Justin March
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jchmarch.bsky.social
Justin March
@jchmarch.bsky.social
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Here to talk about books and not much else.
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jchmarch.bsky.social
2024 Bluesky Recap part 2/13
#52BookClub
See Alt text for my thoughts on each book

51. related to the word ‘wild'
...WILD-BUILT by Chambers

15. part of a duology
...CROWN-SHY by Chambers

28. yellow spine
THE FORKING TROLLEY by Russell

4. lowercase letters on the spine
THE BLACK COMPANY by Cook
Like many others I love these books and love Becky Chambers, but I think I may love them for different reasons than many. Becky Chambers is able to wrap up all these important philosophical discussions into her Science Fiction and it reminds me an awful lot of the “old school” (I don’t like the term classic) Science Fiction author Robert Heinlein. Heinlein had SO MUCH DIALOGUE in his books and it was usually just discussion of ideological merits of this or that idea. If you look at the book Starship Troopers you’d be surprised that a good third of it takes place in classroom discussions between students and teachers. (Please don’t come at me about the movie, I tried watching it when it came out in 1997 and couldn’t sit through it…I haven’t seen it.) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is similar in that it's just so much dialogue between a computer technician and a Moon Operations Admin AI named Mike. I’m certainly not making the case that I agree with Heinlein’s ideology in these books (I absolutely do not), I’m just saying that I am enjoying the continuation of that model and that type of book in Becky Chambers’s Monk and Robot books. I’m not sure that I agree with everything in her books either, but that’s what’s cool about Science Fiction - it provides us with a place to think about the what ifs and yeah buts in a world purposely divorced from our reality. If you’ve seen The Good Place you know how funny that title is, if you haven’t you should really check it out…one of my favorite television shows of all time and it has one of the best mid-first-season twists ever. The book itself is fine. It expands some of the ideas and talks about the philosophical framework for what the show was getting at, but it does so fairly shallowly. It's a book that can’t trust its audience, because no matter how deep into the history of ethics the reader and audience would be willing to go, I think the author doesn’t trust that he can really dive deep because the conversation is rooted in television, and perhaps that’s for the best. There’s certainly more reading available and listed in the book which makes this a pretty good lowest diving board into the subject - to make a diving metaphor. This was a reread for me. At first glance, the book is little more than early proto-grimdark Fantasy Fiction, which is fine and good. If you like Martin’s ASOIAF or Joe Abercrombie, check out The Black Company. It’s quite good. What brought me back was reading the TOR Essentials intro by author Stephen Erickson at a bookstore. In the intro, Erickson points out how much of an influence Cook’s Vietnam War experiences informed The Black Company. That prompted the reread. The most interesting thing about the book is that it's just the day to day experiences of common soldiers, but they keep crossing paths and getting influenced by this group of warring wizards called The Fallen. Sometimes they are allies, other times adversaries and it's never obvious to the soldiers what their actual objective and goals are - much like generals in an actual war I imagine where they have all this power and command and are cut loose with vague objectives and personal intentions. I liked the added depth into a book I already enjoyed.
January 23, 2025 at 9:50 PM
jchmarch.bsky.social
2024 Bluesky Recap part 1/13

#52BookClub
See Alt text for my thoughts on each book.

Prompt45. chapters have dates
PIRANESI by Clarke

Prompt16. omniscient narrator
Blake’s 7 #2 by Hoyle

Prompt1. locked-room mystery
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Christie

Prompt19. buddy read
FAIR PLAY by Rodsky
Buddy reading this one with my wife, who had read it last year and wants to apply some of the concepts to our life. I was already sold on the concept of all time being equal so I didn’t really have to be convinced, in fact…the book actually got in the way from my perspective because in its first few chapters the book is selling the concept and need of the book by listing out ways and examples where household responsibilities are held by one person, usually in hetero couples the wife, and I’m reading that asking “is this what you actually think of me?” It wasn’t and she just wanted to introduce the concept of the cards. I’m not sure on a technical level how helpful this book actually will be for us. There’s a concept of CPE (Concept, Planning, and Execution) that would dictate that one person does everything for a single task and my family just doesn’t work like that when it comes to carting kids around, paying bills, etc. Definitely worthwhile if you have a spouse who doesn’t think of themselves as parent or equal partner in your lives together. I just wouldn’t hand them this book and expect them to read it and fix themselves. In a fit of nostalgia I bought a couple of these books thinking they might add to the enjoyment I feel when I remember staying up late on the weekends and watching Blake’s 7 on PBS. That did not happen. Not surprisingly I guess, these were not great books. Have you ever had a song you absolutely loved and then found out it was a cover song written by someone else. I’ve never read an Agatha Christie book before, but my favorite movie of all time is Clue (the one with Tim Curry, Madeline Khan, Christopher Lloyd, et al) and while I figured there was probably some hallmarks of the Mystery genre in that movie I had no idea how much of a pastiche and homage it was to Agatha Christie. Like, there’s dialogue from that movie that’s directly taken from AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. I enjoyed my first Christie book and I’m sure I’ll pick one up again. Absolutely loved this book. I loved the unfolding of the mystery and the payoff at the end. I even started out the year with a Baader-Meinhof Effect when books by Colin Wilson, whom I’ve been meaning to read for over a year now, started getting mentioned. A great way to start the year. If you’ve read this and liked it I would suggest trying out The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin.
January 23, 2025 at 4:03 PM
jchmarch.bsky.social
#52bookclub

Oh man....this character limit's going to kill me. Greetings to all the other Faceboofugees. Not ready to start posting with 2025 books, but here's my 2024 Challenge finish just to get started and figure out how Bluesky works.

Be seeing you.
A list for those who are interested or use screen readers 1. Locked-room mystery AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie OG locked-room mystery and my first Christie. Great fun 2. Bibliosmia: A smelly book FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON by Daniel Keys Great motivation to reread this heart-rending classic 3. More than 40 chapters BEYOND THE BEDROOM WALL by Larry Woiwode Generational drama from my hometown in North Dakota 4. Lowercase letters on the spine THE BLACK COMPANY by Glen Cook Vietnam War-inspired proto GAME OF THRONES Grimdark Fantasy. Cool setting and lore 5. Magical Realism LABYRINTHS by Jorge Luis Borges Surreal landscapes and short stories. One of my favs 6. Women in STEM TO BE TAUGHT IF FORTUNATE by Beck Chambers Chambers is awesome and this one is for the people who liked THE MARTIAN 7. At least four different POV WE ARE LEGION (WE ARE BOB) by Dennis Taylor Solo manboy fixit book. Better than READY PLAYER ONE, but not as good as Andy Weir 8. Features the ocean IN ASCENSION by Martin MacInnes Literary Science Fiction…pretty sure there’s more to this than I got. Dense 9. A character-driven novel DARK MATTER by Blake Crouch Thriller with some cool Science Fiction add ons. Nice twist midway through 10. Told in non-chronological order ROBOT by Adam Wisniewski-Snerg Polish Science Fiction will blow your mind - right after you wake up because it put you to sleep. I loved this, but it’s not for everyone 11. Title starting with the letter K THE KNIGHT by Gene Wolfe Gene Wolfe’s go at the Hero’s Journey. If you know Wolfe’s work, there’s always more to it than on the surface, I just never have the patience to find out what I’m missing 12. Title starting with the letter L LITTLE, BIG by John Crowley Crowley’s greatest work. Odd duck fairie story and generational drama. Not a fan of family trees in books myself, but I’m glad I read it 13. An academic thriller THE DEEP SKY by Yume Kitasei Excellent debut form Kitasei. A little some…
January 19, 2025 at 3:27 AM