David Bremner wants to read A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark
Egypt, 1912. In Cairo, the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities investigate disturbances between …
Homework for the Nebula winner.
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computer scientist, mathematician, photographer, human. Debian Developer, Notmuch Maintainer, scuba diver
Much of my "reading" these days is actually audiobooks while walking.
FediMain: bremner@mathstodon.xyz
bremner@bookwyrm.social is also me. Trying a smaller instance to see if the delays are less maddening.
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David Bremner wants to read A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns to his popular alternate Cairo universe for his fantasy novel debut, …
David Bremner wants to read Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis
It's been sitting on my desk for several years. All faded from the sun now. Perhaps I should actually read it.
David Bremner finished reading Maus I, My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
Maus I, My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
This is part 1 of of the 2 part Maus series, a graphic novel, possibly the best ever written. It's …
David Bremner started reading A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab
A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab
Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah …
This is part 1 of of the 2 part Maus series, a graphic novel, possibly …
Another good pick from the McMinn County School Board Book Club
5 stars
This is an important book, and also good. That's my review.
Aside from the making the history of the Holocaust real, it also made me think about graphic novels as an art form. It's interesting how the drawings can fill various "tonal" aspects of the story, while the words can be quite spare.
This is part 1 of of the 2 part Maus series, a graphic novel, possibly …
And we came here to the concentration camp Auschwitz. And we knew that from here we will not come out anymore.
— Maus I, My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman (Page 157)
David Bremner wants to read Lurking: How a Person Became a User by Joanne McNeil
Lurking: How a Person Became a User by Joanne McNeil
A concise but wide-ranging personal history of the internet from—for the first time—the point of view of the user
In …
David Bremner reviewed In the Woods by Tana French
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to …
more psychological than thriller
5 stars
On the surface a police procedural, but really more a character study. It nonetheless held this lazy readers attention all the way through. At the big reveal (which isn't what you think is the big reveal), I put the book down and and exclaimed something like "Oh wow, that's a bit too much".
I want to read the next in the series, but I need a break first.
David Bremner finished reading In the Woods by Tana French
In the Woods by Tana French
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But …
David Bremner started reading Winter's tale by Mark Helprin
Peter Lake--orphan, thief, mechanic extraordinaire--and Athansor, a flying Brooklyn milkhorse, establish a reign of love …
At first I thought it was ridiculously overwritten, but I'm settling in.
David Bremner reviewed Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds
Solid space opera
4 stars
This is space opera in the sense of being about a grand sweep of imagined history.
You probably wouldn't start the series here. If you did you would miss some references to previous books, but the book would overall make sense.
One nice thing about the Revelation space books is that the "sufficiently advanced technology a.k.a. magic" is about working around the limitations of physics, not pretending they don't exist. That means that there is consequences for travel across long distances, which gives the book a kind of "Homeric voyage" texture.
David Bremner finished reading Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor
Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor
A year ago, Sunny Nwazue, an American-born girl Nigerian girl, was inducted into the secret Leopard Society. As she began …
David Bremner reviewed Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor
A year ago, Sunny Nwazue, an American-born girl Nigerian girl, was inducted into the secret …
heroic teens eat delicious food, save world
4 stars
Okorafor constructs a very thought provoking story about identity and insider-vs-outsider without being preachy. There are many different kinds of identity in the book: magical leopard vs non-magical lamb, albino vs "normal", african vs. african-american, Ibo vs. Yoruba. It would be easy to take the albino girl as a metaphor about race, and I think that's true, but it's more subtle and rich than that.
The description of the food made me hungry, and overall the setting of modern Nigeria felt very real. Not without its problems, but a place that one could identify as home with real affection.
The characters also felt real in the sense that they were not just board markers for the fantasy plot but had internal lives.
David Bremner started reading In the Woods by Tana French
In the Woods by Tana French
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But …