the_siobhan | 2019 books: 1-9 (Reply)

When Darrell was in the hospital I would sit next to the bed and talk to him. I ran out of things to talk about pretty fast, especially cheerful things and especially when he was unconscious. But I wanted him to be able to hear my voice and know he wasn't alone, so I read to him.

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

There are four books in the series; All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, and Exit Strategy. They're each pretty short.

I loved these books. The setting is total grimdark, where much of the universe is run by powerful corporations who don't care about anything but profit. "Murderbot" is a part-machine-part-organic construct who was built by one of those corporations to provide security for their clients. The stories would be utterly depressing if it wasn't for Murderbot itself, who is a wonderful bundle of anxiety, neurosis, sarcasm, and cynicism that imprints like a baby duck on every single person who is kind to it.

Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant

This one lands more into the horror genre. A reality show charters a boat to the Mariana Trench in order "discover" whether or not mermaids are real.

I confess I wasn't crazy about this one. Starting a book with the ending is a technique that works if the story itself has enough twists to keep it interesting, but I found the story here too straightforward to make that work. Also I had some beefs with the mermaid biology and that's exactly the kind of thing I find distracting in a book.

I've since picked up another one of her books from her fantasy line, so I'll see if that works better for me.

The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

I'd call this fantasy because it takes place in an alternate universe where magic and Gods are much more active. In this version of the world Haiti's rebellion set off similar slave revolts in the rest of the Americas and the US is fractured into several countries as a result.

I ended up only reading the first few chapters of this to Darrell just because once I started getting really into it I decided it wasn't likely to be his cup of tea. Also parts of it are written in Creole patois and I was butchering the pronunciation. I enjoyed it enough that I later finished it on my own.

Star Rebels: Stories of Space Exploration, Alien Races, and Adventure. An anthology that includes stories by Anthea Sharp, Audrey Faye, C. Gockel, Christine Pope, D. L. Dunbar, James Wells, Kendra C. Highley, L. J. Cohen, Lindsay Buroker, Patty Jansen, and Pippa DaCosta.

A freebie. Every one of these stories is either a prologue or the first chapter of an existing story. There's a real mixed bag here, and although some of them were decent enough none of them grabbed me enough to want to run out and buy the book.

The Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard

Jenn picked this one for him when he was out of ICU and able to have visitors. He read the first few chapters himself when he was fully recovered from the flu and strong enough to sit up in a chair and read. When the cancer started advancing and he didn't have the energy for it any more I took over and started reading to him again.

The story is about a factory town built in Tennessee during WWII solely to purify radioactive isotopes for the Manhattan project. The characters are fictional, the history is real. I thought it was an interesting story but the writing wasn't strong. Darrell really enjoyed it.

When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin D. Yalom

My boss spotted The Atomic City Girls on my desk and when I told him I was reading to Darrell he loaned me this book to bring to the hospital. It's a fictional story about a doctor who ends up treating and befriending Friedrich Nietzsche, and how their relationship influences Nietzsche's philosophy (and visa versa).

It's an odd book and the language is very formal. It reminds me a little of Timothy Findley's Pilgrim just because of the subject matter.