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What I Read -- August 2020

"Artificial Condition" by Martha Wells. The first Murderbot book was so awesome I immediately requested book 2, but it was a month's wait? The next one says 16 weeks, and I've ordered it already. I read a review of one of these that called Murderbot "He" throughout, and I found this shocking. 

LHC #89: "The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" by Melissa Bank. I had a phase where I requested a bunch of short story collections about young women behaving badly. This is one of those. Somehow I hadn't realized it was linked stories until after the third one, and then the fourth one was only barely connected, which was weird. 

LHC #90: "Half-Witch" by John Schoffstall. I would have requested this one because of its awesome name. It was also only available in paper. Weird? I guess that's because it's a middle-grade novel (somehow I didn't realize this until I was a few chapters in) and middle graders don't have eReaders? 

LHC #91: "The Fissure King: A Novel in Five Stories" by Rachel Pollack. I don't remember why I requested this, I'm sure someone said it was good. The library doesn't have an eBook of this, so I read it in paper. There were a fair number of typos, but the story was great. It's another one that's more a collection of linked stories, but they hung together more coherently I think.

LHC #92: "The Sundial" by Shirley Jackson. I had trouble keeping track of all the characters and would not have minded a family tree or something. About 10% from the end, I got worried that there wouldn't be a satisfying ending, but then it all came together in a brilliant and surprising way. 

LHC #93: "Bad Behavior: Stories" by Mary Gaitskill. Another one of those (short story collections about young women behaving badly). This was not really what I felt like reading right now. 

LHC #94: "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo. The wait on Overdrive was "at least six months". I got the hard copy in about two weeks. It's a heist, set in the same world as something else I've read by her. I loved this. 

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What I read: September 2025

LHC #295: "The Last to Leave the Room" by Caitlin Starling. Audiobook. Workplace horror? Loved it.  "Careless People" by Sarah Wynn-Williams. Hard copy, for office Data Ethics book club. The stories about Sheryl Sandberg really made me like my boss better.  LHC #296: "The Fated Sky" by Mary Robinette Kowal. Hard copy. This got moved up the list because Ed had read book 1 in the series and got the rest out of the library. Loved it. He's got the next one in the series upstairs, I suppose I'll read it when he's done.  LHC #297: "Bluegrass: A History" by Neil V. Rosenberg. Hard copy. No idea why it was on my list, I don't care that much about bluegrass. Nevertheless, the second half was interesting. I guess the first half was necessary, as it described in great length the way people came and went in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys band, and also how technology and social pressures affect how music is made and performed.   LHC #298: ...