Fiction

Like Everyone Else, I Read Dune

Dune by Frank Herbert

December 2, 2021 by Leslie 1 Comment

Dune is the type of book that I appreciate more than I enjoy. I am glad I read it, certainly, and in many ways it exceeded my expectations. It is wildly inventive, and I was immersed in the interplanetary worlds Herbert creates. For a reader in 2021, Dune covers somewhat familiar ground with its narrative of a “chosen one” who undergoes training in order to take up leadership in a fight larger than he (or she) imagined. With a book this influential, it was difficult for […]

“Don’t look at me like that’s my fault. I’m just telling you shit I know.”

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

December 1, 2021 by faintingviolet 3 Comments

We have a Murderbot murder mystery novella. It is almost as if this book was written specifically for me. Although published after Network Effect, Fugitive Telemetry takes place before it, after Mensah brings Murderbot to Preservation Station. We join action in progress as a body has been discovered on the Station and Murderbot accompanies Dr. Mensah and Senior Officer Indah as an investigation is undertaken. Dr. Mensah does her Dr. Mensah thing and Murderbot is contracted to aid in the investigation (neither Murderbot not Senior […]

Books for Spooky Season

The Last Book on the Left by Marcus Parks, et al

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

December 1, 2021 by Leslie 4 Comments

As a fan of Last Podcast on the Left, I both looked forward to reading the book by “The Boys” (Marcus Parks, Ben Kissel, and Henry Zebrowski) and also wondered how they would pull it off. The podcast is irreverent and explicit, with Parks (usually) providing the research and central narrative of a particular topic, while Ben and Henry offer asides and impressions. The good (?) news is that The Last Book on the Left essentially replicates that structure. Each chapter provides information on a serial killer (ten […]

Two Hits and a Miss

Designs on a Duke by Ellie St. Clair

A Rogue By Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean

Fatal Affair by Marie Force

December 1, 2021 by Leslie Leave a Comment

You have to hand it to Sarah MacLean. While she takes romance seriously, her books are fun. The banter is good, the scenarios are imaginative, and the characters are self-aware. I had this realization early in A Rogue By Any Other Name, when, as part of his attempt to kidnap and marry our heroine, the titular rogue spanks her, a move that is equal parts sexy and comical. MacLean is especially good at writing conventional aristocratic women who find themselves plunged into a London underworld, which is the case […]

An intimate story of friendship and its many forms, wrapped in a sci fi setting!

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

December 1, 2021 by Dome'Loki 3 Comments

If I’m nothing more than a tool, then I must have a purpose. Tools have purposes, right? But I’m more than that. Pepper and Blue… have been telling me that again and again and again. I know I’m more than a tool.” I was surprised to learn that the second book in Becky Chamber’s “Wayfarer Series” does not feature the same cast and pivots in a completely different direction. I had become invested in everyone in The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet so […]

Cinnamon rolls, cinnamon rolls, cinnamon rolls

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

December 1, 2021 by esme 2 Comments

Shortly before Halloween, I was struck by the desire to read vampire books. I don’t think I had read any for years (although I have read many of the ‘classics’ including Dracula (obviously), Interview with a Vampire, Salem’s Lot, etc.), so I wanted a ‘fresh’ approach when I was searching. I was limited by what was available to download from our library, but ended up scratching this particular itch quite satisfactorily. Sunshine came several weeks after Halloween and I had completely forgotten why it attracted […]

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