Kaiju Preservation was a fun one. I tried some of his other stuff and didn’t care for as much.
Just finished Merlin’s Tour of the Universe’ by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Fun book. Interesting format. Learned a lot.
According to my database, it’s the only book of his I’ve ever read. Agree it was a fun read, basically pop-schlock, nothing too thick-headed, just exactly as promised.
I finally picked up 2 towers (fellowship is missing in our library?). I find it soothing. Like 500 pages of riding horses places followed by 500 pages of hobbits hiking.
I try to imagine what it would have been like to read LOTR when it first came out and simply can’t. His concepts are taken for granted in every fantasy (and sci-fi) book, film, or game I know that I can’t erase the ideas from my head.
I also read some more T Kingfisher. Nettle & Bone was really enjoyable in a Gaimon but not kind of way.
Even I am not old enough to have read LOTR when it first came out but I at least read it long before it became a movie and long before video games were prevalent.
It was a magical read. I think my imagination produced an experience better than the movies, as great as they were.
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next genre up - classic - Uncle Toms Cabin
Finished The Book Thief. Good.
Started up fourth book of “My Brilliant Friend” Series.
If you liked The Book Thief and haven’t read All the Light We Cannot See, I highly recommend.
Finished The Color of Magic and Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. The Color of Magic was like a TV series where they’re still trying to get their footing, but it was good to get more background on the discworld. Guards! Guards! was great. I half read / have listened to it on audible and the voice actor added a lot of depth to the characters.
All the Light We Cannot See may be written well. But it’s a sympathetic portrait of a Nazi (I haven’t got to the real problem yet) that rips off much the childhood story of a Jewish scientist (Richard Feynman) (this is what really bugs me). I don’t know how an author can get away with that. He basically used anecdotes from Feynman’s childhood about how amazing he was at fixing things, and attributed them to a child who grew up in Nazi Germany and was a Nazi. Artistic license in fiction is one thing, but the irony is killing me here.
Just finished reading
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene.
I struggled with his sympathetic portrayal as well but that controversial aspect made the book more interesting to me. l can still appreciate a book that doesn’t share my world view if it is well-written.
It really wasn’t the sympathetic portrayal that got me, as much as the irony of stealing pieces of a Jewish person’s life story to make that portrayal.
I was reading the book and thinking “Hey, this sounds familiar” and then buried in the back acknowledgements, he mentions his source, and I just don’t think it helps that much even if he did admit it.
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My parents were getting rid of a bunch of old stuff from the attic, and I found my old copy of Jurassic Park. It came out when I was in elementary school and I’m pretty sure it was the first adult novel I ever read. I’m about 1/3 of the way through and it’s awesome (hopefully not just the nostalgia speaking). Lots of differences from the movie, which I’ve seen many times.
I just watched a youtube with someone’s top 10 books. The 8 I’ve read included 2 of my favorites (Lonesome Dove and The Stand) and a bunch of others I really liked (Shogun, Count of Monte Cristo, Game of Thrones, Brothers Karamazov, etc).
The last 2 are Recursion and The Prince of Tides, which I hadn’t heard of but just picked up at the library. Am halfway through Recursion, which is a cool sci-fi about memory / time travel.
Surprised, was a heavily nominated movie.
Pat Conroy was my favorite contemporary author, more about his use of words, though intriguing stories. A lot of biographical - (The Water id Wide, My Losing Season) and semi auto-biographical stuff - (Lords of Discipline, The Great Santini) - I wouldn’t put Prince of Tides as my favorite - though it was most likely the best seller - loved Beach Music. I also read his last, South of Broad, which I thought was one of his weakest.
He was not prolific. I don’t believe he has any others.
What were the other two books? Hadn’t heard of Recursion. Read all the others (just finishing Shogun) except Lonesome Dove - but like McMurtry - I did read one of the sequels.
Looks like the movie was a bit before my time (I was 10 when it came out). The other 2 were Lord of The Rings and Watership Down. Lonesome Dove is my favorite book and I’m not even into Westerns.
need to read Watership Down also, was in a little lending library recently, but was too soaked through to take
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I love westerns, but don’t read many (I get a lot of books at the lending library, so read what I find.
C J Box seems to be a modern western writer, I have found a few of his
I see on Goodreads that I’ve read Recursion, but in reading the Wikipedia entry, it doesn’t sound familiar at all and I see I didn’t post about it here. It’s got me wondering if I misread the Goodreads status “Read” as I should read it, rather than I have read it. (reed vs red)
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That’s too bad, it would have sobered you right up.