by Doctor Science
-- a day late.
Many of my friends on livejournal/dreamwidth are in the habit of posting "what I've been reading" book lists on Wednesdays. Meanwhile, one of the nicer online things that has happened to me in the past year or so has been becoming part of the community at File770, where books are constantly being discussed.
So I've decided to try collecting my File770 book reports over the course of the week, and then posting them here (only lightly edited, but with links & cover images) on Wednesday. But then of course yesterday a work panic-panic project come up, so the first installment was delayed. But only a day!
My policy is to write reviews/summaries without spoilers. Where I make spoilery comments, I'll put them through a simple "rotate-13" substitution cipher, which you can decode either at a website or using a rot13 script with your browser (I use this one).
This week: Matt Ruff, Hugh Howey, Mishell Baker.
I think I've already filled out one slot for next year's Hugo ballot: Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff. It's a novel about black science fiction fans in the 1950s who encounter eldritch, Lovecraftian horrors -- embedded in the non-eldritch horrors of the Jim Crow era.
There's an entire library's worth of stories where there's a world of magic hidden just below the surface in ours, unnoticed by mundanes. "Lovecraft Country" makes explicit how the Black American experience has been like that, hidden in plain sight from white Americans.
I found the book particularly striking because I can recognize many of Ruff's sources: not just Sundown Towns by James Loewen and The Negro Motorist Green Book, which are in his Acknowledgements, but also The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson and Family Properties by Beryl Satter.
My only quibble: jura n jbzna jnxrf hc ba "oybbq-fyvpxrq furrgf", ure svefg gubhtug vf *abg* gb cnavp va srne bs ivbyrapr, vg'f "Tbqqnzzvg, rneyl *ntnva*!" naq gb fgevc gur orq sbe gur gbb-snzvyvne pbyq-jngre fbnx.
Aside from that, the book is freakin' brilliant.
Also, the characters are great.
I bought Hugh Howey's Beacon 23 because the library didn't have a copy, and I read the first chapter and it looked interesting.
Mr Dr Science got to it first, and said it completely broke his suspension of disbelief because the beacons ner arrqrq gb cebgrpg fuvcf tbvat 20p sebz ehaavat vagb nfgrebvqf. Vs zrer znggre vf n ceboyrz, tnf naq qhfg jvyy or ovt qnatref; vs tenivgl vf gur ceboyrz, lbh qba'g jbeel nobhg guvatf zhpu fznyyre guna Whcvgre.
He didn't think the story was worth overcoming the world-building, so now the library has our copy.
We both read Mishell Baker's Borderline, and thought it was really good. Generally speaking, I (and Mr Dr Science even more so) find characters who do bad things and "act crazy" tiresome. We really liked Borderline's characters, though, because they're all literally, medically psychotic. It turns out that when "psychotic" is a sloppy metaphor, it's annoying; when it's an exploration of mental illness, it works for us.
I'm not really sure "Borderline" sticks the landing, but that may be because it's first of a series so it has to set things up.
"Borderline" is set in Hollywood (Baker lives in L.A.), and I couldn't help noticing how much of the behavior of the literally psychotic characters overlaps with that of many people in The Industry. Things like dualistic thinking, emotional over-reaction, extreme self-centeredness, etc. Does Hollywood attract more than its fair share of people with mental illness? Or are psychotic-seeming behaviors cultivated in H'wood by neurotypical people? Probably both.
I started keeping better track of what I read so I'd stop checking out library books that sounded good... but I'd already read them. I throw them up on my blog, because they're too quickly lost of facebook and the like. (Though linking or C&P to facebook gets a lot more discussion.)
Most of what I read is SF&F, but a few more serious books slipped in this year. My book notes here.
Posted by: Mooseking | May 06, 2016 at 12:35 PM
Skimming quickly, I recently enjoyed A Darkling Sea by James L. Cambias and Windswept by Adam Rakunas on the science fiction side, and Hunter by Mercedes Lackey as a post-disaster fantasy.
If you haven't tried them, give 'em a glance.
Posted by: Mooseking | May 06, 2016 at 12:41 PM
I liked "A Darkling Sea" very much indeed, and also his second book (very different, not a series) "Corsair.
I'll definitely look for "Windswept", and send my local Lackey fan after "Hunter".
Posted by: Doctor Science | May 06, 2016 at 03:45 PM
There is too much group think at File 770 for my tastes, but the host is quite a gentleman, and the book recs there are great.
I spent the time since the flare up last year on a grand final Wheel of Time reread. I am almost sorry it is over. I have a TBR pile to get through now; I will likely start by rereading the first two Ancillary novels, then finish off that trilogy.
Posted by: Yama | May 06, 2016 at 04:25 PM
"I've decided to try collecting my File770 book reports over the course of the week, and then posting them here.."
Does that mean a weekly book post ?
If so, cool.
Just reread (for the first time in over forty years) T H White's Mistress Masham's Repose. I remembered loving it as a kid, and the post WW2 tale of an orphan girl discovering a colony of Lilliputians in the grounds of her decaying stately home remains a delight. One of Terry Pratchett's favourites, apparently.
Just started Timothy Snyder's Black Earth. Disturbing and brilliant.
Posted by: Nigel | May 06, 2016 at 06:52 PM
My wife's book, Enemy, is the Kindle First SF/F selection for the month. I need to reread it again. Haven't done so since the second revision.
Meanwhile, I'm seeing that Guy Gavriel Kay has a new novel out soon. Gotta add that to my list along with Kameron Hurley's Geek Feminist Revolutuion.
Posted by: Nous | May 06, 2016 at 07:47 PM
Nous:
Congratulations to your spouse!
Clicking on "People also bought" links, I ended up on S.K. Dunstall's "Origin Series", including "The Atlantis Gene". Have any of you read it? Is it Stargate Atlantis fanfic with the serial numbers filed off, or is that just the way it sounds from the blurb?
Posted by: Doctor Science | May 06, 2016 at 09:57 PM
Mistress Masham's Repose! I too read it about 40 years ago, and remember it very fondly indeed. You can't call it world-building of course, but I remember the very particular atmosphere really well. Thank you Nigel for reminding me of it.
Posted by: Girl from the North Country | May 07, 2016 at 06:46 AM
Ms. Nous says thanks, Doc. Been interesting watching the whole publication and reception process from this side of things, especially the back-and-forth between those who love the novel and those who are put off by some aspect of the writing.
We'd wondered what it would be like when the reader reviews started going up, but she's now realized that it's largely the same as getting student evaluations, and she's had a decade of the latter to prepare her for this.
We just picked up Bacigalupi's The Water Knife on a friends recommendation. That's in the queue now as well.
Posted by: Nous | May 07, 2016 at 12:33 PM
GftNC, you're welcome.
Revisiting childhood experiences is often disappointing, but this was definitely an exception.
Anyhow, have added a couple of books to the reading list.
Posted by: Nigel | May 07, 2016 at 01:20 PM
One good outcome from the SF Hugos "puppies" outbreak last year was to bring Scalzi to my attenion.
In particular, "Redshirts", if you're at all aware of Trek.
Posted by: Snarki, child of Loki | May 07, 2016 at 02:09 PM
I liked "BOrderline", too. I have only a layperson's understanding of terms like " borderline personality", so could not judge the accuracy.
Posted by: wonkie | May 07, 2016 at 09:16 PM
With regards to this year's Hugo awards, anybody who was annoyed with Vox Day's antics will LOVE the outcome of his attempts to get a piece of Chuck Tingle erotica on the ballot this year:
http://www.dailydot.com/lol/chuck-tingle-trolling-hugo-zoe-quinn-genius/
Posted by: Areala | May 07, 2016 at 10:57 PM