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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"Martha Wells's Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling …
I need something comfy and undemanding right now; this should fit the bill.
I like McAuley’s writing style, but this second book in a series of (checks) four is so rambling. Spotting the acknowledgments at the end and aha—it’s made from several short stories. Don’t do that.
The story also grates in that it’s already antiquated with respect to agender people, and comes across as a bit unpleasant. This is always the danger of writing about the near future: you may get overtaken!
I have access to the third book in the series but I’m not sure I want to commit the time.
Found this one under a pile and pushed on to finish it. It's a bit less structured than I imagined, and doesn't really go much into the mechanics of why screws work better than other devices. I finished wanting more from this short book.
Found this one under a pile and pushed on to finish it. It's a bit less structured than I imagined, and doesn't really go much into the mechanics of why screws work better than other devices. I finished wanting more from this short book.
After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent …
After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) …
Well, that ended suddenly.
I learned from the acknowledgments that Chambers wrote these two books during the early pandemic. I have a sinking feeling that they were a product of the zeitgeist of social distancing and lockdowns and that the opportunity to complete this story may now have passed.
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.