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House of Huawei by Eva Dou

Impeccably written and edited and researched, this approachable history of the famous Chinese telecom takes 2/3rds of its length to get interesting, but pays off mightily with a very nuanced and deep understanding of this important geopolitical situation. 
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Grace After Midnight by Felicia Pearson

I guess I read this years ago after I last watched the Wire but anyway if you watch the Wire you ought to read Snoop’s autobiography, it’s short and heartfelt and raw and it’s fun to imagine the her character from the Wire reading the book to you, evidently she basically just plays herself. 

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

I don’t play many video games so take this with a grain of salt, but this creative and cutesy platformer had a bunch of neat puzzles and mechanics, and while certain segments seemed unnecessarily challenging, others were a lot of fun and the art design was consistently gorgeous. 

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold

Bujold brings back some of the darkness and sadness that so enticed me originally in this recently-written Vorkosigan Saga entry, but marries that darkness to the light comedic stylings that define the majority of the saga, resulting in a quick, fun, exciting, and unique entry. 

Crysis Legion by Peter Watts

I haven’t read a book about a video game in a while, and picked this up more for Watts completionism than anything else, and while I guess he does elevate the material to some degree, it’s pretty boring and two dimensional, consisting mostly of running and explosions and not a ton else. 

The Good Spy by Kai Bird

It’s gotta be hard to write a history book about a CIA officer, since the available research is so lacking, and it really shows - this history of Robert Ames is overly vague and scantily sourced, and can’t decide if it’s a broad overview of the Lebanese civil war or a biography of this one spy’s life or some weird mix of the two. 

Andor season 2

the first half of this season tells a rushed but lovely action story similar to (but not quite as brilliant as) season 1, and could have been great as a full season arc, but then instead the second half is entirely a bridge to rogue one and that’s it and it’s less wonderful (altho fun if you liked rogue one). 

Carry-On (2024)

I’ve tried three times to get through this dumb netflix action thriller but the idiot plot repels me each time, like a magnet, so far I’m only at 45 minutes, but hopefully I stop trying. 

Komarr by Lous McMaster Bujold

Bujold (or “Boujyoung” as I like to call her) is back in full form for this latest entry in my never-ending crawl through the Vorkosigan saga, a quick comedy of manners style detective novel filled with great characters and light-hearted silliness.