Space Station Mir

Currently Reading: My sister gave me this book some years ago, but it's been sitting on my TBR shelf for a while. However, I just moved and there's now some doubt as to where the books/bookshelves will end up, so all my books are sitting in boxes AND I don't have Internet, so I reached in and pulled a book out of the TBR box, and almost haven't put it down since! I found this audiobook in the library, and it's been on my TBR, so I went for it. Very glad I did since I DNFed the last couple audiobooks I started. Even though it's got multiple perspectives and a little bit of multiple time periods (so far, just a preface in a different time), which drive me crazy in general and especially with audiobooks, I am LOVING it. Also, I love the voice(s) of the narrator Kathleen McInerney. You guys...it's Judy Blume for adults! Recently Finished: : This was a powerful conclusion to a powerful trilogy. While describing it to my dad, he asked if it...

Just Finished: We Are Okay by Nina LaCour The cover art perfectly encapsulates the claustrophobic college dorm room, gradually overlooking the lonely seascape of the life Marin left behind. This poetic gem of a YA book lives up to all the hype though it reads more like The Writing Life by Annie Dillard than The Hunger Games , and its raw emotions are all the more poignant for being gentle. America Is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo Although set mostly in the United States, the Philippines are the heart of this novel, and how the Filipino-American characters relate to each other, their homeland, and other Filipinos in America. It's refreshing to read an "immigrant" novel that showcases the immigrants' cultures and isn't about fitting in with Americans at all. There are Pangasinese, Ilocanos, manilenos, not to mention religious and ideological differences. At least this book mentions enough ethnic dishes, from pancit to pinakbet to sisig, to feed t...

Just Finished: FINALLY finished the audiobook. And...I'm still conflicted. There is so much here that's intellectually interesting. But also, the narrator and all the characters except maybe one are terrible people. I mean, straight up murderers and torturers terrible. And characters are usually what I care about most. Instead, what's compelling about this book is the worldbuilding, the politics, economics, religion (or lack thereof), professed gender neutrality, philosophy, and obsession with the 18th century. However, even though the central concept of their societies are being future versions of the 18th century Enlightenment, what stood out to me most were the clever similarities to Thomas More's Utopia , perhaps because I'm a student of the 16th century Renaissance. Anyway, still deciding if I want to read the next book or not. I finally read it! I have no excuses. It was just as good as everyone said.  Jemisin did some interesting experimenting with t...