Yes, Leckie writes SF. If you’re interested, I would start with Ancillary Justice, her first novel. It’s really good, and the first of a trilogy that’s all excellent.

I think you saw a post by me long ago where I posted my short notes about the books I’d read in that time frame. If you’d like me to pass along those notes for any of the books we talk about, like Leckie or the more recent Gibson novels, I’d be happy to.

And thanks for the offer. I’m good now, but who knows. An interesting time of change for me coming up: I retire in January after 39+ years at the same company, and sometime after we’re going to move from an area of southern California, where I’ve lived my whole life, to northern Washington State. Will be odd for sure.

Oh, good call, I did read those books and liked them quite a bit. Martine’s writing reminds me a bit of Ann Leckie, who I’ve read a lot of and like very much.

Hey, in know I’m just a guy on the internet who you talk about books with, but if you need to talk about more, I’m happy to listen. You might already have a good support network, which is great, but I know not everyone does.

I’m sorry to hear life is having challenges for you at the moment, I hope that resolves soon. A nice thing about a book is that you can put it down for days, weeks, months, whatever, and it’s still waiting for you when you feel like coming back to it.

I’ve been reading more Gibson lately. I read the first two books of the Jackpot trilogy (the third hasn’t come out yet) and the first in the Blue Ant trilogy. They’ve all been very good.

You take care and I hope things get better for you.

That seems high, though I guess if they’re doing it in a state with high renewable energy, that’s what they’re using. It uses a crazy high amount of energy though.

I wonder what fraction of Bitcoin mining energy comes from renewable sources. I bet it’s teeny tiny.

The women in my life also say that it depends a bit on where. For instance, most just don’t want to be hit on at the gym.

Which is why so many women hate talking to men they don’t know: there’s so often that request for a date after even the most innocuous small talk.

This is a very cool and interesting list. Interesting enough to read from top to bottom, but in bite-sized chunks for people with limited time or short attention spans. Thanks for sharing!

The BBC and Reuters have both gone way, way downhill in recent years, but the concept is reasonably valid. AP and NPR are still good. Aljazeera is actually pretty decent for US news, though I’m not sure if that’s true for US news related to the middle east.

No, some whoppers end up with the inside not all whipped and crunchy, but a little chewy. They’re great.

Are you taking about those weird chewy ones? Because those are my favorites.

But wait, I’m in my 60s.

I’ve said it other places, but you don’t get a sense of just how bad they are until you see one in person. I don’t know if it’s that they’re a bit bigger than I thought, or that I’m used to seeing fake images of all sorts of things, but even though I’d seen pictures I was surprised at how bad they are in person. They’re cartoonishly awful.

That bit never got old.

Paul Rudd?

Ugh, I started in the middle of June last year and I have over 3K. Apparently I have no life.

I’d go with white

Glad you enjoyed it, it’s one of my favorites.

I’m not sure if there’s a name for it, but there’s a style of story telling (not exclusive to SF) where the writer jumps right into the universe they’ve created without any explanation, and it’s impossible to fully understand everything at first. My wife is always a bit frustrated by those, even when she ultimately enjoys the book.

Your written English is great, especially if it’s not your first language. Did you start very young?

So what are you planning to read next?

Except unlike those others, this woman sued (for a bunch of things, not just the card thing), and the judge dismissed all of them saying she displayed a victim mentality over normal office interactions. I’m not faulting people for assuming she’s not very likable.

No one gives someone “a bunch” of gift cards - it seems like you’re racing to validate your dislike of them. And I’m going to feel weird if my sister invites me to get a massage with her, though I appreciated it when she gave me a prepaid one years ago.

Here’s another example. My brother barely makes ends meet, but he loves Starbucks. Of I give him $100 cash, is not going to move the needle for his cost of living, but it’s going to go to bills. Of I give him $100 on a Starbucks card, he’s going to treat himself a bunch of times to something he loves but can’t really afford.

The other thing about it is that cash usually gets interpreted as “I put no thought into what to get you,” while a gift card at least says you had something in mind.