Technical nonfiction and spec fiction. She/her. Melbourne, Australia. Generation X. Admin of Outside of a Dog. BDFL of Hometown (Mastodon) instance Old Mermaid Town (@futzle@old.mermaid.town). Avatar image is of a book that my dog tried to put on their inside.
My rating scale: ★ = I didn't care for it and probably didn't finish it; ★★ = It didn't inspire but I might have finished it anyway; ★★★ = It was fine; ★★★★ = I enjoyed it; ★★★★★ = I couldn't put it down.
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It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en …
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; …
Chambers is easy to read, and fortunately this one is not as Californian as some of her prior work. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is short, and clearly just the first episode in the Monk and Robot series.
I do wish that she had an editor, though, or at least a proofreader. Sometimes Chambers uses a word which I can only conclude is a malapropism—In this book, "erstwhile" (where I think she meant "estimable"? It's hard to know). Also one sentence which uses "they" pronouns for Mosscap, who is referred to throughout with "it".
Chambers is easy to read, and fortunately this one is not as Californian as some of her prior work. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is short, and clearly just the first episode in the Monk and Robot series.
I do wish that she had an editor, though, or at least a proofreader. Sometimes Chambers uses a word which I can only conclude is a malapropism—In this book, "erstwhile" (where I think she meant "estimable"? It's hard to know). Also one sentence which uses "they" pronouns for Mosscap, who is referred to throughout with "it".
It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; …
Need some cosy words.
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more …
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving …
This was fine. I didn't really get emotionally attached to any of the characters, and the premise was getting a bit worn by the end.
This was fine. I didn't really get emotionally attached to any of the characters, and the premise was getting a bit worn by the end.
This richly illustrated book discusses non-Euclidean geometry and the hyperbolic plane in an accessible way. …
This got buried, I have no idea which pile it's in, haven't seen it for months.
This got buried, I have no idea which pile it's in, haven't seen it for months.
Borrowed from Mum in case I bomb out on Before the Coffee Gets Cold.
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving …
Another small translated-from-Japanese novel Mum loaned me. It’s a riff on the time travel genre. Not sold on the concept yet, and the writing is merely OK.
Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in …
Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how …
Content warning Spoilers, plot of Convenience Store Woman
No, I'm done with this book. Yes, it's quirky and the prose of the translation is enjoyable, but the endless plot about Keiko needing to find a husband, and the reappearance of the frankly disgusting Shihara... I bailed as soon as the sham marriage was proposed. I don't care that—according to the synopsis I subsequently read—she dumps him in the end; by that point I'll want to smack them both.
Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how …
Mum stuck this translation of a short Japanese story in her latest care package. That's all I know.
Mum stuck this translation of a short Japanese story in her latest care package. That's all I know.
It was fine. I didn't particularly love any of the characters, and I'm struggling to recall much of the plot now. I see it's the first in a series of four, and I can borrow the second, so maybe I will check it out at some point.
It was fine. I didn't particularly love any of the characters, and I'm struggling to recall much of the plot now. I see it's the first in a series of four, and I can borrow the second, so maybe I will check it out at some point.
Kraken is a 2010 fantasy novel by British author China Miéville. It is published in the UK by Macmillan, and …
Last read one of Mcauley’s books 25 years ago in “Pasquale’s Angel”. Suspect this’ll be very different.
