dbsalk

dbsalk , 9 days ago to bookstodon

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). 😂

#FridayReads #Books #Bookstodon #AmReading #Fiction #Audiobooks @bookstodon

Cover for The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean. Cover shows a silhouette of a woman and boy cut from the pages of an open book, looking up at a tall apartment building also rising up from the pages of the same open book. A light is on in one of the windows of the apartment building. "Innovative, unique, and poignant... I devoured it in one sitting. - James Rollins

dbsalk , 13 days ago to bookstodon

Oh hey, Project Hail Mary is only $2 from your preferred ebook retailer today. Good news if you're a do-or-die Andy Weir fan. (I am not)

#Bookstodon #AndyWeir #Fictoin #ProjectHailMary #SciFi @bookstodon

dbsalk , 16 days ago to bookstodon

It's always a happy surprise when a book I'm eagerly anticipating is just sitting there waiting for me to check out. So it was with The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson. I thought I'd have to wait weeks or months for it to be available! Maybe Larson isn't as in demand as he once was. I should buy a lottery ticket to see if my luck carries over. Looking forward to having my #history itch scratched with this one.

#FridayReads #AmReading #History #Histodons #Books #Bookstodon #CivilWar @bookstodon

LincolnRamirez , 19 days ago to bookstodon

I've been thinking of finally reading some Stephen King, but no idea where to start.

Go for one of the likes of his famous work, like the Shining or the Green Mile? Or something lesser known?

@bookstodon

dbsalk , 23 days ago to bookstodon

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.

#FridayReads #AmReading #Fiction #DontPanic #HitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy #Bookstodon @bookstodon

Excerpt from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: "...he also had a device which looked rather like a largish electronic calculator. This had about a hundred tiny flat press-buttons and a screen about four inches square on which any one of a million 'pages' could be summoned at a moment's notice. It looked insanely complicated, and this was one of the reasons why the snug plastic cover it fitted into had the words DON'T PANIC printed on it in large friendly letters. The other reason was that this device was in fact that most remarkable of all books ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The reason why it was published in the form of a micro sub-meson electronic component is that if it were printed in normal book form, an interstellar hitchhiker would require several inconveniently large buildings to carry it around in."
Sign, white text on red background: "DON'T PANIC AND CARRY A TOWEL"

dbsalk , 28 days ago to bookstodon

The Stand didn't even crack Forbes' Top 10 list of Stephen King books, and I'm curious as to how this miscarriage of justice came about.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/entertainment/article/stephen-king-books/?sh=5b67e62062b8

#Bookstodon #Books #StephenKing #Fiction @bookstodon

dbsalk , 30 days ago to bookstodon

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. 😉

#Books #FridayReads #Bookstodon #Fiction #JohnGrisham @bookstodon

dbsalk , 1 month ago to bookstodon

My heart aches for the children who will no longer have access to their local library because some arrogant assholes decided to be offended by books with new ideas and different perspectives.

The cruelty is the point.

https://bookriot.com/donnelly-public-library-adults-only/

#Books #BookBans #Bookstodon #Libraries @bookstodon [email protected]

dbsalk , 1 month ago to bookstodon

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)

#Books #FridayReads #Bookstodon #NewYorkCity #AmReading #Fiction @bookstodon

dbsalk , 1 month ago to bookstodon

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

SallyStrange , 1 month ago to bookstodon

10 authors, of whose books I've read at least five:

Ursula Le Guin
Kim Stanley Robinson
Octavia Butler
N. K. Jemisin
Becky Chambers
Iain M. Banks
Martha Wells
M. R. Carey
Lois McMaster Bujold
Vonda McIntyre

#scifi #ScienceFiction #SFF #books

#10Authors5BooksEach
@bookstodon

dbsalk , 1 month ago to 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.

#FridayReads #Books #AmReading #Bookstodon #Sports #Audiobooks @bookstodon

Hockey player PK Subban, who is not French and does not speak with a French accent, posing in a gold and navy Nashville Predators jersey, hockey gloves, and holding a hockey stick.

dbsalk , 2 months ago to bookstodon

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

Likewise , 2 months ago to random

Coffee rings
&
faerie wings.

What are you reading this week?
#books #photography #coffee

dbsalk , 2 months ago to bookstodon

Neil Gaiman is good at writing.

#Books #BookQuote #Bookstodon #NeilGaiman @bookstodon

dbsalk , 2 months ago to 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.

#Books #Bookstodon #FridayReads #AmReading @bookstodon

dbsalk , 2 months ago to bookstodon

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.

#FridayReads #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon

dbsalk , 2 months ago to bookstodon

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.

The audio narration by Ray Porter was great.

#FridayReads #Bookstodon #Books #AmReading @bookstodon

dbsalk , 2 months ago to bookstodon

"Will they play the anthem?” I asked.
“The which?”
‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’”
“Oh, the national ballad. What for? This is a ball match, not the Senate.”

At least one bit of jingoistic idiocy hadn’t yet lodged in the national psyche, I thought.

-- from If I Never Get Back by Darryl Brock, published in 1989 and set during baseball's infancy in the late 1860s. Just like his character Sam Fowler, Brock was ahead of his time.

#Baseball #Books #BookQuote #Sports #Bookstodon #MLB @bookstodon

dbsalk , 3 months ago to bookstodon

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

dbsalk , 3 months ago to 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.

#FridayReads #AmReading #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon

dbsalk , 3 months ago to bookstodon

Four years ago #today, I asked Emily St. John Mandel about her fellow author Stephen King's commentary regarding those who compare coronavirus to events in The Stand. Her reply:

"Sure. Covid-19 isn't like Station Eleven either. We must take the current
pandemic seriously, but you're unlikely to live out your final days in the
company of your fellow actors in a post-apocalyptic theatre troupe."
#EmilyStJohnMandel #StephenKing #StationEleven #TheStand #COVID19 #Bookstodon #Books @bookstodon

dbsalk , 3 months ago to bookstodon

Working my way through The Bank by Bentley Little. I remember adding it to my TBR in 2020 because I read somewhere that Stephen King recommended it. I'm not sure if I find that surprising or fitting: The Bank is basically Needful Things, 30 years later. If I were King, I might frown at the obvious overlap, but it didn't seem to bother him. He even added a blurb.

Needful Things is MUCH better and it's not even close.

#Books #AmReading #FridayReads #Bookstodon #Horror #StephenKing @bookstodon

dbsalk , 3 months ago to bookstodon

Back in the day my love for movies and my trivia knowledge combined to make me a walking IMDb. My movie watching has declined drastically since March 2013 (when Kid 1 entered the world) and it's hard for me to stay current. That won't stop me from enjoying Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Michael Schulman. I'm only on Chapter 2, but already loving the old-school Tinseltown intrigue. #Books #Movies #Oscars #Hollywood #FridayReads #AmReading #Bookstodon @bookstodon

dbsalk , 4 months ago to bookstodon

The blurb on the Barnes & Noble website states "Taut, propulsive, and impossible to look away from, Emma Cline’s The Guest is a spellbinding literary achievement." I'm not sure I'd go that far. It's good, but I'm almost 2/3 of the way through and still waiting to see how the protagonist got in the situation she's in. I'm sure (I hope) there's a big reveal coming, but I don't get why Cline felt the need to be coy. Seems unnecessary. #Books #FridayReads #Bookstodon #Fiction @bookstodon

dbsalk , 4 months ago to bookstodon

At the end of Song of Susannah (Dark Tower VI), Stephen King includes a series of diary entries, purportedly his own but there's discussion among fans if they're real or fictionalized. In one, he writes "Meanwhile, I have an idea for a novel about a lady who buys a picture in a pawnshop and then kind of falls into it."

Help me, fellow Constant Readers: was that story ever written? The plot is not familiar, but sounds like one I'd enjoy. #Books #StephenKing #Bookstodon #Fiction @bookstodon

dbsalk , 4 months ago to bookstodon

Pitchers and catchers report next week, and it's around this time of year that, if I can, I try to read something baseball-related. Yesterday I picked up a book that I read when I was a teen and remember enjoying it very much: If I Never Get Back by Darryl Brock. It's sort of like if Field of Dreams and Back To The Future had a baby, and it's great. #Books #Baseball #Bookstodon #AmReading #Fiction #Sports #MLB #FridayReads @bookstodon

Likewise , 4 months ago to bookstodon

I have been sometimes way too attracted by my own villains because in a way they seem to hold the secret to the heart of the narrative.

• Peter Straub
  *A current read & my second by Peter Straub, & for the record, I really like villains, too. #books #fediverse #photography #wine @bookstodon

dbsalk , 4 months ago to bookstodon

If you're a fan of Stephen King's work and familiar with his universe, then this line in Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower 6) will make so much sense:

"You'll go on with your life. You'll write many stories, but everyone will be to some greater or lesser degree about this story. Do you understand?"
-- Roland Deschain to a young Stephen King, saying the quiet part out loud

#BookQuote #Books #StephenKing #TheDarkTower #Ficton #Horror @bookstodon

dbsalk , 4 months ago to bookstodon

Hello #Bookstodon friends: Bird Box by Josh Malerman is only $1.99 from your preferred ebook vendor (Google Play Books, B&N, the A to Z place that makes Jeff Bezos richer but no judgment).

That book totally freaked me out in all the ways a good #horror story should. One of these days I'm going to work up the nerve to read it again. #BirdBox #Fiction @bookstodon #Today

dbsalk , 4 months ago to bookstodon

From the introduction to The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker: "The slaver is a ghost ship sailing on the edges of modern consciousness. To conclude on a personal note: this has been a painful book to write, and if I have done any justice to the subject, it will be a painful book to read. There is no way around this, nor should there be."

#Books #AmReading #FridayReads #BookQuote #NonFiction #Bookstodon @bookstodon

dbsalk , 5 months ago to bookstodon

"Empires preserve their power with the stories that they tell, but just as critical are the stories they don’t—the dark silences they impose, the pages they tear out."

• The Wager, Chapter 26, by David Grann

#Bookstodon #BookQuote #NonFiction #TheWager @bookstodon

dbsalk , 5 months ago to bookstodon

Interestingly, 2024 is seeing a very British #book trend for me. It's not a bad thing or a good thing. It just sort of happened that way. "Huh! How about that?" Of the 6 books I've touched in 2024, 4 of them have ties to the UK.

RN I'm almost done with The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan (I'm picturing it as a Richard Curtis movie; Four Weddings and a Funeral even gets a reference) and just started Pulse by Julian Barnes. #Bookstodon #AmReading #FridayReads #Fiction @bookstodon

Book cover of Pulse (Stories) by Julian Barnes (Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending) "Vibrant... Full of life and voice... As Barnes fans know, love itself is a lifetime for this playful, erudite writer." -- San Francisco Chronicle Cover art shows an abstract painting of a tray with purple grapes, a sliced open cantaloupe, a lime, and a bottle of wine.

dbsalk , 5 months ago to bookstodon

In Sea of Tranquility , #EmilyStJohnMandel describes a character as being "prone to inertia," which is such an eloquent way of calling them lazy. #DadThoughts #WeekendThoughts #Bookstodon @bookstodon

dbsalk , 5 months ago to bookstodon

The Wager by David Grann landed on my TBR as soon as I heard about it (long before it was released) and is on Barnes & Noble's "Best Books of 2023" list. Therefore, I can't explain how excited and surprised I was to see the ebook just sitting there available at my library, ready to download. I thought I'd be in line for weeks. Nope... just, "Here you go, enjoy!" I started it in the wee hours on January 1. What a way to kick of 2024! #FridayReads #Bookstodon #Books #NonFiction @bookstodon

dbsalk , 5 months ago to bookstodon

First time I've been inspired to do a "Best Books I Read This Year" list. Here are my favorites from 2023, in no particular order:

Missoula by Jon Krakauer
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Best. Movie. Year. Ever. by Brian Raftery
Devil In The Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson

Be safe tonight, my friends. Make good choices. 😉 Happy New Year.

#Bookstodon #Books #HappyNewYear2024 @bookstodon

dbsalk , 5 months ago to bookstodon

I tend to gravitate to #books set in bookstores or libraries. Once Upon A Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller by Oliver Darkshire is a bit off that mark, but still very good. The author has a dry and self-deprecating sense of humor, and I find myself chuckling at his deadpan delivery. Reminds me a bit of Hugh Grant, if Grant was forced to work with the public. It comes off as "very British" to this American (not a bad thing). #FridayReads #Audiobooks #Bookstodon #AmReading @bookstodon

dbsalk , 6 months ago to bookstodon

For the third time this year, I had to mark a book DNF. I hate doing that, but I had completely lost interest in the characters and the pace was so. damn. slow.

For me, the balm after a book like that is #StephenKing. Almost always reliable. In this case, I'm continuing my re-read of The Dark Tower series, so I know what I'm getting. Glad to be back with Roland's ka-tet in Song of Susannah. #FridayReads #Bookstodon #TheDarkTower #AmReading #Books @bookstodon

dbsalk , 6 months ago to bookstodon

Missoula: Rape and The Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer had been on my TBR since 2015, a couple years before the Me Too movement kicked off. I'm so glad this book surfaced in my reading rotation. I'm only about a fifth of the way through and am transfixed by so much: the horror and trauma these young women experienced, juxtaposed with such stoic narration and brilliant writing. I hate it and I can't stop listening. #Bookstodon #FridayReads #AmReading #Books @bookstodon

dsalo , 6 months ago to random

Pointing out that @everylibrary has joined the fedi.

If you care about US public and school libraries -- if you want to see library censorship stop -- give 'em a follow, and some spare bucks if you have 'em.

They do good work.

yo_bj , 6 months ago to random

"Big Publishing is clearly seeing nothing but dollar signs as apps like Hoopla gobble up identity-linked data on readers—and so it would be natural to put our hope in public libraries, which view patron privacy as a fundamental right essential to a functioning democracy." - https://www.fastcompany.com/90996547/e-books-are-fast-becoming-tools-of-corporate-surveillance

Bonus fun fact - OverDrive's reading history setting only hides the history. The data is still being collected - https://ldhconsultingservices.com/deception-by-design/

#libraries #privacy #ebooks