Books

After our self-induced downtime, I did the only thing I could do: take antibiotics, read books, and enjoy the scenery. We found a really nice, quiet place to stay called Sabai Garden. So I sat outside as much as possible and read books.

I luckily had my Kindle all loaded up ahead of time and started asking for suggestions from friends once I'd gotten through most of my backlog. Here they are in reading order:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

This has been on my list for a long time but I never got around to it. With that in mind I made sure to put it on my Kindle before leaving for Thailand, knowing the opportunity would arise sometime.

It was an intense, interesting sci-fi story that I feel could be read again and again in the future. Also I'm glad I didn't read it until 2015 because of the main story revolving around Nexus-6 Androids... how is this not a thing commonly mentioned on the internet?? (at least the part inhabited by web developers like myself)

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

This one I'd also been meaning to read for ages, just to keep my sci-fi street cred. It took one afternoon, was a great story, and had me laughing out loud several times. Truly funny book written by a sarcastic male humanoid who is almost, just barely not coherent.

The Martian: A Novel

A great survivor story. A lot of it is the main character breaking down how he surmounted his various problems, but keeping it entertaining for himself. He is an astronaut after all, so he's gotta keep logs ;) I feel like I'd be just as much of a smartass if I ever found myself in the same jam.

I thought it was a great piece of sci-fi and enjoyed the breakdown of all the problems. I felt like it was really wonderfully told, I felt gripped by his situation, and overall felt like the book really brings the reader very close to the characters as they face depressingly low odds of reuniting an abandoned crew member with his home planet.

1Q84

In progress as of this post. It's off to a good start. It was a good fantasy story, lots of food preparation, some "adult scenes" were a bit over the top IMO.

More to come

As I keep reading I'll keep the list updated on Goodreads. It's a nice independent site not tied to an online store. I don't know why I thought Goodreads was ever independent, but it's owned by Amazon and I closed my account. I recommend The StoryGraph as a truly independent alternative.

Have a recommendation? Drop it in the comments section below! For future updates see my list at app.thestorygraph.com/rupl