woops, I'm back
A little bit of a hiatus. I worked a 20 hour a week temp job for about 8 months. That was fine. I finalised my visa application. I am moving to the USA in four days.
Additionally, I have read a few books:
- Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee - I haven't seen the TV show. I enjoyed this, and it was a good introduction to a period of history I know nothing about.
- This World is Not Yours, by Kemi Ashing-Giwa - interesting premise, badly executed imo. The characters were oddly stupid about everything, and the narrative pointlessly confusing in a way that didn't add to the themes of the novel.
- The Southern Reach series of books, by Jeff VanderMeer - great novels. If The World is Not Yours is pointlessly confusing, The Southern Reach is pointedly confusing, deliberately playing up the weirdness of nature.
- One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence - a quick but fairly boring read.
- When Women Were Dragons, by Kelly Barnhill - another book with an interesting premise, but badly executed. The author is super-confused about how their dragons work, and also recognises that the definition of 'woman' is a hotly contested area of controversy at the moment, and just kind of skates over it without engaging. The plot holes are ginormous and glaring.