An excellent history of America's underclass, from its original formation as part of British colonial policy, through its history in the US as political constituency and culture. The book discusses both the long history that the white underclass has had of being looked down upon as "waste people," as well as the vice of racism it often displays. The narrative peters out after the Civil War, sadly, but the book is still excellent.

I loved this book. I had to shift gears when I realized it was not exactly a novel, but rather a series of interconnected stories happening to an African-American family. The stories are all excellent, adding up to a satisfying conclusion for all of the characters. The audiobook was excellent, too. I never read Lovecraft, so I cannot comment on the book on that score, but I can say you do not need to be a fan of Lovecraft to enjoy this.

I think that typical narratives of American history treat slavery as a MacGuffin that may (or may not) have caused or motivated the Civil War. This book runs a counter-narrative, telling the story of America as the story of slavery, the slave trade, and the cotton trade through the Civil War. Cotton was king in the 1800's, and just what that means for our history is too often lost in the telling. You would do well to pick this up.

The charm of this book is its characters, and they are probably my favorite ship's crew since the Serenity, which is saying something. Chambers does an amazing job creating a large and believable universe full of vivid and charming details—you'll want to spend more time with these characters and in this universe. However, for me at least, it was the characters and their relationships that made this a success. Read this. Meet them. Love them.

John Scalzi can write urban fantasy! And well, too! The book felt a little short, like the mystery could have used a couple more beats, but at novella length that's no sin. Zachary Quinto was also amazing.

This was an amazing book. It meets one of my favorite rules for dystopia—try to create a place SOMEONE might want to live in—and does an excellent job delivering human characters, both in the form of the two viewpoint characters as well as the supporting cast. The world is often bizarre, but well-built and delightful. The audiobook is also well-cast. Give this one a read.

This was not sold to me as a sequel, and I never read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. As a result, I actually had to shift gears when I realized that Dirk was the main character and Kate was at most a co-lead. Once I did, though, I was delighted. Adams is a master of this kind of writing, and he does not disappoint, and his narration, while dated (the recording sounds a little rough) is excellent. Would recommend!

This was VERY good, unsurprisingly. Offred and Gilead are very well-realized, and their story is, if anything, only becoming more relevant. I won't belabor the point—the book is a classic for a reason. Claire Danes also did an amazing job as the narrator.

This was an odd book, and the "so-so" rating is meant to reflect that. Part of me is glad I read this, and feels that there was something important and different and unique in this book. Part of me feels like the book was long, confusing, and anti-climactic. This is NOT an action-heavy book, NOT (just) an "exciting" book, and the ending is odd. But the characters are well-realized, and their story, while strange, is compelling in its way.

This book is great. It's hard to recommend it if what you're looking for is an economist's view; the author clearly had some awareness of economics, but the book is not about that. It isn't about how to fix slumlords or slums, how to fix poverty, joblessness, or the despair living one of the subject's lives. It is about its subjects and their stories, and about putting human faces on one of the worst situations that can befall someone. Read this.

This was a very good book. Structured, I think, like a mystery or a thriller (I won't claim to be well-versed in the boundaries of those genres) and set in a world where the civil war never happened and slavery was left to the states, the novel follows a former slave tasked with hunting runaways, dealing with a particularly thorny contract. The book does a good job balancing the setting with Victor's mission and demons. Definitely a fun read.

I cannot praise this book highly enough. The writing is top-notch, but it is the characters and setting that really did it for me. Sammy and Joe are well-developed, interesting, funny, tragic men, with whom I wish I could have spent more time. And their world, the U.S. as it changed through and after WWII, felt thoroughly researched and perfectly realized. And finally, the audiobook narrator was excellent. Hard to go wrong with this one.

The second volume of Evans' definitive history of Nazi Germany covers life under the Third Reich, including the violence of the SA and of the Night of the Long Knives, the expropriations of Jews, the early concentration camps ("first they came for the communists") the Nuremberg rally, and the Berlin Olympics, culminating in the march to war. Like the first volume, it is a masterwork, what I recommend for anyone interested. Audiobook is great, too.

A masterwork mapping the concept of "Caucasian" from its Greek roots, through the European "scholars" fetishizing skulls (you THINK I'm making this up), through the scholars and scientists working to debunk "race" as a category with any root in biology Some of the best parts are a TAD America-centric, but I can SO forgive that. Read to truly understand why Coates refers to "the people who must believe they are white." Good narrator on audio, too.

This was an excellent book, doing an excellent job of humanizing all of its characters, especially the enslaved characters—Butler's original goal. I often wished the book would take more time on certain moments, particularly in the portions set in the present, but when the problem with a book is that there isn't enough of it, that's a good thing. Audiobook was well-narrated. Pick this one up.

This novel, told entirely through interviews conducted by the character controlling events, is a masterpiece. It presents the mystery of what the parts they are encountering are and why they are on Earth excellently. It's a hard novel to describe; its unique style complements its story and characters perfectly. Looking forward to the next one, and can't recommend it enough. The full cast audiobook was EXCELLENT, too.

Using the stories of three individuals as frames for the Great Migration, this is an amazing history of its subject AND three beautiful personal stories. You will cheer for the individuals' victories and hold back tears for their trials, while being astonished by the national changes along the way.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started it, but I still think it is an excellent book, one of the most American books I have read, and one of Gaiman's finest. Put this at the top of your list.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. Top 10. Set in a world that aged surprisingly well for an early vision of the Internet, the book is hilarious when it wants to be, and dead serious when it needs to be, as it carries you through an amazing story. An accomplishment of the genre.

A very good mystery novel set in a world just big enough to keep you interested, but small enough not to distract from the story. The story is gripping, and Chris Shane is an excellent voice. The audiobooks, narrated by Amber Benson and Wil Wheaton, also work perfectly.

Short and EXCELLENT. Coates does an excellent job of laying out, through his story, a primer on just how messed up race relations are in America, with just the right amount of history as backup. Personal lens is nearsighted, but the personal, human scale of the telling is what makes this powerful.

This sequel does not disappoint. It does an excellent job of balancing expanding its world with focusing on its characters, largely by confining the action to a single setting. More about the effects of empire on humanity, about the local politics of adapting to empire. Very, very good.

I love it when my SF is about more than the action—worldbuilding, infodumps, politics, all things I enjoy. With that in mind, I LOVED this book, which did all of the above AND delivered a gripping story too. It is an excellent meditation on humanity, empire, and what empire can do to humanity.

Want to understand fascism? READ THIS! Want to understand Nazi Germany? READ THIS! This should be required reading for anyone who wants to argue politics and bring up the Nazis, for anyone interested in political history, and for anyone curious about Germany, WWII, or modern history. Good narrator.

The story was fun, but I was put off by the book's ethics. Time and again, the book stops and shoehorns arguments between the Good Guys and the Bad Guys. These are presented as serious, as intended to be evenhanded, but ALWAYS the Bad Guys are bumbling, dishonest, or both. I couldn't get over that.

This was a GREAT book. There was a twist early on that I did not expect at all, but that worked well, and the remaining book is excellent. Darrow's painful struggles, against the powers repressing him and with himself to stay himself are excellently portrayed. Audiobook narrator was great, too!