Obi the Plott Hound is doing better. Not sure if it is the meds or just time. He's still not eating right, but that's because we are giving him treats to hide the pills. Not good, because he has a sensitive digestive system and is allergic to every protein but lamb! He can eat small amounts of others but it never ends well. Disappointed with the whole vet visit thing - thousands of dollars and 3 days spent in the waiting room and we're no wiser. Not their fault but still.
Working my way through Under The Neon Sky: A Las Vegas Doorman's Story by Jay Rankin. He's not the most eloquent storyteller. The style reminds me of, but is not as good as Bringing Down The House by Ben Mezrich, which is not great.
Borrowed this copy without asking from my brother, who loves all things Vegas. I doubt he'll notice it's no longer next to his books by Dinesh D'Souza, Ben Shapiro, and Dennis Praeger. 🙄
I was in the mood for some NF, so listening to the audio of Wicked River: The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild by Lee Sandlin. It's been sitting on my TBR since 2010.
Dead Poets Society meets The Ring? That's sort of the impression I'm getting two thirds of the way through The White Devil by Justin Evans. Christian Coulson, the audiobook narrator, deserves credit for effortlessly (I think) slipping back and forth between a variety of accents. I can't imagine that's easy to do.
#FridayReads (for later, when I am done with this article), rereading Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie because I'm in the mood for it. Such a great book.
But for right now I'm taking a break from formatting and final copy-edits of this article to fix my dinner.
I couldn't believe my luck last week when a book I was eagerly anticipating, The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman, was available at my library two days after its release. I put it on hold on a whim... no way the library would get it so soon, and no way I'd be first in line.
Spending a lot of time in the fantasy world lately: Earlier this week I wrapped up the audio of The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean, which took longer than expected because I had to replace my good Pixel Buds. Now I'm onto Roses and Rot by Kat Howard and Locke & Key Vol 4: Keys to the Kingdom by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez.
This week I'm reading 'I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons' by Peter S. Beagle and it is incredibly charming and delightful.
If you're bummed about recent news about a certain fantasy author and haven't read Beagle, I highly recommend him. He has a lot of the same vibe, but without much of the darkness or cynicism. And Beagle has a great range, so of his books are notably different. #FridayReads@bookstadon
I'm also back to Jacqueline Carey and 'Kushiel's Justice' after a quick detour to the Rivers of London on audio.
I enjoy so much of Carey's books and they are holding up remarkably well to my memory of reading them ages ago. #FridayReads @bookstadon
Something a little different this week: after finishing Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin, I'm pivoting hard to The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean. I didn't love Tales of the City, and I think a large part of that had to do with Maupin's narration: for me, his North Carolina accent didn't translate well to a character driven story set in 1970s San Francisco. Hoping the next book will taste better (pun intended). 😂
As I noted right here in this feed, this past Saturday was Towel Day. That inspired me to check out The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy from the library to re-read it for the first time since 2000. It still holds up! What a delightful classic.
Also worth noting: Douglas Adams basically described an e-reader device almost 30 years before Kindle came on the market.
For no particular reason, I had The Rooster Bar by John Grisham on my TBR and started reading it this week. I don't normally go for "airport books," but this one is a ton of fun. Now I remember why I read over a dozen of Grisham's books in the 90s and early 2000s. It's been a while since I picked him up... almost a couple decades, but I'm glad I did again.
FTR, The Rooster Bar has nothing to do with chickens. 😉
This week I'm wrapping up the audio of Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann. This is the second audiobook in a row for me with truly raw depictions of people just scraping by and trying to make the best of their situation. Tillie's narration is heartbreaking. Next audio read needs to be something not so heavy.
Related: now I feel like I should watch "The Walk" starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. (not a bad thing)
This is turning out to be a book I'm not terribly excited about: The Dog Of The South by Charles Portis. The tone sort of reminds me of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but set in Texas and Mexico and without the hardcore drugs. Parts are funny, but mostly it kind of drags and I'm not sure what the point is. If I wasn't already more than halfway through, I'd probably add it to the DNF pile. #FridayReads#AmReading#Books#Fiction#Bookstodon@bookstodon
Listening to the audio of This Is Your Brain On Sports by L. Jon Wertheim and Sam Sommers.
I wish I had read it closer to its 2016 pub date. 8 years later, parts are a little outdated. Example: in a list of active QBs at the time, several had yet to reach their peak. Now they're seasoned veterans or retired.
Amusingly, when quoting PK Subban, the narrator gave him a French accent. Subban grew up in Toronto.
This week I finished Nieuwe namen which was really interesting and I'm happy I read stories from elderly Trans people.
I'm not currently reading anything but I want to. My normal things are not hitting the mark and I'm not sure what to try next. Any suggestions? #boeken#books#bookstodon@bookstodon@boeken#fridayreads
I really need to start keeping notes on how/why I put a book to my TBR pile. The East Indian by Brinda Charry was added about a year ago, and I don't remember how I found out about it. A truly unique tale about an Indian boy winding up first in England and then Virginia during the 17th century efforts at colonization, for me this book is historical fiction at its absolute best. It might be one of the best books I pick up in 2024. #FridayReads#Fiction#AmReading#Books#Bookstodon@bookstodon
Not sure what attracted me to This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. It's not what my wife would call a "David Book" - I don't read a lot of family dramedies. I liked it enough, though, to add One Last Thing Before I Go to my TBR. Finally got to it 12 years later, and am almost done. Not as great as TIWILY, but still good and very funny.
The movie adaptation of TIWILY featuring Jason Bateman and Jane Fonda is also quite good.
The Coincidence Makers by Yoan Blum started slow and I was seriously thinking about putting in the DNF pile, but about a quarter of the way in it picked up with some beautiful beats. I think at some point I had an "aha" moment. Oh, I see what you're trying to do here! I'm glad I stuck with it, because this is a book that tugs on the heartstrings.
The premise reminded me at first of The Incrementalists, a book I didn't love. This is much better.
Just finished Mr. g: A Novel about the Creation by Alan Lightman. It was... fine. Not bad, but not great. Ok for a quick diversion. I'm glad it wasn't longer than it was.
I thought it would be funnier, but it turned out to be more philosophical than humorous. There were funny moments, but if I needed to categorize this book, I think I would file it under "metaphysics" and not humor or fiction.
Neil Gaiman ( @neilhimself when he's posting here - which isn't often) is one of my favorite authors, and I'm usually in awe of just about everything he does. It was a cinch, then, that I picked up Unnatural Creatures, an arrangement of short stories that he picked out. So far, all of the stories are good. Surprisingly, I would say that Gaiman's own contribution is the weakest of the bunch, but still entertaining. #FridayReads#AmReading#Books#ShortStories#Bookstodon@bookstodon
Oh, look... another book with "girl" in the title. 🙄
This was added to my TBR in May of 2015, probably on the strength of Entertainment Weekly's recommendation (I used to subscribe to that magazine. We'll see if it's actually "unputodownable" as stated on the cover. I hope so, because the last book I finished was definitely not.
Two books I loved, part 1: Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Riku Onda, which is about four entrants in a classical piano competition in Tokyo, and the characters are all interesting and charming but best of all it just has wonderful writing about music -- like the title itself as a description of how a particular player makes a particular piece sound. It's beautiful, and unlike many books with multiple POVs, I loved all the protagonists equally and was never annoyed by a switch at the wrong time. Just beautiful stuff.