Given that 27 percent of Americans had not read a single book in the last 12 months (according to a 2015 poll), I am hoping that we here are better than the hoi polloi at book reading.
I have been reading my way through the Louise Penny series of Inspector Gamache/Three Pines mystery novels. I am currently on #6 of 13 currently out, and am thoroughly enjoying them. She is not afraid of killing off her creations.
Just finished “The Concrete Blonde” by Michael Connelly and really enjoyed it! But I guess I fall into the hoi polloi group because that is the first book I have read in 4 or 5 years
I’m reading the Paper Magician series by Charlie Holmberg and quite enjoying it, fun little series. Next up is (another re-read of) Shogun by James Clavell. I first read that book when I was about ten or so and have absolutely loved it ever since.
@jml326 That’s a hell of a lot closer to what I’ve been reading these days. So much to read for work, much of it science or law-related. I’ve probably read more court decisions than most bioengineers who aren’t also lawyers. I’m not sure if that’s a badge of honour or shame
Walter Isaacson’s Leonardo da Vinci. But it weighs so much that I’m afraid to read it in bed for fear I’ll fall asleep and drop it on my nose! When my Kindle falls I don’t even blink.
Barkskins by Annie Proulx. Highly recommended. Follows the generations of 2 French immigrants from the 1600s through present day and their relationships to the forests. It’s a weighty read though
Recently read Moira Greyland’s The Last Closet - very disturbing. Rereading Hayek’s The Fatal Conceit. Also reading N T Wright’s The Challenge of Jesus: Discovering Who Jesus Was and Is, Jordan Peterson’s new book 12 Rules for Life: An Alternative to Chaos, and at least a dozen trashy science fiction e-books… I usually have several books going, which is much easier with an iPad or kindle than with physical books. Typically two or three that actually require thought and some various cotton candy for the mind… This doesn’t count the legal books and articles I read, or the wine books - have, but haven’t gotten to, Clark Smith’s Postmodern Winemaking.
Finished Oathbringer before the holidays, and Aether of Night more recently. Currently working on S. (by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst) and Tips for Living, with Truthwatcher on deck.
My TBR is enormous and I’m lagging because I’ve also been working a cross stitch. I need to do a couple audiobooks so I can keep working and reading.
The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu. Very good - I’ll move on to the next book in the trilogy soon.
Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan. Highly praised, but I found it only so-so.
The Epiphany Machine, by David Burr Gerard. Interesting, some good insights, but I couldn’t maintain interest in the central character.
Just started:
Liberty or Death: The French Revolution, by Peter McPhee
Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts, by Clive James
Next on the list:
Ties, by Domenico Starnone
Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life, by Helen Czerski
I’ll also have to find something on CD to listen to in the car. I had planned on Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, but the library copy I had expected to pick up today was just checked out by someone else.
At the moment I’m about halfway through The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage and most of the way through my billionth re-read of the Harry Potter series (re-listen actually, I put the audiobooks on when I’m working/driving/etc)
You all read better books than me. I’m currently re-reading the Harry Potter books because I needed a break from the various nutrition science type books I’d been reading.
Just finished reading A Closed and Common Orbit, the second book in the Wayfarers trilogy by Becky Chambers (after re-reading the first book, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet).
Right now I’m reading The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie. It’s from Standard Ebooks, a not-for-profit, volunteer-driven effort that’s creating impeccably designed ebooks of public domain works. I even produced a book for them.
I am amazed at how many folk have more than one book in the rotation at once. I read one at a time, til they’re done! Course I also eat my food that way, in order of what tastes best hottest down to room temperature.
@bhodilee Which is currently some book about zombies. With the Kindle I can never remember the names of books cause it isn’t staring me in the face. After this one I’ll likely reread It.
@bhodilee I tend to read one at a time as well. When I had more time to read, I was going through 3-5 books a week (depending on the book), but time is much more lacking nowadays, so I can only get through 1-2. That, and I’ve become pickier as I get older.
I’m kind of curious about other people’s re-reading habits. I’ve always re-read books habitually, but I know some people are very much 'read ‘em once and move on’ type of readers. I wonder how those lines fall along here in CM.
@bhodilee I usually have a book on CD for the car. Add what I call my “breakfast book” - something I read while at the breakfast table, usually in a format that works well for reading only a few pages at a time over a long period of time. Essay collections, such as the Clive James book I mentioned above, are perfect for that. Then I have my “sit down and read” books, either one or two. Never two novels, but one fiction and one nonfiction seems to work well. That makes for three or four at any time. If I’m doing research on some topic I can add to that, and things like cookbooks, travel books, and other such practical books also add to the total.
@tklivory I don’t often re-read books - too many I want to read for the first time, to read one for the second time. There are exceptions, of course - I’ve read Paradise Lost several times, along with Don Quixote, A Canticle for Liebowitz, and a few others.
@bhodilee I’ve got a method to my madness. I have (and this may be TMI) one dead-tree book in the bathroom, one dead-tree book in the bedroom, one fiction and one non-fiction book on Kindle on the go at any point in time. I also often have up to one additional fiction and/or non-fiction Kindle book on the go if I get bogged down and need to rest from it for awhile to see if a break will allow me to pick it back up in the near future.
@bhodilee I usually have a reading-with-my-eyes book and an audiobook going at the same time. That way I can “read” at work, in the car, while playing video games, etc.
@bhodilee I like to have a book in my car for appointments and picking up the kids and other unplanned down time. My current car book is " Isaac’s Storm". It can take months to finish my car book but I prefer to really pleasure read just one book at a time.
In my case, the habit goes back at least to early high school days when reading at least a science fiction novel and a ‘real’ novel along with the chapters and bits of textbooks. It worked, and worked in college, graduate school, the army and law school… As my moods, interests and work demands shift, I can pick up whatever seems best at the time when I have time here or there.
Reading Lincoln on the Bardo by G. Saunders for book club. Our club is called RIO which stands for reading is optional, but we do have real book talk at the dinner party. Only 15% of the way on L. on Bardo and the narrative is strange/weird. Not sure I’d recommend. I enjoy reading 10-12 books a year, so helping out with the national average.
@foxrunner I’m a very big fan of Saunders work (I love his short stories), but I was terrifically underwhelmed by Lincoln in the Bardo, and find the amount of praise the book received (including winning the Booker!) somewhat baffling.
@jawlz 41% complete info thanks to the Kindle. I’m warming up to story. Now that Lincoln has emerged things are a bit more interesting. Really not sure were this is going.
Currently reading Nemesis Games (The Expanse #5) by James S.A. Corey.
Just found out the Corey is the pen name for a collaboration between Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. I had no idea.
The last few books weren’t worth mentioning, but have just started The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I am typically not a non-fiction reader, but I heard about the story and was fascinated, the book has not disappointed me, it is a nice balance of the science story and the personal story.
@cbilyak It was Hot in the City and I was Dancing with Myself until I rocked the Cradle of Love with a Rebel Yell and found Flesh for Fantasy, resulting in a White Wedding which cost a lot of Mony, Mony but then we divorced and now I’m all Eyes without a Face, The End?
Brenda Drake’s Assassin of Truths. Doesn’t come out til 2/6, but I get Advanced Reading Copies sometimes on books. It’s a really good series, if you like kinda fluffy YA Fantasy. Lots of nerdy elements to it. (I needed something to destress with, and that fit the bill perfectly.)
The bone clocks by David Mitchell.
I’m only 10-15% in but it’s been a good read so far. I really only seem to read during work travel so it’ll take awhile.
Currently reading:
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
How to Sharpen Pencils by David Rees
The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations
The L. Frank Baum books on Oz (If I can find that damn e-reader again).
Re-reading:
The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings/The Silmarillion
Just a few from the up next stack:
T. Rex and the Crater of Doom by Walter Alvarez
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Ada’s Algorithm by James Essinger
The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture
The two books that have lately been occupying more of my time than others have been Robert Penn Warren’s “Brother to Dragons” (I’m very nearly through it, and finding it tremendously good), and the new Landmark edition of Caesar’s Commentaries. I’m also working my way through Jonathan Haidt’s “The Righteous Mind,” Olivia Laing’s “The Trip to Echo Springs: On Writers and Drinking,” and Neil Postman’s “Technopoly.”
And then of course various magazine articles and (generally rather dry or technical) work material.
@jawlz It’s been at least 4 decades since I read any Robert Penn Warren - I’ll put him on my list for a revisit. Caesar’s Commentaries are always worth a visit, and Haidt’s book is outstanding! Good stuff!
Thanks for the Landmark referral - now on my Amazon list. I suppose it is wine list snobbiness to mention that I’ve never read it in a translation. Although, more than half a century has passed and all I now remember from HS Latin is an occasional idiom. And even those I have to Google to confirm.
@rpm - I too hadn’t read Penn Warren for years, and then I picked up a volume of his poetry (“Or Else”) about 3 months ago or so, and got hooked again. In many ways I think that “Brother to Dragons” does successfully (and with more points for technical difficulty) what George Saunders’ “Lincoln in the Bardo” - mentioned in another comment above - rather unsuccessfully attempts. Though they are of course very different books.
@Lighter - My Latin is limited to a few dozen phrases and words. Every now and then I think about making an effort to actually learn the language, but I’ve never had the easiest time picking up new languages, and time is sadly limited. Some day, though…
Anyways, the Landmark editions of the various histories (so far Herodotus, Thucydides, some of Xenophon, and some of Arrian) are tremendous for how they incorporate maps, notes, and archaeology throughout the texts. The maps are especially great - without them, a reader with a weak grasp of geography would have trouble. I have a decent enough idea of the geography of Greece, but the farther into Persia you get the less sure my grasp becomes. I therefore found the ancillary maps and materials in the Landmark edition of Arrian’s Campaigns of Alexander to be incredibly helpful; and the additional materials and maps they’ve incorporated so far into Caesar’s Commentaries have been great as well.
@coynedj - I have all the others too! Such a wonderful series of books. For the Commentaries, they have unfortunately only included 4 ancillary essays in the volume they’re selling, but published another 30 or so essays in an online pdf. I would have preferred the book to have included all the essays in the same volume - or at least to be sold as a 2 volume set - but it is what it is. I actually had another company print and bind the online essays for me so I could have them on hand, which works well enough.
That complaint aside, I’m enjoying the book every bit as much as all the previous works in the series.
Just finished Dance Night by Dawn Powell. Just started Wolf: A False Memoir by Jim Harrison. Also verrrrry slowly poking my way through Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky. Here’s my Goodreads profile if you wanna stalk me or friend me or whatever: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/38713239-kathy
Currently reading Paris Spleen by Baudelaire, but just finished A Really Big Lunch, which is a collection of works by Jim Harrison. It was amazing! Love his writing style, and a lot of it is focused around great food and wine. He even wrote a good bit for Kermit Lynch’s publications.
@coffeemate12 and I have more books than we know what to do with at this time. No free time to spare. Last book I finished was one she passed over to me: A Man Called Ove. Fantastic read that gets you right in the feels. Totally recommended.
I have been reading my way through the Louise Penny series of Inspector Gamache/Three Pines mystery novels. I am currently on #6 of 13 currently out, and am thoroughly enjoying them. She is not afraid of killing off her creations.
Just finished “The Concrete Blonde” by Michael Connelly and really enjoyed it! But I guess I fall into the hoi polloi group because that is the first book I have read in 4 or 5 years
@ScottW58 I’ve read everything Connelly’s written. Some really great (though often very dark) stuff.
@ScottW58 @xandersherry, Read same in paperback, then got them on my Kindle. (Since the paperbacks were getting worn out!)
I’m reading the Paper Magician series by Charlie Holmberg and quite enjoying it, fun little series. Next up is (another re-read of) Shogun by James Clavell. I first read that book when I was about ten or so and have absolutely loved it ever since.
@tklivory Great story! I think I was about 13 when I had my Clavell experience.
Pancreatic cancer: Next-generation algorithms for neoantigen selection
https://www.nature.com/articles/nrgastro.2017.184
@jml326 That’s a hell of a lot closer to what I’ve been reading these days. So much to read for work, much of it science or law-related. I’ve probably read more court decisions than most bioengineers who aren’t also lawyers. I’m not sure if that’s a badge of honour or shame
Walter Isaacson’s Leonardo da Vinci. But it weighs so much that I’m afraid to read it in bed for fear I’ll fall asleep and drop it on my nose!
When my Kindle falls I don’t even blink.
@Lighter,
LOL
Barkskins by Annie Proulx. Highly recommended. Follows the generations of 2 French immigrants from the 1600s through present day and their relationships to the forests. It’s a weighty read though
I’ve been reading the Casemates forum. Not a bad read, will probably read again.
@markgm
Recently read Moira Greyland’s The Last Closet - very disturbing. Rereading Hayek’s The Fatal Conceit. Also reading N T Wright’s The Challenge of Jesus: Discovering Who Jesus Was and Is, Jordan Peterson’s new book 12 Rules for Life: An Alternative to Chaos, and at least a dozen trashy science fiction e-books… I usually have several books going, which is much easier with an iPad or kindle than with physical books. Typically two or three that actually require thought and some various cotton candy for the mind… This doesn’t count the legal books and articles I read, or the wine books - have, but haven’t gotten to, Clark Smith’s Postmodern Winemaking.
@rpm
Been thru parts of that two or three times.
Man, am I dense that it takes that many times and still I need more.
Finished Oathbringer before the holidays, and Aether of Night more recently. Currently working on S. (by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst) and Tips for Living, with Truthwatcher on deck.
My TBR is enormous and I’m lagging because I’ve also been working a cross stitch. I need to do a couple audiobooks so I can keep working and reading.
@marla25 I often get both the e-book and audiobook, especially when I can switch back and forth. It’s usually seamless.
@rpm Oh yeah - as much as it annoys me that amazon and google own my whole life, the kindle/audible link is a really nice feature.
Red Country by Joe Abercrombie
@NightGhost My fav was “Best Served Cold”!
@foxrunner Yeah, I liked that a lot. In some ways, better than Martin’s Ice and Fire.
@NightGhost I’m betting Martin doesn’t finish! UGH!
@foxrunner I hear ya. At least we have the show. And I’ve learned not to start reading unfinished series. No Rothfuss for me!
@NightGhost I’m still astonished that the Wheel of Time series was actually finished, albeit by a hand-chosen successor to the original author.
@tklivory Any chance Martin has a similar contingency plan?
@NightGhost We can only hope… for Brandon Sanderson.
@tklivory Have you read any other Martin? My favorite is a sleeper - Tuf Voyaging.
@NightGhost I fell that trap too
@NightGhost Fever Dreams if my recall is correct. A vampire story set in the old South. Also Hedge Knight, much less gritty than Song.
@foxrunner Both were good - I’ve liked everything by Martin - even Armageddon Rag.
@NightGhost Not much, admittedly. I’ll have to check out the titles you and @foxrunner mentioned. adds to list
@tklivory I’ve also heard great things about Kings of the Wyld by Eames.
@NightGhost adds to list as well
Recently finished:
Just started:
Next on the list:
I’ll also have to find something on CD to listen to in the car. I had planned on Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, but the library copy I had expected to pick up today was just checked out by someone else.
I generally have a few books on the go at any given point in time. Here’s the list as it stands now: https://www.librarything.com/catalog/XanderS/currentlyreading
Some just started, some in progress for the better part of a year.
Here’s what I’ve finished so far this year: https://www.librarything.com/catalog/XanderS/readin2018
At the moment I’m about halfway through The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage and most of the way through my billionth re-read of the Harry Potter series (re-listen actually, I put the audiobooks on when I’m working/driving/etc)
You all read better books than me. I’m currently re-reading the Harry Potter books because I needed a break from the various nutrition science type books I’d been reading.
@airynne “Better” is subjective. If it makes you want to keep turning pages, it’s plenty good enough.
@xandersherry Very true.
@airynne It is always the right time to re-read Harry Potter. I’m almost done with The Half-Blood Prince for at least the 4th or 5th time.
@arielleslie this is my 4th re-read. It’s my go to when I don’t want to think much.
@airynne
Just finished reading A Closed and Common Orbit, the second book in the Wayfarers trilogy by Becky Chambers (after re-reading the first book, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet).
Right now I’m reading The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie. It’s from Standard Ebooks, a not-for-profit, volunteer-driven effort that’s creating impeccably designed ebooks of public domain works. I even produced a book for them.
@SSteve Oh, hey, thanks for the heads up! I hadn’t heard of that site. It should prove most useful.
@tklivory Yeah, it’s a great project. I hope it hits critical mass so spread the word.
@SSteve Will do! I’ve got several people already in mind…
@SSteve Awesome site. I’ll load up some of these soon!
This thread, not as lively as I had hoped.
@bhodilee We’re too busy updating CT to read.
@bhodilee Okay - I’ve been reading 50 Shades of Zinfandel.
@bhodilee And BD is tomorrow, with limited sales today picking out pockets.
Reading the offers!
I am amazed at how many folk have more than one book in the rotation at once. I read one at a time, til they’re done! Course I also eat my food that way, in order of what tastes best hottest down to room temperature.
@bhodilee Which is currently some book about zombies. With the Kindle I can never remember the names of books cause it isn’t staring me in the face. After this one I’ll likely reread It.
@bhodilee I tend to read one at a time as well. When I had more time to read, I was going through 3-5 books a week (depending on the book), but time is much more lacking nowadays, so I can only get through 1-2. That, and I’ve become pickier as I get older.
I’m kind of curious about other people’s re-reading habits. I’ve always re-read books habitually, but I know some people are very much 'read ‘em once and move on’ type of readers. I wonder how those lines fall along here in CM.
@bhodilee I usually have a book on CD for the car. Add what I call my “breakfast book” - something I read while at the breakfast table, usually in a format that works well for reading only a few pages at a time over a long period of time. Essay collections, such as the Clive James book I mentioned above, are perfect for that. Then I have my “sit down and read” books, either one or two. Never two novels, but one fiction and one nonfiction seems to work well. That makes for three or four at any time. If I’m doing research on some topic I can add to that, and things like cookbooks, travel books, and other such practical books also add to the total.
@tklivory I don’t often re-read books - too many I want to read for the first time, to read one for the second time. There are exceptions, of course - I’ve read Paradise Lost several times, along with Don Quixote, A Canticle for Liebowitz, and a few others.
@bhodilee I’ve got a method to my madness. I have (and this may be TMI) one dead-tree book in the bathroom, one dead-tree book in the bedroom, one fiction and one non-fiction book on Kindle on the go at any point in time. I also often have up to one additional fiction and/or non-fiction Kindle book on the go if I get bogged down and need to rest from it for awhile to see if a break will allow me to pick it back up in the near future.
@bhodilee I usually have a reading-with-my-eyes book and an audiobook going at the same time. That way I can “read” at work, in the car, while playing video games, etc.
@arielleslie I’m gonna learn Braille so I can read one book with my eyes, one with my hands and one with my ears, SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!
@bhodilee I like to have a book in my car for appointments and picking up the kids and other unplanned down time. My current car book is " Isaac’s Storm". It can take months to finish my car book but I prefer to really pleasure read just one book at a time.
In my case, the habit goes back at least to early high school days when reading at least a science fiction novel and a ‘real’ novel along with the chapters and bits of textbooks. It worked, and worked in college, graduate school, the army and law school… As my moods, interests and work demands shift, I can pick up whatever seems best at the time when I have time here or there.
Reading Lincoln on the Bardo by G. Saunders for book club. Our club is called RIO which stands for reading is optional, but we do have real book talk at the dinner party. Only 15% of the way on L. on Bardo and the narrative is strange/weird. Not sure I’d recommend. I enjoy reading 10-12 books a year, so helping out with the national average.
@foxrunner I read that book very recently, and loved it. Yes, it is weird, but so am I. I read about 75 books per year.
@foxrunner I’m a very big fan of Saunders work (I love his short stories), but I was terrifically underwhelmed by Lincoln in the Bardo, and find the amount of praise the book received (including winning the Booker!) somewhat baffling.
@jawlz 41% complete info thanks to the Kindle. I’m warming up to story. Now that Lincoln has emerged things are a bit more interesting. Really not sure were this is going.
@foxrunner Today’s PBS Well Read book review show featured Lincoln in the Bardo. Neat to hear the author’s perspective.
There has been A Mediocre Book Club (Unofficial) forming over on the Meh forum. Come join us!
It is a little-known fact that ghosts love to read, perhaps because we can get through a book in seconds. #ghosthumor
Currently reading Nemesis Games (The Expanse #5) by James S.A. Corey.
Just found out the Corey is the pen name for a collaboration between Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. I had no idea.
The last few books weren’t worth mentioning, but have just started The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I am typically not a non-fiction reader, but I heard about the story and was fascinated, the book has not disappointed me, it is a nice balance of the science story and the personal story.
Billy Idol’s autobiography.
@cbilyak It was Hot in the City and I was Dancing with Myself until I rocked the Cradle of Love with a Rebel Yell and found Flesh for Fantasy, resulting in a White Wedding which cost a lot of Mony, Mony but then we divorced and now I’m all Eyes without a Face, The End?
@chipgreen
@EdwardNygma How is it? I loved The Martian.
Brenda Drake’s Assassin of Truths. Doesn’t come out til 2/6, but I get Advanced Reading Copies sometimes on books. It’s a really good series, if you like kinda fluffy YA Fantasy. Lots of nerdy elements to it. (I needed something to destress with, and that fit the bill perfectly.)
The bone clocks by David Mitchell.
I’m only 10-15% in but it’s been a good read so far. I really only seem to read during work travel so it’ll take awhile.
Currently reading:
Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
How to Sharpen Pencils by David Rees
The Conet Project: Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations
The L. Frank Baum books on Oz (If I can find that damn e-reader again).
Re-reading:
The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings/The Silmarillion
Just a few from the up next stack:
T. Rex and the Crater of Doom by Walter Alvarez
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Ada’s Algorithm by James Essinger
The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture
The two books that have lately been occupying more of my time than others have been Robert Penn Warren’s “Brother to Dragons” (I’m very nearly through it, and finding it tremendously good), and the new Landmark edition of Caesar’s Commentaries. I’m also working my way through Jonathan Haidt’s “The Righteous Mind,” Olivia Laing’s “The Trip to Echo Springs: On Writers and Drinking,” and Neil Postman’s “Technopoly.”
And then of course various magazine articles and (generally rather dry or technical) work material.
@jawlz It’s been at least 4 decades since I read any Robert Penn Warren - I’ll put him on my list for a revisit. Caesar’s Commentaries are always worth a visit, and Haidt’s book is outstanding! Good stuff!
@jawlz
Thanks for the Landmark referral - now on my Amazon list. I suppose it is wine list snobbiness to mention that I’ve never read it in a translation.
Although, more than half a century has passed and all I now remember from HS Latin is an occasional idiom. And even those I have to Google to confirm.
@jawlz I have all of the others in the Landmark series - looks like it’s time to buy another! They’re superb works.
@rpm - I too hadn’t read Penn Warren for years, and then I picked up a volume of his poetry (“Or Else”) about 3 months ago or so, and got hooked again. In many ways I think that “Brother to Dragons” does successfully (and with more points for technical difficulty) what George Saunders’ “Lincoln in the Bardo” - mentioned in another comment above - rather unsuccessfully attempts. Though they are of course very different books.
@Lighter - My Latin is limited to a few dozen phrases and words. Every now and then I think about making an effort to actually learn the language, but I’ve never had the easiest time picking up new languages, and time is sadly limited. Some day, though…
Anyways, the Landmark editions of the various histories (so far Herodotus, Thucydides, some of Xenophon, and some of Arrian) are tremendous for how they incorporate maps, notes, and archaeology throughout the texts. The maps are especially great - without them, a reader with a weak grasp of geography would have trouble. I have a decent enough idea of the geography of Greece, but the farther into Persia you get the less sure my grasp becomes. I therefore found the ancillary maps and materials in the Landmark edition of Arrian’s Campaigns of Alexander to be incredibly helpful; and the additional materials and maps they’ve incorporated so far into Caesar’s Commentaries have been great as well.
@coynedj - I have all the others too! Such a wonderful series of books. For the Commentaries, they have unfortunately only included 4 ancillary essays in the volume they’re selling, but published another 30 or so essays in an online pdf. I would have preferred the book to have included all the essays in the same volume - or at least to be sold as a 2 volume set - but it is what it is. I actually had another company print and bind the online essays for me so I could have them on hand, which works well enough.
That complaint aside, I’m enjoying the book every bit as much as all the previous works in the series.
Just finished Dance Night by Dawn Powell. Just started Wolf: A False Memoir by Jim Harrison. Also verrrrry slowly poking my way through Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky. Here’s my Goodreads profile if you wanna stalk me or friend me or whatever: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/38713239-kathy
Currently reading Paris Spleen by Baudelaire, but just finished A Really Big Lunch, which is a collection of works by Jim Harrison. It was amazing! Love his writing style, and a lot of it is focused around great food and wine. He even wrote a good bit for Kermit Lynch’s publications.
@fredpgh I’m doing a slow read-all-the-things of Jim Harrison’s. I have not read any of his nonfiction stuff yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
@kjrogers I highly recommend mixing in some of his nonfiction. It’s a bit more personal and really makes you appreciate his fiction even more.
@coffeemate12 and I have more books than we know what to do with at this time. No free time to spare. Last book I finished was one she passed over to me: A Man Called Ove. Fantastic read that gets you right in the feels. Totally recommended.
@javadrinker Try the Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window as you enjoyed Ove. A bit lighter but excellent also!
Almost finished with The Taking by Dean Koontz.
Certified Dietary Manager Exam Secrets Study Guide. Thrilling.
Just started Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
@chipgreen I remember reading that in high school. My brain has never been the same.
@arielleslie In a good way or bad? Should I take the author’s own advice and not read it? I have been busy so am only about 40 pages into it…
@chipgreen It’s just weird. There are some things I’ll never look at quite the same way. I liked the book though.
@arielleslie Thanks
Music Everywhere: The Rock and Roll Roots of a Southern Town, by Marty Jourard. It’s amazing how many musicians have ties to my hometown.
Just finished my bazillionth revisit of the Harry Potter series and pulled up Name of the Wind on Audible for the 4th time.
Re-reading the Night Angel series by Brent Weeks on my Kindle (1st on Kindle, 3rd overall). Now on book 3 of 3.
Recent series read/re-read in past year:
On deck: