inspired by my friend’s one sentence book reviews

have at a list of books & series i’ve read and would recommend to you
as well as some things i’d like to read

contents evolve over time

Things I’ve Read (that come to mind right now)

(and are in no particular order)

The Years of Rice and Salt (Kim Stanley Robinson)
immaculately worldbuilt alt history
dense with references; read it closely

The Expanse (James SA Corey)
immaculately worldbuilt, human sci-fi
deeply empathetic

The Idiot & Either Or (Elif Batuman)
extremely funny
i feel for selin
i love her narrative project and am happy to see it realized
grateful to have access to the ideas
that would’ve kept her from her increasingly dangerous array of narrative deadends
and let her be happier

The Martian (Andy Weir)
funny; earnestly optimistic
a heroic story of the triumph of the human spirit

Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)
delightful buddy story in space

Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
great american classic, the only one i’ve actually read
ask me later about ellison and communism

Kiss of the Spider Woman (Manuel Puig)
a trans woman and a communist share a prison cell
hijinx ensue

100 Years of Solitude (Garcia Marquez)
i had too much fun reading it with my classmates to not include
longer than it probably needed to be
so much incest my god

The Bobiverse (Dennis E Taylor)
fun lightweight palate cleanser of a sci-fi series

What If? 2 (Randall Munroe)
i haven’t actually read the first one
but this one’s a lot of fun i’ll tell ya
bitesized chunks of whimsy

Grant (Ron Chernow)
great general, good man, mediocre politician, and terrible businessman
a fascinating (if sometimes dry) account of america’s most underappreciated civil rights president

Maus (Art Spiegelman)
thoroughly earned its pulitzer prize

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (Alison Bechdel)
a queer tragicomic for a queer family
an excellent graphic memoir

Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (Chris Ware)
comics and their brand of heterosexual male despair
becomes clearer in retrospect

All the Young Dudes (MsKingBean89)
an emotional rollercoaster
better than the actual HP canon
i have very good memories reading this fanfic with my classmates

Klara and the Sun (Kazuo Ishiguro)
moving
i mean, it’s kazuo ishiguro
maybe i should have put never let me go on this list too

Born a Crime (Trevor Noah)
amusing anecdotes from a childhood in the shadow of apartheid
listen to the audiobook version he does the voices so well

I’m Glad My Mom Died (Jennette McCurdy)
child acting and its consequences
gripping; darkly funny

Dungeon Crawler Carl (Matt Dinniman)
most contrived premise for an rpg ever
i love it

am currently reading:

Things I Want to Read

(in no particular order)