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bearshortyThe Testaments by Margaret Atwood, 415pp
I really liked this book. I read it on my Kindle so when I looked at the bookstore at the physical copy I was surprised by its thickness as I read it pretty quickly. I loved all the different narrators. I think it helped that I already knew who they were from the book's description or review. Aunt Lydia's parts were pretty fascinating. I should have reread "Handmaid's Tale" as I would have remembered more details about her and not just the main plot and impressions, but it was still interesting to read how that society was formed and the long game Aunt Lydia was playing for her own survival. I also liked the two daughters. Agnes was so interesting especially for a girl who grew up within the system and fighting against it without understanding much of it. The younger one was certainly a teenager and read as such. The first person narration and how the narrative jumped from one to another and weaving the connections between the three of them made a good tapestry all together. Out of all highly anticipated new books of the fall, this was probably my favorite one. A good sequel.
Invisible Women: Data bias in a world designed for men by Caroline Criado Perez, 318pp
I heard about this book from my flist (Thank you!) and I wanted to read it ever since. This book was finally available to borrow from my library and it was so informative. I knew some of the things on it like lack of medical studies for women and lack of proper equipment but this book makes a great point just by the enormity of the data that is lacking for women. i kept sharing all the details with Bear and at first it was pretty hard for him to believe about just how much the world doesn't take women into the account in its design. He is interested in VR and I can't use it as much as I get nauseated wearing it and the book actually has an explanation for why as men and women perceive motion differently and VR design was not really tested for women. I think this is a great book to really make you think. I am getting a hardcopy to give to my sister-in-law Laurie for Christmas as she likes non-fiction and I really want to give this book to other people. Highly recommend although this book might make you angry as you read it.
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, 403pp
This was highly acclaimed so I figure I would give it a shot. It was pretty meh. It was ok but I felt I read these kinds of stories before. Maybe it is because I read Kindred this year. There were two things I did like - first, the focus on horrors of slavery that was on not on the labor but on the family separations and the tearing of the community. The author did a really good job portraying that. And second, I like the insistence of Sophia that she is her own person and not just a love interest to someone else and how the main character came to understand and accept that. So overall, it is a good book but I was underwhelmed by it.
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold [Vorkosigan Saga], 325pp
My favorite of the 3 Vorkosigan Saga books I read this year. I really enjoyed it. I wasn't expecting to like Mark so much. He was fine in the last book but we mostly saw him from Miles' perspective there. In this book, we get to know Marc and see everything from his perspective and I really was rooting for him. Everyone always underestimated him so his final action sequence and saving the day was pretty great. I also really liked his experiences on the Barrayar and meeting his biological parents. It was really nice to get to know him as his own person with his own backstory and goals. He just wants to sit in a quiet room and do intelligence analysis! I basically liked everything about this book. I was uncomfortable in the beginning because I get uncomfortable when people impersonate each other and you are just waiting for supporting characters to find out - but once everyone knew and it was a chase to Jackson Whole and action there, the book was really great. And since it won a Hugo, it fit two of my reading goals for the year (3 bujold books and 5 books that won a Hugo).
Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec Nevala-Lee, 408pp
It was a good book, very informative, but it did drag in the middle during the dianetics. I knew a lot about Asimov because as a teenager I read his autobiography and a lot of short stories. But I knew very little about other three. I read several Heinlein books, of course, including "Stranger in a Strange Land" when I was 16 (which was not a great idea for a naive teenager :) ), but I knew very little of him as a person. This book was really helpful for me to get an idea of who Heinlein was. I was surprised that his career as a science fiction writer was an accident and he grew into science fiction rather than grow up with it like Asimov. I also liked learning the information about Campbell. This book did not shy away from controversies about these men - from Campbell's controversial views to Asimov's tendency to grope women. I thought the author did a good job showing all sides of these people. I knew very little about Hubbard too and I really don't want to know more - he is pretty insane character and just wow. I couldn't even stand reading about some of his actions toward his wives and children.
It is not the best book as the flow was weird and some parts dragged but I am glad I read it.
Feminists Don't Wear Pink and other lies: amazing women on what the f-word means to them ed. by Scarlett Curtis, 363pp
When this book of essays was automatically borrowed on my Kindle, it was unexpected since I didn't even remember when I put it on the suggestions for library list. It took me a bit to remember that I read one of the essays from it by Keira Knightly and I wanted to read other essays.
The book was ok - a lot of essays were pretty bland and a few that did stand out. I enjoyed Evanna Lynch essay about period panties of all things and an essay that gave a brief history of feminists and what all waves were about. Some personal stories were interesting. But as a collection as a whole it didn't quite work and it felt pretty average book aimed at teenage girls.
The Other Side of the Coin: the Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe by Angela Kelly, 304pp
This book is from the Personal Dresser and Designer to Queen Elizabeth. I did like reading about various fabrics and events and how she put the dresses together. She doesn't tell too many stories of her own life. At the same time, sometimes it was really silly what Kelly was excited about. There were a lot of non-events that "she would never forget" like when the Queen saw her in pajamas that matched the Queen's dress. She was just fawning so much. A lot of dresses and occasion prove stressful but all can't be "the best outfit" ever. A lot of "events" in this book were not that dramatic, like photo shoots. So there was a lot of eye rolling on my part while reading this book. But it was entertaining for what this book is. And it does have pretty pictures. All my photographs were in black and white, however, since I borrowed it on my Kindle. I hope to catch an actual book in the book store just to take a look at the color photos.
I really liked this book. I read it on my Kindle so when I looked at the bookstore at the physical copy I was surprised by its thickness as I read it pretty quickly. I loved all the different narrators. I think it helped that I already knew who they were from the book's description or review. Aunt Lydia's parts were pretty fascinating. I should have reread "Handmaid's Tale" as I would have remembered more details about her and not just the main plot and impressions, but it was still interesting to read how that society was formed and the long game Aunt Lydia was playing for her own survival. I also liked the two daughters. Agnes was so interesting especially for a girl who grew up within the system and fighting against it without understanding much of it. The younger one was certainly a teenager and read as such. The first person narration and how the narrative jumped from one to another and weaving the connections between the three of them made a good tapestry all together. Out of all highly anticipated new books of the fall, this was probably my favorite one. A good sequel.
Invisible Women: Data bias in a world designed for men by Caroline Criado Perez, 318pp
I heard about this book from my flist (Thank you!) and I wanted to read it ever since. This book was finally available to borrow from my library and it was so informative. I knew some of the things on it like lack of medical studies for women and lack of proper equipment but this book makes a great point just by the enormity of the data that is lacking for women. i kept sharing all the details with Bear and at first it was pretty hard for him to believe about just how much the world doesn't take women into the account in its design. He is interested in VR and I can't use it as much as I get nauseated wearing it and the book actually has an explanation for why as men and women perceive motion differently and VR design was not really tested for women. I think this is a great book to really make you think. I am getting a hardcopy to give to my sister-in-law Laurie for Christmas as she likes non-fiction and I really want to give this book to other people. Highly recommend although this book might make you angry as you read it.
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, 403pp
This was highly acclaimed so I figure I would give it a shot. It was pretty meh. It was ok but I felt I read these kinds of stories before. Maybe it is because I read Kindred this year. There were two things I did like - first, the focus on horrors of slavery that was on not on the labor but on the family separations and the tearing of the community. The author did a really good job portraying that. And second, I like the insistence of Sophia that she is her own person and not just a love interest to someone else and how the main character came to understand and accept that. So overall, it is a good book but I was underwhelmed by it.
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold [Vorkosigan Saga], 325pp
My favorite of the 3 Vorkosigan Saga books I read this year. I really enjoyed it. I wasn't expecting to like Mark so much. He was fine in the last book but we mostly saw him from Miles' perspective there. In this book, we get to know Marc and see everything from his perspective and I really was rooting for him. Everyone always underestimated him so his final action sequence and saving the day was pretty great. I also really liked his experiences on the Barrayar and meeting his biological parents. It was really nice to get to know him as his own person with his own backstory and goals. He just wants to sit in a quiet room and do intelligence analysis! I basically liked everything about this book. I was uncomfortable in the beginning because I get uncomfortable when people impersonate each other and you are just waiting for supporting characters to find out - but once everyone knew and it was a chase to Jackson Whole and action there, the book was really great. And since it won a Hugo, it fit two of my reading goals for the year (3 bujold books and 5 books that won a Hugo).
Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec Nevala-Lee, 408pp
It was a good book, very informative, but it did drag in the middle during the dianetics. I knew a lot about Asimov because as a teenager I read his autobiography and a lot of short stories. But I knew very little about other three. I read several Heinlein books, of course, including "Stranger in a Strange Land" when I was 16 (which was not a great idea for a naive teenager :) ), but I knew very little of him as a person. This book was really helpful for me to get an idea of who Heinlein was. I was surprised that his career as a science fiction writer was an accident and he grew into science fiction rather than grow up with it like Asimov. I also liked learning the information about Campbell. This book did not shy away from controversies about these men - from Campbell's controversial views to Asimov's tendency to grope women. I thought the author did a good job showing all sides of these people. I knew very little about Hubbard too and I really don't want to know more - he is pretty insane character and just wow. I couldn't even stand reading about some of his actions toward his wives and children.
It is not the best book as the flow was weird and some parts dragged but I am glad I read it.
Feminists Don't Wear Pink and other lies: amazing women on what the f-word means to them ed. by Scarlett Curtis, 363pp
When this book of essays was automatically borrowed on my Kindle, it was unexpected since I didn't even remember when I put it on the suggestions for library list. It took me a bit to remember that I read one of the essays from it by Keira Knightly and I wanted to read other essays.
The book was ok - a lot of essays were pretty bland and a few that did stand out. I enjoyed Evanna Lynch essay about period panties of all things and an essay that gave a brief history of feminists and what all waves were about. Some personal stories were interesting. But as a collection as a whole it didn't quite work and it felt pretty average book aimed at teenage girls.
The Other Side of the Coin: the Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe by Angela Kelly, 304pp
This book is from the Personal Dresser and Designer to Queen Elizabeth. I did like reading about various fabrics and events and how she put the dresses together. She doesn't tell too many stories of her own life. At the same time, sometimes it was really silly what Kelly was excited about. There were a lot of non-events that "she would never forget" like when the Queen saw her in pajamas that matched the Queen's dress. She was just fawning so much. A lot of dresses and occasion prove stressful but all can't be "the best outfit" ever. A lot of "events" in this book were not that dramatic, like photo shoots. So there was a lot of eye rolling on my part while reading this book. But it was entertaining for what this book is. And it does have pretty pictures. All my photographs were in black and white, however, since I borrowed it on my Kindle. I hope to catch an actual book in the book store just to take a look at the color photos.