Breakthrough - Kris Bryant
 

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.

Update..........
 

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.

The diversity delusion : how race and gender pandering corrupt the university and undermine our culture / Heather Mac Donald.
 

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.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
 

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/

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

A Discovery of Witches
 

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.

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.

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

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/201...years-the-help

TINA TURNER - MY LOVE STORY
 

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.

I am re-reading The Alchemist.

"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

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.

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

Paper Love by Jae...........
 

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:

Reading...
 

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:

.


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

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

Any suggestions?

Couple of weeks ago I was flipping channels, stopped at the local PBS station right when Daniel G. Amen, MD 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

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

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:

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.

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

Murakami
 

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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:

R
 

"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

Reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and listening to Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou. Both for one book club, need to also be reading Longitude, by Dava Sobel, for the other book club.

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

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

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.

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!

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