Bookwyrm posts from 2024

  1. I'm Starting to Worry about This Black Box of Doom

    David Wong, Jason Pargin

    Cover of I'm Starting to Worry about This Black Box of Doom by David Wong, Jason Pargin, published 2024 by St. Martin's Press
    Figure 1. Cover of I'm Starting to Worry about This Black Box of Doom by David Wong, Jason Pargin, published 2024 by St. Martin's Press.

    A few of my favorite very-online writers—but I’m think of Pargin and Jeb Lund (who for all I know don’t know each other at all) specifically here and not like, uh, Lockwood—are pretty good about using their veterans-of-forum-wars (or at least that era of online) past to be pretty strong voices for not being assholes on the internet.

    this is a lot of that

    cw: mens rights nonsense

    my point: so if you feel like you don’t need some old guy rubbing your nose in a “deuteragonist" (I had to look up the word for that) “hey look at this kid who is a twitch streamer who is kinda black pilled, don’t be lame like this”, because you yourself are also over that, maybe skip this one

    Ultimately it’s a fun read and a break from the John and Zoe books and pretty mad at the same stuff a lot of people are on mastodon are mad about re: the other social networks, so, I’m glad I read it.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:10 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131358/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131358/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  2. Mickey7

    Edward Ashton, Simon Saito

    Cover of Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, Simon Saito, published 2023-01-01 by Griffin, a 320-page paperback, part of the Mickey7 series
    Figure 1. Cover of Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, Simon Saito, published 2023-01-01 by Griffin, a 320-page paperback, part of the Mickey7 series.

    Picked up after a friend who had already enjoyed it linked x.com/mickey17movie/status/1836197947668860958 in discord, very fun, read it in a few days.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:09 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131350/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131350/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  3. Moonbound

    Robin Sloan

    Cover of Moonbound by Robin Sloan, published 2024-06-04 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, a 432-page hardcover
    Figure 1. Cover of Moonbound by Robin Sloan, published 2024-06-04 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, a 432-page hardcover.

    P good! kinda Y.A. and a little slow to start but w/e, fun ending

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:09 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131349/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131349/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  4. Doppelganger

    Naomi Klein

    Cover of Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, published 2023-09-04 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 416 pages
    Figure 1. Cover of Doppelganger by Naomi Klein, published 2023-09-04 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 416 pages.

    Another one that I waited out thinking “eh, probably great but maybe I’ll pass” and then people I follow just kept citing it months and months later, so onto the pile it went. My first and not last Klein book, about significantly more than I expected.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:08 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131346/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131346/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  5. Family Furnishings

    Alice Munro

    Cover of Family Furnishings by Alice Munro, published 2015-09-15 by Penguin Canada, a 784-page paperback
    Figure 1. Cover of Family Furnishings by Alice Munro, published 2015-09-15 by Penguin Canada, a 784-page paperback.

    The later, somewhat darker, more explicitly autobiographical half of Munro’s anthologies of short stories.

    Munro’s characters tend to (I know this reads like a horoscope) move on from situations for the next thing without a plan, or to be a little selfish before getting back to being serious, if they ever do. She’s always putting characters on trains, or in cars, or on buses.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:08 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131340/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131340/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  6. Killed by a Traffic Engineer

    Wes Marshall

    Cover of Killed by a Traffic Engineer by Wes Marshall, published 2024-04-21 by Island Press
    Figure 1. Cover of Killed by a Traffic Engineer by Wes Marshall, published 2024-04-21 by Island Press.

    Lots of people read this last year when Marshall published it and the title was so catchy, I thought about it after the last few accidents in SF, which made me think I should go back and actually read it.

    80+ three page ideas, lots of overlap with the incident management side of my day job, casually written (if a little too pop, even, but I guess that’s ok).

    Every field is like this, it seems.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:07 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131337/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131337/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  7. Sourdough : or, Lois and Her Adventures in the Underground Market

    Robin Sloan

    Cover of Sourdough : or, Lois and Her Adventures in the Underground Market by Robin Sloan, published 2018-09-18 by Picador, 272 pages
    Figure 1. Cover of Sourdough : or, Lois and Her Adventures in the Underground Market by Robin Sloan, published 2018-09-18 by Picador, 272 pages.

    Re-using my comment on Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore: “Fun, light, very quick read. Very weird to read something so connected to ~2017~ techie-San-Francisco and get 100% of the references and roll my eyes at a few of them.”

    Started Sloan’s newest, Moonbound, immediately afterward, and it’s very different so far.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:07 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131328/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131328/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  8. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)

    Robin Sloan

    Cover of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1) by Robin Sloan, published 2012-04-18 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, a 288-page hardcover
    Figure 1. Cover of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1) by Robin Sloan, published 2012-04-18 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, a 288-page hardcover.

    Fun, light, very quick read. Very weird to read something so connected to ~2012-techie-San-Francisco (I was here by then) and get 100% of the references (and roll my eyes at a few w/ 12 years of hindsight).

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:06 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131325/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131325/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  9. You Like It Darker: Stories

    Stephen King

    Cover of You Like It Darker: Stories by Stephen King, published 2024-05-21 by Scribner, 512 pages
    Figure 1. Cover of You Like It Darker: Stories by Stephen King, published 2024-05-21 by Scribner, 512 pages.

    There are a few authors I simply pre-order without question—Jason Pargin, Kelly Link, Emily Wilson in the past year alone, but always King. I was going to save this for vacation in a few weeks but ended up with more time on my hands so it came off the pile.

    I particularly liked "The Answer Man”

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:05 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131315/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131315/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  10. White Cat, Black Dog

    Cover of White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link, published 2023-03-28 by Random House, a 272-page hardcover
    Figure 1. Cover of White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link, published 2023-03-28 by Random House, a 272-page hardcover.

    I particularly enjoyed the last one, “Skinder’s Veil”

    I’ve never actually read any actual Brothers Grimm, nor have I read (or even heard of) Lang’s “The Blue Fairy Book” which I just learned about in a review of these Link stories, so I think they have to both go on the pile.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:05 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131311/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131311/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  11. The Iliad

    Emily Wilson, Homer

    Cover of The Iliad by Emily Wilson, Homer, published 2023-12-07 by Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W., a 848-page hardcover
    Figure 1. Cover of The Iliad by Emily Wilson, Homer, published 2023-12-07 by Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W., a 848-page hardcover.

    I really enjoyed Wilson’s “Odyssey” and “Oedipus Tyrannos” translations and had hoped to get to this last fall when I put it on the to-read pile. Alas.

    I’ve never read any The Iliad before, and it does kinda go on a bit (really? that’s your thoughts on the Iliad? sure why not, is “it was good” better?).

    Wilson manages to sneak in some slapstick amid all the brutality.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:04 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131308/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131308/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  12. Bliss Montage

    Ling Ma

    Cover of Bliss Montage by Ling Ma, published 2022-12-28 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, a 228-page hardcover
    Figure 1. Cover of Bliss Montage by Ling Ma, published 2022-12-28 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, a 228-page hardcover.

    I forget why this got my attention but I will cop to the “by the author of Severance” blurb helping more than somewhat, not realizing that it’s a novel that predates the show by four years and is completely unrelated to it.

    What a lovely mistake! The stories were excellent and I will probably grab the novel too. Warning: maybe check the content before starting on the first two stories?

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:04 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131304/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131304/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  13. Magic for Beginners: Stories

    Cover of Magic for Beginners: Stories by Kelly Link, published 2014-07-01 by Random House Trade Paperbacks, a 352-page paperback
    Figure 1. Cover of Magic for Beginners: Stories by Kelly Link, published 2014-07-01 by Random House Trade Paperbacks, a 352-page paperback.

    Goth surrealist tangential punny folklore ghost stories? Idk what the hell I just read and if it was a TV show I’d turn it off but I can read stuff like this all day long (and just did).

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:03 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131299/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131299/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  14. Pnin

    Vladimir Nabokov

    Cover of Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov, published 1989-06-18
    Figure 1. Cover of Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov, published 1989-06-18.

    Nice.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:02 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131287/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131287/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  15. Get in Trouble

    Cover of Get in Trouble by Kelly Link, published 2015-04-27 by Random House, 336 pages
    Figure 1. Cover of Get in Trouble by Kelly Link, published 2015-04-27 by Random House, 336 pages.

    More great stories, some of which, but fewer than those in “Stranger Things Happen” would fit right in with those collected in “Black Water” (mastodon.social/@gravely/110403938932091902) and “Black Water 2” (mastodon.social/@gravely/110899731695137550).

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:01 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131284/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131284/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  16. Stranger Things Happen

    Cover of Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link, published 2001-12-02 by Small Beer Press, a 266-page ebook
    Figure 1. Cover of Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link, published 2001-12-02 by Small Beer Press, a 266-page ebook.

    So good, I’m grabbing another collection of Link’s, "Get in Trouble”, immediately.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:01 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131280/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131280/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  17. Titanium Noir

    Nick Harkaway

    Cover of Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway, published 2023-05-02 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
    Figure 1. Cover of Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway, published 2023-05-02 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

    What it says on the tin and knows it. Spoonfuls of chewy metaphors.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:01 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131275/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131275/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  18. How Infrastructure Works

    Deb Chachra

    Cover of How Infrastructure Works by Deb Chachra, published 2023-07-07 by Penguin Publishing Group, a 320-page hardcover
    Figure 1. Cover of How Infrastructure Works by Deb Chachra, published 2023-07-07 by Penguin Publishing Group, a 320-page hardcover.

    I feel like more than a few people I follow posted about this over the past year so I eventually followed suit. More memoir (again!) than I’m normally into but just enough history, novelty, and new-to-me theory to be pretty good after all.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 7:00 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131270/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131270/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  19. A Wizard of Earthsea

    Ursula K. Le Guin, Mick Saunders

    Cover of A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, Mick Saunders, published 1989-06-05 by Oliver & Boyd, a 16-page paperback, part of the The Earthsea Cycle series (book 1)
    Figure 1. Cover of A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, Mick Saunders, published 1989-06-05 by Oliver & Boyd, a 16-page paperback, part of the The Earthsea Cycle series (book 1).

    After enjoying every single story in the “Hainish Novels and Stories (www.ursulakleguin.com/hainish-novels-and-stories), I figured I can’t go wrong tackling Earthsea for the first time by just reading all of them in the similar “The Books of Earthsea" (www.ursulakleguin.com/the-books-of-earthsea).

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:59 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131263/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131263/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  20. Mismatch

    Kat Holmes

    Cover of Mismatch by Kat Holmes, published 2018-10-16 by The MIT Press, a 176-page hardcover
    Figure 1. Cover of Mismatch by Kat Holmes, published 2018-10-16 by The MIT Press, a 176-page hardcover.

    I grabbed this one after landing on a Don Norman piece (www.fastcompany.com/90338379/i-wrote-the-book-on-user-friendly-design-what-i-see-today-horrifies-me). I enjoyed “The Design of Everyday Things" so I followed Norman’s suggestion to read Mismatch.

    Pretty quick read, and full of things so obviously correct that I got impatient with the author’s patience? Good stuff.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:59 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131262/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131262/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  21. Sound Man: A Life Recording Hits with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles , Eric Clapton, The Faces . . .

    Glyn Johns

    Cover of Sound Man: A Life Recording Hits with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles , Eric Clapton, The Faces . . . by Glyn Johns, published 2014
    Figure 1. Cover of Sound Man: A Life Recording Hits with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles , Eric Clapton, The Faces . . . by Glyn Johns, published 2014.

    Two memoirs to start the year. Weird, I never read memoirs.

    This one was quoted in some video I watched chasing Chris Scruggs stuff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeR2yZ2pWCw what a great band! that steel player?!) that I probably landed on looking up a 500songs.com (which I’m 90 episodes into) citation, so I found myself reading it.

    - YouTubeEnjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.youtube.com
    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:57 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131253/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131253/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  22. Close to the Machine

    Ellen Ullman

    Cover of Close to the Machine by Ellen Ullman, published 1997-04-26
    Figure 1. Cover of Close to the Machine by Ellen Ullman, published 1997-04-26.

    I don’t know how this made it onto my pile but it was a quick read (I started it yesterday). It’s so weird to read 90s tech memoirs. People were still sorta building stuff back then, weren’t sure where things would end up, and so on.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:57 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131241/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131241/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  23. Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia

    David Wong

    Cover of Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia by David Wong, published 2023-09-22 by St. Martin's Press, 416 pages, part of the Zoey Ashe series (book 3)
    Figure 1. Cover of Zoey Is Too Drunk for This Dystopia by David Wong, published 2023-09-22 by St. Martin's Press, 416 pages, part of the Zoey Ashe series (book 3).

    Fun as expected. A pre-order, because that this point I just subscribe to Pargin stuff.

    It’s been two months since I finished anything, my head has not been in the right space to read, I’d bounced off three other things, and I’ve been taking lots of long walks instead.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:56 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131238/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131238/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  24. The Trial

    Franz Kafka

    Cover of The Trial by Franz Kafka, published 2006-07-06 by Waking Lion Press, 216 pages
    Figure 1. Cover of The Trial by Franz Kafka, published 2006-07-06 by Waking Lion Press, 216 pages.

    Someone in Bernal Heights (Bonview at or near Cortland? It was a few months ago) left a box of books on the sidewalk with “FREE” written on a flap that had a few things I grabbed, among them, DFW’s “Consider the Lobster, and other essays” which I started and abandoned (lol), and this.

    I enjoy stuff like this from time to time but don’t think I’m “smart enough” for it, whatever that means (and I’m not entirely sure).

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:55 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131235/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131235/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  25. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

    Shehan Karunatilaka

    Cover of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, published 2022-10-31 by W. W. Norton & Company, a 400-page paperback
    Figure 1. Cover of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, published 2022-10-31 by W. W. Norton & Company, a 400-page paperback.

    A friend posted that they’d just read a book that they think might be the best book they’d ever read, and it was this one. 4, 3, 2, 1 was listed for a Booker and this one won the prize? OK, I’ll try it.

    I really wanted to like it more than I did, and the second act really flows well, but I had a hard time finishing it, today, finally. It’s right up my alley in lots of ways. v0v

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:55 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131227/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131227/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  26. Michael Kohlhaas

    Michael Kohlhaas

    Cover of Michael Kohlhaas by Michael Kohlhaas, published 2018-10-31 by Katakrak Liburuak, a 160-page paperback
    Figure 1. Cover of Michael Kohlhaas by Michael Kohlhaas, published 2018-10-31 by Katakrak Liburuak, a 160-page paperback.

    4 3 2 1 was full of writers learning the trade from other writers and hundreds of books are mentioned. I’m sure I’ll thumb through it for more suggestions but this one was the first I chose.

    I think probably best to go in completely without any idea what it is beyond: german, written early 1800s, takes place in the 1500s, and Kafka, of all people liked it a lot.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:54 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131222/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131222/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  27. 4 3 2 1

    Paul Auster

    Cover of 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster, published 2017-08-28 by Henry Holt and Company, 866 pages
    Figure 1. Cover of 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster, published 2017-08-28 by Henry Holt and Company, 866 pages.

    Loved it, spent most of my spare time since I started it with it, will miss it, probably missed a lot in it.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:53 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131218/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131218/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  28. SPQR

    Mary Beard

    Cover of SPQR by Mary Beard, published 2016-09-06 by Liveright Publishing Corporation, Liveright, a 608-page paperback
    Figure 1. Cover of SPQR by Mary Beard, published 2016-09-06 by Liveright Publishing Corporation, Liveright, a 608-page paperback.

    18th book of the year: “SPQR”, by Mary Beard

    Wanted to read some history after the last few things. Kept seeing Beard press over the years, saw she has a new book out and grabbed a used copy of her old stuff instead.

    lotta “assassinated for tyranny after proposing social and/or land use reforms” Kermit-confused-face.bmp

    lotta good stuff on how normal people lived

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:52 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131215/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131215/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  29. The palm-wine drinkard ; and, My life in the bush of ghosts

    Amos Tutuola

    Cover of The palm-wine drinkard ; and, My life in the bush of ghosts by Amos Tutuola, published 1994-01-07 by Grove Press, 307 pages
    Figure 1. Cover of The palm-wine drinkard ; and, My life in the bush of ghosts by Amos Tutuola, published 1994-01-07 by Grove Press, 307 pages.

    The story I enjoyed in Black Water 2 was an excerpt from “The Palm-Wine Drinkard” (which is subtitled “and his dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads’ Town)

    I preferred the drinkard because more of the stories in it seem like little self-contained myths. And of course I’m glad to now have a connection back to the Byrne/Eno album that I love.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:52 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131211/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131211/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  30. Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic

    Alberto Manguel

    Cover of Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic by Alberto Manguel, published 1990-12-18
    Figure 1. Cover of Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic by Alberto Manguel, published 1990-12-18.

    “Black Water 2, More Tales of the Fantastic” loved it, full of surprises and delights from authors I’ve never heard of and authors most have — Arthur Conan Doyle, F Scott Fitzgerald, E B White, Joseph Conrad, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Margret Atwood, George Bernard Shaw , Arthur C Lark) — and stories too , like Melville’s Bartleby.

    "The Complete Gentleman” turned me onto Amos Tutuola, who I’m now reading in full.

    And a story from Isabell Allende?! Nice.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:51 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131207/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131207/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  31. Oceanic

    Greg Egan

    Cover of Oceanic by Greg Egan, published 2009-04-08
    Figure 1. Cover of Oceanic by Greg Egan, published 2009-04-08.

    Egan again. I knew I’d have a 10 hours of plane time, so I brought “Oceanic” and it delivered.

    Egan’s political and hard science (the bulk of this set) stories are my favorites while the atheist ones like the title story “Oceanic” are probably more interesting to previously religious people, which I never was. I’ve always found faith to be entirely inscrutable, so exploring losing it is kinda just more of that to me?

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:50 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131202/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131202/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  32. Luminous

    Greg Egan

    Cover of Luminous by Greg Egan, published 1999-08-12
    Figure 1. Cover of Luminous by Greg Egan, published 1999-08-12.

    It is out of print, but available self published by the author. The stories from just after those in Axiomatic.

    Some fun stuff, although I would have liked it a lot more had I read it contemporaneously, when I was in my own more annoying atheist phase.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:49 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131193/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131193/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.

  33. A Wilderness Station

    Alice Munro

    Cover of A Wilderness Station by Alice Munro, published 2021-06-12 by RANDOM HOUSE UK, paperback
    Figure 1. Cover of A Wilderness Station by Alice Munro, published 2021-06-12 by RANDOM HOUSE UK, paperback.

    Wow! Loved it.

    The “Selected Stories” title has had time to be rated and critiqued by much more careful readers. Lots of comparisons to Chekov, who I suppose I’ll check out next. I’ll also definitely be getting the companion collection, Family Furnishings, Selected Stories 1995-2014.

    Posted on Bookwyrm about a year agoon December 30, 2024 - 6:46 PM and archived here at /bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131180/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/bookwyrm/2024/12/30/6131180/ in the Bookwyrm collection in both HTML and markdown.
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