The Renaissance by Will Durant
★★★★☆ | History | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
Volume V of the eleven-volume Story of Civilization by Will Durant.
Reading
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.
…The Age of Faith by Will Durant
★★★★★ | 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.
…Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
★★★★☆ | 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 | 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 Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh
★★★★★ | Philosophy | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
Sometimes the universe sends you exactly the book you most needed to read. What a clear-eyed and compelling manifesto of living your best life right now.
The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
★★★★☆ | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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.
The Walking Dead Compendium 2 by Robert Kirkman
★★★★☆ | Graphic Novel | Print | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads
Finishing this second compendium means I’ve read over 2,000 pages of comics this year. There’s something comforting about the amount of grief these characters feel on each page that keeps me reading and caring.
Compendium 3 and 4 ordered!
Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
★★★★☆ | Mystery-Suspense | Audio | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
I listened to the audio book of this one. The story is told by Dolores as part of a police interview. There are no other speakers. She tells the entire story in one setting. The audio book narrator was pretty good. Hard Maine accent with plenty of emotion.
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