Sibley’s Birding Basics by David Allen Sibley
★★★★☆ | Nature | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
Ah, the inevitable slide into birdwatching. Great introductory guide to help me get started. ★★★★☆
Reading
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
★★★★☆ | Literary Fiction | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
Sure, the plot was predictable. Yes, the genre here might be closer to chick-lit than I’m comfortable with. But, I still liked it. I liked the irritable, opinionated AJ Fikry, I liked his policeman friend, I kind of liked Amelia and Maya. Mostly, I liked the idea of an island bookstore owned by a cranky, book nerd. Oh, and all the literary references.
Spoilers follow …
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Desperation by Stephen King
★★★☆☆ | Horror | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
Maybe not one of Mr. King’s best efforts, but it was entertaining, and the ending came together better than I expected. ★★★☆☆
See also: The Regulators by Stephen King
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
★★★★★ | Literary Fiction | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
I loved this short, spare novella. In 109 pages, Keegan puts you squarely in the mind and body of its protagonist, Furlong. You feel the pangs of long-ago childhood angst, the chill of an Irish cold spell, the ugliness of small town bigotry, the warmth of a coal stove, the despair over the human cruelty. The Irish dialogue felt more like music or birdsong, making me wish my own language wasn’t so ordinary and flat. I felt sad to leave Furlong’s side after so short a visit, but the tale and ending was told in just the right way, with just the right words.
…Slow Horses by Mick Herron
★★★★★ | Spy-Detective | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
I enjoyed this book and its writing style. It would have been better if I didn’t already know the story from watching the TV series, but the fact that it was still as good as it was when I knew everything that was going to happen earns a five-star rating in my book. The TV show was good, but the writing here is terrific, and the character development is so much richer than what can be done on screen.
Highlights
Most of us hold that some things only happen to other people. Many of us hold that one such thing is death.
Lamb’s laugh wasn’t a genuine surrender to amusement; more of a temporary derangement. Not a laugh you’d want to hear from anyone holding a stick.
The Service had a long and honourable tradition of women dying behind enemy lines, but was less enthusiastic about placing them behind important desks.
To outward appearances Taverner was a suit, but her heart belonged with the field guys, the handlers. Besides, if you removed operations from the curriculum, security didn’t amount to more than putting on a peaked cap and a shiny badge. As far as the war on terror went, you might as well start digging trenches, and handing out tin hats.
Alcohol thickened the syllables, and slurred the sibilants.
The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry
★★★★★ | Epics and Poetry | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
I took a long while to read this short book of poems. It’s a collection of Berry’s poems from the mid-1960s through 2016.
…Dune by Frank Herbert
★★★★★ | Science Fiction | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
Rereading one of the first books I was enthralled with as an adult is a trip. I remembered parts of it vividly, but there were huge gaps.
Herbert must have used the Pacific Northwest as his guide for Caladan, but when did he visit the desert? I could not help but compare Vashon and Arizona as Caladan and Arrakis.
Dune is a classic Hero’s Journey, which must have still seemed fresh in 1965. So many parts of this book are still relevant.
…I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
★★★☆☆ | Mystery-Suspense | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
A reading web site recommended this book as a literary mystery with an unbelievably great plot twist. The story opens with hit and run murder of a five-year-old boy while his devastated mother cradles her son’s dead body. Tough subject matter for a grieving parent, but I persevered.
…Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
★★★★☆ | Literary Fiction | Digital | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
This was a good book. I liked the characters and the storyline. The reasons Sam and Sadie found to be mad at the other were a little frustrating, but I think that’s ultimately the lesson they each needed to learn. The portrayal of grief and loss was really well done.
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The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
★★★☆☆ | Literary Fiction | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
A strange, strange book. So many Russian named-characters with small bit parts. So many references to Russian literature and culture that I failed to grasp. The story of the devil coming to Moscow to … what? Save the master who wrote a true story about Pontius Pilate? I am utterly confused. I’m giving this book three stars, but only because at times the story turned interesting. I still have no idea what this allegory represented.
The Renaissance by Will Durant
★★★★☆ | History | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
Volume V of the eleven-volume Story of Civilization by Will Durant.
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
★★★★☆ | Fantasy | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
I understand why this book is so often described as a cozy read. It’s filled with nice, helpful characters who work together to make nice things – like a coffee shop with delicious baked goods. Yes, there are bad guys, but of course kindness prevails in the end.
Wednesday’s Child by Yiyun Li
★★★★☆ | Literary Fiction | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
My 75th book of 2023, which is a new personal record for the most books I’ve read in a single year. Many of the stories in this collection touch on the hard to articulate grief of losing a child, which hit home for me.
…Holly by Stephen King
★★★★☆ | Horror | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
My 14th Stephen King book in 2023 and his most recent. The setting was some unnamed city in the Northeast, close to Philly maybe, during the second year of COVID-19. A big theme here was the idiocy of anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers and Trump supporters. While I agree with King on these three groups, it felt very preachy in a horror novel. But, the story itself was good enough to look past this. In this one, there was no supernatural element at all, just the pure evil of two elderly professors preying on young “livestock” to prolong their own lives.
The Private Library by Reid Byers
★★★★★ | Reading and Books | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Reid Byers Website | Readwise
Two Quotes:
…Book-wrapt — that beneficient feeling of being wholly imbooked, beshelved, inlibriated, circumvolumed, peribibliated … it implies the traditional library wrapped in shelves of books, and the condition of rapt attention to a particular volume, and the rapture of of being transported to the wood beyond the world.
Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark
★★★★☆ | Writing | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
A slow read over the course of a few months, one chapter/writing tool per sitting. Lots of great tips and advice to improve your writing.
…The Book by Alan Watts
★★★☆☆ | 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.
…The Vagabond’s Way by Rolf Potts
★★★★☆ | Travel and Nature | Digital | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
A slow, year-long read of 365 daily meditations on the meaning of travel.
Christine by Stephen King
★★★★☆ | Horror | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
Continuing my quest to read the Stephen King books I missed along the way. This book flew by on my Kindle. Lots of supernatural fun mixed in with nostalgia for my late 1970s youth. I’m tempted now to watch the movie, which I somehow also missed.
…Blaze by Stephen King
★★★☆☆ | 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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