Blue Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson
Yup, it's good. As usual, KSR is dense with ideas, which is really the whole reason to read sci-fi - without cool ideas, it's just space opera, man. In this one he explores the societal impacts of hyper-longevity, the development of systems of government, the impermanence of memory, and much more.
Gideon's Sword, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Breezed through this one in a couple days. It almost seems like the authors are intentionally trying to make the sort of character and story that can be easily turned into a marketable movie. And hey, there's nothing wrong with that - good on ya, guys. I was taken out of the story a bit at the end - a character asks about some gaping plot holes, and
Hari Seldon Eli Glinn explains that it had to be that way because he had computer simulations of what all the people involved would do. Cheese.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
What a great book this was! In the same way that Kim Stanley Robinson fills every page with great ideas and philosophy, Jonathan Strange is a thousand pages of magical weirdness. It's a little bit like a book-length version of that Old Spice commercial: "Look up, look down, look back at me. I'm on the Raven King's horse." Seriously, it's worth the price of admission for the chapter where Jonathan Strange decides he needs to go mad (Spoiler: he does.)
Agent to the Stars, John Scalzi
You can't beat Scalzi. This is just great, clever sci-fi.
The Last Colony, John Scalzi
About halfway through this right now. Again, you can't beat Scalzi with a stick.
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoesvsky
About fifty pages in. Looks interesting so far.
National Geographic Travel Guide to Costa Rica
Apparently there's a village in Costa Rica with a strong bruja tradition. There's an evil spirit there which will seduce men, and after they've made love, will turn into a horse. In completely unrelated news, there's a village in Costa Rica with a strong
horse-fucking animal husbandry tradition.
