Category: Writing

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Who Fears Death

Who Fears Death
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/05
date added: 2015/07/06
shelves: fiction, fantasy, sci-fi
review:
Could not. Stop. Reading. Fascinating blend of fantasy and science fiction, great storytelling voice and world building.

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Who Fears Death

Who Fears Death
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/05
date added: 2015/07/06
shelves: fiction, fantasy, sci-fi
review:
Could not. Stop. Reading. Fascinating blend of fantasy and science fiction, great storytelling voice and world building.

Posted on

Who Fears Death

Who Fears Death
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2015/07/05
date added: 2015/07/06
shelves: fiction, fantasy, sci-fi
review:
Could not. Stop. Reading. Fascinating blend of fantasy and science fiction, great storytelling voice and world building.

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The Book of Phoenix (Who Fears Death, #0.1)

The Book of Phoenix (Who Fears Death, #0.1)
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2015/06/27
date added: 2015/06/29
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:
Picked it up on a bit of a whim because I wanted something to read on a hot day, it was in the new books section at the library, and I’d heard the name. This was an excellent choice. Moving and thought-provoking, with complicated and interesting characters. Couldn’t put it down and finished in a single afternoon! Marked down a smidge because it was occasionally hard to follow the action, but definitely great. I’ll be looking for others of this series!

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The Book of Phoenix (Who Fears Death, #0.1)

The Book of Phoenix (Who Fears Death, #0.1)
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2015/06/27
date added: 2015/06/29
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:
Picked it up on a bit of a whim because I wanted something to read on a hot day, it was in the new books section at the library, and I’d heard the name. This was an excellent choice. Moving and thought-provoking, with complicated and interesting characters. Couldn’t put it down and finished in a single afternoon! Marked down a smidge because it was occasionally hard to follow the action, but definitely great. I’ll be looking for others of this series!

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The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
author: Isabel Wilkerson
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2013/11/11
date added: 2015/02/11
shelves: history, non-fiction, ebook
review:
A tremendous book, covering a vast scope and intimate detail at the same time. I’d been meaning to read this for a while, but then in a Metafilter thread about American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America someone mentioned this book again and it happened to be available in ebook from the library. I’m so glad I finally read it! The sense of horror, the enormity of the migration, and the degree to which this movement shaped the 20th century: I hardly contemplated it. The author moves back and forth almost effortlessly between statistics, contemporary accounts, anecdotes, and the overarching stories of her three protagonists. (It reminds me a bit of Michener James A, who I read a lot of in high school/college.) So good, I teared up a bit at the end as Robert (migrated from Louisiana to Los Angeles) and George (Florida to NYC) got sick and passed away.

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Books of 2014

I feel like I didn’t read a damn thing in 2014. Between knitting, Twitter, and that architectural design studio class, my reading time got sucked up by other stuff! But it occurs to me that I do have a few really excellent things to recommend, even if they’re a bit all over the place.

Because as it turns out, the few things that I did read last year on Goodreads were all four and five star reads! So I can heartily recommend:

I will also recommend with some reservations The Design of Everyday Things. (It’s a bit dry, and TBH I didn’t finish before it had to go back to the library. But if it’s your ball of wax, you should totally read it, if that makes sense.)

In the realm of reads that aren’t really reads, that architectural design class led me in some interesting directions with drawing, and I really enjoyed Sachiko Umoto’s “Illustration School” series. ALL THE CUTE DRAWINGS. On the reference side of the class, Materials, Structures, and Standards by Julia McMorrough was my go-to for everything technical: stair heights, door widths, room sizing, very well organized and illustrated.

I also bought my very first comic books this year. I now have the complete run (so far) of Ms Marvel, and I LOVE it. The story, and the way the art and the story and the writing style all work together…it’s fantastic. (FWIW, check out the recent episode of Rachel and Miles X-Plain the X-Men with G. Willow Wilson. She’s fascinating talking about narrative!) I also picked up Volume One of Rat Queens, and it’s hella fun D&D-esque adventure.

And while I’m not sure if it was purchased in 2014, I definitely read the rulebook for Dungeon World cover to cover this past fall. Check out my post about playing Dungeon World for more on that.

So: reading!

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City Without End (Entire and the Rose, #3)

City Without End (Entire and the Rose, #3)
author: Kay Kenyon
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2011/04/21
date added: 2015/01/20
shelves: fiction, sci-fi
review:
This story continues along in its convoluted way, and I can’t put it down. Lots of big crazy stuff happens in this one, but she manages to hold together a big cast of characters while keeping their personalities clear and distinct.