#7 in the Murderbot Diaries series. Murderbot’s mental illnesses continues to grow since it attained full self-awareness. Still stuck on the abandoned colony planet, it stressed out, experienced a false memory of its encounter with the alien contamination, and suffered a brief system collapse. The combined Preservation and university crews are trying to destroy the contamination remnants while helping the colonists avoid corporate wage slavery, but Murderbot doesn’t trust itself. Obviously start with the first in the series. Then read as fast as you can to get to this one.

Confusing, tedious, annoying read. Life after Life will be interesting only to someone equally fascinated by multiverse theory of time and everyday life in the first half of the 20th century. Ursula is born, but immediately dies, in 1911. Ursula is born in 1911, but drowns in early childhood. She falls off of the roof. She dies of Spanish flu (several times). Ursula doesn’t know why, just knows she must stop the housemaid from going to London to celebrate the end of the Great War (the maid will catch the flu in the crowds and bring it back). Ursula finally survives 1918, but is raped at 16 and eventually beaten to death by an abusive husband. It’s almost a relief when Ursula makes it to WWII, but then her story is just variations on death in the Blitz. I guess if you have always looked at death stats in various years and wished you could read a narrative to really understand beyond the numbers, you might enjoy this book.

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Great read

This is a good introduction to the history of Indigenous peoples in the Americas as told by them. The interactions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups is the main focus. The big events, like Andrew Jackson’s defiance of the Supreme Court and the Trail of Tears, I knew from high school American history. Others I have read about in a collection of biographies of women during the western expansion, Gold Rush, etc. It’s a short book, not meant to be comprehensive. And it has its own biases. The only real mention of African-Americans and Indigenous peoples is a positive paragraph under “Reclaiming Our Music” listing famous musicians with both heritages. There’s nothing about owning black slaves that was part of George Washington’s requirements for Indigenous peoples to prove they were civilized enough to be treated like white settlers. It’s still a well-written history of things glossed over or completely disappearing from history books and classes, and therefore worth reading.

If you like Lee Child.

This is the first book that I have read by this author. The title and description lured me in even though dark academia is not really my thing. What kept me intrigued was the blending of a well-developed fantasy world with horror. I enjoyed the book even though there was a lot to decipher. The characters are flawed and the struggle Lennon has with morality is fascinating. You grow to have a love hate relationship with her. The whole idea of a secret hidden school that has at its main focus learning the art of persuasion introduces the reader to a whole new cast of characters to keep up with. It can be overwhelming at times. The ending alludes to a possible sequel as it’s unclear what happened to Dante. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Entangled Life is not a quick read, but went faster than I expected. I don’t know much about mushrooms, lichen, etc. This is very sciency, but clear. I can promise how much I’ll remember. The chapter on radical mycology — using fungi to help break down litter like used diapers, cigarette butts, even some plastics — is probably the most worth reading.

This has been on my to-be-read list since we got it. I didn’t know Maria Bamford, don’t remember her Target Christmas ads — altho I learned in this book that she was on Arrested Development so I did know her a little after all. Maria’s stand-up act is, according to the book, based a lot on her family and her struggles with mental illness. And that’s what this book is, too. She talks about when her intrusive thoughts began as a pre-teen and the OCD habits she started to combat them. Then her teenage eating disorder. Which lead to her first 12 step program (she joined several). She’s very candid about her mistakes — with people, money, work, medications. If you’re close to someone who’s been in a 12 step and/or therapy for years you’ll recognize the required total honesty. It really is a helpful read for anyone struggling with mental illness and anyone who loves someone with mental illness.

I started the series a couple of years ago listening to the audiobook of To Helvetica and Back. It seemed slow taking too much time to establish the town and characters. The reader just didn’t seem right, which is very important to me with audiobooks. I thought I’d give the series another try when I saw this on the list. It’s definitely better and certainly moves faster. A novice snowboarder finds a boot (including foot, ankle, and sock) on a Utah ski slope. The rest of the skier is found, shot, in a crevasse. The deceased grew up in the area, an awkward nerd in high school, but founded a successful tech company. Shelton’s writing style is okay. But it’s one of those cozies that you can’t solve along with amateur sleuth. Too many random misdirects. The solution is based on clues the protagonist only remembered (and are shared with readers) at the very end. It was ok, but with so many cozy series available you can find better.