This series has been a lot of fun. Definite recommend for anyone into cyberpunk. I think it overestimates the power of investigative journalism, and though some things in the book (namely, presidential candidates running on blatant nazi rhetoric) were prescient, I think that we have seen a distinct drop in the public's respect for journalism as a field. Lots to think about.

A deeply human-centric treatment of the history and present context of tuberculosis, how it because a global infection and how rich countries have all but eliminated it while poor countries face more than a million deaths yearly, in total. Green's style is very personal and he intertwines his informational passages with stories about a boy he met in Sierra Leone who shares a name with his son. This is the only nonfiction book that has ever made me tear up. A welcome departure from Green's typical style.

Chilling, brilliant, and filled with a deep discomfort. the style is frantic and disjointed while the themes are solidly developed. About trauma, fascism, and queer survival. Posits fascism as a haunting, worming its way into the brains of a house's inhabitants and keeping them there, stuck and horrifically altered. Definite recommend for anyone into queer horror.

I was shocked to learn this is a YA novel. i guess i can see that some of the themes arent all that mature but good lord was this gory. about a trans boy in small town west virginia who's the descendant of union socialists a hundred years ago and is wrapped up in a hundred year feud with the sheriff's family. really brutal. i wish the setting were a little bit more a part of the story because i find WV very interesting. recommend for anyone looking for good transmasc books.

An interesting look at the way queer stories are presented and ended in in the film industry. it had some cool ideas and implemented them well i think. Not my favorite setting, I'm not a fan of art about Hollywood.

brilliant premise of juxtaposing the AIDS crisis with two Dahmer-like serial killers, just horrible, vile, disgusting imagery. in the top two grossest books I've ever read. easy to understand why this is a classic in the queer horror genre.

this one was maybe a mistake to read as an audiobook. i did not retain much and it faded into background noise pretty easily. that being said, i did find it interesting how much of a personal connection the author has with the conflict and how he was so easily able to tie concepts to his own life experience.

This book gave voice to a lot of the nebulous feelings I've had regarding transfemininity and its space in our culture. It's definitely a formative text in popular queer discourse and I have for sure seen its ideas out in the wild.

While i think this one was weaker than the first, I still enjoyed it. It was much more focused on american electoral politics than the first and there was less variation in the stories, as it was made up of two plotlines instead of the 12 or so of the first book. It didn't have much interesting to say about American politics-the standard "both sides suck" fare. It's very misanthropic, even though it seems like it's supporting "the common people", as Spider's rants focus on inequality and political corruption put down the poor as much as those responsible for keeping them poor. Definitely reads like an angry white guy blogger from the year 2000. also there was a caricature of a trans woman near the end of the book so that sucked.

Really liked this one. the setting was engaging, a very unique look at british scholarly life and its role in colonialism. the characters were likeable. The plot had some conveniences and it was heavy handed with the anticolonial messaging, but id say that was well justified. Kuang writes villains really well. i hated every major white british character in this book. strong recommend for fans of dark academia, historical fantasy, or linguistics.

This one was really fun. Lots of unique sci fi concepts, kinda like an edgy Futurama. I especially liked the diversity of cultures, both real and fictional, that are portrayed in The City. Definitely would recommend this to any fan of sci fi who doesn't mind a crass, irreverent story. A must read for cyberpunk enthusiasts. Not a huge fan of its treatment of women or the trans allegory? in the first issue.

This was a good one. I really liked the prose and the imagery. Contemplative and at times dark, i would recommend this to anyone interested in WWII history or someone looking for a thoughtful treatment of disability in wartime.

good lord i have never read a book with a more unlikeable protagonist. i genuinely thought she was going to murder someone at the end. she was so comically evil that i shudder to imagine the kinds of people Kuang has met who could inspire such a character. nevertheless, i was able to sympathize enough with her that i was rooting for her to get away with it. this was a delicate balance i think kuang did really well until the end, when my revulsion at the protag outweighed my suspension of judgment. this was a really quick read and i finished the audiobook in less than a day. would recommend to anyone looking for a quick, thought provoking story about an asshole and the grave she's digging herself