Wants to read The Good Divide
book
Rated The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 8/10
<div>I turned 42 recently, and I'd never read this book (though I have seen the movie). If it is indeed my Life, The Universe, and Everything Year, then I'd better have some context for that saying.<br><br>Anyway, it is very British Silly, and that's not for everyone, but it made me laugh.</div>
Rated The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms 7/10
<div>I don't know that this was wholly for me, but NK Jemisin is a great enough writer (and I've enjoyed many of her other books) that I may still read the next book in the series at some point.</div>
Rated Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew 8/10
This is a long novel, and because I'm not overly familiar with Sri Lanka or cricket, I would sometimes think, <i>I'm not sure what he's talking about or what exactly is going on</i>, yet I was enjoying myself. It takes a special sort of outstanding writer to make a non-sport person love reading 400 pages filled with it. Karunatilaka imbues W.G.'s voice with a subtle humor throughout, even as the man's health deteriorates.<br><br>(My full review can be found at <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-legend-of-pradeep-mathew-by-shehan.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Rated The Mermaids Singing 6/10
<div>Not bad, but definitely not as enjoyable as some of her other books I've read. At least, even though it's from the early '90s, the homophobia and transphobia regarding the subject matter remains somewhat minimal (I mean, I guess. I expected worse), but not everything holds up. I may read others in this series still.</div>
Rated The Naming of the Dead 8/10
<div>Not sure if I should've jumped in with the 16th Rebus book instead of the first, but I picked this up for a couple bucks used, after hearing that the books were good. Though there are some mild copaganda issues that aren't necessarily to my taste, the book still shows the flaws of all sides, and I was definitely interested in seeing how the story shook out. It'll be interesting now to go back and see how younger Rebus compares.</div>
Rated The Quaker 8/10
<div>I really liked this noir. The ending risks being overcomplicated, but McIlvanney pulls off having so many moving parts. It feels somewhat unfair to compare him to his father's writing, but having so recently read LAIDLAW — and the fact that my edition of the book said 'Winner 2018 McIlvanney Prize' on the cover — I suppose it's inevitable. I will say I did not have the same "Damn, now that's a sentence" feelings here, but the writing is enjoyably direct, moody, and full of great details. I'll have to track down the next one in the series.</div>
Rated The Shelter Within: A True Story 8/10
<div>I feel for her because writing about your struggles cannot be easy. Even after you make yourself excavate everything, afterwards, you feel like everyone is going to judge you and your choices. And looking at some of the reviews here, it happens! It's also gotta be frustrating to be in a better place financially NOW, writing about the struggles from BEFORE because every time someone sees you now, if they've read your writing, they might come to all sorts of weird conclusions. (I imagine this is what her book <em>Class</em> deals with, but I haven't read it yet.)<br><br>Still, at the stage in her life Land writes about here, you do get the sense that she's the friend who is ALWAYS going through some shit. Some of it might be "choices," sure, that happens, but it's also what you deal with you're broke AF. Shit just piles up! It compounds! And I do not begrudge her getting a coffee at City Brew because poor people need the occasional pick-me-up too. So I hope that in her real life, she has more people that extend kindness than not.</div><div><br></div>
Rated The Russia Shift 8/10
Ending was just an ok payoff for an otherwise very interesting world. Good art.
Rated The Story of Mary Maclane 6/10
<div>RIP Mary MacLane, you would've loved livejournal, tumblr, and AO3. We would have lost you to Poster's Madness years ago.<br><br>Mary MacLane, if you didn't know, was Winnipeg-born, but it was in Butte, Montana, where she gained notoriety as a "wild woman" who was going to write about herself and whatever else she wanted, and if that includes fanfiction about the Devil and shading Charlotte Brontë, then so be it!! <br><br>She was bisexual, feminist, angry, lonely, one child of many, breathing in mining fumes, confident, funny, complex, and unfortunately, a big Byron and Napoleon fan. You're not reading her for great literature, but I love that a Butte gal got everyone up in arms, circa 1902. #ButteAmerica<br><br></div>
Wants to read The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who
Rated The Stone Sky 10/10
This whole trilogy is just so excellent. Cannot recommend enough.
Rated The Torment of Others 7/10
<div>All right, I know I've read a lot of her books lately, so maybe that magnifies some of my quibbles due to repeated exposure, but this was only ok. Propulsive enough to invest me in the story, but 2004-era social politics chafe a bit, reading it 20 years later. I suppose it's less SWERF-y than it could be, given the time, but it's definitely not <em>not</em> that either. This was better than the previous 2 I read from her (different series, each), but it's not among her really good ones. I think Val and I need a little break so I can forget some of her less favorable quirks.</div>
Rated The War Master: Anti-Genesis 10/10
Loved this bit of the Master being a bit overambitious, even for him. Nice way to show how the Time War was basically a mess.