pan(1977) The Gor series is basically Barsoom for incels and readers with a particular BDSM kink. I'm not a fan but then I'm not exactly the target audience. Good news is, the next few reads in the DAW project promise to be much better (and very different)
pick(2021) Here's a tight crime novella about a father in rural France who, in a near-inexplicable fit of rage, killed a neighboring family of five. Based on a real case, it's a hard look at the kind of disappointments, jealousies, and resentments that contribute to violence. Not an easy read, or the kind of thing one "enjoys", but also not easy to set aside or forget.
pick(1966) “The World of the Regenerated“
In episode no. 251, the Terrans' flagship CREST III was hijacked by “biosplitters“: diminutive aliens with hypnotic powers and the ability to regenerate after most deaths. In this one, the biosplitters take the CREST to their home (dinosaur-inhabited) planet. Perry, Atlan, and Gucky follow along with their new friend Kalak to rescue the ship. It's fun, and makes more sense than last episode.
(1734) Thomas Bluett's account of Job, an enslaved man from West Africa, is one of the earliest American slavery narratives and interesting on several points. With Bluett's assistance, Job traveled to England where he became something of a celebrity known for his charm and scholarship, and he was able to raise money to return home. It's a surprising story, and one new to me.
pick(2023) Alien invasion aboard a failing generation ship. It's atmospheric and plot-driven, and I loved the adventure. Yes, the aliens resemble the baddies from the Alien franchise, but I didn't mind that nearly as much as a last-minute twist that felt inconsistent to the rest of the piece. So I'm just going to say I found it a blast and give it a “pick“ while pretending the last few pages didn't happen. Somebody oughtta make a movie
so-so(1981) The Enterprise is called to the planet Alnath, into a situation involving a mysterious archaeological dig, a Klingon dreadnought in orbit, and a shipful of dead Vulcan scientists. Shortly after arrival, the crew begins acting in out-of-character, impulsive ways. The story's okay, except for bits that haven't aged well (though Kirk and Scotty admiring a junior officer's ass must have already been a little cringey even in 1981, surely)
(2022) It's a historical fantasy set in the ninth century, following the travels of an Icelander across Europe, looking for horses to bring back to Iceland to make his fortune. The author is a medievalist, and brings her knowledge of the time and its literary forms to the story. I am not a medievalist, but do know she delivered a mesmerizing story that feels authentic about ambition, social change, and (of course) horses.
so-so(2022) I love Neil deGrasse Tyson, but the farther he strays from astrophysics the more he's just another smart dude with Opinions. Good stuff here to think about but on many subjects there's plenty of reason to disagree without deserving the charge of "unscientific thinking."
so-so(1861) Chronicles the evil career of Jabez North -- foundling, fraudster, murderer, genius -- and the efforts by one of his victims to bring Jabez to justice. It's very busy, depends on unlikely coincidences, takes unnecessary detours, then wraps abruptly in a crowded finale that tries to resolve all the loose subplots with handwavey exposition. And yet I liked it: for all its silliness it's also a lot of fun and the snappy writing kept me smiling
so-so(2024) It's complicated relationship drama, set in a colony world where a blob-like phenomenon occasionally targets entire species for annihilation. For me the soap opera and the space peril never really integrated well, and it almost felt like an old-fashioned mashup of two stories that weren't made with each other in mind. Once the last act got going, though, it kept my attention nicely.
I don‘t suppose it rained harder in the good town of Slopperton-on-the-Sloshy than it rained anywhere else.
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
so-so(2017) Six years ago, a white family's baby died while in the care of Mary's mother. The blame fell on Mary, who has just been released from 6 years in "baby jail" to a group home. But what really happened and will the truth ever out? Mixed feelings about this: it has multiple strengths but ultimately didn't work for me due to a gimmicky resolution. OTOH, the audiobook is read by Bahni Turpin, who is always a pleasure to hear.
pick(1984) Here's a collection of short pieces: anecdotes, character sketches, meditations as written by a Latina girl growing up in an urban Chicago neighborhood. The pieces are gorgeous, with language so efficient and evocative they feel more like poems than short stories. Themes of growing up, family, finding joy in a world that will casually devour you, and the tension between duties to oneself and to the community who builds one. I liked it much
December was a good reading month for me, and I have several excellent books to choose among. But I expect nothing is going to stick with me like this story about an orphan boy raised by a giant snake.
That wraps #12Booksof2024 for me. It's been fun reviewing my 2024 reading and fun seeing everyone else's picks too. Thanks to @Andrew65 for hosting!
pick(1966) "The Army of Bio-splitters"
Perry and the crew of the super-battleship CREST-III are hanging out on a space shipyard when three ships make an uncontrolled landing nearby. The new arrivals appear harmless and their technology is inferior, so Perry allows them access to the CREST -- not realizing that they also have natural hypnotic powers that make his decision a big mistake. Besides Perry's out-of-character call, it's a fun development.
My November pick for #12Booksof2024 succinctly and elegantly describes the situation we're in, and offers real strategies for facing it with integrity. For me it has provoked much thought, many conversations, and practical preparations. I don't want this to be the best book I read in 2024, but right now it feels like it may be
@Andrew65
And here's my bingo card for January. I like my chances: I see one very likely bingo and a couple of probablies. The month is young!
Thanks for hosting @TheAromaofBooks !
October was another low-volume reading month for me, so the competition was pretty thin. But Manon deserves it: a work I liked much more than I expected to do.
#12Booksof2024
@Andrew65
My #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin picks for January 2025 are very different books and I expect them to be great in very different ways. Looking forward to both.
Thanks for hosting another year, @TheAromaofBooks
I didn't read much nonfiction in 2024, and what I did read want the sort of thing you'd say "reads like a novel." But Leah Orr's study of turn-of-18th-C. fiction affects how I think about many of the other books I've read. "Novel Ventures" is easily one of my most thought-provoking reads of 2024, so it's my pick for September #12Booksof2024
@Andrew65
My #12Booksof2024 pick for August is another one that I'd been meaning to read forever and finally got around to thanks to the #ClassicLSFBC group. I wish I'd read it way back when, but am glad to have read it now.
@Andrew65
pick(2021) Retired chancellor Angela Merkel moves to to a small village in eastern Germany with her soft-spoken husband, her soft-hearted bodyguard and her newly-adopted dog (christened "Putin"). A cozy murder mystery ensues, and while the mystery is pretty standard, the Merkel Scooby-gang is endearing. I'd read another.
My #12Booksof2024 for July is a gorgeous cynical thriller set in postwar Germany, with a villain who would be right at home in our current crop of "populist" hatemongers. Thrilling, thoughtful, worrying.
@Andrew65
(2005) First of three books in Mofina's series featuring Seattle reporter Jason Wade. In this one, Jason is an intern reporter when he stumbles across a story exposing a Christian fantastic serial killer. The story is just okay, but Mofina knows how to keep things moving: short chapters with cliffhanger endings, and frequent peril. It delivers what you want in a thriller.
#ReadYourKindle
June for me was another month with only a few, flawed reads. After much deliberation, this is the one I feel most comfortable recommending: a collection of stories with some duds but also delivering some very good ones.
#12Booksof2024
@Andrew65
pick(2018) A woman with multiple chronic illnesses and her husband/caretaker rent a vacation home in the Maine woods for a well-deserved escape. But something is in the woods ...
The buildup here was a more leisurely than I'd have liked. But the payoff is considerable, and the metaphor of chronic illness as monster is rich for exploration.
Here's my #12Booksof2024 pick for May, not because it's such a good book, but because in May the competition was so thin. We're getting into some months where life crowded out my usual reading volume. Still, if I have to post a flawed book, I'm pleased I can post an *interesting* flawed book, which I think this is.
Thanks for hosting @Andrew65 !
pan(1977) Second in Goulart's Jake Conger series, featuring a near-future secret agent who can turn invisible. In this one the President is disposing of political rivals by sending them on one-way trips into the past via unregistered time machines. Goulart's humour is frequently in cringe territory here, with ethnic, trans, and boob jokes. And still it's better than I expect from the next book in this project ...
so-so(1973) In a near-future US, Jake Conger is a g-man who can turn invisible. In this one, Conger investigates political assassinations whose victims are coming back to life. It's supposed to be funny, and sometimes is: author Goulart is a SF humorist with a very broad style that doesn't appeal to me (anymore: I dug him in my teens). Here Goulart is more restrained than usual: ethnic and boob jokes are at a minimum and I even laughed a few times
My #12Booksof2024 pick for April was also a #ClassicLSFBC pick. Like several other picks for that group, it's one I've been meaning to read for as long as I can remember but just never got around to -- then upon finally reading it I found out why it has been recommended so often. It's a deliberately paced and thoughtful story that still hangs around in my head.
Thanks for hosting @Andrew65 !
pick(1992) Oxford historians send a time traveler to the 14th century, just as a viral pandemic breaks out in their own time, complicating every aspect of the project. Much to admire here: author Willis's style, her 14th-C. worldbuilding, her narrative structure that parallels medieval and modern pandemics. For me there are tonal inconsistencies that complicate my response, but I found the story engaging and, in the final act, gripping.
My February pick for #12Booksof2024 was my first S.A. Cosby novel and it blew me away.
Thanks for hosting @Andrew65 !
pick(1977) The Daedalus crew visit a colony planet which no outsider has contacted in 150 years, only to find the colony reduced to a fraction of its original size and the survivors badly nourished and cognitively impaired. The crew must find out what happened. It's a bit talky and in parts very dated, but its puzzle is neat and its pensive narrator makes it meatier than the average space romp. I'm enjoying the series and look forward to the next
My January pick for #12Booksof2024 is one that has stayed with me the whole year: a queer, environmentalist, de-Stockholm-syndrome'd retelling of Beauty and the Beast that has lingered in ways I didn't expect it to when I turned the last page.
Thanks for hosting, @Andrew65 !
pan(2020) There are slow burns, and then there are burns so slow the fire goes out. This is the latter. It probably didn't help that I ear-read this one, and the narrator had some grating verbal tics -- otoh, if I'd tried it in print I think I probably would have bailed.
Others have liked it better -- it was a finalist for an Edgar -- so ymmv.
so-so(1733) Here's a strange one: it purports to be a collection of letters by various diplomats, written in 1997 and 1998 to King George VI's Lord High Treasurer, reporting on issues of the day, mostly the growth of the Vatican Empire, Britain's chief rival. There's little plot, and I think I missed most of the satirical references. So for me it was slow and difficult to engage with -- but still, interesting for its predictions and preoccupations.
pan(2006) It's the kind of thriller where the lead returns home after a long absence and investigates a murder only to find themself investigating their own past. The lead in this case has made some spectacularly bad choices and continues to make bad choices still. It's all very sordid, and finally lost me when the lead went partying with her kid sister. Others have loved it, and I think I understand its gritty appeal, but it was a miss for me.
pick(1981) The Enterprise receives an emergency call for a not-obviously-urgent prisoner transport, interrupting Spock's investigation of a singularity just as it was showing some worrisome results. Of course it's all related but I won't tell you how except to say that it's a fun time-twisty puzzle. McIntyre delivers just what you want a tie-in novel: she respects the world and characters and brings enough ideas of her own to keep it fresh.
pick(2023) Numamushi is an infant victim of war, orphaned, badly burned, and floating down the river when he is taken in by a giant white snake who teaches him to shed his skin, hunt mice and frogs, and stay hidden. Things become complicated when Numamushi grows older and befriends a human stranger. It's a literary fairy tale that draws from Japanese folklore; also a novella about family, trauma, and growing up, and one of my favorite reads this year.
Captain James T. Kirk sprawled on the couch in the sitting room of his cabin, dozing over a book.
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
so-so(1965) When the sun suddenly seems to dim, scientists discover that some agency has placed "Sun-tap" stations around the solar system to draw off solar radiation and send it somewhere else for reasons yet to be discovered. Because of [plot], teenager Burl Denning joins a team of scientists tasked with traversing the system from Mercury to Pluto to restore the sun. It's as silly as it sounds, but also fun in a vintage-juvenile-sf way.
And here's my #bookspinbingo card for December. Feeling good about finishing 2024 strong.
Thanks for hosting @TheAromaofBooks !
pick(2017) I liked this one a lot: part Star Wars, part Game of Thrones, part heist movie, with a David Cronenbergish body-horror aesthetic, I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it. I didn't quite buy the resolution, though, and would be very interested in a sequel.
Here are my#bookspin and #doublespin reads for December: some vintage science fiction and a cozy mystery featuring a former German chancellor. Looking forward to both.
Thanks, @TheAromaofBooks !
