The joy of reading it aloud is undeniable. So sweet. ☺️

Look at that FACE! 😍

Like a children's book illustrator was asked to accompany a country song.
(Okay, yes, I could not get Corb Lund's 'Truck Got Stuck' out of my head).
Adorable.

It makes me happy. 🐸

Marvelous. Peter continues to have a hazardous but fascinating time encountering the fantastical and magical in London whilst solving murder mysteries, attempting to apply science and police procedure to the absurd, and introducing the reader to snippets of London's history and architecture. The overarching plot that has continued through the series has some appreciable momentum in this entry as well. 1/2

Discworld reference! ☺️

Thaaaat's right, Peter, you want the pretty car because it's magic-resistant, not because it's pretty.
I sense ulterior motives...😏

Not a verbatim quote, but I want to believe it's a Big Trouble in Little China reference. ☺️

😂🔪

Peter, honey, I've read the previous five books in this series, it is TOTALLY fair! 🤦🏼‍♂️

Aaannd now we come to the downside of programmable tattoos. Which otherwise sound totally awesome, btw.

Current reads: A tentacular theme, fiction and non-fiction. 🐙
Also enjoying the 'muted-tones illustration' commonality in cover aesthetics.

When the levels of shallow pretence and wasteful spending are high, you need another word for objet d'art. 😏

Ouch. Architectural critique and esoteric description in one.

A marvelous dedication. 😁

Bummer. Admittedly, I had a different idea of what this would be when I picked it up. But even having adjusted to the tone and focus, it just felt like too much and not enough at the same time. Kind of derivative of a number of things - not helped by the pop culture references in inner monologues - without really narrowing in on one of them enough to make for an engaging story. 1/?

"There is no stillness, only change."
Comforting, in a dizzying way.

Well, yeah, but that expression is like, second nature to cats. 😏😼

Honestly, should have known as soon as I realized the gods placing the bet were Olympians/of the Ancient Greek pantheon, that this would have a tragic tone. As much as one might expect introducing a human-analogue consciousness into the minds of dogs would at least make things complicated, I think this was the bleakest possible interpretation of the premise. 1/2

Those willows... suspicious. 🤨

Part exculpation from world-building, part segue. Nicely done! 👍🏻

Spectacular. Jemisin is a powerhouse of imagination. The author not only made New York's boroughs come alive in a way that allowed me to relate to parts of a city I've never seen, in a way I never expected to, she made the reader feel for these characters as people, and then created a magnificent sci-fi/fantasy of multi-dimensional proportions, all while effortlessly conveying a continous commentary on racism, xenophobia and gentrification. 1/2

Both comprehensive in approach and concise in conveying a message, I found this a highly useful resource with one notable exception.
The author presents issues with sentencing, a brief history of problems within Canada's prison system, the issues that are still prevalent at the time of publication, and then tackled the obvious question: 1/? [Buckle up, it's gonna be a long one.]

Trust over fear.

Books help! I'm gonna cry. 🥹

Not to pull focus from the important facts being relayed, but boy, oh, boy do I want to read this woman's memoir!

If you're going to act like heartless bastards, Mallea's gonna call you out in it. 👏🏻
Thankfully there remains a glimmer of hope that imprisoning refugees in Canada may become a thing of the past: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/03/21/canada-all-10-provinces-end-immigration-dete...

I wonder about that sometimes too, Benjy. 😏

1) Completely agree with sharply satirical observation, if judges can't exercise discretion in sentencing, what are they doing there?
2) The idea of computers handling sentencing opens up a whole new world of AI dystopia. 🫣

🤨🙎🏼‍♂️

Wow. The only thing more dispiriting than reading about the recent conditions in Canadian prisons is finding out they used to be better and then got worse again. 🙄🤦🏼‍♂️

Current reads colour way:
Something about the pairing of black and warm reddy-browns that adds a more solemn touch. Appropriate considering the tone of Fifteen Dogs and the subject matter of The Ghost Script.

It. 👏🏻 Makes. 👏🏻 No. 👏🏻 Sense! 👏🏻

I rarely read anything where the action alone is enough to suck me in and keep me reading but this is so very engagingly written, you care about the characters immediately, so that finding out what's going to happen is a riveting enterprise, that and between the rocking amidst giant mechas, basically everyone having incredible tech-aided style and the evasion and fight scene choreography, the action itself is a hell of a ride. 1/?

What a chillingly evocative analogy. 😨

The mecha with resting bitch face. 👿😂

New (to me anyway) gender neutral significant other term alert!
It also happens to be awesome. 🥰

OMFG, Gus, you and Graymalkin deserve each other, you're both disasters! 😆

1843?! What the hell.

Considering plausible descriptors that personally count as 'marks against' for me: young adult, urban fantasy, post-apocalyptic/major societal crisis, I enjoyed this more than I might have expected.
I honestly only picked it up knowing it had library in the title and was fantasy, so vague expectations maybe worked in my favour? I enjoyed the snippets of science worked into the learning of magic, reminds me of the Rivers of London series. 1/?

Starting to feel like Tom Taylor is the guy you call if you need to inject some light and hope into a superhero storyline. Dick Grayson is generally more cheerful and chatty than other members of the Bat family, but I haven't explored much of Nightwing in Blüdhaven in comics and I'm glad to see a corrupt city cast in Taylor's upbeat 'things can change' framing. Bruno Redondo's art really emphasises the humour, action and heart.
1/2

Nineties attitudes are alive and well and appropriating my childhood! I would not recommend this to anyone, for any reason. If you were looking for a quick, coherent guide into the tenets of Taoism, this ain't it. If you were looking for a pop psychology/self help type book cogently examining the philosophical or spiritual traits of dear Piglet, this ain't it. 1/?

Ohmagahd she's wearing the slap meme shirt. 😲🤭😆

Pfft. TRUE. 😆

O-KAY! Officially hate-reading this book. 😑

First section I actually said out loud "oh, I'm not gonna like this..." Second section: "I was right!". YIKES.
Yes, it was published in the 90s. No, I can't find evidence of a revised edition that would correct some of the more egregious choices encountered so far. ?

A classy move for the apocalypse. ☺️

A perfect illustration of the 'aw, puppy!' 😍 face.

Riiight, 'cause no one in the West has ever practiced arranged marriage (pretty common all over depending on the historical period, as far as I know), polygamy (isn't that a Mormon thing? I prefer polyamory) or body modification in adherence to beauty standards (also still a thing). 🙄 How about we skip the borderline racist trash-talking of Confucianists and get back to the intro to Taoism, yes? 🙎🏼‍♂️