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Reading — Prints 2.1

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Recent nonfiction reads

  • The Puzzler, by A. J. Jacobs. A fun book. I don’t really do puzzles myself anymore (my brain doesn’t like it), but I enjoyed reading about all the different kinds.

Recent fiction reads

  • The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Loved it. It took me a little while to warm up to it, but once the fantasy elements were introduced, I was there. Glad that there are two more novels and a lot of Penric novellas to come. (Plus the remaining Vorkosigan books I haven’t yet read, and the Sharing Knife series.)
  • Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire. Novella. Mixed feelings. It was unexpectedly sad to me, but the world seems interesting enough (portal fantasies are my thing) and I liked Middlegame (looking forward to picking up Seasonal Fears soon), so I think I’ll still try the next in the series.
  • Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor. Novella. Loved it. I really like Afrofuturism. Looking forward to the other Binti novellas and Okorafor’s other work.
  • A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers. Novella. I almost gave up on this a couple times early on, but it got more interesting once things started happening and I’m glad I stuck with it. Fairly philosophical. The permacomputing was nice to see, too.
  • A Warning to the Curious, by M. R. James. Basically a novella. Published in the 1920s. I don’t know that I felt particularly engaged (or scared) by the stories, but it was good to read something older.
  • A Spindle Splintered, by Alix E. Harrow. Novella. Really liked it, especially the voice. And the intersection of fairy tales and modern people? Also my thing. (Which reminds me that I want to reread OSC’s Enchantment sometime.)

Books acquired since last post

  • The Premonition: A Pandemic Story — Michael Lewis
  • A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus’s Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich — Christopher B. Krebs
  • Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire — David Remnick
  • Whose Middle Ages?: Teachable Moments for an Ill-Used Past — Andrew Albin et al.
  • Skyward Inn — Aliya Whiteley
  • Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City — Andrea Elliott
  • Built from Scratch: How a Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion — Bernie Marcus, Arthur Blank, Bob Andelman
  • Betrayal: The Story of Aldrich Ames, an American Spy — Tim Weiner, David Johnston, and Neil A. Lewis
  • The Watchdog That Didn’t Bark: The Financial Crisis and the Disappearance of Investigative Journalism — Dean Starkman
  • Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath — Heather L. Clark
  • Black Stone Heart — Michael R. Fletcher
  • The Sisters Brothers — Patrick deWitt
  • The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community — Mary Pipher
  • Cryoburn — Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance — Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen — Lois McMaster Bujold
  • The Spirit Ring — Lois McMaster Bujold
  • The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem — Julie Phillips
  • Isaac Newton — James Gleick
  • The Wrinkle in Time Quartet — Madeleine L’Engle
  • The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower—A Retelling for Our Times — Linda Jaivin
  • The Element of Fire — Martha Wells
  • The Death of the Necromancer — Martha Wells
  • Summer of Blood: England’s First Revolution — Dan Jones
  • First Friends: The Powerful, Unsung (and Unelected) People Who Shaped Our Presidents — Gary Ginsberg
  • Sid Meier’s Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games — Sid Meier
  • Bandwidth — Eliot Peper
  • Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre — Heather Cox Richardson
  • The Umbral Storm — Alec Hutson
  • Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal — Nick Bilton
  • Summer Frost — Blake Crouch