Robert
The book is not what I normally read. Dark humor, child abuse and death. There are segments were the writing are magical. The protagonist, Hester, is a not lovable character who is dying from terminal cancer and before she dies she wants to kill her father.
A short form book on grief, memory, and dealing with the loss of a loved one. Highly recommend
In my opinion this is the best book that I have read this year. Definitely deserved the National Book Award. A wonderful story of what life was like for blacks and Jews in the mid 1930s in Pennsylvania. It is a story of acceptance and of family as well as both overt and covert racism as well as discrimination and the characters in the story rise above it all.
A hot mess of a book. There were well written sections and others that were cringe worthy. Some of the annotating were excellent, others appeared to be written by a 13 year. Definitely not an autobiography that I had expected. I guess that I had too high of expectations. If one is a big fan of Star Trek one may like this book.
I remembered reading this books years ago and I wanted to reread it again, but I could not remember the title title or the author. I could not find a reference in 'Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction' by Brian W. Aldiss though there was a reference to Godwin in 'Alternate Worlds: The Illustrate History of Science Fiction' by James Gunn. All I remember about the book was the planet Ragnarok. A couple of days ago I got a hit from an internet search. The book title nor the author's name were not familiar., but the book was archived by the Gutenberg Project and reading the first paragraph I knew that I had found the book I was search for.
Before reviewing the book one must consider the time that the book was written, 1959. We were still at 'war' with Russia (The cold War) and atomic annihilation was still a possibility. In 1959 'Alas Babylon' by Pat Frank was published and 'On The Beach' by Nevil Shute was published in 1957. So there is a political agenda in these books though not as overt space prison.
The book is pretty typical of the times, though the plot is slightly interesting. One is going to need to realize that there is very little character development . It is better than some of the earlier writings it is still not a great book. It is still an important book when one considers the evolution of the science fiction novel from the early days of science fiction to the modern sci fi stories of today.
Because of the content and themes is may not be suitable for the younger end of the young adult readers. There is murder, mayhem, alluded sexual acts and over the top humour. Oh there are cats also. Quick, fun read, though there is comments about the treatment and abuse of women and the consumer society. Oh yes greed.
Sabine Hossenfelder has been writing on particle physics as well as theoretical physics for a number of years. This book is a good overview of the state of physics at the time this book was originally published (2020). It is a good companion piece to Lee Smolin's book The Trouble with Physics. This book is definitely geared toward people are interested ans somewhat conversant with science and especially theoretical physics. The general reader can gleam from the text how scientist go about their studies (at least in physics). Definitely not a book for everyone.
This turned out to be a reread as I original read it during the Covid lock down. Definitely not a piece of high class literature; however, it is a fun and read with a good plot. It a good break from the reading I was doing before this book.
James Tiptree, Jr (Alice B. Sheldon) lead a very interesting and complex life that cannot be summarized in a few sentences or even a few paragraphs. Born of well off parents who enjoyed adventure (Three trips to Africia, one of which took many months as at that time was uncharted and mostly unexplored. Her mother was a writer and wrote two books about the trip which Alice illustrated. This started her questioning her life, her place in society as a woman and her own sexuality. This definitely not a book for the causal reader. I reality learned a lot about this individual. A definite read if one is interested in the Science Fiction world of the 80s as she burst on that part of the world with well written and disturbing short stories.
Thought that this would be interesting but it turned out to be a bit of fluff, not even worth reading. It was published in 2021 and it was already out of date by that time. Donot bother to read, if possible I would give it a negative star.
A short well written science fiction that that explores personal relationships between humans as well as human animal interactions. It also explores the role of industry in the funding of scientific research. A lot of territory to cover. Warning one of the relationships is a lesbian relationship which is not all that different from a heterosexual relationship. Highly recommend the book.
Again I am not rating this by stars. An excellent discourse on the intersection of humans and the world around us. The interaction is a two way interaction contends that mankind does not do its part in this interaction. A very interesting book, a few sections drag a big, but it is well worth the read.
Again no rating as ratings are so subjective. I used to be a big science fiction fan; however, most of what is called fiction has not been all that good. This book is the exception. Fast pace, good plot, interesting characters. Even if one does not like science fiction one might want to give this book a try.
No rating. Anne Patchett said that she never reads her books, but recently she reread this book and published an annotated version. She said that she found several thinks that she would change, errors, plot etc. She had published three novels before this, none of them had done particularly well; this is the novel that really jump started her writing career and since then she has written a series of marvelous books.
The story is good but not great and sections of this is not great. Some of the characters are really two dimensional and in the end the story of the love interest came more r less as a surprise. I am personally surprised that this book won the Pen/Faulkner award, though there are plenty of hints of her talent in the stories. The Dutch House (which should have won the Pulitzer Prize) and Tom Lake are far superior books,
This book is worth reading a the reader can see the progression of her writing skills. It is definitely a permanent part of my collection and may be a book that I will read again. I am sure that there are little nuggets that I have missed in this tale.
Margaret Rankl is an environmental writer for the New York Times and I am biased as I have always enjoyed her essays. Here is an intimate view of the lives of birds that live in her neighborhood. The message is that she should take time to enjoy the natural world around us, it can broaden our world view and give one peace.
This book is about mainly lynchings and retribution for the racial crimes perpetrated by whites on people of color. A disturbing book and I was uncomfortable reading this book. Powerful, thought provoking, definitely everyone should read the book. I personally think that the book should berated 5 stars; however, there is an audience that will not read the book.
I am at heart an environmentalist. I enjoy books about the environment, especially well written ones. This is one of the well written ones, a few rough spots here and there, but definitely not anything that detracts from the story.
Mary Oliver's poetry is fantastic for the most part. I especially like the way she observes the natural world. Unfortunately her prose leaves a lot to be desired. I do not know why I found this collection of essays so bland. Each essay has its moments; however, I did not ind many insights into her life and what really motivated her writing. I was sadly disappointe.
A beautifully written book with a strange premise. There a few praising that I scratch my head about, but I think that they are due to the difficulty one is present when trying to translate idioms. A really joyful book of the interactions between a housekeeper, her son, and a professor whose short term memory lasts only one hour. Definitely a good read.
Warning, there is a lot of graphic sex in the book. It is a collection of short stories about (black) women in Church that illustrates cultural difference between black and white women, though I think that there may not be as much differences between the two. We need a similar book from white women.
The women in this book are not victims, they are women doing their best by navigating a system that holds them back, It is a hard story to read, but well worth the effort. It is on my to be read again list.
This is the fictionalized story of the creation of the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) and of one of its contributors to the project: Esme. In someways the book is about Esme's coming of age, but it also about her contribution of adding lost (woman's) words. It has received very good reviews and it was a very enjoyable book. I would highly recommend it.
What can I say I greatly admire Elizabeth Gilbert's writing and this is a real cracker of a book. There is a fair amount of controversy about whether Darwin was the originator of the theory of evolution or he stole Wallace's proposal. A number of scientist give both individuals equal credit. What if a third person came up with the theory of evolution? Even more that person was female. That is the premise of this book and it makes for a wonderful story. The writing is elegant and the story is compelling. Maybe I should have given it 5 Stars.
I could not get into this book though I did slog through the end. I may have not been in the place to read this book when I read it. Will try again soon.