aka @kingrat@sfba.social. I'm following a lot of bookwyrm accounts, since that seems to be the only way to get reviews from larger servers to this small server. Also, I will like & boost a lot of reviews that come across my feed. Social reading should be social.
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Success! Phil in SF has read 65 of 26 books.
Benine has the power to see an object's past when he touches it. The government of Mortova sends him to the site of a mass grave so he can identify the remains buried there, while rebels get closer and closer.
Brings the reader right to a war without going all the way in.
We drink that terrible rum of his and smoke cigarillos and play bezique.
— In Metal, In Bone by An Owomoyela (50%)
new vocabulary: bezique
a trick taking card game for two, played with a double pack of 64 cards, including the seven to ace only in each suit
King Shrewd is dead at the hands of his son Regal. As is Fitz—or so his enemies and friends believe. …
It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and …
Clare Fergusson is a new Episcopal priest in Miller's Kill when she finds a baby in a box on the steps of her church with a note that the baby should be adopted by prominent parishioners who have wanted a child for ages. Russ Van Alstyne is the Miller's Kill police chief. After Fergusson requests a ride-along, the two stumble on the body of a young woman (and presumed father of the child) when patrolling the local hangout where kids go to drink.
Van Alstyne is the kind of officer I normally like in police procedurals, steady and methodical. Fergusson is not. She inserts herself in the investigation in ways that no cop would allow, messes things up, runs off without thinking things through (multiple times) putting people in danger. The reader is lead to believe that Van Alstyne is competent because of his demeanor, but multiple times Fergusson figured …
Clare Fergusson is a new Episcopal priest in Miller's Kill when she finds a baby in a box on the steps of her church with a note that the baby should be adopted by prominent parishioners who have wanted a child for ages. Russ Van Alstyne is the Miller's Kill police chief. After Fergusson requests a ride-along, the two stumble on the body of a young woman (and presumed father of the child) when patrolling the local hangout where kids go to drink.
Van Alstyne is the kind of officer I normally like in police procedurals, steady and methodical. Fergusson is not. She inserts herself in the investigation in ways that no cop would allow, messes things up, runs off without thinking things through (multiple times) putting people in danger. The reader is lead to believe that Van Alstyne is competent because of his demeanor, but multiple times Fergusson figured out key answers in the investigation that Van Alstyne should have figured out. For instance, somehow the police don't search the victim's residence until much later, and the police questioning of her roommates is half-assed at best.
It's a first book though, so I'll read the second at least to see if the first book flaws are less an issue in book 2. Also, I already have it in my library so I might as well.
It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly ordained Clare Fergusson is …
It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and …
Half the residents of that area don't have telephones. They have twenty-four-inch TVs and satellite reception, but no phones.
— In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne, #1) (25%)
LOL. I bought a 36 inch TV in '98. it was so large I couldn't get it through the door of my Acura, nor would the trunk shut closed.
I bought a 65-in TV in summer 2023, and it was one of the smaller ones at Best Buy.
Phil in SF
boosted
What's the harm in a pseudonym? New York Times bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not …
I had to keep reminding myself that NO, I did NOT want June to win and come out on top, that she is a despicable selfish person that deserves every horrible thing that she gets.
R.F. Kuang does a really great job at pointing out the toxic things that (some) publishing companies will do to try to make it look like they're all for diversity and for leaving you to really have to stew and think about how far was too far with what Claire does. It was a very uncomfortable read, but in a good way.
Overall, I found this to be a good read, but it did feel like it was just a little too long and the ending threw me for a bit of a loop, and not in a good way. Definitely not mad that I read it, though! Still fully worth the 4 stars to …
I had to keep reminding myself that NO, I did NOT want June to win and come out on top, that she is a despicable selfish person that deserves every horrible thing that she gets.
R.F. Kuang does a really great job at pointing out the toxic things that (some) publishing companies will do to try to make it look like they're all for diversity and for leaving you to really have to stew and think about how far was too far with what Claire does. It was a very uncomfortable read, but in a good way.
Overall, I found this to be a good read, but it did feel like it was just a little too long and the ending threw me for a bit of a loop, and not in a good way. Definitely not mad that I read it, though! Still fully worth the 4 stars to me!
It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly ordained Clare Fergusson is …
Two months since the stars fell...
Two months of silence, while a world held its …
DNFing this at 22%. There's an alien ship. There's a human ship with a bunch of weirdos sent to investigate. A lotta words about the weirdness, written in a weird way, and I can't bring myself to care.
Phil in SF
boosted
This is a YA novel and it kinda shows on how tidy everything is but also does not shy away from talking about racism & general bigotry. One of the plot lines is about an "ignorant" white teacher who tries to use stereotypes of Indigenous people in her play and somehow miraculously she understands she was doing racism. I didn't quite understand how that leap happened and I wish the author didn't try to pretend that ever happens that easily because it leads children to believe pursuing the teaching of the racist would lead to a better world which is completely opposite to how racism actually gets eradicated (seeing the world as abundant, working with people of other races, having others who correct them when they do racist things, being praised when they do non-racist acts, incentivizing their non-racist acts).
I definitely enjoyed reading it despite that plot line above. …
This is a YA novel and it kinda shows on how tidy everything is but also does not shy away from talking about racism & general bigotry. One of the plot lines is about an "ignorant" white teacher who tries to use stereotypes of Indigenous people in her play and somehow miraculously she understands she was doing racism. I didn't quite understand how that leap happened and I wish the author didn't try to pretend that ever happens that easily because it leads children to believe pursuing the teaching of the racist would lead to a better world which is completely opposite to how racism actually gets eradicated (seeing the world as abundant, working with people of other races, having others who correct them when they do racist things, being praised when they do non-racist acts, incentivizing their non-racist acts).
I definitely enjoyed reading it despite that plot line above. Has protagonists who are bisexual as well which was really nice to read.
Two months since the stars fell...
Two months of silence, while a world held its breath.
Now some half-derelict space …
From debut author Daniel Abraham comes A Shadow in Summer, the first book in the …
This book could have been better if there was a lot more tell and a lot less show. There's some complicated world-building, some complicated social prescriptions, and an obtuse conspiracy. I can't make sense of most of it. 16% in, I'm done.
