Sunday Status Update: June 27, 2021

Kat: I’m reading Machine by Elizabeth Bear. It’s slow-going so far. I’m more interested in the non-fiction book I’m reading: How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Dr. Michael Greger. It was recommended by two of my kids who are vegans. It’s very informative and full of scientific citations, though I suspect there’s a bit of cherry-picking going on (pun intended). But it’s clear that a whole-food plant-based diet is the healthiest way to eat and I’ve been moving that way in the past few months for both health and ethical reasons.

Bill: I’ve been hiking/camping out west so since my last status I’ve read:

We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker (review to come)
How to Mars by David Ebenbach
The Blacktongue Thief  by Christopher Buehlman
A Master of Djinn by P. Dj`eli Clark
A Short History of Humanity by Johannesburg Krause & Thomas Trappe, trans. by Caroline Waight

In preparation for an upcoming post on Tor, I’ve also started a reread of the 10-book MALAZAN EMPIRE series by Steven Erikson and have so far gotten through Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, and am partway through House of Chains. And in audio, my son and I tried to listen to Andy’s Weir’s Project Hail Mary, but could not finish it (though I’m thinking the text version would have had a better if not wholly postitive response). Finally, we also popped into The Quiet Place II on a 110+ degree day — not as good as the first, but still good tension, and I quite liked the many visual echoes unifying the three plot strands.

Marion: I finished up Nancy Jane Moore’s genderswapped swordfight romp For the Good of the Realm. Now I’m reading about fungi. Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life is lively and fascinating. It’s making me look at the world in a different way.

Tim: This week, I read an awful lot of Chaucer, some recent criticism on Roman de la Rose, and just a smidgeon of Dante. In between, I opened (with the desperate savor of an old addict taking just a nibble) J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Smith of Wootton Major. I haven’t revisited this one since childhood, and I’m either so relieved to be reading fantasy again that anything seems good, or it holds up quite well!