What I read -- August 2018

LHC#14: “The Seven Basic Plots” by Christopher Booker. I kept deferring this one owing to its vast size. But it’s summer so I figured I could make it work. Then I accidentally committed to reading those Kate Elliott books and wound up having to make a schedule so this could get done. Fortunately it was easy to read short bits at a time. The first 200 pages were good. I made notes! It was really heteronormative, and I wish he’d used the word “cardboard” a few less times. CB seems to really miss feudalism and lacks self-awareness.
My favorite part was where a previous reader marked in some copyedits – duplicate words, crossed out the occasional adverb…

LHC#15: “Arabella of Mars” by David Levine. I needed something light after the slog that I just finished. This was totally the right book! The only thing that annoyed me was, next time I read a book that has a girl masquerading as a boy to do some cool shit, I want her to find out that like 20% of the people she’s hiding her gender from are also hiding their gender because they’re also girls doing cool shit. I’m tired of there always being only one girl who gets to do cool shit.

LHC #16: “Archivist Wasp” by Nicole Kornher-Stace. It wasn’t exactly next on the list, but I’ve heard so many good things, I just wanted to read it. It did not disappoint. Great characters.

Best TW feedback ever

Over at the dayjob, SMEs are feverishly trying to get documents back to me all marked up, in preparation for the release that's supposed to happen the week I'm back from VP. Today's best comment: Unfortunately not true. SMEs, they're so cute.

What I read: January 2024

"Morgan is my name" by Sophie Keech. Office book club selection. It gets exhausting to read about plucky young heroines who are terrible at needlework all the time. I should probably read some Jo Walton. I mean, you can be good at needlework and other things too! I didn't find this book very surprising. The first half was kind of boring, but it got better towards the end. LHC #233: "The Shifter" by Janice Hardy. I read her writing advice website regularly, so I thought I should maybe read an actual book to find out if she was worth it. Oh my, the voice of this book grabbed me immediately. The worldbuilding seemed shady but the voice was solid. It wasn't very subtle, but I might not be the target audience. LHC #234: "Ragnarok: The End of the Gods" by A. S. Byatt. At this point with my library account, I'm just guessing. I know there was something by Byatt there? I suspect there was. I did not know what to make of this book. Strange, but it w

What I read: March 2024

LHC #240: "Vita Nostra" by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko. Translated by Julia Meitov Hersey. All I knew going in was dark academia. This was a neat thing to read after A Deadly Education last month. The students can leave this school at summer and winter break, but maybe they shouldn't. Also, interesting education method, providing Sasha with a CD player and punishing her if she leaves it in the mode where it plays all the tracks in sequence. "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman. When I finished Ragnarok by AS Byatt (last month? January?) I was thinking it might have made more sense if I had any knowledge of the subject matter. The boy had left this lying around, and it was not a tough read. LHC #241: "Science on a mission: How Military funding shaped what we do and don't know about the ocean" by Naomi Oreskes. I deferred this once because it was so long. History of science is challenging for me to read, because of the need to get a grasp on dispr

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