Books Read 2022

[Isgrimnur]

1. Homage To Catalonia - George Orwell
2. Destroyer of Planets (Neon Octopus Overlord #1) - L.A. Johnson
3. Wings of Fire: A Combat History of the F-15

[Jolor]

Library loan
Highly recommended

Finished
The Untold Story - Genevieve Cogman
Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
Fugitive Telemetry - Martha Wells
Frankenstein in Baghdad - Ahmed Sadawi
Jade Legacy - Fonda Lee
The Silvered Serpents - Roshani Chokshi
A History of What Comes Next - Sylvain Neuvel
By Gaslight - Steven Price

The Black Tides of Heaven - Neon Yang
The Red Threads of Fortune - Neon Yang
What Should Be Wild - Julia Fine
Get In Trouble - Kelly Link
The Descent of Monsters - Neon Yang
The Ascent to Godhood - Neon Yang
The Last Wish - Andrzej Sapkowski (reread)
Four Lost Cities - Annalee Newitz

The Embroidered Book - Kate Heartfield
All the Seas of the World - Guy Gavriel Kay
Sword of Destiny - Andrzej Sapkowski
Until the Last of Me - Sylvain Neuvel
The Blood of Elves - Andrzej Sapkowski
Finale - Ian Hamilton
The Trouble With Peace - Joe Abercrombie
The Time of Contempt - Andrzej Sapkowski

Baptism of Fire - Andrzej Sapkowski
The Men - Sandra Newman
The Tower of Swallows - Andrzej Sapkowski
The Lady of the Lake - Andrzej Sapkowski
Book of Night - Holly Black
The Wisdom of Crowds - Joe Abercrombie
Silver in the Wood - Emily Tesh
The Warehouse - Rob Hart

A Deadly Education - Naomi Novik
Someone in Time - Strahan, (ed.)
The Last Graduate - Naomi Novik
Season of Storms - Andrzej Sapkowski
The Golden Enclaves - Naomi Novik
The Bronzed Beasts - Roshani Chokshi
Babel - R. F. Kuang
A Dead Djinn in Cairo - P. Djèlí Clark

A Master of Djinn - P. Djèlí Clark
The Albion Initiative (A Newbury and Hobbes Investigation) - George Mann
A Mirror Mended - Alix E. Harrow
The Wolf and the Woodsman - Ava Reid

Reading
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

TBR | Library Holds
Wayward - Chuck Wendig
The Cartographers - Peng Shepherd
The Once and Future Witches - Alix E. Harrow
The General of Tiananmen Square (An Ava Lee Novel) - Ian Hamilton
The Engine of History: The Magus Conspiracy (An Assassin's Creed Novel) - Kate Heartfield

[disarm]

Currently Reading

?


Finished

Leviathan Falls (The Expanse Book 9)
Drive - An Expanse Short Story
The Sins of Our Fathers - An Expanse Novella
Seven Eves - Neal Stephenson

[Holman]

Not listing reading for teaching this time (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Shelley, Conrad, Achebe, LeGuin, etc).

Susan Orlean, The Library Book. A deep appreciation of libraries in a study of the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire.
Cixin Liu, The Three-Body Problem. Translated Chinese SF blockbuster, first of a trilogy. Asimovian.
Alex de Campi & Khai Krumbhaar, True War Stories. Graphic novel "Tales of Deployment." Not about combat as such.
Duncan Jones and Alex de Campi, MADI: Once Upon a Time in the Future. Graphic novel multi-author/multi-illustrator cyberpunk.
James S.A. Corey, Cibola Burn. Book 4 of the The Expanse series.

Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. Story of my life.
Kevin Kruse & Julian Zelizer, Fault Lines: A History of the U.S. since 1974. Also the story of my life.
George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman. First of the ribald, offensive, amazing Flashman historical novels.
Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah. Revisiting the 1st Dune sequel.
David(s) Graeber & Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything. Delightfully bitchy for a work of ground-breaking anthropology.

Gary Shteyngart, Super Sad True Love Story. 2010's weirdly brilliant and prophetic novel of modern love and media obsession.
Gary Shteyngart, Our Country Friends. A modernized Russian novel filtered through American COVID experience. Funny & sharp.
Gene Wolfe, The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories. Brilliant short SF from the master.
Gene Wolfe, Endangered Species. More brilliant short SF from the master.
Gene Wolfe, Innocents Aboard. More more brilliant short SF from the master.

[Eel Snave]

Finished:

All About Me! by Mel Brooks

Currently reading:

The Orchid Thief
Conspiracy of Fools

[YellowKing]

Currently Reading:



Finished:

Dune - Brian Herbert
Hasty for the Dark - Adam L.G. Nevill
Sojourn - R.A. Salvatore
Growing Things and Other Stories - Paul Tremblay (Audiobook)
Spellmonger - Terry Mancour
Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World - Jack Weatherford
Sandstorm - James Rollins
Hotel Chelsea - Jeremy Bates
The Vines - Christopher Rice
The House By the Cemetery - John Everson
The World of Lore: Dreadful Places - Aaron Mehnke
The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man who Captured Lincoln's Ghost - Peter Maneau
Classic Monsters Unleashed - Collected by Kim Newman
The Influencer - Alex Grass
Luke Skywalker Can't Read and Other Geeky Truths - Ryan Britt
The Grand Hotel - Scott Kenemore
Ready Player Two - Ernest Cline (Audiobook)
Geek Love - Katherine Dunn (Audiobook)
Chain Saw Confidential - Gunnar Hansen (Audibook)
The Crystal Shard - R. A. Salvatore
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels - Jason Schreier (Audiobook)
Yours Cruelly, Elvia - Cassandra Peterson (Audiobook)
Clown in a Cornfield - Adam Cesare (Audiobook)
The Unidentified - Colin Dickey (Audiobook)
The Hunger - Alma Matsu (Audiobook)
Haunted Houses: Classic Tales of Doors That Should Never Be Opened - Various
The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaValle
Washington: A Life - Ron Chernow
Streams of Silver - R.A. Salvatore
Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror - Michael Mallory
The World of IT - Alyse Wax
Monsters in the Movies: 100 Years of Cinematic Nightmares - John Landis
Swords and Deviltry - Fritz Leiber
Swords Against Death - Fritz Leiber
Swords in the Mist - Fritz Leiber
The Halfling's Gem - R.A. Salvatore
The Spellmonger's Honeymoon - Terry Mancour
My Best Friend's Exorcism - Grady Hendrix
Warmage - Terry Mancour
The Darkwater Bride - Marty Ross
Kaiju Preservation Society - John Scalzi
Chasing Ghosts: A Tour of Our Fascination with Spirits and the Supernatural - Marc Hartzman
Mosquito Man - Jeremy Bates
The Sleep Experiment - Jeremy Bates
The Man From Taured - Jeremy Bates
Smoke Jensen: The Beginning - William M. Johnstone
The Legacy - R.A. Salvatore
Taking Shape: Developing Halloween from Script to Scream - Dustin McNeill & Travis Mullins
Desert Death Song - Louis L'Amour
Merfolk - Jeremy Bates
The Soul of an Octopus - Sy Montgomery
Junk - Les Bohem

[malchior]

Currently reading - Physical

Young Stalin - Simon Sebag Montefiore

Currently listening - Audiobook

Expanse: Cibola Burn

[ImLawBoy]

Another underwhelming year for reading in terms of overall quantity, but at least I got one more book in this year than last.

Books Finished
Dune - Frank Herbert (paper)
Five Decembers - James Kestrel (Kindle)
A Troll Walks into a Bar - Douglas Lumsden (paper)
Falling Man - Don DeLillo (paper)
No Way Back - J.B. Turner (Kindle)
Duma Key - Stephen King (paper)
Ring Shout - P. Djèlí Clark (paper)
The Sandman Vol. 1 - Preludes and Nocturnes - Neil Gaiman (writer); Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg and Malcolm Jones III (Illustrators); Robbie Busch (coloring); Todd Klein (lettering) (DC Unlimited app)
Moon Witch, Spider King - Marlon James (Kindle)
The Sandman Vol. 2 - The Doll's House - Neil Gaiman (writer); Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli and Steve Parkhouse (Illustrators); Robbie Busch (coloring); Todd Klein (lettering) (paper)
Dead Beat - Jim Butcher (Kindle)
Titus Groan - Mervyn Peake (paper)
The Sandman Vol. 3 - Dream Country - Neil Gaiman (writer); Kelley Jones, Charles Vess, Colleen Doran and Malcolm Jones III (Illustrators); Robbie Busch and Steve Oliff (coloring); Todd Klein (lettering) (paper)
Disappearance at Devil's Rock - Paul Tremblay (Kindle)
Fairy Tale - Stephen King (paper)

Currently Reading
Proven Guilty - Jim Butcher (Kindle)

2021 - 14 Books Read

[El Guapo]

Another underwhelming year for reading in terms of overall quantity, but at least I got one more book in this year than last.

Books Finished
Loading . . . .

Currently Reading
Five Decembers - James Kestrel (Kindle)
Dune - Frank Herbert (paper)

2021 - 14 Books Read

Do you listen to audio books? I didn't until last year, and I strongly recommend it. I don't have a ton of time to read (especially now that I'm not commuting to work on the train) and spend a lot of time reading for work, so I don't usually get through a ton of written books. But I can listen to audio books while driving, doing dishes, etc., so that greatly expanded the number of books I can get through. I think I did more audio than physical books in 2021.

[El Guapo]

Reading



Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman





Completed

Upheaval, by Jared Diamond.
The Steal: The Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election and the People Who Stopped It, by Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague
Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA by Tim Mak (audio book).
If the Allies Had Fallen, by various.
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
Max and the Midknights: The Tower of Time by Lincoln Peirce
Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss (audio book)
How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur (audio book)
Once Upon a Time in Russia (audio book) by Ben Mezrich
Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum
The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss
DUNE: The Graphic Novel, Book 2: Muad’Dib, by Brian Herbert & others.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
What If? 2 by Randall Monroe
The Slow Regard of Silent Things: Kingkiller Chronicle, Book 2.5 by Patrick Rothfuss
She-Hulk Epic Collection: Breaking The Fourth Wall by John Byrne.
Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart (audio book)
Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties, by David de Jong
The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones.

Looks like ~ 19 books completed this year, which is down materially from 28 last year. Oh well - should pick it up this year, get to at least 25.

[Z-Corn]

Maybe I'll actually try to keep track for a year...

1. The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight by Jimmy Breslin

[Jeff V]

Read
Flotilla Attack by Duncan Harding (A)
Parallel Worlds by Michio Kaku (A)
Absolute Power by David Baldacci (A)
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert (A)
Red Book by James Patterson (A)
We Are the Weather by Jonathan Safran Foer (A)
Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld (A)
November 1918 - The German Revolution by Robert Gerwarth (A)
Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations by Admiral William H. McRaven (A)
Later by Stephen King (A)

Doctors from Hell by Vivian Spitz (A)
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathanial Philbrick (A)
The Assassination of Julius Caesar by Michael Parenti (A)
Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku (A)
Madam by Debby Applegate (A)
The Last Protector by Simon Gervais (K)
Music is History by Questlove (A)
The Future of Humanity by Michio Kaku (A)
Better off Dead by Lee Child and Andrew Child (A)
Sea of Greed by Clive Cussler (A)

Children of Ash and Elm - A History of the Vikings by Neil Price
Sooley by John Grisham
Daylight by David Baldacci
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard
The Scorpion's Tale by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
A Gambling Man by David Baldacci
The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Journey to the Battle of Tsushima by Constantine V Pleshakov
Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led the World's Bloodiest Mutiny by Mike Dash
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

A Minute to Midnight by David Baldacci
Dream Town by David Baldacci
Mercy by David Baldacci

Reading
The Roman Games by Captivating History (K)


2022 totals: Books read: 33 Pages Read: 13,191 Pages per Day: 58

2021 totals: Books Read: 79 Pages Read: 32, 076 Pages per Day: 89
2019 Totals Books read: 85 Pages Read: 31,678 Pages per day: 87
2020 totals: Books Read: 79 Pages Read: 32,535
2018 totals - Books read: 104 Pages Read: 32,646 Pages per day: 89

[hitbyambulance]

Currently Reading:

Sojourn - R.A. Salvatore
Spellmonger - Terry Mancour
Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World - Jack Weatherford
Hotel Chelsea - Jeremy Bates
Sandstorm - James Rollins
Hasty for the Dark - Adam L.G. Nevill
The Vines - Christopher Rice
The House By the Cemetery - John Everson
The World of Lore: Dreadful Places - Aaron Mehnke
The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man who Captured Lincoln's Ghost - Peter Maneau
Growing Things and Other Stories - Paul Tremblay (Audiobook)
Ready Player Two - Ernest Cline
Great Ghost Stories - Compiled by Stefan Dziemianowicz

someone who reads more books at one time than i do (i usually have five to nine going at once)

[YellowKing]

someone who reads more books at one time than i do (i usually have five to nine going at once)

Yeah I get bored easily, and for some reason reading a chapter from each keeps me motivated. I've done that ever since I was a teenager, even with physical books.

[ImLawBoy]

Another underwhelming year for reading in terms of overall quantity, but at least I got one more book in this year than last.

Books Finished
Loading . . . .

Currently Reading
Five Decembers - James Kestrel (Kindle)
Dune - Frank Herbert (paper)

2021 - 14 Books Read

Do you listen to audio books? I didn't until last year, and I strongly recommend it. I don't have a ton of time to read (especially now that I'm not commuting to work on the train) and spend a lot of time reading for work, so I don't usually get through a ton of written books. But I can listen to audio books while driving, doing dishes, etc., so that greatly expanded the number of books I can get through. I think I did more audio than physical books in 2021.

I don't and I'm not likely to start. My brain isn't wired right to focus on audio books. My oldest son primarily listens to audio books due to his disabilities preventing him from reading a book in a more traditional manner, so I've grown to appreciate their utility and some of the readers do a great job of performing the material. From those, however, I also know that if I'm not concentrating on the audio book, my mind wanders too much and if I am concentrating on the audio book - well let's just say that wouldn't be too safe for other drivers or for our dishes.

[Jeff V]

I don't and I'm not likely to start. My brain isn't wired right to focus on audio books.

I would suggest trying it -- I assumed (falsely) that I was the same way. If you have a library card, chances are you can just download Overdrive to your phone, and check out audiobooks without ever leaving your EZ chair. Start with an action story that'll grab your attention -- anything read by Scott Brick (he does Clive Cussler, Steve Berry. the last few Jack Reacher novels, and others, including non-fiction). That guy could read the phone book and grab your attention.

[Isgrimnur]

Destroyer of Planets (Neon Octopus Overlord #1).

While it does not paint the NOO in the best light, the chronicle is a quick, amusing read.

[Rumpy]

Another underwhelming year for reading in terms of overall quantity, but at least I got one more book in this year than last.

Books Finished
Loading . . . .

Currently Reading
Five Decembers - James Kestrel (Kindle)
Dune - Frank Herbert (paper)

2021 - 14 Books Read

Do you listen to audio books? I didn't until last year, and I strongly recommend it. I don't have a ton of time to read (especially now that I'm not commuting to work on the train) and spend a lot of time reading for work, so I don't usually get through a ton of written books. But I can listen to audio books while driving, doing dishes, etc., so that greatly expanded the number of books I can get through. I think I did more audio than physical books in 2021.

I don't and I'm not likely to start. My brain isn't wired right to focus on audio books. My oldest son primarily listens to audio books due to his disabilities preventing him from reading a book in a more traditional manner, so I've grown to appreciate their utility and some of the readers do a great job of performing the material. From those, however, I also know that if I'm not concentrating on the audio book, my mind wanders too much and if I am concentrating on the audio book - well let's just say that wouldn't be too safe for other drivers or for our dishes.

I think I'm the same way. I tried audio dramas on Youtube and... I quickly lose interest because my mind wanders. I think I have trouble visualizing via audio when there's no visual involved.

[Jaymann]

I subscribed to Amazon audio books but failed to keep up with the credits I was racking up. Then when I cancelled it I found the credits expire after a month. F. U. Bezos!

[Hipolito]

Below are my reads, with links to the reviews I post later in the thread. Alternatively, you can enjoy a clickable tier list of my reads.

Finished

1. From Knowledge to Power: The Comprehensive Handbook for Climate Science & Advocacy by John Perona (7/8)
2. Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët (5/8)
3. An Indigenous People's History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (5/8)
4. Dark Factory by Kathe Koja (3/8)
5. Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way by Dan Buettner (6/8)
6. The Wheel of Time, Book 9: Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan (5/8)
7. Uncommon Measure: A Journey Through Music, Performance, and the Science of Time by Natalie Hodges (6/8)
8. You Can't Be Serious by Kal Penn (7/8)
9. Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley (5/8)
10. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (6/8)
11. Pet Sematary by Stephen King (6/8)
12. Infidel by Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell (5/8)
13. Deadpool: Dead Presidents by Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn, and Tony Moore (6/8)
14. The Wheel of Time, Book 10: Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan (2/8)
15. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi (4/8)
16. High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley (6/8)
17. The Natural Laws of Violence by Michael E. Nolan (4/8)
18. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh (6/8)
19. The Wheel of Time, Book 11: Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan (5/8)
20. Mysterious and Horrific Stories by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (4/8)
21. Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo (4/8)
22. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (3/8)
23. The Sandman, Volume 1: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman (4/8)
24. The Sandman, Volume 2: The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman (6/8)

Rating system:
6 to 8 = Cabernet Savignon
4 to 5 = Pinot blanc
0 to 3 = Muscat

Reading

1. The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (51% of 597 pg)
2. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (62% of 215 pg)
3. The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America by Thom Hartmann (72% of 158 pg)
4. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (63% of 252 pg)
5. The Wheel of Time, Book 12: The Gathering Storm (57% of 861 pg)
6. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (58% of 228 pg)

To Be Read

1. The Sandman, Volume 3: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman

Books read in: 2019 (5) | 2020 (19) | 2021 (33)

[Hipolito]

From Knowledge to Power: The Comprehensive Handbook for Climate Science and Advocacy by John Perona (ebook, LibraryThing Early Review): Rich with charts, diagrams, sidebars, and research (40 pages of endnotes), this book lives up to the "comprehensive" of its name while being readable and accessible. Even the most climate-conscious activist will learn a lot about the intricacies of earth's climate system and the proportions of the greenhouse effect which are natural and manmade. The author explains all the inputs, outputs and variables, and the extent to which science is certain about them.

The earth's climate is fascinatingly, mind-bogglingly complex. The book delves into paleoclimatology, which goes back billions of years. I was stunned to learn about Milankovitch cycles, which are gravitational influences from the Moon, Sun, other planets, and their moons that affect the Earth's tilt and therefore its climate! It's sobering to realize that carbon dioxide concentrations haven't been this high in millions of years. Our planet is in uncharted territory.

The author demonstrates that the carbon we've been pulling out of the ground and burning since 1850 stays in the atmosphere for a long time, which is why the greenhouse effect is worsening so rapidly. We're nowhere close to running out of fossil fuels, but we need to stop using them and leave the rest in the ground forever if we want to mitigate the effects of climate change. If we act drastically and quickly enough, we can prevent an increase in global temperature greater than 1.5°C or 2.0°C. Even though 2.0°C would still have painful and long-term consequences, it would save 1.4 million USA lives over the next 20 years and $700 billion in health care expenditure and productivity loss (more than it would cost to make the necessary energy transition).

He also talks about how climate change denialists have prevented appropriate action from being taken by raising false doubts about the science, even though the science only gets stronger every year. Furthermore, attribution science is getting better at tying specific climate disasters to manmade climate change. For example, we've found "human fingerprints" on the 2017 Hurricane Harvey in Texas, the 2019 Tropical Storm Imelda in Texas, the 2020 Australian heat wave, and the recent droughts in the American Southwest. We have enough data to show that those events were made more likely or more severe by human activities.

Other subjects include climate roadmaps, the practical benefits and limitations of various avenues of activism, and the outlook for each source of energy. There's so much more in this book that is approachable while having the rigor of a textbook. And when you remove the endnotes, it's only 250 pages long. For those who already realize that anthropogenic global warming is a real problem we need to act on right now, this book will help them understand it even better. For those who respect science but still have their doubts about AGW, this book should clear those doubts. For denialists, this book will probably do no good; but, as the author says, you may be able to persuade them to support environmental policies with financial or religious arguments. 7 out of 8 ice sheets.

[El Guapo]

Upheaval, by Jared Diamond.

Honestly, this book wasn't great. It's by the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and a couple other books (though the first one of his that I've read). It's basically a survey of different countries in crisis at different points, analyzing how they got through their crises and what common themes help determine whether a country gets through a crisis point well or not. So it looks at a few points, like Finland during and after the Winter War; Indonesia after independence, Japan after WWII, Chile in the lead up and aftermath of Pinochet, and a few others.

The parts recounting the crises were well written and interesting, in that they provide a brief but interesting read through about what happened in each case. But the analyses are just banal and dull. It purports to identify 12 or so factors that determine whether a country gets through a crisis or not, but they're very high level and obvious. Like it helps if a country has a strong national identity, it hurts if a country has large neighbors that dominate it, etc. Yeah thanks sherlock. And the descriptions of each factor for each country aren't much better, along the lines of "Finland has a strong national identity, which helped, but it had a strong neighbor in Russia who dominated it, which hurt." etc.

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it.

[El Guapo]

The Steal: The Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election and the People Who Stopped It, by Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague

This is about the craziness around the post-election audits and lawsuits and whatnot. This is by Mark Bowden, one of my favorite authors (most famous for writing Black Hawk Down). It's focused on Nov. 3rd - Jan. 6th, and focused on the local people, both those pushing for audits / fraud investigations and the various local officials responding to them. It's really good and really well written. My one gripe is that it barely touches the events of Jan. 6th itself - you basically get reactions to it from various local officials who were watching it on TV, but very little about the day itself and how it fit into The Steal. Which I'm sure is tough given the challenges of writing 'history' about something that happened one year ago and that we're still learning more about but...a little more on that would've been nice.

[Hrothgar]

I don't usually post in these threads, but I finally finished A Song of Ice and Fire (currently available volumes). I started right towards the end of the TV series, took a break in the middle and finally set out to finish them toward the end of last year. Now I can truly wait with everyone else for the Winds of Winter.

[Scuzz]

Maybe I'll actually try to keep track for a year...

1. The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight by Jimmy Breslin

I think I read that 40 years ago. It was a fun read if I remember.

[Scuzz]

Reaganland by Rick Perlstein

This is the fourth (and last?) book in Perlstein's history of how America went rightwing. I think I preferred Nixonland and The Invisible Bridge over this book but maybe I am just being worn down by some of the details. Perlstein spends a lot of time on religion becoming a strong political element in Reagan's 1980 victory, maybe too much, not that it wasn't important. But you can easily get over whelmed by the amount of information and names he throws at you.

I do enjoy the books for the way they reflect on society at the time. The book reminds me of things that happened, things I lived thru and in some cases how little I paid to politics at the time. Overall a good book, but maybe you can get too much of a good thing.

[Z-Corn]

Maybe I'll actually try to keep track for a year...

1. The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight by Jimmy Breslin

I think I read that 40 years ago. It was a fun read if I remember.

Yeah it was really good. The overall vibe and tone reminded me of A Confederacy of Dunces which is interesting because that was written first but not published until years later.

[El Guapo]

Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA by Tim Mak (audio book).

This is about the various scandals that have befallen the NRA in recent years, mostly focused on their Russia ties (including Maria Butina) and the extensive corruption and self-dealing among the leaders. The book is good - I did already know a fair amount about the Russia stuff, although there was additional detail here. It wasn't that gripping to be honest, but informative and decently interesting. I didn't know much about the pretty naked corruption, although that's not too shocking for an organization that's one of the core MAGA strongholds for the past few years.

I will also say that "downfall" is pretty strong. The organization's definitely had some pretty major hits over the past few years, but I don't think it's on the verge of death or anything given its cultural cache.

Anyway, fine - not the best, not the worst.

[Skinypupy]

Finished “Leviathan Wakes”, the first Expanse book. Fan-damn-tastic.

Starting book two tonight.

[Jeff V]

I will also say that "downfall" is pretty strong. The organization's definitely had some pretty major hits over the past few years, but I don't think it's on the verge of death or anything given its cultural cache.

Because too many are of the "guns....fuck yeah!" mindset.

[Jaymann]

Finally finished:


It was a fairly satisfying conclusion, bittersweet as expected. If you only watched the series I would recommend reading the books, as it gets fleshed out. And my favorite character makes a comeback. 7/8 black tentacles.

[Scuzz]

I tried to pre-order the paperback the other day because of a sale on pre-orders but it is still not available. I will have to wait.

[ImLawBoy]

Finished Dune by Frank Herbert in paperback. This is an obscure "science fiction" book relating to sand, worms, and drugs. There's political intrigue and mysticism, too. I've heard there may have been a recent movie based on this . . . .

This is actually the second time I read Dune, but since the first was probably 35+ years ago or so, I thought it reasonable to revisit. I read my old, beat up paperback copy for that extra dose of nostalgia. I've actually read the first five books (up to Heretics of Dune), but nothing since my teen years. Rehashing the plot seems a bit silly at this point, but I wanted to comment on a couple of things. When reading the book itself, I was struck with how well Herbert shifted the storytelling point of view from character to character within the same chapter/section. It seems like that would be confusing, especially if you're more used to the GRR Martin model of using chapters to switch POV, but the frequent internal dialog often signals a shift in POV and I never got lost in it. The second thing was how well the recent movie lined up with the first half of the book. There is obviously less detail in the movie and there were some changes that made the transition from page to screen easier, but the movie was quite faithful. I find myself wondering how the next part will go, however, as things start getting more mystical as we progress. Regardless, I'm looking forward to it.

[Pyperkub]

Currently Reading:

Agency (Book 2 of the Jackpot Series)

Finished:

Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Leviathan Falls - James SA Corey
Invisible Sun - Charles Stross
The Peripheral - William Gibson
Eye of Cat - Roger Zelazny
Temeraire Series books 1-5:
His Majesty's Dragon - Naomi Novik
Throne of Jade - Naomi Novik
Black Powder War - Naomi Novik
Empire of Ivory - Naomi Novik
Victory of Eagles - Naomi Novik

Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

[YellowKing]

Guess I'll weigh in on the last two I finished:

SPELLMONGER - Terry Mancour - I know I'm late to the party on this series as there are now 14 books in it, but it came so highly recommended by my fantasy-reading friends that I finally took the plunge. And I'm glad I did. Minalan is a fantastically flawed hero written with a ton of humor, set against a fantasy world that feels deadly and dangerous. And according to my buddy who has read all of them, Terry Mancour's writing only gets better as the series goes on. Big thumbs up.

INDIAN GIVERS: HOW THE INDIANS OF THE AMERICAS TRANSFORMED THE WORLD - Jack Weatherford - I really wanted to like this one as I love reading Native American history, but the focus here is skewed more heavily towards Aztecs and other Indian nationalities outside of the US. While that wouldn't bother me much if the reading was engaging, this one unfortunately came across as very dry and almost like a textbook laundry list of achievements. The book hinted at being interesting when the author would describe personal travel experiences, but these were often to short and would only serve to bookend the long dry list of "they did this and then they did this and then they did this" chapters.

[hitbyambulance]

H.G. Wells - In the Days of the Comet : this one is 'sci-fi' in framing story only - it does appear to be the transition work whereupon Wells switches into full-on social commentary for the rest of his writing career. i usually found it entertaining and the writing was usually solid, but it does get repetitive near the end as Wells needs to find ways to fit in (and address) nearly all aspects of human culture.

Anonymous - The Vinland Sagas : encompasses _The Saga of the Greenlanders_ and _Eirik the Red’s Saga_, the earliest known documentation of Europeans in the North American continent from 1000 years ago. this Penguin Classic has the distinction of having one of the most boring introductions ever (which is a shame, given the subject matter).

[ImLawBoy]

Finished Five Decembers by James Kestrel on Kindle. I got this after seeing a tweet saying that it was everything that the reader wanted from the James Ellroy's most recent L.A. Quartet (which is only 2 books in so far), and Stephen King chimed in saying he agreed. Both are set starting just before the US enters WWII and carry on through the war, and both involve police investigating murders. The big difference is that Ellroy almost never has likable characters who are clear good guys, but Kestrel gives us the unambiguously good Joe McGrady as the lead. Joe is ex-US Army and current Honolulu Police Department detective. Around Thanksgiving 1941, he gets the call on grisly murder - a young Navy man and a Japanese girl are gutted and killed. The Navy man is well connected, so the case is high priority - high enough that the HPD and US government want Joe to chase a lead down to Hong Kong (where the US military can't really operate). While Joe is in Hong Kong, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and wrest Hong Kong from the British. Joe is taken prisoner and spends the war in Japan. He's still thinking about the case, though . . . .

The book is well plotted with lots of twists and turns. The violence and gore isn't over the top at all, but rather serves the story well. My only real complaint is that Joe is such a goody-two-shoes that he comes off as a bit one-dimensional. Maybe I'm just so used to the flawed anti-hero type, especially in police books, TV, and movies, that seeing an old school hero cop with a heart of gold feels quaint. (To be clear, not all of the police in the book are pure as the driven snow.) Still, it's a good read.

And I should have known Stephen King would like it. It's published by Hard Case Crime, for which King has published a few novels. He is almost always good for a cover blurb for books from HCC.

[hitbyambulance]

Amy Stewart - Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities : one of those breezy life science curiosity books that were so popular around the turn of the '10s; found in a LFL. i learned about a few new interesting plant behaviors (e.g. exploding seed pods) and gained an awareness of the weirdness that is 'dodder' and the horror that is the Australian stinging tree (covered in silicon hairs laden with neurotoxin) but if you really want to know more about these plants, consult an actual botany reference.

[Hipolito]

Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët (paperback): This is a horror graphic novel with the art style of a children's book. It's about a community of inch-tall people who suddenly lose their home in the forest. Young, bright-eyed Aurora does her best to help everyone adapt and find new homes. But will everyone's (and nature's) casual cruelty wear her down?

The art is striking and the horror is morbid. But the book is too brief and brisk for me to get emotionally invested. I also found the action hard to follow, which is a problem I often have with comic books. 5 out of 8 party invitations.

[raydude]

A Shameful Murder by Cora Harrison

This caught my eye at my local library because of the interesting protaganist and setting: 1920's Ireland and the main character is a Catholic Reverend Mother. She discovers a body at the gate of the convent, washed up after a flood. And so begins her journey into helping solve a murder. I know nothing about the setting but as a recovering Roman Catholic I was interested in reading how a Reverend Mother could play a part in helping solve a murder.

Thankfully she is not just written as a modern woman in 1920's Ireland, and the author provides viewpoints from other characters that help to further investigate the case. There is Police Sergeant Patrick Cashman, who used to be one of her pupils, and who is first on the scene after she sends for the Civic guard. Then also Dr. Scher, who is a close friend of Reverend Mother Aquinas. The story has an interesting reveal regarding the relationship between the Reverend Mother, her sister, and the murdered girl. The Reverend Mother is pragmatic when she needs to be and dogmatic to get out of situations, especially those involving one of the "holier-than-thou" Sisters.

It's a pretty good read, and seeing as how this is the first of a series of "Reverend Mother" mysteries I look forward to borrowing the next book.