What are you reading?

[Kobi]

Introduction -- Why the traditional media no longer serves our needs -- The difference between primary and secondary sources -- How to use links -- Confusing press conventions -- Journalistic techniques that may obfuscate rather than illuminate sources -- Trusting academic sources -- What your local library has to offer in terms of news -- Numbers must be put into context -- Beware of deceptive labeling -- The perils of polling -- Using Wikipedia -- The problem of fake news -- Designing your own newspaper -- Editorial opinions -- How to fight fake news.


Looks interesting. The book is small both in size (will fit in your pocket) and pages (130+). Hoping it is to the point without much filler.

[Signmypapyrus]

The Brain’s Body by Victoria Pitts-Taylor from Duke

[Medusa]

I finished "Big Magic" and am on to "Dharma in Hell: The Prison Writings of Fleet Maull" and "The Girl With Seven Names: Escape from North Korea"

And yes, I have a third book going (fiction) that I am super-enjoying (the twins book I posted about a week or so ago)

[Martina]

Q's Legacy by Helene Hanff, who wrote 84, Charing Cross Road.

[dark_crystal]

I am almost finished with MY ABSOLUTE DARLING by Gabriel Tallent and it is really intense. Every trigger warning possible applies but the quality is high.

Here is npr’s review https://www.npr.org/2017/08/29/545776877/my-absolute-darling-is-hard-to-read-harder-to-put-down

[The JD]

After rereading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (in preparation for seeing the movie), I realized it wasn’t as clunky as I remembered.. plus, all the eighties references made my middle-aged heart sing. So I started his next one, Armada. Same basic blueprint (video game geek saves the world), with just as many eighties references. Fun read, even if the details are already disappearing from my memory.

I’m ready for another fast and fun YA read. Any suggestions?

[dark_crystal]

After rereading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (in preparation for seeing the movie), I realized it wasn’t as clunky as I remembered.. plus, all the eighties references made my middle-aged heart sing. So I started his next one, Armada. Same basic blueprint (video game geek saves the world), with just as many eighties references. Fun read, even if the details are already disappearing from my memory.

I’m ready for another fast and fun YA read. Any suggestions?

LITTLE BROTHER, by Cory Doctorow. Not as fast as READY PLAYER ONE but really fun and eye-opening and the author gave one of the only useful keynotes i have ever heard at a library conference. I immediately forgave him for sitting in the empty chair between me and Lois Lowry at the previous conference :giggle:

[dark_crystal]

Yesterday i reviewed some medievalist lit crit comparing middle ages chivalry with Game of Thrones chivalry, appropriately titled CHIVALRY IN WESTEROS. Recommended for all students of the period and fans of the show!

[Greco]

"H Is for Hawk" by Helen MacDonald

"H Is for Hawk is a work of great spirit and wonder, illuminated
equally by terror and desire. Each beautiful sentence is capable of
taking a reader's breath. The book is built of feather and bone, intelligence
and blood, and a vulnerability so profound as to conjure that
vulnerability's shadow, which is the great power of honesty. It
is not just a definitive work on falconry; it is a definitive work
on humanity, and all that can and cannot
be possessed." - Rick Bass

Greco

[homoe]

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson



I am finally getting around to reading two books that were sent to me by a very good friend..........

It's been interesting reading about a time period in Chicago's past that I was unfamiliar with. I am not usually a history buff but I must say this book is holding my attention and I'm enjoying.

[Kätzchen]

Our Souls At Night
(Kent Haruf, 2015).



A good friend to me recommended seeing the movie, which is adapted from the book, last summer and they just sent the book to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, so now I'm going to read this book.

Here's an link to am NY Times book review from last June:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/books/review/our-souls-at-night-by-kent-haruf.html?referer=https://www.google.com/

[homoe]

Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas.




This book really sheds light on things that were done to not only dis-credit Anita Hill, but others who came to her defense as well!

[homoe]

Sweet Bitter by Stephanie Danler


I ran across this at a used bookstore, and seeing how I'd always wanted to read it picked it up for a mere buck! I'm only on page 52 but I'm somewhat disappointed! Hopefully it'll pick up.


This is being turned into a TV Series. I'm thinking it's Starz but not positive! The previews I've seen, look WAY better than the book!

[homoe]

The Girl Who Wrote in Silk---Kelli Estes

A simple reading about the lives of two women 130 years apart that are connected with a secret. A light presentation of the horrific historical time of the late 1800's when the Chinese population were pushed out of the Northern West Coast of the US and Canada. The story mostly takes place in the Seattle area and Orcas Island.

This was an outstanding book and story!

[homoe]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRg5hgjm5FhLKCCunmqnTedR8TR15_K9 7OjYZJLe5JOTh-fOznhcw



Cricket thank you so much for posting this! I've just ordered a used copy of Britt-Marie Was Here by this same author!

[dark_crystal]

I just finished FLEDGLING by Octavia Butler and started THE LATHE OF HEAVEN by Ursula LeGuin and am listening to HILLBILLY ELEGY by J.D. Vance

[Kobi]

American liberalism fell under the spell of identity politics, with disastrous consequences. Driven originally by a sincere desire to protect the most vulnerable Americans, the left has now unwittingly balkanized the electorate, encouraged self-absorption rather than solidarity, and invested its energies in social movements rather than in party politics. Lilla goes to show how the left's identity-focused individualism insidiously conspired with the amoral economic individualism of the Reaganite right to shape an electorate with little sense of a shared future and near-contempt for the idea of the common good. In the contest for the American imagination, liberals have abdicated.

--------


This book is fascinating from both a historical and a behavioral standpoint.

If you are curious as to why intersectionalism is problematic in both interpersonal movements and political ways, he explains it well.

[homoe]

Just finished Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas.

This really shed light on how the "good old boy" network stuck together to get him confirmed at almost any cost.

It makes me sad to think Joe Biden was a part of this and that he wasn't a stand up guy!

[Signmypapyrus]

American liberalism fell under the spell of identity politics, with disastrous consequences. Driven originally by a sincere desire to protect the most vulnerable Americans, the left has now unwittingly balkanized the electorate, encouraged self-absorption rather than solidarity, and invested its energies in social movements rather than in party politics. Lilla goes to show how the left's identity-focused individualism insidiously conspired with the amoral economic individualism of the Reaganite right to shape an electorate with little sense of a shared future and near-contempt for the idea of the common good. In the contest for the American imagination, liberals have abdicated.

--------


This book is fascinating from both a historical and a behavioral standpoint.

If you are curious as to why intersectionalism is problematic in both interpersonal movements and political ways, he explains it well.


Hm, this sounds interesting. I might look at this since this new wave has foregone the collective in favor of the individual, which is worrying.

Is it anti-intersectional or does it examine the issues this new generation is having?

I’m just reading academic stuff, but I hope to start a Coetzee novel soon.

[homoe]

Cricket thank you so much for posting this! I've just ordered a used copy of Britt-Marie Was Here by this same author!



This was OK BUT it was no A Man Called Ove that's for damn sure!

[Martina]

Just got and just started Jacque Barzin's From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present

[Fancy]

What Happened - Hillary Clinton (audio book read by the author)

I’m glad to be listening to this book as read by Hillary, because it adds a depth of understanding about her as a person through her own voice and her own words that I don’t think I would have gotten otherwise.

[Kobi]

"Of the three dominant ideologies of the twentieth century--fascism, communism, and liberalism--only the last remains. This has created a peculiar situation in which liberalism's proponents tend to forget that it is an ideology and not the natural end-state of human political evolution. As Patrick Deneen argues in this provocative book, liberalism is built on a foundation of contradictions: it trumpets equal rights while fostering incomparable material inequality; its legitimacy rests on consent, yet it discourages civic commitments in favor of privatism; and in its pursuit of individual autonomy, it has given rise to the most far-reaching, comprehensive state system in human history.Here, Deneen offers an astringent warning that the centripetal forces now at work on our political culture are not superficial flaws but inherent features of a system whose success is generating its own failure."

---------------------------

Have no clue where this guy is going with this but my brain is intrigued.

[Gayandgray]

I’m re-reading God on a Harley again for personal reasons.

[Kätzchen]

The past week or so, I've been reading from 3 books, which I've nearly finished all three: Strange Justice (it's a dry read, bit there's fascinating information concerning key players in the Anita Hill story which covered little known facts about her case against Clarence Thomas), The Girl Who Wrote in Silk (it's is an fairly good read), and of course, Love in the Time of Cholera, which I like this book so very much. I'd recommend LITTOC as an very good book to read!).

Today, I got a couple of articles in the mail from a good friend which one else article was a book review on two books: 1) Celeste Ng --- Little Fires Everywhere, and 2) The Italian Teacher, by Tom Rachman. Both look like good stories to read. I'm particularly interested in the Rachman book for its take on redemption (family relational issues). Also, they clipped am great news article from The Seattle Times on foods that lower blood sugars, so that was very interesting and gave me some great alternative ideas for meals (breakfast, lunch and supper).

I might find myself taking a break from reading new books and just read from an big collection of books I've got here at home, if I feel led to read from a good book I've enjoyed before.

This week I had an serious spinal exam, so I'll be waiting to read the test results from three different doctor's specializing in Orthopedic medicine and Neurology. I've got my fingers crossed for the best outcome possible.

[homoe]

by Mitchell Leaska & John Phillips

After just posting in one of the many movie threads about a movie being released concerning the affair between Woolf and Vita I came across this book. I've just started it and although it was hard getting through the lengthy introduction, once the letters start they are fascinating!


More than a decade before her love affair with Virginia Woolf, English author Vita Sackville-West fell in love with another woman, the writer and socialite Violet Keppel. The two embarked upon one of the most intense and turbulent affairs in literary history. The exquisite epistolary records of their relationship, which was later fictionalized in Virginia Woolf’s groundbreaking novel Orlando, span more than a decade and are captured in Violet to Vita. The letters are preserved at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. They bare some of the most urgently, breathtakingly passionate uses of the English language.

[cinnamongrrl]

I'm reading Song Yet Sung by James McBride. It's a book for school but I have previously enjoyed a book by the same author, The Color of Water. That book was more auto biographical, and it has been my experience that a great biographer isn't necessarily a great author. Mr. McBride very adeptly leaves my theory in the dust.

synopsis:

In the days before the Civil War, a runaway slave named Liz Spocott breaks free from her captors and escapes into the labyrinthine swamps of Maryland’s eastern shore, setting loose a drama of violence and hope among slave catchers, plantation owners, watermen, runaway slaves, and free blacks. Liz is near death, wracked by disturbing visions of the future, and armed with “the Code,” a fiercely guarded cryptic means of communication for slaves on the run. Liz’s flight and her dreams of tomorrow will thrust all those near her toward a mysterious, redemptive fate.

Filled with rich, true details—much of the story is drawn from historical events—and told in McBride’s signature lyrical style, Song Yet Sung is a story of tragic triumph, violent decisions, and unexpected kindness.

[Fancy]

Shakespeare: The World as Stage
By Bill Bryson


First, I enjoy Bill Bryson’s writing style, storytelling ability, and how he draws humor out of massive amounts of information (I.e. A Short History of Nearly Everything).

Second, as a theatre nerd, fact or fiction or anything in debate about Shakespeare draws my attention.

This fun little romp of a book does not disappoint. :-)

[Kobi]

Former U.S. secretary of labor (1993-97) Reich examines what he sees as a divided America. His takeoff point is the call made 50 years ago by President John F. Kennedy for Americans to contribute individually for the common good. Reich despairs that instead Americans have become increasingly selfish. He harshly criticizes the freebooting of CEOs, the self-first philosophy of Ayn Rand, and the divisive presidency of Donald Trump. He chronicles societal changes that he says have resulted in national disunity, distrust, and hopelessness. Reich concludes that pulling together as a society is the only strategy for longterm mutual prosperity and that leaders must act as trustees for the common good. That those who do the right thing should be honored, and those who gain by underhanded means shamed, that fact-based truth must be demanded, and citizens must be both educated and engaged. Very timely with discussion of the sexual harassment scandal in Hollywood and NFL kneeling protests, Reich's work is an important call for reform that should appeal to a wide audience disaffected with the status quo.

[homoe]

A cantankerous curmudgeon who's lost his wife and job, both of 40 some odd years and want nothing more than to end his, a horrible crippling accident on a dream vacation, a cat on the verge of its demise after nearly freezing to death, a young gay lad being turned out by his father after revealing his lifestyle, government attempted intervention to separate a wife from her husband and place him in a facility for those suffering from Alhemizers, and an ending which one might assume you'd be in tears over.. could actually be one of the most uplifting books I've read in ages!

I highly recommend A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. One of the best books I've read in some time!!!!

Today I helped Mary with the huge project of going through her books! We came across an extra used copy of this and are more than willing to send it to a good home! Please let me know if you're interested. First come first served!

[cricket26]

i enjoyed this book as well, and was very surprised i did not cry more (the cat part made me cry) so i was very happy when i found his next book on audible

https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460442061l/27406704.jpg

[homoe]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQkiX0HXfui_BvcJ9AuFy5QCMUd7z5WF B0S9GqSTX3t0N4JkhIW




I read this shortly after A Man Called Ove. I liked it, but it might not be everyone's cup of tea!

[Breathless]

Just finished John Grisham "The Chamber" and now on to Margaret Atwood "Alias Grace"... and all these great reviews on "The Girl Who Wrote in Silk.. I have downloaded that one for next read.

[bright_arrow]

Rite of Wrongs by Mica Stone

[homoe]

Just finished John Grisham "The Chamber" and now on to Margaret Atwood "Alias Grace"... and all these great reviews on "The Girl Who Wrote in Silk.. I have downloaded that one for next read.

You will NOT be disappointed in The Girl Who Wrote in Silk! It was a fantastic read...:hangloose:

[homoe]

Just finished Leonard Cohen: A Remarkable Life
by Anthony Reynolds. If you're a Cohen fan or even if you're not you will enjoy this most interesting book.

Next I am starting Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling
Book by Amy Chozick

[homoe]

Just finished Leonard Cohen: A Remarkable Life
by Anthony Reynolds. If you're a Cohen fan or even if you're not you will enjoy this most interesting book.

Next I am starting Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling
Book by Amy Chozick

I enjoyed Chasing Hillary.........:hangloose:

It includes some of the author's problematic issues dealing with fellow co-workers (men) who were less than welcoming and some issues of male's behavior in Hillary's campaign camp.

[homoe]

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.........Gabrielle Zevin



I am on page 156 and although I'm enjoying this book immensely, it's a book about books and a book seller, it's nothing like I was expecting! :glasses:

[homoe]

I enjoyed Chasing Hillary.........:hangloose:

It includes some of the author's problematic issues dealing with fellow co-workers (men) who were less than welcoming and some issues of male's behavior in Hillary's campaign camp.

This is a new hardcover book released about a week or so ago and if anyone is interested in it, I'd be willing to pass it along!
My theory has always been books are meant to be shared on sit on dusty bookshelves!
P.S. As always first come first served.

[homoe]

Just finished Leonard Cohen: A Remarkable Life
by Anthony Reynolds. If you're a Cohen fan or even if you're not you will enjoy this most interesting book.

Next I am starting Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling
Book by Amy Chozick

This is a used (the Cohen book) copy but is in very good condition! If you're interested I'd be happy to send it to a new home as well.

[homoe]

Mary ordered James Comey's A Higher Loyalty so I'm "borrowing" it and scanning it to see if I really want to read it..:glasses:

[homoe]

Mary ordered James Comey's A Higher Loyalty so I'm "borrowing" it and scanning it to see if I really want to read it..:glasses:

I've decided to read it! I haven't gotten to any of the Trump stuff which is fine. The beginning deals with mafia kingpins and the whole Martha Stewart episode.

[Fancy]

Stretching Lessons by Sue Bender

I stumbled across her book Everyday Sacred months ago and decided to try out more of her musings.

[homoe]

I'm out of reading material.:glasses: .....any suggestions?

[akiza]

The lost souls of dutch island by John Connolly

[Kätzchen]

I'm keeping it simple and light.... I've mostly just read posts on the boards, by member's in our community, or news articles. Mostly here, though.

[PlatinumPearl]

Entrepreneurial You, Dorie Clark. :awww::heartbeat:

[homoe]

I'm keeping it simple and light.... I've mostly just read posts on the boards, by member's in our community, or news articles. Mostly here, though.


Oh darn, I was sort of depending on you for a recommendation!

[Kätzchen]

Oh darn, I was sort of depending on you for a recommendation!

Hopefully, someone will post about an book they have read, or will read soon, that might catch your interest....... :flowers:

[BullDog]

re-read Jane Eyre

"I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you—especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous Channel, and two hundred miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I’ve a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly."

- Mr. Rochester

[Kätzchen]

re-read Jane Eyre

"I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you—especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous Channel, and two hundred miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I’ve a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly."

- Mr. Rochester

I've never read Jane Eyre, so thanks for your post Bulldog. Next time I go to the library downtown, I'll see if they have a copy of that book to check out.

K.

[BullDog]

I've never read Jane Eyre, so thanks for your post Bulldog. Next time I go to the library downtown, I'll see if they have a copy of that book to check out.

K.

Yes you are welcome, and it is also available online for free at gutenberg.org along with many other classics that are in the public domain (mostly books published up to 1922)

[knight]

Pedagogy of the Oppressed Paulo Freire

[charley]

I'm out of reading material.:glasses: .....any suggestions?

"The television aspect of The Great American Read involves a two-hour opening show to air on May 22 on PBS affiliate stations, then, after summer tapings of “entertaining and informative documentary segments,” the show returns in the fall for six one-hour episodes led by NBC News correspondent Meredith Vieira..."

There is a list of 100 titles as follows:

At their web site, with nice front covers: http://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/books/#/

 1984 George Orwell
 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving
 A Separate Peace John Knowles
 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith
 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho
 Alex Cross Mysteries (series) James Patterson
 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie
 Anne of Green Gables Lucy Maud Montgomery
 Another Country James Baldwin
 Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand
 Beloved Toni Morrison
 Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya
 The Book Thief Markus Zusak
 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Díaz
 The Call of the Wild Jack London
 Catch-22 Joseph Heller
 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
 Charlotte's Web E. B. White
 The Chronicles of Narnia (series) C.S. Lewis
 Clan of the Cave Bear Jean M. Auel
 Coldest Winter Ever Sister Souljah
 The Color Purple Alice Walker
 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky
 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
 Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
 Doña Bárbára Rómulo Gallegos
 Dune Frank Herbert
 Fifty Shades of Grey (series) E. L. James
 Flowers in the Attic V.C. Andrews
 Foundation (series) Isaac Asimov
 Frankenstein Mary Shelley
 Game of Thrones (series) George R. R. Martin
 Ghost Jason Reynolds
 Gilead Marilynne Robinson
 The Giver Lois Lowry
 The Godfather Mario Puzo
 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn
 Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
 Great Expectations Charles Dickens
 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
 Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift
 The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
 Harry Potter (series) J.K. Rowling
 Hatchet (series) Gary Paulsen
 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
 The Help Kathryn Stockett
 The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy
Douglas Adams
 The Hunger Games (series) Suzanne Collins
 The Hunt for Red October Tom Clancy
 The Intuitionist Colson Whitehead
 Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
 Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë
 The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan
 Jurassic Park Michael Crichton
 Left Behind (series) Tim LaHaye and
Jerry B. Jenkins
 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
 Little Women Louisa May Alcott
 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry
 Looking for Alaska John Green
 The Lord of the Rings (series) J.R.R. Tolkien
 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold
 The Martian Andy Weir
 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
 Mind Invaders Dave Hunt
 Moby-Dick Herman Melville
 The Notebook Nicholas Sparks
 One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez
 Outlander (series) Diana Gabaldon
 The Outsiders S. E. Hinton
 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
 The Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan
 The Pillars of The Earth Ken Follett
 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
 Ready Player One Ernest Cline
 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier
 The Shack William P. Young
 Siddhartha Hermann Hesse
 The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut
 The Stand Stephen King
 The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway
 Swan Song Robert R. McCammon
 Tales of The City (series) Armistead Maupin
 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston
 Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
 This Present Darkness Frank. E. Peretti
 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
 The Twilight Saga (series) Stephenie Meyer
 War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
 Watchers Dean Koontz
 The Wheel of Time (series) Robert Jordan and
Brandon Sanderson
 Where the Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls
 White Teeth Zadie Smith
 Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë

I have emphasized just a few of the above which I have read...

Personally, I would add a few classics, such as:
The Odyssey of Homer: Homer, the Richmond Lattimore translation. This is such a fun adventure story.
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
Histories by Herodotus
also,
The Canterbury Tales
and,
Beowulf, especially when read aloud!

[charley]

Just looked at the list and realized that I wasn't clear about all the books that I have read, which may or may not interest some:
1984 by Orwell, which I won't read again
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Alice's... by Carroll
All of Agatha Christie's books
Anne of Green Gables
Another Country by Baldwin
Atlas Shrugged
Catch22
The Catcher in the Rye
the Auel series
I have all the series of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones
The Grapes of Wrath
Gulliver's Travels
I can't stand Atwood.... lol
Have read all of the Potter books
Conrad's Heart of Darkness ..."the horror, the horror" (Kurtz uttering it also in Apocalypse Now)
All of Tolkien's books
many of Marquez's books
quite a few of Austen's books
Siddhartha & Steppenwolf by Hesse
all of Vonnegut's books, anything sci-fi actually...
most of Hemingway
all of the Twilight books

I would also recommend any of Yasunari Kawabata's books, each book a work of art (shame he committed suicide...)
As well, any of V.S. Naipaul's books

[Katniss]

"Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women"
by Kate Moore


"The incredible true story of the women who fought America's Undark danger

The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.

Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive ― until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.

But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.

Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. Their courage and tenacity led to life-changing regulations, research into nuclear bombing, and ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives..."

Well-written book on a topic I was mostly unfamiliar with although some of the images will stay with you. Certainly makes me give pause to "newly discovered" things/processes that will help me lead a smart/futuristic lifestyle that claim to be perfectly "safe." Whatever "safe" means anymore.....


Katniss~~

[homoe]

"The television aspect of The Great American Read involves a two-hour opening show to air on May 22 on PBS affiliate stations, then, after summer tapings of “entertaining and informative documentary segments,” the show returns in the fall for six one-hour episodes led by NBC News correspondent Meredith Vieira..."

There is a list of 100 titles as follows:

At their web site, with nice front covers: http://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/books/#/

 1984 George Orwell
 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving
 A Separate Peace John Knowles
 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith
 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho
 Alex Cross Mysteries (series) James Patterson
 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie
 Anne of Green Gables Lucy Maud Montgomery
 Another Country James Baldwin
 Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand
 Beloved Toni Morrison
 Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya
 The Book Thief Markus Zusak
 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Díaz
 The Call of the Wild Jack London
 Catch-22 Joseph Heller
 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
 Charlotte's Web E. B. White
 The Chronicles of Narnia (series) C.S. Lewis
 Clan of the Cave Bear Jean M. Auel
 Coldest Winter Ever Sister Souljah
 The Color Purple Alice Walker
 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky
 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon
 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
 Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
 Doña Bárbára Rómulo Gallegos
 Dune Frank Herbert
 Fifty Shades of Grey (series) E. L. James
 Flowers in the Attic V.C. Andrews
 Foundation (series) Isaac Asimov
 Frankenstein Mary Shelley
 Game of Thrones (series) George R. R. Martin
 Ghost Jason Reynolds
 Gilead Marilynne Robinson
 The Giver Lois Lowry
 The Godfather Mario Puzo
 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn
 Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
 Great Expectations Charles Dickens
 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
 Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift
 The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
 Harry Potter (series) J.K. Rowling
 Hatchet (series) Gary Paulsen
 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
 The Help Kathryn Stockett
 The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy
Douglas Adams
 The Hunger Games (series) Suzanne Collins
 The Hunt for Red October Tom Clancy
 The Intuitionist Colson Whitehead
 Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
 Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë
 The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan
 Jurassic Park Michael Crichton
 Left Behind (series) Tim LaHaye and
Jerry B. Jenkins
 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
 Little Women Louisa May Alcott
 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry
 Looking for Alaska John Green
 The Lord of the Rings (series) J.R.R. Tolkien
 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold
 The Martian Andy Weir
 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
 Mind Invaders Dave Hunt
 Moby-Dick Herman Melville
 The Notebook Nicholas Sparks
 One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez
 Outlander (series) Diana Gabaldon
 The Outsiders S. E. Hinton
 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
 The Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan
 The Pillars of The Earth Ken Follett
 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
 Ready Player One Ernest Cline
 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier
 The Shack William P. Young
 Siddhartha Hermann Hesse
 The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut
 The Stand Stephen King
 The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway
 Swan Song Robert R. McCammon
 Tales of The City (series) Armistead Maupin
 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston
 Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
 This Present Darkness Frank. E. Peretti
 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
 The Twilight Saga (series) Stephenie Meyer
 War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
 Watchers Dean Koontz
 The Wheel of Time (series) Robert Jordan and
Brandon Sanderson
 Where the Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls
 White Teeth Zadie Smith
 Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë

I have emphasized just a few of the above which I have read...

Personally, I would add a few classics, such as:
The Odyssey of Homer: Homer, the Richmond Lattimore translation. This is such a fun adventure story.
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
Histories by Herodotus
also,
The Canterbury Tales
and,
Beowulf, especially when read aloud!
Thanks for the reminder! I've just set my machine to record this!

[Martina]

I started this before and lost interest. I tried it again a few days ago, and while I am not loving it, I am able to stick with it. It's called The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them. Elif Batuman is the author. She writes, or used to write, for The New Yorker. And her second book, a novel, was widely and well reviewed. It was a Pulitzer finalist. It's called The Idiot. From the reviews, some of it sounded so like my twenties that I decided not to check it out. I feel no need to revisit that decade.

The Google books blurb: Batuman takes the reader on a journey both literary and physical as she traces the evolution of her fascination with Russian literature across the globe and several centuries. This is a deeply funny, fiercely intelligent portrait of the not-always-rational pursuit of knowledge.

I can see that some of the situations are humorous, but deeply funny, no.

[homoe]

The Whip: a novel inspired by the story of Charley Parkhurst

Inspired by the true story of Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst (1812-1879) who lived most of her extraordinary life as a man in the old west. As a young woman in Rhode Island, she fell in love with a runaway slave and had his child. The destruction of her family drove her west to California, dressed as a man, to track the killer.

Charley became a renowned stagecoach driver for Wells Fargo. She killed a famous outlaw, had a secret love affair, and lived with a housekeeper who, unaware of her true sex, fell in love with her. Charley was the first known woman to vote in America in 1868 (as a man). Her grave lies in Watsonville, California.

[homoe]

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn


An enthralling historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

Decisions decisions.........:glasses:

[Wrang1er]

I am on the library waiting list for Barracoon: The Story of the Last Slave by Zora Neale Hurston.

Brilliantly illuminates the horror and injustices of slavery as it tells the true story of one of the last-known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade—abducted from Africa on the last "Black Cargo" ship to arrive in the United States.

I heard about it on NPR and I am excited to get it. I haven't read for pleasure (which I sorely miss) since starting school in January. I am hoping I can make time for it.

[Breathless]

Upcoming flight, so I have loaded up my reading material, mostly educational, however.. The Lord of the Rings.. is purely for pleasure. re-reading..

[homoe]

I am on the library waiting list for Barracoon: The Story of the Last Slave by Zora Neale Hurston.

Brilliantly illuminates the horror and injustices of slavery as it tells the true story of one of the last-known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade—abducted from Africa on the last "Black Cargo" ship to arrive in the United States.

I heard about it on NPR and I am excited to get it. I haven't read for pleasure (which I sorely miss) since starting school in January. I am hoping I can make time for it.

There was an excerpt of this book in the April 30-May 13 issue of New York Magazine. It looks will worth the wait :glasses:

[Wrang1er]

There was an excerpt of this book in the April 30-May 13 issue of New York Magazine. It looks will worth the wait :glasses:

It came in yesterday. Unfortunately, I can't't start it today because I have school work and yardwork.

[homoe]

The Wife by Meg Wolitzer because the movie is coming out soon and it looks so very good!

I've just started this, but so far so good.

In the past I have not been fond of books where the wife has given up her dreams so the husband can realize and pursue his.

[2qt]

Caleb's Crossing - Geraldine Brooks

Interesting read so far.. Was skeptical but happy I bought it...

[charley]

The BBC has published a list of 100 books that have shaped the world as follows:

Top 100

The list was determined via ranked ballots and first placed into descending order by number of critic votes, then into descending order by total critic points, then alphabetically (for 73 to 100, the titles listed are tied).

1. The Odyssey (Homer, 8th Century BC)
2. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852)
3. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)
4. Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell, 1949)
5. Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe, 1958)
6. One Thousand and One Nights (various authors, 8th-18th Centuries)
7. Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes, 1605-1615)
8. Hamlet (William Shakespeare, 1603)
9. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel García Márquez, 1967)
10. The Iliad (Homer, 8th Century BC)
11. Beloved (Toni Morrison, 1987)
12. The Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri, 1308-1320)
13. Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare, 1597)
14. The Epic of Gilgamesh (author unknown, circa 22nd-10th Centuries BC)
15. Harry Potter Series (JK Rowling, 1997-2007)
16. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood, 1985)
17. Ulysses (James Joyce, 1922)
18. Animal Farm (George Orwell, 1945)
19. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë, 1847)
20. Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert, 1856)
21. Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Luo Guanzhong, 1321-1323)
22. Journey to the West (Wu Cheng'en, circa 1592)
23. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevksy, 1866)
24. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen, 1813)
25. Water Margin (attributed to Shi Nai'an, 1589)
26. War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy, 1865-1867)
27. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee, 1960)
28. Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys, 1966)
29. Aesop's Fables (Aesop, circa 620 to 560 BC)
30. Candide (Voltaire, 1759)
31. Medea (Euripides, 431 BC)
32. The Mahabharata (attributed to Vyasa, 4th Century BC)
33. King Lear (William Shakespeare, 1608)
34. The Tale of Genji (Murasaki Shikibu, before 1021)
35. The Sorrows of Young Werther (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1774)
36. The Trial (Franz Kafka, 1925)
37. Remembrance of Things Past (Marcel Proust, 1913-1927)
38. Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë, 1847)
39. Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison, 1952)
40. Moby-Dick (Herman Melville, 1851)
41. Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston, 1937)
42. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf, 1927)
43. The True Story of Ah Q (Lu Xun, 1921-1922)
44. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll, 1865)
45. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy, 1873-1877)
46. Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad, 1899)
47. Monkey Grip (Helen Garner, 1977)
48. Mrs Dalloway (Virginia Woolf, 1925)
49. Oedipus the King (Sophocles, 429 BC)
50. The Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka, 1915)
51. The Oresteia (Aeschylus, 5th Century BC)
52. Cinderella (unknown author and date)
53. Howl (Allen Ginsberg, 1956)
54. Les Misérables (Victor Hugo, 1862)
55. Middlemarch (George Eliot, 1871-1872)
56. Pedro Páramo (Juan Rulfo, 1955)
57. The Butterfly Lovers (folk story, various versions)
58. The Canterbury Tales (Geoffrey Chaucer, 1387)
59. The Panchatantra (attributed to Vishnu Sharma, circa 300 BC)
60. The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, 1881)
61. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Muriel Spark, 1961)
62. The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists (Robert Tressell, 1914)
63. Song of Lawino (Okot p'Bitek, 1966)
64. The Golden Notebook (Doris Lessing, 1962)
65. Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie, 1981)
66. Nervous Conditions (Tsitsi Dangarembga, 1988)
67. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943)
68. The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov, 1967)
69. The Ramayana (attributed to Valmiki, 11th Century BC)
70. Antigone (Sophocles, c 441 BC)
71. Dracula (Bram Stoker, 1897)
72. The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula K Le Guin, 1969)
73. A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens, 1843)
74. América (Raúl Otero Reiche, 1980)
75. Before the Law (Franz Kafka, 1915)
76. Children of Gebelawi (Naguib Mahfouz, 1967)
77. Il Canzoniere (Petrarch, 1374)
78. Kebra Nagast (various authors, 1322)
79. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott, 1868-1869)
80. Metamorphoses (Ovid, 8 AD)
81. Omeros (Derek Walcott, 1990)
82. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1962)
83. Orlando (Virginia Woolf, 1928)
84. Rainbow Serpent (Aboriginal Australian story cycle, date unknown)
85. Revolutionary Road (Richard Yates, 1961)
86. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe, 1719)
87. Song of Myself (Walt Whitman, 1855)
88. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain, 1884)
89. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain, 1876)
90. The Aleph (Jorge Luis Borges, 1945)
91. The Eloquent Peasant (ancient Egyptian folk story, circa 2000 BC)
92. The Emperor's New Clothes (Hans Christian Andersen, 1837)
93. The Jungle (Upton Sinclair, 1906)
94. The Khamriyyat (Abu Nuwas, late 8th-early 9th Century)
95. The Radetzky March (Joseph Roth, 1932)
96. The Raven (Edgar Allan Poe, 1845)
97. The Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie, 1988)
98. The Secret History (Donna Tartt, 1992)
99. The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats, 1962)
100. Toba Tek Singh (Saadat Hasan Manto, 1955)

The BBC link is as follows:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180521-the-100-stories-that-shaped-the-world

[Orema]

Just purchased the kindle edition of So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo.

[homoe]

The Wife by Meg Wolitzer because the movie is coming out soon and it looks so very good!

I've just started this, but so far so good.

In the past I have not been fond of books where the wife has given up her dreams so the husband can realize and pursue his.

This may be one of the few times a movie is a bit better than the book...I didn't hate it but the movie looks SO much better....

[dark_crystal]

I owe a commercial review for this book so i will proceed to gather my thoughts here

:reader::deepthoughts:

Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlen, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38508652-astounding), by Alec Nevala-Lee
As the editor of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction for nearly four decades-from 1937 until his death in 1971-John W. Campbell, Jr. discovered such legendary writers as Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein and collaborated with L. Ron Hubbard on the development of dianetics, the philosophical foundation of the controversial Church of Scientology. In this extraordinary cultural biography, Alec Nevala-Lee tells the story of these four men, their relationships, and their collective vision of the future, revealing in unprecedented scope, drama, and detail how the literary genre of science fiction emerged to shape the imaginations of millions.

I was not excited when i opened the package, although i have done a ton of similar books so i did not question the assignment.

I described it to my officemates as a sausage-fest, i recall.

HOWEVER, i had to check the author's (https://nevalalee.wordpress.com/about/) gender because i guess this is one of the first "cultural biographies" to come out in the eight months since the #metoo hashtag went viral and it really shows.

We all know Hubbard was a sociopath, but i did not know Asimov was a groper, and Heinlein reminds me of Charles Lindbergh a little bit, if Charles Lindbergh had been a literary genius. I had never heard of John Campbell (big racist apparently) or given any thought to early pulp sci-fi magazines, despite the fact that sci-fi is at least half of my pleasure reading, because early sci-fi looked to me like a sausage-fest.

It WAS. But the author is extremely frank about these "gentlemen's" terrible behavior and meticulous about crediting the contributions of the women in their lives and letting them be fully fleshed characters, empathizing with them where they are victimized and recognizing female pioneers in the magazine-- and that made the book readable for me.

Where i had resisted looking too much at the genre's development, i now understand the process that led us from John Carter to Star Wars, which is where my own history starts.

I feel like that understanding is worth having.

:reader::deepthoughts:

I guess that's what i will say in my review. I just have to completely depersonalize it somehow!

[homoe]

.


The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.:glasses:

[RockOn]

Champion generator manual

Oh sure, I know how to start it but rarely use it so I forget the little details. Hoping I won't have to use it during the next few days. This subtropical storm named Alberto is reminding me we will all be happier if I am prepared. And it doesn't take long for Kevie Daniel to become over-heated ... must be extra cautious with dogs who have short noses!

[homoe]

.


The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.:glasses:

In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.
.
This is a fantastic read. I couldn't put it down!

[Kätzchen]

I owe a commercial review for this book so i will proceed to gather my thoughts here

:reader::deepthoughts:

Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlen, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38508652-astounding), by Alec Nevala-Lee
As the editor of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction for nearly four decades-from 1937 until his death in 1971-John W. Campbell, Jr. discovered such legendary writers as Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein and collaborated with L. Ron Hubbard on the development of dianetics, the philosophical foundation of the controversial Church of Scientology. In this extraordinary cultural biography, Alec Nevala-Lee tells the story of these four men, their relationships, and their collective vision of the future, revealing in unprecedented scope, drama, and detail how the literary genre of science fiction emerged to shape the imaginations of millions.

I was not excited when i opened the package, although i have done a ton of similar books so i did not question the assignment.

I described it to my officemates as a sausage-fest, i recall.

HOWEVER, i had to check the author's (https://nevalalee.wordpress.com/about/) gender because i guess this is one of the first "cultural biographies" to come out in the eight months since the #metoo hashtag went viral and it really shows.

We all know Hubbard was a sociopath, but i did not know Asimov was a groper, and Heinlein reminds me of Charles Lindbergh a little bit, if Charles Lindbergh had been a literary genius. I had never heard of John Campbell (big racist apparently) or given any thought to early pulp sci-fi magazines, despite the fact that sci-fi is at least half of my pleasure reading, because early sci-fi looked to me like a sausage-fest.

It WAS. But the author is extremely frank about these "gentlemen's" terrible behavior and meticulous about crediting the contributions of the women in their lives and letting them be fully fleshed characters, empathizing with them where they are victimized and recognizing female pioneers in the magazine-- and that made the book readable for me.

Where i had resisted looking too much at the genre's development, i now understand the process that led us from John Carter to Star Wars, which is where my own history starts.

I feel like that understanding is worth having.

:reader::deepthoughts:

I guess that's what i will say in my review. I just have to completely depersonalize it somehow!

Thanks so much dark_crystal for sharing about this book and how hard it can be at times, to evaluate books, as an librarian. I appreciate your thoughts on this particular subject (book). --K. :rrose:

[dark_crystal]

Like so many others that were shocked and sadden by the recent bombings in Paris I sought solace in the familiar. What better way to honor that lovely city than with a re-read of Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast?" I went to order the book as I had long since given my copy away when I discovered there is now a "revised" edition. I have mixed feeling on "revisions" (go ahead, ask me how I feel about 'Anne Frank' revisions) and this one is getting some rather mixed reviews. Apparently a grandson was not thrilled with how his grandmother (Hemingway's second wife) was portrayed so he revised "A Moveable Feast" more to his liking. I have been teeter-tottering on which to read, the original or the revised. I suppose for the sake of nostalgia it will have to be the original. C'est la vie.......

Katniss~~

I found this post because i searched the thread for THE PARIS WIFE (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paris_Wife) (McLain) because i want to re-read it because i just finished A MOVEABLE FEAST.

From the NYT review (https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/books/28book.html?_r=0) of THE PARIS WIFE:
The strikingly attractive cover of “The Paris Wife” depicts a glamorous, poised-looking woman perched in a Paris cafe. She wears a belted, tailored dress reminiscent of the late 1940s or early 1950s. Her face cannot be seen, but her posture radiates confidence and freedom. The picture is interesting because it has absolutely nothing to do with the book it is selling.

The heroine of “The Paris Wife” is Hadley Richardson, the athletic, sturdily built, admittedly unfashionable homebody who married Ernest Hemingway in 1921. They were divorced in 1927. Hadley was, by all accounts including this one, a very fine and decent person, but she was the starter wife of a man who wound up treating her terribly.

I read THE PARIS WIFE years ago but i had never read A MOVEABLE FEAST until today.

I am wondering who else has read both and if they read them in succession...

[dark_crystal]

Yesterday I read O FALLEN ANGEL, By Kate Zambreno.

I agree with the Rumpus (http://therumpus.net/2010/06/o-fallen-angel/) reviewer in all but conclusion (mine was "no")

It is undeniable that Kate Zambreno’s O Fallen Angel is completely successful in its goals. It’s got the quirks, the puns, the joking asides, and the quickest pace of almost any book I’ve read. Zambreno’s characters are vivid—from Maggie the spoiled child turned bipolar wreck, to Mommy the quintessential Midwest housemom—and the setting seems somehow familiar, though actual description is rare. Paradoxically, these elements may begin to explain why I struggled with this book.

O Fallen Angel tells the story of Maggie and Mommy and their tumultuous relationship. In the present-day story, Maggie has moved to the “big bad” city—Chicago, I think—and slowly become a pill-addicted prostitute who has sex with strange men to kill the pain. Mommy makes egg salad with way too much mayonnaise and thinks things like, “Mommy can visit Europe when she goes to Epcot Center.” Both are, of course, archetypes of a Midwest Catholic household—or maybe the subject matter is just all too familiar for me, being a Midwest Catholic girl who moved to the “big bad” city.

Either way, it seems clear that Zambreno intended her characters to remain static as they move through the narrative. She keeps a very tight leash on this story, her voice never faltering from the on-guard judgment she casts upon her characters. Although they may deserve to be derided—they’re honestly very stupid and self-centered—the question arises whether it’s possible to write a good novel in which the characters are stereotypes who don’t change and whom readers are expected from the beginning to hate.

Semi-conclusion: I want to believe it’s possible.

This concludes my book club obligations for June! Back to sci-fi...

[homoe]

The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe


Built around the true story of Anita Hemmings, a light-skinned African-American woman who convinces the admissions board at Vassar College that she's Caucasian in order to attend school there.

Sidebar: I just read an most interesting article about Reese Witherspoon, her book club selections, and her production company Hello Sunshine. It mentioned that this is soon to be adapted for a film starring Zendaya who will also co-produce.

[girl_dee]

*The Cases that Haunt us*

John Douglas
Mark Olshaker

It’s about famous unsolved crimes

[dark_crystal]

This concludes my book club obligations for June! Back to sci-fi...

I went on a binge! Here is what i have read since i cleared the book club hurdles last week:

THE CIRCLE, by Dave Eggers (https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/books/review/the-circle-by-dave-eggers.html)

Mae Holland, a woman in her 20s, arrives for her first day of work at a company called the Circle. She marvels at the beautiful campus, the fountain, the tennis and volleyball courts, the squeals of children from the day care center “weaving like water.” The first line in the book is: “ ‘My God,’ Mae thought. ‘It’s heaven.’ ”

And so we know that the Circle in Dave Eggers’s new novel, “The Circle,” will be a hell.

LEVIATHAN WAKES, by James S.A. Corey (https://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes-James-S-Corey/dp/0316129089)

Leviathan Wakes is James S. A. Corey's first novel in the epic, New York Times bestselling series the Expanse, a modern masterwork of science fiction where humanity has colonized the solar system.

Two hundred years after migrating into space, mankind is in turmoil. When a reluctant ship's captain and washed-up detective find themselves involved in the case of a missing girl, what they discover brings our solar system to the brink of civil war, and exposes the greatest conspiracy in human history

AUTONOMOUS, by Annalee Newitz (https://www.npr.org/2017/09/20/548664924/in-a-future-ruled-by-big-pharma-a-robot-tentatively-explores-freedom-and-sex-aut) (2018 Lambda Award!)

Jack Chen is a pirate who's dedicated her life to the development and distribution of free drugs, reverse-engineering patented pharma cheaply and quickly and distributing it where it's needed. But when she drops a productivity-boosting drug called Zacuity on the black market and it starts unexpectedly killing people, she has to do two things very quickly: develop a drug therapy to fix her mistake, and make public Big Pharma's illegal development of a drug that deliberately makes work as addictive as heroin.

Unfortunately for Jack, two IPC agents are hot on her trail. Paladin is a brand-new military grade robot, partnered with a human man named Eliasz to track Jack down before anything can officially embarrass Zacuity's patent-holders. Paladin's job is to protect Eliasz while he gathers information – but the robot finds Eliasz himself more fascinating than their mission parameters, devoting time and processing power to understanding him and the nuances of their developing relationship

I had (justified) high hopes for AUTONOMOUS bc I happened to read Newitz's previous non-fiction book on surviving a mass extinction on the plane home from Shanghai last March:

SCATTER, ADAPT, AND REMEMBER, by Annalee Newitz (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/scatter-adapt-and-remember-how-humans-will-survive-a-mass-extinction-by-annalee-newitz/2013/07/25/77f19520-9300-11e2-a31e-14700e2724e4_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8b340d2f3316)

In “Scatter, Adapt, and Remember,” Annalee Newitz presents a sort of prophylaxis for the apocalypse. As the founding editor of io9, a Gawker Media blog about science and futurism, Newitz is a techno-optimist, convinced that we humans can outwit just about everything our solar system throws at us in the coming millennia. “How can I say that with so much certainty?” she asks. “Because the world has been almost completely destroyed at least half a dozen times already in Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history, and every single time there have been survivors.” She’s probably right.

Also, Annalee is eye candy ;)

https://www.shimmerzine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/annalee.jpg

I have now started GNOMON, by Nick Harkaway (http://ew.com/books/2018/01/08/gnomon-nick-harkaway-book-review/)

To call Gnomon a work of genius is not entirely a compliment. Nick Harkaway’s epic, unwieldy, unpredictable new novel is outwardly brainy and pridefully digressive, and the distance it projects from its reader feels excruciatingly deliberate. Harkaway (Tigerman) wears his deep, fabulous vocabulary on his sleeve, and he’s unafraid to ruminate on the seemingly irrelevant in great detail. The sheer intelligence of the book feels almost beside the point; it’s to be taken as something of a given.

If Gnomon is not exactly a departure from Harkaway’s previous work, it’s at least his rawest effort, a window into his writerly impulses and motivations — into what separates him from the pack. It’s why, at first glance, Gnomon nicely stands out as a dystopian novel that manages to approach the genre uniquely and push it forward. The book arrives stateside after a year in which 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale skyrocketed on best-seller lists and found popular adaptations in theater and television, respectively. More broadly, the genre has felt appropriately ubiquitous in a tumultuous and unsettling political era.

[Kätzchen]

Ooooh, I just read a good book review about Gnomon by Mark Harkaway, in The Guardian.

It looks like an good book to read and I hope to find it at Powell's.

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5807a5666b8f5ba082451a2f/5813b83d893fc0fa0d96ff9f/5a0ab3150d92971978740a5e/1511263289656/LB+-+Image+-+Book+-+Gnomon.png?format=1000w

LINK: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/16/gnomon-nick-harkaway-review-science-fiction-artifical-intelligence#comment-110011379

[homoe]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS01Zr6Wj9RmsV1ZfZkeVYYIG-ipXe0HEfCSOC9hctS7fnEQIcy


This was released earlier this month on paperback so I just picked it up and just started it. :glasses:

It's another book on Reese Witherspoon's book club selections and it too is soon to be made into a movie by her production company.:movieguy:

[knight]

The Rohingyas by Azeem Ibrahim

This is a very disturbing book about the suffering of the Rohingyas people by the most unfortunate hands of some self claimed Buddhists. Each one of us has Buddha nature, no matter where we come from or what we do. Much Meta to all!

Knight

[Kobi]

From one of America's iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion. Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage-and a life, in good times and bad-that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child.

Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall ill with what seemed at first flu, then pneumonia, then complete septic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support.

Days later-the night before New Year's Eve-the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John Gregory Dunne suffered a massive and fatal coronary.

In a second, this close, symbiotic partnership of forty years was over.

Four weeks later, their daughter pulled through. Two months after that, arriving at LAX, she collapsed and underwent six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Center to relieve a massive hematoma.

This powerful book is Didion's attempt to make sense of the weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness . . . about marriage and children and memory . . . about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself.

[2qt]

Mind by Daniel J. Siegel


Neuroscience studies the brain. A full examination of what we mean by the term “mind” has traditionally been the province of philosophers but here Daniel Siegel explores what neuroscience can teach us about it-how the mind differs from consciousness and how we know who we really are. In Mind, Siegel, The New York Times best-selling author, brings his characteristic sensitivity and interdisciplinary background to this most perplexing of topics. He explores the nature of the who, how, what, why and when of your mind-of your self-from the perspective of neuroscience. Mind captures the essence of our true nature, our deepest sense of being alive, here, right now, in this moment. How science explains it is one of the most exciting journeys into knowledge we can take.

[dark_crystal]

I read this last Sunday and never wrote the review! Which is due today!

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/612XGkKCptL._SX451_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

This is the catalog for an exhibition of the Bodleian library's Tolkien collection. The exhibited items include photos, letters, drawings, maps, notes, etc,

I do not know whether i am supposed to review the exhibition itself or the book about the exhibition

Or what the difference would be.

One thing i learned from this book is that the novels were kind of beside the point for Tolkien.

His main deal was inventing the language. After that he cared most about inventing the mythology. The novels seem like kind of an afterthought.

What i need to know now is whether this is emphasized as heavily in existing Tolkien biographies. I have pulled three out of the stacks, but this seems like a lot of research for a 175-word assignment :superfunny:

[Greco]

"The Shallows What the internet
is Doing to Our Brains"
by Nicholas Carr

Clarifying, Challenging


"The Undressed Art Why we
Draw" by Peter Steinhart

Good conversation with a writer who
draws...good one.

Greco

[homoe]

I've just started reading this heist thriller and yes the 1983 TV series was based on this book. The characters are well developed but total opposites of each. I hope Viola plays the role of Dolly.

Sidebar:Widows is soon to be made into a film directed by Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave) from a screenplay by him and Gillian Flynn. The film will features an ensemble cast including Viola Davis. . 20th Century Fox will release the film around November of this year.

[Medusa]

I just finished "The Outsider" (the new Stephen King) and it was entertaining...Classic King but a good background listen while cleaning the house.

Also just wrapped "Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston. VERY good read.

I just downloaded a new audiobook and one for the Kindle since I have 2 going almost all the time.
The audiobook is "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis"

And one for the Kindle: "Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg"

[easygoingfemme]

I just finished The Great Alone. Wow... it was an all out binge read up all night finishing at sunrise on the back porch. Intense and so good and I totally have a book hangover from it. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y5WRS2C/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Alaska, 1974.
Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska—a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature

[clay]

Just found a really great condition nearly 50 year old hardback edition of O'Henry's....titled Tales of O'Henry!

I love the Gift of the Magi esp!

[cinnamongrrl]

I just started.reading The Revenant by Michael Punke.

Its.the book version of the very excellent Leonardo diCaprio movie.. The book is also excellent and I'm half way through it already

[Kätzchen]

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71qY-pazMwL.jpg

Casi, an child of Columbian immigrants, lives in Brooklyn and is an brilliant public defender who practices law in Manhattan.

I will be reading this crime novel, when I go over to my BFF's, to house sit the pets and property, while they vacation in Maui.

To learn more about this book, I've included an link to the book from Powell's Books (see link no. 1), and an exceptionally well written review published by The Guardian (see link no. 2).


Link no. 1:
www.powells.com/book/a-naked-singularity-9780226141794/72-1

Link no. 2:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/29/naked-singularity-sergio-pava-review

[Martina]

I didn't know where to put this, so I am choosing here. There is an article in today's NY Times about Stone Butch Blues called "The Best Book for 2018 Is 25 Years Old." https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/06/23/opinion/sunday/the-best-book-for-2018-is-25-years-old.html

I should reread it. I follow Minnie-Bruce Pratt on FB. It's worth it. She publishes poems most Thursdays and has a lot of links to working class and union politics.

[dark_crystal]

I have now started GNOMON, by Nick Harkaway (http://ew.com/books/2018/01/08/gnomon-nick-harkaway-book-review/)

To call Gnomon a work of genius is not entirely a compliment. Nick Harkaway’s epic, unwieldy, unpredictable new novel is outwardly brainy and pridefully digressive, and the distance it projects from its reader feels excruciatingly deliberate. Harkaway (Tigerman) wears his deep, fabulous vocabulary on his sleeve, and he’s unafraid to ruminate on the seemingly irrelevant in great detail. The sheer intelligence of the book feels almost beside the point; it’s to be taken as something of a given.

If Gnomon is not exactly a departure from Harkaway’s previous work, it’s at least his rawest effort, a window into his writerly impulses and motivations — into what separates him from the pack. It’s why, at first glance, Gnomon nicely stands out as a dystopian novel that manages to approach the genre uniquely and push it forward. The book arrives stateside after a year in which 1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale skyrocketed on best-seller lists and found popular adaptations in theater and television, respectively. More broadly, the genre has felt appropriately ubiquitous in a tumultuous and unsettling political era.

Ooooh, I just read a good book review about Gnomon by Mark Harkaway, in The Guardian.

It looks like an good book to read and I hope to find it at Powell's.

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5807a5666b8f5ba082451a2f/5813b83d893fc0fa0d96ff9f/5a0ab3150d92971978740a5e/1511263289656/LB+-+Image+-+Book+-+Gnomon.png?format=1000w

LINK: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/16/gnomon-nick-harkaway-review-science-fiction-artifical-intelligence#comment-110011379

I finished GNOMON last night. It was loooooooong and a little confusing and got a little slow toward the end but i enjoyed it. I have read at least one of his other novels that i liked better, though

Now i am reading FORGED IN CRISIS (Nancy Koehn) for book club and FADING DUSK (Melissa Giorgio) for fun.

FORGED IN CRISIS (https://www.amazon.com/Forged-Crisis-Courageous-Leadership-Turbulent/dp/1501174444):
This “engaging, unusually rewarding book…[which] will foster a new appreciation for effective leadership and prompt many readers to lament the lack of it in the world today” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), by celebrated Harvard Business School historian Nancy Koehn, examines five masters of crisis: explorer Ernest Shackleton; Abraham Lincoln; abolitionist Frederick Douglass; Nazi-resisting clergyman Dietrich Bonhoeffer; and environmental crusader Rachel Carson.

FADING DUSK (https://www.amazon.com/Fading-Dusk-Smoke-Mirrors-Book-ebook/dp/B0125KV45W/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530009940&sr=1-1&keywords=FADING+DUSK)
In the gritty city of Dusk, seventeen-year-old Irina makes her living as the street magician Bantheir’s assistant. The job isn’t glamorous, but she loves the crowds, the shows, and most of all, the illusion of magic. But Irina’s world is shattered the night she is arrested and charged as Bantheir’s accomplice to murder—murder by magic.

Real magic, the kind that’s been forbidden since the old wars.

Irina finds the idea of flashy showman Bantheir using actual magic to kill someone laughable, but she’s the only one who sees how ridiculous the claim is. But how can she convince everyone Bantheir is innocent when they’ve already made up their minds?
i am reading that second one because the author is a friend of a friend. I like to support indies and that friend has good taste so i bought it.

[homoe]

A father and his 13 year-old daughter are living in a paradisiacal existence in a vast urban park in Portland Oregon when a small mistake derails their lives forever.

Today the movie Leave No Trace opened to rave reviews and it's based on this book...

[Medusa]

I just finished "The Outsider" (the new Stephen King) and it was entertaining...Classic King but a good background listen while cleaning the house.

Also just wrapped "Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston. VERY good read.

I just downloaded a new audiobook and one for the Kindle since I have 2 going almost all the time.
The audiobook is "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis"

And one for the Kindle: "Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg"


OMG! "Hillbilly Elegy" was so good!! Highly recommended! Tough to read in some parts but very familiar and on point.

I am making my way through "Notorious RBG" but just started "The Woman in the Window" by AJ Finn and it's very reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock and film noir. Love it!

[RebelDyke]

hands you my Special Education Law books..both federal and state governments...lol

you want hitchcock??? there ya go

[homoe]

A father and his 13 year-old daughter are living in a paradisiacal existence in a vast urban park in Portland Oregon when a small mistake derails their lives forever.

Today the movie Leave No Trace opened to rave reviews and it's based on this book...

I don't recall how I had heard of this book ( My Abandonment) originally perhaps someone posted it this thread even, but it's a quick read at only 240 pages and very interesting..:glasses:

The movie is directed by Debra Granik and stars Ben Foster AND Thomasin Harcourt Mckenzie.

[cricket26]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61LJSW+qnAL._SL500_.jpg

[MissItalianDiva]

Think Differently Live Differently by Bob Hemp

[Tuff Stuff]

Anything by David Paulides. Also checking out his stuff on YouTube.
I have been very interested about missing people lately ever since a woman that I knew disappeared without a trace a few months back. She had been walking a route she normally took every other evening,this time with a friends dog.She never made it home this time.There was a huge search for her and lots of media attention.The dog came back home a couple days later. The case went cold after a few weeks and now everyone that knew her calls it a tragic mystery because the missing woman was friendly and did lots of charity work in the community and who would want to hurt such a person.Sad when I think about her because I knew her for ten years.No body, no clues, she just vanished off the face of the earth.It disturbs me greatly what happen to her.

[homoe]

because the mini series starts Sunday and most times the book gives more detailed information than the television production! Even tho this book ended up on the New York Times best sellers list, I'm not sure if I'm going to enjoy it or not..time will tell!

Reporter Camille Preaker returns to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls; Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims while trying to solve a psychological puzzle from her past.

[homoe]

The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai



The novel begins in 1999 and moves backwards through the history of Laurelfield, a large stately home belonging to the Devohrs. The house has morphed over the years from family residence to a beloved art colony and back again. The first and longest section of the novel deals with Laurelfield's most contemporary permutation.

I am about half way in and I'm enjoying this book immensely............:glasses:

[Fancy]

The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50

By Jonathan Rauch

https://g.co/kgs/v9F91r

Interesting, but still too early to give it a thorough review.

[cinnamongrrl]

I started.reading Hiking Through by Paul Stutzman

It's about a man's travels on the Appalachian Trail and his reasons for making the journey.

He's a little preachy and God-dy but I think the story is worth the side bars.

[Kätzchen]

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/517R78AlHyL._SR600%2C315_PIWhiteStrip%2CBottomLeft %2C0%2C35_PIStarRatingFOUR%2CBottomLeft%2C360%2C-6_SR600%2C315_ZA(24%20Reviews)%2C445%2C291%2C400%2 C400%2Carial%2C12%2C4%2C0%2C0%2C5_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Mamen Sánchez, author of NYT's bestseller Under The Tuscan Sun, recently had her book The Altogether Unexpected Disappearance Of Atticus Craftsman, translated from Spanish to English, two years ago.

I loved the first book I read, so I picked up TAUDOAC @ Powell's today, for my next summer beach read.

Here's an link to an review of her latest book:

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/mame-sanchez/the-altogether-unexpected-disappearance-of-atticus/

[Reach *BANNED*]

Title: Lust & Wonder

Author: Augusten Burroughs

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/books/review/lust-and-wonder-by-augusten-burroughs.html

A great memoir by one of my favorite authors. If you like memoirs, this is a wonderful read.

[kittygrrl]

i'm about to begin "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"

by Rebecca Skloot

[dark_crystal]

With eyes:

THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST, a coming-of-age teen novel by Emily M. Danforth published in 2012. The novel's protagonist is Cameron Post, a 12-year-old Montana girl who is discovering her own homosexuality. After her parents die in a car crash, she is sent to live with her conservative aunt. She develops a relationship with her best friend and is sent to a conversion camp.

According to author Emily Danforth, the novel was influenced by the 2005 Zach Stark controversy, where teenager Zach Stark was sent to a de-gaying camp run by Love In Action after coming out to his parents.

With ears:
WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION is a 2016 American book about the societal impact of algorithms, written by Cathy O'Neil. It explores the how some big data algorithms are increasingly used in ways that reinforces preexisting inequality. It was longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

[Kätzchen]

With eyes:

THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST, a coming-of-age teen novel by Emily M. Danforth published in 2012. The novel's protagonist is Cameron Post, a 12-year-old Montana girl who is discovering her own homosexuality. After her parents die in a car crash, she is sent to live with her conservative aunt. She develops a relationship with her best friend and is sent to a conversion camp.

According to author Emily Danforth, the novel was influenced by the 2005 Zach Stark controversy, where teenager Zach Stark was sent to a de-gaying camp run by Love In Action after coming out to his parents.

With ears:
WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION is a 2016 American book about the societal impact of algorithms, written by Cathy O'Neil. It explores the how some big data algorithms are increasingly used in ways that reinforces preexisting inequality. It was longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

Oh mY, the Weapons of Math Destruction (2016) looks like an interesting read, d_c. I'm not surprised though, that the book was Long Listed. We can't have people learning about how inequality is perpetuated via technology (Sarcasm).

I bet the other book is enlightening too. I'd certainly be interested in your take concerning both books.

Cheers,
~K. :bunchflowers:

[jools66]

The 7 year old police dog, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire dog unit, was stabbed with a 30cm (12in) hunting knife in the head and chest and underwent four hours of emergency surgery to save his life.
Here is his story and his owners story too, and how it it has changed the law in England.
Please note, you will need tissues for this book.
A must read for any dog lover

[homoe]

Tell It To The Bees by Fiona Shaw

I finally got my hands on a copy of this!

A secret love which has a whole town talking... and a 10 year old boy very worried.
Lydia Weekes is distraught at the break-up of her marriage. When her young son, Charlie, makes friends with the local doctor, Jean Markham, her life is turned upside down. Charlie tells his secrets to no one but the bees!

I'm about a 100 pages in and it's not moving as fast as I hoped it would.

Sidebar: Tell It to the Bees is an upcoming British drama film as well directed by Annabel Jankel. The screenplay, written by Henrietta Ashworth and Jessica Ashworth, is based on the 2009 novel of the same name. It stars Anna Paquin and Holliday Grainger.

[girl_dee]

*The Cases that Haunt Us* by John Douglas - ( Who wrote Mindhunter, the book that generated the Mindhunter series)

Its so good!

[Reach *BANNED*]

Title: Healing Teas- A Practical Guide To The Medicinal Teas of the World- From Chamomile to Garlic, From Essiac to Kombucha

Author: Marie Nadine Antol

I am teaching myself all about tea. From the history, to the types and different ways to prepare it. Along with planting it and harvesting as well. Not only for healing purposes but for the pure enjoyment of tea.


Title: Mama Tried- Traditional Italian Cooking for the Screwed, Crude, Vegan & Tattooed

Author: Cecilia Granata

This book is basically any Italian dish you can think of converted into a vegan dish. I am not Vegan. However, I am all about eating better. So, I thought I would give it a look and see if there is anything I would try.

[Esme nha Maire]

Ignition! by John D. Clark

If you ever thought that the hard part of rocketry was the mathematics required to calculate trajectories (it really isn't!), then reading this wry, interesting and amusing book (originally published in 1972 and long out of print until recently) should disabuse you of the notion fairly quickly. Clark gives a fun and very readable history of the development of rocket fuels in his book, and an insight into the personalties involved.

Describing a substance that is highly toxic, highly corrosive, unstable and with such a godawful smell that it could still be detected on-site decades after it was test-fired as having the virtue that it was a reliable quick hypergolic (burns on contact with its oxidiser) may give you some idea of just how insane (as well as highly intelligent!) the early rocket fuel engineers and chemists were.

Reccomended for anyone that likes reading about science in general, and rocketry-related things in particular. A classic!

I'll never look at bran-flakes and alcohol the same way again...

[socialjustice_fsu]

Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom. Author: John O’Donohue
A review by Deepak Chopra covers this book well. This is a rare synthesis of philosophy, poetry, and spirituality. This work will have a powerful and life-transforming experience for those who read it.

Anam Cara = soul friend

[dark_crystal]

Oh mY, the Weapons of Math Destruction (2016) looks like an interesting read, d_c. I'm not surprised though, that the book was Long Listed. We can't have people learning about how inequality is perpetuated via technology (Sarcasm).

I bet the other book is enlightening too. I'd certainly be interested in your take concerning both books.

Cheers,
~K. :bunchflowers:

Weapons of Math Destruction was highly informative and went fast. The most immediately shocking thing i learned is how often your zip code stands in for your race, health, criminality, or creditworthiness.

Companies will substitute your zip code anywhere it is illegal to use race, health, criminality, or creditworthiness and use it drive decisions about jobs, housing, insurance, or finance-- essentially assuming that your history and habits will be the same as the average of all of your neighbors.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post made a good start at lifting the curtain on the make-you-straight camps but i think it could have hit harder. It was written for YA though.

[dark_crystal]

With eyes:
Homegoing is the debut historical fiction novel by Yaa Gyasi, published in 2016. Each chapter in the novel follows a different descendant of an Asante woman named Maame, starting with her two daughters, separated by circumstance: Effia marries James Collins, the British governor in charge of Cape Coast Castle, while her half-sister Esi is held captive in the dungeons below. Subsequent chapters follow their children and following generations.
With Ears:
Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove grew up in the Bible Belt in the American South as a faithful church-going Christian. But he gradually came to realize that the gospel his Christianity proclaimed was not good news for everybody. The same Christianity that sang "Amazing Grace" also perpetuated racial injustice and white supremacy in the name of Jesus. His Christianity, he discovered, was the religion of the slaveholder. Just as Reconstruction after the Civil War worked to repair a desperately broken society, our compromised Christianity requires a spiritual reconstruction that undoes the injustices of the past.

[homoe]

You can bet your bottom dollar I'm NOT reading The Briefing....:giggle:

[Tommi]

An Echo in the Bone
by Diana Gabaldon

7th, final book in the Outlander series.

[homoe]

I'm waiting for The News Sorority: Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour—and the (Ongoing, Imperfect, Complicated) Triumph of Women in TV News to arrive and then I'll be reading that.

[dark_crystal]

URGENT ALERT:

This book exists:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51-zOXpsX6L._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

You’re on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir
Parker Posey

[dark_crystal]

With eyes:
Homegoing is the debut historical fiction novel by Yaa Gyasi, published in 2016. Each chapter in the novel follows a different descendant of an Asante woman named Maame, starting with her two daughters, separated by circumstance: Effia marries James Collins, the British governor in charge of Cape Coast Castle, while her half-sister Esi is held captive in the dungeons below. Subsequent chapters follow their children and following generations.
With Ears:
Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove grew up in the Bible Belt in the American South as a faithful church-going Christian. But he gradually came to realize that the gospel his Christianity proclaimed was not good news for everybody. The same Christianity that sang "Amazing Grace" also perpetuated racial injustice and white supremacy in the name of Jesus. His Christianity, he discovered, was the religion of the slaveholder. Just as Reconstruction after the Civil War worked to repair a desperately broken society, our compromised Christianity requires a spiritual reconstruction that undoes the injustices of the past.

HOMEGOING was great. An interesting theme is the lingering inter-tribe shaming among West African nations who cooperated with the Britsh slavers. Also the horror those nations felt at how the slaves they sold were treated in America-- these nations practiced slavery, but did not brutalize or dehumanize their slaves, who were usually the spoils of battle. They assumed that the white men they sold their slaves to would treat them with the same dignity.

RECONSTRUCTING THE GOSPEL did not have much in it that was new to me, or that would be new to anyone who has read UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. I did learn about Thornton Stringfellow, the minister who wrote SCRIPTURAL AND STATISTICAL VIEWS IN FAVOR OF SLAVERY (https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/string/string.html), and the Colfax Massacre, "the bloodiest single instance of racial carnage in the Reconstruction era (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre)."

[dark_crystal]

With eyes:

STATION ELEVEN, by Emily St. John Mandel
An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.
With ears
UNDIVIDED: COMING OUT, BECOMING WHOLE, AND LIVING FREE FROM SHAME, by Vicki Beeching
Vicky Beeching, called “arguably the most influential Christian of her generation” in The Guardian, began writing songs for the church in her teens. By the time she reached her early thirties, Vicky was a household name in churches on both sides of the pond. Recording multiple albums and singing in America’s largest megachurches, her music was used weekly around the globe and translated into numerous languages. But this poster girl for evangelical Christianity lived with a debilitating inner battle: she was gay.

[Kobi]

In this gimlet-eyed look at current political trends, Eurasia Group president Bremmer, succinctly explains why people all over the world are turning against their neighbors: they feel powerless, angry, and left behind by globalization.

He identifies various reasons for such strife, from increases in industrial automation and the influx of migrants to wealthier countries to a general sense that politicians do not know how to make struggling citizens' lives better.

He analyzes the situations of a dozen countries (Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Venezuela, Russia, India, and China among them) in depth and finds common risk factors for the "us versus them" mentality: large youth populations, lack of employment opportunities, and charismatic authoritarian leaders with a knack for pitting groups against one another.

These countries, he predicts, will erect physical and technological "walls" to keep people in line, and Europe and the United States will follow suit, becoming more protectionist as the developing world struggles.

The author closes with a philosophical chapter on the social contract between governments and their subjects, concluding that the politics of "us versus them" will only get worse before governments change their ways. This astute but not optimistic analysis may be difficult reading for those overwhelmed by the current political climate.
----------------

Well written. Much food for thought.

[homoe]

My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her authorized biographers Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams.


Justice Ginsburg has written an introduction to the book, and Hartnett and Williams introduce each chapter, giving biographical context and quotes gleaned from hundreds of interviews they have conducted. This is a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of America’s most influential women.

I picked this up at the airport but haven't gotten to far into it just yet......:glasses:

[Kobi]

You might have trouble imagining life without your social media accounts, but virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier insists that we're better off without them.

In Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Lanier, who participates in no social media, offers powerful and personal reasons for all of us to leave these dangerous online platforms.

Lanier's reasons for freeing ourselves from social media's poisonous grip include its tendency to bring out the worst in us, to make politics terrifying, to trick us with illusions of popularity and success, to twist our relationship with the truth, to disconnect us from other people even as we are more "connected" than ever, to rob us of our free will with relentless targeted ads.

How can we remain autonomous in a world where we are under continual surveillance and are constantly being prodded by algorithms run by some of the richest corporations in history that have no way of making money other than being paid to manipulate our behavior? How could the benefits of social media possibly outweigh the catastrophic losses to our personal dignity, happiness, and freedom?

Lanier remains a tech optimist, so while demonstrating the evil that rules social media business models today, he also envisions a humanistic setting for social networking that can direct us toward a richer and fuller way of living and connecting with our world.

--------------------------

Well done, well articulated and very informative. Very easy and getting easier to influence peoples thinking and behavior via algorithms.....all for the sake of money.

[dark_crystal]

With eyes:
ANOTHER BROOKLYN, by Jacqueline Woodson (https://www.amazon.com/Another-Brooklyn-Novel-Jacqueline-Woodson/dp/0062359991):
Running into a long-ago friend sets memory from the 1970s in motion for August, transporting her to a time and a place where friendship was everything—until it wasn’t. For August and her girls, sharing confidences as they ambled through neighborhood streets, Brooklyn was a place where they believed that they were beautiful, talented, brilliant—a part of a future that belonged to them. But beneath the hopeful veneer, there was another Brooklyn, a dangerous place where grown men reached for innocent girls in dark hallways, where ghosts haunted the night, where mothers disappeared. A world where madness was just a sunset away and fathers found hope in religion.

With ears:
HARVEST OF EMPIRE, by Juan Gonzales (https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2000-07-01/harvest-empire-history-latinos-america):
Latinos are estimated to become the largest U.S. minority group by 2010, numbering more than 40 million. This spectacular transformation has resulted largely from escalating immigration since the 1960s, profoundly affecting such states as California, New York, Texas, and Florida. González, a columnist at the New York Daily News, addresses this massive demographic shift in his rich, angry, and provocative book. With a combination of history, reportage, cross-disciplinary insights, and old-fashioned leftist outrage, he links U.S. intervention abroad and the tyranny of its unbridled market to the profound transformations at home -- namely, the arrival of millions of Spanish-speaking immigrants. They are the "unexpected harvest" of the "expansion that transformed the entire hemisphere into an economic satellite," he charges. In turn, U.S. policy toward its Latin American population will determine whether domestic tranquillity or interethnic conflict will mark the twenty-first century.

[Reach *BANNED*]

I decided today to do a re-read on the Harry Potter books. I have been thinking about them for a few weeks- and tomorrow I will start. Just something about them makes Me forget all of the "world stuff" that is happening. I want to be "taken away" if only for a brief time.

[dark_crystal]

HARVEST OF EMPIRE, by Juan Gonzales (https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2000-07-01/harvest-empire-history-latinos-america):
Latinos are estimated to become the largest U.S. minority group by 2010, numbering more than 40 million. This spectacular transformation has resulted largely from escalating immigration since the 1960s, profoundly affecting such states as California, New York, Texas, and Florida. González, a columnist at the New York Daily News, addresses this massive demographic shift in his rich, angry, and provocative book. With a combination of history, reportage, cross-disciplinary insights, and old-fashioned leftist outrage, he links U.S. intervention abroad and the tyranny of its unbridled market to the profound transformations at home -- namely, the arrival of millions of Spanish-speaking immigrants. They are the "unexpected harvest" of the "expansion that transformed the entire hemisphere into an economic satellite," he charges. In turn, U.S. policy toward its Latin American population will determine whether domestic tranquillity or interethnic conflict will mark the twenty-first century.


This book is blowing my mind. I learned that the Latin American countries fighting Spain for their independence modeled their constitutions after ours because they looked up to our democracy so much. Then, we went behind their backs with Spain and plotted against them so that they had no one to help them except for England. Because we wanted their land more than we were proud of our democracy!

And wait till you hear how the US got Texas. When Texas was part of Mexico, we flooded it with Anglo immigrants and overwhelmed the Mexican culture! No wonder we’re so paranoid about pressing “1” for English.

I am only on chapter 2!

[homoe]

My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her authorized biographers Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams.


Justice Ginsburg has written an introduction to the book, and Hartnett and Williams introduce each chapter, giving biographical context and quotes gleaned from hundreds of interviews they have conducted. This is a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of America’s most influential women.

I picked this up at the airport but haven't gotten to far into it just yet......:glasses:

I'm just about finished with this and it's a very interesting read especially the portions of how the Supreme Court functions.

Lots of interesting info on RBG both personal and professional too.

[Kobi]

"America will remain the world's only superpower for the foreseeable future. But what sort of superpower? What role should America play in the world? What role do you want America to play? I

an Bremmer argues that Washington's directionless foreign policy has become prohibitively expensive and increasingly dangerous. Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. policymakers have stumbled from crisis to crisis in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine without a clear strategy.

Ordinary Americans too often base their foreign policy choices on allegiance or opposition to the party in power. We can no longer afford this complacency, especially now that both parties are deeply divided about America's role in the world."
-------------------------

Am enjoying this. It is a book that asks a lot of questions of the reader, provides a lot of data and history, and tells you from page one to make up your own mind on this issue.

[jools66]

Kris Bryant.
Only just started reading this book.
It was on Goodreads list of lesbian fiction, so hope its good.

[jools66]

TOUCH -Kris Bryant.
Only just started reading this book.
It was on Goodreads list of lesbian fiction, so hope its good.

Hi everyone,
So I have finished reading this book, and for those who are into their lesbian fiction then I can recommend this.
OK it's not an intellectual read, but it's an easy read that just allows you to escape into the characters.
I actually found it hard to put down, but I admit I am an romantic at heart.
Amazon's rating I thought was a bit mean, but I never take much notice of those and like to make up my own mind.
I can only say that if you have ever read the book Carol then this has the same sort of tension between the two women. But it's not as mild as Carol on the sexual content. In other words it's hot in places.
Give it a try, it's on Kindle, and paperback.

[homoe]

A disastrous office affair has left Channing Hughes unemployed and cynical. What better time to leave Boston for her native England, where her late grandfather has named her sole heir of the Hughes fortune, along with the centuries-old manor house that’s been in the family for generations. Only one problem with that plan―there is no Hughes fortune.

If anyone deserves to be cynical about life, it’s Dr. Lark Latimer. Determined to bounce back, Lark signs on with a pharmaceutical company, a job that takes her abroad to investigate a drug trial gone sideways. She finds an English countryside that's bursting with charm―including the dry-witted Channing. Neither woman imagined the spark they shared on their transatlantic flight would lead them to life-changing decisions.

This is light lesbian fluff at its finest IMHO.........I've enjoyed other books by this author as well.

[homoe]

If you like fictional crime novels Lynda La Plante is an excellent writer. Her books get you hooked in no time.

Her book Widows has been turned into a movie here in the states starrng Viola Davis and is to be released Nov 16th.....:movieguy:

I'm looking forward to reading other books of hers........:glasses:

[Fancy]

Journal of Communication - #CommunicationSoWhite byPaula Chakravartty

and

Environmental Communication - Why it Matters How We Frame the Environment by George Lakoff

Also, just finished “for fun” reading for the summer: What Happened by Hillary Rodman Clinton and Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You by Dolly Parton

[Kätzchen]

I'm reading …. Ann Veronica (H.G. Wells,1909).


https://www.penguin.co.uk/content/dam/catalogue/pim/editions/425/9780141441092/cover.jpg


I saved this book from an English Literature class I took years ago. I think it's simply an timeless classic. Ann Veronica was first published during the Victorian Era, when Feminism was first growing its wings. The protagonist of the story, Ann Veronica, was an very much head-strong type of personality and an non-conformist. I think of this book as one of the first of many to explore departing from traditional ways of expressing gender, breaking away form Victorian social norms expected of women, and as an way for women to redefine themselves amid very tiring social expectations that still impacts women, nearly 120 years after its publication.

[homoe]

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly



Based on a true story of a New York socialite who championed a group of concentration camp survivors known as the Rabbits, this acclaimed debut novel reveals a story of love, redemption, and terrible secrets that were hidden for decades.

I've just started it but so far so good..

[dark_crystal]

The Last Days of Night, by Graham Moore (book club selection)

Washington Times (https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-last-days-of-night-the-flaws-of-thomas-edison-both-real-and-imagined/2016/08/22/2ec72b9a-64ac-11e6-be4e-23fc4d4d12b4_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b98c9a2abe7e): This novel’s brilliant journey into the past begins in 1888, when the use of electricity was in its infancy and two great inventors, Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, were fighting to control its spread across the United States and to reap the wealth and glory that would follow. In “The Last Days of Night,” Graham Moore digs deep into long-forgotten facts to give us an exciting, sometimes astonishing story of two geniuses locked in a brutal battle to change the world.

Moore — also the author of “The Sherlockian,” a fascinating novel about Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Oscar-winning screenplay for “The Imitation Game” — tells this amazing story through the eyes of Paul Cravath, a 26-year-old lawyer who was hired by Westinghouse to lead his legal battle with Edison. He would later found the prominent New York law firm that still bears his name.

The legal case, simply put, was that Edison had patented a lightbulb and that Westinghouse had invented a better one, but the U.S. patent office had ruled that Westinghouse’s bulb violated Edison’s patent. Edison was demanding $1 billion in damages. Cravath’s job was to persuade the courts that, despite the patent office ruling, his client’s bulb was different from Edison’s.

Another inventor enters the story, the Serbian-born, highly eccentric, often unstable Nikola Tesla. At that point, Edison could offer only direct current, or DC, power. Unfortunately, DC could be transmitted only short distances, and therefore only those with enough money to buy a generator for their homes could enjoy electricity.

Tesla found a way to use the higher-voltage alternating current, or AC, to overcome the distance limit and thus revolutionize the spread of electricity. He went to work for Westinghouse to perfect his invention. Cravath, fearing that Edison might have Tesla killed — his laboratory did mysteriously burn down — kept him in hiding for months. Edison, he knew, was not a man to cross.

It looks like there is a film forthcoming with Eddie Redmayne.

[PlatinumPearl]

The Law of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks.

[dark_crystal]

WITH EYES
Too like the Lightning (https://www.amazon.com/Too-Like-Lightning-Terra-Ignota/dp/0765378019/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536144489&sr=1-1&keywords=Too+like+the+Lightning), by Ada Palmer
Mycroft Canner is a convict. For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer--a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away.

The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labelling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations.
WITH EARS
Small Fry (https://www.amazon.com/Small-Fry-Lisa-Brennan-Jobs/dp/0802128238), by Lisa Brennan-Jobs
Born on a farm and named in a field by her parents―artist Chrisann Brennan and Steve Jobs―Lisa Brennan-Jobs’s childhood unfolded in a rapidly changing Silicon Valley. When she was young, Lisa’s father was a mythical figure who was rarely present in her life. As she grew older, her father took an interest in her, ushering her into a new world of mansions, vacations, and private schools. His attention was thrilling, but he could also be cold, critical and unpredictable. When her relationship with her mother grew strained in high school, Lisa decided to move in with her father, hoping he’d become the parent she’d always wanted him to be.

[cinnamongrrl]

I’m in the middle of two books, one fiction, one non. I’m also perusing an instructional type book (on backpacking). Now I got another book I’m anxious to dive into!

I promised myself I will finish at least ONE already started book before I get started on another...but my promise was not witnessed nor notarized....sooo.... yeah.

:readfineprint:

[candy_coated_bitch]

The Inner Temple of Witchcraft by Christopher Penczak.

[Kätzchen]

http://media.mensxp.com/media/content/2013/May/1369382134_56333.jpg

[homoe]

I ordered his book Contempt off Amazon which should arrive Friday!

I can't wait to read this book and will report back........:glasses:

[2qt]

https://covers.angusrobertson.com.au/images/9780865718456.jpg?width=250


lol..... My future plan!

[Wrang1er]

We Are Water by Wally Lamb. This is the first book I have checked out of the library since I started school. I missed reading for pleasure. I read "I Know This Much is True" by this author and thought it was a great book. I hope this one is as well.

[Greco]

"Prospect The Journey Of An Artist" by Anne Truitt
3rd in her journals...enjoy her sculptures and her writing



"Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal A Guide for Prescribers
Therapists, Patients, and Their Families"
by Dr. Peter R. Breggin, MD

An exceptionally ethical psychiatrist, and patient advocate.
Exceedingly useful in supporting my clients through this
process. Important read for everyone involved in this experience.

Greco

[jools66]

Started reading this on monday.
her books have a tendency to draw you into her characters.
Again its not heavy going, so you probably sail through it in no time.
So far i am very engaged in it.
She also has another book out called Taste, which i have yet to read.

[homoe]

I ordered his book Contempt off Amazon which should arrive Friday!

I can't wait to read this book and will report back........:glasses:


I'd be done with this book by now had not other events transpired in my life but let me just say.... this is a very detailed account about how an independent council works and I'm finding it fascinating. This book and the council actually starts with the investigation of Whitewater and shows how other events, twists, and turns leads it to the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

[Kobi]

America is in crisis, from the university to the workplace. Toxic ideas first spread by higher education have undermined humanistic values, fueled intolerance, and widened divisions in our larger culture.

Students emerge into the working world believing that human beings are defined by their skin color, gender, and sexual preference, and that oppression based on these characteristics is the American experience. Speech that challenges these campus orthodoxies is silenced with brute force.

The Diversity Delusion argues that the root of this problem is the belief in America’s endemic racism and sexism, a belief that has engendered a metastasizing diversity bureaucracy in society and academia. Diversity commissars denounce meritocratic standards as discriminatory, enforce hiring quotas, and teach students and adults alike to think of themselves as perpetual victims. From #MeToo mania that blurs flirtations with criminal acts, to implicit bias and diversity compliance training that sees racism in every interaction, Heather Mac Donald argues that we are creating a nation of narrowed minds, primed for grievance, and that we are putting our competitive edge at risk.

The Diversity Delusion calls for a return to the classical liberal pursuits of open-minded inquiry and expression, by which everyone can discover a common humanity.

[charley]

I am presently reading the first book in the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness, which is called A Discovery of Witches. I've gotten as far as Chapter 5, and am enjoying it immensely. How I got to start reading it was real simple: I have seen the first 5 episodes of A Discovery of Witches, a TV series adaptation of the book which was released this year by Sky in the UK. It's really very well done, much better than the Twilight film series, sort of better cause instead of for teens it's for adults. It's got everything in it - witches, vampires and daemons; it's well scripted, great acting (and excellent casting); it also has romance, drama, suspense, crime and mystery. Can't wait for episode 6, so I began reading the book... lol

Teresa Palmer plays the "witch" , and oh boy, is she ever a hottie...!!! :cheer: She also starred in Hacksaw Ridge as Dorothy... :cheer:

Harkness has created the witch with a last name of Bishop, going back to one of the original Salem witches - one of her ancestors. So there is a lot of history involved, alchemy, etc. Btw, the two women who raised Diana Bishop (her 'aunts') are a lesbian couple of witches - one white: Sarah (played by Alex Kingston, known for her role in Doctor Who) and one a WOC: Emily (played by Valarie Pettiford) (grinz).

Wikipedia writes of the book:


"A Discovery of Witches was first published in hardcover on February 8, 2011, by Penguin Books, becoming a New York Times Best Seller upon its release. It has since been released in paperback and also as an ebook. The novel has been translated into more than 36 languages. The book received mostly positive feedback from literary critics. It was praised for its intelligence and the mixture of history and fantasy, although some critics felt the plot was trite and the pacing was slow. Comparisons were made between other popular fantasy series, namely Twilight and Harry Potter. The novel began as a "thought experiment" for Harkness, who had previously only published works of historical non-fiction. She drew upon her academic background as a historian and her studies of alchemy, magic, and the occult."


I would say that the pacing in the TV series is not slow at all... kudos to the screenwriters.

Curiously, all of the characters in the book seem to have a dark side, so its appeal seems to be ... um..., universal (laughs)... and that is one reason I thought to mention the book and TV series here (haha!)

IMDb listing carries a rating of 8.6 and popularity is increasing for the TV series https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2177461/

[dark_crystal]

I am presently reading the first book in the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness, which is called A Discovery of Witches.


Love this trilogy. My book club read the first one and w all made sure to keep up after that

Excited for the series but I don’t think we can see it in US yet.

Also the a visit to the Bodleian Library is now on my bucket list

[charley]

Love this trilogy. My book club read the first one and w all made sure to keep up after that

Excited for the series but I don’t think we can see it in US yet.

Also the a visit to the Bodleian Library is now on my bucket list

Yes, that would be fun (both you and I would enjoy such a visit); one can just see you quietly moving up to the librarian's front desk, requesting a peek at Ashmole 782, and waiting for the librarian to groan (lol).

Btw, you may have noted in the above Wikipedia quote that one critic uses the word "trite". Personally, on reflection, it must have been one sexist misogynist guy who wrote that review, since Harkness details every feeling which Bishop has, and most sexist men cannot cope with the fact that women have feelings to begin with, lol.

Personally, I enjoy all these details, as it fills in on what much of the TV series doesn't explain.

I also wanted to add that the chapter numbering in the book doesn't equate precisely with the TV episode # - it seems to follow most of the same order, but the first 4 chapters of the book are covered in episodes 1 and 2.

[Wrang1er]

I just finished "The Shack" by William P. Young. My mom was reading it and said she'd like to see the movie. I got the movie from the library and we watched it. After that, I had to read the book.

I attended a funeral last week and the preacher doing the service said some things and after reading this book it's really got me thinking.

[akiza]

i'm reading switch of william bayer i wouldn't be against something more gore but this one will do

[Orema]

An interview with Viola Davis: 'I stifled who I was to be seen as pretty. I lost years'

From The Guardian; Success hasn’t come easy for the Oscar-winning star. She talks to Benjamin Lee about the limited roles black actors are offered, why The Help was a missed opportunity, and how she learned to take the lead – in life and on screen

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/20/viola-davis-stifled-who-was-lost-years-the-help

[jools66]

Hi everyone. Just started to read this yesterday, and I have to say so far I am loving it.
Having admired her and loving her music for so many years now I had Pre-ordered this on amazon.
There are still bits I didn't know even about her childhood.
Will let you know if it's just as good of a read at the end of the book.
But so far it's a book worth buying and reading.

[tantalizingfemme]

I am re-reading The Alchemist.

[Venus007]

"The Hero with a Thousand Faces" Joseph Campbell

Still craving fairy tales, myths and folk tales.
I'm digging deeper into the universal underpinnings I suppose

[Wrang1er]

A Long Way Home - A Boy's Incredible Journey from India to Australia and Back Again by Saroo Brierley.

I recently watched this movie and it made me want to read the book.

[ReadandSnapFemme]

The Theif by J.R. Ward... Not impressed but I will finish it regardless.

[homoe]

Susanne Wolff isn’t thrilled when her mother sends her all the way across the country to Freiburg to save her uncle’s stationery store from bankruptcy. Freiburg is too provincial for her taste, and besides, pen and paper are outdated anyway.

Anja Lamm, Paper Love’s only full-time employee, takes an instant dislike to the arrogant, digital-loving snob who’s supposed to be her temporary boss.

If you like journals, diaries, fine writing instruments, and a love story, this book just might be for you!

I'm enjoying it immensely..:glasses:

[PlatinumPearl]

The Power of Now, Eckhard Tolle and The Law of Attraction, Esther and Jerry Hicks.

I'm trying to get my vibration right for a certain manifestation. :stillheart:

[homoe]

.


The newest Triple A Tour Book that lists places in The Windy City that I may want to check out.....

[homoe]

Nothing at the moment...........

Any suggestions?

[Lyte]

Couple of weeks ago I was flipping channels, stopped at the local PBS station right when Daniel G. Amen, MD (http://danielamenmd.com/about/) was making the point that Psychology/Psychiatry was the only medical field where the physician doesn't exam the organ/structure that's causing the problem. For example, if you have a problem with digestive system... the Gastroenterologist will x-ray, CAT … etc... etc... scope your guts. :p Bone or joint issue... Orthopedists will x-ray, CAT, MRI... etc... etc... your bones. Psychologist/Psychiatrist still (for the most part) make their diagnosis and decide on treatment based on symptoms alone. I thought... yeah, that's true. I became intrigued and bought the book connected to the show...

Feel Better Fast and Make It Last: Unlock Your Brain’s Healing Potential to Overcome Negativity, Anxiety, Anger, Stress, and Trauma (https://www.amazon.com/Feel-Better-Fast-Make-Last/dp/1496425650/ref=asc_df_1496425650/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312681615521&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13077980153259803486&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027244&hvtargid=pla-562961606766&psc=1)

I'm only a couple of chapters in and it's very interesting! :koolaid:

[homoe]

Come with Me by Helen Schulman



From Helen Schulman, the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller This Beautiful Life, comes another "gripping, potent, and blisteringly well-written story of family, dilemma, and consequence" (Elizabeth Gilbert)—a mind-bending novel set in Silicon Valley that challenges our modern constructs of attachment and love, purpose and fate.

Got it as a gift, looks good...:glasses:

[ProfPacker]

Jill Soloway's book which just came out, She Wants It. Is the first time I read "my story" about being nonbinary genderqueer in a way that really gripped me. I am not talking about her fame or her trans parent or the show. I am talking about her evolution to a butch identity and feeling not male or not female.

[homoe]

Come with Me by Helen Schulman



From Helen Schulman, the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller This Beautiful Life, comes another "gripping, potent, and blisteringly well-written story of family, dilemma, and consequence" (Elizabeth Gilbert)—a mind-bending novel set in Silicon Valley that challenges our modern constructs of attachment and love, purpose and fate.

Got it as a gift, looks good...:glasses:

It wasn't! I ended up having Mary return it..

[Greco]

"Killing Commendatore" by my favorite
author Haruki Murakami...his latest came out in Oct 2018
is 700pgs if that means anything to you...it is a book to
be read slowly...it is one to savor in this Winter...and it's
just what I'm doing...date a girl who reads?
oh yes, and love a girl who enjoys reading Murakami...smiling
...terrific surreal...magical realism...if you enjoy these you'll
enjoy this novel.

It's interesting that Murakami writes his novels in Japanese
his native language and then they are translated into other
several languages. I sometimes want to learn Japanese to
understand what may be missing from the English
translations...better yet I will begin reading these in my
native language...now that would be interesting...

good reading, Greco

[Martina]

I finished Elaine Pagels' Why Religion? about a week ago. It's the memoir of a professor of religious studies. I had read a couple of her books back in the day, so I thought I'd try it. It was good. A lot about grief.

Now, Sigrid Nunez's The Friend

[dark_crystal]

With ears: The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish.

With eyes: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Not a fan of Love in the Time of Cholera. The author should not have attempted to write the interior sexuality of ANY women, and the treatment of the black women is gross.

It's for book club though so i will press on. I guess the Tiffany Haddish book provides some balance at least.

[firecat242]

The Terror Dream by Susan Faludi. Remember Backlash? The saga continues.

Economics by Ha-Joon Chang. Fun book for a stuffy subject. Or I just love economics and will read anything about it.

[Wrang1er]

I just finished "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens. I loved this book and highly recommend it.

[Martina]

I read a book called Winston's War after reading a book about the SAS, so I took a break from war and read a couple of Elizabeth Peters mysteries. They were kinda racist, I thought. Now I am reading The Push, which is a memoir by Tommy Caldwell, a famous rock climber. It's very good.

[easygoingfemme]

I just finished "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens. I loved this book and highly recommend it.

I've been waiting for this book on reserve at the library for weeks! Maybe it will come in today before the snow tonight. That could be perfect.

[cathexis]

The used copy finally came. Glad these village/rural folks couldn't read through the shipping wrap.

Books I've been waiting for are.................Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns by Phillip Miller and Molly Devon

Different Loving by Gloria G. Brame, William D. Brame, and Jon Jacobs

[homoe]

The used copy finally came. Glad these village/rural folks couldn't read through the shipping wrap.

Books I've been waiting for are.................Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns by Phillip Miller and Molly Devon

Different Loving by Gloria G. Brame, William D. Brame, and Jon Jacobs

Hey Bud, next time you've got a doctors appointment haul out one of those and sort of flash it about so anyone sitting near you can see! You'll be the talk of the town........:giggle:

[Greco]

"Killing Commendatore" was an intense and satisfying read.
If you enjoy going down mysterious, supernatural "rabbit holes"
than this Murakami novel is excellent.


Reading "Digital Minimalism" by Cal Newport non-fiction
and gives much, much "food for thought".

Greco







"Killing Commendatore" by my favorite
author Haruki Murakami...his latest came out in Oct 2018
is 700pgs if that means anything to you...it is a book to
be read slowly...it is one to savor in this Winter...and it's
just what I'm doing...date a girl who reads?
oh yes, and love a girl who enjoys reading Murakami...smiling
...terrific surreal...magical realism...if you enjoy these you'll
enjoy this novel.

It's interesting that Murakami writes his novels in Japanese
his native language and then they are translated into other
several languages. I sometimes want to learn Japanese to
understand what may be missing from the English
translations...better yet I will begin reading these in my
native language...now that would be interesting...

good reading, Greco

[dark_crystal]

Reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (https://www.amazon.com/Night-Circus-Erin-Morgenstern/dp/0307744434) and listening to Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou (https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Blood-Secrets-Silicon-Startup/dp/152473165X). Both for one book club, need to also be reading Longitude, by Dava Sobel (https://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-Problem/dp/080271529X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1EMEGTAC2KR3R&keywords=longitude+by+dava+sobel&qid=1551643394&s=books&sprefix=longitud%2Cstripbooks%2C279&sr=1-1), for the other book club.

[Bèsame*]

https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1529076901l/39280445.jpg

[Canela]

CANDIS Curriculum by Hazeldon

[firecat242]

Getting ready to start Good and Mad....the revolutionary power of women's anger by Rebecca Traister

[Wrang1er]

I've been waiting for this book on reserve at the library for weeks! Maybe it will come in today before the snow tonight. That could be perfect.

You'll have to let me know if you enjoyed it as much as I did.

[Martina]

I love Dava Sobel. Loved Galileo's Daughter and the book about Copernicus. I am looking forward to reading the most recent one although I might not get to it for a little while. I wish someone would publish a collection of her best articles.

Reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (https://www.amazon.com/Night-Circus-Erin-Morgenstern/dp/0307744434) and listening to Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou (https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Blood-Secrets-Silicon-Startup/dp/152473165X). Both for one book club, need to also be reading Longitude, by Dava Sobel (https://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific-Problem/dp/080271529X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1EMEGTAC2KR3R&keywords=longitude+by+dava+sobel&qid=1551643394&s=books&sprefix=longitud%2Cstripbooks%2C279&sr=1-1), for the other book club.

[FireSignFemme]

Heading to the library today to browse, pick up something non-fiction. Which reminds me – Oh crap, I've got to get ready! J will be here in less than half an hour and I'm the one who woke her up saying – Hurry, hurry, lets go!

[candy_coated_bitch]

Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block. Also What to Expect When You're Expecting.

[theoddz]

I've been sort of hooked on Russian history for a while now. I've been absorbed in Helen Rappaport's book about the last Grand Duchesses of Imperial Russia, the daughters of the last Tsar, Nicholas II. The book is titled, "The Romanov Sisters" and is truly fascinating.

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[homoe]

Light At The End Of The Tunnel by Sallyanne Monti (Memoir)


In 1995, Sallyanne Monti was a 34-year-old mother of four, married to her husband of fifteen years, living on Staten Island, New York, an island in the Verrazano Narrows Bay. When by an act of fate and via a misdirected email, she met Mickey Neill, a 44-year-old human resources manager, married to her husband of twenty years, living 3,000 miles away in Alameda, California, an island in the San Francisco Bay.

The rapid progression of events that led to their whirlwind friendship would test the bonds of matrimony, sexuality, and love.

Amazon just delivered it today! The first pages really drew me in when I read it first on Bella Books and then on Amazon!

[firecat242]

Getting ready to start Good and Mad....the revolutionary power of women's anger by Rebecca Traister

But first....The Power by Naomi Alderman

[Martina]

I finished The Push by Tommy Caldwell. Amazing person. Now I am reading Alone on the Wall by Alex Honnold. I think I will shift gears to something other than rock climbing after this. They are so self-disciplined that they make me feel like a giant slacker. It is good to read about people living their best lives out in nature. I loathe mountain climbing stories. All ego and testosterone. And corpses. But these two rock climbing memoirs are the opposite. These two guys are so not ego-driven. Driven for sure. But totally different from alpinists. Not at all about conquest and mastery. More about perfection and growth. I have enjoyed these books.

[tantalizingfemme]

I am currently obsessed with Audible books. I was listening to The Tale of Achilles by Madeline Miller and have found myself so emotionally invested in the two main character's relationship that I had to stop listening when I realized something negative was going to happen. It has been almost three weeks and I still can't get myself to go back. I went back to read some reviews of the book and found other people have experienced the same thing. Such a great book.

While I continue to avoid the above story, I am going to start her other book Circe.

I realized that when I read books I skip over parts where there seems to be a lot of description because I rush to get to the point (and inadvertently miss out on a lot of information), so when listening to someone read through it all, I find myself getting enveloped in the scenery I would normally ignore. It makes my hour commute to and from work fly by and I have less road rage. Win - win.

[RockOn]

Eventually I want to get a welder, maybe next year, so I am reading about welding. It is so interesting how you select certain metals for specific tasks and why. It would certainly prove to be a handy skill around my house. Sometimes I have found myself hitting a brick wall when I am visualing a useful and fun project. You know --->>> "If I only had a welder ... " and of course
"knew how to use it."

This is a free download I found last night. It provides nice overview:

Hobart Filler Metals - Helpful Hints to Basic Welding

If any of you welders would like to provide me information or advice of any kind, please message me.
I thank you in advance. :)

For useless entertainment, I love Jonathan Kellerman books - the Alex Delaware series are the best.
This type reading is relaxing for me because I am not taxing myself to learn anything.

[homoe]

Light At The End Of The Tunnel by Sallyanne Monti (Memoir)


In 1995, Sallyanne Monti was a 34-year-old mother of four, married to her husband of fifteen years, living on Staten Island, New York, an island in the Verrazano Narrows Bay. When by an act of fate and via a misdirected email, she met Mickey Neill, a 44-year-old human resources manager, married to her husband of twenty years, living 3,000 miles away in Alameda, California, an island in the San Francisco Bay.

The rapid progression of events that led to their whirlwind friendship would test the bonds of matrimony, sexuality, and love.

Amazon just delivered it today! The first pages really drew me in when I read it first on Bella Books and then on Amazon!

I should of read further........LOL

[Wrang1er]

I just finished the audiobook Calypso by David Sedaris. I have never read one of his books because I love listening to him read his books. His voice adds a lot to the story that I fear I wouldn't get by reading them.

I am currently reading The Library Book by Susan Orlean. I would not have thought I would find a book about a library fire so interesting but something about the way she writes makes it enjoyable reading. Enough so that I want to check out her other books.

I have two other books to read which are Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I decided to check this out after watching the movie Bookshop and it is also mentioned in The Library Book. Also, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I just watched the movie which I found to be powerful and wanted to read the book.

Our library just started a "Lucky Day" shelf. You can't renew these books or put them on hold. I have had very good luck with the books and movies I have checked out from it.

I am on the waiting list for Michelle Obama's book Becoming. Nine people ahead of me.

[Martina]

I was disappointed in Song of Achilles. I was upset not with the heartbreak, but with the projection of current values and ethics onto Achilles and the Greeks. The author has a BA and an MA in Classics. So she did it on purpose, and I guess most historical fiction does that. But it bothered me. It reminded me of the endless number of undergraduate essays on Odysseus as a hero, droning on about whether his lying made him less heroic. The most cursory review of Ancient Greek culture would tell you that the Greeks thought that kind of tricksterish deception was admirable, the hallmark of a hero.

It bothers me watching Victoria, also. The fine ethical concerns the TV character debates would have been laughable to the real Victoria. It's entertaining. It's relevant to current questions we ask about leadership and politics, but it's absurdly irrelevant to Queen Victoria and the politics of her early rule.

I have Circe, but haven't read it yet. A friend tells me it is a much more satisfying book.

I am currently obsessed with Audible books. I was listening to The Tale of Achilles by Madeline Miller and have found myself so emotionally invested in the two main character's relationship that I had to stop listening when I realized something negative was going to happen. It has been almost three weeks and I still can't get myself to go back. I went back to read some reviews of the book and found other people have experienced the same thing. Such a great book.

While I continue to avoid the above story, I am going to start her other book Circe.

I realized that when I read books I skip over parts where there seems to be a lot of description because I rush to get to the point (and inadvertently miss out on a lot of information), so when listening to someone read through it all, I find myself getting enveloped in the scenery I would normally ignore. It makes my hour commute to and from work fly by and I have less road rage. Win - win.

[tantalizingfemme]

I have Circe, but haven't read it yet. A friend tells me it is a much more satisfying book.

I'm halfway through Circe and I also think you will enjoy it much more.

[Kätzchen]

Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts On Crime, Punishment, and The Rule Of The Law (March 19th, 2019; Knopf Publishers).

[Kätzchen]

Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts On Crime, Punishment, and The Rule Of The Law (March 19th, 2019; Knopf Publishers).


I've only had this book just a bit over 24 hours, and I'm on page 23 of Part 1. The preface, the introduction and the first few chapters explode at a breakneck pace, talking about the work of an prosecutor, his early days while in school, and the first few cases that dramatically impacted his life before he even became a prosecutor. I'm seriously glad I bought his book. It's simply the best book I've read in quite some time and will certainly be reading it many times over.

I've already underlined key concepts and phrases pertinent to current day political issues we read about in the news, and hear about via favorite media outlets (CNN, Politico, MSNBC, VOX, etc). Preet Bharara's book is outstanding. Even today, while reading from the book on my lunch hour, several passer's by (engineers) spied the book I was reading and asked me what my take on it was. They're buying copies of it, too. In fact, it won't surprise me at all if this book becomes required reading in several fields of study: Sociology, Communication, Law, Psychology, and Criminology.

[Bèsame*]

New read for a vacation trip..

Watching You, Michael Robotham

"New York Times bestselling author, Michael Robotham, brings us face-to-face with a manipulative psychopath who has destroyed countless lives and is about to claim one final victim"

[MrSunshine]

The last black unicorn. Just started it last night, I like it

[Martina]

Just finishing Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou.

I used to live in Silicon Valley and have strong feelings about the ethics of the tech industry. I hope not one of those TED Talk hypocrites ever uses the phrase "change the world" again. I was impressed by how many folk did quit Theranos, mostly, but not all, from the medical field. This is why the profit motive needs to stay out of medicine and law and education, etc.

When is that wretched woman going to jail? Fucking A. If she were a poor person of color, she wouldn't be tooling around SF with her new rich boy fiance telling everyone her husky is a wolf.

[charley]

Just finishing Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou.

I used to live in Silicon Valley and have strong feelings about the ethics of the tech industry. I hope not one of those TED Talk hypocrites ever uses the phrase "change the world" again. I was impressed by how many folk did quit Theranos, mostly, but not all, from the medical field. This is why the profit motive needs to stay out of medicine and law and education, etc.

When is that wretched woman going to jail? Fucking A. If she were a poor person of color, she wouldn't be tooling around SF with her new rich boy fiance telling everyone her husky is a wolf.

There is actually a film (which I have access to, but have not seen) called The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019), a documentary about "the story of Theranos, a multi-billion dollar tech company, its founder Elizabeth Holmes, the youngest self-made female billionaire, and the massive fraud that collapsed the company."

[homoe]

There is actually a film (which I have access to, but have not seen) called The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019), a documentary about "the story of Theranos, a multi-billion dollar tech company, its founder Elizabeth Holmes, the youngest self-made female billionaire, and the massive fraud that collapsed the company."


The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley is airing on HBO too.

[Sparkle]

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

In reference to above ~ I enjoyed reading Circe.

[RebelDyke]

I am reading several things atm:

Journal articles on traumatic brain injuries

and

Journal articles on dissociative identity disorders aka (DID).

All very interesting

[Martina]

I just finished John Cleese's memoir So Anyway. The parts about his early life were great. I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, a YA novel about a 15-year-old British boy who has Asperger's. I had to read that for a class, but I liked it. I've been rereading a book about WWII because the first go through I was so appalled I don't think I took it all in.

I can't recall what else. More classic mysteries, mostly Rex Stout.

[dark_crystal]

Recently finished The Expanse (series) (https://www.amazon.com/Expanse-james-corey-collection-books/dp/9123815302/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=the+expanse+series&qid=1555286903&s=books&sr=1-3), by S.A. Corey, Infinite Detail: A Novel (https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Detail-Novel-Tim-Maughan-ebook/dp/B07GD9WB59/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=infinite+detail&qid=1555286987&s=books&sr=1-1), by Tim Maughan, A Stranger in Olondria: a novel (https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Olondria-novel-Sofia-Samatar-ebook/dp/B00CEHWTMO/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=stranger+in+olondria&qid=1555287031&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmrnull), by Sofia Samatar, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (https://www.amazon.com/Under-Banner-Heaven-Story-Violent-ebook/dp/B000FC1R2S/ref=sr_1_1?crid=395JYX0ZJFPI3&keywords=under+the+banner+of+heaven+jon+krakauer&qid=1555287102&s=books&sprefix=Under+the+banner+of+heaven%2Cstripbooks%2C 175&sr=1-1), by Jon Krakauer

Am in the middle of Indentured: The Battle to End the Exploitation of College Athletes (https://www.amazon.com/Indentured-Battle-Exploitation-College-Athletes/dp/0143130552/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=indentured&qid=1555286859&s=books&sr=1-1), by Joe Nocera and Ben Strauss and The Bear and the Nightingale: A Novel (https://www.amazon.com/Bear-Nightingale-Novel-Winternight-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00X2FDZKW/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=bear+and+the+nightingale&qid=1555287199&s=books&sr=1-1) (Winternight Trilogy Book 1), by Katherine Arden

[dark_crystal]

This week i finished...

So You Want to Talk About Race (https://www.amazon.com/You-Want-Talk-About-Race/dp/1580056776), by Ijeoma Oluo

Widespread reporting on aspects of white supremacy--from police brutality to the mass incarceration of African Americans--have made it impossible to ignore the issue of race. Still, it is a difficult subject to talk about. How do you tell your roommate her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law take umbrage when you asked to touch her hair--and how do you make it right? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend?

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women (https://www.amazon.com/Radium-Girls-Story-Americas-Shining-ebook/dp/B01N7KMS7X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=radium+girls&qid=1557064228&s=books&sr=1-1), by Kate Moore

The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.

Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive — until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.

But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.

So You Want to Talk About Race did not really teach me any facts that i had not learned reading Between the World and Me. The author also provided tips on how white people should discuss white supremacy with each other and i am going to have to assume those tips work on a time delay and do not bear fruit until the conversation has been over for a few months. My white people do not listen to me at all.

The Radium Girls was really good but very sad. Those "girls" were eaten alive with radium poisoning, with their bones crumbling inside their bodies, in constant pain, and they dragged themselves-- or had themselves carried-- to courtroom after courtroom seeking justice and compensation that was never going to help them even if they won. Eventually their bones were so brittle and their skin so weak that the court had to come to their homes. Even when they could not open their eyes or raise their heads from the pillow they testified, because they knew thousands of girls weren't sick yet, but would be.

[Martina]

I've been reading trash mostly. I read the Arrows trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. I'm sure I read it in the past, but I had forgotten it all. Good, but it got a bit old by the end as series often do.

I read Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, and Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan. OMG, they were bad, but I couldn't stop reading them. After I finished, that story about Yusi Zhao hit the headlines and made it more real. She's the young woman whose family paid $6.3 million to get her into Stanford in the college cheating scandal. Some of the details in the books could not be fake though. Way stranger than fiction. What a subculture. The books are occasionally very funny.

Currently reading Greek to Me: Adventures of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris and Pompeii by Robert Harris.

Seems like I read something else, but I can't remember. More trash, I am sure.

[Kobi]

The dream of a United States of Europe is unraveling in the wake of several crises now afflicting the continent.

The single Euro currency threatens to break apart amid bitter arguments between rich northern creditors and poor southern debtors.

Russia is back as an aggressive power, annexing Crimea, supporting rebels in eastern Ukraine, and waging media and cyber warfare against the West.

Marine Le Pen's National Front won a record 34 percent of the French presidential vote despite the election of Emmanuel Macron. Europe struggles to cope with nearly two million refugees who fled conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa.

Britain has voted to leave the European Union after forty-three years, the first time a member state has opted to quit the world's leading commercial bloc.

At the same time, President Trump has vowed to pursue America First policies that may curtail U.S. security guarantees and provoke trade conflicts with its allies abroad.

These developments and a growing backlash against globalization have contributed to a loss of faith in mainstream ruling parties throughout the West.

Voters in the United States and Europe are abandoning traditional ways of governing in favor of authoritarian, populist, and nationalist alternatives, raising a profound threat to the future of our democracies.

In Fractured Continent, William Drozdiak, the former foreign editor of The Washington Post, persuasively argues that these events have dramatic consequences for Americans as well as Europeans, changing the nature of our relationships with longtime allies and even threatening global security. By speaking with world leaders from Brussels to Berlin, Rome to Riga, Drozdiak describes the crises. the proposed solutions, and considers where Europe and America go from here. The result is a timely character- and narrative-driven book about this tumultuous phase of contemporary European history.

-------------------------

Fascinating book. Good for those with a rudimentary understanding of the EU to get current on what the EU is, what it is trying to accomplish, how it is trying to do it, and why it is facing backlash from the people of various countries.

[dark_crystal]

This week i have been listening to

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Third-Reich-History/dp/1451651686), by William L. Shirer
No other powerful empire ever bequeathed such mountains of evidence about its birth and destruction as the Third Reich. When the bitter war was over, and before the Nazis could destroy their files, the Allied demand for unconditional surrender produced an almost hour-by-hour record of the nightmare empire built by Adolph Hitler. This record included the testimony of Nazi leaders and of concentration camp inmates, the diaries of officials, transcripts of secret conferences, army orders, private letters—all the vast paperwork behind Hitler's drive to conquer the world.

The famed foreign correspondent and historian William L. Shirer, who had watched and reported on the Nazis since 1925, spent five and a half years sifting through this massive documentation. The result is a monumental study that has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of one of the most frightening chapters in the history of mankind.

It really is a VERY THOROUGH record and a WILD RIDE. Hitler was not subtle AT ALL and never had anything going for him besides his ability to give speeches that stirred up the crowd. Which is all our current President ever had, so...

[homoe]

by Hulse, Carl

The Chief Washington Correspondent for the New York Times presents a richly detailed, changing look at the unprecedented political fight to fill the Supreme Court seat made vacant by Antonin Scalia’s death—using it to explain the paralyzing and all but irreversible dysfunction across all three branches in the nation’s capital.



My only complaint is that he waited until way to late, the last few chapters, to get into the whole Kavanaugh debacle!

[Princess]

Ok currently in the middle of two books. One is book 18 of the Stephanie Plum series.

The newest one is called Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst.

It's a sci-fi, queer, romance mashup and I love it thus far.

[Kätzchen]

I've been browsing news articles about women in S.T.E.M programs: STEM (https://www.livescience.com/43296-what-is-stem-education.html) is an acrostic based upon a multidisciplinary education approach for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

This summer, South Africa hosts the 2019 STEM awards for women who excel in STEM -- academically or in post-academic posts via organizations who employ women who excel in the field of STEM.

Article link found >HERE (https://womandla.com/2019/06/05/nominations-now-open-for-the-womandla-women-in-stem-awards-2019/)< (for those who might be interested).

[jools66]

Hi everyone, am going to be starting this book soon. I haven't heard of her before, but her life and what she did sounds so inspirational.
Paris, 1925. Over the course of a single evening, the Mississippi-born dancer Josephine Baker becomes the darling of the Roaring Twenties. Some audience members in the Theatre des Champs-Elysees are scandalised by the African American's performance in La Revue Negre, but the city's discerning cultural figures - among them Picasso and Cocteau - are enchanted by her exotic, bold and uninhibited style. When her adopted country grants her citizenship in 1939, Josephine sees her fame as a means of helping the French resistance. She takes advantage of her globe-trotting lifestyle to pass on messages and to gather information. Years later, she is awarded the Legion d'honneur by Charles de Gaulle. In the 1950s, installed in a palatial 15th century chateau, Josephine adopts 12 children from different ethnic backgrounds. Her 'Rainbow Tribe', as she often called them, was a living, breathing symbol of a happy and harmonious multicultural society. In Josephine Baker, Catel and Bocquet paint a glorious portrait of a spirited, principled and thoroughly modern woman, capturing the heady glamour of 1920s Paris in beautifully expressive detail

[Wrang1er]

I just finished The Honey Bus by Meredith May. I LOVED this book. I highly recommend it.

I am just starting Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

[C0LLETTE]

I'm reading 'The Polish Officer". If you like suspenseful espionage filled stories set on the cusp of WWII ( or just beyond ) in Paris and in the backwaters of Eastern Europe, Alan Furst is for you. He's the best at evocative novels setting the tensions and the atmosphere of war in the shadows.. He really is very very good at it.

I've recommended his books to many people and never lost a friend over it . lol

[RebelDyke]

Articles from the Journal of Homosexuality

[Bèsame*]

Nothing yet. But...

I do have 3 books on hold at the library. Various book club recommendations. Hurry, the summer will be over...

[Kätzchen]

https://www.easthamptonstar.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/20190725_LI_Bks_EXHALATION-jkt.jpg?itok=bV1JFEgI

[Wrang1er]

Further Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin.

I finished Tales of the City and More Tales of the City.

Fun reading!

[easygoingfemme]

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward.

[dark_crystal]

With ears:
A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War, by Amanda Foreman (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780375504945)
Acclaimed historian Amanda Foreman follows the phenomenal success of her New York Times bestseller Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire with her long-awaited second work of nonfiction: the fascinating story of the American Civil War and the major role played by Britain and its citizens in that epic struggle.
Even before the first rumblings of secession shook the halls of Congress, British involvement in the coming schism was inevitable. Britain was dependent on the South for cotton, and in turn the Confederacy relied almost exclusively on Britain for guns, bullets, and ships. The Union sought to block any diplomacy between the two and consistently teetered on the brink of war with Britain. For four years the complex web of relationships between the countries led to defeats and victories both minute and history-making. In A World on Fire, Amanda Foreman examines the fraught relations from multiple angles while she introduces characters both humble and grand, bringing them to vivid life over the course of her sweeping and brilliant narrative.

With eyes:
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, By Becky Chambers (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062444134)
Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.

[Kätzchen]

I went to Barnes & Noble, this afternoon, and bought two more books, which I hope are really, really good. One is from Obama's summer read list: The Nickel Boys (author: Colson Whitehead).

The other is a book called Evvie Drake Starts Over, by new author - Linda Holmes, who also is the host of an NPR pod cast -- Pop Culture Happy Hour. She also appears regularly on other NPR shows, including Weekend Edition, Before NPR, and All Things Considered.

I'm looking forward to reading both books.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

This is for a podcast from "Levar Burton Reads". This may not be quite the place for it, but it was the best I could find.

This past week he read a short story, "The Simplest Equation" by Nicky Drayden. It turns out to be an endearing little love story between two women, that involves math. It's perfect for geeky nerdish girls like myself. And it left my little heart going "waaah!" when it was over.

If you get a chance to listen, it's worth sticking around for Levar's brief epilogue at the end. The whole story is only 40 minutes long, and it's definitely worth your time if you're a math nerd, or a romantic, or both. I've mentioned before that Levar really knows how to read a story, and it's as true in this tale as ever. Search for "Levar Burton Reads" wherever you find your podcasts.

[Kätzchen]

I went to Barnes & Noble, this afternoon, and bought two more books, which I hope are really, really good. One is from Obama's summer read list: The Nickel Boys (author: Colson Whitehead).

The other is a book called Evvie Drake Starts Over, by new author - Linda Holmes, who also is the host of an NPR pod cast -- Pop Culture Happy Hour. She also appears regularly on other NPR shows, including Weekend Edition, Before NPR, and All Things Considered.

I'm looking forward to reading both books.

I've not even opened up The Nickel Boys yet, but oh my gosh, the book by Linda Holmes is really good. I hope to finish reading it, by tomorrow. I don't want to spoil this book for any other reader, but the novel broaches subjects, for example, like performative roles people perform for their own sake or for the sakes of others.

I had no idea that Holmes would write about such things in her first work of fiction, but performative roles people play is not really any type of fiction.

It's an interesting field of study, for me, due to my communication studies background in Higher Ed. Role play, whether it's intentional or not, is one way human's communicate to others in performative type ways.

I like Linda Holmes first novel for the way she uses her novel's character narrative's as a way for others to explore the obscurity behind performative role play (why people mask their behaviors, etc).

I'm only half way through the Holmes novel, but I'm giving it the best rating possible because it's an very enjoyable and interesting story to read.

[GeorgiaMa'am]

The other is a book called Evvie Drake Starts Over, by new author - Linda Holmes, who also is the host of an NPR pod cast -- Pop Culture Happy Hour. She also appears regularly on other NPR shows, including Weekend Edition, Before NPR, and All Things Considered.


I'm starting Evvie Drake Starts Over next, as soon as I finish up this post-apocalyptic police procedural The Wild Dead by Carrie Vaughn. It has been a pretty good beach read, if you like female detectives mixed with post-apocalyptic speculative fiction. The world Carrie Vaughn has created with this, the second novel in a new series, is pretty interesting. The first book in the series is Bannerless. She raises some interesting questions about morality and society's responsibilities in a world with limited resources.

[RebelDyke]

my textbook on gifted and talented learners


very fascinating

[dark_crystal]

I'm starting Evvie Drake Starts Over next, as soon as I finish up this post-apocalyptic police procedural The Wild Dead by Carrie Vaughn. It has been a pretty good beach read, if you like female detectives mixed with post-apocalyptic speculative fiction. The world Carrie Vaughn has created with this, the second novel in a new series, is pretty interesting. The first book in the series is Bannerless. She raises some interesting questions about morality and society's responsibilities in a world with limited resources.

I just put a hold on both of these titles. File under: extremely my shit

[Jedi]

https://www.10tv.com/article/christians-surprise-pride-parade-marchers-signs-apologizing-anti-lgbtq-views-2019-jun?fbclid=IwAR1EfTQ2CSURZa9YOc56dOrY9ssWaFgNQgMW7 RZZFDfi0s7I2wKXNu6_WlM

[Kätzchen]

While waiting for my therapy session tonight, I read from a fairly recent issue of a magazine, they had on the table in the waiting room. Lots of amazing and very interesting articles, and even some sharp criticism of op-eds featured in prior publications, by readers themselves.

There was a main article that anchored the recent publication, which explored myths of race. Law, African-American studies and Sociology professor Dorothy Roberts presented her much studied and researched topic on why "Race is a political category that has been disguised as a biological one". The article starts out as an interview between Roberts and journalist, Mark Leviton.

The article is SO enlightening, that I can't just pick one or two quotes, plus it's an article densely populated by the many ways racism affects people of color and the intersectional dimensions of institutionalized racism across American institutions which have marginalized and hurt people of color, for way too long.

Roberts in-depth article is featured in the April 2019 edition of The Sun (pp., 4-13).


My favorite part of the magazine to read and contemplate upon is from the section toward the back, and they title of that particular section is called One Nation, Indivisible.

From the editor of The Sun: "One Nation, Indivisible" features excerpts from The Sun's archives that speak to the current political moment. You can read the full text of excerpted sections online at … www.thesunmagazine.org/onenation.

An interesting quote, from the very last page of the magazine, in the section titled: Sunbeams.

"We must never ignore the injustices that make charity necessary; or the inequalities that make it possible," ~ Michael Eric Dyson (left hand column, page 48).

[Wrang1er]

I'm reading "I, Who Did Not Die" by Meredith May, Najah Aboud, and Zahed Haftlang

It is a rare examination of the absurdity of a war fought by children and young men who were victims of the brutal dictators they were forced to serve. This powerful tale of two men whose lives collide on the battlefield shows that acts of mercy are the ultimate triumph of compassion over hate.

[easygoingfemme]

I'm reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

"Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life"

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I'm reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.


I read that, and found it very interesting. It was not what I would call a fun read, but it was eye-opening.

* * *

I am reading _On The Beach_ by Nevil Shute, a classic 1950s post-apocalyptic novel that I have been meaning to read for a long time. People in Melbourne, Australia wait to catch radiation sickness as the fallout from a nuclear war swirls ever closer around the earth due to weather patterns. They shift back and forth from trying to live normal lives, to trying to find out what's going on in other parts of the world.

* * *

I may re-read _The Handmaid's Tale_ after this, as I just learned today that the sequel has finally come out - _The Testaments_ by Margaret Atwood. It's been a long time since I read THT, and I haven't been able to make myself pay for Hulu so I can watch the series. I remember it as pretty tough to take, and it made me angry a lot, but it was a _great_ read.

[Kätzchen]

I read that, and found it very interesting. It was not what I would call a fun read, but it was eye-opening.

* * *

I am reading _On The Beach_ by Nevil Shute, a classic 1950s post-apocalyptic novel that I have been meaning to read for a long time. People in Melbourne, Australia wait to catch radiation sickness as the fallout from a nuclear war swirls ever closer around the earth due to weather patterns. They shift back and forth from trying to live normal lives, to trying to find out what's going on in other parts of the world.

* * *

I may re-read _The Handmaid's Tale_ after this, as I just learned today that the sequel has finally come out - _The Testaments_ by Margaret Atwood. It's been a long time since I read THT, and I haven't been able to make myself pay for Hulu so I can watch the series. I remember it as pretty tough to take, and it made me angry a lot, but it was a _great_ read.

Nevil Shute is quite the story teller! I liked his book A Town Called Alice. Did you know that he was an early 20th century Aeronautical Engineer by day, but in his evening hours he cultivated his writing career (sort of like a hobby, at first)? That's what a short biographical statement said about him, that he didn't want his writing (hobby) to upset his engineering career. I'll have to check out other books he's written, one day. Thanks for mentioning Nevil Shute, Georgia, in your post tonight.

I bought a used edition of Amor Towles' novel, The Rules of Civility (2011). That's what I'm reading on my train commute to work. Keeping it light, my reading materials lately.

[Kätzchen]

The Nickel Boys: A Novel, by Colson Whitehead
(September 2019; Doubleday, Penquin Random House Publishers, LLC).


I am nearly ready to go out for my afternoon walking activity, but wanted to leave a 'spoiler alert' for the book I'm taking with me. I bought it about a month ago, right before Labor Day Holiday. I was intrigued with the book, after Barack Obama featured it as one of the books he read this past summer.

So, without having even begun to read the book, yet having read the author's opening comments in the prologue to his novel, I want to share what Colson Whitehead wrote in the opening pages of his novel's narrative:

A Note From Colson Whitehead

"Usually, I mix it up when it comes to my books. A humorous novel might be followed by a more serious work; an omniscient, editorializing narrative voice might follow a more personal one. A long book finds its antidote in a "shortie," and an expansive one gets balanced by a more intimate story the next time out. I'll write a novel about the zombie apocalypse, and then toil over a nonfiction account about the World Series of Poker. The change in genre, tone, and structure keeps the work vital to me each time, and I'm energized by the challenge of figuring out a new way to tell a story.

Which is why I initially thought I'd follow up The Underground Railroad, a story of slavery and American history and escape, with a lively heist novel. A crime story was a nice antidote to the novel that I had just published, which had the lowest jokes-per-page count of anything I'd ever written. Who doesn't like a heist story? The planning, the execution, the inevitable disaster in the aftermath. It was quite a distance from the story of Cora and her perilous run to freedom.

But I found myself in a bit of trouble. It was the spring of 2017, and I lived in a nation divided. After the last presidential election, it was impossible to ignore the unending barrage of chaos and strife, particularly when it came to race. How to reconcile the racial progress we've made since my grandparents' generation with our current regression into bitterness, discord and rage? The optimist in me has to believe in a better future for my children, but the pessimist maintains that we have a long and troublesome path ahead, as we always have. In the story of Elwood and Turner, my two Nickel Boys, I tried to find a method to dramatize my existential quandary. I doubted that I was alone in my distress.

So no heist this time out. But a crime nonetheless.

We first meet Elwood. A straight-A student, he has come of age during a time of civil rights struggle and civil rights triumph. He imagines himself marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as part of the new American generation that will fix the world, demonstration by demonstration, protest by protest. Elwood gets sent to Nickel Academy through a twist of fate. He is caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, and for a young black man that can mean terrible consequences. Turner, another student at Nickel, is his opposite number. An orphan who lives by his wits, he thinks he sees the world as it actually is -- a merciless area where promises are made then broken, and hope is snuffed out by the machinery of How Things Work. In writing these boys into existence, I might give fear to my own fear and confusion, but also speak, in whatever small way I can, for the real-life survivors of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, my model for the Nickel Academy.

I first came upon the report about Dozier in the summer of 2014. In the few weeks after Eric Gardner was choked to death by police on Staten Island and in the midst of the Ferguson protests. Every day, there seemed to be another terrible incident (the next few paragraphs I have omitted, to include the final paragraph, as follows).

Writing this book is one small way of bearing witness, I suppose, and discovering the boys' story is another. When I was composing The Nickel Boys, I lived in that unsettled region between hope and despair. As I contemplate how to prevent tragedies such as the one in those pages, I tumble into another, equally maddening netherworld: the one between action and de facto complicity," (Colson Whitehead, in The Nickel Boys).

****************************
*************************
********************

Both of my sons are African-American and they haven't been in my life now for several years, but I know the heartbreaking trauma's they have suffered in life, first hand. Colson Whitehead's book will be trigger every trigger I have about how my son's have been mistreated in life.... but I'm going to read it anyway and try to keep an open mind and will look for ways I can help myself in dealing with losses my son's endure, still.

[homoe]

~~
Nothing... suggestions welcomed

[RebelDyke]

I vacillate between reading research on creatively gifted learners, and students with traumatic brain injuries and how the brain learns.

One of these will be my major research project (not that i needed one to graduate, but I WANTED a major research project to move on to a PhD).

Lets just say that my faculty chair loves my idea and where I am going....and another faculty member already jumped on board to help in any way she could! I think they are fighting for me! lol

good to be wanted!! :detective:

[dark_crystal]

I'm starting Evvie Drake Starts Over next, as soon as I finish up this post-apocalyptic police procedural The Wild Dead by Carrie Vaughn. It has been a pretty good beach read, if you like female detectives mixed with post-apocalyptic speculative fiction. The world Carrie Vaughn has created with this, the second novel in a new series, is pretty interesting. The first book in the series is Bannerless. She raises some interesting questions about morality and society's responsibilities in a world with limited resources.

I am reading BANNERLESS now, and listening to UNCLOBBER, by Colby Martin:

UnClobber: Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality (https://www.amazon.com/UnClobber-Rethinking-Misuse-Bible-Homosexuality/dp/066426221X): Churches in America are experiencing an unprecedented fracturing due to their belief and attitude toward the LGBTQ community. Armed with only six passages in the Bible often known as the "clobber passages" the traditional Christian position has been one that stands against the full inclusion of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. Unclobber reexamines each of those frequently quoted passages of Scripture, alternating with author Colby Martin's own story of being fired from an evangelical megachurch when they discovered his stance on sexuality.

UnClobber reexamines what the Bible says (and does not say) about homosexuality in such a way that breathes fresh life into outdated and inaccurate assumptions and interpretations.

It is interesting but i am kind of over the whole idea of trying to find a way to fit ourselves into the Bible. Let the clobber passages stand as they are, and understand that the real project lies in getting people to accept that God's creation is also a Bible, and that areas where the written word contradicts the created word should be resolved in favor of the created, as the written word bears the taint of human corruption and should be questioned.

[Kätzchen]

I didn't get very far with reading the book by Colson Whitehead. :(

It is soooo triggery, I just can't read it. I will most likely take this lovely book to the library and see if they'd like to have it (which I'm sure they will).

[GeorgiaMa'am]

I'm reading a book that I may have gotten the rec for here. If so, thank you very much to whoever recommended it.

It's _Adventures in the Screen Trade_ by William Goldman. Yes, that William Goldman - _The Princess Bride_, _All The President's Men_, _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_. It's about how his books were made into screenplays and then into movies. It's pretty eye-opening about the ins-and-outs of film production.

[Kätzchen]

I'm reading a book that I may have gotten the rec for here. If so, thank you very much to whoever recommended it.

It's _Adventures in the Screen Trade_ by William Goldman. Yes, that William Goldman - _The Princess Bride_, _All The President's Men_, _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_. It's about how his books were made into screenplays and then into movies. It's pretty eye-opening about the ins-and-outs of film production.

I've got a treat for you, my sister friend, Georgia!

Have you ever heard of Dead Pilot's Society?

Dead Pilots Society
with Andrew Reich and Ben Blacker

In Dead Pilots Society, scripts that were developed by studios and networks but were never produced are given the table reads they deserve. Starring actors you know and love from television and film, a live audience, and a good time in which no one gets notes, no one is fired, and everyone laughs. Presented by Andrew Reich (Friends; Worst Week) and Ben Blacker (The Writers Panel podcast; co-creator, Thrilling Adventure Hour).

You can find it online, by scrolling down the page, at: www.maximumfun.org/shows/culture

The main page (www.maximumfun.org) has all types of awesome podcasts, like....

Oh No, Ross & Carrie ( this podcast is super funny, lots of laughter)….

Who Shot Ya? (this podcast is about films and movies)

.. just to name a couple of them. It's a fun place to find podcasts of a wide variety of interest. :)

[RebelDyke]

between these:

Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy

and

Essentials of Specific Learning Disability Identification

[Bèsame*]

I had come across some summer book club suggestions and had to put all three of them on a wait list. Well, one by one they came available, finally!
First, just finished, The Nickel Boys, written by Colson Whitehead.
I thought it was a very good story, his style of storytelling, keep me very interested.

My second, I'll be starting this week, Ask Again, Yes, written by Mary Beth Keane. A new York Times bestseller, about a two families, the bond between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over 4 decades, daily intimacies of marriage and the power of forgiveness. This book was recommended by Jimmy Fallon's list.

And the third, I'll be picking up today. Whisper Network, written by Chandler Baker. About four powerful women working in corporate America, who band together to stop the whispers in sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. Part page turning thriller, part smart examination of the #MeToo, part feminist ralling cry. Good beach read, even as we enter fall..lol. This was a pick by Reese Witherspoon.

[firecat242]

the last days at hot slit by andrea dworkin. wow do we need this women now! It has prompted me to get some of her other work....intercourse and women hating. what she was saying the 70's and 80's still holds true. the times they may be changing but not at a very fast pace.

[Sparkle]

I’m reading ‘The Travelers’ by Regina Porter, it’s a fantastic multi-generational, multi-threaded family story that spans multiple decades in Modern American history. It reads like a screenplay, has as many interwoven characters as Marquez novel, and delves into deep waters addressing racism and multiracial family dynamics with a deftness that is pretty damn remarkable. I’d say this novel was overlooked by all the big awards committees.

I’ve also had the pleasure of reading some of the widely lauded new novels
Ocean Vuong’s genre breaking “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” should be a part of the queer canon. It is truly remarkable.

I devoured Margaret Atwood’s “The Testaments” within a couple of days and was not at all disappointed, but completely enthralled. I also saw her National Theatre simulcast reading the day it was published.

I just sped-read Ann Patchett’s “The Dutch House” in 2.5 days - she’s a brilliant weaver of stories.

And I throughly enjoyed Elizabeth Gilbert’s newest “City of Girls” - a wonderful story of courageous women breaking the rules, and a fabulous romp through New York theatre world in the mid century.

And now... I’m impatiently awaiting the publication of “The Secret Commonwealth” Philip Pullman’s second in the prequel/sequel series that sandwiches the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy.

Edited to add: typos are due to (a) my iPhone which is not terribly smart (b) my suddenly and rapidly deteriorating 45yr old eyesight.

[cathexis]

the last days at hot slit by andrea dworkin. wow do we need this women now! It has prompted me to get some of her other work....intercourse and women hating. what she was saying the 70's and 80's still holds true. the times they may be changing but not at a very fast pace.

There are a few lesbian separatist writers that were popular back in the 70s-80s. I was fortunate to have been in college during that period.

Got into separatism pretty heavy until...The book by a collective named SAMOIS who published "Coming to Power" that caused a large rift between SM Leatherdykes and "mainstream" lesbian seps. Many Womyn's bookstores refusing to order any lesbian SM book titles. The two cities where I saw the largest engagement between the two factions were Albuquerque and Chicago.

Other separatist authors of note and worth reading are Sarah Lucia Hoagland, Mary Daly, and Whittig among others.