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Not on a great run at the moment. Read the new Robert Harris Precipice. About British government on the verge of WWI and the affair Asquith was having, pretty dull.
Started Rubicon by Tom Holland as I'm a big fan of his podcast The Rest is History. It's about the Roman Republic and although well researched, has none of the wit of his spoken work.
Now am reading The Year of the Locust. It's so badly written, I can't believe his editor signed off on it. Probably because I am Pilgrim was such a bestseller, he has a ton of leeway but it's really bad. Need to stop reading thrillers and go back to literary fiction.
I finished reading Demian by Hermann Hesse about a month and a half ago. I felt some trepidation before reading this book. Back in the summer of 1973, I was on a teen tour called Trails West. one of my friends there, Jonathan, was a stunningly brilliant, straight-A Honor Student. I learned this book from his discussions with other people on the trip. I was sure that the book was above my intellectual level. I bought the book during approximately summer of 1980, but did not touch it until now. When I was randomly searching for my next book, I put my hands on it and decided “why not." I am rather pleased with myself that I did. Most “reviewers” on Goodreads classify this book as young adult. I find it to be deeply philosophical, and can be read at many levels. There are discussions of goodwill. The author seems to land quite solidly on both sides of the fence on whether or not people have free will.Herman Hesse from Demian said:But where we have given of our love and respect not from habit but of our own free will, where we have been disciples and friends out of our inmost hearts, it is a bitter and horrible moment when we suddenly recognize that the current within us wants to pull us away from what ls dearest to us. Then every thought that rejects the friend and mentor turns in our own hearts like a poisoned barb, then each blow struck in defense flies back into one's own face, the words "disloyalty" and "ingratitude" strike the person who feels he was morally sound like catcalls and stigma, and the frightened heart flees timidly back to the charmed valleys of childhood virtues, unable to believe that this break, too, must be made, this bond also broken.
One of my New Year resolutions is to read a book a week. I'm off to a late start as I was busy procrastinating.
I go to the library and walk the stacks until something catches my eye. I screwed up today by going at lunch time.
The library is attached to the local middle school you see and the kiddos have lunch and read. And talk. My ears are still ringing.
Anyway this week's book is The Rule of Three, a murder mystery by E.G. Scott. So far I can't put it down.
Glad he enjoyed it! It’s a great novel. I’m going to get another by him when I’m next book shopping.I just finished the last two books in the Mitch Rapp series started by Vince Flynn that were written by the author Kyle Mills, who started to write his novels after Mr. Flynn's tragic death from cancer at a young age. There is a new book in the series out, by a third author, which has received good reviews. I will read that, too.
After my adventure books I went back to my cozy mysteries set in the English countryside...with dragons. I didn't know I would become so attracted to these books, which are awfully silly. But they are quirky and unusual. I enjoy being surprised by the odd things the author comes up with, even if the books are very slow moving. (Some of the female English authors I read, serious ones, have action move at a glacial pace, too.) I am currently reading Game of Scones. (The women in these books do a great deal of baking and their recipes are available.)
I should also mention that I gave my husband Augustus by John Williams, recommended by Decypher, for Christmas and that he started reading it while still here. He loved it! Thank you, @Decypher.
An instant New York Times, Washington Post, and USA TODAY bestseller—based on the true story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris during World War II—The Paris Library is a moving and unforgettable “ode to the importance of libraries, books, and the human connections we find within both” (Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author).
This sounds like it would be a good movie.I just finished reading Goyhood (Hardcover) by Reuven Fenton. I give it a 3 1/2. The concept of the novel is promising; two twin children in Georgia whose mother and by extension the children, with the help of a Rabbi, more or less declare themselves Jewish. One of the twins moves to Brooklyn to an ultra-Orthodox life. His spiritual mentor sets him up for an arranged marriage, into a moneyed family. His mother's tragic death brings to their attention that they are not Jewish.
What follows is some slapstick comedy, perhaps too much. I won't spoil the ending. The novel is a promising first work by a journalist; editing and organization would have helped. Still I will read this writer's next work. I think he's on to greatness.
AgreedThis sounds like it would be a good movie.
Salman Rushie from The Knife said:The idea came to him [Nietzsche] of what he called "the love of your fate." Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, "This is what I need." ... Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life.
After a while one realizes that what is being said here is a cliche, which probably isn't true. To express it in ordinary English: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But does it? Does it really?
*****
There are no second drafts. ****As I recovered from my wounds, both physical and psychological, I was far from sure that I would emerge from the experience stronger. I was just happy to be emerging from the experience alive. Whether stronger or weaker, it was too soon to tell. What I did know was that, thanks to a combination of luck, the skill of surgeons, and loving care, I had been given a second chance. I was getting what Kundera believed impossible-a second shot at life. I had beaten the odds. So now the question was: When you are given a second opportunity, what do you do with it? How do you use it? What should you do the same way, what might you do differently?
I am so glad you are well. You were also in my backyard when you were at Greenwich Hospital. I volunteered as a candystriper there when I was 15, working in the Central Supply Room under the watchful eye of a Head Nurse. (They wore caps in those days.) (We wore red and white pinafore type uniforms over white blouses, if I remember correctly.) I learned how to fold towels and blankets really, really well. I looked at the glamorous 18 year-old nurse's aides in their blue and white uniforms who could handle syringes and things we couldn't go near. They were really old and pretty. I wanted to be one someday. And guess what? When I graduated from high school at 18, I got a job that summer as a nurse's aide at Greenwich Hospital! I got the blue and white uniform and all the glamour of being a nurse's aide.I just finished reading Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie. The book is about the famous author Salman Rushdie, who was knifed and severely injured given a lecture in upstate New York on August 12, 2022. The book is a definite "five star." A short excerpt, bridging two chapters:
Personally I have had recent occasion for this kind of reflection. In late December I was admitted to Greenwich Hospital for exploratory diagnostic surgery. The admission form said "patient has pancreatic CA" which basically is a death sentence. The first set of biopsies, taken through an endoscope on December 30, 2024 came back benign. My GI didn't totally believe it because of certain symptoms and lab results. On January 29, 2025 a second set of biopsies, also through an endoscope, confirmed. The doctor called me and said "you dodged a bullet."
Since then I feel that I have been a lot more straightforward, and cut out most of my sarcasm. My legal writing has gotten more careful and more thorough. I have noticed other changes in myself. This is not my first near-death experience; when I was ten, on December 2, 1967 I plunged through the ice on a pond in Scarsdale. My head went under a few times. My body temperature dropped below what the thermometer would read. Again, after a few hours in White Plains Hospital I emerged relatively unscathed. I was not, as a ten year old, as philosophical.
Knife is an extraordinary reflection on a near-death experience, and its effects, both physical and mental. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Thanks for Material World - 500pp. Looks interesting. I remember reading The Prize, it was/is a good one.I am ashamed to say I am really not one to read a lot of books but I've tried to force myself to do it lately. I'm a voracious reader of periodicals, including highly complex academic studies and papers, but I just don't read a lot of literature per se, and I feel like it's a flaw.
Books I've read (okay, mostly read) recently:
- The Prize, by Daniel Yergin. It's about the history of oil and energy.
- Material World, by Ed Conway. A book about the 6 raw materials that shape our world.
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