Reading

The Book by Alan Watts

/ Philosophy, Reading

★★★☆☆ | Philosophy | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads 

Eastern philosophy with a Westerner’s no nonsense practicality.  Watts cites the Hindu Upanishads as the source of his philosophy that there is no self, we are all one with the cosmos, and it’s only because of our social customs and teachings that we believe we are independent and apart from others and the world. We do not leave this earth when we die, just as we didn’t come into the world at birth.  We have always been here.

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Blaze by Stephen King

/ Horror, Reading

★★★☆☆ | Horror | Audio | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads

I listened to this Richard Bachman book on audio.  The story was OK. By the end, you felt sorry for Blaze, the thug who kidnaps a baby for money.  Blaze led a hard life and physical abuse from his drunken father caused permanent brain damage, so he was “slow”, but kind hearted (unless you crossed one of his friends). He leads of life of small crime as an adult and hooks up with George, a fellow thief which is clearly a tip of the cap to Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. 

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The Age of Faith by Will Durant

/ ★★★★★, History, Reading

★★★★★ | History | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

I finished this fourth installment of Will Durant’s Story of Civilization after three months of slow, careful reading. The Age of Faith begins with the fall of Rome and carries through the end of the Middle Ages. The writing is clear, colorful, engaging, often horrifying, and occasionally laugh-out-loud hilarious. Along the way, I encountered kings and popes, treachery and atrocities, saints and philosophers, economic systems, the building of cathedrals and castles, and primers on the great works of literature and philosophy across a thousand years of recorded time.

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Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross

/ Reading, Science

★★★★☆ | Science | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

Your Brain on Art is the latest selection from the Next Big Idea Club. The authors did a nice job of gathering scientific evidence of how art making and appreciation physically changes your brain. I loved the part where a scientist discovered that different sound waves can alter the shape and appearance of our heart cells. Lots of good science-based tips on how to flourish by incorporating art in your everyday life. For me, I’m planning to spend more time really listening (and dancing!) to new music, not just having it on in the background.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling

/ Fantasy, Reading

★★★★☆ | Fantasy | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

I had started this third volume at some point as a diversion, but then given up after the first 30 or 40 pages.  I read it again from the start and this time persevered.  These books keep coming up on the greatest books of all time lists and I felt like I was missing out.

I enjoyed this one a lot. Better than the first two, perhaps because Harry is growing up a bit.  I gave this one four stars and will read definitely read the remaining volumes at some point.

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

/ Fantasy, Reading

★★★★☆ | Fantasy | Audio | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads

Continuing my quest to go back and read the Stephen King books I’ve missed along the way. I listened to the audiobook of this one, narrated by actor Bronson Pinchot. I’ve listened to hundreds of audiobooks, but the narration of the ending of this story was one of the most incredible I’ve ever had the pleasure to hear. Bravo!

The Silentiary by Antonio Di Benedetto

/ Literary Fiction, Reading

★★★☆☆ | Literary Fiction | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

What a strange little book. The narrator is slowly driven insane by all the commercial sounds encroaching on his family home: an auto repair shop next door, a nightclub across the street, an idling bus outside his bedroom window, all told in disjointed Kafka-like stream of consciousness. Made me appreciate the relative quiet I enjoy here at home.

I’ll give this three stars for the benefit of the doubt that a deeper meaning existed but eluded me.

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

/ Horror, Reading

★★★★☆ | Horror | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

Working through the few books of Stephen King I haven’t read. This is a collection of his early stories. A few are dated, and a few are exceptional. There is a bleakness that pervades many of these stories. I hoped for a good outcome for the protagonist against all odds, but I was seldom rewarded. Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut and The Raft were my favorites.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

/ Literary Fiction, Reading

★★★☆☆ | Literary Fiction | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

A good premise perhaps weakened by too many characters and side stories. The depression era setting, poor living conditions, and the horrors of racism and cruel treatment of people with disabilities felt Dickensian. McBride held my attention by the end, but a good editor might have helped maintain it all the way through.

Caesar and Christ by Will Durant

/ ★★★★★, History, Reading

★★★★★ | History | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

Volume III of the eleven-volume Story of Civilization by Will Durant. I knew so little about the rise and fall of Rome and the formation of Christianity before reading this. I feel so much more informed. My favorite so far!

There is no greater drama in human record than the sight of a few Christians, scorned or oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing all trials with a fierce tenacity, multiplying quietly, building order while their enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with the word, brutality with hope, and at last defeating the strongest state that history has known. Caesar and Christ had met in the arena, and Christ had won.

A Perfect Spy by John le Carré

/ Reading, Spy-Detective

★★★★☆ | Spy-Detective | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads

A long, meandering, indulgent spy novel by an author whose prose is typically tight as a drum.  This novel felt intimate and autobiographical, as if Le Carre were explaining the abuses he endured as a child through a novel.  It wasn’t what I expected, which is OK.  I’m not sure I would consider this one of his best novels.  3.5 stars?

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