Currently reading
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth
Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the Tenth Dimension
Swords in the Mist
Helping Children with Autism Learn: Treatment Approaches for Parents and Professionals
The Apex Book of World SF
The Hugo Award Showcase
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
The Journal of Best Practices: A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man's Quest to Be a Better Husband
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories
Plastic: A Toxic Love Story
Live and Let Die (James Bond Novels)
A compelling breezy read, but marred by some artifacts of its time, the main one being the sort of patronizing colonialism embedded in the POV (whether neutral or character embedded) that just plain feels racist throughout. Chapter titles like "Nigger Heaven" don't help either. While some might feel that Fleming's portrayal or Harlem or creation of a Black supervillain were progressive in 1956, there are so many Jim Crow era tropes (bulging eyes, comparisons to apes, lust for the white woman, all being superstitious) that's it's quite jarring to read in 2013. Some of the underwater sequences (esp. Octopus) also feel a bit silly by modern standards, but the writing throughout is admirably lean and the descriptions often striking. And some of the set pieces -- esp the gunfight with Robber -- are just superb.I would actually love to read a re-hash of this story from the point of view of Mr. Big, as he tries to exist in a world where whites project all their fears onto him.