Broken Star

Tag: books

  • Link Dump – Recently Read Articles

    grayscale photo of a laptop

    Here are some articles aI am reading and found interesting:

    Synced from Raindrop.io on September 1, 2025 10:57 am

  • Jailbreaking my Kindle Paperwhite

    Early this year, I heard that it was possible to jailbreak most Amazon Kindle devices. I was interested, but ultimately decided against it. The deal-breaker for me was Libby. If jailbreaking meant losing access to library books, I was out. I couldn’t find a good answer to this initially, so I held off. Since the height of the COVID pandemic, I’ve switched reading almost exclusively on my second-hand Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (7th Generation), so I didn’t want to disrupt my reading.

    Last week, the topic of jailbreaking ereaders came up on the Reading Glasses podcast and it reminded me that it was something I was considering. Best of all, they gave a nice, non-technical overview of why one might want to do it. The increased flexibility was enough to get me interested again, and they confirmed that it still works with Libby. They also shared a helpful video overview:



    I’ve rooted a few Android devices in the past and the process for jailbreaking the Amazon Kindle was very easy and well-documented. A great website provides step-by-step directions. I set aside about half an hour and was able to complete it without encountering any issues.


    Once the jailbreak was done, there are additional steps to take to disable over-the-air updates from Amazon (these could potentially remove the jailbreak) and install a custom reader. I followed the guide and installed KOReader, which is a popular reader for e-ink devices. It gives you the ability to read a wider range of file formats (for example, ePub) as well as more customization options, faster PDF handling, and custom fonts. It also doesn’t send analytics to Amazon, which the privacy nerd in me enjoys. I struggled a bit with understanding the UI, but skimming the User Guide helped and after a few minutes, I had a nice optimized layout.

    A good part of why I wanted to do the jailbreak was to hopefully get the Amazon ads removed from the lock screen. I haven’t figured out that part yet, but hopefully soon. Overall, it feels good to loosen Amazon’s grip — even if their ads are still clinging to my lock screen for now.

  • Book Review: Review: Incredible Doom, Volumes 1 and 2

    Before the Internet, there were BBSes — hidden communities you had to know how to find. Incredible Doom (by Matthew Bogart, illustrated by Jesse Holden) drops you into that world, where teenage misfits built entire universes one message at a time.

    I don’t remember how I came across the book, but it’s been on my mind since I read the first volume a few years ago. It’s a graphic novel that tells the intertwined story of a group of teenagers growing up in the 1990s who discover the world of online computer bulletin board systems (BBSes). The kids all come from different but challenging backgrounds and find refuge in the world of the mysterious “Evol BBS”.

    I was able to relate quite a bit to the stories in the book. In the 1990s, finding out about computer BBSes felt like a lifeline. Much like the characters in the book, BBSes provided me with a group of friends with shared interests (so hard to find in the real world). It was invigorating to find a digital community of folks who were interested in computers, underground music, and teenage rebellion.Some of my BBS friends would become my punk rock friends. Like the characters in Incredible Doom, I often found the lines between the digital and offline worlds blurring.

    Aesthetically, the book is a joy to look at with a stark black, blue, and white color palette for its illustrations. The pages in between the sections feature ascii and ansi characters, which is quite evocative of the era. The art is a perfect accompaniment to the bittersweet story that it tells. 

    I recently read volume two and found it just as engaging as the first volume. It focused more on the fissures in the community that folks were building around Evol BBS and their collective living situation, which was a nice progression. Often these seeming teen utopias had their own internal challenges, so it’s nice to see the characters struggle with them, even if it did occasionally feel rather bleak. It also introduced a touring band and underground music shows, which again mirrored my experience.

    I’d definitely recommend Incredible Doom to anyone with nostalgia for the 1990s and the (mostly) pre-Internet era. If you grew up in that period with similar experiences, it will no doubt prompt a lot of reflection.

  • Media Diet – #1

    Some media (books and television) that I’ve read and watched over the past few weeks.

    Books 📚

    Lo-Fi: A Novel (Liz Riggs)– This novel was set in the Nashville indie rock scene circa the early 2000s. While I have no familiarity with the Nashville music scene, the story — focused on a woman who works at gritty music venue — felt someone familiar. The nights of shows, excitement over the next band coming through, and the intra-scene drama felt similar to what I experienced growing up in the punk scene. The mixtapes, playlists, parties, and late-night conversations that featured prominently reminded me of that time. Ultimately, I didn’t find the characters very compelling and it all fit a bit tedious, but at the same time, that might mean that it is being effective in capturing the lives of twenty-something hipsters.

    The Secret History of the Rapid Kit: A True Crime Story(Pagan Kennedy) – This is the story of the little known Marty Goddard and her advocacy for the adoption of rape kits in police departments and hospitals. Until the 1970s and Goddard’s advocacy, survivors of rape were widely mistreated and ignored. Despite her ground-breaking work, Goddard has faded from public view, so the book intertwines the history of the rape kit with Kennedy’s quest to locate Goddard. It was a well-written and history. It was also nice to see another book from Pagan Kennedy. Her ‘Zine: How I spent six years of my life in the underground and finally… found myself… I think, was an influential book for me in the 1990s.

    Margo’s Got Money Troubles: A Novel (Rufi Thorpe) – This is the story of Margo who struggles with the realities of single motherhood in her early twenties. After losing her job, her roommates, and taking in her semi-estranged father, she eventually decides to start an OnlyFans account as a way to make ends meet. It’s a story of personal growth as she navigates her new found self-reliance and society’s general disapproval of sex work. 

    Television 📺

    Your Friends & Neighbors – I thought this show — ostensibly focused on a main character who is fired from his high-earning finance job and who then turns to robbery — would be more focused on the crime and heist aspects. Instead, it was heavily focused on the drama of rich people. It had just enough to keep me interested, but not much more than that. The main take away is that everyone is miserable in their own unique way.

    The Office – It usually starts with watching an episode or two, and before I know it, I’m back to a full re-watch. There is such consistently good material, even in the seasons after Michael Scott left (well, maybe not the last one).