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Mike
Mike is 52% done with The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
Man, this should've been a memoir. Gitlin's life sounds really interesting, and he barely talks about it.
Nov 24, 2015 08:29PM Add a comment
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

Mike
Mike is on page 137 of 485 of The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume Eight
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman: 4/5 A tad bit predictable, but Gaiman is still a creative and engaging writer.

Cave and Julia by M. John Harrison: 2/5 I guess I see what Harrison was going for, and the writing is fine, but there's more narrative summary than story, and none of the ideas here were really that interesting.
Nov 24, 2015 08:14AM Add a comment
The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume Eight

Mike
Mike is 48% done with The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
The more I read this, the more I realize how much Alan Moore was/is a stereotypical anarchist.
Nov 24, 2015 07:18AM Add a comment
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

Mike
Mike is on page 107 of 485 of The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume Eight
Effigy Nights by Yoon Ha Lee: 3/5 Another one with a lot of very good ideas. Unfortunately, Lee's reliance on infodumps and narrative summary took away a lot of the interest.

Rosary and Goldenstar by Geoff Ryman: 1/5 I'm still trying to figure out what this was supposed to be, but my best guess is that it's a very un-funny, confusing alternate history. It falls flat on its face either way.
Nov 23, 2015 06:08PM Add a comment
The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume Eight

Mike
Mike is on page 240 of 339 of The Running Dream
This ending is so predictable. Even as a kid, I think I could've seen it coming.
Nov 23, 2015 04:41PM Add a comment
The Running Dream

Mike
Mike is on page 120 of 208 of Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of Two Sexes
Maybe it seems kind of unfair of me to focus on Callahan's handling of gender identity so much. But it's such a big part of this book, and he handles it so badly. Maybe if this were released in 1999, I could forgive it, but for a book released in 2009, there is no excuse for ignoring transness the way he does. I can only chalk it up to conscious transphobia, at this point.
Nov 23, 2015 08:09AM Add a comment
Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of Two Sexes

Mike
Mike is 43% done with The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
Even after reading this book, the connection between drugs and revolution is still kind of fuzzy to me. From what I can tell, the New Left basically said, "Drugs make me feel really good. But, like, revolution though."
Nov 23, 2015 08:08AM Add a comment
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

Mike
Mike is on page 77 of 485 of The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume Eight
Zero for Conduct by Greg Egan: 3/5 This was another badly-written story. The diction was overly-complex purple prose, to the point where it became difficult to follow the story. (The use of jargon and names of Afghani and Iranian cities that most readers wouldn't be familiar with doesn't help). It's a shame, because the story is actually quite cool. I loved the protagonist.
Nov 22, 2015 10:59AM Add a comment
The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume Eight

Mike
Mike is on page 90 of 208 of Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of Two Sexes
I'm trying my best to figure out Callahan's stance on gender identity, but it's confusing as hell. My best guess is that he sees a distinction between being 'physically' a boy or a girl and identifying as a boy or a girl. I know that he has a concept of being 'physically' neither male nor female, but does he have a concept of non-binary gender identities? Or transgenderism? There's no telling.
Nov 22, 2015 08:20AM Add a comment
Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of Two Sexes

Mike
Mike is 38% done with The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
Man, radical leftism was a lot less radical back in the day than it is now.
Nov 21, 2015 03:57PM Add a comment
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

Mike
Mike is on page 30 of 208 of Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of Two Sexes
I'm pretty nervous about this one - it's too soon to tell for sure, but Callahan seems to be using 'man' and 'person with a typically functioning penis' interchangeably, which isn't a great sign.
Nov 21, 2015 11:34AM Add a comment
Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of Two Sexes

Mike
Mike is on page 47 of 485 of The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume Eight
Some Desperado by Joe Abercrombie: 2/5 The story was pretty cliched, and the writing was contrived and confusing. Abercrombie at least put a lot of effort into making the action realistic, and as far as cliched stories go, this one is at least well-paced and immersive. But it's the awful writing that really got me.
Nov 21, 2015 08:47AM Add a comment
The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year, Volume Eight

Mike
Mike is on page 210 of 339 of The Running Dream
There's a lot of interesting stuff here. If only Jessica weren't so much of an empty protagonist.
Nov 20, 2015 09:56PM Add a comment
The Running Dream

Mike
Mike is on page 904 of 948 of The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen
Still liking these fairy tales, particularly The Snow Drop. These feel a lot like the ones Andersen wrote very early on.
Nov 16, 2015 07:40PM Add a comment
The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen

Mike
Mike is 34% done with The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
Gitlin is, as far as I can tell, doing a decent job of keeping his biases out of the informational parts about liberalism and radical leftism.
Nov 15, 2015 08:01PM Add a comment
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

Mike
Mike is on page 874 of 948 of The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen
At least we're back to real fairy tales, finally. I kind of liked The Toad and The Porter's Son, particularly The Toad.
Nov 14, 2015 11:32AM Add a comment
The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen

Mike
Mike added a status update
Holy shit, you guys, I'm seven books behind on my reading challenge. This has never happened before - literally, I've never, ever been behind by even a single book since I started doing them. My reading pace has slowed so much - I finished only three books in October, and today, I finished the first book I've completed in almost a full month. What the hell happened?
Nov 12, 2015 07:10PM 2 comments

Mike
Mike is 31% done with The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
There is some good information here, I just wish it was more well-organized. Gitlin can't tell if he wanted to write a memoir or a nonfictional book.
Nov 11, 2015 07:38PM Add a comment
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

Mike
Mike is on page 844 of 948 of The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen
Why are these stories even here? These aren't fairy tales, these are nonfictional accounts of Andersen's travels.
Nov 11, 2015 01:57PM Add a comment
The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen

Mike
Mike is on page 190 of 272 of Don't Quit Your Day Job: Acclaimed Authors and the Day Jobs They Quit
The Things We Do for Love by Janis Owens: 3/5 The writing is okay, but Owens just doesn't seem to have a very interesting story to tell.

Message in a Bottle by Michelle Richmond: 4/5 Some tonal issues, but the story and theme are very interesting.
Nov 09, 2015 08:16PM Add a comment
Don't Quit Your Day Job: Acclaimed Authors and the Day Jobs They Quit

Mike
Mike is 28% done with The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
It's often difficult to tell how involved Gitlin is in whatever movement he's talking about. Overall, the format of this book is just confusing - most of the book reads like it should be a broad account of the radical left-wing movements of the sixties, but the memoir elements just muddle it instead of adding anything.
Nov 09, 2015 08:10PM Add a comment
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

Mike
Mike is on page 814 of 948 of The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen
I think I've already read most of Andersen's good stories. The first part of this anthology was mainly shorter vignettes, which I sort of like. But now, there are more and more extended stories, and I'm mostly finding them boring. Andersen's style gets a little tedious when it goes on for more than a few pages.
Nov 07, 2015 01:21PM Add a comment
The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen

Mike
Mike is 22% done with The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
I wonder if this would appeal to me more if I were more familiar with the culture and political movements of the sixties. I'm not finding myself very interested in Gitlin's story so far.
Nov 07, 2015 01:21PM Add a comment
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

Mike
Mike is 18% done with The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
I like this a lot better when I see this as primarily Gitlin's memoir centering around his political beliefs, with the factual information about the political movements of the sixties as background for his own personal journey. Which would be great, if not for how long he lingers on the factual elements and how much less he talks about himself.
Nov 06, 2015 12:59PM Add a comment
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

Mike
Mike is 15% done with The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
This is really interesting. Gitlin seems to have done a lot of research, rather than just relying on his personal experience for everything. That was definitely a good move.
Nov 04, 2015 08:18PM Add a comment
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

Mike
Mike is on page 168 of 272 of Don't Quit Your Day Job: Acclaimed Authors and the Day Jobs They Quit
Hiding Out with Holden Caufield by Suzanne Hudson: 5/5 Really well-written and interesting

Tote Monkey by Joshilyn Jackson: 4/5 The biggest secondhand embarrassment I've felt in ages.

For the Good Lies by Barb Johnson: 4/5 Not as interesting of a story, but it's well-written.

My Life as a Spy by Cassandra King: 4/5 I'm not really sure what to make of this story, but it's at least interesting.
Nov 03, 2015 04:50AM Add a comment
Don't Quit Your Day Job: Acclaimed Authors and the Day Jobs They Quit

Mike
Mike is 4% done with The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage
I'm kind of nervous about reading a whole book from a white guy that takes this attitude towards social justice movements. He seems to treat organizations advocating for the rights of a particular oppressed group of people with a lot of suspicion. But we'll see how it goes, I suppose.
Nov 01, 2015 07:56PM Add a comment
The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage

Mike
Mike is on page 784 of 948 of The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen
It's really interesting to see how the writing industry worked a hundred fifty years ago. It's so totally different from today.
Nov 01, 2015 06:52PM Add a comment
The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen

Mike
Mike is on page 754 of 948 of The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen
Right now, in this book, I'm reading a novella-length autobiography of Andersen. His life isn't that interesting, but he does paint a fascinating picture of himself. He feels like a child thrust into the adult world, in his over-sensitivity and his reliance on the kindness of others.
Oct 31, 2015 09:40AM Add a comment
The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen

Mike
Mike is on page 724 of 948 of The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen
It's not that I dislike these stories, they're just taking forever to read. I have to read other books at some point.
Oct 30, 2015 09:52PM Add a comment
The Complete Illustrated Stories of Hans Christian Andersen

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