2023
Click the fleuron ❧ to read the full review.
- The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron. A travelogue about Persia and Afghanistan in 1933-1934. ❧
- ⭐ The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories, edited by Jay Rubin. What it says on the tin. The stories hit hard. ❧
- Varjotajunta by Harry Salmenniemi. An author survives two interviews and a train trip. Starts miserable but is ultimately funny. ❧
- Elefantin matka by José Saramago (English title: The Elephant's Journey). A picaresque. ❧
- Vaivan arvoisia by Ville-Juhani Sutinen. Essays on difficult yet worthwhile literature. ❧
- Haavamaa by Pontus Purokuru. Poems and prose on a break-up. ❧
- Number Go Up by Zeke Faux. Investigation into Tether and FTX. If you want to read a book about cryptocurrencies, here’s a good one. ❧
- The Internet Con by Cory Doctorow. On breaking up the monopolies of big tech, DMCA, right to repair. In the 00s, there was a lot of talk about the problems of DMCA. Sad that it has not really gotten any better. Polemic in style. ❧
- No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. A combo of poasting on Twitter (funny) and a family tragedy (sad). ❧
- Sensein salkku by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Raisa Porrasmaa. Calm romance about an eccentric woman and here even more eccentric former teacher. The book just a hint of magical realism. ❧
- Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Humanity tries to find a new home. Seveneves vibes. ❧
- All Systems Red and Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells. Murderbot just wants to brood but ends up saving the day. Entertaining. ❧
- Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. I can’t believe they all survived the polar expedition. ❧
- Translation State by Ann Leckie. Non-normie characters are at it again. ❧
- Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott. On authoritarian high modernism. ❧
- Maailmanloppu ja ihmemaa by Haruki Murakami, translated by Raisa Porrasmaa (English title: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World). A basic Murakami novel. Such male gaze.
- Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. On the attention crisis. I appreciate the societal perspective, but the use of evidence seems poor. ❧
- The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin. A bildungsroman. Enjoyable seafaring in the archipelago. (reread) ❧
- ⭐ Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton. A memoir about working in an environment with very few women. ❧
- ⭐ The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin. A bildungsroman. I read this as teenager and felt it was difficult and long. Now it was a page-turner. (reread) ❧
- ⭐ Supersalanen tyttöpäiväkirja by Veera Milja. Poems about being a teen girl. ❧
- Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. A space opera/adventure. Leckie has a knack for writing cozy post-human beings. ❧
- Ensimmäinen persoona by Haruki Murakami, translated by Antti Valkama (English title: First Person Singular). Autofiction short stories steeped in nostalgia. Only for Murakami fans. ❧
- ⭐ Uraanilamppu ja muita novelleja by Harry Salmenniemi. Short stories. ❧