now

The Passage, Justin Cronin
Freiheitsschock, Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk

august

Abroad in Japan, Chris Broad

after reading the first half, i would already recommend this book. even without any context on the author or japan, this has some really funny stories. i also like how i can almost hear chris' voice in the writing.

The Marsian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury

this one took a while. started reading pretty much right after Native Tongue at the end of march. the book works well for piece meal reading, since it's a collection of stories set in a shared world. my favorites were the one where 'and the moon be still as bright' and 'the million year picnic'. overall i think i prefer this over fahrenheit if i had to recommend one. this one executes the almost educational tone better while telling actually great scifi stories, which often left me thinking about them later.

march

Native Tongue, Suzette Haden Elgin

read most of this in two long sessions while we were in turkey. after a bit of a slow start i liked the spin on "dystopian future-not-future society"; the world building is reminiscent of handmaid's tale, but i felt like there was more exploration of the inner workings of why society is that way; the feminist context shines through especially towards the end, when the plot only works because the men are all arrogant assholes, which was satisfying but a bit one-dimensional.

february

started reading a weekly newspaper which had quite the impact on my reading time. i have a test subscription for 10 weeks, let's see if i can figure out how to balance my reading out...

january

Record of a Night too brief, Hiromi Kawakami

the first half consists of surreal dreamlike short stories that only refer to their protagonists as 'me' and 'the girl'. second half is two longer stories. i enjoyed interpreting what everything might mean, but wasn't particularly drawn to the book because of the episodic nature at the start. read the second half in one afternoon.

december

Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

had I not read Ready Player One and Neuromancer before, this would surely have left a better impression. the part about the sumarian virus is creative but feels forced at the end when it is used to resolve everything.

november

Celestial Bodies, Jokha Alharthi

read this while in iceland. basically a family history focused on the women. i had no background on oman's history or society. super interesting from that angle. sometimes a bit slow and confusing, since it's jumping around the timeline.

Snow Country, Kawabata Yasunari

i am a sucker for japanese novels and their erie vibe. this one has it too. so many small details that feel meaningless on the surface but add some much to the experience of the book.

october

Busy Doing Nothing, Rek Bellum & Devine Lu Linvega

somehow i fell down the rabbithole (lol) of rek & devine's world this month. their log is fascinating and inspiring. much of their stuff makes you want to set out to sail yourself, and much of this book does too, but then there is also details (like the wave incident) that make you say: hell no.

august

DROPPED Illuminatus! Part 1: The Eye in the Pyramid, Robert Shea

I did not like the meandering writing and whacky storylines that kept looping back onto each other.

july

Der stumme Tod, Volker Kutscher
At the Mountains of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft

the story was mildly scary but entertaining. he kind of overused "scary" adjective-noun pairs: cosmic fear, blasphemous mountains. i don't understand how the pov character thinks his report will hold back further exploration of that region of antarctica. i would actually expect it to inspire more attention.

Only Human (Themis Files #3), Sylvain Neuvel

i did not like this compared to the other two entries to the series. mostly takes place on the world of the creators of the "mechs". the style feels off compared to the first novel when we were seeing the story evolve through the eyes of the unnamed character.

june

Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Convenience Store Woman, Murata Sayaka

i admit, i probably started this out of nostalgia after coming back from japan. it's a cute little story that nicely shows how weird japanese society can be.

i left my ereader at a cafe on the 1st of january of this year while traveling in south korea. i only got a replacement in june. that's why there is a 6 month gap where i did not read anything this year.