book

Finished reading The Spare Room

Reading The Radical Spanish Empire: How Paperwork Politics Remade the New World

Added Adulthood Is a Myth: A Sarah's Scribbles Collection to a list

Added Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous to a list

Wants to read The Enchanted Greenhouse

Rated Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling 8/10

I found the first third of *Hitman* hard to read, as it often felt more like a bullet-point summary than a personal memoir. Luckily, that changed as the book went on. Hundreds of wrestling personalities make an appearance, as Hart interacted with so many of them throughout his long and storied career.

Hart comes across as self-centered and bitter, always judging other people's actions while justifying his own. The book does not paint him as a very likable person, which is an interesting choice in an autobiography.

Luckily, the author doesn't have to be likable for this to be a fascinating, personal view of a long, eventful period of pro-wrestling history.

My full review: https://puf.io/books/hitman---bret-hart/
All my reviews: https://puf.io/books/

Rated Columbus Day 6/10

Columbus Day mixes space opera pulp of the purest kind with splashes of Hitchhiker’s Guide-esque absurdism, and that’s not a bad thing.

The story is very readable, the plot moves fast, and the interaction between the characters is funny and functional. I enjoyed this book for what it is, but wonder how its lightweight nature and (so far) lack of character development hold up across the series.

Rated The Subtle Knife 6/10

I enjoyed The Subtle Knife, but like The Golden Compass, it didn’t fully live up to my expectations.

The world-building didn’t interest me as much this time, but the plot moves along nicely and has some unexpected twists. It also ends on another big, but darker, cliffhanger.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the story wraps up in The Amber Spyglass.

My full review: https://puf.io/books/the-subtle-knife...

Rated Mr. Kiss and Tell 6/10

liked that this book picks up an annoying loose thread from the TV show: whatever happened to Meg Manning's little sister Grace?

Unfortunately the book's main plot didn't grip me very much, and Veronica herself is all over the place - in an annoying way. Wallace and Mac also feel too much like caricatures this time around.

The narration by Rebecca Lowman was fine, but a notch below Kristen Bell's narration in book 1.

Full review: https://puf.io/books/mr.-kiss-and-tel...

Rated The Correspondent 8/10

I found the story itself rather simplistic and the wrap-up a bit too sudden and smooth, but the execution through letters and emails is very well done.

The almost-full-cast narration is well done and really supports the epistolary format, though I found some of the ethnic/regional character accents a bit too in-your-face.

Rated Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity 8/10

Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture shows its age, but its core argument about copyright, creativity, and cultural freedom still lands. A good read for those who care about such things.

My full review: https://puf.io/books/free-culture---l...

Rated Tooth and Nail: A Steampunk Sleeping Beauty 6/10

Fast-paced YA steampunk pulp that mixes classic fairy tales with vampires, gargoyles, and other traditional lore. The initial mystique of the setting is wearing a bit thin by book 3, and the romance is a bit overindulgent, but I still immediately put book 4 on my Kindle. 😄

Full review: https://puf.io/books/tooth-and-nail--...

Rated A Conventional Boy 6/10

At 150 or so pages, Derek’s story is a bit shorter than it deserves (in my opinion). The story is interesting though, and the diverse cast of (mostly new) characters is fun.

I’d already read the two included short stories. The Satanic Panic background was interesting, but overall, the book felt padded.

A fun but skippable entry—I’m more excited for The Regicide Report.

Full review: puf.io/books/a-conventional-boy---cha...

Rated Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley 8/10

Despite having lived through much of this history, it was fascinating to read the personal takes from so many insiders. I also learned plenty of new things - like how influential Alan Kay was on Apple, and how much early startup history happened around South Park in San Francisco.

The interview style wasn't my favorite, but it’s still a fascinating collection of perspectives.

Full review: https://puf.io/books/valley-of-genius...

Added Because I Killed Him to Want to Read

Added The Desert Spear

Rated Drømmen om et tre 8/10

Rated The Spellshop 9/10

Rated The Moustache 4/10

An interesting concept, and in places the story is a real page-turner. But in other places I found the writing boring and repetitive. This could still have been a 3-star read for me, except for the last two pages, where the book suddenly takes a turn that left a bad taste in my mouth.

Full review: https://puf.io/books/the-moustache---...
All my reviews: https://puf.io/books/

Added Aromantic (love) story. 2 to Read Books

Added Aromantic (love) story. 5 to Read Books

Rated Aan het einde van de oorlog 8/10

A very interesting, fresh take on a deservedly well-covered period of history. Including many perspectives on the same events the book gives it breadth and depth, and make for a compelling read throughout its 640 pages. Easy four stars.

Full review: https://puf.io/books/aan-het-einde-va...

Rated Dungeon Crawler Carl 6/10

A fun, punch-packing page-turner that mixes nail-biting fight scenes with exploration of its broader universe and some social commentary on both our world and the imagined universe of the series.

It didn’t fully live up to the hype for me, but I will gladly continue reading the series.

My full review (including a comparison to book 1 of Awaken Online): https://puf.io/books/dungeon-crawler-...

Rated Hogfather 6/10

While I really (REALLY) miss Stephen Briggs' character work, I love that Bill Nighy is so present as Death in this one, along with the main narration and other characters by Sian Clifford.

The novel itself is fun as usual for Pratchett and there are plenty of new, memorable characters here, but Nighy's Hooo, hooo, hooooos are what made me laugh frequently.

Susan, the Death of Rats (squeak), and Quoth the raven were all great additions to spend time with as well.

Full review: https://puf.io/books/hogfather---terr...

All my reviews: https://puf.io/books/

Reading Dungeon Crawler Carl