The Plutonium Blonde by John Zakour & Lawrence Gannem

Set in the future and based around only one private detective left on earth. So kind of a film noir/science fiction blend. Worth the 50 cents I paid for it.

j.m. coetzee "disgrace", didn't understand the situation in south africa regarding apartheid and stuff, interesting though about the downfall of this middle-aged "womanizer" whose life gets fucked up from an affair with a college student and he ends up having sex with this ugly woman multiple times...

"The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios" by Yann Martel... couple "powerful" short stories or whatever... bought this in Canada, 1 of the stories took place in some shitty neighborhood of washington, DC

http://bestanimations.com/Holidays/F...ation-19-2.gif mitch_h 2015 reading list http://bestanimations.com/Holidays/F...ation-19-2.gif




Independant People - Haldor Laxness

This was my favourite book of 2015. It was about this Icelandic farmer who wants to just live off his small bit of land and not have to depend on anyone for anything and all this terrible shit happens to him and his family. Very well written, and despite being incredibly bleak there is a lot of humour and the book does a great job traversing late 19th and early 20th century Iceland. I find a lot of smarty pants literature has to reference a whole bunch of other books and greek mythology and stuff, but this book sticks with its own history and way of life, a lot of references to dogs and sheep and dogs and sheep with intestinal worms. I give this book 10/10!!!

The Emigrants - W.G Sebald

Great book, Sebald is probably the best writer of the past 20 years. Very simple yet unique style of writing. 10/10

Blow Up and Other Stories - Julio Cortazar

A good collection of stories, every story was very good and memorable. 9/10

The Man Without Qualities - Robert Musil

I try to read one big, “important” book each year. This was worth the time and effort, Musil died before he could finish it and despite the book being over one thousand pages it still feels unfinished :(. 9/10

The Invention of Morel - Casares Biouy

Cool little book. Sort of Science fiction, but more rooted in the Latin American style of writing, so not a lot of time on exposition and world building. This felt like very good/unconventional Twilight Zone episode and I think this book was referenced on the hit TV show LOST. I would recommend it to people who are looking for a good and smart little novel but aren’t big readers. 8/10

Last Evenings on Earth - Roberto Bolano

Mostly great, maybe one or two dud stories. Mauricio 'The Eye' Silva" was a really cool story. 8/10

Tomorrow in the Battle Think of Me - Javier Marias

Didn’t like it as much as other book I read by Javier Marias but still good. Cool plot, guy goes to have sex with married woman and she dies while he is there. 8/10

Sirens of the Titan - Kurt Vonnegut

Sweet book, much better than expected.


Zeroville - Steve Erickson

Good novel for movie fans. Sometimes it felt like Delilo-lite, but it made me want to check out more of this guy’s work. Thankfully James Franco is bringing this to the big screen in 2016!!. 8/10

House of Leaves - Mark Z Danielewski

I had bought this book 10 years ago but lost it, finally decided to re-purchase it and I’m glad I did. Cool story about a house that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Very “postmodern”, a lot of different gimmicks and literary tricks, I thought it worked. Another book I would recommend for the more casual reader looking for something cool.

All Fires the Fire - Julio Cortazar

8/10

The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene

8/10

Slade House - David Mitchell

I liked this more than Bone Clocks. I have found that as Mitchell has embraced “genre fiction” he has lost some nuance as a storyteller, he seems to rely more on his characters espousing expository monologues, still better than most stuff out there, and this is the only book I read that was actually published in 2015. 8/10


The Opposing Shore - Julien Gracq

8/10.

Pedro Palomar - Juan Rulfo

I need to re-read this. Despite being less than 200 pages long It was much more difficult than I thought it would be, a lot of shifts in time and character perspective.

Empire's Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean - Carrie Gibson
Nonfiction 8/10

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

Enjoyed it more than I thought I would, something you appreciate more than like. 7/10

The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula Le Guin

Straight up science fiction. Reminded me of Phillip K Dick.


We Love Glenda So Much - Julio Cortazar

Started getting Cortazar burnout, I don’t even think I finished this collection. There was this really good story where this guy goes to Guatemala or Nicaragua or something and he takes pictures at all these nice touristy things, and then when he develops the pictures they are pictures of firing squads and other acts of violence and oppression. This story pops into my head every couple of weeks. 7/10

23 Things they Don’t Tell you About Capitalism - Ha-Joon Chang
Nonfiction, preaching to the converted, still liked it though. 7/10

The Mysterious Stranger - Mark Twain

7/10

Cosmos - Witold Gombrowicz

First half was sweet, second half was batshit crazy and I couldn’t really get into it. 6/10


On Heroes and Tombs - Ernesto Sabato

I was very disappointed with this book/feel like I didn’t get it. I didn’t think it came together to tell a compelling story and I probably don’t know enough about the history of Argentina to have this work as a political allegory. There is a section called “Report on the Blind” where a character thinks there is a secret society of blind people trying to get him, that section was pretty great.


Chasing the Scream - Johann Hari

Nonfiction. I keep looking for a good book about the science behind addiction but always end up with more of a social look at the overall war on drugs. I found out halfway through reading this that Hari had killed his career by making up sources and other bullshit. Some of it was interesting. 5/10

Star Wars: Children of the Jedi 4/10. Was really kind of bad... Kept waiting for it to pick up, and then it finally does when there is like 5 chapters left in the book, and even then was not too great. Probably also didn't help that I saw the new Star Wars movie in the midst of reading this book.... Officially invalidating it forever...

Already started on the next book in the old expanded universe, though.... Already infinitely better....

re-read ender's game and ender's shadow and just finished shadow of the hegemon... all of these stories are genius and insanely well written

seems like a huge shame that orson scott card is not "world renowned" even tho he is a huge racist i think

Vijay Prakash Singha - An Introduction to Hindustani Classical Music: A Guidebook for Beginners 6.8/10

Perhaps it is because I have been listening to Indian classical music for a couple of years, now, but it seemed a bit too basic. I wanted more information about how the raga sangeet is formed, and more information about the differences between khyal and dhrupad styles, and how semi-classical forms like thumri and daadra differ from full classical music.

Lol books

Star Wars: Darksaber - 9/10

Good book, loses some points due to one of the plots kind of being anti-climactic. Next book is written by the person who wrote the last book, which was terrible, so dreading it....

John Keay - India: A History 8/10

Good for a general survey.

Richard Yates - Revolutionary Road 8/10

Sadly, I had seen the film first and all the time reading the book I was picturing Leonardo Di Caprio as Frank.

Son of the Black Sword
10/10
Fast moving. Brutal action. Neat world.

Card Sharks-8 outta 10

Starts off as the history of baseball cards. Then changes into a fairly revealing behind the scenes look at the early years of Upper Deck trading cards.

Read "The Girl On The Train" as my wife had recently bought it, and I caught the trailer for the upcoming movie starring Emily Blunt (:drool:) and was intrigued.

Read it in 2 days so it must have kept me interested (a proverbial "page turner"). The plot was interesting for the most part, it's written from the perspective of 3 different women, however, they all "sound" the same. It's a little difficult to follow at first as the timeline jumps around.

There's a twist at the end which is pretty well executed, as in you might not see it coming, yet it descends into Bond Villain territory with the level of tacked on exposition from the bad guy of the book.

Another issue is that none of the characters are all that likeable, and the message seems to be that all women are fucked up, and all men are monsters.

Gone Girl 10/10- crazy shit

Harry Potter and The sorcerer's stone 8/10
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secerts 9.5/10
Harry Potter and the prisoner of Askaban 7.5/10
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fie 9/10 shit got real here
Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix 8.5/10 There is a chapter where it is just Harry and Dumbledore and that's probably the best chapter in the series so far.

Old Man Logan: 10/10

Star Wars: Planet of Twilight 4.5/10

Took me a long time to get through this one..... Was also "not very good"..... finally got "exciting" around the final two chapters of the book..... Seemed slightly better than Children of the Jedi, I guess..... I don't know if this author wrote any more Star Wars books, but I may have to skip them.....

Took a break from Star Wars books and read:

The Letter Writer 9/10...... I liked it a bunch and finished it pretty quick.... detective story in 1940s New York..... wasn't until the Afterward that I appreciated that a lot of the stuff was historically accurate.......

Been reading Nightmares and Dreamscapes and The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King this week and there are some excellent shorts in there.

Dolan's Cadillac is a particular favourite because it's awesomely sinister and heroically vengeful.

Other favourites include Blockade Billy (a creepy yet nostalgic baseball short), Bad Little Kid and Ur.

I have a few to read but it's good to have a short story before bed because you can finish it.

Finished the second book in the 5th wave series. Hate both booms so far but want to finish the story. 2/5.

That happened to me with those terrible Divergent films.

Currently I am reading "The Thurber Carnival" by James Thurber.
I had read some of the short stories but I forgot how funny Thurber can be inside ten pages. It's a style I greatly envy. I wrote the beginnings of a short story the other day, read some Thurber and immediately resigned myself to mediocrity.
Mitty is always a favourite but The Catbird Seat and The Man Who Hated Moonbaum were new to me. The Cane In The Corridor was particularly memorable, I'm still trying to figure it out.

Just watch the movie fools.

Only with Shawshank

Finished The Hardcore Truth: The Bob Holly Story ... 4.25/5 - very interesting stories

Full Dark,No Stars-9 outta 10

Outside of the Dark Tower stuff,since the early 90s King's novels have been good until the end,where they fall to pieces. But his novellas and short stories are still great. This collection of 4 novellas is as good if not better than Different Seasons.

King has mentioned in interviews this collection was inspired by the modern splatterpunk authors like Jack Ketchum,Edward Lee and Wrath James White.

This is actually a re-read. I grabbed this and read it when it hit paperback. But recently got the hardcover for a buck. Plus wanted to at least re-read Big Driver and A good Marriage again after seeing the film adaptations of them.

Cinema Sewer volume 3-10/10

This is a collection of the Out of print early issues of Cinema Sewer magazine.Which covers horror/cult/sci fi/classic porn movies/tv shows and books. The author of Cinema Sewer is best known for being the person that broke the news that Thora Birch's parents were famous pornstars.

I need to read Diary by Chuck Pahlaniuk and Broken Monsters by someone who's name I forget. They sound creepy as hell.

Returning to Star Wars books....

Star Wars: The Crystal Star - 8/10

Was interesting...... the first book to really give Jacen and Jaina Solo some characterization/spotlight......

I finished JRs book recently and also Justin Roberts.

JRs book was okay. I was enjoying it but them it abruptly ended at WM15. Obviously a ploy to write a second book much like Jericho does. I was really looking forward to reading about JR signing all of the mid 2000s talent. He's a talented storyteller though and at least this way I didn't have to listen to his god awful impressions of Stu Hart and Terry Funk. 7/10

Justin Roberts I really enjoyed. Probably because I picked it up for £0.74 on Amazon kindle. He basically lived his dream but then got very very bitter to WWE. It was really interesting to read the full account of his side of the Connor Michalek story. It does make you see the corporate side of WWE in a different light. 8/10 (higher mark because I had little expectations for such a cheap read)

A man called OVE - C+

To much Hype for me persnaly, inherently unlikeable character was post to become likeable, but didn't become so for me, innit.

The Call- Peadar O'Guilin

7/10

None of the characters are particulsrly interesting, and the book moves at such a breackneck pace that you don't really have enough time with them to really care about what happens to them, with the exception of the prrotagonist and her best friend. But even they are just bland archtypes that you've seen in countless stories.

That said, the Sidhe, their horrific world, and the plot surrounding them kept me glued to this book til the end.

Would compare this to well made horror film thats a lot of fun, but doesnt change the genre in any way.

Anyone here agree that horror stories are far better told through literature than screen?
I tend to watch horror now more than ever but I always find books far scarier a medium than film. Something about it being hard to "turn off".

I agree. I also think its easier to put yourself in the characters shoes in literature. Because you have to picture everything in your head, I think people naturally see everything in their minds as terrifying as it could be to them.

Actually just bought a handful of horror novels. The Call was one of them pretty fucking dark and gruesome. If there was an arguement for the demographic of Young Adult novels being subjective, The Call would be a great example.

Reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons which is a sci fi horror novel, and its pretty good so far.

I've read some creepypastas that were a lot of fun but wouldn't translate well or be nearly as scary on film.

Ubloo is one that comes to mind. Definitely check that one out.

Been wanting to read a few stephen kings

Just finished "gone girl"

It was goodish, insane and stressful

Kind of want to recommend Dark Tower for the first 4 books, but I kind of don't for the last 3.

Read the series The Summoner. Was really good. 8 of 10. The final 100 pages or so were so rushed but whatever. That's the only negative.

"The Road to Serfdom" - Fredrich von Hayek


10/10

The Mist by Stephen Kings 8/10

What about the other 2 books in the series? There is Wind through the keyhole and the revised version of The Gunslinger.

Without going into spoilers I count the revised GUnslinger as the last book in the series.

I don't get why the books 5,6 and 7 get so much hate. I can kinda get why the ending of book 7 gets some hate. But if you had read the first 4 books closely King had been leading up to the ending of Book 7 for a long time. There was clues all over.

One of the major Dark Tower websites correctly predicted the ending of book 7 right about the time book 5 came out.


Last book I read was Sick Little Monkeys the unofficial story of Ren and Stimpy. The author managed to get pretty much everyone that worked on Ren and Stimpy,besides John K,to talk to him. And there is lots of stuff revealed in the book I had never heard before. And I have read plenty of fan press,interviews and other stuff from various people that worked on Ren and Stimpy. It feels like I am one of the few people that read all the Ren and Stimpy articles in the short lived Wild Cartoon Kingdom magazine.

Mad Dog, Midgets and Screwjobs Jobs: the History of Montreal Wrestling 7/10. It got kind of repetitive.

Capitol Revolution - great read for wrestling fans who want to learn about early WWE history

9/10

The Bible. Praise be 5/7! The parts where Jesus does stuff is the best

I read this and liked it. Whole series of books. 9/10

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I loved this book as a teenager, probably because of all the dirty dirty sex that happened "off-camera".

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8/10

This series was my jam when I was in elementary and middle school. Was obsessed with them, but now I'm not.

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7/10

LOL

I have a pretty large collection of true crime/serial killer books from that age. I might throw them out.

Really? That's kind of cool. I read a lot of Stephen King novels too, but I preferred science fiction and fantasy.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....4,203,200_.jpg

I generally like Grisham's work, but this one was weak. 5/10

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10/10

I love every book in the original Ender series except the last one.

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I liked it, Xenocide was my favorite of the sequels and Children of the Mind had all the fallout from the events that started in Xenocide.. There were some nutty bits added in though

After SPOILER happened I gave up on COTM.

I forgot how to do spoiler tags apparently.

Orson Scott Card prefers Serenity to Ender's Game. He thinks it's the best sci fi movie ever made.
I have never read his books.

I liked Foundation by Asimov. It's possibly the least colourful style of writing I have ever seen, like a scientific diary or something but it's somehow brilliant despite that.

Orson Scott Card is kind of insane & you might be referring to the Ender's Game movie, which was really just a hollywood money grab

I didn't find myself enthralled by Foundation.. started it about a month ago and read maybe half when it was the only book I had in Europe, now that I'm back amongst my own library I moved on to others

I used to read his blog religiously

Forrest Gump - 7.5/10

Started off kind of like the movie and then veered drastically off. I still enjoyed reading it.

Get in the Van-8 outta 10

Rollins book about his time in Black Flag. Great read.

I quit smoking pot a few months ago so I've had to find things to do to fill that time I used to waste so I got myself a library card. I've been on a Stephen King movie kick so I've decided to go to his world and read as many of his works that I can.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...r-high-res.jpg

3/5

This is a quick novella set in the 1970's in Castle Rock. Gwendy is a young girl who meets a mysterious man who bestows upon her a magical box with 9 buttons. 7 of which represent the major geographic areas on the planet and two others which represent "whatever she wants" or "total annihilation". The box also provides other "gifts" that help her throughout the short story. The book was written initially by King but once he hit a wall he sent it to Chizmar who added to it, send it back to King, and after a couple more trades they had a finished product. The chapters are very short, almost like an outline than an in depth depiction of events. I did enjoy it though, it spoke to me in a way that was very contemporary even though it was set in the 70's. I wouldn't describe the book as a scary, but rather intriguing and suspenseful. I finished the book in just over 2 hours so it doesn't take a lot of time, if you'd like something quick and fun I would recommend it.

I have "Needful Things" on hold at the library so I will jump into that soon. I'll probably go and pick up something else from King tomorrow.

I just finished about a month ago. Took me awhile to get going on it, but once I got past like page 100, I finished the book in 3-4 days.

I made sure that friends that had read the book did not tell me the ending. Loved the ending and it actually made my jaw drop.

Agreed, the book never had a flow to it. It was just like "eh" the entire time.

Although nothing will ever compare to when The Testament and the Brethren were back to back books for him. WOW

Gump & Co. - 5/10

I dunno. I wasn't really feeling most of this book. A far cry from the first one.

Amy poehler's autobiography "Yes Please" was okay, generally it's hard to make an autobiography interesting and not masturbatory and she did pretty good, she praises Hillary Clinton and some other dickheads a bit too much imo, but some parts are funny and thoughtful, had a lot of variety

I Am Zlatan zlatan ibrahimovic book... really good for an autobiography... Probably the only athlete who is very interesting and has a different perspective on things and is also just an insanely good athlete. I read a david foster wallace "review" of this autobiography about some nymphette Tennis starlet, Traci Austin, where he was supremely disappointed that she was pretty empty headed despite being a brilliant tennis player, and he concluded that basically having nothing going through your head is the essence of being able to be perform at that level. Zlatan is in the >1% of athletes to whom this doesnt apply (maybe Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant also)... Zlatan also appears to be the only athlete who doesn't thank Jesus for every single good thing that happens to him. Love this book, love zlatan, there are a lot of funny stories and quotes like "I once fell off the roof of the child care center" and "Louis Van Gaal is a pompous ass"

You should probably read a few more books if you honesy think Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the only athlete who is good at his job, has a personality and who has something to say.

Christ.

Like who

There are literally hundreds. If it's football you like then give Alex Ferguson, Harry Redknapp and Brian Clough. If you're looking for slightly more recent players then for various reasons Gazza, Roy Keane, Tony Adams and Paul Merson are worth reading. Every one of them a cunt or a disaster.

I'm just saying that as far as interesting characters go, Zlatan is far from alone.

2019 books so far:

"Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Was many years since I have read an "educational" book, and was worried my brain couldn't take it, but I couldn't put it down and read it pretty quick actually. Lots of interesting thoughts, if a bit pessimistic about humans at times.

"Death on the Nile" by Agatha Christie
First book of hers I have read... I liked the focus on dialog and just working everything out through polite conversation, logic, and reasoning.

"Death in the Clouds" by Agatha Christie
Decided to try another one. Enjoyed it, but not as much as Death in the Nile. The end of this one felt more like "oh yeah, let's do a twist".... technically the twist was still based in logic and reason, but not in a way that was "oh yeah, I should have thought of that", more like "who would even think of that in that way?".

"Nobody Knows but Everybody Remembers" by Mark Long

It is essentially a memoir by one of the original and longest serving members of the performance arts/fringe theatre company, The People Show. I'm cataloguing their archives, so I read it as part of my background research. It kind of helped that I had already had a cursory look through the records in the archive and read some other books on British fringe theatre, as the narrative of the book is all over the place; one moment the author could be talking about something in the late 1960s and then jump to another event in the 1990s. An amusing read, at times, though.

Book #4 of 2019:

"Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow" by Yuval Noah Harari.
It was harder to get into this book, as the first third or so felt like a recap of things I just read in his first book. The last third, where he actually talks about the future was very interesting! Fascinating to think about, and I got stuck in some deep thoughts.

2019 Book #5:

"The Lost City of The Monkey God" by Douglas Preston. A true accounting of the search for a lost city in the Honduras rainforest.

Amazing the secrets, dangers, and wonder that can still be found on our planet! That a journey to somewhere on our own planet can be harsher and more dangerous than a journey to the moon.

Also, I think I'm developing a reading problem. I wanted to read more books in 2019, and now I am reading books too fast. It has also really set back my comic book reading.

I've read three books so far. Goal is to read at least one a month but can obviously go past that.

Dopesick- Was a book that went into great detail about the opioid crisis in America. Very in depth book that allowed you to see why so many people who used Oxycontin ended up using heroin. 9/10

A Cold Day in Paradise. Typical Murder thriller. This was recommended by a teacher friend of mine and it did not disappoint. Dragged on a bit but had a pretty good ending. 8/10

The Reckoning by John Grisham- Grisham lately has been so hit or miss. This book, at least in my eyes, did not disappoint me at all. I loved it. It had a story that made you question the motives of a guy, hate him, then root for him because of his past and ended with an ending that made my jaw hit the floor. I would put it in the top 5 of his books in my eyes. 10/10

Just happened to catch something about this on TV in a show called "Museum Mysteries". It was maybe a 5 minute segment rife with inaccuracies, over exaggerations, and sensationalism. Made me chuckle.

2019 Book #6: "We Have The Technology: How Biohackers, Foodies, Physicians, and Scientists Are Transforming Human Perception One Sense At a Time" by Kara Platoni.

I picked this book by going to the "science" section of the library and judging the books by their covers. Overall, there were some interesting chapters and thoughts to be had, and I don't REGRET reading it..... but... I guess I see now why they tell you not to judge books from their covers. Also, the font in the book was very small, which bugged me.

2019 Book #7: "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I didn't really care for it. There were pretty much 0 likeable characters in the book, and felt like no real purpose to it.

Read Garth Ennis's The Crossed.

Serious question: What in the actual fuck is wrong with Garth Ennis?

Also, started reading Fire and Blood. Reads like a wikipedia article so far.

I didn't finish this book when I tried to read it (I was like 21) had to keep referring back to the family tree of people with the same name and got confused...

I kept flipping back too, but then at a certain point I just started to flip back less because it was like "Ehhh, who cares who they are related to"

Finished listening to "Small Fry". It was quite an emotional journey.

2019 Book #8: "The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water" by Charles Fishman.

I really enjoyed this book. I feel like I have a deeper respect and understanding of water now. It is the most important thing on the planet, and people tend to take it for granted and largely ignore it... which is leading to a lot of trouble, and has the potential to lead to even more!

Water... Like from the toilet?

That is one place water is, yes.

Not Sure

Go check. It is true.

Brawndo's got what plants crave

2019 Book #9: "Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany", the biography of Marthe Cohn. I saw her speak a few months ago, so I had to read her book (especially since she was very old and quiet with an accent and I couldn't understand everything she was saying)

I always struggle with reading or watching anything that deals with the holocaust, because it is some of the darkest depths of humanity possible, and hits close to home.... I always need to remind myself that at those dark times, there was also very bright points of light from heroes big and small who just tried to do the right thing.... so humanity wasn't ALL bad

Crossed and the various spinoff series were gory fun. Ennis has a very dark sense of humor.

Reading Pimp by Iceberg Slim. Had heard of the book for years. Then back in February found a copy at Walmart. In their Celebrate Black History month display. Damn good book so far.

Just read the comic book adaptation of JCVD's film Cyborg. This is the only comic book that Cannon Films published. It was a low print run and given to video stores to promote the VHS release of the film.

Also read Bad World issue 1. Written by Warren Ellis and art by Jacen Burrows. It is Ellis taking various conspiracy theories and doing short 1 or 2 page write ups about them while Burrows contributes the art. Really entertaining read. But not anything I would have paid to $3.50 cover price for. But got it in a random lot of 20lbs of comics. So paid maybe 13 cents for this comic.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro... written in a strangely subdued (or "disquieted") way which was annoying at first but then i realized was a kind of plot device... neone else read this... had this song in my head the whole time:

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2019 Book #10: "Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind" by Brian Fagan. For a book about water... it could be very dry at times! Was hoping for an examination of the relationship humans have had with water and how it affected society and growth.... and there was some of that, but there was also a lot of just simply describing the water systems they used. Which is interesting to think of the feats of engineering and innovation, but it is rather dry to read.


2019 Book #11: "Appointment with Death" by Agatha Christie. Randomly got another one of these.... it was alright. I like her style....

2019 Book #12: "Hercule Poirot's Christmas" by Agatha Christie. I think I maybe have a new favourite out of hers.... Always amazing how she can create a whole cast of interesting characters in every book....


2019 Book #13: "Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other" by Sherry Turkle. The book was divided into two halves, the first talking about humans relationship with "sociable robots", and the second about the internet and constant connection. A lot of interesting things to think about. The book was written in 2011, though, so it already feels wildly out of date, talking about things like BlackBerry and MySpace..... also Facebook has changed a lot since then too....

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill, not sure of my experience, partly engaging party boring, kinda predictable... uses cricket as a metaphor a whole bunch... had me looking up the rules of cricket

finished Anthony Haden Guest's The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night.

a really great book that looks at the history of Studio 54 & other popular clubs of the era like Palladium, Limelight & etc.

Archive dot org has a ton of books available to borrow for free to read during the Covid-19 Pandemic. that was where I found the book.

https://archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibrary

Currently reading "Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria". Very in depth read about racism in America.

I read that "how to be an anti-racist" book like a week before the George Floyd killing, it's okay, i think it's mostly directed at white liberals who think they aren't racist because they have black friends or they voted for obama or something. The guy dishes out a pretty good thrashing of capitalism, but then praises Elizabeth Warren of all people for her efforts to reform it. Idk

"Pastwatch" about what if christopher columbus was nice to native american instead of enslaving them... nice read but ended with colonizer sympathy, feel like i got the bad ending

"The Woman in the Window" a Gone Girl clone for NYC style wine moms... this book got sent to me by accident and i just saw it sitting on my shelf and decided to read it

I'm reading Ready Player One. It's probably the worst book I've read. I've taken to drawing stupid comics at the end of each chapter to illustrate how dumb the endless name dropping and Elon Musk worshipping is which is making me take significantly longer to read the book, which is bad because I want to be done with it.

2020 Book #14: "La Sombra del Viento" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. 478 page book in Spanish completed! Feeling of great accomplishment right now... story was also pretty good.... big plothole/unresolved thread at the end, but whatever.....

I have that, wanted to read it but would take me forever to read something in spanish... blah