★★★★★ | Literary Fiction | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
What a delightful little book. I read this 36 years ago, so parts of it were vaguely familiar.
…When you sell a man a book you don’t sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue-you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night-there’s all heaven and earth in a book, a real book I mean.Â
★★★☆☆ | Science, Essays | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
A dark collection of essays on finding meaning in an unthinking universe.
…★★★☆☆ | History | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
The book describes how QAnon and other conspiracy theories emerged to be a major forces in politics. I am reading this to better understand the beliefs of a family member. The writing here is not great. The author repeats himself and does a poor job of relating stories. But at least I have a better understanding of this bizarre cult.
★★★★☆ | Mystery-Suspense | Print | Own | Goodreads
Fun suspense yarn set at sea. Interesting writing style: points of view change within chapters without warning; no flashbacks; everything revealed via dialogue. I enjoyed this one.
★★★★☆ | Science Fiction | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
This book won the Hugo award in 2020. Slow moving at first with a lot of world building jargon to pause over. The plot picked up in the middle and became almost a page turner by the end.
I liked the eerie description of the Sunlit, a human/AI police force (we never really find out what they are).Â
Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe; it gives life back to those who no longer exist.
★★★★☆ | Graphic Novel | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
Incredible! The graphic novels are way different than the TV series! Many of the plot lines are the same, but wow oh wow were there some surprises. Very fun, but also surprisingly comforting to have these fellow grieving souls to commiserate with.
★★★☆☆ | Essays | Audio | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
A cranky, comical book of essays written in the last years of Vonnegut’s life. He is depressed about the state of the world and our short-term minded treatment of it. He reminds you that everyone, even those experts in power only just got here, like everyone else and no one really knows anything.
…★★★★☆ | Sports | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
A great collection of essays and fight recaps over boxing’s storied history. Some of these I had read before (Shadow Box by George Plimpton, The Fight by Norman Mailer and Four Kings by George Kimball). Gene Tunney’s essay about fighting Jack Dempsey was amazing.Â
I began to wish I had more time to think and read and talk to people, to stop writing so much and with such assurance. Columnists have to write with assurance because they are paid to raise The Truth.
— Robert Lipsyte
★★★★☆ | Essays | Audio | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
A wonderful collection of essays across a variety of topics. I read her essay “Three Fathers” in the New Yorker a while back, but it’s so much more engaging to hear Ann read it aloud in her own voice. Her writing reminds me of my own if I were better — and that it’s possible to write and essay and still be impactful.
…★★★☆☆ | Science Fiction | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
A comfort read with some interesting themes:
I respect the neutral gender treatment in the novel, but it kept throwing me off during my reading.
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