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Michael Gouker Locked account

mgouker@wyrms.de

Joined 3 years ago

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Valerie Estelle Frankel: Winter is Coming (Paperback, 2015, Thought Catalog Books)

Review of 'Winter is Coming' on 'Goodreads'

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It's obsolete in some ways, and these theories (& others) are out on Reddit, but the author's desire to wrest secrets from the text is compelling.

E.B. White: Here is New York (1999, Little Bookroom)

Review of 'Here is New York' on 'Goodreads'

White has nostalgia for times that may not have been better. He describes a very different and oddly similar city. Great prose. The parts that change aren't the important ones.

Ryka Aoki: Light From Uncommon Stars (Hardcover, 2021, Tor Books)

Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in this defiantly joyful …

Review of 'Light From Uncommon Stars' on 'Goodreads'

Brilliant novel with characters who make vivid sacrifices for each other. It's a story of giving vs taking. The main character is a brilliant set of contradictions that all harmonize somehow.

reviewed The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik (The Scholomance, #2)

Naomi Novik: The Last Graduate (Hardcover, 2021, Del Rey)

A budding dark sorceress determined not to use her formidable powers uncovers yet more secrets …

Review of 'The Last Graduate' on 'Goodreads'

Novik's worldbuilding is excellent. A Bildungsroman, and in this story the characters transform, learning to trust and love. I'm so impressed with the cheeky dialogue of the main character and how it has evolved.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia: The Beautiful Ones (Hardcover, 2021, Jo Fletcher Books)

Review of 'The Beautiful Ones' on 'Goodreads'

Moreno-Garcia is one of my favorite writers. This is an excellent romance. The dialogue is excellent. The plot was fairly predictable, but I appreciated the post-colonial takes. The fantasy elements are in the worldbuilding (still patriarchal and traditional) and a bit of telekinesis, which turns out to be important.

John McWhorter: Nine Nasty Words : English in the Gutter (Hardcover, 2021, Avery)

Review of 'Nine Nasty Words : English in the Gutter' on 'Goodreads'

Incredibly entertaining. McWhorter's strength is his storytelling, the ability to pair his insights about the language with memorable moments.

Michael Pollan: How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence (2018)

Review of 'How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence' on 'Goodreads'

Pollan does a really good job at making a complicated subject approachable to a general audience.