Easy on the eyes
3 stars
A bit light on the mystery, and minimal movement in the meta-plot, but perfect relaxation escapism.
Reading time 3 days, 135 pages/day
#BookWyrm
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wrul (they, iel, etc) replied to wrul (they, iel, etc)'s status
RUDE, #BookWyrm discarded the hash from my tag, #⠋⠐⠑⠀⠿⠐⠑
Wild Woila reviewed Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
From the exiled Kenyan novelist, playwright, poet, and literary critic--a magisterial comic novel that is …
Amusing & insightful but long
3 stars
A satire of African dictatorships and coups. Nearly everyone is stupid, superstitious or greedy. Lightly amusing & insightful but exceeedingly long.
Reading time 24 days, 32 pages/day
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (also known as Alice Through the Looking-Glass …
Random colourful nonsense
2 stars
(2 stars = it was okay)
A sequence of random but colourful nonsense, for no discernible reason. Poor ending. Very effective at sending me off to sleep, though!
Wild Woila reviewed The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
Return to Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn world of Scadrial as its second era, which began with …
High-octane fantasy
3 stars
More high-octane fantasy from the Mistborn world, with some key reveals. Some very pleasing support characters.
Reading time 7 days, 71 pages/day
Wild Woila reviewed After Story by Larissa Behrendt
Healing through literary tourism?
3 stars
Indigenous mother & daughter find healing & belonging on a literary tour through England. Dwells a lot on literary history which seems incidental to main story. Not a lot of plot progression or character development.
Reading time 12 days, 25 pages/day
Wild Woila reviewed White Tears Brown Scars by Ruby Hamad
For readers of White Fragility, White Tears/Brown Scars is an explosive book of history and …
White womanhood is instrumental in upholding white supremacy
5 stars
Argues forcefully & convincingly that white womanhood has been (and still is) instrumental in upholding #WhiteSupremacy. I will never see the #intersection of #race & #gender so naively again. A must read for all - for solidarity & reflection.
Reading time 18 days, 12 pages/day
#BookReview #Books #Bookstodon #BookWyrm #WhiteWomensTears #WhiteFragility #Racism #Sexism #Intersectionality
Wild Woila reviewed Eat My Shadow by Linda Cockburn
20 years ago the world went quiet. Father is suspended between the living world and …
Climate collapse close to home
4 stars
Post-climate apocalypse in #HuonValley & #Hobart. Mostly believable (ex-PM was a caricature, and questionable lack of planning for expedition) with survivors being both humane & loving, but also merciless when called for. Unnerving to see local area in this light.
Reading time 7 days, 47 pages/day
#BookReview #Books #Bookstodon #BookWyrm #CliFi #SciFi #Tasmania
wrul (they, iel, etc) replied to wrul (they, iel, etc)'s status
Aha, obviously I wasn't paying the closest attention to #BookWyrm development discussions mid last year, because much of the underlying cause of these problems is already to be resolved in a big refactor of the underlying reading -status and -activity logic[1].
There's something to be flagged here about editions versus works, but I'm much too tired to keep track of my own thoughts on it. Broadly speaking, though: hopefully these two critically distinct technical roles will not get muddled up in all the talk of books because in some cases "book" really ought to be either "edition" or "work" and to assume the wrong meaning would cause hassle down the line! [2]
In the meantime, I am going to wean myself off the buzz of keeping absolutely complete records through status-shelving[3]; learn to love the annual Reading Goal page as a clue to the state of each edition's …
Aha, obviously I wasn't paying the closest attention to #BookWyrm development discussions mid last year, because much of the underlying cause of these problems is already to be resolved in a big refactor of the underlying reading -status and -activity logic[1].
There's something to be flagged here about editions versus works, but I'm much too tired to keep track of my own thoughts on it. Broadly speaking, though: hopefully these two critically distinct technical roles will not get muddled up in all the talk of books because in some cases "book" really ought to be either "edition" or "work" and to assume the wrong meaning would cause hassle down the line! [2]
In the meantime, I am going to wean myself off the buzz of keeping absolutely complete records through status-shelving[3]; learn to love the annual Reading Goal page as a clue to the state of each edition's respective "Your reading activity"; and be more attentive as to how the reading date data fall. [5]
Looking forward to that refactor --- settling into a groove should become more intuitive afterwards, especially for newcomers. (And I find the idea of independent privacy settings for reading activity exciting! I worry, lightly, sometimes about doxxing my mates or embarrassing author acquaintances if my reading history veers someday toooo niche, you know? What other uses will people come up with from such powerful new affordances? Super cool!)
[1] That would be BookWyrm pull request # 2170: 'Refactors reading status Shelf and ReadThrough logic' [2] I get the impression not many other wyrmsters are juggling multiple editions in their reading activity yet. [3] I will still exploit whatever loophole lets me shelve multiple editions of a work at once under "Currently Reading" (and thus enjoy all the associated mod cons on the homepage); but nominate only one of them for the "Read"/"Stopped Reading" shelves[4]. [4] This could be a problem if one edition proves worth finishing while another definitively does not. And by could I mean without a doubt will be. Sooo fingers crossed I (and anyone else in this sort of position) finish everything or get even more over status-shelving before that problem arises. That is, until # 2170 is implemented and hopefully editions' actions can fly around properly independently of each other...? [5] While continuing to keep my own records off-wyrm.
Wild Woila reviewed The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
About intimacy, but has none
2 stars
A platform for describing love in its many forms, but neglects intimacy with the reader. Shows a remarkable ability to capture the ineffable aspects of an encounter, but too often gets lost in obtuseness.
Reading time 17 days, 20 pages/day
Wild Woila reviewed The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang (The Poppy War, #1)
A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired …
Turns disturbingly dark without warning
3 stars
A reimagining of China & Japan, with shamans & gods for interest, and war crimes & genocide for a horrifying reality check. Misleadingly begins with standard 'orphan goes to hero school' trope, but turns disturbingly dark without warning.
Reading time 6 days, 88 pages/day
Wild Woila reviewed Orphan Sisters by Lola Jaye
Staid & unremarkable
2 stars
Black sisters grow up as orphans in England. Staid & unremarkable. Potentially traumatic, but pulls its punches.
Reading time 4 days, 93 pages/day
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Wild Woila reviewed Network Effect by Martha Wells
WINNER of the 2021 Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards!
The first full-length novel in Martha …
Perfected the recipe
4 stars
She's perfected the MurderBot recipe: awkward AI-AI relationship, friendly humans, emotional discomfort, clever conflict.
Reading time 3 days, 117 pages/day
Wild Woila reviewed Still Life by Louise Penny
Still Life is the debut novel written by Louise Penny and published by St. Martin's …
Lots of pastries
3 stars
A murder mystery with effortless characterisation and lots of pastries. Awkward autism portrayal?
Reading time 3 days, 126 pages/day