I read it all but ended up regretting it.
Hmm. Thanks. Well, it’s short enough, I think I’ll keep going with it.
Apparently I am. I read it last year, and it was on my Top Ten Fiction list for 2020. (I think only Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell beat it.)
Anyway, finished The Book of Eels , by Patrik Svensson. Meh.
Now I’m reading Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison.
We are polar opposites, I think. I liked bits of Jonathan Strange but hated the overall book. I am ditching Time War at 50% point, I just can’t get interested in it, it feels too much like a story that keeps trying to start but can’t quite turn over.
I’ll be interested in what you think of Song of Solomon I DNFed it 
One reason I love this thread, is seeing different perspectives on thing I liked or hated. Often, I find my self, if not changing my opinion, at least, softening my criticism or, occasionally, my pleasure.
Three fourths of the way through A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal, by Ben MacIntyre.
I’m reading Poul Anderson’s David Falkyn: Star Trader, an omnibus volume of his works dealing with the title character – I haven’t read them all.
On my tablet I’m reading Twin Tracks by James Burke, another “Connections”- style exploration of the history of science and technology. It’s a quick read, filled with little nuggets I hadn’t encountered before (Samuel Taylor Coleridge had dinner with Commander Preble of Old Ironsides in Malta !)
I’ve also picked up three volumes of Playboy’s Party Jokes used. I’d previously read the “Little Big Book of Playboy Party Jokes” (which I also found in a used book shop), but that one lacked the cartoons that were in the older volumes. as I’ve remarked before, I doubt if anyone ever told these at parties. It’s a fascinating time capsule, in part because you couldn’t possibly tell some of these today – some of them are too racist (despite Playboy’s liberal leaning), far too sexist (surprise!) or condescending. And jokes about sex with the underage wouldn’t fly today. Lots of sexual harassment at work jokes, too. Times have definitely changed.
On audio, I’m listening to Clive Cussler’s Marauder. Cussler left us a year ago this month, but there’s a long gestation period for books. In addition to which Cussler’s books for the past couple of decades have been collaborations. I imagine that he outlines the plots and leaves it to his collaborators to finish them up. If so, we could have years of Cussler novels yet to be released. This one is in the Oregon Files series. (His previous book in the series, Final Option, would have been a good one to nd the series with, but I’m sure he had no idea that he would be going away.)
Finished Minor Mage. I wish I still had a kid to funnel books to; this is the kind of stuff they ought to be reading!
Today I started on Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire. It’s a YA novel about the phantom hitchhiker, told from her point of view. It hasn’t really grabbed me, but looks to be a quick read.
As with Tom Clancy, I expect his name will keep appearing on new books for quite some time to come.
Yeah, but unlike Tom Clancy, a lot of the books with his name on them will probably have a lot of his input.
Once they run out of Cussler plots, notes, scribblings, and laundry lists, THEN they’ll start making up new Dirk Pitt/ NUMA File/ Oregon File/ Isaac Bell/ Fargo adventures.
They might also start making movie adaptations again. the only two they made, both Dirk Pitt stories, supposedly didn’t meet with his approval. Cussler’s wonderfully absurd stories are perfectly cinematic. I think Sahara. is a perfect Bad Film.
I thought Sparrow Hill Road was wonderful. I think it made my Top Ten list that year. (I didn’t split it into Fiction and Nonfiction that year.)
And speaking of Top Ten lists…Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, will probably be on it. It was brilliant. The language, characterization,and themes were all excellent.
Just started I, Claudius: from the autobiography of Tiberius Claudis, born 10 B.C., murdered and deified A.D. 54, by Robert Graves.
Finished Space Exploration: Past, Present, Future by Carolyn Collins Petersen andThe Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena. Two excellent books.
Now moving on to The Man Who Sold The Moon by Robert A . Heinlein.
How young? I’m gonna finish my read-aloud of Neverending Story for my second-grader tonight, and am looking for a new read-aloud.
I’ve read three books since the last time I posted.
First, I finished The Two Towers as a read-aloud. It’s been a long time since I’ve read the trilogy, and my feelings about it haven’t really changed: Tolkien just loves geography so much more than I do. His descriptions are lyrical and precise, but there are so many descriptions. But I got my Gollum voice good enough that my 8-year-old has to run out of the room whenever he shows up, so that’s good :). And when Tolkien does action sequences, hot damn he’s good.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by VE Schwab, was a lot of fun. It owes a great deal to both The Sudden Appearance of Hope and Spinning Silver, but since I loved both those books, I didn’t mind. The first section, establishing the protagonist and her schtick, was a little long; but once the plot gets going, I appreciated where the author took it. A very solid fantasy, not mind-blowing, but definitely worth reading.
Finally, Earthlings. I can review this book in four words: man, what the fuck? The cover has a plush animal and quotes about how funny it is. It looks like a gently satirical science fiction book. Bullshit. I am not the least bit kidding when I say this book needs content warnings. Don’t believe me?
There’s a graphic scene of the first-person protagonist, at the age of twelve, being orally raped by her teacher. There’s a graphic scene of her pressuring her cousin into sexual intercourse. The book ends with three characters eating one another alive, after murdering and eating two other people.
It’s short, and I stayed up late reading it because it’s compelling, but I wish I’d never picked it up.
Now I’m reading the YA book Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Singular Girl’s Adventure Upon the High Seas, by Tanith Lee. It’s silly swashbuckling fun, and an excellent antidote to fuckin’ Earthlings.
I’m not entirely sure, LHOD. It always depends on the kid! There are “ghuls” (ghouls) which pursue the main character with the clear intention of eating him, I can imagine that being troublesome. To me, the most disturbing scene was a man whipping a boy. It isn’t terribly graphic, but the hopelessness of the situation at that point was upsetting. But everything turns out well in the end, and I can’t say enough about the snarky armadillo sidekick. 
As for myself, I’m not going be able to finish Sparrow Hill Road. I’m picking up lots of stuff at the library tomorrow that needs a quick turnaround time, so I have to move on.
I think if your kid isn’t overly sensitive or the nightmare type, they’d be okay with it. There are tense parts, as Dung Beetle said, but it works out in the end.
I finished Antifragile, after six weeks of reading. It was dense with ideas, but I’m glad I stuck with it because the book had some fascinating insights.
Also read Confessions of a Shopaholic, which was a nice light-hearted counter to the other book I was reading. Nothing spectacular, but it was enjoyable and good enough to finish.
A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire
Geoffrey Wawro
The outbreak of the First World War from the perspective of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Calling it a “catastrophe” is something of an understatement. The Austrian army, undermanned and underequipped, attacked Serbia and Russia at the same time, throwing away tens of thousands of lives in futile charges against machine guns and artillery. They did manage to kill a lot of Serbian and Ukrainian civilians though.
The book is a very old-school military history. There are lots of maps with little numbered squares and arrows.
I mostly enjoyed the book, although there were some sections where I got lost in the lists of battalions and divisions and the unfamiliar place names - Nis, Pryzemal, Lemberg, etc…
I finished it and mostly liked it, although I pretty much figured out how it was going to end. Could be a good movie someday, I’d say.
Now I’m just over a third of the way through an audiobook of Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother, an autobiography read by the author, who directed the early Addams Family and Men in Black movies, among others. Pretty funny, although there’s more about his neurotic, bullied New York Jewish childhood than I really cared for. If he’s at all truthful, his parents were just about as bad as they could be without actually physically abusing him.
Finished I, Claudius: from the autobiography of Tiberius Claudis, born 10 B.C., murdered and deified A.D. 54 , by Robert Graves, which was excellent.
Now I’m reading A Shark Out of Water by Emma Lathen. It’s a mystery featuring John Putnam Thatcher.
Finished The Trouble Twisters by Poul Anderson, another of his David Falkyn, Star Trader stories. Not as fun as I’d hoped. I’m taking a break from him.
Finished the third volume of Playboy Party Jokes,
Finished Clive Cussler’s The Marauder on audio. Now listening to the score of the musical Metropolis, based on Fritz Lang’s film.
I’m re-reading both translations I have of Jules Verne’s The Begum’s Fortune. I have a project in mind for it.