zachbrumaire's reviews
356 reviews

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick

perhaps one of PKD's better, more cogent explorations of blurred reality, the observer effect, reality rewriting drugs, memory, scripture. extremely racist, misogynistic, self-conscious, dissatisfied--Jason Taverner and PKD's brooding narration are oh so rebellious and oh so white. there's a nocturn-Seusssean quality to the worlds Dick conjures in his books and in this one in particular, and though even his friendliest demons are never quite tame much less their tyrranic architeture hospital, the velvet nights against cut-out coin operated streetlights install a strange nostolgic yearning to have gone walking it's bleak streets my operating system can't quit shake.

and all PKD's creatures are demons, flitting about in their quibbs and shuttles against heavens, staring into each other compressed naked in the tight clasped marginalia illuminated by psychophossperesence, all their eyes droopy with thoughts of long lost paradise much-grieved with the special sting that comes with being based in hypothesis. 

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

wow

mixed feelings on this one

the first 3 parts functioned really well as environmental/climate fiction, the portrayal of society from the mundane to the metaphysical under the pressure cooker of the Black Death

part 4 was bold and weird and reorinted the narrative to more interpersonal papal court politics at the same time a shift from magical realism to a more ordered clash of capabilities and powers, and something was lost that made the first parts so weird and great. 

the end, especially the detentmont, was very neat and tidy, very just so, and while some of the surreal poetry of the earlier parts of the work reemerged the impression was one of a shift from the horrors of a heaven and earth abandoned by God to one micromanaged by  him just-cause.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

😭

The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy by Carl Schmitt

the most unsatisfactory part of the book was Schmitt's assumptions regarding the concept of democratic homogeneity, which he takes from Rousseau more or less as given. 

the preface to the second edition clarified a lot.

his identification of the opposition between mass democracy and liberalism seemed to me to be basically correct.


I've been mostly using The Storygraph this year, so I have a few readings to add to Goodreads when I have time. 

The Will to Battle by Ada Palmer

5.0

perfect heartbreaking genre redefining . these books are scripture to me. I cannot express by words how much these words mean to me. 

Never Talk to Strangers by Irma Joyce

dark sad tense medium-paced

0.0

wrong edition the one I read was illustrated by s. d. Schindler 

I was read this book often as a small child. it appears to have been illustrated by different people over several editions, but this one was particularly scary. especially the bee ready to trip the kid on the bike. 

the sort of book which parents afraid of CPS love. even as a little kid I could tell something was off about it. given how much more common abuse is from family and those known to the family than total strangers, the emphasis on only and always trusting those your parents know was disturbing. with regard to strangers, there's a degree of parity between them and children, but in my family speaking out against an older relative or family friend was discouraged as rude even when the abuse was explicitly acknowledged. 

I hate this book. I hate its moralizing refrain which only sometimes rhymes, it's learing cartoon animals, it's one size fits all victim blaming approach, it's petite bourgeois fortress mentality, insufferable smugness. 

Ex Urbe Ad Astra Bonus Episode 1: Complicity by Jo Walton, Ada Palmer

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ex urbe ad astra episode 5: writing the near future with sf writer Naomi kritzer by Jo Walton, Ada Palmer, Naomi Kritzer

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Ex Urbe Ad Astra Ep. 1: Speculative Resistance With Writer Malka Older by Jo Walton, Ada Palmer, Malka Older

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