What are you reading the week of June 23, 2018?

I finished up The Book of My Life by Girolamo Cardano, which I wouldn't recommend. He wasn't a pleasant man. But I'm glad that I finished the book simply because I found a line near the end which did strike a deep chord. "Deep grief is grief's own best medicine." There, I've saved you from having to read the book to find the one worthwhile thought.

Now I'm about a third of the way through Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction. This book I am greatly enjoying. It's a collection of stories published from the late 19th to the late 20th century. I'm only up to the 1920s so far, but there are some real gems in here. One of the stories, "On the Moon" by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, made me feel twelve years old again. It's not great literature, but it evoked a sense of wonder that is hard to maintain as you get older.

I'm continuing The Dark Tower series with The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King. I like it much more than The Gunslinger already!

Still from last week: Anna Karenina, Vamos a Leer, Selected Poetry and Prose of Coleridge, A Brief History of Time, the audio of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Mists of Avalon, and Second Spanish Reader: Bilingual for Speakers of English.

I also started reading through the Player's Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons) because we finally found some folks to play with, but I'm a bit rusty. It's been almost 8 years since I last played a tabletop RPG, and that was Dark Conspiracy.

I think I should probably not start anything else until I finish at least one of these. :)

I'm currently intrigued with The child finder by Rene Denfeld.

Carried over from last week: A Closed and Common Orbit, The Postmortal, and The New Voices of Fantasy.

>4 nrmay: The Child Finder's subject matter was too much for me. I finished the book, but it left some scars.

Haven't been in a reading mood this week. Can't concentrate. I am currently sort-of reading Cinderella Girl by Swedish writer Carin Gerhardsen, which is good so far.

Finished The Postmortal by Drew Magary. Interesting.

Next into my rotation is Blue Monday by Nicci French.

I finished Lincoln in the Bardo which is an odd book. A one star early on, completely confusing, then still confusing but intriguing, and by the end up to 4 stars and a sense that as I ruminate on it, it might go up to 5. The author uses a very unique style and contrived universe to address the essential issues of the meaning of life and death.

I've been in a reading slump the past few weeks. Almost finished with The Orphan's Tale which is enjoyable. And just received my latest ER title How to Leave.

My son gave me Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh which is a collection of short stories. This is not a typical read for me and boy, reading it is a little difficult due to it being in written in different dialects of the English and the Scots which I have to sound out in my mind before it kicks in. It is interesting-I have seen the film a few years ago so I know what the general theme is about. A very challenging read!

I finished reading A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety by Jimmy Carter. I particularly enjoyed his artwork and poetry!

Next up to read is Amy & Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout. I am listening to Zorba the Greek.

Our Book Club just read Winter of our Discontent which everyone enjoyed and our discussion was very interesting. I am reading Overstory and that is quite different.

Finished A short History of Germany that now leads me to Bismark:A Life by Johnathan Steinberg and eventually to A Short History of Italy by Henry Dwight Sedgwick. But first I have to finish Silenced by the popular Swedish author Kristina Ohlsson.

Minding the Light by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Next week: Lonesome Dove.

Finished The New Voices of Fantasy edited by Peter S. Beagle. I enjoyed it.

Next into my rotation is The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi.

I'm re-reading Agatha Christie's Murder in Mesopotamia.

Glinda of Oz
By L. Frank Baum
4/5 stars
In the 14th book of Oz, we find Ozma and Dorothy traveling to a new land, along with several other Ozians. Princess Ozma has authority over the land but has never visited. Upon their arrival they find that the inhabitants, the Skeezers and the Flatheads (who actually have flat heads) are at war. Ozma and Dorothy are captured when the Skeezers' glass-covered island has been sunk to the bottom of its lake. But don’t worry things always work out in the Oz books. Fun! This is the last book fully written by Baum but there is one more in the Baum series.

Greetings all. I was completely up to my neck in running a fund-raising wine sales booth at a World Music Festival this weekend, so not much reading time. Therefore, I'm still at around the halfway point of The Light and the Dark by C.P. Snow. I'm enjoying it, but since it's a very vivid account of a man with depression, it's hardly light reading.

My wife and I leave on vacation tomorrow. Going to Ireland. I'll be exploring the bookstores of Cork for a happy week. I'm bringing the Snow with me to finish, and also packing The Surrounded by D'Arch McNickle, a novel published in 1936 about a Native American tribe in Montana. I bought this book on our vacation in Montana and South Dakota two years ago, so it seems appropriate somehow to bring it along on this vacation. Cheers!

>19 rocketjk: Have fun! Looking forward to hearing what you bring back!

>19 rocketjk: Have a great vacation!

Have finished Cinderella Girl by Swedish writer Carin Gerhardsen. It was a really compelling crime novel and I enjoyed it very much. It ends on a cliffhanger which makes me eager to get her third book.

Am now reading a Finnish crime novel, The Defenceless, by Kati Hiekkapelto. Her books are excellent, and extremely well written, and I am liking this one a lot.

I am currently reading ghosts & exiles

>19 rocketjk: Nice! Happy travels!

I’m reading Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing.

Thanks for all the vacation wishes. As always the night before a vacation departure, all I really want to do for the next two weeks is sleep. At least that's all I want to do, now, but there is airline wrangling to do, thanks to thunderstorms in Chicago. Poor me, eh?

I finished Our Souls at Night which is a lovely simple story of two elderly people who decide to share their lives to relieve their loneliness.

>25 snash: He was such a wonderful writer. I loved that one, too.

I've started The Bear and the Nightingale, and I'm enjoying it.

Anne Leigh Parrish's "the amendment"

On to the second in the Moe Prager series by Reed Farrel Coleman: Redemption Street

Finished Blue Monday by Nicci French. Enjoyed it.

Next up is P.S. from Paris by Marc Levy

I'm half-way through an ARC of Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. I loved Sapiens and liked Homo Deus quite a bit, so it's been great to read Harari's take on where mankind is right at the moment.

I'm still reading Shogun and have added The Word is Murder which is kind of clever. Shogun is excellent!

Finished reading the marvelous Amy & Isabelle, Elizabeth Strout's debut novel.

Just started reading Lincoln in The Bardo by George Saunders.

I'll be anxious to hear what you think of Lincoln in the Bardo. It is unique.

The Royal Book of Oz
By Ruth Plumly Thompson based on unfinished notes from L. Frank Baum
4.5/5 stars
Scarecrow goes on a journey to find out where he came from because he doesn’t remember and he soon finds out that he has an interesting backstory. However, he has been gone a long time so Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion go in search for him and end up having their own adventures. If I hadn’t known that Thompson had written this, I would have never have guessed Baum didn’t write this. Quite fun with lots of odd characters and silly situations!
Thompson continued to write the series and added 19 books to the series but she is not the only one to write about Oz. While I may try to find the other Oz books eventually, I plan to move on from the series and explore other books this year. Check out the history of the Oz books at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Oz_books

I'm reading Neil Gaiman's short story collection, Trigger Warning.

Finished Redemption Street by Reed Farrel Coleman and I just started The Wife Between Us. I am hoping for some chills and thrills.

I finished the brilliant novel, Lincoln in The Bardo.

Next up to read is an Early Reviewer selection, Into The Storm: Two Ships, A Deadly Hurricane, and An Epic Battle for Survival by Tristram Korten.

Finished P.S. from Paris by Marc Levy. Cute little romance.

Next into my reading rotation is Sunday Silence by Nicci French.

Working on a bunch of things:
Little Big Love by Katy Regan;
How To Walk Away by Katherine Center;
Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy; and
Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf

The new thread is up over here.