I read We by Yevgeny Zamyatin because Ursula K. Le Guin glowingly stated that this was the best Sci-Fi written. I didn't mind the cold, clipped nature of the writing. I also did not mind D-503's personality (he's a mathematician generations into a totalitarian regime and I feel his flaws are a logical outcome of his environment and history). I like that Zamyatin hinted that MEPHI was just another flavor of "We." And I do like that by limiting the story to D-503's perspective, we don't get a full info dump of a world building to clutter the work. I had to give this one star for a few reasons. This is a written record, so except for dialog, the ubiquitous usage of half formed sentences throughout seemed an odd stylistic choice. And... this is where I am shocked that Le Guin and Atwood speak so highly of this but holy misogyny. Zamyatin really had to go the Madonna vs Femme Fatale route to describe women with all the requisite baggage of those archetypes. If I read another book where temptress = alluring, and nurturing = boring I will scream to the high heavens. It's boring to read books where bro minding his business is thrust into intrigue because hawt woman is being hawt. I-303 and O-90 could have been great, but ended up reduced (especially the former) into simply being a catalyst for the book's action. Last, but most importantly, the racism. The way that Zamyatin referred to R-13 was just gross. Despite being one of the few characters that was actually cool, Zamyatin did him dirty every single time the poet was in the book.
⭐️
The Legends and Lattes series was a sweet, cozy read. To be honest, with all the hype, I worried I would get unrealistic expectations and wouldn't enjoy it. But I was pleasantly surprised! It wasn't revolutionary, the prose wasn't epic, and one definitely had to give concessions to the explanations on how the equivalent of Middle Earth was able to get a legit Espresso Machine but I enjoyed it. It was soothing, satisfying, and fun! The romance was cute and didn't feel forced and was a slow, and natural unfolding for the two characters as the story progressed. I ended up reading one entry during the weekend a few weeks ago, and binged the other two the week after and I enjoyed all of them for different reasons, though I got very attached especially to Satchel and Breadlee ^_^
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
The Language of the Night is a collection of essays and speeches by Ursula K. Le Guin. I read it end to end, which I am glad I did, but I don't think I ever would again. I can envision myself reaching for the book to dip in to the essays I loved. It has a lot of introductions and forewords. Introduction to the book by Ken Liu. A foreword to the book by the editor who compiled the work, intros by Le Guin and the book editor for for each of the 5 parts. One part was a compilation of book introductions by Le Guin. It took me a longer than to read the book because I found it hard to engage with all those intros. But the essays are stunning. I highlighted large swaths of text, because her words resonated with me so deeply. Some of the standout essays for me were: Why are Americans afraid of dragons?, The Child and the Shadow, and Stalin for the Soul.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cat + Gamer is an 8-volume manga series about a woman who yearns for her workdays to end so she can game. She ends up adopting an abandoned cat, and of course hijinks ensue! I loved the humor throughout the series and all the gaming references. Low-stakes, wholesome, and super cute, is basically the best way I can describe series in a nutshell. I laughed out loud a bunch of times at the antics of both owner and feline ^_^ I read it during the weekend and ended up being perfect to unwind with.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Minor Mage is a novella by T Kingfisher about a young mage with limited powers who intends to go on a trek to bring rain to his town after an extended drought, and somehow ends up being to be forced to leave due to his desperate neighbors forming a mob. It's a short read, and more geared toward younger audiences. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the other work by her I've checked out so far, like the Sworn Soldier series, and A House with Good Bones.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
As someone whose life had mostly been spent in the service of sharing words, Fern was enjoying keeping them to herself for a while.
– Travis Baldree (Brigands & Breadknives)