Today is the day we try something different - an open thread that you can comment on if you are so inclined. If all works as promised, you should be able to leave a comment and respond to other comments. I hope to hear from you!
One thing that I'm reading this week is Maggot Brain magazine - a beautiful new music magazine put out by Third Man Records. Great art throughout, and I'm looking forward to discovering some new-to-me music.
Finishing up David Fromkin's Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914? (spoiler it wasn't the Kaiser or the Emperor); re-starting the great William Cronon-edited Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature; and enjoying assorted zines picked up at Short Run Festival.
I'm still trying to finish One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I started it in the summer. *sigh* Making time to read is so hard but I'm loving being able to savor this one. I have Love in the Time of Cholera lined up next. I'm doing a deep dive into Magical Realism to counter my daily grind of teaching and data collection.
These are two of my favorite books. I have read Love in the Time of Cholera three times and One Hundred Years of Solitude twice. They cast a spell over me every time.
I'm reading How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. I liked his other books so I just ordered this one sight unseen. I guessed it would be about meditation and the science of how much we can actual change our mind, neural pathways etc. Nope. It's all about LSD and magic mushrooms. I'm learning a ton even though it's not a topic I would have chosen if I had known. It's written well and I had no idea about the successful use of these drugs to treat addiction and end-of-life depression and anxiety.
Ooh 35 comments already - this forum is happening! I'm reading How to Live a Good Life: A Guide to Choosing Your Personal Philosophy, mainly interested in the chapter by Hiram Crespo. As an aside - I book talked Paper by Kurlansky to a co-worker and he told me how wrapped up in it he is. Satisfying!
What a great thread ... if anything it tells me "get out with people more often!" and "Read books that normal people read!" heh. Good to see that people are still reading books out there!!
"Factors Influencing Wood Mobilization in Streams" Merten et al. AND, maybe the most riveting would be "Rules of the road: A qualitative and quantitative synthesis of large wood
transport through drainage networks" Kramer & Wohl. #ImAGeek Would love a reply to this post (just say hi) to see what happens at my end - I'd like to try implementing this on my newsletters too. Thanks!
I just finished "The Hunting Party" by Lucy Foley (a gritty thriller set in the Scottish Highlands) and "He Started It" by Samantha Downing (siblings take the road trip from hell), started "The Seagull" by Ann Cleeves (8th in the Vera Stanhope mysteries), and "Long Bright River" by Liz Moore (a thriller recommended by a friend), and am still savoring "Libraries" by Candida Höfer.
Renegade Tribe: The Palouse Indians and the Invasion of the Inland Pacific Northwest. Plus, I finally got the new edition of Roadside Geology of Washington, so I've been dipping into that.
I'll start reading "How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets" by Garth Stein this week. I'll be interested to see how he handles "father issues" compared to the loss and grief issues he tacked in "The Art of Racing in the Rain." For months I've been slogging through "Blue Highways" because it's been a must-read for a long time, but William Least Heat Moon's writing style reads like a formal dissertation on the human condition. I took a break and read "Greetings from Bury Park" to see how it compared to its Bruce Springsteen-themed movie adaption, "Blinded by the Light." They're entertainingly different.
1942 by Winston Groom, the guy who wrote Forrest Gump. It's OK, I'm learning a lot about that first year of WWII for America. Also downloaded Middle England by Jonathan Coe, one of my favorite authors. It's a sequel of sorts to The Rotter's Club and The Closed Circle, both of which I loved.
I am reading The Three Cornered Wheel by Poul Anderson, a sci-fi short story with an incredibly well thought out alien race whose religious beliefs are limiting their ability to progress scientifically!
One thing that I'm reading this week is Maggot Brain magazine - a beautiful new music magazine put out by Third Man Records. Great art throughout, and I'm looking forward to discovering some new-to-me music.
https://thirdmanstore.com/maggot-brain
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. Every other paragraph has something that makes me go "Oh! I remember that from my childhood!"
Reading Maupin is such a pleasure, and that book especially is like taking a walk around The City.
I'm reading The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall. It's a bit like Sherlock meets Cthulhu in a Dorothy Sayer's novel.
I'm intrigued!
Finishing up David Fromkin's Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914? (spoiler it wasn't the Kaiser or the Emperor); re-starting the great William Cronon-edited Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature; and enjoying assorted zines picked up at Short Run Festival.
The Wisdom of the Shaman by Don Jose Ruiz
Publishing Manifestos! https://www.instagram.com/p/B7loax6HAq6/?igshid=1i0pa17lj8cuu
The Sailor from Gibraltar by Marguerite Duras
I'm still trying to finish One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I started it in the summer. *sigh* Making time to read is so hard but I'm loving being able to savor this one. I have Love in the Time of Cholera lined up next. I'm doing a deep dive into Magical Realism to counter my daily grind of teaching and data collection.
These are two of my favorite books. I have read Love in the Time of Cholera three times and One Hundred Years of Solitude twice. They cast a spell over me every time.
Tough one. I made it through Autumn of the Patriarch, but that was when I didn't have a job.
I read One Hundred Years so long ago, during a time when I also read a lot of Isabel Allende. I should reread it, and read more of GGM.
Wicked Weird: An Anthology of the New England Horror Writers! It's edited by Matthew M Bartlett, and most of the stories so far have been excellent.
Flora of the Pacific Northwest, of course.
Haha my favorite book!
Of course!
maps and local newspapers of NZ.
I always take a book with me on holiday....there’s always hope but I am a constant failure.
So glad this is working, Anne, good one!
I always bring too many books, and other things to do (art supplies, etc.). I figure I'll be prepared no matter what mood I end up in.
Maps are always a good thing to be reading!
😊 yes they are! Hope you guys had a good mini trip.
I'm reading How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. I liked his other books so I just ordered this one sight unseen. I guessed it would be about meditation and the science of how much we can actual change our mind, neural pathways etc. Nope. It's all about LSD and magic mushrooms. I'm learning a ton even though it's not a topic I would have chosen if I had known. It's written well and I had no idea about the successful use of these drugs to treat addiction and end-of-life depression and anxiety.
Hey everyone, I think we all need to stop what we're doing and start reading this: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/25/imposteress-rabbit-breeder-karen-harvey-review
More gems from that article:
"cocking a snook"
"a coat for her pet monkey"
There's some good wordplay in that article.
Not only does that sound like a fascinating book, but I now have added the word "imposteress" to my vocabulary!
Ooh 35 comments already - this forum is happening! I'm reading How to Live a Good Life: A Guide to Choosing Your Personal Philosophy, mainly interested in the chapter by Hiram Crespo. As an aside - I book talked Paper by Kurlansky to a co-worker and he told me how wrapped up in it he is. Satisfying!
Very successful indeed! We will do this again soon.
What a great thread ... if anything it tells me "get out with people more often!" and "Read books that normal people read!" heh. Good to see that people are still reading books out there!!
"Factors Influencing Wood Mobilization in Streams" Merten et al. AND, maybe the most riveting would be "Rules of the road: A qualitative and quantitative synthesis of large wood
transport through drainage networks" Kramer & Wohl. #ImAGeek Would love a reply to this post (just say hi) to see what happens at my end - I'd like to try implementing this on my newsletters too. Thanks!
Replying to your post...
I just finished "The Hunting Party" by Lucy Foley (a gritty thriller set in the Scottish Highlands) and "He Started It" by Samantha Downing (siblings take the road trip from hell), started "The Seagull" by Ann Cleeves (8th in the Vera Stanhope mysteries), and "Long Bright River" by Liz Moore (a thriller recommended by a friend), and am still savoring "Libraries" by Candida Höfer.
Renegade Tribe: The Palouse Indians and the Invasion of the Inland Pacific Northwest. Plus, I finally got the new edition of Roadside Geology of Washington, so I've been dipping into that.
My copy of Roadside is first edition! I should probably update...
Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta but, to be honest, I am more interested in how he is telling the story than the story itself
I'll start reading "How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets" by Garth Stein this week. I'll be interested to see how he handles "father issues" compared to the loss and grief issues he tacked in "The Art of Racing in the Rain." For months I've been slogging through "Blue Highways" because it's been a must-read for a long time, but William Least Heat Moon's writing style reads like a formal dissertation on the human condition. I took a break and read "Greetings from Bury Park" to see how it compared to its Bruce Springsteen-themed movie adaption, "Blinded by the Light." They're entertainingly different.
I read Blue Highways so very long ago. I don't remember the writing style at all.
1942 by Winston Groom, the guy who wrote Forrest Gump. It's OK, I'm learning a lot about that first year of WWII for America. Also downloaded Middle England by Jonathan Coe, one of my favorite authors. It's a sequel of sorts to The Rotter's Club and The Closed Circle, both of which I loved.
I am reading The Three Cornered Wheel by Poul Anderson, a sci-fi short story with an incredibly well thought out alien race whose religious beliefs are limiting their ability to progress scientifically!
Sounds familiar...
“Excuse Me” by Liana Finck, “Grief is the Thing with Feathers” by Max Porter, and “The Vegetarian” by Kang Han.
How's The Vegetarian?
Short, but I will probably still abandon it. I’m not in the mood to read something quite so dire.
Note to self: skip "The Vegetarian."
Having reached the end (it was a book group selection) I can recommend not finishing it.
Thanks for confirming I’m making the right choice!
I thought The Vegetarian was super weird.