Eva
The Canadian scientist tells of the magical (observing the bird with the biggest wingspan - the albatross - on a cruise to Antarctica) and the mundane (dutifully observing and logging minute bird breeding activities all day) activities of her life as a seabird biologist. How an early love for nature and animals leads to a job with the Canadian Wildlife association. And how climate change and plastic pollution effect the oceans and their inhabitants.
A good mix of personal stories and big picture issues.
I really like the Radch world and the questions of agency, justice and gender its human-and-machine hybrid society poses. And yet, this book felt too trapped in a small planet's colonial plot? It dragged in parts and I had a hard time keeping the characters apart.
As it's been a while since I read the first one, I would have appreciated a glossary, to help me get back into the world's unique terminology.
I first thought this would be a novel equivalent to the very funny [b:Several People Are Typing 54468020 Several People Are Typing Calvin Kasulke https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1627964160l/54468020.SY75.jpg 85004135] - with the setup of an office worker getting access to everyone's emails and deciding to take advantage of the situation - but it rather turned into a compassioned study of loneliness and anxiety. A good listen.
Quite wonderful, her writing seems to have that power of pulling all your focus and widening your vision for the small and the magical. It takes a bit of adjusting to let yourself be pulled, I feel I needed a strict setting of quiet and peace for it to work.
Some of her thoughts and stories produced more wonder than others. And I was rather surprised as it even became educational (loved the sections on the dust).
I guess I might as well read a proper Dillard essay collection, and not just one that has mixed together parts of others!
Odd, intriguing and charming. A early 20th century tale of two people - a physicist at a Cambridge college and an out-of-luck nurse apprentice from London - whose fortunes entwine because of a road accident. It's a witty and subtle portrait of a time and a people, hinting at changes to come, in physics, the world, and women's liberation. And then it even turns into a ghost story somehow. I am left baffled and enchanted, not quite sure what to make of it.
It's a whole lot of history repeating itself. Conflict, war, (out of balance) death counts, peace talks, Israel upping their demands, peace talks failing, and Israel slowly and continuously grabbing more and more land. Rinse and repeat. Under the blessing and protecting hands of the USA.
Not ideal as an audiobook, as the back-and-forth conversations are voiced by only a single narrator. Easy to get lost or forget who you're currently listening to.
I was such a fan of [b:Annihilation 17934530 Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1) Jeff VanderMeer https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403941587l/17934530.SX50.jpg 24946895] so this was rather a letdown because it was such a slog. Halfway through I switched from my print-copy to the audiobook just so I could be done with it faster. Not that there weren't some intriguing elements in it, but everything moved too slow and not much happened.
A story about institutional classism and racism in the art world. Two Latina women - Anita and Raquel, over a decade apart in time - experience similar injustices and barriers from the men and the established systems around them. It takes a lot of self-awareness, anger and a touch of magic-realism, that then brings out the fighting spirits to right those wrongs.
The audiobook and its narrators were loud and boisterous and a lot of fun to listen to. Now off to read the article about the controversies surrounding this book (about the uncredited artist who inspired it).
A writer comes off age in a chaotic and neurotic Italian family. The modern equivalent of Natalia Ginzburg's [b:Family Lexicon 41842200 Family Lexicon Natalia Ginzburg https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1537098137l/41842200.SY75.jpg 206315]? What a fun read, somewhere between biography and autofiction, questioning the truthfulness of our memories and the stories we tell. I chuckled a lot at Raimo's digs at her brother (who's also a writer).
I love the series [b:Coders at Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming 6713575 Coders at Work Reflections on the Craft of Programming Peter Seibel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349026758l/6713575.SX50.jpg 6909460] and [b:Makers at Work: Folks Reinventing the World One Object or Idea at a Time 18061116 Makers at Work Folks Reinventing the World One Object or Idea at a Time Steven Osborn https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1379334742l/18061116.SX50.jpg 25351521], where experts are interviewed about their craft, their love for it and their struggles along the way. This book feels similar in vein. David Byrne shares so much behind-the-scenes knowledge and stories about the music business, that this must be a inspiring and educational treasure trove for new artists. Besides the biographical aspect, this is also a fascinating book about the history of music itself. You learn about the many external influences that have shaped music and composition: how the acoustics of the performance environments for example favor certain instruments over other, and how every new recording or listening technology left their distinct mark on the mix and length of songs and records. Hoping I'll get an opportunity in my future to see Byrne perform live. He seems to have perfected the art of a good stage performance.
A woman born in the last years of East Germany and then coming-of-age during the reunification of Germany, tries to understand her family's complicated past, with parents and grandparents deeply entrenched in the previous state's ideologies and execution. How do you instil socialism into school children? How do you bring up your children with a domineering hand, without them despising you later? How do you keep your people from not fleeing your own country?
I enjoyed parts, but often got lost in the timelines and fragments.
It's the end of the season at a lakeside hotel in Switzerland. The few leftover mostly female guests lounge on the terrace, take strolls in the autumn weather, get clothes made from seamstresses, have lunch, take tea, dress up for dinner, and then turn in early. Everyone behaves as if this is a novel set in the early 20th century. And yet, occasional remarks - like having television in their rooms - make you realize it really is set closer to the novel's publication date (1984). There's a hazy out-of-time feeling to it all. The women are mysterious, wretched and dramatic, living different fates of being-pushed-aside-by-men. The protagonist is at a crossroad in her own life, questioning if she should marry.
Elegant and wry writing, which I very much enjoyed.
Inspired by the author's mother, Hotline is the story of a single-parent fleeing war-torn Lebanon in the 80ies to settle in Montreal. We follow along as Muna and her son hit all sorts of hurdles in their new life, from appropriate winter jackets and first ice storms to the difficulty of not having the right French accent to find a job. I liked how day-to-day the story was, and how hopeful a picture it paints. Canada Reads is a great thing all around.
Loved how this book slowly transformed into a form of meta fiction. Britta meeting Ruth and her folders of historical research, to her searching for a bigger medium to tell Abelke's story. Culminating with the author's afterword, telling us about the work of many female historians who uncover the truths about historical women whose fates and records were dictated by men. Women burnt as witches to further men's causes and to frighten women back into their homes.
A woman looks back on a questionable affair she had during her school years. Abuse or a young woman learning how to take control? The answer is being kept vague. But what's definite in this tale is how much society changes within one's lifetime, as the protagonist contrast yesterday's sexism and everyday habits with today's feminism, social justice and sustainability concerns.
Les blessures compliquees d'un pays colonise, qui se transmettent de generation en generation. On retrouve ici l'histoire de trois generations d'une famille algerienne. Le pere qui a combattu pour la France lors de la premiere guerre mondiale, ce qui le rendre un traitre pendant la guerre d'independance algerienne. La famille a fuit vers les camps d'immigration en France dans les annees 1960s, et le fils a grandi dans un pays peu accueillant. Par consequent il se referme sur ses origines. Et enfine, la petite-fille, qui s'interroge sur son prope identite, embarque pour un voyage a la decouvert du passe de sa famille.
Un livre interessant avec ses destins compliques, beaucoup a apprendre sur l'Algerie.
Ma seule critique est que les quelques scenes avec de contenu sexuel semblent totalment deplacees.