This book is so bland that I picked it up because this is exactly the kind of thing I like, read the first 10% and found something else to read. Then This book is so bland that I picked it up because this is exactly the kind of thing I like, read the first 10% and found something else to read. Then I forgot about that and picked it up again because this is exactly the kind of thing I like. And now I'm putting it down again. This is the cold potatoes with no salt or oil or spices of books.
Note to future me: This is the book where the author acknowledges that Apicius's kitchen was staffed by enslaved people and then, a page later, describes them as "lucky." And it is otherwise incredibly bland. For serious, future me, you do like this kind of thing, but you do not like this specific example of it. Don't try this again....more
I should have realized that this would contain far more animal harm than I wanted it to, but I didn't, so note to any future me who forgets that and dI should have realized that this would contain far more animal harm than I wanted it to, but I didn't, so note to any future me who forgets that and decides to try this again: it contains more animal harm than you want anything to....more
I super wanted to like this and it sounded right up my alley. Then it hit me with first a graphic description of a dead seal and then a parent with brI super wanted to like this and it sounded right up my alley. Then it hit me with first a graphic description of a dead seal and then a parent with brain cancer. It might well be great, but it could not be less for me. ...more
This one failed to grab me and I'm not sure why. It did feel a bit formulaic, under-characterized and overwritten, but I've been fine with that beforeThis one failed to grab me and I'm not sure why. It did feel a bit formulaic, under-characterized and overwritten, but I've been fine with that before. Not this time. I kept putting it down and not wanting to pick it back up. I don't know if I couldn't engage with it because of me or because of it. I'll come back to it someday to find out. ...more
I wanted to like this. I should have liked this. It has gods, and not just any gods, but asshole gods from multiple pantheons in a modern setting. ButI wanted to like this. I should have liked this. It has gods, and not just any gods, but asshole gods from multiple pantheons in a modern setting. But the book just kept on not clicking. The infodumps were extensive, the exposition was clunky as hell, and the language was more "Curious! I am extremely intelligent" than, you know, engaging. I didn't have it in me to soldier on....more
I very much support everything this book is about, but I just couldn't keep on with it. The writing was clumsy, the characters were very one-note, andI very much support everything this book is about, but I just couldn't keep on with it. The writing was clumsy, the characters were very one-note, and the whole thing was wildly unengaging. I kept finding chores to do rather than read this, and that is a definite sign to put the book down....more
The author does an amazing job of getting the narrative right inside the head of a person with severe anxiety, panic disorder, depression, and PTSD, aThe author does an amazing job of getting the narrative right inside the head of a person with severe anxiety, panic disorder, depression, and PTSD, and here is the thing: I don't want to live inside someone else's anxiety and panic attacks. My own much less severe anxiety disorder is MORE than enough for me. And I've read this far enough to determine that it is just going to be this way -- choppy, miserable, desperately unwell, and without even a glimmer of hope or change -- for a while. No thank you, not for me. ...more
I will need to return to this book when I’m braced for the risk of bot harm and have the fortitude for a climate apocalypse. I enjoyed this right up uI will need to return to this book when I’m braced for the risk of bot harm and have the fortitude for a climate apocalypse. I enjoyed this right up until it made me too anxious to go on. Alas. ...more
Yeah, for the moment I'm giving up. I might come back to it, but right now I am just not enjoying it at all. (Brutal opening, tons of sensory descriptYeah, for the moment I'm giving up. I might come back to it, but right now I am just not enjoying it at all. (Brutal opening, tons of sensory description, main character is not my favorite and the other characters are hard to keep straight.)...more
This book is trying too hard. It's trying to be a parody of a genre AND a satire that critiques the role of women in this period (and in novels set inThis book is trying too hard. It's trying to be a parody of a genre AND a satire that critiques the role of women in this period (and in novels set in this period but written in modern times) AND broadly, heavy-handedly humorous (the main place is called Stabmort and it goes on from there) AND a structural joke (footnotes and annotations and lists ahoy) and and and and. After a few pages of this, I felt like I was being pummeled about the head and neck with a blunt weapon labeled JOKES while someone shouted "Why aren't you laughing yet?" in my ear. It was not a good time.
I would try this author again -- in about five books, after she's had a chance to chill out and find a good rhythm (and an editor who will tell her no and make it stick). But right now, I am returning this one to the library and wishing I could warn whoever gets it next to put on a helmet before attempting to read it....more
I'm not sure a non-fiction book has ever pissed me off to the DNF point this quickly.
The introduction was basically just a justification for why the I'm not sure a non-fiction book has ever pissed me off to the DNF point this quickly.
The introduction was basically just a justification for why the author chose to skip literally every interesting unit of measure out there. (Too scientific! Too weird! Too hard to research! Too old! I'm sorry, did you think I picked up this book because I didn't know where a mile came from? Buddy, no. I picked up this book because I want to know how Hittites measured their flour and honey. I'm all set for fun facts about the mile, thanks.)
And then, early in chapter one, he has a prissy little aside about how Mount Everest SHOULD be pronounced, and I said out loud in an empty room, "First of all, common usage IS A THING and DOES CHANGE and that is VALID, and second of all, you're here saying the right pronunciation is Eve-rest? No, asshole, it's Chomolungma or Sagarmatha, if we're going to be all pedantic about it like an absolute shithead."
That was the moment when I realized I needed to return this book to the library and try to forget it ever existed, and then I actually did the first part of that. Huge personal growth for me, very proud. The book still sucks, though....more
Look, I tried. But the main character is literally a billionaire named Tesla. It was impossible not to picture her as a female Elon Musk, and as a resLook, I tried. But the main character is literally a billionaire named Tesla. It was impossible not to picture her as a female Elon Musk, and as a result I spent half of the novel hoping that she'd be the next murder victim. Then I thought about what I was doing with my one wild and precious life -- reading about a billionaire and somehow being expected to root for them and view them as a hero? -- and quit. Nope!
Update: Okay, no, I'm still not over this. Look, I love science fiction mysteries. LOVE THEM. So it especially kills me that Kowal destroyed this one by making her main character a billionaire. There are no stakes for a billionaire! Oh, your spouse has been arrested? Well, you can buy this entire spaceship cruise line and fire people out the airlock until you get him back, so. Not really a concern, and I'm not sure why anyone would bother to write a whole novel about a billionaire playing Pretend Detective Pretend Detecting Pretend Important Things.
Also, Kowal says Tesla (barf) is a good, intelligent person while showing precisely the opposite. Being a billionaire means you hoarded resources to the point that you are actively damaging the present and future of your entire species. Why would I care if this billionaire solves the mystery or if her spouse dies? A couple of dead bodies are nothing to the number of dead and damaged people she's created in her life simply by hoarding resources to this degree. Perhaps she could try solving that mystery instead of cosplaying as a somewhat less rich person for fun.
Because, yes, she's on this trip so she can pretend to be one of the COMMON rich people (she's still in the most luxurious part of the luxury cruise spaceship) so that she can experience not being the center of attention for once in her life. Genuinely, this woman is a monster.
The only, the only way to make this novel work would be to kill this main character. ...more
Cory Doctorow has a couple of failure modes for me, and it's early in the novel but I feel like they're strongly in play, to the point where I'm quittCory Doctorow has a couple of failure modes for me, and it's early in the novel but I feel like they're strongly in play, to the point where I'm quitting.
1. "I wanted to write non-fiction, but fiction pays better." It's infodump central with your host, Cory Doctorow! And here's the thing: I typically love an infodump. Unfortunately, Doctorow is often telling me things I already know while presenting them as knowledge no one has. Also, he loves having characters do infodumps when they are still basically a name on a page. And that makes perfect sense, because you know it's not the character talking. It's Doctorow, lecturing while moving the character's mouth up and down.
2. "I very much believe in equality and social justice, but also I am here to write dudes being dudes and tech bros being tech bros." This is actually fine, except for the part where I am not all that interested in dudeliness or tech bros.
I don't know. I'd love to hear that the plot is good enough that I'll forget all about this, or that the characters really get good twenty pages after I quit. But until I hear that, I'm sticking this in a box marked "as done as it's gonna get."...more
If you've ever wanted to get into Eeyore's head, just really settle down and live there, this might be the book for you. It's not for me. I don't needIf you've ever wanted to get into Eeyore's head, just really settle down and live there, this might be the book for you. It's not for me. I don't need to spend my time in a world where everyone is isolated, hostile, and unhelpful and everything is bad and doesn't get better, especially when the dialogue is so awkwardly inhuman sounding and the narrative so utterly lifeless. This book sucks all the joy out of reading, and I'm going to have to reread some old favorites to get it back. ...more
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