You Look Like a Thing and I Love You by Janelle Shane Voracious, November 2019 [ Challenge # 3 : Just the facts, Ma’am: Nonfiction on any subject ] I’ve followed Janelle Shane’s weblog on AI and computer learning for a while, and it’s never failed to make me laugh. Out of that endeavor came …
The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation by Cathy O’Neil Crown, March 2022 [ Challenge # 45 : Face your fears: A book that intimidates you, for any reason ] This one’s a late-year substitute. Shoehorned The Shame Machine by Cathy O’Neil into the “Intimidating” category, because the title certainly is. …
The World of the Castrati by Patrick Barbier Souvenir Press, 1998 [Challenge # 32 : A book taking place in Europe or is about Europe.] I got this book from one of my favorite places to get free reading material, my neighbor’s Little Free Library which has rarely failed me. I’d enjoyed both the …
The Dragon Quintet Edited by Marvin Kaye Featuring Orson Scott Card, Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee, Elizabeth Moon, and Michael Swanwick Tor Fantasy, 2006 [ Challenge # 50: A book you started last year and haven’t yet finished. ] I bought this book a number of years ago because I love dragons, but I never got …
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander Square Fish, 2006 (Originally published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964 ) [ Challenge # 23: Read the first book of a series. ] The Chronicles of Prydain is a much-loved children’s book series originally published in the 1960s. It consists of five books that follow the adventures …
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Translation by Olena Bormashenko Chicago Review Press, 2012 (Originally published 1972 in the USSR) [ Challenge # 34: A book by more than one author. ] Roadside Picnic is an SF classic. Originally published in the USSR at the height of the Cold War — and Communist censorship …
Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez IDW Publishing, 2008 [ Challenge # 21: A graphic novel or comic book. ] Finished my Three-color mythology pick, Locke & Key. This was Vol. 1 of the series, but I don’t think I’ll be going on. I was eager to …
At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft Originally published 1936 in Astounding Stories [ Challenge # 1: Reread a book you have already read. ] Finished my first challenge this year, H. P. Lovecraft’s At The Mountains of Madness. I first read it back in college some decades ago, and enjoyed it, but …
My Authors Water Cooler Reading Challenge selections for 2022. The rules are: out of a list of 50 categories, the participant chooses 12, the idea being you read one a month, more as extra credit if you’re ambitious. My challenges for 2021 and 2020 were, I’m sad to say, a bust. In 2020 I got …