This is an overview of the books I’m reading in 2022. This year I’m repeating something I did a few years ago, which is to only read books written by female (well non-cis-male) authors. The first year was great and I discovered a lot of wonderful authors that have become favourites.
This year, however, has been less eye opening (at least so far). Mostly because I haven’t really read much at all, and have limited myself to authors I already know. I also allowed an exception for non-fiction books to be written by dudes.
But there are still 5 months to go. I’ll update the progress at year’s end and hopefully I’ll have many more books to talk about by then.
I don’t keep a record of when I read stuff, and neither does my e-reader, so some of these may be out of order or things I read late last year. I’ve also not gone into the plot details, but provided a Goodreads link if you are interested (Yes I know they are owned by Amazon, but I can’t find any non-evil sites that are half as good).
I re-read this at the end of last year/start of this year because the second book was about to come out. For the longest time it was my go to answer for “What is your favourite book?”, but it had been a while and I was worried that it wouldn’t hold up.
It both did, and didn’t. I wouldn’t say it was my favourite book anymore, but it was still entertaining and has a very grounded setting with great attention to detail. Both in the history and the mythology.
Still a strong recommend, just didn’t sweep me away as much with the second reading.
The follow-up, and an immediate disappointment. I’m not sure if I was not in the mood, or something in Wecker’s writing had changed, or if I just needed a break from the story.
So hoping it was the latter, I stopped reading a few chapters in and decided to come back to it later… I have yet to do so.
After reading this blog post from one of the old Ferret Brain team (RIP), I was interested in investigating this book. And it kind of changed my life.
I’ve read and seen a bunch of Utopian Anarchist and/or Communist Sci-Fi before (e.g. Iain M. Banks, Star Trek), but always felt that they used their post-scarcity setting as a crutch to explain how their societies could come to be. In the Dispossessed, the Odonians have nothing but scarcity.
This really got me thinking of the practicalities of an Anarchist society, and more interested in the movement as a whole. I also appreciate that this book isn’t propaganda. From interviews I get the impression that Le Guin didn’t actually believe that Anarchism was the best solution (though she did seem to lean pretty heavily socialist). She shows Odonian society warts and all, and for me at least, that makes it so much more compelling.
Strong recommendation for this, and Arthur B’s blog post.
This is why I added my “non-fiction books don’t count” rule. After reading The Dispossessed I had to follow it up with some actual Anarchist literature.
One thing I was not expecting was how much of a window into 1920s life this book is. There is discussion of the “Great War” and the inevitability of a second one being right around the corner. I read that Alexander Berkman actually met Lenin and was heavily involved in Bolshevik Russia though he fled to France after it all went to shit.
My opinions of this book are complicated, and I’m not going to rant too much here, you’ll have to get me drunk for that (whether you want it or not…)
I recommend this if you think that Anarchism == Chaos, or you want to read chapter after chapter of someone shitting on everyone from Capitalists to Socialists to even Union Leaders.
There’s a “sour-spot” of science fiction that I’m weary of. Where it’s not so old as to be an interesting time capsule, but old enough that the “sci-fi” elements feel weird and anachronistic. 1995 is right in the middle of that spot.
However, I read Nagata’s much more recent novels in this series (Edges and Silver) and really liked them. So I thought I’d go back and read the earlier ones.
This is a prequel to the other books, though written in the same year as the first book: The Bohr Maker, and it’s fine… I guess. The sci-fi elements are okay, though the massive uptick in VR usage seems a bit optimistic nowdays.
A bigger problem for me is the style. Nagata’s writing sits weird in my head. It feels over explainy, too casual, imprecise maybe? I can’t really explain it. I never got that with Edges or Silver, but her series The Red, written only a few years earlier is full of it.
I still have three more books to catch up with, and I am hoping the further she gets from the modern day, the more I enjoy them.
I don’t recommend this, Read Edges instead it doesn’t expect you to have read the others, and is a much better book.
I really loved the first book, it was a great story set in 2007 (it WILL NOT let you forget that) about a young girl who meets and befriends an alien. It had surprisingly well thought out fictional science, and consistent and well portrayed alien intelligences.
This book has all of that too. Except it’s the thin bread that surrounds a sandwich filled with around 200 pages of PTSD, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
I was not expecting this, and I was not on-board.
It’s not badly done at all, in fact I think it’s pretty well handled. It’s just that it’s such a hard turn from the mostly young adult (as in 20-something) drama of the first book.
Overall it’s okay. Doesn’t really move the story along much, it ends with the characters in a similar position to where it begins (that could be a spoiler, I guess). I tentatively recommend this if you are prepared for all the bullshit it piles on you in the middle.
I love the Android universe. I have every board game set in it, a lot of (though not all) Android: Netrunner cards, the RPG, and a couple of art/setting books. This is a short novella set in the universe. Some extra fluff to get you pumped to buy the new Android thing. Though I think that universe is pretty much dead now…
You know what? It’s pretty good. It moves quick, all the POV characters are clones, and have different takes on what that means to them, it’s tightly plotted, characters are likable it’s fine.
My main criticism is the amount of product placement for entirely fictional things. If I read the back story to more of the cards maybe I’d get it, but it just feels like the author is being paid by fictional corporations to put their stuff in her writing. It’s weird.
You probably won’t get anything out of this if you don’t know Android. But if you have even a passing knowledge of the setting it’s worth a couple of days to plow through.
Well that’s it so far, seven books, and I’m actually kinda sure I read The Disspossed last year, but I had to include it. I also started Capital by Karl Marx, the chonky edition with all the extra shit. But it was too dry for me and surprisingly full of math, so I gave up about 10 pages in.
Part 2 will come at the end of the year. Maybe, let’s see if I can be bothered then.
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