I'm currently the coordinator of the #SFFBookClub so a lot of what I'm reading is suggestions from there.
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@BEZORP@books.theunseen.city Enjoying it a lot so far, not really far enough in yet to know if it's going to stay this much fun. I'm a little wary--especially when it's a somewhat hyped book--that it might be just fireworks and not quite sustain the interest. Looking forward to finding out.
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and …
I should say that my face does a good impression of whiteness, late-entering or not. I didn't know how to tell [minor spoiler redacted] that I'd been tricking him, feature by feature. I wasn't sure I was ready to. He'd made, as people do, an assumption about me that left me room to maneuver. Later, when he found out the truth--as people do--he'd be unbalanced by his own mistake. Another person's unguardedness in that moment can be very useful, interpersonally, as long as you don't soften.
— The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Page 27)
"But you don't look Turkish..." #SFFBookClub
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and …
"Your mother was a refugee, wasn't she?" she said, which is a demented way to begin a job interview.
— The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Page 4)
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and …
Chapter 1 thoughts: I'm charmed by this so far, but waiting to see how it turns into a whole story. Every page feels thoroughly quotable, and I'm finding I have a lot to identify with in the narrator character who is very clearly a self-insert by the author, so that biases me in the book's favour.
Also, the physical book itself is an unusually nice artefact for a modern book. This publisher evidently cares how the paper feels in the hand, and I appreciate that. #SFFBookClub
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what …
Security expert Dora left her anarchist commune over safety concerns. But when her ex-girlfriend Kay …
This is a tightly focussed that tells one story from one character's perspective, against a background of a much bigger collapse that doesn't really get discussed. I think that focus is one of its strengths, at the same time as I'd love to see the same story through the eyes of a couple of the other characters in it.
Wasserstein also uses the story as a vehicle for some trans parent trauma catharsis, by way of a character who is the sum of every bad parental reaction to a child coming out as trans. It also pokes a bit at the tensions between anarchist commune idealism and practice, and at the simple truth that one's clone would still be their own person. Which is a lot to pack in to a novella!
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and …
#SFFBookClub May
"First volume of Shigeru Mizuki's meticulously researched historical portrait of twentieth century Japan. This volume …
Well, I was wondering if this would be a quick read because manga or slow because of the heaviness of the material. Quick won out, though it certainly is very heavy material.
It's two stories interwoven: Mizuki's personal memoir (this volume is from early childhood - young adulthood), and the history of Japan. He's a great storyteller, and the art is beautifully done. At times he editorialises explicitly, and at times intentionally lays off passing judgement. In the middle of the book this was confusing, but by the end I felt like I could understand the editorial choices he was making. It comes across as a very compassionate way to tell stories that in the end he is clearly horrified by--both the politics and some of his behaviour as a kid.
The personal memoir + history book work better together than I'd have expected in this volume. My reservations were …
Well, I was wondering if this would be a quick read because manga or slow because of the heaviness of the material. Quick won out, though it certainly is very heavy material.
It's two stories interwoven: Mizuki's personal memoir (this volume is from early childhood - young adulthood), and the history of Japan. He's a great storyteller, and the art is beautifully done. At times he editorialises explicitly, and at times intentionally lays off passing judgement. In the middle of the book this was confusing, but by the end I felt like I could understand the editorial choices he was making. It comes across as a very compassionate way to tell stories that in the end he is clearly horrified by--both the politics and some of his behaviour as a kid.
The personal memoir + history book work better together than I'd have expected in this volume. My reservations were about the combo of hindsight and childhood stories specifically (as opposed to vol 2 which will clearly be that much more personal), but the childhood stuff ends up illustrating the social atmosphere in interesting ways. My one complaint is that the timeline jumps around in ways that make sense for the personal story, but at times make the history hard to follow. Probably if I had been less clueless about Japanese history before reading this it would have been less distracting.
I'm very glad I read this, both for the enjoyment and to start filling a big hole in my knowledge. I'm looking forward to getting hold of vol 2.
@mouse@bookwyrm.social Had couches not been invented yet?
el dang
boosted
Roadside Picnic is set in the aftermath of an extraterrestrial event called the Visitation that …
sometimes you think about it and you wonder: maybe we really should leave Satan’s works for Satan?
— Roadside Picnic by Boris Strugatsky, Boris Natanovich Strugatsky, Arkady Strugatsky, and 1 other
Every time somebody tries to pitch ai to me
Adrian Daub's What Tech Calls Thinking is a lively dismantling of the ideas that form …
I just happened to notice that one of the hosts of Project 1933 also has this book out, which feels apropos.
I've started wanting to quote so much of this book to specific friends that it makes more sense to send them copies instead.
Security expert Dora left her anarchist commune over safety concerns. But when her ex-girlfriend Kay …
Catching up on last month's #SFFBookClub pick
A queer, Caribbean, anti-colonial sci-fi novella, inspired by the Count of Monte Cristo, in which …
The concept is one I really want to like: a twist on the Count of Monte Cristo that recasts it to make racism the motivating factor of all the betrayals, and uses a future setting to make a point about the durability of colonialism. But the pacing is so off that it takes away the impact from most of its own story.
"First volume of Shigeru Mizuki's meticulously researched historical portrait of twentieth century Japan. This volume …
Not sure if this will be a quick read because manga or a very slow read because heavy and timely subject matter.
