Mauri > Recent Status Updates

“You do not need to teach your preschooler to read.”

This book is such a weird combination of old-fashioned norms (stay-at-home mothers, disciplinarian fathers) and commonsense, "jesus christ, don't wear yourself out, get the babysitter! Send the kid to preschool! Feed him dinner in the kitchen beforehand!"

I’ve been reading the Earthsea books, sort of bewildered because they bear so little resemblance to the Annals of the Western Shore, but in this one I can see the connecting thread. Wild to see how LeGuin’s writing changed over decades.

Dr. Malone asking questions on a computer and getting answers like “oh yeah, your theory on human evolution is correct” and “btw I’m an angel” hits pretty different in 2026.

I had to put a post-it on the cover - despite my field, I can't stand looking at needles.

Part of the tension of this is supposed to be us wondering if Birdie’s going to go through with Charlie’s idea, but it doesn’t quite work: she has to or the book’s over.

Olruggio's summoned to the castle of a pretentious lord who demands the witch make the floor of his ballroom blue. Reading this summer 2026, I almost spit my drink out.

“…starring Brendan Fraser (remember him?)” I did a double take then checked the publication year on this - 2021.

I have very little hope with just one chapter remaining but SOMEBODY STOP THESE BABIES PLEASE BEFORE THEY DO A STUPID.

Folks, if you want people to stop being killed by weapons you improve with casual little inventions, stop inventing casual little improvements to weapons!

Unexpected swipe at Mystic CT in chapter 2 lol

Redden Keefe: They were…comfortable. He made…a comfortable living. The family car was a Mazda.
Me: Patrick, darling, they’ve got a London flat and a pied-à-terre in New York. They’re rich.

Parenthood has been WAY more "you can lead a horse to water..." than I expected, but I'm...like, vaguely trying to set Pip up to like (some) poetry a little sooner than I did? Anyway, all of these poems are 100% 1920s Pip, which is hilarious to me, but he lacks the self-awareness and historical context to get it.

Why do these magic schools never have ethics classes?

Ah, jeez: I put this down a few days ago and picked it up this evening to find an appearance from ICE in this chapter. A character wonders if ICE agents even carry guns. Shows you how fast things can change, even in just the 4-5 years since this was written.

Star Trek (TNG mainly) was the first media property where I really got into behind the scenes stuff, so I’m aware of a lot of the names that are coming up, but this is the first time seeing a lot of photos. Nobody mentioned that Bill Theiss looked about 12 when he started designing costumes for TOS!

100% picked this up because of my crush on Claire Foy.

Some of this should have been in the previous book.

Oh my goodness, the following chapter of bureaucratic and logistical fallout over Mr. Honey's actions is the best.

This was sort of plodding along semi-enjoyably when the main character did something totally unexpected to the other characters, but so well set up by the author that I laughed aloud. Go Mr. Honey!

Me: Oh I hope this book doesn’t do the thing with a child that some books seem to think is appropriate-
Book: *does the thing*
Me: Argh.

"Looking just at kids between the ages of 6 and 15, Oslo has had zero road deaths for at least the last 20 years." Great example of how someone else's good news can depress you.

I am trying to give this book the benefit of the doubt that I give every book more than 15 minutes old that's about technology, but it is a hard read to take seriously after...well, you know, the Meta sexbots chatting up kids and ChatGPT blithely enabling teen suicide.

Lol, why does this edition's cover have the Delicate Arch from a US national park, when the whole story takes place in Australia?

An odd error in the translator’s note: Carpenter says Ichi’s home island of Iojima is “known as Iwo Jima in the West.” But Iwo Jima is nearly 1000 miles from the novel’s setting of southern Kyushu - how could Ichi’s dirt poor father afford to travel there? And Shokkichi, in town every couple of months to sell cows? Pretty sure it’s actually the Iōjima (硫黄島) just off the coast of Kyushu.

Normally I try to give nonfiction about technology a pass when it comes to "oops, written four years ago and basically out of date" but I'm reading this for actual tips...? Also the author's tone is super smug. At least it's short.

So far this is the sort of book where the plot summary is "a baby is found just before Christmas" and the baby has yet to make an appearance a third of the way in.

Also, very unfortunate, the “Why is Gamora?” exchange from Infinity War runs through my head every time I read this title.