Very funny guy. His bit on the US postal abbreviations for the states is hilarious!
Finished The Dress Diary: Secrets From a Victorian Woman’s Wardrobe, by Kate Strasdin, which was interesting. Among other details, I learned that the woman who assembled the diary was friends with one of Paul Revere’s daughters, whom she met in Singapore.
Now I’m reading The Eighth Detective, a mystery by Alex Pavesi.
I do know – that’s why I’m reading it. Apparently a lot of familiar quotes by the Founding Fathers (Washington wasn’t the only fan) were either influenced by or simply lifted from the play. Only I haven’t come across any yet.
Started listening to City of the Dead by Jonathan Kellerman. Another Alex Delaware/Milo Sturgis murder mystery. I’m a fan of Kellerman, and thus far this book has not disappointed.
Just starting A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR by Dennis Lehane. Not sure if I’ve ever read a Lehane book before.
The best-known, I think (certainly Washington quoted it from time to time): “‘Tis not in mortals to command success, but we’ll do more: we’ll deserve it.”
I started A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I’ve always been a fan of the adaptations, but I’ve never read the book.
So far I am really enjoying it. It’s funny and has a fair amount of pathos. Sometimes it’s downright unsettling.
I wonder, has anyone else thought to write a Christmas ghost story?
Finished The Eighth Detective, a mystery by Alex Pavesi, which I enjoyed quite a bit.
Now I’m reading Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon, by Melissa L. Sevigny.
Finished Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon, by Melissa L. Sevigny, which was interesting.
Now I’m reading Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny.
Ohhh! I read Lord of Light ages ago! I remember liking it but being kind of traumatized but parts of it… (I was probably only 20 when I read it.
Over the weekend, I finished The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel, a novel about a struggling New York reporter who learns he may have a daughter he never knew about before. He reconnects with three other friends from his decade-earlier Florida high school jazz ensemble, and discovers that his ex-girlfriend is in big trouble with a drug dealer. I pretty early figured out what was going on, and kept waiting for a twist that never came. The book was good but not Mandel’s best, I’d say.
Also finished Dreaming the Beatles by Rob Sheffield, a Rolling Stone writer and total Beatles fanboy. He gushes too much at times, but overall it’s a fun, affectionate and well-informed exploration of how and why the Beatles changed the world of music, and why the group’s still so popular today.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I spent a good bit of time browsing through Watergate: A New History by Garrett M. Graff, and thought it was a pretty good overview of the Nixon political scandal, although I’m unlikely to read the whole thing.
Next up: This House by James Graham, a somewhat satirical play about the ins and outs of the closely-divided British House of Commons in the Seventies, and Little, Crazy Children by James Renner, true crime about a shocking 1990 murder in the leafy Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights. Both good so far.
I finished A Christmas Carol. It was good, but not great. Of course it’s hard to say how much the story’s just played out from all the adaptations - but I generally really like the adaptations so the story can’t be the problem, can it?
Not my favorite Dickens, anyway.
Though I did break down sobbing when Bob Cratchit did.
Finished Resurrection Walk, by Michael Connelly. A Mickey Haller/Harry Bosch joint. The title is a reference to the walk a now-former prisoner will make upon leaving the prison gates to be met by family and the world at large after being released once determined to be unequivocally innocent of the crime in question. In this book, the Lincoln Lawyer and Bosch try to prove the innocence of a young lady, incarcerated for five years at this point, convicted of the murder of her sheriff’s-deputy ex-husband. She had always proclaimed her innocence but pleaded No Contest to get a “light” 11-year sentence. This was after her third-rate lawyer had pointed out the evidence against her was so damning that a jury trial would almost certainly result in life with no parole. Very good. Connelly’s usual high quality. Recommended. My only complaint is the usual one: A quick read, and now I have to wait another year for the next one.
Have started The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name, by Brian C. Muraresku. A look at the role of psychedelics in the founding of Western civilization and the early days of the Christian church.
I started Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune, it’s the story of a man who finds himself dead… and now figuring out why living is good. Incredibly funny, but I anticipate a good cry coming…
Finished it. I do everything in audiobook form, because I am mostly blind and don’t read Braille. Gulman is the reader, so it feels even more personal. He’s got an idiosyncratic and entertaining obsession with words that I enjoy in his comedy and comes through clearly in the writing. I liked the structure of the book; Gulman smoothly sets up relationships between his near-fatal depression at age 47 with his early life experiences.–comics are very skilled at callbacks. I choked up a little at the end.
I’m glad he’s doing well now.
Just finished The Secret Hours, the latest by Mick Herron. It’s in the Slough House milieu, but is stand-alone, and doesn’t focus on the adventures of the Slough House unit. It does provide some of the long-hinted-at backstory of a certain of the characters in the series. I adore these books, and this is now one of my favorites.
(I also commend the TV adaptation of the early books, Slow Horses. Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb is absolutely perfect.)
Good to know! I’m going to see if the library can order it for me.
Finished Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny, which I enjoyed primarily for its use of language.
Now I’m reading Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement, by Ashley Shew.
My ex was blind and listened to audiobooks as well. Reading a book in Braille is very time consuming and exhausting since you have to read e a c h l e t t er s e p a r a t e l y to “see” the word. He would have adored Audible and smartphones.
I am in the middle of Happiness Falls, by Angie Kim. It’s the story of a family with a special needs child whose stay-at-home dad goes missing. It’s told from the perspective of the college-aged daughter as they try to figure out what happened to the dad. So far, it’s good.