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bearshortyFalling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold [Vorkosigan Saga], 258pp
While the story of this book took place many many years before Miles' time, it still written in Bujold style for this universe and as always a delight to read. Her books are like being wrapped in a warm blanket and just having a cozy time of it. I understand that I read this book at the proper time in the sequence of books even though it is chronologically first in the Vorkosigan saga, since in my next Miles books, Miles will encounter the descendants of the Quads in a more settled civilization. This book was all about the origins and how they went from experiment to their own freedom.
The best and the most hilarious part of this book is the glorious bureaucracy. It was very very funny. People used bureaucracy as resistance, they used it like real people would use it too. I just found it very amusing. Can't wait for the next two novels this year (I will be done with this series next year at this pace!)
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall, 426pp
I read it on recommendation offalena84 and this book really won me over as it went along. I really loved Luc's sarcastic humor and I liked how in this book, the first half forced Luc to deal with his issues and then have Oliver deal with his in the second half. Everyone was honest with each other, which is was I really like - Oliver was in on the plan to pretend to be boyfriends - it wasn't a big secret (and I loved the running gag that they just tell everyone about it anyway, so this is not the main conflict at all, no secret reveals really.) This book poked a bunch of fun at some romantic tropes too. Both main characters had things to work on and it was a really nice balance. And both main characters brought out the best in each other, which is always nice to see. This was a very enjoyable romance.
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu [translated from Chinese], 373pp [Hugo Book]
This book won a Hugo award and it was on my list to read for a while. This is also a very much hard sci-fi book, which I haven't read for a while. I could follow it pretty well but it lost me at the end with unfolding the proton and intelligent protons that can cause havoc - that was just pretty hard to believe, no matter how clever the "science" of it might be. But then again the author wants us to believe in aliens to can dehydrate and rehydrate their bodies.
The dialogue and some of the translation also felt very Chinese to me, kudos to the translator in keeping the cadence of the language in his translation. I think because I come from a Soviet Union background, a lot of Chinese politics and the way people behave in society was very familiar to me, so I could understand the motivations. And I thought Ye Wenjie's motivations and thought processes were pretty interesting and I could get where she was coming from even though destroying all humanity might be extreme. I never really thought about how Earth' political situation would influence the messages sent to alien civilizations and how different the human race would appear depending on which country the aliens 'meet' first.
It was a good book overall but I don't know if I'm interested enough for the sequels.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, 243pp
This just came out and I got it out of the library. It is told from the perspective of an AF - artificial friend, a robot who is typically bought by kids to be friend and companion. So a very naive robot who observes and tries to understand her family. This book started out really well by then was more meh. Like a typical Ishiguro, you have to figure out what is going on and the larger worldbuilding as you go along, from tiny clues and unspoken things since the main character is often not aware of what it itself observing. And overall it is a weird kind of society and it does give you things to think about but I still ended up meh on it at the end.
The most interesting thing for me is the mother's perspective - in this society the choice is to give your child genetic enhancement, which is the only way to succeed in society really, but the child might die. Or leave your kid "unlifted" which very limited options for the future. The mother already lost one daughter to this but she went through with the second still since that is her only real chance at anything in life. But the mother is torn up about it. The more I think about it though the more I really understand where that mother was coming from and that decision. I don't think her back-up plan of have a robot built where Klara could have imitated her daughter would have worked - that is Ishiguro's question, if we as people can be imitated/duplicated - but I don't think that would work.
Also, I really like the scene at the theater, since it was as busy and confusing in writing as how it would have felt for Klara, so I found the writing very effective there.
Hamster Princess: Ratpunzel by Ursula Vernon [Book 3]
Technically, I read half of it out loud to Tanya and Tanya read the other half out loud to me. But that still counts since I was reading along to help her with some difficult words. I'm just thrilled that she felt confident enough in reading to want to read it herself to me. This is the third out of six books in the Hamster Princess series. I think this is my favorite one so far. Olivia loves Rapunzel so I'm very familiar with the story and can appreciate the riffs on it. In this story it is a rat Ratpunzel who is trapped in a tower and has to let down her tail. I also found the jokes a lot funnier in this one like a very happy country and Sad story time. And Ratpunzel itself. The dialogue is hilarious. So both Tanya and I are really enjoying this series and we already started the next book.
While the story of this book took place many many years before Miles' time, it still written in Bujold style for this universe and as always a delight to read. Her books are like being wrapped in a warm blanket and just having a cozy time of it. I understand that I read this book at the proper time in the sequence of books even though it is chronologically first in the Vorkosigan saga, since in my next Miles books, Miles will encounter the descendants of the Quads in a more settled civilization. This book was all about the origins and how they went from experiment to their own freedom.
The best and the most hilarious part of this book is the glorious bureaucracy. It was very very funny. People used bureaucracy as resistance, they used it like real people would use it too. I just found it very amusing. Can't wait for the next two novels this year (I will be done with this series next year at this pace!)
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall, 426pp
I read it on recommendation of
falena84 and this book really won me over as it went along. I really loved Luc's sarcastic humor and I liked how in this book, the first half forced Luc to deal with his issues and then have Oliver deal with his in the second half. Everyone was honest with each other, which is was I really like - Oliver was in on the plan to pretend to be boyfriends - it wasn't a big secret (and I loved the running gag that they just tell everyone about it anyway, so this is not the main conflict at all, no secret reveals really.) This book poked a bunch of fun at some romantic tropes too. Both main characters had things to work on and it was a really nice balance. And both main characters brought out the best in each other, which is always nice to see. This was a very enjoyable romance.The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu [translated from Chinese], 373pp [Hugo Book]
This book won a Hugo award and it was on my list to read for a while. This is also a very much hard sci-fi book, which I haven't read for a while. I could follow it pretty well but it lost me at the end with unfolding the proton and intelligent protons that can cause havoc - that was just pretty hard to believe, no matter how clever the "science" of it might be. But then again the author wants us to believe in aliens to can dehydrate and rehydrate their bodies.
The dialogue and some of the translation also felt very Chinese to me, kudos to the translator in keeping the cadence of the language in his translation. I think because I come from a Soviet Union background, a lot of Chinese politics and the way people behave in society was very familiar to me, so I could understand the motivations. And I thought Ye Wenjie's motivations and thought processes were pretty interesting and I could get where she was coming from even though destroying all humanity might be extreme. I never really thought about how Earth' political situation would influence the messages sent to alien civilizations and how different the human race would appear depending on which country the aliens 'meet' first.
It was a good book overall but I don't know if I'm interested enough for the sequels.
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, 243pp
This just came out and I got it out of the library. It is told from the perspective of an AF - artificial friend, a robot who is typically bought by kids to be friend and companion. So a very naive robot who observes and tries to understand her family. This book started out really well by then was more meh. Like a typical Ishiguro, you have to figure out what is going on and the larger worldbuilding as you go along, from tiny clues and unspoken things since the main character is often not aware of what it itself observing. And overall it is a weird kind of society and it does give you things to think about but I still ended up meh on it at the end.
The most interesting thing for me is the mother's perspective - in this society the choice is to give your child genetic enhancement, which is the only way to succeed in society really, but the child might die. Or leave your kid "unlifted" which very limited options for the future. The mother already lost one daughter to this but she went through with the second still since that is her only real chance at anything in life. But the mother is torn up about it. The more I think about it though the more I really understand where that mother was coming from and that decision. I don't think her back-up plan of have a robot built where Klara could have imitated her daughter would have worked - that is Ishiguro's question, if we as people can be imitated/duplicated - but I don't think that would work.
Also, I really like the scene at the theater, since it was as busy and confusing in writing as how it would have felt for Klara, so I found the writing very effective there.
Hamster Princess: Ratpunzel by Ursula Vernon [Book 3]
Technically, I read half of it out loud to Tanya and Tanya read the other half out loud to me. But that still counts since I was reading along to help her with some difficult words. I'm just thrilled that she felt confident enough in reading to want to read it herself to me. This is the third out of six books in the Hamster Princess series. I think this is my favorite one so far. Olivia loves Rapunzel so I'm very familiar with the story and can appreciate the riffs on it. In this story it is a rat Ratpunzel who is trapped in a tower and has to let down her tail. I also found the jokes a lot funnier in this one like a very happy country and Sad story time. And Ratpunzel itself. The dialogue is hilarious. So both Tanya and I are really enjoying this series and we already started the next book.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-04-19 11:03 pm (UTC)I sent the link to the Hamster Princess books to aunt for my niece, she's a voracious reader and I think she'd enjoy them.
I've been meaning to read more of the Vorkosigan books for years;;
(no subject)
Date: 2021-04-19 11:15 pm (UTC)More Vorkosigan is always the right answer! Those books are like being wrapped in a cozy blanket for me.