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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A fascinating examination of technological utopianism and its complicated consequences.
In The Charisma Machine, Morgan …
This reads like a an accessible sociology PhD thesis, not my usual read for fun. OTOH, I'm very interested in the promised critique/analysis of "MIT Hacker Culture".
Set before the events in His Dark Materials, La Belle Sauvage tells the tale of …
A solid beginning to a prequel series. It kept my interest the whole way, even though ultimately I knew what the outcome had to be, since it's a prequel.
The central characters were believable to me as children and teens. Of course that was some time ago for me, so make of that what you will. There were some YA / coming-of-age topics, but I would not say they were central to the story. There is some violence, but it is not too gory / repetitive. I respected the way the author conveys the effects of violence on the characters, both as doers and receivers.
Some of the "side-quests" in the last third of the book could be taken either as homage to traditional fairy stories, or as cliché, depending on how cranky the reader is feeling.
My overall impression was that although the Christian(?) Church was the overarching villain, …
A solid beginning to a prequel series. It kept my interest the whole way, even though ultimately I knew what the outcome had to be, since it's a prequel.
The central characters were believable to me as children and teens. Of course that was some time ago for me, so make of that what you will. There were some YA / coming-of-age topics, but I would not say they were central to the story. There is some violence, but it is not too gory / repetitive. I respected the way the author conveys the effects of violence on the characters, both as doers and receivers.
Some of the "side-quests" in the last third of the book could be taken either as homage to traditional fairy stories, or as cliché, depending on how cranky the reader is feeling.
My overall impression was that although the Christian(?) Church was the overarching villain, this did not feel as much like a secularist screed as "His Dark Materials". There was some pointed material about the mechanics of (creeping?) totalitarian rule that I thought made a broader political point.
Set before the events in His Dark Materials, La Belle Sauvage tells the tale of …
Reasonably satisfying ending for the first book of a prequel series.
"FEEDBACK is a full-length Newsflesh novel which overlaps the events of Feed and covers the …
The main characters are if anything more relatable than the Masons. I always found the semi-incest thing a bit creepy in the other books.
There is are central (positive) non-binary and lesbian characters, for people looking for that kind of thing.
McGuire (writing as Grant) revisits some of the issues about freedom, safety, and privacy that she has touched on in previous books in the series. I think these are interesting topics, and she does a good job of talking about them, but there is probably nothing really new to think about here if you're read several other of the series.
There is a rousing story, and a pleasant sort of escapism for those of us that will probably never actually save our friends by clever application of violence.
I think this would be readable without reading the Mason's volumes first, but I didn't read it that way.
The audiobook …
The main characters are if anything more relatable than the Masons. I always found the semi-incest thing a bit creepy in the other books.
There is are central (positive) non-binary and lesbian characters, for people looking for that kind of thing.
McGuire (writing as Grant) revisits some of the issues about freedom, safety, and privacy that she has touched on in previous books in the series. I think these are interesting topics, and she does a good job of talking about them, but there is probably nothing really new to think about here if you're read several other of the series.
There is a rousing story, and a pleasant sort of escapism for those of us that will probably never actually save our friends by clever application of violence.
I think this would be readable without reading the Mason's volumes first, but I didn't read it that way.
The audiobook narrator has lovely Irish accent, and who isn't a sucker for that (possibly Irish people?).
A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house …
Content warning Spoilers, violence
I'm thinking in particular of the scene where the father tries to drown the protagonist in a bathtub. I don't think that's the kind of violence that children would find easy to shrug off, but I'm not an expert.
A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house …
I guess it is long for a novella, but short for a novel. That means there is not a lot of room to build up characters. The protagonist is a bookish but uncomplicated boy but e.g. the parents are mostly ciphers.
It's an engaging story, I finished it in a few sessions, something I don't do very often these days. It feel very English, and very Rural, which isn't what I remember of Gaiman. It doesn't really break any new ground, but it well crafted, and the setting is more completely related than the characters.
It does have some scenes that would probably give sensitive souls (and children) nightmares.
A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house …
Decent. Both typical and (more) atypical Gaiman.
Set before the events in His Dark Materials, La Belle Sauvage tells the tale of …
I know the anti-church sentiment in Pullman's writing is a bit polarizing, but so far this feels more like more general anti-authoritarianism. Perhaps it's my own biases, and reading Maus in parallel.
32-year old Tar feels like a Non-Player Character in their own life. They’ve been utterly …
At some level this is a standard sword-and-sorcery fantasy novel (mostly sorcery). The device of role-players cast into the game "for reals" has surely been done before. The interesting part is the characters, and how the plot progresses.
The hero (gender neutral) is extremely anxious, and the book presents their struggles in a way that is both relatable and interesting. The reader (at least this reader) sees themselves in these struggles even if they don't normally identify as neurodivergent.
Don't hate me for not giving it five stars, a few of the romantic(?) scenes didn't quite work for me. Maybe that says more about me though.
32-year old Tar feels like a Non-Player Character in their own life. They’ve been utterly …
Good book. mini-review to follow.
Lily’s mother has been summoned by her grandfather, Gung-Gung, to attend an emergency board meeting, …
I'm not going to be in an airport soon, but I'm going to read (listen to) this book anyway.
Wizard Book n. Hal Abelson's, Jerry Sussman's and Julie Sussman's Structure and Interpretation of Computer …
Another work related one...
A story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe and his son, a cartoonist who …
Dear McMinn County School Board: This is not a sexy book. I am very disappointed.
A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house …
Needed a physical book. This one was lying there, and I remembered I'd packed it away when moving in 2014 and never got around to reading it.
"FEEDBACK is a full-length Newsflesh novel which overlaps the events of Feed and covers the …
Friday night is for zombies!