I listen to books so don’t come for me. I have logged about 5,000 hours of listening time. It is an acquired skill like everything else and once you cross a threshold, comprehension, retention, etc are not an issue anymore than with reading a hardcopy. You like to read a hardcopy? Great! Kindle? Great! All I care about is you expanding your horizons through reading.
An Unkindness of Ghosts
By: Rivers Solomon
This was an intriguing read. There is a deeply felt disquiet throughout as well as a genuine sense of mystery as the tension builds. All of the main characters are neurodivergent or queer as well as POC. There is a sci-fi lite/steam punk quality to description of clothing and environment that stems from the scrappiness necessary to survive in space on what is ultimately a generation ship. The story wraps but without a hard stop that leaves an opening for future related works. I would like to see that, personally. The writing style is not unlike N.K. Jemison so for fans of that particular author, I would highly recommend this book and would give it a general recommendation as well, given the overall paucity of works available authored by people who identify as a fairy…
Ender’s Game
By: Orson Scott Card
I know a lot of people love this book/series. I thought some of the tension points and the plot twist were engaging but I tire very quickly of books written with a seemingly unaware male perspective. The overall chauvinism and gendering of every character is off-putting. Seems like the author is known for holding views I just don’t fuck with so this will be the last book of his I read. Didn’t hate it. There are others that are better that are similarly militaristic including one I read recently called “The Last Sword Maker” by Brian Nelson
Origins
By: Neil deGrasse Tyson & Donald Goldsmith
I think I would sum by saying - its denser than its billed to be. Even being familiar with all of the terminology and interested in astrophysics I will need to re-read. Think of it this way…choose anything you’re really into and imagine someone describing it down to the sub-atomic level. It might still be interesting but that kind of deep dive requires space and time for the brain to process the bits and pieces of info its given. Only some information is retained after the first pass. This book is very much that.
update: I’m currently reading Astrophysics For Young People… also by deGrasse Tyson with Vor and we are both enjoying it. Thing is, its a little below my level where this was a little above. I’m assuming this means I’m in a weird intermediate zone which makes sense.
Evil Eye
By: Madhuri Shekar
The formatting is brilliant. The twists are thrilling and very fun. The narration for audible listeners is superb. Highly recommend. I found this book because I love Bahni Turpin as a narrator. This was on her short list of books she recently enjoyed.
Into The Magic Shop
By: James R. Doty MD
It was so easy to lose sight of the fact that this book is autobiographical. It reads like pure narrative in most places. The whole time I found myself dreaming about writing this into a screenplay and filming it. For those who would like a narrative vehicle for exploring mindfulness and/or neuroplasticity this is a great book.
This book was suggested to my by my therapist. At the time it was for-purchase on Audible. It has since been added to the free library available to Audible subscribers (as are most books on this list).
Black Rednecks & White Liberals
By: Thomas Sowell
There were some interesting tidbits in here. Some of what is presented aligns with prevailing social justice theory/historical understanding of U.S. culture pre-Civil War. But a lot of this sounds like someone who hasn’t worked through their cultural self-loathing and I didn’t really like this book TBH. To me it felt like Sowell was patterning himself after the likes of Booker T. Washington who was known for a more conservative approach to Black liberation. However, Washington was also known to say more conservative things publicly and privately to hold much more liberal views. At the end of the day I think this book says the most about Sowell’s own relationship to race while providing some less commonly examined historical fact to ponder. As a treatise on Blackness in America I think there is some weird judginess coming through that I’m not at all here for. ALL THAT to be said, its important to me to step outside of my comfort zone and Sowell definitely pushed my boundaries in that way without totally violating them so I stand by this as a book that was worth my time.
The Secret Garden
By: Frances Hodgson Burnett
OMG this was so good!! I had only seen the movie previously. It is a beautiful meditation on nature. The characters are funny and convincingly child-like or curmudgeonly as called for. The descriptions of the animals and plants are scenery are so lovely. I could go on and on. It was truly a delight to find how well-written a book this is. This was one I chose for Vorian and we consumed it together. CAVEAT: there is some very colonial shit in this book. I mean, it was literally at the height of British colonialism. So the POC people who are referenced and portrayed are done so in language that does not fly today (not the N word ICYWW). It is, however, innocent *enough* in that nothing was inherently derogatory. The linguistic stylings of the author are such that a (white) child of 5 or under is almost certainly going to miss the references and have no context for understanding the occasionally fucked up vantage point of the protagonist. I won’t pretend to think children of color would miss it. Hopefully so, but not for certain. I want to reiterate that nothing was derogatory and the references comprised less than a fraction of a percent of the entire book but do proceed with caution or at least a willingness to stop and dissect with young readers when appropriate.
*enough meaning, the whole kit and caboodle of colonialism is dark and terrible so that can’t be ignored by an aware adult imo.
Interview With The Robot
By: Lee Bacon
This was a fun one for Vorian and me. It was a really good way to broach the topic of AI and what’s in our very near future with a child. Vor stayed interested the whole time despite it being entirely conceptual for a four-year-old. The characters were dynamic and the story-arc was well developed for a short read. This contends with themes of sovereignty, AI, technology and family dynamics.
The Queen’s Gambit
By: Walter Tevis
An enjoyable read all the way around. This was a refreshing take on the 50’s period novel. The show follows the novel pretty closely so if you enjoyed the show and want a deeper dive I think the book is worth the time. Again, free on Audible for subscribers. This title is ubiquitous at this point so I don’t feel much more is needed by way of describing it. I will share that the criticism that Jolene comes of as “the magical negro” is valid imo.
Destination Void
By: Frank Herbert
Old Frankie, over here writing about the drugs and the space. This is my least favorite work of FH’s I’ve read outside the Dune series (the others being Godmakers and Heaven Makers). What is cool with Frank’s non-Dune work is you can see him building and solidifying the philosophy that eventually becomes Dune. This particular book was slow. It does squeeze like a vice though and if you wait around for the ending there is a pay off.
If you’ve ready the Dune series and are a fan, I would recommend this for the novelty of seeing FH’s process. If you haven’t ready Dune, what are you doing? Go now. Do that.
The Metamorphosis
By: Franz Kafka
I enjoyed this. This was much more like Russian literature than I was expecting. It felt tongue-in-cheek and makes me want to draw comparisons to Bulgakov. What I liked the most was the handling of a rather grotesque topic in a matter-of-fact way. The social ramifications are there for dissection if one wants to go there. Being that there are far more qualified people than myself who make a living doing literary deep-dives on just Kafka, I’ll abstain. I definitely recommend this book. Its a short read and imo worthwhile for the purpose of understanding historical perspectives on bureaucracy and social order ala 1984, a book that is known to have been inspired by Kafka’s work.
Mugabe, My Dad & Me
By: Tonderai Munyevu
Not quite a book but an interesting listen. This is one of those, as a white person and a person interested in recent history, I read to expand my understanding of things a bit. Furthermore, as a US citizen, I was curious about the experience of Blackness both in the UK and in Africa. Thought-provoking, humorous, serious…as far as helping me have perspective - a great success. I would wager just about everyone I know would gain some perspective from listening to this honestly. Highly recommend.