@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

DejahEntendu

@DejahEntendu@dice.camp

TTRPG gamer, geek, life-o-phile
Parent of an adult person.
I try to be nice and I can be taught.
Leaper before looker...
I love books that explore how people and societies react to/change with circumstances.
I have no patience for stories that celebrate prejudice.
I fall asleep listening to historical romances and never review them.

10th level office worker with the IT archetype and a specialization in Active Directory. Multi-classed into management.

Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/dejahentendu

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

DejahEntendu, to books
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

#JustFinished 1984, by George Orwell

I had never read this before. And that was a hole in my reading, given I'm in my 6th decade.

1984 is one of those books everyone should read. Yes, it's heavy-handed. No, it's not spectacular writing. Yes, we all need to be aware of giving up too much power to our government. But there are other things too.

Orwell's discussions of the proles clearly speak to not leaving them with no safety net. (Winston's youth,
🧵
#books #bookstodon #classics @bookstodon

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

the repeated comment about rats and prole babies, the clear feeling that they are always, and shamefully, ignored...) So, he speaks to the need to actually support our weakest. Also, the discussion of how the middle and the top swap power in revolutions, leaving the bottom on the bottom every time. Striking.

Education is key to keeping power from being concentrated in an oligarchy. Orwell speaks to the need to think clearly and critically.

🧵

@bookstodon

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

You can see his example of what happens if you don't teach people to think critically in his juxtaposition of Winston and Julia. Only a decade or so apart in age, Julia is an example of someone who doesn't think critically, and though she doesn't like Big Brother, she certainly doesn't see, or care to see, the larger picture Winston sees.

I was particularly struck by the parallels I saw between Big Brother and the ChristoFascist god

🧵
@bookstodon

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

being peddled in the United States currently. Rabidly anti-education in general and anti-science in particular, it also relies on the in-group of the saved (the middle) to keep the non-believers (the bottom) out of the power structure by limiting their rights.

I'm so glad I read this, but, geez, it really hit hard.

/end

@bookstodon

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

@peachfront @bookstodon

thanks! Just put it on hold at the library.

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

@orionkidder @bookstodon
Yes, I had the same feeling that people have been using these cautionary tales as playbooks. Damn disturbing.

DejahEntendu, to books
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Similar in format to How High We Go in the Dark (Sequoia Nagamatsu), in that it's a collection of stories tied together with a framework, I don't feel it was executed quite as well. It is a lovely story of romance and hope, but I felt a little too distant from the characters, as if the writing held a layer of remove for me. I did enjoy it. I just preferred the other.

@bookstodon

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

@bookstodon As is my way, I read reader reviews after reading the book and doing mine. I would like to add that I saw a handful talking about the misogyny of the conservative expectations of the women in the story. I didn't notice it overtly, but they are correct. So much denial of women wanting freedom or to live outside the bounds of expectation. Rather disappointing.

DejahEntendu, to books
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

Dragonfly Falling, by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

OK, I'm not sure why, but I thought this was a duology. Oh, no. It's like 8 or 10 books. Guess I'm in for the long haul. Good thing I like the world!

War rages across a continent, sweeping down into the lowlands toward people who haven't run into and don't believe the scope of this conquering empire. Tchaikovsky's world-building is as amazing as ever. Rich, complex, realistic characters. 👌

@bookstodon

DejahEntendu, to scifi
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

APsalm for the Wild Built, by Becky Chambers

A sweet novella about a human looking for their purpose in life and the robot who helps them find it. A little bit of kismet, a little bit of "the path is the destination," and a lot of kindness along the way. The audio book clocks in at 4 hours. It's a small investment and well worth your time.

@bookstodon

wendypalmer, to bookstodon
@wendypalmer@mastodon.au avatar

@bookstodon got about 30 seconds into the audiobook of System Collapse before deciding I couldn’t handle the voice. No shade on the narrator, I just can’t hear Murderbot as a male with an American accent after creating my own voice for it while reading all the prior books.

Luckily I already bought a print copy for my partner for his birthday so I’ll just have to wait on him to finish.

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

@willaful @wendypalmer @bookstodon

I completely understand the thing about having your own conception of what a character sounds or looks like. I get annoyed at book covers that don't match descriptions.

That being said, I started with the audio books, so no issue there for me. The narrator does a wonderful job of conveying the exasperation, sarcasm, and ennui.

DejahEntendu, to books
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

The Splinter in the Sky, by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

It was good. It wasn't enthralling. I liked the story well enough. I liked the characters, though I felt they weren't that deep. It just didn't grab me all that well. And I found the Great Reveal to have been obvious. It wasn't marked YA, but I felt it should have been.

Negatives: Uses of: slavery, fridging; kinda trite
Positives: LGBTQ+, race positive overall (by the end), anti-Imperialist

@bookstodon

DejahEntendu, to books
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

Empire in Black and Gold, by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Excellent, as with all I've read by him, but I prefer SciFi over all, so not as amazing as his SciFi. Still, an interesting world with interesting characters. Lost magics, technology rising, and fascists on the horizon. A mixed band (young and old, different motivations and philosophies) sets off to save everyone from their blinders. I'll read the second one.

@bookstodon

DejahEntendu, to random
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

Wednesday game: We didn't play this week. My literally daughter got a "sieg heil" for telling one of the players not to be racist. Against Asian people. She is of Asian descent. It wasn't even the person she told to stop it. She left. I stuck around to... hear what he said next? I dunno. I should have hung up, too.

He said it was wrong. I didn't let him off the hook. I told him he was wrong too. This is the 2nd blow-up with this guy. He's the self-proclaimed incel.

🧵

DejahEntendu, to books
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu.

This is a gorgeous book. A collection of short stories tied together into a history of plague among humans interconnected through time. Non-linear, lyric, emotional. I cried and I soared with the stories.

In the very last story, Nagamatsu succumbs to some Marty Stu-ish writing, which I found very disappointing. But that was my only quibble. I found it well worth my time.

@bookstodon

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

What is a word that you had read, but after hearing it spoken aloud, you realized you were pronouncing completely wrong in your head?

Mine is pretty Embarrassing, and is just one of many!

MISLED! I'm not even sure how to type this out for it to make sense, but it was something like:

Myz-ulled

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

@RickiTarr askance - I always thought it was ask-ance, not uh-sconce.

The city in California named La Jolla. I said it as if it were Englisha, not Spanish. So, la-jolla, not la-hoya.

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

@davep @RickiTarr

Is this a TIL moment?

toxy, to bookstodon
@toxy@mastodon.acc.sunet.se avatar

@bookstodon Had heard so many allusions to and in this group so just started the first book this morning. It’s fabulous and I love it!

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

@toxy @rebelrebel62 @fsnk @bookstodon Funny, I thought Children of Ruin was the weakest. Of course, I read Children of Memory first, because my library didn't label the series correctly. Now I check the order of series elsewhere before starting them...

DejahEntendu, to Cats
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

TOE BEANS!!!!!!

DejahEntendu, to Cats
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

My supervisor, Joan.

rivetgeek, to random
@rivetgeek@dice.camp avatar

I was thinking maybe I should go for Halloween as Bob Howard one year, then I realized that it really wouldn't be much different than how I dress every day.

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

@rivetgeek I once went to work on Halloween dressed in extea spiffy office attire with a Starbucks cup in hand. My costume? "A responsible adult."

Private
DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

This is a supposed look into the life of a fat chick filled with outsider bs. And I don't mean Elizabeth, constantly reinventing herself, is the outsider. I mean Awad doesn't quite get it. I finished this book as a grudge read.

Yes, there are people who do resemble many of the stereotypes used. But, holy cats, have an original thought and write about a "fat chick" who is more than that!

@bookstodon

kyonshi, to random
@kyonshi@dice.camp avatar

ugh, do we really have to start discussions again if it is appropriate to call everyone you dislike a ?

no, it's not. that's one of those plays the actual fascists were using to soften the term. grammar nazi, soup nazi, I did nazi this coming.

now there's people goosestepping in the streets again waving their swastikas and if you call them out for it people don't even blink. oh those wacky nazis.

the only one who is insulted by it now are leftists.

for fuck's sake

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

@kyonshi When anyone calls me a grammar naxi, I say, "Don't call me that. I've never committed genocide over grammar. I prefer the term garmmarian."

I've gotten some pretty startled reactions.

DejahEntendu, to random
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

@rivetgeek That's beautiful! But is that scale right? Is Hom really less than a kilometer long?

rivetgeek, to Cat
@rivetgeek@dice.camp avatar

Blah, I missed a related call today because I've had so much crap going on.

Here's a very tolerant .

DejahEntendu,
@DejahEntendu@dice.camp avatar

@rivetgeek Bummer to miss the call, but cute cat!

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