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lorannen

lorannen

Joined February 2016

Librarian, cat mom, Boggle expert. Reads mostly sci-fi & fantasy.
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lorannen

'Light shit on fire and see what happens' isn't science.

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lorannen
Revenant Gun | Yoon Ha Lee

Finished this one today after prolonging the inevitable most of the week. It was so so good and now I'm just very sad and feeling bereft now that it's over!

lorannen Of course I have the short story collection on deck next 5y
9 likes1 comment
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lorannen
Ninefox Gambit | Yoon Ha Lee
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I, for one, welcome our petty robot overlords.

Context, the number is the robot's "name" here and it's insulting the canister (also partly robotic) in question.

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lorannen

So excited to read this one... then immediately pass it on to my parents 😉

16 likes1 stack add
review
lorannen
Mehso-so

I don't think I've ever been fascinated by a book in which I so thoroughly hated the narrator before. Still debating whether I'll pick up the next one in the series.

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lorannen
Pickpick

I finished the last 200 pages in less than 24 hrs - 2x my usual reading quota for the day and a ringing endorsement to boot.

If you enjoy the settings of The 1,001 Nights or Aladdin, but with lots of political intrigue, history, and modern sensibilities, give this one a shot. Bonus: if you have some basic knowledge of Arabic, you'll get some fun jokes, too.

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lorannen
The City of Brass | S. A. Chakraborty
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After breakfast on the weekend, Momo helps me with my reading. She thinks this one's kind of a snooze-fest, but I disagree.

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lorannen
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Read through these all one last time before passing them along. I'll be sad to see the series end—it's been around for as long as I've been reading single issues! (Don't worry, I've still got the hardcovers) 😉

esurient Whew! 5y
14 likes1 stack add1 comment
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lorannen
The City of Brass | S. A. Chakraborty
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It's about time I read this one, eh @ph9k?

23 likes1 stack add
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lorannen
Amatka | Karin Tidbeck

This month's #bookclub pick! I'm enjoying it so far, though I think it's one of those books that sets out to intentionally unbalance the reader.

I was honestly surprised to read mention of jewelry in this otherwise seemingly utilitarian society!

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lorannen
Ninefox Gambit | Yoon Ha Lee

Took me three attempts to finally get really into this book (other reading obligations kept getting in the way), but we're finally in it now! I have so many questions.

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lorannen
Ada's Technical Books | Seattle, WA (Bookstore)
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A visit to my favorite book/coffee shop resulted in a few purchases! Plus lavender orange grey tea. #bookandabeverage

rretzler Great choices! 6y
lorannen @rretzler Thank you! Mostly stuff that's been on my wishlist for a while (or, in the one case, continuation of a series I'm enjoying. 🙂 6y
16 likes2 comments
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lorannen
Jade City | Fonda Lee
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Now that yoga's done (no thanks to the layabout pictured here), I can finally get on with my #bookclub pick for this month! I've just barely started, but so far it's full of mafia-esque intrigue.

Not pictured: my OTHER cat also on the yoga mat, just out of frame.

rretzler 😻 6y
16 likes1 comment
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lorannen
Night Watch | Terry Pratchett
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One thing I miss about living in Chicago is that the lilac blooms were timed perfectly for an annual re-read. Here they bloom a whole month too early! #discworld

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lorannen
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I think they know what I'm reading... #catsoflitsy

umbrellagirl Your kitty is giant! 6y
lorannen @umbrellagirl She is definitely one large floof! Though I think her position in the foreground exaggerates her size a bit, too. 6y
rubyslippersreads My cats laughed hysterically when they saw this title. 😹 6y
19 likes3 comments
review
lorannen
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Pickpick

It was nice to get Mokoya's perspective in this second installment. I liked it a lot. Differently paced from its predecessor. Yang continues to be really great at efficient world-building. Interestingly, a number of folks in my book club read the first 2 books in reverse order, which apparently didn't ruin things? I hadn't thought of these as being standalones, but apparently, they work well that way, too. 🐲

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lorannen
Ninefox Gambit | Yoon Ha Lee

This is great sci-fi—even better if you like your fiction with an extra dose of math.

8 likes1 stack add
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lorannen
The Fifth Season | N. K. Jemisin

Finally my book club is reading some Jemisin and I couldn't be more excited!

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lorannen
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Definitely the first time I've prepared for #bookclub by candlelight

Anton I'm waiting for book 4 to come out so I can do a re-read of the whole series! 6y
17 likes1 comment
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lorannen

It doesn't have to be one or the other."

lorannen This is the quintessential quote that encompasses both books I've read so far. 6y
8 likes1 comment
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lorannen
Space Opera | Catherynne M. Valente
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Panpan

I think perhaps Valente's work just isn't for me (though Radiance is the only other book of hers I've read). The prose was very... intense in tone, and it felt exhausting to read. I enjoyed a couple of scenes, but the plot felt beside the point sometimes. I appreciate what she was trying to do, but the execution was overall not enjoyable. As I said to a friend: "like if reading Douglas Adams were instead a dental procedure."

Heatherfeather Hahaha! I think I got one chapter into one of her books and couldn't go any further. I felt like it was more about how fancy she could make the prose as opposed to how well she could tell a good story. 6y
lorannen @Heatherfeather Exactly! I like a well-written paragraph as much as any reader, I think, but the whole thing needs to hang together. I stuck it out (almost) until the very end, because it was a book club pick. Definitely wouldn't have made it that far otherwise. I had similar issues with Radiance, where the prose seemed more the point than the story being told. 6y
15 likes2 comments
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lorannen
Abaddon's Gate | James S.A. Corey

Sure, they were all trapped in orbit around an alien space station that periodically changed the rules of physics and had killed a bunch of them, but now they‘d decided to start shooting each other too.

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lorannen
Cats on Instagram | @Cats_of_instagram
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Cat meets snow.

Tadams4 Nice shot! Beautiful cat! 6y
lorannen @Tadams4 Thank you! She's a very pretty floof. 6y
16 likes2 comments
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lorannen

The Earth changes only gradually, until it doesn‘t. And when it fights back, it does so decisively.

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lorannen
Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen

It is a truth universally acknowledged...

sprainedbrain You may be testing something, but this still made me smile. ❤️ 6y
9 likes1 comment
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lorannen
Cats on Instagram | @Cats_of_instagram
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Momo loves boxes (second only to food). #catinabox

Bookzombie 💕🐱 6y
18 likes1 comment
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lorannen
Space Opera | Catherynne M. Valente

The galaxy nearly roasted itself to ashes over the question of which species were and were not sentient... And quite frankly, Mr. Rogers notwithstanding, you're a mess.

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lorannen
Bulletin of the American Library Association | American Library Association
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Any Littens at #alamw19? We're having a LibraryThing meetup at 5 today, at the Sheraton Grand. Details: https://www.librarything.com/topic/302879

I'll also be in the exhibit hall today and tomorrow.

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lorannen
This post contains spoilers
show me

I'd love to hear what other folks who've read/are reading this one think about our protagonist Toby. I'm impressed with French's unreliable narrator game here (even without the head injury angle) and come down pretty solidly on the "he's a smug little shit" side of things, but I'm entering the last 100-page stretch and can't decide if I want him to be the guilty party or not!

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lorannen
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This is made me chuckle, having spent the holidays around kids. Going out on a limb and saying Tana French has met her share of small children, too.

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lorannen
CrossTalk | Connie Willis
Bailedbailed

Oof, this was difficult. A book about and around social media by someone who admittedly neither likes nor engages with it. These always turn out to be pretty dull reads (reminded me of The Circle, which is not good).

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lorannen
An Unkindness of Ghosts | Rivers Solomon
Pickpick

Holy cow that was a sprint for the finish. I stayed up late and read the last 150 pages in one sitting. Incredibly well done. CW for gendered and sexual violence (especially but not only against women/NB folks). It's a mournful, haunting (and haunted, as the title implies) book, that somehow manages not to kill all its hope, despite the bleak setting and plotlines.

TimSpalding Teating 6y
15 likes1 comment
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lorannen
An Unkindness of Ghosts | Rivers Solomon

If she'd had pearls, she'd be clutching them.

RaimeyGallant Great quote. Hey, do you know what the price of those Litsy mugs will be? I'd like to post something about them, which might give you an idea of how many to order. I'm thinking of a big #LitsyCheers day, where we all post pics with our mugs. Thoughts? 6y
14 likes1 comment
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lorannen
An Unkindness of Ghosts | Rivers Solomon

Boy, this one was worth the wait!

sprainedbrain This looks so good! 6y
11 likes1 comment
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lorannen
Walkaway | Cory Doctorow

You're just meat following rules.

lorannen It took me a while to get into this one (my first Doctorow novel, actually). I'm not sure I'm terribly fond of his writing, but I do enjoy the ideas we're exploring. At least we've left Mr. 20 Names behind. 6y
10 likes1 stack add1 comment
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lorannen
Walkaway | Cory Doctorow

Hubert Vernon Rudolph Clayton Irving Wilson Alva Anton Jeff Harley Timothy Curtis Cleveland Cecil Ollie Edmund Eli Wiley Marvin Ellis Espinoza was too old to be at a Communist party.

lorannen Well this book club pick is off to an interesting start... #firstlines 6y
12 likes1 comment
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lorannen
Stardust | Neil Gaiman

What even does a "face like a bag of frogs" mean??? #litsymovienight

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lorannen
Stardust | Neil Gaiman

(movie) Tristan is both somehow less hapless and more useless than (book) Tristran. #litsymovienight

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lorannen
Stardust | Neil Gaiman

The totally invented for the movie Humphrey character is weird, but am enjoying blonde Henry Cavill. #litsymovienight

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lorannen
Stardust | Neil Gaiman

Almost #litsymovienight time! Looking forward to an excuse to see an old favorite.

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lorannen
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1) Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop
2) Nope
3) I don't know! I don't follow any too closely. Open to suggestions. 😉
4) blackberry jam + vanilla ice cream

#ManicMonday @JoScho

Pamwurtzler #4 sounds delicious and not remotely weird! 6y
lorannen @Pamwurtzler I agree entirely! Perhaps a better answer: grilled cheese with bacon, tomato, & pickles! 6y
Pamwurtzler The pickles are what puts that sandwich over the line - the rest of it is delicious! 6y
18 likes1 stack add3 comments
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lorannen
Stardust | Neil Gaiman
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Break out the popcorn! #litsymovienight🍿📽️ Reposting from @litsy

tournevis FYI, Stardust is not available on Netflix in Canada, not on Amazon Prime video. I can't tell if it's on CraveTV. 6y
lorannen @tournevis Thanks for the heads-up! Other avenues you might check: Hulu, Apple, Google. I'm based in the US (like most LT staff), so it can be difficult for me to verify availability elsewhere. 6y
tournevis @lorannen I looked and in Canada, it can be viewed on Google and Apple only. 6y
tracey38 How fun. I really liked this movie. 6y
21 likes4 comments
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lorannen
Stardust | Neil Gaiman
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Just started Stardust for our #OLOB group read! See @Litsy for more details!

I'm trying the unillustrated edition, this time around. I first read my illustrated copy about 10 years ago! #reread

esanderson What does OLOB stand for? 6y
lorannen @esanderson It started from One LibraryThing, One Book, a periodic group read we launched few years ago. Here it's One Litsy, One Book! 6y
22 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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lorannen
CrossTalk | Connie Willis
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Just home from the bookstore! Now I can finally get going on my book club read for this month. It's my first Connie Willis too, so I'm excited.

lorannen @ablachly yeah, I've heard good things about that & 6y
LectricSheep I thought Crosstalk was fun— I hope you enjoy it! I preferred The Doomsday Book, since it was a bit more serious, but I can‘t wait to read more Connie Willis. She‘s awesome. ☺️ 6y
lorannen @LectricSheep thanks for the recommendation & the encouragement! Didnt get as much reading done this weekend as I'd hoped (per usual), but I'm liking the first few chapters ! 6y
21 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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lorannen

A re-read for book club this month! This one made my top five list for the year in 2016 - we'll see if it does it again!

kgriffith I‘ve been meaning to read this since my first time seeing Arrival, glad it gets your seal of approval 🤓 7y
2BR02B One of my all-time favorite short story collections. Ted Chiang needs to write more! 7y
18 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
lorannen
The Wanderers | Meg Howrey
Pickpick

If you like your sci-fi with a healthy serving of Feelings, this is the book for you (it certainly worked well for me)! Ostensibly about a crew prepping for a manned mission to Mars, it's also about their interpersonal relationships, their families, and how well do we really know ourselves, anyway? Made me want to call my mom a lot, in (mostly) a good way.

Cinfhen Great review! It‘s been on my TBR watchlist for a long time 😉 7y
shahn77 I really liked this one! 7y
lorannen @Cinfhen Thank you! I'm not terribly great about writing reviews, generally, but I liked this one so much! I hope you enjoy it once you get around to it. 7y
RaimeyGallant Enjoyed State of the Thing, and I'm going to look into this early reviewers program. :) 7y
25 likes4 comments
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lorannen
Circe | Madeline Miller
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It's finally here! Happy bookday to Madeline Miller. Can't wait to start reading this follow up to Song of Achilles.

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lorannen
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Reposted from @Jess7. Some steps that might help anyome still experiencing problems with Litsy. Email us at litsy@librarything.com or tag @litsy if you need help! #LitsyNews

Jess7 Thanks!!! 7y
17 likes2 comments
review
lorannen
Bailedbailed

I just could not get into this one. It's not bad, but reading the first 30 pages felt more like a chore than anything else. I'll try to give it another chance sometime -- I'm not convinced it's a bad book. Maybe I just need to be in the right mood to enjoy it.

kgriffith I love having the “bailed” option here for all the books I post in the Nancy Pearl Talk thread in the 75-ers group. 7y
17 likes1 comment
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lorannen
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1. Grew up in a tiny town (< 3k pop), moved to the big city
2. Rock
3. Literary fiction
4. No thanks. I'll eat the pineapple, but hold the pizza
5. Darcy
#thisorthat @readherwriteher

saresmoore Amen to pineapple! Pizza is not my friend and there are no hard feelings between us. 7y
aarchamb Small town/rock/both!/no thanks to the 🍍/hmmm... That's a tough one... Today I'm feeling Rhett Butler but who knows about tomorrow!!😉 7y
readherwriteher @lorannen Pineapple is delicious on its own. 🍍 7y
See All 8 Comments
readherwriteher @aarchamb I think once I read Pride and Prejudice my choice may change. People seem to adore Mr. Darcy. 7y
lorannen @readherwriteher I feel like maybe if I'd *read* GWTW instead of just having seen the movie, maybe I'd have more of an attachment to Butler. As it is, though, no contest. 🙂 7y
aarchamb Sorry! I just realized there is a whole discussion to post to & I probably shouldn't have posted my response in the comments...oops! #litsynewbie 7y
lorannen @aarchamb No worries! Welcome aboard! 7y
Dianeham @lorannen I think I sent you a librarything xmas card! 7y
29 likes8 comments