“Dr. Bharadwaj told me once that she thought I hated planets because of the whole thing with being considered expendable and the possibility of being abandoned.”
System Collapse, by Martha Wells
“Nobody ever believed murders ‘just happened’ around Mallory Viridian.”
Station Eternity, by Mur Lafferty
“The primary focus of this book will be of USS Lexington CV-2 during her operations in the opening months of the Pacific War and her eventual loss.”
USS Lexington CV-2 by Steve Wiper
“The shiny hallways of Shaker Heights High School were silent and the classrooms empty, students and teachers scattered for summer vacation, when Hubert McIntyre walked through the door. He had an urgent question on his mind.”
Dream Town by Laura Meckler
“‘To Matthew Brooks Dodson,’ the paper in his hand read, ‘greetings.’”
Space Cadet by Robert Heinlein
I am aware as I step into the common room that the majority of the people here are almost dead, including me.
- solitaire, Alice Oseman
Loved “Solitaire”.
My book:
“There was a moment in 1940, the bleakest year of the Second World War with the Wehrmacht carrying all before it, when Winston Churchill made the French government a curious offer.”
- Unruly, David Mitchell
I started to read that, then realized I wasn’t going to have the time or bandwidth for it. Looked really good though.
Goddess, sing of the cataclysmic
wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus,
which caused the Greeks immeasurable pain
and sent so many noble souls of heroes
to Hades, and made men the spoils of dogs,
a banquet for the birds, and so the plan
of Zeus unfolded - starting with the conflict
between great Agammemnon, lord of men,
and glorious Achilles.
The Iliad, Homer, translated by Emily Wilson
Izzy leaned against the railing and watched the sun rise over the far end of town.
Silver on the Road, first book of the Devil’s West trilogy by Laura Anne Gilman
There was a moment in 1940, the bleakest year of the Second World War with the Wehrmacht carrying all before it, when Winston Churchill made the French government a curious offer.
Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England’s Kings and Queens, by David Mitchell
Snap!
I went to see the talk by Mitchell and Mary Beard (plugging her new “Emperor of Rome” book) on kings and emperors. It was quite an interesting evening.
“In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing.”
A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean
(Delete wrong copy/paste)
I posted the same at Christmas, but I’m still slogging though it. Maybe we should have a race to the end; just don’t test me on it!
Oh, I wouldn’t want to get in a race.
I am enjoying it though. The quarrel scene between Achilles and Agammemnon was brilliantly done, really vivid and punchy.
I initially found the combat and the descriptions of death very moving, but there are a lot of them and its beginning to feel a bit repetitive, especially as I haven’t yet got to Patroclus joining, which is when the main plot gets moving again.
I have considered starting a thread on it, but the very notion set off my “you are being incredibly pretentious” alarm - however, knowing there’s at least one other reader on the Dope, I might have a go.
So did you read the “Ships” chapter, or just skip it? 
May I suggest you take your discussion here?: Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - January 2024 edition
“The word ‘law’ is currently used in two quite distinct meanings.”
The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy L. Sayers
At high tide on the clear morning of January 10, 1926, to the squalling of circling gulls, the Prince Valdemar, a five-masted steel-hulled barkentine weighed anchor.
Bubble in the Sun: The Florida Boom of the 1920s and How It Brought on the Great Depression by Christopher Knowlton
“Samuel Adams delivered what may count as the most remarkable second act in American life.”
– The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams, by Stacy Schiff
“Welcome, my ultimate babes, you thieves and lovers, to the greatest spectacle this side of the Mississippi!”
Thistlefoot, by GennaRose Nethercott
“There’s a joke map of New Zealand that labels the southwestern tip of the South Island as ‘The place where all the tourist photos come from’.”
-The Neglected North Island by Mary Jane Walker