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Rated Artificial Condition 7/10

Added Dungeon Crawler Carl to Want to Read

Rated Exhalation 9/10

Rated The Incendiaries 8/10

I liked this book a lot. I stayed up too late reading this both odd and true-feeling tale of the lengths to which people will go to feel whole again.

Rated There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America 9/10

<div>While this doesn't necessarily have the narrative art that reportage from, say, Patrick Radden Keefe might have (though, who can be him?), this is still an illuminating story of several families trying to navigate homelessness in Atlanta, despite not being counted as "officially" unhoused by many counts because of living doubled-up with family, in hotels, and other extended stay facilities that are not shelters.&nbsp;<br><br>Brian Goldstone does a good job of showing how you can do everything right and still get screwed over by our housing system. You can make one little mistake, and it will reverberate through your whole life in a way that is hardly proportional to the mistake. You can be doing your best, and still have the exhaustion, frustration, and anger affect other parts of your life.&nbsp;<br><br>People who have never experienced homelessness like to blame other people's choices or health for their situation, as though coming up with a "reason" will protect them. Goldstone demonstrates what many other studies have concluded — it is the state of being unhoused that often contributes to health problems (physical and mental) and drives people to make desperate choices in a system full of bad-to-worse prospects. He doesn't pass judgement on any of the families featured here, and it's important to remember while reading that, even if one individual makes a choice we might disagree with, that doesn't mean the individual (and their children) deserve sleeping on the street.<br><br>The truth is, we are all closer to this situation than we'd like to believe.<br><br>I have never been unhoused, but I still feel like I dodged a bullet by securing an apartment that is only allowed to raise its rent up to a certain percentage every year. My rent is still almost $400 more expensive per month than it was when we moved in a little over five years ago. And it's wild to feel LUCKY that it's only been that much. My very first apartment is now a "luxury condo" (that still doesn't provide you with your own parking space.) Somehow, in a state that with a $10/hr minimum wage, we have studio apartments renting for over $1000/month. Where exactly are people supposed to get this money, if landlords think they can charge whatever they want, and most bosses don't feel inclined to pay people what they are worth? And some assholes want to come along and tell renters, "Well, maybe you should make better choices." WHAT CHOICE, MFER?!<br><br>Anyway, much of the information in this book was not unknown to me, but I still learned several new bits of information. Such as: The apartments that can only raise it so much? The apartments that get government grants for "affordable" housing? Yeah, there are loopholes for switching to "market rate," especially when apartments are sold. My apartment was recently sold to an out of state company. Guess we'll see what happens when we renew our lease.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

Rated Doctor Who: Wirrn Dawn 6/10

Finished reading Løping! : raskere og skadefri

Rated XO 6/10

Rated Harlem Shuffle 6/10

Rated A Little Life 6/10

Finished reading Foundation

Wants to read Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

Finished reading Good Omens The Graphic Novel

Rated Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory 4/10

Rated Earthlings 7/10

<div>Interesting, but wtfffffffff</div>

Rated The Curse of Chalion 10/10

Rated When the World Didn't End 8/10

<div>Guinevere Turner's memoir about her childhood split between growing up in the Lyman Family cult and later an abusive household with her mother, step-father, and siblings was a harrowing read, but an interesting one. Using her diaries as scaffolding, she writes from the perspective of her child-self and how she felt about what was happening to her at the time. Though I maybe would have liked a little more adult-self perspective near the end, I also understand that writing it this way makes it all the more clear what it's like to be in these situations, how your perspective gets warped by what the adults in your life are telling you. It's also wild how she was actually somewhat safer within a cult than she was living with her mother/step-father, though of course, living with the Family had its own share of problems. I'd be interested to read another memoir from Turner about how she navigated life after getting free from these terrible situations.</div>

Finished reading Xenocide

Finished reading The Turmoil: A Novel

Wants to read Malice

Rated Morning Star 7/10

Rated Night Watch 10/10

Finished reading Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair

Rated Doctor Who: I Am The Master 10/10

Oh I loved this. A bit meta, well-suited for headphones, the Master being devious. It's great.

Finished reading Tiamat's Wrath