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This seems to be the year for amazing books about food.
So I knew about Tandoh as an awesome contestant on GBBO and then some end of year list mentioned she wrote a book about food and how we eat and the moralizing, gendered, condemnatory attitude towards food.
So obviously I bought it.
Tandoh, in her own way, writes the way I think. The exuberance she brings to food she also brings to language and writing. Not excess, but more than enough. She writes with the knowledge that, having said something is not enough if you can say it again in a new way and with more delight.
But she uses it like she advocates using spices: deliberately, mindfully, and in its place. The flavor of her prose is a taste, but it’s one that suits my palate.
Which says nothing of the content. Tandoh covers everything from the evolving classism of healthy to food on film to what even constitutes a recipe. It’s a wild ride and I loved every minute of it.
So I knew about Tandoh as an awesome contestant on GBBO and then some end of year list mentioned she wrote a book about food and how we eat and the moralizing, gendered, condemnatory attitude towards food.
So obviously I bought it.
Tandoh, in her own way, writes the way I think. The exuberance she brings to food she also brings to language and writing. Not excess, but more than enough. She writes with the knowledge that, having said something is not enough if you can say it again in a new way and with more delight.
But she uses it like she advocates using spices: deliberately, mindfully, and in its place. The flavor of her prose is a taste, but it’s one that suits my palate.
Which says nothing of the content. Tandoh covers everything from the evolving classism of healthy to food on film to what even constitutes a recipe. It’s a wild ride and I loved every minute of it.
Let’s get down to business...to defeat the reading challenge.
This is the third book in Older’s series and I feel like I would enjoy it more if I remembered ANYTHING about the first two. Coming into it with so little memory meant that some of the developing plot points went over my head completely and, more importantly, it took me a while to remember who these people were and how I felt about them.
The gook’s premises and larger exploration of the future, democracy, and knowledge as power remains the highlight, but I feel like I missed a lot and it didn’t quite grab my attention, probably in large part because. I just couldn’t remember what was going on.
This is the third book in Older’s series and I feel like I would enjoy it more if I remembered ANYTHING about the first two. Coming into it with so little memory meant that some of the developing plot points went over my head completely and, more importantly, it took me a while to remember who these people were and how I felt about them.
The gook’s premises and larger exploration of the future, democracy, and knowledge as power remains the highlight, but I feel like I missed a lot and it didn’t quite grab my attention, probably in large part because. I just couldn’t remember what was going on.
These series is still super-cute and fun. I’m glad I finally tracked down the third one. The blend of superhero/magical girl and general lightheartedness just makes for a good start to 2019.
Today on finishing a trilogy you’ve entirely forgotten about.
Part of me wanted to reread the original two books and part of me is devoted to chasing the next greatest hating, so I’m not going to, but closure is nice.
The weirdness of the world building in this book cannot be overstated. That’s the bit I remembered the most and the bit I feel like I was most missing—what is going on here and how does this world work. It does work, but with much confusion. I think I would have appreciated this book more had I read it sooner after the first two. Ah well.
Part of me wanted to reread the original two books and part of me is devoted to chasing the next greatest hating, so I’m not going to, but closure is nice.
The weirdness of the world building in this book cannot be overstated. That’s the bit I remembered the most and the bit I feel like I was most missing—what is going on here and how does this world work. It does work, but with much confusion. I think I would have appreciated this book more had I read it sooner after the first two. Ah well.
I...is “intersectional John Green novel” a genre? Because that’s DEFINITELY what this is. (Not that Green owns the genre, he’s just become the face of thoughtful teenage love stories).
Stone does such a good job with the genuine struggling that her characters do to figure out what they want. None of them are deliberately obtuse, but they also aren’t constantly understanding their own emotions. Their feelings are a real struggle and she does a great job inhabiting their heads. Also, l love her jocks. They’re just so good.
I was pleased to discover this was an actual love triangle (and not a love angle—meaning all points have feelings for one another), although there’s always that part of my brain going “polyamory is a thing, people” but that wasn’t quite the point of the book.
Also, the three narrators for the audiobook were stellar! Definitely listen to this one if you are the kind of person who enjoys listening to some books.
Stone does such a good job with the genuine struggling that her characters do to figure out what they want. None of them are deliberately obtuse, but they also aren’t constantly understanding their own emotions. Their feelings are a real struggle and she does a great job inhabiting their heads. Also, l love her jocks. They’re just so good.
I was pleased to discover this was an actual love triangle (and not a love angle—meaning all points have feelings for one another), although there’s always that part of my brain going “polyamory is a thing, people” but that wasn’t quite the point of the book.
Also, the three narrators for the audiobook were stellar! Definitely listen to this one if you are the kind of person who enjoys listening to some books.
This book was so cute! Which makes it no less complex a meditation on the minds of women and the relationship between the erotic, one’s ownership of desire, and agency. And fighting the patriarchy.
The story itself is a fascinating mix of talking about the conversations women have with other women and the ways that me feel threatened and threaten in turn in response to any kind of power shown by women.
Definitely a feel-good story (unless you hate women, of course), but I feel like feel good gets a bad rep as not serious, whereas the reason this feels good is that it’s a hopeful story about things getting better in different ways for different people that acknowledges the importance of choice. #relatable
The story itself is a fascinating mix of talking about the conversations women have with other women and the ways that me feel threatened and threaten in turn in response to any kind of power shown by women.
Definitely a feel-good story (unless you hate women, of course), but I feel like feel good gets a bad rep as not serious, whereas the reason this feels good is that it’s a hopeful story about things getting better in different ways for different people that acknowledges the importance of choice. #relatable
This feels like one of those books that “everyone” read and I just missed, but I might be wrong about the everyone.
It just feels like a story that shaped contemporary SF, but also crawling back through the history of SF and finding all the influential women no one talks about any more (and are just inspired by) is such a pain.
I’m fascinated by every aspect of this world and obviously have already bought the third book.
It just feels like a story that shaped contemporary SF, but also crawling back through the history of SF and finding all the influential women no one talks about any more (and are just inspired by) is such a pain.
I’m fascinated by every aspect of this world and obviously have already bought the third book.
I feel like this is not the first book I've read that begins in school and is reasonably balanced between high stakes and fun and then the second half hits and it's...not anymore.
And the tonal shift throws me to the point that I read the second half grumpily wondering where the first half went.
I have a feeling this is just a stylistic choice that happens not to work for me. I get why it happens and the thematic shift encapsulated by the tonal shift (and the argument its making about the world in which warriors train versus the one in which they live) but also I get to be grumpy.
First part of the book was amazing. Second part was compelling, but I wasn't hooked in the same way. Almost definitely going to keep reading it, though.
And the tonal shift throws me to the point that I read the second half grumpily wondering where the first half went.
I have a feeling this is just a stylistic choice that happens not to work for me. I get why it happens and the thematic shift encapsulated by the tonal shift (and the argument its making about the world in which warriors train versus the one in which they live) but also I get to be grumpy.
First part of the book was amazing. Second part was compelling, but I wasn't hooked in the same way. Almost definitely going to keep reading it, though.
Okay, I've been enjoying this series since I started it, but this installment really caught me.
Since the beginning, the plot of this story has also always been its world building; it's a narrative that is centered around a main character whose job it is to discover things about the world and it's particularly fascinating in this book, as you realize more about what the world is (and realize even more that the characters have no context to come to the conclusions that you have, which makes it even more fascinating to wonder how they'll get there).
I only have one book left, although Kirstein is apparently working on book 5 so thank goodness.
Since the beginning, the plot of this story has also always been its world building; it's a narrative that is centered around a main character whose job it is to discover things about the world and it's particularly fascinating in this book, as you realize more about what the world is (and realize even more that the characters have no context to come to the conclusions that you have, which makes it even more fascinating to wonder how they'll get there).
I only have one book left, although Kirstein is apparently working on book 5 so thank goodness.
Argh, Bennet is so good I don’t even know what to do with this anymore. He’s a genius at magic systems and world building (and complex real world metaphors).
I feel like he and Max Gladstone are the kings of post-industrialization secondary world fantasy. (God, that needs a better name.) They’re both excellent and I can’t believe the next book isn’t out yet.
I feel like he and Max Gladstone are the kings of post-industrialization secondary world fantasy. (God, that needs a better name.) They’re both excellent and I can’t believe the next book isn’t out yet.