Karl > Recent Status Updates

I'm going to have to pause this one, because the ILL is overdue, but I'm going to see if I can track down a copy for purchase.

There is so much to love about this novel, but I think my favorite thing is the occasional offhand mention of a gender-flipped historical figure. "... like something out of the mystery stories of Mrs. Doyle..."for instance.

I had a hard time getting into this at first, because i didn't catch that there were three point of view characters. Part of that is down to not paying close attention to the audio, but it's also connected to one of my favorite literary devices. The book is in second person, so all three characters are addressed as "you". The story is great, though.

When I was a kid, I used to love stories set in English schools. They were always filled with inventive forms of bullying and cruelty, so they made me feel as if my own school experience wasn't so bad.

As an adult, I have the opposite feeling. Reading stories like this brings me straight back to those days, reminding me harshly of what it felt like to be mistreated and ignored.

I used to adore Heinlein, but my tolerance for misogynistic BS is a lot lower than it used to be.

How many times are we going to be beaten over the head with evidence that Gwendolyn is an awful person?

I've been reading a library copy of this, and I've got so many pages flagged that I've decided I need to own it. Placed an order last night.

The 1980s fictional CDC has a whole lot more power than the actual 2020 CDC.

This is a weird time to be reading a book featuring a mysterious illness and tons of casual racism, including blaming Chinese people for the disease.

I get so tired of reading incredible SFF with deep and complex world-building and fully realized characters where everyone is straight and cis.

This is not what I expected. I was looking for an omnibus edition. Setting it aside.

For the first time, my daughter came to me and said, "You should read this book, Dad. I think you'd really like it." Who am I to argue?

I am enjoying this book a great deal, and it's making me think differently about many things, but I find it upsetting that he frequently uses the term "autistic" to refer to self-absorbed behavior. It shocks me every time.

Giving up on this one.

This is so well-plotted! Every time I think I know who the villains are, something comes up to make me question that theory.

Giving this one up.

"Thanks for hoisting that story off your chest and right onto my nerves."

I am literally crying about a cartoon squirrel. This book is just so pure, people!

"Jesus is Trayvon Martin, armed only with a bag of Skittles and an iced tea against an entire world that would rather hang him from a tree than love him. Until wee see this, we are lost."

I've been having conversations with friends recently about various SF television shows and movies (V, The Running Man, Babylon 5, etc) seeming oddly prescient given today's politics and social climate. Spider Jerusalem's coverage of the presidential election is even more terrifyingly realistic, and can we talk about how much he gets right about social media?

"You must like it when people in authority they never earned lie to you.

"An artist in darkness will fight back with light."

I'm loving this book, but it's making me realize just how little SF I've actually read. My to-read list is climbing.

"And another reason, just as important, is the satisfaction one gets from learning a skill--from learning how to do something you couldn't do before. It is a good feeling any time you're dissatisfied with life."

Giving up. Moving to abandoned shelf.

Done with Jhereg. On to Yendi.

If there is a third edition of this book, I really hope they acknowledge that girls with ADHD have fathers as well as mothers. Moms get mentioned and addressed directly multiple times, but so far I don't think I've seen the word "father" once, and there's no entry for us in the index.

Still reading, because there's a lot of good information here, but I'm disappointed in this aspect.

My favorite thing about this book is that Psmith's love interest has been brought to Blandings to catalogue the library.

I'm setting this aside for the moment, because it's an ILL, and I need to send it back, but I'm going to try to purchase a copy. This whole idea fascinates me.

"Truth is a local phenomenon, like a microclimate."