2019 books

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+Cataloging The World: Paul Otlet and the Birth of the Information Age, by Alex Wright
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+> The huge mass of published material grows by the day, by the hour, in
+> amounts that are disconcerting and sometimes maddening. Like water falling
+> from the sky, it can either cause flooding or beneficial irrigation
+
+I loved this book!
+
+Notes while reading:
+
+- "Biblion" as a unit of writing (and knowledge).
+- Embodied Cognition
+
+
+Singlularity Sky, by Charlie Stross
+--------------------------------------
+
+Had I really not read this? Maybe and forgot. Such strong optimism for info
+maximalism and info-structures. Characters and writing meh; mostly interesting
+for the taste of period (cyber)idiology.
+
+Overall, standard 90s singularity/space-opera genre fare.
+
+
+Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch (2016)
+--------------------------------------
+
+Simple book, pretty well executed. Read like a film script, or a TV episode,
+but with more twists. I liked the last quarter; much of the early exposition
+was very slow and predictable. Good balance of fine details while glossing over
+some hard physics which could have been an over-reach.
+
+
+Oranges, by John McPhee
+---------------------------
+
+Ate so many oranges after reading this. Cara Caras are great, but had some
+incredibly juicy flavorful oranges with Lucy at the kitchen table that now are
+driving me mad that I can't remember the type. Changed my standards a lot: many
+navels are great, many other easy-to-peel don't actually have much flavor.
+
+Orangeries! Florida!
+
+I like the small bit of 4th wall that McPhee breaks.
+
+
+The World of Edena, by Moebius
+----------------------------------
+
+Always such a feeling of boundless creative universe with Moebius; could just
+go on forever. Feels dated in a sometimes uncomfortable way (lots of naked
+ladies), but also fresh and humanist.
+
+
+The City and The City, by China Meville
+-----------------------------------------
+
+For whatever reason I was skeptical going in... too popular? Too heavy-handed a
+gimick? But liked it immediately, both the structure and the
+characters/exposition. Not super happy with the resolution of the mystery, but
+very happy with how the character arcs ended.
+
+
+Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin (2015-2017)
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Oof, I binge-read this trilogy (**The Fifth Season**, **The Obelisk Gate**, and
+**The Stone Sky** in one week, which wasn't particularly healthy, and wasn't
+mindful or thoughtful.
+
+The books were tightly written and well paced. I mostly liked the characters,
+but the "world building" and exposition felt like the real show here. The mix
+of magical realism and sci-fi worked surprisingly well to me, though I think I
+prefered the fuzzy-but-hard science of Anathem (by N. Stephenson) more.
+Surprised how fascinated in the "orogenes" power/curse I was.
+
+Overall well written and different. During and after I keep thinking of this as
+young-adult or genre entertainment reading; there's more to it than that, but
+also less than more traditional adult literature.
+