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Phil in SF

kingrat@sfba.club

Joined 1 year, 6 months ago

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.

2024 In The Books

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Success! Phil in SF has read 31 of 28 books.

commented on King: A Life by Jonathan Eig

Jonathan Eig: King (Hardcover, 2023, Farrar Straus & Giroux) No rating

Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life is the first major biography …

Bookwyrm now has a complete list of all Pulitzer Prize winners in Biography (so far) with the addition of this book. On SFBA.club, all the entries have descriptions & the best cover image I could find. Other servers don't always pick those up from here, so your mileage may vary.

Carolyn Ives Gilman: Arkfall (EBook, 2010, Phoenix Pick)

Humans live deep within an apparently lifeless planet covered by massive ice sheets. Having to …

A line of porters stood by with electric carts in the hallway, so Osagi approached one, trying to conceal her diffidence.

Arkfall by  (7%)

new vocabulary: diffidence

modesty or shyness resulting from a lack of self-confidence

I've read this word for literally decades and have always thought it meant ambivalence or indifference. tbh, the ability to get a definition at a long-hold in my Kobo is going .o really improve my vocabulary

stopped reading The Wall by Gautam Bhatia (Sumer, #1)

Gautam Bhatia: The Wall (EBook, 2020, HarperCollins India) No rating

‘Imagine a horizon.’

‘I can’t.’

Mithila’s world is bound by a Wall enclosing the city …

Meh. So around the city of Sumer for generations has existed the Wall. There's like 15 circles inside the wall, and the Elders and Shoortans and other groups have some sort of complicated ruling system. But noone is to go outside the Wall or even attempt it. This is, so far, the story of a group of young people who dream of leaving.

However, there's little in the story that makes me care if they succeed, nor can I bring myself to care that there's intrigue between the powerful groups.

avatar for kingrat Phil in SF boosted
Christina Lynch: Pony Confidential (EBook, Berkley)

An NPR “Book of the Day”

In this one-of-a-kind mystery with heart and humor, a …

Excellent excellent page turner about a pony saving their human from being convicted of a crime

This book is extremely white woman coded. A woman who calls her family poor after their bought her a pony? Yes, but does it also punch up? Also yes. This book ties a very amazing thread between prison cells, kill pens for animals, and how animals & humans ALL suffer through callous behavior of humans.

It is also written as a very entertaining mystery! I absolutely devoured it in my insomnia. The hater pony realizes he actually loves his human and did in fact run away abandoning her. He makes a long journey back to her. The end is very Hollywood-ish which is explained by the fact that the author says she wanted to write a movie first but turned it into a book. There is NO copaganda. There is plenty of stories of animal abuse though so be warned. There is sorta a romance but it is very light. …

Gautam Bhatia: The Wall (EBook, 2020, HarperCollins India) No rating

‘Imagine a horizon.’

‘I can’t.’

Mithila’s world is bound by a Wall enclosing the city …

And what about the woad that you grow in that so-called City garden, that you price so high that only you Elders and your farm-owning cronies can buy it- from yourselves?

The Wall by  (Sumer, #1) (6%)

new vocabulary: woad

a yellow flowered European plant of the cabbage family. it was formerly widely grown in Britain as a source of blue dye, which was extracted from the leaves after they had been dried, powdered, and fermented.

reviewed Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston (Henry Thompson, #2)

Charlie Huston: Six Bad Things (EBook, 2005, Ballantine Books)

Hank Thompson is living off the map in Mexico with a bagful of cash that …

Enjoyable, but repeats elements of book 1

Henry Thompson is living the life of a fugitive in Mexico, where his stolen money goes a lot further than in the US. And where he's a lot safer. Until a Russian shows up, recognizes him, and tries to collect the money. Henry survives the encounter, but concocts a plan to return to the US.

So thus begins the new descent, which follows a lot of the same plot elements as book 1. Multiple groups chasing Henry for money he doesn't have in his possession but which he could theoretically lead them to. Bad guys betraying other bad guys. People getting killed, many of them by Henry himself.

The main differences this time? Henry doesn't feel quite as bad as before when he hurts people. And instead of being chased through the streets of New York, he's being chased from Mexico to California to Las Vegas.

Still fun, but doesn't …

avatar for kingrat Phil in SF boosted
Everina Maxwell: Winter's Orbit (Paperback, 2022, Tor Books)

While the Iskat Empire has long dominated the system through treaties and political alliances, several …

Winter's Orbit

I gave myself a comfort reread of this book to remember again how much I enjoy it. It's still great.

Winter's Orbit is a queer romance / science fiction book. Personally, I think folks who like one genre but don't read the other would enjoy this book, but in practice it seems like the combination seems to make folks bounce from the idea. I wonder if perhaps this is why nobody else seemed intrigued to read this for hashtag SFFBookClub. Also, the romance is largely PG rated, if that's important to you one way or the other.

The plot hook is that reticent and duty-bound Count Jainan has recently lost his husband; in order to politically preserve an interplanetary treaty, he is quickly remarried to easygoing and irresponsible Prince Kiem. When Kiem's friendly overtures are rebuffed, Kiem tries to give Jainan space to mourn and not push him or through …