Fogbow

If we already have a thread about the books we're reading, I can't find it, so please post a link and I'll merge this one.

Book 6 of the Murderbot Diaries, Fugitive Telemetry, suddenly appeared, as if by magic (or pre-order), on my precious Kindle yesterday. Mary Wells is a brilliant writer, but I finished Book 5 in the series (Network Effect) way, way back last July and I already forgotted what happened in it. TBH, I haven't read any of the books in quite a spell, so I'm gonna go all the way back to Book 1, All Systems Red.

But first I have to read Books 2 through 6 of the Cassandra Kresnov series, by Joel Shepherd. I read the first one, Crossover, on my Kindle and liked it a lot, but the other 5 aren't available on Kindle so I had to buy hard copies. You know, paper. They used to print books on paper, did you know that? Bet you didn't see that one coming.

I started Book 2, Breakaway. Book 4 is called 23 Years On Fire. Oh, ouchy.

My phone app, My Library, says I have 960 books on paper, and Amazon says I have 570 more on my Kindle but I just gotted 5 more Cassandra Kresnovs on paper, so I gotta add them to My Library.

And then I got a book by Ann Leckie further on down the road.

How about y'all? What are you reading?

I’m an audio girl. I can’t sit still long enough to read an actual book.

Right now I’m listening to the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I could (and do) listen to the narrator, Davina Porter, all day long.

Maybenaut wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:03 am I’m an audio girl. I can’t sit still long enough to read an actual book.

Right now I’m listening to the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I could (and do) listen to the narrator, Davina Porter, all day long.

I watch the series on Starz. I'm not too into audio books, but I think that one would be awesome. I'm going to give that a try.

I'm reading Nixonland by Rick Perlstein.

Interesting series to help explain how we got into this mess.

ETA: maybenaut convinced me. I’m an audio book girl now, too. I’m thrilled because I don’t have to give up large chunks of a busy day to read.

I just finished Shadow Network by Anne Nelson, and I’m floored by connections that, until now, I hadn’t fully realized were so long-standing and purposeful. It’s a good look at how something like the situation of the Handmaid’s Tale might come to be. Relentless Republicans rolling on.

The CNP - Council for National Policy - is a right wing fever dream that was organized during Reagan’s administration, with a revolving cast of villains.

From the NPR review:

But unless you breathe politics like it's oxygen, you're unlikely to have heard of a conservative organization called the Council for National Policy. The group isn't a political action committee; rather, it's a 501(c)(3) educational foundation that dates back to the first Reagan administration. And as Anne Nelson writes in her fascinating new book, Shadow Network, it's had an outsize effect on the modern American political landscape.

Nelson seeks to document the connections between "the manpower and media of the Christian right with the finances of Western plutocrats and the strategy of right-wing Republican political operatives." Many of these connections, she writes, were made possible through the CNP, whose members have included such familiar names as Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, former White House strategist Steve Bannon, the Christian Coallition's first executive director Ralph Reed and NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre.

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/77413307 ... f-politics

It’s well-written. She was a guest on Zev Shalev’s Narativ Live podcast, which is why I read it. And now I’m quaking in my boots. Another arm of Hilary’s VRWC exposed. From the NPR review:

"The CNP and its partners have spent over four decades studying their audience and mastering the written and unwritten rules of American politics," Nelson writes. "Its moralists have little regard for the rights of minorities; its financiers lack concern for social welfare; and its strategists have no respect for majority rule. If it is fully realized, their combination of theocracy and plutocracy could result in a dystopia for those who fall outside their circle."

You know the kid in the movie sixth sense? Well, I see CNP everywhere now.

Maybenaut wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:03 am I’m an audio girl. I can’t sit still long enough to read an actual book.

I'm the opposite. I can't listen to an audio book without going to sleep!

MN-Skeptic wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:36 am

Maybenaut wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:03 am I’m an audio girl. I can’t sit still long enough to read an actual book.

I'm the opposite. I can't listen to an audio book without going to sleep!

That happens to me sometimes. Nice thing about audiobooks, though, is that I can do other things. Sewing, housework, driving... I don’t have to choose between those things and the book.

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:49 am

Maybenaut wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:03 am I’m an audio girl. I can’t sit still long enough to read an actual book.

Right now I’m listening to the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I could (and do) listen to the narrator, Davina Porter, all day long.

I watch the series on Starz. I'm not too into audio books, but I think that one would be awesome. I'm going to give that a try.

You’ll love it! And they picked all the right actors for the series, so you’ll have an easy time imagining the story as she tells it.

Halp! My thread has been hijacked by audiobookommunists! Who's in charge around here and why are they allowing this nefarious behavior?

Fogbow!

I just started reading Migraine by Oliver Sacks. Sacks was a world class clinical neurologist and a prolific writer. Did you see the movie Awakenings with Robin Williams? Williams was playing Oliver Sacks.

One of Sacks' early books is The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat. He wrote Musicophilia, which became a PBS documentary called Musical Minds. You can find the documentary on YouTube and possibly PBS Passport.

The book isn't your typical medical book for the lay person. Sacks writes about unusual neurological phenomena, and while migraines are not unusual, some symptoms can be bizarre. Sacks was a migraineur.

Sacks explores the migraines and the greater human condition.

From his site:

For centuries, physicians and migraineurs have been fascinated by the many manifestations of migraine, and especially by the visual hallucinations or auras- similar in some ways to those induced by hallucinogenic drugs or deliria–which often precede a migraine. In this revised edition of his first book, Dr. Sacks describes these hallucinatory constants and what they reveal about the working of the brain, drawing on recent advances in chaos theory and neural simulation. Migraine, he writes, can give us a most direct and privileged view not only of the secrets of neuronal organization, but also of the self-organizing systems of nature–recently described by chaos theorists–which often remain hidden in our daily lives.

Beyond this, Dr. Sacks finds a fascination in the multiple forms of migraine and the many triggers which may set them off–and of the crucial importance of considering the role played by migraine in each individual’s life.

The book is dated. However, it's worth the read. As someone who experiences unusual migraines, the book is fascinating.

Camino Winds by John Grisham. Interesting, a different genre for the legal thriller writer.

Camino Island by John Grisham. The first book in what may be a series. Read it out of order because Winds was interesting. This book was a big disappointment

sterngard friegen wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 4:15 pm Camino Winds by John Grisham. Interesting, a different genre for the legal thriller writer.

Camino Island by John Grisham. The first book in what may be a series. Read it out of order because Winds was interesting. This book was a big disappointment

Everything after about his third one has been disappointing to me.

Foggy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:54 am They used to print books on paper, did you know that? Bet you didn't see that one coming.

So I've now read Breakaway, which is Book 2 in the Cassandra Kresnov series, loved it, and now I'm reading Book 3, Killswitch. But here's the problem - if'n you're reading a paperback and you run across a word that you want to learn more about, you can't use your finger to highlight the word and call up a dictionary definition, or a Wikipedia article, or nuthin'! What's up with that noise? Why don't they have these books on Kindle, like civilized people?

Foggy wrote: ↑Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:19 am

Foggy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 6:54 am They used to print books on paper, did you know that? Bet you didn't see that one coming.

So I've now read Breakaway, which is Book 2 in the Cassandra Kresnov series, loved it, and now I'm reading Book 3, Killswitch. But here's the problem - if'n you're reading a paperback and you run across a word that you want to learn more about, you can't use your finger to highlight the word and call up a dictionary definition, or a Wikipedia article, or nuthin'! What's up with that noise? Why don't they have these books on Kindle, like civilized people?

I still order many of my professional related books in paperback. I like to write in the margins of my professional material. But novels? I don't have space for physical copies of novels.

Just finished Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (same guy who wrote The Martian. It was light and fun.

Can't seem to get past the introduction.

Estiveo wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 10:28 pm Can't seem to get past the introduction.

Estiveoshot_20210606_192458.jpg

Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir (author of The Martian, a truly wonderful book that was made into one of my favorite movies).

Very worth reading, and next I'm reading his book Artemis. No spoilers, but if you read Weir, you will learn some science.

Foggy wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 7:30 am Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir (author of The Martian, a truly wonderful book that was made into one of my favorite movies).

Very worth reading, and next I'm reading his book Artemis. No spoilers, but if you read Weir, you will learn some science.

I really, really enjoyed that book.

Maybenaut wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 9:22 am I really, really enjoyed that book.

Umm ... which one (I mentioned 3 books)?

Foggy wrote: ↑Sat Jun 12, 2021 8:26 am

Maybenaut wrote: ↑Fri Jun 11, 2021 9:22 am I really, really enjoyed that book.

Umm ... which one (I mentioned 3 books)?

Well, I’ve read them all. But the book I was referring to was the Hail Mary Project. I loved it. I read Artemis but I can’t remember what it was about, so I suppose it was forgettable. And I loved The Martian.

Yeah, I loved Project Hail Mary right up until the end. I thought the ending was kind of cutesy, but disappointing. 'Course, if it had gone in the other direction, it could have been a wonderful sequel. Oh well.

Artemis is about the young lady who knocked out the whole city on the Moon with chloroform. I'm nearing the end of it, and I like it a lot. But I agree, it's just not as great a story as Project Hail Mary ... right up until the end.

I still think the best thing I have read in years is the Cassandra Kresnov series. And Joel Shepherd is absolutely fascinating to follow on the Twitter machine.

Based on recommendations, I’m listening to Project Hail Mary. So far, so good. There have been a couple of LOL moments already.

I like the narrator Ray Porter. I hear a little bit of Tom Hanks in his voice.

In my quest to keep the post office fully employed, I subscribe to magazines. For people unfamiliar with them, people put words on paper, bind the pages together, and mail them to you. And if you like the words, you can give the pages to a friend. You don't have to plug them in. You don't have to worry about having Internet, or anything. All very convenient. I don't know why we didn't think of these a long time ago.

So, anyway, I subscribed to The Baffler last March, and I finally got my first quarterly issue this week. It's a substantial bit of work. For $30 / 2 years I got a quarter inch of high quality printing, on hard glossy paper, with a stiff cover and squared glued binding, with no ads, no jokes, no puzzles, and a minimum of photos.

Issue 59 is titled Ill Liberal, and all the essays inside discuss where American Liberalism has gone off the tracks. Very high level pieces from university profs, union leaders, editors at large, and historians. It's a bit of work to digest. The Nation it is not. I'll get up to speed soon enough.