April > Recent Status Updates

Decided to go to the oldest, dustiest, forgotten end of my “want to read” list. Apparently I added this to my list 13 years ago?!!! I have zero memory of where I got this recommendation from or why I wanted to read it, but let’s go!

Uuuugh I don’t want to abandon another book this year but this is rough.

I’m giving this 2 more chapters.

Planet of Exile: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another one that felt more fantasy than sci-fi, but I liked it a lot more than the last. Interesting ideas about “othering” and this series’ version of the Star Trek “Prime Directive”. Lots of cool ideas that were touched on but not explored deeply or consistently. But it is a novella, so it’s not a dealbreaker.

Rocannon’s World ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This felt much more like “high fantasy” to me then sci-fi, and fantasy with big strong men swinging swords, and dwarves, and damsels, is just really not my thing.

“If your ship goes down in the middle of the open water, you don't give up and sink. You tread water, clutch onto a spar, do something.
…Realistically speaking, if you're in the middle of the sea, you're a goner. But you tread water until you can't kick another stroke. Not because you're optimistic.”

“Anything invented before you were eighteen was there all along. Anything invented before you're thirty is exciting and will change the world forever. Anything invented after that is an abomination and should be banned.”

“That's why you never hear politicians talking about ‘citizens,’ it's all ‘taxpayers,’ as though the salient fact of your relationship to the state is how much you pay. Like the state was a business and citizenship was a loyalty program that rewarded you for your custom with roads and health care.“

Damn this is good

Ah HA! Here we go :)