I was going to read The Stand but I didn’t want to read the 1,200 page extended and uncut edition (because honestly, I did that another book and it was totally not worth it.) But luckily I had been loaned The Martian and so picked that up while I pondered how to get the slimmer … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Book review
Book review: The Handmaid’s Tale
Right, so I’m going to admit from the beginning that I have a long standing resentment of all things Margaret Atwood, cultivated by grade 11 English class. We had to read The Edible Woman of which my abiding memory is of a woman who is miserable for a long time and then eats a cake. … Continue reading
Book review: Consider Phlebas
The tagline on the front of this book says: “Poetic, baffling, terrifyng, sexy…” and I’m wondering if whoever wrote those words had read a different book. Well, baffling is possibly accurate. I want to explain the plot, which sounds straightforward, but really is just the gossamer web of an idea that tricks you into thinking … Continue reading
Book review: Do it Like a Woman
Like all good books, Caroline Criado-Perez’s book left me both utterly aghast at injustice but equally uplifted by those brave women who look at injustice in the face and tell it to go fuck itself. In equal measure, I was either frowning and perplexed at the incredibly awful things that have happened to women (or … Continue reading
Book review: The Left Hand of Darkness
I don’t know how to really describe this book other than really weird. The general plot is that a representative of a federation of worlds, lands on a planet to convince it to join their federation. That all sounds fine and normal for sci-fi, but the planet (called Winter by the alien envoy) has a … Continue reading
Book review: The Mists of Avalon
I think this was the longest book on the list, almost topping 1,200 pages. And holy shit, it was totally not worth the effort. Not since reading War and Peace have I ever encountered a book so full of absolutely fucking miserable characters. And then the plot just follows along to making everyone even more … Continue reading
Book review: Stranger in a Strange Land
I didn’t grok this book at all. That folks, is a hilarious joke about the most annoying literary device I’ve come across in all the books from the list. Grok, you see, is a Martian word for…something. Like knowing or understanding or something so deep we can’t possibly translate it with our pathetic language. AND … Continue reading
Book review: Shadow of the Torturer
I do not have a fucking clue about what that book was about. Everytime I started reading it I suddenly started to feel very, very sleepy. Maybe this was part of the problem. Plot is vaguely: Severian is an apprentice torturer. He befriends one of the people his guild has to torture, helps her kill … Continue reading
Book review: Outlander
I think you’ve got a problem with storytelling when most of your dramatic tension revolves around attempted rape or rape. But in the case of Outlander – the guys probably get it worse. I think most of the rape against women turn out to be attempted whereas the guys who get raped are…well…concluded. So plot: … Continue reading
Book review: Lucifer’s Hammer
Where do you start. Maybe I’ll start with the tiny bit I did enjoy and then rant on from there. The last 100 pages were okay – it had some dramatic tension and all that jazz. They had a big battle and that was kind of fun. However. This does not make up for the … Continue reading
Blogendorff 