mahsdad's (Jeff) 2024 Thread - Q3

Welcome to 2024 Q3 and my little corner of the world

Hi, I'm Jeff. I live in San Pedro California. Moved out from Pittsburgh in 1989. I'm an avid reader. My wife might say I'm bordering on the obsessive. But then, I think that could apply to a lot of us in this group. I also enjoy photography, movies, 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 thoughts, a whole mess of lists I'm keeping track of, my Wishlist and TBR pile temptations and a smattering of my photography. I don't really make a plan for what I'm going to read thru out the year. Its mostly what strikes my fancy from the TBR piles.

Past 75 Threads :
2013 2014 2015 2016
2017 2018 2019 2020
2021 2022 2023

Come in and sit a spell. I'll start of the thread with this image I took at the Sphere watching Dead and Company

2024 Statistics - Q2

🎧 - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle


September
78. Crash by JG Ballard :
77. Angels of Rome by Jess Walter 🎧 :
76. Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara :
75. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin 🎧 :
74. A Brotherhood of Spies by Monte Reel 🎧 :
73. Midnight Library by Matt Haig :
72. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde 🎧 :
71. My Favorite Thing is Monsters Vol 1 by Emil Ferris (GN) :

Favorite :


August
70. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley :
69. Universal Harvester by John Darnielle 🎧 :
68. Flag of Our Fathers by James Bradley :
67. Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle 🎧 :
66. Reading the Constitution by Stephen Breyer 🎧 :
65. The Change by Whoopi Goldberg (GN) :
64. Double Star by Robert Heinlein 🎧 :
63. A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin :

Favorite : A Manual for Cleaning Women


July
62. The Living Dead by George Romero/Daniel Kraus 🎧 :
61. This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America by Navied Mahdavian (GN) :
60. Saga Vol 11 by Brian Vaughan (GN) :
59. Rocannon's World by Ursula K. Le Guin 🎧 :
58. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair :
57. Sheep Look Up by John Brunner 🎧 :
56. Saga Vol 10 by Brian Vaughan (GN) :
55. Binge: 60 stories to make your brain feel different by Douglas Coupland 🎧 :

Favorite : The Jungle

2024 Statistics - Q2

🎧 - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle


June
54. James by Percival Everett 🎧 :
53. Saga Vol 9 by Brian Vaughan :
52. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 🎧 :
51. Night Shift plus... by Eileen Gunn :
50. Saga Vol 8 by Brian Vaughan (GN) :
49. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon 🎧 :
48. My Real Children by Jo Walton :
47. Growing Up Yinzer: Memories from Beloved Pittsburghers by Dick Roberts :
Favorite : My Real Children


May
46. Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay :
45. Saga Vol 6 by Brian Vaughan (GN) :
44. Saga Vol 7 by Brian Vaughan (GN) :
43. Clear by Carys Davies 🎧 :
42. The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham :
41. Wicked by Gregory Maguire 🎧 :
40. Whalefall by Daniel Kraus 🎧 :
39. UR by Stephen King (K) :
38. A Wild Swan and Other Tales by Michael Cunningham :
Favorite : A Wild Swan and Other Tales


April
37. Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu 🎧 :
36. Walkaway by Cory Doctorow 🎧 :
35. Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah :
34. Saga Vol 5 by Brian Vaughan (GN) :
33. Erasure by Percival Everett 🎧 :
32. A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers 🎧 :
31. Cut and Thirst by Margaret Atwood :
30. Saga Vol 4 by Brian Vaughan (GN) :
29. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus 🎧 :
28. Unexpected Weather Events by Erin Pringle (ER) :
27. Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka 🎧 :
Favorite : Chain Gang All-Stars

2024 Statistics - Q1

A - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle
LL - Life's Library

March
26. The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl (A) :
25. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of WWII by Iris Chang (A) :
24. Saga, Vol 3 by Brian Vaughan (GN) :
23. Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu :
22. Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside by Nick Offerman (A) :
21. Saga Vol 2 by Brian K. Vaughan (GN) :
20. Danny Champion of the World by Roald Dahl (A) :
19. Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser :
18. The Lost Weekend by Charles Jackson (A) :
17. As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem (A) :
18. Saga Vol 1 by Brian K. Vaughan (GN) :
Favorite : Where the Deer and the Antelope Play


February
15. Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller (A) :
14. Kindred by Octavia Butler :
13. Bookends: Collected Intros and Outros by Michael Chabon (A) :
12. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes : And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughy (A) :
11. Nothing. Everything by Virginia Montanez :
10. The Rapture of the Nerds by Cory Doctorow/Charles Stross (A) (A) :
9. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi :
8. Manga Stories #1 by Haruki Murakami (GN) :
7. The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde (A) :
Favorite : Kindred


January
6. IQ84 by Haruki Murakami :
5. The Yellow Wall-paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (K) :
4. Return of the King by JRR Tolkien (A) :
3. Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (A) :
1. Two Towers by JRR Tolkien (A) :
Favorite : IQ84

Audiobook Narrators

Andy Serkis - Two Towers, Return of the King
Jake Phillips - A Christmas Carol
Emily Gray - The Woman Who Died A Lot
John Lee - The Rapture of the Nerds, Shades of Grey
Caitlyn Doughty - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
George Newbern - Bookends: Collected Intros and Outros
Stephen Graybill - Chip War
David Aaron Baker - As She Climbed Across the Table
Donald Corren - The Lost Weekend
Peter Serafinowicz - Danny Champion of the World
Nick Offerman - Where the Deer and the Antelope Play
Anna Fields - The Rape of Nanking
Chris O'Dowd - The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Mozhan Marno
Jim Meskimen - Notes on an Execution
Miranda Raison - Lessons in Chemistry
Dion Graham - A Hologram for the King
Sean Crisden - Erasure
Corey Brill
Joy Osmanski - Paper Menagerie
Kirby Heyborne - Whalefall
John Mc Donough - Wicked
Russ Bain - Clear
George Guidall - Gravity's Rainbow, The Lathe of Heaven
Jon Lindstrom - Dark Matter
Dominic Hoffman - James
Stefan Rudnicki - Sheep Look Up, Rocannon's World
Bruce Davidson/Lori Cardille - The Living Dead
Lloyd James - Double Star
Stephen Breyer - Reading the Constitution
John Darnielle - Wolf in White Van, Universal Harvester
Paul Michael - A Brotherhood of Spies
Edoardo Ballerini/Julia Whelan - Angel of Rome

Pulitzer's Read

Ongoing bucket list to read all the Pulitzer winning novels.

Bold : On the Shelf
Strikeout : Completed

Total Read - 38
2024 - Night Watch
2023 - Demon Copperhead
2023 - Trust
2022 - The Netanyahus
2021 - The Night Watchman
2020 - The Nickel Boys
2019 - The Overstory
2018 - Less
2017 - Underground Railroad
2016 - The Sympathizer
2015 - All the Light We Cannot See
2014 - The Goldfinch
2013 - The Orphan Master's Son
2012 - NO AWARD
- Swamplandia - Nominee
2011 - A Visit from the Goon Squad
2010 - Tinkers
2009 - Olive Kitterridge
2008 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
2007 - The Road
2006 - March
2005 - Gilead
2004 - The Known World
2003 - Middlesex
2002 - Empire Falls
2001 - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
2000 - The Interpreter of Maladies
1999 - The Hours
1998 - American Pastoral
1997 - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer READ
1996 - Independence Day
1995 - The Stone Diaries
1994 - The Shipping News
1993 - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
1992 - A Thousand Acres
- My Father Bleeds History (Maus) (Special Awards & Citations - Letters)
1991 - Rabbit at Rest
1990 - The Mambo Kings
1989 - Breathing Lessons
1988 - Beloved DNF
1987 - A Summons to Memphis
1986 - Lonesome Dove
1985 - Foreign Affairs
1984 - Ironweed
1983 - The Color Purple
1982 - Rabbit is Rich
1981 - A Confederacy of Dunces
1980 - The Executioner's Song
1979 - The Stories of John Cheever
1978 - Elbow Room
1977 - NO AWARD
1976 - Humboldt's Gift
1975 - The Killer Angels
1974 - NO AWARD
1973 - The Optimist's Daughter
1972 - Angle of Repose
1971 - NO AWARD
1970 - The collected Stories of Jean Stafford
1969 - House Made of Dawn : DNF
1968 - The Confessions of Nat Turner
1967 - The Fixer
1966 - The Collected Stories of katherine Anne Porter
1965 - The Keepers of the House
1964 - NO AWARD
1963 - The Reivers
1962 - The Edge of Sadness
1961 - To Kill a Mockingbird
1960 - Advise and Consent
1959 - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
1958 - A Death in the Family
1957 - NO AWARD
1956 - Andersonville
1955 - A Fable
1954 - NO AWARD
1953 - The Old Man and the Sea
1952 - The Caine Mutiny
1951 - The Town
1950 - The Way West
1949 - Guard of Honor
1948 - Tales of the South Pacific
1947 - All the King's Men
1946 - NO AWARD
1945 - A Bell
1944 - Journey in the Dark
1943 - Dragon's Teeth
1942 - In This Our Life
1941 - NO AWARD
1940 - The Grapes of Wrath
1939 - The Yearling
1938 - The Late George Apley
1937 - Gone with the Wind
1936 - Honey in the Horn
1935 - Now in November
1934 - Lamb in His Bosom
1933 - The Store
1932 - The Good Earth
1931 - Years of Grace
1930 - Laughing Boy
1929 - Scarlet Sister Mary
1928 - The Bridge of San Luis Rey
1927 - Early Autumn
1926 - Arrowsmith
1925 - So Big
1924 - The Able McLaughlins
1923 - One of Ours
1922 - Alice Adams
1921 - The Age of Innocence
1920 - NO AWARD
1919 - The Magnificent Ambersons
1918 - His Family

Hugo's Read

Ongoing bucket list to read all the Hugo winning novels.

Bold : On the Shelf
Strikeout : Completed

Total Read - 42

2023 - Nettle & Bone
2022 - A Desolation Called Peace
2021 - Network Effect
2020 - A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
2020 - This Is How You Lose The Time War - Novella
2019 - The Calculating Stars
2018 - The Stone Sky
2018 - All Systems Red - Novella
2017 - The Obelisk Gate
2016 - The Fifth Season
2016 - Binti - Novella
2015 - The Three-Body Problem
2014 - Ancillary Justice (DNF)
2013 - Redshirts
2012 - Among Others
2011 - Blackout/All Clear
2010 - The Windup Girl
The City & the City
2009 - The Graveyard Book
2008 - The Yiddish Policemen's Union
2007 - Rainbows End
2006 - Spin
2005 - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2004 - Paladin of Souls
2003 - Hominids
2003 - Coraline (novella)
2002 - American Gods
2001 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2000 - A Deepness in the Sky
1999 - To Say Nothing of the Dog
1998 - Forever Peace
1997 - Blue Mars
1996 - The Diamond Age
1995 - Mirror Dance
1994 - Green Mars
1993 - A Fire Upon the Deep
Doomsday Book
1992 - Barrayar
1991 - The Vor Game
1990 - Hyperion
1989 - Cyteen
1988 - The Uplift War
1988 - Watchmen - category : Other forms
1987 - Speaker for the Dead
1986 - Ender's Game
1985 - Neuromancer
1985 - The Crystal Spheres - David Brin - Short Story
1984 - Startide Rising
1983 - Foundation's Edge
1982 - Downbelow Station
1981 - The Snow Queen
1980 - The Fountains of Paradise
1979 - Dreamsnake
1978 - Gateway
1977 - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
1976 - The Forever War
1975 - The Dispossessed
1974 - Rendezvous with Rama
1973 - The Gods Themselves
1972 - To Your Scattered Bodies Go
1971 - Ringworld
1970 - Left Hand of Darkness
1969 - Stand on Zanzibar
1968 - Lord of Light
1967 - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
1966 - Dune
This Immortal
1965 - The Wanderer
1964 - Way Station
1963 - The Man in the High Castle
1962 - Stranger in a Strange Land
1961 - A Canticle for Leibowitz
1960 - Starship Troopers
1959 - A Case of Conscience
1958 - The Big Time
1956 - Double Star
1955 - The Forever Machine
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

Nebulas Read

Bold - On the Shelf
Strike - Finished

2023 - - Babel, Or, The Necessity of Violence, An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
2022 - A Master of Djinn
2021 - Network Effect
2020 - A Song for a New Day
2019 - The Calculating Stars
2019 - This Is How You Lose The Time War - Novella
2018 - The Stone Sky
2017 - All the Birds in the Sky
2016 - Uprooted
2015 - Annihilation
2014 - Ancillary Justice DNF
2013 - 2312
2012 - Among Others
2011 - Blackout/All Clear
2010 - The Windup Girl
2009 - Powers
2008 - The Yiddish Policemen's Union
2007 - Seeker
2006 - Camouflage
2005 - Paladin of Souls
2004 - The Speed of Dark
2003 - American Gods
2002 - The Quantum Rose
2001 - Darwin's Radio
2000 - Parable of the Talents
1999 - Forever Peace
1998 - The Moon and the Sun
1997 - Slow River
1996 - The Terminal Experiment
1995 - Moving Mars
1994 - Red Mars
1993 - Doomsday Book
1992 - Stations of the Tide
1991 - Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea
1990 - The Healer's War
1989 - Falling Free
1988 - The Falling Woman
1987 - Speaker for the Dead
1986 - Ender's Game
1985 - Neuromancer
1984 - Startide Rising
1983 - No Enemy But Time
1982 - The Claw of the Conciliator
1981 - Timescape
1980 - The Fountains of Paradise
1979 - Dreamsnake
1978 - Gateway
1977 - Man Plus
1976 - The Forever War
1975 - The Dispossessed
1974 - Rendezvous with Rama
1973 - The Gods Themselves
1972 - A Time of Changes
1971 - Ringworld
1970 - The Left Hand of Darkness
1969 - Rite of Passage
1968 - The Einstein Intersection
1967 - Babel-17
1966 - Dune

National Book Award Winners

2015 - Fortune Smiles
2014 - Redeployment
2001 - The Corrections
1988 - Paris Trout
1985 - White Noise
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

Man Booker Books
2023 Prophet Song
2022 The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
2021 The Promise
2020 Shuggie Bain READ
2019 The Testaments
2019 Girl, Woman, Other
2018 Milkman READ
2017 Lincoln in the Bardo READ
2016 The Sellout READ
2015 A Brief History of Seven Killings READ
2014 The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2013 The Luminaries
2012 Bring Up the Bodies
2011 The Sense of an Ending
2010 The Finkler Question
2009 Wolf Hall DNF
2008 The White Tiger
2007 The Gathering
2006 The Inheritance of Loss
2005 The Sea
2004 The Line of Beauty READ
2003 Vernon God Little
2002 Life of Pi READ
2001 True History of the Kelly Gang
2000 The Blind Assassin
1999 Disgrace
1998 Amsterdam
1997 The God of Small Things
1996 Last Orders
1995 The Ghost Road
1994 How Late It Was, How Late
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1992 The English Patient
1992 Sacred Hunger
1991 The Famished Road
1990 Possession
1989 The Remains of the Day
1988 Oscar and Lucinda
1987 Moon Tiger
1986 The Old Devils
1985 The Bone People
1984 Hotel du Lac
1983 Life & Times of Michael K
1982 Schindler's Ark
1981 Midnight's Children READ
1980 Rites of Passage
1979 Offshore
1978 The Sea, the Sea
1977 Staying On
1976 Saville
1975 Heat and Dust
1974 The Conservationist
1974 Holiday
1973 The Siege of Krishnapur
1972 G.
1971 In a Free State
1970 The Elected Member
1969 Something to Answer For

International Booker Prize

2023 Time Shelter - Georgi Gospodinov (Bulgaria) : trans. Angela Rodel Read
2022 Tomb of Sand - Geetanjali Shree (India) : trans. Daisy Rockwell
2021 At Night All Blood Is Black - David Diop (France) : trans. Anna Moschovakis
2020 The Discomfort of Evening - Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (Netherlands) : trans. Michele Hutchison
2019 Celestial Bodies - Jokha al-Harthi (Oman) : trans. Marilyn Booth
2018 Flights - Olga Tokarczuk (Poland) : trans. Jennifer Croft
2017 A Horse Walks Into a Bar - David Grossman (Israel) : trans. Jessica Cohen
2016 The Vegetarian - Han Kang (South Korea) : trans. Deborah Smith Read

100 SFF/Fantasy Reads as compiled by NPR

https://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fant...

1. The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien READ
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams READ
3. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card READ
4. The Dune Chronicles By Frank Herbert READ
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series by George R.R. Martin
6. 1984 A Novel by George Orwell READ
7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury READ
8. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov READ but only the 1st one
9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley READ
10. American Gods By Neil Gaiman READ
11. The Princess Bride S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman READ
12. The Wheel Of Time Series by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm by George Orwell READ
14. Neuromancer By William Gibson READ
15. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons READ
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov READ
17. Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein READ
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles BY by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five By Kurt Vonnegut READ
20. Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick READ
22. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood READ
23. The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King READ
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey BY by Arthur C. Clarke READ
25. The Stand By Stephen King READ
26. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson READ
27. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury READ
28. Cat's Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman READ
30. A Clockwork Orange BY by Anthony Burgess READ
31. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein READ
32. Watership Down by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein READ
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz By Walter M. Miller Jr. READ
36. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea By Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes READ
39. The War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells READ
40. The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad By David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. Mistborn Trilogy Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld by LARRY NIVEN READ
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin READ
46. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King BY by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere by NEIL GAIMAN READ
49. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact by Carl Sagan READ
51. The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust by Neil Gaiman READ
53. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson READ
54. World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks READ
55. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman READ
57. Small Gods A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle READ
62. The Sword Of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road by by Cormac McCarthy READ
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson READ
66. The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series by Robert E. Howard and Mark Schultz
69. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger READ
71. The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
72. Journey To The Center Of The Earth by Jules Verne READ
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series by R. A. Salvatore
74. Old Man's War by John Scalzi READ
75. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson READ
76. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke READ
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. Le Guin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire READ
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen series by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde READ
83. The Culture Series by Iain Banks
84. The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
90. The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man By Ray Bradbury short works collection
92. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov READ
95. The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle READ
97. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
99. The Xanth Series by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis

100 Horror Reads as compiled by NPR

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/632779706/click-if-you-dare-100-favorite-horror-s...

1. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
2. Dracula by Bram Stoker
3. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
4. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
5. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
6. The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James
7. The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
8. The Monkeys Paw by W. W. Jacobs
9. The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
10. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman READ
11. Oh, Whistle, And Ill Come To You, My Lad by M. R. James and Darryl Jones
12.The Werewolf Of Paris By Guy Endore
13. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson READ
14. Let The Right One In By John Ajvide Lindqvist
15. The Vampire Chronicles (First Triology) by Anne Rice READ
16. Minion (Vampire Huntress Legend Series) by L. A. Banks
17. The Hunger by Alma Katsu
18. Those Across The River by Christopher Buehlman
19. Bird Box by Josh Malerman READ
20. Feed (Newsflesh Series) by Mira Grant
21. World War Z by Max Brooks READ
22. The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey READ
23. The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft
24. The Ballad Of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle READ
25. The Fisherman by John Langan
26. Laundry Files (Series) by Charles Stross
27. The Cipher By Kathe Koja
28. John Dies At The End by David Wong READ
29. At The Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
30. All Our Salt-Bottled Hearts by Sonya Taaffe
31. Uzumaki by Junji Ito
32. Communion: A True Story by Whitley Strieber OR Majestic by Whitley Strieber
33. The Repairer Of Reputations by Robert W. Chambers
34. The Haunting Of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
35. The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons
36. Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco
37. The Shining by Stephen King READ
38. House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
39. The Elementals by Michael McDowell
40. The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
41. Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis
42. The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
43. Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand
44. Infidel by Aaron Campbell, Jose Villarrubia, Pornsak Pichetshote and Jeff Powell
45. The Ruins by Scott Smith
46. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
47. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates
48. The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan
49. Swan Song by Robert McCammon
50. The Screwfly Solution by James Tiptree Jr.
51. Left Foot, Right by Nalo Hopkinson
52. Come Closer by Sara Gran
53. Furnace by Livia Llewellyn
54. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
55. Through The Woods by Emily Carroll
56. Sandman by Neil Gaiman READ
57. Her Body And Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
58. White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
59. Goblin Market by Christina Georgina Rossetti
60. Experimental Film by Gemma Files
61. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson READ
62. The Collector by John Fowles
63. The Terror by Dan Simmons
64. Intensity by Dean R. Koontz
65. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
66. Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
67. Night They Missed the Horror Show by Joe R. Lansdale
68. Penpal by Dathan Auerbach
69. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill READ
70. Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler
71. Lord Of The Flies by William Golding READ
72. The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood READ
73. Beloved by Toni Morrison
74. Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler
75. The Devil In America by Kai Ashante Wilson
76. I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
77. Books Of Blood by Clive Barker READ
78. The October Country: Stories by Ray Bradbury
79. The Weird: A Compendium Of Strange And Dark Stories by Ann Vandermeer and Jeff VanDermeer
80. The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron
81. Alone With the Horrors: The Great Short Fiction of Ramsey Campbell, 1961-1991 by Ramsey Campbell
82. Things We Lost In The Fire by Mariana Enriquez
83. Shadowland by Peter Straub READ
84. A Head Full Of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
85. Rosemarys Baby by Ira Levin
86. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
87. The Body by Stephen King READ
88. Its A Good Life by Jerome Bixby
89. The Other by Thomas Tryon
90. The Troop by Nick Cutter
91. Elizabeth by Ken Greenhall
92. Please, Momma by Chesya Burke
93. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark by Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell
94. Goosebumps (Series) by R. L. Stine children
95. Rotters by Daniel Kraus children
96. Jumbies Rise Of The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
97. The House With A Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs
98. Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh
99. Coraline by Neil Gaiman READ
100. Down A Dark Hall by Lois Duncan

The 75'r Chunkster List

1. The Overstory by Richard Powers READ
2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
3. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco READ
4. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
5. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell READ
6. The Witch Elm by Tana French
7. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
8. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr READ
9. Little, Big by John Crowley
10. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides READ
11. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
12. Possession by A.S. Byatt
13. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel DNF
14. The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
15. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
16. The Parisian : A Novel
17. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
18. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
19. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami READ
20. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
21. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie READ
22. American Gods by Neil Gaiman READ
23. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon READ
24. The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
25. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen READ
26. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
27. A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava
28. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
29. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James READ
30. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson READ
31. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
32. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
33. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin READ
34. JR by William Gaddis
35. Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
36. Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
37. Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
38. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett READ
39. The Stand by Stephen King READ
40. Underworld by Don DeLillo
41. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
42. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
43. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry READ
44. 2666 by Roberto Bolano
45. Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra
46. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
47. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
48. Parallel Stories by Peter Nadas
49. Women and Men by Joseph McElroy
50. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Paul's Alternative 20

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon READ
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
Saville by David Storey
To Serve Them All My Days by RF Delderfield
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving READ
The Singapore Grip by JG Farrell
Magician by Raymond E Feist
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
A Chain of Voices by Andre Brink

Bill's Alternative Weird Dozen

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis READ
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger READ
Cider House Rules by John Irving
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
The Book and the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak READ
August 1914 by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams READ
11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King READ
His Dark Materials Omnibus (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman
The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling READ

Jeff's how the heck did this not get on the other lists list
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami Read
Alaska by James Michener Read
The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst Read
Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon Read

Weird Books List

From Book Riot - The 100 strange and weird "must read" books. https://bookriot.com/i-got-your-weird-right-here-100-wonderful-strange-and-unusu...

A Jello Horse by Matthew Simmons
After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones
Alligators of Abraham by Robert Kloss
An Exaggerated Murder by Josh Cook
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer READ
Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace
As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
Bear vs. Shark by Chris Bachelder
Beatlebone by Kevin Barry
Being Dead by Jim Crace
Big Machine by Victor LaValle
Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe (Author), Alexander O. Smith (Translator)
Cat Country by Lao She
Damnificados by JJ Amaworo Wilson
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
Delicious Foods by James Hannaham
Dendera by Yuya Sato (Author), Edwin Hawkes (Translator), Nathan A Collins (Translator)
Disquiet by Julia Leigh
Duplex by Kathryn Davis
Escape from Baghdad! by Saad Hossain
Fram by Steve Himmer
geek loveGeek Love by Katherine Dunn
Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland READ
God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
Half Life by Shelley Jackson
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov (Author), Michael Glenny (Translator)
I Crawl Through It by A.S. King
In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell
Jamestown by Matthew Sharpe
Just Like Beauty by Lisa Lerner
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis
Long Division by Kiese Laymon
Masters of Atlantis by Charles Portis
Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet
Motherfucking Sharks by Brian Allen Carr
Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi
Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt
Observatory Mansions by Edward Carey
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood READ
Paper Tigers by Damien Angelica Walters
Prodigies by Angélica Gorodischer
Pym by Mat Johnson
Radio Iris by Anne-Marie Kinney
Remainder by Tom McCarthy
Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer
Sister Mine by Nalo HopkinsonSister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson
Slade House by David Mitchell READ
Slapstick or Lonesome No More! by Kurt Vonnegut
Some of Your Blood by Theodore Sturgeon
Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link
Sudden Death by Álvaro Enrigue (Author), Natasha Wimmer (Translator)
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers
The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor
The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips
The Bees by Laline Paul
The Blue Girl by Laurie Foos
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders READ
The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd
The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman
The Daughters by Adrienne Celt
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
The Giant’s House by Elizabeth McCracken
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan
The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier
The Incarnations by Susan Barker
The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
The Last Illusion by Porochista Khakpour
The Legend of Pradeep Mathew by Shehan Karunatilaka
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosely
The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry
The Ninth Life of Louis Drax by Liz Jensen
The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth Mckenzie
The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen (Author), Lola M. Rogers (Translator)
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall READ
The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli (Author), Christina MacSweeney (Translator)
The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman
The Unfinished World and Other Stories by Amber Sparks
The Vanishers by Heidi Julavits
The Vaults by Toby Ball
The Vegetarian by Han Kang READ
The Vorrh by B. Catling
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
The Weirdness by Jeremy Bushnell
The Wilds by Julia Elliott
Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail by Kelly Luce
Version Control by Dexter Palmer
Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre
Waiting for Gertrude by Bill Richardson
What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn
Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns
You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman
Zazen by Vanessa Veselka
Zeroville by Steve Erickson

Jeff's Weird Additions
Help! A Bear is Eating Me by Mykle Hansen
WhaleFall by Daniel Kraus
Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon

2024 Reading Recap

Books Read : 54
# of Authors : 42
Authors of Color : 3 (7%)
Lady Authors : 12 (29%)
Narrators : 24 (Most books - Andy Serkis : 2 )
Rereads - 16 (30%)

Pages Read - 6,976 Hours Read - 11 days, 7 hours, and 37 minutes

Books Purchased/Gifted/Found - 79

Scatter Plot

My favorite graphs for some strange reason. Not quite sure they're useful for anything, I just like them artistically. Here's all the books I've read plotted out in order of when they were published

2024 Reads

2024 Books of the Month

January : IQ84 by Haruki Murakami
February : Kindred by Octavia Butler
March : Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside by Nick Offerman

April : Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
May : A Wild Swan and Other Tales by Michael Cunningham
June : My Real Children by Jo Walton




#botm

Happy new thread Jeff!

Thanks Susan!

Happy New Thread! (You posted Audiobook hours twice)

Thanks Robyn, Fixed it!

New thread orisons, Jeff!

Salutations Jeff on your new thread.

Love all the lists as usual.

Happy new one!

Happy July, Jeff. Happy New Thread. Looking forward to doing a reread of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle this month. It has been 13 years.

>21 richardderus: >22 PaulCranswick: >23 figsfromthistle: Thanks for visiting RD, Paul and Figs

>24 msf59: Hi Mark, while I love me some Murakami, I think I'll sit out the shared read this time. Thanks for reminding me tho

Happy new one, Jeff!

Jehoshaphat! You came up with another list and it's composed of (mostly) books I've never heard. Fie on you.

I finished reading The Known World on the last day of June. It won the Pulitzer in 2004. Knowing that, I updated my list of fiction Pulitzers, which begins in 1918 with the winning novel being His Family by Ernest Poole and runs up to 2023, when the prize was shared (first time in this category) by Trust by Hernan Diaz and Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Between 1918 and 2023 we have 106 slots. In ten of those years, no prize was awarded, leaving only 96 winners. My updated list sez I've read 49 winners, have another 23 on the shelf, unread, and yes, 25 additional winners that I've not read and don't own.

I know, I know. Shut up and siddown.

>26 drneutron: Thanks Jim

>27 weird_O: What was the new list you missed? Was the the Weird List? Weird that the resident Weird_O missed the weird list. LOL. 49? You're a little ahead of me. I think I have 9 on the shelf. I need to book-horn in a few.

You can certainly siddown, but you don't have to shut up. LOL. thanks for visiting.

New Book - audio

The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner (read by Stefan Rudnicki)



In a near future, the air pollution is so bad that everyone wears gas masks. The infant mortality rate is soaring, and birth defects, new diseases, and physical ailments of all kinds abound. The water is undrinkable—unless you’re poor and have no choice. Large corporations fighting over profits from gas masks, drinking water, and clean food tower over an ineffectual, corrupt government.

Environmentalist Austin Train is on the run. The “trainites,” a group of violent environmental activists, want him to lead their movement; the government wants him dead; and the media demands amusement. But Train just wants to survive.

More than a novel of science fiction, The Sheep Look Up is a skillful and frightening political and social commentary that takes its place next to other remarkable works of dystopian literature, such as Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and George Orwell’s 1984.

The radio said, " You deserve security, Stronghold-style!" Blocking access to the company parking lot on the left of the street was a bus, hug, German, articulated, electric, discharging passengers. Waiting impatiently for it to move on, Philip Mason pricked up his ears. A commercial for a rival corporation?

#newbook

The new-to-me list is >13 mahsdad:. I checked: I've read five of these books, and I have three on the TBR ledge. Heart of a Dog has been riding The WANT! List™ longer than I can remember.

Read...
 Slade House
 Cheese Monkeys
 Hotel New Hampshire
 The Intuitionist
 The Man in My Basement
TBR...
 God Help the Child
 Hard-Boiled Wonderland...
 Oryx and Crake

Hey Bill, anytime I can contribute to the delinquency of a book nerd, I'm there for it. :)

I've read Slade House and Oryx and Crake, both weird and both were very enjoyable. Especially Oryx.

Fantastic Flower Foto Friday
Nothing better than a long weekend. I am fortunate enough to have today off. So will probably be just goofing off.

For today's image we go back to flowers. Saw this one on a walk around the neighborhood yesterday. Enjoy the weekend.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - The Jungle by Upton Sinclair : 50%
Listening - The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner : 21%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 31%
Graphic Novel - Saga Vol 11 by Brian Vaughan : 0%

Finished Books
56. Saga Vol 10 by Brian Vaughan :

55. Binge: 60 stories to make your brain feel different by Douglas Coupland 🎧 : Read on Audio. A very interesting of somewhat interconnected micro-stories that seem like you're stepping into someone's life to see a little slice of their life and quickly stepping out. Had, at times, a kinda Twilight Zone vibe. Lots of different narrators, including, Chuck Klosterman, Bret Easton Ellis and Michael Stipe. A fun quick read.

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

>32 mahsdad: What a lovely golden/apricot fleur! I like the shape echoes in the phlox head, too.

>31 mahsdad:
I really liked the word play in Oryx and Crake. Atwood is a master at puns, both visual and vocabulary types in her books. She is also very satirical in Oryx and Crake. Even so, I wasn't inspired to read another of the other titles in the Maddaddam trilogy.

>30 weird_O: hotel new hampshire was my first Irving, at a time when I was a counselor at a victims crisis center. Moved me in so many ways and made me laugh. cant decide which I like better, this or the world according to garp both remind me of grad school, my own house and feeling for the first time that I was an adult. didnt last long tho

>32 mahsdad: Love your Pretty Posies Picture, pardner! (do you like the alliteration?)

You have convinced me to do a reread of the Saga books. I felt a little lost with the last ones I read (#8 and #9). So, before I look for volume #10, I'm going to go back to the beginning. Thanks for the prompt!

Karen O.

>32 mahsdad: I like the not quite a bouquet look - and the shadows.

>33 richardderus: Thanks RD, I always appreciate your take on my photos.

>34 benitastrnad: Thanks for the reminder, I got to get to the rest of the Maddaddam books.... evenually

>35 cindydavid4: I don't think I ever read Hotel. I've read Garp and A Prayer for Owen Meany, both I loved.

>36 klobrien2: There's actually Saga Vol 11 as well. It came out late last year. That's what prompted me to reread them. I think it was a worth while endevour to read them all again. Its a great series.

>37 quondame: Thanks Susan, I agree. I'm usually always looking for the bokeh, but in this case, it was a quick "walk-by". I saw and say hold up honey (I was walking with Laura). I need to take this. :)

Little Book Haul

We were at the mall today before we went to lunch and while Laura was in Joanne's, I went to BookOff. Got a couple off the $1 rack

80. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
81. Gates of Eden by Ethan Coen (yes, that Ethan Coen. I love the Coen Bro's movies so I have to give this a try)

#bh

>32 mahsdad: Beautiful!! And nice little book haul. ; )

>1 mahsdad: Happy new thread!

thanks Kim!

thanks Greg!

I am both encouraged and concerned. Takai Waititi is remaking Time Bandits

https://youtu.be/kKJGPsecYeY?si=OZ83vUy6z6BK0EbJ

Taikai and Jeremy Clement - Yes

Lisa Kudrow? Not too sure.

its going to be on Apple.

>43 mahsdad: Time Bandits? A remake? Don't have any original ideas?

Oh well.

Yeah, I know. This one hurts a little. I'm not sure I'm on board with no Little People in this one, at least that's what it seems with the bandits. I thought it works really well in the original one, with the bandits being the same or smaller than the kid.

Fantastic Flower Foto Friday
We made it another week. We out here on the left edge have been avoiding all the baking that you all have been going thru. But knowing that August and September are coming, we finally pulled the trigger on getting A/C installed. Got rid of 60 year old asbestos loaded duct work (luckily all under the house) and a 25 yr old gas heater and replaced with a/c heater combo. So that was the fun activities this week. Hoping for a relaxing weekend.

I'll leave you with a little artsy-fartsy image of some clippers that were left out a little too long



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - The Jungle by Upton Sinclair : 88%
Listening - The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner : 89%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 39%
Graphic Novel - Saga Vol 11 by Brian Vaughan : 36%

Finished Books

Nothing finished this week

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

>46 mahsdad: Wow...those clippers are, um, broken in thoroughly. The surfaces and the colors make them really interesting to look at.

>46 mahsdad: Really a well-structured photo. Yay! for your artistic eye that saw the image.

I’ve got the first four Saga books so I’m all set to reread the series. Fun (and also a little sad/scary, if I remember correctly). But good reads!

Happy (cool) weekend!

Karen O

Happy Friday, Jeff. I just started my reread of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle but I am enjoying the easy narrative. Let the Great World Spin is excellent. Enjoy!

>46 mahsdad: I know you'll enjoy the a/c when you need it! Even without the intense heat others are enduring I'm so happy to have it - and the solar is a great boon as well! No guilt!

Tools, intriguing in themselves, can age rather decoratively.

From the Lords and Ladies Discworld group read, calling rust "death of iron" resounds with that photo.

Thanks for the photo love all!

>48 klobrien2: Hi Karen, good on ya for starting the reread. Its good stuff

>49 msf59: Hi Mark, Let the Great World Spin - great when "your" picks are validated by your friends

>51 elorin: The "Death of Iron". Love it

New Book - audio

Rocannon's World by Ursula K. Le Guin (read by Stefan Rudnicki)



This debut novel from preeminent science-fiction writer Ursula LeGuin introduces her brilliant Hainish series, set in a galaxy seeded by the planet Hain with a variety of humanoid species, including that of Earth. Over the centuries, the Hainish colonies have evolved into physically and culturally unique peoples, joined by a League of All Worlds. Earth-scientist Rocannon has been leading an ethnological survey on a remote world populated by three native races: the cavern-dwelling Gdemiar, the elvish Fiia, and the warrior clan, Liuar. But when the technologically primitive planet is suddenly invaded by a fleet of ships from the stars, rebels against the League of All Worlds, Rocannon is the only survey member left alive. Marooned among alien peoples, he leads the battle to free this newly discovered world and finds that legends grow around him as he fights.

How can you tell the legend from the fact on these worlds that lie so many years away? - planets without names, called by their people simply The World, planets without history, where the past is the matter of myth, and a returning explorer finds his own doings of a few years back have become the gestures of a god.

#newbook

>53 mahsdad: I've adored Rocannon's World since I first read it - almost certainly in the 70s, as I know it wasn't the first LeGuin I read and probably after the entire Earthsea trilogy.

Here's how that a/c adventure will work, Jeff. My older son and his family live in a house built in the 1920s. Window air conditioners were inadequate, so they had whole house a/c retrofitted. The first day the family revelled in the cooler air. After they were in bed for a while, Tara poked Jeremy and whispered, "I'm cold."

>54 quondame: I know I should read more of her stuff. I'm almost ashamed to admit I've never read the Earthsea Trilogy. I read Left Hand of Darkness in college and then again a couple years ago. I only recently realized that it was book 4 of a whole cycle of books. Rocannon's World is book 1.

>55 weird_O: Never too cold when sleeping. We'd both like it as cold as possible and pile on the blankets. :)

New Book

A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin



With the grit of Raymond Carver, the humor of Grace Paley, and a blend of wit and melancholy all her own, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday, uncovering moments of grace in the Laundromats and halfway houses of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Bay Area upper class, among switchboard operators and struggling mothers, hitchhikers and bad Christians.

Readers will revel in this remarkable collection from a master of the form and wonder how they'd ever overlooked her in the first place.

A tall old Indian in faded Levi's and a fine Zuni belt. His hair white and long, knotted with raspberry yarn at his neck. The strange thing was that for a year or so we were always at Angel's at the same time. But not at the same times. I mean some days I'd go at seven on a Monday or maybe at six thirty on a Friday evening and he would already be there.

#newbook

>56 mahsdad: The earliest Hainish books form a loose, rather disjoint, series, The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed can be read as standalones. Fisherman of the Inland Sea and the other story collections are more dependent on some Hainish Cycle background. The story Fisherman of the Inland Sea is my favorite single piece by Le Guin, and The Dispossessed my favorite long novel.

The Dispossessed is another one I haven't read. Bad Jeff

New Book - Audio

Living Dead by George Romero/Daniel Kraus (read by Bruce Davidson/Lori Cardille)



“A horror landmark and a work of gory genius.” (Joe Hill, New York Times best-selling author of The Fireman)

New York Times best-selling author Daniel Kraus completes George A. Romero's brand-new masterpiece of zombie horror, the massive novel left unfinished at Romero's death!

George A. Romero invented the modern zombie with Night of the Living Dead, creating a monster that has become a key part of pop culture. Romero often felt hemmed in by the constraints of film-making. To tell the story of the rise of the zombies and the fall of humanity the way it should be told, Romero turned to fiction. Unfortunately, when he died, the story was incomplete.

Enter Daniel Kraus, co-author, with Guillermo del Toro, of the New York Times best seller The Shape of Water (based on the Academy Award-winning movie) and Trollhunters (which became an Emmy Award-winning series), and author of The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch (an Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Book of the Year). A lifelong Romero fan, Kraus was honored to be asked, by Romero's widow, to complete The Living Dead.

Set in the present day, The Living Dead is an entirely new tale, the story of the zombie plague as George A. Romero wanted to tell it.

It begins with one body.

A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead.

It spreads quickly.

In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come.

Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead.

We think we know how this story ends.

We. Are. Wrong.

Within the early months of the twenty-first century, before the terrorist attacks of 9/11, hospitals, nursing homes and police departments in the United States, except for rural outposts too remedial to be computer-equipped, were mandated to join the Vital Statistics Data Collection network. This cyber-system instantly downloaded all inputted information to a division of the Census Bureau known as the American Model of Lineage and Dimensions, or AMLD, often dubbed A Matter of Life and Death by those who, back then, could afford black humor.

#newbook

I have read a couple of Daniel Kraus's YA books Rotters for one and thought it was a very good book. I thought it was going to be horror but it had so many other things going on that it didn't seem any more horrifying than the latest Libba Bray.

You want to read something horrific, and REALLY weird, read his Whalefall, not your traditional horror, but really offputting.

Living Dead so far is a slow burn, but good. I'm about an hour in out of 27 (656 pages, whoopie, another Big Fat read for the year. :) )

New Book - graphic novel

This Country: Searching for Home in Very Rural America by Navied Mahdavian



Before Navied Mahdavian moved with his wife and dog in November of 2016 from San Francisco to an off-the-grid cabin in rural Idaho, he had never fished, gardened, hiked, hunted, or lived in a snowy place. But there, he could own land, realize his dream of being an artist, and start a family. Over the next three years, Mahdavian leaned into the wonders of the natural Idaho landscape and found himself adjusting to and enjoying a slower pace of living. But beyond the boundaries of his six acres, he was confronted with the realities of America’s political shifts and forced to confront the question: Do I belong here?

Mahdavian’s beautifully written and unflinchingly honest graphic memoir charts his growth and struggles as an artist, citizen, and new father. It celebrates his love of place and honors the relationships he makes in rural America, touching on dynamics like culture, environment, and identity in America, and even articulating difficult moments of racism and brutality he found there as a Middle Eastern American. With wit, compassion, and a sense of humor, Mahdavian’s insider perspective offers a unique portrait of one of the most remote and wild areas of the American West.

From Me - Thanks Mark, I saw this on your page and immediately went looking for it

#newbook

Fantastic Foto Friday
Long week, can't wait for it to be over. I'll just leave you with this. Its what I'm looking forward to, in a couple hours (okay 6)



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin : 25%
Listening - Living Dead by George Romero : 14%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 39%
Graphic Novel - This Country: Searching for Home in Very Rural America by Navied Mahdavian 4%

Finished Books

60. Saga Vol 11 by Brian Vaughan (GN) : That's the last one for now. Just left me wanting more. Don't know if he is doing more, but hopefully he will.

59. Rocannon's World by Ursula K. Le Guin 🎧 : LeGuin's first book. Rocannon is a scientist from Earth doing a survey of the native sentient species. After an invasion, Rocannon has to help save the people of the planet, and in doing so, his legend grows. TBH, this one didn't really work for me, but I like her and I'll continue on reading her stuff. I've always loved Left Hand of Darkness, and have heard great things about The Dispossessed

58. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair : This was a really good read, and I think an important one for everyone. I read it many years ago, and my main memory is of the conditions of working in a meat processing plant, but its so much more. Jurgis, the main character is sort of a Walter Mitty of the early 20th century immigrant experience. He and his family come to America, find a house, get taken advantage of. Work in amazingly poor conditions in the plant, then things start to go wrong, he looses his job, gets arrested, looses his wife and child. He moves from meat packing, to a fertilizer plant, to living as a hobo, is a scab working against labor, then he works for labor, turns to a life of crime, then political corruption, then ultimately Socialism. It was a whirlwind. An excellent read. I had it on the shelf already, but I read it as a memorial read for Anita, it was one of her top 50 reads.

57. Sheep Look Up by John Brunner 🎧 : This I picked up on a whim. I read Stands on Zanzibar many years ago, and thought I'd try this out. This is a future dystopia of corrupt corporations and out of control pollution. It chronicles a year in the demise of the United States. It was a decent read, but again, not one that I really connected with.

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

>64 mahsdad: A view of the world that I really never see. I might go for one or the other, but the combinations not for me.

Oh dear, you didn't find the mix of myth and science as wonderfully apt as I did. I don't think much in SF has appealed to me the way a space journey was paralleled with the Rip Van Winkle of lost time in Faerie.

>65 quondame: I don't usually go for a shot-n-beer, but my East Coast roots were showing on that evening. :)

Rocannon, it might have just been my mood at the time, or the way the audio was hitting me. I do want to continue reading the Cycle, tho

Happy Friday, Jeff. I love the Beer Foto! I also loved A Manual for Cleaning Women. Fantastic collection. I hope you enjoy This Country. Good, solid GN.

Hi Mark, wow, I waited a whole week to acknowledge your visit. Bad Jeff. I am definitely enjoying both Cleaning Women, and This Country. Both of these suggestions came from you.

for Cleaning Women, I'm definitely getting a Larry Brown vibe. Not so much in content, but just in the down-to-earth good writing.

Fantastic Foto Friday
Another week comes to an end, and not soon enough. I'm getting to be a jaded old man. The end zone is still a far way off, but I'm starting to look forward to seeing it. :)



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin : 55%
Listening - Living Dead by George Romero : 59%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 42%
Graphic Novel - This Country: Searching for Home in Very Rural America by Navied Mahdavian 55%

Finished Books

No books finished this week

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

>64 mahsdad: Yum!

I think you're in good company not connecting with The Sheep Look Up and Rocannon's World. The were amazing then because it was new and different subject matter in SF. Brunner in particular was making a serious effort to Be A Writer, so it's aged less well than it might otherwise have done.

Happy weekend-ahead's reads.

>69 mahsdad: Ooh, pretty! Do you know what flower this is? Very nice photo!

Karen O

>69 mahsdad: Great photo!

I feel like I must sneeze though. Those white ones do that to me.

>70 richardderus: Thank you for you insight. You're too right, whether its just the mindset of the reader that's changed from when a book was first written/read (I know that's the case with me, with Stranger in a Strange Land, my opinion of that book has definitely changed as I've grown older), or society has changed. But that's the beauty of books, there's more out there to read and get connected with.

>71 klobrien2: Thanks! according Apple (photo search feature) and Wikipedia, its Hogweed. No clue, I just liked it. :)

>72 quondame: Thanks! Most certainly, I don't offically think I have allergies, but as I get older I think I'm getting them.

Happy Saturday, Jeff. I just finished Unexpected Weather Events. Another solid story collection. All 3 collections you sent were very good. A hat trick, my friend. I hope you are still immersed in Manual.

>74 msf59: Hi Mark, thanks for stopping by. I'm glad those collections worked well for you, I'm glad.

I am definitely still enjoying Manual. Just finished This Country, it was a delightful book.

New Book - audio

Double Star by Robert Heinlein (read by Lloyd James)



Many of Heinlein’s fans consider the novels he wrote in the fifties amongst the author’s strongest work; when he was at the peak of his talents. Double Star is considered by many to be the finest of his titles. Brian Aldiss called it his “most enjoyable novel.”

Whether it is the simplicity of a lively tale, the complexity of the situation, or the depth of characterization, the book has developed a loyal following. It also won Heinlein his first Hugo.

The story revolves around Lawrence Smith—also known as “Lorenzo the Great”—a down-and-out actor wasting the remainder of his life in bars.

When he encounters a space-pilot who offers him a drink, before he knows what is going on, he is on Mars involved in a deep conspiracy with global consequences. He is given a mission where failure would not only mean his own death, it would almost certainly mean an all-out planetary war.

“Heinlein’s novels of the 1940s and 50s shaped every single science fiction writer of my generation and everyone currently writing science fiction. Or making science fiction movies ... and Double Star is an excellent example of all the reasons why.”—Connie Willis

If a man walks in dressed like a hick and acting as if he owned the place, he's a spaceman. It is a logical necessity. His profession makes him feel like boss of all creation; when he sets foot dirtside he is slumming among the peasants.

#newbook

>76 mahsdad: I'm a Heinlein fangirl. How did you like it?

>77 elorin: Hi Robyn. I am historically a big fan of Heinlein too. Tho some of my opinions have changed on some of his books over the years. Case in point, Stranger in a Strange Land, while I loved it and read it several times in my twenties. Now in my fifties it hits differently and I don't think I'll read it again.

That being said I still like his stuff. When I create my "new book" posts, I do them right as I start a book, so I'm only about 30m into Double Star. I had just finished a book and was scanning thru my lists and seeing what Libby had available. This came up.

Its one of his early works and was his first Hugo win.

July Recap

Books Read - 8 (62)

Overall sources
DTE - 24%
Audio - 47%
Digital - 29%

Unique Authors - 48
Lady Authors - 13
Authors of Color - 3

Total Rereads for 2024 - 17

Total BFB for 2024 - 3

2024 Author Birthplaces :

2024 Books of the Month

January : IQ84 by Haruki Murakami
February : Kindred by Octavia Butler
March : Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside by Nick Offerman

April : Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
May : A Wild Swan and Other Tales by Michael Cunningham
June : My Real Children by Jo Walton

July : The Jungle by Upton Sinclair





#botm

>78 mahsdad: my fav is door into summer because I loved the story, and it reminds me of our cats in the summer time always looking for the door into winter!

>81 cindydavid4: I've read that multiple times, if memory serves, I enjoyed it quite a bit

>64 mahsdad: That really looks refreshing!

Happy long weekend!

>83 figsfromthistle: Thanks Figs!

Fantastic Foto Friday
Happy Friday. Last night I did a rare thing. Actually went to the movies. Laura had a meeting, so me and the kid went to see Deadpool and Wolverine. Had a couple of heart-clogging hot dogs, a glass of wine, and enjoyed some pop-culture madness. It was juvenile, violent, gory, inane, and spectacular. It was funny, had more cameos and in-jokes that you could shake a stick at and well worth your time, if you're into that sort of thing. :) Oscar-worthy, it ain't, but what would you expect from a Marvel movie.

Here's a flower for your Friday.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin : 87%
Listening - Double Star by Robert Heinlein : 28%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 47%
Graphic Novel - The Change by Whoopi Goldberg 25% A graphic novel, by Whoopi? Yes, and its one about how a menopausal woman gets superpowers. I saw a clip of her talking about it and I thought I'd give it a try.

Finished Books

62. The Living Dead by George Romero/Daniel Kraus 🎧 : Listened on audio. This is Romero's final zombie opus (and opus it is), he had been writing this in various forms for most of his life and never completed it. The family asked Daniel Kraus (Whalefall) to finish it. Its an epic story of the zombie apocolypse that Romero started, but taken in interesting directions. He focus's initially on how it started, from looking at a medical examiner's office, who see's things kick off, a TV News studio reporting on what's happening, and an aircraft carrier, which is the ultimate closed door horror setting. Then he jumps ahead to see how people are surviving years down the road, where we ultimately find that the bad guys aren't necessarily the zombies. He had a pretty interesting take on the mechanics/inner workings of zombies that I haven't seen done before. He must have taking his writing queues from Stephen King cause this book is a doorstop (27 hours, 650+ pages), it probably could have done with some editing, but, heck, what are you going to do, its George Romero. If you're into horror and zombies, a good read.

61. This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America by Navied Mahdavian (GN) : This was a delightful little graphic novel about Mahdavian (Iranian immigrant and his wife moving from San Francisco to the wilds of Idaho and their experiences trying to homestead, survive nature and the culture shock of the local culture. Very good read.

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

We saw that movie on Sunday. It was fun and funny. Glad you enjoyed it too!

>85 mahsdad: Happy weekend-ahead's reads, Jeff! I'm really glad you liked the first half-billion-earning R-rated film. Pretty fleur, too.

>85 mahsdad: Wild Sunflower?!

>85 mahsdad: That's a striking image.

My daughter came home from watching Deadpool raving about Dogpool. She seemed to have missed the promos that featured her.

>85 mahsdad: You've got some great books on your tracking document! I've even read a few of them. :-D

>86 elorin: Cool, glad you liked it too.

>87 richardderus: Yeah, it was so strange to find a movie that no one had ever heard of. Why didn't they do any advertising for it. Weird. :/ LOL

>88 m.belljackson: Yeah, I think so.

>89 quondame: Thanks Susan. Yeah Dogpool was hilarious. Her name is Peggy and she won Britain's ugliest dog last year.

>90 ocgreg34: Hi Greg, glad to contribute to your wish list. Hopefully you've found a few you haven't read.

Checking in, Jeff, to report another 500+ page doorstop completed. It would be The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Clocked in at 607 pages in the paperback edition I read. That's three for the year. I do have a foothold in Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell (712 pages).

I also have several biggies in the TBR stack that I set up in the wake of the NYT Best of the Century (so far) List. I have 24—unread, of course—of the books on the list, so there's a new stack (for those keeping count). The first off that stack is Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders, not hardly a doorstop.

Hope the rest of your weekend is good (however YOU define that).

Oops. Posted in the incorrect thread. So I'll leave it and add it to your Big Books thread.

Weird_o posted in mahsdads thread, so I’ll do as he did and leave my post here, and go add it to weird_o’s thread. Sorry, Jeff!

>92 weird_O: “The first off that stack is Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders, not hardly a doorstop.”

I’ve actually read Tenth of December, and really liked it. After reading Lincoln in the Bardo, I would vote all-in on anything George Saunders wrote, I think! I’ve got another of his in hand from the library—Pastoralia, which was book #84 on the aforementioned “best of” list.

You could take a picture of your new bookstack!

Great rest of the weekend to you!

Karen O

>92 weird_O: >94 klobrien2: Hi Bill, Karen. No problem posting here. no harm no foul. :)

I'll echo the Saunders praise. He's one of my faves.

New Book

Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley



In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.

In February 1945, American Marines plunged into the surf at Iwo Jima—and into history. Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar fire that left the beaches strewn with comrades, they battled to the island's highest peak. And after climbing through a landscape of hell itself, they raised a flag.

Now the son of one of the flagraisers has written a powerful account of six very different young men who came together in a moment that will live forever.

To his family, John Bradley never spoke of the photograph or the war. But after his death at age seventy, his family discovered closed boxes of letters and photos. In Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley draws on those documents to retrace the lives of his father and the men of Easy Company. Following these men's paths to Iwo Jima, James Bradley has written a classic story of the heroic battle for the Pacific's most crucial island—an island riddled with Japanese tunnels and 22,000 fanatic defenders who would fight to the last man.

But perhaps the most interesting part of the story is what happened after the victory. The men in the photo—three were killed during the battle—were proclaimed heroes and flown home, to become reluctant symbols. For two of them, the adulation was shattering. Only James Bradley's father truly survived, displaying no copy of the famous photograph in his home, telling his son only: “The real heroes of Iwo Jima were the guys who didn't come back. ”

Few books ever have captured the complexity and furor of war and its aftermath as well as Flags of Our Fathers. A penetrating, epic look at a generation at war, this is history told with keen insight, enormous honesty, and the passion of a son paying homage to his father. It is the story of the difference between truth and myth, the meaning of being a hero, and the essence of the human experience of war.

In the spring of 1998, is boys called to me from half a century ago on a distant mountain and I went there. For a few days I set aside my comfortable life, my business concerns, my life in Rye, New York, and made a pilgrimage to the other side of the world, to a primitive flyspeck island in the Pacific. There, waiting for me, was the mountain the boys had climbed in the midst of a terrible battle half a century earlier. One of them was my father. The mountain was called Suribachi; the island, Iwo Jima.

#newbook

New Book - audio

Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism - Stephen Breyer (read by Breyer)



A provocative, brilliant analysis by recently retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer that deconstructs the textualist philosophy of the current Supreme Court’s supermajority and makes the case for a better way to interpret the Constitution.

“You will not read a more important legal work this election year.” —Bob Woodward, Washington Post reporter and author of fifteen #1 New York Times bestselling books
“A dissent for the ages.” —The Washington Post
“Breyer’s candor about the state of the court is refreshing and much needed.” —The Boston Globe

The relatively new judicial philosophy of textualism dominates the Supreme Court. Textualists claim that the right way to interpret the Constitution and statutes is to read the text carefully and examine the language as it was understood at the time the documents were written.

This, however, is not Justice Breyer’s philosophy nor has it been the traditional way to interpret the Constitution since the time of Chief Justice John Marshall. Justice Breyer recalls Marshall’s exhortation that the Constitution must be a workable set of principles to be interpreted by subsequent generations.

Most important in interpreting law, says Breyer, is to understand the purposes of statutes as well as the consequences of deciding a case one way or another. He illustrates these principles by examining some of the most important cases in the nation’s history, among them the Dobbs and Bruen decisions from 2022 that he argues were wrongly decided and have led to harmful results.

Judges have traditionally used a variety of tools to help them determine the proper interpretation of the language of statues and of the Constitution. These have included text, history, precedent, tradition, purposes, values and consequences relevant to those purposes. These are not all the interpretive tools a judge might use, and I discuss other related tools below.
For now, I repeat the worlds of Chief Justice Marshall, that "where the mind labours to discover the design of the legislature, it seizes every thing from which aid can be derived"

#newbook

>97 mahsdad: Ooh, thanks for that review, Jeff. I'll be adding it to my TBR pile post haste. And I'll give the review a thumb if you add it to the book page

>98 laytonwoman3rd: That isn't a review Linda. Its just my post about a new book I'm starting. The "review" blurb comes from Amazon, and the quote is the first line in the book.

I just started it yesterday.

I added it to my TBR a while ago, after Jim read it. Its been on my Libby hold cycle about 6 months. Its a popular book at my library.

>99 mahsdad: Ah, well...in any case, you brought it to my attention and it's now on my hold list at the library. I'm first in the queue, and the system has 21 physical copies of the book, so I'll probably get a pick-up notice tomorrow or the next day.

My library has, I think 14 copies of the audiobook and there are 56 people waiting on it.

New Book

My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris



In this debut, which takes the form of a fictional graphic diary, a 10-year-old girl tries to solve a murder.

Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazines iconography. Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen’s investigation takes us back to Anka’s life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge. Full-color illustrations throughout.

#newbook

>103 mahsdad: I bought a copy of Monsters to heal a bb wound sustained at Joe's. The bookstore had both books one and two, but I didn't want to invest 80 bucks, so I bought only book one (which is pictured in your post). I read somewhere that book two suggests a book three has to be in the works.

Anyway, I'll be finished with it today. Oh my! It's good stuff.

>104 weird_O: Hi Bill, good to hear. I think I got the BB from either Joe or Mark as well. I read all my GNs on Hoopla (or at least most of them, I have a couple on the shelf), and sometimes I'm at the whim of what the Hoopla catalog has.

Haven't got too far along in it, but its a very interesting style. I like it.

Fantastic Foto Friday
Happy Friday. Actually going to venture out into public this weekend. Going to see Foo Fighters on Sunday (opening act is the Pretenders). So excited. (Except for the logistical nightmare of going and parking at a public venue, in my old age, I don't particularly care to do that anymore. LOL)

Here's another sunflower for you. A house on my lunch time walk is always growing them.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley : 41%. Reading for the Warroom Challenge - WWII
Listening - Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism by Stephen Breyer : 50%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 47%
Graphic Novel - My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris : 9%

Finished Books

65. The Change by Whoopi Goldberg (GN) : A pretty good story written by Whoopi Goldberg about a woman who's menopause symptoms gives her superpowers. Interesting ideas, however the drawing style is a little jarring to me, maybe too "perfect". I guess after reading a lot of artsy books like Saga or True Country, I'm a little jaded. (ETA - perfect isn't the right word, don't know what is, just seems off, too stiff)

For example, here's a screen shot...

64. Double Star by Robert Heinlein 🎧 : Listened on audio. This is one of Heinlein's early novels and it won the Hugo and I'm not sure why. A powerful politician is kidnapped, so his people hire an actor to impersonate him, because he is part of a push to get the Martian world and its people added to the consolidated government of the solar system. I guess that's the scifi aspect, but otherwise its just a political intrigue story. It was okay. It does tick one off my Hugo bucket list.

63. A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin : This was a really excellent collection of stories. Most of these are interconnected stories that I'm never sure are just memoirs of Berlin's life or are fictional where she just took aspects of her life; where she lived, family issues, her medical and addiction conditions and just extrapolated. Either way they were really good. Gave me the same sort of vibes as when I read Larry Brown's Tiny Love

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

>106 mahsdad: Aptly named blossom, Jeff, thanks for the mood-boost.

#63 was a very good read indeed. I bought it for myself so I didn't review it.

Have a lovely weekend-ahead's reads.

>106 mahsdad: The sunflower under sun and making shade is good.

Happy Saturday, Jeff. I love your Flowery Fotos! Glad you enjoyed This Country and landed a copy of My Favorite Thing is Monsters. You are in for a treat.

>107 richardderus: Hi RD, you are most welcome for the mood boost.

>108 quondame: Thanks Susan!

>109 msf59: Hi Mark, Thanks! Monsters is such an interesting read so far. I love her style

And now for something that you've come to know and LOVE (or HATE) about my thread, yet another book list. This time its Esquire's 75 Best Sci-Fi books of all time. And here's from the article on how they picked...

Choosing the 75 best science fiction books of all time wasn’t easy, so to get the job done, we had to establish some guardrails. Though we assessed single installments as representatives of their series, we limited the list to one book per author. We also emphasized books that brought something new and innovative to the genre—to borrow a great sci-fi turn of phrase, books that “boldly go where no one has gone before.”

I've read 36 of these. 2 TBRs, and the rest I think will be self-inflicted BBs

75 - The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey
74 - The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal READ
73 - Redshirts, by John Scalzi READ
72 - Beautyland, by Marie-Helene Bertino
71 - The Ten Percent Thief, by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
70 - Midnight Robber, by Nalo Hopkinson
69 - Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson READ
68 - Star Maker, by Olaf Stapledon
67 - Contact, by Carl Sagan READ
66 - Under the Skin, by Michel Faber
65 - Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak READ
64 - Sea of Rust, by C. Robert Cargill
63 - What Mad Universe, by Fredric Brown
62 - The Book of Phoenix, by Nnedi Okorafor
61 - Semiosis, by Sue Burke
60 - Excession, by Iain M. Banks
59 - The Claw of the Conciliator, by Gene Wolfe
58 - Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny
57 - This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone READ
56 - The Resisters, by Gish Jen
55 - Rosewater, by Tade Thompson READ
54 - Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
53 - Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem READ
52 - A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess READ
51 - The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein READ
50 - A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle READ
49 - The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
48 - The Body Scout, by Lincoln Michel
47 - An Unkindness of Ghosts, by Rivers Solomon
46 - The Mountain in the Sea, by Ray Nayler
45 - Neuromancer, by William Gibson READ
44 - The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester READ
43 - The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
42 - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams READ
41 - A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller Jr. READ
40 - Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir READ
39 - Zone One, by Colson Whitehead TBR
38 - The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers READ
37 - Engine Summer, by John Crowley
36 - The Children of Men, by P.D. James READ
35 - Radiance, by Catherynne M. Valente
34 - The City & The City, by China Miéville
33 - A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine
32 - Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie DNF
31 - The Stand, by Stephen King READ
30 - In Ascension, by Martin MacInnes
29 - Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany
28 - The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman READ
27 - 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami READ
26 - Future Home of the Living God, by Louise Erdrich
25 - Ammonite, by Nicola Griffith
24 - Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer READ
23 - Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood READ
22 - Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
21 - Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson
20 - Shikasta, by Doris Lessing
19 - The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut
18 - Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky READ
17 - Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke READ
16 - The Complete Robot, by Isaac Asimov READ
15 - How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu READ
14 - Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley READ
13 - The Employees, by Olga Ravn
12 - 1984, by George Orwell READ
11 - The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu TBR
10 - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick READ
9 - Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel READ
8 - Exhalation, by Ted Chiang READ
7 - Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro
6 - The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin READ
5 - Kindred, by Octavia Butler READ
4 - The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin
3 - The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury READ
2 - Dune, by Frank Herbert READ
1 - Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

>111 mahsdad: Ooh, I’m copying that! Thanks!

Karen O

p.s. Jeff, I have read 24 of these. Lots of ideas for further reading here.

Hey, I'm not into SciFi but I've read 11 of those. And you HAVEN'T READ FRANKENSTEIN??? Get going, dude. It's great.

>111 mahsdad: One of the better lists of SF books I've seen. Unlike most it is not F&SF, which gave it a bit more entries for that subgenre.

I've read 43, a set with a large intersection of your 36. Some I had to check, because I had no memory of reading them. I may have missed 1 or 2 published before 2007, but probably not.

Ooooooo! A list. A list, I love 'em too, Jeff. This one seems to be a longer version of one I copied from Esquire's website some time ago (why don't I date these things? ?? ?!) That one has 50 sci/fi titles, and while I didn't studiously compare the two, it looks like the list-o-masters just added 25 novels to the 50.

>112 klobrien2: Steal away. I stole it from Esquire. I copied it from their website and did some text editing to get rid of all the images and links, to pare it down to just the list

>113 ffortsa: I know Judy, its on the stack right next to my desk. I moved it to the top. I'll read it next. ;)

>114 quondame: Yeah, I'm only occassionally reading Fantasy, and a lot of lists combine both. Was glad to see this popup

>115 weird_O: You aren't wrong about the Esquire 50 list. They said in the article that about 2 years ago they published their 50 list, they wanted to update it and expand it.

New Book - audio

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle (read by the author)



Welcome to Trace Italian, a game of strategy and survival! You may now make your first move.

Isolated by a disfiguring injury since the age of seventeen, Sean Phillips crafts imaginary worlds for strangers to play in. From his small apartment in southern California, he orchestrates fantastic adventures where possibilities, both dark and bright, open in the boundaries between the real and the imagined. As the creator of Trace Italian—a text-based, role-playing game played through the mail—Sean guides players from around the world through his intricately imagined terrain, which they navigate and explore, turn by turn, seeking sanctuary in a ravaged, savage future America.

Lance and Carrie are high school students from Florida, explorers of the Trace. But when they take their play into the real world, disaster strikes, and Sean is called to account for it. In the process, he is pulled back through time, tunneling toward the moment of his own self-inflicted departure from the world in which most people live.

Brilliantly constructed, Wolf in White Van unfolds in reverse until we arrive at both the beginning and the climax: the event that has shaped so much of Sean's life.

My father used to carry me down the hall to my room after I came home from the hospital. By then I could walk if I had to, but the risk of falling was too great, so he carried me like a child. Its a cluster memory now: it consists of every time it happened and is recalled in a continuous loop.

#newbook

I'm going to start tracking another useless, but interesting (I think) data point. In my B.A.S.S, I'm going to track whether the book is 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Person perspective, or some combination thereto.

It probably won't show my anything interesting other than a majority 3rd, then 1st and only the occasional 2nd, but why not? :)

Fantastic Foto Friday
Happy Friday. To recap from last week, Foo Fighters was incredible! Played virtually non-stop for 3 hours. Logistically it wasn't too bad getting in and out. We left pretty early and grabbed the first parking lot we came to at the venue (bird in the hand and all...). Was way more expensive than I expected, but oh well. When we left, we were out of the lot in about 10 minutes. It probably tops my list of best concert experiences.

Here's a shot of the stage...



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley : 80%
Listening - Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle : 50%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 52%
Graphic Novel - My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris : 29%

Finished Books

66. Reading the Constitution by Stephen Breyer 🎧 : Written and read by Breyer. This is his kinda memoir/analysis of how the Court works in interpreting the Constitution to make its decisions. The subtitle is Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism. His basic take is that the Court seems to be shifting to make its decisions solely on exact reading of the text, and/or how someone at the time an amendment was written would interpret something. And not by any one of several other methods that they have used on the past, that might have helped to provide better (or at least different decisions) This can lead to trouble for us. Think Roe v Wade, the Chevron decision and loads of other things the current Court is doing. This is an excellent read, one that I'm sure I'm not really intelligent enough to completely understand, but one I'm glad I read.

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

>119 mahsdad: Just got the Breyer out of the library. I expect I'll read it in bits, but I'm glad to hear you found it worthwhile.

>120 laytonwoman3rd: Definitely. It might be easier to read in paper, as he's referring to a lot of cases and its hard to go back and review on audio.

>119 mahsdad: Great that the concert was more than worth the effort/expense. Memories are lasting gold.

Happy Saturday, Jeff. Looks like you have some great reading going. I listened to Wolf in White Van several years ago and was quite intrigued by the style. Hooray for Cleaning Women! One of my very favorite story collections. Sadly, she passed away far too early.

>122 quondame: Thanks Susan, they certainly are.

>123 msf59: Thanks Mark. Just finished White Van. It was a very weird story and we all know I like the weird. More-ish in my recap next Friday, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I agree with Berlin's death. I had heard about this book from the fine folks around here, and didn't know about her life until I started reading it. Very good!

New Book - audio

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle (read by the author)



Life in a small town takes a dark turn when mysterious footage begins appearing on VHS cassettes at the local Video Hut. So begins Universal Harvester, the haunting and masterfully unsettling new novel from John Darnielle, author of the New York Times Bestseller and National Book Award Nominee Wolf in White Van

Jeremy works at the Video Hut in Nevada, Iowa. It’s a small town in the center of the state―the first a in Nevada pronounced ay. This is the late 1990s, and even if the Hollywood Video in Ames poses an existential threat to Video Hut, there are still regular customers, a rush in the late afternoon. It’s good enough for Jeremy: it’s a job, quiet and predictable, and it gets him out of the house, where he lives with his dad and where they both try to avoid missing Mom, who died six years ago in a car wreck.

But when a local schoolteacher comes in to return her copy of Targets―an old movie, starring Boris Karloff, one Jeremy himself had ordered for the store―she has an odd complaint: “There’s something on it,” she says, but doesn’t elaborate. Two days later, a different customer returns a different tape, a new release, and says it’s not defective, exactly, but altered: “There’s another movie on this tape.”

Jeremy doesn’t want to be curious, but he brings the movies home to take a look. And, indeed, in the middle of each movie, the screen blinks dark for a moment and the movie is replaced by a few minutes of jagged, poorly lit home video. The scenes are odd and sometimes violent, dark, and deeply disquieting. There are no identifiable faces, no dialogue or explanation―the first video has just the faint sound of someone breathing― but there are some recognizable landmarks. These have been shot just outside of town.

In Universal Harvester, the once placid Iowa fields and farmhouses now sinister and imbued with loss and instability and profound foreboding. The novel will take Jeremy and those around him deeper into this landscape than they have ever expected to go. They will become part of a story that unfolds years into the past and years into the future, part of an impossible search for something someone once lost that they would do anything to regain.

People usually didn't say anything when they returned their tapes to the Video Hut: in a single and somewhat graceful movement, they'd approach the counter, slide the tapes toward whoever was stationed behind the register, and wheel back toward the door. Sometimes they'd give a wordless nod or raise their eyebrows a little to make sure they'd been seen.

#newbook

Birthday Book Haul

Laura had a craft show and while I was waiting to go help her tear down her booth, I treated myself to a bit of a birthday book buying binge, a couple days early, at my favorite local indie - Sunken City Books

82. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
83. Drown by Junot Diaz - his first book, a collection of stories.
84. Evening in Paradise by Lucia Berlin - I have only ever seen A Manual for Cleaning Women and just finished it. Today I found, basically, the sequel. A new (2018) collection of stories from Berlin. Looking forward to this
85. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
86. A Tomb for Boris Davidovich by Danilo Kis - never heard of this book or Kis, but was drawn to it. The blurb said "...one of the best things I've ever seen on the whole experience of communism in Eastern Europe". Just now, as I'm typing this, I see that its a collection of short stories.

3 short story collections... if it isn't already, collections are, I think, becoming my favorite type of book.

Love the name of that book store and happy birthday

Yeah, Sunken City is an area of San Pedro along the cliffs where a landslide started in 1929 taking out a couple streets and a bunch of houses. There's still parts of the roads and foundations that the hooligans go hang out in. Its a part of the local culture and the guy who started the book store gravitated to it as a way to draw attention to the store. A success in my eyes.

Thanks for the early B-day wishes

New Book

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley



Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley about the young student of science Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque but sentient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley's name appears on the second edition, published in France in 1823.Shelley had travelled through Europe in 1814, journeying along the river Rhine in Germany with a stop in Gernsheim which is just 17 km (10 mi) away from Frankenstein Castle, where two centuries before an alchemist was engaged in experiments. Later, she travelled in the region of Geneva (Switzerland)—where much of the story takes place—and the topics of galvanism and other similar occult ideas were themes of conversation among her companions, particularly her lover and future husband, Percy Shelley. Mary, Percy, Lord Byron, and John Polidori decided to have a competition to see who could write the best horror story. After thinking for days, Shelley dreamt about a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he had made; her dream later evolved into the story within the novel.

Letter I : To Mrs. Saville, England. You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking.

#newbook

>126 mahsdad: Happy Haul-day! Danilo Kiš writes gorgeous essays. I hope his fiction is, too.

>85 mahsdad: Re: Deadpool and Woolverine.... It was juvenile, violent, gory, inane, and spectacular.
I guess we all need to go off-piste with our movie tastes from time to time? haha.

Happy birthday, Jeff.

Happy Birthday!

I hope there are lots of interesting books to enhance your newest year!

Happy Birthday, Jeff. 🍻🍻

Happy Birthday to you! Thanks for posting the beautiful opening image!!!!

And, it must have taken quite a lot of time to compile all your lists. I'll be back tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be adding quite a few books.

I hope your day was special!

Oh, happy birthday! Have a wonderful day!

>130 richardderus: Thanks RD. Some day, I'll pick up a book that you've never heard of. But NOT today. :)

>131 LovingLit: There's nothing wrong with watching fluff every now and again, right? ;)

>132 PaulCranswick: >133 quondame: >134 msf59: >135 Whisper1: >136 ffortsa: Thank you all so much, I really appreciate it.

New Book - audio

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (read by John Lee) : This is a reread



Welcome to Chromatacia, where the Colortocracy rules society through a social hierarchy based on one’s limited color perception. In this world, you are what you can see.

Eddie Russet wants to move up. When he and his father relocate to the backwater village of East Carmine, his carefully cultivated plans to leverage his better-than-average red perception and marry into a powerful family are quickly upended. Eddie must content with lethal swans, sneaky Yellows, inviolable rules, an enforced marriage to the hideous Violet deMauve, and a risky friendship with an intriguing Grey named Jane who shows Eddie that the apparent peace of his world is as much an illusion as color itself.

Will Eddie be able to tread the fine line between total conformity—accepting the path, partner, and career delineated by his hue—and his instinctive curiosity that is bound to get him into trouble?

It began with my father not wanting to see the Last Rabbit and ended up with my being eaten by a carnivorous plant. It wasn't really what I'd planned for myself - I'd hope to marry into the Oxbloods and join their dynastic string empire. But that was four days ago, before I met Jane, retrieved the Caravaggio and explored High Saffron.

#newbook

>138 mahsdad: Shades of Grey sounds like a romp!

If memory serves, it is. Fforde is an automatic read for me, I love all his stuff.

I'm rereading it because he finally wrote a sequel called Red Side Story that came out this year that I want to read.

As an aside, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I can't understand how LT's touchstone algorithm works. You'd think that the first option would be any exact matches with what you put as the title. But Red Side Story came up as Honestly, Red Riding Hood Was Rotten!: The Story of Little Red Riding Hood as Told by the Wolf (The Other Side of the Story) by Trisha Speed Shaskan

>111 mahsdad: I've only managed 20 of them. If you find a copy, "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell is actually quite good.

Fantastic Foto Friday
Happy Friday, not too much to report today, glad the week is coming to an end.

Don't really have any new images to share, so I was going thru the archive looking for something interesting, and stumbled across this. I took this almost 14 years to the day, and if you search for a sentence on this page (which I did), you'll find that its page 151 of Shades of Grey, which I am currently rereading right now. 🤯



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley : 41%
Listening - Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde : 3%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 60%
Graphic Novel - My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris : 39%

Finished Books

69. Universal Harvester by John Darnielle 🎧 : Read on audio. I didn't like this one as much as Wolf. Maybe it was just the audio, I kinda lost track of the thread as the narrative jumped back and forth between times and story lines. Jeremy works in a video store and someone brings in a movie that they say has a different movie inside. He finds it and other movies have "home" movies recorded over the original. Ones that have disturbing images. He can't identify people, but can identify places and they are from the area. We then go back to see what's happening in the town back in the day when the recordings were made and learn about a cult that is growing in the town. Its a weird story. Tow quote another reviewer: Not a horror novel but an attempt at a study of loss and grief with the superficial trappings of a horror novel. Which is fine, but it never wholly delivers on either" (@Carnal.butterfly). Well said.

68. Flag of Our Fathers by James Bradley : Read for the War Room reading group. I had mixed feelings about this book. It tells the tale of the Battle of Iwo Jima, from the perspective of the author's father, who was a Navy Corpsman. He was one of the men in the famous flag raising picture. Bradley tells the story of his father and the other flag raisers, about their pre-war lives, training, the war and the aftermath. The 3 survivors, after the war and pressed upon the help raise money in a War bond drive and are used as objects of publicity. First, I came to an understanding that I didn't really realize before... All the training that these guys typically did before they actually went to war. The marines that went to Iwo, trained for years, before going to the island for a battle that lasted 30+ days. I just didn't comprehend the time scales before. My mixed feelings on the whole thing was, that to take nothing away from the men who fought and died during that time, the premise of the book turns out to be a little flawed. After the book was published, it was determined that most of the men listed as the flag raisers, including Bradley's Dad, were mis-identified. It wasn't them. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, its ultimately a very worthwhile book, but the new revelations put things a little off for me. Oh well, that's history for you.

67. Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle 🎧 : Read on audio. This was a weird story. It was an interesting construction where you know some things happened before but you're not sure what. Sean is a game designer who's been isolated his whole life by a disfiguring injury that we don't know what it is, or how. He created a role playing game that is done via mail, you mail him your moves and he mails you back with what happened. When two of his players take their game play into the real world, he is blamed for the tragedy and he has to revisit his life leading up to his own tragedy. Its kind of a slow burn story that was pretty good. A review I just read said; "Wolf in White Van unfolds in reverse until we arrive at both the beginning and the climax: the event that has shaped so much of Sean's Life. A short read, that I think is worth the time.

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

>140 mahsdad: I feel your pain; but that red riding hood story is a hoot and a half (think this is also the author of "the real story of the three little pigs" by the wolf)

>140 mahsdad: I think the touchstone criteria is a hash search, with the most popular prioritized.

>143 cindydavid4: That's cool, I'll have to actually add it to the WL. ETA - its a picture book, not that I'm above reading picture books, but that probably won't be a high priority. Don't have a call to read too many picture books. The kid's 23 and there aren't going to be any grandkids in the near, or probably far future. Oh well. LOL.

>144 quondame: You're probably right, some sort of soundex on the title, something to be as efficient as possible. its just funny when its an obvious fail. :)

>142 mahsdad: D'oh, how the heck did I not proofread my posts. I totally posted the wrong image. My paste buffer still had the cover of the Shades book, instead of the image I wanted, which is there now.

Just catching up!

I have been enjoying your pictures of sunflowers. Quite cheerful

Happy bleated birthday. Hope it was special.

>145 mahsdad: yeah i knew it was a kids book,, Just because Im a retired teacher doesnt mean I cant enjoy them from time to time:) and my copy will probably end up going to a teacher friend of mine. I was just curious if any one here knew about it

>147 cindydavid4: I’m a real fan of illustrated books, so I jumped on Honestly, Red Riding Hood Was Rotten right away. Thanks!

>142 mahsdad: And Wolf in White Van sounds great too—I’ve got it requested at my library. Thanks, Jeff!

And I love your photo!

Karen O

I would follow your thread just for the photos, but you read such interesting books, too. That photo is amazing, I love it. I'm also super interested in Shades of Grey.

>146 figsfromthistle: Thanks Figs!

>147 cindydavid4: Didn't mean to imply that you couldn't enjoy kids books, I'm happy that you still do and have access to them.

>148 klobrien2: Hi Karen, thanks for the photo love. I think Wolf is worth the time, maybe not so much the other Darnielle.

>149 elorin: Hi Robyn, you are too kind, for the photo love, and the comment on my book choices. I'll say that I am only a product of my environment, a good majority of the interesting books, I read, I'd say I was pointed to by this fine group.

A couple bookish shows, showed up on Netflix, in case you're interested.

Preacher, for those of you who love a good graphic novel, was made into a series a while ago on A&E (I think). Always wanted to watch it, never got the chance. Just started it.

A Discovery of Witches just started streaming too. I never read the books, but Laura and I watched the first one the other night and I wasn't sure at first, but it definitely hooked me by the end. We'll add it to the rotation.

And from CBS Sunday Morning, which I never watch on Sunday morning, just on YT occassionally. I found this story of Hobart NY. A small town (400 people) in the Catskills that has 7 book stores. Sounds like a roadtrip is in order. :)

https://youtu.be/N5UvrwxO7WE?si=po8W2uaax-E0WUr6

>150 mahsdad: Oh no I was teasing! being a bit sarcastic....

>151 mahsdad:
That does sound like a place to visit. Maybe when I finally get to the FDR house and library.

>152 cindydavid4: 😎

>153 benitastrnad: That would be a cool place to visit. Need to bucket list Presidential libraries. Just been to Nixon and Reagan, many years ago

-----------------------

More bookish videos. This time Stephen King, he was recently interviewed by PBS NewsHour on the publication of his new collection; You Like it Darker

https://youtu.be/CQF37Z4CEWg?si=LXvQRiCLaqTjwZf5

And a short clip of his current favorite reads and TV shows : https://youtu.be/FXOmc0xARCU?si=CIkzXLPC7X1HyJ-r

>154 mahsdad:
I have a bucket list to visit the Presidential Libraries - but only those that are National Archive libraries. So far I have visited
Eisenhower, Truman, (because those are in Kansas and MO). I have also visited the Nixon Library and thought it was interesting with his childhood home right on the grounds. I have been to the Kennedy library as well. I hope to visit the Hoover library in the next year, and want to get to the FDR library soon. I had plans to go to the Johnson Library over Spring Break 2020 and we all know what happened then.

I have visited some of the other non National Archive centers as well. The Lincoln Library in Springfield, IL. The Carter Center in Atlanta. The Clinton Library in Little Rock, AR. I want to go to the T Roosevelt Library when it opens because I want to see the building. It is supposed to be an architectural goody. I liked the design of the Kennedy and the Clinton buildings and hope that the TR one is on par with that. Of course, it will be spectacular because of its location next to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Checked my catalog and confirmed that I do have a copy of Shades of Grey. It'll be a palate-cleanser read. Ehh, as soon as I locate it. Heh heh.

>155 benitastrnad: Very cool. I didn't realize there was a difference. Very interesting.

>156 weird_O: Ha! That's half the battle for us obsessives. Sure we catalog everything here. But unless we actually have the dewey decimal system setup in our house. Good look finding it. :)

>157 mahsdad:
yes. We have Tricky Dicky to thank for that. Remember the court case about the tapes? It was decided at that time that the official papers belong to the United States not to the person. It's called the Presidential Records Act of 1978. Prior to that they were considered to be personal property. Now the papers are turned over to the National Archives and become the property of the government. The papers are housed in the National Archives. They can be moved to a designated repository but the repository and any accompanying materials become the property of the US government. There are now 15 official Presidential Libraries. George W. Bush is the last one. So far. Hoover is the first one. The Abraham Lincoln Library in Springfield is NOT a US government library because Lincoln's official and personal papers were given to the US government for deposit at the Library of Congress upon the death of his son Robert Todd Lincoln, with the instructions that they not be opened for 21 years after Robert Todd Lincoln's death. Teddy Roosevelt's papers were purchased from the family from 1917 to 2002. They are in the Library of Congress. So even though I want to see the library in North Dakota (mostly because of its outstanding design and setting) I know it won't be the official papers.

>158 benitastrnad: That makes perfect sense, thanks for sharing.

New Book

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig



Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

Twenty-seven hours before she decided to die, Nora Seed sat on her dilapidated sofa scrolling through other people's happy lives, waiting for something to happen. And then, out of nowhere, something actually did.

#newbook

Fantastic Foto Friday
Yippee, its a 3-day weekend for US'ers. Labor Day for me, means I'm going to be running. Every year there is a 5 mile run called Conquer the Bridge in San Pedro. I haven't been running much at all this year, but I can't break tradition, so we'll see how slow I am. :)

This is is said bridge; the Vincent Thomas. Its the 4th longest suspension bridge in CA, 76th in the world. The run is up and over it and then back again.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig : 14%
Listening - Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde : 55%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 60%
Graphic Novel - My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris : 69%

Finished Books

70. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley : How had I never read this before? Said to be the first science fiction novel (though most give it to HG Wells or Jules Verne) and tops on many lists, including the NPR Horror list and Esquire Sci-Fi list, I'm tracking in my threads. Such a classic of gothic literature, Shelley wrote it when she was 18. Came up with the idea when she, Percy Shelley (future husband), John Polidori and Lord Byron had a competition to see who could write the best horror story. A story that probably everyone knows, but if you haven't read this, you won't know that the monster isn't in the book that much and when he is, he is, while violent and malevolent, articulate and passionate. Not the mindless creature we get in the movies. Shelley doesn't even spend that much time on the creation of the monster itself. I think she landed on the idea that less is more and in horror what is implied and what you can imagine in your own mind is more horrific. I don't know if she came up with it, but she uses it to good effect in my mind. I also like the narrative constructions she used. The story is told from several points of view; a ship's captain that rescued Frankenstein in the frozen north, in his letters to his sister, Frankenstein telling his story to the captain, and the Creature telling his story to Frankenstein. The tropes that the movie industry took from this, are obvious, but I think there was more opportunity to explore things with a sentient creature rather than a mindless killing machine. A very good read.

Oh! no mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch.

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

ETA - forgot to add the quote. Did she actually come up with the idea for the Mummy too?

>161 mahsdad:
I agree with your review of the book. I was shocked when I first read it and it has been one of my favorite books of all time. I don't even think of it as horror. I think of it as a story about the meaning of life. What is life? and who deserves to get it? Or end it?

"...What is life?..." Well said.

>161 mahsdad: Best of running mojo heading south-by-southwestward.

Pretty bridge! Enjoy the extra weekending time.

no I think its a story of be careful what you wish for, and when you get it, dont treat it badly.

>164 richardderus: Thanks RD!

>164 richardderus: I like that too!

August Recap

Books Read - 8 (70)

Overall sources
DTE - 25%
Audio - 47%
Digital - 28%

Unique Authors - 55
Lady Authors - 16
Authors of Color - 4

Total Rereads for 2024 - 17

Total BFB for 2024 - 4

2024 Reading Scatterplot :

2024 Books of the Month

January : IQ84 by Haruki Murakami
February : Kindred by Octavia Butler
March : Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside by Nick Offerman

April : Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
May : A Wild Swan and Other Tales by Michael Cunningham
June : My Real Children by Jo Walton

July : The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
August : A Manual for Cleaning Women





#botm

New Book - graphic novel

My Favorite Thing is Monsters Book 2 by Emil Ferris



Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late ’60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two is the eagerly awaited conclusion to one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of the past decade. Presented as the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes as she tries to solve the murder of her beloved and enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold.
In Book Two, dark mysteries past and present continue to abound in the tumultuous and violent Chicago summer of 1968. Young Karen attends a protest in Grant Park and finds herself swept up in a police stomping. Privately, she continues to investigate Anka’s recent death and discovers one last cassette tape that sheds light upon Anka's heroic activities in Nazi Germany. She wrestles with her own sexual identity, the death of her mother, and the secrets she suspects her brother Deez of hiding. Ferris’s exhilarating cast of characters experience revelations and epiphanies that both resolve and deepen the mysteries visited upon them earlier. Visually, the story is told in Ferris's inimitable style that breathtakingly and seamlessly combines panel-to-panel storytelling and cartoon montages filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster mag iconography.

#newbook

Bridge Conquered.



5.3 miles in 1:22:18 Fastest pace since 2019. I'll take it, cause I did absolutely squat for training this year. LOL

>170 mahsdad: Wonderful result, Jeff! Congratulations!

>170 mahsdad: Congratulations indeed.

>170 mahsdad: Then you were well rested for the challenge ;-)
Congratulations!

Thanks All!

Too funny Thomas! Exactly.

New Book - audio

A Brotherhood of Spies by Monte Reel (read by Paul Michael)



A thrilling dramatic narrative of the top-secret Cold War-era spy plane operation that transformed the CIA and brought the U.S. and the Soviet Union to the brink of disaster

On May 1, 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union just weeks before a peace summit between the two nations. The CIA concocted a cover story for President Eisenhower to deliver, assuring him that no one could have survived a fall from that altitude. And even if pilot Francis Gary Powers had survived, he had been supplied with a poison pin with which to commit suicide.
But against all odds, Powers emerged from the wreckage and was seized by the KGB. He confessed to espionage charges, revealing to the world that Eisenhower had just lied to the American people--and to the Soviet Premier. Infuriated, Nikita Khrushchev slammed the door on a rare opening in Cold War relations.
In A Brotherhood of Spies, award-winning journalist Monte Reel reveals how the U-2 spy program, principally devised by four men working in secret, upended the Cold War and carved a new mission for the CIA. This secret fraternity, made up of Edwin Land, best known as the inventor of instant photography and the head of Polaroid Corporation; Kelly Johnson, a hard-charging taskmaster from Lockheed; Richard Bissell, the secretive and ambitious spymaster; and ace Air Force flyer Powers, set out to replace yesterday's fallible human spies with tomorrow's undetectable eye in the sky. Their clandestine successes and all-too-public failures make this brilliantly reported account a true-life thriller with the highest stakes and tragic repercussions.

Just before 3:30pm on April 18, 1954, an American diplomat stepped out onto the rooftop of the new, ten-story US embassy in Moscow. He walked to the white parapet that skirted the perimeter of the roof and looked to the east, across the wide boulevards and rooftops, toward the onion domes and spires of Red Square. In the gray sky above the Kremlin, the dark outlines of dozens of Soviet jets resoled into view, moving like a synchronized flock of birds.

#newbook

New Book

Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara



The New York Times bestselling prequel to the Pulitzer Prize–winning classic The Killer Angels

In this brilliantly written epic novel, Jeff Shaara traces the lives, passions, and careers of the great military leaders from the first gathering clouds of the Civil War. Here is Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, a hopelessly by-the-book military instructor and devout Christian who becomes the greatest commander of the Civil War; Winfield Scott Hancock, a captain of quartermasters who quickly establishes himself as one of the finest leaders of the Union army; Joshua Chamberlain, who gives up his promising academic career and goes on to become one of the most heroic soldiers in American history; and Robert E. Lee, never believing until too late that a civil war would ever truly come to pass. Profound in its insights into the minds and hearts of those who fought in the war, Gods and Generals creates a vivid portrait of the soldiers, the battlefields, and the tumultuous times that forever shaped the nation.

The coach rolled through the small iron gates, up the slight rise, toward massive white columns. Lee had not seen Arlington for nearly three years, saw again the pure size, the exaggerated grandeur. It was the home of George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Washington and Lee's father-in-law, and the old man had built the mansion more as a showplace for the artifacts of President Washington than as a home for a living family.

JH - I'm reading this for this month's War Room American Civil War selections.

#newbook

Fantastic Foto Friday
Yes, thank goodness its a short week. NO to the fact that summer showed up with a vengeance and will be burning us throughout the weekend. I guess it was our turn. Oh well.

Today, I'll give you another one of my run on Monday. At least this year it stayed nice and overcast throughout the race.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara : 9%.
Listening - A Brotherhood of Spies: The U-2 and the CIA's Secret War by Monte Reel : 26%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 68%
Graphic Novel - My Favorite Thing is Monsters Book 2 by Emil Ferris : 5%

Finished Books

73. Midnight Library by Matt Haig : This was ultimately a feel-good scifi tale about mental health and what your life means and how you deal with regret. Nora's life hasn't been going so well, and long story short she decides to end it. But in the process of dying, she finds herself in an infinite library filled with books of her life and what they were if just one thing was changed. Its every possible branch in her own multiverse. The Librarian tells her that she can relive anyone of them and she embarks on a journey to find a life where she is happy. She finds, in the end, in the best possible ways of an 80s/90s rom-com staring Jennifer Garner or Sandra Bullock or the like, that her happiness was within her all along. It was okay thru most of it (very quick read) and I enjoyed it, but the ending and climax really got to me and paid for it all. It was a very good read, IMO.

72. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde 🎧 : Read on Audio. Fforde is the master of world building and wordplay around the premise of that world. In this case, its a world built around color. Society is structure around different castes based upon what type of and how much color you can perceive. If you're a Red and can marry into a higher red, your family will get more "power". And heaven forbid if you associate with a Grey, the color blind servant class. This was a reread for me, and what I didn't remember from the first time is that this is a dystopian world, many years after the collapse of ours. They have lost many things, technology, cars (its a big thing in the town to have the 1 Model-T that they all share) and inexplicably: spoons. In Fforde's weird mind, the scarcity of spoons becomes a major plot point. Love it. I reread this because its sequel is finally coming out, after 15 years. Its called Red Side Story, and if it is what I think its going to be; a take on West Side Story, I'm really looking forward to it. TBH, I'll read anything he writes.

71. My Favorite Thing is Monsters Vol 1 by Emil Ferris (GN) : . This was an excellent graphic novel, told through the journal of a little girl, who see's herself as a monster and is trying to come to terms with who she is, and also the murder of a favorite neighbor. A very interesting story, with a very imaginative drawing style. Each page looks like its a page from a spiral-bound notebook and all the drawing is done with ballpoint pen. I immediately borrowed Book 2

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

>177 mahsdad: Perfect running weather! Good reading obviously going on, so I'll wish for that to continue.

>177 mahsdad: Somehow the photo looks daunting to me. Though it feels as if you would always have good knowledge of where you were (with respect to the finish) on that run.

I'm getting more interested in those books each time they come up on one of the 75er threads. Well, I've read Midnight Library and it was my sort of redemption story.

>178 richardderus: Absolutely. Thanks! I have been pretty lucky lately with my reading choices. Tho, I'm easy to please, mostly

>179 quondame: It is a suprisingly steep climb. You don't realize it when you're in a car, but on foot is a different matter. Its just a little over a mile to get to the bridge from the start, then about 3 to go over and back and the mile again to the finish.

Here's the route, and the elevations



Midnight Library, yeah that's a good way to put it. It ultimately sucked me right in.

Quick visit to Sunken City Books.

Donated 9 books, and bought 1 (with a frequent buyer discount :) )

87. Crash by JG Ballard

#bh

Marlon James (of A Brief History of Seven Killings fame), posted on FB that this is the "Still the greatest short-story I have ever read. One paragraph, one sentance, one scene, thoroughly devastating."

It is pretty good.

This Is How I Remember It by Betsy Kemper

Watching Joey pop the red berries into his mouth like Ju-Ju Bees and Mags only licking them at first, then chewing, so both of their smiles look bloody and I laugh though I don't eat even one... then suddenly our moms are all around us (although mine doesn't panic till she looks at the others, then screams along with them things like God dammit did you eat these? and shakes me so my "No" sounds like "oh-oh-oh") and then we're being yanked toward the house, me for once not resisting as my mother scoops me into her arms, and inside the moms shove medicine, thick and purple, down our throats in the bathroom; Joey in the toilet, Mags in the sink, and me staring at the hair in the tub drain as my mom pushes my head down, and there is red vomit everywhere, splashing on the mirror and the powder-blue rugs, everywhere except the tub where mine is coming out yellow, the color of corn muffins from lunch, not a speck of red, I told you, I want to scream, and then it is over and I turn to my mother for a touch or a stroke on the head like the other moms (but she has moved to the doorway and lights a cigarette, pushes hair out of her eyes and there is only her smeared lips saying, This will teach you anyway.

>182 mahsdad: Oh ouch! May many never learn that lesson! The eating poison is nothing to a parent's betrayal. That took me 3 sentences, so Marlon James clearly knows what's what!

>170 mahsdad: Congrats! what a wonderful tradition.

>183 quondame: Ha too funny.

>184 figsfromthistle: Thanks!

From Mary Doria Russell's Fan page on FB.

this sentence has 7 different meanings depending on which word you stress...

I never said she stole my money

And, if you're like me, when you first read it you read it 7 times over stressing each word as you did. LOL

>186 mahsdad: we did a lot of that in our HS drama class, along with saying phrases like "i love you" using different emotions

>111 mahsdad: I apologize for not visiting your thread more often. These last few months have been challenging, but I vow to visit threads more often and read more books.

Thanks for the list of Science Fiction books. Recently, I'm watching Apollo 13 on Netflix. It reminds me of Robert Heinlein's books, and also the The Blue Green Hills of Earth by Kim Oler

I'll return to add some of your books in my to be read library.

The happenings on LT this last weekend remind me that I need to download my library onto a spread sheet, but it seems that moving has put that on the backburner. Today I am going to start working on the paperwork to reup my TSA precheck stuff. Then I have cookbooks to pack. (I finished with the knitting books last week.)

>187 cindydavid4: The BBC did a sketch where they brought out a bunch of famous actors all emphasising a different word in To Be or Not To Be

I couldn't find the full video, but here's a clip of it. https://youtu.be/23hZQiMoB7A?si=xEBAOkrUTuWTvZSQ

>188 Whisper1: No problem in not visiting Linda, I am guilty of that as well. I try to keep up with everyone, but I only post on occassion. I'm just glad to know I can contribute to your (or anyone's) never ending Wish List. LOL.

Book Addition

88. Stoner by John Williams

bought from Bookshop.org. I've seen several people on BookTok and/or Bookstagram talking about how good this book was. I had a coupon for Bookshop and figured why not. Turns out, I've had it on my WL since 2015.

#bh

Jeff, Since January of this year, I've kept a monthly folder of print outs of books I added to the TBR list that particular month. Then, I try to go back to the folders and either obtain via thriftbook.com or the library.
This system seems to be working well, and I find that I am not adding books that I might not want to read in a few months.

>191 mahsdad: Oh, Stoner! A perfect story. Cheerless, but perfect.

>192 Whisper1: I keep track of my WL here in LT. I use a Wishlist collection and a WANT tag. Depending on where I add it, I'll also add a tag on who suggested the book (if I know it). If I am in a book store (or Libby when I'm looking for audio), I'll always look at this collection to see if its something I already want, or if its something new.

>193 richardderus: I should have known, you have already heard of this one. But your endorsement makes it all the more worthy. Cheerless? Bah, who needs cheerful reads. Okay, sometimes I do, but the intense ones are good too.

>190 mahsdad: that was very funny esp prince I mean king charles contribution

want to read stoner, also discovered another book while looking about that: the echo of old books has anyone read it?

>190 mahsdad: Oh, thank you! Even the extract was a delight.

>195 cindydavid4: >197 quondame: Glad you liked it. Happy to share. :)

>196 cindydavid4: I have not heard of The Echo of Old Books, not sure its exactly in my wheelhouse, but it does seem interesting.

Fantastic Foto Friday
Happy Friday. Not much to report other than it is blessedly cooler now. Hopefully we've turned the corner.

Laura's got another craft show tomorrow so I'll be on my own. Finally giving in to the pestering from the Red Cross, going to go give blood. I'm O+, so that's always in need, but I am also CMV negative. Its some flu-like virus that I've never been exposed to (85% of people are), and they give this type of blood to immunosuppressed infants, so they're REALLY always looking for me to come in. I think I'll be hitting the 5 gallon benchmark. My karma points for the weekend. :)

And I'll use those points to annoy RD and give him the heebie-jeebies by sharing this adorable picture of Loki, one of the twins. He was sitting on my lap and had my arm pinned down.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara : 51%.
Listening - A Brotherhood of Spies: The U-2 and the CIA's Secret War by Monte Reel : 78%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 72%
Graphic Novel - My Favorite Thing is Monsters Book 2 by Emil Ferris : 11%

Finished Books

No books finished this week. :( I should finish Brotherhood, this weekend.

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

>196 cindydavid4: I read it and liked it.

>199 mahsdad: Kitty! Adorable.

>199 mahsdad: Libby is a beautiful cat. How lovely that your cat is so affectionate. Our cat Meow is affectionate sometimes, but not often. I think there were only two times when she came tome and fell asleep on my lap while I was reading a book. Other than that, affection is on her terms.

Happy Friday!

>200 elorin: Thanks!

>201 Whisper1: Its actually Loki, but as the book obsessives that we all are around here, I can see where Libby might be the "L" name that immediately comes to mind. LOL. When we got Loki and his sister Luci, they were only a couple months old and we needed to quarantine them from our older cat, so they lived in the office and since I'm WFH, I was there all the time and I became their surrogate mother (much to my wife's chagrin. :)) So they (especially him) tend to gravitate to me more.

>199 mahsdad: Not just another "Oh, how cuuute!" cat pic! That beast has vibes.

>199 mahsdad: What a great picture of your kitty! Thank you for sharing.

Have a great weekend!

Karen O

*ew*ew*ew*

>202 mahsdad: Opps, sorry, I should have checked the name of Loki more carefully. How wonderful that you have two beautiful cats, affectionate cats.

>203 quondame: He most certainly does have vibes. LOL

>204 klobrien2: Thanks Karen

>205 richardderus: It only hurts for a moment. :)

>206 Whisper1: No problem Linda, no harm no foul.

New Book - audio

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin (read by George Guidall)



A classic science fiction novel by one of the greatest writers of the genre, set in a future world where one man's dreams control the fate of humanity.

In a future world racked by violence and environmental catastrophes, George Orr wakes up one day to discover that his dreams have the ability to alter reality. He seeks help from Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist who immediately grasps the power George wields. Soon George must preserve reality itself as Dr. Haber becomes adept at manipulating George's dreams for his own purposes.

The Lathe of Heaven is an eerily prescient novel from award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin that masterfully addresses the dangers of power and humanity's self-destructiveness, questioning the nature of reality itself. It is a classic of the science fiction genre.

Current-borne, wave-flung, tugged hugely by the whole might of ocean, the jellyfish drifts in the tidal abyss. The light shines through it, and the dark enters it. Borne, flung, tugged from anywhere to anywhere, for in the deep sea there is no compass but nearer and farther, higher and lower, the jellyfish hangs and sways; pulses move slight and quick within it, as the vast diurnal pulses beat in the moon-driven sea.

#newbook

New Book - audio

Angel of Rome: and Other Stories by Jess Walter (read by Edoardo Ballerini/Julia Whelan)



From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins and The Cold Millions comes a stunning collection about those moments when everything changes—for the better, for the worse, for the outrageous—as a diverse cast of characters bounces from Italy to Idaho, questioning their roles in life and finding inspiration in the unlikeliest places.

We all live like we’re famous now, curating our social media presences, performing our identities, withholding those parts of ourselves we don’t want others to see. In this riveting collection of stories from acclaimed author Jess Walter, a teenage girl tries to live up to the image of her beautiful, missing mother. An elderly couple confronts the fiction writer eavesdropping on their conversation. A son must repeatedly come out to his senile father while looking for a place to care for the old man. A famous actor in recovery has a one-night stand with the world's most surprising film critic. And in the romantic title story, a shy twenty-one-year-old studying Latin in Rome during “the year of my reinvention” finds himself face-to-face with the Italian actress of his adolescent dreams.

Mother was a stunner. She was so beautiful men would stop mid-step on the street to watch her walk by. When I was little, I would see them out of the corner of my eye and look back, my hand still in hers. Sometimes I'd wonder if the ogling man was my father.

#newbook

For fans of Mickey7, which I am one. They made a movie of it. Here's the trailer.

Directed by Bong Jung Hoo (of Parasite and Snowpiercer fame), starring Robert Pattinson, amongst others.

Inexplicably, IMO, the are calling it Mickey 17. I guess they needed more versions to make it watchable? ::Shrug::

Not sure I'll see it, but it does look interesting.

https://youtu.be/osYpGSz_0i4?si=dEttU6fXp0DOXiC9

Fantastic Foto Friday
Happy Friday. This weekend will be all about getting ready to go on a bit of a vacation next week. Nothing too special, just going back east to visit family. Hardest decision is which books to bring, and how many. LOL



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>4 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara : 71%.
Listening - Angel of Rome by Jess Walter : 18%
Kindle - Wild New World by Dan Flores : 77%
Graphic Novel - My Favorite Thing is Monsters Book 2 by Emil Ferris : 17%

Finished Books

75. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin 🎧 : Yippee! I hit an arbitrary reading goal. Humblebrag to me. LOL. Read this on audio. I am very surprised I've never read this before. In a future dystopian world, George discovers that he can manipulate and change reality thru his dreams. When he seeks help to stop it, that help seeks to manipulate and take advantage of his power. Excellent story.

74. A Brotherhood of Spies by Monte Reel 🎧 : Read on audio. The story of the early days of the CIA, primarily about the development of the U-2 and the shooting down of Francis Gary Powers. Reel takes us from the end of WWII thru the Cuban Missile crisis. A fascinating read, recommend.

Jeff's B.A.S.S tracking document

#ff

75 completion recap I've been keeping track of which book was #75 for the last 6 years, here they are...

2019 Ark (Forward Collection) - Roth, Veronica 11/9/2019
2020 The Long Mars - Pratchett, Terry 11/9/2020
2021 Furiously Happy - Lawson, Jenny 10/26/2021
2022 A Snake Falls to Earth - Little Badger, Darcie 11/19/2022
2023 Last on His Feet - Daoudi, Youssef 9/16/2023 104
2024 Lathe of Heaven, The - Le Guin, Ursula 9/18/2024

>212 mahsdad: What a splendid palette! And the perfect image for it.

Congratulations on hitting 75!

>213 mahsdad: Interesting! I don't think I've ever thought to check which title went with my 75th read of the year. Tough enough to keep track of the raw numbers most years.

Pretty fleurs in >212 mahsdad:! Have a good family visit next week, Jeff.

>215 richardderus: I've always said there is the Book Buying habit and then there's the Book Reading habit, now I guess there's the Book Tracking habit too. And I have all 3.

Since I started creating my B.A.S.S for each year in 2019, I have them set to flag the 75th one, so its pretty easy to tell. I'm geeky that way. :)

Thanks for the photo love!

>214 quondame: Thanks Susan!

Congratulations on reaching the magic goal!
>212 mahsdad: What a great photo.
Have a nice vacation - As I'm mainly reading ebooks, the answer to which books I take with me is simple: all.

Congratulations on your 75! And that photo is gorgeous, I need to know what kind of flowers those are. So striking.

>218 SirThomas: Thanks Thomas. I read a mix of all three formats, DTE, eBooks and audio. Right now, I'm reading a ebook that's from the library on my Kindle, that is long been returned. I have to leave it in airplane mode, or else it will physically be deleted. LOL. I'm stuck with what I got on there now, but that's at least 3 or 4 books, so that with the 3 or for DTEs I'll bring, I'm sure I'll be covered.

>219 elorin: Thanks Robyn. according to the iPhone picture look up, its a Gazania, or Treasure Flower.

>216 mahsdad:
You certainly are geeky that way! Like Richard, I don't even know what book is #75. Or was #75. (I think I am past 75 but would have to take the time to look.)

Congrats!

Congrats on reaching the collective goal!

>221 benitastrnad: I got curious so I counted up from 1 Jan; turns out I needn't've bothered. I reviewed Cut and Thirst, a crappy Margaret Atwood story.

>224 richardderus:
I did too! My #75 was the crappy Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont. It was one of the more stupid books I read this year. ... So far.

I'm going to give a raincheck on the #75 book. Simply haven't gotten there yet. Heh.

Thanks everyone, just finished #76

RD, and Benita, see that's why its fun to track these arbitrary goals. Its interesting to see where you land on the milestones. For me, since I'm such an impulse reader, I have no plan and its fun to look back

Bill, don't sweat it. As long as you're enjoying what you're reading, the rest is all just window dressing. :)

New Book

Crash by J.G. Ballard



The Definitive Cult, Postmodern Novel—a Shocking Blend of Violence, Transgression, and Eroticism—Reissued with a New Introduction from Zadie Smith

When J. G. Ballard, our narrator, smashes his car into another and watches a man die in front of him, he finds himself drawn with increasing intensity to the mangled impacts of car crashes. Robert Vaughan, a former TV scientist turned nightmare angel of the expressway, has gathered around him a collection of alienated crash victims and experiments with a series of autoerotic atrocities, each more sinister than the last. But Vaughan craves the ultimate crash—a head-on collision of blood, semen, engine coolant, and iconic celebrity.

First published in 1973, Crash remains one of the most shocking novels of the twentieth century and was made into an equally controversial film by David Cronenberg.

Vaughan died yesterday in his last car-crash. During our friendship he had rehearsed his death in many crashes, but this was his only true accident. Driven on a collision course towards the limousine of the film actress, his car jumped the rails of the London Airport flyover and plunged through the roof of a bus filled with airline passengers.

JH - my version doesn't have the new intro from Zadie Smith, alas

#newbook

Well I'm back from a week in Pittsburgh and going to my 40th HS Reunion. With it being Q4 (Whaaa? How did that happen), I need to create a new thread. I will be digging out of the pile of work emails that I got for most of the day so, it might be a day or two before I post my updates and get the new thread setup.

New Book

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth



Abby Lamb has done it. She's found the Great Good in her husband, Ralph, and together they will start a family and put all the darkness in her childhood to rest. But then the Lambs move in with Ralph's mother, Laura, whose depression has made it impossible for her to live on her own. She's venomous and cruel, especially to Abby, who has a complicated understanding of motherhood given the way her own, now-estranged, mother raised her.

When Laura takes her own life, her ghost starts to haunt Abby and Ralph in very different ways. Ralph is plunged into depression, and Abby is being terrorized by a force intent on taking everything she loves away from her. With everything on the line, Abby must make the ultimate sacrifice in order to prove her adoration to Ralph and break Laura's hold on the family for good.

The night Ralph's mother flayed her forearms, a woman in a red dress handed him a business card. I know how woman in a red dress sounds because I thought the same thing at first. When I got back to the ICU waiting room with our sodas, I said, what do you mean woman in a red dress, a Jessica Rabbit type came va-va-vooming down the hall, pendulum hips pounding sound waves into the souls of dicks?

#newbook

2024 Books of the Month

January : IQ84 by Haruki Murakami
February : Kindred by Octavia Butler
March : Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside by Nick Offerman

April : Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
May : A Wild Swan and Other Tales by Michael Cunningham
June : My Real Children by Jo Walton

July : The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
August : A Manual for Cleaning Women
September : The Angel of Rome





#botm

I don't generally read books of short stories but you seem to like them. That has inspired me to dig out a couple of them. Last month I read American Housewife: Stories by Helen Ellis and I have On Girlhood by Glory Edim now sitting beside my computer where it is handy to pick up and read while waiting on my compactor/computer to do its thing. Or waiting on a student to show up for a Zoom meeting. Both of these scenarios mean that I won't read through the book very fast, but I will get it read.

>232 benitastrnad: Yeah, story collections are becoming a favorite form of mine. And now that you mention it, I think the fact that 4 of my favorite books this year are collections, proves out that point.

I typically read the collections like I would a novel, all at once, but one of the advantages of them is that you can dip in and out of them as the whim and situations occur.

I'm glad that I can inspire you to step out of your comfort zone a bit. That's one of the best things about this group!