What Are You Reading Right Now?

[NewfieMom]

I just finished reading
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Gripping it is not. I suppose it is one of the better of the "theater of the absurd" that became popular in the wake of WWI.

I had to read that in French in high school. I doubt it was any better in French, but I probably was less bored than you because back then I would have been looking up every other word.

 

[JBG]

I had to read that in French in high school. I doubt it was any better in French, but I probably was less bored than you because back then I would have been looking up every other word.

Do you also remember it as boring?

 

[NewfieMom]

Do you also remember it as boring?

Definitely.

 

[Risky Thicket]

Five or six years ago I read “I Am Pigrim” on recommendation of a bookseller in Dublin. It was one hell of an adventurous read. The book by Terry Hayes became an international bestseller. Readers across the world begged for a sequel. For years. And years.

The promised release of the “The Year of the Locust” by Hayes was postponed so many times it began to be a wry international joke on bookseller sites.

Three years ago I ordered the book from Amazon in the UK. It arrived today, an early release or sorts as it is promised to be released in February 2024.

I am a happy man.

 

[Josie]

I just started this one:

Cloud Cuckoo Land

When everything is lost, it’s our stories that survive.…

www.goodreads.com

Constantinople, 1453:
An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love.

Idaho, 2020:
An impoverished, idealistic kid seeks revenge on a world that’s crumbling around him. Can he go through with it when a gentle old man stands between him and his plans?

Unknown, Sometime in the Future:
With her tiny community in peril, Konstance is the last hope for the human race. To find a way forward, she must look to the oldest stories of all for guidance.

Bound together by a single ancient text, these tales interweave to form a tapestry of solace and resilience and a celebration of storytelling itself. Like its predecessor All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr’s new novel is a tale of hope and of profound human connection.

 

[JBG]

Five or six years ago I read “I Am Pigrim” on recommendation of a bookseller in Dublin. It was one hell of an adventurous read. The book by Terry Hayes became an international bestseller. Readers across the world begged for a sequel. For years. And years.

The promised release of the “The Year of the Locust” by Hayes was postponed so many times it began to be a wry international joke on bookseller sites.

Three years ago I ordered the book from Amazon in the UK. It arrived today, an early release or sorts as it is promised to be released in February 2024.

I am a happy man.

Is it worth the wait?

 

[Risky Thicket]

Is it worth the wait?

At this point it looks as if it will be. Comparing to Haye’s previous book I’m hopeful.

If you are interested I recommend starting with his first book, I Am Pilgrim.

 

[Josie]

It might not be summer anymore, but I'm still reading it. Who's with me?

 

[maquiscat]

I'm on an full cast audio production of Ender's Game.

 

[Josie]

I'm on an full cast audio production of Ender's Game.
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I need to hear this.

 

[maquiscat]

I need to hear this.

If you have Audible, I think it's free with subscription. Found a whole bunch of Alien books like that too.

 

[KingLeo]

Two books.

Holly, the latest Stephen King (long time fan)
and a biography on Archimedes called The Eureka Man by Alan Hirshfeld

 

[JBG]

I just finished reading The Return of Wolves: An Iconic Predator’s Struggle to Survive in the American West by Eli Francovich. This subject has always been a favorite of mine. I will give it four stars, with, as usual, my quibbles. The foremost quibble would be the end, where the author seems to hint at almost a mystical relationship among wolves, their prey and humans. The best part is his rare recognition that wolves are not an unmixed blessing to the wild.

The author focuses on eastern Washington State, an interesting amalgam of a conservative, anti-wolf minority ensconced in a deeply liberal, urban-dominated state. One of the original points he makes is that wolves may never have been as abundant as mythologized. After American Indian populations were severely reduced by epidemics of smallpox and other diseases, buffalo and wolf populations apparently had a temporary explosion, terminated by the spread of white man through the Plains and mountains to the West. While the goal of the National Park system is to "restore" nature to pre-settlement conditions, an important qualifier is that American Indians kept prey and thus wolf populations in check. The author discusses and almost advocates a system of "range-riding" on horseback to keep livestock depredations to a minimum, but at some point hints that it may be susceptible to fraud, or not scalable to widespread use.

The book, ultimately, taught me a lot but left me confused.

 

[maquiscat]

Found a neat new series, or at least set. The Dark Herbalist series by Michael Atamanov. It's been fun and m not sure how it will read in print, but the reader for the audiobook makes it interesting for when the MMO presents messages to the main character.

 

[Josie]

Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their 12 children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins—aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony—and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the 10 Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family?

What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institute of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amid profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the disease for future generations.

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

A new book that just came out by Geddy Lee and its called My Effin' Life.

 

[uptower]

I’ve always got several books on the go. One is Monuments Men, the true story the film is based on about the branch dedicated to protecting and recovering art and antiquities during WW2. Another is Ninja by John Mann, an objective and historical look at the legends and facts surrounding them; I have a traveller in my cabin bag when I’m away for work - currently Off the Map which explores forgotten places and abandoned spaces around the world; finally in anticipation of the upcoming miniseries remake I’ve started Shogun, which I first read twenty years ago. It’s one of the few novels I have on my overflowing bookshelf.

 

[Rexedgar]

Leapfrogging through

The Freemasons, Templars, Mafia, (and offshoots,) and Skull and Bones were of particular interest. Interesting chapter on the secretive Yale society that has had so many members affect our political direction. Prescott Bush, the father and grandfather of two US Presidents and a US Senator himself, has interesting pre WW2 ties.

John Lawrence Reynolds 2006 first published in Canada

I hope Josie takes notice….

 

[JBG]

I used this reading Blindsight is 2020: Reflections on Covid policies by Gabrielle Bauer. If ever there was a book that needed writing it was this one. If there was ever an author that needed to write this book, it was Gabrielle Bauer. The author reflects thoughts that I have had since a few days after I was personally affected by the lockdown. the week began normally. The parking lot to the train station were almost full and most people were happily at work. A few people have their children in because their schools had already closed on a day to day basis. By the end of that week, on Friday, March 13th, 2020 we were in a different world. The train parking lots were almost empty, the trains were empty, the sidewalks of New York were empty, and Broadway theater had been closed the night before. Our office ordered pizza in “ for people brave enough to come to work. Quote that was the word of the email that announced the pizza offering. The next day I decided to go to a movie, being fairly certain that would be the last such occasion. I saw “Once We Were Brothers” about The Band. During the movie, I received the officer's email that we were closed effective that Monday. The following Saturday , March 21st, 2020 was rather warm spring day and the tennis courts were full , presumably with people bored out of their minds by the lockdown. The next day cover our villages mayor locked the tennis courts. When I wrote to ask why the residents were being “punished” his answer was that the tennis balls might carry COVID.

I describe the conditions not to Digress come up to set the scene. This book was all about social media and government engendered panic that led to the destruction of a lot of social values. The author describes, through descriptions of interviews and writings by the courageous dissidents of the panic come over reaction and affect of that maelstrom. I personally was regarded as mentally unstable by questioning, even to close friends, the insanity of the Times. I do not want to spoil the book but I will let you in on the ending; The author ends to a citation of The Rolling Stones great song “You Can't Always Get What You Want,” To make free point that life is governed by choices, and should not be governed by diktat coming from not particularly gifted, compassionate were caring government officials. Governments throughout the world, with certain courageous exceptions as Sweden and South Dakota, we're not willing to let people make adult choices; and either did those officials.

I will have a lot more to say on other threads and in other places.

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

I used this reading Blindsight is 2020: Reflections on Covid policies by Gabrielle Bauer. If ever there was a book that needed writing it was this one. If there was ever an author that needed to write this book, it was Gabrielle Bauer. The author reflects thoughts that I have had since a few days after I was personally affected by the lockdown. the week began normally. The parking lot to the train station were almost full and most people were happily at work. A few people have their children in because their schools had already closed on a day to day basis. By the end of that week, on Friday, March 13th, 2020 we were in a different world. The train parking lots were almost empty, the trains were empty, the sidewalks of New York were empty, and Broadway theater had been closed the night before. Our office ordered pizza in “ for people brave enough to come to work. Quote that was the word of the email that announced the pizza offering. The next day I decided to go to a movie, being fairly certain that would be the last such occasion. I saw “Once We Were Brothers” about The Band. During the movie, I received the officer's email that we were closed effective that Monday. The following Saturday , March 21st, 2020 was rather warm spring day and the tennis courts were full , presumably with people bored out of their minds by the lockdown. The next day cover our villages mayor locked the tennis courts. When I wrote to ask why the residents were being “punished” his answer was that the tennis balls might carry COVID.

I describe the conditions not to Digress come up to set the scene. This book was all about social media and government engendered panic that led to the destruction of a lot of social values. The author describes, through descriptions of interviews and writings by the courageous dissidents of the panic come over reaction and affect of that maelstrom. I personally was regarded as mentally unstable by questioning, even to close friends, the insanity of the Times. I do not want to spoil the book but I will let you in on the ending; The author ends to a citation of The Rolling Stones great song “You Can't Always Get What You Want,” To make free point that life is governed by choices, and should not be governed by diktat coming from not particularly gifted, compassionate were caring government officials. Governments throughout the world, with certain courageous exceptions as Sweden and South Dakota, we're not willing to let people make adult choices; and either did those officials.

I will have a lot more to say on other threads and in other places.

So its a book written by an antivaxx conspiracy moron?

Meh. Not really interested.

I will have a lot more to say on other threads and in other places.

Oh boy!! can't wait! I'll bet that will be some good stuff.

 

[JBG]

So its a book written by an antivaxx conspiracy moron?

Meh. Not really interested.



Oh boy!! can't wait! I'll bet that will be some good stuff.

Anti-vaxx was a small part of it and she's hardly a moron. One of the best books I've read that isn't a classic. The lockdowns caused grievous damage.

 

[Josie]

Perfect spicy novella for a chilly day.

 

[Josie]

And now...

Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend.

Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They will need to ask it a lot. Chambers' series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

 

[JBG]

I read Argo: How the CIA & Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History by Antonio J. Méndez back in 2016. Exciting and well-written, this book really brings you back to the dark days of 1979-80. The Canadians really provided a ray of light. The Canadians really provided a ray of light. I read that book in 2016 when I was not regularly posting my reading.

 

[JBG]

I just finished reading Golda Meir: Israel’s Matriarch by Deborah E. Lipstadt. I am the big fan of Deborah Libstadt's writing, and when faced with a choice of reading this book, of 250 or so pages compared to Gol'da Meirs own memoir, either approaching or over 1000 pages, the choice was obvious. It is refreshing to read a book about a much admired historical figure that is decidedly neutral and is hagiography. The subject was a flawed human being and the book is not perfect either.

First my quibbles. The book contained few of Golda Meir's noteworthy quotes. Her quotes and sayings were a large part of her legacy to the world. That is one of the reasons I give the book a 4 rather than a 5. That being said, this book contains much in the way of new information about the founding of Israel and the lead up to Israel's creation that I did not know. I read voraciously about Israel because I'm proud of my Jewish Heritage. I had previously read biographies of David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin, and the autobiography of Moshe Dayan. I was afraid there would not be very much new and I was surprised.

A word about this author. Professor Lipstad specializes in the study of Holocaust denial. She wrote a creditable and recommended work outside of her field of particular expertise.