It's not like I'm a preachy crybaby who can't resist giving overemotional speeches about hope all the time.
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Continuing my practice of reading a poem every day. Picked this because I like "Danny Deever" from Starship Troopers and "Boots", which I first saw in the 28 Years Later trailer.
Going to be an exercise is separating the art from the political context.
Continuing my practice of reading a poem every day. Picked this because I like "Danny Deever" from Starship Troopers and "Boots", which I first saw in the 28 Years Later trailer.
Going to be an exercise is separating the art from the political context.
This was a very cool premise and Will had a relentlessly tragic life. I would have like the ghost characters to be sketched out a little more fully.
I appreciated the choice not to have a firm conclusion.
I wish I had read this on the page instead so I could appreciate the verse better, but I did enjoy having it read by the author.
For the first time, platinum-certified singer-songwriter Marina shares her singular observations of the human heart …
A lot of these aren't great in isolation, but taken as a whole they give a great glimpse of Marina's mind and have a complete, satisfying arc.
Individual favorites are:
Starlight Water Space Fresh Air Fizz Four Seasons Tiny Leopards
A lot of these aren't great in isolation, but taken as a whole they give a great glimpse of Marina's mind and have a complete, satisfying arc.
Individual favorites are:
Starlight Water Space Fresh Air Fizz Four Seasons Tiny Leopards
For the first time, platinum-certified singer-songwriter Marina shares her singular observations of the human heart …
Took forever to read because I intended to read one poem per day and it took me almost all year to get in a rhythm.
I found these generally took more effort that reading a regular novel because each time you have to adjust to the world of the story, you can't just dip in and out.
The stories I liked the most were the "Black Mirror" style ones where there was a strange technology or a twist. The "queer person turns into a monster" stories kind of ran together for me.
I also liked the stories for non-Western cultures that explored their own monsters.
Of the poems, Floral Arrangement I was the one I liked the best.
I found these generally took more effort that reading a regular novel because each time you have to adjust to the world of the story, you can't just dip in and out.
The stories I liked the most were the "Black Mirror" style ones where there was a strange technology or a twist. The "queer person turns into a monster" stories kind of ran together for me.
I also liked the stories for non-Western cultures that explored their own monsters.
Of the poems, Floral Arrangement I was the one I liked the best.
Book club pick.
Set in atmospheric 1950s San Francisco, Rough Pages asks who is allowed to tell their own stories, and how far …
The Mimicking of Known Successes presents a cozy Holmesian murder mystery and sapphic romance, set …
The world building here doesn't fundamentally make sense, there's no universe in which building 200,000 mile rails to colonize Jupiter is more feasible in terms of knowhow or resources that fixing Earth or even colonizing the Moon or Mars. However, you owe it to the author to suspend disbelief on the central premise and go for the ride. The worldbuilding about all the heat and light coming from gas flames was so good it felt like it was the initial idea that the setting formed around.
The strengths were the worldbuilding and the formal language that made everything feel retro-futuristic.
The primary weakness, in my view, was that a good mystery often involves a unique or creative "perfect crime". In order to write a perfect crime, you have to work within the rules of the real world. If your perfect crime involves a creative interpretation of a fictional …
The world building here doesn't fundamentally make sense, there's no universe in which building 200,000 mile rails to colonize Jupiter is more feasible in terms of knowhow or resources that fixing Earth or even colonizing the Moon or Mars. However, you owe it to the author to suspend disbelief on the central premise and go for the ride. The worldbuilding about all the heat and light coming from gas flames was so good it felt like it was the initial idea that the setting formed around.
The strengths were the worldbuilding and the formal language that made everything feel retro-futuristic.
The primary weakness, in my view, was that a good mystery often involves a unique or creative "perfect crime". In order to write a perfect crime, you have to work within the rules of the real world. If your perfect crime involves a creative interpretation of a fictional world, the rules you yourself made, it feels less clever. As an example, there's a reveal that a suspect had a creative way of riding the train. This didn't really feel like anything to me because the author hadn't previously established how people normally ride space trains.
There wasn't a lot to the love story, but I am guessing it will build in later installments.
I liked it and thought it was very funny that "conservative" is a swear.
The Mimicking of Known Successes presents a cozy Holmesian murder mystery and sapphic romance, set on Jupiter, by Malka Older, …
The Mimicking of Known Successes presents a cozy Holmesian murder mystery and sapphic romance, set …
Book club pick.
A cursed girl escapes death and finds herself in a magical world-but is then tested …
This is prime.
Nevermoor was a great series starter with a fun, imaginative world and a cast of funny, relatable characters. Morrigan and Jupiter were fun in different ways, the story was propulsive, and the worldbuilding was Dahl-esque, with confidence and verve.
The Christmas Eve chapter was wonderful and heartwarming, I want to read it every Christmas.
A cursed girl escapes death and finds herself in a magical world-but is then tested beyond her wildest imagination
…
A cursed girl escapes death and finds herself in a magical world-but is then tested …
Recommended by a friend.