Yeah, I considered the book a bit boring. I got tired of the ditsy younguns.
My favorite part of Moby Dick was the detailed images of life aboard a whaling vessel. Itâs not really a plot-driven book. At least, many pages of it arenât.
My favorite parts were just the science about the whales. My oldest had done a summer camp on whaling out of Roger Williams University, and they got to go to the whaling museum in Nantucket. Evidently, they had a whale skeleton still exuding oil. Lovely.
Any of it correct (taking into account todayâs science)?
Should have called it âWhalesâ if all it was going to be was science, instead of a story of good vs evil where we donât even know which is which.
Given that most of it was descriptive (defining the species, size, behavior, etc.), I assume most of it was accurate. Itâs not like he was writing about evolutionary theories.
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Ready Player One seemed like such an awesome storyline, but I think I screwed up big time by getting the audiobook. The dialogue at times is soo cringey that I couldnât listen to it anymore at a certain point. Too many âlame-oâ and âsex with your momâ type lines that when said out loud I had to stop it. I think because the premise was intriguing enough Iâll give the physical book a shot though.
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It has a certain nostalgia factor if you grew up in the 80 thatâs for sure.
Don Quixote.
Strong start, liking the whores laughing at the Don as he treats them as ladies in a chivalrous tale.
Um, Magic City by Jewell Parker Rhodes (fictional account of the Greenwood Riot? Massacre? of 1921.)
How to Raise an Elephant by Alexander McCall Smith. Read by someone who is not Lisette Licat and this new person makes the voices really squeaky and I may finally be tiring of this series anyway.
Four Hundred Souls edited by Kendi. Reading with a group on a schedule and trying not to get ahead so Iâve only read the first part (of 10).
Emotional Agility bc I heard the author on a podcast and related a little too well.
I desperately need something mind numbing.
Finished The Shadowed Sun. Currently halfway through James Baldwinâs Go Tell it on the Mountain, and started Parable of the Sower.
Tell me about Parable of the Sower, when you get there. Thatâs Octavia Butler, right?
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That is a long and silly book.
You know how prefaces are usually nonstop gushing about how every sentence is perfect? The preface in my version of DQ suggested a list of chapters you could comfortably skip.
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Now thatâs a useful feature.
As it is, Iâm skipping the poetry. 
DQ is the one book that I read abridged and donât feel the need to go back and read the unabridged. It was very silly.
I finished The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz. Itâs the 2nd Daniel Hawthorne mystery, where Anthony Horowitz inserts himself into the story as a writer documenting Daniel Hawthorneâs investigation. I enjoyed it. Heâs able to insert some cliches by pointing out theyâre cliche and laughing at them, and stuff like that.
A third book is coming out soon and it will be interesting to see if he continues after that, as the Anthony Horowitz (at least in the book) has a 3-book contract.
Iâve got an Inspector Gamache book checked out, but I suspect I may already have read it even though itâs not checked in goodreads. If so, Iâll probably start Sharp Objects.
About 1/3 of the way through it, and itâs definitely a dark one. Protagonist feels autistic coded, so thatâs a bit interesting, to me.
Go Tell it on the Mountain - I didnât like the narrative structure with flashbacks at ALL, but the story certainly hit hard once complete. Found out it was semi-autobiographical (Baldwin grew up closeted in a religious household with a Baptist preacher father). Religion + race + sexuality - not a light read.
Just finished âTo Sleep in a Sea of Starsâ by Paolini.
It is an epic Space Opera, but with significant science and character development. The tempo is allegro. The descriptions are explicit. I quickly became immersed in the world. I recommend it if you like Sci-Fi.
Just started Impossible Owls: Essays by Brian Phillips. This was a book club read a year ago and I guess I wasnât going to book club that month and didnât read it. But we might start up again soon & I was looking for something different.
Also started Louise Pennyâs Kingdom of the Blind.
Finished How to Raise an Elephant, which had an actuary sighting (sort of).
Just put a hold on the sequel (âUs Against Youâ) to âBeartownâ at the local library. Perfect for the weekend trip (picking up Pinots at âourâ membership winery). And there is also a third sequel out, but that will have to wait.
The first book pretty much wraps up ten years in the future at the end (though quite vaguely, so, not sure where it will go.
Worst. President. Ever.
by Robert Strauss
yes, itâs about Buchanan.