Reading Wednesday 24/06
Jun. 24th, 2020 07:05 pmRecently read A memory called empire by Arkady Martine. (c) AnnaLinden Weller 2019; pub 2020 Tor; ISBN 978-1-5290-0160-0.
Basically everybody who even slightly shares tastes with me has been recommending me this. The rec that tipped me over the edge into actually getting hold of it was a comment by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cjwatson that made me think, ah, it's a diaspora book. And then I was grumpy because several of my partners own it in annoying Amazon ebook format that can't easily be lent, and I didn't really want to re-buy it, or faff about breaking DRM and format shifting, but in the end I decided to stop being grumpy and just go out and rebuy it in non-Amazon format.
Anyway, I'm glad I did because A memory called empire is basically pure Liv-bait, and also very good.
Murderbot: Artificial condition by Martha Wells. (c) Martha Wells 2018; Pub 2018 Tor; ISBN 978-1-250-18693-5.
I enjoyed All systems red and I was excited to read the sequel, especially now there's a full-length novel out. This one I read by physically borrowingjack's Kindle, which works well for reading while I do my exercise.
Artificial condition is fun and short, a bit middle-of-trilogy-ish but generally worth reading.
( A memory called empire )
( Artificial Condition )
Currently reading The cooking gene by Michael W Twitty. This is non-fiction by an African-American man (who is also gay and Jewish) tracing his personal roots while investigating the various historical and culinary influences on contemporary African-American soul food. It's really well written and readable, and obviously the subject matter is quite depressing, but I'm finding it pitched in a way that I can learn from.
My only minor complaint is that it's written for an American audience and sometimes he's contradicting a commonly held simplification of history without explaining what it is I'm assumed to believe by default. This is especially an issue with the food history sections, because he'll say, everybody knows [dish I've never heard of].
Up next: My sister sent us a book she thought we'd like, Sea of Rust by C Robert Cargill. It's apparently about post-apocalyptic conflict between robots...
Basically everybody who even slightly shares tastes with me has been recommending me this. The rec that tipped me over the edge into actually getting hold of it was a comment by
cjwatson that made me think, ah, it's a diaspora book. And then I was grumpy because several of my partners own it in annoying Amazon ebook format that can't easily be lent, and I didn't really want to re-buy it, or faff about breaking DRM and format shifting, but in the end I decided to stop being grumpy and just go out and rebuy it in non-Amazon format. Anyway, I'm glad I did because A memory called empire is basically pure Liv-bait, and also very good.
Murderbot: Artificial condition by Martha Wells. (c) Martha Wells 2018; Pub 2018 Tor; ISBN 978-1-250-18693-5.
I enjoyed All systems red and I was excited to read the sequel, especially now there's a full-length novel out. This one I read by physically borrowing
jack's Kindle, which works well for reading while I do my exercise. Artificial condition is fun and short, a bit middle-of-trilogy-ish but generally worth reading.
( A memory called empire )
( Artificial Condition )
Currently reading The cooking gene by Michael W Twitty. This is non-fiction by an African-American man (who is also gay and Jewish) tracing his personal roots while investigating the various historical and culinary influences on contemporary African-American soul food. It's really well written and readable, and obviously the subject matter is quite depressing, but I'm finding it pitched in a way that I can learn from.
My only minor complaint is that it's written for an American audience and sometimes he's contradicting a commonly held simplification of history without explaining what it is I'm assumed to believe by default. This is especially an issue with the food history sections, because he'll say, everybody knows [dish I've never heard of].
Up next: My sister sent us a book she thought we'd like, Sea of Rust by C Robert Cargill. It's apparently about post-apocalyptic conflict between robots...
