Weird_O Bill's 2026 Revival, Act One

The curtain rises on a new year's reading…

          

   

The 2025 reads piled up. Only 85 books got read by this ol' Weird_O in 2025.

      

      I've planted a 2026 stack, and its first seedlings have sprouted.

First quarter reads…

January
1. The 6:41 to Paris, Jean-Philippe Blondel. Finished 1/1/26. VG+
2. The Rejection Collection, Vol. 2, edited by Matthew Diffee. Finished 1/6/26. good+
3. Leonardo da Vinci, Sherwin B. Nuland. Finished 1/11/26. VG
4. James Turrell and Nicholas Mosse: Lapsed Quaker Ware, Jonathan Rickard. Finished 1/12/26. VG
5. Growing Up, Russell Baker. Finished 1/19/26. VG
6. Lincoln at Gettysburg, Garry Wills. Finished 1/29/26.VG+

February
7. Orbital, Samantha Harvey. Finished 2/3/26. ok
8. The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert. Finished 2/12/26. VG+
9. Brave Companions: Portraits in History, David McCullough. Finished 2/22/26. VG+

Current Reading as of 2/23/26
The Book Censor's Library, Bothayna Al-Essa. page 137 of 261
Rothko, Jacob Baal-Teshuva. Page 31 of 96
The Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus. Page 11 of 125
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan. Page 63 of 434
Wit, Des McHale. Page 272 of 308

    

Second quarter reads

April

Planning for the future…
         

Let's get busy. The curtain is up, so let's start the show!!

Last year (2025) was woeful in so many ways. The play-docs are on call. This 2026 Revival...well...

The show must go on.

New Year greetings from Kuala Lumpur. My project is at least physically completed and an addition to the city scape.

Look forward to keeping up with you in 2026

Happy New Year, Bill! Let's all break a leg in 2026!

>1 weird_O: Yikes! What will The Phantom be Reading?!?

Happy New Year Bill. Love the Calvin and Hobbes.

Happy New Year, Bill. I also love the Calvin and Hobbes. That's pretty much the way I roll; I don't really make New Year resolutions. That doesn't mean that I don't have things I need to work on. Walking regularly and decluttering being the main things.

Happy New Year, Bill. Welcome back! Love that topper. We sure hope to see more of you in '26. I sure miss seeing what you are reading.

Happy new year, Bill.

I have The 6:41 to Paris on my shelf. Glad to hear it was a good read for you!

Happy new year and new thread, Bill. Can't wait to see what your seedlings sprout...

>4 weird_O: Since I liked it just fine I'm glad it worked so well for you, too. New Year orisons!

Hello Bill! Happy new Year and happy first thread of 2026.

I hope this year is a good one for you.

>6 weird_O: I was going to make a list of resolutions for this year, but my resolve hasn’t been strong enough.

Several years ago, I slapped together a spreadsheet listing Pulitzer Prize-winning books in the various categories: Fiction, History, Biography, etc. I started with 1917, the first year prizes were awarded. By 2020, I was neglecting the sheet. When I read Benita's initial (short) post about the January 2026 challenge, I immediately unearthed the sheet, and I focused on these (non-fiction) categories: General Non-Fiction, History, and Biography. I found the following books from the list that reside—unread—on my shelves.

Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam by Frances FitzGerald (1973; GNF) 453 pgs
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro (1975; Bio) 1162 pgs
Growing Up by Russell Baker (1983; Bio) 278 pgs
Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann (1989; Bio) 589 pgs
Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills (1993; GNF) 263 pgs
Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David Remnick (1994; GNF) 530 pgs
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (1998; GNF) 425 pgs
Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum (2004; GNF) 577 pgs
Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukberjee (2011; GNF) 470 pgs
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (2015, GNF) 271 pgs

A book that isn't on my shelves is Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix. 880 pgs, including back matter It was awarded the GNF Pulitzer in 2001. When I read The Rape of Nanking last year, Oberon recommended Bix's book if I was interested in exploring more about Hirohito's role in WW II and its aftermath. So I added it to my shortlist.

I haven't committed to any particular title just yet. (Perversely, the longer I view that list, the more I want to read each and every book.)

Yes, I am bringing the sheet up to date.

Edited to Add: Page length of text.

>18 weird_O: Happy New Year Bill. I hope to pay a little more attention to LT this year. I have had the Hirohito book on my shelf since 2009. I want to read it someday but it is a biggie. I've been contemplating some Japan related books this year.

>18 weird_O: I'm interested in the same 3 categories of the Pulitzer Prize winning books. I haven't gotten around to making lists of them yet. I've got a long way to go reading them. I have the Oscar Wilde and Guns, Germs, and Steel sitting on my shelves waiting for me.

>18 weird_O: Ooh, I love a spreadsheet-based reading project! I maintain a spreadsheet for a few literary prizes (Booker, Women's, Pulitzer-fiction). I've done pretty well with the first two but am way behind on the Pulitzer.

Happy New Year Bill!

>6 weird_O: I love Calvin and Hobbes!

>18 weird_O: What a great reading project, Bill, and one after my own heart. I need to do something similar. Thanks for the idea!

A belated Happy New Year!

Happy New Year and Happy New Reading!

>19 RBeffa: Hi, Ron. Thanks for stopping by. I am interested in Japan's history of the 20th century, so I may just order Bix's book. I just rounded up the books on my list, and the majority of them are absolute bricks. I may tackle something slight (in girth).

Also, I checked the book at Amazon, and saw that the length runs to 880 pages. I'll bet at least 100 pages of that is given to the index, notes, appendixes, acknowledgements.

>24 weird_O: I have several books besides Hirohito that I want to read. My copy of Nanking is signed by Iris. https://pics.cdn.librarything.com//picsizes/15/97/15975470-r-h1200-w1200-pv25_63.... I've been interested in modern Japan and its literature for a while but have not read nearly enough.

I will probably read Low City, High City by Seidensticker early this year (have already started it but switched to some entertaining fiction)

That's a lovely book, Ron. Thanks for giving us a look.

Here's what I got:

          

I am not planning to read each of these. Sorry if I misled; didn't intend to. I'm just picking a book for one month of Benita's challenge. A different topic is set for February. Just an example, this is, of my penchant for overthinking. At this point, I'm inclined to pick one or two of the shorter books—Lincoln at Gettysburg, Growing Up, and/or The Sixth Extinction— to read in January, starting just as soon as I finish a short bio of Leonardo da Vinci, the second volume The New Yorker's cartoon rejects, and a catalog of "Lapsed Quaker Pottery" that my son gave me for Christmas. Three current reads.

The Sixth Extinction is excellent.

Looks like you got me with at least one BB for The Sixth Extinction.

Goofy feather for my cap, since I haven't read it yet. But Katie says it is "excellent". It did begin Lincoln at Gettysburg last night. The Sixth Extinction can't be far behind.

>29 Storeetllr: >30 weird_O: Agreed. I've just added The Sixth Extinction to my wishlist. Another goofy feather for you, o weird one.

>30 weird_O: I'll keep an eye on your progress Bill and may join you when you get to The Sixth Extinction. The book on Lincoln is one of only two books on your enticing pile that I don't own.

Good, Paul. Drop a thumbs-up from time to time to keep me reading. I get bogged down. A current tactic is tossing a fresh book into the reading mix when I stall

For example, at this moment, I have bookmarks in seven books:

Leonardo da Vinci by Sherwin B. Nuland—a short (under 200 pages) bio written by a surgeon (Clinical Professor of Surgery at Yale University) and published in the "Penguin Lives" series.
James Turrell and Nicholas Mosse: Lapsed Quaker Ware by Jonathan Rickard; a hybrid exhibit catalog and sales brochure for a line of black pottery made of basaltic clay.
Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills.
Growing Up by Russell Baker.
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Carl Sagan. Seems almost hyper-topical today.
   And... a couple of between meal snacks:
Wit, Des McHale—a collection of jokes and snappy one-liners, collected into 20 chapter-like categories, such as "Education", "Lawyers and Other Professions", "Religion", and "Social Behaviors and Manners".
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops, George Carlin. Carlin was almost always good. Here's a collection of short commentaries, published more than 20 years ago, but spot on in today's turmoil.

Note that I didn't mention The Sixth Extinction. I'm thinking fantasizing that I'll knock off da Vinci and the Quaker ware pretty quickly (like by Monday), then a couple of days after that wrap up either Lincoln or Baker. And then...and then...along comes Extinction. All my reading will then be finito, kaput. Done.

Bwaaa ha ha ha ha...

>27 weird_O: What a wonderful tower of potential….

How did I not stop by here earlier??? Happy New Year!

And I strongly urge you to read The Power Broker. It's a truly gripping biography of a man that did much good and much bad in New York City. Caro is a genius at bring a reader into that world.

I think you will learn a great deal from Garry Wills book Lincoln at Gettysburg. However, I will warn you ... it is a very academic book. The object of the book is to analyze what Lincoln said at Gettysburg and what it meant. That means it is an academic book. I found the most interesting part to be at the end, when Wills reveals that Lincoln used another very famous speech as the template for his speech. The foundation speech is reprinted in its entirety at the end of the book.

When I read the book I thought it was going to another work of narrative nonfiction. It isn't. You have to put your thinking cap on for this one. Even if it is a short book.

I want to read Fire in the Lake by Frances FitzGerald sometime this year, but not sure when. I lucked onto a used copy of it while in Joplin, MO with Stasia and Roni. It would be nice to get it off my shelves and into my head before 12/31 of this year.

I also have a copy of Sixth Extinction that I hope to get to this year. Right now I am reading Man in the White Sharkskin Suit as my Prize winner for the January nonfiction challenge. Then it will be on to Bending the Law: The Story of the Dalkon Shield Bankruptcy. I am trying to learn more about how this country got to here with our kleptographic corporations.

I think I am going to also try to read Emperor of All Maladies for the April topic on the nonfiction challenge. The topic is "Internal Matters."

Wow- love that ole stack o'books up top! Almost as impressive as Paul's very large building project :)

>27 weird_O: Gulag is on my radar ...I really must get on to that.

>27 weird_O: "Lapsed Quaker Pottery?" How does something lapse out of being pottery? Are there enough lapsed Quakers potting to make their contributions to pottery categorizable? Or is there a special category of pottery favored by lapsed Quakers? Or is there some residual obedience required of lapsed Quakers that they use only a certain type of pottery? Or....

>35 ffortsa: I can't answer your question, Judy. But I do know a few things about Robert Moses. Eleven hundred pages, however, represent a year's worth of reading for me. Okay. Maybe that much. I should put a note in my book catalog. What you said of it.

>33 weird_O: I have not read any of these so can not offer any real encouragement there. I have read and very much enjoyed The Sixth Extinction.

Happy Wednesday, Bill. I hope you are doing dandy.

>36 benitastrnad: I'm glad to see you, Benita. I remember a post you did, saying—as I recall, anyway—pretty much what you said here about Lincoln at Gettysburg. And I tried to find that post, 'cause I remembered it as having sound advice for me (as a prospective reader). But operating with fewer cylinders than I had a couple of decades ago, I could NOT figure out to search for it. Did you sense my frustration? I'm okay with this post of yours being a coincidence. Thanks.

I'm several chapters in and it does require all my attention.

>37 benitastrnad: I expect to look into The Sixth Extinction pretty soon. First I have to finish the Wills book and Russell Baker's memoir, both of which I'm reading. (A quick check of the books you have lined up tells me both are interesting.) The others—Mukherjee and FitzGerald—are back on the shelves, awaiting their turns.

I just re-read your post, Benita. So I'm editing my reply to acknowledge your intention to read Mukherjee in April. I don't have the Nonfiction Challenge topics in active memory, but, yeah, that could work.

I read the book back in the Plague Year of 2020 and you and I had an online discussion about it in my ROOT thread. Here is the review I posted on that thread in August of 2020.

This book is almost 20 years old, but reading it is a revelation. Wills book is actually a long essay that runs for 177 pages. The rest of the book is taken up with a discussion of the exact text of the speech, the history of writing the speech, the historical whodunit's about who has THE exact last copy of the speech, and then a fine discussion of Edwin Everett and the practice of speechifying and lecturing as it was done in the Nineteenth century. The book includes the entire text of Everett's speech plus that of Pericles as written by Thucydides. Wills believes that it is impossible to fully understand the speech that Lincoln gave if you don't have the context in which the speech was written and then delivered. I fully agree because words are a product of their time. I read the text of Everett's speech and that of Pericles as well. I even read most of the footnotes.

I imagine that when Wills wrote this book back in 1992 that it was revolutionary and the idea that Lincoln was backing up Everett's words and was fully aware that he wa giving the country an alternative view of the concepts of freedom, equality, statehood, and nationhood, was quite revolutionary. At times the book was dry and dull and at others it was enlightening with plenty of ah-ha moments for me.

I am not sure why I did not read this book sooner, but I am glad that I read it now and at this point in history. It has meaning for me in the present and in the context of these times.

Here is our exchange from September of 2020 regarding Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills.

You said:
>91 richardderus: benitastrnad: Likewise, I have Lincoln at Gettysburg on shelf/in a stack. I asked for it, and I got it for a birthday. Started it and was run off the road by the chapter on Latin or Greek, or whatever it was. Dry is the word. But I do want to read it.

I replied
>101 weird_O: weird_O:
The part on the philosophy and history of the kind of rhetorical writing Lincoln did is DRY! I found my mind wandering through it. I do think that it is important to help the reader/learner understand why the speech is so short and concise. The history about the Greek Revival in the U.S. enlightened me as to the fact that most people who read the speech would understand the context and therefore know what Lincoln was doing. I also found myself liking Edwin Everett's speech - which is printed in its entirety in the Appendixes. Lincoln was correct - there was no need for him to review what happened or praise it either because Everett had already done that. Knowing all this allowed me to understand that Lincoln was presenting a new philosophy/foundation for the NEW United States. I have to admit that it made me realize that as a person living in 2020 I live in that NEW U.S. that Lincoln presented in the Gettysburg Address that was created in the crucible of the American Civil War and that U.S. is a different place than was the U.S. of 1861. All of this helped me to appreciate the speech in a new way. I just wish more people got it.

I am not sure that the book would win any awards today, (because we have been spoiled by all the narrative nonfiction that is so much easier to read) but I bet in 1992 there were lots of people who appreciated the importance of the way Will explained the speech and a hundred years later the results of that speech.

I would encourage you to finish reading it, but be forewarned - it is dry and takes some concentration and study.

Your reply to post 101:
>102 weird_O: benitastrnad: Thanks for the excellent report on Garry Wills's Lincoln at Gettysburg. Forewarned I am; I'll approach my reading of it with a full canteen. :-)

I'm pluggin' away at the new year's reading. Halfway through Growing Up by Russell Baker and on the first page of chapter three on Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills. Nonfiction books that won prizes, including but not limited to Pulitzers.

Yesterday I got on a tear replying to posts, and had a handle on boasting about the five book stacks I have on display, each stack featuring a year's reads, beginning with the 115 books I read in 2021. Seven feet tall. I got through only 85 books in 2025; that stack is five foot two. Folly Towers, they are. Anyway, I executed an amazing bit of prestidigitation and with a hypnotic gesture, instantly closed five tabs on my laptop. An empty Chrome homepage smiled at me, so cheery. Why was I weeping?

So I am off to run some errands. Then back here to answer Richard's questions about Lapsed Quaker Ware and whatnot.

Ta-ta.

So here I am, stuck in a snowbank. I got home from my errands Thursday. Without surprises, without incident. But I never did write anything about Lapsed Quaker Ware. I did read more of Lincoln at Gettysburg and Growing Up.

Friday turned out to be laundry day. I even did the duvet cover. I slept well last night.

I failed to pay attention—surprise surprise—and got a big shock when I looked out the window. S • N • O • W. Lots of it. Sliding and slipping through FB, I learned that I78 was closed eastbound and westbound because of pile-ups of cars and trucks. 309 was closed where it traverses the Blue Mountain. I stayed home. Warm, dry, sipping some joe.

I too have snow. I got caught in a snow squall last night coming home from a meetup with Ronincats in Salina, KS. Two miles from home, it all of a sudden started snowing so hard I had trouble seeing. I know the road so got home with no problem, but it was windy and cold. The high temperature today is about 15 degrees.

>47 benitastrnad:. Glad you got home okay, Benita. I believe I encountered a snow squall back in the 70s, and it profoundly rattled me. Oh, and wrecked my little pickup; I drove smack into a car someone abandoned partially on the right-of-way. No lights, of course.

We got a second layer of snow last night. But emergency workers finally got the wreckage cleared from the interstate. The family network revealed that I had the most snow. In Easton, about 30 miles east, the accumulation was lower, Son the Elder reported. Son the Younger reported from south Jersey seeing flurries that tapered off early on. Daughter the Only reported snow flurries at her outpost south of Boston. It's gloomy at 3:30 pm, but it'll pass.

Gosh... I think I'll read!

>48 weird_O: I hope you're getting the sun that is peeking through my window at the moment. We had a very wet, light snow here yesterday and in the evening, and I walked home from dinner in my sneakers worrying that I would slip on the slush and that it would freeze solid overnight. I've got to scurry around a little for my book group meeting tonight, but the sidewalks look clear.

Warming vibes from tropical climes, Bill.

>49 ffortsa: Ho ho. Scurry. That's what I need to do, Judy. Did it work for you? Hope it works for me. I did observe some sunshine yesterday, and it has returned today. That's okay with me. I see that a rockabutzer storm is on this weekend's docket. I could live without that. How about you?

>50 PaulCranswick: Paul! Nice to see you again. I could enjoy a short visit from the tropics.

Reading Tip: I finished Growing Up last night. Guess what I'm now reading: The Sixth Extinction. You are welcome to join me.

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

I want to say that I didn't want to start a pileup challenge in >46 weird_O:. I've just read (and viewed photos) of a 100 vehicle pileup in Michigan. Wrecks and wreckers as far as the drone can see. Mostly tractor-trailers.

>51 weird_O: Scurrying worked! I was done with my errands by noon.

I'm surprised by the pileup in Michigan. Don't they know it snows?

It's Saturday and that wicked big stawm is just off-stage. It's predicted to introduce climate change vengeance to a swathe of America. I am going to accept Son the Elder's invitation to ride the storm out in Easton, so I must pack up laptops, clothing, drugs, C-pap, etc. and head out. Yeah, books also.

Lincoln at Gettysburg
The Sixth Extinction
And one or three others.

I hope for the best. For all of us.

>53 weird_O: Take care out there...good to have company during the storm. AND books, of course.

Just want to bump my thread up so's it appears in the first page of threads. Your mileage varies, of course, and you may not have starred my thread.

I'm back in my own home. Yes, my very own Good Samaritan DID plow the driveway. I do have to venture out later today. So more later.

I'm an hour into the month's last day. Saturday January 31.

Yesterday, I was expecting to drive to a Walmart to get three modest items. I would have liked to get them at the general store, but they aren't stocked there. Boohoo. Then I was alerted to Friday's boycott, so I didn't go. I tossed 'em in my Amazon shopping cart and will order them later. And allow someone else to drive them to me.

I did complete a pretty close read of Lincoln at Gettysburg, the second prizing-winning nonfiction book in January. For Benita's Challenge. Growing Up by Russell Baker was the first. I'm now reading Orbital, Samantha Harvey's Booker-winning novel. I also have read several chapters in The Sixth Extinction and in The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan, as well as some others.

Happy Saturday, Bill. Has the weather been pretty bad? We are just still in a deep freeze. I loved The Sixth Extinction. How is Orbital coming? I know her style will not be for all tastes. I thought it was excellent.

>56 weird_O:
Can hardly wait to read what you thought of Lincoln at Gettysburg. It certainly changed my mind about some things regarding the speech he gave. I also found the part at the end of the book that as about the funeral speech at Athens to be very very interesting. I learned so much from that appendix.

Sounds like you are doing some great reading, Bill!

>57 msf59: Deep freeze it is, Mark. Just checked my trusty LLBean thermometer at the front door. 18° F at 10 a.m. The overnight low tomorrow is predicted to be single digit, followed by 4 days of double digit lows—11, 11, 14, 12—then single digits. Super Bowl Sunday will dawn at -1°.

I'm hunkered down here, and I don't really expect to go outdoors. Might have a go at SilverWolf's readathon. :-)

I'm focused on Orbital now, with The Sixth Extinction focused on my heels.

>58 benitastrnad: Hot tip: Lincoln at Gettysburg was a dense read, but worth it. I'm thinking I've got to fetch my copy of Thucydides from college; perhaps that Pericles speech is something I supposedly read. Ha! 62 years ago. I hope to organize some comments on this and the few other books I read in January.

>59 katiekrug: Yah yah. Good books, Katie. Just have to accelerate the pace. Still shaking out the reading tools, so to speak.

>60 weird_O:
My first thought on Lincoln at Gettysburg is that if reading Garry Wills book was heavy duty, just think about what Lincoln must have had to read in order to formulate that speech!

>62 weird_O: I'm really glad you liked this one! It got All the way to 32° today to my joy. The snow removal folk cleared out lots of the piled snow from the facility's parking lot, so it looks normal for the first time in ages...I'm still not goin' out for a walk!

Stay toasty and safe.

Postponing the walk makes good sense, RD. I do have to appear for p.t., but that's a drive for me rather than a walk. I did like the ride to Paris, and I'm glad I made you happy.

Adding: I did tweak a couple of posts up top. Numbers 3 and 4. Just tweaks.

 
Nick Downes                        Christopher Weyant

 
Marshall Hopkins                        Pat Byrnes

 
Jack Ziegler                        Danny Shanahan

>65 weird_O: I love books like this! I’ve requested the first “Rejection Collection.” Thanks for the “heads up”!

Karen O

     

I searched Google Maps yesterday, hoping to figure out where Feds have bought a warehouse to transmogrify into a concentration camp. Ha! It was clearly marked: Department of Homeland Security. Close neighbor to an Amazon facility. :-(

ETA: I was looking because this building is in Berks County. The deal escaped scrutiny by local officials, and it's done. Even Google knows it.

I completed The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. Only the second book in February, but it's something.

>68 weird_O: Oh no! How horrible.
>69 weird_O: I can understand why not much reading is happening these days.

Hi Bill! Long time no visit.

>53 weird_O: I hope you rode out the storm successfully. Unusual for us, we had a sleet/freezing rain storm and then a week later a 5" snow event.

I have Lincoln at Gettysburg, currently on a shelf that I can’t get to. I just added The Sixth Extinction to my wish list.

>62 weird_O: And, onto the wish list it goes!

During an apparent mental blackout, I did stuff that I have no recollection of doing. Dark arts or some such. No one else was here, no one to apply CPR, or boxing gloves to my ears, or a good swift kick. What I seem to have done was to ultimately come to. A week or so later, I discovered a substantial carton on my porch. Glad I am that I didn't black out again. I scooted that box into the house and opened it up. Inside...

A TROVE OF TASCHEN BOOKS! Oh • My • Word. What the!! I carefully, lovingly lifted book after book from the carton. Lewis Hine photos. Drawings by Leonardo. Paintings by Veneer and by Mark Rothko. Buildings designed by Spanish fantasist Antoni Gaudi. Cartoon stories (usually called comic strips) by Winsor McCay. The Complete Little Nemo. And, and, and, last but far from least, Edward S. Curtis. The North American Indian. The Complete Portfolios.

Who, oh who, sent me this Grand Prize Treasure Trove? In a cardboard box no less.

Oh, yeah. It was me. Zzzzt.

>69 weird_O: I am a bit late but hope to start it this weekend, Bill.

Traded snow totals with ma kids this morning. I lucked out, getting 6" or less and having a sunrise temp of 34°. Ned in south Jersey got at least a foot of snow, which his girls ❤ loved ❤. Becky in Quincy got more than a foot and the wind snow-plastered all her windows, so she couldn't see out. Jeremy in Easton got more than me, less than his brother.

Then I used up my electricity. By sunset, I was reading by headlamp light. Then I took delivery of a crackling crisp lightning bolt, and all is well.

Finished with McCullough's Brave Companions and immediately started Rothko and The Book Censor's Library

The Book Censor's Library, Bothayna Al-Essa. page 137 of 261

The Book Censor's Library, Bothayna Al-Essa. page 149 of 261. Not much reading time last night.

Juggling interests and compulsions: genealogy (after a 15-year hiatus), stuffing books back into boxes (THEY'RE TAKING OVER!!! Help me... Please...) Plus Fibber McHylton's Closet is bursting. Bursting! I tell ya. Gotta wash dishes, launder me clothes, scrub the bathroom. All that day-to-day work you all handle without breaking a sweat. Well, fear not, I'm gonna get a grip.

Bright side: Temp is at 50°.

February is drawing to a close. Right now, the wind is calm, so I'm forecasting March won't come in like a lion. Ok with me. Snow is mostly gone from my south facing hillside. Again, ok with me.

I did complete two books last night: Wit by Des MacHale (kinda eh) and The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa (more than kinda good). The 2026 "books read" definitely NOT towering. I did blink my eyes over Rothko, but it's all abstract (surprise!) and I didn't make much progress.

I do now have a couple projects to occupy my idle hours. One is to update My Family Tree, which I last fiddled with in 2010. I reupped with Ancestry.Com and also with its new-to-me appendage Newspapers.Com. Ancestry has gone in for AI, so I will see how that goes.

Second big project is to tackle bookcases and book organization. At one time, I stashed unshelved books in cartons, with a list of books in each box. I consolidated all the lists in one doc, so I could search for a book and determine which box it was in. As I shelved books, I didn't update the lists. In addition I got more books (Qu'elle surprise!) which are scattered around the place. Into the boxes (and onto the lists) they go. Fun, huh?

Have you heard of Wikitree? It's a free genealogy site. It is where I work on my family tree when I have energy for it.

Hello there! So snow, and amazing books in boxes, and family trees. Sounds good to me!! Happy March my friend. : )

>79 elorin: Hallo, Robyn. Wikitree? New one to me. I have at least a dozen sites bookmarked in a Genealogy category. I shall give Wikitree a good look. Thanks for the tip.

>80 Berly: Kim! How nice to see you, all duded up and swooshing around the country. I spent several hours on the weekend shuffling books. I kept hmming and gasping over books I'd completely forgotten I had. Pretty much kept me out of trouble. I'm sorry you've had those health issues dragging into this new and troubling year.

Sunday is a good day to check my heading and record the activities of the week just past. Here's the status of my reading in 2026 so far:

January
1. The 6:41 to Paris, Jean-Philippe Blondel. Finished 1/1/26. VG+
2. The Rejection Collection, Vol. 2, edited by Matthew Diffee. Finished 1/6/26. good+
3. Leonardo da Vinci, Sherwin B. Nuland. Finished 1/11/26. VG
4. James Turrell and Nicholas Mosse: Lapsed Quaker Ware, Jonathan Rickard. Finished 1/12/26. VG
5. Growing Up, Russell Baker. Finished 1/19/26. VG
6. Lincoln at Gettysburg, Garry Wills. Finished 1/29/26.VG+

February
7. Orbital, Samantha Harvey. Finished 2/3/26. ok
8. The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert. Finished 2/12/26. VG+
9. Brave Companions: Portraits in History, David McCullough. Finished 2/22/26. VG+

March
10. The Book Censor's Library, Bothayna Al-Essa. Finished 3/3/26. VG
11. Wit, Des McHale. Finished 3/3/26. ok
12. A Grief Observed, C. S. Lewis. Finished 3/13/26. good.
13. What the Dog Saw, Malcolm Gladwell. Finished 3/15/26. VG
15. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, James Weldon Johnson. Finished 3/20/26. VG

Current Reading as of 3/15/26…
On the Beach, Nevil Shute. Page 20 of 280.
The Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus. Page 11 of 125.
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan. Page 63 of 434.
Rothko, Jacob Baal-Teshuva. Page 31 of 96.

   

The Library… I've mentioned before that I filled up bookcases. But I've kept adding to the collection, and those new and new-to-me books have gathered in stacks and clusters here and then, exactly where they can thwart bookcase expansion.

I had boxed up dozens…scores…masses…legions…multitudes…of books that the shelves I had couldn't accommodate. When shelf space increased, some of the boxed books were freed. In the last couple or three weeks, I've rounded up the mavericks and boxed 'em. Gimme some time to re-collect me wits.

>82 weird_O: I love your organizing/decluttering/staking your claim! Good job! And what a great assortment of things you’ve been reading.

Karen O

>65 weird_O: boy, some of these really made me laugh. In particular the smart ass/wise ass one :) :) :)

>83 klobrien2:. I'm encouraged by the work, Karen. I'm able to see much of the actual surface of my library/dining table. I gathered up the volumes in a new-to-me series of bios that I got from a seller in Colorado late last year. Put 'em in a box. Too, I boxed up mavericks that got together on the unfinished top of a bookcase. I have to make an appropriately "showy" counter top for it, then build upper units that'll flank a big window. Oooo, it's gonna be grand!

The reading? Thank you for noticing. I do need to get serious about that.

>84 LovingLit: I'm happy to share some chuckles, Megan.

>85 weird_O: I envy you the expansion room. Right now I'm trying to decide on what books I should give away. What would I miss? I have so many books just in case I want to read them.

Golly. Who knew Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day?

>87 weird_O: I did! My math teacher son-in-law's birthday is also Pi Day, so one year he told us. Fun, huh? This year's birthday card that I painted for him was of a piece of cherry pie with ice cream on top and a candle stuck in it.

Hope your week is going well, Bill!

Good for you, Mary. I didn't know until the 14th, when I scanned the list of literary births and death. I wonder if I'll remember it on Pi Day 2027.

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, James Weldon Johnson. Page 54 of 154. Making some progress. (Ok, not a lot.) It is a good read.

Trivia: Discovered through ancestry.com. We've always known that our paternal grandfather, William Harden Hylton, died in 1927. Ancestry turned up the death certificate, showing that he died December 29, 1927. Coincidentally, December 29 is my sister's birthday, just 14 years later.

>73 weird_O: Fugue-state shopping is...troubling...as a symptom of biblioholism. I think you *might* have crossed into bibliomania, in the complex of symptoms making up "bibliophilic lectomania."

Professional help is always available at your library. Librarians are authorized to deliver legal, measured doses of books to prevent deeper issues from becoming unmanageable.

>92 weird_O: That's a lovely passage, Bill. I'm glad it was a comfort to you.

>92 weird_O: That book was on my mother's nightstand for years after my father died. I know she picked it up and read certain passages over and over...and I know, independent as she was, she was never the same person without Dad. I'm glad Old Clive (that's how my daughter refers to Lewis) spoke to you, Bill.

>92 weird_O: Wonderful review, weird_o. I’m glad that the book brought you such great connection. I love when reading does that.

It’s coming up on three years since my sweet Art passed away, and I agree with you—you never get over it. You go through it, I guess.

I have read this book and loved it, but I think I might want a reread. Thanks for the review and for sharing.

Karen O

Just before heading off for some physical therapy, I want to update current reading.

Current Reading as of 3/23/26…
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan. Page 81 of 434.
On the Beach, Nevil Shute. Page 39 of 280.
The Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus. Page 11 of 125.
Rothko, Jacob Baal-Teshuva. Page 31 of 96.

   

What can I say? On the Beach is slow, inexorable death. Sagan's book has been set aside and set aside. It's a good read, and I want to read it. Now.

I'm still currently reading. Ooo yes.

Since last I checked in, I've read a mid-50s picture book called Eloise: A Book for Precocious Grown Ups, the first of a series by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight. I bought the book at a thrift store, despite its state of disassembly, because the title rung a bell. 'Twas oK but not great in my estimation. It's a keeper only because that's what I do: Keep Books.

I am close to completing The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. It is good. I'll probably finish it today. When I do finish it, I'll return to Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Then On the Beach.

Weather's been pretty grand. The downside of that is the manual labor that's in my near future. Yes.... It'll be good for me.

>97 weird_O: And Rothko and Erasmus?

>99 PaulCranswick: Have a good weekend, dear fellow, by the way.

>97 weird_O: I've tried three times to read the Bauby book...it's terrifying to me, just can't get past the idea of it.

Cheerier seasons on their way, Bill.

>98 PaulCranswick: Rothko and Erasmus? you ask. I'm getting there. I'm crowding them, Paul, urging them to expose something concrete. Erasmus is closer to that than Rothko. It's up to me to labor (my view of the enterprise/exercise) through Erasmus's text. A close reading isn't beyond me, exactly, but it's NOT my usual approach.

Rothko seems to be a colorist. Pantone. I need an interpreter to translate Rothko into a language I understand. Ya kno?

>99 PaulCranswick: I'm not opposed to enjoying the weekend, Paul. I just have to get to it. :-)

Here I am, just eight days since my last post. Updating is in order. I'll get to it before you know it. And even before I know it.

Not really updating, but just a reading coincidence to share. Bought a remaindered copy of a new-to-me Malcolm Gladwell book titled The Bomber Mafia.

The psychologist Daniel Wegner has this beautiful concept called transactive memory, which is the observation that we don't just store information in our minds or in specific places. We also story memories and understanding in the minds of the people we love. You don't need to remember your child's emotional relationship to her teacher because you know your wife will; you don't have to remember how to work the remote because you know your daughter will. Little bits of ourselves reside in other people's minds. Wegner has a heartbreaking riff about what one member of a couple will often say when the other one dies—that some part of him or her died along with the partner. That, Wegner says, is literally true. When your partner dies, everything you have stored in that person's brain is gone.

C. S. Lewis wrote it more eloquently. From post >92 weird_O:

Did you ever know, dear, how much you took away with you when you left? You have stripped me even of my past, even of the things we never shared. I was wrong to say the stump was recovering from the pain of the amputation. I was deceived because it has so many ways to hurt me that I discover them only one by one.

Organizing your space (ie books) and updating your family tree sound like very familiar activities, Bill. Good luck with them. Have you checked out WikiTree? I recently watched a webinar about WikiTree, one of a few that I've seen over the years but I still only have one person on my tree at WikiTree. I probably should add some more names there too.

Springing out of isolation, I am.

Here's a reading update:

January
1. The 6:41 to Paris, Jean-Philippe Blondel. Finished 1/1/26. VG+
2. The Rejection Collection, Vol. 2, edited by Matthew Diffee. Finished 1/6/26. good+
3. Leonardo da Vinci, Sherwin B. Nuland. Finished 1/11/26. VG
4. James Turrell and Nicholas Mosse: Lapsed Quaker Ware, Jonathan Rickard. Finished 1/12/26. VG
5. Growing Up, Russell Baker. Finished 1/19/26. VG
6. Lincoln at Gettysburg, Garry Wills. Finished 1/29/26.VG+

February
7. Orbital, Samantha Harvey. Finished 2/3/26. ok
8. The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert. Finished 2/12/26. VG+
9. Brave Companions: Portraits in History, David McCullough. Finished 2/22/26. VG+

March
10. The Book Censor's Library, Bothayna Al-Essa. Finished 3/3/26. VG
11. Wit, Des McHale. Finished 3/3/26. ok
12. A Grief Observed, C. S. Lewis. Finished 3/13/26. good.
13. What the Dog Saw, Malcolm Gladwell. Finished 3/15/26. VG
14. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, James Weldon Johnson. Finished 3/20/26. VG
15. Eloise: A Book for Precocious Grown Ups, the first of a series by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight. Finished 3/26/26. ok
16. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. Finished 3/27/26. VG+

April
17. The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell. Finished 4/5/26. VG.
18. The Colorado Kid, Stephen King. Finished 4/12/26. VG+
19. The Book of Charlie, David Von Drehle. Finished 4/18/26. Really quite good.

Currently Reading as of 4/22/26
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan. Page 267 of 434.
On the Beach, Nevil Shute. Page 138 of 280.
The Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus. Page 11 of 125.
Rothko, Jacob Baal-Teshuva. Page 45 of 96.

   

The Weird_O Stack. The tradition continues.

>106 weird_O: Yay, the stack! Looking good!

Karen O

I have read 2 from your pile and have the thin Gladwell waiting its turn on the shelf. I read the other Gladwell and your book on top, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I love Gladwell.

Howdy, Bill. I hope you are doing well. I hope you are enjoying On the Beach. I have only seen the film The Diving Bell but I have not read the book. Good stuff? I wonder if Richard has read the Rothko bio. I know he is a huge fan.

>109 msf59: - There was a film made of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly? I had no idea! The book was riveting. I can't imagine how it translated into a film. I will see if our library has a dvd of it.

I saw your post about the disappointing number of books you have read this year. I have had the same problem. I keep trying to read books, but so far this year I have only read 21. That is down substantially from a year ago and I am not sure why my total is so low. I think the reason might be that I am reading books that are averaging between 4 and 5 hundred pages and they just take longer to read. Right now I am working on I Contain Multitudes. It is not a super long book, but I find that I must concentrate on it a bit more as I am reading, so my reading is slower.

I have not dug out my copy of Mambo Kings. But I don't have to. It is on a bookshelf in my living room and so easy to get to. (one of the few of my books that is easy to get to.)

>109 msf59: I am back to On the Beach, Mark, and I'm progressing pretty well. I looked up the film, and I was surprised by the star-power it packs. Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Tony Perkins. Will I seek it out to watch? I doubt it.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is good stuff in a couple of ways. The "event" is shocking, devastating, but the victim is remarkably positive. Having finished it, I rescanned passages and found myself actually rereading. Bauby is inspiring. (I searched for images, and realized most of what I found depicted scenes from a movie. Didn't pursue that.)

I am still clueless about Rothko. I think RD could explain the Rothko paintings better than the author of the book I'm reading.

>112 weird_O: There's a fine play available on video (National Theatre Live - NTLive) about Rothko that might give you insight into his painting as well as a really good set of performances. It's titled 'Red'.

>110 jessibud2: It is a French film and it is excellent. It was amazing how they could adapt it to film.

>112 weird_O: You may not get to the film of The Diving Bell but I may have to seek out the book. I did watch On the Beach starring Gregory Peck and it was a good film but as expected not quite as strong as the novel.

>92 weird_O: it only takes one sentence to give you a gut-punch sometimes, doesn't it? Sounds like a good and useful read.

Unrelatedly, when I read The Diving Bell and the Butterfly years ago, I was really struck by the torment he must have faced. Crikey (as they say), what a nightmare.

Gee whiz. Not even a week has gone by since my last post. I'm still reading and doing book-related chores, but not with the old focus and vigor.

April
17. The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell. Finished 4/5/26. VG.
18. The Colorado Kid, Stephen King. Finished 4/12/26. VG+
19. The Book of Charlie, David Von Drehle. Finished 4/18/26. Really quite good.

Currently Reading as of 4/24/26
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan. Page 267 of 434.
On the Beach, Nevil Shute. Page 147 of 280.
The Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus. Page 11 of 125.
Rothko, Jacob Baal-Teshuva. Page 45 of 96.

   

January
1. The 6:41 to Paris, Jean-Philippe Blondel. Finished 1/1/26. VG+
2. The Rejection Collection, Vol. 2, edited by Matthew Diffee. Finished 1/6/26. good+
3. Leonardo da Vinci, Sherwin B. Nuland. Finished 1/11/26. VG
4. James Turrell and Nicholas Mosse: Lapsed Quaker Ware, Jonathan Rickard. Finished 1/12/26. VG
5. Growing Up, Russell Baker. Finished 1/19/26. VG
6. Lincoln at Gettysburg, Garry Wills. Finished 1/29/26.VG+

February
7. Orbital, Samantha Harvey. Finished 2/3/26. ok
8. The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert. Finished 2/12/26. VG+
9. Brave Companions: Portraits in History, David McCullough. Finished 2/22/26. VG+

March
10. The Book Censor's Library, Bothayna Al-Essa. Finished 3/3/26. VG
11. Wit, Des McHale. Finished 3/3/26. ok
12. A Grief Observed, C. S. Lewis. Finished 3/13/26. good.
13. What the Dog Saw, Malcolm Gladwell. Finished 3/15/26. VG
14. The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, James Weldon Johnson. Finished 3/20/26. VG
15. Eloise: A Book for Precocious Grown Ups, the first of a series by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight. Finished 3/26/26. ok
16. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. Finished 3/27/26. VG+

April
17. The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell. Finished 4/5/26. VG.
18. The Colorado Kid, Stephen King. Finished 4/12/26. VG+
19. The Book of Charlie, David Von Drehle. Finished 4/18/26. Really quite good.

May
20. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
21. Rothko, Jacob Baal-Teshuva.
22. Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Canada, Bruce McCall. Finished 5/21/26

STILL Reading, as of 5/21/26...
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan. Page 267 of 434.
The Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus. Page 11 of 125.

 

PRETENDING to be reading...
I, Claudius, Robert Graves. Page 13 of 468.



EXPECTING to read...
The Light Between Oceans, M. L. Stedman. Page 1 of 345.
The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love, Oscar Hijuelos. Page 3 of 405.

 

WANTING to read…
We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, Jill LePore. Page xi of 789 (text only).

Hi Bill, nice update. I love your category "Pretending to be reading" !!

‘Morning, Bill! Happy Sunday. I am embarrassed that I've only visited once this year. I'm skippety-skipping through, avoided buying anything from Taschen although it hurts my heart to do so, and love your stack of read books, as always.

>72 weird_O: You are your own fairy godfather! Yay for the treasure trove of books.

>103 weird_O: Transactive memory is a fascinating concept that I've never heard of before, but it rings true.

>117 weird_O: I hope you like The Light Between Oceans as much as I did.

>117 weird_O: I have two right now in the "Pretending To Read" category. I've stalled out on both of them, but don't really want to give up. We'll see if they make it back into the "Reading" category. : )

Howdy, Bill. Happy Sunday. I hope all is well. A gentle reminder- we are reading The Light Between Oceans in June. I see you have it listed up there which is good. 😎

>118 lauralkeet: ...love your category "Pretending to be reading". Why thanks, Laura. Feel free to use it in your own book records. Consider it open-source.

>119 karenmarie: Hi, Karen. Have you been waiting long for this thread's proprietor? He's both unreliable and unpredictable. Do you like the tomes my fairy godperson gave me? I'm really excited to page through them. Might borrow Jeff's approach of writing up a book even before reading it. 'Cause these are many many pages long and will take a lot of time to page through, not to say digest. Check back, my friend.

Also, I've started reading that Stedman-authored novel, The Light Between Oceans. I gather you liked it a lot. I hope I will too. Just over 50 pages in.

>120 Berly: As I told Laura, feel free to use the "pretending to read" tag. I've actually got quite a few books that, as you noted, "I've stalled out on…, but don't really want to give up." Very familiar to me.

>121 msf59: Thanks for the nudge, Mark. I've donned the guise of The Unreliable Reader, so I appreciate your concern. I have the book in hand and have blinked my eyes over 50+ pages.

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

Wonders will never cease. I finished reading a book. Already! In June! And I even liked it. Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien. More to come, if it has too.

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

May
20. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
21. Rothko, Jacob Baal-Teshuva.
22. Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Canada, Bruce McCall. Finished 5/21/26

June
23. Going After Cacciato, Tim O'Brien. Finished 6/6/2026
24. When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day, Garrett Graff. 500 pages (not counting back matter)., 6/19/26. Excellent, yes,

Current Reading, as of 6/8/26
The Light Between Oceans, M. L. Stedman. Page 64 of 345.



STILL Reading, or PRETENDING to read, as of 5/21/26...
The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan. Page 267 of 434.
The Praise of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus. Page 11 of 125.
I, Claudius, Robert Graves. Page 13 of 468.

  

EXPECTING to read...
The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love, Oscar Hijuelos. Page 3 of 405.



WANTING to read…
We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, Jill LePore. Page xi of 789 (text only, not Notes or other back matter)

>122 weird_O: I have read 3 of Tim O'Brien's books to this point and have enjoyed them all. I still think that The Things They Carried is the best. Have you read that one, Bill?

Have a super Saturday!

Happy Saturday, Bill. I hope you are enjoying the weekend and having a good time with those books. Has The Light Between Oceans gotten any better for you? I should finish it up tomorrow.

>123 alcottacre: I've read only two of Tim O'Brien's books, Stasia. The Things They Carried and Going After Cacciato. I do have three others in the stacks. I'd be inclined to read America Fantastica next, though I am kinda hogtied by my own choices (see >122 weird_O:). Yes, I still want to complete all of them.

>124 msf59: I'm still at it, Mark, but only a short way past 100 pages. Too many distractions, I whine.

To be honest, the story hasn't taken me in a headlock and forced me to read unceasingly. I went for a haircut last week, and since I was well-behaved and didn't give Ruth a hard time, I stopped at a nearby B&N and bought two PKD titles and an unexpurgated, unabridged copy of The Count of Monte Crisco Cristo. Carrying that from store to car, then from car to my personal library, caused me to rupture. Woe is me!

         

Twin granddaughters, Helen (left) and Claire (right). Now they are 25.

>125 weird_O:
I have been thinking about making such a purchase. After your warning, I will wait to do so after I return from Chicago. I don't want to hurt myself until after my vacation. Sick leave, due to the heavy lifting Count of Monte Cristo will require, will look better on my Post Office leave time request than would an additional vacation time request.

There was a very nice review of the Count of Monte Cristo in one of the issues of the New York Review that I finally got around to reading. That combined with your warning/encouragement, has caused me to think seriously about attempting this endeavor.

>126 weird_O: Cute!! I'm still waiting for my first one...!

>127 benitastrnad: I read The Count of Monte Cristo quite some years ago, Benita. But Mister Mark staged a group read of it (was it last year?), and the chatter as he and others read it made me wonder about how many pages they were reading. Ah well, Homer here read an abridged edition.

>128 Berly: Keep the faith, Kim. (I've got six. All girls.)

Adding to the Annuls of the Hard to Believe...
I finished a book today. (!?!) When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day, Garrett M. Graff. Five hundred pages. And I charged through it in a week. Twenty-fifth read of 2026. Oh my, oh my.

I still have that stack of books that I maintain—absolutely—I'm reading (see >122 weird_O:). I've snuck Crying in H Mart into the stack; actually, I very quietly placed it on the top. Starting page 67 of 239. I'm also poised to resume reading The Light Between Oceans at. page 131 of 343. I confess that I'm not all that taken by Stedman's book.

Busy weekend. Pool party later today. Father's Day somethin' somethin' tomorrow. Weather is gorgeous.

Y'all have fun, too.