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- Birnam Wood – Eleanor Catton, 2023. I picked this up again, less than a year after I first read it, because I enjoyed the NYT Book Review podcast interview. It’s so good, and knowing the shocking ending helped make more sense of it this time. The thriller plot combined with psychological acuity is remarkable, and I find the New Zealand setting fascinating.
- The Quiet American – Graham Greene, 1955. Second Monday choice – I missed the discussion but read it anyway. Quotes pulled, TBD.
- Thirty-Eight: The Hurricane That Transformed New England – Stephen Long, 2016. Nature and Environment; quotes pulled, TBD. This also counted for the Massachusetts Center for the Book challenge, “A book about nature, the environment, or climate change.” I wrote “A wide-ranging investigation about the effect of the hurricane on forests and timber, with effects lasting to the present day.”
- Citizen of the Galaxy – Robert Heinlein, 1957. I re-read this for the umpteenth time, prompted by something but I don’t remember what. The more I love a book, the more random incidents or thoughts will remind me of it and make me want to go back. My ability to re-read brings me a lot of pleasure!
- Nine Things I’ve Learned about Life – Harold Kushner, 2015. We visited my mother-in-law for the eclipse and during our ample downtime on 4/8 I read the whole thing. I’ve enjoyed the other Kushners I’ve read as well. He’s the exemplar of why I find Judaism attractive despite being an atheist.
- The Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading – Francis Spufford, 2002. One of the best books-about-books I’ve ever read. I need to buy myself a copy and read it again. I added Land under England by Joseph O’Neill (Spufford credits it with part of the plot of Lewis’ The Silver Chair), Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr, and The Perilous Descent by Bruce Carter to my TBR-someday list.
- Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1866. Great Books group finally got me to read this! Kinda hated it. Quotes pulled, TBD.
- Elevation – Stephen King, 2018. I like King’s short books and it features running, hurray! But it’s sloppy, like a lot of his work. For example, people look at the protagonist and say “you’re doing a 5K?” You really can’t tell by looking who’s a speed demon and who’s back of the pack like me; a 5K is not a big deal; so many folks run that it wouldn’t be that notable; and that was just one of the false notes. Did not love.
- The Girl with All the Gifts – M.R. Carey, 2018. A wonderful exemplar of SF where you’re in the head of the protagonist and slowly realize things-are-not-as-they-seem (see Under the Root, Never Let Me Go). I very much enjoyed it and see there’s a sequel, The Boy on the Bridge. TBR!
- Les sept boules de cristal and Le temple du soleil – HergĂ©, 1948. I’ve read these multiple times – Seven Crystal Balls a few, Temple of the Sun many times – and they still hold up because the art is so striking. The eclipse prompted me to revisit TotS but 7 Balls is the prequel.