Phil in SF wants to read The Chinese Groove by Kathryn Ma
Anne Tyler meets Jade Chang in this buoyant, good-hearted, and sharply written novel about a …
Checked out from SFPL. I figure I'll need a second audiobook for my flight back on Wednesday.
Reviews and Comments
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. I will follow most bookwyrm accounts back if they review & comment. Social reading should be social.
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Phil in SF started reading The Murders in Great Diddling by Katarina Bivald (Berit Gardner, #1)
The best stories are the ones we didn’t know needed to be told.
The small, …
Been a month or two since I popped an audiobook into Libby, but I wanted to get a good walk in today and i have two cross-country flights in the next three days. I'm not normally a fan of cozies, but when I listen to audiobooks I need something not too intense, so I'll see how this goes.
Phil in SF wants to read Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
A bold, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartwarming story about one young woman’s attempt to navigate adulthood, …
On hold with Santa Clara County Libraries.
Phil in SF reviewed The Book of Elsewhere by China Miéville
She said, We needed a tool. So I asked the gods.
There have always been …
Obtuse
2 stars
The writing is waaaaay too obtuse. The story takes a cool concept (an ancient, immortal being seeks mortality) and puts a very new coat of paint on it. Unfortunately, it tries to be too thinky about it.
Phil in SF commented on The Book of Elsewhere by China Miéville
She said, We needed a tool. So I asked the gods.
There have always been …
Interesting, but slow reading. there's some sections i just don't understand that slow me down.
Phil in SF commented on The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking by Brooke Borel
“A column by Glenn Garvin on Dec. 20 stated that the National Science Foundation ‘funded …
So far, I'm not thrilled with this book. It purports to be a how-to guide, but so far it's very hand-wavey.
For instance, the chapter on what to fact check says "everything". It's instructions on what to prioritize don't go mich beyond "things that are important to the story" and "things that will take effort". The chapter on how does not propose much of a system for tracking facts, tracking effort, and also is very geared toward paper copies.
(I'm not kidding about "everything". in the part that supposedly says how to modify the process to identify what should be fact checked for electronic documents, Borel writes: "Make a separate copy of the story file and rename it. Then, using your software tools, either highlight or boldface the entire text." That is so useless.)
it's an easy read so far, so I'm likely to stick through it, but I'm not …
So far, I'm not thrilled with this book. It purports to be a how-to guide, but so far it's very hand-wavey.
For instance, the chapter on what to fact check says "everything". It's instructions on what to prioritize don't go mich beyond "things that are important to the story" and "things that will take effort". The chapter on how does not propose much of a system for tracking facts, tracking effort, and also is very geared toward paper copies.
(I'm not kidding about "everything". in the part that supposedly says how to modify the process to identify what should be fact checked for electronic documents, Borel writes: "Make a separate copy of the story file and rename it. Then, using your software tools, either highlight or boldface the entire text." That is so useless.)
it's an easy read so far, so I'm likely to stick through it, but I'm not impressed at this point.
Phil in SF reviewed The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal
Thirty years ago, Elma York led the expedition that paved the way to life on …
probably hits me in the feels because I've read three books in the series already
4 stars
This was originally published in 2012 (as an audio story) and 2013 (as a short story), six years before The Calculating Stars. I think that if I had read it before reading the novels, I would think it a rather banal story of an astronaut reminiscing.
However, because I read it after two novels about Elma York, it hits me in the feels as a coda to a long relationship between Elma and her husband Nathaniel. The series devotes significant words to their domestic relationship, not just to the details of going into space. It's one of the most well written science fictional relationships I've ever read. So reading about their lives nearing their ends means something, even though the story of a relationship at the end is banal in the details.
It's 1960, and the Axis powers dominate the world. Life goes on, because, as we …
Americans under fascism
4 stars
Set in an alternate history where fascism won during World War II and Lindbergh has taken a turn as President of the US. Times are tough for the handful of working class people who appear in the story, and they face temptations trying to get ahead. A few temptations that arise under fascism, where one can get ahead by denouncing others.
Phil in SF finished reading Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction by Jo Walton
It's 1960, and the Axis powers dominate the world. Life goes on, because, as we …
I have a whole buncha short stories that Tor.com published online and then put out in free EPUB format before they started selling them. They're great reading while having breakfast at a diner counter.
Phil in SF reviewed Goblins & Greatcoats by Travis Baldree
A goblin with too many pockets and a disturbing affinity for cutlery, a rain-soaked night, …
fantasy murder mystery
4 stars
A goblin enters an inn, stumbling into the scene of a murder. A band of thieves surround two of their own lying dead on the floor. While they don't trust each other, which thief of the group is the one who committed the murders?
Free short story ebook from Subterranean Press.
Phil in SF reviewed The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
A profound, startling, and beautifully crafted debut novel, The Sympathizer is the story of a …
Moral tension
5 stars
The unnamed narrator is a mole for the Communist North in the South Vietnamese military. Unlike a lot of spy novels, the tension in this book is all about the narrator trying to be two different moral people, not a spy who tries not to be discovered. As a mole, he does terrible things to people on both sides of the conflict. He is also the son of a French man and Vietnamese woman, which brings its own tension. After they evacuate and become refugees in the U.S., he has to negotiate between being Vietnamese and American expectations and views. All of these pull him in brilliantly written fashion in multiple directions. It's rare that I get this engaged with a book where the tension is primarily internal, but it pulled me in so much I missed a Muni stop even. There's a few scenes of action, but the tough …
The unnamed narrator is a mole for the Communist North in the South Vietnamese military. Unlike a lot of spy novels, the tension in this book is all about the narrator trying to be two different moral people, not a spy who tries not to be discovered. As a mole, he does terrible things to people on both sides of the conflict. He is also the son of a French man and Vietnamese woman, which brings its own tension. After they evacuate and become refugees in the U.S., he has to negotiate between being Vietnamese and American expectations and views. All of these pull him in brilliantly written fashion in multiple directions. It's rare that I get this engaged with a book where the tension is primarily internal, but it pulled me in so much I missed a Muni stop even. There's a few scenes of action, but the tough stuff is in our protagonist's inner monologue.
@sanae@bookwyrm.social has a much meatier review of The Sympathizer than mine; go read their review for a deeper discussion of the book's ethics.
Phil in SF wants to read Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway by Kirk Johnson
Two “paleonerds” embark on a roadtrip across the West in search of fossils.
The new …
I've been waiting for 2 years for this to come back in print, and I've just ordered the new edition from the artist's web site.
Phil in SF reviewed Immortal, Invisible by Tade Thompson
Robin Hearns has been kidnapped. Or murdered. Or kidnapped and murdered.
He isn’t sure.
What …
glad i didn't read the description
5 stars
Robin wakes up in a cabin in a pastoral compound. He's been kidnapped by a hitman (Buki) who claims to disappear his victims instead of kill them like he's been contracted, because he doesn't like killing.
I loved this story because Thompson lets the reader discover what's happening as his characters discover it. Things are weird enough to be intriguing but not so out there that I couldn't make any sense of it.
The description on the Subterranean Press web site (where this ebook can be downloaded for free) is a bit too spoilery for me, so I'm glad I didn't read it before downloading.
Phil in SF stopped reading Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb
A gripping page-turner from the celebrated author of book club favorite The Violin Conspiracy: Music …
I just couldn't get into the audiobook.
Phil in SF reviewed The Last Emperox by John Scalzi
The collapse of The Flow, the interstellar pathway between the planets of the Interdependency, has …
I knew this would be awful
2 stars
I knew this would be awful. I was not wrong.
It's the same damn problem as the previous book in the series. Every character is too damn clever for their own good. Most characters are paper-thin schemers. The whole basis of the story is just predicting whether an incident will be a double cross or a triple cross or a quadruple cross. "Aha! I anticipated you would double cross so I have taken the liberty of triple crossing you!" Then there is the nature of some of the artificial intelligences that are characters. Specifically that these AI characters pepper every conversation with meta-discussion on the nature of their existence. "I, an AI, am sorry for your loss. Am I actually sorry or am I just programmed to say that? We must discuss the nature of this at every utterance of a pleasantry."
This series, particularly the second and third books, …
I knew this would be awful. I was not wrong.
It's the same damn problem as the previous book in the series. Every character is too damn clever for their own good. Most characters are paper-thin schemers. The whole basis of the story is just predicting whether an incident will be a double cross or a triple cross or a quadruple cross. "Aha! I anticipated you would double cross so I have taken the liberty of triple crossing you!" Then there is the nature of some of the artificial intelligences that are characters. Specifically that these AI characters pepper every conversation with meta-discussion on the nature of their existence. "I, an AI, am sorry for your loss. Am I actually sorry or am I just programmed to say that? We must discuss the nature of this at every utterance of a pleasantry."
This series, particularly the second and third books, have been so tedious.