What Are You Reading Now?

[BigPiney]

Is it necessary to have read the Dickens novel?

Not at all. Names and characters are similar and so are themes. Small things here and there remind me of the Dickens story. I'm only 15% through at this point, but here are some small examples. In the original his housekeeper has the family name of Peggoty, and she is the one that essentially raises David. One summer, they go visit her family that lives by the sea in a ship that is washed up on the beach.

In this version the family on whose property he lives is named Peggot and one summer they go visit a daughter in another city and take him with them. At the apartment they stay in the kids have to sleep in the family room and make a fort out of cushions they sleep in during the visit. The girl that lives there doesn't want to be called a fort and calls it their "ship".

So if you know it, you can see where the inspiration comes from. For me it is fun to see, but totally not necessary.

[SteelBlue]

So I finally finished Demon Copperhead. The opioid crisis becomes the main theme midway through the novel and that caused some difficulty for me having a sister who is an addict and several friends who have struggled the past few years (none of them opioids but the behaviors are all too familiar). The difficulty came from me being somewhat exhausted with the ups and downs of it all. Because it’s not a problem for me currently, I find I have decreasing patience with them at times. Reading about people doing the same stupid shit became irritating. But as all good fiction does, it made me look inward and reflect on why those behaviors make me so angry and what kind of a mental place my family and friends are coming from.

TLDR: phenomenal novel that took an unexpected turn and challenged my empathy. Recommend.

[SeattleUte]

Two of the books I'm reading are Karl Ove Knaussgaard's My Struggle and rereading my favorite all-time crime novel, and one of my favorite all-time novels, American Tabloid by James Ellroy. Most of the "intelligentsia" would consider the former more high-brow than the latter. But actually, the amount of artistry, creativity, craft, and hard work that went into the latter is 1000x the former.The latter is 1000x more entertaining, and not lacking profundity. I do not get the praise for My Struggle. I guess some people just like to look in a mirror at their own banalities

[Non Sequitur]

Two of the books I'm reading are Karl Ove Knaussgaard's My Struggle and rereading my favorite all-time crime novel, and one of my favorite all-time novels, American Tabloid by James Ellroy. Most of the "intelligentsia" would consider the former more high-brow than the latter. But actually, the amount of artistry, creativity, craft, and hard work that went into the latter is 1000x the former.The latter is 1000x more entertaining, and not lacking profundity. I do not get the praise for My Struggle. I guess some people just like to look in a mirror at their own banalities

Just used this month's credit on Audible to purchase American Tabloid, based on nothing more than your recommendation. That's trust, man.

[BigPiney]

I am continuing my journey through all of Dickens works. I try to read about 1 a year. 75% though with Martin Chuzzlewit and it is my least favorite thus far. Some really good characters, but overall just not liking it as well as others.

[SeattleUte]

Just used this month's credit on Audible to purchase American Tabloid, based on nothing more than your recommendation. That's trust, man.

I promise you'll love it.

[fusnik]

I just finished The Passenger and Stella Maris, what a ride.

I’m torn between two wildly different interpretations, but - no spoiler - loved the imagery of a pilot dangling like a marionette, with a plane full of people. How evocative of life that so many times we are simply passengers on a plane, driven by something else that is being driven by something else. Oftentimes we don’t know who our pilot is, their motivations, and almost always the pilot has no idea why we are passengers. The relationship between the conscious and subconscious, teetering so often between success and disaster with external forces out of our control oftentimes being the deciding factor.

What a send off for him, highly recommended.

[SeattleUte]

My RM nephew asked me for a novel recommendation. I gave him At Night all Blood is Black. I decided to re-reread it. Reaffirmed my conviction it's a great novel, in the traditional, non-hyberbolic sense of great, an instant classic.

Like others of my favorites, like Blood Meridian, Stella Maris/The Passenger, American Psycho, some David Mitchell novels, you're left at the end wondering what the hell has really been happening. More than one interpretation is equally plausible. Take your pick.

[SeattleUte]

As I said, I was persuaded to read this. Horrible, and kind of offensive. I give detailed critiques on my twitter feed.

My Struggle: Book 1 (My Struggle, 1): Knausgaard, Karl Ove, Bartlett, Don: 8601400286418: Amazon.com: Books

[Northwestcoug]

Finished A Canticle for Leibowitz. I think it would resonate with many if not all of you. Its author converted to Catholicism after WWII and seems to have used this novel, published in the early 60s, to work through his experiences. He had published several short stories, but never published another novel and ended up committing suicide at age 73. A Canticle for Leibowitz won the Hugo Award for best Sci Fi novel in 1961. It is a highly philosophical novel that uses Sci Fi to study the cycles of humanity.

It's broken into 3 main sections. The first begins at the fall of humanity, post nuclear war in the deserts of Utah. Some form of humanity has survived and so has some form of the Catholic church with monks working to preserve the history of their much more enlightened but ultimately doomed forebears. Something as simple as a blueprint for an electric circuit becomes a mystery and relic cherished as the current church cherishes its relics.

A time jump shows humanity on the cusp of scientific re-discovery and new enlightenment and a final time jump shows society more advanced than ours but about to repeat its cycle. Throughout it all, the monks work to preserve history and morality and the novel is a great device for philosophical debates. Because so many of you have spent significant amounts of time in your lives thinking about and debating these same topics, I feel confident that the novel would be at least interesting to you. The author tilts toward the Christian side of each argument but he does so in a manner that is fair, using very human characters, and never presents the debate as closed.

I'm glad you recommended this. I was going to start Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell but it seemed too daunting to start, so I copped out with a smaller book. I wholeheartedly agree with you. It is very well written, brutal and hilarious at times. It poses variations of the science vs. religion debate throughout those 3 time periods in a super interesting way like you say: post-apocalyptic, on the verge of scientific discovery, and in a more advanced society than today's. Whatever his final view on the great philosophical debates the author treated each side pretty fairly and with empathy. Despite it being 60+ years old now if feels timeless.

Terms of catholicism and a ton of Latin force you to keep google at your side, but it was worth it. I want to recommend it to my daughter's boyfriend (the one who got me on Three Body Problem) but he's Jewish, so I'm not sure if he would resonate with the Christian concepts. For all y'all, you'll get it.

[fusnik]

The Last Chairlift - John Irving.

A prayer for Owen meaning was one of the first big books I ever read as a kid. Took it from my moms collection.

I wouldn’t recommend someone consume 900 pages of Irving unless you are a fan, and I am, and I loved it. Another great authors last work, what a treat to have new books by both Irving and Cormac.

[Clark Addison]

The Last Chairlift - John Irving.

A prayer for Owen meaning was one of the first big books I ever read as a kid. Took it from my moms collection.

I wouldn’t recommend someone consume 900 pages of Irving unless you are a fan, and I am, and I loved it. Another great authors last work, what a treat to have new books by both Irving and Cormac.

I went through a phase as a teenager where I read Garp and the Hotel New Hampshire 2 or 3 times each. Loved them. Maybe it was all the sex. I haven't read Irving in years but should give him another go.

[Clark Addison]

Thought I would share a tip. At the risk of learning everyone else knew this years ago.

I listen to a lot of audio books; I average about 2 a week. I use Libby and my local library where I can, but the selection from my library is pretty lame, and probably only 1 in 20 books I listen to are available there. The rest are pretty much all from Audible. I'm on the 2 credits per month plan, and I try to shop deals as often as I can, but even with that, in 2022 I spent $275 on the monthly fees, and then another $529 buying books, so over $800 for the year (I just added that up now. If you had asked me yesterday what I had spent, I would have guessed about half that).

So, the part that everyone except me may have already known is that some libraries let you get an e-card even if you don't live in the area. The two that I know of so far are Las Vegas-Clark County and Broward County Florida. I added both to my account (took literally about 2 minutes for each), and it turns out that both of them have an enormously larger selection than my own library. So I am hoping to move that $800 down $400 or so this year.

Las Vegas CSers, thank you for subsidizing my reading habit through your tax dollars! I am not aware of any Fort Lauderdale CSers, but if there are any, thank you as well!

[Scott R Nelson]

So, the part that everyone except me may have already known is that some libraries let you get an e-card even if you don't live in the area. The two that I know of so far are Las Vegas-Clark County and Broward County Florida

I didn't know that I could get my own account for Las Vegas - I've been using my daughter's account there.

I'll have to check out Broward County now. I just checked a few days ago and I can't even get an account for Boise and I live right next door in Meridian. They'll let me check out any physical book, CD or DVD from their library with my Meridian card, but no electronic stuff.

I often check multiple library systems for the particular electronic book that I want. Occasionally if it is not available I can order the paper version from my local library, which can get books from all over Southern Idaho. I get old books from https://www.gutenberg.org/

[Pelado]

I didn't know that I could get my own account for Las Vegas - I've been using my daughter's account there.

I'll have to check out Broward County now. I just checked a few days ago and I can't even get an account for Boise and I live right next door in Meridian. They'll let me check out any physical book, CD or DVD from their library with my Meridian card, but no electronic stuff.

I often check multiple library systems for the particular electronic book that I want. Occasionally if it is not available I can order the paper version from my local library, which can get books from all over Southern Idaho. I get old books from https://www.gutenberg.org/

One way to get around that Boise library hangup is to acquire a rental property there since Boise property owners qualify for a Boise library card (whether or not you physically reside there). Don't everyone rush to take advantage of this loophole, though.