wtf is Santa doing in here? handing out weapons??

A look at the 28 addresses on the UK Monopoly board. This book was written in 2002, so it's an interesting snapshot of London after the neoliberal 90s, but before the last 15 years of real-estate feeding frenzy. (It's also a snapshot of humor writing from 2002, which can be a bit much). Moore shares the history of all the places he visited, sometimes going back to the Roman era, with special emphasis on how they would have looked and felt to a visitor in the mid 1930s, when the UK version of monopoly was developed. Do Not Pass Go is full of facts and history, and is great for provoking further research into the history of London. At times the author is clearly trying too hard to provoke a laugh, but even the clunkier chapters were full of history and lore, & I kept reading despite Moore's cringier attempts at 'humor'. The "Advance to Go", "Free Parking", & "Mr Monopoly" chapters stood out as my favorites. Finally this book has whet my appetite for board games and also a working public transit system.

Stephen King imagines death as coming loose from the force of gravity. A premise - logical conclusion sort of novella. Has most of the markers of Stephen-King-writing, without the monsters or great big evil. King always manages to make Maine seem very unappealing.

3 Stories about reality & unreality. They're dark, they have twists, and they're mind benders. The Duncan story & the Gran'pa story are kind of twilight zone-ish, & pretty solidly what I expect from Gene Yang (that is, nuts). Janet's story was more like the beginning of the Matrix, if Keanu never met Agent Smith or Morpheus. If I were younger and less well-read & versed in literary tropes, I would have thought Janet's story had a much darker ending than the authors intended, but even now I still think it's the darkest of the 3.

This book lives up to the hype. The 1930 movie doesn't capture nearly all of Remarque's ideas & quotable quotes (although I don't know how many of those turns of phrase are translator Wheen's). This book clearly inspired Forever War.

This book has some novel ideas. I wish Dalcher further explored the ideas and implications of her premise, such as the effects on institutionalized misogyny on private family life (for instance), instead of making an action dystopian thriller. The ending felt very rushed, and too easy. It was like the ending of Brazil without the very end. Overall I like this book. It (along with Doctorow's Walkaway) shows that our era's mediocre sci-fi still marches in the footsteps of Kilgore Trout.