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xylogx@bookwyrm.world reviewed Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer: Braiding Sweetgrass (2015)

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants is a 2013 nonfiction …

A Powerful Journey

5 stars

I love nature and I love books.If you do too, you might love this book. Told with a almost mystical reverence for the natural world, but with the voice of a scientifically trained botanist it weaves a story that while tragic at times is hopeful and uplifting. I feel like I struggled along with the author as she told her story and came out a better person in the end because of it. The audiobook is narrated by the author and that adds an extra dimension to the book and makes it more enjoyable, something rare for author narrated audiobooks.

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xylogx@bookwyrm.world finished reading Dark Wire by Joseph Cox

Joseph Cox: Dark Wire (2024, PublicAffairs)

The inside story of the largest law-enforcement sting operation ever, in which the FBI made …

Loved this book. It is a gripping cyber-thriller about how the FBI infiltrated criminal organizations using encrypted communications. I tore through this and thoroughly enjoyed it. The material is factual and follows real events while still being structured effectively in a compelling narrative.

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Wild Woila reviewed Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski

Andrzej Sapkowski: Time of Contempt (2014, Victor Gollancz Ltd)

Time of Contempt (Polish original title: Czas pogardy, early title was translated less literally as …

An obfuscating flood of names

3 stars

Much improved on the first book, though still too much banter and an obfuscating flood of names & places.

Reading time 2 days, 166 pages/day

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xylogx@bookwyrm.world reviewed Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

Erik Larson: Demon of Unrest (2024, HarperCollins Publishers Limited)

A gripping story of narrative history

4 stars

In the prologue Larson explains that he was inspired to tell this story by the events of Jan 6th as a way to compare the current election certification crisis with the last time it happened in order to show the mood of the country and the factors that lead to its happening. After completing the story I feel like he largely succeeded. Through his usual brand of narrative history telling he focuses in on a few points that illustrate how the different sections of the nation were thinking and the divide between them. While I feel like the telling of the southern viewpoint is well told, I think it is pretty far from today’s political climate. I find it more akin to the current denialism of climate change and vaccinations. In both cases you have an opposition that has convinced itself of viewpoint that is vulnerable to rational arguments using …

In the prologue Larson explains that he was inspired to tell this story by the events of Jan 6th as a way to compare the current election certification crisis with the last time it happened in order to show the mood of the country and the factors that lead to its happening. After completing the story I feel like he largely succeeded. Through his usual brand of narrative history telling he focuses in on a few points that illustrate how the different sections of the nation were thinking and the divide between them. While I feel like the telling of the southern viewpoint is well told, I think it is pretty far from today’s political climate. I find it more akin to the current denialism of climate change and vaccinations. In both cases you have an opposition that has convinced itself of viewpoint that is vulnerable to rational arguments using facts and has built itself a defense built on narrative story telling and identity-based cultural elements. I found his recounting of the Chivalry and the southern honor culture well done in this regard. Overall I really liked this book and feel Larson has earned another feather in his cap with this one on narrative history telling.

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xylogx@bookwyrm.world reviewed Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace: Infinite Jest (Paperback, 2006, Back Bay Books (Little Brown and Company))

Set in an addicts' hallway house and a tennis academy, and featuring one of the …

Not what I expected

5 stars

This books is amazing in many ways but is hard to compare to other more conventional stories and novels. It has a unique narrative structure and a radically chaotic use of language. I have to say I was skeptical at first and nearly gave up on this at several points, but it drew me in and by the end I was in love with its weird, quirky natures. The story itself is disjointed and a bit uninteresting when distilled from the way it is told and language used to tell it. That said it draws you in and is strong enough to hold up the novel through what is a marathon length telling. A lot of what happens in the book seems to be in service of some other purpose than serving to move the story along. It seems to be making points about society, human nature, morality and humanity …

This books is amazing in many ways but is hard to compare to other more conventional stories and novels. It has a unique narrative structure and a radically chaotic use of language. I have to say I was skeptical at first and nearly gave up on this at several points, but it drew me in and by the end I was in love with its weird, quirky natures. The story itself is disjointed and a bit uninteresting when distilled from the way it is told and language used to tell it. That said it draws you in and is strong enough to hold up the novel through what is a marathon length telling. A lot of what happens in the book seems to be in service of some other purpose than serving to move the story along. It seems to be making points about society, human nature, morality and humanity in an almost back handed way that seems like an afterthought at first, but as this pattern becomes more and more common, it becomes apparent that these statements are more the point than the telling of the actual story. I loved this book and do not regret the 60 hours I put into listening to it.

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Elena. reviewed Star Trek: Picard: Firewall by David Mack (Star Trek: Picard, #6)

No cover — David Mack: Star Trek: Picard: Firewall (AudiobookFormat, 2024)

Two years after the USS Voyager’s return from the Delta Quadrant, Seven of Nine finds …

The start of how Seven became the woman we know today (as in ST: Picard)

5 stars

Content warning Possible spoilers for David Mack's "Star Trek: Picard: Firewall". I don't say anything too specific, and nothing that I would call plot relevant, but some people might still count that as spoilers. Hence this CW.

I love visualising Seven in a mosh pit. LOVE IT! I love how several Trek shows are woven into this book. I love seeing some familiar characters of those shows. I love the scenes between Janeway and Seven. They truly are like mother and daughter. I love seeing Seven finding a purpose, a reason to carry on. I love seeing Seven learn and grow as a human. I love getting to know the Rangers, both as a whole and the individuals we meet. At the beginning of season 3 of Picard we shortly meet the Rangers and I didn't like how they were portrayed there, but after this book it makes sense now. Thank you, Mr. Mack for that.

The ending... what can I say without spoiling anything? Let's just say if you have seen the show you know what's going to come. [insert appropriate emoji]

January LaVoy is the queen of audio book narration and making characters sound like their actors. Thank you, Ms. LaVoy!

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Elena. reviewed A Stitch in Time by Andrew Robinson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

Andrew Robinson: A Stitch in Time (AudiobookFormat, 2023, Simon & Schuster Audio)

A Stitch in Time (ISBN 0-671-03885-0), published June 5, 2000, is a Star Trek: Deep …

A must read for all Garak fans

5 stars

Content warning Andrew J. Robinson "A Stitch in Time" -- possible spoilers!

After another long break I powered through the last 4 1/2 hours today.

What a fantastic book! Robinson is as good at writing Garak as he is at playing him, both on screen and for this narration. He tells a life's story so full of heart break it was at time almost unbearable for me to listen. I took quite a few breaks and some of them of several weeks or even months. And yet, or exactly because of it, I say this is an absolute must read for any Garak fan. You may want to keep some tissues nearby. I love when Star Trek novels stray from the classic form of here's a problem and our heroes are going to solve it, including a space battle or two -- happy ending. This book is such a different novel: It is a memoir, and therefore a collection of incidents in Garak's life that lead him to Terok Nor, have him stay on Deep Space 9, and finally allow him to return to Cardassia. It's the tale of how he so desperately tries to earn his father's love and his peers' and superiors' respect, but only gets their despisement, and of how he endures it all. His observations about humanity and the Federation are spot on of course. How does the Federation survive? LOL

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Wild Woila reviewed Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Anthony Doerr: Cloud Cuckoo Land (Hardcover, 2021, Scribner)

Elaborate but tenuous.

3 stars

(3 stars = I liked it)

Three time periods are braided together by an ancient Greek tale: 15th century Constantinople, the modern day, and a space-faring future. Elaborate but tenuous. On their own each story has potential, but together they don't quite make a whole. Like Cloud Atlas but less enthralling.

Reading time 7 days, 89 pages/day

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Wild Woila reviewed Account Rendered by Melita Maschmann

Melita Maschmann: Account Rendered (Paperback, 2016, Plunkett Lake Press)

A cog in the Nazi machine

4 stars

Autobiography of a woman who was a committed & diligent National Socialist (#Nazi), of her experience in youth work & propaganda, and her journey coming to terms with the truth of what she participated in. Description of the clinical dispossession of the Poles is disturbing (and new to me), as is the readiness with which everyday mediocre people were led into misguided beliefs, alternative facts & constrained thinking, to do prosaic work with horrifyingly evil outcomes.

Reading time 11 days, 26 pages/day

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Wild Woila reviewed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver: Demon Copperhead (Paperback, 2022, HarperLuxe)

So good it hurt to read

5 stars

A harrowing journey through foster care and the opiate crisis. So good it hurt to read. Raw deal after raw deal left my heart aching, but enough clear-sighted humanity to stave off despair.

Reading time 9 days, 61 pages/day

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Elena. started reading Worn: A People's History of Clothing by Sofi Thanhauser

No rating

Next up in my reading about the fashion/ garment industry. One chapter in I‘m already furious (about how men pushed women to the side because they felt disadvantaged).

I want to see many translations of this book.

#FediBooks #bookstodon #NonFiction

Wild Woila reviewed Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Earthseed, #1)

Octavia E. Butler: Parable of the Sower (Paperback, 2000, Warner Books)

In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful …

Prophetic for its time

3 stars

Adapting & building community during social collapse. Prophetic for its time, remains unsettling. God as Change could be a genuinely useful belief system. Only half a book, with ending sudden & too convenient (there is a sequel).

Reading time 5 days, 62 pages/day

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Wild Woila reviewed Africa Is Not a Country by Dipo Faloyin

Lively, enlightening & optimistic

4 stars

Dismantles the many myths & prejudices outsiders hold about monolithic "Africa", along with a startling reminder of its colonial history and an overview of its many forms of dictatorship. Lively, enlightening & optimistic without being overly simplistic.

Reading time 6 days, 59 pages/day

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