Tanitha's Cosmic Musings

I will start writing again. I promised myself for this year. This is the only New Year’s resolution I made. And I will start by describing what I read every month. Due to work and life stuff, I may not be able to read more than 4-5 books per month; sometimes even less depending on my available time.

So let’s start with the books I read in January, complete with covers!

First book I finished in January, was Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. I started this book before Christmas, and should have finished it much earlier. However, real life strikes sometimes and I did not have as much time to read as I thought. And this book is a beastie at 900+ pages.

This is the second book by Neal Stephenson that I read. This book is a wild ride, changing between events in World War II and the present time (present always being the time the book was written). It is a book of connections; the story connects each character not only in the present, but in the past. The book is about cryptography, but there is not much technical jargon that a layman would not understand. Maybe other people see this book being about cryptography and about the end game; I see this book as being about connections, about choices, about people themselves. People are connected to each other in more ways than one.

If you want a wild ride and a big book to read, then this is one for you. Just one thing to note: do not get the paperback edition if, like me, you have a problem with your eyesight; at least before buying it, check the typesetting. I ended up buying the kindle e-book (fortunately it was on sale for 0.99p), because the typesetting was very small and I had trouble reading it.

Should you read this book: YES. I would give this one a resounding 8/10.

Next, I read the original Star Wars Marvel Comics from 1977-1978 from #1 to #6 which are the retelling of the first original movie, Star Wars : A New Hope (which we also know as episode IV). This was a retelling that had a lot of campy and corny moments; but it made me remember why I fell in love with Star Wars in the first place. While reading, I was also re-watching the movie in some ways. And, I probably need to watch the original movies again. (Maybe even make a marathon of all the movies!).

I will continue to read the series, and see what the rest of the comic books say. Now that I have Marvel Unlimited, I can read those Star Wars comic books (and more). I just need to find a few more lifetimes to read everything I would like!

I had this book for quite a while (what a surprise!). I have not read a lot of non-fiction works lately, something which I would like to remedy. Starting with this book. Philip Plait is an astronomer, whose Bad Astronomy newsletter I am following at the moment (although cannot be a paid sub as I would like). If you want to follow his astronomy articles, this is the link for Phil Plait on substack.

Although this is an old edition, and the bibliography has some outdated links (hopefully those links have been removed and/or renewed in newer editions), this is a popular science book I recommend to anyone interested in astronomy and debunking, or just general science. Phil Plait is a great science communicator; he writes concisely but clearly, so that anyone, even people without a scientific background, can easily read and follow the book. I have a science background, and, still, there were more than a few things I learned from this book. It was well worth the read.

I am eagerly awaiting his next book: Under Alien Skies. I have put the Goodreads link, as people might want to buy this book from a bookshop; I am probably going to pre-order it from an independent bookshop around these parts.

I am hooked on Eve Dallas and Roarke. This is my escapist series; every time I hit a reading low or need a pick me up, I end up reading one of these novels. I already have the next one bought and waiting. Or I will read it just to relax. Sometimes, when I have a bad week, or a bad spell, I need something easy. Something where I know that the culprit will be brought to justice, and our protagonists will live to have steamy sex the next day!

But the books are more than escapism; every character is well-thought out and drawn, especially the protagonists; the murder cases are not trivial, nor always easy to solve. And so we have a good solid series to read. There are over 50 books and counting; Nora Roberts herself (she is penning these under the pseudonym of J D Robb) said (fortunately) that she will continue to write the series for as long as possible.

I absolutely love Maeve and Leonardo, even though they do not always make an appearance as much as they should; maybe in the later books they will be more Maeve! And hoping that Peabody and McNab do go the exclusive route. And no please, do not spoil the books for me!

There is so much more in the series: the world they are part of, accepting of LGBTQ+ people; having licensed companions both male/female; motherhood being also a profession and abortion being a non-issue as women can choose what they want to do with their bodies and not being held hostage by misogynistic religions, governments and people.

I went on a book buying spree in January on kindle, and one of the books I bought was this gem. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki. One of the best reads I had in a while, and worth the hype.

What do you get when you mix: aliens, music and demons? And let us not forget a trans teen with a great musical talent, an AI, and donuts? You may think this is bonkers, but in the specific world, it all makes sense.

Katrina Nguyen is a trans girl from asian parents. Ryka Aoki does not shy away from showing what life is for trans teens that are not accepted by their family; or how talented people may be stifled by parents who do not understand them; how people look down on LGBTQ+ people. How Katrina feels and reacts because she thinks that she is not worth it just because she is trans; how I wanted to scream and just say to Katrina: “you are here, you are a human being and you are worth it as much as anyone else; it does not matter whether you are trans or not, whether you are gay, lesbian, asian, purple, or blue with green spots; you are a beautiful and intelligent being and you are worth it.”

But this is a book about acceptance; about accepting who you are for Katrina, as people she meets, accept her for who she is, no questions asked. Which is how it should be for everyone; what does it matter if someone is trans or gay; male, female, non-binary, etc. ; has red or black skin; is muslim or christian or whatever else they want to call themselves. Everyone needs to accept everyone else for who they are.

It is also about family; the family you have, the family you bring with you and the family you make on the way. And how sometimes, the family you make is more understanding and more accepting than the blood ties. Katrina’s parents do not accept who she is; her mother deadnames her, even though she knows Katrina is a trans girl. How Katrina found Shizuka Satomi, and Astrid and Shirley and Lan Tran…

It is about the choices we make, and how we choose to help or damn other people. Like Shizuka making a choice about Katrina… But I am going to stop here or I will spoil the book for you.

Lastly, I would like to say that I am not active on twitter, but you can find me on mastodon: @shadoranyx@mastodonapp.uk.