When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Probably much cooler to people who haven't read many time-travel stories, I like it as a story about a girl's sixth-grade year, more than for the mystery.
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Thursday, November 23, 2023
Review: When You Reach Me
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Monday, November 13, 2023
Review: The Importance of Being Ernestine
The Importance of Being Ernestine by Dorothy Cannell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Cannell hits the same sweet spot Wodehouse did, only with more female characters.
Personal copy
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Sunday, November 12, 2023
Friday, November 10, 2023
Review: Chicken Little
Chicken Little by Cory Doctorow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Oh, my , YES. Doctorow extrapolates from present trends to give the reader a future where tremendous wealth and limitless power reside in the hands of a select group of individuals, who are, essentially, eternal. Our hero, Leon, works for a company who's only goal is to come up with something to sell to one of those wealthy people in a vat.
It's a plausible future, not quite dystopian, richly detailed. Doctorow tells his story with warmth, and humor that reminds me of Vonnegut. Without going into laborious detail, we get a good look at how things work, politically, as well as how it feels, the food, the housing, the jetpacks. (Yay, jetpacks!) I may like this even more than For The Win, and I loved that. I'm only sorry I didn't get around to it sooner.
Review copy from 40K
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Thursday, November 09, 2023
Wednesday, November 08, 2023
Review: Knockout
Knockout by Sarah MacLean
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I respect MacLean and would happily have bought this, but honestly money is tight this year, because rich people need tax breaks in order to fund horrible people who hate books, education, and reproductive rights. Not that I am bitter.
But honestly, I deeply dislike this cover. First orange pigments aren't my faves outside of actual pumpkins and fall leaves. And although I love the cover model photos (Yay, women with heads on their shoulders!) the paler background becomes red violet on the back cover. While this is a pretty color, it clashes like anything against that dress. The TMJ is bad enough without gritting my teeth for the duration.
And yes, I have sensitivities to colors and clashing ones are nails on chalkboards to me. My respect goes out to cover artists forced to work with stock images (hell, marketing may have insisted onth chaise) too often though, they just have too many elements in uneasy juxtaposition. They make me imagine endless emails yammering away, and a slide deck from purgatory.
To me, this is a literal hot mess. The book, I expect, will be awesome.
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