Wants to read The Memory Palace
book
Rated The Name of the Star 10/10
I really enjoyed this and would enjoy reading the rest of the books in the series. Well-written, often funny, and the sort of book you point at in arguments against people who disparage YA.
Rated Our Man in Iraq 8/10
Really glad that I finally read this. Darkly funny look at the spectacle of media cycles in a newly capitalist country.
Rated Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks 9/10
<div>Honestly more of a 4.5, given that a couple of the stories were a little less of interest for me personally, but Patrick Radden Keefe can make any subject worth reading anyway. Several times, my jaw literally fell open at some reveal or another. The first story about the wine fraudster, and the last about Anthony Bourdain, I'd already read when they were first published, but I enjoyed reading them again.</div>
Rated The Death of Bees 10/10
<div>This was an ARC I received almost a decade ago, and to my regret, I hadn't read it until now. What a great book. Grim in some respects, but also very funny in others. Everyone is a fully realized character and full of their own loneliness that manifests in different ways, but there's also some nice oases of camaraderie too.</div>
Rated The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet 10/10
Mitchell injects bits of poetry into his prose, and it never feels awkward or ostentatious. When time slows for Jacob and he absorbs the minutiae of the moment, one may find a rhyme scheme or more involved imagery. Between the masterful way in which he threads these literary bits of style and the different points of view, the amount of research involved in writing de Zoet is all the more impressive.<br><br>Everyone in the port town wants something, and some are willing to lie, while others hold steadfast to their integrity to achieve it. At the moment Jacob decides to make his intentions to Miss Aibigawa known, she is sent away to a mysterious and isolated mountain shrine. The unfolding details concerning the shrine are what make up the meat of the story, and are what propel the pages forward. Yes, there are still concerns regarding the Dutch occupation, and the conflict between East and West, but Mitchell has not written a simple historical novel. At the heart of everything is communication — what we understand about one another, the struggle against the unknown, and what we choose to withhold. Even the more reprehensible characters are fighting their own battles, and while one may not feel the same empathy towards them, their toil is understandable. And despite the seriousness throughout, Mitchell also provides subtle humor — overbearing mothers, card game insults and sarcasm transcend time, really. I invite you all to use the word “cockchafer” at your earliest convenience.<br><br>Though I have yet to read David Mitchell’s other novels, I still feel like my favorite has yet to come. That’s not to disparage anything about de Zoet, but for making me love a story I might have otherwise ignored, I can only guess that his more modern settings will leave me lacking in the adequate vocabulary to describe their greatness. This is high and hypothetical praise, I know, but my head and my heart are in agreement. <br><br>(Full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2011/03/thousand-autumns-of-jacob-de-zoet-by.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Rated The Mercy of Gods 7/10
<div>This new series from the authors behind The Expanse has promise, though it was not immediate love. I think maybe with this many characters, the audiobook was not quite the ideal way for me to read this, but I'm looking forward to starting the novella that's next.</div>
Rated The Naming of the Dead 8/10
<div>Not sure if I should've jumped in with the 16th Rebus book instead of the first, but I picked this up for a couple bucks used, after hearing that the books were good. Though there are some mild copaganda issues that aren't necessarily to my taste, the book still shows the flaws of all sides, and I was definitely interested in seeing how the story shook out. It'll be interesting now to go back and see how younger Rebus compares.</div>
Rated Last Night at the Telegraph Club 9/10
<div>Though it took me the first quarter of the book or so to really be hooked on the story, I liked this book a lot. At the halfway point, the plot really starts moving, and the details throughout are excellent. Between the clothes people choose, to the different environments the characters find themselves in, all of it seemed really well researched. Maybe we didn't have to know EVERY street name the characters walk down, but that's ok. Having been to North Beach/Chinatown several times, it was fun to read about somewhat familiar places as they would have been in the early '50s. I also appreciated reading a YA book that felt real. Nobody has a twee name, the ending isn't tidy, and the treatment of romance (and acting upon it) felt true to life, no matter the decade. Definitely recommend this one</div>
Wants to read Drinking with Men: A Memoir
Rated Doctor Who: The Skull Of Sobek 6/10
This one is just okay, but I so enjoy listening to Paul McGann's voice that I'm going to round up to three stars. It's worth listening to for a sense of continuity as one goes through the Lucy stories, but it's not AMAZING.
Wants to read The Man Who Sold the World: David Bowie and the 1970s
Rated Doctor Who: Landbound 10/10
I really liked this one. Lower stakes in one respect, but an interesting exploration of what it means when one can no longer do what they'd really like to be doing.
Wants to read The Necessity of Certain Behaviors
Rated The Omega Factor: Series 01 8/10
<div>I wasn't as into the last story as I was the first three, but this is still quite good.</div>
Rated The Quaker 8/10
<div>I really liked this noir. The ending risks being overcomplicated, but McIlvanney pulls off having so many moving parts. It feels somewhat unfair to compare him to his father's writing, but having so recently read LAIDLAW — and the fact that my edition of the book said 'Winner 2018 McIlvanney Prize' on the cover — I suppose it's inevitable. I will say I did not have the same "Damn, now that's a sentence" feelings here, but the writing is enjoyably direct, moody, and full of great details. I'll have to track down the next one in the series.</div>
Rated Doctor Who: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 10/10
<div>Really, really liked this interlinked set of Benny stories.</div><div><br></div>
Rated Doctor Who: Regeneration Impossible 10/10
Oh this was great, and I didn't even mind that another person was doing both voices, as they're very close. Even though they barely ever remember it happening, I always enjoy multi-Doctor stories.
Rated So You Want to Talk About Race 10/10
"To refuse to listen to someone’s cries for justice and equality until the request comes in a language you feel comfortable with is a way of asserting your dominance over them in the situation."<br><br>Even if you think you know it all, you should still read this book. Everyone has something upon which they could improve, and Ijeoma Oluo's work is informative, direct reading.