Wet Broken Things
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wetbrokenthings.bsky.social
Wet Broken Things
@wetbrokenthings.bsky.social
13 followers 5 following 93 posts
Writer and book blogger.
Blog: http://wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
Bookstagram: http://instagram.com/wetbrokenthings
Facebook: http://facebook.com/wetbrokenthings
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What's your favourite story where we see tech and science as magic through the point of view of primitive protagonists?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/11/23/b...

@aptshadow.bsky.social
Book review – The Hungry Gods
In his novella, The Hungry Gods, Adrian Tchaikovsky writes another of story in his trademark style, set in the future in a world ravaged by environmental disaster. The world has descended back into…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:11 PM
wetbrokenthings.bsky.social
"'You know what is at the heart of misogyny? When it comes down to it?'
'So I'm a misogynist now?'
'It's simply about not giving,' she said."

What stories about sexism have stuck with you?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/11/18/b...
Book review – So Late in the Day
“‘You know what is at the heart of misogyny? When it comes down to it?”So I’m a misogynist now?”It’s simply about not giving,’ she said.” In her nove…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:36 PM
wetbrokenthings.bsky.social
"Simply to endure is to triumph."

What story best represents a child's point of view? This is a heartbreaking one that does very well.

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/11/13/b...
Book review – Sold
“Simply to endure is to triumph.” Sold appears as a novel, but it is really a young adult novella, if even that, for the story is not long. I read it in one setting. Published in 2006, …
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:57 PM
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"Sure, hope was too often offered instead of real change, a cheap placeholder for a better day. But it also kept people alive ... You had to believe the land you were on could bear fruit to bother trying. You had to have vision to eat."

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/11/08/b...
Book review – Guide Me Home
“Sure, hope was too often offered instead of real change, a cheap placeholder for a better day. But it also kept people alive. You couldn’t grow a tomato, a sweet pepper, or a peach without h…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:20 AM
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"Sure, hope was too often offered instead of real change, a cheap placeholder for a better day. But it also kept people alive ... You had to believe the land you were on could bear fruit to bother trying. You had to have vision to eat."

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/11/08/b...
Book review – Guide Me Home
“Sure, hope was too often offered instead of real change, a cheap placeholder for a better day. But it also kept people alive. You couldn’t grow a tomato, a sweet pepper, or a peach without h…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:17 AM
wetbrokenthings.bsky.social
"I am Rose House, entire, and have never been anything else."

What's been your spooky read this Halloween?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/11/01/b...
Book review – Rose/House
“I am Rose House, entire, and have never been anything else.” Arkady Martine writes a brilliantly creepy sci-fi novella about a murder that happens in an AI house called Rose House. A d…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
November 2, 2025 at 12:55 AM
wetbrokenthings.bsky.social
What is your favourite Chinese story in English? The Paper Menagerie is one of mine!

@kyliu99.bsky.social

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/10/27/b...
Book review – Ken Liu short stories
As of this writing, Ken Liu has published two short story collections, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and The Hidden Girl and Other Stories. They represent a prolific and varied output, enco…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
October 27, 2025 at 12:27 AM
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"To be a proper man meant to be a strong man, an outdoors man, but also a man of principle. It meant lack of bombast, a repudiation of shallowness and a core of quiet self-belief. It meant being slow to anger, but firm in conviction."

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/10/20/b...
Book review – The Hallmarked Man
“To be a proper man meant to be a strong man, an outdoors man, but also a man of principle. It meant lack of bombast, a repudiation of shallowness and a core of quiet self-belief. It meant be…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:08 PM
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Do you have a childhood favourite you want to revisit?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/b...
Book review – Goodnight Mister Tom
Goodnight Mister Tom is a special book for me, being the first assigned text I read in English for secondary school in year 7, the first time I had read a whole novel that I never would have picked…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
October 11, 2025 at 5:34 PM
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Are you excited for the next installment of The Thursday Murder Club?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/10/04/b...
Book review – The Last Devil to Die
As of the writing of this review, The Last Devil to Die is the latest of Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series out in paperback. It is the story of a murder revolving missing drugs that involve…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
October 5, 2025 at 12:17 PM
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"A weird time in which we are alive. We can travel anywhere we want, even to other planets. And for what? To sit day after day, declining in morale and hope."

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/09/27/b...
Book review – The Man in the High Castle
“A weird time in which we are alive. We can travel anywhere we want, even to other planets. And for what? To sit day after day, declining in morale and hope.” The Man in the High Castle…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
September 27, 2025 at 10:53 AM
wetbrokenthings.bsky.social
What do you like about cozy crime? For me it's the gentle humour mixed with action and mystery.

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/09/20/b...

@richardosman1.bsky.social
Book review – The Bullet That Missed
Of the three books of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series so far, this has to be my favourite, just for plot reasons. We have two main subplots of near equal weight here. The first is…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
September 23, 2025 at 5:16 PM
wetbrokenthings.bsky.social
I love how some three quarters of a century after its original publication, Narnia continues to inspire authors, even if it is in answer to it!

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/09/14/b...
Book review – And Put Away Childish Things
Tchaikovsky delivers a digestible and charming little novella in And Put Away Childish Things, a title that has great resonance for me, coming from St Paul’s epistles. And it fits well with t…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
September 18, 2025 at 8:38 AM
wetbrokenthings.bsky.social
Who is your favourite of the foursome?

@richardosman1.bsky.social

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/b...
Book review – The Man Who Died Twice
The Man Who Died Twice is the sequel to The Thursday Murder Club. It continues very much in the style of the first novel, a gentle cozy mystery that is wittily plotted and full of twists and turns,…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
September 11, 2025 at 11:50 PM
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"There are so many fragile things, after all. People break so easily, and so do dreams and hearts."

Is Neil Gaiman the weirdest author you've ever read?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/09/05/b...
Book review – Neil Gaiman short stories
“There are so many fragile things, after all. People break so easily, and so do dreams and hearts.” The first Neil Gaiman I ever read was his short story collection, Fragile Things, whi…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
September 5, 2025 at 7:32 PM
wetbrokenthings.bsky.social
Did you enjoy the movie or the book more?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/08/30/b...

@richardosman1.bsky.social
Book review – The Thursday Murder Club
Osman’s cozy crime series begins with The Thursday Murder Club, which has become a genuine phenomenon here in the UK. I have seen it on the Tube, I have seen colleagues of mine read it, heard…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
August 30, 2025 at 8:18 PM
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"I think there’s something beautiful about being lucky enough to witness a thing on its way out."

What's your favorite cozy science fiction?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/08/25/b...
Book review – Monk and Robot duology
“I think there’s something beautiful about being lucky enough to witness a thing on its way out.” A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy form a duology best described…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
August 26, 2025 at 8:40 AM
wetbrokenthings.bsky.social
Which fictional alternative histories have actually felt plausible?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/08/20/b...
Book review – Dominion
In the surprisingly well populated genre of alternative historical novels set in a Britain conquered or dominated by Nazis, Dominion surely takes the prize for being the best. I caveat this by emph…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
August 21, 2025 at 5:40 PM
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"How can you be happy in this world? You have a hole in your heart. You have a gateway inside you to lands beyond the world you know. They will call you, as you grow."

What is your favorite story about growing up?

@neilhimself.neilgaiman.com

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/08/15/b...
Book review – The Ocean at the End of the Lane
“How can you be happy in this world? You have a hole in your heart. You have a gateway inside you to lands beyond the world you know. They will call you, as you grow.” Neil Gaiman&#8217…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
August 16, 2025 at 12:35 AM
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"So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane."

What is your favourite John Green book?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/08/11/b...

@johngreensbluesky.bsky.social
Book review – Looking for Alaska
“So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.” Looking for Alaska is getting close to classic …
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
August 11, 2025 at 7:24 PM
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"We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship – to teach, if we are called upon; to be taught, if we are fortunate."

Do you think there's life on other worlds?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/08/06/b...
Book review – To Be Taught, If Fortunate
“We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship – to teach, if we are called upon; to be taught, if we are fortunate.” Becky Chambers delivers a tho…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
August 7, 2025 at 5:19 PM
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"Stories are webs, interconnected strand to strand, and you follow each story to the centre, because the centre is the end. Each person is a strand of the story."

Do you prefer comedy or drama in storytelling?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/08/03/b...
Book review – Anansi Boys
“Stories are webs, interconnected strand to strand, and you follow each story to the centre, because the centre is the end. Each person is a strand of the story.” Anansi Boys is the fun…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
August 3, 2025 at 11:21 AM
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"As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."

What books have you read on recommendation?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/07/26/b...
Book review – The Fault in Our Stars
“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” The Fault in Our Stars is a book you’ve likely heard of before. It was a huge best seller in 20…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
July 30, 2025 at 9:38 PM
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"Like pure quinine for a bad malaria attack, there's only one cure for paranoia - the absolute, undiluted truth."

Few novels have as great a sense of place as this one. What's your favourite novel about a location?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/07/25/a...
A Small Death in Lisbon
“Like pure quinine for a bad malaria attack, there’s only one cure for paranoia – the absolute, undiluted truth.” Robert Wilson’s masterpiece is undoubtedly A Small De…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
July 26, 2025 at 7:25 PM
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"People imagine, and people believe; and it is that belief, that rock solid belief, that makes things happen."

What is your favorite novel about America?

wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com/2025/07/22/b...
Book review – American Gods
“People imagine, and people believe; and it is that belief, that rock solid belief, that makes things happen.” It can be argued that American Gods is Neil Gaiman’s magnum opus. In…
wetbrokenthings.wordpress.com
July 22, 2025 at 5:43 PM