Cats, good books, AI, and religious walking in the city of Sofia
Sorry it didn’t turn out very well and there’s glare but I’m sure you’ll appreciate the situation.
A cat chilling on a velvet pillow in front of a signed photo of Evanna Lynch. Shishman Street.
It’s not easy to find a way to combine the books and cats tags 🙂 I think this is the first time I do it.
This is my fourth book in the recent months with a strong taste of weirdness. It was clearly written this way so it’s a feature, not a bug. I read None of This Is True earlier and liked it very much. These books are told in a way that we have a central awful and terrible event that’s uncovered through eye witnesses who live their normal lives. So it’s mostly ordinary stuff that happens but then here and there we have extremely unsettling and definitely not ordinary events and problems. Like horror story red flags randomly thrown in innocent conversations.
The plot goes around the disappearance of a highschooler and the devastation dealt to her family. The mom doesn’t give up on trying to find what happened to her daughter but does she even have any contribution to the story? And what really is the story here? It’s not at all that clear.
I gave the book 4*/5. Similarly to the books by Freida McFadden, I do not feel particular satisfaction reading weird books but at the same time appreciate the ingenuity. So I’d be happy to check another book by Lisa Jewell but may need a gap of a few months or years before I do so. This book was exhausting.
I finished it last week and damaged the book a bit. I hope the library doesn’t mind and accepts it as a donation. I would not like keep it on my shelves or remember about it.
Kinch Na Shannack is a low-level thug with good education and some magical talent. He’ll start a journey that will exceed our worst nightmares.
First of all, this is a beautiful-looking book. The pages, cover, typography, and overall design are all great. Kudos to the publisher for doing a nice job here, and also kudos for them for giving me a book for free, after messing up the order and sending me something else.
The Blacktongue Thief starts off really well. It’s set in a fantasy world of biting goblins, giants, magical tattoos, and vanished horses. Our thief possesses some rare magical skills that are supposed to help him finish the quest, which is objectively way out of his league.
I don’t know why this wonderful setup had to turn into epic fantasy. As the book progressed, it became increasingly complex and difficult to follow. If it had been another hundred pages longer, I’m not sure I would have finished it. Fortunately, it ended just in time.
I think it’s a nice book, grows up on me, and I’d compare it to Orconomics as a general feel but better because it’s shorter.
5*/5 from me. Looking forward to the continuation.
I’m reading a second book over 1000 pages this year, called Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. The book is full of exceptionally powerful vampires that are quickly turning humans extinct.
The main character says that the vampires are people free from consequences. Not facing consequences is what makes them evil, not the vampirism (well, at least for now). It clicked with me because it makes total sense in a world where people compete to be as free from consequences as possible, yet the consequences are everywhere.
I have the feeling this book will get 5*, if I manage to read the whole thing.
I had a good month and read some great books. I’m currently on sabbatical, a three-month paid leave that Automattic awards as an anniversary benefit every five years. I’ll dedicate a separate post to that because it’s a very significant event for me, but until I write it, I wanted to mention it here for context. I’m AFK, logged out of most systems, chilling, and not paying attention to bugs.
So, June.
Veselin.blog 