mahsdad's (Jeff) 2023 Thread - Q3
This is a continuation of the topic mahsdad's (Jeff) 2023 Thread - Q2.
This topic was continued by mahsdad's (Jeff) 2023 Thread - Q4.
Talk75 Books Challenge for 2023
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1mahsdad
Welcome to 2023 Q3 and my little corner of the world
Hi, I'm Jeff. I live in San Pedro California. Moved out from Pittsburgh in 1989. I'm an avid reader. My wife might say I'm bordering on the obsessive. But then, I think that could apply to a lot of us in this group. I also enjoy photography, movies, hiking and playing games and hanging out with my family. Book-wise, I have a pretty eclectic taste in what I read and I hope to give you not so much reviews but my impressions about what I read.
What you will find here is mostly my rambling thoughts, my Wishlist and TBR pile temptations and a smattering of my photography. I don't really make a plan for what I'm going to read thru out the year. Its mostly what strikes my fancy from the TBR piles.
Past 75 Threads :
2013 2014 2015 2016
2017 2018 2019 2020
2021 2022
Come in and sit a spell. To kick off the 3rd quarter, here's one of my favorite images. Hope you like it.
Hi, I'm Jeff. I live in San Pedro California. Moved out from Pittsburgh in 1989. I'm an avid reader. My wife might say I'm bordering on the obsessive. But then, I think that could apply to a lot of us in this group. I also enjoy photography, movies, hiking and playing games and hanging out with my family. Book-wise, I have a pretty eclectic taste in what I read and I hope to give you not so much reviews but my impressions about what I read.
What you will find here is mostly my rambling thoughts, my Wishlist and TBR pile temptations and a smattering of my photography. I don't really make a plan for what I'm going to read thru out the year. Its mostly what strikes my fancy from the TBR piles.
Past 75 Threads :
2013 2014 2015 2016
2017 2018 2019 2020
2021 2022
Come in and sit a spell. To kick off the 3rd quarter, here's one of my favorite images. Hope you like it.
2mahsdad
2023 Statistics - Q3
A - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle
LL - Life's Library
September
78. Mickey7 by Edward Ashton (A) :
77. Doom Guy: Life in First Person by John Romero (A) :
76. No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai :
75. Last on His Feet by Youssef Daoudi (GN) :
74. The Marauders by Tom Cooper :
73. One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde (A) :
72. The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (K) :
71. Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse (K) :
70. Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (A) :
69. 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King :
August
68. Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty (A) :
67. Void by Veronica Roth (K) :
66. Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon :
65. Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs (A):
64. The Long Game by Ann Leckie (K):
63. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir :
62. First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (A) :
61. How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey (K) :
60. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon :
Favorite : Project Hail Mary
July
59. American Prometheus by Kai Bird (A) :
58. Just out of Jupiter's Reach by Nnedi Okorafor (K) :
57. Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi (K) :
56. Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon :
55. Gauntlet by John G. Doyle (K) :
54. Nimona by ND Stevenson (GN) :
53. Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov (A) :
52. The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis :
51. Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker (A) :
50. The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers :
Favorite : The Yellow Birds
A - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle
LL - Life's Library
September
78. Mickey7 by Edward Ashton (A) :
77. Doom Guy: Life in First Person by John Romero (A) :
76. No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai :
75. Last on His Feet by Youssef Daoudi (GN) :
74. The Marauders by Tom Cooper :
73. One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde (A) :
72. The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (K) :
71. Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse (K) :
70. Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (A) :
69. 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King :
August
68. Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty (A) :
67. Void by Veronica Roth (K) :
66. Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon :
65. Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs (A):
64. The Long Game by Ann Leckie (K):
63. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir :
62. First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (A) :
61. How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey (K) :
60. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon :
Favorite : Project Hail Mary
July
59. American Prometheus by Kai Bird (A) :
58. Just out of Jupiter's Reach by Nnedi Okorafor (K) :
57. Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi (K) :
56. Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon :
55. Gauntlet by John G. Doyle (K) :
54. Nimona by ND Stevenson (GN) :
53. Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov (A) :
52. The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis :
51. Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker (A) :
50. The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers :
Favorite : The Yellow Birds
3mahsdad
2023 Statistics - Q2
A - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle
LL - Life's Library
June
49. The Imitation Game by Jim Ottaviani (GN) :
48. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer (A) :
47. Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst :
46. Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde (A) :
45. Einstein by Jim Ottaviani (GN) :
44. The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (A) :
43. Wool by Hugh Howey (A) :
42. The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due (ER) :
Favorite : The Wishing Pool and Other Stories
May
41. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (A) :
40. Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson :
39. Help! A Bear is Eating Me! by Mykle Hansen :
38. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre :
37. Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde :
36. Persephone by Lev Grossman :
35. The Heart of the Comet by David Brin/Gregory Benford :
Favorite : Lost in a Good Book
April
34. It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (GN) by Zoe Thorogood :
33. Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica :
32. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (A) :
31. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (A) :
30. Double Feature by Owen King :
29. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders :
28. White Night by Jim Butcher (A) :
27. Cosmos by Carl Sagan :
Favorite : The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil
A - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle
LL - Life's Library
June
49. The Imitation Game by Jim Ottaviani (GN) :
48. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer (A) :
47. Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst :
46. Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde (A) :
45. Einstein by Jim Ottaviani (GN) :
44. The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (A) :
43. Wool by Hugh Howey (A) :
42. The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due (ER) :
Favorite : The Wishing Pool and Other Stories
May
41. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (A) :
40. Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson :
39. Help! A Bear is Eating Me! by Mykle Hansen :
38. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre :
37. Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde :
36. Persephone by Lev Grossman :
35. The Heart of the Comet by David Brin/Gregory Benford :
Favorite : Lost in a Good Book
April
34. It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth (GN) by Zoe Thorogood :
33. Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica :
32. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (A) :
31. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (A) :
30. Double Feature by Owen King :
29. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders :
28. White Night by Jim Butcher (A) :
27. Cosmos by Carl Sagan :
Favorite : The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil
4mahsdad
2023 Statistics - Q1
A - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle
LL - Life's Library
March
26. Fairy Tale by Stephen King (A) :
25. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer: A Novella by Fredrik Backman (K) :
24. Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman :
23. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart :
22. Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
21. The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde (A) :
20. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi (K) :
19. American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from the Colonial Era to Today edit by Robyn Chapman (GN) :
Favorite : Shuggie Bain
February
18. Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (A) :
17. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (A) :
16. West by Carys Davies :
15. Lost Places by Sarah Pinsker (ER) :
14. M is for Monster by Talia Dutton (GN) :
13. Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse (A) :
12. The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television :
11. Independence Day by Richard Ford :
10. Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
9. Drowned Worlds edited by Jonathan Strahan (A) :
Favorite : Gunfight
January
8. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (K) :
7. The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman (K) :
6. 1984 by George Orwell (A) :
5. Billy Summers by Stephen King (A) :
4. Sandman: World's End by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
3. Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey :
2. A Brief History of Timekeeping: The Science of Marking Time, from Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks by Chad Orzel (A) :
1. Sandman: Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
Favorite : Billy Summers
A - Audio
ER - Early Review
GN - Graphic Novel
K - Kindle
LL - Life's Library
March
26. Fairy Tale by Stephen King (A) :
25. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer: A Novella by Fredrik Backman (K) :
24. Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman :
23. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart :
22. Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
21. The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde (A) :
20. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi (K) :
19. American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from the Colonial Era to Today edit by Robyn Chapman (GN) :
Favorite : Shuggie Bain
February
18. Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (A) :
17. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (A) :
16. West by Carys Davies :
15. Lost Places by Sarah Pinsker (ER) :
14. M is for Monster by Talia Dutton (GN) :
13. Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse (A) :
12. The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television :
11. Independence Day by Richard Ford :
10. Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
9. Drowned Worlds edited by Jonathan Strahan (A) :
Favorite : Gunfight
January
8. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (K) :
7. The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman (K) :
6. 1984 by George Orwell (A) :
5. Billy Summers by Stephen King (A) :
4. Sandman: World's End by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
3. Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey :
2. A Brief History of Timekeeping: The Science of Marking Time, from Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks by Chad Orzel (A) :
1. Sandman: Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman (GN) :
Favorite : Billy Summers
5mahsdad
Audiobook Narrators
Mike Lenz - A Brief History of Timekeeping
Paul Sparks - Billy Summers
Simon Prebble - 1984
Too Many to Name - Drowned Worlds
Ryan Busse - Gunfight
Marin Ireland - Cloud Cuckoo Land
Simon Jones (narrated the book within the book)
Mur Lafferty - Six Wakes
Andrew Wincott - The Constant Rabbit
Seth Numrich (with an appearance by Stephen King) : Fairy Tale
James Marsters : White Night
Susan Duerden : The Eyre Affair
Jennifer Beals (as Daisy Jones) plus a full cast too numerous to name : Daisy Jones and the Six
P.J. Ochlan, Gabrielle de Cuir, Stefan Rudnicki : The Heart of the Comet
Emily Gray - Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, First Among Sequels, One of Our Thursdays is Missing
Jennifer Kim - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Edoardo Ballerini - Wool
Paul Boehmer - The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu
Titus Welliver - Appaloosa
Jeff Harding - Time Shelter
Jeff Cummings - American Prometheus
Barbara Rosenblat - Deja Dead
Sarah Mollo-Christensen - Station Eternity
L.J. Ganser - Citizen Vince
John Romero - Doom Guy: Life in First Person
John Pirhalla - Mickey7
Mike Lenz - A Brief History of Timekeeping
Paul Sparks - Billy Summers
Simon Prebble - 1984
Too Many to Name - Drowned Worlds
Ryan Busse - Gunfight
Marin Ireland - Cloud Cuckoo Land
Simon Jones (narrated the book within the book)
Mur Lafferty - Six Wakes
Andrew Wincott - The Constant Rabbit
Seth Numrich (with an appearance by Stephen King) : Fairy Tale
James Marsters : White Night
Susan Duerden : The Eyre Affair
Jennifer Beals (as Daisy Jones) plus a full cast too numerous to name : Daisy Jones and the Six
P.J. Ochlan, Gabrielle de Cuir, Stefan Rudnicki : The Heart of the Comet
Emily Gray - Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, First Among Sequels, One of Our Thursdays is Missing
Jennifer Kim - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Edoardo Ballerini - Wool
Paul Boehmer - The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu
Titus Welliver - Appaloosa
Jeff Harding - Time Shelter
Jeff Cummings - American Prometheus
Barbara Rosenblat - Deja Dead
Sarah Mollo-Christensen - Station Eternity
L.J. Ganser - Citizen Vince
John Romero - Doom Guy: Life in First Person
John Pirhalla - Mickey7
6mahsdad
Pulitzer's Read
Ongoing bucket list to read all the Pulitzer winning novels.
Bold : On the Shelf
Strikeout : Completed
Total Read - 37
2023 - Demon Copperhead
2023 - Trust
2022 - The Netanyahus
2021 - The Night Watchman
2020 - The Nickel Boys
2019 -The Overstory
2018 -Less
2017 -Underground Railroad
2016 - The Sympathizer
2015 -All the Light We Cannot See
2014 -The Goldfinch
2013 -The Orphan Master's Son
2012 - NO AWARD
-Swamplandia - Nominee
2011 -A Visit from the Goon Squad
2010 -Tinkers
2009 -Olive Kitterridge
2008 -The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
2007 -The Road
2006 -March
2005 -Gilead
2004 - The Known World
2003 -Middlesex
2002 - Empire Falls
2001 -The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
2000 -The Interpreter of Maladies
1999 -The Hours
1998 - American Pastoral
1997 - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
1996 -Independence Day
1995 - The Stone Diaries
1994 - The Shipping News
1993 -A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
1992 -A Thousand Acres
-My Father Bleeds History (Maus) (Special Awards & Citations - Letters)
1991 - Rabbit at Rest
1990 - The Mambo Kings
1989 - Breathing Lessons
1988 - Beloved DNF
1987 - A Summons to Memphis
1986 -Lonesome Dove
1985 - Foreign Affairs
1984 -Ironweed
1983 -The Color Purple
1982 - Rabbit is Rich
1981 -A Confederacy of Dunces
1980 -The Executioner's Song
1979 -The Stories of John Cheever
1978 - Elbow Room
1977 - NO AWARD
1976 - Humboldt's Gift
1975 -The Killer Angels
1974 - NO AWARD
1973 - The Optimist's Daughter
1972 -Angle of Repose
1971 - NO AWARD
1970 - The collected Stories of Jean Stafford
1969 - House Made of Dawn : DNF
1968 -The Confessions of Nat Turner
1967 - The Fixer
1966 - The Collected Stories of katherine Anne Porter
1965 - The Keepers of the House
1964 - NO AWARD
1963 - The Reivers
1962 - The Edge of Sadness
1961 -To Kill a Mockingbird
1960 - Advise and Consent
1959 - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
1958 - A Death in the Family
1957 - NO AWARD
1956 - Andersonville
1955 - A Fable
1954 - NO AWARD
1953 - The Old Man and the Sea
1952 -The Caine Mutiny
1951 - The Town
1950 - The Way West
1949 -Guard of Honor
1948 - Tales of the South Pacific
1947 - All the King's Men
1946 - NO AWARD
1945 - A Bell
1944 - Journey in the Dark
1943 - Dragon's Teeth
1942 - In This Our Life
1941 - NO AWARD
1940 -The Grapes of Wrath
1939 - The Yearling
1938 - The Late George Apley
1937 - Gone with the Wind
1936 - Honey in the Horn
1935 - Now in November
1934 - Lamb in His Bosom
1933 - The Store
1932 - The Good Earth
1931 - Years of Grace
1930 - Laughing Boy
1929 - Scarlet Sister Mary
1928 -The Bridge of San Luis Rey
1927 - Early Autumn
1926 - Arrowsmith
1925 - So Big
1924 - The Able McLaughlins
1923 - One of Ours
1922 - Alice Adams
1921 - The Age of Innocence
1920 - NO AWARD
1919 - The Magnificent Ambersons
1918 - His Family
Ongoing bucket list to read all the Pulitzer winning novels.
Bold : On the Shelf
Total Read - 37
2023 - Demon Copperhead
2023 - Trust
2022 - The Netanyahus
2021 - The Night Watchman
2020 -
2019 -
2018 -
2017 -
2016 - The Sympathizer
2015 -
2014 -
2013 -
2012 - NO AWARD
-
2011 -
2010 -
2009 -
2008 -
2007 -
2006 -
2005 -
2004 - The Known World
2003 -
2002 - Empire Falls
2001 -
2000 -
1999 -
1998 - American Pastoral
1997 - Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
1996 -
1995 - The Stone Diaries
1994 - The Shipping News
1993 -
1992 -
-
1991 - Rabbit at Rest
1990 - The Mambo Kings
1989 - Breathing Lessons
1988 - Beloved DNF
1987 - A Summons to Memphis
1986 -
1985 - Foreign Affairs
1984 -
1983 -
1982 - Rabbit is Rich
1981 -
1980 -
1979 -
1978 - Elbow Room
1977 - NO AWARD
1976 - Humboldt's Gift
1975 -
1974 - NO AWARD
1973 - The Optimist's Daughter
1972 -
1971 - NO AWARD
1970 - The collected Stories of Jean Stafford
1969 - House Made of Dawn : DNF
1968 -
1967 - The Fixer
1966 - The Collected Stories of katherine Anne Porter
1965 - The Keepers of the House
1964 - NO AWARD
1963 - The Reivers
1962 - The Edge of Sadness
1961 -
1960 - Advise and Consent
1959 - The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
1958 - A Death in the Family
1957 - NO AWARD
1956 - Andersonville
1955 - A Fable
1954 - NO AWARD
1953 - The Old Man and the Sea
1952 -
1951 - The Town
1950 - The Way West
1949 -
1948 - Tales of the South Pacific
1947 - All the King's Men
1946 - NO AWARD
1945 - A Bell
1944 - Journey in the Dark
1943 - Dragon's Teeth
1942 - In This Our Life
1941 - NO AWARD
1940 -
1939 - The Yearling
1938 - The Late George Apley
1937 - Gone with the Wind
1936 - Honey in the Horn
1935 - Now in November
1934 - Lamb in His Bosom
1933 - The Store
1932 - The Good Earth
1931 - Years of Grace
1930 - Laughing Boy
1929 - Scarlet Sister Mary
1928 -
1927 - Early Autumn
1926 - Arrowsmith
1925 - So Big
1924 - The Able McLaughlins
1923 - One of Ours
1922 - Alice Adams
1921 - The Age of Innocence
1920 - NO AWARD
1919 - The Magnificent Ambersons
1918 - His Family
7mahsdad
Hugos Read
Ongoing bucket list to read all the Hugo winning novels.
Bold : On the Shelf
Strikeout : Completed
Total Read - 40
2021 -Network Effect
2021 -Two Truths and a Lie - Novella
2020 - A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
2020 -This Is How You Lose The Time War - Novella
2019 -The Calculating Stars
2018 - The Stone Sky
2018 -All Systems Red - Novella
2017 - The Obelisk Gate
2016 - The Fifth Season
2015 - The Three-Body Problem
2014 -Ancillary Justice (DNF)
2013 -Redshirts
2012 -Among Others
2011 - Blackout/All Clear
2010 -The Windup Girl
The City & the City
2009 -The Graveyard Book
2008 -The Yiddish Policemen's Union
2007 - Rainbows End
2006 -Spin
2005 - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2004 - Paladin of Souls
2003 - Hominids
2003 -Coraline (novella)
2002 -American Gods
2001 -Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2000 - A Deepness in the Sky
1999 -To Say Nothing of the Dog
1998 -Forever Peace
1997 - Blue Mars
1996 -The Diamond Age
1995 - Mirror Dance
1994 - Green Mars
1993 - A Fire Upon the Deep
Doomsday Book
1992 - Barrayar
1991 - The Vor Game
1990 - Hyperion
1989 - Cyteen
1988 -The Uplift War
1988 -Watchmen - category : Other forms
1987 -Speaker for the Dead
1986 -Ender's Game
1985 -Neuromancer
1985 -The Crystal Spheres - David Brin - Short Story
1984 -Startide Rising
1983 - Foundation's Edge
1982 - Downbelow Station
1981 - The Snow Queen
1980 - The Fountains of Paradise
1979 - Dreamsnake
1978 - Gateway
1977 - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
1976 -The Forever War
1975 - The Dispossessed
1974 -Rendezvous with Rama
1973 -The Gods Themselves
1972 - To Your Scattered Bodies Go
1971 -Ringworld
1970 -Left Hand of Darkness
1969 -Stand on Zanzibar
1968 - Lord of Light
1967 -The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
1966 -Dune
This Immortal
1965 - The Wanderer
1964 -Way Station
1963 -The Man in the High Castle
1962 -Stranger in a Strange Land
1961 -A Canticle for Leibowitz
1960 -Starship Troopers
1959 - A Case of Conscience
1958 - The Big Time
1956 - Double Star
1955 - The Forever Machine
1953 -The Demolished Man
Retro Hugos - this are given for years when no award was given (more than 50 years ago). Of those...
1939 - The Sword in the Stone
1951 -Farmer in the Sky
1954 -Fahrenheit 451
Ongoing bucket list to read all the Hugo winning novels.
Bold : On the Shelf
Total Read - 40
2021 -
2021 -
2020 - A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
2020 -
2019 -
2018 - The Stone Sky
2018 -
2017 - The Obelisk Gate
2016 - The Fifth Season
2015 - The Three-Body Problem
2014 -
2013 -
2012 -
2011 - Blackout/All Clear
2010 -
The City & the City
2009 -
2008 -
2007 - Rainbows End
2006 -
2005 - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2004 - Paladin of Souls
2003 - Hominids
2003 -
2002 -
2001 -
2000 - A Deepness in the Sky
1999 -
1998 -
1997 - Blue Mars
1996 -
1995 - Mirror Dance
1994 - Green Mars
1993 - A Fire Upon the Deep
Doomsday Book
1992 - Barrayar
1991 - The Vor Game
1990 - Hyperion
1989 - Cyteen
1988 -
1988 -
1987 -
1986 -
1985 -
1985 -
1984 -
1983 - Foundation's Edge
1982 - Downbelow Station
1981 - The Snow Queen
1980 - The Fountains of Paradise
1979 - Dreamsnake
1978 - Gateway
1977 - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
1976 -
1975 - The Dispossessed
1974 -
1973 -
1972 - To Your Scattered Bodies Go
1971 -
1970 -
1969 -
1968 - Lord of Light
1967 -
1966 -
This Immortal
1965 - The Wanderer
1964 -
1963 -
1962 -
1961 -
1960 -
1959 - A Case of Conscience
1958 - The Big Time
1956 - Double Star
1955 - The Forever Machine
1953 -
Retro Hugos - this are given for years when no award was given (more than 50 years ago). Of those...
1939 - The Sword in the Stone
1951 -
1954 -
8mahsdad
Nebulas Read
Bold - On the Shelf
Strike - Finished
2022 - A Master of Djinn
2021 - Network Effect
2021 - Two Truths and a Lie
2020 - A Song for a New Day
2019 - The Calculating Stars
2019 -This Is How You Lose The Time War - Novella
2018 - The Stone Sky
2017 - All the Birds in the Sky
2016 - Uprooted
2015 - Annihilation
2014 - Ancillary Justice DNF
2013 - 2312
2012 - Among Others
2011 - Blackout/All Clear
2010 - The Windup Girl
2009 - Powers
2008 - The Yiddish Policemen's Union
2007 - Seeker
2006 - Camouflage
2005 - Paladin of Souls
2004 - The Speed of Dark
2003 - American Gods
2002 - The Quantum Rose
2001 - Darwin's Radio
2000 - Parable of the Talents
1999 - Forever Peace
1998 - The Moon and the Sun
1997 - Slow River
1996 - The Terminal Experiment
1995 - Moving Mars
1994 - Red Mars
1993 - Doomsday Book
1992 - Stations of the Tide
1991 - Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea
1990 - The Healer's War
1989 - Falling Free
1988 - The Falling Woman
1987 - Speaker for the Dead
1986 - Ender's Game
1985 - Neuromancer
1984 - Startide Rising
1983 - No Enemy But Time
1982 - The Claw of the Conciliator
1981 - Timescape
1980 - The Fountains of Paradise
1979 - Dreamsnake
1978 - Gateway
1977 - Man Plus
1976 - The Forever War
1975 - The Dispossessed
1974 - Rendezvous with Rama
1973 - The Gods Themselves
1972 - A Time of Changes
1971 - Ringworld
1970 - The Left Hand of Darkness
1969 - Rite of Passage
1968 - The Einstein Intersection
1967 - Babel-17
1966 - Dune
Bold - On the Shelf
2020 - A Song for a New Day
2019 -
2018 - The Stone Sky
2016 - Uprooted
2013 - 2312
2012 - Among Others
2011 - Blackout/All Clear
2009 - Powers
2007 - Seeker
2006 - Camouflage
2005 - Paladin of Souls
2004 - The Speed of Dark
2002 - The Quantum Rose
2001 - Darwin's Radio
2000 - Parable of the Talents
1998 - The Moon and the Sun
1997 - Slow River
1996 - The Terminal Experiment
1995 - Moving Mars
1994 - Red Mars
1993 - Doomsday Book
1992 - Stations of the Tide
1991 - Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea
1990 - The Healer's War
1989 - Falling Free
1988 - The Falling Woman
1983 - No Enemy But Time
1982 - The Claw of the Conciliator
1981 - Timescape
1980 - The Fountains of Paradise
1979 - Dreamsnake
1978 - Gateway
1977 - Man Plus
1975 - The Dispossessed
1973 - The Gods Themselves
1972 - A Time of Changes
1969 - Rite of Passage
1968 - The Einstein Intersection
1967 - Babel-17
9mahsdad
National Book Award Winners
2015 - Fortune Smiles
2014 - Redeployment
2001 - The Corrections
1988 - Paris Trout
1985 - White Noise
1983 - The Color Purple - hardback award
1981 - The Stories of John Cheever - paperback award
1980 - The World According to Garp - paperback award
1953 - Invisible Man
Man Booker Books
2022 The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
2021 The Promise
2020 Shuggie Bain READ
2019 The Testaments
2019 Girl, Woman, Other
2018 Milkman
2017 Lincoln in the Bardo READ
2016 The Sellout READ
2015 A Brief History of Seven Killings READ
2014 The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2013 The Luminaries
2012 Bring Up the Bodies
2011 The Sense of an Ending
2010 The Finkler Question
2009 Wolf Hall DNF
2008 The White Tiger
2007 The Gathering
2006 The Inheritance of Loss
2005 The Sea
2004 The Line of Beauty READ
2003 Vernon God Little
2002 Life of Pi READ
2001 True History of the Kelly Gang
2000 The Blind Assassin
1999 Disgrace
1998 Amsterdam
1997 The God of Small Things
1996 Last Orders
1995 The Ghost Road
1994 How Late It Was, How Late
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1992 The English Patient
1992 Sacred Hunger
1991 The Famished Road
1990 Possession
1989 The Remains of the Day
1988 Oscar and Lucinda
1987 Moon Tiger
1986 The Old Devils
1985 The Bone People
1984 Hotel du Lac
1983 Life & Times of Michael K
1982 Schindler's Ark
1981 Midnight's Children READ
1980 Rites of Passage
1979 Offshore
1978 The Sea, the Sea
1977 Staying On
1976 Saville
1975 Heat and Dust
1974 The Conservationist
1974 Holiday
1973 The Siege of Krishnapur
1972 G.
1971 In a Free State
1970 The Elected Member
1969 Something to Answer For
International Booker Prize
2023 Time Shelter - Georgi Gospodinov (Bulgaria) : trans. Angela Rodel Read
2022 Tomb of Sand - Geetanjali Shree (India) : trans. Daisy Rockwell
2021 At Night All Blood Is Black - David Diop (France) : trans. Anna Moschovakis
2020 The Discomfort of Evening - Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (Netherlands) : trans. Michele Hutchison
2019 Celestial Bodies - Jokha al-Harthi (Oman) : trans. Marilyn Booth
2018 Flights - Olga Tokarczuk (Poland) : trans. Jennifer Croft
2017 A Horse Walks Into a Bar - David Grossman (Israel) : trans. Jessica Cohen
2016 The Vegetarian - Han Kang (South Korea) : trans. Deborah Smith Read
2015 - Fortune Smiles
2014 - Redeployment
2001 - The Corrections
1988 - Paris Trout
1985 - White Noise
1983 - The Color Purple - hardback award
1981 - The Stories of John Cheever - paperback award
1980 - The World According to Garp - paperback award
1953 - Invisible Man
Man Booker Books
2022 The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
2021 The Promise
2020 Shuggie Bain READ
2019 The Testaments
2019 Girl, Woman, Other
2018 Milkman
2017 Lincoln in the Bardo READ
2016 The Sellout READ
2015 A Brief History of Seven Killings READ
2014 The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2013 The Luminaries
2012 Bring Up the Bodies
2011 The Sense of an Ending
2010 The Finkler Question
2009 Wolf Hall DNF
2008 The White Tiger
2007 The Gathering
2006 The Inheritance of Loss
2005 The Sea
2004 The Line of Beauty READ
2003 Vernon God Little
2002 Life of Pi READ
2001 True History of the Kelly Gang
2000 The Blind Assassin
1999 Disgrace
1998 Amsterdam
1997 The God of Small Things
1996 Last Orders
1995 The Ghost Road
1994 How Late It Was, How Late
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
1992 The English Patient
1992 Sacred Hunger
1991 The Famished Road
1990 Possession
1989 The Remains of the Day
1988 Oscar and Lucinda
1987 Moon Tiger
1986 The Old Devils
1985 The Bone People
1984 Hotel du Lac
1983 Life & Times of Michael K
1982 Schindler's Ark
1981 Midnight's Children READ
1980 Rites of Passage
1979 Offshore
1978 The Sea, the Sea
1977 Staying On
1976 Saville
1975 Heat and Dust
1974 The Conservationist
1974 Holiday
1973 The Siege of Krishnapur
1972 G.
1971 In a Free State
1970 The Elected Member
1969 Something to Answer For
International Booker Prize
2023 Time Shelter - Georgi Gospodinov (Bulgaria) : trans. Angela Rodel Read
2022 Tomb of Sand - Geetanjali Shree (India) : trans. Daisy Rockwell
2021 At Night All Blood Is Black - David Diop (France) : trans. Anna Moschovakis
2020 The Discomfort of Evening - Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (Netherlands) : trans. Michele Hutchison
2019 Celestial Bodies - Jokha al-Harthi (Oman) : trans. Marilyn Booth
2018 Flights - Olga Tokarczuk (Poland) : trans. Jennifer Croft
2017 A Horse Walks Into a Bar - David Grossman (Israel) : trans. Jessica Cohen
2016 The Vegetarian - Han Kang (South Korea) : trans. Deborah Smith Read
10mahsdad
100 SFF/Fantasy Reads as compiled by NPR
https://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fant...
1. The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien READ
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams READ
3. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card READ
4. The Dune Chronicles By Frank Herbert READ
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series by George R.R. Martin
6. 1984 A Novel by George Orwell READ
7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury READ
8. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov READ but only the 1st one
9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley READ
10. American Gods By Neil Gaiman READ
11. The Princess Bride S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman READ
12. The Wheel Of Time Series by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm by George Orwell READ
14. Neuromancer By William Gibson READ
15. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons READ
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov READ
17. Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein READ
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles BY by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five By Kurt Vonnegut READ
20. Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick READ
22. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood READ
23. The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King READ
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey BY by Arthur C. Clarke READ
25. The Stand By Stephen King READ
26. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson READ
27. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury READ
28. Cat's Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman READ
30. A Clockwork Orange BY by Anthony Burgess READ
31. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein READ
32. Watership Down by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein READ
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz By Walter M. Miller Jr. READ
36. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea By Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes READ
39. The War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells READ
40. The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad By David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. Mistborn Trilogy Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld by LARRY NIVEN READ
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin READ
46. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King BY by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere by NEIL GAIMAN READ
49. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact by Carl Sagan READ
51. The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust by Neil Gaiman READ
53. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson READ
54. World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks READ
55. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman READ
57. Small Gods A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle READ
62. The Sword Of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road by by Cormac McCarthy READ
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson READ
66. The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series by Robert E. Howard and Mark Schultz
69. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger READ
71. The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
72. Journey To The Center Of The Earth by Jules Verne READ
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series by R. A. Salvatore
74. Old Man's War by John Scalzi READ
75. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson READ
76. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke READ
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. Le Guin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire READ
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen series by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde READ
83. The Culture Series by Iain Banks
84. The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
90. The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man By Ray Bradbury short works collection
92. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov READ
95. The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle READ
97. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
99. The Xanth Series by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis
https://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fant...
1. The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien READ
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams READ
3. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card READ
4. The Dune Chronicles By Frank Herbert READ
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series by George R.R. Martin
6. 1984 A Novel by George Orwell READ
7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury READ
8. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov READ but only the 1st one
9. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley READ
10. American Gods By Neil Gaiman READ
11. The Princess Bride S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman READ
12. The Wheel Of Time Series by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm by George Orwell READ
14. Neuromancer By William Gibson READ
15. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons READ
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov READ
17. Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein READ
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles BY by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five By Kurt Vonnegut READ
20. Frankenstein By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick READ
22. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood READ
23. The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King READ
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey BY by Arthur C. Clarke READ
25. The Stand By Stephen King READ
26. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson READ
27. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury READ
28. Cat's Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman READ
30. A Clockwork Orange BY by Anthony Burgess READ
31. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein READ
32. Watership Down by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein READ
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz By Walter M. Miller Jr. READ
36. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea By Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes READ
39. The War Of The Worlds by H.G. Wells READ
40. The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad By David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. Mistborn Trilogy Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld by LARRY NIVEN READ
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin READ
46. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King BY by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere by NEIL GAIMAN READ
49. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact by Carl Sagan READ
51. The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust by Neil Gaiman READ
53. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson READ
54. World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks READ
55. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman READ
57. Small Gods A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle READ
62. The Sword Of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road by by Cormac McCarthy READ
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson READ
66. The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series by Robert E. Howard and Mark Schultz
69. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger READ
71. The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
72. Journey To The Center Of The Earth by Jules Verne READ
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series by R. A. Salvatore
74. Old Man's War by John Scalzi READ
75. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson READ
76. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke READ
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. Le Guin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire READ
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen series by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde READ
83. The Culture Series by Iain Banks
84. The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
90. The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man By Ray Bradbury short works collection
92. Sunshine by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov READ
95. The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle READ
97. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
99. The Xanth Series by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis
11mahsdad
100 Horror Reads as compiled by NPR
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/632779706/click-if-you-dare-100-favorite-horror-s...
1. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
2. Dracula by Bram Stoker
3. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
4. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
5. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
6. The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James
7. The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
8. The Monkeys Paw by W. W. Jacobs
9. The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
10. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
11. Oh, Whistle, And Ill Come To You, My Lad by M. R. James and Darryl Jones
12.The Werewolf Of Paris By Guy Endore
13. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson READ
14. Let The Right One In By John Ajvide Lindqvist
15. The Vampire Chronicles (First Triology) by Anne Rice READ
16. Minion (Vampire Huntress Legend Series) by L. A. Banks
17. The Hunger by Alma Katsu
18. Those Across The River by Christopher Buehlman
19. Bird Box by Josh Malerman READ
20. Feed (Newsflesh Series) by Mira Grant
21. World War Z by Max Brooks READ
22. The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey READ
23. The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft
24. The Ballad Of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle
25. The Fisherman by John Langan
26. Laundry Files (Series) by Charles Stross
27. The Cipher By Kathe Koja
28. John Dies At The End by David Wong READ
29. At The Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
30. All Our Salt-Bottled Hearts by Sonya Taaffe
31. Uzumaki by Junji Ito
32. Communion: A True Story by Whitley Strieber OR Majestic by Whitley Strieber
33. The Repairer Of Reputations by Robert W. Chambers
34. The Haunting Of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
35. The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons
36. Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco
37. The Shining by Stephen King READ
38. House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
39. The Elementals by Michael McDowell
40. The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
41. Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis
42. The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
43. Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand
44. Infidel by Aaron Campbell, Jose Villarrubia, Pornsak Pichetshote and Jeff Powell
45. The Ruins by Scott Smith
46. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
47. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates
48. The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan
49. Swan Song by Robert McCammon
50. The Screwfly Solution by James Tiptree Jr.
51. Left Foot, Right by Nalo Hopkinson
52. Come Closer by Sara Gran
53. Furnace by Livia Llewellyn
54. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
55. Through The Woods by Emily Carroll
56. Sandman by Neil Gaiman READ
57. Her Body And Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
58. White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
59. Goblin Market by Christina Georgina Rossetti
60. Experimental Film by Gemma Files
61. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson READ
62. The Collector by John Fowles
63. The Terror by Dan Simmons
64. Intensity by Dean R. Koontz
65. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
66. Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
67. Night They Missed the Horror Show by Joe R. Lansdale
68. Penpal by Dathan Auerbach
69. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill READ
70. Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler
71. Lord Of The Flies by William Golding READ
72. The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood READ
73. Beloved by Toni Morrison
74. Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler
75. The Devil In America by Kai Ashante Wilson
76. I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
77. Books Of Blood by Clive Barker READ
78. The October Country: Stories by Ray Bradbury
79. The Weird: A Compendium Of Strange And Dark Stories by Ann Vandermeer and Jeff VanDermeer
80. The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron
81. Alone With the Horrors: The Great Short Fiction of Ramsey Campbell, 1961-1991 by Ramsey Campbell
82. Things We Lost In The Fire by Mariana Enriquez
83. Shadowland by Peter Straub READ
84. A Head Full Of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
85. Rosemarys Baby by Ira Levin
86. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
87. The Body by Stephen King READ
88. Its A Good Life by Jerome Bixby
89. The Other by Thomas Tryon
90. The Troop by Nick Cutter
91. Elizabeth by Ken Greenhall
92. Please, Momma by Chesya Burke
93. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark by Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell
94. Goosebumps (Series) by R. L. Stine children
95. Rotters by Daniel Kraus children
96. Jumbies Rise Of The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
97. The House With A Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs
98. Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh
99. Coraline by Neil Gaiman READ
100. Down A Dark Hall by Lois Duncan
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/632779706/click-if-you-dare-100-favorite-horror-s...
1. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
2. Dracula by Bram Stoker
3. Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
4. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
5. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
6. The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James
7. The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
8. The Monkeys Paw by W. W. Jacobs
9. The Willows by Algernon Blackwood
10. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
11. Oh, Whistle, And Ill Come To You, My Lad by M. R. James and Darryl Jones
12.The Werewolf Of Paris By Guy Endore
13. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson READ
14. Let The Right One In By John Ajvide Lindqvist
15. The Vampire Chronicles (First Triology) by Anne Rice READ
16. Minion (Vampire Huntress Legend Series) by L. A. Banks
17. The Hunger by Alma Katsu
18. Those Across The River by Christopher Buehlman
19. Bird Box by Josh Malerman READ
20. Feed (Newsflesh Series) by Mira Grant
21. World War Z by Max Brooks READ
22. The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey READ
23. The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft
24. The Ballad Of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle
25. The Fisherman by John Langan
26. Laundry Files (Series) by Charles Stross
27. The Cipher By Kathe Koja
28. John Dies At The End by David Wong READ
29. At The Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
30. All Our Salt-Bottled Hearts by Sonya Taaffe
31. Uzumaki by Junji Ito
32. Communion: A True Story by Whitley Strieber OR Majestic by Whitley Strieber
33. The Repairer Of Reputations by Robert W. Chambers
34. The Haunting Of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
35. The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons
36. Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco
37. The Shining by Stephen King READ
38. House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
39. The Elementals by Michael McDowell
40. The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
41. Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis
42. The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
43. Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand
44. Infidel by Aaron Campbell, Jose Villarrubia, Pornsak Pichetshote and Jeff Powell
45. The Ruins by Scott Smith
46. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
47. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates
48. The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan
49. Swan Song by Robert McCammon
50. The Screwfly Solution by James Tiptree Jr.
51. Left Foot, Right by Nalo Hopkinson
52. Come Closer by Sara Gran
53. Furnace by Livia Llewellyn
54. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
55. Through The Woods by Emily Carroll
56. Sandman by Neil Gaiman READ
57. Her Body And Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
58. White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
59. Goblin Market by Christina Georgina Rossetti
60. Experimental Film by Gemma Files
61. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson READ
62. The Collector by John Fowles
63. The Terror by Dan Simmons
64. Intensity by Dean R. Koontz
65. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
66. Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
67. Night They Missed the Horror Show by Joe R. Lansdale
68. Penpal by Dathan Auerbach
69. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill READ
70. Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler
71. Lord Of The Flies by William Golding READ
72. The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood READ
73. Beloved by Toni Morrison
74. Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler
75. The Devil In America by Kai Ashante Wilson
76. I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
77. Books Of Blood by Clive Barker READ
78. The October Country: Stories by Ray Bradbury
79. The Weird: A Compendium Of Strange And Dark Stories by Ann Vandermeer and Jeff VanDermeer
80. The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron
81. Alone With the Horrors: The Great Short Fiction of Ramsey Campbell, 1961-1991 by Ramsey Campbell
82. Things We Lost In The Fire by Mariana Enriquez
83. Shadowland by Peter Straub READ
84. A Head Full Of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
85. Rosemarys Baby by Ira Levin
86. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
87. The Body by Stephen King READ
88. Its A Good Life by Jerome Bixby
89. The Other by Thomas Tryon
90. The Troop by Nick Cutter
91. Elizabeth by Ken Greenhall
92. Please, Momma by Chesya Burke
93. Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark by Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell
94. Goosebumps (Series) by R. L. Stine children
95. Rotters by Daniel Kraus children
96. Jumbies Rise Of The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste
97. The House With A Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs
98. Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh
99. Coraline by Neil Gaiman READ
100. Down A Dark Hall by Lois Duncan
12mahsdad
The 75'r Chunkster List
1. The Overstory by Richard Powers READ
2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
3. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco READ
4. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
5. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell READ
6. The Witch Elm by Tana French
7. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
8. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr READ
9. Little, Big by John Crowley
10. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides READ
11. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
12. Possession by A.S. Byatt
13. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel DNF
14. The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
15. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
16. The Parisian : A Novel
17. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
18. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
19. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami READ
20. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
21. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie READ
22. American Gods by Neil Gaiman READ
23. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon READ
24. The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
25. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen READ
26. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
27. A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava
28. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
29. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James READ
30. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson READ
31. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
32. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
33. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin READ
34. JR by William Gaddis
35. Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
36. Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
37. Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
38. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett READ
39. The Stand by Stephen King READ
40. Underworld by Don DeLillo
41. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
42. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
43. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry READ
44. 2666 by Roberto Bolano
45. Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra
46. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
47. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
48. Parallel Stories by Peter Nadas
49. Women and Men by Joseph McElroy
50. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Paul's Alternative 20
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon READ
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
Saville by David Storey
To Serve Them All My Days by RF Delderfield
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving READ
The Singapore Grip by JG Farrell
Magician by Raymond E Feist
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
A Chain of Voices by Andre Brink
Bill's Alternative Weird Dozen
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis READ
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger READ
Cider House Rules by John Irving
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
The Book and the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak READ
August 1914 by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams READ
11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King READ
His Dark Materials Omnibus (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman
The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling READ
Jeff's how the heck did this not get on the other lists list
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Alaska by James Michener Read
The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst Read
1. The Overstory by Richard Powers READ
2. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
3. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco READ
4. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
5. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell READ
6. The Witch Elm by Tana French
7. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
8. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr READ
9. Little, Big by John Crowley
10. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides READ
11. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
12. Possession by A.S. Byatt
13. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel DNF
14. The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
15. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
16. The Parisian : A Novel
17. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
18. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
19. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami READ
20. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
21. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie READ
22. American Gods by Neil Gaiman READ
23. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon READ
24. The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
25. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen READ
26. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
27. A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava
28. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
29. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James READ
30. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson READ
31. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
32. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
33. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin READ
34. JR by William Gaddis
35. Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko
36. Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
37. Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
38. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett READ
39. The Stand by Stephen King READ
40. Underworld by Don DeLillo
41. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
42. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
43. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry READ
44. 2666 by Roberto Bolano
45. Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra
46. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
47. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
48. Parallel Stories by Peter Nadas
49. Women and Men by Joseph McElroy
50. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Paul's Alternative 20
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon READ
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
Saville by David Storey
To Serve Them All My Days by RF Delderfield
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving READ
The Singapore Grip by JG Farrell
Magician by Raymond E Feist
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
A Chain of Voices by Andre Brink
Bill's Alternative Weird Dozen
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis READ
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger READ
Cider House Rules by John Irving
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
The Book and the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak READ
August 1914 by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams READ
11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King READ
His Dark Materials Omnibus (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman
The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling READ
Jeff's how the heck did this not get on the other lists list
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Alaska by James Michener Read
The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst Read
13mahsdad
2023 Reading So Far
Books Read : 49
Pages : 7,405
Listened : 10 days, 17 hrs, and 21 mins
# of Authors : 38
Authors of Color : 3 (5%)
Lady Authors : 3 (35%)
Narrators : 15
Books Read : 49
Pages : 7,405
Listened : 10 days, 17 hrs, and 21 mins
# of Authors : 38
Authors of Color : 3 (5%)
Lady Authors : 3 (35%)
Narrators : 15
14mahsdad
Scatter Plot
My favorite graphs for some strange reason. Not quite sure they're useful for anything, I just like them artistically. Here's all the books I've read plotted out in order of when they were published
2023 So Far
My favorite graphs for some strange reason. Not quite sure they're useful for anything, I just like them artistically. Here's all the books I've read plotted out in order of when they were published
2023 So Far
15mahsdad
2023 Books of the Month
January : Billy Summers by Stephen King
February : Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse
March : Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
April : The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders
May : Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
June : The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due
#botm
January : Billy Summers by Stephen King
February : Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse
March : Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
April : The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders
May : Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
June : The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due
#botm
16richardderus
New 🧵 orisons, Jeff!
20PlatinumWarlock
Happy new thread, Jeff! I LOVE all of your lists and stats and everything - as you referenced in your top post, I tend towards the obsessive as well, and all this data really speaks to me! 😀
21mahsdad
Thanks Foggi, Susan and Lavinia!
Lavinia, if you like my obsessive lists and data in the thread, check out my Google sheet. That's where all the fun stuff is. :)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iCFfjfIBa4lm5GSlo0WOgcN4vfrT3RFNlZl_omkn...
Lavinia, if you like my obsessive lists and data in the thread, check out my Google sheet. That's where all the fun stuff is. :)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iCFfjfIBa4lm5GSlo0WOgcN4vfrT3RFNlZl_omkn...
23mahsdad
Hi Shelley, yes it is. It’s the Disney Concert Hall in LA. It’s a wild building inside and out
24PaulCranswick
Happy new thread, Jeff!
25PlatinumWarlock
>21 mahsdad: My goodness!! Impressive! I love a good spreadsheet... 🤣
26WhiteRaven.17
Happy new thread Jeff. I also am fond of the aesthetic of scatterplot graphs.
27FAMeulstee
Happy new hread, Jeff!
>1 mahsdad: Although I rarely leave a message, I always enjoy your Friday pictures.
>1 mahsdad: Although I rarely leave a message, I always enjoy your Friday pictures.
29mahsdad
>24 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, thanks for visiting
>25 PlatinumWarlock: I will admit, I didn't create that all on my own. I got it from Book Riot several years ago, but I have added a few things over the years.
>26 WhiteRaven.17: Hi Kro, thanks! If you go back to my Q1 thread for this year, you'll see the full scatter plot I did for everything I've read since 2007. Talk about very artistic overkill. :)
>27 FAMeulstee: I'm a bit of a lurker too Anita, so no worries. But its nice to see you stop by!
>28 drneutron: Thanks Jim!
>25 PlatinumWarlock: I will admit, I didn't create that all on my own. I got it from Book Riot several years ago, but I have added a few things over the years.
>26 WhiteRaven.17: Hi Kro, thanks! If you go back to my Q1 thread for this year, you'll see the full scatter plot I did for everything I've read since 2007. Talk about very artistic overkill. :)
>27 FAMeulstee: I'm a bit of a lurker too Anita, so no worries. But its nice to see you stop by!
>28 drneutron: Thanks Jim!
30mahsdad
New Book
The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis
The Man Who Fell to Earth tells the story of Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien disguised as a human who comes to Earth on a mission to save his people. Devastated by nuclear war, his home planet, Anthea, is no longer habitable. Newton lands in Kentucky and starts patenting Anthean technology—amassing the fortune he needs to build a spaceship that will bring the last three hundred Anthean survivors to Earth.
But instead of the help he seeks, he finds only self-destruction, sinking into alcoholism and abandoning his spaceship, in this poignant story about the human condition—which has inspired both a film starring David Bowie and the new series starring Chiwetel Ejiofor—by the acclaimed author of Mockingbird.
“Beautiful science fiction . . . The story of an extraterrestrial visitor from another planet is designed mainly to say something about life on this one.” —The New York Times
“An utterly realistic novel about an alien human on Earth . . . Realistic enough to become a metaphor for something inside us all, some existential loneliness.” —Norman Spinrad, author of The Iron Dream
“Those who know The Man Who Fell to Earth only from the film version are missing something. This is one of the finest science fiction novels of its period.” —J. R. Dunn, author of This Side of Judgment
#newbook
The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis
The Man Who Fell to Earth tells the story of Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien disguised as a human who comes to Earth on a mission to save his people. Devastated by nuclear war, his home planet, Anthea, is no longer habitable. Newton lands in Kentucky and starts patenting Anthean technology—amassing the fortune he needs to build a spaceship that will bring the last three hundred Anthean survivors to Earth.
But instead of the help he seeks, he finds only self-destruction, sinking into alcoholism and abandoning his spaceship, in this poignant story about the human condition—which has inspired both a film starring David Bowie and the new series starring Chiwetel Ejiofor—by the acclaimed author of Mockingbird.
“Beautiful science fiction . . . The story of an extraterrestrial visitor from another planet is designed mainly to say something about life on this one.” —The New York Times
“An utterly realistic novel about an alien human on Earth . . . Realistic enough to become a metaphor for something inside us all, some existential loneliness.” —Norman Spinrad, author of The Iron Dream
“Those who know The Man Who Fell to Earth only from the film version are missing something. This is one of the finest science fiction novels of its period.” —J. R. Dunn, author of This Side of Judgment
After two miles of walking he came to a town. At the town's edge was a sign that read HANEYVILLE: POP. 1400. That was good, a good size.
It was still early in the morning - he had chosen morning for the two-mile walk, because it was cooler then - and there was no one yet in the streets.
He walked for several blocks in the weak light, confused at the strangeness - tense and somewhat frightened.
#newbook
31mahsdad
New Book - Audio
Time Shelter - Georgi Gospodinov
WINNER OF THE 2023 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
New Yorker • Best Books of 2022
An award-winning international sensation—with a second-act dystopian twist—Time Shelter is a tour de force set in a world clamoring for the past before it forgets.
“At one point they tried to calculate when time began, when exactly the earth had been created,” begins Time Shelter’s enigmatic narrator, who will go unnamed. “In the mid–seventeenth century, the Irish bishop Ussher calculated not only the exact year, but also a starting date: October 22, 4,004 years before Christ.” But for our narrator, time as he knows it begins when he meets Gaustine, a “vagrant in time” who has distanced his life from contemporary reality by reading old news, wearing tattered old clothes, and haunting the lost avenues of the twentieth century.
In an apricot-colored building in Zurich, surrounded by curiously planted forget-me-nots, Gaustine has opened the first “clinic for the past,” an institution that offers an inspired treatment for Alzheimer’s sufferers: each floor reproduces a past decade in minute detail, allowing patients to transport themselves back in time to unlock what is left of their fading memories. Serving as Gaustine’s assistant, the narrator is tasked with collecting the flotsam and jetsam of the past, from 1960s furniture and 1940s shirt buttons to nostalgic scents and even wisps of afternoon light. But as the charade becomes more convincing, an increasing number of healthy people seek out the clinic to escape from the dead-end of their daily lives—a development that results in an unexpected conundrum when the past begins to invade the present. Through sharply satirical, labyrinth-like vignettes reminiscent of Italo Calvino and Franz Kafka, the narrator recounts in breathtaking prose just how he became entrenched in a plot to stop time itself.
“A trickster at heart, and often very funny” (Garth Greenwell, The New Yorker), prolific Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov masterfully stalks the tragedies of the last century, including our own, in what becomes a haunting and eerily prescient novel teeming with ideas. Exquisitely translated by Angela Rodel, Time Shelter is a truly unforgettable classic from “one of Europe’s most fascinating and irreplaceable novelists” (Dave Eggers).
#newbook
Time Shelter - Georgi Gospodinov
WINNER OF THE 2023 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
New Yorker • Best Books of 2022
An award-winning international sensation—with a second-act dystopian twist—Time Shelter is a tour de force set in a world clamoring for the past before it forgets.
“At one point they tried to calculate when time began, when exactly the earth had been created,” begins Time Shelter’s enigmatic narrator, who will go unnamed. “In the mid–seventeenth century, the Irish bishop Ussher calculated not only the exact year, but also a starting date: October 22, 4,004 years before Christ.” But for our narrator, time as he knows it begins when he meets Gaustine, a “vagrant in time” who has distanced his life from contemporary reality by reading old news, wearing tattered old clothes, and haunting the lost avenues of the twentieth century.
In an apricot-colored building in Zurich, surrounded by curiously planted forget-me-nots, Gaustine has opened the first “clinic for the past,” an institution that offers an inspired treatment for Alzheimer’s sufferers: each floor reproduces a past decade in minute detail, allowing patients to transport themselves back in time to unlock what is left of their fading memories. Serving as Gaustine’s assistant, the narrator is tasked with collecting the flotsam and jetsam of the past, from 1960s furniture and 1940s shirt buttons to nostalgic scents and even wisps of afternoon light. But as the charade becomes more convincing, an increasing number of healthy people seek out the clinic to escape from the dead-end of their daily lives—a development that results in an unexpected conundrum when the past begins to invade the present. Through sharply satirical, labyrinth-like vignettes reminiscent of Italo Calvino and Franz Kafka, the narrator recounts in breathtaking prose just how he became entrenched in a plot to stop time itself.
“A trickster at heart, and often very funny” (Garth Greenwell, The New Yorker), prolific Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov masterfully stalks the tragedies of the last century, including our own, in what becomes a haunting and eerily prescient novel teeming with ideas. Exquisitely translated by Angela Rodel, Time Shelter is a truly unforgettable classic from “one of Europe’s most fascinating and irreplaceable novelists” (Dave Eggers).
#newbook
33mahsdad
Hi Figs, thanks for stopping by.
Yeah its pretty interesting so far. I can't for the life of me remember who suggested it. It won the International Booker prize this year. I probably saw it on an article or tik-tok or something. So far so good.
Yeah its pretty interesting so far. I can't for the life of me remember who suggested it. It won the International Booker prize this year. I probably saw it on an article or tik-tok or something. So far so good.
34mahsdad
>9 mahsdad: Since I started reading Time Shelter and saw from the cover that it won the Booker International Prize, I wondered how that was different than the Booker Prize. It was originally for books outside of the Commonwealth that were in or translated into English. In 2016 it was changed to be specifically translated fiction. Both the author and the translator split the prize money.
I've updated my Booker section to included the International winners. Yet another list to keep me reading several lifetimes after I'm dead. :)
Turns out, I already read the first winner (in the new format) The Vegetarian by Han King, translated by Deborah Smith.
I've updated my Booker section to included the International winners. Yet another list to keep me reading several lifetimes after I'm dead. :)
Turns out, I already read the first winner (in the new format) The Vegetarian by Han King, translated by Deborah Smith.
35thornton37814
Just dropping by to say hello. I'm behind on threads, but I'm hoping I can keep up now.
36FAMeulstee
>33 mahsdad: I loved Time Shelter, for a long time I hadn't laughed so much reading a book!
37richardderus
Good new books!
38mahsdad
>35 thornton37814: Hi Lori, no worries, I'm very bad at visiting threads too. Especially in doing anything but lurking. Swing by when you can. I'll be here. :)
>36 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, I'm not sure if its striking me laugh-out-loud funny, but I am enjoying it. Such an interesting take on memory issues.
>37 richardderus: Thanks buddy!
>36 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, I'm not sure if its striking me laugh-out-loud funny, but I am enjoying it. Such an interesting take on memory issues.
>37 richardderus: Thanks buddy!
39mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
First Friday of the 2nd half of the year, boy where does the time go. Still loving having good on shore flows and that June Gloom has stuck around. I know most of the rest of the country is sweltering, but I'll take mid-60s for as long as it will last. I know the oven is coming, just want to delay as long as possible. So how was your 4th? (for the US people), for us it sounded like a war zone. So many M-80s and larger. Very loud booms, little color (this is from all the illegal fireworks being set off). It was intermittent all day, and then started off in earnest about 8:30p and didn't let up until well after 11, it was ridiculous. People had a lot of money to burn this year.
As Apu on the Simpsons said... Celebrate the independence of your nation by blowing up a small part of it. :)
At any rate, here's a pretty flower for your Friday. Enjoy...
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis 64%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov 56%
eBook - Gauntlet by John G. Doyle 77%
Finished Books
51. Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker : (AUDIO). A classic western story. Bad-ass sheriff and his trusty side-kick come into a lawless town to protect the citizens from the evil robber baron wanting to take over the town. The hero isn't necessarily a white-hat hero, he's not above shooting first and asking questions later. His life is complicated by his cowboy lifestyle and his new love for the beautiful local widow. Classic, pretty good short read.
50. The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers : An excellent, but harrowing story of a soldier's experiences in Iraq and how he deals with the aftermath. Powers jumps back and forth between time in country, training and after at home to setup the trauma that the characters go thru and the PTSD that the narrator experiences. Excellent read.
#ff
First Friday of the 2nd half of the year, boy where does the time go. Still loving having good on shore flows and that June Gloom has stuck around. I know most of the rest of the country is sweltering, but I'll take mid-60s for as long as it will last. I know the oven is coming, just want to delay as long as possible. So how was your 4th? (for the US people), for us it sounded like a war zone. So many M-80s and larger. Very loud booms, little color (this is from all the illegal fireworks being set off). It was intermittent all day, and then started off in earnest about 8:30p and didn't let up until well after 11, it was ridiculous. People had a lot of money to burn this year.
As Apu on the Simpsons said... Celebrate the independence of your nation by blowing up a small part of it. :)
At any rate, here's a pretty flower for your Friday. Enjoy...
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis 64%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov 56%
eBook - Gauntlet by John G. Doyle 77%
Finished Books
51. Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker :
(AUDIO). A classic western story. Bad-ass sheriff and his trusty side-kick come into a lawless town to protect the citizens from the evil robber baron wanting to take over the town. The hero isn't necessarily a white-hat hero, he's not above shooting first and asking questions later. His life is complicated by his cowboy lifestyle and his new love for the beautiful local widow. Classic, pretty good short read.50. The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers :
An excellent, but harrowing story of a soldier's experiences in Iraq and how he deals with the aftermath. Powers jumps back and forth between time in country, training and after at home to setup the trauma that the characters go thru and the PTSD that the narrator experiences. Excellent read.What happened? What fucking happened? That's not even the question, I thought. How is that the question? How do you answer the unanswerable? To say what happened, the mere facts, the disposition of events in time, would come to seem like a kind of treachery. The dominoes of moments, lined up symmetrically, then tumbling backward against the hazy and unsure push of cause, showed only that a fall is every object's destiny. It is not enough to say what happened. Everything happened. Everything fell
#ff
40richardderus
>39 mahsdad: Beautiful water lily! No surprise to me that you enjoyed the Powers debut. Good reads ahead, Jeff!
41quondame
>39 mahsdad: Lovely lily. I like Apu's observation, and fireworks too!
I have been very appreciative of our post solstice weather.
I have been very appreciative of our post solstice weather.
42mahsdad
>40 richardderus: Thanks RD. Hope you have a pleasant weekend.
>41 quondame: Hi Susan, thanks for the photo love. It was a the Chinese garden at the Huntington. Have you been there recently? They've done a lot of work, especially at the entrance. We went there on the Monday after Father's day and hardly recognized the place. If you do make the trek over there, always recommend a trip to Vromans for some retail book therapy. :)
>41 quondame: Hi Susan, thanks for the photo love. It was a the Chinese garden at the Huntington. Have you been there recently? They've done a lot of work, especially at the entrance. We went there on the Monday after Father's day and hardly recognized the place. If you do make the trek over there, always recommend a trip to Vromans for some retail book therapy. :)
43msf59
Happy Friday, Jeff. Happy New Thread! Hooray for The Yellow Birds. I heard his new novel is well worth reading too. I just started a reread of East of Eden. I could use a GN rec. I want to recommend Strangers in Paradise. This was also a reread but I don't think I read the Pocket Book 1 edition. Joe is a big fan too.
44mahsdad
Hey Mark, thanks for stopping by. Many BBs here, I'll have to check out more from Powers and I've never read EoE, I'll have to add that to the list too.
As far as GNs, go, thanks for Strangers in Paradise as well, you always make great recommendations. As far as me recommending to you, currently I'm reading Nimona. Its a weird little DnD/Super Villian store that's pretty good so far. I've seen it for years, and finally picked it up because of the movie that's coming out on Netflix. I'd also recommend reading anything by Jim Ottaviani. After Einstein, I just read Imitation Game, about Alan Turing, and I want to read the Feynman one too.
As far as GNs, go, thanks for Strangers in Paradise as well, you always make great recommendations. As far as me recommending to you, currently I'm reading Nimona. Its a weird little DnD/Super Villian store that's pretty good so far. I've seen it for years, and finally picked it up because of the movie that's coming out on Netflix. I'd also recommend reading anything by Jim Ottaviani. After Einstein, I just read Imitation Game, about Alan Turing, and I want to read the Feynman one too.
45benitastrnad
I read East of Eden many years ago and am listening to it now with Mark and the crew. However, I can say that it is not like I remembered it. I had forgotten the whole first part of the book and it is really well done. Great story! I liked it way back when, but I think this is going to turn out to be a top read of the year for me. Even though it is technically a reread.
47mahsdad
New Book
Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon
The author of Wonder Boys returns with a powerful and wonderfully written collection of stories, Werewolves in Their Youth. Caught at moments of change, Chabon's men and women, children and husbands and wives, all face small but momentous decisions. They are caught in events that will crystallize and define their lives forever, and with each, Michael Chabon brings his unique vision and uncanny understanding of our deepest mysteries and our greatest fears.
#newbook
Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon
The author of Wonder Boys returns with a powerful and wonderfully written collection of stories, Werewolves in Their Youth. Caught at moments of change, Chabon's men and women, children and husbands and wives, all face small but momentous decisions. They are caught in events that will crystallize and define their lives forever, and with each, Michael Chabon brings his unique vision and uncanny understanding of our deepest mysteries and our greatest fears.
(From the title story) I had known him as a bulldozer, as a samurai, as an android programmed to kill, as Plastic man and Titanium Man and Matter-Eater Lad, as a Buick Electra, as a Peterbilt Truck, and even, for a week, as the Mackinac Bridge, but it was as a werewolf that Timothy Stokes finally went too far. I wasn't there when it happened. I was down in the ravine at the edge of the schoolyard, founding a capital for an empire of ants.
#newbook
48quondame
>47 mahsdad: Werewolves in Their Youth sounds intriguing.
49laytonwoman3rd
>47 mahsdad: That one is around here somewhere, nearly forgotten in the mounds of TBR volumes of short fiction. I need a plan to read more of those collections...I never seem to pick one as "next" these days.
50mahsdad
>48 quondame: >49 laytonwoman3rd: Chabon is an always read for me, and I've read most of his stuff, but I hadn't heard of this collection. Its pretty early (1999). Its kinda hard to describe, but the first 2 stories are really good. So far its a recommended read.
51ffortsa
>39 mahsdad: What a deep, splendid quote from The Yellow Birds. thanks.
52mahsdad
>51 ffortsa: Hi Judy, yeah, that quote just jumped out at me when I saw it. Its a good, but not a "happy" read. Thanks for stopping by.
53mahsdad
As I'm reading the 25+ hour American Prometheus (audio), I realized I needed to adjust the scale of my Audiobook chart. :) Here's the difference.
Old...
New...
that's a little bit better. At least aesthetically.
Old...
New...
that's a little bit better. At least aesthetically.
54mahsdad
I just stumbled upon the Vous et Nul Autre section of the Charts and Graphs. It shows you the books that you have that are shared by None, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 people. Kinda fun.
I have 5 books that no one else on LT has
I have 5 books that no one else on LT has
55PlatinumWarlock
>54 mahsdad: That IS kinda fun. I have 13!
56quondame
>54 mahsdad: I've 27. A couple of crafting, children's, online. Some weird s**t.
57msf59
Happy Friday, Jeff. I am also a Chabon fan but I had not heard of Werewolves in Their Youth or that he wrote short stories. Cool. I have read and loved Nimona.
58ffortsa
>54 mahsdad: I have 9, and they are either cookbooks (which I really don't use - at least they are on Kindle) or odd self-help books I got in a very weak moment. Maybe there's a self-help book for that.
59laytonwoman3rd
"I have 5 books that no one else on LT has" Would you believe I have over 100? Lots of local history stuff, church organizations' cookbooks, and self-published or unpublished manuscripts, plus a fair number of literary journals and other magazines (featuring short fiction usually) account for most of them.
60mahsdad
>55 PlatinumWarlock: >56 quondame: >58 ffortsa: >59 laytonwoman3rd: That's too cool Thanks for sharing everyone!
>57 msf59: Hey Mark, I didn't know about this book either. He's a must read for me so when I saw it on the shelf at a used bookstore, I couldn't resist. They're pretty good so far. Human stories with a slight twist. I'd recommend it, if you can find it. I'd send you my copy when I'm done, but Chabon's one that I always keep in the library at Casa de Helm. :)
>57 msf59: Hey Mark, I didn't know about this book either. He's a must read for me so when I saw it on the shelf at a used bookstore, I couldn't resist. They're pretty good so far. Human stories with a slight twist. I'd recommend it, if you can find it. I'd send you my copy when I'm done, but Chabon's one that I always keep in the library at Casa de Helm. :)
61mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
Happy Friday folks! Well summer finally found is and the temps are starting to creep up, but it was expected. Time to start doing fan management at our unair conditioned house on the coast. Oh well, it was only a matter of time. Not sure what's on the agenda for the weekend, but I think we're going to a concert in the park tomorrow night, so that should be fun.
For today's image, I give you another flower from our visit to the Huntington Library and Gardens last month. Enjoy...
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon 70%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - American Prometheus by Kai Bird 26%
eBook - Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi 0%. Just started this short story from Amazon Prime's Far Reaches Collection)
Finished Books
55. Gauntlet by John G. Doyle (K) : This is a self (Amazon) published book by an author I "met" on TikTok. Its a time-travel thriller, a little cliched, but fun. Jericho finds mysterious gauntlet that lets him travel thru time. He uses it to his advantage, becomes super rich. But then a beautiful girl from the future appears to take the gauntlet back. She's the daughter of the inventory and she needs Jericho's version to help save her Dad from an Evil villain in a dystopian future. A lot of 4th wall breaking, and an obligatory potential love triangle between Jericho, the future Russian girl and a Viking girl from ancient times. It gave me shades of what Artemis Fowl would be when he grew up. There's a couple more in the series that I might read, but I'm not running right out for them.
54. Nimona by ND Stevenson (GN) : An excellent graphic novel, that a kind of a fantasy, but with guns? The villain Lord Blackheart is always battling and is in equilibrium with his nemesis Sir Goldenloin, but the shapeshifter Nimona comes into Blackhearts life to become his sidekick and disrupt everything to the better. Ultimately, who's the villain and who's the hero.
From the description .. Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are. But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.
Its a movie on Netflix that was the reason I finally pulled it from Hoopla and read it.
53. Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov (A) : Gospodinov is a Bulgarian writer (a first for me) and he (and his translator Angela Rodel) won the International Booker Award this year. Its a story about Alzheimer's and how the narrator and his erstwhile collogue Gaustine have created a facility to help sufferers who are losing the memories. Each floor is a different decade furnished with all the things that would trigger someone's memory about those times. I was never really sure if the narrator was actually going back in time to find these things, or if it was just metaphorical, but it worked never the less. As the book progresses and healthy people come to the clinic to "live in the past" all the nations of the world have a referendum on which decade they should go back to. A very interesting discussion, given the author's Eastern European upbringing. While I'm not sophisticated enough to pick up on it, I saw a clip of Gospodinov saying that the book and story itself was suffering from memory loss and towards the end the story starts to fall apart. It was a pretty good read, I would recommend it.
52. The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis : Thomas Newton is a alien who comes to Earth to help save his dying planet. He comes with all his advanced knowledge, lives among us and becomes a rich industrialist, building technologies that will allow him to build a rescue ship to save his wife and the survivors. But "human" foibles, alcoholism, and the government gets in his way to thwart his plans. A very beautiful book, I'm glad I read it.
It was the basis of the David Bowie movie in 1976 and Showtime series starring Chiwetel Ejiofor. I want to read more of his stuff. He wrote 6 novels, 4 of which have been movies or shows. This, plus The Hustler, The Color of Money and The Queen's Gambit
#ff
Happy Friday folks! Well summer finally found is and the temps are starting to creep up, but it was expected. Time to start doing fan management at our unair conditioned house on the coast. Oh well, it was only a matter of time. Not sure what's on the agenda for the weekend, but I think we're going to a concert in the park tomorrow night, so that should be fun.
For today's image, I give you another flower from our visit to the Huntington Library and Gardens last month. Enjoy...
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon 70%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - American Prometheus by Kai Bird 26%
eBook - Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi 0%. Just started this short story from Amazon Prime's Far Reaches Collection)
Finished Books
55. Gauntlet by John G. Doyle (K) :
This is a self (Amazon) published book by an author I "met" on TikTok. Its a time-travel thriller, a little cliched, but fun. Jericho finds mysterious gauntlet that lets him travel thru time. He uses it to his advantage, becomes super rich. But then a beautiful girl from the future appears to take the gauntlet back. She's the daughter of the inventory and she needs Jericho's version to help save her Dad from an Evil villain in a dystopian future. A lot of 4th wall breaking, and an obligatory potential love triangle between Jericho, the future Russian girl and a Viking girl from ancient times. It gave me shades of what Artemis Fowl would be when he grew up. There's a couple more in the series that I might read, but I'm not running right out for them.54. Nimona by ND Stevenson (GN) :
An excellent graphic novel, that a kind of a fantasy, but with guns? The villain Lord Blackheart is always battling and is in equilibrium with his nemesis Sir Goldenloin, but the shapeshifter Nimona comes into Blackhearts life to become his sidekick and disrupt everything to the better. Ultimately, who's the villain and who's the hero.From the description .. Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are. But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.
Its a movie on Netflix that was the reason I finally pulled it from Hoopla and read it.
53. Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov (A) :
Gospodinov is a Bulgarian writer (a first for me) and he (and his translator Angela Rodel) won the International Booker Award this year. Its a story about Alzheimer's and how the narrator and his erstwhile collogue Gaustine have created a facility to help sufferers who are losing the memories. Each floor is a different decade furnished with all the things that would trigger someone's memory about those times. I was never really sure if the narrator was actually going back in time to find these things, or if it was just metaphorical, but it worked never the less. As the book progresses and healthy people come to the clinic to "live in the past" all the nations of the world have a referendum on which decade they should go back to. A very interesting discussion, given the author's Eastern European upbringing. While I'm not sophisticated enough to pick up on it, I saw a clip of Gospodinov saying that the book and story itself was suffering from memory loss and towards the end the story starts to fall apart. It was a pretty good read, I would recommend it.Sooner or later all utopias turn into historical novels
52. The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis :
Thomas Newton is a alien who comes to Earth to help save his dying planet. He comes with all his advanced knowledge, lives among us and becomes a rich industrialist, building technologies that will allow him to build a rescue ship to save his wife and the survivors. But "human" foibles, alcoholism, and the government gets in his way to thwart his plans. A very beautiful book, I'm glad I read it.It was the basis of the David Bowie movie in 1976 and Showtime series starring Chiwetel Ejiofor. I want to read more of his stuff. He wrote 6 novels, 4 of which have been movies or shows. This, plus The Hustler, The Color of Money and The Queen's Gambit
#ff
62richardderus
>61 mahsdad: #53 is firmly on my TBR, as memory is a topic more fascinating than any other, to me at least.
#52 was a Showtime show? Somehow I missed hearing about this! Must investigate...love, love, loved the book in 1976.
Beautiful colors in the rose. Can also *feel* the petals' texture from the way you've lit and framed the image.
#52 was a Showtime show? Somehow I missed hearing about this! Must investigate...love, love, loved the book in 1976.
Beautiful colors in the rose. Can also *feel* the petals' texture from the way you've lit and framed the image.
63mahsdad
>62 richardderus: Time Shelter was a trippy read, I think you'll like it.
Looks like Man Who Fell.. WAS a Showtime series, at least that's what the cover of my copy says. Currently, it seems that you can only buy it from Ammy or Apple, not streaming for "free" anywhere
Looks like Man Who Fell.. WAS a Showtime series, at least that's what the cover of my copy says. Currently, it seems that you can only buy it from Ammy or Apple, not streaming for "free" anywhere
64weird_O
Ha ha. I know I read Nimona, but your description didn't ring any bells. Not a one. So a little research...which placed the reading in 2017...which placed the book in the middle of the R-S-T stack in the basement...the extrication of which toppled the books above it (mostly into my face). And then—damn!—it's the same book. I remembered nothing. Nothing!
However, I did learn that Noelle Stevenson, cited as the author on the book's cover, is now Nate Diana Stevenson, non-binary.
However, I did learn that Noelle Stevenson, cited as the author on the book's cover, is now Nate Diana Stevenson, non-binary.
65mahsdad
>64 weird_O: Too funny Bill. I find that I'm the same way with most books. I'll remember that I did read something but have no clue about what it was. This group has helped me, though. I don't really review things, but when I do give my thoughts, looking at them years later does help trigger the memories.
Now that you found the book again, you should re-read it. :)
Now that you found the book again, you should re-read it. :)
66mahsdad
New Book
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Barcelona, 1945—just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel’s father coaxes him to choose a volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax’s work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last one in existence. Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn’t find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.
As with all astounding novels, The Shadow of the Wind sends the mind groping for comparisons —The Crimson Petal and the White? The novels of Arturo Pérez-Reverte? Of Victor Hugo? Love in the Time of Cholera?—but in the end, as with all astounding novels, no comparison can suffice. As one leading Spanish reviewer wrote, “The originality of Ruiz Zafón’s voice is bombproof and displays a diabolical talent. The Shadow of the Wind announces a phenomenon in Spanish literature.” An uncannily absorbing historical mystery, a heart-piercing romance, and a moving homage to the mystical power of books, The Shadow of the Wind is a triumph of the storyteller’s art.
#newbook
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Barcelona, 1945—just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes on his eleventh birthday to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel’s father coaxes him to choose a volume from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the novel he selects, The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax’s work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last one in existence. Before Daniel knows it his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness and doomed love. And before long he realizes that if he doesn’t find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.
As with all astounding novels, The Shadow of the Wind sends the mind groping for comparisons —The Crimson Petal and the White? The novels of Arturo Pérez-Reverte? Of Victor Hugo? Love in the Time of Cholera?—but in the end, as with all astounding novels, no comparison can suffice. As one leading Spanish reviewer wrote, “The originality of Ruiz Zafón’s voice is bombproof and displays a diabolical talent. The Shadow of the Wind announces a phenomenon in Spanish literature.” An uncannily absorbing historical mystery, a heart-piercing romance, and a moving homage to the mystical power of books, The Shadow of the Wind is a triumph of the storyteller’s art.
I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time. It was the early summer of 1945, and we walked through the streets of a Barcelona trapped beneath ashen skies as dawn poured over Rambla de Santa Monica in a wreath of liquid copper. "Daniel you mustn't tell anyone what you're about to see today," my father warned. "Not even your friend Tomas. No one."
#newbook
67laytonwoman3rd
>65 mahsdad: I can read a review I wrote 10 years ago, of a book I gave 4 1/2 stars, and still not remember the story!
68benitastrnad
>66 mahsdad:
You are going to LOVE Shadow of the Wind. I read the complete quartet and this book and the last one in the series Labyrinth of the Spirits are the best.
You are going to LOVE Shadow of the Wind. I read the complete quartet and this book and the last one in the series Labyrinth of the Spirits are the best.
69mahsdad
>67 laytonwoman3rd: And thus you can give it a reread because you know someone personally that really liked it. LOL.
>68 benitastrnad: Thanks Benita, I'm about 75 pages in and I think you are absolutely right. I'm not sure I knew, until I started reading it, that it was a quartet, I'm sure I'll want to read them all, that just means more books to buy. :)
>68 benitastrnad: Thanks Benita, I'm about 75 pages in and I think you are absolutely right. I'm not sure I knew, until I started reading it, that it was a quartet, I'm sure I'll want to read them all, that just means more books to buy. :)
70ocgreg34
>1 mahsdad: A little late to the game, but happy new thread! I read Shuggie Bain for Pride Month and enjoyed it.
71PlatinumWarlock
>66 mahsdad: & >68 benitastrnad: This sounds so good, Jeff! And it sounds like you're enjoying it - and thanks for the second, Benita. 😀
72mahsdad
>70 ocgreg34: Hi Greg, never late, around here, you get here when you get here, if you get here and that's just fine. Yeah, it was a pretty good read. Now I want to read his second book Young Mungo
>71 PlatinumWarlock: Hi Lavinia. Always glad to fire out some BBs at people! ;)
Speaking of BBs, if you're looking for more sci-fi to add to your lists, here's one from GR, of the top 72 books that have come out in the last 3 years, ranked by popularity on GR. I'll take GRs rankings with a grain of salt, but I'll always look thru a list and add the interesting ones to the WL
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2633-the-top-new-sci-fi-books-of-the-past-th...
>71 PlatinumWarlock: Hi Lavinia. Always glad to fire out some BBs at people! ;)
Speaking of BBs, if you're looking for more sci-fi to add to your lists, here's one from GR, of the top 72 books that have come out in the last 3 years, ranked by popularity on GR. I'll take GRs rankings with a grain of salt, but I'll always look thru a list and add the interesting ones to the WL
https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/2633-the-top-new-sci-fi-books-of-the-past-th...
73mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
It's the Weekend! Laura's been out sweltering in Palm Springs this week, so I've been holding down the fort at the coast. Looking forward to her getting home later today. Not much on tap for the weekend, but hopefully will be making good progress on the in progress books.
For your viewing pleasure, here's a flower, taken on my lunch-time walk the other day.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 26%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - American Prometheus by Kai Bird 63%
eBook - Just out of Jupiter's Reach by Nnedi Okorafor 11% from Amazon Prime's Far Reaches Collection
Finished Books
57. Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi (K) : A short story about an AI ship being sent out to the stars to explore for us humans. An interesting take on space travel
56. Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon :. This is a really good (IMO) early collection of stories by Chabon. Stories about the human condition with a little twist. The title story in on boys playing at werewolves, Son of the Wolfman is on a husband's reaction when his childless wife decides to keep the baby from a rape, and Mrs. Box is on a man who tries to rob his ex-wife's grandmother. The last story, interestingly is a gothic/lovecraftian horror story told by a fictitious author who is introduced to us by the main character of Chabon's 2nd novel The Wonder Boys
#ff
It's the Weekend! Laura's been out sweltering in Palm Springs this week, so I've been holding down the fort at the coast. Looking forward to her getting home later today. Not much on tap for the weekend, but hopefully will be making good progress on the in progress books.
For your viewing pleasure, here's a flower, taken on my lunch-time walk the other day.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 26%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - American Prometheus by Kai Bird 63%
eBook - Just out of Jupiter's Reach by Nnedi Okorafor 11% from Amazon Prime's Far Reaches Collection
Finished Books
57. Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi (K) :
A short story about an AI ship being sent out to the stars to explore for us humans. An interesting take on space travel56. Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon :
. This is a really good (IMO) early collection of stories by Chabon. Stories about the human condition with a little twist. The title story in on boys playing at werewolves, Son of the Wolfman is on a husband's reaction when his childless wife decides to keep the baby from a rape, and Mrs. Box is on a man who tries to rob his ex-wife's grandmother. The last story, interestingly is a gothic/lovecraftian horror story told by a fictitious author who is introduced to us by the main character of Chabon's 2nd novel The Wonder Boys(Son of the Wolfman) The front porch had been overwhelmed years before by a salmon pink bougainvillea, and a disheveled palm tree murmured in the backyard, battering the roof at night with inedible nuts. It had been fall, the only season in Southern California that made any lasting claim on the emotions
(Spikes) She yearned to have a child. Kohn was an Easterner, socially awkward, obsessive. He was an instrument maker who built custom electric guitars, mostly for the Japanese market, and he preferred to keep his own yearnings pressed between the clear panes of a marijuana habit where he could safely observe them.
#ff
74richardderus
Will you be watching OPPENHEIMER this weekend, Jeff? With or without BARBIE, it seems like the film of the summer.
The photo's lovely! The cornflowers in the background really are perfectly lit.
The photo's lovely! The cornflowers in the background really are perfectly lit.
75mahsdad
I WANT to watch Oppenheimer. Not sure if it will be this weekend. I seriously doubt that I will do the Barbenheimer double header. I'm sure Barbie will be hilarious, but its not worth even matinee pricing for me. 🤣
Thanks for the flower love. It was one of those things, I was walking by someone's house. Stopped 2 steps beyond it, went back and shot a couple pictures.
Thanks for the flower love. It was one of those things, I was walking by someone's house. Stopped 2 steps beyond it, went back and shot a couple pictures.
76mahsdad
Book Haul
Was passing by my local indie bookstore and I couldn't resist
From the 3 for $5 shelf, I got
58. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. I've never read this, figure a cheap paperback copy was worth putting on the shelf
59. Salem's Lot by Stephen King. Another beat-up paperback pulp copy. One of the first King's I read MANY years ago. Been wanting to reread it for a while
60. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins. We saw the movie starring Uma Thurman a long time ago and have the KD Lang sound track. The Thomas Pynchon blurb on the first page made me buy it
61. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Not on the discount shelf, but used nonetheless. Couldn't resist
#bh
Was passing by my local indie bookstore and I couldn't resist
From the 3 for $5 shelf, I got
58. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. I've never read this, figure a cheap paperback copy was worth putting on the shelf
59. Salem's Lot by Stephen King. Another beat-up paperback pulp copy. One of the first King's I read MANY years ago. Been wanting to reread it for a while
60. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins. We saw the movie starring Uma Thurman a long time ago and have the KD Lang sound track. The Thomas Pynchon blurb on the first page made me buy it
61. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Not on the discount shelf, but used nonetheless. Couldn't resist
#bh
77mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
Hey everyone. Hope everyone had a great week, I for one am glad it almost over. But aside from work, I've been having fun with my two new office mates. We got a couple of 12 week old kittens, (RD, you better take some Dramamine so you don't get sick LOL), and they've been quarantining in the office with me before we introduce them to our other cat.
They're black so they take horrible pictures, but they're cute nonetheless. Here's Luci and Loki
And for those who don't like baby pictures, here's a cool noir/shadow picture I took of our bedroom ceiling the other night, that I thought was cool...
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 61%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - American Prometheus by Kai Bird 91%
Finished Books
58. Just out of Jupiter's Reach by Nnedi Okorafor (K) : This was another short story from Ammy's Far Reaches collection and is about deep space exploration and travel. In this one, living ships are developed and paired genetically to a single person. A group of ships are sent out on a 10 year journey. While they are traveling out each ship/person combination is on their own with no communication. After 5 years, all the ships get together to meet and see how all have changed. A very interesting examination on the isolation of deep space travel. Pretty good story.
#ff
Hey everyone. Hope everyone had a great week, I for one am glad it almost over. But aside from work, I've been having fun with my two new office mates. We got a couple of 12 week old kittens, (RD, you better take some Dramamine so you don't get sick LOL), and they've been quarantining in the office with me before we introduce them to our other cat.
They're black so they take horrible pictures, but they're cute nonetheless. Here's Luci and Loki
And for those who don't like baby pictures, here's a cool noir/shadow picture I took of our bedroom ceiling the other night, that I thought was cool...
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 61%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - American Prometheus by Kai Bird 91%
Finished Books
58. Just out of Jupiter's Reach by Nnedi Okorafor (K) :
This was another short story from Ammy's Far Reaches collection and is about deep space exploration and travel. In this one, living ships are developed and paired genetically to a single person. A group of ships are sent out on a 10 year journey. While they are traveling out each ship/person combination is on their own with no communication. After 5 years, all the ships get together to meet and see how all have changed. A very interesting examination on the isolation of deep space travel. Pretty good story.#ff
78jessibud2
They are adorable! I have always wanted a black cat. Are they littermates?
It's too late to warn you but tiny and cute as they are, they are made of pure, unadulterated curious energy. You haven't had babies in the house for awhile, I feel safe to assume. Speaking from experience (of the last 2 and a half years) you better be up for the job. They will test you like you will never remember being tested. My Theo is now 3 years old and only just beginning to mature a tad...
They are truly beautiful. I hope you will share more pics (in spite of Richard. He is a softie anyhow, even about kitties, just so you know. There, I've spilled the beans...;-)
It's too late to warn you but tiny and cute as they are, they are made of pure, unadulterated curious energy. You haven't had babies in the house for awhile, I feel safe to assume. Speaking from experience (of the last 2 and a half years) you better be up for the job. They will test you like you will never remember being tested. My Theo is now 3 years old and only just beginning to mature a tad...
They are truly beautiful. I hope you will share more pics (in spite of Richard. He is a softie anyhow, even about kitties, just so you know. There, I've spilled the beans...;-)
79richardderus
Skippity-skippity-skip
80mahsdad
Hi Shelley. Yes they are litter mates. Laura wanted to get a pair so keep each other company. We haven't had babies around here. Our current cat was probably 6 months old or so when we got her (she's 5 now) and you are too right, they are a couple of whirling dervishes at times. Right now they're still confined to a single room. We're probably going to let them loose this weekend. Have to put the fragile stuff away. LOL.
>79 richardderus: You are forgiven. I'll try to keep the baby picture to a minimum. But not before I share one more.. Bwaahhha Ha!
And no he didn't pass out from taking drugs, it just looks that way.
>79 richardderus: You are forgiven. I'll try to keep the baby picture to a minimum. But not before I share one more.. Bwaahhha Ha!
And no he didn't pass out from taking drugs, it just looks that way.
81quondame
>77 mahsdad: Cute vs Spooky. An interesting contrast in neutrals, not that anyone is neutral about cats.
82WhiteRaven.17
>77 mahsdad: Cute new additions and that they're littermates is even better, they really do have a special bond as siblings. Good luck with the kitten chaos.
83mahsdad
>81 quondame: Thanks Susan. And no, there is no neutral when it comes to cats. Though with me, I was completely neutral until my wife brought our first one into our life. After I got over the fact (and the scratches) that you can't play with cats like you can with a dog, I fell in love with them. I am completely a cat person.
>82 WhiteRaven.17: Hi Kro. The kitten chaos has been fun so far.
>82 WhiteRaven.17: Hi Kro. The kitten chaos has been fun so far.
84mahsdad
New Book - audio
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
The fifth installment in Jasper Fforde’s New York Times bestselling series follows literary detective Thursday Next on another adventure in her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England—from the author of The Constant Rabbit
Jasper Fforde has thrilled readers everywhere with his gloriously outlandish novels in the Thursday Next and Nursery Crime series. And with another genre-bending blend of crime fiction, fantasy, and top-drawer literary entertainmentis Thursday Next: First Among Sequels, Fforde’s famous literary detective is once again ready to make the world safe for fiction. Thursday Next is grappling with a host of problems in BookWorld: a recalcitrant new apprentice, the death of Sherlock Holmes, and the inexplicable departure of comedy from the once-hilarious Thomas Hardy novels, to name just a few—all while captaining the ship Moral Dilemma and facing down her most vicious enemy yet: herself.
#newbook
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
The fifth installment in Jasper Fforde’s New York Times bestselling series follows literary detective Thursday Next on another adventure in her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England—from the author of The Constant Rabbit
Jasper Fforde has thrilled readers everywhere with his gloriously outlandish novels in the Thursday Next and Nursery Crime series. And with another genre-bending blend of crime fiction, fantasy, and top-drawer literary entertainmentis Thursday Next: First Among Sequels, Fforde’s famous literary detective is once again ready to make the world safe for fiction. Thursday Next is grappling with a host of problems in BookWorld: a recalcitrant new apprentice, the death of Sherlock Holmes, and the inexplicable departure of comedy from the once-hilarious Thomas Hardy novels, to name just a few—all while captaining the ship Moral Dilemma and facing down her most vicious enemy yet: herself.
"How could they let it get this bad?" asked Landen as he walked into the kitchen, having just dispatched our daughters off to school They walked themselves, naturally; Tuesday was twelve and took great pride in looking after Jenny, who was now ten. "Sorry?" I said, my mind full of other matters, foremost among them the worrying possibility that Pickwick's plumage might never grow back, and that she would have to spend the rest of her life looking like a supermarket oven-ready chicken. "The stupidity surplus," repeated Landen as he sat down at the kitchen table, "I'm all for responsible government, but storing it up like this is bound to cause problems sooner or later - even by acting sensibly, the government has shown itself to be a bunch of idiots."
#newbook
85mahsdad
2023 Books of the Month
January : Billy Summers by Stephen King
February : Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse
March : Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
April : The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders
May : Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
June : The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due
July : The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
#botm
January : Billy Summers by Stephen King
February : Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse
March : Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
April : The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders
May : Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
June : The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due
July : The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
#botm
86mahsdad
July Recap
Books Read - 10 (59)
Overall sources
DTE - 27%
Audio - 37%
Digital - 36%
Useless data point - I finish books mostly on Saturday and Sunday. 27% of the time for both.
Unique Authors - 48
Lady Authors - 14
Authors of Color - 4
Books Read - 10 (59)
Overall sources
DTE - 27%
Audio - 37%
Digital - 36%
Useless data point - I finish books mostly on Saturday and Sunday. 27% of the time for both.
Unique Authors - 48
Lady Authors - 14
Authors of Color - 4
87mahsdad
New Book
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of The Martian, a lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this “propulsive” (Entertainment Weekly), cinematic thriller full of suspense, humor, and fascinating science—in development as a major motion picture starring Ryan Gosling.
HUGO AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST BOOKS: Bill Gates, GatesNotes, New York Public Library, Parade, Newsweek, Polygon, Shelf Awareness, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal • “An epic story of redemption, discovery and cool speculative sci-fi.”—USA Today
“If you loved The Martian, you’ll go crazy for Weir’s latest.”—The Washington Post
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.
Or does he?
An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.
#newbook
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of The Martian, a lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this “propulsive” (Entertainment Weekly), cinematic thriller full of suspense, humor, and fascinating science—in development as a major motion picture starring Ryan Gosling.
HUGO AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST BOOKS: Bill Gates, GatesNotes, New York Public Library, Parade, Newsweek, Polygon, Shelf Awareness, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal • “An epic story of redemption, discovery and cool speculative sci-fi.”—USA Today
“If you loved The Martian, you’ll go crazy for Weir’s latest.”—The Washington Post
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.
Or does he?
An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.
"What's two plus two?" Something about the question irritates me. I'm tired. I drift back to sleep. A few minutes pass, then I hear it again.
"What's two plus two?" The soft, feminine voice lacks emotion and the pronunciation is identical to the previous time she said it. It's a computer. A computer is hassling me. I'm even more irritated now.
#newbook
90mahsdad
>88 richardderus: Powers - Me too
>88 richardderus: >89 klobrien2: Not that I needed the incentive, I was going to read it anyway, but glad to know. So far so good.
>88 richardderus: >89 klobrien2: Not that I needed the incentive, I was going to read it anyway, but glad to know. So far so good.
91mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
Hey everyone. We've come to that time in the week were those of us clock-watchers, start watching the clock. Its been a fun week hanging out with the babies. They are a barrel of crazy at times. We've let them venture out a bit but they haven't officially met their big sister yet. They have another vet visit next week to confirm they've recovered from a bit of a cold they got at the shelter before comingling. I won't subject you do any pictures today, though I could cause my camera feed seems to be filled with only the kittens. That's what Instagram is for (mahsdad).
For your Friday viewing pleasure, here's a somewhat decent shot of the moon taken a couple days ago on a nighttime stroll.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 9%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde 68%
eBook - How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey 60% Short story from the Kindle Far Reaches collection. Another take on how deep space travel might work
Finished Books
60. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon : Right after the war, a father takes his young son Daniel to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where he finds a book that is to be his to remember. It takes him on a life long journey to find who the mysterious author, Julian Corax, is and what happened to him and all his books. Meanwhile mysterious people start coming into his life threating him to push him off the story. It was a fascinating read. it was kind of like a soap opera within a soap opera, with the life and loves and missed loves of Daniel almost paralleling those of Julian. The only "disappointing" thing I found was that the Cemetery was only touch upon briefly, I wanted more. Perhaps in the subsequent books. Recommend
59. American Prometheus by Kai Bird (A) : This biography of J Robert Oppenheimer and was the basis/inspiration for the Nolan movie that's out now. It was a very good listen. Its not a very sciency book, it deals with the war and the bomb development, but its not a physics textbook. It was really interesting listening to his life before the war and his liberal and communistic leanings. At the time (after WWI and during the Depression), a lot of young people were looking for ways to improve their lives. After the war, his past came back to haunt him. While he was never a part of the Communist Party, the Industrial Military Complex and the powerful men who ran things wanted to continue the development of more and more powerful nuclear weapons and when Oppenheimer apposed what they were doing, they pushed him out. He wasn't a perfect man, and this points out his faults, but the world, for good or for bad, would not be the same without him.
#ff
ETA - fixed autocorrect spelling of somewhat that came out someone
Hey everyone. We've come to that time in the week were those of us clock-watchers, start watching the clock. Its been a fun week hanging out with the babies. They are a barrel of crazy at times. We've let them venture out a bit but they haven't officially met their big sister yet. They have another vet visit next week to confirm they've recovered from a bit of a cold they got at the shelter before comingling. I won't subject you do any pictures today, though I could cause my camera feed seems to be filled with only the kittens. That's what Instagram is for (mahsdad).
For your Friday viewing pleasure, here's a somewhat decent shot of the moon taken a couple days ago on a nighttime stroll.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 9%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde 68%
eBook - How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey 60% Short story from the Kindle Far Reaches collection. Another take on how deep space travel might work
Finished Books
60. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon :
Right after the war, a father takes his young son Daniel to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where he finds a book that is to be his to remember. It takes him on a life long journey to find who the mysterious author, Julian Corax, is and what happened to him and all his books. Meanwhile mysterious people start coming into his life threating him to push him off the story. It was a fascinating read. it was kind of like a soap opera within a soap opera, with the life and loves and missed loves of Daniel almost paralleling those of Julian. The only "disappointing" thing I found was that the Cemetery was only touch upon briefly, I wanted more. Perhaps in the subsequent books. RecommendIn a shop window, I saw a Philips poster announcing the arrival of a new messiah, the TV set. Some predicted that this particular contraption was going to change our lives forever and turn us all into creatures of the future, like the Americans.
"People are evil". "Not evil," Fermin objected. "Moronic, which isn't quite the same thing. Evil presupposes a moral decision, intention, and some forethought. A moron or a lout, however, doesn't stop to think or reason. He acts on instinct, like an animal, convinced that he's doing good, that he's always right, and sanctimoniously proud to go around fucking up, if you'll excuse the French, anyone he perceives to be different from himself, be it because of skin colour, creed, language, nationality or, as in the case of Don Federico, his leisure pursuits."
59. American Prometheus by Kai Bird (A) :
This biography of J Robert Oppenheimer and was the basis/inspiration for the Nolan movie that's out now. It was a very good listen. Its not a very sciency book, it deals with the war and the bomb development, but its not a physics textbook. It was really interesting listening to his life before the war and his liberal and communistic leanings. At the time (after WWI and during the Depression), a lot of young people were looking for ways to improve their lives. After the war, his past came back to haunt him. While he was never a part of the Communist Party, the Industrial Military Complex and the powerful men who ran things wanted to continue the development of more and more powerful nuclear weapons and when Oppenheimer apposed what they were doing, they pushed him out. He wasn't a perfect man, and this points out his faults, but the world, for good or for bad, would not be the same without him.#ff
ETA - fixed autocorrect spelling of somewhat that came out someone
94jessibud2
Great atmospheric Friday Foto! And the little guy is just too cute! (big one, not bad either;-)
96msf59
Happy Friday, Jeff. I love the selfie with the kitty! I also like the Grizzly Adams look. 😁
Good timing on American Prometheus. I wish I could have bookhorned that one in. Have a great time with Project Hail Mary. It is pure joy.
It is a dark read but I also recommend Chain-Gang All-Stars.
Good timing on American Prometheus. I wish I could have bookhorned that one in. Have a great time with Project Hail Mary. It is pure joy.
It is a dark read but I also recommend Chain-Gang All-Stars.
97laytonwoman3rd
>92 mahsdad: Awww....sweet.
98PlatinumWarlock
>91 mahsdad: What a lovely photo of the moon, Jeff - thanks for sharing it.
I just got my copy of American Prometheus, as we enjoyed the movie so much that I wanted to learn more about Oppenheimer. (We also plan to watch the movie again sometime, at home, with subtitles on, so we can rewind at will - we felt like we missed a lot because of the pace of the dialogue.)
>92 mahsdad: The kitten is precious!! He looks very happy on your shoulder. :)
I just got my copy of American Prometheus, as we enjoyed the movie so much that I wanted to learn more about Oppenheimer. (We also plan to watch the movie again sometime, at home, with subtitles on, so we can rewind at will - we felt like we missed a lot because of the pace of the dialogue.)
>92 mahsdad: The kitten is precious!! He looks very happy on your shoulder. :)
99mahsdad
>96 msf59: Hey Mark. Yeah the Grizzly Adams vibe is strong right now. Time for a trim. American Prometheus is definitely worth your time regardless of seeing the movie or not. Hail Mary is really alot of fun so far. Moving really quickly. Glad that you can recommend Chain-Gang, dark or not, I want to read it.
>97 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks Linda
>98 PlatinumWarlock: Hi Lavinia. Happy to share my pictures for you all.
>97 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks Linda
>98 PlatinumWarlock: Hi Lavinia. Happy to share my pictures for you all.
100mahsdad
Morning All,
Here's a couple reading lists that I stumbled across on FB over the weekend.
From a site called Electric Literature (never heard of them, it was just a "suggested for you post). Its 11 Short Novels from Around the World you can read in one sitting
Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Evening Primose by Kopano Matlwa
Trick by Domenico Starnone, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
Dispute Over a Very Italian Piglet by Amara Lakhous
The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz
Farewell, My Orange by Iwaki Kei
Chronicle of a Last Summer by Yasmine El Rashidi
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh
Here's a couple reading lists that I stumbled across on FB over the weekend.
From a site called Electric Literature (never heard of them, it was just a "suggested for you post). Its 11 Short Novels from Around the World you can read in one sitting
One of the inconveniences of reading physical books is finding a bag that’ll fit the novel you can’t currently leave at home. While heading out the door in the morning, thinking about that long commute you have ahead of you, it’s impossible not to try to jam your book into your already crowded tote. But if you’re in the middle of A Little Life or War and Peace, it can get problematic and potentially cause a shoulder sprain. My suggestion is to find a slim easy-to-carry novella. Here’s a reading list of shorts novels that you can read in one sitting:
Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Evening Primose by Kopano Matlwa
Trick by Domenico Starnone, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
Dispute Over a Very Italian Piglet by Amara Lakhous
The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz
Farewell, My Orange by Iwaki Kei
Chronicle of a Last Summer by Yasmine El Rashidi
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh
101mahsdad
Reading List #2.
From "The Arrow", a "Site for Gen-X men, by Gen-X men, about the stuff in life that really matters". From AARP. Okay, first, yeah, I recognize that its really cheesy, and second, gen-X is part of AARP? Yikes! Yeah, we're old. Anyway, this is a pretty decent list. Plenty that I've heard of, plenty that I've already read, and plenty I haven't heard of OR read.
1 The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Read
2 Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
3 The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
4 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers Read
5 Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer
6 Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
7 Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
8 The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
9 High Fidelity by Nick Hornby Read
10 Wild by Cheryl Strayed Read
11 The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
12 The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead Read
13 Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
14 The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
15 Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
16 Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
17 When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz
18 A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan Read
19 Columbine by Dave Cullen
20 The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
21 Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
22 The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan Read
23 Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad
24 Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
25 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen Read
26 Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
27 House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
28 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
29 Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer Read
30 A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
31 Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
32 Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk Read
33 Permanent Midnight by Jerry Stahl
34 Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel
35 Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
36 The Virgin Suicides by Jefferey Eugenides
37 Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
38 Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan
39 Women Who Run With the Wolves, edited by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
40 Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson
41 The Secret History by Donna Tartt
42 Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland Read
43 The Firm by John Grisham Read
44 Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosely
45 The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien Read
46 The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
47 Geek Love by Katharine Dunn
48 Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
49 The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris Read
50 White Noise by Don Delillo Read
51 The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
52 Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
53 The Color Purple by Alice Walker Read
54 This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color edited by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua
55 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Read
56 Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews
57 The Choose Your Own Adventure series, concept created by Edward Packard
58 Kindred by Octavia Butler
59 The World According to Garp by John Irving Read
60 The Sexual Outlaw by John Rechy
61 The Shining by Stephen King Read
62 The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
63 Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice Read
64 Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein Read
65 Diving Into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich
66 Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
67 Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume Read
68 Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Read
69 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
70 Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
71 One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez
72 Dune by Frank Herbert Read
73 A Separate Peace by John Knowles
74 The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
75 The Stranger by Albert Camus Read
From "The Arrow", a "Site for Gen-X men, by Gen-X men, about the stuff in life that really matters". From AARP. Okay, first, yeah, I recognize that its really cheesy, and second, gen-X is part of AARP? Yikes! Yeah, we're old. Anyway, this is a pretty decent list. Plenty that I've heard of, plenty that I've already read, and plenty I haven't heard of OR read.
Settling on 75 books essential to the Gen X experience meant plenty of amazing books had to be left off the list, because this isn’t a list of the “best” books. Rather, this is a compendium of works that helped shape the way Gen X views the world, how we process information, where our logic base comes from and, finally, how we see ourselves. We consulted our friends, our colleagues, strangers on the street and actual experts to cull this list. But that doesn’t mean it’s definitive — it surely is not, reading being a highly subjective experience — however, it is exhaustive.
The first 65 books are listed chronologically (edit by Jeff - actually its from 11 on down. I resorted the list), so you’ll see the arrival and departure of trends and reading habits and might just get a sense of how we as Americans consume literature.
And then we leave you with the Top 10 books overall, the texts that have stayed with Gen X the longest or tested our mettle most directly.
1 The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Read
2 Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
3 The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
4 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers Read
5 Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer
6 Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
7 Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
8 The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
9 High Fidelity by Nick Hornby Read
10 Wild by Cheryl Strayed Read
11 The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
12 The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead Read
13 Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
14 The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
15 Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
16 Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
17 When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz
18 A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan Read
19 Columbine by Dave Cullen
20 The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
21 Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
22 The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan Read
23 Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad
24 Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
25 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen Read
26 Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
27 House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
28 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
29 Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer Read
30 A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
31 Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
32 Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk Read
33 Permanent Midnight by Jerry Stahl
34 Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel
35 Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
36 The Virgin Suicides by Jefferey Eugenides
37 Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
38 Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan
39 Women Who Run With the Wolves, edited by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
40 Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson
41 The Secret History by Donna Tartt
42 Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland Read
43 The Firm by John Grisham Read
44 Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosely
45 The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien Read
46 The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
47 Geek Love by Katharine Dunn
48 Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
49 The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris Read
50 White Noise by Don Delillo Read
51 The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
52 Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
53 The Color Purple by Alice Walker Read
54 This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color edited by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua
55 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Read
56 Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews
57 The Choose Your Own Adventure series, concept created by Edward Packard
58 Kindred by Octavia Butler
59 The World According to Garp by John Irving Read
60 The Sexual Outlaw by John Rechy
61 The Shining by Stephen King Read
62 The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
63 Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice Read
64 Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein Read
65 Diving Into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich
66 Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
67 Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume Read
68 Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Read
69 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
70 Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
71 One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez
72 Dune by Frank Herbert Read
73 A Separate Peace by John Knowles
74 The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
75 The Stranger by Albert Camus Read
102richardderus
>100 mahsdad: Electric Literature's newsletters are very interesting, Jeff...their site is more my speed at this point than the newsletters because I am on lots of mailing lists so I sorta prefer to make myself scarce and wander unguided about the informative sites.
103mahsdad
>102 richardderus: I'm usually skeptical about suggested posts on FB, but now that I've got it mostly trained to suggest book sites to me, its getting better.
Your endorsement makes me want to actually check them out, more than just the book list
Your endorsement makes me want to actually check them out, more than just the book list
104ffortsa
>101 mahsdad: Interesting list. It's a surprise to me, but I've read 18 of them already, and some are on my tbr or actual shelves.
105mahsdad
Hi Judy, Some of them were obvious reads for me, but there are a whole bunch that I want to add to the ever increasing WL
106mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
Happy Friday, sorry for you early birds looking for my post, I know you're all waiting with bated breath. LOL. Works been busy this morning. Its been a hectic but decent week. Looking forward to the weekend.
Today I'll just give you some flowers from a recent trip to Home Depot. When we go to the garden center, Laura looks for actual plants to buy, I just look for nice pictures.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Pieces for the Left Hand by J Robert Lennon 0%. Just finished Project Hail Mary last night so haven't actually started this yet.
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs 45%
eBook - The Long Game Ann Leckie 60% Short story from the Kindle Far Reaches collection. Another take on how deep space travel might work
Finished Books
63. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir : Oh boy was this a good read. I really liked The Martian when it came out, and I always thought of it as a speculative future history, different than scifi proper. This on the other hand is proper scifi. I won't spoil too much other than what's on the cover. Ryland wakes up from a coma, not sure who he is or where he is. He realizes that he's on a spaceship a LONG way from home and his crewmates are dead. The world is counting on his ability to solve the crisis at home. Sure he went to the "lone man against the elements" trope again, but I think it worked just as well, if not better this time. As the story unfolds, we go back in time to see what prompted the project and how he got there, as he is unlocking those memories himself. It had some neat twists and turns that I wasn't expecting, all of it seated in very plausible science. Maybe a little bit more on the fantastical side than the Martian was, but I know I want more. Glad he redeemed himself from his sophomore slump
62. First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (A) :. Book 5 of the Thursday Next series. Its been years since the last book and Thursday has actually had books written about her. So her character exists in Book World, actually 2 versions of her. In this adventure, the world is going to come to an end because Time is ending because no one has invented time travel yet. Sure its been in use by the Chronoguard for years, they just assumed that someone was going to invent how to do it sometime in the future. Hilarity ensues.
61. How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey (K) : Another in the Kindle Far Reaches short story series. I'm really enjoying these stories. This one takes a completely different view about how to reach the stars. Basically, its a transporter that records all the people and technology and information needed for a colony, and its transmitted out into the void. The its reconstituted when it arrives at the new world. (A bit of.... "And Magic Happens Here" type of thing), but it was an interesting story.
#ff
Happy Friday, sorry for you early birds looking for my post, I know you're all waiting with bated breath. LOL. Works been busy this morning. Its been a hectic but decent week. Looking forward to the weekend.
Today I'll just give you some flowers from a recent trip to Home Depot. When we go to the garden center, Laura looks for actual plants to buy, I just look for nice pictures.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Pieces for the Left Hand by J Robert Lennon 0%. Just finished Project Hail Mary last night so haven't actually started this yet.
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 46%
Listening - Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs 45%
eBook - The Long Game Ann Leckie 60% Short story from the Kindle Far Reaches collection. Another take on how deep space travel might work
Finished Books
63. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir :
Oh boy was this a good read. I really liked The Martian when it came out, and I always thought of it as a speculative future history, different than scifi proper. This on the other hand is proper scifi. I won't spoil too much other than what's on the cover. Ryland wakes up from a coma, not sure who he is or where he is. He realizes that he's on a spaceship a LONG way from home and his crewmates are dead. The world is counting on his ability to solve the crisis at home. Sure he went to the "lone man against the elements" trope again, but I think it worked just as well, if not better this time. As the story unfolds, we go back in time to see what prompted the project and how he got there, as he is unlocking those memories himself. It had some neat twists and turns that I wasn't expecting, all of it seated in very plausible science. Maybe a little bit more on the fantastical side than the Martian was, but I know I want more. Glad he redeemed himself from his sophomore slump62. First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (A) :
. Book 5 of the Thursday Next series. Its been years since the last book and Thursday has actually had books written about her. So her character exists in Book World, actually 2 versions of her. In this adventure, the world is going to come to an end because Time is ending because no one has invented time travel yet. Sure its been in use by the Chronoguard for years, they just assumed that someone was going to invent how to do it sometime in the future. Hilarity ensues.61. How It Unfolds by James S.A. Corey (K) :
Another in the Kindle Far Reaches short story series. I'm really enjoying these stories. This one takes a completely different view about how to reach the stars. Basically, its a transporter that records all the people and technology and information needed for a colony, and its transmitted out into the void. The its reconstituted when it arrives at the new world. (A bit of.... "And Magic Happens Here" type of thing), but it was an interesting story.#ff
107richardderus
>106 mahsdad: I'm so glad you liked the Weir as much as I did, Jeff. It's good to know it can reach different readers in the same spots...gives me hope that there are books capable of grabbing many people.
I really like that Fibonacci-heavy image. Colors are lush! Happy weekend-ahead's reads!
I really like that Fibonacci-heavy image. Colors are lush! Happy weekend-ahead's reads!
108mahsdad
>107 richardderus: Thanks RD! Happy Weekend to you too.
109ursula
>101 mahsdad: I've read 48 of these. Passed the list on to my husband and he's added a bunch of stuff to his "to read" list from the library. (He's not technically Gen X, born in 1981, but close-ish.)
110mahsdad
Book Haul
From my local indie...
62. Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser It won the Pultizer in 97. On the pile it goes.
#bh
From my local indie...
62. Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser It won the Pultizer in 97. On the pile it goes.
#bh
111mahsdad
New Book
Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon
Finally available in the United States, a singular story collection that Time Out declared "unsettlingly brilliant"
A student's suicide note is not what it seems. A high school football rivalry turns absurd―and deadly. A much-loved cat seems to have been a different animal all along. A pair of identical twins aren't identical at all―or even related. A man finds his own yellowed birth announcement inside a bureau bought at auction. Set in a small upstate New York town, told in a conversational style, Pieces for the Left Hand is a stream of a hundred anecdotes, none much longer than a page. At once funny, bizarre, familiar, and disturbing, these deceptively straightforward tales nevertheless shock and amaze through uncanny coincidence, tragic misunderstanding, strange occurrence, or sudden insight. Unposted letters, unexpected visitors, false memories―in J. Robert Lennon's vision of America, these are the things that decide our fate. Wry and deadpan, powerful and philosophical, these addictive little tales reveal the everyday world as a strange and eerie place.
#newbook
Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon
Finally available in the United States, a singular story collection that Time Out declared "unsettlingly brilliant"
A student's suicide note is not what it seems. A high school football rivalry turns absurd―and deadly. A much-loved cat seems to have been a different animal all along. A pair of identical twins aren't identical at all―or even related. A man finds his own yellowed birth announcement inside a bureau bought at auction. Set in a small upstate New York town, told in a conversational style, Pieces for the Left Hand is a stream of a hundred anecdotes, none much longer than a page. At once funny, bizarre, familiar, and disturbing, these deceptively straightforward tales nevertheless shock and amaze through uncanny coincidence, tragic misunderstanding, strange occurrence, or sudden insight. Unposted letters, unexpected visitors, false memories―in J. Robert Lennon's vision of America, these are the things that decide our fate. Wry and deadpan, powerful and philosophical, these addictive little tales reveal the everyday world as a strange and eerie place.
The author of these stories is forty-seven years old. He lives in a renovated farmhouse at the edge of a college town somewhere in New York State, with his wife, a professor at the college. He is unemployed, and satisfied to be unemployed, and spends an inordinate amount of time looking out the windows at the road and woods and the orchard at the bottom of his hill.
#newbook
112mahsdad
New Book
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
#1 BESTSELLER Soon to be a new major motion picture Writer Ben Mears has returned to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in hopes that exploring the history of the Marsten House, an old mansion long the subject of rumor and speculation, will help him cast out his personal devils and provide inspiration for his new book.
Writer Ben Mears has returned to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot with the hope that moving into a dilapidated mansion, long the subject of town lore, might help him get a handle on his life and provide inspiration for a new book. But when two young boys venture into the woods and only one comes out alive, Mears begins to realize that there may be something sinister at work.
In time, he comes to understand that his hometown is under siege from forces of darkness far beyond his wildest imagination. And only he, with a small group of allies, can hope to contain the evil that is tearing the town apart.
(I decided that reading Pieces for the Left Hand was more of a devotional, albeit a weird one, and I needed a novel to go along with it)
#newbook
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
#1 BESTSELLER Soon to be a new major motion picture Writer Ben Mears has returned to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in hopes that exploring the history of the Marsten House, an old mansion long the subject of rumor and speculation, will help him cast out his personal devils and provide inspiration for his new book.
Writer Ben Mears has returned to his hometown of Jerusalem's Lot with the hope that moving into a dilapidated mansion, long the subject of town lore, might help him get a handle on his life and provide inspiration for a new book. But when two young boys venture into the woods and only one comes out alive, Mears begins to realize that there may be something sinister at work.
In time, he comes to understand that his hometown is under siege from forces of darkness far beyond his wildest imagination. And only he, with a small group of allies, can hope to contain the evil that is tearing the town apart.
Almost everyone thought the man and the boy were father and son. They crossed the country on a rambling southwest line in an old Citroen sedan, keeping mostly to secondary roads, traveling in fits and starts... Wherever they stopped, he got a Maine newspaper called the Portland Press-Hearld and watched it for items concerning a small southern Maine town named Jerusalem's Lot and the surrounding area. There were such items from time to time.
(I decided that reading Pieces for the Left Hand was more of a devotional, albeit a weird one, and I needed a novel to go along with it)
#newbook
113figsfromthistle
>85 mahsdad: You hit me with a BB for the Wishing Pool
>87 mahsdad: Project Hail Mary was an excellent read for me and in the top 10 favourite reads for me last year. I can't wait for the next book.....
Anyways....enjoy the rest of the weekend
>87 mahsdad: Project Hail Mary was an excellent read for me and in the top 10 favourite reads for me last year. I can't wait for the next book.....
Anyways....enjoy the rest of the weekend
114ffortsa
>111 mahsdad: That book sounds really interesting! I'll look for it.
eta: not at my library. The Strand has it if I want to pay what sounds like the cover price for a physical book. Sigh.
eta: not at my library. The Strand has it if I want to pay what sounds like the cover price for a physical book. Sigh.
115mahsdad
>114 ffortsa: Judy, I got it from Mark, so I'll be happy to send it along to you when I'm done, share the group book love!
PM me your address
PM me your address
116mahsdad
New Book - audio
Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty
Amateur detective Mallory Viridian’s talent for solving murders ruined her life on Earth and drove her to live on an alien space station, but her problems still follow her in this witty, self-aware novel that puts a speculative spin on murder mysteries, from the Hugo-nominated author of Six Wakes.
From idyllic small towns to claustrophobic urban landscapes, Mallory Viridian is constantly embroiled in murder cases that only she has the insight to solve. But outside of a classic mystery novel, being surrounded by death doesn’t make you a charming amateur detective, it makes you a suspect and a social pariah. So when Mallory gets the opportunity to take refuge on a sentient space station, she thinks she has the solution. Surely the murders will stop if her only company is alien beings. At first her new existence is peacefully quiet…and markedly devoid of homicide.
But when the station agrees to allow additional human guests, Mallory knows the break from her peculiar reality is over. After the first Earth shuttle arrives, and aliens and humans alike begin to die, the station is thrown into peril. Stuck smack-dab in the middle of an extraterrestrial whodunit, and wondering how in the world this keeps happening to her anyway, Mallory has to solve the crime—and fast—or the list of victims could grow to include everyone on board….
#newbook
Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty
Amateur detective Mallory Viridian’s talent for solving murders ruined her life on Earth and drove her to live on an alien space station, but her problems still follow her in this witty, self-aware novel that puts a speculative spin on murder mysteries, from the Hugo-nominated author of Six Wakes.
From idyllic small towns to claustrophobic urban landscapes, Mallory Viridian is constantly embroiled in murder cases that only she has the insight to solve. But outside of a classic mystery novel, being surrounded by death doesn’t make you a charming amateur detective, it makes you a suspect and a social pariah. So when Mallory gets the opportunity to take refuge on a sentient space station, she thinks she has the solution. Surely the murders will stop if her only company is alien beings. At first her new existence is peacefully quiet…and markedly devoid of homicide.
But when the station agrees to allow additional human guests, Mallory knows the break from her peculiar reality is over. After the first Earth shuttle arrives, and aliens and humans alike begin to die, the station is thrown into peril. Stuck smack-dab in the middle of an extraterrestrial whodunit, and wondering how in the world this keeps happening to her anyway, Mallory has to solve the crime—and fast—or the list of victims could grow to include everyone on board….
Nobody ever believed murders "just happened" around Mallory Viridian. Not at first, anyway. Before 2032, she figured she was an unlucky kid in that she'd been adjacent to two deaths, at separate times. In college, she witnessed four murders (unelated) and, this time, helped solve them. She began to worry after she solved her third and fourth cases; two unrelated murders while on a college trip
#newbook
117mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
Hey everyone. I took a couple days off, so I've been goofing off this morning and haven't gotten to FF until now. Nothing new to report around here, oh wait, you say that a hurricane is coming up the Mexico coast on its way to SoCal? Hmmm, nothing to see here. ;). Actually it will hopefully just be a tropical depression by Sunday when it gets here, which should mean just a lot of rain. Fingers crossed. Hopefully we'll get into something fun before then.
Today, I thought I would give you a throw-back image of an anemone that I took at our local marine museum. Enjoy..
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon 59%
Reading - Salem's Lot by Stephen King 30%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 54%
Listening - Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty 11%
eBook - Void by Veronica Roth 10% Short story from the Kindle Far Reaches collection. Another take on how deep space travel might work
Finished Books
65. Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs : This is the first of the Temperance Brennen series. The series was the basis of the Bones TV show. Brennen is a gritty forensic anthropologist, helping the police department in Montreal solve a series of grisly murders. Reichs' Brennen is very different than the TV version. She's older, divorced with an adult daughter and is more a hands on detective type person, rather than the more quirky scientist on the TV. I kinda like it. This will definitely be a series that I'll look for when I need a palette cleanser from other things I listen to. If you're looking for a good thriller, this might fit the bill.
64. The Long Game by Ann Leckie : Another from Kinde's Far Reaches Collection. On a far off colony, the leader of the "people" of this planet goes about finding out why humans live longer and why people die. It's never said explicitly, but the "people" give me major octopus vibes. Octopus are aliens anyway, right?
#ff
Hey everyone. I took a couple days off, so I've been goofing off this morning and haven't gotten to FF until now. Nothing new to report around here, oh wait, you say that a hurricane is coming up the Mexico coast on its way to SoCal? Hmmm, nothing to see here. ;). Actually it will hopefully just be a tropical depression by Sunday when it gets here, which should mean just a lot of rain. Fingers crossed. Hopefully we'll get into something fun before then.
Today, I thought I would give you a throw-back image of an anemone that I took at our local marine museum. Enjoy..
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon 59%
Reading - Salem's Lot by Stephen King 30%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 54%
Listening - Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty 11%
eBook - Void by Veronica Roth 10% Short story from the Kindle Far Reaches collection. Another take on how deep space travel might work
Finished Books
65. Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs :
This is the first of the Temperance Brennen series. The series was the basis of the Bones TV show. Brennen is a gritty forensic anthropologist, helping the police department in Montreal solve a series of grisly murders. Reichs' Brennen is very different than the TV version. She's older, divorced with an adult daughter and is more a hands on detective type person, rather than the more quirky scientist on the TV. I kinda like it. This will definitely be a series that I'll look for when I need a palette cleanser from other things I listen to. If you're looking for a good thriller, this might fit the bill.64. The Long Game by Ann Leckie :
Another from Kinde's Far Reaches Collection. On a far off colony, the leader of the "people" of this planet goes about finding out why humans live longer and why people die. It's never said explicitly, but the "people" give me major octopus vibes. Octopus are aliens anyway, right?#ff
118quondame
>117 mahsdad: Anemone, while beautiful (great picture!) creep me out more than octopuses.
119richardderus
>117 mahsdad: The aneone, as lit and framed, looks like a glorious piece of Meissen or Sèvres porcelain from the eighteenth century.
Blub-blub-burble!
Blub-blub-burble!
120mahsdad
>118 quondame: Thanks Susan for the touchstone. Should be fixed now. Anemone - I can certainly understand your creeped-out-ness opinion of them. ;)
>119 richardderus: Thanks RD, quite an astute comparison, I like it.
>119 richardderus: Thanks RD, quite an astute comparison, I like it.
121mahsdad
Book Haul
Had to go have some retail therapy for my Birthday. Went to B&N and got
63. Nineteen and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica. I "liked" Tender is the Flesh so I thought I would try this story collection
64. The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa. A bookseller is taken on a cross-dimensional adventure by a talking cat to save books from abusive and negligent owners
65. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Laura picked this one out
#bh
ETA, now how did I not notice that my fingers blindly type a ">" like I would be commenting on a post, rather than a "." to indicate a number in a list. D'oh
Had to go have some retail therapy for my Birthday. Went to B&N and got
63. Nineteen and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica. I "liked" Tender is the Flesh so I thought I would try this story collection
64. The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa. A bookseller is taken on a cross-dimensional adventure by a talking cat to save books from abusive and negligent owners
65. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Laura picked this one out
#bh
ETA, now how did I not notice that my fingers blindly type a ">" like I would be commenting on a post, rather than a "." to indicate a number in a list. D'oh
122mahsdad
I'll leave this right here. LOL. BTW, there's already sites selling t-shirts of various flavors of this.
ETA - cause I meant SELLING, not TELLING
ETA - cause I meant SELLING, not TELLING
124richardderus
>122 mahsdad: Hilarious...and unnerving...and very, very worrisome.
125mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
Well we survived the Hurriquake and another week with some crazed weasels running around the house. The older cat still isn't too sure and keeps giving us, the "What have you done to me, Mom and Dad!" look. She'll get used them.
I try not to bombard you with too many pictures of them, but this one was just too cute. Enjoy (or avert your eyes, for certain people 😜)
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Salem's Lot by Stephen King 56%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 54%
Listening - Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty 52%
eBook - Void by Veronica Roth 85% Short story from the Kindle Far Reaches collection. Another take on how deep space travel might work
Finished Books
66. Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon : This was a very interesting collection of microstories/anecdotes about situations and happenings around a fictitious town. As with most collections, some were great, some were good and some not so good. They were quirky, with sometimes an odd twilight zone twist, or just an abrupt end, like you would have in a random anecdote. I liked the book pretty well. My only ding, was that perhaps there were too many stories. Hard to keep them all straight. To give you a taste, here's the introductory story to one of the sections, called Doom and Madness.
Well we survived the Hurriquake and another week with some crazed weasels running around the house. The older cat still isn't too sure and keeps giving us, the "What have you done to me, Mom and Dad!" look. She'll get used them.
I try not to bombard you with too many pictures of them, but this one was just too cute. Enjoy (or avert your eyes, for certain people 😜)
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Salem's Lot by Stephen King 56%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 54%
Listening - Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty 52%
eBook - Void by Veronica Roth 85% Short story from the Kindle Far Reaches collection. Another take on how deep space travel might work
Finished Books
66. Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon :
This was a very interesting collection of microstories/anecdotes about situations and happenings around a fictitious town. As with most collections, some were great, some were good and some not so good. They were quirky, with sometimes an odd twilight zone twist, or just an abrupt end, like you would have in a random anecdote. I liked the book pretty well. My only ding, was that perhaps there were too many stories. Hard to keep them all straight. To give you a taste, here's the introductory story to one of the sections, called Doom and Madness.When a local apartment fire claimed the lives of 37 people, I was shocked and appalled. Later, when several residents were discovered to have been out of town, and the number of dead was revised to 29, I was somewhat relieved. At the same time, I felt faintly betrayed and disappointed, and wished that my grief and sympathy for the 8 additional victims and their families had not gone to waste
#ff
126klobrien2
>125 mahsdad: What a doll-kitty! I've got three, and they have been such a comfort to me. Thanks for the pic!
Karen O.
Karen O.
127mahsdad
Thanks Karen. We now have 3 as well. Our 7 yr old orange tabby and the two kittens. That one is Luci, the girl, her brother is Loki. He's black as well, but a long hair and we think he has some hidden stripes
128richardderus
eeewww
129mahsdad
>128 richardderus: You're a big boy, you can handle it. ;p
131jessibud2
Luci is gorgeous. When I was growing up, we had a black dog. Our neighbour also had a black dog, bigger than ours, named Luci (Lucifer).
I have always wanted a black cat. If I live long enough to get another pair, after my current 2 (who may kill me before that happens), I will seek out a black one.
I have always wanted a black cat. If I live long enough to get another pair, after my current 2 (who may kill me before that happens), I will seek out a black one.
132mahsdad
Hi Shelly, thanks! While we didn't name her after Lucifer, but she is named after a demon. On Netflix there's an animated show called Disenchantment (Matt Groening) and one of the characters is a demon from hell, but everyone thinks he's a cat. Yeah we switched genders, but she is so a Luci. Loki just seemed like the logical choice for the boy. Though his nickname is FOMO, because if something is happening, he'll definitely show up wanting to see what's going on. :)
133mahsdad
From Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty
When people approve of your interest, it was called a passion. When they disapproved, it was called an obsession
134jessibud2
>133 mahsdad: - Hehe. Kind of like, if it's books, it's not hoarding....right?
135richardderus
>133 mahsdad: PERFECT
137mahsdad
New Book - Audio
Citizen Vince by Jess Walter
From the highly acclaimed new crime novelist: a story of witness protection, petty thievery, local politics, and murder—set against the turbulent backdrop of the 1980 presidential election
It’s the fall of 1980, the last week before the presidential election that pits the downtrodden Jimmy Carter against the suspiciously sunny Ronald Reagan. In a seedy suburban house in Spokane, a small-time crook formerly from New York, Vince Camden, pockets his weekly allotment of stolen credit cards and heads off to his witness-protection job at a donut shop. A the shop he takes a shine to a regular named Kelly, who works for a local politician. Somehow he finds himself and the politician in a parking lot at three in the morning, giving the slip to a couple of menacing thugs. And then he crosses the path of a young detective—and discovers his credit-scam partner, lying dead in his passport-photo office with a Cheerio-size bullet-hole in his head. No one writing crime novels today tells a story or sketches a character with more freshness or elan than Jess Walter. Citizen Vince is his funniest and grittiest book yet.
#newbook
Citizen Vince by Jess Walter
From the highly acclaimed new crime novelist: a story of witness protection, petty thievery, local politics, and murder—set against the turbulent backdrop of the 1980 presidential election
It’s the fall of 1980, the last week before the presidential election that pits the downtrodden Jimmy Carter against the suspiciously sunny Ronald Reagan. In a seedy suburban house in Spokane, a small-time crook formerly from New York, Vince Camden, pockets his weekly allotment of stolen credit cards and heads off to his witness-protection job at a donut shop. A the shop he takes a shine to a regular named Kelly, who works for a local politician. Somehow he finds himself and the politician in a parking lot at three in the morning, giving the slip to a couple of menacing thugs. And then he crosses the path of a young detective—and discovers his credit-scam partner, lying dead in his passport-photo office with a Cheerio-size bullet-hole in his head. No one writing crime novels today tells a story or sketches a character with more freshness or elan than Jess Walter. Citizen Vince is his funniest and grittiest book yet.
One day you know more dead people than live ones. The thought greets Vince Camden as he sits up in bed, frantic, casting around a dark bedroom for proof of his existence and finding only props: nightstand, dresser, ashtray, clock. Vince breathes heavily. Sweats in the cool air. Rubs his eyes to shake the dust of these musings, not a dream exactly, this late-sleep panic : fine glass thin as paper, shattered and swirling, cutting as it blows away.
#newbook
138mahsdad
Funny that with this early novel, Walter is considered a crime novelist. I would never had thought that from reading his later works.
139quondame
>133 mahsdad: Oh, I thought that is was passion to your face and obsession behind your back.
140mahsdad
>139 quondame: Oh that's a good one too.
141mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
Happy September! Where did the time go. In the states this is Labor Day weekend and for me that means my annual Conquer the Bridge run on Monday. Its a 5 mile run in San Pedro that goes up and over the Vincent Thomas bridge, the 4th longest suspension bridge in CA (76 in the world). It doesn't seem it when you're driving on it, but its a pretty steep bridge when you're running (or more likely walking) up it. I haven't been running too much this year so I won't be breaking any records, but its always a fun time . I think this is my 14th one.
Today's image is just one of the abstract landscape of fabric. On a random whim, I took this of the back see of one of our cars.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Salem's Lot by Stephen King 93% I probably could have finished it last night, but I think my days of reading into the wee hours of the morning are over. Need more sleep. LOL.
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 54%. Oh I might finish this sometime before the heat death of the universe.
Listening - Citizen Vince by Jess Walter 20%
eBook - Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse. The last one of the Far Reaches collection. Haven't actually started it yet, but its cued up in my Kindle
Finished Books
Two back to back Sci-fi mysteries
68. Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty (A) : Mallory seems to attract murders, so she runs away to a sentient space station to be one of only 3 humans allowed, but then she finds that more humans are coming and is afraid that murder might be come with them, and... spoilers... it does. Fun story, besides the murders, its a first contact story, and a government conspiracy story. Lafferty introduces us to several aliens species that aren't your usual Star Trekesque humanoids with different noses trope. She also explores what it would be like to life on a ship that wasn't designed for you. Can you eat the alien food, can you breath the air? It appears that its going to be a series for Lafferty - The Midsolar Murders. The second book is called Chaos Terminal
67. Void by Veronica Roth (K) : On an interstellar cruise ship, a murder is uncovered and its up to a plucky maintenance worker to solve the crime. A pretty good story, sort of the ultimate locked room mystery. Nowhere to go when you're in deep space. Interesting how the time dilation takes affect and is part of the story. The worker's only been with the ship a couple "months", but actual decades have elapse back at home.
#ff
Happy September! Where did the time go. In the states this is Labor Day weekend and for me that means my annual Conquer the Bridge run on Monday. Its a 5 mile run in San Pedro that goes up and over the Vincent Thomas bridge, the 4th longest suspension bridge in CA (76 in the world). It doesn't seem it when you're driving on it, but its a pretty steep bridge when you're running (or more likely walking) up it. I haven't been running too much this year so I won't be breaking any records, but its always a fun time . I think this is my 14th one.
Today's image is just one of the abstract landscape of fabric. On a random whim, I took this of the back see of one of our cars.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Salem's Lot by Stephen King 93% I probably could have finished it last night, but I think my days of reading into the wee hours of the morning are over. Need more sleep. LOL.
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 54%. Oh I might finish this sometime before the heat death of the universe.
Listening - Citizen Vince by Jess Walter 20%
eBook - Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse. The last one of the Far Reaches collection. Haven't actually started it yet, but its cued up in my Kindle
Finished Books
Two back to back Sci-fi mysteries
68. Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty (A) :
Mallory seems to attract murders, so she runs away to a sentient space station to be one of only 3 humans allowed, but then she finds that more humans are coming and is afraid that murder might be come with them, and... spoilers... it does. Fun story, besides the murders, its a first contact story, and a government conspiracy story. Lafferty introduces us to several aliens species that aren't your usual Star Trekesque humanoids with different noses trope. She also explores what it would be like to life on a ship that wasn't designed for you. Can you eat the alien food, can you breath the air? It appears that its going to be a series for Lafferty - The Midsolar Murders. The second book is called Chaos Terminal67. Void by Veronica Roth (K) :
On an interstellar cruise ship, a murder is uncovered and its up to a plucky maintenance worker to solve the crime. A pretty good story, sort of the ultimate locked room mystery. Nowhere to go when you're in deep space. Interesting how the time dilation takes affect and is part of the story. The worker's only been with the ship a couple "months", but actual decades have elapse back at home.#ff
142mahsdad
2023 Books of the Month
January : Billy Summers by Stephen King
February : Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse
March : Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
April : The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders
May : Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
June : The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due
July : The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
August : Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
#botm
January : Billy Summers by Stephen King
February : Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America by Ryan Busse
March : Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
April : The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders
May : Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
June : The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due
July : The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
August : Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
#botm
143mahsdad
August Recap
Books Read - 9 (68)
Overall sources
DTE - 28%
Audio - 37%
Digital - 35%
Useless data point - I have read 3 more books than I bought this year.
Unique Authors - 55
Lady Authors - 17
Authors of Color - 4
For the year, I've reread 11 books
Books Read - 9 (68)
Overall sources
DTE - 28%
Audio - 37%
Digital - 35%
Useless data point - I have read 3 more books than I bought this year.
Unique Authors - 55
Lady Authors - 17
Authors of Color - 4
For the year, I've reread 11 books
144foggidawn
>141 mahsdad: Station Eternity was already on my list, but I might just have to read both of those books.
145mahsdad
Hi Foggi, glad to spread the BB's around. I would recommend reading Void. Actually all the Far Reaches collection were pretty good.
146foggidawn
>145 mahsdad: I just looked at the collection, and wow, those are some big names! I will have to keep them in mind.
149msf59
Happy Friday, Jeff. I do not remember much about Citizen Vince but I gave it a high rating. I would also like to do a reread of The Shining one of these days. Have a great holiday weekend, my friend.
150mahsdad
>146 foggidawn: I've read several of the short stories from Amazon's various kindle collections, but this was the first one, I felt compelled to read them all. And yes, a good list of recognizable names
>147 richardderus: A very apt description. Right back at ya, have a good one.
>148 m.belljackson: Hi Marianne. I will certainly share some pictures after the race. Its such a unique experience being able to walk across a suspension bridge in the middle of the road.
>147 richardderus: A very apt description. Right back at ya, have a good one.
>148 m.belljackson: Hi Marianne. I will certainly share some pictures after the race. Its such a unique experience being able to walk across a suspension bridge in the middle of the road.
151quondame
>141 mahsdad: Fabric changes so much with distance and focus. Good capture.
152ursula
>141 mahsdad: It doesn't seem it when you're driving on it, but its a pretty steep bridge when you're running (or more likely walking) up it.
Haha, I had the same experience running the International Bridge in Michigan. It seems like such a gentle slope when you look at it or drive across it, but it's pretty tough when you're running! (And in that case, turning around and running back across it!)
Haha, I had the same experience running the International Bridge in Michigan. It seems like such a gentle slope when you look at it or drive across it, but it's pretty tough when you're running! (And in that case, turning around and running back across it!)
153mahsdad
New Book
The Marauders by Tom Cooper
When the BP oil spill devastates the Gulf coast, those who made a living by shrimping find themselves in dire straits. For the oddballs and lowlifes who inhabit the sleepy, working class bayou town of Jeannette, these desperate circumstances serve as the catalyst that pushes them to enact whatever risky schemes they can dream up to reverse their fortunes. At the center of it all is Gus Lindquist, a pill-addicted, one armed treasure hunter obsessed with finding the lost treasure of pirate Jean Lafitte. His quest brings him into contact with a wide array of memorable characters, ranging from a couple of small time criminal potheads prone to hysterical banter, to the smooth-talking Oil company middleman out to bamboozle his own mother, to some drug smuggling psychopath twins, to a young man estranged from his father since his mother died in Hurricane Katrina. As the story progresses, these characters find themselves on a collision course with each other, and as the tension and action ramp up, it becomes clear that not all of them will survive these events.
#newbook
The Marauders by Tom Cooper
When the BP oil spill devastates the Gulf coast, those who made a living by shrimping find themselves in dire straits. For the oddballs and lowlifes who inhabit the sleepy, working class bayou town of Jeannette, these desperate circumstances serve as the catalyst that pushes them to enact whatever risky schemes they can dream up to reverse their fortunes. At the center of it all is Gus Lindquist, a pill-addicted, one armed treasure hunter obsessed with finding the lost treasure of pirate Jean Lafitte. His quest brings him into contact with a wide array of memorable characters, ranging from a couple of small time criminal potheads prone to hysterical banter, to the smooth-talking Oil company middleman out to bamboozle his own mother, to some drug smuggling psychopath twins, to a young man estranged from his father since his mother died in Hurricane Katrina. As the story progresses, these characters find themselves on a collision course with each other, and as the tension and action ramp up, it becomes clear that not all of them will survive these events.
They came like specters from the dark maw of the bayou, first ghostly light in the fog, then the rasp of a motor: an aluminum powerboat scudding across lacquer-black water. From a distance the figures looked conjoined, Siamese twins. As the boat drew closer the bodies split in two under the moth-flocked floodlights. One stood fore, the other aft: the twin brothers Reginald and Victor Toup.
#newbook
155mahsdad
A friendly reminder that given the troubles that LT had this weekend (and kudos to Tim and the team for battling the heathens who stormed the gates), it might be time to do an export of your collections and save them elsewhere, just in case. #disasterrecoveryplans :)
156ffortsa
>155 mahsdad: good idea. I had no idea there were malicious attacks.
On a cheerier note, thanks for sending me Pieces for the Left Hand. It arrived yesterday.
On a cheerier note, thanks for sending me Pieces for the Left Hand. It arrived yesterday.
157mahsdad
>156 ffortsa: You are most welcome (for the book)
LT woes, yeah, if you haven't seen Tim's posts, they had a DDOS attack, which is just a bunch of bot computers bombarding a system with requests to take it down. Not fun.
LT woes, yeah, if you haven't seen Tim's posts, they had a DDOS attack, which is just a bunch of bot computers bombarding a system with requests to take it down. Not fun.
158mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
Well I am mostly recovered from my annual endeavor to pretend that I can run. LOL. On Monday, I labored (pun intended) with about 4,000 other crazy people to run 5 miles over the Vincent Thomas Bridge. My official time was 1:23:03. This was 27 seconds slower than I was last year, but as I think I didn't even walk more than 3 miles at one time this past year and hardly ran at all, I'll take it.
I'll leave you with one image here and I'll post a few more after.
Hooray for a 4 day week. Have a great weekend!
Okay, its a rare selfie, but it does prove that I actually did it. :)
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - The Marauders by Tom Cooper 47%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 54%.
Listening - One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde 21%
eBook - The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 40
Finished Books
71. Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse (K) : Another short story in the Far Reaches collection from Amazon. Roanhorse is author I wasn't familiar with, but I liked this story. This wasn't so much a space travel story, but more of a political and family dynamics story. One where one of our alien overlords adopts a little Earth boy, and what happens when he grows up and tries to find himself. Is he beholden to his home planet that he's never lived on, or the only Father he's ever known.
70. Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (A) : A quick read, I read on audio. An early work by Walter, who is on my "I'll read everything they've written" list. Set right before the Regan/Carter Presidential election and is about Vince, who makes donuts in Washington, but his past is coming back to haunt him. He's in the witness relocation program after turning on the Gotti mob family.
69. 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King : A classic (for me) that I probably read, near to when it first came out, at least when it came out on paperback. And the copy I read was probably 40 years old, a delicate balance of comfortably holding the book and not have it completely fall apart. Vampires come to a small town in Maine. Horror ensues. But, to be honest, not as much as I remember. Maybe I'm jaded. Its an early work for him, so he's working out his style, starting in the middle and going back, lots of characters (maybe too many in this case) and really great visual imagery in the world building. Good, but not great. Definitely worth the time for any King fan, if you've never read it.
#ff
Well I am mostly recovered from my annual endeavor to pretend that I can run. LOL. On Monday, I labored (pun intended) with about 4,000 other crazy people to run 5 miles over the Vincent Thomas Bridge. My official time was 1:23:03. This was 27 seconds slower than I was last year, but as I think I didn't even walk more than 3 miles at one time this past year and hardly ran at all, I'll take it.
I'll leave you with one image here and I'll post a few more after.
Hooray for a 4 day week. Have a great weekend!
Okay, its a rare selfie, but it does prove that I actually did it. :)
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - The Marauders by Tom Cooper 47%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 54%.
Listening - One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde 21%
eBook - The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 40
Finished Books
71. Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse (K) :
Another short story in the Far Reaches collection from Amazon. Roanhorse is author I wasn't familiar with, but I liked this story. This wasn't so much a space travel story, but more of a political and family dynamics story. One where one of our alien overlords adopts a little Earth boy, and what happens when he grows up and tries to find himself. Is he beholden to his home planet that he's never lived on, or the only Father he's ever known. 70. Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (A) :
A quick read, I read on audio. An early work by Walter, who is on my "I'll read everything they've written" list. Set right before the Regan/Carter Presidential election and is about Vince, who makes donuts in Washington, but his past is coming back to haunt him. He's in the witness relocation program after turning on the Gotti mob family. 69. 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King :
A classic (for me) that I probably read, near to when it first came out, at least when it came out on paperback. And the copy I read was probably 40 years old, a delicate balance of comfortably holding the book and not have it completely fall apart. Vampires come to a small town in Maine. Horror ensues. But, to be honest, not as much as I remember. Maybe I'm jaded. Its an early work for him, so he's working out his style, starting in the middle and going back, lots of characters (maybe too many in this case) and really great visual imagery in the world building. Good, but not great. Definitely worth the time for any King fan, if you've never read it.They were pallid compared to the fears every child lies cheek and jowl with in his dark bead, with no one to confess to in hope of perfect understanding but another child. There is no group therapy or psychiatry or community social services for the child who must cope with the thing under the bed or in the cellar every night, the thing which leers and capers and threatens just beyond the point where vision will reach. The same lonely battle must be fought night after night and the only cure is the eventual satisfaction of the imaginary faculties, and this is called adulthood.
#ff
160m.belljackson
Congratulations on Completing that Long Run!
162mahsdad
>160 m.belljackson: Thanks!
>161 ffortsa: It was. Last couple years it’s been really hot but this year it was very pleasant
>161 ffortsa: It was. Last couple years it’s been really hot but this year it was very pleasant
164richardderus
>159 mahsdad: Great day for your running! Nice photos, too. Top right is my especial favorite.
166mahsdad
Book Haul
A little haul from my local indie bookshop and BN.
66. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
67. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
I just recently started tracking my book purchases in my BASS (big ass spreadsheet) and so far, I've read 4 books more than I bought (but since a lot of them are audio that I don't actually own, that doesn't really count. LOL ) I've also read 11 of the books I've purchased this year.
#bh
A little haul from my local indie bookshop and BN.
66. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
67. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
I just recently started tracking my book purchases in my BASS (big ass spreadsheet) and so far, I've read 4 books more than I bought (but since a lot of them are audio that I don't actually own, that doesn't really count. LOL ) I've also read 11 of the books I've purchased this year.
#bh
167benitastrnad
I am thinking about exporting my LT book list and wondered what you think is the best format to save the files in. Excel? I am not a statistics geek and just want to preserve the list. In the past I would print out the list once a year, and divide it between books read and TBR. Since I no longer have access to a high speed printer I don't want to rely on paper but need something that I can understand quickly and figure out where my books are located and if they are a public library book or my own collection.
168PaulCranswick
>158 mahsdad: Well done, Jeff!
169mahsdad
>167 benitastrnad: Hey Benita, I would say use the Excel. Its just a dump of all the data fields that LT is tracking for your catalogs, so for me, there was a lot of chaff amongst the wheat. Unfortunately there isn't a way to say, I only want these 3 fields. But as an emergency backup, I think it would serve the purpose.
If you had to import back into LT, or something else, there's probably going to be a standard import function that will handle that file. The other types...
Tab Delimited. Just a text file version of Excel
MARC - this seems to be a special type of file for library systems, not really human readable.
JSON - again special type of file, more for programming in websites - Javascript.
If you had to import back into LT, or something else, there's probably going to be a standard import function that will handle that file. The other types...
Tab Delimited. Just a text file version of Excel
MARC - this seems to be a special type of file for library systems, not really human readable.
JSON - again special type of file, more for programming in websites - Javascript.
170mahsdad
>168 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul!
171mahsdad
New Book - Audio
Doom Guy - Life in First Person by John Romero
The inspiring, long-awaited autobiography of video-game designer and DOOM cocreator John Romero
John Romero, gaming’s original rock star, is the cocreator of DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein 3-D, some of the biggest video games of all time. Considered the godfather of the first-person shooter, a genre that continues to dominate the market today, he holds a unique place in gaming history. In DOOM Guy: Life in First Person, Romero chronicles, for the first time, his difficult childhood and storied career, beginning with his early days submitting Apple II game code to computer magazines and sneaking computers out the back door of his day job to write code at night.
Industry-redefining breakthroughs in design and tech during Romero’s time at id Software made DOOM and Quake cultural phenomena, and this thrilling story recounts every step of the process, from collaborative, heavy metal–fueled days spent crafting the industry’s most revolutionary and cutting-edge games to a high-profile falling-out with id cofounder John Carmack. After years in the gaming spotlight, Romero is now telling his story—the whole story—shedding new light on the development of his games and his business partnerships, from the highest highs to the lowest lows, sharing insights about design, code, the industry, and his career right up to today. Sharing gratitude for a lifetime in games, Romero reveals the twists and turns that led him, ultimately, to be called DOOM Guy.
#newbook
Doom Guy - Life in First Person by John Romero
The inspiring, long-awaited autobiography of video-game designer and DOOM cocreator John Romero
John Romero, gaming’s original rock star, is the cocreator of DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein 3-D, some of the biggest video games of all time. Considered the godfather of the first-person shooter, a genre that continues to dominate the market today, he holds a unique place in gaming history. In DOOM Guy: Life in First Person, Romero chronicles, for the first time, his difficult childhood and storied career, beginning with his early days submitting Apple II game code to computer magazines and sneaking computers out the back door of his day job to write code at night.
Industry-redefining breakthroughs in design and tech during Romero’s time at id Software made DOOM and Quake cultural phenomena, and this thrilling story recounts every step of the process, from collaborative, heavy metal–fueled days spent crafting the industry’s most revolutionary and cutting-edge games to a high-profile falling-out with id cofounder John Carmack. After years in the gaming spotlight, Romero is now telling his story—the whole story—shedding new light on the development of his games and his business partnerships, from the highest highs to the lowest lows, sharing insights about design, code, the industry, and his career right up to today. Sharing gratitude for a lifetime in games, Romero reveals the twists and turns that led him, ultimately, to be called DOOM Guy.
"That's not at all what I expected." After the talk, I heard this line again and again. People came up to meet me and to shake my hand. Some asked me to sign their games or told me about their experiences playing DOOM or Quake or Wolfenstein 3D. A few people, having seen themselves in the talk I'd given, shared stores of growing up in homes like the one I grew up in. They didn't have to tell me much, because when you grow up like I grew up, you just know.
#newbook
172mahsdad
New Book - eBook
Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
One of NPR's Best Books of 2016, winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, the British Fantasy Award, the This is Horror Award for Novella of the Year, and a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker Awards
People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there.
Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.
A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?
#newbook
Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
One of NPR's Best Books of 2016, winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, the British Fantasy Award, the This is Horror Award for Novella of the Year, and a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker Awards
People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there.
Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.
A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?
People who move to New York always make the same mistake. They can't see the place. This is true of Manhattan, but even the outer boroughs, too, be it Flushing meadows in Queens or Red Hook in Brooklyn. They come looking for magic, whether evil or good, and nothing will convince them it isn't here. It wasn't all bad, though. Some New Yorkers had learned how to make a living from this error in thinking Charles Thomas Tester for one.
#newbook
173klobrien2
>172 mahsdad: I rushed over and requested The Ballad of Black Tom from the library. Evidently, this book is based on a Lovecraft story— The Horror at Red Hook—so I asked for that, as well. Thanks for the tip!
Karen O
Karen O
174benitastrnad
>169 mahsdad:
I have used Excel at work for sorting at work, but I am not confident with it. I think that is what holds me back from just exporting and saving in Excel. Did you have to do much clean-up with your catalog in Excel? It seemed that, at work anyway, clean-up of files was constant.
My current LT catalog has about 15,500 entries and I add more all the time. That is going to be a sizeable Excel file. I wanted to be able to sort by those titles that I have read and one with those TBR, and then one file with both in it.
MARC is indeed a cataloging file. MARC stands for MAchine Readable Cataloging. It puts the old card catalog cards into a format that computers (the old punch card type of computers) could read and use. Most libraries, large and small, use some kind of MARC records. There is a current movement away from MARC that is going on now in Libraryland and the current language and format in vogue is javascript and open access cataloging with instant updates. As a retired librarian who was steeped in the idea of keeping catalog records standardized and pure ( once entered unalterable), I am not sure what to think about this new open access cataloging.
I suppose the reason that LT has an export ability to convert to MARC records is for those small libraries and bookstores that use LT for their catalog or inventories.
I have used Excel at work for sorting at work, but I am not confident with it. I think that is what holds me back from just exporting and saving in Excel. Did you have to do much clean-up with your catalog in Excel? It seemed that, at work anyway, clean-up of files was constant.
My current LT catalog has about 15,500 entries and I add more all the time. That is going to be a sizeable Excel file. I wanted to be able to sort by those titles that I have read and one with those TBR, and then one file with both in it.
MARC is indeed a cataloging file. MARC stands for MAchine Readable Cataloging. It puts the old card catalog cards into a format that computers (the old punch card type of computers) could read and use. Most libraries, large and small, use some kind of MARC records. There is a current movement away from MARC that is going on now in Libraryland and the current language and format in vogue is javascript and open access cataloging with instant updates. As a retired librarian who was steeped in the idea of keeping catalog records standardized and pure ( once entered unalterable), I am not sure what to think about this new open access cataloging.
I suppose the reason that LT has an export ability to convert to MARC records is for those small libraries and bookstores that use LT for their catalog or inventories.
175mahsdad
>173 klobrien2: Glad to share the BBs. Not too far into it yet, but pretty interesting so far.
>174 benitastrnad: I didn't really do any cleanup when I did my export. It did pull out the data that's important to me, the Tags and the Collections. I tag all my books with the year I read them (plus other tags) and I have a specific collection for WishList, and another for TBR. it also has the last read dates for the book. LT will let you enter multiples, but it appears that the export only pulls the last one.
the tag is a single field that will contain all your tags separated by commas (like you see in LT)
the collection field, is similar, if you have a book in multiple collections, then it will be a list of the names
Splitting the books out into different sheets for TBR and Read, might be a little cumbersome. As an active file to keep in sync with LT, might be a pain, but as an emergency backup, it will work for me.
For your information, Here's all the fields that the export contains.
Book ID
Title
Sort Character
Primary Author
Primary Author Role
Secondary Author
Secondary Author Role
Publication
Date
Review
Rating
Comment
Private Comment
Summary
Media
Physical Description
Weight
Height
Thickness
Length
Dimensions
Page Count
LCCN
Acquired
Date Started
Date Read
Barcode
BCID
Tags
Collections
Languages
Original Languages
LC Classification
ISBN
ISBNs
Subjects
Dewey Decimal
Dewey Wording
Other Call Number
Copies
Source
Entry Date
From Where
OCLC
Work id
Lending Patron
Lending Status
Lending Start
Lending End
>174 benitastrnad: I didn't really do any cleanup when I did my export. It did pull out the data that's important to me, the Tags and the Collections. I tag all my books with the year I read them (plus other tags) and I have a specific collection for WishList, and another for TBR. it also has the last read dates for the book. LT will let you enter multiples, but it appears that the export only pulls the last one.
the tag is a single field that will contain all your tags separated by commas (like you see in LT)
the collection field, is similar, if you have a book in multiple collections, then it will be a list of the names
Splitting the books out into different sheets for TBR and Read, might be a little cumbersome. As an active file to keep in sync with LT, might be a pain, but as an emergency backup, it will work for me.
For your information, Here's all the fields that the export contains.
Book ID
Title
Sort Character
Primary Author
Primary Author Role
Secondary Author
Secondary Author Role
Publication
Date
Review
Rating
Comment
Private Comment
Summary
Media
Physical Description
Weight
Height
Thickness
Length
Dimensions
Page Count
LCCN
Acquired
Date Started
Date Read
Barcode
BCID
Tags
Collections
Languages
Original Languages
LC Classification
ISBN
ISBNs
Subjects
Dewey Decimal
Dewey Wording
Other Call Number
Copies
Source
Entry Date
From Where
OCLC
Work id
Lending Patron
Lending Status
Lending Start
Lending End
176mahsdad
New Book
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
The poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas.
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.
Semi-autobiographical, No Longer Human is the final completed work of one of Japan's most important writers, Osamu Dazai (1909-1948). The novel has come to "echo the sentiments of youth" from post-war Japan to the postmodern society of technology. Still one of the ten bestselling books in Japan, No Longer Human is a powerful exploration of an individual's alienation from society.
#newbook
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
The poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas.
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.
Semi-autobiographical, No Longer Human is the final completed work of one of Japan's most important writers, Osamu Dazai (1909-1948). The novel has come to "echo the sentiments of youth" from post-war Japan to the postmodern society of technology. Still one of the ten bestselling books in Japan, No Longer Human is a powerful exploration of an individual's alienation from society.
I have seen three pictures of the man. The first, a childhood photograph you might call it, shows him about the age of ten, a small boy surrounded by a great many women (his sisters and cousins, no doubt). He stands in brightly checked trousers by the edge of a garden pond.
#newbook
177mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
Nothing much to report today, so I'll just leave you with this. Have a Great Weekend!
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai 50%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 54%.
Listening - Doom Guy: Life in First Person by John Romero 47%
eBook - The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle 10%
Graphic Novel - Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century by Youssef Daoudi 47%
Finished Books
74. The Marauders by Tom Cooper : Got this one from Mark several years ago, and finally pulled it off the shelf. Its the story of life in a small shrimping town in the Louisiana bayou after a BP Oil spill has decimated the waters. It shows how an eclectic cast of characters gets by. From a one-armed shrimper who is obsessed with finding pirate treasure, to a set of sketchy twins growing "something" out in the swamp, to the company man from BP trying to get everyone in town to sign a settlement agreement. This was a fun read. If anyone wants it, I'm happy to send it to you.
73. One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde (A) : Book 6 in the Thursday Next Series. This time Thursday is missing, or is she? In the Book World, the written Thursday Next, is worried that the 5 books of the series aren't be read, but now she has to investigate what's going on with the real Thursday, time's running out, she has to be at the Peace Talks meant to put an end to the escalating Genre Wars. Oh and why are the Men in Plaid chasing after her? Another whacky adventure.
72. The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (K) : This was an Amazon short story from Black Stars collection. Its the story of a man anticipating the visit of an old college friend. In this world, however, the gender roles are reversed. So he is a house-husband dealing with the success of his wife and living in a society that strives to get men in their place.
#ff
Nothing much to report today, so I'll just leave you with this. Have a Great Weekend!
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai 50%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 54%.
Listening - Doom Guy: Life in First Person by John Romero 47%
eBook - The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle 10%
Graphic Novel - Last on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century by Youssef Daoudi 47%
Finished Books
74. The Marauders by Tom Cooper :
Got this one from Mark several years ago, and finally pulled it off the shelf. Its the story of life in a small shrimping town in the Louisiana bayou after a BP Oil spill has decimated the waters. It shows how an eclectic cast of characters gets by. From a one-armed shrimper who is obsessed with finding pirate treasure, to a set of sketchy twins growing "something" out in the swamp, to the company man from BP trying to get everyone in town to sign a settlement agreement. This was a fun read. If anyone wants it, I'm happy to send it to you.73. One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde (A) :
Book 6 in the Thursday Next Series. This time Thursday is missing, or is she? In the Book World, the written Thursday Next, is worried that the 5 books of the series aren't be read, but now she has to investigate what's going on with the real Thursday, time's running out, she has to be at the Peace Talks meant to put an end to the escalating Genre Wars. Oh and why are the Men in Plaid chasing after her? Another whacky adventure.72. The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (K) :
This was an Amazon short story from Black Stars collection. Its the story of a man anticipating the visit of an old college friend. In this world, however, the gender roles are reversed. So he is a house-husband dealing with the success of his wife and living in a society that strives to get men in their place. #ff
179mahsdad
Thanks RD!
Yeah, it will probably be by Monday at the latest. About 2 months earlier than last year.
My BASS (big ass spreadsheet) tells me that I'm on track for 98 books this year.
Yeah, it will probably be by Monday at the latest. About 2 months earlier than last year.
My BASS (big ass spreadsheet) tells me that I'm on track for 98 books this year.
180mahsdad
I've made my BASS (actually I have multiples, I'm nerdy like that). I have one for each year, plus my "Forever Reading Log" sheet, that I started in 2019. I've added a section that shows me the 75th book I read (if I read) each year. So for no other reason other than to just share, here's more information than you require. :)
181mahsdad
Interesting that I hit the goal on the same date for 2 years. And actually that all 4 years are pretty darn close makes me a pretty consistent reader, I'd say. :)
182mahsdad
Okay, I was wrong, it only took me a day. I've hit our arbitrarily established goal!
75. Last on His Feet by Youssef Daoudi (GN) :. This is a historical graphic novel (thanks Mark for the suggestion) about Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century. It was the boxing match contested in Reno Nevada in 1910, where Johnson became the first African American Boxing Champion. Daoudi, used the rounds of the match as chapters to tell the story of Johnson's life and how the match came to be, his tumultuous personal life and what happened to him in the years after the fight. This was an excellent read. It has an interesting mostly monochromatic drawing style, and he uses poetry intermixed with regular prose to tell the story. Recommend.
75. Last on His Feet by Youssef Daoudi (GN) :
. This is a historical graphic novel (thanks Mark for the suggestion) about Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century. It was the boxing match contested in Reno Nevada in 1910, where Johnson became the first African American Boxing Champion. Daoudi, used the rounds of the match as chapters to tell the story of Johnson's life and how the match came to be, his tumultuous personal life and what happened to him in the years after the fight. This was an excellent read. It has an interesting mostly monochromatic drawing style, and he uses poetry intermixed with regular prose to tell the story. Recommend. When I hook a man, it's like being hit by frustration
185richardderus
>182 mahsdad: Bravo! Good on'ya!
186mahsdad
>184 foggidawn: >185 richardderus: Thanks, Foggi, RD!
187mahsdad
New Book
Salt, A World History by Mark Kurlansky
“Kurlansky finds the world in a grain of salt.” - New York Times Book Review
An unlikely world history from the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the World
Best-selling author Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Salt is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.
#newbook
Salt, A World History by Mark Kurlansky
“Kurlansky finds the world in a grain of salt.” - New York Times Book Review
An unlikely world history from the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the World
Best-selling author Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions. Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Salt is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.
I bought the rock in Spanish Catalonia, in the rundown hillside mining town of Cardona. An irregular pink trapezoid with elongated, curved indentations etched on its surface by raindrops., it had an odd translucence and appeared to be a cross between rose quartz and soap.
The resemblance to soap came from the fact that it dissolved in water and its edges were worn smooth like a used soap bar. I paid too much for it - nearly 15 dollars. But it was, after all, despite a rosy blush of magnesium, almost pure salt...
#newbook
189mahsdad
>188 quondame: Thanks Susan!
>183 drneutron: And to you too, Jim. My apologies for missing you earlier. Didn't scroll up far enough. LOL
>183 drneutron: And to you too, Jim. My apologies for missing you earlier. Didn't scroll up far enough. LOL
190ffortsa
>187 mahsdad: I read Salt, A World History some years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was a bit surprised to find out how well known it was!
191arubabookwoman
Just discovered your thread. Some great reading going on her (and great reviews). I think this will become my go-to thread to discover good science fiction books. And of course, I love the pictures (and the kitties)!
192mahsdad
>190 ffortsa: Hi Judy, glad that others have enjoyed it. So good, so far
>191 arubabookwoman: Hi Deborah, thanks for stopping by. Always nice to have new visitors.
>191 arubabookwoman: Hi Deborah, thanks for stopping by. Always nice to have new visitors.
193FAMeulstee
>182 mahsdad: Congratulations on reaching 75, Jeff!
194mahsdad
>193 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita!
195mahsdad
New Book - Audio
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
*Soon to be the major motion picture Mickey17*
The Martian meets Multiplicity in Edward Ashton's high concept science fiction thriller, in which Mickey7, an "expendable," refuses to let his replacement clone Mickey8 take his place.
Dying isn’t any fun…but at least it’s a living.
Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous—even suicidal—the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it.
On a fairly routine scouting mission, Mickey7 goes missing and is presumed dead. By the time he returns to the colony base, surprisingly helped back by native life, Mickey7’s fate has been sealed. There’s a new clone, Mickey8, reporting for Expendable duties. The idea of duplicate Expendables is universally loathed, and if caught, they will likely be thrown into the recycler for protein.
Mickey7 must keep his double a secret from the rest of the colony. Meanwhile, life on Niflheim is getting worse. The atmosphere is unsuitable for humans, food is in short supply, and terraforming is going poorly. The native species are growing curious about their new neighbors, and that curiosity has Commander Marshall very afraid. Ultimately, the survival of both lifeforms will come down to Mickey7.
That is, if he can just keep from dying for good.
#newbook
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
*Soon to be the major motion picture Mickey17*
The Martian meets Multiplicity in Edward Ashton's high concept science fiction thriller, in which Mickey7, an "expendable," refuses to let his replacement clone Mickey8 take his place.
Dying isn’t any fun…but at least it’s a living.
Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous—even suicidal—the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal…and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it.
On a fairly routine scouting mission, Mickey7 goes missing and is presumed dead. By the time he returns to the colony base, surprisingly helped back by native life, Mickey7’s fate has been sealed. There’s a new clone, Mickey8, reporting for Expendable duties. The idea of duplicate Expendables is universally loathed, and if caught, they will likely be thrown into the recycler for protein.
Mickey7 must keep his double a secret from the rest of the colony. Meanwhile, life on Niflheim is getting worse. The atmosphere is unsuitable for humans, food is in short supply, and terraforming is going poorly. The native species are growing curious about their new neighbors, and that curiosity has Commander Marshall very afraid. Ultimately, the survival of both lifeforms will come down to Mickey7.
That is, if he can just keep from dying for good.
This is gonna be my stupidest death ever.
#newbook
196mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
Knock wood, Fall weather may just have arrived in So Cal. I've been wearing a long sleeve shirt all day today and haven't had multiple fans blowing on my constantly. :) Laura's doing another crafts fair this weekend, so Jeff will be in bachelor mode tomorrow. Which means just doing the usual stuff but without my better half. :)
Here's some flowers to kick off your weekend.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky 22%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 56%.
Listening - Mickey7 by Edward Ashton 33%
eBook - The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle 25%
Finished Books
77. Doom Guy: Life in First Person by John Romero (A) : I was never a big gamer, especially not console games, not coordinated enough with the joysticks. But I definitely played and enjoyed the PC games of the 90s/00's. Foremost among them were the games from iD Software; Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake. This is the memoir of the one of the men who created those games and created a genre that's given us Fortnight and Call of Duty and the rest. Not sure if its necessarily a good thing, but this was a very interesting read, both from the gaming aspect and as a computer programmer geek. Not for all, but IYKYK.
76. No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai : This was an odd book. Its a good book and I appreciate it, but I'm not sure I "liked" it. Its about a man (loosely based on Dazai, so says the back cover, but the introduction from the translator says no) who all his life is disillusioned by people and feels he is incapable of understanding humans. It starts out as child, thru high school and into his later years, where he takes to alcohol and drugs at the expense of his friends and family. My first thought about the main character, was he's an incel, before there was a word for such a thing. Written in 1948, its still considered one of the top 10 books in Japan. Its a good book, just don't expect an uplifting narrative.
#ff
Knock wood, Fall weather may just have arrived in So Cal. I've been wearing a long sleeve shirt all day today and haven't had multiple fans blowing on my constantly. :) Laura's doing another crafts fair this weekend, so Jeff will be in bachelor mode tomorrow. Which means just doing the usual stuff but without my better half. :)
Here's some flowers to kick off your weekend.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky 22%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 56%.
Listening - Mickey7 by Edward Ashton 33%
eBook - The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle 25%
Finished Books
77. Doom Guy: Life in First Person by John Romero (A) :
I was never a big gamer, especially not console games, not coordinated enough with the joysticks. But I definitely played and enjoyed the PC games of the 90s/00's. Foremost among them were the games from iD Software; Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake. This is the memoir of the one of the men who created those games and created a genre that's given us Fortnight and Call of Duty and the rest. Not sure if its necessarily a good thing, but this was a very interesting read, both from the gaming aspect and as a computer programmer geek. Not for all, but IYKYK.76. No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai :
This was an odd book. Its a good book and I appreciate it, but I'm not sure I "liked" it. Its about a man (loosely based on Dazai, so says the back cover, but the introduction from the translator says no) who all his life is disillusioned by people and feels he is incapable of understanding humans. It starts out as child, thru high school and into his later years, where he takes to alcohol and drugs at the expense of his friends and family. My first thought about the main character, was he's an incel, before there was a word for such a thing. Written in 1948, its still considered one of the top 10 books in Japan. Its a good book, just don't expect an uplifting narrative.I was frightened even by God. I could not believe in His love, only in His punishment. Faith. That, I felt, was the act of facing the tribunal of justice with one's head bowed to receive the scourge of God. I could believe in hell, but it was impossible for me to believe in the existence of heaven
Her voice was full of tenderness as she explained each of the half-dozen medicines. The affection of this unhappy woman was however to prove too intense. At the last she said, "This is a medicine to be used when you need a drink so badly you can't stand it." She quickly wrapped the little box. It was morphine.
#ff
197quondame
>196 mahsdad: What an amazing burst of color!
198msf59
Happy Saturday, Jeff. Looks like the books are treating you well. Congrats on hitting #75 and I am glad it was Last on His Feet, which I really enjoyed.
Speaking of GNs, I want to recommend The Killer: Volume One. It is a French crime series about a hitman. There is also a film adaptation that is coming out soon on Netflix, from one of my favorite directors. I just requested Volume 2.
Speaking of GNs, I want to recommend The Killer: Volume One. It is a French crime series about a hitman. There is also a film adaptation that is coming out soon on Netflix, from one of my favorite directors. I just requested Volume 2.
199mahsdad
>198 msf59: Hey Mark, thanks for stopping by. Thanks! Yeah, I think I've been hitting on all cylinders reading-wise lately.
Thanks for the GN suggestion, I immediately grabbed the complete edition.768 pages. Took me a second to recognize what the movie is. I just saw the trailer for it not too long ago. Michael Fassbender. Looks pretty good.
Thanks for the GN suggestion, I immediately grabbed the complete edition.768 pages. Took me a second to recognize what the movie is. I just saw the trailer for it not too long ago. Michael Fassbender. Looks pretty good.
200mahsdad
New Book - Audio
Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton
Edward Ashton's Antimatter Blues is the thrilling follow up to Mickey7 in which an expendable heads out to explore new terrain for human habitation.
Summer has come to Niflheim. The lichens are growing, the six-winged bat-things are chirping, and much to his own surprise, Mickey Barnes is still alive―that last part thanks almost entirely to the fact that Commander Marshall believes that the colony’s creeper neighbors are holding an antimatter bomb, and that Mickey is the only one who’s keeping them from using it. Mickey’s just another colonist now. Instead of cleaning out the reactor core, he spends his time these days cleaning out the rabbit hutches. It’s not a bad life.
It’s not going to last.
It may be sunny now, but winter is coming. The antimatter that fuels the colony is running low, and Marshall wants his bomb back. If Mickey agrees to retrieve it, he’ll be giving up the only thing that’s kept his head off of the chopping block. If he refuses, he might doom the entire colony. Meanwhile, the creepers have their own worries, and they’re not going to surrender the bomb without getting something in return. Once again, Mickey finds the fate of two species resting in his hands. If something goes wrong this time, though, he won’t be coming back.
#newbook
Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton
Edward Ashton's Antimatter Blues is the thrilling follow up to Mickey7 in which an expendable heads out to explore new terrain for human habitation.
Summer has come to Niflheim. The lichens are growing, the six-winged bat-things are chirping, and much to his own surprise, Mickey Barnes is still alive―that last part thanks almost entirely to the fact that Commander Marshall believes that the colony’s creeper neighbors are holding an antimatter bomb, and that Mickey is the only one who’s keeping them from using it. Mickey’s just another colonist now. Instead of cleaning out the reactor core, he spends his time these days cleaning out the rabbit hutches. It’s not a bad life.
It’s not going to last.
It may be sunny now, but winter is coming. The antimatter that fuels the colony is running low, and Marshall wants his bomb back. If Mickey agrees to retrieve it, he’ll be giving up the only thing that’s kept his head off of the chopping block. If he refuses, he might doom the entire colony. Meanwhile, the creepers have their own worries, and they’re not going to surrender the bomb without getting something in return. Once again, Mickey finds the fate of two species resting in his hands. If something goes wrong this time, though, he won’t be coming back.
"I just saw myself in the corridor." Nasha looks up from her tablet. She's sitting in our desk chair, feet propped up on our bed, wearing nothing but underwear and boots. That's not a look that many people can pull off, but Nasha manages it with aplomb. She pushes her braids back from here face and rops her feet to the floor. "Nice to see you too," she says. "Close the door."
#newbook
202mahsdad
>201 richardderus: Thanks RD.
I have been enjoying it. For a bit when we were still in Europe, I thought it was going to be more of a Caucasian World History, but now we're in North America and we're getting more of indigenous history.
I have been enjoying it. For a bit when we were still in Europe, I thought it was going to be more of a Caucasian World History, but now we're in North America and we're getting more of indigenous history.
203mahsdad
Fantastic Photo Friday
Last Friday of Q3, we made it out of September. Well almost. Hope everyone has a great Fall weekend.
Keeping up with the trend from last week, here's some more flowers seen on my lunch time walks.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky 52%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 56%.
Listening - Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton 60%
eBook - The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle 44%
Finished Books
78. Mickey7 by Edward Ashton (A) : A fun sci-fi romp. Mickey7 is an Expendable on a distant colony on a new harsh world. He is a clone, and he is used to go into places and do things that are too dangerous to let drones and robots go into. Recreating a person, is much easier than rebuilding a drone when you have limited supplies. When out on a mission to investigate alien life, he is presumed dead, so the colony brings out Mickey8. But what happens when there are now 2 of you? A fun quick read, and I immediately started listening to the sequel; Antimatter Blues
#ff
Last Friday of Q3, we made it out of September. Well almost. Hope everyone has a great Fall weekend.
Keeping up with the trend from last week, here's some more flowers seen on my lunch time walks.
Book Update
>2 mahsdad: Q3 Books
>3 mahsdad: Q2 Books
>4 mahsdad: Q1 Books
>5 mahsdad: Audiobooks
Reading - Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky 52%
Reading - Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson 56%.
Listening - Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton 60%
eBook - The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle 44%
Finished Books
78. Mickey7 by Edward Ashton (A) :
A fun sci-fi romp. Mickey7 is an Expendable on a distant colony on a new harsh world. He is a clone, and he is used to go into places and do things that are too dangerous to let drones and robots go into. Recreating a person, is much easier than rebuilding a drone when you have limited supplies. When out on a mission to investigate alien life, he is presumed dead, so the colony brings out Mickey8. But what happens when there are now 2 of you? A fun quick read, and I immediately started listening to the sequel; Antimatter Blues#ff
205klobrien2
>203 mahsdad: As always, your picture is wonderful, full of color! Thanks!
Have a great weekend!
Karen O
Have a great weekend!
Karen O
206msf59
Happy Saturday, Jeff. I just started the audio of Five Wounds. I think I am going to like this one. She reminds me a bit of Luis Alberto Urrea. I saw your positive review of it on Good Reads.
207mahsdad
Hey Mark. Glad you found Five Wounds, hope it does work out for you.
I’ve never read Urrea, it I do have one of his on the WL
I’ve never read Urrea, it I do have one of his on the WL
This topic was continued by mahsdad's (Jeff) 2023 Thread - Q4.
