tracks down long-lost relatives on land. She must repopulate Innsmouth or risk seeing it torn down by greedy developers, but as she searches she discovers that people have been going missing. She will have to unravel the mystery, or risk seeing her way of life slip away.

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

]]> 400 Ruthanna Emrys 0765390922 R.E. 0 fiction, sci-fi 4.02 2018 Deep Roots (The Innsmouth Legacy, #2)
author: Ruthanna Emrys
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2022/09/21
date added: 2022/09/21
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Audio Collection (Sherlock Holmes, #1-9)]]> 34429916 71 hrs 58 mins

Ever since he made his first appearance in A Study In Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes has enthralled and delighted millions of fans throughout the world. Now Audible is proud to present Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection, read by Stephen Fry. A lifelong fan of Doyle's detective fiction, Fry has narrated the complete works of Sherlock Holmes - four novels and five collections of short stories. And, exclusively for Audible, Stephen has written and narrated nine insightful, intimate and deeply personal introductions to each title.

He writes: "Popular fiction offers different kinds of superheroes to save the world by restoring order to the chaos, confusion and criminality of our times. Heroes with remarkable gifts are as in vogue now as they have been since they first appeared, perhaps even more in vogue. But although the very first one was launched in serial published form just like his masked and body-suited successors, it was not in DC or Marvel comic books that he made his appearance; rather it was in the sedate and respectable pages of Mrs Beeton's Christmas Annual in the mid-Victorian year 1887."

Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, comedian, television presenter, film director and all round national treasure. He is the acclaimed narrator of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter audiobooks and most recently recorded The Tales of Max Carrados for Audible Studios. Stephen has contributed columns and articles to newspapers and magazines, appears frequently on radio and has written four novels and three volumes of autobiography.

A Study in Scarlet
The Sign of Four
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Valley of Fear
His Last Bow
The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes]]> 72 Arthur Conan Doyle R.E. 0 audio, fiction 4.58 1927 Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Audio Collection (Sherlock Holmes, #1-9)
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.58
book published: 1927
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/19
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> The Hollow Places 55403700
PRAY THEY ARE HUNGRY.

Kara finds these words in the mysterious bunker that she’s discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle’s house. Freshly divorced and living back at home, Kara now becomes obsessed with these cryptic words and starts exploring the peculiar bunker - only to discover that it holds portals to countless alternate realities. But these places are haunted by creatures that seem to hear thoughts. . .and the more you fear them, the stronger they become.

With her distinctive “delightfully fresh and subversive� ('SF Bluestocking') prose and the strange, sinister wonder found in Guillermo del Toro’s 'Pan’s Labyrinth', 'THE HOLLOW PLACES' is another compelling and white-knuckled horror novel that you won’t be able to put down.




RUNNING TIME => 9hrs. and 10mins.

©2020 Ursula Vernon. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.]]> 10 T. Kingfisher R.E. 5 audio, fiction 3.71 2020 The Hollow Places
author: T. Kingfisher
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/26
date added: 2022/08/26
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> Lovecraft Country 30795536 12 Matt Ruff R.E. 0 4.08 2016 Lovecraft Country
author: Matt Ruff
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2022/08/23
date added: 2022/08/23
shelves: audio, fiction, ghost-stories, sci-fi
review:

]]> The Making of the Atomic Bomb 31141129 Richard Rhodes R.E. 0 audio, history, science 4.30 1986 The Making of the Atomic Bomb
author: Richard Rhodes
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1986
rating: 0
read at: 2022/07/17
date added: 2022/07/17
shelves: audio, history, science
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray]]> 36507346 Most physicists think of beauty as the royal road to discovery; a leading critic shows it is instead the road to nowhere
Whether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates trusted theories from disposable ones. This is why, Sabine Hossenfelder argues, physics hasn't made a major breakthrough in more than four decades. The belief in beauty has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific observation has been unable to confirm mindboggling theories, like supersymmetry or string theory, invented by physicists based on aesthetic criteria. Worse, these "too good to not be true" theories are actually untestable and they have left the field in a cul-de-sac. To escape, physicists must rethink how they do physics. Only by embracing messiness and complexity can science discover the truth, not as one might prefer it, but as it is.
]]> 290 Sabine Hossenfelder 0465094260 R.E. 5 car-books, science 4.27 2018 Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray
author: Sabine Hossenfelder
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/26
date added: 2022/06/26
shelves: car-books, science
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Spy Who Came In from the Cold]]> 38778574 John Le Carré R.E. 0 audio, fiction 4.14 1963 The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
author: John Le Carré
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at: 2022/06/06
date added: 2022/06/06
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5)]]> 52680842
It worries about the fragile human crew who've grown to trust it, but only where no one can see.

It tells itself that they're only a professional obligation, but when they're captured and an old friend from the past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action.

Drastic action it is, then.]]> 346 Martha Wells R.E. 5 car-books, fiction, sci-fi 4.58 2020 Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, #5)
author: Martha Wells
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/05
date added: 2022/06/06
shelves: car-books, fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> The Twisted Ones 52844664 When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods in this chilling novel that reads like The Blair Witch Project meets The Andy Griffith Show.

When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?

Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.

Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

From Hugo Award–winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher, The Twisted Ones is a gripping, terrifying tale bound to keep you up all night—from both fear and anticipation of what happens next.]]> T. Kingfisher R.E. 5 audio, fiction 3.56 2019 The Twisted Ones
author: T. Kingfisher
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2022/04/25
date added: 2022/04/25
shelves: audio, fiction
review:
How is this not already a movie?
]]> <![CDATA[The Element of Fire (Ile-Rien, #1)]]> 37797481 14 Martha Wells R.E. 0 audio, fiction 3.47 1993 The Element of Fire (Ile-Rien, #1)
author: Martha Wells
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.47
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at: 2022/04/24
date added: 2022/04/24
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Little War That Shook the World: Georgia, Russia, and the Future of the West]]> 19322816 A Little War that Changed the World is a fascinating look at the breakdown of relations between Russia and the West, the decay and decline of the Western Alliance itself, and the fate of Eastern Europe in a time of economicĚýcrisis.]]> 269 Ronald D. Asmus R.E. 0 history, politics 4.27 2010 A Little War That Shook the World: Georgia, Russia, and the Future of the West
author: Ronald D. Asmus
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2022/02/07
date added: 2022/02/07
shelves: history, politics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory (The Murderbot Diaries, #4.5)]]> 57623348 Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory was originally given free to readers who pre-ordered Martha’s Murderbot novel, Network Effect, the fifth entry in the series. The events occur just after the fourth novella, Exit Strategy.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 19 Martha Wells 125083886X R.E. 5 fiction, sci-fi 4.03 2020 Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory (The Murderbot Diaries, #4.5)
author: Martha Wells
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/09/29
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4)]]> 35519109
Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah—its former owner (protector? friend?)—submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit.

But who’s going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue?

And what will become of it when it’s caught?]]> 163 Martha Wells R.E. 5 fiction, sci-fi 4.38 2018 Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4)
author: Martha Wells
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/29
date added: 2021/09/29
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language]]> 51828723 A linguistically informed look at how our digital world is transforming the English language.

Language is humanity's most spectacular open-source project, and the internet is making our language change faster and in more interesting ways than ever before. Internet conversations are structured by the shape of our apps and platforms, from the grammar of status updates to the protocols of comments and @replies. Linguistically inventive online communities spread new slang and jargon with dizzying speed. What's more, social media is a vast laboratory of unedited, unfiltered words where we can watch language evolve in real time.

Even the most absurd-looking slang has genuine patterns behind it. Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores the deep forces that shape human language and influence the way we communicate with one another. She explains how your first social internet experience influences whether you prefer "LOL" or "lol," why ~sparkly tildes~ succeeded where centuries of proposals for irony punctuation had failed, what emoji have in common with physical gestures, and how the artfully disarrayed language of animal memes like lolcats and doggo made them more likely to spread.

Because Internet is essential reading for anyone who's ever puzzled over how to punctuate a text message or wondered where memes come from. It's the perfect book for understanding how the internet is changing the English language, why that's a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are.]]> 8 Gretchen McCulloch R.E. 0 audio 4.07 2019 Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language
author: Gretchen McCulloch
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2021/09/13
date added: 2021/09/13
shelves: audio
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3)]]> 36153880 Who knew being a heartless killing machine would present so many moral dilemmas?

Sci-fi’s favorite antisocial A.I. is back on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions about where Dr. Mensah's SecUnit is.

And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good.]]> 150 Martha Wells 1250185432 R.E. 5 fiction, sci-fi 4.40 2018 Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3)
author: Martha Wells
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/31
date added: 2021/08/31
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:
This series is my Sanctuary Moon.
]]> <![CDATA[Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)]]> 36223860 alternate cover for ISBN 9781250186928

It has a dark past � one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A� stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.]]> 158 Martha Wells R.E. 5 fiction, sci-fi 4.23 2018 Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2)
author: Martha Wells
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/17
date added: 2021/08/17
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> Look Back 58580969
Two young artists from a small town inspire each other to improve their art and become manga creators. But as they grow up, a terrible tragedy will change their lives forever.]]> 144 Tatsuki Fujimoto 1974735125 R.E. 5 4.34 2021 Look Back
author: Tatsuki Fujimoto
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/16
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Magnus Archives: Season 5 (Magnus Archive, #5)]]> 53841066
With each chapter released as a podcast episode, The Magnus Archive is structured as a series of statements recorded or written and then recorded for internal research use within The Magnus Institute. At the beginning of each statement, the statement-taker (mainly Jon, the head archivist) provides a brief description of the statement and the name of the statement-maker. Those who give or record statements in the Magnus Institute tend to lapse into a trance-like state not unlike reliving the event.

The fifth and final season, and concluding chapter to the horror series.]]> 406 Johnathan Sims R.E. 0 audio, fiction 4.72 The Magnus Archives: Season 5 (Magnus Archive, #5)
author: Johnathan Sims
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.72
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/19
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Magnus Archives: Season 4 (Magnus Archives, #4)]]> 53841022
With each chapter released as a podcast episode, The Magnus Archive is structured as a series of statements recorded or written and then recorded for internal research use within The Magnus Institute. At the beginning of each statement, the statement-taker (mainly Jon, the head archivist) provides a brief description of the statement and the name of the statement-maker. Those who give or record statements in the Magnus Institute tend to lapse into a trance-like state not unlike reliving the event.

The fourth season of this award winning horror audio-drama series.]]> 40 NOT A BOOK R.E. 0 audio, fiction 4.87 The Magnus Archives: Season 4 (Magnus Archives, #4)
author: NOT A BOOK
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.87
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/19
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Magnus Archives: Season 3 (Magnus Archives, #3)]]> 53840982
With each chapter released as a podcast episode, The Magnus Archive is structured as a series of statements recorded or written and then recorded for internal research use within The Magnus Institute. At the beginning of each statement, the statement-taker (mainly Jon, the head archivist) provides a brief description of the statement and the name of the statement-maker. Those who give or record statements in the Magnus Institute tend to lapse into a trance-like state not unlike reliving the event.

The third season of the acclaimed and highly popular horror series.]]> Jonathan Sims R.E. 0 audio, fiction 4.82 The Magnus Archives: Season 3 (Magnus Archives, #3)
author: Jonathan Sims
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.82
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/19
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Magnus Archives: Season 2 (Magnus Archives, #2)]]> 53840935
With each chapter released as a podcast episode, The Magnus Archive is structured as a series of statements recorded or written and then recorded for internal research use within The Magnus Institute. At the beginning of each statement, the statement-taker (mainly Jon, the head archivist) provides a brief description of the statement and the name of the statement-maker. Those who give or record statements in the Magnus Institute tend to lapse into a trance-like state not unlike reliving the event.

The second season of the critically acclaimed series.]]> 40 NOT A BOOK R.E. 0 audio, fiction 4.82 The Magnus Archives: Season 2 (Magnus Archives, #2)
author: NOT A BOOK
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.82
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/19
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Magnus Archives: Season 1 (Magnus Archives, #1)]]> 53840244
With each chapter released as a podcast episode, The Magnus Archive is structured as a series of statements recorded or written and then recorded for internal research use within The Magnus Institute. At the beginning of each statement, the statement-taker (mainly Jon, the head archivist) provides a brief description of the statement and the name of the statement-maker. Those who give or record statements in the Magnus Institute tend to lapse into a trance-like state not unlike reliving the event.]]> Jonathan Sims R.E. 0 audio, fiction 4.78 The Magnus Archives: Season 1 (Magnus Archives, #1)
author: Jonathan Sims
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.78
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/19
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> The Black Tapes 56317948
Do you believe?]]> NOT A BOOK R.E. 0 audio, fiction 4.06 2015 The Black Tapes
author: NOT A BOOK
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/19
shelves: audio, fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Writing for emotional impact : advanced dramatic techniques to attract, engage, and fascinate the reader from beginning to end]]> 11055868 242 Karl Iglesias 1595947515 R.E. 0 writing 4.26 2005 Writing for emotional impact : advanced dramatic techniques to attract, engage, and fascinate the reader from beginning to end
author: Karl Iglesias
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 2021/07/15
date added: 2021/07/15
shelves: writing
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Future of Work: Compulsory]]> 56033969
A short story published in Wired magazine as part of a series "The Future of Work" on December 17, 2018.]]> 2 Martha Wells R.E. 0 fiction, sci-fi 4.07 2018 The Future of Work: Compulsory
author: Martha Wells
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/09
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Lowry Air Force Base (Images of America: Colorado)]]> 16249234 128 Jack Stokes Ballard 0738596647 R.E. 0 history 3.12 2013 Lowry Air Force Base (Images of America: Colorado)
author: Jack Stokes Ballard
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.12
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2021/05/05
date added: 2021/05/05
shelves: history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place]]> 50094860 Janelle Shane, a scientist and engineer, is also the go-to contributor about computer science for the New York Times, Slate, and the New Yorker. Through her hilarious experiments, real-world examples, and illuminating cartoons, she explains how AI understands our world, and what it gets wrong. More than just a working knowledge of AI, she hands readers the tools to be skeptical about claims of a smarter future.
A comprehensive study of the cutting-edge technology that will soon power our world, YOU LOOK LIKE A THING AND I LOVE YOU is an accessible, hilarious exploration of the future of technology and society. It's ASTROPHYSICS FOR PEOPLE IN A HURRY meets THING An approachable guide to a fascinating scientific topic, presented with clarity, levity, and brevity by an expert in the field with a powerful and growing platform.]]> 273 Janelle Shane 0316525235 R.E. 5 car-books, science 4.31 2019 You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It's Making the World a Weirder Place
author: Janelle Shane
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/04/24
date added: 2021/04/27
shelves: car-books, science
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mongoose: Part II (Boojumverse, #2.2)]]> 42856173 First published in Lovecraft Unbound, edited by Ellen Datlow.

Drabblecast 171 � Mongoose : Part II
Episode art by Skeet Scienski
Read by Abby Crayden as Station Master, Lauren Synger as Colonel Sanderson

The Boojumverse is the setting of a number of sci-fi themed Cthulhu Mythos short stories written by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette. They have been published in a variety of places online and in short story compilations, and are also available as audio plays on Drabblecast.

In the future, humanity has established space stations throughout the solar system using a combination of mechanical and organic technology. Life is a constant struggle: danger comes not only from competition over limited resources and the remorseless vacuum of space, but also inter-dimensional predators, brain-stealing aliens, Space Pirates in Living Ships, feuding between various ideological sects and cults, and the warped creations of their own eldritch science turning against them.

Each story is stand-alone, featuring a different protagonist and containing only passing reference to the others. There are three stories in the Boojumverse so far:
- "Boojum"
- "Mongoose"
- "The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward"]]> Elizabeth Bear R.E. 5 audio, fiction, sci-fi 4.92 2009 Mongoose: Part II (Boojumverse, #2.2)
author: Elizabeth Bear
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.92
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/03/08
shelves: audio, fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mongoose: Part I (Boojumverse, #2.1)]]> 42856169 First published in Lovecraft Unbound, edited by Ellen Datlow.

Drabblecast 170 � Mongoose : Part I
Episode art by Jerel Dye
Read by Abby Crayden as Station Master, Lauren Synger as Colonel Sanderson

The Boojumverse is the setting of a number of sci-fi themed Cthulhu Mythos short stories written by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette. They have been published in a variety of places online and in short story compilations, and are also available as audio plays on Drabblecast.

In the future, humanity has established space stations throughout the solar system using a combination of mechanical and organic technology. Life is a constant struggle: danger comes not only from competition over limited resources and the remorseless vacuum of space, but also inter-dimensional predators, brain-stealing aliens, Space Pirates in Living Ships, feuding between various ideological sects and cults, and the warped creations of their own eldritch science turning against them.

Each story is stand-alone, featuring a different protagonist and containing only passing reference to the others. There are three stories in the Boojumverse so far:
- "Boojum"
- "Mongoose"
- "The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward"]]> Elizabeth Bear R.E. 5 audio, fiction, sci-fi 4.94 2009 Mongoose: Part I (Boojumverse, #2.1)
author: Elizabeth Bear
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.94
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/03/08
shelves: audio, fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Boojum: Part II (Boojumverse, #1.2)]]> 42856157 Originally published in Fast Ships, Black Sails,

Drabblecast 203 � Boojum Part II
Episode art by Liz
Read by Naomi Mercer

The Boojumverse is the setting of a number of sci-fi themed Cthulhu Mythos short stories written by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette. They have been published in a variety of places online and in short story compilations, and are also available as audio plays on Drabblecast.

In the future, humanity has established space stations throughout the solar system using a combination of mechanical and organic technology. Life is a constant struggle: danger comes not only from competition over limited resources and the remorseless vacuum of space, but also inter-dimensional predators, brain-stealing aliens, Space Pirates in Living Ships, feuding between various ideological sects and cults, and the warped creations of their own eldritch science turning against them.

Each story is stand-alone, featuring a different protagonist and containing only passing reference to the others. There are three stories in the Boojumverse so far:
- "Boojum"
- "Mongoose"
- "The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward"]]> Elizabeth Bear R.E. 5 audio, fiction, sci-fi 4.42 2008 Boojum: Part II (Boojumverse, #1.2)
author: Elizabeth Bear
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/03/08
shelves: audio, fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Boojum: Part I (Boojumverse, #1.1)]]> 42856150 Originally published in Fast Ships, Black Sails,

Drabblecast 202 � Boojum: Part I
Episode art by Caroline Parkinson
Read by Naomi Mercer, Graeme Dunlop, Delianne Forget

The Boojumverse is the setting of a number of sci-fi themed Cthulhu Mythos short stories written by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette. They have been published in a variety of places online and in short story compilations, and are also available as audio plays on Drabblecast.

In the future, humanity has established space stations throughout the solar system using a combination of mechanical and organic technology. Life is a constant struggle: danger comes not only from competition over limited resources and the remorseless vacuum of space, but also inter-dimensional predators, brain-stealing aliens, Space Pirates in Living Ships, feuding between various ideological sects and cults, and the warped creations of their own eldritch science turning against them.

Each story is stand-alone, featuring a different protagonist and containing only passing reference to the others. There are three stories in the Boojumverse so far:
- "Boojum"
- "Mongoose"
- "The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward"]]> Elizabeth Bear R.E. 5 audio, fiction, sci-fi 4.42 2008 Boojum: Part I (Boojumverse, #1.1)
author: Elizabeth Bear
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/03/08
shelves: audio, fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> Boojum (Boojumverse, #1) 42856075 Originally published in Fast Ships, Black Sails,
edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer.
Reprinted by permission of the authors.

The Boojumverse is the setting of a number of sci-fi themed Cthulhu Mythos short stories written by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette. They have been published in a variety of places online and in short story compilations, and are also available as audio plays on Drabblecast.

In the future, humanity has established space stations throughout the solar system using a combination of mechanical and organic technology. Life is a constant struggle: danger comes not only from competition over limited resources and the remorseless vacuum of space, but also inter-dimensional predators, brain-stealing aliens, Space Pirates in Living Ships, feuding between various ideological sects and cults, and the warped creations of their own eldritch science turning against them.

Each story is stand-alone, featuring a different protagonist and containing only passing reference to the others. There are three stories in the Boojumverse so far:
- "Boojum"
- "Mongoose"
- "The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward"]]> 32 Elizabeth Bear R.E. 5 audio, fiction, sci-fi 4.24 2008 Boojum (Boojumverse, #1)
author: Elizabeth Bear
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/03/08
shelves: audio, fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up (The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up)]]> 25899679 Spark Joy is an in-depth, line illustrated, room-by-room guide to decluttering and organising your home. It covers every room in the house from bedrooms and kitchens to bathrooms and living rooms as well as a wide range of items in different categories, including clothes, photographs, paperwork, books, cutlery, cosmetics, shoes, bags, wallets and valuables. Charming line drawings explain how to properly organise drawers, wardrobes, cupboards and cabinets. The illustrations also show Ms Kondo's unique folding method, clearly showing how to fold anything from shirts, trousers and jackets to skirts, socks and bras.

The secret to Marie Kondo's unique and simple KonMari tidying method is to focus on what you want to keep, not what you want to get rid of. Ask yourself if something 'sparks joy' and suddenly it becomes so much easier to understand if you really need it in your home and your life. When you surround yourself with things you love you will find that your whole life begins to change.

Marie Kondo's first book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, presents her unique tidying philosophy and introduces readers to the basics of her KonMari method. It has already transformed the homes and lives of millions of people around the world. Spark Joy is Marie Kondo's in-depth tidying masterclass, focusing on the detail of how to declutter and organise your home.]]> 298 Marie KondĹŤ 1607749734 R.E. 0 productivity 4.11 2012 Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up (The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up)
author: Marie KondĹŤ
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/02/08
shelves: productivity
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (Magic Cleaning #1)]]> 22823462 This #1ĚýNew York Times best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing.

Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?

Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list).Ěý

With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy� (and which don’t), this international bestseller featuring Tokyo’s newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 226 Marie KondĹŤ 1607747316 R.E. 0 productivity 4.00 2010 The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (Magic Cleaning #1)
author: Marie KondĹŤ
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2021/02/06
date added: 2021/02/06
shelves: productivity
review:

]]> Dawn of the Algorithm 25974989


These monsters were raised on a diet of TV tropes, movie clichés, book snippets, and video game storylines. Some have beating hearts, others interlocking mechanical parts. They are forces of human nature, genetically engineered with a single to herald the apocalypse.



Building on user-friendly motif and imagery, Rousselot draws acute, playful but painful conclusions about twenty-first century Earth. He paints a darkly comical portrait of humankind, a species plagued by heartbreak and alienation, yet driven by hope and, at the very core, a burning desire to connect.



Illustration Brian James Murphy, Osman Gani, Jihan Kikhia, Emma Strangwayes-Booth, Laura Stevens (photography), Sabine Dundure (photography), Lucile Taillade, Keith McDougall, Juliana Galbraith, Christiana Spens, Samantha Wong, Alex Manthei, Delphine Duprat, Mathieu Sourisse, Jordan Glass, Jérémie Paret, Aaron Lopez-Barrantes, Fan Aha, Eugenia Loli, Yann Rousselot.]]> 96 Yann Rousselot 194175807X R.E. 5 sci-fi 3.50 2015 Dawn of the Algorithm
author: Yann Rousselot
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2021/02/01
date added: 2021/02/01
shelves: sci-fi
review:

]]> Writing in the Dark 55346978 365 Tim Waggoner R.E. 0 writing 4.65 2020 Writing in the Dark
author: Tim Waggoner
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2021/01/27
date added: 2021/01/27
shelves: writing
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism]]> 43316988
Entering World War I’s fourth demoralizing year, the Allies hoped to break the grueling stalemate by sending thousands of fresh American troops and more munitions than ever to the trenches of France. Before the French freighter Mont-Blanc set sail from Brooklyn on December 1, 1917, with a staggering 3,000 tons of explosives, the captain banned his crew from lighting a single match, and secured the volatile cargo with copper nails because they don’t spark when struck.

For four harrowing days, the floating powder keg bobbed up the Eastern seaboard, plowing through a wicked snowstorm and waters infested with German U-Boats, which had already torpedoed a thousand Allied ships that year alone. On December 6, the exhausted crew finally slipped into Halifax Harbour—just as the relief ship Imo was rushing to leave. At 8:45 a.m., the Imo struck the Mont-Blanc’s bow, knocking over barrels of airplane fuel. Fire swept across the decks, sending the Mont-Blanc’s crew scurrying to their lifeboats, while Halifax longshoremen, office workers, and schoolchildren walked down to watch it burn.

At 9:04:35 a.m., the Mont-Blanc erupted, leveling 2.5 square miles of Halifax, killing 2,000 people, and wounding 9,000 more—all in one-fifteenth of a second.

In this definitive account, bestselling author John U. Bacon recreates the recklessness that caused the tragedy, the selfless rescue efforts that saved thousands, and the inspiring resilience that rebuilt the town. Just hours after the explosion, Boston alone sent 100 doctors, 300 nurses, and a million dollars. The explosion would revolutionize ophthalmology and pediatrics; transform Canada and the U.S. from adversaries to allies; and show J. Robert Oppenheimer, who studied Halifax closely, how much destruction an atomic bomb could inflict on a city.

Bacon brings to light one of the most dramatic events of the twentieth century, exploring the long shadow the world’s first “weapon of mass destruction� still casts on our world today.

The Great Halifax Explosion includes 25 black-and-white photos.]]> 2 John U. Bacon R.E. 0 audio, history 4.57 2017 The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism
author: John U. Bacon
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2021/01/22
date added: 2021/01/22
shelves: audio, history
review:

]]> Second Variety 22616880 32 Philip K. Dick R.E. 0 fiction, sci-fi 3.91 1953 Second Variety
author: Philip K. Dick
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at: 2020/11/20
date added: 2020/11/20
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:
It's probably too late, but if you read the Gutenberg edition (with this cover), don't look at the pictures. It's not a bad story, if all the twists aren't spoiled.
]]> <![CDATA[Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World]]> 52300107 Listening time = 2h 2m

Pollan takes us on a journey through the history of the drug, which was first discovered in a small part of East Africa and within a century became an addiction affecting most of the human species. Caffeine, it turns out, has changed the course of human history - won and lost wars, changed politics, dominated economies. What's more, the author shows that the Industrial Revolution would have been impossible without it. The science of how the drug has evolved to addict us is no less fascinating.]]> 2 Michael Pollan R.E. 0 audio 3.72 2020 Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World
author: Michael Pollan
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2020/11/07
date added: 2020/11/07
shelves: audio
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Little Brother (Little Brother, #1)]]> 4461558
But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, his injured best friend Darryl does not come out. The city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: "M1k3y" will take down the DHS himself.]]> 374 Cory Doctorow 0007288425 R.E. 0 fiction 3.80 2008 Little Brother (Little Brother, #1)
author: Cory Doctorow
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at: 2020/10/29
date added: 2020/10/29
shelves: fiction
review:
Unfortunately, this story feels incredibly relevant in 2020. It's really disappointing. I mean, you should read this. A lot of the security practices and philosophy are still valid, and it's all explained in terms you will understand if you're reading this sentence. The story is also full of early 2000's slang, dead bookstores, and references to sites that got bought by Russians (nothing against y'all as individuals). Beware teh nostalgia. But, damn. We Americans sure do throw ourselves into repeating our elders' mistakes.
]]> <![CDATA[Fast Draft Your Manuscript and Get It Done (Write for Success #1)]]> 55764319 Have you had trouble meeting deadlines?
Or do you simply want to write faster and enjoy the process while doing so?
If so, then Fast Drafting is for you.

Fast Drafting is a proven set of techniques and strategies that can be applied to any piece of writing from blog post to novel. Tested over the author’s decades-long career as an author and educator, the Fast Drafting Method is easy to learn, customizable for your needs, and designed to get results quickly. Fast Draft Your Manuscript: And Get It Done Now.

About the series:

Don’t just write…write for success! From award-winning author and educator Joan Bouza Koster comes a revolutionary series of guides showing you the steps that helped her writing not just land an agent and book deal but win praise from readers and literary tastemakers. Whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction, romance, thriller, or historical, this series delivers behind-the-scenes tips, inspiration when you need it most, and the flexibility to fit your writing career. Write with confidence and write for success.]]> 80 Joan Bouza Koster R.E. 0 writing 4.76 Fast Draft Your Manuscript and Get It Done (Write for Success #1)
author: Joan Bouza Koster
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.76
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2020/10/28
date added: 2020/10/29
shelves: writing
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War]]> 38899650 A bracingly immediate memoir by a young man coming of age during the Syrian war,Ěýan intimate lens on the century’s bloodiest conflict, and a profound meditation on kinship, home, and freedom. AĚýNEW YORK TIMESĚýNOTABLE BOOK •Ě�LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDĚý•Ěý“This powerful memoir, illuminated with Molly Crabapple’s extraordinary art, provides a rare lens through which we can see a region in deadly conflict.”—Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy In 2011, Marwan Hisham and his two friends—fellow working-class college students Nael and Tareq—joined the first protests of the Arab Spring in Syria, in response to a recent massacre. Arm-in-arm they marched, poured Coca-Cola into one another’s eyes to blunt the effects of tear gas, ran from the security forces, and cursed the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad. It was ecstasy. A long-bottled revolution was finally erupting, and freedom from a brutal dictator seemed, at last, imminent. Five years later, the three young friends were one now an Islamist revolutionary, another dead at the hands of government soldiers, and the last, Marwan, now a journalist in Turkish exile, trying to find a way back to a homeland reduced to rubble. Marwan was there to witness and document firsthand the Syrian war, from its inception to the present. He watched from the rooftops as regime warplanes bombed soldiers; as revolutionary activist groups, for a few dreamy days, spray-painted hope on Raqqa; as his friends died or threw in their lot with Islamist fighters. He became a journalist by courageously tweeting out news from a city under siege by ISIS, the Russians, and the Americans all at once. He saw the country that ran through his veins—the country that held his hopes, dreams, and fears—be destroyed in front of him, and eventually joined the relentless stream of refugees risking their lives to escape. Illustrated with more than eighty ink drawings by Molly Crabapple that bring to life the beauty and chaos, Brothers of the Gun offers a ground-level reflection on the Syrian revolution—and how it bled into international catastrophe and global war. This is a story of pragmatism and idealism, impossible violence and repression, and, even in the midst of war, profound acts of courage, creativity, and hope.“A book of startling emotional power and intellectual depth.”—Pankaj Mishra, author of Age of Anger and From the Ruins of Empire“A revelatory and necessary read on one of the most destructive wars of our time.”—Angela Davis]]> 281 Marwan Hisham 0399590641 R.E. 0 history, politics 4.26 2018 Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War
author: Marwan Hisham
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2020/10/07
date added: 2020/10/07
shelves: history, politics
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Clean Kill in Tokyo (John Rain, #1)]]> 925
Name: John Rain.
Vocation: Assassin.
Specialty: Natural Causes.
Base of operations: Tokyo.
Availability: Worldwide.

Half American, half Japanese, expert in both worlds but at home in neither, John Rain is the best killer money can buy. You tell him who. You tell him where. He doesn't care about why...

Until he gets involved with Midori Kawamura, a beautiful jazz pianist--and the daughter of his latest kill.]]> 363 Barry Eisler R.E. 0 fiction 3.96 2003 A Clean Kill in Tokyo (John Rain, #1)
author: Barry Eisler
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at: 2020/09/17
date added: 2020/09/17
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Annihilation (Star Wars: The Old Republic, #4)]]> 18880047 Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!Based on the epic videogame from BioWare and LucasArtsThe Sith Empire is in flux. The Emperor is missing, presumed dead, and an ambitious Sith lord’s attempt to seize the throne has ended fatally. Still, Darth Karrid, commander of the fearsome Imperial battle cruiser Ascendant Spear, continues her relentless efforts to achieve total Sith domination of the galaxy.But Karrid’s ruthless determination is more than matched in the steely resolve of Theron Shan, whose unfinished business with the Empire could change the course of the war for good. Though the son of a Jedi master, Theron does not wield the Force—but like his renowned mother, the spirit of rebellion is in his blood. As a top covert agent for the Republic, he struck a crucial blow against the Empire by exposing and destroying a Sith superweapon arsenal—which makes him the ideal operative for a daring and dangerous mission to end Ascendant Spear’s reign of terror. Joined by hot-headed smuggler Teff’ith, with whom he has an inexplicable bond, and wise Jedi warrior Gnost-Dural, Darth Karrid’s former master, Theron must match wits and weapons with a battle-tested crew of the most cold-blooded dark side disciples. But time is brutally short. And if they don’t seize their one chance to succeed, they will surely have countless opportunities to die.]]> 337 Drew Karpyshyn 0345535677 R.E. 0 fiction, sci-fi, star-wars 4.07 2012 Annihilation (Star Wars: The Old Republic, #4)
author: Drew Karpyshyn
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2020/08/30
date added: 2020/08/30
shelves: fiction, sci-fi, star-wars
review:

]]> Radiate (Lightless, #3) 32196583 Lightless and Supernova, C. A. Higgins again fuses science fiction, suspense, and drama to tell the story of a most unlikely heroine: Ananke, once a military spacecraft, now a sentient artificial intelligence. Ananke may have the powers of a god, but she is consumed by a very human longing: to know her creators.

Now Ananke is on a quest to find companionship, understanding, and even love. She is accompanied by Althea, the engineer who created her, and whom she sees as her mother. And she is in search of her father, Matthew, the programmer whose code gave her the spark of life.

But Matthew is on a strange quest of his own, traveling the galaxy alongside Ivan, with whom he shares a deeply painful history. Ananke and her parents are racing toward an inevitable collision, with consequences as violent as the birth of the solar system itself and as devastating as the discovery of love.]]> 315 C.A. Higgins 0553394495 R.E. 5 fiction, sci-fi 3.66 2017 Radiate (Lightless, #3)
author: C.A. Higgins
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2020/08/14
date added: 2020/08/14
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:
This one has all the points of view you've been waiting for, and they are so well written. They reveal each character to be a gods-damned beautiful DISASTER PERSON. If you are wondering whether this trilogy sticks the landing: it really, really does.
]]> Supernova (Lightless, #2) 28419812 Lightless fused suspenseful storytelling, high-caliber scientific speculation, and richly developed characters into a stunning science fiction epic. Now the dazzling Supernova heightens the thrills and deepens the haunting exploration of technology and humanity—and the consequences that await when the two intersect.

Once Ananke was an experimental military spacecraft. But a rogue computer virus transformed it�her—into something much a fully sentient artificial intelligence, with all the power of a god—and all the unstable emotions of a teenager.
Ěý
Althea, the ship’s engineer and the last living human aboard, nearly gave her life to save Ananke from dangerous saboteurs, forging a bond as powerful as that between mother and daughter. Now she devotes herself completely to Ananke’s care. But teaching a thinking, feeling machine—perhaps the most dangerous force in the galaxy—to be human proves a monumental challenge. When Ananke decides to seek out Matthew Gale, the terrorist she regards as her father, Althea learns that some bonds are stronger than mortal minds can understand—or control.
Ěý
Drawn back toward Earth by the quest, Althea and Ananke will find themselves in the thick of a violent revolution led by Matthew’s sister, the charismatic leader Constance, who will stop at nothing to bring down a tyrannical surveillance state. As the currents of past decisions and present desires come into stark collision, a new and fiery future is about to be born.]]> 298 C.A. Higgins 0553394460 R.E. 0 fiction, sci-fi 3.59 2016 Supernova (Lightless, #2)
author: C.A. Higgins
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2020/07/30
date added: 2020/07/30
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Truth Matters: A Citizen's Guide to Separating Facts from Lies and Stopping Fake News in Its Tracks]]> 36860693 0 Bruce Bartlett 152009602X R.E. 0 audio 0.0 The Truth Matters: A Citizen's Guide to Separating Facts from Lies and Stopping Fake News in Its Tracks
author: Bruce Bartlett
name: R.E.
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2020/07/16
date added: 2020/07/16
shelves: audio
review:

]]> Lightless (Lightless, #1) 34674956
Serving aboard the Ananke, an experimental military spacecraft launched by the ruthless organization that rules Earth and its solar system, computer scientist Althea has established an intense emotional bond—not with any of her crewmates, but with the ship’s electronic systems, which speak more deeply to her analytical mind than human feelings do. But when a pair of fugitive terrorists gain access to the Ananke, Althea must draw upon her heart and soul for the strength to defend her beloved ship.

While one of the saboteurs remains at large somewhere on board, his captured partner—the enigmatic Ivan—may prove to be more dangerous. The perversely fascinating criminal whose silver tongue is his most effective weapon has long evaded the authorities� most relentless surveillance—and kept the truth about his methods and motives well hidden.

As the ship’s systems begin to malfunction and the claustrophobic atmosphere is increasingly poisoned by distrust and suspicion, it falls to Althea to penetrate the prisoner’s layers of intrigue and deception before all is lost. But when the true nature of Ivan’s mission is exposed, it will change Althea forever—if it doesn’t kill her first.]]> 302 C.A. Higgins R.E. 5 fiction, sci-fi 3.63 2015 Lightless (Lightless, #1)
author: C.A. Higgins
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2020/07/10
date added: 2020/07/10
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:
I would've rated this five stars based solely on its perfect use of the word "spaghettification," but the rest of the story is also fantastic.
]]> Boudica's Army (I Was There) 24938451 128 Hilary McKay 1407148850 R.E. 0 fiction 3.52 2015 Boudica's Army (I Was There)
author: Hilary McKay
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2020/06/30
date added: 2020/06/30
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary]]> 155396 The Professor and the Madman, The Map That Changed the World, and Krakatoa comes a truly wonderful celebration of the English language and of its unrivaled treasure house, the Oxford English Dictionary.
Writing with marvelous brio, Winchester first serves up a lightning history of the English language--"so vast, so sprawling, so wonderfully unwieldy"--and pays homage to the great dictionary makers, from "the irredeemably famous" Samuel Johnson to the "short, pale, smug and boastful" schoolmaster from New Hartford, Noah Webster. He then turns his unmatched talent for story-telling to the making of this most venerable of dictionaries.

In this fast-paced narrative, the reader will discover lively portraits of such key figures as the brilliant but tubercular first editor Herbert Coleridge (grandson of the poet), the colorful, boisterous Frederick Furnivall (who left the project in a shambles), and James Augustus Henry Murray, who spent a half-century bringing the project to fruition.

Winchester lovingly describes the nuts-and-bolts of dictionary making--how unexpectedly tricky the dictionary entry for marzipan was, or how fraternity turned out so much longer and monkey so much more ancient than anticipated--and how bondmaid was left out completely, its slips found lurking under a pile of books long after the B-volume had gone to press. We visit the ugly corrugated iron structure that Murray grandly dubbed the Scriptorium--the Scrippy or the Shed, as locals called it--and meet some of the legion of volunteers, from Fitzedward Hall, a bitter hermit obsessively devoted to the OED, to W.C. Minor, whose story is one of dangerous madness, ineluctable sadness, and ultimate redemption.


The Meaning of Everything is a scintillating account of the creation of the greatest monument ever erected to a living language. Simon Winchester's supple, vigorous prose illuminates this dauntingly ambitious project--a seventy-year odyssey to create the grandfather of all word-books, the world's unrivalled uber-dictionary.]]> 288 Simon Winchester 019517500X R.E. 0 to-read 3.99 2003 The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary
author: Simon Winchester
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Black Mass 71111 424 Dick Lehr 0060959258 R.E. 0 to-read 3.82 2000 Black Mass
author: Dick Lehr
name: R.E.
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Rising: The Newsflesh Trilogy]]> 40506131
"Alive or dead, the truth won't rest. My name is Georgia Mason, and I am begging you. Rise up while you can."

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beat the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable FEED.

Now, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives —the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.]]> 1151 Mira Grant 0316451479 R.E. 5 fiction, sci-fi, zombies 4.43 2012 The Rising: The Newsflesh Trilogy
author: Mira Grant
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2020/06/17
date added: 2020/06/17
shelves: fiction, sci-fi, zombies
review:
Yes, I bought all the stories from this universe already, but I bought them in audio and I was moving house at the time, so they all flew by too quickly. I regret nothing.
]]> 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 R.E. 5 fiction, sci-fi 4.27 2019 Exhalation
author: Ted Chiang
name: R.E.
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/05/04
date added: 2020/05/30
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:

]]>