Adaptation that lives up to the original. The sketchy, brutalist art goes well with the surreal and savage ordeal Butler relates in the story. Also liked how Edana's "real" life began to look less "real" than her surreal 19th century life.

Pretty good hard sci-fi novel. It felt a little weak on character development. I couldn't even get a read on Watney's personality, except that I found his attempts at humor a little irritating, which is understandable, given the mental effects of isolation. On that topic, there wasn't a lot of discussion of Watney's thoughts or feelings, beyond his plans & hopes for survival. There wasn't a lot of philosophy, which I would think a story about being stranded alone on a planet would lend itself to; although perhaps Weir's point is that in such a struggle for survival, there's no room for deep thought (which is where Watney's binge-ing 70s pop culture comes in). The novel is still superior to the movie; for one thing, the book makes Watney seem miserable & very ready to be rescued, while the movie made me think it was going end with him wandering off into the wastes like a JG Ballard protagonist. This book is from 2011, and so its vision of the future is seeming a little naive right now. Perhaps a 2019 ending would be that Watney's been on Earth the whole time, and his rescuers are taking him back to Mars.

Hard to pin down how I feel about this book. A different title for this book could have been "Everything is Hideous". All of the characters fall somewhere between clown & goblin (except Sattouf's French mother... did something bad happen to her?). Libya is depicted as a place run by the whims and fancies of Ghaddafi, & so it appears relatively cushy compared to the Syria Sattouf describes. The village in Syria Sattouf lived in, where his dad's family is from, is depicted as a filthy, brutal place. I have to wonder if part of the depiction is heightened by his loathing of it (and if he'd have nicer things to say about it if he didn't live there as a foreigner & outsider). The extended family dynamics alone would indicate a miserable childhood. I definitely want to read the next volume, if only so I can get a clue of what this guy's relationship with his Dad is (or did something bad happen to him?). Sattouf clearly loves his dad, but also blames him for all the suffering he and his mom went through. Who wouldn't?

Great anthology. The stories that most affected me were "Aware" by C Robert Cargill (tense Moon mystery), "The Arc Bends" by Kieron Gillen (dark future history), "Excerpts From the Records" by Chet Williamson (gilded horror comedy), "Catcall" by Delilah S Dawson (super power downer), & "The Venus Effect" by Violet Allen (metafiction?). Most of the other stories were great too. The only one I can't recommend is "Morel & Upwright". I felt a 1970s sci-fi vibe from it, which I can deal with, but the humor didn't work for me.

Funny bio of Margaret Sanger. depicting her life, her work, & her loves (*ding*). Shows her evolution from the caretaker of her 10 siblings, to nursing student, to feminist-socialist activist, to high society feminist activist. Also attempts to explain or debunk some of her problematic image. For instance, the widespread acceptance of eugenics as science in the 20s meant that Sanger's prominent allies in the medical profession included a number of eugenics proponents, who she did not agree with on many matters (such as consent!). Also links Sanger's activism to later feminist struggles in the 70s, 80s, to the present.

Humorous telling of the central myth of the divine creation of the world and Egypt in particular. Steele writes that he hoped to convey some of the humor that would have been in every telling of these stories, and I think he succeeded. I could see this as the basis of a great animated series. I only wish we saw more of Medjed (maybe in the movie?).

Verax reminded me a little bit of some of the Le Carre George Smiley novels I've read in that it's exciting in a boring way, and is very topical. The tradecraft used by Laura Poitras and others to dodge surveillance by national security types also reminded me of Le Carre. Verax shows how thoroughly rotten and useless the national security establishment is, and how far we must go to have a country based on justice.

The Mieville book least likely to be turned into a video/tabletop game (Last Days of New Paris could make an *awesome* video game). I liked the atmosphere and setting that Mieville created without spelling every little thing out. It's kind of a big short story in that it doesn't spell everything out, so I'll probably have to re-read it to understand everything that's going on. Like other good short stories, This Census Taker feels emotionally dense (as in packed, not dim). A few details also made me wonder if it was part of Mieville's bas-Lag series. Even if it's not one of the series, This Census Taker might rank with those books as one of my favorites by Mieville.

I feel like I should wait until I get to the end of the series (or at least until I re-read the last 5 vols all at once) to write a review. Any sci-fi or fantasy falls flat when the characters and the emotional world created in the book aren't done right. Time travel stories often put me off (or at least the idea or premise of them do), but Paper Girls pulled me in before I could have any such issues. It hasn't gotten dumb either, and I'm always looking forward to the next one! (High praise, I know. )

Can be generally described as a twisted cross between 1001 Nights & Mad Max, with Biblical, Quranic, & folk tales thrown in, & all illuminated with Arabic calligraphy & artistic motifs. The Arabic quotes are often translated in endnotes. Not sure how a white guy came to be making this story (& how well does he know Arabic?), but I liked it. The art is amazing. The setting and story are very bleak, which seems fitting today. There's a lot of sex, but it's mostly gross & horrifying (in my opinion). That said, I want to re-read this sometime.