Travis West
2020: I still adore this book. I almost wish that HBO would adapt the trilogy into a big, expensive series, but I think I prefer the version in my head.
2017: If Gaiman and Dostoyevsky got together and wrote a Russian novel with folk and fairy tale elements, this could be their diabolical creation. I can't believe this is her first book. Looking forward to many others from this author.
Not at all the book I expected it to be. Like a Murikami, but darker, less optimistic. Very well-written.
When I'm browsing books at Tattered Cover, this is the sort of book I tell myself I should be reading. I never would have read it without my book club choosing it. I'm glad they did.
SF/horror through the lens of 1950s Jim Crow America. None of the good old days nostalgia that Stephen King is infected with. The stories are a fun, interconnected horror novel, but the lasting impact is seeing the racism the characters have to navigate and how little things have changed since then.
It always surprises me that musicians lead fairly mundane lives, too. In interviews, Carrie is usually pretty funny, but she kept the humor in check for this book. This is primarily a history of Brownstein's early life and her time with Sleater-Kinney. If you're looking for Portlandia anecdotes, you should wait for the next book, because the TV show is never mentioned.
I've been reading the short stories from The Illustrated Man for over a year as a palate cleanser between books. I like Bradbury, but you don't want to make a whole meal of these little morsels.
Is it supposed to be a satire? A straight up SF book? Not sure. Was somewhat entertaining, but not very engaging.
My SF&F reading list is longer due to Gaiman's introductions for various other authors. Audiobook is best, because of Gaiman's reading voice. I could listen to him read a spreadsheet. I'll now and forever pronounce “labyrinth” as “LABBY-rinth” in the English manner, like Neil does.
Interesting, though frequently repetitive and poorly organized, history of artificial intelligence and, less so, robotics.
This book, a survey of current dating practices by young middle class people in several world cities, would be a boring recitation of statistics and anecdotes, without Ansari's humorous quips and observations.
Like a hipster who “liked them before they were cool,” I feel possessive about Ben Winters after The Last Policeman trilogy. Who knew that an alternate history novel of modern slavery could also be a dang good adventure?
While I loved The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, I cannot think of a single good thing to say about The Buried Giant, which makes me even more bitter that Ishiguro won the Nobel that Murakami has still not gotten.
I enjoyed this book more than I did Mr Mercedes. The trio from the first book (Hodges, Holly, and Jerome) seemed to be almost superfluous to the action of the book; their role is really only as a deus ex machina. You probably don't even need to read the first Bill Hodges book to enjoy this one. The villain and the young protagonist are enough to carry the story.
One of the best popular history books I've ever read, intermingling the founding of Oklahoma City with the first few seasons of its beloved Thunder. Everything is here: the Land Run, the shady deals, unheralded civil rights leaders, tornadoes, the bombing, and...The Flaming Lips.
Anderson has a deft writing style. Any writer who makes me care about basketball has pulled of a feat. I can't wait to see what he publishes next.
A fun book for a cool, rainy weekend. It gets compared to Gone Girl a lot, but Train Girl isn't nearly as tightly plotted and doesn't have as much to say about our fascination with murder.
This is the kind of SF I want more of! No time travel, multiverse, or space cowboy crap. I love the premise of the Hadens and threeps and all of the political/business angles. Looking forward to more from the Lock In future.