I have #mecfs so I have a lot of time for reading, mostly #fantasy and #SciFi but I'm happy to dip into nearly anything.
Ratings: 1 star: I didn't like it 2 stars: it was okay 3 stars: I liked it 4 stars: I really liked it 5 stars: it was brilliant
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Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the …
A neurodiverse female scientist skewers the unprepared patriachy of the 1950s with her forthright progressive values. Hilarious, infuriating and deeply serious.
Reading time 2 days, 193 pages/day
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity …
(3 stars = I liked it)
A series of (Earth-saving) problem-solutions starring an irksome overenthusiastic science teacher/xenobiologist. Some cool ideas but one-dimensional and the narrative style can be grating.
Reading time 4 days, 119 pages/day
Hetty "Handful" Grimke, an urban slave in early-19th-century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating …
(3 stars = I liked it)
A girl in the early 19th century American South gradually breaks away from the strictures of gender & society to become a pioneering abolitionist & feminist. Based in truth! Doesn't manage to capture the strength or source of her motivations.
Reading time 3 days, 141 pages/day
Foundation's Edge (1982) is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, the fourth …
(2 stars = it was okay)
Too much Plato-esque dialogue, as usual. Dubious plot reliance on 'the vibe'. Tiresome portrayals of women. Enjoyable inclusion of Lovelock's Gaia concept.
Reading time 4 days, 112 pages/day
The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America is a 2018 book by Timothy Snyder. In …
Russia has been exporting its 'politics of eternity' to replace the West's 'politics of inevitability' via Trump and far-right 'sado-populism'. Putin's philosophical roots are confounding & disturbing. Written before the 2022 escalation in the Ukraine war - we've awoken to this project, but can we sustain the fight and embed a 'politics of responsibility'? Slow going.
Reading time 23 days, 12 pages/day
Annie Shearer lives in the country town of Upson Downs with her best friend, an …
Fun, silly & heart-warming. The (very pleasingly named) villains get their come-uppances, and everyone else lives happily ever after, having been thoroughly good people in the process.
Reading time 3 days, 114 pages/day
371 pages ; 24 cm
In rough-as-guts 1970s country Australia a girl suffers from abuse & neglect, her unrecognised dyslexia leaving her totally unequipped to understand what is being done to her. Casual victim blaming true to time but hard to swallow. One bright spot is her beautifully portrayed friendship with another outcast, a boy with cerebral palsy.
Reading time 4 days, 92 pages/day
The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and …
Every page a mind-blowing revelation of the many incredible, and unimaginable, ways animals sense the world. Filled with awe, delight & respect for the natural world.
Reading time 16 days, 22 pages/day
Ruth lives in the heart of the city. Working, drinking, falling in love: the rhythm …
(2 stars = it was okay)
Apocalyterature spliced into before/after, with the self found only once the old world has been stripped away. Decent enough but not sure of its point.
Reading time 3 days, 114 pages/day
Morrigane Crow est née le jour du Merveillon ce qui signifie qu'elle est maudite et …
Yet another kid-goes-to-magic-school book, but with enough creativity, humour & flair to compensate.
Reading time 3 days, 149 pages/day
(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
#BookReview #Books #Bookstodon #BookWyrm #HistoricalFiction #SciFi
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
#BookReview #Books #Bookstodon #BookWyrm #Autobiography #Biography #Nazism #WorldWar2 #WW2
Louise Penny: A rule against murder (2009, Minotaur Books)
Starred Review Readers who haven’t discovered Louise Penny and her Armand Gamache series yet are in for a treat. In …
Starred Review Readers who haven’t discovered Louise Penny and her Armand Gamache series yet are …
Not quite believable family dynamic.
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