Annihilation Hat Knitting Pattern!

Two pals, as featured on his Amazon author page.

Hey, friends. I wanted to pop in to let you know that I just published my first official knitting pattern! I've been knitting for a long time and occasionally have fun "freestyling" and creating my own designs. In celebration of the Annihilation movie coming out, I decided to formally write up a pattern for the Annihilation book cover inspired hat that I made and gave to Jeff VanderMeer. I haven't seen the Alex Garland directed movie yet, but I seriously can't wait. Rep your love of Area X & weird enviro-scifi with this colorwork hat.

If you're interested, I'd be grateful if you checked it out on Ravelry. If you know someone who might be interested, I'd also be grateful if you shared! Full disclosure: this is a paid pattern. It's $2.99. Help a bish pay her cat's vet bills if you're so inclined! Wish it could be free, but at this point in time I need dat money.

More big, new, exciting things are on the way very soon (unrelated to knitting). Thanks for sticking around if you've been following me for a while!

3 Books That Defied My Reading Slump

My blogging absence has sort of felt like the elephant in the room - for me at least. Blogging was a big part of my life, so I admit that it does feel strange not to be doing it on a regular basis. The reality is that reading has been very difficult for me for almost a year now. Maybe I'll get into that more another time. While my reading has slowed to a mere fraction of what it was before, that doesn't mean that I've stopped reading entirely. Every once in a while there is a book that brings back that excitement about reading that I've missed. Here are three of those books that I've read in the past couple months.

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Publisher: Riverhead Books. January 2017.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Source: Library
Pages: 192



ADD TO GOODREADS

BUY FROM INDIEBOUND

BUY FROM BOOK DEPOSITORY





Holy shit, this is my kind of book. If you like your literature short, tense, and deeply unsettling, Fever Dream is an absolute must read. The whole (tiny) book is a conversation between main character, Amanda, and a mysterious little boy named David. She is in a hospital. It's not clear why. David asks her to recall what happened that got her there from the very beginning, fixating on small details here and there. Once I picked this book up, there was no chance that I was going to put it down. They talk about children, worms, motherhood, dying horses, pollution, fate, weird spirit stuff, etc. It is all the scariest. Nothing explicitly horror-y happens, but the dread throughout is so so real. And some seriously weird shit goes down... or does it?? This book feels like a dream for sure, and it will not disappoint you. Highly recommended for fans of Helen Phillips, Clarice Lispector (sort of, in her very close focus & claustrophobic writing), or Jesse Ball. So beautiful! So amazing! Read it and be astounded by Schweblin's clarity of voice and vision in her murky and hypnotizing story.

Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel
Publisher: Del Rey. April 2017.
Genre: Science Fiction
Source: Publisher
Pages: 325



ADD TO GOODREADS

BUY FROM INDIEBOUND

BUY FROM BOOK DEPOSITORY





Last year I read a book called Sleeping Giants, which was a glorious combination of Ancient Aliens and Pacific Rim in a a super fun and easy to read interview style. I had some problems with flat characters in the first book, but the sequel, which came out this year, really blew me away. It was action packed, the characters felt less forced and more confidently written, and it was an incredibly quick read. We also got to learn more about the nameless narrator who I thought was kind of cheesy as an idea in the first book. He's just like your general nameless spy dude who seems to have his fingers in every governmental activity (classified or otherwise). Part of me sort of didn't want any actual background, but I ended up really enjoying what we got. This book did not pull any punches AT ALL and it kept surprising me throughout. It is a great read, and it's worth checking out the first book to get here.

His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrea Burnet
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing. October 2016.
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Library
Pages: 300



ADD TO GOODREADS

BUY FROM INDIEBOUND

BUY FROM BOOK DEPOSITORY



I've definitely been on a true crime kick these past couple months, and it was a delight to experience this fiction book that reads like bonafide true crime. His Bloody Project was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize in 2016, which I find to be a super interesting, and well deserved, pick. In it, we have a series of documents that all pertain to the case of Roderick Macrea killing a family in his village. There are neighbors' accounts, his own personal written account, and a transcript of the trial - all of which are biased. Roderick Macrae is such a fascinating guy to be in the head of - and to see from the outside after you know what's going on in his head. It's not a book where you come away knowing exactly what happened at the end of it. It's one that you'll keep thinking about, trying to puzzle out the details and decide who exactly to believe. Burnet places some amazing little hints throughout the book that close readers and true crime fans will be delighted by.

What books have helped you during a reading slump?

Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein :: Review

Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein
Publisher: Picador. September 13, 2016.
Pages: 240
Genre: Short Stories
Source: Publisher



ADD TO GOODREADS

BUY FROM INDIEBOUND

BUY FROM BOOK DEPOSITORY

Children of the New World introduces readers to a near-future world of social media implants, memory manufacturers, dangerously immersive virtual reality games, and alarmingly intuitive robots. Many of these characters live in a utopian future of instant connection and technological gratification that belies an unbridgeable human distance, while others inhabit a post-collapse landscape made primitive by disaster, which they must work to rebuild as we once did millennia ago.
Children of the New World grapples with our unease in this modern world and how our ever-growing dependence on new technologies has changed the shape of our society.-Goodreads

I haven't been this excited about reading a book in what feels like forever. I knew that I'd like this collection of short stories. It was pitched to me as akin to the TV show Black Mirror, which I absolutely loved. And they weren't wrong about that. Here we have a collection of stories that are all speculative. Set in the very near future, things are just a little different from how they are now. People are a little more hooked into technology, the environment is more fucked, etc. Our scenarios are set up quickly and with apparent ease, and we then get to see normal people interacting with each other in these worlds. The result is at times funny, at times devastating, often both. Weinstein provides riveting stories about being human as well as biting commentary on our world. In the stories, we've got robotic siblings to help out with biological children, and what you do when they malfunction. Enlightenment as a drug (Moksha). Manufactured memories. Support groups for the loss of virtual children. It's all so good, and none of it feels wildly off base from where we are as a society right now.

Moksha, it turned out, wasn't bullshit. It'd just gone into hiding ever since the twenties when the U.S. cracked down on Nepali distribution. There had been nonstop busts at yoga studios and health spas in the U.S. An oxygen bar in Sedona had been found with makeshift crown plates hooked up to an old Sega Genesis console.

I really emphatically enjoyed this whole collection. The only thing keeping me from loving it unconditionally is the fact that none of the stories have a female main character and none of them pass the Bechdel test. To be fair, two of the stories have weird formats and don't actually have a character. One of the shorter stories never specifies the gender. But it was still disappointing. I get if you're somebody who writes about a certain thing. I do. But to both 1) not take up the challenge to write about somebody different from you, or 2) not see females as "just another kind of person" that should be relatively easy to write about because, again, they are just another kind of person, is a disappointment. If the plots of the stories weren't so intriguing, I probably would've begun to find the "wearied male trying to make his family/life work" character that reappeared in most of the stories boring.

It was Rocket Night at our daughter's elementary school, the night when parents, students, and administrators gather to place the least-liked child in a rocket and shoot him into the stars.

Truly, though, that is my only qualm with the book. I want everyone to read these stories, but my point above is something to be aware of and think about. This is one of the most consistently solid collections of short stories that I've read in a while. I've actually sat and read them aloud to people, they're so good. Dark, cleverly written, and brilliantly imagined. I laughed and I cried. Alexander Weinstein gets it. He fucking gets it. And, if you were wondering, my favorite story was "The Cartographers."

"I'm afraid all of your family is corrupted," the supervisor told me. "You'll just end up bringing the virus with you. It's an easy process to reboot. Simply hold down the power button on your console for twenty seconds and--"

"These are my children!" I yelled.

"If it's any consolation, they won't feel a thing; they're just data."

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel: Review

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
Publisher: Del Rey. April 26, 2016.
Pages: 320
Genre: Science Fiction
Source: Publisher



ADD TO GOODREADS

BUY FROM INDIEBOUND

BUY FROM BOOK DEPOSITORY

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.
Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected. But some can never stop searching for answers. -Goodreads

Sylvain Neuvel's journey getting this book published is an interesting one. At first nobody was interested in it. He self-published. Then he got a movie deal. After that, Del Rey picked up his trilogy, Sleeping Giants being the first book. MADNESS. This book rings all my bells. Ancient aliens? Check. Lots of prominent female characters? Hell yeah. Interesting format? Interviews and journals only, so definitely.

Don't know what I mean when I say ancient aliens? Then what are you watching on the History channel?? Real history?? Ok, but anyway, it just refers to the idea that a long time ago, aliens either visited or lived on the planet. It's a theory that tries to explain multiple cultures' stories of gods. It's totally not a spoiler to mention them, because the book alludes to it heavily on the back cover and they spell it out for us relatively early in the book. The The Sentinel vibes are intense. I'm going to be really real right now, ancient aliens is not like THE theory that I subscribe to. But I'm just saying if our options are 1. ancient peoples were just bullshitting these stories/they're allegory, 2. gods are real, or 3. aliens visited earth a long time ago and people misinterpreted them as gods... I'd rate them from most to least likely as 1, 3, 2. So I'm not saying that aliens built the pyramids. I'm just saying that I don't think alien visitation is the least likely thing to happen in our universe and that it is an explanation that makes a certain amount of sense.

The reason I'm sharing that is because clearly I've consumed a decent amount of ancient aliens stories/info. Because of that, this story moves pretty typically toward where I would expect it to move. If you're similar, don't expect a lot more going in. If you haven't consumed ancient aliens media or much sci-fi, this book's going to be crazy original! It's such a fascinating concept and Neuvel's interpretation is a lot of fun. Trying to find out what the giant body parts were for was riveting. As new things get discovered, you think you're getting closer to understanding it all, but then something gets thrown in that has you desperate for answers again.

The hole I was in was perfectly square, about the size of our house. The walls were dark and straight with bright, beautiful turquoise light shining out of intricate carvings. There was light coming from out of just about everything around me. I moved my hands around a bit. I was lying on a bed of dirt, rocks, and broken branches. Underneath the debris, the surface was slightly curved, smooth to the touch, and cold, like some type of metal.

This book is a really good time. It's not much more than that, but it doesn't really have to be! Reading Sleeping Giants is like watching an action movie. My main problem, though, is that the interview/journal entry format really does not assist any sort of increase in pace. It's a fun page turner, because it's really quick and easy to read in this format, but we rarely get to be in the middle of the action. I love how many strong female characters there were in high powered positions, but at the same time their complexity was kind of feigned in that they were just stereotypes of complex characters. Like a tough woman who has a troubled past and doesn't trust anyone easily... you know. It was a bit too easy. I'm also so not into the nameless, faceless, emotionless interviewer who inexplicably has a lot of power and knows a lot of things. I just thought he and his dialogue were dorky, but I also don't like secret agent movies, so it could just be me.

If the plot and the ancient aliens idea sounds intriguing to you, I'd urge you to pick it up, just because it's a fun read. Interesting things do happen, I was gasping at some surprises, and I raced through it when I wasn't initially in a reading mood. Neuvel does veer a slightly different direction than some other typical ancient aliens stories. And the book ends with a cliffhanger that has me NEEDING the second book.
I NEED IT.

Version Control by Dexter Palmer: Review

Version Control by Dexter Palmer
Publisher: Pantheon. Feb 23, 2016.
Pages: 512
Genre: Science Fiction (sort of)
Source: Publisher



ADD TO GOODREADS

BUY FROM INDIEBOUND

BUY FROM BOOK DEPOSITORY

Rebecca Wright has reclaimed her life, finding her way out of her grief and depression following a personal tragedy years ago. She spends her days working in customer support for the internet dating site where she first met her husband. But she has a strange, persistent sense that everything around her is somewhat off-kilter: she constantly feels as if she has walked into a room and forgotten what she intended to do there; on TV, the President seems to be the wrong person in the wrong place; her dreams are full of disquiet. Meanwhile, her husband's decade-long dedication to his invention, the causality violation device (which he would greatly prefer you not call a “time machine”) has effectively stalled his career and made him a laughingstock in the physics community. But he may be closer to success than either of them knows or can possibly imagine. -Goodreads

"Your name is Rebecca, yes?"
"Yes, that's me. If you wish to speak to my--"
"Are you sure? Has it always been?"

Version Control is a time travel book that surprised me in so many ways. I was having some bookish commitment issues lately. I kept starting books then moving on to new ones. So you wouldn't think I'd go for a 512 page chunkster in this situation, right? Well, I did and it paid off. Dexter Palmer has written a subtle and completely immersive novel covering all sorts of my favorite topics such as: online dating, wormholes, memory, loss, big data, difficult marriages, and technology. I was so gripped throughout.

In the near future (ten years or so ahead of us), Rebecca struggles with her job, with a horrible loss, with her relationship with her husband, and with alcohol. Her husband, Philip, invests all of his time in his work on the causality violation device and grows more distant from her. The book moves back and forth in time fluidly, letting us get to know the characters' pasts gradually. It's heart-wrenching. And at the same time that this book had me in its clutches emotionally (I definitely cried), it was hilarious when it comes to commentary on our modern lives. I was laughing constantly throughout the commentary on online dating and how we use the internet. Seeing the groups of scientists interact was also brilliant, and what Palmer had to say about the science world was often biting.

The second [ad] showed up during a quick binge of clips from old Simpsons episodes on YouTube (a photo of an ambiguously ethnic woman with curly hair and clunky black eyeglasses, sitting across a table from an equally ambiguously ethnic man with hazel eyes, a shaven head, and a sweater vest; both had the self-satisfied look of people who were glad they were themselves and not someone else. They probably both had apartments that got lots of sunlight.

Some of the near future bits feel very close: self driving cars; and some feel very far away: personalized video calls from the president before tv shows, during meals, etc. But it's all plausible and fascinating. And once things start to get a little weird, once time gets a little more complicated than it at first seemed, the book travels subtly into scary and amazing territories of what's possible.

I can't imagine this book is for everyone. But at the same time, I'm someone who favors tiny books. The closer to a novella, the better. And I also get bored relatively easily and don't suffer slow plots gladly. So I have to come to the conclusion that this book is very interesting (theoretically and emotionally), and also well written. It's not action packed in the way a lot of time travel books tend to be. Its pace is slower, but steadily moves forward, offering us depth in exchange for thrills. It's also science heavy, which I absolutely loved. Palmer makes the assumption that smart people are reading his book and that they actively enjoy puzzling things (the nature of space-time) out; that they enjoy taking a moment to sit and ponder what the book's implying might be possible both within the story and in our own world.

It's hard to think of things that were bad about this book. Perhaps it was longer than it needed to be. It wasn't completely mind blowing. But this is a complicated book full of ideas that feels more like an experience than a novel. Once you've taken this journey with these characters, it's going to be nearly impossible not to immediately flip back to the beginning and look for where Palmer deftly began putting things in place that we missed earlier. I, personally, can't wait.

The thing about memories wasn't that many of them inevitably faded, but that repeated recall of the ones you remembered burnished them into shining, gorgeous lies.

Literary Aliens, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Our Extraterrestrial Overlords

Books about aliens.

This post first appeared at Book Bloggers International. If you liked this, be sure to check out the other posts in their Bookish Beasts series! They're the best!

Aliens. There's so much to love about them. Why? Because we know literally nothing about them. Sure, there are some archetypes: short grays, tall grays, reptilians, alpha-draconians (and they are all fighting to control the earth and enslave the human race right now. WAKE UP, SHEEPLE). But what's so great about aliens is that they currently exist as an idea. They could be evil, they could be benevolent, they could be new to the galaxy, or they could have been here on earth ~all along~. All we really have is our imaginations to play with the idea of extraterrestrials, which makes them prime material for interesting books. So until we make first contact, here are some of the great, wildly different books about extraterrestrials you should check out that maybe you haven't before. STUDY UP, because they're coming.

SHORT STORIES

The short story "Out of All Them Bright Stars" by Nancy Kress is a phenomenal example of the root of all alien stories. One way or another, they're a commentary on humanity. What's valuable about it, what needs to change. In this story, the aliens have made first contact and are living amongst humans. In a small vignette, the main character witnesses prejudice against an individual alien in a diner. It's so powerful. Read it online here.

This is one of the kinds of alien stories I just go crazy for. In "The Sentinel" by Arthur C. Clarke, a crew of astronauts finds a strange object on the moon surrounded by a forcefield. What's the implication of this object? Where did it come from? And what would happen if they were to break it? The ending thrills AND chills. You can read it here. 

GRAPHIC NOVELS

Though I haven't been loving all the single issue comics coming after it, Trees, Vol. 1 by Warren Ellis is so so solid. The aliens in this comic series are the strong silent type. By that I mean they are enormous tree-like columnar structures that plant themselves down in big cities, destroying a bunch of stuff, and then don't do anything. At all. What is the meaning behind them?? Is there sentience? Who sent them and where are they? This is my kind of extraterrestrial mystery.

And then there are the aliens full of personality. And in the Saga series by Brian K. Vaughan (all 5 volumes out so far are 100% worth reading), the aliens are incredibly human. Two soldiers from warring factions of a space war fall in love and have to deal with the consequences of pursuing that love. And some of the other species they run into are amazing/hilarious/grotesque. If you like aliens AND fun, you must give Saga a read.

FICTION

Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor is one of the only real first contact stories on this list, and it's a great one. Something crashes into the sea near Lagos, Nigeria and an alien ambassador begins to communicate with three separate people. She promises them that they want to positively impact humans; that they just need some place to live. But convincing the rest of Nigeria of that is a whole ordeal that tears the city apart. Lagoon is another alien story that that forces us to take a look at our own world.

Now this is my all-time favorite alien book. If you're looking for really truly original and alien aliens, you have GOT to read this. Embassytown by China Miéville. Humans live alongside the indigenous species called Ariekei on a planet. I'm not even going to try to describe the Ariekei race to you, it's too bizarre. But this book takes an amazing look at linguistics and the importance of language on this alien planet. And it is so so good.

BONUS

If you're ready to a little bit of ~serious research~ now that you know aliens are alive and well in the universe and on our planet, you should probably read Chariots of the Gods? by Erich von Daniken. This is the book that every person interviewed on Ancient Aliens read as a kid. A lot of it is farfetched, but I have to say, the thought that aliens could have shaped our past is super interesting to think about. SHOW ME PROOF THAT THEY DIDN'T. That's what I thought.

What's your favorite alien story?

Which race of aliens do you hope will come out on top as our overlords and slave-masters in their intergalactic fight for domination?

Thrifty Thursday #4: The Children of Llyr

Thrifty Thursday is a meme started by my friend Sal over at Motion Sick Lit, which is a great book blog.

The idea of Thrifty Thursday: each week you link up a used book you get for (preferably) under $5. Grabbing a book you've never heard of is encouraged. It's a cool way to support local shops and maybe find a new favorite book. Since I love judging books by their covers, this is just the activity for me.


THE BOOKSTORE: Magers & Quinn

© LitHub

Is this cheating? It feels like cheating talking about the bookstore where I work. But it's where I found the book!! And where I find most of my books at this point, considering I get to look at them as they come in before civilians do. Lately I've been cutting way way back on how many books I bring home with me, but every once in a while I see a weird little mass market paperback I need to use my employee discount on.

If you've never been to Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis, it's SO BIG. The picture above is only the back half of the store. It's pretty glorious and I'm still charmed by it.


THE BOOK: 

The Children of Llyr by Evangeline Walton

In stark, gaunt prose, it chronicles the years of Bran the Blessed - he who was so vast a man that no house could hold him nor ship bear his bulk - and of the tale of his beloved sister Branwen, his brother Manawyddan, and of his half-brothers Nissyen and the ghastly Evnissten. It is a tale of change and storm, of love beyond death, of high courage, of the end of an era - and the beginning of another. It is epic fantasy in its purest form - marvellous in its compass and power.

Technically, this book is the second in a series of four. But it sounds like the books are only related in that they're retelling stories from Welsh book of mythology, Mabinogion. I've never heard of this. I don't know aaaanything about Welsh mythology/folklore. All of the reviews on Goodreads that I've read, but one, are 4 or 5 stars. They praise her writing, several referred to it as a feminist retelling, and someone called it "disturbing." So I'm pretty much sold. Plus it looks like a ship is coming out of the big guy's butt, which is kind of funny.

TOTAL PRICE: $1.80

It was already cheap, but my employee discount definitely helped.

Thanks for hosting this, Sal!

Would you have picked this book up?
What cheap books have you found recently?

Thrifty Thursday #3: Beggars in Spain

My reading and internet usage has been a little slumpy these past couple weeks considering how I keep going on weird trips. But one thing that hasn't changed is my interest in buying books. I've been exploring the bookstores available to me now that I'm in Minneapolis, and let me tell you, what I've found has been great.

Thrifty Thursday is a meme started by my friend Sal over at Motion Sick Lit, which is a phenomenal book blog (that is sort of on hiatus, unfortunately).

The idea of Thrifty Thursday: each week you link up a used book you get for (preferably) under $5. Grabbing a book you've never heard of is encouraged. It's a cool way to support local shops and maybe find a new favorite book. Since I love judging books by their covers, this is just the activity for me.


THE BOOKSTORE: Uncle Hugo's

If you like science fiction and/or fantasy, aren't intimidated by enormous piles of books, and live anywhere near Minneapolis, get yourself over to Uncle Hugo's IMMEDIATELY. They have the most amazing selection of new and used science fiction and fantasy that you could ever dream of. It's actually insane. AND the back half of the bookstore is called Uncle Edgar's, where they have a similarly impressive collection of mystery books, if that's what does it for you.

I came here for an N.K. Jemisin book (which I got), but I totally didn't expect to leave here with anything else. I just saw the author's name and knew I needed to make an additional purchase.


THE BOOK: 

Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress

In this future, some people need no sleep at all. Leisha Camden was genetically modified at birth to require no sleep, and her normal twin Alice is the control. Problems and envy between the sisters mirror those in the larger world, as society struggles to adjust to a growing pool of people who not only have 30 percent more time to work and study than normal humans, but are also highly intelligent and in perfect health.

The Sleepless gradually outgrow their welcome on Earth, and their children escape to an orbiting space station to set up their own society. But Leisha and a few others remain behind, preaching acceptance for all humans, Sleepless and Sleeper alike. With the conspiracy and revenge that unwinds, the world needs a little preaching on tolerance.

What physically looks like an inconspicuous and pretty typical science fiction novel is actually written by brilliant powerhouse, Nancy Kress. I've only read her short story, Out of All Them Bright Stars, but it was SO SO GOOD and I want to read everything else by her immediately. She's amazing at using minimal, interesting prose and using aliens to highlight issues of prejudice here on Earth. This book is the first in the Sleepless series, so if I like it, there will be more!


TOTAL PRICE: $2.50

All of the used mass market paperbacks are half off the listed price! You get some incredible deals at Uncle Hugo's.

Thanks for hosting this, Sal!


What cheap books have you picked up recently? Tell me about your favorite used bookstore!

The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips

The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company. August 2015
Pages: 192
Genre: Literary fiction, Science fiction
Source: Publisher
First Line: The person who interviewed her had no face.


ADD TO GOODREADS

BUY FROM INDIEBOUND

BUY FROM BOOK DEPOSITORY

In a windowless building in a remote part of town, the newly employed Josephine inputs an endless string of numbers into something known only as "The Database." After a long period of joblessness, she's not inclined to question her fortune, but as the days inch by and the files stack up, Josephine feels increasingly anxious in her surroundings. The office's scarred pinkish walls take on a living quality. The drone of keyboards echoes eerily down the long halls. When one evening her husband Joseph disappears and then returns, offering no explanation as to his whereabouts, her creeping unease shifts decidedly to dread.  - Goodreads

Once I started reading this book, there was no way for me to stop. My reading experience was essentially this: an inability to move from my bed, an inability to stop reading hilarious lines to whoever was so lucky to be near me at the time, and, once I was alone, a lot of me giggling and/or gasping to myself. It was a great time.

From how I've described this so far, it sounds like I was reading a comedic novel. But this was easily one of the creepiest books I've ever read. The surreal take on a bureaucratic office includes a man with no face, grimy hand prints all over a claustrophobic office wall, doppelgangers, and strange strings of words leaking into the main character's mind. The thing is, Phillips' writing is just so clever. Every dose of creepy is coupled with a bit of "spot on." I couldn't help but laugh at Josephine's darkly comic thoughts about work, life, and relationships throughout.

"Josephine had yet to receive any instructions about what name or title she ought to use for her boss; her failure to ask now meant that she never would."

If you like a strange, thrilling read that feels like a puzzle and plays with language, this is the book for you. I was horrified, I was uncomfortable, and I was delighted. You may not have ANY idea what's going on most of the time as the tension continues to mount, but the pay off at the end is clean and well thought out.
Helen Phillips, be my best friend.


SOME QUOTES:
                       
"As they walked, The Person with Bad Breath consumed three mints dispensed from a small tin drawn from an inner pocket. The bad breath became less offensive to Josephine when she saw that an attempt was being made to remedy it."

"Only he had stood on street corners beside her and their piled detritus. Only their two minds in the entire universe contained this same specific set of images: a particular pattern of shadow on the ceiling above a bed, a particular loop of highway ramp circled just as a song about a circle began to play on the radio. Tens of thousands of conversations and jokes. Without him she was just a lonely brain hurtling through space, laughing quietly to itself."


HOW OUTLANDISH WAS IT?

8/10 - A solid "what the fuck is happening" throughout.

8 New Books to Look For This August

August is looking like it's going to be a great month for interesting new books. And, lucky for you, a bunch of them are coming out right away! There's China Miéville, one of the most original sci-fi writers out there. There's N.K. Jemisin, the author who turned me from vaguely anti-fantasy into a fan. There's new Murakami! And a bunch more! Now go extend your TBR list until it's alarmingly long. Feel no shame.

Three Moments of an Explosion by 
China Miéville (Aug 4)

ADD TO GOODREADS

"London awakes one morning to find itself besieged by a sky full of floating icebergs. Destroyed oil rigs, mysteriously reborn, clamber from the sea and onto the land, driven by an obscure but violent purpose. An anatomy student cuts open a cadaver to discover impossibly intricate designs carved into a corpse's bones—designs clearly present from birth, bearing mute testimony to . . . what?

Of such concepts and unforgettable images are made the twenty-eight stories in this collection—many published here for the first time. By turns speculative, satirical, and heart-wrenching, fresh in form and language, and featuring a cast of damaged yet hopeful seekers who come face-to-face with the deep weirdness of the world—and at times the deeper weirdness of themselves—Three Moments of an Explosion is a fitting showcase for one of our most original voices."

Wind/Pinball by Haruki Murakami (Aug 4)

ADD TO GOODREADS

"The debut short novels--nearly thirty years out of print-- by the internationally acclaimed writer, newly retranslated and in one English-language volume for the first time, with a new introduction by the author.

These first major works of fiction by Haruki Murakami center on two young men--an unnamed narrator and his friend and former roommate, the Rat. Powerful, at times surreal, stories of loneliness, obsession, and eroticism, these novellas bear all the hallmarks of Murakami's later books, giving us a fascinating insight into a great writer's beginnings, and are remarkable works of fiction in their own right. Here too is an exclusive essay by Murakami in which he explores and explains his decision to become a writer. Prequels to the much-beloved classics A Wild Sheep Chase and Dance Dance Dance, these early works are essential reading for Murakami completists and contemporary fiction lovers alike."

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Aug 4)

ADD TO GOODREADS

"Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries."

Make Your Home Among Strangers by 
Jennine Capó Crucet (Aug 4)

ADD TO GOODREADS

"When Lizet-the daughter of Cuban immigrants and the first in her family to graduate from high school-secretly applies and is accepted to an ultra-elite college, her parents are furious at her decision to leave Miami. Just weeks before she's set to start school, her parents divorce and her father sells her childhood home, leaving Lizet, her mother, and Leidy-Lizet's older sister, a brand-new single mom-without a steady income and scrambling for a place to live.

Amidst this turmoil, Lizet begins her first semester at Rawlings College, distracted by both the exciting and difficult moments of freshman year. But the privileged world of the campus feels utterly foreign, as does her new awareness of herself as a minority."

The Girl Who Slept with God by Val Brelinski (Aug 4)

ADD TO GOODREADS

"Set in Arco, Idaho, in 1970, Val Brelinski’s powerfully affecting first novel tells the story of three sisters: young Frances, gregarious and strong-willed Jory, and moral-minded Grace. Their father, Oren, is a respected member of the community and science professor at the local college. Yet their mother’s depression and Grace’s religious fervor threaten the seemingly perfect family, whose world is upended when Grace returns from a missionary trip to Mexico and discovers she’s pregnant with—she believes—the child of God.

Distraught, Oren sends Jory and Grace to an isolated home at the edge of the town. There, they prepare for the much-awaited arrival of the baby while building a makeshift family that includes an elderly eccentric neighbor and a tattooed social outcast who drives an ice cream truck."

The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips 
(Aug 11)

ADD TO GOODREADS

"In a windowless building in a remote part of town, the newly employed Josephine inputs an endless string of numbers into something known only as "The Database." After a long period of joblessness, she's not inclined to question her fortune, but as the days inch by and the files stack up, Josephine feels increasingly anxious in her surroundings. When one evening her husband Joseph disappears and then returns, offering no explanation as to his whereabouts, her creeping unease shifts decidedly to dread.

As other strange events build to a crescendo, the haunting truth about Josephine's work begins to take shape in her mind, even as something powerful is gathering its own form within her. She realizes that in order to save those she holds most dear, she must penetrate an institution whose tentacles seem to extend to every corner of the city and beyond."

Slab by Selah Saterstrom (Aug 11)

ADD TO GOODREADS

"On a slab that's all Katrina left of her Mississippi home, Tiger tells her story, and it is as American as Horatio Alger, Schwab's Pharmacy, and a tent revival. She was a stripper, but is she now a performance artist and best-selling author, and it is really Barbara Walters she's narrating this tale to? We're too dazzled to know more than that this is about how a girl ends up in the backwash of decadence and sin and how out of the flotsam and jetsam she might construct a story of herself and the South to carry her to salvation.

Serial killers, preachers, and prison flower-arranging classes. Bikers, bad boyfriends, and a stripper who performed as a Trans Am. Tiger has seen it all and as she sits on her slab, identifying anecdotes as they go by, we witness Selah Saterstrom at her greatest—funny, bawdy, and steeped in the landscape and all the devastation it has created and absorbed."

The Incarnations by Susan Barker (Aug 18)

ADD TO GOODREADS

"Who are you? you must be wondering. I am your soulmate, your old friend, and I have come back to this city of sixteen million in search of you.

So begins the first letter that falls into Wang’s lap as he flips down the visor in his taxi. The letters that follow are filled with the stories of Wang’s previous lives—from escaping a marriage to a spirit bride, to being a slave on the run from Genghis Khan, to living as a fisherman during the Opium Wars, and being a teenager on the Red Guard during the cultural revolution—bound to his mysterious “soulmate,” spanning one thousand years of betrayal and intrigue.

As the letters continue to appear seemingly out of thin air, Wang becomes convinced that someone is watching him—someone who claims to have known him for over one thousand years. And with each letter, Wang feels the watcher growing closer and closer…"

What new book do you want to read this August?

A Cure for Suicide by Jesse Ball

A Cure for Suicide by Jesse Ball
Publisher: Pantheon. July 21, 2015
Pages: 240
Genre: Literary fiction and kind of sci-fi
Source: Publisher
First Line: The examiner closed the gate behind her with a swift, careful motion.


ADD TO GOODREADS

BUY FROM INDIEBOUND

BUY FROM BOOK DEPOSITORY

A man and a woman have moved into a small house in a small village. The woman is an “examiner,” the man, her “claimant.” The examiner is both doctor and guide, charged with teaching the claimant a series of simple functions: this is a chair, this is a fork, this is how you meet people. She makes notes in her journal about his progress: he is showing improvement, yet his dreams are troubling. One day, the examiner brings him to a party, and here he meets Hilda, a charismatic but volatile woman whose surprising assertions throw everything the claimant has learned into question. What is this village? Why is he here? And who is Hilda?  - Goodreads

The entire time I was reading this book, I was completely fascinated. I've been a fan of Jesse Ball's since I read Silence Once Begun, and this novel doesn't fail to bring another dose of quiet, haunting weirdness. I finished this book in two sittings and only stopped during the first sitting, because I absolutely had to go to bed. You find a nameless "examiner" teaching a nameless "claimant" very, very basic tasks as if he is first being introduced to being a human, despite being an adult. The claimant is told he almost died, but is now healing in the Gentlest Village. It takes a while for the claimant to catch on to what she's teaching him, but once he does, some other memories start to boil back to the surface. We watch their interactions and then we sometimes get to see the examiner's notes about the claimant's progress:

Claimant is matching given data with remembered data--a troubling development.

I really, really don't want to spoil anything about this book, because figuring out what's going on and why is what makes reading this book exciting. The characters are clearly in some strange, sterilized and bureaucratic dystopian system. This is reflected throughout by how alarmingly straight forward the writing is. Especially in some of the stilted, taught dialogue. My only real complaint is that in the last third of the book we get to see the claimant's past, but it's written in a style in which it's being told to someone else. And we're frequently reminded of that. After experiencing such stark, distant prose, it would have been nice to be immersed in the claimant's memories with more casual writing.

I adored the ending. It might bother some people, but I loved the feeling and questions I was left with. What do you need to learn to be human? Do you lose yourself when you lose your memories? How much treatment for depression is too much?

If you like your mysterious literary science fiction a little experimental with some shades of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this will be a great read.

Some Quotes:

"On the fifth day, she told him about fire, and explained what cooking was. He found fire to be very exciting. He could hardly bear the excitement of it. She wrote this down."

"After breakfast, we will wash the dishes we have used and we will put them away. We will stand for a moment in the kitchen, which we will have cleaned, and we will feel a small rise of pleasure at having set things right. It is an enduring satisfaction for our species to make little systems and tend to them."

"The world isn't the place we are told to live in. It is another place entirely. We have both more choice, and less, than we are supposed to have."



Outlandishness Rating: 7/10

Why You Should Read Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton. April 2014.
Pages: 306
Genre: Science fiction
Source: Giveaway
First Line: Welcome to Lagos, Nigeria.


ADD TO GOODREADS

BUY FROM INDIEBOUND

BUY FROM BOOK DEPOSITORY

When a massive object crashes into the ocean off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous and legendary city, three people wandering along Bar Beach (Adaora, the marine biologist- Anthony, the rapper famous throughout Africa- Agu, the troubled soldier) find themselves running a race against time to save the country they love and the world itself… from itself. Lagoon expertly juggles multiple points of view and crisscrossing narratives with prose that is at once propulsive and poetic, combining everything from superhero comics to Nigerian mythology to tie together a story about a city consuming itself. - Goodreads

While Lagoon is a great science fiction read, I think what made it so special was that it's really a revealing, sometimes critical, but ultimately caring love letter to Lagos, Nigeria. This book exemplifies why I think everyone should read science fiction. These stories aren't just about aliens or robots or other sci-fi tropes. Those things are used to illuminate important truths about humanity and culture. Through Nnedi Okorafor's use of a first contact alien story, I learned so much about Nigeria and I'm really glad that I did.

Ayodele, the alien ambassador that asks the three main characters for help, walks out of the sea and promises that her people will bring positive change to humans. They just want some place to live. They seem to have incredible powers and technology allowing them to transform into many different things, amongst other talents. But when news of these aliens starts to get out, the change that takes place in Lagos is anything but positive. The city gets torn apart.

The three main characters (Adaora, Agu, and Anthony) are all strong and fascinating in different ways. They all bring something new and fresh to the table when they're confronted with the issue of having to hang out with an alien that has transformed herself to look like a human. The villains in this story are equally interesting in their motives and their behavior. I don't normally like books that jump between characters each chapter, but I think the technique really worked for Lagoon. It only further helped to paint a picture of the beauty and the problems in Nigeria today.

Something else that I really appreciated about this book was the Nigerian mythology that gets woven into the novel. It's surprising whenever it appears. I never expected it. But I do think it added a layer of richness to the story. I didn't understand all of it or why it was there, but that just has me excited to do some more research to understand these stories.

I personally wish that we had learned a little bit more about the aliens and why they were there, but I realize that's not the story Okorafor was trying to tell. If you're looking for a sci-fi read about aliens that gives you a great introduction to Nigeria, look no further.


Outlandishness Rating: 7/10

Aliens. And some of the chapters are told from the point of view of animals who basically gain super powers. So it's inherently a little weird.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? [June 15, 2015]

What a week it's been. It's been a little crazy getting back into a work schedule. I've been trying to figure out how to prioritize my time again. It's shockingly hard when you're not in school. At school and work for the past two years, I was constantly aware of what time it was. Because, you know, I needed to get out of wherever I was pronto and something was always due. Now time just kind of slips by. My work schedule's about to get a lot more regular, so maybe that'll help. I'm working on it.

I got stuck on a slow book all week, but now I'm finished and it's reviewed and I'M FREE. Bring me the alien books. Isn't Lagoon beautiful?

THIS WEEK I READ:

• Saga, vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan
• The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall
• Saga, vol. 4 by Brian K. Vaughan

So I didn't realize that Saga didn't have unlimited volumes for me to binge. It was quite a shock to realize there wasn't a volume 5 yet. Do I start buying single issues or wait until the end of the year for volume 5? HELP.

CURRENTLY READING:

I just started Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor and so far I LOVE IT. I've been craving science fiction. In the prologue, a swordfish is the narrator. And the swordfish gets crazy powers from an alien. YES.

Despite the FPSO Mystras's loading hose leaking crude oil, the ocean water just outside Lagos, Nigeria, is now so clean that a cup of its salty-sweet goodness will heal the worst human illnesses and cause a hundred more illnesses not yet known to humankind. It is more alive than it has been in centuries and it is teeming with aliens and monsters.

I sort of meant to read this one like two years ago, but it didn't actually happen. The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara seems like just the kind of weird and dark I need to speed my reading back up. I actually have it physically from the library. Honestly, ebooks are so hard for me to get myself to read. Anyway, now that I've read A Little Life, I know I can trust Yanagihara.

What are you reading this week?

 

Thrifty Thursday #1: The Wild Shore

First for a little update. You may have noticed that my blog was completely gutted and redesigned! Yay! I started this project on a whim last night. At first I was about to buy a $5 premade template, but as I was looking at them, I was like "nah, I can figure this out." So that's what I did. It was a fun/very frustrating way to stay up until 3 am. AND I added disqus, so commenting and comment notifications will be much less horrible! I hope you guys like it.

Ok, back to the topic at hand. I know it's a little late in the day to be doing a Thursday post, but I was sick all day. Because of that, I may or may not have drank an entire 2 liter of ginger ale. To be fair, I knocked over a full glass in my sleepy stupid. Ginger ale is medicine AND hardwood floor polish, right?

Thrifty Thursday is a meme started by my friend Sal over at Motion Sick Lit. He is like my weird fiction muse. He always has a good recommendation for me that I've NEVER heard of. And he's really good at analyzing writing too. He's a new book blogger, so check him out!

The idea of Thrifty Thursday: each week you link up a used book you get for (preferably) under $5. Grabbing a book you've never heard of is encouraged. It's a cool way to support local shops and maybe find a new favorite book. Since I love judging books by their covers, this is just the activity for me.


THE BOOKSTORE: Bucket O' Blood

This is one of my all time favorites in Chicago. If you're anywhere near Logan Square, you MUST check out Bucket O' Blood. It's a used bookstore AND record store. They sell sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and some literary fiction. So obviously it was made for me. Everything is super cheap and it's hard not to find something fun to bring home.


THE BOOK: The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson

Do you see that? Do you see that on the cover? It's a blurb from Ursula K. Le Guin. "There's a fresh wind blowing in The Wild Shore." That's ALL I NEED. But also that cover is super nice. And I've heard of Kim Stanley Robinson's science fiction before, but hadn't actually read anything. So I took the plunge! Here's what it's about:

2047: For the small Pacific Coast community of San Onofre, life in the aftermath of a devastating nuclear attack is a matter of survival, a day-to-day struggle to stay alive. But young Hank Fletcher dreams of the world that might have been, and might yet be--and dreams of playing a crucial role in America's rebirth.

Sounds cool, right? I don't read a lot of dystopians/utopians anymore, but I'm very intrigued by this imagining of an alternate history of America. And it's a trilogy, so if I REALLY like it, there's more where that came from!

PRICE: $5
I couldn't even feel guilty about buying it.  

Thanks for hosting this, Sal!


What cheap books have you picked up recently? Tell me about your favorite used bookstore!

#ReadingMyLibrary: Week Two Update

I don't want to say I haven't finished a library book yet, buuuuut.... A Little Life is really really long, ok? I'm going to finish it tonight, don't even worry about it. So, you know what? I'll just count it as done. For the sake of this post and my dignity. What an ending, right?!

I did go to the library again this week, because I had to pick up an additional copy of Burial Rites by Hannah Kent for my boss. We're officially reading it for the now three-person book club, which is pretty exciting. Starting that tomorrow.

How much money I've saved on books read:

$30 wow!! And that's just one book so far! Libraries are actually the best.

The challenge for this week is to tell you what books I'd like to suggest to my library. And, the thing is, I'm actually always suggesting books to my library. Because I know what Chicago needs, obviously. So I guess I'll just list the things I most recently remember suggesting they buy (and they do actually listen to me. They haven't rejected me yet).

Science fiction about places that are not America and a reality tv show celebrity memoir. This list is actually very telling.

 

Do you suggest books to the library? What is your library lacking? 

 

Top Ten Books Recently Added To My TBR

The Broke and the Bookish runs this business.

I love this week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt, because I feel like a TBR list is really telling. And it's an excellent opportunity to show off backlist titles that interest me (there are a lot of them) If any of the titles are links, you'll be sent to the blog where I first heard of them (if I remember where I heard of them). Check out their reviews, they're better than my speculations!

Coming Soon

                  

War of the Encyclopaedists by Christopher Robinson & Gavin Kovite - Two best friends are separated by the circumstances of life. One stays in Boston, the other is in Baghdad with the National Guard. How they stay in contact with each other is by editing a Wikipedia page about themselves in funny and sad updates. THIS IS BRILLIANT, CAN I READ IT NOW.

The Animals by Christian Kiefer -Bill Reed, who manages a wildlife sanctuary, has his life shaken up when an old friend is released from prison. Because of this, he has to face, and hide, his criminal past while trying to keep his shelter open. Since I do everything Shannon does, I should probably read this.

How to Cone a Mammoth by Beth Shapiro - A nonfiction book that delves into how extinct species can be cloned, why they would be, and the ethics of it all. Since I am very interested in keeping my cat alive forever, I have to read up on this cloning business. But also this sounds just fascinating.

Already Out

                 


Butterflies in November by Audur Ava Olafsdottir- This was in Shannon's books to read if you like Wes Anderson list, so that's really all you have to say for me. It's quirky, it's Iceland, the dialogue is weird. A deaf-mute son. Winning lottery numbers. A road trip. A falconer. God knows what else. I didn't know I needed these things, but I'm pretty sure I do.

Thanks For Ruining My Life by C.V. Hunt - To be honest, it's hard to tell what this one's about! But C.V. Hunt has been recommended to me and Lixian gave it 5 stars, sooo. A writer meets an antlered man. It's bizarre and fantastical. I DON'T KNOW, but I want to find out.

Changing by Lily Hoang  - This seems like a strange, beautiful little thing. It's about the life of a young Vietnamese American woman written in a strange from called I Ching. "Like a topsy-turvy horoscope writer, Hoang weaves a modern novella into the classical form of the I Ching. In glassine sentences, fragmented and new, Jack and Jill fall down the hill over and over again in intricate and ancient patterns."

                                

Trading Rosemary by Octavia Cade - "In a world where experience is currency, Rosemary is the owner of a very special library—a library of memory, where scented coins transfer personal experience from one individual to another." An 80 page science fiction novella about memory? Yeah. That's actually everything I've ever wanted.

The Visionist by Rachel Urquhart - "An enthralling debut novel about a teenage girl who finds refuge--but perhaps not--in an 1840s Shaker community." The main character kills her abusive father, moves in with some Shakers, and then becomes the group's visionist. Sounds interesting. Sounds intense, maybe? I guess we'll see.

                                

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman - If you liked Interstellar, you'd probably like this. It's the book my Nebula award winning science fiction professor talks about ALL THE TIME. It's about a war and, according to the blurb, "home may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries." Um yeah.

A Legend of the Future by Augustin de Rojas - "A morally profound chamber piece, Agustín de Rojas’ A Legend of the Future takes place inside a damaged spaceship following the failure of a mission to Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. The journey back to Earth forces the crewmembers to face their innermost fears while coexisting with each other in a state of desperation. This mesmerizing novel, reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, is a science fiction roman à clef about the intense pressures—economic, ideological, psychological—inside Communist Cuba." But you should really check out Rachel's review of this.




What have you recently added to your TBR? Maybe one of these a few seconds ago?? Let me know!