Elizabeth Case

︎Provenance Ann Leckie
︎The Empire of Gold S. A. Chakraborty
The Deluge Stephen Markley (2/5) - terrible book to read while writing a thesis on glaciers and ice sheets; resented how he portrays the life of scientists; the desperation and movements feel relatively fully realized, but odd how little of the rest of the world plays into the book. i wouldn’t read it again, or necessarily recommend it. but a useful work of climate fiction.

︎Translation State Ann Leckie
︎Ancillary Mercy Ann Leckie
American War Omar El Akkad (3.5/5) - while the future itself feels unlikely, the characters and focus is brutal and thorough, chilling and fully humanized

Martyr! Kaveh Akbar (2/5) - sort of a quintissential first novel, some gorgeous language, a few thouroughly realized characters, but stilted in its portrayal of parenthood, and many times the characterization felt awkward through a sort of arbitrary addition of traits, stated but never played out, or added to make the character seem more interesting. kind of a predictable plot. loved the last chapter, and want to know when in the process it was written.
The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin (4/5) - second or third time reading, that, along with moving to the Netherlands as an immigrant and watching Shogun, make for an incredible reflection on identity, alienation, assimilation, language and translation, love, and culture

The Tale of Genji Murasaki Shikibu (4/5) - the abridged version, translated by Edward Seidensticker

Frogs Mo Yan (4/5)
Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi (3/5)
when I sing, mountains dance Irene Solá (5/5)

Giovanni’s Room James Baldwin (3/5)

The Door - Magda Szabao (4/5)
Essays II - Lydia Davis
︎Miracle of Mindfulness Thích Nhất Hạnh (5/5)

Circe Madeline Miller (3/5)

Maus Art Spiegelman (4/5)
Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl (5/5)

Greek Lessons Han Kang (?/5)

Pegasus in Flight Anne Mcaffery (0/5) - what a waste
Spirit and Stone Marion Boatwright (3/5)
Fevered Star Rebecca Roanhorse (2/5)

The View From the Seventh Layer Kevin Brockmeier (3/5) 
Babel RF Kuang (4/5)
How to Loiter in a Turf War Coco Solid (4/5)

Story of a Brief Marriage Anuk Arudpragasm (5/5)
The Unbroken CL Clark (3/5)
The Great Derangement Amitav Ghosh (3/5)
Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City Russell Shorto (3/5)

A Closed and Common Orbit Becky Chambers (3/5) 
To Be Taught, if Fortunate Becky Chambers (4/5)

Calamaties Renee Gladman (4/5) - whew !! 
Ordinairy Notes Christina Sharpe (4/5) - *and* the formatting *chef’s kiss*

Akata Warrior Nnedi Okorafor (3/5)
My Volcano John Elizabeth Stintzi (2/5 with a few sections of 4/5)

The Wind’s Twelve Quarters Ursula K. LeGuin (2/5) - love UKLG but this was not her strongest
Luster Raven Leilani (2/5 with some of the writing 4/5) - willing to bet her next book is going be 5/5

A Painter of Our Time John Berger (4/5) - a gorgeous and painful read about art, hope, loneliness, and purpose; the format would be trite if it wasn’t so effective
Last Notes Granta, edited by Sigrid Rausing - especially loved Cairo Song by Wiam El-Tamami
How It Feels to Float Helena Fox (3/5) - devoured in a night; one of the only books I've ever read that adequately describes dissociation

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Michael Chabon (4/5) - historical detail so exact I found I couldn’t tell the difference between reality and fiction
︎Beowolf: A New Translation Maria Dahvana Headley (2/5)- maybe this shouldn’t have been my first introduction to beowolf. while i loved her text about her translation choices, i personally found some of the modernisms to be distracting to the point of triteness (”broooo”)
The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri (3.5/5)- I have a feeling this is one I’ll have to let simmer and return to. some of the chapters I loved. Her characters are seamless. everyone’s motivations as clear or as opaque as any living person, always with a reason or a context. I felt Sonia was sold a little short in the telling and could have been given more depth without taking up more space.
Lessons in Chemistry Bonnie Garmus (1.5/5) - just... so over the top... kept being taken out of time by conversations and word choice... clear the author didn’t have any sense of what scientific research actually entailed... a quick read but also could have been cut by a third and tightened significantly
Nona the Ninth Tasmyn Muir (4/5) - this way exceeded my expectations. loved the worldbuilding. masterfully done ‘amnesia’. I loved Nona’s point of view and Muir’s description of her innocence and love without any pedantry, pity, or simpleness. john’s dreams were a little over the top for me. 

The Hurricane Wars Thea Guanzon (2/5) - needed a fun, easy read for my honeymoon. this fit the bill! a debut for sure - lots to tighten - but fun world building
︎Agency William Gibson (2/5) - just a redux of the Peripheral
Camp Zero Michelle Min Sterling (2/5) - there seems to be this trend in cli-fi right now where novels don’t get the editing they need. This includes poorly researched descriptions of science-related topics—e.g., the meteorologist gets a message titled “Absolute Zero” and makes a big deal of how that term is only used by other meteorologists, even though Kelvin is used across most scientific disciplines. The haracters felt loose, the structure felt haphazard. It’s a bummer! Camp Zero had an interesting premise and some exciting points of view; with more editing, it could have been fantastic, instead, it was middling and disengaged.

︎Old Path White Clouds Thich Nhat Hanh - I listened to this over the course of many months, on late night walks with my dog. I finished it just after she passed. No way to rate this, really. Peaceful and meditative, this relates the mostly mytholigized life of the Buddha, teaching, of course, as he lives

Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie (5/5) - immediately began rereading it, perhaps a first, here are some useful notes to have alongside.

Snake Agent Liz Williams (2/5) - read while isolating wtih Covid. superb world building and fun heaven/earth/hell relations! everything else was just okay

Anicllary Justice Ann Leckie (4/5) - a political and nuanced work of science fiction that takes place mostly internaly and through the memories of an AI locked into a single body. Immediately pops to the top of my sci-fi recommendation list, with .