Review: The Annihilation Score (Laundry Files, #6)

The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is 5th novel in The Laundry Files series. It needs a lot of knowledge from the previous books in order to make sense and be enjoyable. I thought that it was weird how much it calls back to previous books - the result must be that it filters out people unfamiliar with the series, or people who read a long time ago and don't remember the details, you can't just pick this up on its own and enjoy it. The effect must be a diminishing fanbase (and diminishing returns) as the series progresses.

The story is good, but a little dragged out. Most of it feels like prologue, like it's building up to something, and the plot only becomes clear in the last 10% of the book. There are interesting parts sprinkled all throughout the book, but a lot of it feels like filler.

Still, I really like its approach to the Cthulhu mythos, to the genre of spy thriller, and how it mashes them up. This entry in the series is also particularly good as it shifts attention to one of the supporting characters, "Mo" O'Brien, giving the series a more diverse point-of-view. It was also striking that it used this change in protagonist to inject some elements of romance novel into the story - it was a bit cringey, but on the whole fun.

Finally, I liked how in this book, the series shows that the characters are developing and growing as people. Both Bob and Mo started out as "normal people", then have low-ranking positions in the Laundry, then become field agents, then super-spies, and finally get very high in the organization. It's a satisfying ending.

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Review: I Shall Wear Midnight (Discworld, #38; Tiffany Aching, #4)

I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A Discworld book about the young witch Tiffany Aching and the Nac Mac Feegle. The story follows and calls back a lot to Wintersmith, so it might be useful for the reader to have read it recently, or at least look up a summary to remember what it was about. However, it's a much darker story than the usual, which is normally not at all for the Discworld series. It's still written in the usual Discworld style, funny and irreverent, with lots of puns and little jokes interwoven with the narration and dialogue. The Nac Mac Feegle are, as always, hilarious and a highlight. But the book has a pretty dark start, and the main theme ends up being about religious zealotry. It's also interwoven with many sub-plots and mini-stories about prejudice, ignorance, and violence. The book is about Tiffany Aching growing up (she was 13 in the last book, she is "almost 16" now); so it seems that the book themes are also "growing up".

The theme is not necessarily bad, but the books drags the story quite a bit. We only get to the main plot around 1/3 of the way in, and as we get towards the end, the main plot (the fight against the antagonist) feels almost secondary to all the other stuff going on. This is partially due to Pratchett's style of filling up his books with subplots and jokes; but it also feels like the main story is simply not that compelling.

In the end, it was a good Discworld story, but not a notable one.

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Review: Gabriela, Cravo e Canela, by Jorge Amado

Gabriela, Cravo e Canela by Jorge Amado
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book is a romance by Jorge Amado, taking place in the countryside of the state of Bahia in Brazil, in the region that grows cacao. It happens in the 1920's, when the region was undergoing a lot of population and economic growth, due to the start of the cacao industry. The book is in truth two stories told in parallel: one is the romance between the titular Gabriela and Nacib; and the other is about the small town politics of this Northeast town of Ilheus, in the period leading up to an election.

I didn't particularly like the romance part. It's too much of a fantasy - Gabriela is too subservient, her entire character is in service to the man. She is too conformist, and also too childish - since it's unknown how old the character is, it could also very well be that she is underage. It just didn't leave a good impression.

The book really shines on the other story, about politics. It explores all the peculiarities of Brazilian politics of the time (and still today), the casual corruption, the character of the "Colonel". But even this story is not just a linear, singular plot - it's a web of many stories, characters, anecdotes, happenings, gossip and jokes, all weaving together a brilliant picture of the Brazilian culture and society of the time, with its singular costumes, mores, sexism, misogyny, some of which still persists today.

It's a funny and captivating read.

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Review: The Plague by Albert Camus

The Plague by Albert Camus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book tells the story of a plague epidemic in the city of Oran, Algeria, that forced the city to close its doors and isolate itself for almost one year. Reading it now in 2023, I can't believe this didn't become *required* reading at the start of the COVID pandemic! (although it did become a best-seller during the pandemic). It reminds me of the movies Outbreak and Contagion, both of which must be influenced by the novel. It has all the hallmarks of the typical pandemic "plot" (or real-life!), like the authorities refusing to acknowledge reality, not acting immediately to precent a panic, the people themselves denying that it was serious; quarantines, lockdowns, and the whole spectrum of human nature when faced with such a disaster. Sadly, although old, the novel is entirely relevant to present day. For example, it features people fighting back against the quarantine, locking house doors to prevent the sick family members to be taken to the hospital!

The narration is very matter-of-fact, like a reporter writing. At first, it's exciting and fast paced, but then towards the middle, it starts to feel that it is dragging on too much. There is a lot of reflections, “philosophizing” about people's behavior.

Still, it had a lot of great scenes, great quotes, and thought provoking questions.

It struck me that the novel focus more on the logistics of quarantine and lockdown, and spends more time describing and exploring the human behavior, psychology , sociology, human nature in this environment, rather than the disease and death. We don’t even get a description of someone dying from the disease until 3/4 of the book (and it’s a brutal one). Makes sense, since the story is supposedly based on a breakout of cholera that happened in Oran decades earlier; and in this book the disease is plague - obviously the specific disease is secondary to the book, what really matters is the people. In the end, I think it makes it more universal, as it’s not really specific to the plague.

The main protagonist is Camus' absurdist hero: the idealist doctor in the middle of an epidemic. He works tireless not only to help his patients, but also to show people that the only way to fight an epidemic is through common decency - a difficult proposition then, a difficult proposition now.

The question of religion and faith is explored in the character of Father Paneloux, a priest respected by the whole town, who makes a series of ominous sermons. In his first sermon, it’s exactly what you expect, taking the stereotype to the verge of parody: “you deserved it”, says the priest. It’s troubling though, that this message is never directly questioned in the book; and it’s scary that this echoes so well the message of preachers to this day to all pandemics (like AIDS and COVID). By the second sermon, his position is more nuanced, and he himself addresses one of the crucial questions of faith: how can we explain the suffering of children? His conclusion, though, is hard and cruel, even if the narrator does not paint it like that: we must believe everything, we must believe in God otherwise we believe in nothing. The suffering of children, if anything, proves the existence of God. It’s strange that the narrator has such a neutral tone when describing the sermon and the message. Maybe he didn't want to explicitly refute it, but rather show how cruel it is, letting the reader decide that this is a horrible position to defend.

Towards the end, the narrator very briefly addresses the matter of social and economic inequality. People are starting to notice that the rich are doing much better through the epidemic. The authorities reassure the people that in death, all are equal; but the people reply “nobody wants that kind of equality!” :). This is great stuff!

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Review: Unseen Academicals (Discworld, #37; Rincewind, #8)

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very funny and a lot of fun, as always!

Also as usual, it's not just one story, but at least two main stories (and many more themes) interleaved, with lots of other stories in the subtext. The football (soccer for the American reader) is just the framing device, but it explores a lot of themes around it, like how the celebrity can escape their poor origins, how the game brings people together, how it is a metaphor for society, etc…. There is also a love story, which is initially I thought it was a bit of Romeo and Juliet (with Romeo called Trev, and Juliet actually being called Juliet), a star-crossed romance between people rooting for different teams; but then it becomes about exploring the relationship of the footballer and WAGs (Juliet is, as many times in real life, a model), as well as their careers. In fact, I was struck about how the author talks about the career of a model, it feels very positive, and not condescending like many other writings on the subject. It then delves deeper into another main theme/plot, the subject of The Other, of accepting people from different backgrounds, particularly from vilified backgrounds, here personified by an Orc; how if given a chance, people can show that stereotypes don't capture the full picture; it's a very "on-your-face" criticism of racism.

It also had some great scenes with the wizards of Unseen University (particularly Archchancellor Ridcully) and with the machiavellian Lord Vetinari.

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Review: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read "The Hobbit" after the "Lord of the Rings" (LOTR) trilogy, and I was surprised that it had a lot more magic than LOTR – more magical creatures, more magical feats, a much more fantastical feel to it! LOTR, in comparison, is much more of a war book. It felt a unbalanced too, with a lot more detail spent on some misadventures in the first half of the book, and very little time spent on the more epic parts of the story (the Desolation of Smaug, the Battle of the Five Armies). Still, it was a fun book, and a must-read if you liked LOTR.

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Review: No Exit and Three Other Plays, by Jean-Paul Sartre

No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a collection of four plays by Sartre, and it is an interesting read. The first play, No Exit, is by far the best. It has a great premise, and the conclusion is both funny and deep. It was also great learning that this is the origin of the saying "Hell is other people"! I give this whole book a 4/5 rating just because of this play; if it was only the others, I would give a 3/5 at best.

The second play, The Flies, is a retelling of a Greek myth, and it is very weird.

The third (Dirty Hands) is interesting, it's about revolutionaries during a war (write what you know, I guess ;) ), with a lot of discussion about whether it's ok to commit murder in the name of the revolution. There is a lot of navel gazing, and the women are written weirdly, but it is till interesting.

The last story, The Respectful Prostitute, about racism and racial crimes in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, is disturbing and sad.


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Review: The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3) by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The conclusion to the Lord of the Rings trilogy - It is a satisfying conclusion, very epic. It is long, longer than what I thought, with lots of information, backstory, and worldbuilding. I actually liked the worldbuilding in this book even more than in the previous two.

I also like that right at the start of the book, it reframes the entire trilogy as a fight between Gandalf and Sauron - not a direct fight, but a game in which Gandalf is moving his pieces against the Enemy. This makes Gandalf role and actions a lot more satisfying - sometimes is mystifying why Gandalf acts the way he does; if he is as powerful as we think, why doesn't he go against Sauron? Why doesn't he ever use some teleportation spell, or fireball, or anything other than light shows to do anything? So in this reframing, it's because he doesn't want to fight Sauron; he wants Middle Earth to fight Sauron; he is interfering just enough to make the right people meet each other, and nudge things along towards a good outcome.


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Review: The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2) by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Two Towers
2022-11-25 -> 2022-02-02
This book starts directly from where the first book in the trilogy start - and I mean directly! It's more like the trilogy is a single book, split in three volumes. There is no preface or explanation or recap - the first chapter feels like it's just the next chapter from the first book.

This book has a lot more description, a lot more filler material, and more worldbuilding, which can be good and/or bad. But it also has a lot more action, and initially, things seem to speed up somewhat - it's a lot more of what you expect from a fantasy book. However, it gets to feel a bit like a slog towards the middle, with a lot of travelling, not a lot of plot. There is some excitement towards the end, in the last chapters in book, when there is a pretty surprising fight (I am not going to say more to avoid spoilers).

The narration by Andy Serkis continues to be superb.


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Review: Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was excited when my 7-year-old daughter brought this home from the library - finally something I wanted to read too! We could read it together (other than fables, fairy tails, and the like)! So I started reading it right away, and it was pretty good!

It's still a children's book, the plotting and characterization are fun, but not amazingly good; the premise is good, but somewhat childish (it's a book about Elves as international secret agents and a 12yo super-villain). It's probably not for a 7yo - my daughter ended not reading it, she will get back to it when she is older…. Although there isn't much violence or anything really bad, it has a lot of geographical, historical and social detail that are more accessible to older readers (and adults). It also has quite a bit of worldbuilding, and it's the kind of worldbuilding that I like - instead of inventing its own fantastical world from scratch, it uses traditional myths and legends (in this case, fairies, dwarves, goblins, trolls, etc…), and makes them real (with many twists). It feels like you're learning something (despite the changes and twists).

I was surprised that the protagonist is not really the protagonist - that is, the protagonist is not Artemis Fowl, but Holly Short, the Elf Secret Agent. The book makes no secret of this - Artemis is the villain, he refers to himself as the villain, he is definitely the villain of this story through-and-through. Usually when a story centers on a "villain", he is the anti-hero, or the lesser of two evils. The protagonist might be a "bad" guy (for example, a thief, like in Robin Hood or Ocean 11), but the "good" guys are way worse. But no, in this case, the good guys are definitely the good guys - Holly Short is a great character! And although Artemis is not really that bad, he is a brat, and is not likable at all!

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Review: The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It did not disappoint!

The narration sometimes meanders, and there is a lot of stuff that just seem to be "extra" to the story - like scenes and characters that feel more like deviation from the plot, perhaps it's just some niche worldbuilding. There is a lot of poems and songs, that are not always interesting; and there are some chapters that go nowhere (I am looking at you, Tom Bombadil!), and a lot of what are essentially descriptions of hiking (going up the hill, down the hill, passing woods, it's nighttime, and so on and on).

I had already seen the Peter Jackson movies, and now that I have read the book, I have to say that this is one of the rare cases in which the book was not far superior to the movie - there were just good in different ways! While the book expands a lot on the lore, which I like, the movie streamlines the story, and this is very welcome. It removes a lot of the "extra" material, it shortens the hiking, and simplifies the dialog. The movie also improved on two aspects of the book that I didn't like. First, I didn't particularly like the relationship between Frodo and Sam in the book - the way Sam is a servant and Frodo is his master. Sam was too subservient, only thought of pleasing or helping his master, he was not his own person. The most positive reading of their relationship is that it's similar to Batman and Alfred, master and butler, but still doesn't feel right. Second, I didn't like how the "Fellowship" of the ring didn't seem to have any obligation to their mission. In the Council of Elrond, Elrond tells the members of the fellowship that they were selected to go with Frodo - but they are under no obligation to go with him to the end, to see the mission through. They specifically talk how they can leave at any time they feel like; they don't need to swear to help, there is no oath or code of honor. And at times they even indicate that they go with Frodo because at most they feel bad about leaving him alone; they never really see this as *the mission to save the world*. It's just weird. The movie does change this, making the Fellowship more committed to the cause. For example, the movie adds the memorable sentence, "You Have My Sword, and My Bow, and My Axe", so that at least they swear some sort of loyalty to Frodo, while that doesn't really happen in the book.

But on the whole, the descriptions, though long, were interesting; the action was good; and lore was intriguing. It was a good read.

Finally, I just wanted to add that I "read" the audiobook version, and the narration by Andy Serkis was fantastic! Even the parts that would be dull were given a lot of life by the narrator. I think that it made a huge impact on how much I appreciated the book.


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Review: A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers, #2) by Becky Chambers

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a sequel to the excellent "A long way to a small angry planet", and it's difficult to talk about it without comparing it to the first one. This story is at the same time more intimate and emotional, but also more expansive and with more worldbuilding; sounds contradictory, but it does manage to do both at the same time. First, it tells the stories of Sidra and of Jane, really focusing on the characters, how their stories parallel and orbit each other (the revelation of who Jane is happens right at the start). This story is not only intimate, but also very emotional - specially the one of Jane, it is sad and delivers some gut punches. But on the other hand, this novel also feels like a pause in the series, so that while it stops to tell a much simpler story of two people, it also takes it time to do some worldbuilding, diving deep into some miscellaneous aspects of this universe where they inhabit. This second part is not particularly exciting, nothing mind-blowing nor revolutionary, but still interesting.

In general, I like the message that it carries, about kindness about "paying forward", and about community. But I am not sure I like the anti-government stance, and how it focus only on circles of friends and commune-like social structures as the best possible arrangement of people (both for humans and aliens). I guess the message is that chosen families are the best families (which is not wrong). In the end, this book is truly about relationships, rather than any aspect of sci-fi, technology, or philosophy. There are also some thoughts on the nature of sentience, and rights of Ais - but I think it was done in a very superficial way. I think the AIs are really there to showcase the "humanity" of those interacting with them (like, how do we treat people who are different?); to serve as metaphors for minorities - link in the case of Sidra, of LGBT people trying to fit in or find their place in the world.

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Review: Making Money (Discworld, #36; Moist Von Lipwig, #2)

Making Money by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lots of fun! This is the second Discworld novel featuring Moist Von Lipwig, a former con-man turned "hero of the city". And in fact, it reads a lot like the previous novel (Going Postal), which is good because I liked the first one a lot! This story has the same elements of adventure and of "how is he going to solve that?" to it. The novel also features the Patrician, who is great as always, very Machiavellian.

The one bad thing is a jarring switch of the plot in the second half, when a subplot about golems takes front stage. Suddenly, Moist is the hero at the center of the golem crisis - but there is no reason for this, no set up. With all the heroes in Discworld, and a big crisis happening in Ankh-Morpork, why is he the hero? Why isn't anyone else doing anything? Eventually the novel connects this subplot to the main plot, but still feels forced. Also, at that point the main plot starts getting more and more convoluted, and the mysteries are multiplied and dragged out as much as possible. It's a bit frustrating, really. The reveal of Mr. Bent's secret was absolutely ridiculous, which is perfect for Discworld. But I have to say that I was disappointed, I was expecting something more serious, grander, because of the tone of the narrative around this.

In the end, it was still a good adventure, with some good challenges and solutions, quick thinking to get out of sticky situations, and a good ending.

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Review: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Good book, but challenging to review - it feels like anything I say about it, it will be a spoiler! So be warned!

The story is non-linear, and somewhat convoluted. The book blends historical fiction and sci-fi to tell a mystery unravelling across centuries. It also blends both classic sci-fi (e.g. time-travel), with the more recent themes, such as living in a simulation. But it's also a book about the pandemic, or actually, different pandemics in the past and in the future, talking about our current pandemic, complete with discussions about safety, isolation, homeschooling, and zoom meetings (holographic, of course). It's just missing the crazy anti-vax/anti-mask element and rise of fascism, which is unfortunate, since to me those are the most striking elements of our pandemic.

It has a weird start, going all the back to the start of the 20th century, where it touches on themes of colonization and manifest destiny (although it takes place in Canada, not the US). It is well told, with elements that did not feel like cliches. It then unspools slowly into an intriguing mystery, telling the stories of several people in different centuries, until it reveals their connection. The main strength of the book is definitely the story-telling, not the sci-fi nor the world-building. The end is semi-satisfying - the solution to the mystery is satisfying, but not the end of the story, I actually would like to know more about what happened to some of the supporting characters.

I liked the story of one of the main characters, Olive, an author who wrote about a fictional pandemic right before a real-life pandemic struck. The book tells about her experience in the book circuit (before the pandemic) and the life as an "expert" (but not really) during the pandemic, going on virtual interviews and lectures - I wondered how much of it was autobiographical! (a lot of it mirrors Emily St. John Mandel, this book's author)


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Review: What the Hex by Alexis Daria

What the Hex by Alexis Daria
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this audiobook up for Hispanic Heritage Month, it seemed appropriate to listen to something that read like a "telenovela". But I was pleasantly surprised that the story had more depth than just the romance: it's a full-blown fantasy story, with witches fighting demons! The romance is there too, but it's contrived and exaggerated, with some very forced lines - the banter and flirting doesn't seem very natural, but it is fun nonetheless. It has a couple of racy scenes, but it's not the most explicit book I have seen. I like the latinx/hispanic connection, with an okay (if superficial) depiction of modern hispanic-american family life.


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Review: Driving the Deep (Finder Chronicles, #2)

Driving the Deep by Suzanne Palmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun sci-fi adventure! The second book in the Finder series by Suzanne Palmer (and I think this is her second novel, too), it actually feels less finished than the first book. The sci-fi aspect is less solid and detailed, and the plot relies too much on lots of coincidences. Also, I am not a big fan of the "wild west" feel of Finders universe. But once you get past that, with a little bit of suspension of disbelief and a willingness to just go with it, the story is entertaining and the near-future sci-fi is good enough. There are some funny moments, and the protagonist is usually joking (although the other characters only *try* to be funny). The action is fast-paced and well done, and the "detective mystery" aspect of the book is very engaging. I like that the It had an "adventure game" component to it - the protagonist goes around, finds weird items, collects them, then uses them to solve a puzzle. Broken equipment? Collect it. Maps? Collect it. Frozen meatball?? Collect it. Then use each item for some specific contrived action, to get to the next part - it feels a lot like an adventure game :D

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Review: Tales of the Alhambra

Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A surprisingly good read. I picked this up to read as I was traveling to Granada, Spain, and wanted to read something sited in the city. It was perfect!

The Alhambra is a huge palace complex atop a hill next to the city of Granada, with many gardens, small palaces, a fort, towers, a huge wall encircling everything. Supposedly, there are many legends surrounding the place, and I wanted to learn about them. The book narrates a some of these legends, and some of the history behind them, but it's actually mostly talking about the people and the place as a whole, about what it looks like and what it feels to be there. It talks about the trip of the author to Granada and his stay at the Alhambra in 1828, and about the people he met there. It's very straightforward, without much dramatization. It reads as a product of the time, with conservative views on the roles of nobles, the working classes, and of women, but taken as a historical product, it's understandable. Some of the stories were interesting, and at least one of them (about Philip V and his hypochondria) was very funny.

I am not sure I would recommend it normally, but if you are traveling to Spain, this is a must-read!


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Review: The Spanish Love Deception

The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's a funny, enjoyable romantic comedy - it's not what I understood to be romance novel at all, it really reads like a romcom, at least for most of it. The "sexy parts" start only at about 75% of the way (that's where the drama also starts). I really liked it - I devoured it in just a few days, way faster than any other book I have read recently!

The protagonist and narrator of the story is Catalina (Lina to her friends), a Spanish woman who is the maid of honor for the upcoming wedding of her sister, back in her hometown in Spain; where her Ex is the best man. She is freaking out that she has no one to go with her, and is running out of time. Enter Aaron, her aloof and inimical colleague, offering to be her date for the wedding. Shenanigans ensue.

Aaron characterization is a bit weird. He speaks very little, and when he does, it's usually a grunt, or at most 1 or 2 words. He never explains anything, he never just comes out and says what he wants. Lina calls him Mr. Robot, and that seems to fit, at least for the first half of the book; but he starts to be more human and communicative in the second half. This is typical romance fare - at least one of the protagonists is usually terrible at communication, which causes conflict.

Although his characterization is weird, one thing that jumped at me was how the source of "conflict" in the story is actually *realistic*! In general, this type of story always rely on miscommunication or coincidences or accidents to give it a plot. In this case, the conflict is because the Catalina and Aaron are inimical *at work*. (view spoiler)[ Since she is the narrator, we only get her side of the story; how he humiliated her in her early days at work, and he is in her black list, and they are constantly bickering. Except that as we read, it start dawning on me that maybe she was imagining slights, and projecting her dislike of him to his actions. No matter how nice Aaron is to her, she always takes it the wrong way; she flips the actions on their heads, assuming bad intentions. She simply cannot accept that he is being nice to her! But unlike in other romcoms, this is not maddening! It actually makes sense - that's exactly how a lot of workplace conflict arise! People have "archnemesis" and "feuds" at work over nothing! Just a series of small slights that keep propelling themselves and compounding over time! And most of the time it's all imagined - one person just thinks the other person hates them, then retaliate, then the other person gets annoyed, then retaliates, and so on, on a completely made up vicious cycle. So yeah, I can totally see conflict like this happening in real life! (hide spoiler)]

Another thing that struck me is how one-sided it is on the "sexy" part too: it's very female centric, with many and long descriptions of Aaron, and almost nothing on Lina. He is described very well, physically, emotionally, psychologically, mannerisms, expressions; on the other hand, I came out of the story without a good sense about Lina, except for how she talks. That's really the only characterization we have of her. The book goes to great lengths to show how great Aaron is, and how good of a person and a partner he is. Again, we don't have much on Lina. We know she is funny from the dialogue, and that she is smart because she couldn’t have her job if she wasn't, but that doesn't say much. In which way is she smart? How does she think? It's like if someone just described the main character as beautiful and left it at that. And incidentally, what does she look like? Other than the extremely generic "typical Spanish woman" we are told at the start?

The book should also be commended for two - what do I call them, "technical"? - achievements.

First, it's always annoying in romcoms (in movies and TVs) when the characters seem to be living beyond their means - they are a barista but have a swanky apartment in Manhattan! They have nice clothes, go out all the time, have fancy dates! How do they have the money? But in this book, it almost seems like it goes the other way. The protagonist is a high level engineer in a big tech consulting company, a team leader, near the top of the org chart - someone who presumably makes a lot of money! But she has a cramped studio apartment in Brooklyn, takes public transport, has trouble finding nice clothes, works like crazy, worries about money constantly. It's either spot on, or even exaggerated in the opposite direction!

Second, the action takes place over a long period of time - *because* people are actually busy working! In a lot of rom-coms, it's weird how much time people spend in the romance part, going out, hanging out, making plans and schemes - and a very reasonable reaction by any reader/watcher should be" "who has the time for *that*?!"; "don't these people have to *work*?!". But in this book, the people do work! Weeks go by between "scenes" (very explicitly), because people are too busy with work and getting on with their lives. Yes, they will have schemes and shenanigans and hang out, but at a more reasonable rate. That part actually makes sense.

A note about the narration: I liked it! The narrator was female, which is an obvious choice for a book narrated by a female protagonist. Although her “male voice” was wholly unsuitable for Aaron’s character, making for a confusing characterization at times, I still wouldn’t change it, since everything is supposed to be filtered through Lina’s perception, so the voice works. Finally, her voice and accent when she spoke Spanish was really great!

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Review: The Bird King

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book takes place around the time of the fall of Granada, Spain, the last emirate in the Iberian peninsula, in 1492; and it tells the story of Fatima, one of the Sultan's concubines, and of Hassan, the royal mapmaker with magical abilities, as they flee Granada to escape the incoming Spanish Inquisition.

I listened to the audiobook version of this book, and normally I wouldn't make a big deal of that, but in this case that forces me to address a big problem with it: the narration is very slow, kind of like a drawl, oscillating between languid and downright sleepy, making the book seem slower and boring. All the characters sounded wrong - her voice work for the protagonist (Fatima) didn't fit with the character at all! I had to listen at higher speed (at least 1.1x) so it wouldn't be so tedious.

The terrible narration makes it very difficult not to find the book slow and boring. It doesn't help that the plot is actually slow too. Most of the book concerns the escape of Fatima and Hassan from the Alhambra (the royal palace complex in Granada) after the arrival of the Castilian representatives, from Granada to the coast, over a period of 3 days. That is, the book really drags out the description of the escape of a fairly short distance (a couple of hours drive today) in a fairly short time. That's it, that's most of the book. And despite being slow, I actually thought it should have taken its time being a little more descriptive at the start, describe the places and people more, taking time to set the stage better. The narration is mostly action and dialogue, except that it's trivial action and boring dialogue. The characterization work was also extremely weird, it was difficult to understand the people and their motivations, who they were, what they wanted. On the other hand, the characters (with the exception of Fatima) all seemed to have a big sense of history, as if they already knew what was going to happen, and kept reflecting on it constantly. It was annoying, breaking with the realism of people. The ending is fantastical, in the "fantasy"-related meaning of the word; but the book is too mysterious and precious about it.

Despite these flaws, the story on the whole was interesting, with a cool setting. In fact, I must confess that this last point was what I liked most - because I actually have been to Granada, and I liked recognizing the places in the stories, because it's still all there, the Alhambra, the Nasrid palaces, the gardens - more than 500 hundred years later! I also liked that the story weaved some real fables and myths in, which I always prefer to wholly made-up fantasy worlds. I also liked the relationship between Fatima and Hassan, even if I didn't like their dynamic towards the end.


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Review: At the Existentialist Café

At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had been going through a streak of existentialist books for the past year, and I chose this book to cap it - it looked like it would be a good overview of the philosophy and history of existentialism, and serve as a fine conclusion. Although the book was good, it was a little disappointing.

I think the book fell short on two regards: First, I think I expected a more dramatized take on the lives of the existentialists - that is, still real, but with more life. Something like "The Agony and The Ecstasy" or "The Origin" by Irving Stone - biographical, but still mesmerizing. Instead, it's a dry accounting of the philosopher's lives and histories.

Second, I didn't like much the choice of which "characters" to focus on, Heidegger and Sartre. I was expecting the book to focus on Sartre, de Beauvoir, and Camus - I mean, they (and only they) are right there on the cover! So the focus on Heidegger was a little puzzling. I understand that he preceded the others, and was incredibly influential at the time, but he is not exactly an existentialist like the others, he is primarily a phenomenologist. I must also admit that I dislike his philosophy, specially the later stuff with a focus on rustic living and luddism. As the book progresses, it does start giving some focus to the other characters, although it feels more superficial, never delving too deeply into what made them tick. De Beauvoir got some attention, but Camus was definitely a secondary character in this book. Towards the end, the sequence of events and the cast of characters become a sprawling mess, as the author rushes to include every other existential philosopher into the book.

The explanations of the philosophy themselves also felt underwhelming. The part in which the books talks about the early existentialists and phenomenologists makes it sound like they were just trying to philosophize about things that feel more like behavioral psychology, sociology, or even psychiatry - like anxiety and depression. It also makes it sound like most of the time, philosophy is just an exercise in ignoring science. Philosophy questions "being", but not minds, brains, consciousness. The book spent a lot of time talking about "being"; it spent a lot less time dealing with the ethics and humanism of existentialism.

I was a bit annoyed with the Anglo-American, the right-leaning attitude of the author. It comes across when she talks about communism, and the struggles of existentialists in embracing and disavowing communism; she readily dismisses communism as an *obviously* wrong ideology, without ever explaining why. At a late point in the book, she mentions how the belligerent and bellic attitude of a communist country impugns communism, but never explains why when a capitalist country does the same, it doesn't impugn capitalism… But then again, it seemed that even the existentialist philosophers had a problem grasping the concept that authoritarian governments are bad no matter what form of economic system they pretends to spouse.

One more aside about existentialism, not really about this book: When reading the existentialists ideas about being, I kept thinking, "What about animals?". Not how existentialism applies to animals, but what do is it learn from animal - from modes of being that are not human, but are not also as simple as that of a tree. Some do think and have feelings, and have societies. But no existentialist seem to pay much attention to that - they don’t seem to learn anything from other minds, they just take the human adult brain fully formed and call that a mind, everything else is irrelevant. They ignore that humans are just an instance of animals. If their theories don’t generalize, then how meaningful can they be? How are they more than navel gazing and self aggrandizement?

Despite these disappointments with the book, it was still interesting, and covered a lot of ground, ideas, and lives. It starts with a nice review of existentialism and a brief overview of the lives of Sartre and de Beauvoir (before diving into phenomenology, existentialism's precursor). It was actually interesting, despite the long list of misgivings listed above.

One clear takeaway from the book for me is that Existentialism is perfectly suited to the 2020s - with the pandemic, war breaking out in eastern Europe, rise of white-nationalism and fascism, it feels like we are right back to the 1920s-1930s, and the philosophy of freedom, responsibility and social engagement advocated by existentialism is increasingly urgent.

It also cemented my opinion that the best philosophers of the century (and top 5 ever) were definitely de Beauvoir and Camus, because they were the ones whose philosophy really focused on ethics, on *how* to lead a meaningful life.

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