To each their own. My book club selected it a few years ago, but it flunked my 50-page test.
To each their own. My book club selected it a few years ago, but it flunked my 50-page test.
Fair enough 
I finished reading The Maltese Iguana by Tim Dorsey. To me a little while to get into it, but now I’ve got to find the previous books in the series.
Not sure what will be up next yet. Asked my friends on FB to help me decide and I have a 3- way tie between Nerd by Maya Phillips, The Magicians by Lev Grossman and Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. Not sure which one I should go with yet. I’ll probably decide on the morning.
12 Seconds of Silence: How a Team of Inventors, Tinkerers, and Spies Took Down a Nazi Superweapon Jamie Holmes
The story behind the invention and deployment of the proximity fuse, the world’s first smart weapon. A proximity fuse was a tiny radar emitter/detector placed inside an antiaircraft shell and programmed to detonate when it detected a nearby object, like an enemy plane or a V-1 bomb. Of course, these delicate electronics had to survive literally being shot out of a cannon first.
Interesting history, pretty well written.
Hat tip to @Dendarii_Dame who mentioned it in an earlier thread.
Glad you enjoyed it, zimaane.
And thanks to DZedNConfused, who recommended A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher, which I just finished and is one of the best novels I’ve read so far this year.
Now I’m reading Truck: A Love Story, by Michael Perry.
Oh! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
When walking this morning, I started to listen to the latest Lighthouse Library Mystery book by Eva Gates, Death by Beach Read. I’m about 2 hours in and enjoying it as much as the previous books. Still not sure what my next print book is going to be though.
Finished it. Well-drawn, with an interesting premise and a lot of references to the Lovecraft canon, but a very implausible storyline - even making allowances for supernatural horror fiction - and a disappointing ending.
I’m making good progress through my latest James Bond book, Thunderball, as I work my way through Ian Fleming’s classic spy series. 007 races against time to find two stolen bombs in the Caribbean and stop SPECTRE’s nuclear blackmail plot. Good stuff.
Finished Truck: A Love Story, by Michael Perry, which was outstanding. I can’t even pick a favorite part, although the anecdote about the thieves trying to steal cans of gasoline from his garage, using a lighter to find their way around is definitely up there.
Now I’m reading To the Uttermost Ends of the Earth: The Epic Hunt for the South’s Most Feared Ship – and the Greatest Sea Battle of the Civil War, by Phil Keith and Tom Clavin.
Just finished reading A Boston Harbor Islands Adventure: The Great Brewster Journal of 1891 by Stephanie Schorow and a team of researchers from the Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands. It was just released with a launch party last Wednesday, and I got it autographed by Stephanie and as many of the researchers as attended.
It’s a transcription of a journal kept by four Boston-area women who spent two weeks on Great Brewster Island reading, writing, sketching, and photographing. Afterwards, it appears, they made up a book of their diary (each recorded part of it), the photohraphs they took, and the sketches they made. This inexplicably made its way into a used book store in the 1990s, from which it was rescued by a Hardvard professor. It was put into the collection of one of the Harvard libraries, and for the past fifteen years or so Stephanie and the others have been researching the background of the book (it didn’t give the names of the women – that was part of the historical research). The publisged edition comes with several opening chapters of background, an afterword explaining the later history of Great Brewster Island, and a section of notes for every recorded day in the diary.
It’s a fascinating book nd labor of love. My only complaint is that the book is filled with references to our ever-changing contemporary culture, likening aspects of the original authors’ behavior to present-day Facebook and the like, which I fear will quickly “date” this modern edition.
Disclaimer – Stephanie is a friend of mine; we’re i a couple of writing groups. But I think I would still recommend this book, even if that were not so.
About the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama and her adversary the USS Kearsarge, I see. I’ve read a lot about that Civil War naval battle over the years, but not that particular book. Hope you like it!
Finished A Journal of the Plague Year, by Daniel Defoe. The full title is A Journal of the Plague Year: Being Observations or Memorials, of the Most Remarkable Occurrences, As Well Publick As Private, Which Happened in London During the Last Great Visitation in 1665. The 1660s were hard years for London. The year 1665 saw the last great outbreak of bubonic plague in that city, killing as many as 97,000 people by some estimates. The following year saw the Great Fire of London, which burned down 80% of the city. Defoe, best known as the author of Robinson Crusoe, was about five years old at the time of the plague outbreak, and his family whisked him away to the countryside early on. He published this book in 1722 at a time when fresh outbreaks on the Continent caused people to fear the plague would strike London again, so there was some topical interest. Today, we would call this type of novel “historical fiction.” In it, the narrator HF (thought to be based on Defoe’s Uncle Henry Foe) takes us on quite an incredible journey through the plague-filled streets. Not to belittle the recent Covid pandemic, but we’ve become rather wimpy with our outbreaks. Bubonic plague of old, now THAT was an epidemic. This is a fascinating read.
Next up is The Splendid and The Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, by Erik Larson. I’ll be taking this with me, as we fly to Bangkok on Tuesday. This will be my last sign-in until late next month or early August.
I’ve finished listening to Dead by Beach Read by Eva Gates. I love the series and was glad to be able to listen to it. Not sure what my next read will be but whatever it is will be good.
I just finished Emily Henry’s Happy Place. It’s a rom-com and very enjoyable if you’re into that kind of thing. It’s mostly set in a coastal town in Maine and now I really want to go visit.
I’m intrigued by @lawf ’ s recommendation of There, There. I’ve been wanting to learn more about modern American Indian cultures, but I’m mostly ignoring the non-fiction stacked on my table. Does anyone have other recommendations for fiction written by and about American Indians?
Next month’s book club pick for my fantasy book club is Nettle and Bone bt T. Kingfisher. I started listening to it on my walk this morning and so far, I’m enjoying it a lot. Still not sure what my physical read will be. Got lots of choices though.
Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain by Charles Leerhsen. It’s poorly written and I don’t enjoy the snarky, wanna-be-cutting-edge tone, but it’s a good Kindle to put me to sleep.
Also reading Landlines, Raynor Wynn’s third in her autobiographical series beginning with The Salt Path. In addition to the narrative about her husband’s illness and their strenuous and somewhat ill-planned walks, I enjoy seeing her writing style mature.
It’s a fabulous book! I loved it!
If you like magic and fantasy check out Rebecca Roanhorse.
I recommend Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, who is a registered member of the Chippewa, a tribe of the Ojibwe.
Finished To the Uttermost Ends of the Earth: The Epic Hunt for the South’s Most Feared Ship – and the Greatest Sea Battle of the Civil War, by Phil Keith and Tom Clavin, which was very well done, both exciting and educational. I learned quite a bit about the naval part of the American Civil War, something I’d known very little about.
Now I’m reading a science fiction novel, Stolen Thoughts, by Tim Tigner.
Even Louise Erdrich’s not-so-good novels are pretty good!
I liked parts of The Sentence a lot. I just thought it should have been two books instead of one.