books ← Alex Acks: Sound and Nerdery

Thoughts upon finishing Stamped From the Beginning

Mar

17

2017

The subtitle on Stamped From the Beginning is “The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.” And Ibram X. Kendi is not fucking around on this one. This book took me an unusually long time to read—not because it was unpleasant, or even overly dense (as sometimes history books are), but because there’s a lot there, ...

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen (and bisexuality) 1

Mar

11

2016

Paul wrote a review of the book over at the Skiffy and Fanty blog, in which he makes some very good points. I don’t normally write about books, myself, partially to disguise my shame at how little I read these days compared to the number of movies I watch, but I’ve got a few thoughts ...

The Hugo Nomination Problem or, I Am a Bad Reader 18

May

1

2015

[ETA 5/3/15: It seems I was unclear that by a recommended reading list, I mean a large list with things added throughout the year that I can then winnow down myself. Not a short slate of nominees sized specifically to fill or partially fill categories. I have updated the post to reflect my position more accurately.] I’ve been meaning ...

Toot toot, here comes the book nostalgia train 7

Mar

27

2015

Sunil was talking about his childhood love of the Babysitters Club books on Twitter earlier and that me thinking. I wasn’t actually a fan of BSC despite being in its perfect target demographic. I think I remember even knowing other girls my age that loved those books, but I… didn’t get in to them. Possibly ...

10 Books That Have Stuck With Me

Dec

16

2013

Since it was a meme some of my friends were doing today, and I thought well why not. This would make a darn good blog post. Alanna: The First Adventure (Tamora Pierce) – I cannot begin to tell you how much this book has affected me. It was one of the first real YA books I ...

A few thoughts on Piers Anthony 6

Oct

19

2013

Jason Heller wrote this excellent piece on revisiting the Xanth series as an adult, and I really recommend it: Revisiting the sad, misogynistic fantasy of Xanth Which has subsequently made me think about my own relationship with those books. Because like most people in our general age group (I think Jason’s maybe a little bit ...

#FenCon: A few places to get started on modern Japanese history/culture

Oct

6

2013

Once again I want to apologize to everyone who attended the Tao and Again panel at FenCon. I had no idea I was going to be moderator and thus was woefully unprepared. (And it didn’t help there were only two of us on the panel, so I didn’t even have a big group of other panelists ...

Adventures with eBooks and DRM 1

Jan

27

2013

Alternative title: I now totally understand why people might go pirate, and it has nothing to do with wanting free shit. My husband and I bought each other Nooks last year as a combination birthday/Christmas present. I’d been really wanting an e-reader since we’ve long since run out of shelf space, and I didn’t want ...

The Coldest War

Nov

28

2012

Well, thanks to Ian Tregillis, I now know that I haven’t lost my ability to dive into a book and devour it in a matter of a few days. Apparently I was just trying THAT HARD to avoid The Casual Vacancy, which took me weeks to slog through. Ian’s new book, The Coldest War, I ...

The Casual Vacancy (review)

Nov

14

2012

So, maybe you heard that JK Rowling wrote a new novel. Maybe you really liked the Harry Potter novels, and you’re looking forward to getting another book from the pen that gave you those. Well, don’t get too excited. The Casual Vacancy is an adult (as in meant for grownups, not as in pornographic) non-genre novel. ...