Book #43 of 2017: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer An infuriating and depressing account of how the super-wealthy have quietly influenced popular discourse through the funding of think tanks and campaign contributions to bring about policies protecting their own wealth and business …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Book Review: Six Earlier Days by David Levithan
Book #42 of 2017: Six Earlier Days by David Levithan I loved David Levithan’s novel Every Day about a teenage entity who wakes up each morning in a different body, but this prequel just didn’t do it for me. I think the intent was to showcase how A adopted their principles and grew to be …
Continue reading “Book Review: Six Earlier Days by David Levithan”
Book Review: Get in Trouble by Kelly Link
Book #41 of 2017: Get in Trouble by Kelly Link An overall solid short story collection, although I think I would have liked it more if the stories had been more focused on their fantastic elements. Most of this collection could be classified as either sci-fi or fantasy (especially if you include superheroes and ghosts …
Continue reading “Book Review: Get in Trouble by Kelly Link”
Book Review: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Book #40 of 2017: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi A heartbreaking memoir of a neurosurgeon dying from lung cancer at age 36, published after he ultimately succumbed to the disease. As a doctor, Paul Kalanithi is clear-eyed about his diagnosis and his low chances for survival, and his quiet acceptance of these facts …
Continue reading “Book Review: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi”
Book Review: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Book #39 of 2017: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children #1) Seanan McGuire isn’t the first author to wonder what happens to the children who have visited a fantasy world after their return, but she brings a rare warmth to this story of a boarding school built to shelter such travelers. McGuire’s …
Continue reading “Book Review: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire”
Book Review: This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
Book #38 of 2017: This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab (Monsters of Verity #1) Author Victoria Schwab has described this story as “Romeo and Juliet minus romance plus monsters,” and that’s actually not a bad summary. Kate and August are from rival ruling families under an uneasy truce dividing up their city, but when the …
Continue reading “Book Review: This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab”
Book Review: Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between) by Lauren Graham
Book #37 of 2017: Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between) by Lauren Graham A quick read and a fun way to spend a little time with actress Lauren Graham, whose interior monologue sounds very much like her breakout role of Lorelai Gilmore. Graham shares a …
Book Review: The Reader by Traci Chee
Book #36 of 2017: The Reader by Traci Chee (Sea of Ink and Gold #1) I was intrigued by the notion of a world with practically no written language, but I wish that the author had committed more fully to exploring the implications of that premise instead of just making reading be a form of …
Book Review: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Book #35 of 2017: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (Little Brother #1) As the title implies, Little Brother is something of a modern update to George Orwell’s authoritarian surveillance classic 1984. But whereas Orwell was constructing his totalitarian state as a potential future that unchecked modern trends could eventually bring about, this novel feels like …
Continue reading “Book Review: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow”
Book Review: Infomocracy by Malka Older
Book #34 of 2017: Infomocracy by Malka Older (Centenal Cycle #1) A fun spy thriller, set in the near future where corporations compete in “microdemocracies” to be the new government rulers of thousands of small territories around the world. It’s more amusing than strictly plausible, and it took a good 10% of the novel before …
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 