mahsdad's (Jeff) 2023 Thread - Q1

Wëllkomm op 2023 a mengem klengen Eck vun der Welt

Hi, I'm Jeff. I live in San Pedro California. Moved out from Pittsburgh in 1989. I'm an avid reader. My wife might say I'm bordering on the obsessive. But then, I think that could apply to a lot of us in this group. I also enjoy photography, movies, hiking and playing games and hanging out with my family. Book-wise, I have a pretty eclectic taste in what I read and I hope to give you not so much reviews but my impressions about what I read.

What you will find here is mostly my rambling thoughts, my Wishlist and TBR pile temptations and a smattering of my photography. I don't really make a plan for what I'm going to read thru out the year. Its mostly what strikes my fancy from the TBR piles.

Past 75 Threads :
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2017 2018 2019 2020
2021 2022

Come in and sit a spell. We'll kick things off with another statue with the creepy eyes from the Getty Villa. Enjoy! 🤣

2023 Statistics - Q1

A - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle
LL - Life's Library


March
26. Fairy Tale by Stephen King (A) :
25. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer: A Novella by Fredrik Backman (K) :
24. Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman :
23. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart :
22. Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
21. The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde (A) :
20. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi (K) :
19. American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from the Colonial Era to Today edit by Robyn Chapman (GN) :
Favorite : Shuggie Bain


February
18. Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (A) :
17. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (A) :
16. West by Carys Davies :
15. Lost Places by Sarah Pinsker (ER) :
14. M is for Monster by Talia Dutton (GN) :
13. Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse (A) :
12. The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television :
11. Independence Day by Richard Ford :
10. Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
9. Drowned Worlds edited by Jonathan Strahan (A) :
Favorite : Gunfight


January
8. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (K) :
7. The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman (K) :
6. 1984 by George Orwell (A) :
5. Billy Summers by Stephen King (A) :
4. Sandman: World's End by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
3. Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey :
2. A Brief History of Timekeeping: The Science of Marking Time, from Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks by Chad Orzel (A) :
1. Sandman: Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
Favorite : Billy Summers

Audiobook Narrators

Mike Lenz - A Brief History of Timekeeping

Paul Sparks - Billy Summers

Simon Prebble - 1984

Too Many to Name - Drowned Worlds

Ryan Busse - Gunfight

Marin Ireland - Cloud Cuckoo Land
Simon Jones (narrated the book within the book)

Mur Lafferty - Six Wakes

Andrew Wincott - The Constant Rabbit

Seth Numrich (with an appearance by Stephen King) : Fairy Tale

Pulitzer's Read

Ongoing bucket list to read all the Pulitzer winning novels. Santa was very good to me this year on this front, so I got plenty to work with

Bold : On the Shelf
Strikeout : Completed

Total Read - 37
2022 - The Netanyahus
2021 - The Night Watchman
2020 - The Nickel Boys
2019 - The Overstory
2018 - Less
2017 - Underground Railroad
2016 - The Sympathizer
2015 - All the Light We Cannot See
2014 - The Goldfinch
2013 - The Orphan Master's Son
2012 - NO AWARD
- Swamplandia - Nominee
2011 - A Visit from the Goon Squad
2010 - Tinkers
2009 - Olive Kitterridge
2008 - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
2007 - The Road
2006 - March
2005 - Gilead
2004 - The Known World
2003 - Middlesex
2002 - Empire Falls
2001 - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
2000 - The Interpreter of Maladies
1999 - The Hours
1998 - American Pastoral
1997 - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
1996 - Independence Day
1995 - The Stone Diaries
1994 - The Shipping News
1993 - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
1992 - A Thousand Acres
- My Father Bleeds History (Maus) (Special Awards & Citations - Letters)
1991 - Rabbit at Rest
1990 - The Mambo Kings
1989 - Breathing Lessons
1988 - Beloved DNF
1987 - A Summons to Memphis
1986 - Lonesome Dove
1985 - Foreign Affairs
1984 - Ironweed
1983 - The Color Purple
1982 - Rabbit is Rich
1981 - A Confederacy of Dunces
1980 - The Executioner's Song
1979 - The Stories of John Cheever
1978 - Elbow Room
1977 - NO AWARD
1976 - Humboldt's Gift
1975 - The Killer Angels
1974 - NO AWARD
1973 - The Optimist's Daughter
1972 - Angle of Repose
1971 - NO AWARD
1970 - The collected Stories of Jean Stafford
1969 - House Made of Dawn : DNF
1968 - The Confessions of Nat Turner
1967 - The Fixer
1966 - The Collected Stories of katherine Anne Porter
1965 - The Keepers of the House
1964 - NO AWARD
1963 - The Reivers
1962 - The Edge of Sadness
1961 - To Kill a Mockingbird
1960 - Advise and Consent
1959 - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
1958 - A Death in the Family
1957 - NO AWARD
1956 - Andersonville
1955 - A Fable
1954 - NO AWARD
1953 - The Old Man and the Sea
1952 - The Caine Mutiny
1951 - The Town
1950 - The Way West
1949 - Guard of Honor
1948 - Tales of the South Pacific
1947 - All the King's Men
1946 - NO AWARD
1945 - A Bell
1944 - Journey in the Dark
1943 - Dragon's Teeth
1942 - In This Our Life
1941 - NO AWARD
1940 - The Grapes of Wrath
1928 - The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Hugos Read

Ongoing bucket list to read all the Hugo winning novels.

Bold : On the Shelf
Strikeout : Completed

Total Read - 40

2021 - Network Effect
2021 - Two Truths and a Lie - Novella
2020 - A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
2020 - This Is How You Lose The Time War - Novella
2019 - The Calculating Stars
2018 - The Stone Sky
2018 - All Systems Red - Novella
2017 - The Obelisk Gate
2016 - The Fifth Season
2015 - The Three-Body Problem
2014 - Ancillary Justice (DNF)
2013 - Redshirts
2012 - Among Others
2011 - Blackout/All Clear
2010 - The Windup Girl
The City & the City
2009 - The Graveyard Book
2008 - The Yiddish Policemen's Union
2007 - Rainbows End
2006 - Spin
2005 - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2004 - Paladin of Souls
2003 - Hominids
2003 - Coraline (novella)
2002 - American Gods
2001 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2000 - A Deepness in the Sky
1999 - To Say Nothing of the Dog
1998 - Forever Peace
1997 - Blue Mars
1996 - The Diamond Age
1995 - Mirror Dance
1994 - Green Mars
1993 - A Fire Upon the Deep
Doomsday Book
1992 - Barrayar
1991 - The Vor Game
1990 - Hyperion
1989 - Cyteen
1988 - The Uplift War
1988 - Watchmen - category : Other forms
1987 - Speaker for the Dead
1986 - Ender's Game
1985 - Neuromancer
1985 - The Crystal Spheres - David Brin - Short Story
1984 - Startide Rising
1983 - Foundation's Edge
1982 - Downbelow Station
1981 - The Snow Queen
1980 - The Fountains of Paradise
1979 - Dreamsnake
1978 - Gateway
1977 - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
1976 - The Forever War
1975 - The Dispossessed
1974 - Rendezvous with Rama
1973 - The Gods Themselves
1972 - To Your Scattered Bodies Go
1971 - Ringworld
1970 - Left Hand of Darkness
1969 - Stand on Zanzibar
1968 - Lord of Light
1967 - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
1966 - Dune
This Immortal
1965 - The Wanderer
1964 - Way Station
1963 - The Man in the High Castle
1962 - Stranger in a Strange Land
1961 - A Canticle for Leibowitz
1960 - Starship Troopers
1959 - A Case of Conscience
1958 - The Big Time
1956 - Double Star
1955 - The Forever Machine
1953 - The Demolished Man

Retro Hugos - this are given for years when no award was given (more than 50 years ago). Of those...

1939 - The Sword in the Stone
1951 - Farmer in the Sky
1954 - Fahrenheit 451

Nebulas Read

Bold - On the Shelf
Strike - Finished

2022 - A Master of Djinn
2021 - Network Effect
2021 - Two Truths and a Lie
2020 - A Song for a New Day
2019 - The Calculating Stars
2019 - This Is How You Lose The Time War - Novella
2018 - The Stone Sky
2017 - All the Birds in the Sky
2016 - Uprooted
2015 - Annihilation
2014 - Ancillary Justice DNF
2013 - 2312
2012 - Among Others
2011 - Blackout/All Clear
2010 - The Windup Girl
2009 - Powers
2008 - The Yiddish Policemen's Union
2007 - Seeker
2006 - Camouflage
2005 - Paladin of Souls
2004 - The Speed of Dark
2003 - American Gods
2002 - The Quantum Rose
2001 - Darwin's Radio
2000 - Parable of the Talents
1999 - Forever Peace
1998 - The Moon and the Sun
1997 - Slow River
1996 - The Terminal Experiment
1995 - Moving Mars
1994 - Red Mars
1993 - Doomsday Book
1992 - Stations of the Tide
1991 - Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea
1990 - The Healer's War
1989 - Falling Free
1988 - The Falling Woman
1987 - Speaker for the Dead
1986 - Ender's Game
1985 - Neuromancer
1984 - Startide Rising
1983 - No Enemy But Time
1982 - The Claw of the Conciliator
1981 - Timescape
1980 - The Fountains of Paradise
1979 - Dreamsnake
1978 - Gateway
1977 - Man Plus
1976 - The Forever War
1975 - The Dispossessed
1974 - Rendezvous with Rama
1973 - The Gods Themselves
1972 - A Time of Changes
1971 - Ringworld
1970 - The Left Hand of Darkness
1969 - Rite of Passage
1968 - The Einstein Intersection
1967 - Babel-17
1966 - Dune

National Book Award Winners

2015 - Fortune Smiles
2014 - Redeployment
2001 - The Corrections
1988 - Paris Trout
1985 - White Noise
1983 - The Color Purple - hardback award
1981 - The Stories of John Cheever - paperback award
1980 - The World According to Garp - paperback award
1953 - Invisible Man

Man Booker Books
2022 The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
2021 The Promise
2020 Shuggie Bain READ
2019 The Testaments
2019 Girl, Woman, Other
2018 Milkman
2017 Lincoln in the Bardo READ
2016 The Sellout READ
2015 A Brief History of Seven Killings READ
2014 The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2013 The Luminaries
2012 Bring Up the Bodies
2011 The Sense of an Ending
2010 The Finkler Question
2009 Wolf Hall DNF
2008 The White Tiger
2007 The Gathering
2006 The Inheritance of Loss
2005 The Sea
2004 The Line of Beauty
2003 Vernon God Little
2002 Life of Pi READ
2001 True History of the Kelly Gang
2000 The Blind Assassin
1999 Disgrace
1998 Amsterdam
1997 The God of Small Things
1996 Last Orders
1995 The Ghost Road
1994 How Late It Was, How Late
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1992 The English Patient
1992 Sacred Hunger
1991 The Famished Road
1990 Possession
1989 The Remains of the Day
1988 Oscar and Lucinda
1987 Moon Tiger
1986 The Old Devils
1985 The Bone People
1984 Hotel du Lac
1983 Life & Times of Michael K
1982 Schindler's Ark
1981 Midnight's Children READ
1980 Rites of Passage
1979 Offshore
1978 The Sea, the Sea
1977 Staying On
1976 Saville
1975 Heat and Dust
1974 The Conservationist
1974 Holiday
1973 The Siege of Krishnapur
1972 G.
1971 In a Free State
1970 The Elected Member
1969 Something to Answer For

100 SFF/Fantasy Reads as compiled by NPR

https://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fant...

1. The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien READ
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams READ
3. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card READ
4. The Dune Chronicles By Frank Herbert READ
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series by George R.R. Martin
6. 1984 A Novel by George Orwell READ
7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury READ
8. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov READ but only the 1st one
9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley READ
10. American Gods By Neil Gaiman READ
11. The Princess Bride S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman READ
12. The Wheel Of Time Series by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm by George Orwell READ
14. Neuromancer By William Gibson READ
15. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons READ
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov READ
17. Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein READ
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles BY by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five By Kurt Vonnegut READ
20. Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick READ
22. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood READ
23. The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King READ
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey BY by Arthur C. Clarke READ
25. The Stand By Stephen King READ
26. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson READ
27. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury READ
28. Cat's Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman READ
30. A Clockwork Orange BY by Anthony Burgess READ
31. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein READ
32. Watership Down by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein READ
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz By Walter M. Miller Jr. READ
36. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea By Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes READ
39. The War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells READ
40. The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad By David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. Mistborn Trilogy Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld by LARRY NIVEN READ
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin READ
46. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King BY by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere by NEIL GAIMAN READ
49. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact by Carl Sagan READ
51. The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust by Neil Gaiman READ
53. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson READ
54. World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks READ
55. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman READ
57. Small Gods A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle READ
62. The Sword Of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road by by Cormac McCarthy READ
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson READ
66. The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series by Robert E. Howard and Mark Schultz
69. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger READ
71. The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
72. Journey To The Center Of The Earth by Jules Verne READ
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series by R. A. Salvatore
74. Old Man's War by John Scalzi READ
75. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson READ
76. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke READ
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. Le Guin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire READ
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen series by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde READ
83. The Culture Series by Iain Banks
84. The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
90. The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man By Ray Bradbury short works collection
92. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov READ
95. The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle READ
97. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
99. The Xanth Series by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis

100 Horror Reads as compiled by NPR

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/632779706/click-if-you-dare-100-favorite-horror-s...

1. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
2. Dracula by Bram Stoker
3. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
4. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
5. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
6. The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James
7. The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
8. The Monkeys Paw by W. W. Jacobs
9. The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
10. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
11. Oh, Whistle, And Ill Come To You, My Lad by M. R. James and Darryl Jones
12.The Werewolf Of Paris By Guy Endore
13. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson READ
14. Let The Right One In By John Ajvide Lindqvist
15. The Vampire Chronicles (First Triology) by Anne Rice READ
16. Minion (Vampire Huntress Legend Series) by L. A. Banks
17. The Hunger by Alma Katsu
18. Those Across The River by Christopher Buehlman
19. Bird Box by Josh Malerman READ
20. Feed (Newsflesh Series) by Mira Grant
21. World War Z by Max Brooks READ
22. The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey READ
23. The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft
24. The Ballad Of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle
25. The Fisherman by John Langan
26. Laundry Files (Series) by Charles Stross
27. The Cipher By Kathe Koja
28. John Dies At The End by David Wong READ
29. At The Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
30. All Our Salt-Bottled Hearts by Sonya Taaffe
31. Uzumaki by Junji Ito
32. Communion: A True Story by Whitley Strieber OR Majestic by Whitley Strieber
33. The Repairer Of Reputations by Robert W. Chambers
34. The Haunting Of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
35. The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons
36. Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco
37. The Shining by Stephen King READ
38. House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
39. The Elementals by Michael McDowell
40. The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
41. Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis
42. The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
43. Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand
44. Infidel by Aaron Campbell, Jose Villarrubia, Pornsak Pichetshote and Jeff Powell
45. The Ruins by Scott Smith
46. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
47. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates
48. The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan
49. Swan Song by Robert McCammon
50. The Screwfly Solution by James Tiptree Jr.
51. Left Foot, Right by Nalo Hopkinson
52. Come Closer by Sara Gran
53. Furnace by Livia Llewellyn
54. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
55. Through The Woods by Emily Carroll
56. Sandman by Neil Gaiman READ
57. Her Body And Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
58. White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
59. Goblin Market by Christina Georgina Rossetti
60. Experimental Film by Gemma Files
61. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson READ
62. The Collector by John Fowles
63. The Terror by Dan Simmons
64. Intensity by Dean R. Koontz
65. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
66. Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
67. Night They Missed the Horror Show by Joe R. Lansdale
68. Penpal by Dathan Auerbach
69. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill READ
70. Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler
71. Lord Of The Flies by William Golding READ
72. The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood READ
73. Beloved by Toni Morrison
74. Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler
75. The Devil In America by Kai Ashante Wilson
76. I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
77. Books Of Blood by Clive Barker READ
78. The October Country: Stories by Ray Bradbury
79. The Weird: A Compendium Of Strange And Dark Stories by Ann Vandermeer and Jeff VanDermeer
80. The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron
81. Alone With the Horrors: The Great Short Fiction of Ramsey Campbell, 1961-1991 by Ramsey Campbell
82. Things We Lost In The Fire by Mariana Enriquez
83. Shadowland by Peter Straub READ
84. A Head Full Of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
85. Rosemarys Baby by Ira Levin
86. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
87. The Body by Stephen King READ
88. Its A Good Life by Jerome Bixby
89. The Other by Thomas Tryon
90. The Troop by Nick Cutter
91. Elizabeth by Ken Greenhall
92. Please, Momma by Chesya Burke
93. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark by Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell
94. Goosebumps (Series) by R. L. Stine children
95. Rotters by Daniel Kraus children
96. Jumbies Rise Of The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
97. The House With A Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs
98. Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh
99. Coraline by Neil Gaiman READ
100. Down A Dark Hall by Lois Duncan

The 75'r Chunkster List

1. The Overstory by Richard Powers READ
2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
3. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco READ
4. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
5. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell READ
6. The Witch Elm by Tana French
7. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
8. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr READ
9. Little, Big by John Crowley
10. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides READ
11. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
12. Possession by A.S. Byatt
13. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel DNF
14. The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
15. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
16. The Parisian : A Novel
17. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
18. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
19. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami READ
20. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
21. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie READ
22. American Gods by Neil Gaiman READ
23. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon READ
24. The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
25. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen READ
26. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
27. A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava
28. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
29. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James READ
30. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson READ
31. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
32. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
33. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin READ
34. JR by William Gaddis
35. Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
36. Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
37. Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
38. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett READ
39. The Stand by Stephen King READ
40. Underworld by Don DeLillo
41. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
42. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
43. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry READ
44. 2666 by Roberto Bolano
45. Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra
46. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
47. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
48. Parallel Stories by Peter Nadas
49. Women and Men by Joseph McElroy
50. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

Paul's Alternative 20

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
Saville by David Storey
To Serve Them All My Days by RF Delderfield
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving READ
The Singapore Grip by JG Farrell
Magician by Raymond E Feist
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
A Chain of Voices by Andre Brink

Bill's Alternative Weird Dozen

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis READ
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger READ
Cider House Rules by John Irving
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
The Book and the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak READ
August 1914 by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams READ
11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King READ
His Dark Materials Omnibus (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman
The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling READ

Jeff's how the heck did this not get on the other lists list
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Alaska by James Michener Read

2022 Reading Results

Books Read : 87
# of Authors : 67
Authors of Color : 10 (15%)
Lady Authors : 16 (24%)
Narrators : 39 (Most books James Marsters - 7)

Scatter Plot

My favorite graphs for some strange reason. Not quite sure they're useful for anything, I just like them artistically. Here's all the books I've read plotted out in order of when they were published

2022 Reads



Everything I've read since I started tracking

2022 Books of the Month

January : The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
February : A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
March : City of Secrets by Stewart O'Nan
April : A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka
May: A Salad Only the Devil Would Eat by Charles Hood
June: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death by Jean-Dominique Bauby
July: The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
August : Slaughterhouse Five : A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Ryan North
September : Cheech Is Not My Real Name: But Don't Call Me Chong by Cheech Marin
October : The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl
November : Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
December : On the Beach by Nevil Shute









#botm

Wishing you a comfortable reading year in 2023, Jeff.

Looking forward to a lot of stats from you this year judging by your starter posts. I am slowly working my way through the Booker and Pulitzer winners too.

Hey Paul, First one in. Thanks!

All the stats should be updated now.

Thanks to Kristelh (Kristel) for reminding me to fill out the complete Booker list, as well as the SFF and Horror lists. Fun stuff

Starred you for 2023!

Welcome back!

Thanks Rhian, Jim. Glad to be here!

Fantastesch Foto Freideg

Since we're overlapping a bit, if you've seen me over in 2022, this is a bit of a duplication. Its the First Photo Friday of 2023. What a long strange decade the last 3 years have been. LOL. I don't normally tell what language my heading is (unless you ask), but today's was too funny. I'm up to the "L"s in Google Translate. It was Luxembourgish. I didn't think Luxembourg had its own language, but I love that they just named it with the "ISH", you know, its kinda like Luxembourg. LOL.

Looking forward to a peaceful New Years weekend (with Monday off - Yeah!). We went to a light show at the Descanso Gardens last night to celebrate the holidays. It was nice and chilly and fun walking around the gardens in the dark with lots of interesting lights and music. Here's the moon (well not really the moon) and its reflection. Enjoy!



Book Update - There is no update, I haven't finished anything in 2023 yet. :)

Reading - Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey 25%
Listening - A Brief History of Timekeeping by Chad Orzel 52%
eBook - Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie 50%
Graphic Novel - Sandman: Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman 28%

>1 mahsdad: *eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek*

*flees screaming*

Hi Jeff! I'll try and keep up with you this year.

Starred again! >19 mahsdad: Love the photo! And lol on the "ish" language.

Thanks for reminding me of all the lists. I may even use them to help me along this year.

Happy new thread for the new year Jeff!

Happy New Year, Jeff. Happy New Thread! We are closing out another wonderful year of books and banter and I am looking forward to sharing another with you. Good luck with your challenges. If you would like to do a shared read of The Line of Beauty, (from the Booker list) let me know. I have been trying to get it off shelf for awhile now.

Have you read In the Distance? If not, I also have a copy of that one.

>22 Berly: Thanks Kim!

>23 ffortsa: Hi Judy, glad to do the reminding. The more lists the merrier

>24 WhiteRaven.17: Hi Kro, thanks for stopping by

>25 msf59: Hey Mark, Happy New Year! Sure, I'd be glad to do a shared read on Line of Beauty. I'll have to see if I can get a copy. Let me know when you think about bookhorning it in.

Haven't read In the Distance either. It looks pretty interesting, too. So many books! :)

Short of one of my starting words hitting exactly, I think this is the best use of them ever. 😁

Wordle 560 4/6

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Happy new thread and new year, Jeff. Love >19 mahsdad:!

Happy new year Jeff!

Happy New Year! I have you starred and hope to drop in more often this year :)

>26 mahsdad: Once you get a copy, we can set a month. Sound good?

Is this in that Getty Villa, Jeff. Not as creepy as >1 mahsdad:.

Wishing you a great year of reading!

>28 jessibud2: >29 quondame: >30 figsfromthistle: Shelley, Susan, Figs - Thanks so much for stopping by

>31 msf59: Sounds good to me. I'll start looking around.

>32 weird_O: That looks like a creepy animated David, which isn't at the Villa. But there was this one of Hercules



>33 thornton37814: Hi Lori, Thanks!

I'm watching the Speaker votes in the House, what a cluster-F that is.

It is a nice kinda of ASMR/White noise kind of thing. First its the roll call of 433 names, and then while they're waiting, its just a dull rumble of voices talking amongst themselves.

:)

Maybe the 6th time will be the charm. Still have a way to go to get to the record. 105 votes, I think.

Nope. Adjourned until noon tomorrow and then the saga continues....

Hello! I'll be here seeing what you get up to this year!

Happy new year and new thread! Thanks for visiting mine!

Happy New Year, Jeff.

>37 Berly: Its Groundhog Day, everyday in DC. LOL

>38 ursula: >39 foggidawn: >40 ronincats: Thanks Ursula, Foggi, Roni for stopping by. Happy New Year!

Fantastik Fɔto Frayde

Hi All, welcome to the first Friday of 2023. Its been a pretty wet start to the year so far. Normally, I'd say, we'll take all that we can get. But I think my fellow Californians to the north would disagree. Jeez, bomb cyclones might sound funny, but they ain't no joke. The good news is that the snow pack is about 150 - 200% of normal so far. Nothing that will erase years of drought, but its a good start. Anyway, the plans are to head out to Palm Springs to celebrate the MIL's birthday. Today's image is just a fun mailbox we saw on a recent walk.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey. 86%
Listening - Billy Summers by Stephen King 12%
eBook - Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie 62%
Graphic Novel - Sandman: World's End by Neil Gaiman 23%

Books Finished A new section this year, I'm going to start listing the books I finished in the past week here

1. Sandman: Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman (GN) : A reread thru Hoopla. I started reading them again after we watched the, oh too short, Sandman series on Netflix
2. A Brief History of Timekeeping: The Science of Marking Time, from Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks by Chad Orzel (A) : : This was a fun read (audio). It got WAY into the physics weeds when he started talking about Atomic clocks, but it was very interesting in seeing how the difficulties and breakthroughs in separating the calculation of time from just keeping track of the motion of the Earth, Sun and Sky.

>42 mahsdad: Really cool mailbox, Jeff. Your neighborhood has some great stuff in it!

Good idea to give your brief opinions. It will keep you focused.

Have a great weekend.

>43 richardderus: Hey RD, thanks for stopping by!

Regarding reviews, I always knew that I was never going to do the fully on treatises on my reads like you do. I'm just not wired that way. And it was just too easy to not even do blurbs when I finished a book. I would spend the time cataloging things, but it was too easy to walk away, and then by the time I thought about it I was a book and half down the road and thought... nah.

This way, at least I'll commit myself to a couple sentences about my finished reads each week, now that my FF post is a definite habit.

Great weekend to you too!

Happy Friday, Jeff. Love the mailbox. How is Billy Summers? That was on my radar at one point. Now, Fairy Tale is. I plan on trying that one on audio in the near future. I always loved King in that format.

Hey Mark. Billy Summers is pretty good. Its more in the Mr Mercedes vein. Nothing too fantastical so far. An assassin drama wrapped up in small town life. King doing what he does best, coming up with interesting characters and putting them in interesting situations. I'm waiting for the twist.... cause you know there's going to be a twist.

Definitely want to read Fairy Tale as well. King's always good on audio. Will Patton and Frank Muller are my favorites.

Summers is narrated by Paul Sparks. He's a new one to me. I've been keeping track of the narrators in the last couple years. Its really interesting to see old favorites pop up.

So, I'm trying an experiment. I'm almost done with Magic for Liars. Usually, I pick my next book by just staring at my various piles and seeing what strikes me.

After reading Mark's endeavor to use various prompts and/or the TIOLI group to pick his next reads, and some discussion of Excel tracking over on Jim's thread, made me think. Maybe I should let technology randomly pick a book for me. There is a goto random book of yours on the Folly page here on LT, but you can't specify a collection so I couldn't narrow it down to just my TBR.

So I exported the TBR to excel, added a random ranking to the list, and then generated a random number for which book to pick.

The winner was Independence Day by Richard Ford. I know its a sequel, but a couple comments said that it didn't matter that much if you didn't read The Sportswriter. I haven't, and I'm going to trudge along anyway.

We'll see. Might not do this every time but its nice to try something different.

The hardest part was remembering where I put it. My piles, while not quite as vast as some, have spread out. LOL

>42 mahsdad: Isn't unusual to have any mailbox out on the street in the neighborhood? But yeah, that's one for the records.

I've been so happy about the snow pack news. We do need that, though so much has been troublesome up north. And more next week and week after.

>1 mahsdad: Happy New Reading Year!!

>48 quondame: You know, I never really thought about it, but now that you say that, I'm noticing it more and more that they're not too many at the street mailboxes. I grew up on the East Coast where that was the norm, and postal carriers never got out of the truck to delivery the mail, but out here its more walking. Interesting.

>49 ocgreg34: Hey Greg, thanks for stopping by

>42 mahsdad: what language is that? I would guess Esperanto for how close it is to English/various languages but it doesn't look like Esperanto.

>1 mahsdad: >51 ursula: I was going to say Dutch / Flemish?

>51 ursula: You’re not too far off with Esperanto, Ursula. It is a English creole or pidgin. It’s called Krio and it is the defacto national language of Sierra Leone. I like the backwards c for the o in Photo. I thought it was a mistake at first

>52 SandDune: Hi Rhian, if you’re talking about the thread topper, that’s actually Luxembourgish. Apparently they have their own language.

>52 SandDune: Ah, that would make sense. It's clearly a Germanic language but wasn't German or any of the Scandinavian ones. I'd forgotten about Luxembourgish!

I didn't even know there was a Luxembourgish. LOL.

New Book

Independence Day by Richard Ford



In this visionary sequel to The Sportswriter, Richard Ford deepens his portrait of one of the most unforgettable characters in American fiction, and in so doing gives us an indelible portrait of America. Frank Bascombe, in the aftermath of his divorce and the ruin of his career, has entered an "Existence Period," selling real estate in Haddam, NJ, and mastering the high-wire act of normalcy.

In Haddam, summer floats over tree-softened streets like a sweet lotion balm from a careless, languorous god, and the world falls in tune with its own mysterious anthems.

#newbook

I read and enjoyed Independence Day many years ago and then finally got to The Sportswriter. I think there is a third book too. I like Ford's writing. He seems to be a student of Updike.

Did I ask you, if you had read In the Distance? If you haven't, I can include that, when I send the package?

Hey Mark, only a few pages in and I think I'm going to like Independence Day.

I have not read In the Distance, so if you are feeling generous, I'll accept it. ;)

BTW, I did find a copy of Line of Beauty. Supposed to be here in a couple of weeks. So maybe late Feb or March at the earliest if you want to shared read.

Good luck with your new book -- if you like it maybe you'll use that way to select you books again!! Nice mailbox.

Hi Kim, thanks. I'm not sure if I'll use the random method every time, but definitely when the decision isn't jumping right out at me. :)

I don't actively do Early Reviewers anymore, but I still get the notifications and I'll occasionally request something that looks interesting.

In doing so, I actually got something last month. It just arrived the other day.

Lost Places and Other Stories by Sarah Pinsker. collection of 12 sci-fi stories.

She's won the Nebula and Hugo award a couple times, so looking forward to this, eventually

Well for all my Californians, the one good thing about all this rain, is the rain that turns to snow and stays in the mountains. Its too bad that we don't have better water recovery down here, cause the majority of the stuff that hits LA just goes into the ocean.

But the important thing is the snowpack, and its going gangbusters this year...

This is the official reporting from the CA water resources people. For each region the numbers on the left are the % of normal for the entire season (ending in April) and the numbers on the right are the % of normal for today.

So reading King's Billy Summers. It isn't horror or other worldly (SO FAR), but in typical King fashion, he definitely keeps you guessing.

Just over a third in and the situation that I thought the whole book was leading to, already happened. Mini-climax so early in. Now I have no idea where things are going. I like that.

>61 mahsdad: I snagged that one too, Jeff. I read her last story collection and it was very good.

FYI- the books are in the mail.

Cool, glad to get confirmation that the Pinsker has some potential.

And thanks for the books on the way!

Happy reading in 2023, Jeff!

Hi Anita, thanks for stopping by!

Hi Jeff. My geography isn't that great but I sure hope you are safe and not swimming around out there!

Ekifaananyi ekyewuunyisa Lwakutaano

Well its that time of the week again. We made it. Hopefully, not too worse for wear. We had a reprieve from the rain this week, but its going to be coming back tomorrow. Hopefully not too heavy, but like I've said before, we'll take all that we can get, especially snow up in the mountains. And to that end, here's an image of said mountains taking from my front porch last Saturday.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Independence Day by Richard Ford. 20%. Not quite a chunkster, but its close. Enjoying it so far, such a slice of life.
Listening - Billy Summers by Stephen King. 51% Like I said earlier, it took a bit of an early climatic turn. And then he went a little cringy (not in a horror way, if you read it, I think you'll know), that I'm not sure of yet. One trope that he is going to is that Billy is also becoming an author (surprise) and writing a story within the story. I wonder if its a case where he had 2 stories that neither were quite long enough for a novel, so he combined them
eBook - Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie. 73% This is my backup book so I continue to slowly progress thru this. I'll finish it eventually
Graphic Novel - Sandman Vol: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman. 7% Volume 9 of the collection. Just started.

Books Finished

3. Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey : . This was a fun read. A murder mystery in a magic school. The main character is the Dudley Dursley of the world to her Harry Potter sister, who is a teacher at the school and got the magic in the family. She's a PI, tasked with figuring out who killed a teacher in the library in a very gruesome manner. I liked the quick jump into this world's magic with out much fanfare. No need to explain, its magic and its here in the world. Makes me want to read more about the world. A little bit of YA romance. A whodonit that kept me guessing. I enjoyed it.

4. Sandman: World's End by Neil Gaiman (GN) : Volume 8 of the collection. Not too much to do with Morpheus this set. Its a collection of stories of people stuck at an Inn at the World's End, literally. Not my favorite of the series, but worth the read.

>69 mahsdad: I mean I know they're there, but photos like this surprise me every time.

I know, Susan. 😁. Certainly can’t seem them today

>69 mahsdad: With a view like that, Jeff, I would be spending plenty of time on my front porch!

>72 PaulCranswick: It is why we bought the house. :)

>69 mahsdad: Wow, that's quite the view!

Hi Chelle, Thanks!

My starter words payoff again. 😜

Wordle 579 4/6

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RADIO, MENDS, LUCKY In case you're interested

So I just started reading (audio) 1984. Its been years (probably in 1984) when I last read it.

When I started I realized that we are further from the actual 1984 than George Orwell was TO 1984 when he wrote it.

1949 - 1984 = 35 years

1984 - 2023 = 39 years.

Wild!

To say nothing of the fact that I graduated from High School in 1984, almost 40 years ago! Mein Gott!

Fantastîk Wêne Roja Înê

Hi Folks. Hope all is well in your world. I'm thinking about our dear friend RD. I hope all goes well for him. Like others have said on his thread, I suspected something was wrong, but I had hoped he was taking a break. Damn it sucks to get old (and I include myself). Anyway, not too much to report for the weekend. We should be staying dry for once for at least a couple more days. :)

Today's image is from my current book, its kinda fun what you can sometimes find in used books. This envelope was inside. I got the book in Pedro, so I'm not sure how it got from Pedro to Japan and back again, unless Gwen was actually from here. There's also a very faded receipt from a bookshop in Japan dated 1996 where the person bought The World of Charles Addams. Too fun.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobook Narrators

Reading - Independence Day by Richard Ford 47%
Listening - 1984 by George Orwell 2%
eBook - The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie 80%
Graphic Novel - Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman 35%

Finished Books

5. Billy Summers by Stephen King (A) : : I listened to this on audio. Like most King books, I really enjoyed this. He's delving more into the crime genre that he started with Mr. Mercedes. This is the story about a military veteran who is a sniper for hire doing his last job and things go off the rails. There's a couple different story elements that I think King might have had that didn't fill out an entire book that he brought together that I initially wasn't going to work but it ultimately worked quite well. Humorously, one aspect that King used, is a trope that he's used many times in the past. Billy, due to circumstances, has to become a writer. So there's several chapters intermingled with the main plot, of him writing a story, that is his backstory and time in Afghanistan.

#FF

>78 mahsdad: I just came across my copy of Billy Summers that I had set aside and never read. The timing of your read and review couldn’t have been better! This one goes on my sooner-rather-than-later list!

Karen O

>79 klobrien2: Cool, glad to nudge people along. I'm always hesitant about "reviewing" books, what I like might be vastly different than what someone else does. But that's just me being non-confrontational.

I will say there is "virtually" none of King's usual spookiness, except for a subtle nod to something in the King-a-verse that I just leave unspoiled. It was a fun easter egg that he gave his Constant Readers. :)

I'm not going to be able to keep up with even a fraction of Paul's bookhauls (and some others around here, Bill comes to mind. ;) ) but I thought I would start to keep a running list of what new books come into the abode. So...

1. Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst : used - Abe Books
2. Lost Places: and Other Stories by Sarah Pinskter : LTER
3. In the Distance by Hernan Diaz : the generosity of our favorite Postman
4. Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon : again msf59
5. The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl : technically Laura's. A birthday present from her sister. Mis-delivered last month to my neighbor. We didn't find out about it until my SIL asked, Hey did you get that book I sent you. Amazon messed up the address and my neighbor didn't know who it was actually for.

#BH

>78 mahsdad: Books lead strange lives of their own. I always found Japanese addresses fascinating. My brother's first wife grew up partly in Japan - she was born in Canada to and Irish-Canadian mother and a Russian Jewish father, and the family moved (back) to Japan after WWII where her father ran an import-export business. The aunties in that family had strings of pearls to die for. And bounteous bosoms on which to display them.

Ha! very interesting, Susan!

A couple quotes from what I'm reading for your Saturday afternoon (or evening, or Sunday morning, depending on when you might see this)...

Sandman: The Kindly Ones

I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich, or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.

Independence Day

(after thinking about the decisions Frank made as a young man, now thinking about his real estate clients trying to decide to buy a house) Likely as not, Joe and Phyllis know how these things work as well as I do and are scared shitless. Yet, while it's bad to make a wrong move, as maybe I did with the Volvo, it's worse to regret in advance and call it prudence... Better, much, much better to follow ole Davy Crockett's moto, amended for use by adults: Be sure you're not completely wrong, then go ahead

I know return you to your regularly scheduled weekend.

>78 mahsdad: Oh, I do love me some King. Billy Summers is so noted. : ) And the latest Sandman excerpt sounds good too. You are dangerous!!

Hey Kim, Yeah King's always a must read for me. I used to want to have my own personal copies of his stuff, but I've gotten over that "obsession" for the most part, and audiobooks will do quite nicely.

If you're a King fan, you'll appreciate this. There's been some videos going across BookTok (if you're on TikTok, the book people are kind of fun, fun source of BBs), about the books that will never be printed again. The main one being RAGE, since King personally pulled it after Columbine. I have a copy of the Bachman Books that has it. I got it for Christmas in 1985.

Sandman - I had read them years ago, but after watching the Netflix series, I wanted to read them again. Hoopla is a great source for graphic novels. They don't have everything, but the do have quite a bit.

Next to Shawshank Redemption, I think the Sting might be my favorite movie.

Its on Netflix right now.

HI Jeff

I enjoyed scrolling through your lists. I know it took a lot of time for you to pull this all together.

Thanks for sharing your book titles with us.

Okay...starting Billy Summers today! On my book entry, one of the tags reads "Mahdad's Fault"!! : )

>88 Whisper1: Thanks Linda!

>89 Berly: Glad to be a BB enabler! Hope you like it.

Some alert ears and then picture by my loving wife clued us into at least 2 GHOs that are in the area. They were calling to each other and flying around, hopefully cleaning up the rodent population. They're still around, I can still hear their calls thru out the night. So cool

>91 mahsdad: Oh that is cool!

>91 mahsdad: That's very cool!

Nice! Cellphone shot or camera? Either way, nice.

Reminds me, that Friday last, I was heading to a doctor's appointment and saw a hilltop farm field off in the distance just COVERED with white. Not snow but snow geese. Thousands of them, I'd guess. All I had was my phone, and try as I might, I couldn't find a viewing point that would allow me to capture with my phone what my eyes were seeing. I'll put the best of what I did shoot on my thread.

>92 quondame: >93 ChelleBearss: Thanks Susan, Chelle

>94 weird_O: Hey Bill. It was a cellphone pic that my wife took. Snow geese - yeah, I hear ya, sometimes these little cellphone brains take decent picture and sometimes they just pale to our eyes. I only share (generally) the ones that work. LOL

New Book - AUDIO

Drowned Worlds edited by Jonathan Strahan



We stand on the brink of one of the greatest ecological disasters of our time – the world is warming and seas are rising, and yet water is life; it brings change. Where one thing is wiped away, another rises.

Drowned Worlds looks at the future we might have if the oceans rise – good or bad. Here you’ll find stories of action, adventure, romance and, yes, warning and apocalypse. Stories inspired by Ballard’s The Drowned World, Sterling’s Islands in the Net, and Ryman’s The Child Garden; stories that allow that things may get worse, but remembers that such times also bring out the best in us all. Multi-award winning editor Jonathan Strahan has put together sixteen unique tales of deluged worlds and those who fight to survive and strive to live.

Featuring fiction by Paul McAuley, Ken Liu, Kim Stanley Robinson, Nina Allan, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Christopher Rowe, Nalo Hopkinson, Sean Williams, Jeffrey Ford, Lavie Tidhar, Rachel Swirsky, James Morrow, Charlie Jane Anders, Sam J. Miller and Catherynne M. Valente.

#newbook

Fantastiška nuotrauka penktadienį

Hey there, nothing much to report. Laura went out to Palm Springs this week to take care of her Mom, so I've been flying solo, but she'll be back on Saturday. Not sure what's on the agenda. Hopefully, I'll make a good dent in my reads. Since RD is engaged in his recovery (glad to read he's getting better), I can share an image of my (currently only) feline child. It would probably give him another stroke (too soon? 😆😏) if he saw it. The man does not like cats. LOL.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Independence Day by Richard Ford 67%
Listening - Drowned Worlds edited by Jonathan Strahan. After finishing up 1984, was looking at my wishlist tags in Libby (have to do that more), and this was there and available. Short stories about the aftermath of climate crisis. 7%
eBook - The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie 83%
GN - Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman 56%

Finished Books

6. 1984 by George Orwell (A) : . Listened on Audio, read by Simon Prebble. I'm fairly certain I read this as a young adult (probably college, which was a couple years after 1984). But I have no real memory of it. Boy is this a powerful book in today's world. Is it Scifi, or a Political Pre-history book? It seems that there are some in today's world that read it as an instruction manual. I think Orwell missed the mark by about 35 years or so in when he set it. When he is talking about doublethink and Newspeak, I was immediately thinking of the news articles recently about educators in Texas wanting to replace "slavery" with "involuntary relocation" in their curriculum.

Two things I didn't know, after reading this, George Orwell, is a pen name, his real name is Eric Arthur Blair and he died within a year of publishing the book. He was only 46

#FF

Love the image of your cat, Jeff. What's his name? He looks like my Theo, aka Hurricane Theo. Lol, you are right about Richard; get these pics in while you can!

>91 mahsdad: You know I love it.

Have a good, solo weekend, Jeff.

>98 jessibud2: Hi Shelley, her name is Penny. She's been a solo for about 6 months since we lost our other girl, Luna, a tortie. We're about to start looking for a couple more. We think she needs some kittens to play with.

>99 msf59: I knew you would. :)

Oops, sorry about using the wrong pronoun. My last 2 were female and my current 2 are male. Took me awhile to get used to that switch, too. I remember your Luna, looked like my Lexi.

You should read Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit, one of the best books I read last year.

And given your interest in photography, read Solnit's River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West.

>101 jessibud2: No problem ;) Our first 3 were boys, then we got 2 girls.

>102 weird_O: Hey Bill, thanks for the Solnit suggestion. I read A Field Guide to Getting Lost a couple years ago when John Green was doing his Life's Library Book club. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm going to have to add these 2 to the WL!

Book Haul

Laura came back with more books from her Mom's. There were a few that I'm adding to the catalog

6. The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
7. The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
8. The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard
9. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
10. Order to Kill: A Novel (Mitch Rapp Book 15) by Vince Flynn - Touchstone is wrong, and since its book 15, probably not going to read it. ;)
11. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
12. Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers by Louisa May Alcott

#BH

>97 mahsdad: Aww what a cutie!
We also have an orange cat. Does yours refuse to cuddle and chew on you for no reason?

Thanks Chelle. She isn't much of a cuddler, at least not one that actively seeks to sit in your lap. She'll certainly accept any and all pets, however. ;) She isn't much of a chewer. Her late sister was one, however. A tortie with a tude, her love language, at least with me was gentle bites. :)

>91 mahsdad: What a great pic!

>97 mahsdad: What an adorable cat!

2023 Books of the Month

January : Billy Summers by Stephen King



#botm

>107 figsfromthistle: Thanks for the photo love, Anita!

>108 mahsdad: BOTM - it was a close call with 1984, but the King was less depressing. LOL

New Book - Kindle

Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi



I got this from TOR when they were doing their monthly ebook club. And if my tags are accurate, I heard about it from when the author was interviewed on the Daily Show (here's the interview : https://youtu.be/l3JbO9UMowk)

Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbor's son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that haven't happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles burned around them, wants to protect his sister from a power that could destroy her. But when Kev is incarcerated, Ella must decide what it means to watch her brother suffer while holding the ability to wreck cities in her hands. Rooted in the hope that can live in anger, Riot Baby is as much an intimate family story as a global dystopian narrative. It burns fearlessly toward revolution and has quietly devastating things to say about love, fury, and the black American experience. Ella and Kev are both shockingly human and immeasurably powerful. Their childhoods are defined and destroyed by racism. Their futures might alter the world.

Before her Thing begins. Before even Kev is born. Before the move to Harlem. Ella on a school bus ambling through a Piru block in Compton and the kids across the aisle from her in blue giggling and throwing up Crip gang signs out the window at the Bloods in the low-rider pulling up alongside the bus.

#newbook

>108 mahsdad: That was a great BB!! Thanks. I finished it yesterday. : ) The ending worked for me and it was probably the right one, even through it wasn't happily ever after.

>111 Berly: Yeah, he's so good. For a time in the middle, I thought he was going off the rails, but he really pulled it together.

New Book - Audio

Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse



My wife is much better at staying on top of political things and current events and this is a book that she's been saying I should read for quite a while.

A former firearms executive pulls back the curtain on America's multibillion-dollar gun industry, exposing how it fostered extremism and racism, radicalizing the nation and bringing cultural division to a boiling point.

"You are an evil little bastard!" Spit flies as the middle-aged man screams at my younger son, Badge. "You know that?"
The man wears an American flag on his shirt and a pistol on his belt. He is enraged, the color in his face rising to match that of his Make America Great Again hat. Then the stranger pushes his finger into my son's chest.

#newbook

وێنەی خەیاڵی هەینی

Hey All, we made it to another Friday and amazingly, we're 1/12 thru the year already. Should be a pleasant and chilly weekend. Perfect for finishing some books. For today's image, I hate to repeat a subject, but she was just being too cute. Here's another of Penny in repose.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Independence Day by Richard Ford. 90% If I stay off of TikTok and Youtube, I should be able to get it done this weekend.
Listening - Gunfight by Ryan Busse 5%. Just started, so he's just setting up his credentials and premise. He was an executive for a gun manufacturer. He's also reading it. Not too bad.
eBook - Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi. 11% Onset of superpowers in Compton in the age of Rodney King. Hmmm
GN - Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman. 81%. This one is going a little slower, I actually had to borrow it again, it auto returned

Finished Books

7. The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman (K) : This was a novella that someone said they read every year at Christmas. It was a twilight-zoney Christmas Carol/Its a Wonderful Life kinda story. Where a man is contemplating his life and the consequences of his actions throughout it. Its Backman and I love all things Backman, so it was a must read

8. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (K) : - Her first novel, and our first introduction to Hercule Poirot. A rich matriarch dies mysteriously and Poirot has to figure out Who Dunnit. If I didn't know it was her, and her first story, I'd say it was a cliched mystery story. Locked room, Poison, contested will, plenty of shady family members to cast blame on, all the usual tropes. But then, she's the one that came up with them (did she?) , or at least made them cliche today. Fun read, even though I'm not that big a mystery fan. Its in an ebook collection of all her novels, so I'll eventually move on to the next one; The Secret Adversary

#FF

>114 mahsdad: That is cute, Jeff, and that is also some set of whiskers!

I am not adding to the extent of the last couple of years in 2023 as I am trying to read as many as I add. Well I am not quite managing to do that but compared to my 1,150 acquisitions last year, 34 so far in 2023 looks very tame.

>115 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul!

And as far as book buying goes, even on your most mellow year, you are always going to out pace me. But its all good! Reading books and collecting books are two different holidays! LOL.

New Book

Lost Places and Other Stories by Sarah Pinsker



This was an Early Review get.

Celebrating a new collection from Sarah Pinsker. A living flag. A mysterious ballad. A hotel that shouldn't exist. A group of girls goes camping. A half-remembered children's TV show. Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author Sarah Pinsker's second collection brings together a seemingly eclectic group of stories that unite behind certain themes: her touchstones of music and memory are joined by stories about secret subversions and hidden messages in art, lost routes, last chances.

(Two Truths and a Lie) In his last years, Marco's older brother Denny had become one of those people whose possessions swallowed them entirely. The kind they made documentaries about, the kind people staged interventions for, the kind people made excuses not to visit, and who stopped going out, and who were spoken of in sighs and silences. Those were things Stella thought about after Denny died...

#newbook

Question for the hivemind...

I know a lot of us (some more than others) keep track of more than just the number of books read. I've been keeping # pages and hours/minutes for audio for a while. Does anyone keep track of number of words you read per time period/book? (I think I've seen it in someone's recap).

If so, what resource do you use to find out how many words? Is there a particular website you rely on?

This curious mind wants to know...

Foto ya kokamwa Vendredi

Hey everyone, welcome to the end of another week. Ended up getting a cold the last 4 days or so. In the now-times, I immediately think, oh do I have the 'Vid? I knew I should have worn a mask at the grocery store. I even took a home test, but it expired 8 months ago so it didn't work. Just paranoia, because its the typical common cold I usually get... starts out with a mild fever and a slightly sore throat, feel punky for a couple days, then it transitions into coughing an sneezing for a couple days. Should be better by Monday. Oh well. Glad to see our friend RD is up and about lurking round the threads again. To celebrate, here's a giant disco ball. Well not an actual disco ball, its part of a nighttime light display thing at the Botanic Gardens. I'm sure at night with lights bouncing off of it, it would be very cool. During the day it offered some cool reflections.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Lost Places and Other Stories by Sarah Pinsker. 38%. An ER win of near sci-fi, quasi-dystopian and twilight zoney stories that are proving to be an excellent read. The one I just read is what happens when everything shuts down for fear of terrorism. Voluntary apocalypse.
Listening - Gunfight: My Battle against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse. 80%. A former gun manufacturer executive gets disallusioned with the industry and its takeover by the NRA and the radical right. Very interesting listen
eBook - Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi. 25%

Finished Books - this was a prolific week

9. Drowned Worlds edited by Jonathan Strahan (A) : A collection of stories inspired by Drowned World by JG Ballard. Pretty good mix of different takes on what the end result of climate change will be

10. Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman (GN) : This is the 9th collection in the series. Couple more to go. No need to review this, go back and read the first series, if you like that, you're going to want to read the rest.

11. Independence Day by Richard Ford : Finally read this one, its been on my shelf for a while. It won the Pulitzer in 1996. Its just a couple days in the life of a divorced father and real estate agent, as deals with some rental tenants, some home buyers and trying to connect with his kids and specifically his son thru a road trip to visit several sports hall's of fame. All over the 4th of July Holiday. It doesn't seem like much, but that's what makes award winning books great, for all the "averageness" of the story, its the writing and Ford's prose that engages you and makes you want to know what's going to happen. Excellent read.

12. The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television : Mark suggested this graphic novel. My library had a copy on Hoopla and I grabbed it and devoured it in a day. A really interesting "biography" of Serling with an unexpected and satisfying Twilight Zone twist.

#FF

Now that he's up and about, Jeff, you better warn him off your thread till you start a new one.... just sayin' ;-)

Yeah you're right. ;)

Happy Friday, Jeff. Good to know about Billy Summers. I will have to get to that one. I also received the Sarah Pinsker collection. I really liked her last one.

>118 mahsdad: If I knew a way to count the number of words read, I would keep track of that too ;-)

>118 mahsdad: I am unsure of any app or site that helps measure words read, but I know I measure pages per hour for average reading speed of a book. I use an app called Bookly that sets a timer while reading and gives estimated time to finish a book and reading speed, but that is as close to rate of reading I can get.

New Book - AUDIO

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (read by Marin Ireland and Simon Jones)



Among the most celebrated and beloved novels of recent times, Cloud Cuckoo Land is a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring story about children on the cusp of adulthood in worlds in peril, who find resilience, hope, and a book.

In the 15th century, an orphan named Anna lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople. She learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds what might be the last copy of a centuries-old book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the army that will lay siege to the city. His path and Anna’s will cross.

In the present day, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno rehearses children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story, preserved against all odds through centuries. Tucked among the library shelves is a bomb, planted by a troubled, idealistic teenager, Seymour. This is another siege.

And in a not-so-distant future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon, told to her by her father.

Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders whose lives are gloriously intertwined. Doerr’s dazzling imagination transports us to worlds so dramatic and immersive that we forget, for a time, our own.

A fourteen-year-old girl sits cross-legged on the floor of a circular vault. A mass of curls haloes her head; her socks are full of holes. This is Konstance. Behind her, in side a translucent cylinder that rises sixteen feet from floor to ceiling, hangs a machine composed of trillions of golden threads, none thicker than a human hair.

#newbook

>119 mahsdad: hope you're all better soon!

Фантастикалык сүрөт Жума

Its the Weekend! and it couldn't come any sooner. Just about over my cold, its tapering off in the typical hacking cough, but not too bad, only the occasional middle of the night have to get up and leave the room as to not disturb the wife and I hack away for a few minutes. :) Today I'll tell you how I am annoyed at the downside of audiobooks when you are reading a book with multiple narrators and you get to a section and think, hey how the heck did Seymour get here, oh Libby must of glitched, or I left it playing without ear buds in. I'll take the next hour or so scrubbing back and relistening to parts only to find that were Seymour was was exactly where Mr. Doerr put him, it was just a bit of a time jump that I'm sure he'll explain when I get further along. 🤣. Oh well. Today's image is only slightly on the subject of that animal that must not be named if RD is to ever visit me again. its a crinkly toy sitting in the sun and I just thought the light caught it in an interesting way.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - West by Carys Davies. I just finished Lost Places last night so I haven't actually started a new DTE, but I think this is what I'll read next
Listening - Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr 50%. Despite my slight issue above, I'm really enjoying this. Took a little bit to get up to speed and keep track of everyone, but that's normal for any thing, just a little harder with multiple subjects on audio.
eBook - Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi. 30%
Graphic Novel - Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman. I have it borrowed, just haven't really started it yet.

Finished Books

13. Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse (A) This was very interesting and accessible "memoir" of Busse's time in the gun industry (a VP of Sales) and how he became disillusioned with it and how the NRA and the radical right pretty much took over politically. If you're into current affairs NF (and this not usually my jam), you might enjoy this

14. M is for Monster by Talia Dutton (GN) : Very quick read. A neat GN that was a reimagining of Frankenstein set in an environment of 2 scientist sisters dealing with the effects of their experiments

15. Lost Places by Sarah Pinsker (ER) : 8/10 I got this from LT's Early Review program for a honest opinion. And honestly, I really enjoyed this collection quite a bit. This was my first time reading her stuff and I think I'll look to read more. The only story that I tapped out on that kept me from giving it more stars, was "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather". It was a really interesting premise, a kind of Reddit thread discussion of an obscure English ballad. I liked it, but it just went a little long for me and I skipped it. The rest were different slightly off types of stories, kind of near science fiction. My favorites were probably "Science Facts", the story of a group of girls going on a backpack trip and how they bond together, or "Remember This for Me", about an artist having to deal with her dementia and memory problems. Definitely recommend reading.

#FF

>127 mahsdad: Cool crinkle toy. I'm revolted that it's used by one of them but it's not an action shot so what's it to me if you allow house space to these disease spreading alien invaders?

Hey Buddy, thanks for swinging round.

Agree to disagree on the subject of Felis silvestris catus. 🤐

Happy Friday, Jeff. I didn't love Cloud Cuckoo Land as much as others but I admired the ambition. Good to know about Lost Places: Stories. It will be my next story collection. On the GN front, I have been enjoying American Cult. Keep this one in mind.

>130 msf59: CCL - yeah, its just pretty good, a perfect audio read where, I'm not too concerned if I miss something.

I'm definitely going to read American Cult. Sandman is a reread, so no problem with putting it back on the shelf for something else.

New Book

West by Carys Davies



When widowed mule breeder Cy Bellman reads in the newspaper that colossal ancient bones have been discovered in a Kentucky swamp, he sets out from his small Pennsylvania farm to see for himself if the rumors are true: that the giant monsters are still alive and roam the uncharted wilderness beyond the Mississippi River... From Frank O'Connor Award winner Carys Daives, West is a spellbinding and timeless epic-in-miniature, an eerie parable of early frontier life, and an electric monument to possibility

From what she could see he hand two guns, a hatchet, a knife, his rolled blanket, the big tin chest, various bags and bundles, one of which, she supposed, contained her mother's things.

#newbook

>132 mahsdad: looks interesting.

Happy weekend reads!

Sorry you haven't been feeling well. I hope the weekend sees you fine again.

>127 mahsdad: A cute piece of whimsy.

>133 figsfromthistle: Its a very quick read (I'll be done tonight or tomorrow at the latest). Its a pretty good tense read. Especially for what's going on at home after the duffus goes off on his "quest"

>134 quondame: Yeah, pretty much back to normal, just the remnants of a cough and congestion. Typical stuff.

Thanks for the photo love! ;)

>132 mahsdad: ...and one I liked quite well...hoping you will, too.

>132 mahsdad: I've read West recently as well and was very taken with it. I'm looking out for more by this author.

>136 richardderus: >137 SandDune: Just finished it. I did enjoy it. A feel good story in a twisted sort of way.

New Book

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart



I let fate and the random number generator in Excel choose my next book. It wasn't this, but I couldn't find the first selection so I did it again and the fates chose this.

Douglas Stuart was born and raised in Glasgow. After graduating from the Royal College of Art, he moved to New York, where he began a career in design. Shuggie Bain is his first novel. His short stories, The Englishman and Found Wanting, have appeared in the New Yorker. His essay on gender, anxiety, and class were published by Lit Hub.

The day was flat. That morning his mind had abandoned him and left his body wandering down below.
The empty body went listlessly through its routine, pale and vacant-eyed under the fluorescent strip lights, as his soul floated above the aisles and thought only of tomorrow

#newbook

New Book - AUDIO

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (read by Mur Lafferty)



In this Hugo nominated science fiction thriller by Mur Lafferty, a crew of clones awakens aboard a space ship to find they're being hunted, and any one of them could be the killer.

Maria Arena awakens in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood. She has no memory of how she died. This is new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died.

Maria's vat is one of seven, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Dormire, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so it can awaken. And Maria isn't the only one to die recently. . .

Unlock the bold new science fiction thriller that Corey Doctorow calls Mur's "breakout book".

International Law regarding the codicils to govern the existence of clones, Established October 9, 2282

1. It is unlawful to create more than one clone of a person at a time. Each clone is one person. Cloning will be used for longevity of life, not for multiplication. If a clone is multiplied by their own hand or others, the most recent clone has claim to the identity, while the other(s) are extraneous.
2. It is unlawful for a clone to bear or father children. A clone is considered their own child for the rest of their life, including where it affects inheritance law. Clones must be sterilized upon rebirth.
...
7. It is unlawful for a clone to end their own current life in order to be reborn.

#newbook

>139 mahsdad: I am sure fate and Excel have steered you right. I hope you end up feeling that way, too.

>141 richardderus: So far so good!

Just things I'm pondering. I like the new recommendation page, but with a WL and TBR that are both 100+, I don't really need to actively go look for new books. LOL. I get all I need from following along with you fine folks.

Ponder over. ;)

Fantastisks piektdienas foto

Its cold, its rainy, its windy, but I took the day off, so I don't care. Going out to Palm Springs to see the MIL tomorrow, so that's what's on the agenda. Hopefully, I get a bunch of reading in. At least some audio while I'm helping do some chores at the MIL's house. :)

Today's image comes from the LA Art show we went to last weekend. It was pretty much a convention of art dealers displaying their wares. It was pretty decent and if nothing else, got us out of the house. Here's image looking into a sculpture that is just a neat grouping of mirrors and lights angled so you can't see yourself and it just look like it goes on forever.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart 14%
Listening - Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty 29%
eBook - Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi. 30%
Graphic Novel - American Cults: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from Colonial Era to Today by Robyn Chapman

Finished Books

16. West by Carys Davies : : This was a quick read, but a really enjoyable one. Its the story of what happens when a man goes on a fools quest into the untamed west to find the giant monsters he thinks he'll find there, and more poignantly and tragically what happens to his young daughter and her Aunt who is tasked to watch her. A definite recommendation

17. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (A) : Read this on audio. It was primarily read by Marin Ireland, but the book within the book was read by Simon Jones (who you will instantly recognize if you're a Hitchhiker's fan). Its an interconnected story told characters in the 1400, modern times and the distant future. All connected by a more ancient book called Cloud Cuckoo Land. First by the people who find the folios of the book and save them from distruction, to the Korean War vet, who ends up translating the book, to a girl on a generational starship who grew up on the stories in the book. At first I was okay with the book, it was good, but then it ultimately paid off for me with a couple revelations and twists in the end. At one point, there was a section that I thought was out of place, that I had left the book playing and I missed something. But after I went back, I didn't and I was still confused, until later in the book, Doerr says that the original folio was restored out of order and no one knew the intended order, and I think the part in the main narrative that I thought was out of order, was just Doerr's subtle foreshadowed reference to this. Or I could just be deluded, I usually never think this deeply into books, so I'm an novice at it ;) At any rate, I enjoyed it.

#FF

>144 mahsdad: I love infinity sculptures like that, Jeff!

>144 mahsdad: Oh, that's some capture of what must have been a dizzying sculpture!

I loved Cloud Cuckoo Land when I read it last year. It was an amazing book and so much better than All the Light We Cannot See.

I have Six Wakes on my TBR list, so I will await anxiously your opinion of that novel.

>147 benitastrnad: I liked CC and Six Wakes was definitely worthwhile.

>147 benitastrnad: I have such short term memory when it comes to books, the only thing I really remember about All the Light, was it was a book I enjoyed. Enjoyed 'em both.

>147 benitastrnad: >148 quondame:. I am happy to find others that know and like Mur. I've known about her way back when in the early days of podcasting, when she was reading her own books, especially her Afterlife series. Just finished Six Wakes, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Very interesting premise.

Hey, Jeff. Glad to see you are reading Shuggie Bain. I thought it was an amazing novel. Are you enjoying American Cult? I had a good time with that one.

New Book - AUDIO

The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde



England, 2022.

There are 1.2 million human-size rabbits living in the UK.

They can walk, talk, drive cars, and they like to read Voltaire, the result of an Inexplicable Anthropomorphizing Event fifty-five years before.

A family of rabbits is about to move into Much Hemlock, a cozy little village in Middle England where life revolves around summer fetes, jam making, gossipy corner stores, and the oh-so-important Best Kept Village awards.

No sooner have the rabbits arrived than the villagers decide they must depart, citing their propensity to burrow and breed, and their shameless levels of veganism. But Mrs Constance Rabbit is made of sterner stuff, and her and her family decide they are to stay. Unusually, their neighbors--longtime resident Peter Knox and his daughter, Pippa--decide to stand with them . . . . and soon discover that you can be a friend to rabbits or humans, but not both.

With a blossoming romance, acute cultural differences, enforced rehoming to a MegaWarren in Wales, and the full power of the ruling United Kingdom Anti-Rabbit Party against them, Peter and Pippa are about to question everything they had ever thought about their friends, their nation, and their species.

An inimitable blend of satire, fantasy, and thriller, The Constant Rabbit is the latest dazzlingly original foray into Jasper Fforde's ever-astonishing creative genius.

Somebody once said that the library is actually the dominant life form on the planet. Humans simply exist as the reproductive means to achieve more libraries.

...Perhaps I should explain. The UKARP Government's much-vaunted Rural Library Strategic Group Vision Action Group had kept libraries open as per their election manifesto, but reduced the librarian staffing levels in Herefordshire to a single, solitary example working on greatly reduced hours - which meant that each of the county's twelve libraries could be open for precisely six minutes every two weeks.

#newbook

Knowing the fans of George Saunders and Jess Walter we have around here. Check out

https://literary-arts.org/archive/

Its an archive of the Literary Arts podcast and the latest one is a conversation with George and Jess. Plus plenty of author talks to explore

2023 Books of the Month

January : Billy Summers by Stephen King
February : Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse



#botm

February Recap

Books Read - 10 (18)

Overall sources
DTE - 22%
Audio - 39%
Digital - 39%

Useless data point, I've finished 28% of my books on Sunday, none on Friday so far.

Unique Authors - 16
Lady Authors - 6
Authors of Color - none so far (bad Jeff)

ຮູບພາບທີ່ຍອດຢ້ຽມວັນສຸກ

Hey welcome to month 3, how the heck did that happen already. Not sure what's on the agenda for the weekend. Last weekend was busy going to see the MIL, so maybe this will be a whole lotta nothing. :) I think we're done with the rain for a while, but it continues to be chilly. Can't wait to see what my gas bill is for this last month. The previous bill it had jumped about 90%. Fingers crossed it didn't do that again. Today's image comes from our drive home from PALM SPRINGS. If you didn't know any better you'd think we were on Colorado or Utah or something. LOL



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart 39% Enjoying this quite a lot so far
Listening - Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde 20%. In typical Fforde fashion, a weird, funny, satirical book. This time focused on the systemic racism and problems dealing with anthropomorphized human sized rabbits living in society. I think I might have to go on a Fforde re-read binge on audio next.
Digital - Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi 70%
Graphic Novel - American Cult by Robyn Chapman 77%

Finished Books

18. Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (A) : (AUDIO). Clones are a thing and on a multi-generation spaceship headed to a distant planet, the crew wake up from their "incubators" discovering that they're new clones, and their previous incarnations have all been murdered. They have no memory of anything past the day before they left and its been 25 years. Closed room murder mystery with clones and the societal and psychological conundrums of dealing with them. A pretty interesting premise and book. It was read by Mur herself.

In today's vlogbrothers video on YT, John Green talks about publishing and the different formats and his experiences with them.

I enjoyed it. Seemed right in our wheelhouse.

https://youtu.be/69dv6UkNHnY

This Mental Floss article came across my FB feed this morning (yeah, I still peruse Facebook). Its the story Richard Bachman, how Stephen King came up with the pen name and how he got outed.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/502166/how-stephen-king-was-outed-richard-ba...

>150 msf59: Mark, I humbly apologize for not replying to your post from a week and a half ago. I put up a couple posts and it it got pushed up and I never saw it. Always like when you stop by. As you'll see below, still working thru Shuggie, very good read. And American Cults was an excellent read. Definitely learn some stuff I never knew

Fantastic Photo Veneris

I won't bury the lede, today's headline is Latin, and I guess they didn't have a word for Fantastic or Photo, at least as far as Google is concerned. And my friends, this brings us to the end of Google's list of languages it can translate. I have a couple ideas for the next 2 or 3 weeks. But after that I'm not sure what I'll do to keep you all entertained with my silly posts. :)

Today's another wet one in Southern California. I'm feeling for all the folks in my local mountains cause this is a warmer system and I think they'll be getting rain, rather than snow and there's a lot up there to melt. Hopefully some (most? It might be too much to ask) will make it into the aquifers.

Today's image is of this bird "ornament" Laura got that we put on the side of the house. Yes, I know it would have been better if the moon was in the eye. Sue me. LOL!



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart 68%
Listening - Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde 68%.
Digital - Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson 4% Had this in my Kindle library. I bought it, but I can't remember where I got the recommendation from. Probably RD. We find access to the multiverse and we can travel to other worlds, but only to worlds where your counterpart is already dead. Pretty good so far
Graphic Novel - Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman 31%

Finished Books

20. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi (K) : : Read this on Kindle. In inner city LA, Ella discovers she has superpowers as a young girl, and her brother Kev is born on the day of the LA riots. In a slightly dystopian world, not quite our own, we see how they struggle thru life, her with her powers and he as an incarcerated black man, who may have powers too. A pretty good read.

19. American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from the Colonial Era to Today edit by Robyn Chapman (GN) : . A very interesting collection of different artists take on the various cults and religious societies that are spread throughout our history. From the FLDS Mormons to Manson to Heavens Gate. There's even on on the Ultra Orthodox Jewish community. The premise that a cult has to have all 4 of these conditions (paraphrased). 1. An organized community or family, 2. A cult is totalitarian in nature. 3. All members have a shared belief system. 4. A cult does not confirm to cultural norms. Interesting things I learned, the Oneida Company was started as an offshoot of a cult. The man who created the Cheesecake Factory was in a cult. And Nichele Nichols' brother was part of the Heaven's Gate cult. Fascinating stuff

>159 mahsdad: Oh, it's the end of an era. And a cool, wet one at that.

>159 mahsdad: I'm currently in the middle of American Cult, and I've had the same "What? I didn't know that!" reactions to some of the chapters so far. It's a very interesting read, isn't it?!

Have a good weekend!

Karen O

>160 quondame: I've been keeping track, I've been doing it for 115 weeks, hard to believe. Heck I can't believe its going to be my 17th LibraryThingaversary.

Anyway, I'm still going to post, just not sure what my tag line will be now. I might just start over, but do it in a different order. This time I alternated, I started with the first on Google's list, and then the next week went to the end. Have to think about it.

What were you thinking not putting the moon in his eye? LOL. Love your photos. : )

Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde. Yup. Have to get that one. And I'm glad you enjoyed Billy Summers by King! That was a recent favorite for me too.

Happy weekend.

>159 mahsdad: Cool image, Jeff!Tell people you're echoing the eye with the moon in the place of the bird's syrinx to celebrate birdsong.

Cults scare me.

Shuggie made me so sad...so angry at ignorance and hateful prejudice...and so deeply impressed that Douglas Stuart could do it again.

>163 Berly: Hey Kim, Glad to see other Fforde Ffans around here. I think I've read just about all of his stuff (except the Quarkbeast books) Just about done with Rabbit. It's been a pretty good read. The imagination on this man.... geesh.

>164 richardderus: Hey RD, I'm a about 100 pages left for Shuggie, I wouldn't say it exactly made me sad, but it is certainly not a happy story, but a very excellent one to read.

Book Haul

Can you call one book a haul? At any rate, I bought a book yesterday, from my local independent bookshop.

13. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

#BH

Seventeen years. Quite impressive. I'll be eight years on Wednesday, not even half your...ah...endurance. Wait, tenure. Yeah, that's it: Tenure.

Congrats.

Yeah, Tenure, I love it. Thanks!

New Book - Audio

The Memory Librarian: and Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae



In The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, singer-songwriter, actor, fashion icon, futurist, and worldwide superstar Janelle Monáe brings to the written page the Afrofuturistic world of one of her critically acclaimed albums, exploring how different threads of liberation—queerness, race, gender plurality, and love—become tangled with future possibilities of memory and time in such a totalitarian landscape…and what the costs might be when trying to unravel and weave them into freedoms.

The lights of Little Delta are spread before Seshet like an offering in a shallow bowl. What memories are those shadows below making tonight, to ripen for the morning harvest? What tragedies, what indecencies, what hungers never satisfied? Her office is dark, but the city's neat grids cut across her face with a surgical precision, cheek bisected from mandible, eye parted from eye, the fine lines of her forehead, so faintly visible, separated from their parallel tracks by a white light cast up from her city.

#newbook

>165 mahsdad: Okay RD, you're right. I just had to be a little patient. As the story more and more focuses on Shuggie, just starting the 1989 section, I am feeling sadness for him and his situation. An amazing book.

New Book - Audio

Fairy Tale by Stephen King



Sometimes you have to switch gears. Of course as soon as I started one audio, another that I've been on the waiting list for for a while comes available. So I'm putting Memory Librarian on pause and starting this. Can't resist, its King after all.

A #1 New York Times Bestseller and New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice!

Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.

Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.

King’s storytelling in Fairy Tale soars. This is a magnificent and terrifying tale in which good is pitted against overwhelming evil, and a heroic boy—and his dog—must lead the battle.

Early in the Pandemic, King asked himself: “What could you write that would make you happy?”

“As if my imagination had been waiting for the question to be asked, I saw a vast deserted city—deserted but alive. I saw the empty streets, the haunted buildings, a gargoyle head lying overturned in the street. I saw smashed statues (of what I didn’t know, but I eventually found out). I saw a huge, sprawling palace with glass towers so high their tips pierced the clouds. Those images released the story I wanted to tell.”

I'm sure I can tell this story. I'm also sure no one will believe it. That's fine with me. Telling it will be enough. My problem - and I'm sure many writers have it, not just newbies like me - is deciding where to start.

#newbook

New Book

Cosmos by Carl Sagan



Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. In clear-eyed prose, Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space. Cosmos retraces the fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into consciousness, exploring such topics as the origin of life, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, spacecraft missions, the death of the sun, the evolution of galaxies, and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science.

Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.

#newbook

>172 mahsdad: Never to be forgotten, this kind, creative Man and his beautiful and inspiring book.

>172 mahsdad:
I have that one on my bookshelves and just haven't pulled it off to read. I think it would make a great audio book, but it was published before such things were readily available. Too bad for us.

The weather here in Kansas has been miserable. yesterday the wind was 35 MPH out of the southeast. Today it is about 20 MPH out of the northwest, and it rained earlier this morning. Froze. And now it is snowing. That makes it cake baking day!

>173 m.belljackson: Absolutely. Amazingly, as science-geeky as I am. I've seen Cosmos, both his and NDT's but I've never read this. Actually Contact is the only Sagan I've read.

>174 benitastrnad: Yeah, its been on the shelf for a while for me too. In fact I think it was a Christmas present that my kid got years ago. Time to read it. Your weather sounds like Pittsburgh in the spring when I grew up. All 4 seasons in one day. ;)

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Hey Folks, not much to report today. Still nice and chilly. Looks like it might get up to almost 70 tomorrow. WooHoo! Rain coming back on Monday, so be careful what you wish for I guess. :) Snowpack is between 175% and 275% of normal for this time of year, so there is hope that we'll actually have some water this year. Now of course, everyone is saying Yeah the Drought is over. Ummm, no. You know you still live in a desert, right? SMH. Oh well.

Enjoy your weekend all!

Today's image is part of a big art piece that we saw at the craft market the other day. Makes for a neat background. Enjoy.



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Cosmos by Carl Sagan 6% As I said above, been on the shelf for a long time, don't know why I've never read this before.
Listening - Memory Librarian: and Other Stories of Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae 16%. Put this on hold to read...
Listening - Fairy Tale by Stephen King 20%. This came off the libby hold list, so had to start it. Juggling holds can be a sort of Sophie's Choice sometimes. ;)
Digital - Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson 8%
Graphic Novel - Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman 26% Technically Sandman ended with Vol 10, but I guess he had some more stories in him he wanted to tell

Finished Books

23. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart : Boy this was a good book. Certainly not a feel good story. Shuggie is a little kid living the "slums" in rural Scotland dealing with a messed up family, drunk Mom, absent Father, siblings who cope by leaving. Most of the story doesn't really focus on Shuggie that much, more on his Mom and the family situation. I thought it odd, but now I realize how much it sets up who he is and how he copes in the last part of the book. Excellent read.

22. Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman (GN) : This was a reread, and it chronicles the end of the Sandman cycle

21. The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde (A) : Read this on Audio. Love me some Fforde. This one is about where there is an "event" that cause a group of rabbits (and fox, weasels and some other woodland creatures) to become anthropomorphized, grow to human proportions, gain the ability to talk and become integrated into society (sort of). In a very funny, satirical way, Fforde examines how the "other" can be persecuted in society with extreme prejudice. His take on how things in our society might different, living along side rabbits was very interesting and funny. For instance, picture how some popular movies might be different with the actors being rabbits. At one point, one of the characters said that the community didn't like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? because they couldn't see what Roger saw in Jessica. There was a bit of inter-species fraternization that was a bit creepy if I'm honest, but despite that it was an excellent read. I recommend anything by Jasper Fforde

Book Haul

Needed a little retail therapy

Couple books at retail at BN, while waiting for the independent store to open

14. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. The first Witcher book. We loved the TV series and can't believe they'd replace Cavill with Liam Hemsworth. Not sure how that's going to work
15. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders. First its Saunders so yes please. Second, love the title, couldn't resist
16. No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. I forgot who told me about this. Written in 1948, its still one of the 10 ten best sellers in Japan. According to the blurb, a powerful exploration of an individual's alienation from society.

Now some from Sandpiper Books in Torrance CA.

17. Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica. Again, I forget who told me. Argentinian author's dystopian world where humans are being processed for food and the world is divided into predators and prey.
18. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt. Short-listed for the Booker. LA Times said, if Cormac McCarthy had a sense of humor, he would have concocted a story like this one.
19. Father and Son by Larry Brown. It's Larry Brown, say no more
20. Milkman by Anna Burns. Won the Booker in 2018. Milkman is a tale of gossip and hearsay, silence and deliberate deafness. It is the story of inaction with enormous consequences.

#BH

>176 mahsdad: Cool tool still-life! Deffo agree it'd make a good background.

>177 mahsdad: Who's Larry Brown? :-P

>176 mahsdad: I'm glad that my browser brought that image up again - I wanted to tell you how much I liked it. Whether the brushes were collected from discards or generated to requirements, it's just so delightfully colorful!

>178 richardderus: Thanks Dude!

>179 richardderus: :-p right back atcha

>180 quondame: Thanks Susan. Its at Crafted in Pedro. If you're ever in the area on the weekend, go visit. There is a little bookstore there as well. (And a brewery)

Happy Sunday, Jeff. I am so glad you are enjoying Fairy Tale. I sure hope to bookhorn that one in, in the coming months. Nice book hauls too. I loved both The Sisters Brothers & Milkman. Just sayin'...

Happy Sunday to you too, Mark. Yeah, I think what I like about King is that his characters and scenes are instantly accessible. Its long, but a pretty good read so far.

It never ceases to amaze me about this group that no matter how obscure "I" think a book is, at least someone here has read it :)

I just finished Robert Olen Butler's obscure collection Intercourse. And it's your fault, Jeff. You mentioned buying Butler's short collections, Intercourse and Severance, and your description tore through me just like a bb. So I got the single paperback presenting both collections. Hoping for some salaciousness, I read the sexy collection first, but no to the salacious. But a fun collection.

Hey Bill, I'm either glad, or sorry I lead you to the one-two punch of this weird Butler collection. Paul got me the combined book for Christmas 2 years ago. If my star rating is to be believed, I think I liked the Severance half better than the Intercourse.

A definite fun collection of micro stories.

Just saw Tiktok from a BookTok'er with an interesting idea.

I typically don't get hard-back books anymore, but occasionally I do. This person posited that we by hardbacks for collecting on the shelves but would like to read them on the ebook. Why do you have to pay for it again for the digital version

If you're paying $30+ for the hardback, why not a couple extra more for a QRcode that lets you download the ebook. I kinda like the idea. Further incentive to getting the more expensive book. (that is to say nothing of the delay that publishers enforce in waiting a year or more for the paperback version to come out. Release it on all mediums at the same time, buy it how you like it)

I know its just the way things work, in publishing. But its interesting that in music, you can buy a CD from amazon, and have an MP3 instantly delivered to your Amazon music library. Why not books?

Hmmm.

>186 mahsdad: I like that idea!

Hi, Jeff! I have somehow managed to miss your thread, but no more!

>1 mahsdad: I only went to the Getty Villa once, about 35 years ago actually, but I’ve never forgotten it. I found it fascinating. All those statues thrown together willy-nilly (at least then) seemed almost mystical.

Love your lists. Looks like we enjoy a lot of the same books. I’m going to copy your lists next time I’m on my laptop.

Happy Spring Eqinox!

Hi Mary, thanks for stopping by. I don't think I follow your thread either. I'm going to go remedy that now.

Getty - if its been 35 years, then you've never been to the "big" Getty. A little over 25 years they opened up the Getty Center which is on top of a hill just as you're going up the 405 up the Sepulveda Pass. Its really nice. The Villa, is now more for the ancient historical pieces.

Lists - feel free to steal away, as I'm sure I stole the idea, if not the lists entirely from someone else over the years.

>188 mahsdad: Oh, I’ve been to the Getty off the 405 a lot of times over the years, but the Villa only once. TBH, I remember the Villa with more fondness, though the Getty is inspiring.

If I ever get back to California, I will definitely visit the Villa.

D'oh, that makes complete sense. Not enough caffeine when I replied. LOL. I too have been to the Getty a lot more than the Villa.

New Book

Broken (in the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson



Reading Cosmos at night can be a little intense science-wise, so I needed a bit of a palate cleanser. So adding funny memoir stories to the mix.

Jenny Lawson has always been quite candid about her mental health. In Broken, she explores how after years of suffering from depression she finally tried the experimental transcranial magnetic stimulation. Lawson details her treatment with brutal honesty, and with her trademark brutal humor

(Introduction) You probably just picked up this book thinking; What the shit is this all about? And frankly I'm right there with you. Honestly, I just got here myself. By the time you read this it will be an actual, fully formed and probably horribly offensive book, but at the moment I'm writing this it's just a bunch of sentences, paralyzing anxiety, and a lot of angst. Some people write a book a week, but I'm achingly slow and filled with self-doubt and writer's block, so by the time you read this I will have gone through years of "WRITING IS SO LONELY AND I HATE EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE."

#newbook

>191 mahsdad: Haha, she sounds like my kinda writer. Putting that straight onto my TBR list.

>191 mahsdad: I’ve read other books by Lawson and really liked them. I’ve put this on my read-sooner-than-later list. Thanks!

Karen O

>191 mahsdad: I haven't heard updates on what she's planning, but Becky was thinking of having TMS. My brother may have discouraged her - I'll have to ask. I do tend to let vexing matters like that fall out of my head. Why not, there's little I can do about them and worrying doesn't help. But forgetting can seem callous.

>193 klobrien2: Yeah I read Furiously Happy a while ago. We learned of her from her blog. I want to go to Austin, just to go to her bookstore. Hmmm, maybe a cross country road trip visiting indie bookstores.

>194 quondame: All you can do is be supportive of your kids and hope they make the best choice for themselves.

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Happy Friday, 1 more week and we're into Q2. That's unbelievable. The rains have left us for a bit, but its still cool. Not sure what's on the agenda, but as always, if I can avoid distractions, I'll make sizable dents in my current books.

Since its been raining a lot last week, I don't have any current pictures from any interesting sights on my walks, so I'll give you this oldie from about 10 years ago. This is up at Griffith Park at the Observatory. Enjoy...



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Cosmos by Carl Sagan 35%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 11%
Listening - Fairy Tale by Stephen King 73%
Listening - The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monae 16%. On pause until I finish Fairy Tale
eBook - Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson 12%
Graphic Novel - Sandman: Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman. 9%. I think this is the last of the Sandman Collections

Finished Books

24. Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman : Technically the Sandman story was finished with the last collection. But I guess Gaiman had some more ideas. This is a collection of stories, one each, about Dream's siblings. Decent read. Very interesting artwork.

#FF

>196 mahsdad: Cool! I love those monumental figures being where they are, observing from the observatory.

>198 grahambrett2: Ah Graham, so sorry I missed you before you were shown the door. I wonder what you were selling. LOL

>197 richardderus: It was definitely a good sky day. Thanks for stopping by.

2023 Ongoing Book Haul

Again, 1 book, does not a haul make, but I'm kinda committed to the bit. So I changed the name to the "Ongoing" book haul. ;)

Been following this guy on TikTok that self published a time-travel science fiction trilogy on Amazon. He kinda went viral and got onto the top selling charts. I'm easy and it was on sale so I bought book 1

21. The Gauntlet: The Phoenix Cycle by John Doyle

#BH

>191 mahsdad: Finished Broken, and all I can say is thank you for turning me onto it!

>202 Storeetllr: You are most welcome. I'm taking it a bit slower. Its my evening alternative read, when I can't keep my eyes open in Cosmos. ;)

New Book - AUDIO

White Night by Jim Butcher



I decided to put The Memory Librarian back on the shelf. I just wasn't connecting. So I'm going back to a known quantity. Time to continue with the Dresden Files. This is book 9.

Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out the 'everyday' world is full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in.A series of apparent suicides rings alarm bells with the police, and Harry is hired. At the first crime scene he hits pay dirt, discovering an unmistakable magical taint. There's also a message especially for him, and it ain't pretty. The 'killings' will continue if Harry can't halt his tormentor, but the evidence implicates his half-brother, which just doesn't add up. Unfortunately Harry's digging around attracts some powerful vampires with a stake in the result. Soon, whichever way he turns, Harry will find himself outnumbered, outclassed and dangerously susceptible to temptation. And if he screws up, his friends will die. Magic - it can get a guy killed.

Many things are not as they seem: The worst things in life never are. I pulled my battle-axed scarred, multicolored old Volkswagen Beetle up in front of a run-down Chicago apartment building, not five blocks from my own rented basement apartment. Usually, by the time the cops call me, things are pretty frantic.

#newbook

>159 mahsdad: oh, I want that bird...

All caught up, whew!

>204 mahsdad: I love the Harry Dresden books—I should get back to them. It’s been so long since I read them, I might have to reread the first ones (oh, darn!😀). Thanks for the memory poke!

Karen O

>205 fuzzi: Hey Fuzzi. My SIL got this for Laura. I'm pretty sure she got it here. https://metalbird.com/collections/the-birds. They have lots of options

>206 klobrien2: Hi Karen. Most welcome. Yeah, I started reading them a couple years ago on audio, good escapist reads. James Marster (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer if you were into that in the 90's) reads all the Dresden files (at least the first 9 so far) and he's pretty good.

Boy I must have really wished it was Friday. I just posted my FF post and then realized its only Thursday. Darn.

Oh well, you'll all have to wait until tomorrow. At least I have it all written, I just have to post it again.

>209 mahsdad: Okay, it’s Friday! Can’t wait to see the post!

Great weekend to you!

Karen O

Thanks Karen! And here you go...

70 97 110 116 97 115 116 105 99 32 80 104 111 116 111 32 70 114 105 100 97 121

(FF post try 2) - Last post of the quarter. Amazing. I'll create the new thread tomorrow, but I didn't want to delay this, trying to keep consistent ;) Its April, so I guess I better do my taxes. LOL. So that's what I've got on the agenda for the weekend. Whee Fun! Oh that reminds me, property taxes are due. Ain't adulting fun!

Today's image is a nice one of my girl. The portrait mode on the iPhone works pretty good occasionally. I'm sorry RD, I tried to hide it in a spoiler tag, but it didn't work. Avert your eyes! 🤣



Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>3 mahsdad: Audiobooks

Reading - Cosmos by Carl Sagan 54%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 23%
Listening - White Night by Jim Butcher 28%
eBook - Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson 18%

Finished Books

26. Fairy Tale by Stephen King (A) : . This was King's Covid book, at least that's what the blurb said. He wanted to write something that made him happy. Charlie, is a high school senior, football star. After he helps out an elderly neighbor. He finds that the neighbor has been hiding a secret and that secret leads Charlie to another world and a mythic quest to save it and its people. A fun read. Read on Audio.
25. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer: A Novella by Fredrik Backman (K) : . I'll read anything by Backman. This is a novella about a man coming to grips with his oncoming dementia and how his family deals with it as well. Not sure if the whole story is actually in the man's mind or how much is "real", an interesting literary device. It is a really good read. A contender for BOTM this month for me.

#FF

>212 mahsdad: - She is a beauty, Jeff! Lovely pic.
I read that Backman (your book 25) and bawled my eyes out. I think it was more the timing for me, reading as I did right around when we were dealing with my mum's dementia diagnosis. It just struck a chord...

>212 mahsdad: Aw, what a honey!

>212 mahsdad: Beautiful kitty and photo! And your reading looks so good to me! I've read a few, and a few are on my TBR.

Karen O

>213 jessibud2: Yep, I was reading it in public and the waterworks started coming and I had to switch books. Backman can have that effect on me. I read another novella Deal of a Lifetime earlier this year and it too was a tear-jerker. To say nothing of My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry. I was reading that at a bar when I was on a business trip and I just about started ugly crying right in public. Had to reel it in quickly. LOL.

>214 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks Linda

>215 klobrien2: Always glad to inspire the BBs around here. Thanks Karen.

So I'm reading Cosmos and I'm really enjoying it. Yes its sciencey, but it is also profound. Just wanted to share this tidbit.

Modern radio telescopes are exquisitely sensitive; a distant quasar is so faint that its detected radition amounts perhaps to a quadrillionth of a watt. The total amount of energy from outside the solar system ever received by all the radio telescopes on the planet Earth is less than the energy of a single snowflake striking the ground

First, this was written over 40 years ago, so modern's not so modern anymore (James Webb telescope wasn't even an idea back then, I'm guessing), Second, that's just an amazing image that makes me realize how small we are.

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled weekend. ;)

2023 Books of the Month

January : Billy Summers by Stephen King
February : Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse
March : Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart



#botm