What are you reading this week of January 14, 2018?

[hermetic]

In Honor...


Still reading Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore. Such a wonderful book. It does owe a bit to Buddhist thought but certainly isn’t dogmatic, just full of thought-provoking ideas about human nature and the randomness of life.

Feeling a bit rundown by a cold, I got a book of short stories by P. D. James called Sleep No More to keep myself entertained while plunked down on the couch. This is 6 stories of murder which she penned over a 30-year period. Quite enjoyable.

What books might you be dreaming of reading this week?

[onecaliberal]

1. Fire and Fury. I wish it was fiction.

[hermetic]

2. I know, right?

He sure managed to get all the attention away from the book now, though.

[onecaliberal]

4. Indeed he did. The revelations in the book are shocking.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. Starting "Fire and Fury " later today. I just got my copy yesterday.

[handmade34]

5. "White Trash"

Nancy Isenberg

eye-opening investigation into our country’s entrenched social hierarchy

also having to drive my partner 120 miles each day for treatment... we are listening to "Rooster Bar" John Grisham (student loan fiasco all too familiar)

[hermetic]

6. Interesting

Isenberg's non-fiction book was published in 2016 which makes me wonder if she is hard at work updating it now, what with all that's occurred lately. I found another book with the same title by Alexandra Allred which is described as a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud book that also serves as a bitter social commentary on American hypocrisies and prejudices. I think I will look that one up.

Isn't it great to have books to listen to when you have to be on the road like that? I do hope you don't have to deal with foul weather while doing this. Also that everything works out.

[handmade34]

10. my version

has a preface to discuss the election and inauguration (2017)... here she implored us to

...further the conversation about the manipulation of class identity by political aspirants, who game the system... to sell unreal expectations to people whose interests they only pretend to represent... give due attention to disturbing patterns in our history (and if not) democracy can scarcely claim to be the best form of government...

...love audio books and I am nothing, if not a master of driving in bad weather... give me a AWD with studded tires and I am good to go!

8 weeks of hyperbaric oxygen therapy almost done... seeing positive results

http://www.dartmouth-hitchcock.org/hyperbaric.html
awesome therapy, great medical professionals (the Doc was an astronaut and very cool), should be accessible to more people

[beveeheart]

7. The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon

I've always tried to be respectful of the cultures/laws of countries I've lived in or visited. One of the main characters in this novel, living in Jordan, doesn't.

[hermetic]

8. Me, too

This sounds like quite an interesting story, just out last year. Good reviews.

[beveeheart]

9. Been reading it this morning. Already fearful for what

trouble she could get herself into.

[TexasProgresive]

11. "Void Moon" by Michael Connelly.

I finally finished The Van. It was pretty hard as the whole book is written in dialogue. Sometime had to read a sentence aloud to get it and other times look up words. Rather interesting scatological word usage. The F word is almost a filler word. The really offensive C word is used exclusively about males. Brassers is the insult to woman- she would turn a trick for a penny (brass).

[hermetic]

14. LOL

Yeah, them boys were a "spirited" bunch.

I can imagine that reading a constant dialect could be a challenge. It's hard enough just listening sometimes. Like Broadchurch, the series, which I absolutely adored. But, David Tennant spoke with such a think Scottish brogue that sometimes we could just not understand certain things. We would back up the disk and play it over and over but still not quite get the words.

Still fun, though, eh?

[TexasProgresive]

17. I really like reading stuff like that. This "Void Moon" is really gripping.

Speaking of Scottish accents have you watched "Agatha Raisin"? The actress that plays the lead role is Scottish. She is not hard to understand but I like hearing it.

edit- now you done it! I'm interested in Broadchurch.

[hermetic]

18. Oh Oh Oh!

Broadchurch. One of my favorite shows ever. Heard about it here and my library had it, so...

The first 2 seasons are one long story about a murder so you have to watch it in order. Gorgeous scenery and a tale that will take your breath away. The acting is terrific and had me sobbing my eyes out several times. Even now, when I hear the gorgeous theme music, I tear up a little. The third season is about another murder but hearkens back to the previous story quite a bit. Sadly, there will be no more episodes.

Now I will have to look into Agatha Raisin. I have mostly Scottish ancestry so I am always delighted to find new shows to watch.

[TexasProgresive]

19. The character is a high level PR person in London yearning for the simple life

she moves to the Cotswolds a small village. She enters a quiche contest in an attempt to fit it. Bad news for Agatha since it appears she killed the judge with her spinach quiche. That's the pilot.

[Number9Dream]

12. "The Demon Crown" by James Rollins... his newest

What an excellent book! It truly was hard to put down. In 1903, Alexander Graham Bell raced to Genoa, Italy to retrieve the coffin of James Smithson (Smithsonian Institute) and other artifacts so that it could be returned to the U.S (true). Rolllins begins this action, page-turner with a possible terrifying reason why. He combines real-world science with well written action as well as anyone. A fun ride with a great ending.

[hermetic]

15. Yummy!

Sounds great. Thanks, as always.

[japple]

13. Hi everyone! Many thanks, hermetic, for bringing us all together every week.

I am still reading Hans Fallada's book, Every Man Dies Alone. At 540 pages, it is much more substantial than the books I usually read, though the writing is lucid and the story is engaging. It is very intense and, given the subject matter, full of suspense. I cannot believe that this book was written in 24 days while the author was confined to a psychiatric hospital. Here is a bit more of the history of the author's tragic life:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Fallada

[hermetic]

16. Gosh

Such an amazing story. I am so glad people are finally hearing about this and he is getting the much deserved attention and admiration.

[pscot]

20. No fiction right now

The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin and Kafka was the Rage, Anatole Broyard's memoir of life in Greenwich Village during the '70s, which is brief, entertaining and a bit strange. I like The Songlines better. Aborigines believe totemic beings sang the world into existence and traces of their singing illuminate the physical landscape. Chatwin tells an interesting story of his walkabout, weaving tales of past travels and metaphysical ruminations into his narrative. And there's a bonus. Every time he's introduced to someone it recalls the Monte Python sketch about the new Bruce.

[hermetic]

21. Oh wow

The Songlines intrigued me as I have long been fascinated by Australia and can't imagine I will ever get there in this lifetime. So, I looked it up.

Bruce Chatwin was a prolific and highly renowned author who, sadly, was one of the first prominent men in Great Britain known to have contracted HIV and to have died of an AIDS-related illness. He was 48 and The Songlines was his last book although he was working on a number of new ideas for future novels.

The book is both fiction and non-fiction and sounds quite interesting. I look forward to reading it myself. So thanks.

[Paladin]

22. "Deep Freeze" by John Sandford, the latest Virgil Flowers mystery.

Like all the rest of the Virgil Flowers books, it's excellent. Somebody needs to wise up and make a movie out one of the Virgil books; a guy who splits his time between being a Minnesota state detective and an outdoor writer/photographer, and being funny as hell about it all, is a hero that would appeal to the public.

[hermetic]

24. I agree

I'm now reading my first Virgil Flowers novel and absolutely loving it.

[Paladin]

25. They're all good. Enjoy. (nt)

[elmerh]

23. 'Coriolanus' by William Shakespeare

[Ohiogal]

26. "Endurance" by Scott Kelly

Almost finished, about 20 more pages to go before it goes back to the library.

Fascinating if you love to read about space travel and what it takes to be an astronaut.

[LiberalLoner]

27. Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War