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Deborah Pickett

futzle@outside.ofa.dog

Joined 2 years, 11 months ago

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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Deborah Pickett's books

To Read (View all 6)

Pippa McCathie: MURDER IN THE VALLEYS (Paperback, 2018, Independently published)
Benedict Brown: Murder at the Spring Ball (Paperback, Heathdene Books)
T E Kinsey: In the Market for Murder (Paperback, 2016, Thomas & Mercer)

Currently Reading

Martha Wells: Witch King (EBook, 2023, Tom Doherty Associates, LLC)

Read (View all 41)

Martha Wells: Fugitive Telemetry (Hardcover, 2021, Tor Books)
Martha Wells: Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory (EBook, 2021, Tom Doherty Associates)
Martha Wells: Network Effect (EBook, 2020, Tor.com)

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finished reading A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (Monk and Robot, #2)

Becky Chambers: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Hardcover, 2022, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom)

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.

finished reading A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Becky Chambers: A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021, Tordotcom)

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".

finished reading Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Toshikazu Kawaguchi: Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Hardcover, 2020, Hanover Square Press)

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.

stopped reading Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Sayaka Murata: Convenience Store Woman (2018)

Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how …

Content warning Spoilers, plot of Convenience Store Woman