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About octothorp

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I buy books faster than I can read them.

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Not in the way of the ancient greeks, but like a human loves a dog, or a robot loves a human, or occasionally, the way a gorilla loves a kitty

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

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This is a spoiler-tastic review. Proceed with caution. Can you complain that a book about a family adopting a chimpanzee is predictable? I think I’ve spent too much time reading about behavioral studies and animal behavior because I knew about quite a few of the real-life chimps this book seemed to take inspiration from, including poor Nim Chimpsky who seems to be the primary source for the novel. But it’s less the science that’s predictable; this chimp’s sister, the protagonist of our book, has a […]

The hell did I just read?

The Obsoletes by Simeon Mills

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I don’t mind weird – and weird this was indeed – but I’ve watched enough Adult Swim at two AM in college to be all full up on weirdness for it’s own sake. And this definitely felt aimless. The story of two brothers who are secretly robots in a 1990s where robots are common and feared by the general populace, Darryl embraces his nature while his brother Kanga denies it and strives to be as human as possible. Darryl tries to keep a low profile, […]

I kind of want to read a book about this book

In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri

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…But to be fair, a lot of this book is kind of a book about this book. Ok, bad way to start a review. Let’s back up. Jhumpa Lahiri’s third language is Italian, learned in adulthood, and this book was written by her in Italian, and translated by another writer into English.  There are some short stories here, but most of the book is about the act of writing in another language, and the author’s relationship to Italian. It shouldn’t work, but it does. The […]

Autistic people are still recognizably human, yo.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

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I might sound more harsh than I intend or than is warranted, but I really am sick of the trope of neuro-atypical people not understanding our strange human ways.  I haven’t seen anything but clips of the Big Bang Theory, but the Sheldon Cooper type – wacky misunderstandings! – grates on my nerves; autistic people don’t walk around like automaton slaves to logic any more than depressed people walk around in tears all the time. This book doesn’t lean hard into the wrong lane, but […]

Knives out

Under the Knife: A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations by Arnold Van De Laar

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I would imagine it is difficult to write a book on any topic you’re an expert in; making something you’re so well versed in accessible to the average reader while having something new to say seems like a difficult needle to thread.  Van de Laar rises to the challenge; Under the Knife skillfully discusses famous surgical cases that lead to innovations in the field along with sidebars about health – surgical instruments, describing positions medically – to get the layman up to speed. However, the […]



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