Reviews and Comments

Now that I have this government kinda-sorta intelligence job, I figure I should know more about the history of other departments.

I liked the main run of Supreme Power back when it read it in the late aughts, but never read the spinoffs. Now I have. It was fine. The Joker analogue in this story is super creepy. I just was wishing for better (as in, more DC-ish) art. The art in Batman in 2006 was really something else, so it spoiled me for this Marvel story.

So I had a reading goal of 12 books for 2023. It’s the last days of December, so I’m padding my count out with a comic book I bought in a used book store in Alabama. Support your local book stores.

A fine vacation read, pretty quick. It being a sequel, it's not as ZOMG! as Lovecraft Country, but it's still pretty great. And I didn't even know this was published until it popped up on my library feed. Easy recommend.

Well, finished the Three Body Problem trilogy. Pretty great! There were two spots I got a little bogged down in, on account of my own dumbness undoubtedly, but that was maybe 10% of the whole thing. Second book was my favorite.

Got a cold, so had loads of time to finish Three Body Problem. It was kind of a slog for me about 20% of the way through, but the beginning (set in the Chinese Cultural Revolution) and the mainline story was pretty darn gripping. This is about as hard of hard sci-fi as you're going to find, and I'm looking forward to being aggravated by the Netflix version. Also, many people warn that this first book of the trilogy doesn't have an ending, but I didn't see that at all -- the ending is just appropriately nihilistic, as anything set on a cosmic scale ought to be.

Anyway, this is about as spoiler-free as I can make this comment. I will say that between this and @strcpy@infosec.exchange's recent posts, I'm most definitely back into #Stellaris, with pre-FTL civilizations cranked up.

My Halloween season has been pretty slasher-heavy, so I finally picked up Elliott Kalan's Maniac of New York. Did not disappoint! I didn't know anything about the interior art (by Andrea Mutti), and was very pleased with the watercolor treatment, since it makes the whole story kind of dreamy and ethereal and spooky. Makes for a nice contrast with the gritty and bloody story, and also makes the more traditional lettering really pop out and make it easy to read without a lot of distraction. Very much looking forward to Volume 2!

Finished this out. Pros: actually made me feel pretty good about being a Texan. Cons: Spent way too much time on the 2017 legislative session. Also, the author is clearly Texas-lefty, but he seems just a little too forgiving of the Bush family. But, he's really (and rightfully) critical of Dan Patrick. Best part: It ends with a scene in Terlingua and Big Bend! Yay!

Started reading this yesterday after road-tripping through a fair amount of Texas.

I’ve been on a bit of a nonfiction adventure steak lately. Really liked this, about an Antarctic expedition that got itself stuck in the ice for quite a while (no spoilers). Dr. Cook is such a character that every American should be familiar with.

If you like Salinger or Steinbeck but want something a touch more modern, hit this up. I read this because it was on Obama’s list.

The mystery was kinda meh, but the world building was excellent. I really like the premise - end of the world is happening and what do cops do about crime when you know that it’s all over in a year?

Pretty good! My biggest complaint is in the editing -- the time periods kind of jump all over the place, and not in an interesting, Christopher Nolan sort of way. Also, the transition from being a street hood in Johannesburg to host of the Daily Show was kind of not present at all; I guess we have to wait for the sequel to see how Trevor gets out of the country!

That said, the ultimate message of "holy shit Trevor Noah lived through some real abject poverty and abuse as a kid" was great, and something that all privileged kids should read. Also, I learned a lot more about street-level life in South Africa during the transition to post-apartheid, which was interesting and terrible.

Pretty great! It ended up being a little shorter than I expected, but also, I whipped through this in about four days of reading. Solid Lovecraftian fun.

So I’m under the impression that the existence of this book redeems the otherwise unredeemable “The Horror at Red Hook.”