Books 27 & 28
Book #27 was "Ventus" by Karl Schroeder. I enjoyed his novella in the anthology "Metatropolis" that I recently read, so I thought I'd explore more of his fiction. This is the first novel he wrote solo (he had previously co-written one), and it's quite good. I was put off by the cheesy cover and the cheesy fantasy name of one of the main characters, but I got pulled into the plot quite quickly. It's set on the world Ventus, which was supposed to be terraformed by nanotechnology and ready to welcome settlers. but when the settlers arrive, the nanotech demigods, called "Winds" in the book, don't recognize the settlers as their masters and keep the settlers at a stone age level of development. Outside in the the rest of the universe, humanity has gone to war with a malevolent artificial intelligence and has defeated it, but they're afraid a "resurrection seed" has been planted on Ventus, so they go to find and kill it and also stumble across the secret of what went wrong with the nanotech on Ventus. A lot of times, I find that the label "hard science fiction" is an excuse to explore technology and science philosophy at the expense of good characterization, but that's not the case here. I really found the characters sympathetic and interesting, and the main characters all go through pretty big changes over the course of the book.
Book #28 was "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." The autobiography is flawed- it doesn't cover the Revolution at all, it was written in multiple chunks with many years in between sections, and he doesn't spend as much time on his personal life as I'd like. However, it does give pretty interesting insight into his work as an inventor and statesman and contains his list of 10 virtues and his plans for self-improvement, which were quite interesting. You can read it, too, free from dailylit.com!
1. Kiss of the Spiderwoman [fiction]- Manuel Puig
2. The Garlic Ballads [fiction]- Mo Yan
3. The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World [non-fiction]- Michael Pollan
4. Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood [non-fiction/memoir]- Jennifer Traig
5. Bleeding Kansas [fiction]- Sara Paretsky
6. The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas [non-fiction]- Jerry Dennis
7. The Last of Mr. Noris [fiction]- Christopher Isherwood
8. Goodbye to Berlin [fiction]- Christopher Isherwood
9. The Golden City [fiction]- John Twelve Hawks
10. The Scarlet Pimpernel [fiction]- Baroness Emmuska Orczy (unabridged book on CD)
11 Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies [non-fiction/memoir]- Stewart Copeland
12. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan [fiction]- Lisa See
13. The Shameful Life of Salvador Dali [non-fiction]- Ian Gibson
14. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life [non-fiction]- Barbara Kingsolver (unabridged book on CD)
15. The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup [non-fiction]- Susan Orlean
16. Bee Season [fiction]- Myla Goldberg
17. Kiss Me Like You Love Me [fiction]- Wednesday Lee Friday
18. The Buffalo Soldier [fiction] Chris Bohjalian
19. 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs - The Election that Changed the Country [non-fiction]- James Chace
20. Thirteen [fiction]- Richard K. Morgan (unabridged book on CD)
21. The Waters of Babylon: A Novel About Lawrence After Arabia [fiction]- David Stevens
22. 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior [non-fiction]- Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Roscio and Barry L. Beyerstein
23. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love [fiction]- Oscar Hijuelos
24. Metatropolis [fiction/novellas]- Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi and Karl Schroeder (unabridged book on CD)
25. Under the Eye of the Clock [non-fiction/memoir]- Christopher Nolan
26. Iron and Silk [non-fiction/memoir]- Mark Salzman
Book #28 was "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." The autobiography is flawed- it doesn't cover the Revolution at all, it was written in multiple chunks with many years in between sections, and he doesn't spend as much time on his personal life as I'd like. However, it does give pretty interesting insight into his work as an inventor and statesman and contains his list of 10 virtues and his plans for self-improvement, which were quite interesting. You can read it, too, free from dailylit.com!
1. Kiss of the Spiderwoman [fiction]- Manuel Puig
2. The Garlic Ballads [fiction]- Mo Yan
3. The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World [non-fiction]- Michael Pollan
4. Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood [non-fiction/memoir]- Jennifer Traig
5. Bleeding Kansas [fiction]- Sara Paretsky
6. The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas [non-fiction]- Jerry Dennis
7. The Last of Mr. Noris [fiction]- Christopher Isherwood
8. Goodbye to Berlin [fiction]- Christopher Isherwood
9. The Golden City [fiction]- John Twelve Hawks
10. The Scarlet Pimpernel [fiction]- Baroness Emmuska Orczy (unabridged book on CD)
11 Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies [non-fiction/memoir]- Stewart Copeland
12. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan [fiction]- Lisa See
13. The Shameful Life of Salvador Dali [non-fiction]- Ian Gibson
14. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life [non-fiction]- Barbara Kingsolver (unabridged book on CD)
15. The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup [non-fiction]- Susan Orlean
16. Bee Season [fiction]- Myla Goldberg
17. Kiss Me Like You Love Me [fiction]- Wednesday Lee Friday
18. The Buffalo Soldier [fiction] Chris Bohjalian
19. 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs - The Election that Changed the Country [non-fiction]- James Chace
20. Thirteen [fiction]- Richard K. Morgan (unabridged book on CD)
21. The Waters of Babylon: A Novel About Lawrence After Arabia [fiction]- David Stevens
22. 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior [non-fiction]- Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Roscio and Barry L. Beyerstein
23. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love [fiction]- Oscar Hijuelos
24. Metatropolis [fiction/novellas]- Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi and Karl Schroeder (unabridged book on CD)
25. Under the Eye of the Clock [non-fiction/memoir]- Christopher Nolan
26. Iron and Silk [non-fiction/memoir]- Mark Salzman