Rated The Circle 10/10
Really *good story, that last update should read.
book
Rated Still Life 8/10
<div>I liked this one better than the previous one in the series, though this once again shows some of the research seams — You're going to learn this expository information just like the author! ha .... Oh well.</div>
Rated Survivors: Series Four Box Set 8/10
Rated The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl 8/10
Pollack details his yogic journey from skepticism to borderline evangelism with a great sense of humor, and like the best "sport" memoirs do, he makes it interesting to a person who has no idea what <i>asanas</i> are.<br><br>He finds himself searching for the right kind of practice and right kind of teacher that best suit his personality. For one thing, Pollack's still a stoner and a bit of pessimist, so anything too touchy-feely, straight edge, or activist has him rolling up his mat and searching elsewhere. Still, he takes the time to talk about the different practices offered by so many different teachers explaining some of the history and terminology of that particular yoga flavor. He tries out everything from the super-hot Bikram to political Jivamukti to his preferred lower-key methods, hatha and ashtanga.<br><br>Stretch is a fun, informative journey to contentment, complete with a side of holistic questions. Yoga, Neal discovers, is not about desiring more "things" in your life — stature, wealth, and the like — but rather finding contentment in the <i>now.</i><br><br>(Full review can be found at <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2011/07/stretch-unlikely-making-of-yoga-dude-by.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Rated The City We Became 10/10
This book was so interesting and inventive, with so many great details. I love how we're plonked right down into the bewilderment of the characters, figuring it out while they do. (This is the sort of book Neil Gaiman wishes he could write, but would be unlikely to do a good job.)
Rated The Calculating Stars 4/10
<div>I just did not vibe with this one, though the beginning of the book made me hopeful that this would be an enjoyable exploration of an alternate history space program. In this version of Earth, a meteorite has wiped out much of the east coast in 1952, and Elma, our protagonist, is the one who notices that this will be a slow-moving extinction level event, and since her husband is an engineer in the fledgling space program, she gets an audience with the people who can do something about it. I mean, sure we could also hear about how everyone is getting their food after a long winter and other apocalyptic considerations, but aside from briefly mentioning it in the beginning, she is barely troubled by it.<br><br>Her husband is always perfect to her, always supportive, represses his anger with others through grimaces and tight fists. We hear a lot about it when someone is mean to his wife. Because 1950s misogyny still abounds, but nary a thought like that passes through sweet lil Nathaniel's head. Barf. And I am of course not against sex scenes in books, but these are SO cheesy. PLEASE I do not want to hear rising rocket puns every time you two get a moment alone.<br><br>Everything else is hamfisted 2010s white feminist #Representation. Of course she's friends with a diverse group of pilots who all get such personalities and depths as .... being pilots. From other countries. They pepper in, ah, how you say, phrases from their native language. The French lady's last name is Lebourgeois. The most misogynist astronaut is named, I shit you not, STETSON PARKER. (Apparently we have Brandon Sanderson to blame for that character, according to her acknowledgements, and believe me, I will blame.) Elsa and Nathaniel are Jewish, but their last name is York, for some reason.<br><br>And just when you think, hey maybe we'll hear about some interesting space stuff, a real alternate history besides the stuff in the beginning... No! Not really! We're mostly going to hear about Elsa's struggles with ~aNxIEtY~ because poor genius mathematician and WASP pilot barfs if too many people look at her, see. Reporters are scary and therefore we must spend the majority of the book hearing about her stomach issues anytime someone mentions them.<br><br>And if you know enough about space to know why people need to be quarantined beforehand, then why are you having non-quarantined people interact with astronauts if their mission was only temporarily delayed??<br><br>Just so much bugged me, and I am baffled that it won so many awards in 2018. I will not be reading the next one in the series. Next season of For All Mankind can't come soon enough.</div>
Rated Doctor Who: The Dalek Generation 10/10
I loved this, and what a treat to have new Ninth Doctor content again. The tone of these stories is very much in line with his televised stories, even with them occurring pre-Rose.
Rated The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents 8/10
<div>My First Pratchett, believe it or not. My library happened to have the audiobook available and it seemed like a standalone enough story that I could jump into Discworld without too much trouble. This take on the Pied Piper tale is funny, smart, and full of great character names.</div>
Rated The Art Forger 8/10
I picked up this novel on a whim from the new books section at the library, and it was a lovely surprise. Using the real life art heist from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, B.A. Shapiro has created a fictionalized story about a disgraced painter, Claire, who has been asked by a famous gallery owner to copy a Degás — the same Degás stolen from the museum. However, the more time Claire spends with this ill-begotten painting, the more she suspects that it may also be a forgery.<br><br>Because I’m a sucker for heist stories and because I’m quite interested in visual art, I enjoyed unraveling the mystery of what had really happened during the time of the theft and in the 19th century when the painting was originally created. There’s a whole side-plot about why Claire has a poor reputation in the art world that is also quite interesting, and though I could work out some of the twists on my own, the complete ending still held plenty of surprises.<br><br>(This review originally appeared in <a href="http://persephonemagazine.com/2013/08/22/5-book-recommendations-for-your-reading-pleasure/">Persephone Magazine</a>.)
Rated The Collective 4/10
I suppose the argument could be made that <i>The Collective</i> is a story about how we can never completely know another person, and that even our closest friends are capable of surprising us. I just wanted to hear about it from someone else. If we could see the inner workings of Joshua, rather than speculate, and juxtapose those thoughts with his outward behavior, I might have enjoyed the novel more.<br><br>I understand that creative people are often not the most stable — myself being one of them — and while I sympathized with these characters' causes, I just couldn't quite connect with them. I'm certainly not sorry I read it, but especially now going back through it, I wish the story could have been framed in a more effective way. Like Eric, it has potential, but I wanted better.<br><br>(My full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-collective-by-don-lee.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Wants to read The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait
Rated The Call 8/10
While I'd hesitate to say that <i>The Call</i> would be a universal hit for everyone, it is certainly one that keeps your mind going in between reading sessions. It is a bit of a puzzle, but a good one, and one certainly worth giving a try.<br><br>(My full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2011/12/call-by-yannick-murphy.html">Glorified Love Letters.</a>)
Rated The Eighth of March, Vol. 2: Protectors of Time 8/10
<div>Good stuff! I liked the Rani/Jo/Jac story the best, and I hope there's more of Rani (not THE Rani) in future adventures, UNIT or otherwise. The Jenny/Christina one, it took me until the second half to get more invested for whatever reason, but the Romana/Tharil story was enjoyable. I tend to like Romana though.</div>
Rated The Cat Who Saved Books 7/10
<div>Though this flavor of magical realism isn't my usual literary neck of the woods, this was an enjoyable fable on the importance of books and recognizing the people who care for you.</div>
Rated The Eighth of March 3: Strange Chemistry 8/10
Rated The Cutting Room 8/10
<div>A really solid Glasgow mystery that isn't cop-centric, though the subject matter is definitely not for the squeamish. Since this is from 2003, there are some terms regarding trans people that do not hold up 20 years later, and we definitely didn't need an epigraph for every chapter, but otherwise I liked this.</div>
Rated Doctor Who: The Crawling Terror 8/10
(More of a 3.5, but...) This was stronger than the previous Twelfth Doctor novels I read, mostly because I think Mike Tucker had actually viewed some of the new episodes before writing it. While the voice/attitude of the Doctor was not <i>quite</i> right, it felt a lot closer than the previous novel-efforts. Fuller review forthcoming.
Rated The Davros Mission 8/10
All of these Davros stories were really solid. Glad I gave them a listen.