Enthusiastically Ambiverted Hopepunk
I read…a lot. Here’s where I ramble about books and printed media.
Book forty-eight of 2019: How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, by Randall Munroe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Smart people over-thinking things to the point of absurdity” has been many of my favorite conversations with friends, and this is that, in book form.
Book forty-seven of 2019: Starfleet Academy, by Diane Carey ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A quick and simple bit of fluff, based on an early CD-ROM game. As such, not exactly the most complex or demanding of novels, even among Trek books, but that’s about what I expected, so no disappointment.
Book forty-six of 2019: Dead Wake, by Erik Larson. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fascinating account of the sinking of the Lusitania, and the many factors that led to the tradgedy. Larson’s historical non-fiction work is great — perfect reading while taking a pleasure cruise vacation!
Book forty-five of 2019: Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1962 Hugo Best Novel
Good story, and this was very likely one of my earliest introductions to any sort of consensual non-monogamy ideas, but gender role and sexuality issues bother me.
The announcement of the 2019 Hugo Awards winners means that I’ve had to readjust my progress on my Hugo “best novel” reading project, and am now at only 21.33% of the way through.
As I said when I started, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Book forty-four of 2019: The Enterprise War, by John Jackson Miller. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Filling in the blanks of Pike’s Enterprise up to the start of season two of ST: DIS. Not a bad romp, and helps to flesh out some of the secondary characters we see in Pike’s crew.
Book forty-three of 2019: Maus, Vol. II, by Art Spiegelman. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The second half of the story, from Auschwitz to America. This really is a powerful piece of work. I really don’t understand how we as a nation are coming so close to letting this happen again.
Book forty-two of 2019: Maus, Vol. I, by Art Spiegelman. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The first part of a graphic novel memoir of one man’s relationship with his father, and his father’s experiences as a Polish Jew during WWII. So many of the early events are sadly topical right now.
Book forty-one of 2019: White Trash Zombie Unchained, by Diana Rowland. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Finished off the WTZ series in fine form, wrapping up various plot threads, dealing with villains, and even introducing psychic zombie alligators into the mix. All in all, a very fun series.
Book forty of 2019: Frozen Hell, by John W. Campbell, Jr. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A recently discovered longer version of Campbell’s classic novella “Who Goes There” (the source for John Carpenter’s SF/horror film The Thing). Holds up well for a late-30s story; still creepy and fun.
