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Smorgasbook: November 2014
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Friday, 28 November 2014. Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh. So keep that in mind if you're thinking about that one. If you like science fiction that focuses heavily on the procedural, before the plot or the characters kick into high gear, you'll like this fine. If you don't, well, I promise it picks up eventually, but I don't know what your personal tolerance level is. Oh, I guess that a brief synopsis might help. We are in a galaxy where most of humanity that has left Earth lives on space stations, onl...
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Smorgasbook: Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
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Friday, 14 August 2015. Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. There is just something bold and difficult and straightforward about Winterson's writing that hits me really hard. I'm contemplating recommending this book for our next round at the book club, because I so desperately want to discuss it with people. That first sentence, if you are interested, was: "I used to think of marriage as a plate-glass window just begging for a brick."). The narrator is genderless, but I will fully admit I always p...
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Smorgasbook: People of the Book edited by Rachel Swirsky
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Monday, 10 August 2015. People of the Book edited by Rachel Swirsky. Another collection of short stories I picked up on sale at the local comic book store during that one sale every year where such things appear. I thought Jewish science fiction sounded really interesting, and the authors on the cover sold me. Much of it is modern, relying on aspects of Jewish folklore coming into the contemporary world. There are a bunch of golems, at least two dybbuks, and one kibbutz. (Although that one is act...There...
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Smorgasbook: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
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Monday, 3 August 2015. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. People recommend books to me a lot. It's hard to know when or how to fit them all in! This book was recommended to me by Chris. It has driven the recommender a little crazy, I think, that it has taken me so long to get to this one. It's just a picture book! I could read it in about 10 minutes! He's not wrong, but I'm stubborn. I waited until it came up on my list, and then I read it. Which is now. Over a year after he recommended it. It's not a subtle messag...
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Smorgasbook: December 2014
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Monday, 29 December 2014. The Ice Owl" by Carolyn Gilman. Hugo and Nebula nominated? Because this isn't a bad story, but it's got a very weak ending, and it's certainly not a great one. Great short science fiction stories can hit you like a punch in the gut, but this one changes themes at the end, and all these plot threads are left dangling. I'm not one to argue for everything needing to be neat and tidy, but some kind of pay-off, please. Hunting a viable life's pursuit? The Ice Owl of the title is sort...
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Smorgasbook: May 2015
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Saturday, 30 May 2015. Barrow's Boys by Fergus Fleming. I have been putting off reviewing this book for so long! There's nothing wrong with it. (that would have made it easy to review.) I just kept passing it by and passing it by, and now we're at the point where I usually write blog posts a week before I post them, and we're now several days past when I was planning on publishing this. Maybe I should talk about the book. That would be a good start, right? What's most striking is how much class status wa...
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Smorgasbook: Index
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Midnight Riot/Rivers of London. Before They Are Hanged. Adeline, L. Marie. Half of a Yellow Sun. Doctor Diablo Goes Through The Motions". Throne of the Crescent Moon. Allen, Sarah Addison. Anderson, Kevin J. Ansa, Tina McElroy. Baby of the Family. VN: The First Machine Dynasty. The Caves of Steel. Behind the Scenes at the Museum. When Will There Be Good News? Auel, Jean M. Clan of the Cave Bear. Ballard, J.G. Empire of the Sun. De Balzac, Honore. Banks, Iain (M.). The Player of Games. The Sea Thy Mistress.
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Smorgasbook: April 2015
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Thursday, 30 April 2015. The Untouchable" by Stephen A. Kallis. Did you realize that the Gutenberg Project has old science fiction? I don't know why this surprised me, but it did.) So, hey, why not read some of them and review them? Not to poke fun at the old science fiction, although there might be a little of that. No, I'm more interested in looking at what this old science fiction tells us about the worlds that were being imagined at the time. What did they think about science? It's a miraculous devic...
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Smorgasbook: February 2015
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Friday, 27 February 2015. Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey. I'd like to take a brief digression to look at the blurb for Leviathan Wakes. On the cover above and say what the hell? Okay, Wall Street Journal. If you want your future to be crazed corporations committing genocide, then.well, I guess maybe you do? It kind of creeps me out, is all I'm saying. I could probably investigate, but it's more something that I have as a question than something that really needs to get answered. A lot of this book is ...
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Smorgasbook: July 2015
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Friday, 31 July 2015. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. I started this book with low expectations. I've been down on the idea of bestsellers these days, and the first chapter was incredibly irritating. The lead character seemed so much an over-the-top rendition of the awkward, probably-on-the-autism-spectrum guy who doesn't do emotions and does do schedules that I wasn't sure I could even finish reading the book, let alone like it. In the course, predictably, he learns a little about having his schedu...
