reading wednesday

[boxofdelights]

• What are you reading?

Panic in Box C, by John Dickson Carr. I spent the night at my husband's house, to limit the dogs' exposure to fireworks, and found this on a shelf. Very strange narrative choices. It seems that Carr wants to give the reader a lot of backstory, in nonconsecutive fragments, which are told by various characters to various other characters, without any believable motive. This is a mystery novel, so maybe it will turn out that some of these stories are lies, and the reader can figure out whodunnit by noticing the discrepancies between different characters' stories.

Also Frommer's Easy Guide to Montreal and Quebec City.

• What did you recently finish reading?

All Systems Red, by Martha Wells. I loved it. This is how Murderbot begins its narrative:

I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don't know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.

I'm always eager for an AI (or alien) that thinks as well as a human but not like a human. Murderbot is clearly related to us, and enough like us to be entertained by our entertainment, but it is not human and has no desire to be -- no matter how much it likes a few humans who are lucky enough to get it as their Security Unit.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Becoming Unbecoming, by Una, recommended by someone on my reading list I think but I don't remember who.

Comments

[lilysea]

All Systems Red, by Martha Wells

I loved this book!

I am so pleased that there is going to be a sequel! ^_^

[lcohen]

i loved All Systems Red, too, but then i love martha wells. i am currently devouring Harbors of the Sun which is the last of her Raksura books, just released. unbelievably sad that there won't be any more Raksura books but her patreon supplies snippets and stories still.