Books

I read…a lot. Here’s where I ramble about books and printed media.

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📚 fifty-five of 2019: The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1963 Hugo Best Novel

Fascinating partly for the primary alt history, but also for other alternatives and the ruminations on those, an author’s intent, and the characters’ realizations.

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No Love for White Gloves, or: the Cotton Menace: “Rare books, unlike many museum objects, are still used today in the same way that they would have been when they were new centuries ago – they’re held and opened, and their pages are turned. It would make sense that these historical objects should be handled with white gloves to keep them clean, right? WRONG! Well, mostly. But we’ll get to that part later.”

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📚 fifty-four of 2019: The Sundered, by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Captain Sulu and the crew of the Excelsior mix it up with Tholians and a mysterious new race with ties to Earth. A good, easy bit of fluff to spend a quiet day reading. 🖖

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📚 fifty-three of 2019: Kushiel’s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not bad, and I enjoyed the sexual politics, but not my thing. This is definitely (mostly) in the “life in medieval Europe” style of fantasy, which I’m less enamored of than more fantastical fantasy.

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New addition to the library: Number 230 of 1,250 signed copies of #nwc37 Special Guest of Honor Seanan McGuire’s collection Laughter at the Academy, from #nwc42 Spotlight Publisher Subterranean Press! Supporting Norwescon and our GoH’s one book at a time. :) 📚

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As of today, I’ve completed my Goodreads Reading Challenge of 52 books (one for each week), with more than three months to spare.

18 of those books have been part of my Hugo reading project.

Not a bad nine months’ work. Now to see where I end up at year’s end!

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Book fifty-two of 2019: Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

While the story didn’t entirely grab me, the artwork by #nwc43 Artist GOH Sana Takeda is quite gorgeous. I’m looking forward to seeing more of her work in person next spring.

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Book fifty-one of 2019: The Trouble With Tribbles, by David Gerrold. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A fun, breezy memoir about the creation of one of Star Trek’s most beloved episodes, this is an enjoyable peek into the creative process for television in the 1960s, and Star Trek in particular.

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Book fifty of 2019: Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1944 Retro Hugo Best Novel

I enjoyed this one more than I expected when I started it. There’s an entertaining story in here, you just have to deal with the very mid-40s gender stereotypes.