book
Rated Lock In 6/10
I'm not sure why I put off reading this book for so long. Somehow the name wasn't attracting me to it. The premise is an interesting mix of mystery and, I'm not sure what it would be called, maybe cyberpunk? That doesn't seem quite right. Futuristic tech misused, at least.<br/><br/>It's a what-if in more than one way. What would happen if terminally-online people were that way not by choice? One character is extreme in that they were never corporeal to begin with in their memory. Humans, of course, find new and innovative ways of hurting and killing each other with people living this way, as always due to (corporate) greed.<br/><br/>It just occurred to me that main character Chris Shane faintly reminds me of Asimov's Daneel Olivaw. Thinking about it further, I suppose the FBI vet he's partnered with, Leslie Vann, perfectly fits as his Elijah Baley. Huh. Except this "Baley" definitely swears! There's also an interesting if maybe a little too peripheral inclusion of an Indigenous Nation and I wonder how they'd feel about it considering how problematic it is for settlers to often commit crimes on their lands while too often not having the ability to deal with it themselves.<br/><br/>At least there's a happy ending involving them and the people locked in. I would be interested in another mystery with Chris or maybe a collection of short stories? Recommended for a nice easy scifi read, light on the sci.
Rated Blood Rites 8/10
In the Dresden continuing saga, after Butcher drops off a lot of the remaining characters with little use in the last book and closed out story arcs then, it was time to take a bit of a new direction. Whereas in the first few books it was a lot of what I think of as kind of "monster of the week" type of stories, as they used to call them in the tv show "Supernatural," finally the stories start to take a much bigger personal turn with this book. Picking up where the first shoe dropped near the end of the last book regarding his personal history, I also loved that there was also more room to expand Murphy's character into the one I love as a more full primary character. I just keep looking forward to her character arc! There's still the dry, ironic self-deprecation of Harry, but it's starting to take the darker battle-hardened edge from here on out. No Butters in this book! and I totally forgot to mention my glee at his introduction in the previous book, but I see he makes a comeback in the next, so I'm looking forward to that. Harry's new household at the end is a great setup for what comes next. Onward!
Rated Dead Ever After 6/10
It was time. It was really time to put Sookie Stackhouse away. As I said in my review to the book before this one, I'd already lost a lot of interest in the series up to that point until I realized that there were only 2 books left and then the series was closed. I decided to read them for closure. Not that I thought it was bad, but it just wasn't as exciting as it had once been. As described in a list of books I saw, it was one of those series which fall under "outstayed its welcome."<br/><br/>So to this book in particular, it pretty much ended as I'd been predicting for years. The plot was fairly wacky and seemed to have little purpose. In the end, it still sort of felt that way, but its sole purpose was really just to get to The End. It conveniently tied up every loose end with little reasoning in its tying of many villains together and deposits you at the abovementioned End.<br/><br/>I suppose this might be satisfying to some, but to me it just came off as making it clear that there was going to be absolutely nothing left to give an excuse for continuation. However, since it was past its expiration date, I suppose that's a good thing.<br/><br/>Sad to see you go, Eric The Viking. It was good while it lasted...
Rated A League of Their Own 8/10
I've loved the movie "A League of their Own" and is one of the (relatively) few movies I will re-watch without hesitation. A new generation is going to take a swing at a tv series version of the AAGPBL this month, so while digging around for a book to read I found this one and decided to read it. It turned out to be just a novelization of the movie, but it's great how indelibly the actors' performances are that I could picture every scene, every way the dialogue was played from reading this book. The movie really was pretty perfectly cast. I can't say enough about Penny Marshall's greatness, too. The dialogue and scene descriptions differed a little here and there, but considering the book was released on the same day as the movie, that's probably from slight editor/director changes that weren't going to make the novelization. Definitely not in 1992 anyway. As always, I recommend this story, in any format.<br/><br/>Sidenote: I've apparently had this book forever as it's stamped from the South Bend, IN public library where I've not been in for decades. Hopefully I bought it and didn't accidentally keep it!
Wants to read The Everlasting
Wants to read Parable of the Sower
Wants to read The Power of Mindful Learning
Finished reading Dieci cose che ho imparato
Finished reading Deep Freewriting: How to Masterfully Navigate the Creative Flow
Rated Tripwire 4/10
Mah, not great. The book is inconsistent, stretched beyond its natural length by a lot of unnecessary digressions. But the fatal flaw, for me, is that Reacher just dawdles around the USA (with some tight timescales) for 400 pages with no sense of urgency. And the villain is a cartoonish guy with a damn hook, and (spoiler) Reacher blocks a bullet because his pecs are so thick... oh come on. Beyond parody.
Wants to read Marcus Aurelius: A Guide for the Perplexed
Rated Project Hail Mary 10/10
Finished reading Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout