10 authors, of whose books I've read at least five:

Ursula Le Guin
Kim Stanley Robinson
Octavia Butler
N. K. Jemisin
Becky Chambers
Iain M. Banks
Martha Wells
M. R. Carey
Lois McMaster Bujold
Vonda McIntyre

#scifi #ScienceFiction #SFF #books

#10Authors5BooksEach
@bookstodon

This week I've been mainly reading, no. 148.

The first book of Ann Leckie's Radch trilogy, Ancillary Justice (2013) offers an interesting plot of AI, identity & insurrection. Leckie builds an interesting (political) world/universe for her tale of revenge & becoming, which while at times a little too tricksy, overall remains a compelling bit of space-opera. If at times the plot seems a little too convoluted, the central idea(s) is/are intriguing & developed interestingly

#scifi
@bookstodon

† Vernor Vinge (79)

Rest in peace. Loved the Zones of Thought series.

#books #amreading #reading #kindle #literature #bookwyrm #booktoot #book #books #knihy #scifi #sff @bookstodon @scifi @knihy

Well @bookstodon, I thoroughly enjoyed reading those... #scifi #books #bookstodon

From yesterday, my review of the excellent Cascade Failure by L. M. Sagas. Published today.
https://susannashore.blogspot.com/2024/03/cascade-failure-by-l-m-sagas-review.html

#BookReview #scifi @bookstodon

#FinishedReading this slim volume of early 50s #SciFi by #AEVanVogt . The goofy title and stories of visiting inhabitable Mars and Venus makes this look like super old fashioned stuff, but that, like much else in this book, is an illusion. This is pure Cold War paranoia, with disorienting temporal and character shifts, mind control drugs, sinister conspiracies etc, and in general this feels like a bridge to the high points of Philip K Dick. #Bookstodon @bookstodon

Happy release day to me!

https://johnwilker.scifibooksalactic-instability/

Check it out! Buy it on whatever platform you enjoy reading on!

@bookstodon
#bookstodon #scifi #spaceopera #scifibooks

Well, I suppose there's a first time for everything.

Today's review of The Left Hand of Dog calls the book 'too normal'.

If you'd like to read an ordinary, typical, common book about an aro-ace agender IT project manager and her dog who get kidnapped by giant space bunnies, click now. Prices are going up … soon.

https://whitehartfiction.co.uk/collection/starship-teapot-series

@bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon #books #scifi #ScienceFiction #SpaceOpera #TheLeftHandOfDog #SiClarke

Short Stories.

Love ‘em, hate ‘em, somewhere in the middle?

Years ago one of my dear friends (who is a huge bookworm) and I were talking. She told me she hated short stories. I can’t remember why or if she even told me a reason. This conversation has stuck with me, because I struggle with them- why? I have no idea. I have tried different tactics to overcome this. I am s l o w l y reading one now, but I don’t gravitate toward it (not the one pictured, but it’s one I really want to read if I can ever get there).

I’d love to hear your thoughts.
#books #photography #fediverse #shortstories @bookstodon

This week I've been mainly reading, no. 129.

Ann Leckie's Translation State (2023) is a #scifi tale of negotiation between (intergalactic) civilisations, leavened with a story of belonging & (re)made families. While, highly focussed (the set-piece negotiations are half the book), its a fascinating work of invention that breezes along through multiple perspectives. Elements are left unexplained but it hardly matters as the narrative itself carries you along. I really enjoyed it.

@bookstodon

#JustFinished Julia, by Sandra Newman

This is a diificult book for me to review, as I had mixed feelings throughout the book. It was written as an update to 1984 told from the main female character's point of view.

Initially, I thought it was a great reimagining of the story. Newman makes Julia more intelligent than she was cast in 1984, which does make the character more interesting. As the book went on, Julia is so cynical

1/3

#scifi #books #bookstodon @bookstodon

What are your thoughts on DNF (Did Not Finish)-ing books? Do you feel guilty about it? Do you worry you missed out on something? Or are you confident in dropping a book and reaching for the next one?

At what point are you most likely to DNF, if ever? What sorts of things cause you to DNF?

My friend, book blogger Kriti, was musing on these questions a while back, and it sparked this new post: https://armedwithabook.com/dealing-with-dnf-the-practice-of-did-not-finish/

@bookstodon
#Bookstodon #Books #ReadingCommunity #BookBloggers #AmReading

Latest read:
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner.
Continuing my quest to fill in blanks in my classic sci-fi knowledge. This is one of those books that will stay with me. It packs a punch.

#book #scifi #bookstodon #sciencefiction #masterworks @bookstodon

Spadework for a Palace, by Laszlo Krasznahorkai, trans John Batki. You are a librarian with a great plan to create a Permanently Closed Library, which you record with other thoughts in a single sentence that stretches 100 pages. 5 of 5 library cats 🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈.

@bookstodon #bookstodon #books #reading #libraries #librarians #architecture #novela

Extinction Studies: Stories of Time, Death, and Generations

Extinction Studies focuses on the entangled ecological and social dimensions of extinction, exploring the ways in which extinction catastrophically interrupts life-giving processes of time, death, and generations. The volume opens up important philosophical questions about our place in, and obligations to, a more-than-human world.

@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#extinction

#JustFinished The Humans, by Matt Haig.

The narrator leads us through a look at Earth and posh English culture from the eyes of an alien. Humorous without stepping too far, it leads into a serious story as the narrator grows. By the end, it's poignant and we're left with the warm fuzzies. Truly a lovely arc of a story.

#scifi #books #bookstodon @bookstodon

Violence, Colonialism and Empire in the Modern World

This book explores the theme of violence, repression and atrocity in imperial and colonial empires, as well as its representations and memories, from the late eighteenth through to the twentieth century. It examines the wide variety of violent means by which colonies and empire were maintained in the modern era, the politics of repression and the violent structures inherent in empire.

@bookstodon
#empires
#colonialism
#violence

The Good Man of Nanking is a crucial document for understanding one of World War II's most horrific incidents of genocide, one which the Japanese have steadfastly refused to acknowledge. It is also the moving and awe-inspiring record of one man's conscience, courage, and generosity in the face of appalling human brutality.

@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#diary
#WWII
#Nanking
#JohnRabe

@bookstodon In 2023 there's been a huge expansion in the number of graphic novels, graphic memoirs, and graphic nonfiction published. They deserve a 2023 "Best of" list of their own. Here's mine; add yours. I always want to hear about great graphic books!

Best Graphic Books published in 2023:

THE LIBRARIAN OF AUSCHWITZ, Salva Rubio, Antonio Iturbe

YAZIDI! Aurélien Ducoudray, Mini Ludvin

SUNSHINE, Jarrett J. Krosoczka (author of HEY, KIDDO)

DICTATORSHIP: IT'S EASIER THAN YOU THINK! Sarah Kendzior, Andrea Chalupa, Kasia Babis

THE INFINITY HEART, Wendy Xu

FUNNY THINGS: A COMIC BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES M. SCHULTZ, Luca Debus, Francesco Matteuzzi

EIGHT BILLION GENIES: DELUXE EDITION, BOOK ONE, Charles Soule, Ryan Browne

GENDER IS REALLY STRANGE, Teddy Goetz, Sophie Standing

MONICA, Daniel Clowes (author of GHOST WORLD)

COURAGE TO DREAM: TALES OF HOPE IN THE HOLOCAUST, Neal Shusterman, Andrés Vera Martínez

ARTIFICIAL: A LOVE STORY, Amy Kurzweil

WASHINGTON'S GAY GENERAL, Josh Trujillo, Levi Hastings

#books #GraphicNovels #bookstodon #BooksWorthReading #BestBooks 2023

Margins of Writing, Origins of Culture

Collectively, the articles here provide well-documented challenges to conventional wisdom about that for which people actually used Sumerian, Egyptian, Hittite, and Hebrew. This conference was the first to bring leading philologists together with anthropologists and social theorists to explore what writing meant to politics in the ancient Near East.

@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#AncientNearEast
#languages
#writing
#politics

Anger, Mercy, Revenge

"Raging with an inhuman desire to inflict pain in combat and shed blood in punishment, it cares nothing for itself provided it can harm the other: it throws itself upon the very weapons raised against it, hungry for a vengeance that will bring down the avenger too."

@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#philosophy
#Seneca
#anger
#revenge

The Complete Poems of Michelangelo

There is no artist more celebrated than Michelangelo. Yet the magnificence of his achievements as a visual artist often overshadow his devotion to poetry. Michelangelo used poetry to express what was too personal to display in sculpture or painting.

@bookstodon
#books
#fiction
#poetry
#sonnets
#Michelangelo

Luís de Camões
Selected Sonnets: A Bilingual Edition

The most important writer in Portuguese history and one of the preeminent European poets of the early modern era, Luís de Camões (1524–80) has been ranked as a sonneteer on par with Petrarch, Dante, and Shakespeare.

@bookstodon
#books
#fiction
#poetry
#sonnets
#Portuguese

I love #MurielSpark.
'I am a descendant, do not forget, of Willie Brodie, a man of substance, a cabinet maker and designer of gibbets, a member of the Town Council of Edinburgh and a keeper of two mistresses who bore him five children between them.'

She is so cruel to her characters. What a brilliant thing to have Miss Jean Brodie say. It has to be one of the funniest lines in literature.

#books, #fiction, @bookstodon

The Chinese Myths: A Guide to the Gods and Legends

This is a concise and entertaining guide to the complex tradition of Chinese mythology. The Chinese Myths not only retells the ancient stories but also considers their place within the patterns of Chinese religions, culture and history.

@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#China
#mythology