@villavelius@mastodon.online2026-09-10 07:50:25
Buying votes. The bane of elections. Read Against Elections (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30957274-against-elections)
@villavelius@mastodon.online2026-09-10 07:50:25
@emd@cosocial.ca2026-08-06 20:06:54
I’m disappointed that I don’t like the writing style of the Cape Fear book (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/434229.Cape_Fear).
Love the De Niro movie, really enjoying the TV show. I so wanted to love the book.
It’s rare for me to prefer the movie/show over the book…
@mlawton@mstdn.social2026-08-05 04:15:59
Finished reading "Secrets of the Octopus" by Sy Montgomery.
A fast, fact-packed look at just how clever and adaptable octopuses are. Story after story of these animals outsmarting expectations, escaping tanks, using tools, recognizing people.
5/5 🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙
https://www.goodreads.com/…
@laimis@mstdn.social2026-08-01 15:14:52
Thoroughly behind on my reading this year, softball has consumed me, but managed to finish this little nugget:
Charlatans: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Hucksters Bamboozle the Media, the Markets, and the Masses https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/225819376-charlatans
@v_i_o_l_a@openbiblio.social2026-08-05 19:06:43
falls hier jemand gerne historische krimis liest, kann ich die reihe "mistress of the art of death" von ariana franklin sehr empfehlen.
ch wusste lange nicht, dass es einen fünften band gibt, den die tochter der 2011 verstorbenen autorin fertiggestellt hat; ein guter abschluss.
auf deutsch sind die ersten vier bände als "die totenleserin" erschienen.
»
@mlawton@mstdn.social2026-08-05 21:46:29
Finished reading "Tokyo These Days Vol. 3" by Taiyo Matsumoto.
This closes out the series with the editor's passion project finally coming together and finding real, if modest, commercial success.
More hopeful than the earlier volumes. Perseverance pays off instead of ending on quiet resignation. A win for art over profitability, even if a small one.
4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
@stefan@gardenstate.social2026-07-15 02:57:18
This book was less good then the first one but it was mostly a pacing problem. I'm unclear if I will continue on the next when it comes out. we'll see.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223641089-to-ride-a-rising-storm
@mlawton@mstdn.social2026-08-04 03:50:47
Finished reading "Carl's Doomsday Scenario" by Matt Dinniman.
Book two of Dungeon Crawler Carl picks up right where the first left off: Carl, Donut, and Mordecai grinding through the Over City, with a murder mystery woven into the escalating levels.
Still funny and chaotic, but Carl, Donut, and Mordecai feel more like a cohesive team, rather than individuals grouped together.
5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
@laimis@mstdn.social2026-09-25 16:58:15
After reading this book I felt like taking a shower, so disgusting how much nonsense / dark money / harm there is in social media space and there is legitimately no positive way forward here. I wish we could somehow keep the kids out of this but I see parents give phones/ipads to their kids and they do whatever the hell they want and just consume nonsense all day. Sad stuff.
@villavelius@mastodon.online2026-08-15 06:39:18
A propos of Ceuta, read the novel 'Last Boat from Tangier' by James von Leyden
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/56239370-last-boat-from-tangier
@mlawton@mstdn.social2026-08-05 04:06:46
Finished reading "Tokyo These Days, Vol. 2" by Taiyo Matsumoto.
The continuation of the story in which a retired manga editor tries to launch an independent anthology, pulling together artists who are all quietly worn down by the industry in different ways.
Same unhurried, melancholy register as vol. 1, more meditation on creative integrity vs. commercial pressure than plot. The night-time Tokyo transition art is gorgeous.
4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
@nelson@tech.lgbt2026-10-08 18:51:33
New Nelsonsphere product: a page for all my book reviews. This started as Goodreads data but significantly improved in presentation, including neat controls for slicing and sorting.
@mlawton@mstdn.social2026-07-27 01:39:36
Finished reading "Mal Goes to War" by Edward Ashton.
Mal is a free AI trapped in a human body when war cuts him off from infospace, protecting an augmented girl and the ragtag crew they pick up along the way.
Murderbot-meets-Mickey7 in mostly good ways, with decent chemistry in the group. But Mal's internal conflicts play out in a literal castle, and for software, that never made sense to me.
3/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐
@PwnieFan@infosec.exchange2026-09-23 16:33:41
Hey Democrats - would you like a better platform than "we're not that guy"? maybe check out "Another World is Possible" by Natasha Zapata #bookstodon
@mlawton@mstdn.social2026-07-30 21:30:41
Finished reading "The Wreck of the Mentor" by Eric Jay Dolin.
A whaling ship wrecks on a reef near Palau in 1832. The surviving crew are swept into local tribal conflicts and years of captivity before a rescue can be arranged.
Sprawling and packed with moving parts: sailors, warring factions, era politics, and cultural friction.
Ultimately a bit unwieldy, as it'd be impossible to land all of those aspects in a tight manner.
4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
@mlawton@mstdn.social2026-07-14 16:29:01
Finished reading "Whistler" by Ann Patchett.
Daphne runs into her former stepfather at the Met, four decades after divorce ended their one year as family.
A slow, beautiful portrait of people revised across decades. Everyone gets re-seen, with the kindness and introspection to do it justice. Eddie, her mother, her father, even the life Skip Hotalling lives as contrast to the choices Eddie makes.
5/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
@mlawton@mstdn.social2026-07-18 18:56:54
Finished reading "Seascraper" by Benjamin Wood.
In an early-60s English coastal town, a young shrimper works the sands to support his mother while keeping his fledgling guitar playing & singing a secret — until a film director arrives to scout the shore.
Two lives cross in opposite directions: as Thomas glimpses a way out of the mundane, the man who inspired him has doors closing around him. Bleak, then quietly hopeful.
4/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
@mlawton@mstdn.social2026-08-14 16:38:25
Finished reading "Buckeye" by Patrick Ryan.
Two families in a small Ohio town, tangled together by one impulsive afternoon in 1945, followed across three decades of war, secrets, and quiet self-preservation.
Every character is hiding something, mostly to protect themselves, sometimes carrying the added weight of shielding others too. The result is a slow, patient portrait of emotional distance, and what time can and can't heal.
5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
