Wants to read Armada
book
Rated Wishful Drinking 6/10
Very easy and quick read (for me). The writing is extremely conversational (which makes for a nice change). <br/><br/>It does occasionally feels a bit here and there, rather than centred, but I kept reminding myself that the book started as a one woman stand up, so it's understandable. <br/><br/>None the less, the book is littered with (genuinely) laugh out loud moments (took me a good few minutes to stop laughing at the hearing-aid anecdote), and beautiful insights as well as kind words for those (of us) with mental illness.
Rated The Galaxy, and the Ground Within 8/10
Surprisingly difficult to connect with.<br/><i></i><br/>This is still a well written, interesting, continues the Wayfarer universe and prompts some challenging thoughts.<br/><br/>Where I did struggle was connection with the characters. Because they're exclusively alien, and entirely so: 4 arms and a shell, tiny sloth like swinging creatures, laru furball bendy things (though I imagined the creature from Ice Age oddly enough), because they're hard to visualise in my head I found it harder to connect to the characters.<br/><br/>I do also suspect this is a way of putting the reader in a position of a minority, to be unable to recognise oneself amongst the peers, which is what kept flipping back and forth in my head whilst continuing with the tale.<br/><br/>As with other Becky Chambers' books, the story isn't some fantastical explosion of events, but a soft observation of life and interaction of species and races living together - and that's something I'll continue to love about their books.<br/><br/>My favourite is still the first book, I'm not sure anything is going to top that for many years, but this is still a solid entry into the Wayfarer world.
Rated Artificial Condition 8/10
Uh! I love this character! This is the 2nd book in the murderbot books and the main character, who I realise now doesn't have a name (nor gender as it's a bot) is so fun to read. <br/><br/>The murderbot is so dry and grumpy and so different from previous characters I've read in sci-fi.<br/><br/>The first book definitely works as a stand alone, and although there's a self contained story in this second book, it definitely carries through a decent number of references to the earlier story that I'd not recommend reading this on it's own.<br/><br/>Since the books are only around 160 pages, I'm moving right on to the next installment and looking forward to it already.
Wants to read The ZX Spectrum Ula: How to Design a Microcomputer
Rated Annihilation 8/10
<div>I am quite late to the party with this book, but I enjoyed it enough to get the next installment from the library. I listened to the audiobook, which leant itself well to the diary style in which it was written.</div>
Wants to read Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
Wants to read Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Rated Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years 6/10
I had a hard time reading this book, took me a long time as I found Mole and the surrounding characters extremely…sad or pathetic or selfish. It continued on like this until about 80% where I started to enjoy the book a little more and the characters finally start to bloom and become more complex, and endearing. <br/><br/>It ends on a hopeful note, and after realising this was the last Mole story that Sue Townsend wrote before passing away, leaves me a little sad that this life sort of vanishes with her. I had read The Secret Diary when I was a teenager back in the 80s so Mole has always existed for me, almost like a character from a reality show. <br/><br/>So even though I struggled with this book, I'm glad to have read Mole's final chapters, and hope that he's happy somewhere in his literary universe.
Finished reading Nihilism and Technology
Wants to read Solo Leveling Novel 06
Edited 30d ago
Wants to read The Origins of Totalitarianism
Wants to read Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence