A Few => Some => Several

I doesn't seem like I read much during the 3 weeks I spent with my wife in France and Switzerland, but the books have definitely piled up.

Let's start with 1 of my (new) favorite books of all time: "Think in 4d", subtitled "Design Brilliant User Experiences and Valuable Digital Products", by Erica Heinz (my oldest daughter), 2023, 227 pages, 70k words. The conclusion of the Kirkus review:

"[A]n erudite, savvy book that communicates difficult, technical ideas with accessible, largely jargon-free prose. For both the seasoned veteran of interactive design and the unpolished newcomer, this is an invaluable resource. An impressively thorough and clear introduction to a still-new discipline."

The review at Booklife.com correctly notes:

And, as befits the subject, the book is laid out with wit, verve, and eye-pleasing simplicity. This product experience is first rate.

The official eBook release is 10/10/2023 at 10:00am, at a special introductory (half) price of $10.00. Order in that hour so we can boost her ranking! The link to Kobo is above, here's the link to Amazon. Here's the cover, yay!

Back to my more normal reading material:

1. "Broken Stars", subtitled "Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation", edited and translated by Ken Liu, 2019, 489 pages, 133k words, 16 stories, 3 essays. Chinese sci fi is so all-over-the-place, I enjoy reading it.

2. "Walking to Aldebaran", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2019, 132 pages, 35k words. This was a nicely paced novella that definitely did not end up anywhere close to where I expected. Somehow this time around, lots of short stuff, good deal. Book 1 of the "Terrible Worlds: Destinations" series.

3. "Starter Villian", by John Scalzi, 2023, 245 pages, 76k words. The king of snark is always fun to read. Lots of cute stuff in this book - I mean, come on, it's got a cat on the cover! I think I read this on the plane from JFK to Geneva.

4. "The Properties of Rooftop Air", by Tim Powers, 2020, 44 pages, 12k words. Another short piece. Very atmospheric in 19th century London, not that much plot. I should check on what Powers has been up to. Hmmm, ordered a brand new novel featuring the Bronte sisters, but there is a Vickery and Castine series, 3 books 2018, 2020, 2022, possibly set in the universe of "Last Call", a fav of mine, that is unavailable on Kobo???

5. "Wild Massive", by Scotto Moore, 2023, 479 pages, 148k words. I really liked Moore's prior work, "Battle of the Linguist Mages" (BOTLM), and was surprised to find he had another fairly weighty tome ready to go. Note, BOTLM had lots of DJing, gaming, & computer security foo in it that I thought would appeal to my son - he hated the book. This one the riff is more on amusement parks - and the multiverse. It is as wild and freewheeling as the BOTLM, but for whatever reason didn't seem to work quite as well. The ending was actually much less "deus ex machina" than BOTLM - despite this 1 having a "deus ex machina" weapon?!?!? Moore's background in theater might be the secret sauce for writing stuff that seems very, very unique.

6. "Dual Memory", by Sue Burke, 2023, 339 pages, 105k words. I would call this climate fiction, set on an Arctic island with the fascist Leviathan League looking to pick off climate-crisis-weakened countries for conquest. The heros of the story are mostly the machines of the island, who work with the unflappable human hero. They're kind of Star Wars level robots, but people somehow don't realize how sentient they have become. Very laid back writing, an easy and enjoyable read.

7. "Ogres", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2022, 149 pages, 40k words. Another quickie. I thought this was fantasy, but it is sci-fi. A good old-fashioned unsurprising plot twist, but wait, there's still more! A fun and fast read, and, again, climate fiction.

8. "The Eyes & The Impossible", by Dave Eggers, 2023, 154 pages, 47k words. My daughter Erica pointed me at Eggers, who is a web humorist responsible for McSweeney's, a non-profit publisher and the website McSweeney's Internet Tendency. I am getting their posts via my RSS reader, I really don't like the humor much, not sure why. Too obvious, but somehow not cute like The Onion? Anyway, this book got good reviews, I bought a fancy hardcover - carved wood no less - for my granddaughter. I wanted to read it so also bought the eBook for myself. Hah, I just noticed, it says maximum age 12 - same as my granddaughter. Well, I enjoyed it, I think she will too - the main characters are all animals.

How did that wind up being so many books???