finished reading Purple Hibiscus 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
Religiosity, colonial worship & domestic violence make for a sparse & traumatic family life.
Reading time 4 days, 77 pages/day
Edited 97d ago
books
20 books that have had an impact on who you are. One book a day for 20 days. No explanations, no reviews, just book covers. #20books #20Books20Days #books #bookstodon
01/20
finished reading The Wake 🌕🌑🌑🌑🌑
An Irish play about a woman's homecoming and family conflict over inheritance. Lots of drinking & moaning, unclear what's actually going on. Not sure how this got on my to read list. Maybe it works on the stage?
#BookReview #Books #Bookstodon #Play #Script
https://wyrms.de/user/wildwoila/review/71280/s/lots-of-drinking-moaning#anchor-71280
Edited 92d ago
finished reading Leviathan Wakes 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
What's all the fuss? Just a space thriller with so-so characters. A gritty future where humanity has colonised the solar system, but it's as corporate, politically riven & prejudiced as today. Some intrigue and a fair bit of action, but to what end?
Edited 51d ago
finished reading Frederica 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑
An aromantic period romance. Not a lot of plot, but a lot of sometimes impenetrable banter. Disappointingly, the strong capable female protagonist gradually becomes more & more dependent on the rich & unflappable lord.
Edited 76d ago
finished reading Purple Threads 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑
A fictionalised autobiography of growing up Indigenous on the outskirts of Gundagai. A tribute to her Aunties & Nan, strong & colourful independent women, but otherwise lacks purpose. Telling family stories through dialogue gets a bit boring.
Edited 69d ago
finished reading Transcendent Kingdom 🌕🌗🌑🌑🌑
Can science and God be reconciled? Why are some people prone to addiction? How not to deal with trauma. Struggled to hold my attention or interest.
Reading time 8 days, 33 pages/day
Edited 83d ago
finished reading Free and Equal: A Manifesto for a Just Society 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Presents Rawls' philosphical framework for a better & more robust liberal democracy, and real-world policies for bringing it to life. A valuable foundation for considered & effective progressive politics. Convincing & hopeful.
Reading time 18 days, 15 pages/day
#BookReview #Books #Bookstodon #BookWyrm #Philosophy #Economics #ProgressivePolitics #Politics
Edited 73d ago
finished reading My Family and Other Animals 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
An English family decamps to the Greek island of Corfu, and manages to make the place madder than it was already. Hilarious vignettes of the family's exploits interspersed with stunning descriptions of the author's observations of the natural world. The encounter between the gecko and the mantis is unparalleled.
Reading time 4 days, 76 pages/day
Edited 55d ago
finished reading The Book of Longings 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
What if Jesus had a wife? Great premise and recreation of that world, but the characters didn't draw me in, nor did it explore the theological ramifications his marriage would have had.
Reading time 6 days, 68 pages/day
Edited 87d ago
finished reading The Deluge 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
A US-centric view of the coming two decades as the climate and social cohesion rapidly break down. Amplifies the worst of current political & economic trends to create a truly terrifying but not-impossible dystopia. Told from a rich variety of perspectives, though compresses the pace of climate change improbably (I hope!). Intense, scary & draining.
Edited 36d ago
finished reading The Thursday Murder Club 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
Residents of an old folks home solve crimes with relish. A charming take on the crime fiction formula. Some memorable characters, nearly all of them lovely.
Edited 14d ago
finished reading Small Things Like These 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
A penetrating snapshot of Irish life under the suffocating weight of Catholic dominance. But true moral strength cannot be suppressed, and every small act erodes that edifice. Beautifully crafted.
Edited 47d ago
finished reading Foundryside 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Crafts a novel world from steampunkish magic controlled by an oligarchy of aristocratic families. Pleasing allegory for capitalism and AI.
Edited 45d ago
finished reading Isaac and the Egg 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
The mind goes to extreme lengths to protect itself from sudden loss & crippling grief. Everyone needs a good egg to help put the pieces back together again. Touching & distinctive.
Edited 32d ago
What do you value in a reading tracking service
finished reading Taming Toxic People: The Science of Identifying and Dealing with Psychopaths at Work & at Home 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
A notable proportional of people are psychopaths (aka malignant narcissists, sociopaths) and they cause havoc because they have limited empathy and care nothing for social norms. Has given me a valuable appreciation for this form of neurodiversity to help understand and manage those fraught situations that are otherwise inexplicable. The science is interesting - it's more likely neurological than upbringing or trauma. Ironically, the author doesn't show much empathy for the psychopaths!
Edited 7d ago
finished reading Harrow the Ninth 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑
Our favourite necromancer has risen to the ranks of the most powerful, who are rather Machiavellian but disconcertingly human. In the process though, she has lost her marbles, and we are left without any certainty as to what the hell is going on, and doubts undermine our memory of the first book. Which is mostly bearable because it eventually unravels, only to be frustrated by an unwelcome dumping of unresolved head-scratchers which demands some re-reading. More serious than the first book, without the swagger.
Edited 23d ago
finished reading Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Late-stage capitalism has given way to cloud-based fiefs, and we are the serfs. I need convincing on some of the detail (e.g. how effective are they at manipulating our desires?), but mostly agree with his main argument. Pairs well with Cory Doctorow's #enshittification ideas (@pluralistic).
Edited 29d ago
finished reading Radicalized 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
Four dystopian novellas about the worst parts of Western society: #enshittification, systemic #racism, dysfunctional #healthcare and sociopathic preppers. Gets increasingly dark.
Edited 42d ago
#books #bookreviews
The Master List of Mind-blowing books, including:
Why Materialism is Baloney by Bernardo Kastrup
The Mechanics of Changing the World by John MacGregor
The Case against Reality by Donald Hoffman
On progress in physics and subjectivity theory by N Otre Levant
Blindsight by Peter Watts
The Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer
The Thing Itself by Adam Roberts
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
https://fantasticalfiction4.wordpress.com/2024/09/29/the-master-list-of-mind-blowing-books-sep-24/
Edited 46d ago
finished reading Nine Lives: My time as the MI6's top spy inside al-Qaeda 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Traces the evolution of a (very) young jihadi from the Bosnian front, to bomb-maker for al-Quada, to (still young) spy for MI6. A lot of extreme living! Valuable insight into motivations & rationalisations of jihadism.
Edited 39d ago