Cyn Newman
Yet another delicious visit to the Liaden Universe! I absolutely adore Sharon Lee & Steve Miller's work, and this new chapbook stands very well with the rest of their oeuvre. I recommend it to both new and established readers.
The story is set back on Liad, in the Low Port. There's also a delightful vignette set on Surebleak that was a delight in and of itself.
I wanted to like Vatta's War as much as I did The Serrano Legacy, but this one nearly lost me at some points. Maybe it's intended for a young adult audience? Considering the age of the main character, that may be the case. Still, I always enjoy Moon's writing style, and she creates great universes. Definitely worth a read.
I just finished Lies Sleeping after reading the entire series straight through, so this review is about the series as much as about the ultimate entry in it.
Wow! I've been immersed in the marvelous world Aaronovitch created for us, and it's a shock coming back. His world lives right next door to ours, changed just a bit so that magic is in use next to cell phones and deities walk and work amongst the “normal” folk. His descriptions of London and its surrounds are amazingly rich. The slang and British references are occasionally mysterious to this American reader, but I got enough from context to push right on.
I think Lies Sleeping might be intended as the last book in the series because it wrapped up pretty much all of the plot threads that have been building from Rivers of London to Lies Sleeping. If that's the case, I'll miss Peter and the rest of the characters. I can hope that Aaronovitch will give us more in the future, though. I will certainly be watching to see what he does next!
#LiesSleeping #NetGalley
I just finished reading the entire Serrano Legacy series by [a:Elizabeth Moon 10518 Elizabeth Moon https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1199059504p2/10518.jpg], and I'm experiencing fiction letdown syndrome. You know, when you've been totally engaged in a marvelous world that's so believable, and then suddenly, it's over! It's hard to come back to this world afterwards.Moon mixes spaceships, horses, high-tech medicine, fencing, space battles, and religious fanaticism to create an amazingly believable universe. The Familias Regnant is a far-flung entity whose citizens follow many different belief systems. Its planets are tied together by ansibles and FTL ships, and protected by the Regular Space Service (aka the Fleet). Other societies mix more or less peacefully with the peoples of the Familias - Altiplano, The Benignity of the Compassionate Hand, various competing Texan worlds, and more. There are pirates, mutineers, assassins, and more, giving our heroes plenty of opportunities to shine.Give this series a read. You will not be disappointed!
Excellent book, but I found Harris' voice a wee bit grating. That seems odd for a professional journalist (he's a career man with ABC News).
I first heard of this book when it was promoted along with the 10% Happier app during a mindfulness thing when I worked at Apple. I could have sworn that the subtitle had something in it about “Meditation for fidgety Skeptics” - or maybe that was the 10% Happier app? Anyway, that tagline interested me, so I got the book.
The whole thing is about Harris' journey from being a very high-strung fellow (who sounds like something of a jerk) to being almost TOO mellow, to figuring out the right balance. Meditation (with a little dash of Buddhist philosophy) was magic for him.
I was initially grumpy when I learned that the sixth book in The Others series wouldn't be set in the same place and with the same characters as the first five. I could understand Bishop wanting to stretch a little and explore the world more, though.
Now that I've read Lake Silence, I can admit that my earlier grumpiness was unwarranted. This book was just as engaging and enjoyable as the others, and I care just as much about the characters.
I read this gem in one sitting at the bookstore - it is quite short, after all. I fully intend to re-read it, though, in order to better savor it. I do wish I'd heard Beard deliver these speeches. Reading them is wonderful, though!
I first became aware of Beard due to her marvelous clapbacks at Twitter trolls and other cretins who have tried to silence her. I feel a sense of connection to her due to our shared experience with misogynistic Internet abuse.
I cannot recommend Beard and her work strongly enough to anyone who has any interest at all in the treatment of women in the public eye.
Ok, it's been more than a year after I finished this thing, but for some reason, it wasn't marked “read” when I finished the Audible version. Now I'm left trying to remember specifics in order to write a review.
I recall it as having been an excellent book, and I was very excited about it at the time. I think I'll go back and re-listen to spark recall.
For as long as I've been part of the size acceptance movement (oh, excuse me, it's “body positive” now!), I've read surprisingly few books about it or by its leaders. I consider Lindy West one of those leaders. Just by being “loud,” happy, feminist, and unapologetically fat, she is a role model.
While parts of this book are about gut-wrenchingly sad times in her life, this is overall a very upbeat book. Lindy is funny even when she's talking about terrible things. I caught a couple of minor “oopsies” as far as the narration goes, but that just made her more real as a person to me.
Another thing that I encountered in this book as a first: she's been subjected to even more online harassment, stalking, and threats than I have, which is rare. She became a target by being a fat journalist, and then really gathered the ire of the neckbeards living in their parents' basements by standing up against rape jokes. I hate that she's experiencing it, but it felt good to commiserate with her, so to speak.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
I just finished this book, which I listened to while driving. I find myself wishing that I'd read it on my Kindle, instead, in order to be able to take some notes. It's a rich read, full of mentions of people and studies that I'd like to have been able to look up.
I don't know that I completely agree with Hari, who posits that the vast majority of people are depressed without any sort of biological cause, but instead due to various types of disconnection. I can see that each of the connections he points out are important, and improving them could certainly help depression. However, I'm fairly certain that we've got a chicken and egg issue here. From what I understand, even if you don't initially become depressed due to a lack of certain neurotransmitters or what have you, being depressed can lead to the biological differences that can be treated with antidepressants. That's why those medications do work for a fair number of people who try them. He does talk about neuroplasticity, so maybe my quibbles are semantic.
The seven ways we are disconnected, according to Hari, are from:
1) meaningful work;
2) other people;
3) meaningful values;
4) childhood trauma;
5) status and respect;
6) the natural world;
7) a hopeful or secure future.
He does address how to reconnect on each of these issues later in the book. He also acknowledges that some (most?) of these issues are due to societal rather than individual failings. The fixes are beyond many people because of that, but the more we become aware of them the more we can work on fixing our society.
I found the book very good, and certainly thought-provoking. It isn't an easy read, but it is put together quite well. I recommend it!
Another fun entry in the Laundry Files series, this one is narrated by Dr. Schwartz, from the previous novel. Poor Alex is trying to come to grips with his sudden career change and living life as a PHANG (vampire, to the rest of us). He has also fallen into social interactions with an actual female person, which is vastly unusual in his life. In fact, having a social life is rather foreign.
There are a fair number of cringe-worthy scenes, if you (like me) are embarrassed when anyone else is. Of course, this is a comedy/horror/science fiction/fantasy series, so there are the requisite horrid things in the plot. If you've gotten this far in the series, I shouldn't need to warn you about that. I really wouldn't choose this volume as an entry point if I were you.
I was absolutely blown away by this book! It's an audio-only version of the material covered in [a:Marshall B. Rosenberg 40541 Marshall B. Rosenberg https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1275843700p2/40541.jpg]'s book of a similar name, [b:Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life 71730 Nonviolent Communication A Language of Life Marshall B. Rosenberg https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386925124l/71730.SY75.jpg 2766138]. It distills his lifetime of work on NVC.I think it might have been 20 years since my brother-of-choice recommended Rosenberg's work to me. Yes, sometimes I'm slow. I intend to go ahead and read the print version as well as re-listen to this one several times. The thing that really struck me was the empathic way of approaching people, including oneself.
This is the sixth book of the Laundry Files, and the first to be narrated by Mo instead of her husband. The plot keep me thoroughly engaged, and I enjoyed Mo's voice - it was a nice change. I finished the book utterly wrung out, and I think that is probably a common experience due to Stross' skill at bringing the reader into sympathy with the speaker. I think this is the fourth Stross piece I've read in the past couple of weeks, and it probably isn't wise to immerse one's self so deeply in this particular world! I'm going to have to step back and read something else for a bit as a breather.
First, let it be known that I am an unabashed fangirl when it comes to Lee and Miller. That much has long been established. Should they care to publish their grocery lists, I would most likely purchase and read them.
That said, Neogenesis is an amazing book, even among their other marvelous works. I just finished it, and already I am planning a re-read. It isn't a good entry point for their universe, admittedly, for it ties together many different plot threads that were first spun out in earlier volumes. Lee and Miller tie up those loose ends masterfully.
I am tickled to have this be my first book purchased and read in 2018!
This book represents a major change from the Iron Druid series, so I worked hard to set aside my expectations of Hearne based on loving those. A Plague of Giants is every bit as well-written as that series, maybe even better! Still, I didn't come away truly caring about the characters. That could have something to do with the way the story is presented, but I can't be sure about it.
The book just ends, very abruptly, with the notation, “Continued in volume two, A Blight of Blackwings.” That put me off somewhat. I like reading series, but with each volume I want a largely self-contained story, one with a beginning, middle, and ending. I understand leaving some plot threads unresolved, so as to build interest for the next book, but there's just too much left unresolved here. Will I read Blight when it's released? Maybe - but I'm unlikely to rush right out and buy it.
Book three, and I'm still enjoying the re-read of the series. I will admit to pausing mid-book to read the latest in another sequence by a different author, but I think that was because I had remembered how dark this one gets, and I wasn't ready for it. I did return and finish, though, and I'm very glad, as I had forgotten some vital details.
On to number four!
FINALLY! The cliffhanger at the end of [b:Bad Blood 15785231 Bad Blood (Kate Shugak #20) Dana Stabenow https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1353396907s/15785231.jpg 21503554] is resolved, or of course there would not be a #21. It's been so long (over four years!) since I read #20, though, that I had to go back and re-read the last bit of it to understand the beginning of this novel. That wasn't happy-making, and it had a negative effect on my ability to just dive in and enjoy the book.Once things got going, though, everything was good - it's still a five-star read. Kate is in fine form, although as usual she is definitely affected by recent events. We see a lot of Jim Chopin here - in fact, he figures as largely as Kate does. I'm not sure how I feel about that.Stabenow has always done a good job of showing us a Niniltna that grows and changes with the times, with people coming and going, being born and dying, which is realistic. That hurts at times when you're attached to the characters. I don't want to get into spoilers, but you'll see when you read it. And you should definitely read it!
Continuing my re-read of the series, I truly enjoyed this book. I had forgotten that werewolves came into the tale so early, and like the first book, my later knowledge of who the characters will develop into spiced my enjoyment of their introduction. Susan plays a much larger part in Harry's life than I had recalled, and I had forgotten much of the interplay with Marcone. Harry is such a wonderful protagonist, so complex, and this world is so intriguing, that I'm having a great time with the re-read.
I first read Fredrickson's second book, [b:Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become 15808839 Love 2.0 How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become Barbara L. Fredrickson https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355846071s/15808839.jpg 21533482]. It blew me away, and I've recommended it hither and yon. I was definitely interested in her first book, but for one reason and another it took me a while to get around to it.This is an excellent audiobook. I enjoyed the presentation, and the information was absolutely fascinating. I'm going to have to go back and read (instead of listen to) some of the sections and take notes, but I'm definitely interested enough to do so!I'm particularly interested in the science-backed techniques Fredrickson recommends for improving one's positivity ratio. I'll be tracking mine as I try these techniques to see what happens. I strongly recommend the book, especially to anyone who is interested in combating negativity or the science of positive psychology.