Trismegistus

To slightly misquote John Oliver, ( It has been a busy three weeks. )I also got some reading in.

What I Finished Reading This Week

The Bee Sting – Paul Murray
This is an outstanding book with a horrifically bad ending. I am hard pressed to think of another book with such incredibly incisive characterizations: Murray writes sympathetic, flawed, and utterly believable characters. And I mean all of them—not just the main characters, or the male characters, or the preteen characters, or the educated characters—all of them. The motivations are spot on. The actions and reactions are spot on. The dialogue is spot on. The inner monologues are spot on. The humor is sly and wickedly funny, the sad parts are tragic, and the tension in the tense scenes is through the roof.

But oh my god, the ending. ( Read more... )

I am still incredibly glad I read this book. It is 99 percent excellent, one of the consistently best novels I have read. But oh, if only that last 1 percent had been different.


What I Finished Reading Two Weeks Ago

Gardener’s Magic and Other Old Wives’ Lore – Bridget Boland
So this is absolutely a novelty book, essentially the pre-Internet equivalent of a listicle or low-calorie trivia article. But as I have an enduring interest in the subject matter, it’s attractively illustrated and typeset on high-quality paper, and I enjoy the pre-social media version of "lighthearted and breezy voice" that Boland writes in, it worked quite well for me.


What I Finished Reading Three Weeks Ago

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents – Lindsay Gibson
Overall, this was a pretty good book. I very much appreciated that unlike other psychology/self-help authors, Gibson does not belabor her points. She’ll state a fact or observation once, in plain language, and that’s it. There’s almost no bloat here, and it’s refreshing and lovely.

Additionally, I found Gibson’s insights pretty sound, especially in the latter five of the book’s 10 chapters, which deal with how to set boundaries, rethink your relationship with emotionally immature parents, avoid falling into old patterns—both with your internal narratives and with your interactions with parents, and how to ride out extinction events (although Gibson herself does not refer to them as such).

It’s not a perfect book; the first few chapters in particular are a little too “You, wounded reader, are without blemish” to my eye; there’s affirming the reader's experience and there’s writing as though the reader can do no wrong and their parents no right, and that's a little too black-and-white to be realistic to my eye.

In general, the early chapters would have benefited from more intellectual rigor. ( Read more... ) This is frustrating—doubly so, given how insightful the latter half of the book is—but overall, the book's strengths outweigh its weaknesses and I'm glad I read it.


What I Am Currently Reading

Tomb of Dragons – Katherine Addison
On the one hand, I am stoked to read this. On the other hand, once I read this, the trilogy will be over.

Milkman - Anna Burns
I’m just shy of 60 percent of the way through, and it’s been consistently excellent.

The Legend of Robin Goodfellow – Phineas Cricket
I will finish this book tonight.

The Year in Ireland – Kevin Danaher
I read up to the section on Easter.

Scotland’s Forgotten Past – Alastair Moffat
I read the first of this book’s 80 chapters on said forgotten past, which deals with the geological and tectonic developments that created the Scottish landmass.

Winters in the World – Eleanor Parker
I read up to the section on Easter in this volume too.

Sex and Marriage in Ancient Ireland – Patrick Power
I’ll finish this volume today as well.


What I’ve Also Been Reading Over The Past Three Weeks

Irish Tin Whistle Tutorial vol. I – Mary Bergin
I continued revising the first seven or so chapters.

Mars House – Natasha Pulley
I read a few more chapters, but ultimately put this one on hold to concentrate on The Bee Sting and Milkman.

How Computers Work – Ron White
I finished the chapters on databases and disc drives.


What I’m Reading Next

This week I acquired Katherine Addison's Tomb of Dragons, Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, Francine Oomen’s Hoe overleef ik Alles Wat ik Niemand Vertel, Patrick Power’s Sex and Marriage in Ancient Ireland, and Robert Vuijsje’s Alleen Maar Mette Mensen.

Last week I acquired Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, Michael Hultquit's The Spicy Food Lovers' Cookbook, John Mansfield Thomson's The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder, and Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes (no author credited).

Three weeks ago I acquired 이국종's 골든아워1 and 골든아워2 (Lee Gukjeong's Golden Hour vols. 1 & 2).


これで以上です。

Wow, the world these days, huh? At least there are a lot of books out there.


What I Finished Reading This Week

Galatea – Madeline Miller
I don't advocate purchasing this book given its jaw-dropping price : word count ratio, but it is very well written and I love Miller's take on this OG incel fantasy.


What I Am Currently Reading

Irish Tin Whistle Tutorial vol. I – Mary Bergin
I've worked through the first two thirds of this volume and am spending a lot of time on the tonguing, as it's a very different style to my own way of playing.

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents – Lindsay Gibson
With only 30 pages to go, I'll have this one finished by the end of the week.

The Mars House – Natasha Pulley
This novel is very well written, excellent speculative sci-fi fantasy, and very pointedly on the nose in regards to much of what is going on in the world right now. In short, it's exactly the book that I need to be reading at this point in time.


What I’m Reading Next

This week I acquired Dawn Anthony's The Lebanese Cookbook, Betty Edward’s Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Lindsay Gibson’s Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, and Ronald Hutton's The Stations of the Sun.

これで以上です。

What I Finished Reading This Week

I feel like I finished something, but can’t for the life of me remember what it was. That is the sort of week I have been having.


What I Am Currently Reading

Lexicon – Max Barry
I knew absolutely nothing about this book going in, but it came highly recommended by a friend. I’m enjoying it so far. The action and character reactions are very well done. I just hope the author isn’t going to lean as heavily into the “women are natural born liars and deadly manipulators” trope as the text so far suggests he might.

Book of Night – Holly Black
I read this when it first came out and remember very little of it; thus, I’m reading it again.

The Party and the People – Bruce Dickson
I said last week that I’d have this one finished by today and then…managed to read a whopping two pages of it over the following seven days. Oops.

Galatea – Madeline Miller
I read a page or two last night before bed, so it's still very early days for this small book.

Lucy Holland – Song of the Huntress
I did not have high expectations for this novel when I bought it, but I'm please to report I am very much enjoying it.


What I DNF

The Welsh Fasting Girl – Varley O'Connor
This novel had an intriguing premise: an American journalist and probable war widow (her husband went MIA in the US Civil War) travels to rural Wales to investigate reports of a Welsh adolescent who hasn’t eaten in 18 months; the fasting girl of the title was a real person.

But the writing. OMG, the writing. It's far from the most affected prose I've ever read but the affectation is such that I really have to work to absorb what's going on in each sentence, to the point that it's a struggle to get through five pages at a time. I am therefore putting this is one on permanent pause.


What I’m Reading Next

This week I acquired Nancy Gareth’s Tarot Made Easy, Madeline Miller’s Galatea, and V.E. Schwab’s The Near Witch.


これで以上です。

What I Finished Reading This Week

The Myth of the Year – Helen Benigni, Barbara Carter, & Eadhmonn Ua Cuinn
This book was a disappointment. Per its copy, “The Myth of the Year reveals the astronomy underlying Celtic and Greek mythology using the calendar of the Druids discovered in Coligny, France and the Sacred Calendar of Eleusis of Ancient Greece.” People, ( it does no such thing. )

TL;DR - My dissatisfaction with this book can be explained as follows: 50 percent because it was presented as a work of scholarship, not mysticism, and it is very much the latter; 30 percent because the writing is so technically poor; and 20 percent because it nevertheless contains some intriguing ideas but extracting them from the morass is more effort than it's worth. Anyone with a even a glancing interest in the topic would be far better informed by the Wikipedia article a couple of times rather than devoting any amount of time to this book.

Coyote Run — Lilith Saintcrow
Lilith Saintcrow is a delight no matter what genre she's writing, and this book proves that pulp is no exception. Coyote Run is a short but exceedingly enjoyable yarn set during a near(?) future conflict between fascists and federals on the border of the American southwest. The main character is gritty and hardboiled (to put things lightly) and the supporting cast are a good deal of fun and punch above their weight as characters given the amount of page real estate they occupy. The setting is intriguing, the action action packed, and the pulp cranked up to eleven. This book was exactly what I wanted it to be: an immensely fun read.


What I Am Currently Reading

The Year in Ireland – Kevin Danaher
I read the chapters on Imbolc and Candlemas.

The Party and the People — Bruce Dickson
I’m three chapters in and very much enjoying this one.

Kindling the Celtic Spirit – Mara Freeman
I read the chapter for February.

The Silver Bough vol. 2 – F.M. McNeill
I read the chapters on Imbolc and Candlemas.

Fehu — Malene Sølvsten
Thanks to long hours at work and *flaps hands vaguely at the world*, I'm about 200 pages behind where I want to be, but I hope to correct that this weekend.


What I’m Reading Next

I acquired no new books this week.

これで以上です。

Temperatures haven't really broken the low 30s F this week (it was 9F when I went to work this morning), which means that I've spent much of the last 7 days bundled up under my blankets with hot drinks and a bunch of books.

What I Finished Reading This Week

The Hacker and the State – Ben Buchanan
This book is an examination of state-sponsored hacking, what states want it to accomplish, what people worry it will accomplish, and what it is and isn’t actually suited to accomplishing. It’s well-written and informative and I’m glad I picked it up.

A Sorceress Comes To Call - T. Kingfisher
I’ve read three or four of Kingfisher’s other books and while I’ve liked aspects of all of them to varying degrees, this is the first by her that I’ve enjoyed in its entirety. Its setting, pacing, and protagonists feel like vintage Robin McKinley, which I love. Other things I loved: the villain is super creepy, and I liked how Kingfisher gave hints as to how she became so evil without either excusing it or beating readers over the head with it. I liked that the protagonist had agency, but in a way that made sense given her background and the situations in which she found herself, and that she didn't get a massive Badass Level Up but worked with what she had to achieve her aims. Kingfisher's handling of the psychology and behavior of abuse victims was deftly done. That the secondary protagonist is a late-middle aged woman, and Kingfisher's depictions of her extreme competency and how many around her fail to perceive it, is delightful.

It's not a perfect book. There's a marked change in pacing between the first 4/5^th of the novel and its rushed conclusion. The weird is-this-or-isn't-it-Christianity ("Bible" and "Archbishop" are capitalized; "god" is not) was distracting. The secondary protagonist's "Woe is me I can never marry the man I love who openly and steadfastly adores me because I'll grow unattractive as I age" was not believably portrayed. It seems little more than an expedient plot explanation for why she was still living with her brother at the start of the novel, which is disappointing because it would have made for some excellent character complexity if Kingfisher had actually bothered to develop it.

That said, I liked this book despite these quibbles and will most likely read it again.

Ansuz – Malene Sølvsten
I ENJOYED THIS BOOK IMMENSELY. It’s your typical YA fantasy set-up: lonely, misfit, parentless protagonist at a new school learns that Her Past Harbors A Dark Secret^TM and that The Fate Of The World Rests On Her Shoulders^TM. Along the way, she grudgingly learns the value of companionship and trust, acquiring friends, allies, and even a potential love interest (Not All Of Whom Are What They First Appear To Be^TM), and has to fight for her life against increasingly dire odds.

None of this is a spoiler: if you’ve read similar genre offerings in the past you’ll immediately—and correctly—spot that this is where the story is headed. What sets Ansuz apart is how well it’s all done. The protagonist is extremely likable in her misanthropic glory. The secondary and tertiary characters are engaging. The characterizations are consistent and not everyone falls in line with the protagonist's desires just because she wants them to; nor do their actions take the path of least plot resistance. Everyone has their own agenda, and what they decide to disclose to each other (or not) and why they decide to cooperate with each other (or not) drives the narrative. I particularly appreciated the protagonist’s refreshing skepticism and obstinacy in the face of everything that's happening to her (although the fact that not one—not one!—of these teenagers thinks to fire up Wikipedia when things get weird—not even once!—does beggar belief).

The worldbuilding is good. The pacing is good. The cliffhangers are exciting as are the plot twists, very few of which are evident until they slam into the characters (and readers) at 80 mph. This book has a lot of genre beats but I am more than happy to go along for the ride because it's just so well done. It was a struggle not to gulp this one down and I’ll be starting the sequel immediately.

I Am Morgan Le Fay – Nancy Springer
I enjoyed this one even more than I Am Mordred. Springer’s writing is even better, and the narrative is less episodic. Her descriptive language is evocative and dreamlike: her settings feel like something out of the Mabinogion or Chretien. Springer’s blending of pagan elements into the Mallory- and Pyle-framework fits the story well and is her own creation, rather than being lifted directly from Bradley and Paxson. Her preferred themes—alienation, ambivalent sibling relationships, longing for a parent’s love—hit even harder here than in the previous volume.

That said, this is essentially longform fanfiction, a “just so” story about what happened to Morgan Le Fay in childhood to turn her into the adult she becomes. The novel takes us up to that point and no further—we don’t even get to see her I Am Mordred cameos from her own perspective. This, combined with the stronger narrative through-line in this novel leaves the impression that the story has broken off abruptly rather than properly concluding. End verdict: I enjoyed this volume even more than its predecessor and I’m glad I’ve read both, but I don’t know that I’ll return to them any time soon.


What I Am Currently Reading

The Party and the People — Bruce Dickson
Very early days for this one.

Lake of Souls — Ann Leckie
So far I've read the short stories "Lake of Souls" and "Footprints".

Chinese Communist Espionage — Peter Mattis & Matthew Brazil
I picked this one up after a long reading hiatus.

Coyote Run — Lilith Saintcrow
This book is grand good fun.

Fehu — Malene Sølvsten
Being, of course, the sequel to Ansuz, because I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.


What I’m Reading Next

This week I acquired Eva Dou's House of Huawei and Dali Yang's Wuhan.


これで以上です。

*Sigh* It's the first day of the third week of January, and like clockwork I am getting stuck late at work, which extends my commute, which pushes back everything else I had intended to do once I got home (groceries, cooking dinner, cleaning, random adulting, Snowflake, reading, exercise, GYWO, and on and on).

I'll get to all of this in the next few days (nevertheless, she will persist!). Ahead of that, here's what I read over the last week, to whit:

What I Finished Reading This Week

The Naming of the Birds – Pariac O’Donnell
What a fabulous book. O'Donnell has penned an excellent mystery with gripping action and atmospheric scene setting, as well as the return of some much beloved characters. I won't spoil anything else here, but I'm pleased to say that The Naming of the Birds is as good as the preceding volume without merely retreading the preceding volume. This one is a definite recommend.

The Forgotten Kingdom – Signe Pike
Sigh. I wanted to like this so much more than I did. ( The good and the bad. )

There are part of this series I really like (the attention to place, descriptive scene-setting, and atmosphere; Pike's love of the source material, enthusiasm for the era, and desire to center powerful female characters in the narrative) but the characters' anachronistically modern attitudes don't work for me at all. I don't plan to read the third book.


What I Am Currently Reading

The Hacker and the State – Ben Buchanan
I'm only supposed to be reading a chapter a day from this book, but it's so cleanly and engagingly written I'm reading far more.

Kindling the Celtic Spirit – Mara Freeman
I finished the chapter on January this week.

A Sorceress Comes To Call - T. Kingfisher
So far, I’m really enjoying this book.

The Silver Bough vol. 2 – F. Marian McNeill
I finished this book’s chapter on January this week too.

The Old Guard vol. 2 – Greg Rucka, Leandro Fernandez, et al.
So far, I’m enjoying this volume as much as its predecessor.

Ansuz – Malene Sølvsten
The rule is that I can read two chapters from this book a day. I want to read so much more than that. It’s good.

I Am Morgan Le Fay – Nancy Springer
I’ll probably have finished this one by next week; so far it’s very good.


What I’m Reading Next

This week I acquired but quickly jettisoned Bill Browder’s Red Notice (having recently finished Red Roulette, I've had enough of male Lords of Capital explaining how even their turds are filled with good intentions while the other guys are all operators in it for the ego, power, and greed.)

I acquired and kept Bruce Dickson’s The Party and the People, Natasha Pulley’s The Mars House, and Lilith Saintcrow’s Coyote Run ("It's a good day to fight fascism," said the mailer it arrived in, "Let's read a book." And yes, this is much more my speed.)

これで以上です。

A day off means I can actually get back on track with posting these things regularly. Here's what I got up to, reading-wise, over the last seven days.

What I Finished Reading This Week

The Art of Celtia – Courtney Davis
Davis’s art is stunning as always, but the text—and its particular brand of pre-millenium New Age optimism—has...not aged well, to say the least. To whit: it posits that late-90s Western civilization was on the cusp of a spiritual and cultural reawakening that would usher in an end to violent conflict, consumerism, and wanton environmental degradation alongside the dawn of the 21^st century, and (*takes a look at our current Darkest Timeline*) bruh, that is not how things turned out.

Through the Mickle Woods – Valiska Gregory & Barry Moser
What is there to say? This book turns on the waterworks every time I read it. It’s absolutely beautiful.

Beowulf – Maria Dahvana Headley
“Bro” begins Headley’s translation and then continues taking names from there. It is (and I suspect will forever by) the translation of Beowulf as far as I’m concerned.

Glorious Exploits – Ferdia Lennon
This book deserves every accolade it’s received. Ostensibly, it’s about two unemployed potters coercing Athenian captives of the Second Battle of Syracuse into performing Euripides in exchange for food. But it’s really about the best and worst ways people treat each other, when, and why, and Lennon nails the landing every. Time. Read this book.

I Am Mordred – Nancy Springer
I’m currently on a bit of an Arthuriana kick, and although I didn’t read it at the time, this title was all over bookstores in the early aughts. It was better than I expected—Springer can turn out a good sentence and pen a dreamscape-esque encounter to rival those from any of the original romances. And she explores an interesting tension between Mordred's alienation and anger and desire for parental affection and belonging. That said, the narrative heavily assumes that readers are already familiar with the corpus of Arthurian legend: when characters like Pellinore or Lamorak make cameo walk-ons with major plot implications, the book just expects readers to know their backstories or motivations. Springer never explores them, and readers who don't already know what's going on will probably be left confused af about what just happened and why. TL;DR: worth reading if you're familiar with Arthurian myth but if you aren't, caveat emptor.

Silver Diamond 6 – 杉浦 志保 (Silver Diamond vol. 6 – Sugiura Shiho)
This is the volume in which some excellent worldbuilding takes place, Rakan decides to punch back at the Impostor Prince, and Narushige’s younger sister gets some quality page real estate, and I am here for it.


What I Am Currently Reading

The Myth of the Year – Helen Benigni, Barbara Carter, & Eadhmonn Ua Cuinn
Dealing with archeoastronomy and the Coligny Calendar.

The Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
Part of the abovementioned Arthuriana kick. That said, I’ll probably be taking this one in short and infrequent doses.

The Hacker and the State – Ben Buchanan
I taking this one a chapter or so a day.

Shamrock Tea – Ciaran Carson
I’m taking this one a chapter or so a day as well.

The Silver Bough vol. 3 – F. Marian McNeill
This week, I read the chapters on Yule, Hogmanay, and Up Hally Ae.

The Forgotten Kingdom – Signe Pike
Ugh. This is not really an improvement over the first volume. Nevertheless, I persist.

Ansuz – Malene Sølvsten
Both the story and translation are, so far, promising.

終点unknown 外伝– 杉浦 志保 (Shuten Unknown Gaiden – Sugiura Shiho)
Aaaaah. This series is so good, and when I finish this volume it will be over.


What I’m Reading Next

This week I acquired A Nobleman's Guide To Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles, The Key to Solomon’s Key by Lon Milo DuQuette, Irish Folk Ways by E. Estyn Evans, Tarot: Beyond the Basics by Anthony Louis, Scotland’s Forgotten Past by Alistair Moffat, O’Neill’s Music of Ireland by Francis O’Neill, How To Build Stonehenge by Mike Pitts, I Am Morgan Le Fay by Nancy Springer, and House of Names by Colm Tóibín.

これで以上です。

I haven't done one of these in...(checks)...yeah. OTOH, almost 400 hours of BG3 means I haven't been reading as much as I usually would, so there's at least there's that? At any rate, here's what I've been reading this week.

What I Finished Reading This Week

終点unknown 1 — 杉浦 志保 (Shuten Unknown vol. 1 — Sugiura Shiho)
This series opens with two sets of gangs searching the wilderness for an ancient relic. We meet our two protagonists (or are they antagonists?): the first, a slave (as are all the members of his gang) with a devil-may-care attitude, and the second, a taciturn orphan adopted by the crime boss heading his gang. When disaster strikes, they're the only survivors of their respective groups, and have to compete to find the relic for their own reasons (the first to earn his freedom, the second to repay the boss for saving him).

And then, Sugiura's wicked imagination really kicks in.

終点unknown 2 — 杉浦 志保 (Shuten Unknown vol. 2 — Sugiura Shiho)
The getting-to-know-you volume, in which our two protagonists (definitely antagonists to each other) go on a road trip to learn about the relic, which has bound itself to their arms, will kill them if they try to forcibly remove it but also prevents them from both injury (including at each other's hands) and from moving within a few meters of one another, and sheds an (invisible to anyone but them) beam of light that locates whatever anyone—except them—is searching for.

There's cross-dressing. There's forced proximity. There's accidentally falling asleep on the other's lap. There's bystanders mistaking the leads for lovers or husbands. There's Sugiura's wicked imagination in spades. It's all wholly up my alley.

終点unknown 3 — 杉浦 志保 (Shuten Unknown vol. 3 — Sugiura Shiho)
This volume is a banger. It opens with lighthearted roadtrip hijinx, transitions seamlessly into a murderous cult, and then ends with massive revelations about the two protagonists that cements their antagonism to each other in the most gutwrenching way possible. No one puts their characters through an emotional wringer like Sugiura and hot damn she is good at it. I love this series so, so much.


What I Am Currently Reading

Celtic Tree Rituals — Sharlyn Hildalgo
This book is not very good.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre — Gail Levine
This is the YA/fantasy writing that I desire. I'm slowrolling it to make the experience last longer.

Atomic Accidents — James Mahaffey
Forty-odd pages in, I am very much enjoying this read, which is engaging and explains the science in an easily accessible way without dumbing it down.

The Chinese Computer — Thomas Mullaney
I very much enjoyed the opening chapter, but I will probably set this aside in favor of Atomic Accidents as my nonfiction read for the time being.

Stars of Chaos vol. 1 — Priest
Primarily prep reading of the appendices and figuring out the tones for the character and place names. (Dear god, why don't they give the tones for the character and place names?)

公爵様の羊飼い1 — 秋月こお (Koshaku-Sama no Hitsuji-kai vol. 1 — Akizuki Koh)
Akizuki Koh is probably my favorite BL novelist, and, I feel, the prose equivalent of Sugiura Shiho in her characterization, imagination, and love for her characters.

終点unknown 4 — 杉浦 志保 (Shuten Unknown vol. 4 — Sugiura Shiho)
The fallout continues. This volume contains one of my absolute favorite panels from any manga, ever, and I am excited to get to it shortly.


What I’m Reading Next

I acquired no new books this week.

これで以上です。

...and now coming to you on February 15, because it's just been one of those weeks.


What I Finished Reading This Week

Etiquette Guide to China — Boye Lafayette De Mente & Patrick Wallace
Generally, pretty good, although why Tuttle decided to put tone markings on precisely four pinyin words on one page and absolutely none of the others is an eternal mystery. The cultural information in the first 2/3 of the book is great. The "How to do business in China" chapters that make up the remainder are decidedly less so due to their contradictory and impracticable advice.

Ancillary Mercy — Ann Leckie ( Cut for a large amount of squee and semi-coherent flailing. )

TL;DR—This is one of my favorite series. It just does so many things that I love, so well.


What I'm Currently Reading

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherworlds — Heather Fawcette
Still very cute.

Ancillary Justice — Ann Leckie
Yup, finished the series and went right back into this one. Sometimes it's like that.

Provenance — Ann Leckie
Since I'm (re)rereading the base series, I figured I might as well go into the other in-universe novels.

The Last Good Man — Linda Nagata
I've stalled out on this one in favor of rereading Leckie.

All Boys Aren't Blue — George M. Johnson
I've been interested in reading this one ever since I read a NYT review of it shortly after it came out. So far, it's been worth the wait.

Elder Race — Adrian Tchaikovsky
I WILL finish this one this week, dammit.


What I'm Reading Next

This week I jettisoned a few books without acquiring any new ones, so that's a net win.


これで以上です。

I've been on the computer all day and my eyes are getting super fatigued, so let's make this short and sweet.

What I Finished Reading This Week

Ancillary Justice — Ann Leckie
I've read Ancillary Justice enough that my stomach no longer does big swoops while reading, but it's still. So. Damn. Good. Leckie's worldbuilding, character portrayals and arcs, sly humor, and examination of Big Issues without being tiring or pedantic are just amazing. But I think most of you guys already know that.

Anyway, this book is one of my forever favorites.

Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics — Lucy K. Tsado & Robert Osgood
I borrowed this from the library and would have been RIPSHIT had I paid any amount of money to read it. It is, hands down, the most poorly written book I've read in recent memory: rambling, stream-of-consciousness sentences that bear little to no relationship to the sentences that precede and follow them, let alone the section or chapter headings. Nor do most of these sentences say anything at all. Here is half of the book's "Roadmap to cybersecurity/digital forensics education/career":

• Criminal Justice Student-Non Traditional→Certifications→Get a job in area of certification
• Criminal Justice Student-Non Traditional→Short training→Get a job in area of training
• Criminal Justice Student-Non Traditional→Self-paced learning→Get a job in area of specialty

That's it. That's the "roadmap." That's the wisdom Tsado and Osgood are asking readers to pay 35 American dollars to access. (And in case you were wondering, the "roadmap" for "Criminal Justice Student-Traditional Education" follows the exact same template.)

TL;DR—Readers will learn nothing from this book aside from how truly bad writing can be. Avoid this hot mess like the plague.


What I'm Currently Reading

Hamnet — Maggie O'Farrell
I started reading this one during my lunch break and have only made it a few pages in, so the tragedy has yet to happen. So far, O'Farrell's language is beautiful.

The Women Could Fly — Megan Giddings
I have about 70 pages to go and such mixed thoughts about this one. Stay tuned for them next week.

Ancillary Sword — Ann Leckie
As with each previous read of this series I blazed through Ancillary Justice and began slowrolling my pace during Ancillary Mercy because this series is so good and I do not want it to end.


What I'm Reading Next

I did not acquire any new books this week.

これで以上です。