Nate Bjork

Books I Read

N. K. Jemisin, How Long ’til Black Future Month? **** A collection of short stories by a master of speculative fiction. Jemisin pairs a rich imagination with brilliant writing.

James S. A. Corey, Cibola Burn. **** Book 4 of the Expanse series. This series keeps getting better and better. If you’ve enjoyed the first three books, you’ll love this one.

Jim Butcher, Storm Front. *** This is the first book of The Dresden Files. Short chapters that frequently end in cliffhangers make this book addictively page-turning. You can definitely tell this is a first book for this author, but the ideas are strong and the storytelling is compelling.

Music I Bumped

Lords of the Trident, “The Touch (Stan Bush Cover)” **** I’m mostly just sharing this cause the band borrowed my double keyboard stand to film this video during quarantine and now I’m glomming onto the viral fame.

Thing I Consumed

Ramen with giardiniera. ***** Just drop a spoonful of giardiniera into the water as it boils to infuse your soup with a Windy City kick. I’ll never again make ramen any other way.

Book I Read

James S. A. Corey, Abaddon’s Gate. **** Book three of The Expanse. This series continues to be really really good. Hard science, great writing, imaginative storytelling.

Game I Played

Animal Crossing: New Horizons. *** I definitely wouldn’t be enjoying this game as much if we weren’t all in quarantine. Those who would like this game are probably already aware of it.

TV I Watched

Money Heist, seasons 1-4. ** Kinda dumb, if I’m being honest.

Hollywood. *** It’s entertaining. I did enjoy the story and the characters for the most part. It definitely pats itself on the back with this one, though.

Music I Bumped

Indigo Girls, “Change My Heart.” **** Amy and Emily put out a new album last month and I’ve been listening to this particular track on repeat. Good stuff.

Did I forget to write one of these last month? Or did I not enjoy anything in March? Either way…

Books I Read

James S. A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes. **** Book one of The Expanse. Really great science fiction. Good characters, good representation, good science.

James S. A. Corey, Caliban’s War. **** Book two of The Expanse. A new story that continues the arc introduced in book one. More characters added, more worlds fleshed out.

Movies I Liked

Onward. *** A heartwarming story about family and friendship. Truly funny, truly worth watching.

Parasite. **** A tense, thrilling, and sometimes funny look at class and the symbiotic relationship between the leisure class and the working poor.

TV I Watched

Ozark, Season 3. **** This show is like Breaking Bad but with money laundering, and you’ve all heard of it. If you like it, you like it.

Future Man, Season 3. *** If you like comedy and dumb jokes and time travel and silliness, this is the show for you.

Book I Read

Russell Cobb, The Great Oklahoma Swindle: Race, Religion, and Lies in America’s Weirdest State. **** Former Okie Russell Cobb discusses his home state and the multitudes it contains. This book is a collection of essays about the state’s complicated and problematic history as well as frank discussions about the current racial, environmental, political, religious, and economic environment.

Thing I consumed

ButcherBox. *** I like to eat meat so I subscribed to this thing last month. Ethically sourced meat gets mailed to me every month. If you want to join, let me refer you so we can each get a credit on our accounts. If you’re my friend you’ll have my contact info. Yum yum yummy meat.

Music I Bumped

Church Girls, The Haunt. **** This album dropped this month and it’s full of bangers.

Books I Read

Trevor Noah, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. **** Memoirs of a mixed-race man and his childhood growing up in post-Apartheid South Africa. Funny, heart-wrenching, and educational.

Brian Freeman, Thief River Falls. *** Not a “must read” but a compelling thriller. And a thing happens at the end that I didn’t expect, so that was awesome. I like it when a book tricks me.

Movie I Liked

Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. **** Here’s my review.

Music I Bumped

Soccer Mommy, circle the drain. **** She’s got a new LP dropping in February, but here are three new songs that are gonna be on it. Good stuff.

Thing I Consumed

Henry McKenna single barrel bourbon. *** I’m not picky when it comes to whiskies. But the local place by my house hasn’t had Blanton’s in stock and the bartender recommended this. I enjoy drinking it neat with a glass of water next to it. Drink responsibly, you idiots. Don’t drink and drive.

TV I Watched

The Expanse. *** It really really bugs me when the characters go through passageways feet-first when in zero-G. They mess that up a lot and it takes me out of the world, but that’s my only major gripe with the show. I’m not caught up, so no spoilies, please.

Holy bananas! I let this get away from me. Here are the books I read in the last three months.

December 2017

David Crosby, Long Time Gone. **** David Crosby’s autobiography.

John Leahy, Harvest. **** Science fiction/thriller.

Fredrik Backman, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry. **** Heartwarming.

N.K. Jemisin, The Obelisk Gate. ***** Science fiction/fantasy.

N.K. Jemisin, The Stone Sky. ***** Science fiction/fantasy. While reading this, I tweeted at Jemisin asking if Elsa from Frozen was an orogene and she actually responded. She said she hasn’t seen Frozen so she doesn’t know.

January 2018

Fredrik Backman, Britt-Marie Was Here. **** A sensitive reminder to be empathetic.

Fredrik Backman, Beartown. ***** This is Backman’s best work to date.

February 2018

SC Hayden, A Knife, a Fork, a Bottle, and a Cork. *** Post apocalyptic dystopia.

Renee Shafransky, Tips For Living. *** Suspense/whodunnit.

Barbara Nickless, Dead Stop. ***** Last year I read Nickless’s first book, Blood on the Tracks, and it was one of my favorite books of the year. I was delighted to read the follow-up. Sydney Parnell, the protagonist of these books, is a combat veteran-turned railroad detective who investigates cases with her dog, also a veteran of the Marine Corps. Both suffer from PTSD. Fascinating and page-turning.

William D. Carl, Three Days Gone. *** Hilarious and fun. A great book for fans of urban fantasy. Yes, I know the cover art kinda sucks, but trust me, this one is fun and had me chuckling.

Lee Child, The Midnight Line. ****  You like Jack Reacher, right? Just read this book already. It was hard for me to understand Reacher’s motivation for getting involved in this adventure initially but these books are always good. A bonus – I had it pre-ordered and forgot all about it and one day it showed up on my Kindle. Surprise!

Graham Nash, Wild Tales. *** An autobiography of an interesting dude. I recommend this book for any fans of CSN(Y). Those dudes lead a crazy life. Nash comes across as a bit full of himself – he’s aware he’s a genius and he likes to talk about how good he is at everything. But still a great read.

Not a big month for reading for me, apparently.

N. K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season. ***** Imaginative and incredibly thoughtful. I will read the rest of this series. Science fiction that explores a world that is familiar but entirely different from our own.

Emma Ennis, Red Wine and Words. **** A delightful collection of dark stories. Ennis has a tendency to lead the reader down a haunted garden path before knocking them down and stealing their map. Several of these stories kept me guessing. On more than one occasion I’d finish a story to find myself wanting more, like a literary coitus interruptus.
I look forward to seeing what else Ennis has up her sleeve. She has the unique ability to imagine innovative worlds and the gift to describe them effectively to the reader. Highly recommended. Plus, the Kindle version is only a couple bucks – a bargain!

Brad Carter, Satan Walks The Trailer Park. *** I read this because I really enjoyed Uncle Leroy’s Coffin by the same author. Carter did not disappoint. This is a fun, twisted story with interesting characters. I would say that this is incorrectly billed as a “humorous” story – it’s fun, don’t get me wrong – but it’s not a laugh-out-loud romp. Good story nevertheless.