A quick look at what I read, what I reviewed, and the state of my challenges and resolutions.
2024 Releases I Was Excited About But Still Haven’t Read
Top Ten Tuesday: Ten 2024 books I was really excited to read, but either I never got hold of a copy, or I never got around to reading them.
Sunday Post – 2/02/2024
It’s been an exhausting and disheartening week on the news front, but we have made some progress on the redecorating.
Also, a look back at this week’s reading, reviews, and blog posts, plus the weekly book haul!
News & Notes – 2/01/2025
DOE denies book bans exist; Neil Gaiman scandal; publisher supports anti-child-marriage campaign; S&S no longer requires blurbs; and links to other book-related posts.
Buried Deep and Other Stories, by Naomi Novik
Naomi Novik’s Buried Deep and Other Stories is a stellar collection of short fiction that displays all of her skill as a writer as well as the breadth of her imagination. I read it slowly, savoring each story.
Ten New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024
To tell the truth, I wasn’t very adventurous with my reading in 2024. I only read 14 new-to-me authors all year. Still, all of them were fun and/or interesting, and I will be following up on several of them to see what else they write.
It’s All A Game, by Tristan Donovan
It’s All a Game starts off with the ancient games of senet, the “royal game of Ur”, and the many forms of mancala, then delves into a truncated history of chess before moving on to the board games many of us grew up playing.
Sunday Post – 1/26/2024
The news this week has been terrible, so I focused on making home a comforting place to be.
Also, a look back at this week’s reading, reviews, and posts, plus the weekly book haul!
News & Notes – 1/25/2025
LA fires, book bans, library news, romancelandia becomes political (it has been for a while!), escapism in books, TBRCon, Microsoft 365’s AI “CoPilot”, and bookish more news and links.
From the Vault: The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Calculating Stars was easily one of the best books I read in 2018. (Note: I reread it in January 2025, and although I have tweaked a word or two of this review for greater clarity, I wouldn’t change a single sentence.) The story is gripping; the characters are depicted so vividly they could be standing in front of you; and the details, from the physics of an asteroid impact and the experience of piloting an aircraft to the chauvinism of many men involved in the space program, appear to be spot on.
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