sunn_bleach's Reviews (249)

A light and fun “pop song” of sci-fi, in Scalzi’s own words. And sometimes that’s what you need. My one criticism is that all of Scalzi’s characters talk like Discord users. Everything is a quip and a snide comment - people don’t talk that way off the Internet, and Scalzi is so desperate to make sure you get every single one of his references rather than just trust the reader to also be in on the joke.

edit: as time has gone on, I think this is one of the worst books I've read in sci-fi. Scalzi so desperately wants you to think he's funny, but all his characters come off as huge assholes who try their hardest to be the funniest guy in the room. The book is written like a bunch of Tumblr quotes from 2008, with everyone trying to one-up one another. It's a cloying and intensely annoying book, and good god I hate every one of these characters.

One of the OG “weird fiction” writers. This is a compilation of the me-too type of Holmes stories but with a focus on the supernatural and occult. The stories that happened to be humans ended up being more engaging - and I appreciate Hodgson subverting his own trope by writing stories where the occult wasn’t behind anything.

Selection of Jackson’s finest medium, the short story. Some feel unfinished but this is like crate digging for horror - the discovery is itself a reward.

Quite possibly the most “old white upper crust man” book I have ever read. Made for reading at the yacht club and calling the wives Mrs. Husband’s Name in formal letters. I can’t say I felt anything but discomfort at the subject matter, where it’s good ole boys all the way down, and McPhee’s terse, Hemingway-request prose doesn’t do enough to represent the enmity of his subjects’ realities. Yet I liked the grandfatherly writing style, I don’t give a damn about all your Princeton adventures.

I prefer the nature writings. The last story on Alaska precisely captures why I moved there, too.

I previously had no experience with Chinese literature, let alone by Chinese women and non-binary persons. This was an awesome exploration of fiction and essays that by the end inspired me to think about what cultural connections bubbles beneath the purpose and how the art of translation is as much a part of the message as the original language. My main complaint is I wish it were longer!

Accessible for laypersons but still in depth and extremely informative for public health professionals. An absolute tome of disease preparedness.

For a state as incredibly storied as Alaska, one third of this book isn’t even about search and rescue. The Nome Serum Run, really? Some points were great, like the chapter on slotting, but this felt like a half-sketched idea.

Another great addition to the search and rescue literary canon. I wish it talked a little more about the issue of memory that pops up toward the end, but overall I appreciated Andy Hall’s personal reflection on the subject matter given his father’s involvement in the response.

Legitimately got me to think about how completely under appreciated and understudied this entire kingdom of life is in modern science. Sometimes I found Sheldrake’s prose dry or repetitive, but it’s not a big problem when the content is that provoking.

Another awesome Montiel book. This one is a little less outright funny compared to “Wordslut”, likely due to the heavy subject matter within. Great elucidation and discussion on cultish thinking and how the language used impacts predilections we all have toward that kind of idea. Only bit complaint it a very very weak conclusion that’s at odds with the rest of the book.