{"id":11795,"date":"2016-04-03T21:03:47","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T01:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=11795"},"modified":"2016-04-03T21:03:47","modified_gmt":"2016-04-04T01:03:47","slug":"march-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=11795","title":{"rendered":"March 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

March wasn’t really a bad month at all.<\/p>\n

It was a busy<\/i> month, one with a lot<\/i> of things that I needed to get finished at work. But I seem to have finished those things, for the most part. I’ve exchanged them all for new things, new deadlines, but they’re not quite as deadliney<\/i> as the old ones, if that makes any sense.<\/p>\n

I read two books, like I had in February, which may not seem like much but which is double my recent monthly average. In March it was Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Mercy<\/i> and Becky Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet<\/i>. And both were…okay.<\/p>\n

Whereas Leckie’s first novel, Ancillary Justice<\/i> felt unique and refreshing and vital, the two follow-ups…just didn’t. They’re as well written, and have some very nice touches, but they’re a lot less compelling, particularly when taken on their own. And while Chambers’ book is very readable, with fun aliens and likable characters, it’s also so amazingly<\/i> devoid of tension. There’s rarely a problem in the book that can’t be introduced and resolved in just a couple of pages, and so the whole thing can’t help feeling very low-stakes and episodic, to a fault.<\/p>\n

In March, I also read thirty-one short stories, one every day. Favorites included:<\/p>\n