Woo hoo! I hit 208 books this weekend. Here are the last 4 books I read, a nice mix of my favorite things: Becky Chambers, Stephen King, Christina Lauren, and a book about linguistics!
(5stars) To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
I really love Becky Chambers’s writing — the subject matter (space!) is so fresh and interesting, but the characters at the center are so realistic and well-written (even when they’re not human). I was thrilled to discover that Chambers released a novella this year AND a third novel in her Wayfarers series (thanks CBR!). I immediately picked them up and devoured the novella. I’m trying to restrain myself from doing the same to the full book!
“I’m an observer, not a conqueror. I have no interest in changing other worlds to suit me. I choose the lighter touch: changing myself to suit them.”
In To Be Taught, If Fortunate, we follow four astronauts as they visit four different planets. It takes place sometime in the future when the earth is being destroyed by humans (of course) so humans have sought out new places to live. Rather than terraforming the planets, like you often see in science fiction, the astronauts terraform themselves. They take supplements and go into sleep chambers between each planet, and when they wake up their bodies are better suited for the environment that they’ll be living in. So for instance, on one planet they get sparkly skin that will help them see each other in the very low light. Their body mass changes depending on the gravity level of the planet. Sometimes they get radiation protection in their skin or modifications to their joints. It’s really a fascinating concept.
There are two aspects to this book that really just raise it above so many other things that I’ve read. Chambers’s treatment of the four astronauts and their relationships with each other was so very realistic. They are such a normal humans! But they’re also living under incredible circumstances. I also loved the concept of human scientists traveling to other planets and doing their very best not to affect anything that they were studying or living with. They take samples but they’re respectful; they’re careful not to spread their own diseases or interact with the environment any more than they have to. It was basically the exact opposite of conquering new territory and it was incredible well handled.
(4 stars) The Institute by Stephen King
Okay, as y’all probably know, I am a die-hard Stephen King fan. I love just about everything the man’s ever put out, in part because I started reading him at a young age and feel like I grew up with him. That doesn’t mean I’m incapable of critiquing him, however — it just means that I will let a little more slide than other reviewers might…
One thing I definitely agree with is that King has a problem ending his novels. His set ups are always amazing, and then they tend to either peter out towards the end or go in an insane direction. The Institute kind of does the opposite. I feel like the pacing in this book for the first half was disjointed and even confusing. At one point, I actually stopped the audiobook to double-check that I had downloaded the right one, because the story I was listening to did not match the description on Goodreads at all! But unlike a lot of his other novels, once we got everyone together and started moving towards an ending, he did a great job with the pacing. I found the ending to be one of the better ones he has produced in recent memory.
The Institute is a place where children with telekinetic or telepathic abilities are kidnapped and tortured in an attempt to make their abilities stronger. Once they can perform a certain level, the employees at The Institute put them to work to perform tasks on behalf of some shadowy organization. The book starts out, however, by following an ex-police officer named Tim for several chapters before we even get to The Institute. I found Tim’s story really compelling, King definitely does a good job of setting him up as a character to root for. And then of course once we get to The Institute all of the really scary stuff comes into play.
It’s a really gripping book, I found myself walking around the house with headphones in so I could finish certain sections. The stuff with the kids was definitely upsetting as were the moral implications of using their powers. There’s a a lot of examining the concept of a greater good, which King does in his typical heavy-handed way but I enjoyed nonetheless (because I am nothing if not a Constant Reader).
(3 stars) My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren
This was cute, very light and fluffy. Millie was an interesting main character and I loved the banter between the friends in her group. Lots of funny group chats and emails were included, which I enjoyed. They were well-developed, too. There are five main characters in this novel, Millie and her four best guy friends. By the end of the novel, I felt that each of those men were as well developed as Millie. A lot of times, if you read a book with a big ensemble cast like that, you can’t keep track of at least a couple of the names. This book wasn’t overly long, but Christina Lauren did a great job of developing the characters.
So Millie is a professor at UC Santa Barbara, and has fallen into a group of friends over the last couple of years. They’re all academics, and they’re all men. One night, after getting a little tipsy at a party, she and Reid sleep together. They decide it’s going to just be a one-time thing, and all five friends make a pact to try online dating in order to get dates for a commencement in the spring. Millie, however (in the way of rom-coms), ends up matching with Reid on the app under a false name. The app version of Millie and Reid become very close emotionally, while the physical version of Millie and Reid keep accidentally sleeping together. And then of course things all come to a head when Reid finds out.
I admit I’m not a huge fan of books where the first line in the description is “so and so has always been one of the guys”. The whole idea of women who cannot make friends with other women irks me a little. But Millie’s backstory goes a long way towards explaining why she has trouble making deep friendships with anyone, and I really like how they explored her emotional issues through the process of having her fall in love with Reid.
(5 stars) Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell
I loved this! Thank you faintingviolet for recommending it.
Amanda Montell is a linguist, which is totally one of those jobs that I would love to do in another life. She studies language — where it comes from, how it’s used, and how it evolves over time. She’s also feminist af, and funny as hell, and those characteristics shine through every page of Wordslut.
Chapters in this impressive little book cover everything from profanities (so many!) to gender-inclusive pronouns (and how to tell your asshole uncle that no, referring to one person as “they” is NOT grammar issue), to how women’s speech patterns reflect centuries of oppression. It’s funny and informative and fascinating, really. The changes that language has made over time really interests me, and I like how Montell defends a lot of speech patterns that people (women in particular) are often mocked or ridiculed for. I use the word “like” a LOT (enough that my kids do, too, they sound like little valley girls), and other fillers or hedges — as well as the often derised “uptalk”. Montell states that while some may see these speech patterns as a sign of insecurity, it’s actually a sign of inclusivity — women use this language to soften what they say to make others feel more comfortable. She also discusses the SIX ways like like can be used in a sentence, and concludes with the following: “So the next time someone accuses you of saying like too much, feel free to ask them ‘Oh really? Which kind?'”