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Books
13. I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett. 4.5. A lovely wrapping up of the Tiffany Aching tetralogy. (Includes a cameo from the heroine of Equal Rites, which is a nice throwback for longtime Pratchett fans.) One note - the series started out kind of middle-grade-ish, and this is pretty thoroughly YA. I'd forgotten that, which meant there had to be a couple slightly uncomfortable explanations to my 8-year-old.)
14. Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro. 4.5. Some of the allegories here are obvious to the point of on-the-nose, but overall, this is a lovely, melancholy book with some beautiful imagery and very creative worldbuilding. Post-apocalyptic but sufficiently post as to be about something beyond simple survival.
15. The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism by Thomas Frank. 3. I think I'd hoped for a little more on business culture and hip consumerism, but this is mostly a (fairly repetitive) history of advertising in the 1950s and 60s, with a chapter or two on fashion. I got led to this through a podcast's referencing it, and honestly, the hour long podcast covered most of the interesting bits. This could have been a very long essay, and much of the book feels like filler. (Although the essay would have been very interesting.)
16. How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole. 4. I continue to love Cole's spin on the "imaginary tiny country's prince takes a commoner wife" using African fake countries instead of knock-off Genovia. The male lead is kind of infuriating, although he's got some good reasons to be and he gets better in a sufficiently satisfying way. The female lead was an antagonist in a previous book - I love it when we get a more sympathetic view of a prickly character we enjoyed hating earlier, in ways that don't negate their prickly qualities.
17. The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal. 4.5. This third book in the Lady Astronaut of Mars series happens concurrent to The Fated Sky. It's tense and clever, and continues to handle issues of sexism and racism with realistic optimism. Kowal doesn't paper over how badly real people would handle this stuff, but there's also the can-do energy that I loved about original Star Trek without requiring people to be utopian. The one problem really is that the ending feels a bit anti-climactic, especially given how tense everything us up to that point.
18. Constellation Games by Leonard Richardson. 4.5. Revisiting a friend's book from a decade ago. Still delightful. First contact through video game reviews.
19. Mistletoe and Mr. Right by Sarah Morganthaler. 3.5. Cute if slightly forgettable romance featuring jet setting business woman and shabby Alaskan pool hall owner. A little overstuffed in terms of cast (especially potential antagonists who are set up as impediments and dealt with far too easily). But I appreciated that while she has to make choices about priorities, she goes in already thinking her family's priorities are messed up (scruffy pool hall owner doesn't melt her ice queen heart or teach her the true meaning of Christmas or any of that nonsense) and she ends up making some choices but not actually giving up her career for him. (Which is good, because he's a terrible business man and can't support himself let alone her.)
20. Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett. 5. Pratchett takes on the Sweet Polly Oliver trope. I particularly like how Vimes is a background character here, and we mostly see him through other people's eyes.
21. Thud! by Terry Pratchett. 5. Back to mystery-style Watch books. Notable for the legendary included children's text "Where's My Cow?". ("That says, "Buggrit! Millenium Hand and Shrimp!" That is Foul Ole Ron. That is not my cow!")
22. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. 4. Delighted to see how well this held up. My 8-year-old son loved having it read to him, especially since I did voices for all the dragons.
14. Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro. 4.5. Some of the allegories here are obvious to the point of on-the-nose, but overall, this is a lovely, melancholy book with some beautiful imagery and very creative worldbuilding. Post-apocalyptic but sufficiently post as to be about something beyond simple survival.
15. The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism by Thomas Frank. 3. I think I'd hoped for a little more on business culture and hip consumerism, but this is mostly a (fairly repetitive) history of advertising in the 1950s and 60s, with a chapter or two on fashion. I got led to this through a podcast's referencing it, and honestly, the hour long podcast covered most of the interesting bits. This could have been a very long essay, and much of the book feels like filler. (Although the essay would have been very interesting.)
16. How to Catch a Queen by Alyssa Cole. 4. I continue to love Cole's spin on the "imaginary tiny country's prince takes a commoner wife" using African fake countries instead of knock-off Genovia. The male lead is kind of infuriating, although he's got some good reasons to be and he gets better in a sufficiently satisfying way. The female lead was an antagonist in a previous book - I love it when we get a more sympathetic view of a prickly character we enjoyed hating earlier, in ways that don't negate their prickly qualities.
17. The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal. 4.5. This third book in the Lady Astronaut of Mars series happens concurrent to The Fated Sky. It's tense and clever, and continues to handle issues of sexism and racism with realistic optimism. Kowal doesn't paper over how badly real people would handle this stuff, but there's also the can-do energy that I loved about original Star Trek without requiring people to be utopian. The one problem really is that the ending feels a bit anti-climactic, especially given how tense everything us up to that point.
18. Constellation Games by Leonard Richardson. 4.5. Revisiting a friend's book from a decade ago. Still delightful. First contact through video game reviews.
19. Mistletoe and Mr. Right by Sarah Morganthaler. 3.5. Cute if slightly forgettable romance featuring jet setting business woman and shabby Alaskan pool hall owner. A little overstuffed in terms of cast (especially potential antagonists who are set up as impediments and dealt with far too easily). But I appreciated that while she has to make choices about priorities, she goes in already thinking her family's priorities are messed up (scruffy pool hall owner doesn't melt her ice queen heart or teach her the true meaning of Christmas or any of that nonsense) and she ends up making some choices but not actually giving up her career for him. (Which is good, because he's a terrible business man and can't support himself let alone her.)
20. Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett. 5. Pratchett takes on the Sweet Polly Oliver trope. I particularly like how Vimes is a background character here, and we mostly see him through other people's eyes.
21. Thud! by Terry Pratchett. 5. Back to mystery-style Watch books. Notable for the legendary included children's text "Where's My Cow?". ("That says, "Buggrit! Millenium Hand and Shrimp!" That is Foul Ole Ron. That is not my cow!")
22. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. 4. Delighted to see how well this held up. My 8-year-old son loved having it read to him, especially since I did voices for all the dragons.