Books

I just finished "Cannibals are Human: A District Officer's Wife in New Guinea" by Helen McLeod.

It's a very interesting book about the wife of an Australian district officer who was trying to curtail inter-tribal warfare between PNG highland tribes during the decades when PNG was an Australian mandate.

The woman herself is quite admirable hiking 100kms in the highlands mostly barefoot and covered in leeches. It also describes the state of tribal warfare as it stood, in objective terms, without being too derogatory or dismissive. It emphasizes the truly vast differences between regional tribes, their farming prowess, and the existential threat that looms over all of them from centuries of war. It also doesn't wrap everything up in a neat bow at the end. The Australian governance wasn't perfect, the influence of western technology and medicine was paradigm-shifting and both good and bad, independence was a shitshow, but the author considered it a painful necessity.

I'm listening to Pratchett's Mort and noticing how neither Pratchett nor Serafinowicz had quite figured out the Death character yet.

I also DNF-ed The Great When (did Moore swallow a thesaurus?) and Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale.

This week I finished up Star Wars “The Shadows of Mindor”. Has some interesting lore with some potentially disastrous consequences.

I’m a little ways into book 3 of the Silo series “Dust”. The entire series has been a fantastic read so far. Just when you think you got a grasp on things, another layer is ripped apart to start unraveling again.

Up next I have Star Wars “X-Wing” series which consists of 10 books, so my alternate reading while doing this batch will probably be catching up on some my Short story collections. Like Nebula and Hugo yearly “Greats”.

I just finished:

Starship Troopers I still think it is satire. I don’t want to believe that there are people who actually believe that the described system is a good one. It is more military fantasy than sci fi. I was entertained but prefer the movie for once.

The Stepford wives is a very quick read and I was well entertained. From a contemporary point the position of the main character still feels very Hausfrau, even so she doesn’t feel this way. I would have loved to get a little more depth for the reason and how the Hausfrau thing works but maybe it is better to be a mystery.

Currently reading:

House of leaves. Damn I needed a break from this book. It is very tough to read but a cool concept. I think I might have to appreciate it from afar.

Jurassic Park never in my life did I read a book which is so close to my profession and I know it is bending the reality and science a bit, but damn do I feel good seeing a Fasta file actually printed on paper. Name dropping everywhere. Even in the introduction it already starts where you have to check when does reality end and fantasy starts (wanted to take a pen and add Franklin to the list). But I should not have googled the author.

I just started Moby Dick. This Ishmael guy really doesn't want to sleep with some random harpooner.

Just grabbed Among the burning Flowers from my local library. Really enjoyed the other roots of chaos books so I'm looking forward to this one.

I read most of the Bullet Journal Method and what I learned from that has been really useful. Also Mistborn is one of my favorite series, and the last 2 books of era 2 are great.

I recently finished listening to Watership Down by Richard Adams, read by Peter Capaldi. ~11 hours long, if Libro FM was right.

I've been listening to him at work, and Peter Capaldi making animal noises and accents just maaaaade my days :3

Finished The Strength of the Few by James Islington on Monday.

I need some time to digest. I don’t know if I’m gonna get anything else read this week as I need a palate cleanser from reading so many heavy and dark books lately, but I also can’t imagine anything but a direct sequel to be a satisfying follow-up after that book.

Empire of the Dawn, the third book in the Empire of the Vampire series that just recently dropped. Which I am quite digging, a big epic fantasy series about vampires that is really engaging and well written.

Re-reading house of leaves since it’s been so long and just started Dracula for a book club

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Finished Winter Tide for next podcast episode (recording is on Saturday) and have just started Old Soul by Susan Barker. I'm only 30ish pages in but its a strong start - for fans of literary horror akin to Peter Straub's work.

Started the Memory Police today and before I knew it I was 70% in. Easy read, and sad. Will likely wrap it up tomorrow.

Im reading Fledgling by Octavia Butler. My first book of this genre in a long while, and it does seem to live up to its promise that it would break from form.

I've started Going Postal, I've never read anything by Pratchet before

I just started The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman today. I’m only a few pages in, but it picks up about 20 years after The Book of Dust and 8 years after The Amber Spyglass. I have no doubt I will love this book as much as the last one.

I also just finished My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Niagara Kabi. I have started grabbing short books randomly at the library and this was my last pick up. It’s a memoir manga and a pretty quick read.

Reading The Clown by Heinrich Böll.

Probably his most famous novel this book mostly criticises post war catholic/capitalist German society for it’s hypocrisy and not really denazifying. It’s good, but the main character, who loses his girlfriend to a catholic and is handling it pretty badly is quite the doomer at times. There is enough cynical humor, sarcasm and irony to not make it too dark to read, but depending on how the story ends it definitely could become pretty dark in the end. It also cuts very close to home with some issues, but that rather enhances the reading experience, despite being quite uncomfortable at times. At times it’s a bit hard to discern wether the author did something on purpose to give his protagonist some negative traits, or if he just believed that stuff himself (especially how women are treated is pretty bad) but I’m quite sure that I’ll be able to judge this better by the end of the book. Overall I’d recommend reading it, but it’s definitely an emotional downer.

I chose to read "Reform or Revolution" by Rosa Luxemburg this week. I’ve just finished it today. It’s a very interesting book, with a critical perspective on capitalism, militarism, and reformist “socialism.” It should be remembered that Rosa was also against authoritarianism.

Bullet Journal is good, I can also recommend "Getting Things Done" (but don't take everything seriously though) and any book on the Pomodoro technique.

Right now I'm reading

• Designing Your New Work Life which seems interesting (science-backed philosophy on why work sucks and how to love it, it's a fun book so far), and
• the latest version of Discrete Mathematics with Applications for computer sciences (the latest version).

BTW, why are we using librarything instead of goodreads? It's the first time I've seen this web site.

The William H. Gass Reader. It’ll take a while, but I’ve rarely come across someone with such an enjoyment of literature, writing, and criticism.

A short story collection by Elwin Cotman

I’m spending my commute learning, so less audio book listening

Finished Kingdoms of Death by Christopher Ruocchio this morning. Its the fourth book in Sun Eater series. Glad I stuck with the series the book was really good if not emotionally damaging.

Also started Katabasis by RF Kuang this week. So far book has been pretty fun. Have been enjoying so far but not super far into it.

I'm about halfway through Structural Sin and the Death of Institutions by Susannah Cornwall.

I'm still reading Marshland by Otohiko Kaga

The start is slow and wasn't really keeping my attention but it is starting to get better. The writing is decent and the story is fairly standard "guy meets girl". I'm sure it'll become more interesting.

I've got one more story in Blindboy Boatclub's Boulevard Wren and Other Stories, and I've just cracked open Marie Lu's Red City. Once I finish Blindboy's, I'll start his next one, Topographia Hibernica.

Edit: Linked the books.

'Odd John' by Olaf Stapledon

Trying to finish up Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell, which I started a few months ago and put down partway through. Obscura by Joe Hart is kind of on pause atm, haven't really felt like getting back into it.

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Finished A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith (Edwardian-era historical cozy mystery) | bingo squares: different continent, alliterative, x of y HM, steppin' up HM, cozy

A reclusive (neurodiverse?) barrister is strongarmed into investigating the murder of the chief justice, amidst preparing for a challenging court case.

This was delightful, felt just about the right length, and was well paced. I've already added the next book to my TBR pile.

The Maid's Secret by Nita Prose, and I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy.