The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl

 I've found that with most rock autobiographies they end up being exactly as you'd expect in regards to the person's personality. Jeff Tweedy seems like a regular guy, Keith Richards is the coolest, Morrissey is pretentious, Dylan is mysterious, Pete Townshend overthinks everything, etc. And as expected Dave Grohl comes across as the luckiest guy in music and super nice. I enjoyed his stories, though the last half of the book is mostly stories of how he's met the coolest people (Paul McCartney, Pres. Obama, AC/DC, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, etc). B+

Sci-Fi Book # 43 - The White Dragon - The Dragonriders of Pern Book 3 by Anne McCaffrey

Well I can cross this off the list now. I guess it was better than book two? The whole thing just meandered around without much of a plot or antagonist. At least there was a central character in this one, but it just seems weird that F'lar and Lessa are just background characters here. At least now I can stop reading about these dragons with magic powers that their riders don't seem to be able to take advantage of. C+

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

 

Well, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe sure took me by surprise. I was expecting something a bit silly, especially after the first few pages, but this was probably the most touching book I've read in a while. Sure it is about a time travel machine repairman that gets stuck in a time loop but really it is about re-examining your childhood relationship with your parents through the lense of adulthood and seeing how their failures and successes impacted their lives. I see on Goodreads that opinion on this book is quite split. Ah- those are the best books! Highly recommended. Maybe you'll love it, or maybe hate it. A. 

Sci-Fi Book # 28 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I didn't really feel like I need to reread The Hunger Games... but it is on the list. For something I read 15 years ago I surprisingly remembered quite a bit of it. And yeah, the plot is pretty good even if maybe a bit derivative. It isn't an all time classic but I can see why it was so popular. A-

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

 

And another Hugo/Nebula winner- All System Red. In the end it was just okay. The set up is good but the whole plot was nothing special and the ending was somewhat unclear. B-

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

 Every now and then I look at the list of recent Nebula or Hugo award winners and think to myself that I should actually give one of them a try. Well, I finally did - A Memory Called Empire. It was good and I enjoyed it but in the end it was just a political thriller set in outer space. A-