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Now in paperback, the eye-opening book that was nominated for a 1998 James Beard Foundation award in the Writing on Food category.
In the winter of 1996, Michael Ruhlman donned hounds-tooth-check pants and a chef’s jacket and entered the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, to learn the art of cooking. His vivid and energetic record of that experience, The Making of a Chef, takes us to the heart of this food-knowledge mecca. Here we meet a coterie of talented chefs, an astonishing and driven breed. Ruhlman learns fundamental skills and information about the behavior of food that make cooking anything possible. Ultimately, he propels himself and his readers through a score of kitchens and classrooms, from Asian and American regional cuisines to lunch cookery and even table waiting, in search of the elusive, unnameable elements of great cooking.
I am a foodie and I have a weird fascination for food writing. I also have a couple of books by Michael Ruhlman that I haven’t read yet. This book happened to be available from my library so I dove in!
The Narrator(s)
Jeff Riggenbach. It was great!
My Thoughts
I loved the writing and the storytelling. I got so immersed in the whole book as I was reading that it just transported me away from real life and into a culinary dream world. It made me think about food and cooking so much more deeply; my relationship with food, the way I approached cooking for myself and my family, the appreciation I have for food and food culture. I loved the way the author talks about food and cooking and his own appreciation for food and his experience of working in the kitchen.
It almost made me want to sign up for culinary classes but I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn’t do well as a professional cook. I love food, and I love cooking, but as Ruhlman’s teacher talks about in the book, I don’t think I have that drive to cook for others professionally and to always show up no matter the weather and the occasion (and unlike Ruhlman, I’m totally fine with that!).
I love Ruhlman’s candidness and the way he talks about his experience with such transparency. I love the way he is so passionate about food and cooking, and I love the way he really makes me feel like I’m right there. I want more of this and I hope to come back to this book again in the future.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.
To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.
I thought the premise was brilliant. This book has been on my TBR for ages and it’s a buddy-read on my online bookclub so I decided to join in.
The Quotes
“The entitled assholes of the world are sustained by girls who forgive too easily.”
“That’s not a matter of losing control. Every guy who does something like that knows exactly what he’s doing. There is always a moment where he consciously decides that he will ruin someone’s life to feel better about his own. Always.”
“Shame and humiliation are self-imposed emotions, and from here on out, I choose not to feel them.”
“This body of mine is not big enough to contain the scale of emotion coursing through me. How could I feel a rage like this, and not be able to tear the sky open and scorch the earth?”
My Thoughts
Overall, I didn’t like the book very much. I liked the idea and the worldbuilding based upon Chinese culture; it’s new and different and I thought the story itself was very interesting. The execution was very poor though. The MC, Zetian, was an incredibly Mary Sue character; her powers kept increasing to ridiculous levels, within days, with no training and no explanation, against people who were supposed to have higher Qi points than her. The fight scenes were almost always conveniently not shown on page, taking us into things that happens in the mental realm instead. I get that the battles fought in the mental realm are important, but there should be enough physical fight scenes to balance it out as well.
The intimate and vulnerable scenes between the MCs felt very shallow; there wasn’t any chemistry and I didn’t feel their connection at all. We are mostly told and not shown a lot of the feelings they feel; the anger at the oppression and being lied to, the love and attraction between the MCs. I just didn’t feel it. I don’t know if I’ll read the next book. I really like the story idea, but I’m character-driven and I need to like the characters and feel like they make sense. We’ll see.
My Rating
⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
A super-powered collision of extraordinary minds and vengeful intentions—#1 New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab returns with the thrilling follow-up to Vicious.
Magneto and Professor X. Superman and Lex Luthor. Victor Vale and Eli Ever. Sydney and Serena Clarke. Great partnerships, now soured on the vine.
But Marcella Riggins needs no one. Flush from her brush with death, she’s finally gained the control she’s always sought—and will use her new-found power to bring the city of Merit to its knees. She’ll do whatever it takes, collecting her own sidekicks, and leveraging the two most infamous EOs, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, against each other.
With Marcella’s rise, new enmities create opportunity–and the stage of Merit City will once again be set for a final, terrible reckoning.
I read Vicious, the first book in the series, and loved it. I wanted more of the story.
The Quotes
“How many men would she have to turn to dust before one took her seriously?”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a human versus a human or a human versus an EO or an EO versus an EO. You do what you can. You fight, and you win, until you don’t.”
“The next time you point a gun at someone, make sure you’re ready to pull the trigger.”
“The life I had is gone. There’s no getting it back. I’d rather make a new one. A better one. One where I don’t have to pretend to be weak to survive.”
My Thoughts
I didn’t like this book as much as the first one. I loved the characters, and still do, but there were so many plot holes and issues with the story this time around that were really convenient and annoying. The storytelling style with the jumping timelines was also an issue; it was very confusing and tedious to get through.
The catalyst of the story was stupid, in my opinion, because Victor justified doing many bad things by saying that he was trying to cover their tracks, but that doesn’t make sense at all because anyone with any common sense would realize that it’s exactly what would bring attention to them. I also didn’t like how conveniently things were resolved in the end during the boss battles. I still love Sydney and Mitch, and I think June is a very interesting new character. I want to know what happens to them in the next book, but I’m not looking forward to slogging through the jumping timelines storytelling style, and if the plot is going to have issues like in this book, I don’t know if it’s going to be worth it. I truly hope it gets better.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
March 2025 Wrap Up
The first couple of weeks in March was quite slow for me in terms of reading. I was in a bit of a slump and only finished two books in those two weeks. The good news is that the other six books happened in the second half of the month, so at least I got my reading mojo back!
My March 2025 TBR Intentions
I managed to read three books from my TBR, and cross one off as a dnf. I’m sorry, I loved Fourth Wing and I wanted to see the series through but I just didn’t feel excited about Onyx Storm as I was reading, and 25% in I just… didn’t want to pick it back up. Maybe I will finish it, one day, but it’s not a priority.
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (dnf)
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Terror by Dan Simmons
All The Living and The Dead by Hayley Campbell
Books Read in March 2025
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
The Main Dish by Michael Ruhlman
The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Notable Books This Month
The Making of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman I stumbled upon The Main Dish by the author while browsing on Audible. It was only an hour or so long, so I listened to it out of curiosity, and I ended up wanting more so I borrowed this book from Libby. I didn’t expect to get so engrossed in it. The whole time I was reading it I was completely immersed in his world of food and cooking, it was such an experience! I enjoy cooking but I’ve always known I’d never be a professional chef because I don’t care enough for precision and finesse; this book made me consider enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America! I eventually came to my senses and realized that while I love reading about the life of a chef, I don’t think I’d do well as one. Still, it made me want to!
All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell This book blew my mind! It was the BOTM for my in-person bookclub that another member chose because it was one of their favorite books. I’ve had Stiff by Mary Roach on my TBR for ages and a morbid fascination about death and dying, so I thought this book would be really interesting. I expected something clinical and analytical, facts about the business of death, but it turned out to be much more emotional than that. It talked about what people in the death business did, but more importantly, it also talked about the people themselves; why they do it, how they got into it, the emotional toll it takes on them, ways they cope. There is a lot more to this book that I could go into; we had such an incredible discussion during our bookclub meeting for the book, but just suffice to say that I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about death and grieving.
April 2025 TBR Intentions
I wasn’t able to get to all the books I wanted to read last month but I’m hoping I’ll get them this month! Plus some others. I’m really looking forward to all of these!
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Terror by Dan Simmons
The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Stoner by John Williams
How was your month in March? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful April with lots of great books!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books You’d be a Fool Not to Read
I had some trouble with this topic, I won’t lie, it’s too hard to pick from all the great books out there! But I hope you’ll find some good ones on this list and I hope you’ll enjoy them if you choose to read them.
Top Ten Books You’d be a Fool Not to Read
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber – I read this book almost ten years ago but I still think about it occassionally. It sticks with you. It’s a story about a missionary who leaves his wife behind (for years) to go to a new planet and spread his message to the aliens living there, but it’s the exploration of human nature and humanity that struck me. I need to reread this sooner rather than later.
Biting the Sun by Tanith Lee – Another book that delves into the human psyche and what it means to live a hedonistic lifestyle. If nothing is important, then what is it that makes life meaningful?
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – This trilogy is marketed under YA and launched a whole trend of dystopian YA books, but it is honestly in a league all its own. It still holds up after all these years, and again, the exploration of human suffering and what it means to be human is the thing that gets me.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – Another exploration of human suffering, with a vengence! Literally. I know this is a thick book and can be daunting but it’s so fast-paced and thrilling that you don’t even notice it once you get started. There are so many exciting twists and turns, especially if you’re reading it for the first time, but even after a dozen rereads, I still get excited reading it again.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah – This is one I’d recommend listening on audiobook because the author reads it. His performance is a work of art and you really feel like he’s a friend having a conversation with you and telling you his stories. I’m a huge fan and I have so much respect for him for so many reasons.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – I’ve only read a couple of books in this series, but it’s so fun and different that I can’t not include it on the list. It’s so rich and funny, and yet, also poignant in some ways. You’d be a fool not to at least try it, really!
Life of Pi by Yann Martel – I love the fantastical elements of this story as well as the exploration of our religious beliefs and spiritual values. You could say they actually go hand in hand in many ways. This book made me think about why I believe what I believe.
11/22/63 by Stephen King – Honestly, you’d be a fool not to read at least one book by Stephen King. It doesn’t have to be one of his big horror books, in fact, his non-horror books are some of my favorites. If you don’t know which one to pick, I’d recommend this one, but he’s just got so many good ones! I may be biased, but I’m also right! 😂
Circe by Madeline Miller – You might have heard about The Song of Achilles by the author, and it’s good, but I think this one is better! For some reason, I never wrote a review for the book, but impressions stick, and I remember feeling all my feelings for a while after reading the book.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly – This is a well-known classic but it’s popular for a reason. The more I think about this book, the more impressed I become. I love how this story came to be, I love how insightful the author is about the topic of human nature and monsters, both literally and figuratively. It is a haunting story.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books I Did Not Finish
There are many books I dnf’d because I didn’t like them but there were also some books that I think I might like but just wasn’t ready for. Today’s list is a mix of those I didn’t like and will never pick up again, and some that I know I want to try again one day.
Top Ten Books I Did Not Finish
Dracula by Bram Stoker – This one is a funny story because it’s not that I didn’t like the book, it’s that I listened to it on audio and somehow thought it would be a good idea to listen while sleeping. I was frightened awake by a nasty, scary, loud voice – Dracula’s voice, I presume, I didn’t wait long enough to find out. I quickly turned it off and hid under the covers and I just haven’t picked up the book again. I will eventually! Maybe on print and not before bed!
You, Me, and the Colors of Life by Noa C. Walker – I read up to 52% of the book. I don’t know what happens so this isn’t a spoiler, but I got the impression that things wasn’t going to end well for the MC. She has non-Hodgkins lymphoma, which is the same cancer I had when I was 19, and I couldn’t keep reading thinking that she was going to die from it.
Caraval by Stephanie Garber – I had really high hopes for this book and I think I got all the way to 90% of the book and then rage-quit because it kept getting worse for me. Here’s what I said in a review: “It was all so juvenile and nonsensical, and there were so many holes in the plot. I didn’t like any of the characters at all, and even Julian, who was supposed to be the most appealing and was portrayed as such, didn’t appeal to me at all. A lot of the book was repetitive and annoying, and I really didn’t like Scarlett and her sister Donatella.”
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton – This one came highly recommended and I really wanted to like it but I just didn’t. I love the idea, but the execution was disappointing. There was too much narration, too many big words, too much telling, too much effort going into trying to convince us how smart the crow was. I just didn’t care about the characters or the story. I dnf’d about 35% in.
I Fell In Love With Hope by Lancali – The language was beautiful but it was too much purple prose. It became not about the story but about the word-crafting, which is fine, but that’s not what I thought I was getting into. I dnf’d maybe 10% in, probably less, because I just couldn’t get through the story, I got so stuck on the words.
We’ll Prescribe You A Cat by Syou Ishida – I only read two “chapters” but it looks like each chapter is an individual story about different people who were prescribed cats. They all seem unrelated to each other except for the cat thing, I can’t say for sure since I dnf’d, but I realized that maybe slice of life stories just aren’t for me. I was mostly bored.
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson – Here’s my review from when I tried reading it in 2016: “I couldn’t get past the first 15%. It started so confusing with the characters names and change in POVs, but then I started to get it and it seemed promising. Then came pages and pages of descriptions about how Kelsier was using Allomancy… all the talk of Pushing and Pulling, and IronPush, PewterPull, etc. It’s much worse than what I’ve described here, it was just too tedious and boring.” Don’t come at me, Brando Sando fans! I’ve enjoyed his other books, and I’ve since read the first three books of the Stormlight Archives and loved them. Maybe 2016 me was just not ready for Mistborn but I’m open to trying again!
Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang – I borrowed this book because I wanted to read just that one story that the movie Arrival was based on – Story of Your Life. I loved it and intended to read the rest of the book, but didn’t get to them before I had to return the book. I’ve since read Exhalation by the author and loved it so I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this one!
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion – I initially thought this book was about magical living, you know, the whimsical happy life kind of thing. I picked it up in 2016 when my father was sick and I needed something whimsical. It turned out to be a book about grief and I just couldn’t do it then because it was too close to home. One day, eventually.
Only A Monster by Vanessa Len – I try my best to support Malaysians where I can, so I got excited when I found out this story has a Malaysian MC and the author has Malaysian roots. It sounded like a great story and I was looking forward to reading it but unfortunately, I couldn’t get into the book. I couldn’t relate to the characters or the story, but I love that others seem to like it and I hope that adding it to my list might help it find other readers.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books on My Spring 2025 to-Read List
I haven’t done a very good job of reading from my TBR so far this year, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have books on my TBR. It’s a symbol of hope. That I’ll actually read these books. We shall see. 😂
Top Ten Books on My Spring 2025 TBR
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst – I’ve posted this book on a few TBR lists already and I still haven’t read it! I don’t know what’s the holdup but I hope I’ll get to it this spring!
The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman – The third book in the series; I read the first two months ago and I desperately want to continue the adventure. It’s so much fun!
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros – I didn’t like the second book as much as the first, and I’ve heard mixed reviews about this one, which scares me, but either way, I feel like I have to see it through.
The Lost Tarot by Sarah Henstra – The gorgeous cover reeled me in, and I love stories about divination, so it found its way into my TBR!
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston – Another one that’s been in my TBR for ages. It’s got good reviews so I really want to read it.
The Terror by Dan Simmons – I’m quite excited about this one. I’ve had it on the waitlist since December last year and it’s supposed to get to me soon! Fingers crossed!
Rose Madder by Stephen King – I’m on a personal Stephen King reading challenge and I heard great things about this book. It will be my first time reading it. I’m excited!
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore – I love mystery thrillers and this one intrigued me. I also heard a lot of good things about the book and author so I thought I’d try it.
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett – I loved the first book, was a little disappointed with the second, but I love the characters and want to visit with them again!
The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard – This one is so interesting; it’s a scifi with a time element, which I always love. Can’t wait to get to this!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books that Include/Feature…
Not exactly a plot device but definitely a sort of theme; I decided to go with books that feature divination. It made me realize that for someone who loves learning about divination tools, I don’t read a lot of fiction that features divination. Maybe some minor mention here and there, but not many that have divination as a main plot point.
I’m not sure that all the ones listed below do either because I haven’t read many of them, but searching for books that fit the theme certainly made me interested in reading them!
Top Ten Books that Feature… Divination
The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick – One of my favorite series, it features a form of card divination, but the beauty of the books are the characters and the relationships between them.
The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware – This one features tarot cards. I remember not really liking the story very much but being impressed with the accurate portrayal of tarot cards.
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick – Featuring the I Ching. I haven’t read the book but I watched the tv series and loved it. I don’t remember the I Ching in the show though.
The Darksword Trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – I have these books on my physical bookshelf but haven’t read them. They feature a form of tarot cards, but not exactly the same as real tarot I think. I love the Dragonlance series by these same authors!
All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue – The main character is a tarot reader who goes to a Catholic school in a conservative Irish town. I am hooked! It’s YA and looks like it’d be an easy read so maybe I’ll get to it soon.
Fated by Benedict Jacka – I haven’t read this one but I’ve heard some good things about it and I’m intrigued. The main character is Alex Verus who is a mage diviner and uses many different forms of divination. This is the first book of twelve.
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig – I’m not sure if I’d consider this one a form of card divination, but it does have cards with magical powers.
The Lost Tarot by Sarah Henstra – I borrowed this from the library because of the title and the gorgeous cover. I don’t know what this is about except that it features tarot.
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater – I have been wanting to read this series forever but never got around to it. I also love that there’s an actual tarot deck you can buy, my only issue with it is that I didn’t like the orange color, but I’m starting to change my mind about the color so we’ll see.
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman – The alethiometer is the divination tool here, which is great because it’s different. I’d love to get my hands on one and figure out how it works if it was real. It sounds so fascinating when you read about it in the book and watch the film adaptations.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
Missing You All
I don’t like that I haven’t been posting Sunday Posts. I just feel like I haven’t done very well with reading recently, and/or being organized, and taking the time to visit everyone’s blogs and replying comments. However, I’ve missed catching up with everyone and reading about what I’ve missed, and I really want to make an effort to check in with you all. And even if it’s only a couple of times a month instead of every week, I think it’s better than missing you all for months!
The weather has been warming up, which is great because I’ve been missing my runs outside but there have still been some snowy days and it looks like this week is mostly overcast. I’ll try to get it in whenever there’s a nice day. You have to take it when you can!
Crochet One thing that I have been doing better at recently is crochet; I’ve made some wearables but not many and I haven’t really worn any of them much because they don’t fit right. I’ve started getting better (or just more stubborn) and made a few I really like. I redid them over and over until I got them right, I think I frogged the first one (on the left) three times! I’m not sure yet that I like the last one (on the right). It’s not the best fit so I might redo it.
I also learned that blocking makes a huge difference! It’s such a game changer! I used to be too lazy to block but I’m going to be better about blocking my projects in the future. Unfortunately, I’m still too lazy to swatch. If you’re a more experienced fiber artist, how important is swatching, really? Do I need to change my lazy ways? 😅
The Books
Books I read last week:
Vengeful by V.E. Schwab I only finished one book last week, but it was pretty good. I enjoyed the first book in the series and I liked this one too especially towards the end. The jumping timelines were a little annoying and there were certainly some issues with convenient plotlines, but I still cared very much for the characters and was very invested in how things turned out.
Books I’m reading:
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson – A huge book I’m listening to whenever I get the chance. It’s 55 hours and I’m at 22 hours at the moment. Not sure if I’ll be done by this time next week, but I’ll try!
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao – Just started. Literally. Like, I’m on the first page. But it’s been on my TBR for ages and I really hope it lives up to the hype!
I’m hoping to finish at least two books this week. It used to be no problem to read more than that even with the huge Brando Sando books, but it’s been a struggle recently so I’m just aiming for at least two now.
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Things Characters Have Said
I’m not good with today’s topic because I usually don’t remember or keep track of what characters have said, but I really enjoyed last week’s topic and decided I’d do the same topic but focused on the future this time. Unlike the ones set in the past, we don’t have a set basis for these timelines in comparison to our current time. I’m assuming they are set in the future based on context and technology, but who really knows? In any case, they’re all really good books and I enjoyed reading them all!
Top Ten Books Set In Another Time – The Future
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers – Space travel, diverse species, and lots of intergalactic hijinks. This is one of my favorite books for found family, world building, and adventure. The best thing about it is the internal philosophy for learning to understand, live with, and love other diverse people.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – A dystopian future, but definitely set in the future based on context of what Panem used to be. I’ve read the trilogy so many times, but the last time was a while ago so I think I’m due for a reread!
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – Also dystopian and quite scary if you’re in it, but so fun to read about! I’ve read the first two books but stalled because I had other books and deadlines to get to. I think about this series every day and can’t wait to get back to it.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky – This one spans years and decades and centuries of the future! A whole species evolves over a long, long time, and I never expected it to be so amazing to read about!
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman – This book never specifies the timeline, but I’m assuming it’s in the future because certain relics from this story’s past are the things we are familiar with. The writing style is meandering and stream-of-consciousness style, but somehow it was easy for me to get into because it felt so interesting to me.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood – Another dystopian future. It seems quite self-contained though, and it’s only the first book in a series but it sets the stage and I’m interested in seeing what the next books bring.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell – Space travel and alien encounters. This one is haunting and painful but so good and so worth it. I don’t think I’d want to reread it anytime soon because it’s quite heavy, but it’s a book that stays with you.
Grass by Sheri S. Tepper – Alien planet migration. It’s been a long time since I read this but I remember loving it very much and feeling fascinated by the characteristics of this new planet with its indigenous plants and animals. Probably time to revisit soon.
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber – I think of this one often. It’s about a missionary who travels to a new planet to spread the word of god and has to leave his wife behind. The interaction he has with the inhabitants of the planet is really interesting, but the thing that I remember most about the book is the correspondence between him and his wife. I remember thinking it’s such a strong story about marriage and relationships. I really need to reread this one.
Biting the Sun by Tanith Lee – This book was originally published in two separate parts, now combined to one. It’s set in a hedonistic world where people can do what they want, live dangerously, die and come back with a new body. They can custom design their bodies each time they come back, which I thought was interesting because it eliminates the external skin as part of their identity. Another one I’m wanting to reread.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
