Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Death. It doesn’t have to be boring.

Well that’s quite a book. I’ve been wanting to try out one of Mary Roach’s books for a while and this one came up on the (digital) library, so I thought I’d give it a try. In a nutshell, it goes into the process of what happens right up to and after you die (including brain death and organ donation) along with the various things that might be done with your body afterwards (such as medical training and testing various products along with alternatives to burial).

“What I do is, I think of them as wax.”

Theresa is practicing a time-honored coping method: objectification. For those who must deal with human corpses regularly, it is easier (and, I suppose, more accurate) to think of them as objects, not people.

It’s a fascinating look into things you just don’t often think of. I quite enjoyed it.

read more...


Eric Carle's Animals Animals

That’s an adorable and longer than expected book of poetry about animals in various ways and forms in prime Eric Carle form. I don’t think I’ve met a book of theirs yet I don’t like and this is no exception. Worth the read.


Record of a Spaceborn Few Wayfarers #3

“Amias Mitchell,’ Kip said. ‘Born aboard the Asteria. Forty Solar days of age as of GC standard day 211/310. He is now, and always, a member of our Fleet. By our laws, he is assured shelter and passage here. If we have food, he will eat. If we have air, he will breathe. If we have fuel, he will fly. He is son to all grown, brother to all still growing. We will care for him, protect him, guide him. We welcome you, Amias, to the decks of the Asteria, and to the journey we take together.’ He spoke the final words now, and the room joined him. ‘From the ground, we stand. From our ships, we live. By the stars, we hope.”

It’s absolutely fascinating what Becky Chambers has done with The Wayfarers books. In one, we get a slice of life on a long haul spaceship with all sorts of aliens; in two), we get an embodied AI and a former cloned slave learning about being people, and now… we get the most ‘human’ centric of the stories thus far. It’s all about the Exodus Fleet–a few dozen generation ships built from the ruins of Earth’s cities and launched into deep space what feels like a very long time ago–certainly before humanity knew for sure there was anyone else out there.

read more...


The Complete Maus

Maus. What’s there even to say? It’s a story about a son and a father. About growing up Jewish during the rise of the Nazi party and during the Holocaust. About the ways that dramatically changes the lives of even those survive. All told in a comic book style with different style animals for different races. It’s a fascinating way to tell the story (a (Jewish) mouse wearing a (Polish) pig mask to hide from the Nazis…) even if / perhaps because it raises questions of it’s own.

read more...


Rogue Protocol The Murderbot Diaries #3

(There needs to be an error code that means “I received your request but decided to ignore you.”) I do love me some Murderbot. First, we got the origin story and then the one where the mystery deepens). Now… Murderbot is really digging into where it came from … and what int eh world GrayCris is doing there. It’s a fun story and I really love seeing Murderbot learn and grow as a person*.

read more...


Hellblazer, Vol. 26: The Curse of the Constantines Hellblazer #26

Suicide Bridge: a single, not bad. Curse of the Constantines: it’s about blood and family and the nephew never mentioned. I like the idea of sometimes blood matters—and sometimes it doesn’t. Death and Cigarettes—a send off, Constantine style. He never really dies. Seems weird to have Epiphany and Finn here. Bad Blood… what was that?

Overall, out in Constantine style, could have done without Bad Blood. So it goes. Onward!

read more...


Stargate Universe Vol. 1: Back to Destiny

I miss Stargate…

6 issues making what would have been a decent enough Season 3 opener… but I want so much more than that. What would it be like to have an Ancient on the crew?! So it goes.

Overall, it has potential as a contusion but I wouldn’t really consider it necessary or even necessarily canon.

read more...


Hellblazer, Vol. 25: Another Season Hellblazer #25

Man Constantine’s life is a mess. Father in law has some use for him—which goes badly. He’s down a thumb and needs to deal with that—which goes badly. His coat’s gone evil walkabout—which goes badly. Gemma has it out for him (or at least his demonic twin)—which goes badly.

I think you get the idea.

A solid enough issue, but certainly an odd one.

read more...


The Last Graduate The Scholomance #2

Mum spent a lot of time in my formative years gently reminding me that people don’t think about us nearly as much as we think they do, because they’re all busy worrying what people are thinking about them.

El is a super dramatic senior–and she’s got her reasons, with the whole potential Dark Goddess thing she has going on–and life is only getting weirder. She’s determined to get everyone out, which doesn’t make the least bit of sense and she’s absolutely going to do it in world ending style. Oh, and of course there’s Orion. What’s up with that relationship, am I right?

Overall, if you loved A Deadly Education (as I did), you’re probably going to love The Last Graduate. It turns the whole Scholomance craziness up to 11, gives us a dark chosen one that actually kind of works within the world building, and I really do love and care for the characters. And if the cliff hanger at the end of book 1 wasn’t enough… THERE’S AN EVEN WORSE ONE AND THE NEXT BOOK ISN’T EVEN OUT YET.

Anyways. Read it.

read more...