There are times in life when you’re riding pretty high. You think well of yourself. Any task is within your reach. Oh, you’re almost 40 years old and want to learn how to play a musical instrument for the first time in your life? Sure, why not? Pick up that guitar and start teaching yourself. Oh, you drifted through six years of learning the Russian language and walked away knowing only a handful of phrases and the first stanza to one song? Sure, sign […]
There are serious criticisms about this book, and your mileage may vary – but I found it worthwhile, if not necessarily convincing
How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi
I came at this book obliquely. I think I tried reading Stamped from the Beginning a couple years ago, but it didn’t really grab me. Going into this, I only had a vague sense of what he’s arguing for here, but I wasn’t fully convinced. It just seemed a little silly to me that everything has to either be “racist” or “antiracist”. And I disagree with his idea of amending the Constitution to reflect this – the implications of that are…complicated. To back up a […]
I touched madness in my youth, and it has stayed with me
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
At his worst, HP Lovecraft was a racist Anglophile who droned with an incessantly archaic and enigmatical prose that was shifted towards the purple. His characters could be bland and forgettable, and his plots often served no further purpose than presenting an unknowable horror to destroy the minds of these lifeless homuncular denizens of the Lovecraftian realm. I don’t read a lot of HP Lovecraft. But at his best, he can pull you into a dark and unpleasant reality, barely glimpsed beyond the horizon. A […]
Everyone is secretly terrible – but there is hope for even the poorest of souls
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson
Oathkeeper by Brandon Sanderson
I’ve never read a Brandon Sanderson book I didn’t like. He’s insanely prolific, which sharply contrasts him with some of his colleagues, and is sturdy and reliable. And (I say this every time I read a book of his), I really just accept the fact that I’m going to like them and that everyone is right: these are good books. Maybe it’s just the contrarian in me, but I’m always skeptical. And The Way of Kings was no different. I bought this book….maybe five years […]
Two powerhouses of speculative fiction do not necessarily equal a great story.
The Original by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal
I could’ve sworn I’d already reviewed this novel, but I apparently haven’t. I read it about a month ago, and I barely remember it. Because of that, I had to look up the plot write-up on Amazon: “In the near future, humans choose life – for a price. Injectable nanite technology is the lifeblood that flows through every individual wishing to experience the world through the lens of their own theme. While death from mortal wounds is still possible, life is made easier in a […]