What are you reading this week of February 12, 2018?

[hermetic]

Finished Hag-Seed which I absolutely loved. Even the Acknowledgments chapter was fascinating.

Now I have started The Children of Men by P. D. James. "2021, a world where all human males have become sterile and no child can ever be born again. Civilization is giving way to strange faiths and cruelties, mass suicides, and despair." Yet, somehow this all sounds more enjoyable than spending the rest of our lives living under the fascist regime we see rising. I'll bet P. D. never imagined such a thing back in '92 when this book was published. I sure didn't.

Well, keep in mind: We are such things as dreams are made of, and have a Happy Valentines Day.

What books are you loving this week?

[exboyfil]

1. The Case Against Education - Bryan Caplan

Interesting read.

Also Boy's Life by Robert McCammon when walking and shoveling snow.

Also working my way through the Creepy Archives, a Warren Publications graphic (comic) Black and White horror anthology series published in the 60s and 70s. Part of a project to read as many black and white horror comics that I can get my hands on. Also have read several books about this period.

[hermetic]

4. Ignorance is bliss?

I had a look at Caplan's reviews and he seems to have some valid points but I am a firm believer in education. Like anything in life, some of it could be improved.

Robert McCammon has written quite a few books but I hadn't heard of him before. This sounds really good. "On a cold spring morning in 1964, as Cory accompanies his father on his milk route, they see a car plunge into a lake some say is bottomless. A desperate rescue attempt brings Cory's father face-to-face with a vision that will haunt him: a murdered man, naked and beaten, handcuffed to the steering wheel, a copper wire knotted around his neck." I love a good mystery.

Take it easy with the shoveling. Having lived most of my life in snowy climes, I believe shoveling is great exercise. You just don't want to overdo it.

Ahh, the 60s and 70s. Good times, good times.

[yallerdawg]

2. I'm reading Dean Koontz's "Ashley Bell."

I can't tell you how many sudden twists and unexpected revelations Koontz has put in his books that make them such a pleasure to read (in this genre).

Stephen King is the master, but Dean Koontz is the heart.

[hermetic]

5. Yes, so true

Never met a Koontz book I didn't love. Granted, I haven't read them all so I will for sure check this one out.

[Ohiogal]

3. Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly

I am a huge fan of Connelly's books,
Harry Bosch series in particular.

[hermetic]

6. Oh yeah

Connelly has definitely moved into my top 5 authors list these past few months. I look forward to all his writings.

[exboyfil]

7. I totally missed Connelly had another Bosch book out

Just requested it from my library. I might rejoin Audible if it takes longer than a day or two.

Thanks for the heads up

[Ohiogal]

8. So great

To see a few more Connelly fans here!

[hermetic]

17. So glad you said this

I thought I had run out of audio books to check out from my wee library but then remembered I have access to a Digital Consortium and they have 3 Connellys! So I am now listening to The Crossing and really enjoying it. Happy camper here.

[TexasProgresive]

9. Falling into the other camp non-fiction this week

Major: A Black Athlete, A White Era, and the Fight to be the World's Fastest Human Being by Todd Balf. It's the story of Marshall Walter Taylor aka Major. I've read another bio of Mr. Taylor a long time ago. I wish that there were more African Americans in pro cycling. I think they would do well if Major is any example.

[hermetic]

10. Truly

Are you able to ride again now?

[TexasProgresive]

14. I did Friday about 30 miles

We had fun with little wind and that was at our backs on the return.

[hermetic]

15. Cool

[shenmue]

11. About to finish "The Fourth Monkey," by J.D. Barker

Not quite as good as I hoped.

[hermetic]

12. Thanks

Have you read any of his earlier books? I see it got a lot of 5 star reviews on Good Reads although one person found it tedious. Whatevs, eh?

[shenmue]

13. Haven't read him before. Might give another one a chance.

[Ohiya]

16. The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

I loved Children of Men, the movie was also very good.

I've also been reading Medicare for Dummies!

[hermetic]

18. Hey, thanks

Didn't know there was a movie. Right now I am in a library contest to read 4 books this month and each must fit a specific category on a list. I figured this one would be my "Wild Card" but instead I can use it for "Made Into a Movie." Yee haw, box of chocolates here I come! Entries will be drawn for the prize and knowing what I do about this tiny town where I live, I expect my chances to be about 1 in 10.

The Children's Book seems like a good one. "Born at the end of the Victorian era and growing up in the golden summers of Edwardian times, a whole generation grew up unaware of the darkness ahead; in their innocence, they were betrayed unintentionally by the adults who loved them." Sounds like what's old is new again.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

19. The Great Halifax Explosion

by John U. Bacon. Fascinating. It's an incident that occurred in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1917 that is largely forgotten today.

Oh, and I finished The Berlin Project by Gregory Benford and found it a bit disappointing. It's alternate history, so his take on just how things would have played out differently is his, but I just don't see it the same way. It's also mired in a lot of people talking about just how to solve the problem of getting enough enriched uranium to make a bomb in the first place, and then the endless technical details of how to design the bomb. Benford is a serious physicist himself, so I'm guessing all those details are quite riveting to him. Not so much to the rest of us.

[hermetic]

22. Yikes

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The riveting, tick-tock account of the largest man-made explosion in history prior to the atomic bomb, and the equally astonishing tales of survival and heroism that emerged from the ashes.
Non-fatal injuries‎: ‎9,000 (approximate)
Deaths‎: ‎2,000 (estimate) (1,950 confirmed)

This sounds really interesting.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. It is riveting.

I'll finish it in a day or two.

[PennyK]

20. Just finished Laurie R. King's Lockdown

Last edited Wed Feb 14, 2018, 12:31 AM - Edit history (1)

Her latest and quite engrossing. It's the buildup to a crisis situation at a middle school. It's told in mini-chapters about each of the many characters, and it appears that quite a few of them could end up being the instigator.

I've also recently finished Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen, a non-fiction look at America's history of shysters and saps, basically leading up to the election of DJT.

Otherwise, I'm having fun with the "cozy mystery" series (Her Royal Spyness, Molly Murphy, Evan Evans) of Rhys Bowen, who also wrote In Farleigh Field, a WWII-era mystery that I enjoyed very much.

[PennyK]

21. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

My husband just read it, based on an interest in Guernsey and its occupation during WWII, and I've picked it up. The movie comes out in April (it'll just be called Guernsey) and it looks to be a big Downton Abbey reunion.

[hermetic]

24. Love that title

So the movie is going to have all the actors from Downton Abbey? I loved that show so much, partly because the actors were all so wonderful. So I shall certainly look forward to that.

Lockdown sounds like a really good one, too.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

25. Right now I'm reading the Tom Hanks short story collection

Uncommon Type. Two stories in and it's excellent.

I also read Breakthrough by Ken Grimwood. An experimental operation to cure a woman's epilepsy has a side effect of her accessing the memories of a woman who lived about a hundred years earlier. It was a quick read and quite interesting. It's Grimwood's first novel, came out in about 1973. He's better known for Replay, although that book isn't as well known as it ought to be.

[hermetic]

28. Cool!

Replay sounds a lot like Reincarnation Blues although that one wasn't exactly a quick read. I've always enjoyed reading about people who somehow tap into past times and lives. Bridey Murphy, for example, totally fascinated me, way back when.

Uncommon Type sounds good. I'd really like to find the audiobook as Hanks himself reads it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

30. I had not yet yeard of

Reincarnation Blues. I see my library has it so I've put a hold on it, although I've also frozen the hold for the time being because I have so many books, and especially so many new books on the hold list.

In Breakthrough, reincarnation does not seem to be the theme. At first you, the reader, thinks maybe this woman is tuning into a previous life, but as the novel goes on, the theme or notion of reincarnation is never developed. It's just that you get a front row seat into someone else's life.

Replay is a person going back to the age of 19 and living the same life over and over again, and because he remembers everything that happened up until he died and gets bounced back again, he gets to change his life. Very, very interesting. Alas, Grimwood died in 2003 at the age 0f 59. apparently he was working on a sequel to Replay, but it must not have been far enough along to publish.

Replay, to the best of my knowledge, has never been out of print. Breakthrough went out of print almost immediately, and I had to get it on interlibrary loan.

I love libraries.

[hermetic]

34. Library love here, too

Just discovered mine has Uncommon Type, the book. And I need to read a book of short stories for my library challenge.

[getting old in mke]

31. Replay

Is one of the very few books I've reread in my life. And several times. It always captures me. And someone should make the movie Sea Star.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

32. That would be beyond cool.

Although if they just made a movie out of the book, only part of that movie within the book would need to be made.

I would so much love to see Replay made into a move, or better yet, a limited series on TV, not an open ended series intended to go on until no one likes it any more. I rather doubt that anyone with the power to make the movie or series has ever read the book. And one huge problem I have with most s-f movies or TV shows is that while the people making them are skilled at their craft, they don't know very much about the s-f genre. Worse yet, if they are under 50, they've probably never read a science fiction book and have only ever seen s-f on the screen. Too bad.

[hibbing]

26. Golden Hill

I usually have a very hard time with books written in vernacular, but am enjoying this one. It is actually some of the most unique writing I have read.


Peace

[hermetic]

29. I found 3 books with that title.

By Shirley Lord, 1984.
"The destinies of three families intertwine to shape the history of the exotic and violent island of Trinidad."
I should read this. I have a friend who was born there and returns every December to visit family. I would sure love to visit there. Sounds heavenly.

By G. Mend-Ooyo, 2008.
"Growing up on the Mongolian steppe, G. Mend-Ooyo reveals his understanding of the worlds of dream and magic, the power of language and love, the closeness of family, and the hardships and joys of nomadic life."
That sounds quite wonderful.

By Francis Spufford, 2016.
"Rich in language and historical perception, yet compulsively readable, Golden Hill is a remarkable achievement—remarkable, especially, in its intelligent re-creation of the early years of what was to become America’s greatest city.”
I'm guessing this is the one you are reading. They all sound really good, though. So, thanks.

[Laffy Kat]

27. Just finished Lincoln in the Bardo..

And now reading Trevor Noah's "Born A Crime". The Noah book is not one I would usually be all that interested in but I bought it for a friend's birthday because she's a huge fan and she insisted I read it after she finished. It's not bad. I'm learning so much about apartheid I didn't know. You have to really admire Noah after reading how he rose above every losing card he was dealt. His mother was amazing.

[hermetic]

33. Yeah,

I like Trevor. I didn't really know about his book and now I also know that he has another due out this year. His autobiography, You Laugh But It's True. Which was already out as a film/documentary. He is quite a talented young man.

[Laffy Kat]

35. Oh, I didn't know about You Laugh But It's True.