Mahsdad's (Jeff) 2016 Thread - Part 3

Welcome to the THIRD thread 2016. Come on in!

If you're new, my name is Jeff. I live in Southern California. I'm an avid reader (obviously, why else would I be doing this :) ), but I also enjoy photography, hiking and playing games and hanging out with my family. Book-wise, I have a pretty eclectic taste in what I read and I hope to give you not so much reviews but my impressions about what I read.

What you will find here is mostly my rambling, way too many (according to some :) ) Wishlist and TBR pile temptations and a smattering of my photography.

This is my 4th year in the group, but my 3rd after stepping out of the shadows and started being an active participant.

My 2013 Reading Thread
My 2014 Reading Thread
My 2015 Reading Thread

Come on in and sit a spell...

Welcome!

2016 Statistics

Owned - 8
Bought 2016 - 10
Free/Found - 4
Library - 4
Gift - 5
Audio - 17
eBook -
Early Review - 4
Graphic Novel - 36

October
91. Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan (L)
90. Dark Matter - Blake Crouch
89. The Dispatcher - John Scalzi (A)
88. The Pier Falls - Mark Haddon (A)
87. I Am No One - Patrick Flanery (ER)

September
86. The Final Solution - Michael Chabon (L)
85. One More Thing - BJ Novak (A)
84. Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
83. Robogenesis - Daniel Wilson (A)
82. The Fold - Peter Clines
81. Sandman: Overture - Neil Gaiman (GN)
Favorite:


August
80. Gun Machine - Warren Ellis
79. Y: The Last Man Vol 10: Whys and Wherefores - Brian Vaughan (GN)
78. Y: The Last Man Vol 9: Motherland - Brian Vaughan (GN)
77. Shovel Ready - Adam Sternbergh (L)
76. Y: The Last Man Vol 8: Kimono Dragons - Brian Vaughan (GN)
75. Lord of the Flies - William Golding (A)
74. Y: The Last Man Vol 7: Paper Dolls - Brian Vaughan (GN)
73. Y: The Last Man Vol 6: Girl on Girl - Brian Vaughan (GN)
72. The Talisman - Stephen King/Peter Straub (A)
71. Y: The Last Man Vol 5: Ring of Truth - Brian Vaughan (GN)
70. The Book of Speculation - Erika Swyler
69. Y: The Last Man Vol 4: Safeword - Brian Vaughan (GN)
68. Grief is a Thing with Feathers - Max Porter
67. Y: The Last Man Vol 3: One Small Step - Brian Vaughan (GN)
66. Y: The Last Man Vol 2: Cycles - Brian Vaughan (GN)
65. L.A. Noir - John Buntin
Favorite:


July
64. Y: The Last Man Vol 1. : Unmanned - Brian Vaughan (GN)
63. Saga, vol. 6 - Brian Vaughan (GN)
62. Saga vol. 5 - Brian Vaughan (GN)
61. Saga vol. 4 - Brian Vaughan (GN)
60. Smoke: A Novel - Dan Vyleta (A)
59. Saga vol. 3 - Brian Vaughan (GN)
58. Saga vol. 2 - Brian Vaughan (GN)
57. Souvenirs: And Other Stories - Matt Tompkins (ER)
56. Earth Afire - Orson Scott Card
55. Saga vol. 1 - Brian Vaughan (GN)
54. Batman : The Killing Joke - Alan Moore (GN)
53. Criminal Vol 6: Last of the Innocents - Ed Brubaker (GN)
52. Criminal Vol 5: Sinners - Ed Brubaker (GN)
51. Fortress of Solitude - Jonathan Lethem (A)
50. Criminal Vol 4 : Bad Night - Ed Brubaker (GN)
49. Criminal Vol 3 : Dead and Dying - Ed Brubaker (GN)
Favorite:


June
48. Criminal Vol 2 : Lawless - Ed Brubaker (GN)
47. Criminal Vol 1 : Coward - Ed Brubaker (GN)
46. The Invoice - Jonas Karlsson (ER)
45. Redeployment - Phil Klay (A)
44. The Walking Dead vol 2 - Robert Kirkman (GN)
43. Straight Man - Richard Russo
42. The Walking Dead vol 1 - Robert Kirkman (GN)
41. Sandman vol 10 - Neil Gaman (GN)
40. Sandman vol. 9 - Neil Gaiman (GN)
39. Fortune Smiles - Adam Johnson (AUDIO)
38. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikrey - Gabrielle Zevin
37. Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
36. Sandman vol. 8 - Neil Gaiman (GN)
Favorite:

May
35. The Math Book - Clifford Pickover
34. Mr. Mercedes - Stephen King (AUDIO)
33. Sandman vol. 7 - Neil Gaiman (GR)
32. The Orphan Master's Son - Adam Johnson
31. Sandman vol. 6 - Neil Gaiman (GR)
30. Sandman vol. 5 - Neil Gaiman (GR)
29. Burning Paradise - Robert Charles Wilson
28. Sandman vol. 4 - Neil Gaiman (GR)
27. Armada - Ernest Cline
26. Sandman vol. 3 - Neil Gaiman (GR)
Favorite:


April
25. Sandman vol. 2 - Neil Gaiman (GR)
24. Dark Places - Gillian Flynn
23. Sandman vol. 1 - Neil Gaiman (GR)
22. Moby Dick - Herman Melville (AUDIO)
21. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Newt Scamander (Rowling)
20. Dodgers - Bill Beverly (ER)
19. Love Among the Particles - Norman Lock
Favorite:


March
18. All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
17. Atonement - Ian McEwan
16. God of Beer - Garret Keizer (ER)
15. Headhunters - Jo Nesbo (AUDIO)
14. The Girl with all the Gifts - M. R. Carey
Favorite:


February
13. The Marriage Plot - Jeffrey Eugenides (AUDIO)
12. Cell - Stephen King
11. The Botany of Desire - Michael Pollan
10. My Father Bleeds History (Maus) - Art Spiegelman (GN)
9. The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage - Sydney Padua (GN)
8. The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers (AUDIO)
Favorite:


January
7. St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves - Karen Russell
6. Moose - Max de Radigues (GN)
5. A Spy Among Friends - Ben Macintyre (AUDIO)
4. Gentlemen of the Road - Michael Chabon
3. The Revenant - Michael Punke
2. Revival - Stephen King (AUDIO)
1. Tunneling to the Center of the Earth - Kevin Wilson
Favorite:

Currently Reading

The Ongoing Moment - Geoff Dyer - S: 8/7/15
World War Z - Max Brooks - S: 10/12/15
At Dawn We Slept - Gordon Prange - S: 6/26/16
The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt - S:10/26/16

Pulitzer's Read

Ongoing bucket list to read all the Pulitzer winning novels.

2016 -
2015 - All the Light We Cannot See
2014 -
2013 - The Orphan Master's Son
2012 - NO AWARD
- Swamplandia - Nominee
2011 - A Visit from the Goon Squad
2010 - Tinkers
2009 -
2008 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
2007 - The Road
2006 - March
2005 - Gilead
2004 -
2003 - Middlesex
2002 -
2001 - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
2000 -
1999 -
1998 -
1997 -
1996 -
1995 -
1994 -
1993 - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
1992 - A Thousand Acres
- My Father Bleeds History (Maus) (Special Awards & Citations - Letters)
1991 -
1990 -
1989 -
1988 -
1987 -
1986 -
1985 -
1984 - Ironweed
1983 - The Color Purple
1982 -
1981 - A Confederacy of Dunces
1980 -
1979 - The Stories of John Cheever
1978 -
1977 - NO AWARD
1976 -
1975 - The Killer Angels
1974 - NO AWARD
1973 -
1972 - Angle of Repose
1971 - NO AWARD
1970 -
1969 -
1968 - The Confessions of Nat Turner
1967 -
1966 -
1965 -
1964 - NO AWARD
1963 -
1962 -
1961 - To Kill a Mockingbird
1960 -
1959 -
1958 -
1957 - NO AWARD
1956 -
1955 -
1954 - NO AWARD
1953 -
1952 - The Caine Mutiny
1951 -
1950 -
1949 -
1948 -
1947 -
1946 - NO AWARD
1945 -
1944 -
1943 -
1942 -
1941 - NO AWARD
1940 - The Grapes of Wrath

Hugos Read

Ongoing bucket list to read all the Hugo winning novels

2016 -
2015 -
2014 - Ancillary Justice (DNF)
2013 - Redshirts
2012 -
2011 -
2010 -
2009 - The Graveyard Book
2008 - The Yiddish Policemen's Union
2007 -
2006 - Spin
2005 -
2004 -
2003 -
2002 - American Gods
2001 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2000 -
1999 - To Say Nothing of the Dog
1998 -
1997 -
1996 - The Diamond Age
1995 -
1994 -
1993 -
1992 -
1991 -
1990 -
1989 -
1988 - The Uplift War
1988 - Watchmen - category : Other forms
1987 - Speaker for the Dead
1986 - Ender's Game
1985 - Neuromancer
1984 - Startide Rising
1983 -
1982 -
1981 -
1980 -
1979 -
1978 -
1977 -
1976 - The Forever War
1975 -
1974 - Rendezvous with Rama
1973 -
1972 -
1971 - Ringworld
1970 - Left Hand of Darkness
1969 - Stand on Zanzibar
1968 -
1967 - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
1966 - Dune
1965 -
1964 - Way Station
1963 -
1962 - Stranger in a Strange Land
1961 - A Canticle for Leibowitz
1960 - Starship Troopers
1959 -
1958 -
1956 -
1955 -
1953 - The Demolished Man

Retro Hugos - this are given for years when no award was given (more than 50 years ago). Of those...

1939 - The Sword in the Stone
1951 - Farmer in the Sky
1954 - Fahrenheit 451

2015 Recap Statistics

Total Read - 67

Owned - 11
Bought 2015 - 15
Free/Found - 3
Library - 7
Gift - 4
Audio - 19
eBook - 1
Early Review - 5
Graphic Novel - 2

The full list is obviously still in my 2015 Thread (see above), but in no particular order, here are my 5 favs from last year.



Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Bright Earth by Philip Ball
Thirty Seconds Over Toyko by Ted Lawson

37. The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick - I mostly love PKD's short stories and haven't read many of his novels. His work is the source material for seemlingly half of all movies made in Hollywood over the last 30 years (seriously, there are 13 TV and Film adaptations of his work, and that's pretty darn impressive). I've had this book on the shelf for years, and probably have read it, but didn't remember much, other than the basic premise.

That is, its an alternate history of the US, set in San Fransico, in a divided North America. Japan and Germany have won WWII and occupy the West and East Coasts (respectivly) of America. The story deals with an interconnected cast of characters, from the head of the Japanese trade mission, an antiques dealer selling old Americana to the Japanese tourists. A Jewish American veteran making jewerly in a society that favors the old, not the new and his ex-wife, who is a judo instructor in the neutral Mountain States Zone.

Possibly the 2 biggest characters in the book, are books. One is the I,Ching, a kind of choose your own prediction book, where the reader generates random numbers in some fashion and looks up their fortune in the book. It is used by practically everyone on the Pacific States of America (PSA) to influence all challenging decisions. The other book is a widely banned novel in the world of Castle, called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. It is an alternate history where the allies did win the war. But its not our history, this is an alternate within an alternate. The title of our book refers to the reclusive author of Grasshopper, who supposedly lives in a fortress-like estate called the High Castle. As with a lot of PKD's work, it is weird, twisted and very compelling. Now I can watch the TV series on Amazon.

Recommend.

8/10

S: 5/21/16 - F: 6/3/16 (14 Days)

Happy Saturday, Jeff! Happy New Thread! Love those chairs up there. Good photo!

>9 mahsdad: Sounds like I need to get my hands on some of his stuff. Happy new thread!

Happy New Thread!

Finished the first volume of Ed Brubaker's Criminal GR series. Very good, moving right on to the second; Criminal Vol 2: Lawless

I had started reading Walking Dead, but they didn't grab me as much, so I moved on. Maybe because I have already watched the TV series (at least the first couple seasons, lost track after 3)

>1 mahsdad: Wow, Jeff those chairs have seen a few bums!

Happy new thread, mate.

38. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin - AJ is the curmudgeonly owner of a bookstore on the fictitious Alice Island (purported to be off the coast of Hyannis). He is dealing with the loss of his wife and a struggling business, and not dealing too well. Serendipitously, a baby is left on his doorstep and she changes his life. In a way that screams a Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie adaptation, he adopts the little girl. She grows up living and working in the book store, AJ finally finds love, the store thrives and becomes the center of the community with a good cast of characters; a sister-in-law with marital problems with her author husband, a rough but sensitive police chief who discovers a love of books and the book sales woman from the mainland with a heart of gold.

A fun read, a little saccharin, but I loved the emphasis on reading and books. Each chapter starts with a review of one of AJ's favorite books.

8/10

S: 5/11/16 - F: 6/7/16 (28 Days)

>15 mahsdad: This is on my TBR shelf, Jeff. I'll earmark it for when I need something light and peaceful. saccharin is good at the right time.

Season 3 of Crash Course Literature is coming.

If you don't know, its an occasional education video series that John Green does.

This time he will be reading and discussing...

Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Shakespeare Sonnets
Lord of the Flies
Invisible Man
100 Years of Solitude
Sula

I've enjoyed his thoughts during the last 2 series he did, looking forward to this one.

ETA: Forgot to add the YT link to the preview

https://youtu.be/zMTERytCNAU

Happy New Thread, Jeff!

I've been reading some Ed Brubaker lately, too. If you haven't tried Velvet and The Sleeper Omnibus, I recommend both of those.

Thanks Joe, I'll have to start a separate wish list for all the GN suggestions you guys put out. Good stuff...

The Los Angeles Times has several authors that are critics at large (including John Scalzi) and they were asked "What is the Great American Novel", here's a link to their responses.

I haven't gone any deeper than see what books they selected. I have to now go back and read each one. Looks interesting...

http://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-great-american-novel-intro-20160622-snap-h...

Happy Foto Friday Folks. Holy Crap its July already.

So to that end, here's July's entry in my yearly calendar. Enjoy.

And for those of us Americans in the group. Have a great Independence Day. (Sorry to poke old wounds, Brits). To paraphrase The Simpsons (said in your best Apu voice), Celebrate the birth of your nations by blowing up a small part of it. Thank you and Come Again!

>20 mahsdad: Interesting comments from John Scalzi on the Great American Novel. I agree that To Kill A Mockingbird fits the criteria he cited. It would have been interesting to see a short list of alternatives as well. Huckleberry Finn, perhaps?

>21 mahsdad: Hi, Jeff. The one in there that picks The Princess Bride is by our daughter-in-law, Adriana Ramirez. She and our lucky son got hitched a year ago.

The online comments to the article mention other candidates, like Huckleberry Finn, Blood Meridian and Lonesome Dove. I'd add Plainsong to the mix.

>23 jnwelch: Joe, that's so cool. Its such a small world around here.

13 books read in June. A record month. Granted, a bunch were GRs, but still..

Happy Friday, Jeff. Love the Foto!

I really like Brubaker's Criminal series. I also really enjoyed A.J. Fikry.

Have a great holiday weekend.

Totally forgot to mention that I won Souvenirs and Other Stories by Matt Tompkins in this month's ER lottery.

Anyone else get anything?

>1 mahsdad: Love the photo!

>9 mahsdad: We watched 2 episodes of the tv series and gave up.

>20 mahsdad: I didn't read them all, but I did read Marlon James' comments, which I found very interesting.

As I started reviewing Fortune Smiles, I read that it won the National Book award last year. I have, of course, heard of the award, but I didn't know how many winners I have read in the past. So, similar to my Hugo and Pulitzer bucket lists, I'm going to start a National Book Award list.

Here's what I've got so far....

National Book Award Winners:

2015 - Fortune Smiles
2014 - Redeployment
2001 - The Corrections
1988 - Paris Trout
1983 - The Color Purple - hardback award
1981 - The Stories of John Cheever - paperback award
1980 - The World According to Garp - paperback award
1953 - Invisible Man

Book Update...

Got to book 50 (and 51) this week. Reading Graphic Novels sure does pad your numbers. :) I'm 2 months ahead of schedule from last year, didn't get to 50 until September.

50 was Criminal Vol 4: Bad Night by Ed Brubaker. A very interesting noir crime drama series that several folks around here recommended. 51 was the audio version of Fortress of Solitude by Jonatan Lethem.

And because it came off wait list and automatically into my audio account on Overdrive, I immediately started Smoke. I know that Brodie broke ground with this one and had to give it up. We'll see how it goes for me.

> 32 I hope you enjoy Smoke: A novel, Jeff. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the audiobook.

Me too. I almost didn't start it, but since it was already there and I didn't have anything else in the chamber, I fired it off anyway.

I have read all those NBA winners, except the Cheever collection, which I have in the stacks.

Looking forward to your thoughts on Smoke. Good luck.

The link takes to you to an absolutely crushing review of a book by Jonah Lehrer called A Book About Love.

Apparently, Lehrer is a pop-science writer/blogger focusing on neuroscience. He used to write for various magazines and has a couple books that got pulled by the publishers for plagerism, miss quotes and the like. I had never heard of him, not really my bag, but this review of his new book is hilariously cringworthy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/07/books/jonah-lehrer-a-book-about-love-review.ht...

Wow, the reviewer was so concise about why she disliked the book and didn't trust the author. Lehrer's public fall was included in So You've Been Publicly Shamed, and it's interesting how much he got away with until a big Bob Dylan fan caused everything to unravel.

Hey Jennifer. I can say that usually I am review proof when it comes to books, but this is the best review of a book I will never read. :)

Season 3, Episode 1 of Crash Course Literature : Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

https://youtu.be/4kF0U8kIMp4

39. Fortune Smiles - Adam Johnson (AUDIO) - A collection of 6 short stories from the author of The Orphan Master's Son. It won the National Book award for fiction in 2015

One of the stories, called Nirvana, is about a man who makes a hologram entity of the recently assassination of the President and releases it on the internet to help comfort the nation. He finds he has more of a connection to the hologram than he does to his paralyzed wife, who lives for Kurt Cobain and the music of Nirvana. Another interesting story is Interesting Facts (pun intended). Its about a woman author who is married to a Pulitzer prize winning author who wrote an acclaimed book about North Korea. She dreams about having cancer, but does she? She seems to be fading, and is frustrated with her husband using a characcter from one of her stories in his.

A very interesting collection. I think Johnson is now on my list of goto authors.

8/10

S: 6/5/16 - F: 6/15/16 (11 Days)

Can't take me just about anywhere, without me picking up a book. We went to the LA Natural History Museum today, which meant a visit to the gift shop.

Picked up L.A. Noir by John Buntin. The subtitle is "The struggle for the Soul of America's most seductive city"

Its a quasi-biography of mobster Mickey Cohen and police chief William Parker.

Looks interesting

Got my latest ER book: Souvenirs and Other Stories by Matt Tompkins.

Its a short book (in multiple ways). Only 80 pages and its little. Check the pic. When it came, I looked at the package, but couldn't figure out what it was, it was so small. At least it will be a quick read.

I thought the picture would show the size better, but once I put it against a regular paperback, its not THAT small. Same width, about a half inch shorter. I guess the fact that its only 80 pages, made it seem smaller

>41 mahsdad: The LA Natural History building is beautiful, and so are the surrounding grounds with all the roses. We went to the Cleopatra exhibit there a few years ago.

Good review of Fortune Smiles, Jeff. I really liked that collection too. Johnson Rules!

Thanks again for the Hoopla suggestion. I now have it on my iPad and laptop. I also have the new Saga lined up, along with Outcast. Happy Camper.

I also have Criminal: The Sinners, home from the library.

Crash Course S03E02 - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by, of course, Mark Twain

https://youtu.be/WXKgBIiP8IA

Part 1 - everything but the ending.

I've never read this. I guess I should. Bad Jeff.

Happy Foto Friday Friends!

Today's image comes from the Natural History Museum in LA. If you follow me on IG or FB, you've already seen this. I took it with my phone. I like moving around looking for interesting angles and reflections and such. I think this is an interesting one.

Book Status...

Finished Orson Scott Card's 2nd Formic war book; Earth Afire. Pretty good yarn.

Started Souvenir and Other Stories, one of my outstanding ER books

Still working on...

The Book of Speculation - Erika Swyler (at work)
At Dawn We Slept - Gordon Prange
Smoke - Dan Vyleta (audio)
Saga, volume 3 (GR)

Finished my ER book - Souvenirs: And Other Stories by Matt Tompkins.

6 surreal interesting stories. More on them later. I probably wouldn't have bought the book tho. $14+ for a small 77 page book, almost not worth it.

Happy Sunday, Jeff. Thanks again for the Hoopla hook-up. I finished Outcast and started Saga 6. Working well on my iPad.

How is Smoke?

Smoke? I'm hanging in there. Its not magnificent. The idea of the Smoke is kinda a McGuffin, and its becoming a governmental power thriller in a dystopian past/future. I've only got about 4 days left on the library borrow, hopefully I'll finish it.

It sounds like Smoke: A Novel...is, well, blowing smoke, as far as LT goes. That's too bad, it did sound really good.

>47 mahsdad: Good morning, Jeff. The Death Star has a different look in this photo. :-)

>51 mahsdad: You've gotten farther than I did with Smoke: A Novel, but it sounds like the results are the same. Sorry, Man.

>53 brodiew2: Smoke - Its okay, I will finish it (as long as I come in under my borrow deadline), I'm glad, however, I didn't pay for it.

Deathstar - that's hilarious, I did not get that when I took it, or when I posted it. Now I can't unsee it :)

I am a bit asthmatic and full of flu today, Jeff so I better avoid the smoke!

500 posts up for you this year mate, well done.

>15 mahsdad: I purchased this book at a local library sale. I will try to find where I have it in the house of many books, and then read it.

Thanks for your review.

Hey Paul, thanks for swing by, hope you feel better.

Hey Linda, I know the feeling. "I know I have (insert title here), but I can't for the life of me remember where it is"

Here's something to go with your Death Star, Jeff...

Ha! Very cool. Its so funny that you guys saw the Death Star in my image. Its actually a dome, but now I only see the DS. :)

43. Straight Man - Richard Russo - Henry Devereaux Jr. is the sone of a famous author and is a once famous author himself. He is now the head of the English department at a small Pennsylvania college. He and the rest of the school are facing downsizing and budget issues. Pretty banal stuff. Until Henry threatens to kill a duck every day until he gets his budget. Then the surreal romp begins. Excellent, funny read.

Couple quotes that stand out to me :

"It's later than it should be, and I'm farther gone than I should be, and the moment when I might have exerted my free will, held up my hands, and shouted "No Mas!" to the cheering crowd is long past."

"It turns out that scrapple is like a lot of food that's conceptually challenging. That is, better than you might expect."

The fifties makes first basemen of us all"

8/10

S: 6/3/16 - F: 6/19/16 (17 Days)

Happy Foto Friday Folks,

Going on vacation on Sunday, leading to a whole week to pad my reading numbers.

Today's image was a phone pic, taken in Long Beach last weekend.

Here's a bonus image for Foto Friday...

An Ospry and the Moon

Happy Friday, Jeff! Good review of Straight Man. It looks like we had similar feelings. I hope to get to his Nobody's Fool, in the near future, since I have the follow-up, brand new in HB.

BTW- As soon as I started The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, I immediately thought of you. This is soooooooo your cuppa. Have you read or heard of Liu? I will also mention it to Joe. Also his cuppa.

Not that Liu, but the other one that wrote Three-Body Problem. I just got that thru that TOR book program that Roni told us about.

Ironically, Ken Liu did the translation.

I'll have to look for it.

Liu has recently published the first of a new fantasy series called The Grace of Kings. It got pretty solid reviews such that even this fantasy non-buff was constrained to buy it.

Have a great weekend, Jeff.

Too funny, Paul, the touchstone went to Tale of Two Cities. :)

I'd love to know how that silly little thing works.

>66 mahsdad: Jeff, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times;
Certain things tend toward the committing of crimes.
A misplaced touchstone
Cuts straight to the bone,
But at least it precipitates these rhymes.

Ha! Nice one, Paul

Finished vol 6 of Saga. Now I just want volume 7. :)

Well I saw Richard Russo being interviewed just yesterday on "Well Read". I haven't read anything by him yet but the discussion of his books made me put him on my WL. I like your review of Straight Man so I'll look for that one, though I really really hope no ducks get kicked. ; )

Have a great weekend, Jeff, I hope that you have found volume 7.

Thanks for stopping by, Jennifer, and Paul.

Unfortunately Paul, any of us fans of Saga are going to have to wait. Volume 6 just came out and there's probably a year in between each issue.

Looks like I'm continuing my winning streak in the Early Review horserace.

I'm getting a copy of The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan. Post apocalyptic world that's freezing over (wouldn't that be nice :) ). Looked interesting.

Still struck out with Dark Matter, 2 in a row. Oh well. Guess I'll actually have to buy it.

46. The Invoice - Jonas Karlsson - I got this book from LibraryThing Early Review program, in return for an honest review. The book opens with the main character, a part time clerk in a video store, gets a bill for 5.7 million kroner (the setting is Sweden, this works out to be about $850k). As any good slacker would do, he ignores it. But eventually he gets a collection notice with added interest and penalties. After spending a day or so on hold waiting for customer service, he finally talks to a human and finds that it is indeed a bill. A bill for services rendered, all the good in life that he's experienced. (Taking the adage, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" to an absurd extreme)

Some how his bill is the highest in the nation. The story has a Catch-22 vibe. there's no way he can pay what he owes, but the mysterious company is demanding it. Its funny and weird and a quick read. Definite recommend.

Opening Line - "It was an incredible amount. 5,700,000 Kroner. Impossible to take seriously. I assumed it must be one of those fake invoices."

9/10

S: 6/19/16 - F: 6/24/16 (6 Days)

The free ebook from TOR for August (http://ebookclub.tor.com/) is Jo Walton's The Just City. Its available until 8/7 and then another will come out in September

Another one from my wish list. That's 2 for 2.

If you want it, go to the link and sign up. Warning, their site is kinda kludgy. I had to "sign up" several times and download the MOBI file several times before I could get a proper copy that worked when I sent it to my Kindle accocunt (I don't actually have a kindle, I use the app on my iPad and phone)

I've already read a library copy of The Just City but will go download a copy for myself!

Hey Free is Free. It might be years before I get to them, but at least I have it. :)

Just finished a fascinating book that I got at the LA Natural History Museum. L.A. Noir by John Buntin.

The subtitle is "The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City"

More later, but the gist can be summed up by Buntin in the Acknowledgements: "How did the police department of James "Two Gun" Davis and "Bloody Christmas" - the LA Confidential LAPD, as it were, suddently become the Dragnet LAPD?"

From corrupt police and gangsters in the 30's to the LA Riots in the 90's.

You've reminded me that I also have a copy of The Invoice to read and review. I'm glad to see you liked it!

Hey Joanne, that's the "sin" of ER and review copies. Once you get over the hump and start getting a bunch of them, you actually have to keep on top of them and review them, for fear of never getting one again. A vicious cycle. :)

Lists upon lists upon lists. I need another list, like I need another hole in my head, but its fun to keep track. Like my Hugo, Pulitzer and National Book Award bucket lists, I've been revisiting the bibliography of one of my favorite authors growing up : Stephen King. The Stand is the first grown-up novel I remember reading and I was pretty much obsessed with everything he wrote.

Over the last several years, I've been going back and rereading his back catalog. They are fun, pulpy reads, especially on audio. King's readers are generally very engaging and that helps on the commute.

So to that end, here come's King's Novels and Collections list, that I will start keeping track of when I last read each book (almost all of which will be rereads)

Enjoy my insanity, or don't. No big whoop. :)

Novels:
2014 Carrie
        'Salem's Lot
        The Shining
        Rage
2015 The Stand
2010 The Long Walk
2015 The Dead Zone
2015 Firestarter
        Roadwork
2015 Cujo
        The Running Man
2009 The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
2010 Christine
        Pet Sematary
        Cycle of the Werewolf
2016 The Talisman
        Thinner
2015 It
2015 The Eyes of the Dragon
2009 The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
        Misery
        The Tommyknockers
        The Dark Half
2009 The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
        Needful Things
        Gerald's Game
        Dolores Claiborne
        Insomnia
        Rose Madder
        The Green Mile
        Desperation
        The Regulators
2010 The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
        Bag of Bones
        The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
        The Plant
        Dreamcatcher
        Black House
        From a Buick 8
2010 The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
2010 The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
2010 The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
        The Colorado Kid
2016 Cell
        Lisey's Story
        Blaze
        Duma Key
2010 Under the Dome
2014 11/22/1963
2013 The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole
2013 Joyland
        Doctor Sleep
2016 Mr. Mercedes
2016 Revival
        Finders Keepers
        End of Watch
        Sleeping Beauties

Collections:
        Night Shift
        Different Seasons
        The Bachman Books
        Skeleton Crew
        Four Past Midnight
        Nightmares & Dreamscapes
        Hearts in Atlantis
2011 Everything's Eventual
        Just After Sunset
2013 Full Dark, No Stars
        The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

>80 mahsdad: Hello Jeff. I remember really loving Frank Muller's narration on Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.

Hey Brodie, Muller must be King's goto guy. I'm listening to The Talisman right now and he's reading it. He's excellent.

The actor Will Patton read Mr. Mercedes, which I finished recently. He was really good too.

>83 mahsdad: Muller did quite a few. I recall that he passed away a few years back.

56. Earth Afire - Orson Scott Card (and Aaron Johnston) - Book 2 in the First Formic War Trilogy. As such, if you haven't read the first book, then just move along and go read the first one.

This continues where the first book left off. Victor, the deep space miner sent on a suicide trip back from the belt to the moon to notify humanity of the alien threat. He makes it, only to be met with skepticism; "Aliens, what alien?" Mazer Rackham is leading a New Zealand special forces team that is testing a new military vehicle that runs off of a new gravity drive. As he and his team are sent to train the Chinese military, the Formics arrive and attack Earth, in China (what are the chances). Then the crap hits the fan.

Pretty standard David vs. Golith battles. A ragtag group of humans against a vastly superior alien army. Card is definitely tailoring things ultimately land where they are supposed to in the later Ender series, morally, politically and technologically. Most signification, I think, is that Mazer befriends and protects a young Chinese boy. This boy's thoughts and feelings telegraph the idea of children being willing and able to fight.

A good series so far, I look forward to finishing it. (And staring on the Second Formic War trilogy, that just started up.)

8/10

S: 6/26/16 - F: 7/15/16 (20 Days)

Hello Jeff. As an aside, every time I see your topper, I am reminded of a 90s neo noir film call U Turn. I don't know why but I'm reminded of Bill bob Thornton and his crazy mechanic in coke bottle glasses. Good film, by the way. :-)

Thanks Brodie. I've heard of U Turn, but I've never seen it. I'll have to go check it out.

Happy August (ACK!) Foto Friday Folks!

Here's the August entry in my calendar. Hope you all have a great weekend.

That's a beautiful pic. Have a good weekend!

57 Souvenirs: And Other Stories - Matt Tompkins - I got this book thru LibraryThing's Early Review program. This is a short little book of 6 short stories. They're quirky and surreal and right up my alley.

My favorites are "The Water Cycle", that explores what happens when a boy's father suddenly evaporates one day, and the title story "Souvenirs", where nicknacks and literally random souvenirs start appearing in the narrator's apartment. A little small to warrant the proposed trade paperback pricing, in my opinion, but I'm glad that I was able to get a copy. It was a worthwhile read.

8/10

S: 7/15/16 - F: 7/17/16 (3 Days)

> Hello Jeff. thanks for this review of Souvenirs Stories. I've been looking for a short story collection and this short book of stories my be right up my alley.

Brodie, PM me your address, I'll send it to you

Thanks!

The motto for this group should be Read it Forward. Pass it on. :)

Update....

Still plugging away at At Dawn We Slept (a history of the Pearl Harbor attack). 450 pages in before we get to the actual attack. It is nothing if not thorough.

Just finished The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler. Pretty good read. I liked the narrative structure (more when I eventually get around to reviewing it)

Up to volume 5 of Y: the Last Man. Got on a Brian Vaughan kick after finishing Saga

I'm a couple books shy of 75, already past the total for last year. I almost feel guilty for counting graphic novels. ALMOST. :)

Not enough book lists around here (Oh RD, how I miss you. Though for me, he's hanging out is just one tab over, on Facebook).

Anyway, here's an interesting list from Tor. Its 5 fantasy novels, you won't find in the fantasy aisle.

http://www.tor.com/2016/08/08/five-fantasy-books-you-wont-find-in-the-fantasy-se...

I've read Orlando, but none of the others.

>95 mahsdad: That is quite a bit of preamble on the the Pearl Harbor attack. I felt similarly in listening to Double Cross Spies by Ben Macintyre. It was a good book, however.

I almost feel guilty adding audiobooks. Almost. :-) If I didn't add audiobooks, annual production would be under 10. Terrible, Terrible.

The Pearl Harbor book is a quite extensive look at everything that went on from when Yamamoto came up with the idea through the aftermath. The politics, the missteps, the lucky happenstances. Fascinating.

>95 mahsdad: I understand a bit of the guilt about counting graphic novels too, as until a few years ago I thought of them as "not real books". But now I've found a few series that pack as much punch as a short story, or in the case of some that have continued for years, a novel. So I'm cool with it now. : )

^+1

>95 mahsdad: Hey, Jeff! Hooray for fast approaching the Mighty 75!! Glad you are digging Y: the Last Man. I think it was one of the top GN series ever created. I am reading and enjoying his The Private Eye. This guy can do no wrong.

Your book is in the mail. Give me a heads up when it comes in. Ok?

Hey Mr. Postman! I will certainly let you know when the package arrives. THANKS!

Happy Foto Friday Folks!

Here's a foggy, ethereal look at the Pacific Coast. Coming down thru Big Sur on our vacation last week.

Nice pic, Jeff.

Thats the N. Calif coast that I remember. Thanks.

Finished listening to The Talisman. It had been so long since the last time I read it, I remembered things from the beginning, but I didn't remember how it ended.

I think I'll jump right into the Black House. King/Straub's sequel.

Of course, reading about the Territories again, makes me what to reread the Dark Tower books (which I need to anyway for the upcoming movie), and that makes me want to read The Stand again. Oh well, an addict's work is never done.

Yup, I hear ya. :)

In At Dawn We Slept, in Washington, Roosevelt met with Congressional leaders. When they left...

"Not until almost 2300 did the congressional delegation and many of the Cabinet leave the White House. Some of the dignitaries had a word for the waiting reporters as they emerged. Everyone agreed that the country could anticipate, in Austin's phrase (Military Affairs Committee), 'a vacation from politics.' 'Republicans will go along with whatever is done, in my opinion' promised McNary (Senate Minority Leader). And Martin (House Minority Leader) stated, 'Where the integrity and honor of the Nation is involved there is only one party."

Not that I'm advocating a World War, but damn, I wish we had leaders like this in Washington today. I truly believe that you would never hear words like that coming out of our current representatives.

>103 mahsdad: That little sliver of silver peeking through the murk makes that one heck of an atmospheric picture, Jeff.

Have a great Sunday.

Mr. Postman delivered!

Literally, Mark's generous offer of passing along Dark Matter to me, arrived. Yippee!

I also got my 10th anniversary edition of American Gods. Sure I still have a workable copy that I've read multiple times.

But I couldn't resist this bad-ass cover done by classic book and film cover/poster artist Robert McGinnis

Check it...

>110 mahsdad: Love the retro cover! Dark Matter is a gas. (Is there a pun somewhere in that?)

Ha Joe, that was punny. :)

Boom 75! Just finished the audio of Lord of the Flies. I'm going to blow out my numbers this year. I'm 2 months ahead of my best year ever.

Speaking of booking it forward, your package arrived. Thanks for the short story collections. I appreciate it. You were not kidding about 'Souvenirs' being small. It is, indeed.

>113 mahsdad: How was that Lord of the Flies audio?

LotF on audio. It was read by Golding himself, so that was cool. Though being the author and not a professional voice actor, his performance was a bit thin. It was him READING his work and not so much performing it.

Glad the books made it.

Sure I've got an overabundance of a TBR pile, 2 ER books, a hot book from Mark that I want to read, 2 books that I'm actually in the middle off at home.

But when the wife says, "I have a meeting to go to up at the library, want to go and hang out". YES PLEASE.

Got...

Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh. Been on the WL for over 2 years
Gun Machine by Warren Ellis. Been on the WL for over 3 years

Plus I added 2 more to the WL from the new release shelves. Pier Falls by Mark Haddon (short stories) and Deep Sea Diver's Syndrome by Serge Brussolo. A French writer. The story is about a guy who goes diving into dreams.

An addict's life is never easy, but it sure is fun.

Congrats on hitting 75!

68. Grief is a Thing with Feathers - Max Porter - As I read on someone else's review of this book, I very rarely get a book based solely on a mainstream review. But after reading an LA Times review of this debut book from Porter, I had to get a copy.

The mother of this family dies suddenly and the father and sons are finding it incredibly hard to cope with the loss, especially the Dad. In the midst of that misery, comes a crow. He moves in with the broken family and becomes a confidant, babysitter, counselor. He brings them healing. The father is a literary scholar focusing on Ted Hughes (husband of Sylvia Plath), I never made the connection to the story and Hughes' poetry (especially the epic The Life and Songs of the Crow), until a friend wrote about recently reading Hughes' work. That revelation shifted the tone and meaning of the book into a higher gear for me.

Its a short book, a novella, but its not really a straight line "traditional" narrative. The story keeps flipping back and forth to to little vignettes from Dad, the Crow and the Boys. I'm not a poetry buff, but its really and extended tale told thru free verse. At any rate, its a profound read on grief and the ability to heal and the mechanisms we use. Its my favorite read so far this year. Highly recommend.

Quotes, from the sublime:

"Soft. Slight. Like light, like a child's foot talcum dusted and kissed, like stroke reversing suede, like dust, like pins and needles...like everything nature-made and violent and quiet. Its all completely missing. Nothing patient now."

To the ridiculous:

"If you haven't observed human children after serious quantities of sugar, you must. It raises and deranges them hilariously, for an hour or so, and then they slump. It is uncannily like blood-drunk fox cubs"

10/10

S: 8/2/16 - F: 8/5/16 (4 Days)

I hate drawing attention to myself, always sounds like pandering, but it is a milestone.

I'm 2 score and 10 today.



And even though I'm ancient, its still nice when you Mom give you money for your birthday. :)

Shoot, there's supposed to be a picture of a 50 there. Google has failed me.

ETA - That's better, 2nd times a charm

Happy Birthday, Jeff! Hope you can celebrate with a couple of cold ones.

>110 mahsdad: So glad you got your copy of Dark Matter. You'll have a good time with that one.

I plan on revisiting American Gods before the cable series comes out.

>119 mahsdad: Happy Birthday, Jeff!



It is good to know that you are fully operational at such an age.

>121 msf59: I have nice selection of tasty ales on which to toast the day.

Decisions, decisions

"I have nice selection of tasty ales on which to toast the day."

^Nice!

I NEED to get back to Grief is a Thing with Feathers. I had to put it aside so I could focus on Blonde, which is of mammoth proportions. Fortunately, it is also very, very, good.

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

Happy birthday! 50's not so bad. We're still kicking, anyway, at 54.

Happy Belated Birthday, Jeff. 50's a great age. Enjoy!

Happy birthday Jeff!

70. Book of Speculation - Erika Swyler - Simon is a librarian, about to lose his job, and about to lose his house to the sea. Out of the blue, he gets a mysterious antique book that chronicles the history of a traveling circus that is somehow linked to his family. He discovers, through the book, that his female ancestors were all "mermaid" performers in the circus and they all drowned on the same day (years apart), the same day and same way as his own Mother. Family curse? What about his sister? The fateful day is approaching. The book jumps back and forth between Simon in the present day and the late 18th century and the origins of the circus and his family. Lots of references to Tarot cards, mysticism and strangely; horseshoe crabs play an important role.

An interesting tale of redemption and the sins of the father (or mother) being visited on the son (or daughter).

"History is a man, Future is a woman"

7/10

S: 6/9/16 - F: 8/10/16 (63 Days)

I should have known better. I just "finished" the audio version of Stephen King's Skeleton Crew, only to realize that 6+ hours just ain't long enough for any work of King.

Shoot, it was just a SELECTION of stories (4) from the book. Now I got to see if the library has the FULL book.

Oh well...

Hello Jeff! Did it include 'Captain Trips'? It is the story that inspired The Stand

Of course, the full book isn't available right now. Lets peruse the WL to see what interesting things I can search for.

Found it... Robogenesis, the sequel to Wilson's Robopocalypse. Should be good pulpy fun.

>131 brodiew2: No it was The Raft, Mrs Todd's Shortcut, The Monkey and Gramma

Gramma is the scariest thing I've read in a while. Seriously creepy. Reminded me why King is considered horror.

I didn't see Captain Trips in the Wiki article for the stories in Skeleton and I had to dig further cause it sounded too familiar. Captain Trips is just the first section of The Stand, Night Surf is the short story where he played with the idea of the disease Captain Trips. And that's in Night Shift. Gotta read that one too.

Too many stories, too little time. :)

Right. Night Shift. Sorry. :-)

No worries, my literary OCD just kicked in there for a minute.

Happy Friday, Jeff! I enjoyed Robopocalypse but never got around to the follow-up. Maybe, you will inspire me...

Hey Mark, thanks for stopping buy. A friend got me a 12-pack from Fat Tire for my birthday. Its called Fat Tire and Friends. They partnered with some smaller breweries to put together a nice group of ambers and ales (plus a sour, but I won't hold that against them, sours just ain't my bag).

Its worth a look. (okay sure it was free for me, but still :) )

65. L.A. Noir - John Buntin - (The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City).

This is an excellent "biography" of Los Angeles told thru the lens of the lives of two extremes: Mickey Cohen, the infamous gangster who ran the mob in LA after Bugsy Segel left to create Las Vegas and William Parker, who rose up thru the rangs of the LAPD to become its most famous police chief. From the early days of Prohibition to the Zoot Suit riots to Rodney King and beyond, its a fascinating look at the crime and corruption (political and otherwise) that build the City of Angels.

Recommend.

"Parker found in Los Angeles temptation. Instead of becoming a prominent attorney, he became a cop, a patrolman in the LAPD. Coldly cerebral (Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, a onetime LAPD officer and Parker speechwriter, reputedly based the character Mr. Spock on his former boss), intolerant of fools, and famously incorruptible (in a department that was famously corrupt), Parker persevered."

The poet Hart Crane on visiting LA in 1927; "Th ecity itself was horrid, but the sex divine"

9/10

S: 7/17/16 - F: 8/1/16 (16 Days)

77. Shovel Ready - Adam Sternbergh - The City of NY has been devastated by a dirty bomb that went off in the middle of Times Square. In the aftermath lives Spademan (not his real name), a former garbage man dealing with losing his wife in the explosion. He deals with becoming a hitman (still taking out the trash), give him a name and he gets the job done. He is very good at his job, until he's tasked with Persephone. His life takes a right turn when he's asked to take a young girl named Persephone, but can't. It makes him question what he does.

A pretty good story that I enjoyed a lot. It was a quick read. It took a turn from a noir thriller to cyberpunk sci-fi that I wasn't expecting but it worked.

"Come nuclear winter, hacky sacks will prevail. A lone sack, being hackyed, on some burnt out horizon. We'll know civilization, and jam bands survived."

"You'll leave a trail of trash on this earth that will far exceed anything of worth you leave behind. For every ounce of heirloom, you leave a ton of landfill."

8/10

S: 8/17/16 - F: 8/21/16 (5 Days)

Sounds good!

>139 mahsdad: Agreed, this sounds interesting.

Its a September Foto Friday!

Here's the image for September from my calendar. Its one of the magnificent buildings at The Getty. One of the most photogenic museums I know.

Oh BTW, I'm getting The Vegetarian by Han Kang from this month's ER.

I know I heard some chatter about it around the joint, but I can't remember the consensus. I asked for it anyway, I'll add it to the stack.

Anyone else get anything interesting?

I forgot to add my favorite quotes to my Shovel Ready review. That's been rectified.

I especially like the landfill line.

My library (and Hoopla) finally got the last Sandman book (Sandman: Overture), so I knocked that out this weekend.

To be honest, it was good and visually stunning, but I think it wasn't my favorite of the bunch. Perhaps a lot of it was due to most of the pages being horizontal and some had really small dialog boxes and the pinch-zoom on the iPad just made it worse.

Damn my old man eye's.

The Vegetarian came today. On to the ever increasing ER pile it goes. Ack, gotta get reading.

Just over half way on Invisible Man. Really enjoying it. Gorgeous prose.

Still plugging away at We Slept at Dawn, but after the 12/7 attack, its all about the hearings and investigations on who to blame for it. Very dry. The only shocking thing to me is that what's old is what's new. They were playing the same political partisan games that goes on now, way back when (even during the war).

>139 mahsdad: Hello Jeff! Do you know if Shovel Ready is available on audio?

Pretty sure it is. It was available thru Overdrive from my local library

FYI: I see on LibraryThing's Early Reviewer listing that "Human Acts" is the new book soon to be released by the author of The Vegetarian. The authors seem to be moving faster than I can get through the to be read stacks.

Hi Michael. I saw that too. If I'm going to have an addiction, I'm glad it's books. :)

>148 mahsdad: I see it on eaudio as well, but not on cd. Bummer.

80. Gun Machine - Warren Ellis - This is one of the grittyiest, graphic crime novels I've read in a long time. It sets the tone almost from teh opening sentence. Detective John Tallow and his partner are responding to a disturbance in a tenement building that leads to a violent exchange of gunfire that leaves his partner and the criminal dead on the stairs. A hole in the wall from a stray bullet leads the police into a whole different kettle of fish. They find a highly secured apartment that is covered floor to ceiling with guns (lots of guns). Tallow and a CSI tem starts to research the trove and find that each gun was used in an unsolved murder. There are blanks in the mosaic, which means the killer isn't done yet.

The story style jumps points of view between Tallow, as he discovers a conspiracy that that threatens to undo his investigation, to the killer (only known as The Hunter) on the trail of his snext kill. Its graphic and it has an almost paranormal feel that kept engaged to see where the story was going to go. One thing that Ellis did that was interesting and different, was that every time Tallow was in his car, he turned on the police radio and we got to "hear" snippets of radio chatter about the most extreme crimes that were being reported throughout the city. It was almost like he had a file of all these wild, crazy scenarios that he wanted to get into the novel somehow. Pretty interesting technique that gave me the sense of a larger world that Tallow and his story were just running thru.

All in all, a very "enjoyable" story.

"The Hunter had time to kill. He was experiencing a thing that he'd come to think of as the exhaustion of revulsion"

8/10

S: 8/24/16 - F: 8/28/16 (5 Days)

>152 mahsdad: I am familiar with this writer through his comic book work and it does not surprise me that the book is graphically violent. It doesn't sound like my cup of tea, but it is a well written review.

Thanks Brodie, every book isn't for every person. There's plenty more to go around...

Just keep reading!

Hi Jeff. Good review of Shovel Ready. Thumb. I remember being interested in it, when it came out but it got by me. It is back on the list now.

Gun Machine also sounds good. Thumb. Better go request that one. My GN stack has dwindled to nothing.

Thanks dude. But remember Gun Machine ISN'T a GN, you'll have to actually form the pictures in your own head. :)

Duh!! Maybe I can snag it on audio. Dashes off to check...

Happy Foto Friday Folks.

Today's image I'll leave as a bit of a mystery. What is it? :) Enjoy your weekend all!

My guess it that it is Algae burned by the sun.

Have a great weekend, Jeff!

lichens on stone

"I watched them, feeling very young and inexperienced and yet strangely old, with an old that watched and waited quietly within me"

- Ralph Ellison

I'm really enjoying Invisible Man.

ETA - to remove the stray "No". I have no idea where I was going with that.

>158 mahsdad: I thought more people would play my Foto riddle. Oh well, but thanks to Brodie and Erik for stopping by. :)

You all were both right, sort of.

Brodie, you said Algae. Its lichen, but lichen is just algae living in symbiosis with a fungus so you get partial credit.

Erik, you said lichen on stone, which is right with the exception of a couple letters. Its lichen on BONE, not STONE.

it was the jawbone of a whale. Here's the full thing. These were taken when we were on vacation up on Santa Cruz a couple months ago.

>162 mahsdad: Wow. That is very cool. Also definitely would not have guessed the whale skull. Pretty spectacular.

Very cool, indeed.

Wow. That's an amazing skeleton.

>162 mahsdad: I used to live pretty close to there, on the west side of Santa Cruz. Looks like you had pretty typical early-to-mid-summer weather.

>166 ursula: Yeah it was pretty nice, foggy and chilly. Such a nice change of pace for summer in Southern Cali. We stayed a couple nights in tent cabins up in Big Basin and it was hella-hot up there.

But despite that, it was a really fun little trip.

82. The Fold - Peter Clines - This was a fun, science fiction thriller, Kinda YA, but explored some esoteric aspects of the universe. Mike is a humble (but with savant-like intelligence) High School English teacher, just going about his life. And old friend calls him up and convinces him to go to a secret DARPA research facility and observe and report back on the goings on. The research group at the installation is working on teleporation/instananeous travel and somethings are not quite right. Why send him? Well, he's got an eidectic memory that allows him to remember and recall anything he sees, perfect for observation and analysis.

The people working on the project don't appreciate the interference and try to keep things from him. But Mike notices subtle changes the group. Changes that are growing and lead him to believe that this technology isn't just about simply moving from point A to point B. Chaos insues.

From the title alone, you can sort of surmise where this story is going. Its an interesting exploration into the makeup of the universe and liked the conceit that Clines uses with the memory to give Mike the tools to solve the mystery. He describes Mike's eidectie memory as a vast colony of ants that are constantly walking around in Mike's subconscious, collecting, grouping, analyzing and presenting information to him. He can't forget ANYTHING. Worthwhile read. Looking forward to reading more of his stuff.

"Hey needed to stop being Mycroft and become Sherlock"

8/10

S: 8/11/16 - F: 9/9/16 (30 Days)

Anyone doing the Pirate Treasure hunt today? (9/19).

I've found 10 out of the 16 treasure chests so far. That gets me into the drawing, so I'll probably ease up and do something else. :)

I've got 'em all but #2. There've been some really good clues on the Talk thread. Really, the depth of the puzzles this year was terrific!

Yeah these were really pretty good. I'm still going to try to get the other 6 without TOO much hint checking.

#2 I got. Think about the "passengers" that might live on a pirate ship and come home from camp.

Yup, got it eventually!

Good review of The Fold, Jeff. Thumb. I think I have this saved on audio. I will have to check.

I am spreading the word on The North Water. Terrific adventure story. Tough & gritty.

Thanks Mark!

North Water looks pretty cool. I'll have to keep a weather eye out.

David Brin's take on today's dystopian/post-apocalyptic stories (most referring to movies). Pretty cool

https://youtu.be/plsJJhsMEj8

I saw this on Book Riot the other day and I thought I'd share. It's an introduction to Charles Yu. He's only written one book How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe and a couple story collections.

I really enjoyed the novel, got to find the collections.

http://bookriot.com/2016/09/21/an-introduction-to-charles-yu/

New novella coming out from John Scalzi. Its called The Dispatcher. I'm going to read it because Scalzi is on my, I'll read everything write list.

Its coming out on audio first and it is free from Audible until November. Check it out...

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2016/09/22/dispatcher-audiobook-cover-reveal/

Happy Foto Friday Folks.

Here's a panorama I took with my phone last weekend. My wife makes chainmaille jewelery (http://threepinehill.weebly.com/the-jewelry-store.html) and was working a craft show at the Port of LA (at Ports-o-Call). Its right on the waterway where there is a lot of traffic coming in and out.

This big boy was cruising out of the port while we were there...

Happy Friday, Jeff. Love the Foto!

Hope you have a nice weekend planned and I hope those current reads are treating you well.

Hey buddy.

Just about finished with Invisible Man. Love it, but the last 100 pages seemed to be infinite. Started I Am No One

I'm also listening to BJ Novak's (from the Office) story collection: One More Thing. Really weird, quirky stories that are a lot of fun.

ER win. I'm getting Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood.

I decided to check the stats.

First ER request : 5/2008
First win : 9/2013 - (Top Down by Jim Lehrer)

35 requests - 22 wins

Over all 62% win rate.
After the first one, I've only missed 3 times (twice for the same book: Hollow City),

Since I got over the hump (being active here, I'm sure) and writing reviews, I'm at 88%

>168 mahsdad: I enjoyed your review of The Fold, Jeff. I really enjoyed Ray Porter's narration of '14'. I have only been able to find this one on mp3 download, no cds. Oh well. Maybe someday.

>175 mahsdad: I'll check this out. Sounds good.

>180 mahsdad: I will await your thoughts on I am No one. I tried to find this through the library and no such luck.

Have a good one!

So I'm sitting in a restaurant waiting for some take-out and a woman in the booth next to me asked what I'm reading. (Cause of course I'm reading, right?)

It was I Am No One. When she saw that it was an ARC, she said "Ooo How did you get one of those?" Well, let me tell you about a little site called Librarything. Told her about groups and ER and the community feel to it. She had used GR and was turned off by it. Told her that LT is way DIFFERENT and in my opinion, better.

Love spreading the LT love

Awesome! I hope she drops by our group.

2/3's of the way thru I Am No One and I haven't figured out where this is going. I'll take that as a good thing.

>183 mahsdad: An LT missionary!

Have a lovely Sunday, buddy.

83. Robogenesis - Daniel H. Wilson - This is the sequel to Robopocalypse and as such, you probably should just move along if you haven't read the first one. Its a fairly engaging technothriller set in the immediate aftermath of the robot wars that happened in the first book.

It had been a while since I read the first one, so it took me a bit to remember who everyone was. An interesting take on AI, sentience and what it means to be alive, for humans, robots and cyborgs.

7/10

S: 8/26/16 - F: 9/14/16 (20 Days)

84. Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison - This is a wonderful book that I'll probably have to read multiple times to truly be able to comprehend it. It won the National Book Award in 1953.

Its about an African American man who is "invisible" to the world around him, solely on fact of who he is. From his time as a young man, he is the valedictorian of his high school, but is is forced to fight other young black men in a "battle royal" in front of white business leaders in order to vie for a scholarship. To, his time in NYC working for an urban organizing group called the Brotherhood, where his earnest efforts to work for the people of Harlem get nowhere and "progress" comes thru rioting.

A book that I believe has profound impacts still today, especially in light of the BLM movements. I was hooked by Ellison's eloquent prose in his introduction.

Some quotes that struck me (probably more than I should post, oh well):

"But that's getting too far ahead of the story, almost to the end, although the end is in the beginning and lies far ahead"

"Power doesn't have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting, and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying. When you have it, you know it"

"A clock ticked with empty urgency, as though trying to catch up with the time."

"I watched them, feeling very young and inexperienced and yet strangely old, with an oldness that watched and waited quietly within me."

9/10

S: 8/5/16 - F: 9/23/16 (50 Days)

86. The Final Solution - Michael Chabon - Near the end of WWII in the English countryside, a boy is walking along the railroad tracks with a parrot on his shoulder. An old man looks up from his bee-keeping journal to see that the boy is dangerously close to touching the live "third rail" of the tracks. The old man drags is 89 yr old frame out of his chair and out of his house to stop him. He discovers that the boy doesn't talk and the parrot is talking, but only in numbers, and in German.

Thus begins a quaint little novella that brings the old man (who the locals know once used to be a detective of some renown) into a mystery with nazi spies, a missing bird, and secret codes. Is the old man up to the challenge? The game is afoot.

I'm jaded because Chabon is one of my favorite authors, but this was a fun little read. When I first picked it up, I thought it was the basis for the movie; Mr. Holmes. But I was wrong, at any rate, it was a very enjoyable read.

8/10

S: 9/25/16 - F: 9/30/16 (6 Days)

Sounds like I must read The Final Solution. I've been looking for a good used copy; just have to keep at it.

When you borrow a book from my library, they print out a receipt of when things are due (like I'm sure all libraries do). But what that started doing, is print receipts that are basically post-its. They put it on the front of the book and you don't have to worry about when the book is due, because it is right there staring you in the face. Pretty cool, I think.

Now, the flaw is if you borrow multiple books (which I haven't done recently), do they print multiple receipts for each book, or only put it on the first book?

A good idea nonetheless

Also, as a complete non sequitur, I always liked the "word" nonetheless. Not sure why.

Enjoy your day...

I am behind in my "reviews". I just hit book 90, when I finished Dark Matter. Loved it! More later.

Good morning, Jeff! I hope all is well with you.

>86 brodiew2: The Final Solution sounds like good. I'll have to track it down.

I look forward to your thoughts on Dark Matter.

Great reading going on here, Jeff. Too good to review even!

Have a wonderful weekend.

I am rarely susceptible to mainstream reviews, but the opening of this one hit me with a BB.

From the Sunday LA Times: Alexander Chee on Jonathan Lethem's A Gambler's Anatomy: Oceans 11 meets Escape to Witch Mountain meets a meningioma"

"I read the jacket copy for the new Jonathan Lethem novel a little surprised, a little uncertain - it sounded like "Escape to Witch Mountain" crossed with "Ocean's 11": A professional international backgammon player with telepathic powers has a concerning blot on his face that is distracting him as he plays a game in which he cannot be distracted"

I'm in...

Finished library book Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore for read #91 of the year.

More later (as is par for the course around here), but enjoyed this romp in the world of secret societies and an obsession for books.

Fun thing I noticed walking around the house late at night after the wife goes to bed, the paperback version of this book glows in the dark. Cool.

Good morning, Jeff. I hope all is well with you.

Thanks for the heads on Lethem's latest. The mashup description sounds interesting.

I have heard a lot of about Penumbra and your comments have tipped the scale. I'm adding it the 2017 TBR pile.

Thanks for stopping by Brodie.

Glad that I could help contribute to our mutual addiction :)

>188 mahsdad: bb for Invisible Man - the quotes are great. I'm vaguely aware of the name but you've convinced me to pick it up.

I liked Ralph Ellison's book too, Jeff and would like to get to Juneteenth sometime soon.

Have a great weekend.

Okay, Mr. Paul graced my humble abode with post #200. Suppose that's good enough to kick me over to a new thread.

Come on over....