Monthly Reading: October 2008

October 31, 2008 at 9:07 am | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | 2 Comments
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Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin — environmental science fiction

Animal Farm by George Orwell — classic allegory

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl — fiction about books

My rating scale:

  • 1 star: Abandoned before finishing. Don’t waste your time.
  • 2 stars: Poor. Avoid with extreme prejudice.
  • 3 stars: Average. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.
  • 4 stars: Great. Push it on your friends and family.
  • 5 stars: Excellent. Keep it, treasure it, reread it.

Disclaimer: My ratings are very personal and may have little to do with the book’s artistic or commercial merit, or its place in the literary canon. Rather, the rating reflects how the story, characters and writing spoke to me and augmented my understanding of the world.

Other reviews of favorite books from around the blogosphere:

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Monthly Reading: September 2008

October 1, 2008 at 8:48 am | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | 2 Comments
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Civilwarland in Bad Decline by George Saunders – dystopian contemporary fiction

Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman — military science fiction, brain-computer interfacing

About the Author by John Colapinto — books about books

Bread Alone by Judith R. Hendricks — food fiction

My rating scale:

  • 1 star: Abandoned before finishing. Don’t waste your time.
  • 2 stars: Poor. Avoid with extreme prejudice.
  • 3 stars: Average. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.
  • 4 stars: Great. Push it on your friends and family.
  • 5 stars: Excellent. Keep it, treasure it, reread it.

Disclaimer: My ratings are very personal and may have little to do with the book’s artistic or commercial merit, or its place in the literary canon. Rather, the rating reflects how the story, characters and writing spoke to me and augmented my understanding of the world.

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Monthly Reading: April 2008

May 1, 2008 at 11:23 am | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | Leave a Comment
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The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood — historical fiction, books within books

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby — contemporary fiction

The Tao of Poop: Keeping Your Sanity (and Your Soul) While Raising a Baby by Vivian E. Glyck — nonfiction

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge — abandoned

The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter — abandoned

My rating scale:

  • 1 star: Abandoned before finishing. Don’t waste your time.
  • 2 stars: Poor. Avoid with extreme prejudice.
  • 3 stars: Average. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.
  • 4 stars: Great. Push it on your friends and family.
  • 5 stars: Excellent. Keep it, treasure it, reread it.

Disclaimer: My ratings are very personal and may have little to do with the book’s artistic or commercial merit, or its place in the literary canon. Rather, the rating reflects how the story, characters and writing spoke to me and augmented my understanding of the world.

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Monthly Reading: January 2008

February 1, 2008 at 12:51 pm | In Monthly Reading, Reviews | Leave a Comment
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Click the titles for my review or notes.

13 Ways of Looking at the Novel by Jane Smiley — book about books

Heart of the Comet by David Brin and Gregory Benford — science fiction

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson — Mars science fiction

Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman — superhero science fiction

The Giver by Lois Lowry — dystopian soft science fiction

Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson — abandoned

My rating scale:

  • 1 star: Abandoned before finishing. Don’t waste your time.
  • 2 stars: Poor. Avoid with extreme prejudice.
  • 3 stars: Average. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.
  • 4 stars: Great. Push it on your friends and family.
  • 5 stars: Excellent. Keep it, treasure it, reread it.

Disclaimer: My ratings are very personal and may have little to do with the book’s artistic or commercial merit, or its place in the literary canon. Rather, the rating reflects how the story, characters and writing spoke to me and augmented my understanding of the world.

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