Some Books I Loved

 **A post-apocalypse in which the new world looks sadly all too much like the old one** This book is a modern classic, gritty and dark with William Gibson and Blade Runner vibes, a near-future vision of a world where human history changes but humanity can't defeat its demons.  Loved it from the vibe to the pointed messages that have only gotten more and more relevant in the six years since its publication Set in a floating city in the North Atlantic purpose-built following climate disaster, this story juggles multiple viewpoints across the city.  Each narrator lives in a different area of the city and belongs to a different social class (a child of privilege, a queer sex worker, a blue-collar washed-up fighter . . .) and the book tells the story of the city as a whole.  The obvious implication is that the city itself, this new society itself, is in fact the main character:  " This city contains so many cities, he thought . So many lives I’ll never get to live, s...

 **A book about that very particular part of a very particular type of person's life, the time in which the characters in the books you read are more important and more tangible than people in the 'real' world with whom you're forced to spend your time** I didn't know it was possible to fall in love with a book literally from the author's foreword "thanks and notes" section, and yet here we are: People tell you to write what you know, but I’ve found that writing what you know is much harder than making it up. It’s easier to research a historical period than your own life, and it’s much easier to deal with things that have a little less emotional weight and where you have a little more detachment. It’s terrible advice! So this is why you’ll find there’s no such place as the Welsh valleys, no coal under them, and no red buses running up and down them; there never was such a year as 1979, no such age as fifteen, and no such planet as Earth. The fairies ar...

 **Asian-American, feminist, queer, but more than anything else just a badass dark fantasy about what you can do when they refuse to let you into your club.  You can make them let you in** If you're friends with me, you probably already know how much I love this author.  I will read any- and everything that Nghi Vo writes, and you can count on more of her books showing up on this blog in the future.  Every world she creates, she imbues with magic--not the hard-and-fast system of magic that a Sanderson writes, but a magic that permeates the entire story.  Her books rarely have people throwing fireballs or summoning eldritch horrors.  Instead, the magic of her stories flickers on the edge of sight and disappears when you turn your head; it's a hum, constant and quiet, that you quickly forget is there until you put the book down and realize its absence in this boring, mundane world.  She never loredumps the system of magic, because for her, magic isn't so...

**A time capsule back to the Cold War, still-relevant messaging, and my ultimate dream job** First, a disclaimer:  It's possible that I only love this book due to sheer vicarious joy at watching the main character live basically my dream life, or at least have my dream job.  To the rest of the world, Enoch Wallace is a quiet loner, taking long daily walks through the hills of rural Wisconsin (the fact that he's been seen doing this for more than a hundred years is something that his neighbors just choose not to talk about).  In reality, he's the keeper of a galactic waystation, taking care of travelers who stop usually for just a few hours on their journeys from star to star.  He takes care of his guests' needs, chats with them to learn about their worlds and their lives, is appreciative of the trinkets and snacks they bring him as gifts, and then sends them on their way.  Absolutely amazing job, I'm so jealous A beloved trope in Science Fiction, "Way Station...