Rated Doctor Who: Phobos 8/10
A solid, briskly-paced story with queer male characters. Would recommend.
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Rated My Year of Rest and Relaxation 6/10
I was fascinated by this story and wondering how it would all shake out, especially since this revolves around a person who spends most of her time asleep. It's both unpleasant and depressing, but almost in a good way? Certainly, this book is hard to describe, and though it wasn't entirely the one for me (and perhaps an unwise choice to read in the dregs of January), I still really respect what Moshfegh did here.
Rated Gallifrey: Mindbomb 8/10
A pretty great political thriller with lots of twists. Good stuff.
Rated Q: A Novel 6/10
Reading this book, I did not fall headlong like the narrator does with Q, or like he does in describing his latest plans for a book. It's a bit funny, but it also made me think, "Oh good lord, would we just get to how this resolves instead of watching him flail?" Still, that need to know what happens never goes away, and for that reason, I kept going. I read it while on vacation, and for airplane/hotel reading, it's a worthy distraction. Yes, it's a bit heavy-handed with the symbolism, but part of me suspects that it's done in a farcical way. Not being able to tell was annoying, even though I wanted to keep reading. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book. Was I more patient with its faults because I was on vacation?<br><br><i>Would I feel differently if I were able to go back and read it under different circumstances?</i><br><br>Oh, I see what you did there, Mandery. Everything comes back the nagging concept of Choice.<br><br>(My full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2011/11/q-by-evan-mandery.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Rated Gallifrey: Pandora 8/10
The plot thickens. Romana is written quite well in these, as is Leela.
Rated Doctor Who: Mission to Magnus 2/10
This might be the first Doctor Who audio adventure that I really did not like at all. Tiny moments of humor and the actors giving it their best are not enough for me to say it's even just okay. And the ending is like some terrible version of Taming of the Shrew. Perhaps this was a Lost Adventure that was best gone for good. But I made it all the way through, and I heard it for free, so at least there's that.
Rated Doctor Who: Earthworld 6/10
Second time through. This is an odd choice as a selection for 50th anniversary reprint, as there's a lot of context from other books involved. Still, this a bonkers story that's pretty enjoyable and it's clear that Fitz and the Doctor should have something going on.
Wants to read Suburban 100: Selected Lyrics
Rated The Book of Love 9/10
<div>Okay, maybe it's a little long (or it just seemed that way, doing the audiobook), but I really enjoyed this.</div>
Rated Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen 8/10
Really enjoyed finally knowing what happened in this lost serial. My 12 year old enjoyed it too.
Rated Free Love 7/10
<div>Honestly, this is more of a 3 star, story-wise, but Tessa Hadley's writing is always so good and richly detailed that I mind the light plot less. Essentially, this is a "upper-crusty people contemplate upending their lives, with varying degrees of follow-through and success." Scandalous affairs! 1960s London! Artsy youths who think they know shit! But at its heart is the desperation of one woman to no longer be a conventional wife, hoping that her exuberance sees her through. Definitely not a bad book, but it wasn't love for me. </div>
<div>If you are a woman with a chronic illness and want to feel seen, then you will get something out of this book. Perhaps less so if you are looking for practical tips on how to navigate your feelings and level of activity, as this is mostly filled with accounts of women who have been failed by their doctors, friends, and significant others. Because of that, I HEARTILY recommend that anyone who interacts with chronically ill women should give this book a read. It may be illuminating for you, and it might make you treat the disabled/ill women in your life better. One would hope. Then again, we're unfortunately quite used to being let down.<br><br>I do wish this tackled the added complication of fatphobia in the medical profession, as that was a big gap in the otherwise quite diverse interviewed women, but the subject barely comes up. Besides that, while I was knowingly infuriated at times while reading because of my own experiences, I am glad I finally read this.</div>
Rated Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor #3 10/10
<div>Loved this installment of the story, which is shaping up to be a really good storyline for Doctor Who comics in general.</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 Iris Wildthyme: The Sound of Fear 6/10
This was my first Iris Wildthyme story, and I liked it well enough to continue on to other stories of hers, but it wasn't all-out love.
Rated Afterward: A Ghost Story for Christmas 10/10
<div>Excellent reading, especially for Christmas. </div>
Rated The Essential Ginsberg 10/10
Although I'm not 100% with Ginsberg on everything (and who is?), this is still a great collection of poems, letters, journal entries, essays, and photos. Not a quick read (which is great if you're in the mood to really savor something), though a fascinating read.