Really liked the lonesome dove four books when I read them back in college
The Murderbot Diaries
Search tells me they’ve been mentioned twice already but I’m going to promote them again anyway. I just burned through 4 novellas in 3 days and am about to start the first full length novel. They’re about an introverted, misanthropic security cyborg that hacked its own governing module so it can be a free agent and spend its downtime watching serial dramas. Lots of fun to read and frequently laugh out loud hilarious.
holy shit
Glass Hotel or Station Eleven?
Both. Almost literally read both back-to-back in one sitting, barring a sleep break obv, this past weekend.
Station Eleven first if you’re curious.
I have a feeling this is gonna ruin me for awhile on other books. I started reading some psychological thriller that won or got shortlisted for awards and three chapters in I’m like, “It’s fine… even good… but goddamn it ain’t no Emily St. John Mandel.”
Awesome. I am 1.25 books away from the end of my reading queue, and I was starting to get anxious. I guess I’m covered for one additional sitting.
Some recent acquisitions
The Tale of Genji set is the hardcover edition of a 2001 translation, now only available in paperback as a single volume.
The Mark Twain set was published in 2020 by Abbeville press, using Norman Rockwell illustrations from 1936 and 1940 editions. https://www.abbeville.com/
The Kafka volume is a special edition published on the hundredth anniversary of his birth (1983).
But how did they compare with Lonesome Dove: the Series starring Bret Hart?
Im guessing pretty well. :)
About half way and enjoying it so far. Some interesting case studies.
Reread Barbra Tuchmans Guns of August about the events leading up to the outbreak of WW1 and the first month of conflict, which defined its parameters.
This made me realize that I should have a deeper understanding of WW2. I tried to find the best single volume history from the last 20 years. Amazon/google led me to the Second World Wars by Victor Davis Hanson, but he’s a high volume scrivener associated with the National Review who’s written a pro Trump book, so seemed like a bad idea. (Though it was decently reviewed by serious people.)
Finally found a good reddit thread on the question of best single volume history and general concensus is that Beevor’s The Second World War from 2012, so reading that now.
my diversity book club is going to read ‘Weapons of Math Destruction’. looking forward drinking hemlock and wine during that one.
I started this short story collection a couple of days ago and am really enjoying it. I think it counts as “diverse”.
I need some good suggestions for audible books about mountain climbing or big wall adventures or basically anything like exploration adventures or war action that keeps me riveted.
I’m hitting the diet pretty hard and also hiking and working out a ton. Stuff like Ed Viesturs book about K2 (or Into Thin Air obviously) and or even Krakauer’s book about Pat Tillman, keep me completely engrossed and help me push through.
I think I’m running out of books about big Himalaya climbs. But I know there are tons of other climbing adventure stories. Has to be audible though.
I read Blackhawk Down when it came out but am thinking about reading it again - to give an idea of the kind of riveting adventure/tragedy (which sounds weird to say but it keeps me engaged) I’m looking for.
Hell in a Very Small Place by Bernard Fall
We Were Soldiers Once… and Young by Hal Moore
Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda by Sean Naylor
The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell by John Crawford (not really pure war action, more like Jarhead, but still riveting)
Two books I couldn’t really finish
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
The first book in the series is a masterpiece. I couldn’t put it down. Its structure, a Canterbury Tales like structure of a series of people telling how they ended up all together, could have been terrible, but instead works perfectly with questions you have in one story get answered in another. I swore the author was reading my mind. It’d be impossible to film but id love to see it as a movie.
This on the other hand is a straightforward epic sci story, but all the mystery and mysteriousness of the first book is replaced with more linear plotting. The interesting characters in the first book turn into convential protagonists. I just lost interest and couldnt keep going.
The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
Most political policy books really can be summed up in like 10 pages but then have 300 extra pages of antidotes, facts and figures.
It’s not a bad book. The thesis is that race was used to destroy public goods that benefited people of color and white people and by bridging the color and advocating for universal public goods will make a better society of all.
In address race vs class she talks about addressing both.
Like I said a good book, but like I just can’t get through political policy books unless they’re doing something outside of the box.
I’ll probably finish it, chapter by chapter at a time, but for now Ive lost interest.
You might like Ilium and Olympus from Simmons. It’s Homer and the Tempest instead of Keats and the Canterbury Tales. It’s not a frame story, but my recollection is that it remains a bit more committed to the “wtf is going on” bit for longer.
I’m in the middle of Fall of Hyperion now and tbh I’m enjoying it just as much as the first book. Hyperion is definitely a better written book - all of the stories would be outstanding as standalone short stories, except maybe the soldier’s tale which was kind of meh. But Hyperion left me with so many unanswered questions that I’m appreciating the more straightforward rapid fire plot progression of the second book. Doubt I’ll read either of the Endymion books, though, assuming this book wraps up the pilgrims’ stories.
I’ll take a look at them