Making my way through The Fifth Season by NK Jemison.

Have spent the summer going through popcorn stuff like this after a rigorous course of academic research over the last year (or, well, since last August).

Have gone through everything by Becky Chambers and then threw in Legends and Lattes by Thomas Baldree and Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aiko too.

As perhaps evidenced by having read far more of her than the others, Chambers comes out far ahead. But from each of these, I’ve gotten what I was looking for: something light, something fun, something to relax with that’s not quite at Hollywood level of “turn your brain off”.

As an endnote, of all of these, 5th Season is the worst of the lot, but it’s not unbearably bad or anything. Just my least favorite so far.

Edge of Eternity by Ken Follet. He had me reading about the Cuban Missile Crisis and worrying that Cuba would nuke the US or that the US would nuke well anyone, despite knowing for a fact we are not currently living in a glowing radioactive wasteland.

Just finished Nightcrawling by Lelia Mottley which is a fictional retelling of the Oakland PD sex scandal. Man holy fuck it left me feeling empty inside.

Not sure what book to read next after this one. I’m sitting at over a hundred titles in my TBR shelf lol

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The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

I just finished up my last history class for college and decided to read something historical. Theodore Roosevelt is my favorite president so when I saw this book I decided to give it a go.

So far it’s been an excellent biography. It’s going through TR’s and Taft’s lives as well as both thier wives annnnd the Muckrakers who wrote for Mcclure’s magazine.

I’m learning a lot!

Out of the shadows (Timea Nagy)

The panama papers (Obermayer and Obermaier)

DIY hydroponics garden. how to design and build an inexpensive system for growing plants in water (Tyler Baras)

men and grief (Staudacher)

dune

This probably won’t be popular here, but I recently listened to the audiobook Spare, Prince Harry’s autobiography. I’m not a fan of the monarchy, I think the whole thing is weird and awful.

However, there’s no denying Prince Harry has lived a unique life so I was curious. I thought it was pretty good overall. We’re only getting one side of the story but god his family is fucked up.

Their nicknames for him and his brother, growing up, were Heir and Spare. He was told from a young age that if his brother ever needed an organ or anything, he was expected to step up.

He also grappled with his mother’s death for his whole life and missed her dearly. He made up different conspiracy theories that she was somehow still alive to deal with the trauma.

And the queen seemed kinda ok overall, which surprised me a bit. She had her stuffy downsides but she seemed much better than the fucked up messes that his father and brother were.

Also, being famous from the time you’re born sounds terrible. He inherited a lot of amazing things, but not all sound great.

While it wasn’t the best book ever, it was interesting and I’m glad I checked it out (literally from the library, lol).

I just started re-reading Neuromancer by William Gibson, and I might start reading The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin alongside it.

Jack Reacher 3 - Tripwire by Child Lee. Solid book, 4/5.

The Essential Rumi. It is the first time I’ve read poetry in a log time. I’m enjoying it more than I anticipated.