Rated Walden by Henry David Thoreau 8/10
Edited 47d ago
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Finished reading What Judgments Come (Star Trek: Vanguard)
Rated This Inevitable Ruin 8/10
Edited 47d ago
Rated The Art Forger 8/10
I picked up this novel on a whim from the new books section at the library, and it was a lovely surprise. Using the real life art heist from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, B.A. Shapiro has created a fictionalized story about a disgraced painter, Claire, who has been asked by a famous gallery owner to copy a Degás — the same Degás stolen from the museum. However, the more time Claire spends with this ill-begotten painting, the more she suspects that it may also be a forgery.<br><br>Because I’m a sucker for heist stories and because I’m quite interested in visual art, I enjoyed unraveling the mystery of what had really happened during the time of the theft and in the 19th century when the painting was originally created. There’s a whole side-plot about why Claire has a poor reputation in the art world that is also quite interesting, and though I could work out some of the twists on my own, the complete ending still held plenty of surprises.<br><br>(This review originally appeared in <a href="http://persephonemagazine.com/2013/08/22/5-book-recommendations-for-your-reading-pleasure/">Persephone Magazine</a>.)
Rated The Black House 8/10
Finally, a break from the constant murderin’. Oh sure, people still die, but The Black House features fewer sudden blows to the head. Most of the time, the characters act with good intentions, only to have their situation spin out of control. <br><br>Unlike some of her other short story collections, <i>The Black House</i> is likely the one that’s most appealing to a wider audience — entirely compelling and complex, in an easy bite-size form.<br><br>(Full review can be found at <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2009/12/selected-stories-of-patricia-highsmith_30.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>)
Edited 47d ago
Rated The April Dead 8/10
<div>Ooh a cliffhanger. </div>
Finished reading The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
Rated The Atheist's Guide to Christmas: Smart, Funny Essays on Atheism and Surviving the Holiday Season 8/10
Peppered with humor, it’s a quick, entertaining read. Probably what I enjoyed most about it was its reasoned, un-snarky approach to the subject matter. At no point does it devolve into petulant student arguments against religion, which are as bad as angry chuch-going judgements.<br><br>Its content is varied enough to provide some intellectual fodder for most everyone, save the super-religious who won’t hear otherwise. It’s not an attack, just another way of thinking. Though we may be past Christmas now, I think it’s still a worthwhile winter read.<br><br>(Full review can be found at <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2010/12/atheists-guide-to-christmas-edited-by.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>)
Wants to read The Artist of Disappearance: Three Novelas
Rated Tempted 8/10
<div>Normally, I don't really read romance — everyone staring at all the grim shit I read says, "Oh you don't say???" — but I read this because of a potential work thing. Nothing wrong with romance, but we like what we like. And this definitely does what it sets out to do by hopping right to the frisky business, but in a way that makes sense for the circumstances. I can see why people like Kelly's books. Anything I didn't care for is a ME thing and not a writing quality thing.</div>
Rated The Beautiful Anthology 8/10
Most everything in the book is quite good. It's wonderful, thought-provoking, and worth passing along to anyone else who might be grappling with their own definition of "beautiful."<br><br>(My full review appears on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-beautiful-anthology-edited-by.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Rated The Davros Mission 8/10
All of these Davros stories were really solid. Glad I gave them a listen.
Rated The Eighth of March 3: Strange Chemistry 8/10
Rated The Detour 8/10
What an impressive, thought-provoking novel this is. Set in 1938 Germany and Italy, <i>The Detour</i> presents a man who must weigh his love against his duty, all while existing in the broader picture of pre-WWII. We know what is ahead, and this purgatorial state stirs up all sorts of questions about idealism, loss, connection, art, and the perils of authoritarian states. I hadn't heard of any Andromeda Romano-Lax's work before receiving this book, so this was a fantastic surprise.<br><br>My full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2012/01/detour-by-andromeda-romano-lax.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.
Wants to read The Book of the Unnamed Midwife
Rated The Boy Who Followed Ripley 8/10
Not as wholly in love as I was with the previous three books, but this is more like a 4.5. Tom Ripley is a fascinating character.
Rated The Calculating Stars 4/10
<div>I just did not vibe with this one, though the beginning of the book made me hopeful that this would be an enjoyable exploration of an alternate history space program. In this version of Earth, a meteorite has wiped out much of the east coast in 1952, and Elma, our protagonist, is the one who notices that this will be a slow-moving extinction level event, and since her husband is an engineer in the fledgling space program, she gets an audience with the people who can do something about it. I mean, sure we could also hear about how everyone is getting their food after a long winter and other apocalyptic considerations, but aside from briefly mentioning it in the beginning, she is barely troubled by it.<br><br>Her husband is always perfect to her, always supportive, represses his anger with others through grimaces and tight fists. We hear a lot about it when someone is mean to his wife. Because 1950s misogyny still abounds, but nary a thought like that passes through sweet lil Nathaniel's head. Barf. And I am of course not against sex scenes in books, but these are SO cheesy. PLEASE I do not want to hear rising rocket puns every time you two get a moment alone.<br><br>Everything else is hamfisted 2010s white feminist #Representation. Of course she's friends with a diverse group of pilots who all get such personalities and depths as .... being pilots. From other countries. They pepper in, ah, how you say, phrases from their native language. The French lady's last name is Lebourgeois. The most misogynist astronaut is named, I shit you not, STETSON PARKER. (Apparently we have Brandon Sanderson to blame for that character, according to her acknowledgements, and believe me, I will blame.) Elsa and Nathaniel are Jewish, but their last name is York, for some reason.<br><br>And just when you think, hey maybe we'll hear about some interesting space stuff, a real alternate history besides the stuff in the beginning... No! Not really! We're mostly going to hear about Elsa's struggles with ~aNxIEtY~ because poor genius mathematician and WASP pilot barfs if too many people look at her, see. Reporters are scary and therefore we must spend the majority of the book hearing about her stomach issues anytime someone mentions them.<br><br>And if you know enough about space to know why people need to be quarantined beforehand, then why are you having non-quarantined people interact with astronauts if their mission was only temporarily delayed??<br><br>Just so much bugged me, and I am baffled that it won so many awards in 2018. I will not be reading the next one in the series. Next season of For All Mankind can't come soon enough.</div>