Finished reading On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Edited 45d ago
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Rated Destination Unknown 6/10
Rated The Nature of Middle-Earth 9/10
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Rated The Coming of the Third Reich 10/10
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Added Atmosphere to Currently Reading
Edited 29d ago
Wants to read How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
Rated Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions 8/10
A really tough and important book that you can read in a few sittings. Luiselli, a writer from Mexico, worked as a translator for kids facing immigration courts, and she structures this book around the interview questionnaire. It's very high-stakes and upsetting, a look at just a few of the tens of thousands of stories of children and teens making the long journey from Central America. It's an indictment that doesn't offer many answers, and it's important to point out that it takes place during the Obama era, not the Trump era. Luiselli lays out the case, simply, that the system by which we rush these kids through the process of deciding whether they stay or go is deeply inhumane. Everyone should read it because it really cuts away all of the abstraction and puts in front of you what this issue is really about.
Rated Speak 6/10
Beautifully written sci-fi-ish novel about artificial intelligence, told in six separate storylines that don't quite hang together and vary in interest level. Thought-provoking and a quick read.
Rated A Winter's Night by Valerio Massimo Manfredi 8/10
“Told in the tradition of country folktales,” <i>A Winter's Night</i>'s jacket copy reads. For some readers, I imagine that might be a deterrent, and if it is, resist your resistance. This expansive, multi-generational novel set in the first half of twentieth century Italy is as enjoyable as it is lovely. Manfredi gathers a lot of history into 400 pages, and while it's not exactly a quick read, <i>Night</i> never feels like a slog either — even if the characters themselves wonder when they might escape certain slog-like points in their lives.<br><br>(My full review appears on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-winters-night-by-valerio-massimo.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Edited 25d ago
Rated Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives 8/10
Brad Watson's collection of short stories ache with confusion and loneliness, and the result is akin to a lucid dream. Each of his stories recall the recent past, a pre-internet stillness that amplifies his characters' disconnect. While I enjoyed this collection, I finished with some uncertainty over what I'd just read. Not every story stuck with me, but the ones that did have made me curious to seek out Watson's other work.<br><br>(My full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2011/06/aliens-in-prime-of-their-lives-by-brad.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Edited 25d ago
Rated All My Puny Sorrows 10/10
<div>Outstandingly great. Funny, sad, a wonderful, complicated family of weirdos (affectionate) trying to figure out how (or if) they want to live. This is one of those 5 star books where I recommend just reading it, and otherwise, I don't have a lot to say besides I loved it.<br><br> TW: for discussion of suicide, of course, and I guess if you were/are Mennonite, some of this may bring up some feelings. Then again, this is Miriam Toews. If you're Mennonite, you know what her whole deal is.... but if you are in the headspace for all that, get thee to a library/bookstore.</div>
Edited 25d ago