What Are You Reading?

[greek_jester]

Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics by Jason Porath

Well-behaved women seldom make history. Good thing these women are far from well behaved . . .

Illustrated in a contemporary animation style, Rejected Princesses turns the ubiquitous "pretty pink princess" stereotype portrayed in movies, and on endless toys, books, and tutus on its head, paying homage instead to an awesome collection of strong, fierce, and yes, sometimes weird, women: warrior queens, soldiers, villains, spies, revolutionaries, and more who refused to behave and meekly accept their place.

This is a book that came from a popular Tumblr blog. The author kindly includes a key, so if you are triggered by abuse, rape, etc. then you know which entries to skip.

The book is funny and heart-breaking and inspiring and terrifying, much like the women being written about. The later entries are not easy to read, but it does shine a light onto women who have been written out of history, or edited to the point that they are unrecognisable.

The author has also written a sequel, Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History's Mightiest Matriarchs. There are also further details on the website, including women that weren't included in either book.

[It's me]

Just finished "Finder" by Suzanne Palmer. Well written, moves at a good pace, good world development.

Pulled this from the Amazon blurb:

Fergus Ferguson has been called a lot of names: thief, con artist, repo man. He prefers the term finder.

His latest job should be simple. Find the spacecraft Venetia's Sword and steal it back from Arum Gilger, ex-nobleman turned power-hungry trade boss. He’ll slip in, decode the ship’s compromised AI security, and get out of town. What was supposed to be a routine job evolves into negotiating a power struggle between factions. Even worse, Fergus has become increasingly—and inconveniently—invested in the lives of the locals.

It doesn’t help that a dangerous alien species Fergus thought mythical prove unsettlingly real, and their ominous triangle ships keep following him around.

[dalesys]

Memoirs of a C Student – Don White

To his son about to graduate from college:
... Toward the end of our meal I took a paper napkin and I wrote these words on it: "One excellent decision." I held it up for him to read and then I folded it in half and then in half once more. I handed it to him and said, "Put this in your wallet. You only get one of these. Use it when you are deciding who to marry."

[Ironclad Alibi]

I have started reading Empires of the Sky by Alexander Rose.

It is the story of when airplanes and zeppelins competed to conquer the skies.

[Kristev]

That was a nice book.

I'm reading The Plug-In Drug, by Marie Winn.

[Ghel]

I'm a couple chapters into Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It's an alternate history set in early 1800s England. So far, Mr. Norrell is trying to bring magic back to England. It's fairly light reading with an undertone of darkness that I rather like.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I just finished The Mouse That Saved The West by Leonard Wibberley.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

Just finished that last night.

[Mikkel]

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

[Pixelated]

I am now reading A Blink of The Screen by Terry Pratchett.

That is a great book, but then, virtually anything by Pratchett is a great book.

I've finished Gone Girl. Have to admit my opinion plummeted at the ending. It was, in my opinion, a horrific ending. Not sure if that's what the author intended.

[It's me]

Bobiverse 4 Audible dropped.... 17 hours of audio...

[Pixelated]

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, which is becoming far more interesting as i go along than I thought it would be.

UPDATE: Well, I didn't see that coming.

[AnaKhouri]

Just got an autism diagnosis for my son so I just started Uniquely Human by a doctor who studied and interacted with autistic people all along the spectrum of all ages. My mom recommended it as she thought it could explain a lot of what I see in my kid.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I am now reading A Blink of The Screen by Terry Pratchett.

[greek_jester]

Currently reading "Hollywood Wants to Kill You: The Peculiar Science of Death in the Movies" by Michael Brooks and Rick Edwards.

The book doesn't have a blurb, rather it has reviews:

A witty and informative look at how Hollywood kills us off. As a film buff and scientist I love this book., Maggie Aderin-Pocock, space scientist and presenter of The Sky at Night

A wonderful book... Delightfully varied... As with all the best science writing, this book doesn't just give answers, it also asks interesting questions., Daily Mail

Great fun and makes you feel a hundred times cleverer., Charlie Higson, actor, comedian, and bestselling author

Explores everything from the ins and outs of black holes (Interstellar) to artificial intelligence (Ex Machina)... Edwards and Brooks don't take themselves too seriously and their cartoon heads pop up throughout deconstructing the films wittily while explaining the underlying science simply., Sunday Times on Science(ish)

Deeply funny, academically accomplished, and unfalteringly engaging. Entertaining as it may be, it's difficult to escape the fact that Edwards and Brooks have just made the world of popular science much harder work for the rest of us., Ben Miller - comedian and author of It’s Not Rocket Science on Science(ish)

What really caught my attention was the first chapter, "Hollywood wants to kill you... with a virus!" I had to go back and check the copyright date (2019) as it struck a real chord at the moment.

Unsurprisingly it looked at Outbreak and Contagion, and since I've been saying since they came out that what will probably do in the human race is a sufficiently deadly virus with a sufficiently long incubation/infection period, I can't help wishing I wasn't right so often.

The book is witty, it is engaging, and it explains (without making you feel like an idiot) how these things would work in the real world.