Books

"Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World" by Vivek H. Murthy

Been looking for something to read after "Bowling Alone". "Together" is not as dry-sciency as the book by Putnam though it jumps to "evolutionary psychology" conclusions too quickly at times. The anecdotes are so overly positive that sometimes they're hard to believe.

My personality for the longer while has been "guy who read Bowling Alone recently". I started to drink cofee at the bar rather than go sit down. I've watched Quadrophenia (set in 1964) recently and the scene with the big ballroom dance party (i.e. people socializing) gave me "look what they took from you" vibes.

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie.

I appreciate sci-fi that's more sociological and cultural commentary instead of just pew pew space battle. Leckie feels like the modern Ursula K La Guin, blending imperialism, racism and sexism into a centuries long narrative from the perspective of AI immortality. The world building is delightful yet shocking at the same time. Highly recommend.

Change your Diet, Change your Mind. by Georgia Ede, MD. How ultra processed foods damage your brain. and 50 Reasons People give for Believing in God. by Guy P. Harrison. After years of interviews, the top 50 reasons people give for religious beliefs.

Countdown to Zero Day. It’s about Suxtnet and how something like that was unprecedented during its time.

Just finished Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. Weird ride.

Becoming Earth by Ferris Jabr How life has impacted the formation of our planet.

Threads of Life by Clare Hunter History of needlework and embroidery.

Chokia Jazz by Francis Spufford Noir detective novel set in an alternate America in which the indigenous population wasn't wiped out by plauges.

Book 5 of Discworld, Sourcery by Terry Pratchett. Pretty entertaining sillyness that I listen to @ work mostly.

If This Book Exists, You're in the Wrong Universe by Jason Pargin

I finished the third and fourth book in John Scalzi's "old man's war" series. Currently on the fifth (out of six), so I expect to be looking for something else in the following week. I probably won't be reading a lot this weekend due to carnival though.

The books in "old man's war" are overall a good read, I liked the third book a little less (the fourth one made up for this), and I'm also not sold on the fifth one yet. Depending on my mood after reading the sixth book I'll probably look into other works by Scalzi. I might also check out some SF books by Charles Stross, I did enjoy "the laundry files" a lot.

Finished The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi. Twistier and grimmer than the first book; hoping the third (when it comes out) will have a satisfying conclusion. One note: if you decide to read this one by itself, with the thought that you might read the rest of the series later, just be aware that it spoils the ending of the first book.

Started I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. Light and fluffy fairy-tale-type story so far, without the melancholy undertones I remember The Last Unicorn (understandably) having. Reviews seem mixed about the second half, so we'll see how I feel about it when I get to that point!

I've been reading the Disc World series for a while now, just finished with the Rincewind books and am starting on the Death books with Mort. This series has been a fun ride and I'm enjoying seeing what will come next with every page

My book club book this time around is “Medusa’s Sisters” by Lauren Bear. It is awful. And boring. And graphic for the sake of being graphic. And I hate it. And book club is gonna get an earful from me.

Outside of that I just started “Well of Ascension” by Brandon Sanderson. I devoured “Mistborn” and can’t wait to get into this one.

I am curently reading "The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson. But I am not just reading it, I also do write an extensive summary. Yes, I know these probably do exist on the net, but my summary is something I write for myself to get a better grasp at this book.

100% serious here:

Anal Pleasure and Health, by Jack Morin, Ph. D.

My therapist recommended it. Seems great for anyone to read if they have a butt, even if they have zero interest in the pleasure aspects the book discusses

About 150 pages into The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I heard it's divisive and I can see why. On the one hand, I tend to like when an author experiments and has fun with their craft. But I can also see when the writing becomes a bit self-indulgent without progressing the plot much. I'll have to see where I stand at the end of it.

I've been rereading a book I liked as a teen, called Metropolitan by Walter Jon Williams. It's pretty good, a little more eyebrow raising now as a wiser man (he's a white guy from New Mexico writing about two Black characters from made up future ethnicities which have some clear parallels to real world oppressed peoples, eh.......)

What surprises me most is how much of the story is a romance, it's very 50 shades, a working class woman and a billionaire fall in love. But the billionaire is kind of a leftist revolutionary and the woman is kind of a sorcerer but its future science magic. Anyway, neat stuff, but I'm amazed teen me put up with so much romance; the science magic is really rad though, i did remember that!

I just finished Yes You Are Trans Enough by Mia Violet, and now I’ve started both The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy and Filterworld by Kyle Chayka

Finished “The Hazards of Urban Life in Late Stalinist Russia: Health, Hygiene, and Living Standards, 1943–1953” and am currently working on "Soviet Workers and Late Stalinism: Labour and the Restoration of the Stalinist System after World War II".

Fascinating stuff, very data-oriented.

I finished Cosmos by Carl Sagan a few weeks ago. It was a nice read. I'd recommend it anyone.

Due to recent events, I am currently reading 1984 by George Orwell for the first time in over a decade. I've reread about 2/3rds of the book and I would like to be finished within the next few days. It's nice remembering certain details of the book that I've forgotten.

I just finished Mind Bullet by Jeremy Robinson, it is a continuation of the Infinite timeline books I have been listening to.

As with a lot of the other books there were links to the previous books but where as it has been mostly subtle before with this book it becomes more apparent and starts forming more links your weren't aware of.

I believe from now the series will now merge a lot of separate threads that have been running through out and start making its way towards some kind of conclusion across the last 5 books I have. I'm looking forward to it!

I've also been hitting Deathlands of course, the one I am currently listening to however has changed the narrator. I do not like the new narrator much but I see this is going to be happening going forward where the cast is changed from time to time. Still enjoying the stories though so I won't drop it :D

Lady Joker: Vol. 1 by Kaoru Takamura and it's kicking my ass right now. Almost 3 weeks in and just crossed the 400 page mark

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

I started Victor LaValle's The Devil in Silver for the "Institutional" square of Book Bingo (and it seems well-written so far, don't get me wrong), but I'm taking a break in the middle to read some lighter fare.

I'm just trying to get through one row for Book Bingo instead of scattershot reading throughout the card, but my focus is all over the place.

The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Teper

around 85% of the way through; it's homophobic, transphobic, arguably misandrist ... yet I'm having a hard time not enjoying a fantasy world where misogyny is subverted and eliminated ... call it a guilty pleasure.

(EDIT: finished the book last night, I liked it, but I probably wouldn't recommend it simply because it is so reactionary. Definitely wouldn't want people uncritically adopting similar views, lol.)

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

nobody expects sentient spiders

I'm reading Outlive by Peter Attia, MD. It's sort of scaring me into building healthier habits. It's also provided a list of things I can talk to my doctor about such as additional screenings, some meds to try, etc. The question is, will my health insurance cooperate? Obligatory FREE LUIGI!

Some very controversial shit. Lol