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I am not sure how long it's been and what the last book I mentioned would have been... it feels like a lot of "ok", but there were some good ones in the bunch.

I may have mentioned Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Whether or not I did, I thought it was a really good book and deserves a (re-)mention.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz was not good. It was picked for my local book club, and the majority of them also did not like it. A big part of the reason seems to be that the story was meant to be a movie/TV show, originally went nowhere, and was turned into a book. So, the book is not that great of a read as a converted script. I also just didn't like the main character - possibly because he was written for a script, possibly because of him / how he presents himself.

An Insignificant Case was a decent fiction read. It's not a substantial or complicated plot; enough plot and writing to keep entertained, but nothing special

You Better Watch Out gets a similar rating - fine enough to fill some time and not think too hard

The Book of Elsewhere has average reviews but I thought it was pretty good... maybe because I thought the writing was better than average. Plus Keanu was involved, so that's a solid +.5 stars on its own.

A Fever in the Heartland was really good, but man is it also depressing and kind of makes you feel futility in trying to be a good steward of humanity. How the KKK could gain power, and how that is apparently not dead, is saddening.

The Hidden was very similar to You Better Watch Out. My thoughts on the book are similar - eh.

The Day of the Triffids was... fairly good? Alien plants become enemies of humanity/civilization. Something different that falls, I guess, more on the fiction part of sci-fi. I saw a review compared it to War of the Worlds - I can see that comparison for the type of story and story-telling.

The One is the book that the Netflix show is based on. The show is almost nothing like the book. I thought the book was pretty good; it certainly brought up some interesting thoughts/questions from the relationships and stories that unfold in the book.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem was really good/enjoyable. It's generally about life/drugs/culture in California in the 1960s... My big takeaway is that this book is from the 1960s and was a pretty well-written and clear pseudo-documentary that treating drug use with laissez-faire or recent "safe use spaces" doesn't work. It's been done, it failed to be net positive. Joan Didion put together a pretty good book based on her articles that didn't seem to seek a narrative, it was just a (fairly grim) account of what was happening.

Previous Message

I am not sure how long it's been and what the last book I mentioned would have been... it feels like a lot of "ok", but there were some good ones in the bunch.

I may have mentioned Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Whether or not I did, I thought it was a really good book and deserves a (re-)mention.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz was not good. It was picked for my local book club, and the majority of them also did not like it. A big part of the reason seems to be that the story was meant to be a movie/TV show, originally went nowhere, and was turned into a book. So, the book is not that great of a read as a converted script. I also just didn't like the main character - possibly because he was written for a script, possibly because of him / how he presents himself.

An Insignificant Case was a decent fiction read. It's not a substantial or complicated plot; enough plot and writing to keep entertained, but nothing special

You Better Watch Out gets a similar rating - fine enough to fill some time and not think too hard

The Book of Elsewhere has average reviews but I thought it was pretty good... maybe because I thought the writing was better than average. Plus Keanu was involved, so that's a solid +.5 stars on its own.

A Fever in the Heartland was really good, but man is it also depressing and kind of makes you feel futility in trying to be a good steward of humanity. How the KKK could gain power, and how that is apparently not dead, is saddening.

The Hidden was very similar to You Better Watch Out. My thoughts on the book are similar - eh.

The Day of the Triffids was... fairly good? Alien plants become enemies of humanity/civilization. Something different that falls, I guess, more on the fiction part of sci-fi. I saw a review compared it to War of the Worlds - I can see that comparison for the type of story and story-telling.

The One is the book that the Netflix show is based on. The show is almost nothing like the book. I thought the book was pretty good; it certainly brought up some interesting thoughts/questions from the relationships and stories that unfold in the book.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem was really good/enjoyable. It's generally about life/drugs/culture in California in the 1960s... My big takeaway is that this book is from the 1960s and was a pretty well-written and clear pseudo-documentary that treating drug use with laissez-faire or recent "safe use spaces" doesn't work. It's been done, it failed to be net positive. Joan Didion put together a pretty good book based on her articles that didn't seem to seek a narrative, it was just a (fairly grim) account of what was happening.

Previous Message

I am not sure how long it's been and what the last book I mentioned would have been... it feels like a lot of "ok", but there were some good ones in the bunch.

I may have mentioned Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Whether or not I did, I thought it was a really good book and deserves a (re-)mention.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz was not good. It was picked for my local book club, and the majority of them also did not like it. A big part of the reason seems to be that the story was meant to be a movie/TV show, originally went nowhere, and was turned into a book. So, the book is not that great of a read as a converted script. I also just didn't like the main character - possibly because he was written for a script, possibly because of him / how he presents himself.

An Insignificant Case was a decent fiction read. It's not a substantial or complicated plot; enough plot and writing to keep entertained, but nothing special

You Better Watch Out gets a similar rating - fine enough to fill some time and not think too hard

The Book of Elsewhere has average reviews but I thought it was pretty good... maybe because I thought the writing was better than average. Plus Keanu was involved, so that's a solid +.5 stars on its own.

A Fever in the Heartland was really good, but man is it also depressing and kind of makes you feel futility in trying to be a good steward of humanity. How the KKK could gain power, and how that is apparently not dead, is saddening.

The Hidden was very similar to You Better Watch Out. My thoughts on the book are similar - eh.

The Day of the Triffids was... fairly good? Alien plants become enemies of humanity/civilization. Something different that falls, I guess, more on the fiction part of sci-fi. I saw a review compared it to War of the Worlds - I can see that comparison for the type of story and story-telling.

The One is the book that the Netflix show is based on. The show is almost nothing like the book. I thought the book was pretty good; it certainly brought up some interesting thoughts/questions from the relationships and stories that unfold in the book.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem was really good/enjoyable. It's generally about life/drugs/culture in California in the 1960s... My big takeaway is that this book is from the 1960s and was a pretty well-written and clear pseudo-documentary that treating drug use with laissez-faire or recent "safe use spaces" doesn't work. It's been done, it failed to be net positive. Joan Didion put together a pretty good book based on her articles that didn't seem to seek a narrative, it was just a (fairly grim) account of what was happening.

Previous Message

I am not sure how long it's been and what the last book I mentioned would have been... it feels like a lot of "ok", but there were some good ones in the bunch.

I may have mentioned Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Whether or not I did, I thought it was a really good book and deserves a (re-)mention.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz was not good. It was picked for my local book club, and the majority of them also did not like it. A big part of the reason seems to be that the story was meant to be a movie/TV show, originally went nowhere, and was turned into a book. So, the book is not that great of a read as a converted script. I also just didn't like the main character - possibly because he was written for a script, possibly because of him / how he presents himself.

An Insignificant Case was a decent fiction read. It's not a substantial or complicated plot; enough plot and writing to keep entertained, but nothing special

You Better Watch Out gets a similar rating - fine enough to fill some time and not think too hard

The Book of Elsewhere has average reviews but I thought it was pretty good... maybe because I thought the writing was better than average. Plus Keanu was involved, so that's a solid +.5 stars on its own.

A Fever in the Heartland was really good, but man is it also depressing and kind of makes you feel futility in trying to be a good steward of humanity. How the KKK could gain power, and how that is apparently not dead, is saddening.

The Hidden was very similar to You Better Watch Out. My thoughts on the book are similar - eh.

The Day of the Triffids was... fairly good? Alien plants become enemies of humanity/civilization. Something different that falls, I guess, more on the fiction part of sci-fi. I saw a review compared it to War of the Worlds - I can see that comparison for the type of story and story-telling.

The One is the book that the Netflix show is based on. The show is almost nothing like the book. I thought the book was pretty good; it certainly brought up some interesting thoughts/questions from the relationships and stories that unfold in the book.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem was really good/enjoyable. It's generally about life/drugs/culture in California in the 1960s... My big takeaway is that this book is from the 1960s and was a pretty well-written and clear pseudo-documentary that treating drug use with laissez-faire or recent "safe use spaces" doesn't work. It's been done, it failed to be net positive. Joan Didion put together a pretty good book based on her articles that didn't seem to seek a narrative, it was just a (fairly grim) account of what was happening.