cyborgforty's reviews
207 reviews

From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism by Fred Turner

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Did not finish book.
Interesting subject matter but very dense & I figured I got the gist of it after a couple of chapters.
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a gripping read. The writing style felt notably impersonal, distant in a way that I thought was done very well. It's a dystopian plotline that you can imagine happening IRL. But now I'm just curious whether the author borrowed any ideas from Little Fires Everywhere.
Frida pulled a Bebe and I knew what was coming as soon as it started happening.
This Weightless World by Adam Soto

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I didn't expect to really enjoy this book (what's up with the cover design?!) but I didn't expect to dislike it either. Good prose and compelling character study. An alternate universe - what if aliens made contact in 2012 - yet very much the same as our universe today. The fact that it's science fiction set during the Obama era makes it so conceptually interesting.

Maybe it's because I know this book was published in 2021, and maybe it's because I was 9 years old and unaware of the world in 2012, but I feel like it's a book about 2012 that feels like 2021? Was Uber really commonplace in 2012? Etc. etc.

I didn't really dig the Babichev / Takka passages embedded between the chapters. I feel like those were there to make it feel more like science fiction - and we get some references to the story's characters and a bit of clarification on who Babichev is by the end - but while reading it, I just didn't understand why they were relevant to the story and found myself skimming over them.
Horse Barbie by Geena Rocero

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funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

I enjoyed this memoir! I wasn't even familiar with Geena Rocero when I first read it but am now very curious about her documentary "Caretakers."
Split by Cathy Linh Che

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5.0

read it all in one train ride... wow