Books we've read in 2021

[poorpete]

My books read is still at 0. But I still have a third of a year to go...

[Kyle]

My books read is still at 0. But I still have a third of a year to go...

[Mike]

My books read is still at 0. But I still have a third of a year to go...

You're emphasizing quality over quantity.


I read voraciously when I was younger, and that dropped off severely as our family grew and dedicating hours to sitting and reading became difficult. The advent of affordable audiobooks over the last few years (through my library service and Audible mostly) has allowed me to have nearly unlimited book listening streamed directly to my phone. I drive enough to allow me to get through a book every week or two on average.

I'm not suggesting that this works for everyone. The drawback for me is that audiobooks cut into my music and podcast listening time severely. I'm okay with that, but I know how devoted you are to music and musical exploration. I'm jealous of the depth and breadth of your knowledge, but also recognize that I'm not willing to put in the time and effort such a skillset requires.

[Tahlvin]

I listen to a lot of audiobooks while running on the treadmill or riding the stationary bike. That gives me about 6.5 hours a week of listening time, so I tend to get through a book every couple weeks, depending on how long they are. Lately, I've been listening to a number of thrillers from Brad Thor and Steve Berry. I think I'll be caught up on all of those soon, and will be looking for something else to listen to.

[Phoebe]

The audiobooks is a great idea. I think one reason all y'all so smart and interesting is that you keep up with reading and never let yourselves become stagnant intellectually. That's not easy to do when there are so many other demands. One thing about my job is that I spend so much time in front of a screen reading things, or generally reading things, that I need a certain amount of looking around at the natural world and listening to music to make up for it. Work is cutting into my leisure book reading time significantly. But one wants health insurance. And we've seen how they treat nurses. Non-leisure reading will continue to intensify, I predict.

[Kyle]

I'm not suggesting that this works for everyone. The drawback for me is that audiobooks cut into my music and podcast listening time severely.

One of the best things I did was give up on podcasts. I only listen to yours and Patricks. That's it. I realized that I was listening to a bunch of podcasts out of obligation-- Doug Loves Movies, Filmsack, Nerdist, You Made it Weird-- and it was a chore without me actually realizing it. I felt that I needed to keep listening to them because I'd listened to THEIR ENTIRE LIBRARY, so how could I stop that kind of streak? But that's dumb if I'm enjoying them, but not really loving them. So I decided to quit all of them and listen to books and it makes me much happier. I remember books. I don't remember much from podcasts.

[Tahlvin]

A while back, I cut back on the number of podcasts I listen to. Like you, it felt too much like a chore to listen to some of them, and just wasn't enjoying them as I had been, and decided I could spend that time on better things.

[Kyle]

The Black God's Drum- P. Djeli Clark. So I have a real appreciation for these novellas that Clark is coming out with. They're each these self-contained fantasy alternate-worlds. This one wasn't my favorite- mostly because, for reasons I can't really put my finger on- the characters just didn't click with me as well. This is in reconstruction-era New Orleans, but a world where African gods are real and some people serve as their low-key avatars. Think of them like the Oracle class in Pathfinder. Our protagonist is Creeper, an orphan street rat who's a little two on-the-nose for a scrappy orphan street rat (which is probably why the characters didn't appeal to me as much), but she's also secretly carrying the remnants of an African wind god in her. The plot revolves around post-confederates stealing magical technology, the titular Black God's Drum, that they want to use to destroy the primarily black, free nation of New Orleans. While the story was good, it was a little more predictable than Clark's other stories, but still that wonderful sense of a complete and lived-in world without having to have it all spoon-fed to you. I did have an issue with one of the important magical technologies (not the title namesake Drums) that I thought were marginalizing, but I can't really discuss it without spoilers. All in all, a great read, but probably the least favorite of the Clark novellas I've read.

[Mike]

The Haunting of Tram 015 -- P. Djeli Clark
Everything has been said already. Clark is the master of presenting oversized, lived-in, fully realized world within the bounds of a short story* or novella. This one is no exception. I want an RPG set in this world. I want a TV series about these investigators. I want a movie. Or... you know... more book. I know he's not going to give me any of that,so I enjoy what I can get.


*I'm telling you, in one of my reviews above, I mentioned his short story, "The Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington", which is nine short vignettes about teeth that wound up in Washington's dentures, and the world it creates is vivid and magical and deep. Can't recommend it enough.

[Stan]

The pair in Tram 015 appear as minor characters in the full sized novel A Master of Djinn. If you liked Tram 015, you'll probably love the novel. It's slightly better if you read the novella A Dead Djinn in Cairo first as part of the plot in that plays into the novel.

I agree that this would be a great TV series.

[Mike]

I tried reading Little Gods by Ming Chen, the third novel I've read that is narrated by Emily Wu Zeller. Apparently, if you are a female Chinese author, Zeller is your go-to. She's very good.

Unfortunately, I failed to connect with Little Gods. I liked was I was hearing, but just felt so disconnected from everything that I couldn't enjoy it. Although the beginning is about a very disconnected main character, so maybe that was the point. Either way, I had to walk away from it. Maybe some other time.

[Mike]

The Three-Body Problem -- Cixin Liu
This is brilliant and innovative sci-fi. If sci-fi is your thing, it's a must-read.

The storytelling is lacking. Not at first, though. The first two-thirds of the book have a gripping narrative that is truly enjoyable with deep characters and a wonderful mystery. But then it comes time to finally explain and reveal, and then it feels a little cheesy and forced. It's still brilliant and innovative, but at some point there's just SO MUCH that the book prioritizes clear and thorough explanation of all of the ideas over the needs of the narrative.

There are two more books that go with this. I will get to them.

[Mike]

The Echo Wife -- Sarah Gailey
I think I say this a lot, but maybe the best book I've read all year.

Evelyn is a brilliant researcher in the field of human cloning. Her soon-to-be ex-husband has used her technology to create a "better" more agreeable version of Evelyn. That's everything I knew going in, and I was expecting it to be like a light-sci-fi version of a Lifetime movie. I was so very wrong. This story went way deeper than I could have imagined. The science was way more solid than I could have hoped for. The story went in suddenly unexpected directions a good three or four times. I could not put it down. It is incredibly good. There is so much here to pull apart. It is simultaneously very cerebral and very emotional. You should.read it.

[Kyle]

Fearsome Journeys- Johnathan Strahan, ed. So knowing I was going to be in a boot and not driving much (and thus, not being able to listen to audiobooks as much), I picked up this fantasy anthology without giving it much thought. I figured that short stories would be good if I was going to have big gaps between times to listen. That being said, this book was freaking great. It's all high fantasy with almost all the stories being "on the road" type fantasy stories. Weirdly, the book was touted as having a "Black Company" story in it. I've never heard of the Black Company, so this meant nothing to me. But I have to say that the Black Company story was by far the weakest story, with a stupid Princess/Tiger ending that felt like a bullshit cheat. But the other stories were all extremely well written and told clever, compelling stories. I really enjoyed this book. High recommend.

[Mike]

The Murderbot Diaries: Network Effect -- Martha Wells
I took a break for two months and five other books; I can't take it no more.

Network Effect is book 5 in the Murderbot series and the first full-length novel. It is just as gripping, just as funny, and just as touching as the rest of them. There is no decline in quality here. I wept in the middle of this one... again. I've sold you as hard as I can. Just read them.

I've already started book 6, another novella, and Wells reports that there will be three more books before she's done. I'm so excited!

[Kyle]

The Guest List- Lucy Foley. This is the second murder mystery I've read by Lucy Foley. The first, The Hunting Party, I greatly enjoyed for what it was- a fun murder mystery (I've tried to find my review, but can't find it on this or last year's list). Anywho, this was pretty much the same formula. In fact, it was exactly the same formula. The twist on Foley's mysteries is that they jump back and forth in time between before and after the murder, and you're trying to figure out both the victim and the murderer the whole time. It's a fun formula, but was a little bit tedious to see it used in exactly the same way in this book. That said, it was fun, expertly written and-- most importantly-- I figured it out! A nice distraction if you're looking for some light reading.

[Kyle]

On the House- John Boehner. I'm shocked by how much I enjoyed this book. Holy cow. Boehner's politics and my own are almost exactly opposite, but this is a great audiobook for three reasons: (1) he's an amazing story teller; (2) he's not an extremist; and (3) he read it himself. The big choice Boehner makes in this book that really excels is that he almost exclusively focuses on his time in the House and as Speaker. He tells a little bit about growing up, talks a little bit about his family- but he knows what the meat is here- it's about the shit that went down in the House. You'll think this is going to be hard to listen to, because his politics are different from yours (maybe), but I appreciate that one of his core principles is to try to build consensus. He was an across the aisle representative. (Or at least those are the values he's espousing and the stories he's telling, I know there are examples that show otherwise.) And that resonates with me because I think we need to focus on bringing our country together and not continuing to divide it- and Boehner very strongly believes that. But the best part about this book is that Boehner reads it himself. And he's clearly tipsy (at least) when he reads most of it. So sometimes he slurs some words. Sometimes he loses his place. A lot of times he goes off script to drop F-bombs (particularly about Ted Cruz). And you'd think this would be a liability- but it's GREAT. There are some things that are a bit jarring- there's an old-man mysogeny to some of his stories (about how to treat women properly a/k/a differently from men) and there was some creepiness when he was would discuss Obama's "attitude." But at the end of the day, I felt like he was honest and funny. A great read.

[Mike]

The Murderbot Diaries: Fugitive Telemetry -- Martha Wells
And now I'm all caught up! It's Murderbot. It's great. This one had less of the moving personal arc, but as a novella, I'm guessing (hoping) that it's setting up a big character arc that we can follow through the last three books.

Read Murderbot.

[Mike]

The Ten Thousand Doors of January -- Alix E. Harrow
I love portal fantasies--stories that take the protagonist through a magical gateway to a wondrous world. Alice in Wonderland, Narnia, Thomas Covenant, Peter Pan, Oz. So here come The Ten Thousand Doors of January billed as an ultimate portal fantasy novel for adults and a "love letter to storytelling." I had high hopes.

It was a good book, but I wish it had been better. Harrow's an extremely talented writer, and this is a gripping tale with wonderfully developed characters, but it fell short as a portal fantasy for me. It needed a lot more wonder. Portals take you away to fantastical worlds where you have wondrous adventures only to be deposited back in your own home just as you were starting to get the hang of it. But Ten Thousand Doors spends the vast majority of its time in our own world. And it tells a very compelling story in our world, but I wanted to SEE the these strange other worlds. I wanted to live in them and watch our protagonist find her way, but we spent little time there. And the world's we DO visit, even the magical ones, are surprisingly ordinary. At one point, we hear of an amazing world of noble shapechanging leopard women hunting in a dangerous jungle land. But all we get is a synopsis of one woman's life there, but then we never visit.

There weren't direct explanations of how magic works or how doors work or whatever, but in the end it all felt more like a scifi tale than like a fantasy.

It's worth reading, but manage your expectations going in.

[Phoebe]

My Favorite Thing is Monsters - Emil Ferris


This is a very painstakingly and beautifully created, powerful graphic novel. Be advised, very disturbing themes including sexual abuse and exploitation and, well, Nazis. I wasn't in a position to invest much of myself in the story, as opposed to being an observer of the story. Still, it was interesting from that observational perspective. I didn't want it to have any further impact upon me than it did. However, it was well done and the art is AMAZING and the particular crosshatched shading style achieved lends an incredible depth and power to the story being told. I'm sure it could be done other ways, but this way was a really excellent way to match the specific nature of the story and material. It's a classic of its genre already, clearly.

[Kyle]

Food of the Gods- Cassandra Khaw. How freaking awesome is this elevator pitch: "It's the bureaucracy of the Laundry Files meets the Chinese God/Demon Pantheon of Big Trouble in Little China!" Right?!? How awesome does that sound? Here's the problem- it just wasn't executed in a way I enjoyed it. It's about our hero, Rupert Wong, who's a chef to ghouls and demons (aka, the premier "cannibal chef") who is involved in the murders and political machinations of the Chinese pantheon and later the Greek pantheon. It's a brilliant premise. But here's the thing- writing a novel is hard. There's a lot of things you have to balance. You have a killer idea-- and don't get me wrong, this is a KILLER idea-- but you can't just ride that. You have to have deep characters with meaningful arcs. You have to have compelling plot points. You often have to have a humanity that people can understand, even if they can't relate to it.

Khaw is a terrific writer. Her prose and turn of phrase is great. The problem for me is two-fold here: (1) the plot moves too fast and is based on cool scenes, not on motivations that make sense; and more importantly (2) I hated the main character. As for the first point, it's a complicated and intricate plot- and I know those can be difficult to balance between keeping the reader mindful of who all the working parts are, and not bogging the story down. But this one leaned way to much on the latter for me, and it got confusing. And clearly in editing Khaw saw this, so there was a lot of exposition (that was then 4th walled with "don't you hate exposition" talk). But honestly? I could be okay with that. It's a very smart, complicated story and so I'll forgive having to keep the reader up on everything. But the big issue to me is the second part- the main character is just detestable. Rupert is supposed to be this sarcastic, lovable scumbag. But he's not lovable. He's not even likeable, at least not to me. So in a book like this, it's a real problem for me when the hero goes from peril to peril, and the whole time I'm not even hoping he'll succeed. I'm kind of just hoping they'll all die and fail. There's a lot to like in this book and I'm sure other people will love it- it just wasn't for me. That said, I think Khaw's writing is excellent and I'm interested to read other work from them.

[Mike]

Circe -- Madeline Miller
It is the full life of the nymph/goddess/titan/witch Circe from her own point of view. It is fantastic! Brilliantly written. It is beautiful and captivating. The world is lush and vivid and real.

The book is peopled most often by gods, monsters, demigods, and epic heroes, and the sense and scale of that is captured well while at the same time creating an incredibly human story that is too relatable and often heartbreaking.

I highly recommend this book. It hews closely to the most common versions of her myth while providing context and embellishment. No matter how much you think you know about her, don't go fact checking or looking anything up about her as you read. I made the mistake of going to verify a point of the story and accidentally got minor spoilers for the upcoming chapters. Dumb of me.

Read this one.

[Kyle]

On Juneteenth- Annette Gordon-Reed. This short book, by an acclaimed, pulitzer prize-winning historian, was billed to me as a brief history of Juneteenth. So I got it because I thought, "Huh. I probably know more about this than other folks because I'm from Texas, but I don't know enough." Much to my disappointment, it's not actually a history of Juneteenth. Indeed, the history of Juneteenth is probably only 10% of it. The book is actually a memoir and historical reminiscence about the author growing up as a black child in Texas during integration. Her personal stories are intertwined with the fallacies she was taught about Texas history and then actual historical stories about Texas' history. And all of those were fascinating and superbly written, it's just not what I thought I was in for. And look- I get it. The history of Juneteenth has to be told along with the history of enslaved people in Texas and the grossly adamant way slavery was an integral part to Texas' independence from Mexico and later from the United States in the civil war. But it is a shame, because I feel the Juneteenth aspect of this book was shoehorned onto an otherwise compelling and amazing piece of work. If I had been sold this memoir on what it was, I probably still would have checked it out of the library and read it. And I probably would have enjoyed it much more. But I'm weirdly affected by my expectations and I felt they weren't met. That said, it's still a terrific read and I highly recommend it.

[Kyle]

The Hunting Party- Lucy Foley. Apparently I forgot to post a review for this book when I read it back in June. This is a great, fun, pulpy murder mystery in the grand tradition of old-school, Agatha Christie-like murder mysteries. Foley is an excellent writer and has a great mind for the various twists and turns to a good mystery. When you think you've picked up on a breadcrumb and figured it out (because you're so, so very clever) you don't even realize that Foley is a step ahead of you and knew what you'd make of that breadcrumb-- AND YOU'RE WRONG! Foley does a great job of making a mystery out of not just who the killer is, but who the victim is also. She deftly jumps back and forth in time, both before and after the murder, setting all the ground work of the various characters at this remote hunting lodge. And as the reader, you feel like you're playing a weird game of cat and mouse with the author. Hey- this isn't world-changing literature. But it's very well-written, extremely smart and incredibly entertaining. Have fun with it. Highly recommended.

[Mike]

The Sudden Appearance of Hope -- Claire North
THIS is the Claire North I fell in love with. Her first novel as North, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, was one of the most mind-blowing reading experiences I've ever had. LOVE IT so much! That was followed with Touch and then The End of the Day, which were both really good novels... but they weren't the same. I feared I'd be chasing this dragon for as long as Claire North kept writing novels. But now with The Sudden Appearance of Hope... all is right with the world again. This was an astounding work of fiction, and I loved every moment of it. Every moment.

Like her other novels, this is a sci-fi tale that explores identity and existence and humanity. Like her other novels, it uses the entire globe as its stage, with characters casually moving from city to city, nation to nation, throughout the world and North bringing every locale to life with a level of detail that is amazing. In this one, the main character Hope, is a young woman who only exists for people in their short term memories. Once she is out of their field of vision for a minute or two, they've forgotten she ever existed. All the time. She has no control over it. This book explores what sort of life Hope makes for herself under these conditions. Hard to make friends or find a lover if they forget you exist the moment they go to the bathroom.

It is also something of a spy thriller with lots of very cool action, but also with very human, touching moments, and a mostly satisfying arc for our main character. Can't recommend it enough.

[Mike]

Also, as we approach the end of the year, I figured I'd start sorting my list in case anyone wanted a quick way to find something I considered a good read. I enjoyed most of the books I found this year, but some stand out above the rest. Therefore...

The Best of the Best
Parable of the Sower -- Octavia E. Butler
Bury What We Cannot Take -- Kirsten Chen
Piranesi -- Susanna Clarke
The Echo Wife -- Sarah Gailey
The City We Became -- N. K. Jemison
The Only Good Indians -- Stephen Graham Jones
Circe -- Madeline Miller
Oona Out of Order -- Margarita Montimore
The Sudden Appearance of Hope -- Claire North
The Murderbot Diaries (All 6 books) -- Martha Wells

Whole-heartedly Recommend
Parable of the Talents -- Octavia E. Butler
The Haunting of Tram 015 -- P. Djeli Clark
Ring Shout -- P. Djeli Clark
Fortunately, the Milk -- Neil Gaiman
The Space Between Worlds -- Micaiah Johnson
Exo -- Fonda Lee
An Ocean of Minutes -- Thea Lim
The End of the Day -- Claire North
I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter -- Erika Sánchez
The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, Volume Thirteen -- Jonathan Strahan (ed)

Flawed but Worthwhile
The Ten Thousand Doors of January -- Alix E. Harrow
Vagabonds -- Hao Jingfang
The Three-Body Problem -- Cixin Liu
Riot Baby - Tochi Onyebuchi
Science Fictions: Exposing Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype in Science -- Stuart J. Ritchie
You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey -- Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar

Don't Bother
Temper -- Nicky Drayden
Zombie Bake-Off -- Stephen Graham Jones
Later -- Stephen King
The Future of Another Timeline -- Annalee Newitz

[Kyle]

In Deep: The FBI, the CIA, and the Truth about America's "Deep State"- David Rohde. This is an interesting investigative history book that looks at the development of the myth and reality of the "deep state"- i.e., the idea that there's a shadow government that works outside our constitutional norms. The second half of the book focuses on Trump's insistence of a the conspiracy and myth of the "deep state" and exposes the lies and terrible motivations behind spreading the conspiracy of a "deep state." But the first half of the book focuses on the truth behind extra-constitutional government actions (often taken at the directive of the executive branch of government) and how the bad acts of past presidents created a foundation for people to believe in these conspiracies. From Hoover's FBI, to Nixon's criminal acts and flouting of congressional oversight, to the Iran-Contra scandal, to the Bush/Cheney efforts to torture and commit to a never ending war, to Obama's endorsement and expansion of international assassination via drone programs. All of these true and accurate bad acts of past presidents lay the groundwork for Trump to tap into the discontent and mistrust that the wider populace has in our government. And once he lays the hook, it's easy to capitalize on paranoia to spin grand tales of even more ridiculous conspiracies that aren't true. It's a fascinating study and I extremely enjoyed this read.

[Kyle]

No One is Too Small to Make a Difference- Greta Thunberg. I've made a decision recently that the most important crisis we're facing as a society (and all societies) is climate change. Social injustice is terrible. All Texas politics are terrible. But I decided that all of that will seem inconsequential if we destroy the ability to even have a society on our planet. So I made the decision to start reading more about it. I started with this book of Greta Thunberg's speeches (read by her). First- we all pronounce her name Thoon-berg. But she pronounces is more like Tune-berry. There's a distinct Swedish twist on the final g that is more of a soft flourish than a hard G. Anyways, I thought that was interesting. And it was kind of the most interesting thing about this book. Listen to her first two speeches, which takes about 15 minutes. Then you've heard it all. Not that they're not good- here speeches are great and impassioned and informative. She's brilliant and what she's saying is important. But after the first two, every speech is just a reworking of the facts from the others, just with a different metaphor for what we need to do and how the world government's are failing. And I don't mean that as a criticism of her speeches. In isolation, they're all great. But to listen to them back to back, it got boring. Just go read or listen to a couple of speeches.

[Kyle]

Flirt- Laurell K. Hamilton. Worst book I've read so far this year. Some of that's on me. I read the blurb that said, "A necromancer is asked to bring someone back from the dead for a job she just can't accept..." and I thought, "Well, I'm in." See, I'm trying to read a bunch of different genres and magical realism (or some call it urban fantasy) is one I don't read. So I thought this was good. Here's what I didn't know- this is the latest in a long line of book in a world I know nothing about and I'm not familiar with. It's an Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter book. I've never heard of that before that and the library didn't list it as part of a series or universe, which it normally does. If I had known that, I would have taken a pass. But all the same, this was a terrible book.

Here's the thing about magical realism- there's two types, the "secret world" and the "open world." I can deal with the secret world-- there's witches and goblins and monsters but no one knows about them and it all takes place in the world we live in today. Okay. I can dig that. Then there's the open world like this one- there's witches, necromancers, lycanthropes of all kinds and vampires and everyone knows about them and they're part of society. And it's set in a world just like ours? That's where there's a logical break for me. It seems lazy. I get the appeal. I get the relatability of it. But it doesn't make sense. If we had all those supernaturals, our world would resemble nothing like it. But with this book that's a minor quibble. My big problem with this book was that it's "sexual politics" were gross. It involves people, including our protagonist, Anita Blake, mentally enslaving people and having sex with them. Sometimes they mentally enslave people for the express purpose of having sex with them. So look- that's rape. I don't care about your world creation. I don't care about your magical justifications. That's rape. Gross. Awful. Fucking terrible.

Here's the other thing, the whole first half of this book focuses on our protagonist and all of her boyfriends in several scenes that are unnecessary to the story. But the author spends so much time having her talk- always sexually charged- with all these boyfriends. And what's weird is that it's like she's got a harem of a boyband. There's the smart one, the emo one, the funny one, the tough one, etc. And they're all almost slavishly devoted to her. It's so obviously just a sexual wish fulfillment and it's just weird. Remember when you realized how Stranger in a Strange Land was gross because the guy had a Charlie's Angels harem of hot women to serve him sexually? This is the exact same thing, just gender swapped. So gross. Everything about this book was gross and terrible. If you really want to lose faith in humanity, understand that these books are so popular that there's been 28 in the series published.

[Phoebe]

This sounds terrible and gross except for this one part:

"And what's weird is that it's like she's got a harem of a boyband. There's the smart one, the emo one, the funny one, the tough one, etc. And they're all almost slavishly devoted to her."

Weird? Or... kinda awesome? I can write a better version of this book. No rape, just the harem!

[Stan]

This sounds terrible and gross except for this one part:

"And what's weird is that it's like she's got a harem of a boyband. There's the smart one, the emo one, the funny one, the tough one, etc. And they're all almost slavishly devoted to her."

Weird? Or... kinda awesome? I can write a better version of this book. No rape, just the harem!

I dare you. Maybe people in the world are yearning for well-written, sensible romance.

It wasn't so much Stranger in Strange Land that was like that as it was most Heinlein books. Most of his female characters were super competent like his male characters but were totally sexually submissive and didn't mind sharing.

[Kyle]

Just an aside- I'm back to reading Network Effect, the first novel in the Murderbot series and it's so weirdly comforting. The writing has such a unique, perfect voice that when I first started listening to it, I just gave a big contented sigh and a silent "Yeah. That's the stuff" in my head. I so dearly love this series and am very glad I took as much time between the last novella and this. Glad I didn't burn out on it, and instead can appreciate how great it is.

[Phoebe]

I would totally accept this dare except that nobody would want to read my version of it. She arrived home, exhausted and already unable to remember the full to-do list for the evening. The dog greeted her by excitedly peeing on her foot. The cyborg helper swiftly appeared, mop and cleaning spray in hand. Or should we say claw?
She made herself a cold drink and glanced shyly at its gleaming steel flanks, as it bent gracefully to remove any trace of dog urine or its odor.
"Let's go look at trees. Carry me!" she exclaimed.
The creature lifted her up - her many extra pounds produced through regular devotion to the Potato were no challenge for his metal arms!
Hoist and up we go, he purred, in a melodious imitation of Lee Min-Ho's best "hiding in the broom closet with you" voice.
Together they stared at many trees for an hour.
It was Love.
The end.

[Stan]

If I get rich, I'll become your patron.

I'm alternating Murderbot Diaries with other things. It's great knowing I have nice reading in my near future.

[Tahlvin]

I'm currently reading a book on configuring Windows Server 2019, and the first Harry Potter book in German.

[Kyle]

Ooooo- is it a philosopher's stone or a sorcerer's stone?

[Tahlvin]

It’s a philosopher’s stone. Technically, the translation is stone of the wise. But if you enter it in Google Translate, it translates as philosopher’s stone.

[Phoebe]

If it were the stone of the wise it should be called something like Private Investment Fund Manager's Stone, but maybe I'm too cynical today.

[Kyle]

Network Effect- Martha Wells. This is the first novel after a series of novellas in the Murderbot series. For a general understanding of my love for the series, go read my review for All Systems Red or any of the stuff Mike's posted about them. I've rated this book much higher than the novellas for a couple of reasons. First, I really just loved it so much more- probably because I read the novellas back to back and then came back to this book after taking several months off to read other, less satisfying, stuff. Coming back to this was so comforting and pleasant because the unique voice was- at this point- familiar and welcomed. Second, as much as I loved the novellas, this was the first fleshed out full length novel. And it was just the right length to tell the contained and story it told. It wasn't padded, and it wasn't rushed. It was perfect. Third, there was so much that was just SATISFYING about this story. It brought back old characters without being obviously tied into a mystery that overrides the novellas (I'm trying not to give spoilers)- it was just its own story. The characters in this had room to develop and breath and they were SO GOOD. And also, without getting into spoilers, there's a crazy character development/progression to Murderbot that was both touching and awesome. I just loved everything about this book. If you've loved the novellas, you're going to love this more.

[Stan]

As someone ab about to start novella 4, this is very comforting news.

[Kyle]

My Heart is a Chainsaw- Stephen Graham Jones. This is a weird one to review. I loved this book, but I'm not sure if I'd recommend it to people. The story revolves around Jade, a Native American self-described "horror chick," who is a senior in high school and just barely going to graduate. She lives with her alcoholic dad in extreme poverty. (Jones does true poverty so well.) She's known as the weird, bad kid in her small, rural town in Idaho. She's really into horror movies. And I mean, really into them. One of the devices in this book is that she writes short essays to her history professor (these are presented as intervening chapters of the book) as extra credit- and all the essays are about the mechanics, tropes and workings of slasher movies. And her whole dream is to actually identify a Final Girl and help her get through a real life slasher movie. And then she meets a real life Final Girl and she realizes that a horror cycle is about to begin in her town. And then bad stuff happens. This book is a love letter to slasher horror cinema. To give some context- I'm really into horror. I've never in my life met someone in person who knows or has seen even half the horror movies I've seen. I can't watch horror movies on Netflix sometimes because I've literally seen all of them. And even with my encyclopedic knowledge, Jones is throwing out deep cut references that I've never even heard of. It's epic. And even though I have seen 95% of the movies he references, my problem is that I think your average person reading this book would only recognize 10%. It's real esoteric shit. And don't get me wrong, you don't have to be familiar with the movie references to get and enjoy the book- but they made it such an electric experience for me. Like I was part of the secret club that got all these clever references that almost no one else gets. It's a satisfying story, with a fantastic ending, but I can see how most people would feel so alienated by the constant and obscure references. So if you're not a horror fan, you probably want to pass on this. If you consider yourself something more than a casual fan, though, then I'd really recommend it. Jones has become such a fantastic immersive writer, and this is a wonderful example of his talents.

[Mike]

My Heart is a Chainsaw- Stephen Graham Jones. This is a weird one to review. I loved this book, but I'm not sure if I'd recommend it to people. The story revolves around Jade, a Native American self-described "horror chick," who is a senior in high school and just barely going to graduate. She lives with her alcoholic dad in extreme poverty. (Jones does true poverty so well.) She's known as the weird, bad kid in her small, rural town in Idaho. She's really into horror movies. And I mean, really into them. One of the devices in this book is that she writes short essays to her history professor (these are presented as intervening chapters of the book) as extra credit- and all the essays are about the mechanics, tropes and workings of slasher movies. And her whole dream is to actually identify a Final Girl and help her get through a real life slasher movie. And then she meets a real life Final Girl and she realizes that a horror cycle is about to begin in her town. And then bad stuff happens. This book is a love letter to slasher horror cinema. To give some context- I'm really into horror. I've never in my life met someone in person who knows or has seen even half the horror movies I've seen. I can't watch horror movies on Netflix sometimes because I've literally seen all of them. And even with my encyclopedic knowledge, Jones is throwing out deep cut references that I've never even heard of. It's epic. And even though I have seen 95% of the movies he references, my problem is that I think your average person reading this book would only recognize 10%. It's real esoteric shit. And don't get me wrong, you don't have to be familiar with the movie references to get and enjoy the book- but they made it such an electric experience for me. Like I was part of the secret club that got all these clever references that almost no one else gets. It's a satisfying story, with a fantastic ending, but I can see how most people would feel so alienated by the constant and obscure references. So if you're not a horror fan, you probably want to pass on this. If you consider yourself something more than a casual fan, though, then I'd really recommend it. Jones has become such a fantastic immersive writer, and this is a wonderful example of his talents.

I only read half of your review. I just found my next book. Thank you!

[Kyle]

I only read half of your review. I just found my next book. Thank you!

You can read the whole review. It's 100% spoiler free.

[Mike]

All Our Wrong Todays -- Elan Mastai
A great time travel story. Our hero is kind of a fuck-up in his own eyes. He lives in a near perfect world, but then he screws up, time travel is involved, and he returns to the present to find himself in OUR world, which is clearly a horrific dystopia. Can he fix it?

The author has a solid voice, and this is a lot of fun. It's very funny, but also heartfelt, and the author uses a funny time travel story to explore real grief and loss. I loved it.

[Mike]

From a Certain Point of View -- Various
A book of short stories--maybe 40 of them--all from the point of view of secondary characters in the first Star Wars movie. They run chronologically through the whole movie. I found it because I was looking for stuff by Nnedi Okorafor, and she writes the story from the view of the trash compactor monster, which was really good.

Overall... uneven. The high points make it well worth the read. The jawa story, the Imperial officer who is a paperwork wizard, Lando (loved Lando), and a few others. On the other hand, some added nothing or tried too hard to give some throwaway character ties to the main action. And I didn't really need four retellings of the Battle of Yavin.

I enjoyed it. Glad I read it. There's a second book for the Empire Strikes Back, but I have no urge to read it.

[Kyle]

From a Certain Point of View -- Various
A book of short stories--maybe 40 of them--all from the point of view of secondary characters in the first Star Wars movie. They run chronologically through the whole movie. I found it because I was looking for stuff by Nnedi Okorafor, and she writes the story from the view of the trash compactor monster, which was really good.

Overall... uneven. The high points make it well worth the read. The jawa story, the Imperial officer who is a paperwork wizard, Lando (loved Lando), and a few others. On the other hand, some added nothing or tried too hard to give some throwaway character ties to the main action. And I didn't really need four retellings of the Battle of Yavin.

I enjoyed it. Glad I read it. There's a second book for the Empire Strikes Back, but I have no urge to read it.

I almost listened to this- even checked it out. But went with something else. Glad I skipped it. It's a long listen for the results you're discussing. I think I'll pass.

[Kyle]

All These Bodies- Kendare Blake. Really enjoyed this book, and it took me on a bit of a rollercoaster ride as I got through it. First the set up: 1958 Minnesota. A serial killer is on the loose, killing people in the midwest by draining all their blood. In our small rural town, the killer strikes again killing two young parents and their teenage son. Their infant is unharmed and standing in the middle of the room when the cops barge in is a 15 year old girl, Marie- a stranger to these parts- covered from head to toe in blood. The girl is arrested and only agrees to talk to Michael Jenson, the sheriff's son. Her explanation for what happened and why she's not responsible for the murders is... far fetched. The whole of the book focuses on the girl's conversations with Michael.

The first third of the book has a real dreamy, weird Summer of 42 feel to it. Like a period piece coming-of-age story with this strange murder in the middle of it. And it kind of is that. As they talk and get closer, Marie is the "forbidden love" that Michael can't help but be drawn to. At first, I was really irritated because it had a heavy male gaze. But then the topic twists on the reader and you realize that you're actually reading a story about trauma and grief and the devastation left behind from terrible acts. At this point, I suspected that the heavy male gaze was intentional and that's when I realized the author was a woman, and that this book was about a lot deeper things than I thought. I don't really want to give up too many more details, but it's really a good introspective look at gender, trauma and victimization. And when I thought I knew what the point was, the author knew what I was thinking and flipped it on me. And then did the same thing again. This is really a beautiful strange story. Highly recommended.

[Kyle]

Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA- Amaryllis Fox. This is a difficult review. When I write reviews, unless the book was just awful and lazy (see my review of Flirt), I try to not say anything that I wouldn't say to the author's face. Because writing a book is hard, and not only does it take a lot of work, but it also takes a lot of bravery. Most people put parts of themselves into a book, and that's vulnerable. So I try to respect that and, when a book doesn't work for me, still respect the love and care put into it by the author. With this book it is especially difficult because it's an autobiography. So it's not just the author telling a story. It's the author telling their story. So even though I have criticisms of this book, it's difficult to voice them without seeming like I'm disapproving of the author herself (which, in a way, I'm kind of doing). This autobiography chronicles Fox's early life and recruitment and service in the CIA. I liked and loathed a lot of this book. On the one hand, the reason that I got it is because I really don't know much about the day-to-day workings of the CIA, and I thought it would be fascinating. And it was. Hearing about the recruitment, training and then a handful of war stories was pretty mesmerizing. But the flip side of this story, which is unavoidable, is the author's reasons for doing what she did. And a lot of what she did wasn't necessarily good stuff (but it seems that almost all of that bad stuff was left out- probably for good reason). And I'm guessing this isn't uncommon for CIA field recruits, but the way they become invested in their roles (which require huge personal sacrifices) is to be convinced that they are the only thing standing between humanity and the twisted forces trying to destroy life on earth. I guess it makes sense- how do you get people to give up their entire lives to be spies? Well, you convince them that they are secret superheroes that have to save the earth. And even though Fox talks a lot about the misguided costs of bad acts by everyone in the spy game, I still came away with the feeling that she is a true believer. That she really thinks that if she didn't do what she did, humanity would have been substantially devastated. And how can I say she's wrong? I can't. But it all seems way to convenient. Anyways, it was an interesting read, but I came away mixed and unsatisfied with it.

[Stan]

Network Effect- Martha Wells. This is the first novel after a series of novellas in the Murderbot series. For a general understanding of my love for the series, go read my review for All Systems Red or any of the stuff Mike's posted about them. I've rated this book much higher than the novellas for a couple of reasons. First, I really just loved it so much more- probably because I read the novellas back to back and then came back to this book after taking several months off to read other, less satisfying, stuff. Coming back to this was so comforting and pleasant because the unique voice was- at this point- familiar and welcomed. Second, as much as I loved the novellas, this was the first fleshed out full length novel. And it was just the right length to tell the contained and story it told. It wasn't padded, and it wasn't rushed. It was perfect. Third, there was so much that was just SATISFYING about this story. It brought back old characters without being obviously tied into a mystery that overrides the novellas (I'm trying not to give spoilers)- it was just its own story. The characters in this had room to develop and breath and they were SO GOOD. And also, without getting into spoilers, there's a crazy character development/progression to Murderbot that was both touching and awesome. I just loved everything about this book. If you've loved the novellas, you're going to love this more.

Everything Kyle wrote here is true.

I got my covid booster on Saturday so spent Sunday tired, lazy, and feverish. The upside is that I got far more listening in than my limited car time. Murderbot was cozied up with me the whole way. This is my favorite book of the year. The writing style, the characters' speaking styles, the plot, the action, this book is wonderful. Though you should definitely read the 4 novellas first.

[Kyle]

Network Effect- Martha Wells. This is the first novel after a series of novellas in the Murderbot series. For a general understanding of my love for the series, go read my review for All Systems Red or any of the stuff Mike's posted about them. I've rated this book much higher than the novellas for a couple of reasons. First, I really just loved it so much more- probably because I read the novellas back to back and then came back to this book after taking several months off to read other, less satisfying, stuff. Coming back to this was so comforting and pleasant because the unique voice was- at this point- familiar and welcomed. Second, as much as I loved the novellas, this was the first fleshed out full length novel. And it was just the right length to tell the contained and story it told. It wasn't padded, and it wasn't rushed. It was perfect. Third, there was so much that was just SATISFYING about this story. It brought back old characters without being obviously tied into a mystery that overrides the novellas (I'm trying not to give spoilers)- it was just its own story. The characters in this had room to develop and breath and they were SO GOOD. And also, without getting into spoilers, there's a crazy character development/progression to Murderbot that was both touching and awesome. I just loved everything about this book. If you've loved the novellas, you're going to love this more.

Everything Kyle wrote here is true.

I got my covid booster on Saturday so spent Sunday tired, lazy, and feverish. The upside is that I got far more listening in than my limited car time. Murderbot was cozied up with me the whole way. This is my favorite book of the year. The writing style, the characters' speaking styles, the plot, the action, this book is wonderful. Though you should definitely read the 4 novellas first.

And I think Mike and I have talked about it before, but the acting and narration by Kevin Free is some of the best I've heard. Really made it that much better.