Jim (drneutron) Reads: Volume 6

I'm Jim, 59, husband of 36 years, father of a son in a PhD program in Comp Sci at Notre Dame, who reads pretty much anything. We're in central Maryland with roots in Louisiana. I like to read (obviously), cook, want to learn to fly fish, and trail bike riding/kayaking with mrsdrneutron. Of course, LT is a big time sink, but mrsdrneutron seems to have come to terms with my LT addiction...

Thanks for joining me in kicking 2020 to the curb!

1. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
2. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
3. The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher
4. Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foer
5. Untraceable by Sergei Lebedev
6. Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski
7. Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O'Keefe
8. The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman
9. Speculative Los Angeles edited by Denise Hamilton
10. Secret Service by Tom Bradby
11. Sutton by J. R. Moehringer
12. The Last Madam: A Life In The New Orleans Underworld by Chris Wiltz
13. Magicians Impossible by Brad Abraham
14. Pulp by Ed Brubaker
15. This is Shakespeare by Emma Smith

16. The Missing American by Kwei Quartey
17. Ghosts of Gold Mountain by Gordon H. Chang
18. Department of Truth, Vol 1 by James Tynion iV
19. The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris
20. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
21. Come Closer by Sara Gran
22. A Promised Land by Barack Obama
23. Lady Mechanika, Volume 2 by M. M. Chen
24. The History of the Renaissance World by Susan Wise Bauer
25. Voyagers by Robert Silverberg
26. City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong
27. Restless by William Boyd
28. Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
29. Lady Mechanika, Volume 3 by M. M Chen
30. Prodigal Son by Gregg Hurwitz
31. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erickson
32. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
33. Nobody's Child: A Tragedy, a Trial, and a History of the Insanity Defense by Susan Vinocour
34. The Floor of Heaven: A True Tale of the Last Frontier and the Yukon Gold by Howard Blum
35. A River Called Time by Courttia Newland
36. The Outsider by Stephen King

37. Firewatching by Russ Thomas
38. Lady Mechanika Volume 4: The Clockwork Assassin by Joe Benitez
39. Metropolis: A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention by Ben Wilson
40. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris
41. Don’t Applaud. Either Laugh or Don’t. (At the Comedy Cellar.) by Andrew Hankinson
42. Nighthawking by Russ Thomas
43. A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
44. The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World by Virginia Postrel
45. The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi
46. Math Without Numbers by Milo Beckman
47. Disappearing Earth by Julia Philips
48. The Gray Man by Mark Greaney
49. Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz
50. Himalaya by Ed Douglas
51. Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
52. Lady Mechanika Volume 5: La Belle Dame Sans Merci by M. M. Chen
53. Weight of Memory by Smucker

54. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
55. Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
56. Palm Springs Noir by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
57. The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale
58. The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism by Susan Berfield
59. To Green Angel Tower, Part 1 by Tad Williams
60. Finna by Nino Cipri
61. The Searcher by Tana French
62. Defekt by Nino Cipri
63. The Yellow Peril: Dr Fu Manchu and the Rise of Chinaphobia by Christopher Frayling
64. Curious Toys by Elizabeth Hand
65. Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
66. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
67. Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
68. Animal Wrongs by Stephen Spotte
69. The Delusions of Crowds: Why People Go Mad in Groups by William J. Bernstein
70. Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
71. Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
72. The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
73. Double Threat by F. Paul Wilson
74. Lady Mechanika, Volume 6 by Joe Benitez
75. Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear
76. Wrecked: an IQ novel by Joe Ide
77. My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Total Books: 77

Author Gender
Male: 47 (60%)
Non-male: 31 (40%)

Author Status
Living: 77 (99%)
Dead: 1 (1%)

Publication Medium
Hardback: 12 (16%)
Trade: 17 (22%)
Mass Market: 1 (5%)
eBook: 46 (61%)

Category
Fiction: 57 (74%)
Nonfiction: 20 (26%)

Source
Library: 61 (79%)
Mine: 16 (21%)

ARC: 8
Re-Read: 1
Series: 28
Group Read: 4

Open for business!

Happy new thread, Jim!

Thanks, Anita!

Happy new thread Jim, mate.

Happy new one, Jim!

Update!



76. Wrecked by Joe Ide

Third in the IQ series - detective suspense set in Long Beach. As with the previous, IQ is a fascinating character and the setting/writing is great. The series has gotten a lot more violent than I thought it would, especially as he's added torture and Abu Ghrab into the mix. I'l keep going, but I hope the next are more detective and less suspense/thriller.



77. My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Yeah, remember about me commenting about the violence in the last book? On the other hand, this one's a treasure. A whacked out, slasher of a treasure. It's a paean to all those 80s Golden Age slasher movies - Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, you know the one. And also a dive into a troubled teen who was sexually abused and how she experiences her messed up life through these movies. And in the end finds her Final Girl.

Also not for the faint of heart.

>10 johnsimpson:, >11 katiekrug: Thanks, John and Katie!

Happy New Thread, Jim. I also liked Wrecked. Mamie also loved My Heart is a Chainsaw, so that one is firmly on the TBR list.

Happy new thread!

>12 drneutron: Did I congratulate you on 75? Well possible repeat congratulations!

The previous IQ annoyed me because of the enemies taking care of enemies conclusion, but did have some cool aspects.

>14 msf59: Thanks, Mark! I think you'll like it.

>15 quondame: I think you did, but repeats are great!

On the spoiler, exactly.

Happy new thread, Jim!

>12 drneutron: I pretty much am the standard bearer for the faint of heart, so I will be giving those a wide berth. . .

Happy new thread, Jim.

>12 drneutron: Yay! You liked it!

Oh, yeah...happy new thread, too.

Hi Jim. I have no idea how, but my font size changed to very small. How do I change it back? Thanks.

>17 alcottacre: Yep, probably so...

>18 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul!

>19 richardderus: Yup. And have more of his queued up for Scaretober!

>20 Whisper1: I sent you a PM that may help. Hope it works for you!

Happy new one!!

I liked Sheldon's version so much I am reposting it on your thread, LOL.
Okay...on the count of three...

>22 Berly: 😀

Happy new thread Doc!

Happy new thread, Doc!

I keep thinking about adding the Chainsaw book to my list because I love those cheesy 80s horror movies, but I'm also not sure I can handle dark just now...

>24 humouress: Thanks, Nina!

>25 scaifea: Yeah, it’s pretty dark…

Jim. Many thanks, as always for your help! Your instructions worked.

I want to try that Jones book, as I really liked the other I read.

>27 Whisper1: Great! Glad I could help.

>28 blackdogbooks: I think you'd like this one, then!

Happy new thread, Jim! Stephen Graham Jones is not for me, but glad they hit the right notes for you.

New-thread salutations, Jim.

Happy New Thread!

>30 bell7: Thanks, Mary! I’m going try a few more of Jones’, especially as it’s Scaretober. 😀

>31 weird_O: Thanks, Bill!

>32 SilverWolf28: Thanks, Silver!

Happy New Thread and have a wonderful weekend!

Thanks, Thomas! I hope your weekend is a good one too!

Thank you very much, I think so.
Tomorrow is packing day, on Sunday we go on vacation.

Happy new thread, Jim! My Heart is a Chainsaw will have to cross my desk sometime soon ...

>36 SirThomas: Awesome! I hope you have a great vacation.

>37 swynn: Yes, indeedy!

Have a great holiday, Jim.

Going anywhere nice?

We spent the last few days in Louisiana. One of my college roommates is now a professor at Louisiana Tech University, and invited me to do a couple of lectures on Parker Solar Probe - one technical seminar, one memorial lecture for the general public. Both went really well and now we’re back home!

Dr. Jim: Superstar.

My Heart is a Chainsaw sounds like it could be some demented '60's era country western song.

(bu-twang bu-twang)

>43 magicians_nephew: 😀 Do I hear a banjo?

Some things are just wrong…

>45 drneutron: I don't know what candy corn is and I feel I'm quite happy to continue not knowing.

>45 drneutron: Oh.

My.

GOD.

White "chocolate" and candy corn!

>45 drneutron: - I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

Reminds me of a story I saw recently about a place in Wisconsin making (and actually selling!) candy corn bratwursts... *gag*

>46 humouress: You’re not missing anything…

>47 richardderus: Yes!

>48 katiekrug: I saw that story too. I can’t imagine the darkness of the twisted mind that thought *that* would be a good idea…

If science is morally neutral i suppose baking can be too.

I happen to LIKE Candy Corn (I like Circus Peanuts too) but i will happily stick to their original incarnation

>45 drneutron: Sounds right to me. Who wants white chocolate messing up the candy corn?

>50 magicians_nephew: I’m fine with candy corn per se, it’s just that combination seems like going too far. 😀

>51 quondame: 😀

Mind blown...

We're binging Star Trek: TOS. Season 3, Episode "The Lights of Zetar" was co-written by Shari Lewis - ventriloquist and puppeteer. Remember Lambchop?

>48 katiekrug: Ychh!

>45 drneutron: ...

I'd totally try that. And probably like it.

Congrats on the successful lectures! Very cool.

>56 scaifea: Thanks!

>54 drneutron: Shari and Jeremy wrote the Episode thinking that Shari would be cast in the part of Lt. Mira Romanie, Scotty's love interest, but the producers thought she was too old (!!!!).

Wow! DIdn't realize that. Scotty was definitely older than the actress who played her - ironic that she didn't get the part.

>59 drneutron: If you get a chance she is quite wonderful (and sings and dances) on "The Man from UNCLE" in "The Off-Broadway Affair".

78. Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman

A dash of Tarantino western and The Gunslinger, Malerman has put together a great story of an outlaw coming to rescue and old love who seems dead, isn’t, and is about to be buried by her husband. Then it gets weird…



79. The Vines by Shelley Nolden

Remember Typhoid Mary? She spent most of her adult life in a hospital for those with an infectious diseases on an island in the Hudson River. Nolden takes this idea and runs with it, imagining that island abandoned, and a family with a mysterious connection to it. Except one son that’s not clued in and is poking around to find out just what his father is hiding.

Sounds good? Especially in Scaretober? Yeah, unfortunately it just wasn’t that good…

>61 drneutron: Oh, does Unbury Carol fall into the weird west category or is the Gunslinger comparison only refer to the horror elements?

>61 drneutron: Color me disappointed. I thought The Vines sounded good. Ah, well.

I hope your next read is better for you, Jim!

It’s not as weird as The Gunslinger, but there’s some supernatural stuff going on. It had an almost mythological vibe that reminded me of it, though.

>64 drneutron: Does it qualify as a western though?

>63 alcottacre: Yeah, I thought I’d found a nice Halloween read. Ah well, next time.

>65 quondame: It’s set in an almost American west - not a real place, but classic Western with outlaws and sheriffs, horses and the Trail, telegraphs and wagons, etc.

>67 drneutron: OK, yep, it totally qualifies. I'd even include Promised Land, except well that's sort of SF Australian.... as is Norstrilia even if they share a frontier atmosphere.

Hi Jim, and belated happy new thread!

>6 drneutron: Interesting breakdown – male and non-male. Who is currently in your 40%?

>13 drneutron: Nope and nope. On the other hand, I love the Orphan X series thanks to you, and there’s lot of violence there.

>40 drneutron: What Katie said.

>45 drneutron: Ewwww… I like candy corn, but just ewwww…

>54 drneutron: I have two Lambchops guarding the books in the Library…

>69 karenmarie:, >6 drneutron: I switched to “non-male” because I read a couple of books by Nino Cipri, who identifies as non-binary. Rather than break down into multiple entries, I’m tracking how I’m branching away from my tendency to read a bunch of males.

>69 karenmarie:, >13 drneutron: 😀 yeah, but these were both a step beyond. Especially the second, an ode to 80s slasher movies…

>69 karenmarie:, >40 drneutron: 😀

>69 karenmarie:, >45 drneutron: 😀

>69 karenmarie:, >54 drneutron: Cool!

>6 drneutron: >69 karenmarie: >70 drneutron: Hmm, maybe I'll consider dividing authors into women and others.

>45 drneutron: We could just as easily substitute "Gain of Function" for Hershey's here Jim!

😂

>71 quondame: I actually thought the same thing, Susan. Women and others. *smile* I haven't read anything by anyone I know is non-binary or other-gendered so far, but if it comes up I'm sure I'll figure it out.

>74 karenmarie: It's not something I go searching for info on, but in Cipri's case, they were pretty upfront in the "about the author" writeup. So I figured I'd make a small change in how I track this.

>74 karenmarie: I've certainly encountered author profiles which only use the they pronoun and are explicitly obscuring gender information about the author. Of course that doesn't necessarily reflect how the author lives, just what they want the public to know.

This is a great discussion. I have a "woman author" tag, originally created under the assumption that books not tagged were written by men. Like Karen, I don't believe I've read any books by a non-binary or other-gendered author so I don't have a "tagging problem" but I could perhaps diversify my reading somewhat.

>76 quondame: If an author uses they pronouns or if info was obscured, I'd probably count them as non-male, with the idea that they're not the typical male author I usually read. But this raises some interesting questions like what to do with pseudonyms where the gender appears to be different from the actual author - Rowling/Galbraith comes to mind as an example, though there are lots of cases as detailed publishing under male-seeming names. I think the best approach for me is to take it case by case and remember my goal with it is to stretch my reading.

>77 lauralkeet: Tags are a good approach in that it's pretty easy to make changes. I'm keeping a list in a spreadsheet. So if an author changes pronoun use or gender identification, I'd have to intentionally go back and look for entries to change. With tags, it would be pretty straightforward. Something I need to mull over...

>78 drneutron: you're right, tags do make it easier to manage changes. But I also track this in my reading spreadsheet for annual stats purposes. In the spreadsheet I have a column for gender, which could easily be expanded from the current M/F, and while my stats calculate % M and F, changing the calculation would be pretty easy math.

>79 lauralkeet: Yeah, that's how I do it too.

I've read a few books this year where there are two authors of different genders (usually a husband-wife team) like Ilona Andrews or the Liaden series. I do it the easy way - I don't track my authors at all :0)

>81 humouress: I've got some like that too - in that case, I just count one of each. 😀

There's always: male; female; other/unknown...

>83 richardderus: Yeah, actually in my spreadsheet, I have Male/Female/Other. And if the gender is unknown, I just don't put an entry in for that book. But for year-to-year tracking and summarizing for LT, I collapse it down to Male/Non-male, as what I care about is trying to boost my non-male author pool.

>78 drneutron: I don't much care if I'm 100% or even 90% accurate assigning gender to authors, but to assign women to other, totally normalizes men and, well, others women. At a minimum it should be men, women, and non-binary. Where the person behind the pseudonym is public knowledge then go with the person makes sense to me.

>85 quondame: I definitely track female as a category, as female is different from nonbinary. I’m also not fond of Other, but haven’t come up with a better term yet - nonbinary is only one term I’ve seen used. And yeah, I usually go within actual rather than pseudonym when known.

>85 quondame: I think if someone identifies as non-binary then it is surely the only proper way to record them in our records. Akwaeke Emezi identifies as non-binary and is one author who books I have on the shelves. When I read Freshwater shortly I will list the author as non-binary not other in my reading stats.

The problem is grouping. I have authors who identify as non-binary, as asexual, as bisexual - those are three different categories. I could have a dozen rows for different categories (including male and female). But yeah, as a label for "anyone who doesn't claim either male or female", non-binary is better than other.

Other is accurate for team (multiple writers under one name), or corporation, or similar not-a-single-person authors. Though I tend to do the same as drneutron - a writing team gets marked in both columns, or two in one. Which means I have more authors than books in my reading stats, but that's OK.

>87 PaulCranswick: Ok, now I need to track down Freshwater. 😁

>88 jjmcgaffey: The "dozen rows" problem is why I chose what I did. I'm also not trying to deal with sexuality in my tracking - at least not yet - as that's a much harder thing to get data on. I think what I'm doing accomplishes what I'm trying to do - increase my reading of authors outside my group and outside my normal inclination.

I actually don't track corporate authors, ie books with no listed individual(s) authors. For those, I just don't record the data.

As I said, I don't track authors (by gender) but LibraryThing graphs tell me that I read (all collections)/ have in my library are, by a majority, by female authors. But I choose books by genre (fantasy, mainly) or recommendation. I suppose that means there are more female fantasy authors?

>90 humouress: Interesting question. That may very well be the case these days.

>91 drneutron:, >90 humouress: Then the question becomes...are more women *writing* fantasy, or getting published in that genre? Women have always written in every genre, so have men. The publishing industry is largely responsible for gender imbalances in what's marketed.

And the self-publishing revolution has or hasn't changed the representation in any given genre...?

>92 richardderus: Yep, you're absolutely right. I think it's that publishers are publishing more women fantasy authors - especially in the urban fantasy side of things.

Gonna have to look into what's known about self-publishing re: author gender. I'm not sure what my intuition says about that subject, and I'd probably be wrong anyway.

>90 humouress: I think there's about gender equity in fantasy, but not in fantasy sub-genres. So I know I mostly avoid grim-dark and battle-ground fantasy which is produced more often by men, making my fantasy author profile skew toward women - well also I'm much more likely to try new women fantasists than men, so it's not all sub-genre.

Huh. Well, that makes sense - my reading skews heavily female, and heavily SF&F. And within spec fic, sharply away from grimdark. War I'll read, but not the grim stuff - I love David Weber, for instance.

>95 jjmcgaffey: David Weber isn't a favorite of mine, and while everything I've read by him involves some sort of warfare it's not quite what I'd call battle-ground fantasy, in which all the plot and character are in service to pretty much nonstop descriptions of military armed conflict.

>95 jjmcgaffey:, >96 quondame: I took a look at the trend in my reading of fantasy over the last few years, and it's definitely skewed to female writers. Some of that is intentional, but some is probably also due to me avoiding grimdark by and large, and battle-ground fantasy in particular.

Weber writes space battles in which he reports on every missile flight and the angular momentum of the combatants and... He also writes really good space opera, with this stuff embedded in it. I tend to skim his battle reports (can't skip, important things happen in/because of them). So I agree, not what you're calling battleground fantasy (I may have managed to avoid that entirely?), just scenes of same.

Hi Jim, thanks for keeping my thread warm recently.
I started posting some book reviews from when I was away visiting family. Amazingly, read two e-books over the duration.

Cool! I’ll stop by and check them out.

I do not pay any attention to the gender of the author at all when I read a book because I am more concerned if the book is a good one or not. However, within the past few years, I have started to pay more attention to where the author hails from. I am really hoping to do a lot more in that regard next year.

>101 alcottacre: That’s another area where I’m trying to expand - beyond the US and Uk. Haven’t figured out the right way to track that yet, so I’m winging it.

Update Time!



80. My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

I can’t do a better summary than the book’s cover blurb:

1988. Charleston, South Carolina. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act--different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries--and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?

Hendrix has written some solid hits for me - Horrorstör, Paperbacks from Hell in particular. This one’s an ode to the 80s, and to the power of deep friendship. After, I read everything this guy writes.



81. Cosmogramma by Courttia Newland

Newland’s collection of short stories spans the gamut from science fiction to the horrific, and from the engaging to the, well, meh. Certainly, Newland’s themes are thought-provoking, and his perspective is fresh. But I found too many times that I just didn’t get captured by the story.

>103 drneutron: #80 Erm...maybe not quite so much for me. I didn't really love the 80s as much as everyone else.

#81 After the deeply disappointing A River Called Time, I passed on that one. Sounds like I did good.

You did. I should have paid more attention to what I was requesting… 😀

>103 drneutron: Yeah, I think I will be passing on both of those.

I hope your next read is an improvement on the last one, Jim!

>106 alcottacre:

😀 It already is - a Richard Mathewson collection and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

>5 drneutron: I enjoyed "The Lost Village" by Camilla Sten. I thought it was a nice twist on the abandoned town/village story.

>108 ocgreg34: I’m glad you enjoyed it! Looking forward to her next.

Honestly, I've read so many 150 page mission proposals and concept studies lately that I think I should start counting them on my yearly total...

😂

>110 drneutron: Are any of them getting funded? And how many of them could've been 50-75pp and said the same thing?

1. Don’t know yet.
2. All of them…

>110 drneutron: The crummy part of research are those assignments where you have to review colleagues' proposals. Always a politically-fraught situation.
Maybe not in your case, though.
Yeah, count 'em as your yearly "scholarly" total!

>113 SandyAMcPherson: 😀 Fortunately, I'm doing internal reviews prior to submission to NASA, so the politics isn't as much a problem.

>112 drneutron: *sigh* Well...prolixity is the path to bureaucratic success, I guess.

I reviewed a new kehuan anthology today. China's SF is, um, not the same as ours....

>115 richardderus: And I just posted on your thread prior to seeing your message here...

Yep, Chinese SF is definitely not the same. I loved the comments you had in your review about no happy endings and how they avoid the dystopia/utopia divide in Western SF.

>116 drneutron: Heh...it's really starkly obvious. I can't think of a clearer statement of why their economy is booming than that, they don't expect to be HAPPY! ECSTATIC! DELIGHTED! they expect to be not-hungry and not-cold.

Just playing catch-up on threads!

>117 richardderus: Yep!

>118 thornton37814: Glad you stopped by!

>10 johnsimpson: Do it! That's pretty much a novella.

Update Time!



81. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

Reread continues… not much needs to be said about this one.



82. The Best of Richard Matheson by Richard Matheson

An absolutely fabulous collection put together for Penguin Classics by Victor Lavalle of short stories by one of the masters of horror and sf. Including my favorite, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”. This is Matheson at his best.

>121 drneutron: Tempted by the Matheson book, but worry about the horror. I just do not do horror. At all.

>45 drneutron: I can't even imagine what a candy corn is, but I agree that this melding of chocolate with other sweets is a trend I can do without. There are a glut of them on the shelves here in NZ too, with combos like chocolate with peach fruit burst/snifters/pineapple lumps. Two of the three are sweets/lollies that were discontinued over recent years. I guess its a nostalgia trip?

>54 drneutron: Lambchop reminds me now of the Zootopia sheep character !! With her fluffy head that the fox character squeezed so inappropriately ;)

What a great Matheson collection!

>121 drneutron: Ooooh, I do love Matheson. An absolute master.

I haven't read "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" in decades! What a treat.

>122 alcottacre: Matheson's horror is more the psychological kind than the gore or supernatural/occult kind. But I get that some don't like any kind! 😀

>123 LovingLit: Yeah, I had forgotten about the sheep in Zootopia! 😂

>124 blackdogbooks: Yeah, it was great! Three stories that were turned into Twilight Zone episodes, and one - "Duel" - that was adapted by Spielberg for his first feature film. Plus, I enjoyed every single one, unlike most short story collections where things are hit-and-miss.

>125 scaifea: You'd love this one, then.

>126 richardderus: Yup. Plus so many other good ones!

>127 drneutron: I do better with the psychological kind of horror than I do the gore, supernatural or occult kind, but I still prefer to stay away. Thanks for letting me know, Jim.

>128 alcottacre: My pleasure!

Just catching up here. : )

Glad you stopped by! Hoping for another update in a day or so...

or 4 or 5....

: )

😀 We took a weekend off in Williamsburg, Virginia, and I finished one, but not the other…

Morning, Jim. I was stationed at Ft. Eustis, just east of Williamsburg. So many great places to visit around those parts. I should pick up The Best of Richard Matheson. I do not think I have read him and this sounds great.

>134 msf59: Yep - and over the years it’s really changed. The downtown area by William and Mary and the historic area has become a dining Mecca. 😀

I’m pretty sure you’ll like it!

Update time!



84. Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller

Well, this wasn’t what I expected. I’d thought it would be a narrative of an interesting guy who studied fish taxonomy -and it was. But it was also about a guy who was first president of Stanford. And a proponent of eugenics and forced sterilization. And also about a young journalist coming to terms with her childhood, her father, and the mess she’d made of her life.

In the end, I really enjoyed it - and really enjoyed meeting Miller. But David Starr Jordan? He’s a piece of work…



85. Four Streets and a Square by Marc Aronson

Aronson’s delightful Four a streets and a Square is a paean to the richness that has been, and is, New York City - mainly Manhattan. Given the history, it’s a dip into all the city is, but what dip it is! I especially appreciated how Aronson shows how the interplay between groups - ethnic, racial, sexuality - defined the city, and modeled the nation as a whole.

I think the title of Why Fish Don't Exist is wonderful, but I have zero interest in reading it.

Four Streets and a Square has my name all over it, however!

>136 drneutron: - Four Streets and a Square sounds great. Adding it to my wish list...

>136 drneutron: What Richard said, Jim!

>137 richardderus:, >139 alcottacre: Honestly, if I’d known ahead of time what is really was about, I probably wouldn’t have been interested either. 😀

>137 richardderus:, >138 katiekrug:, >139 alcottacre: Yeah, figured that it would appeal… 😀

A Thanksgiving to Friends (Lighting the Way)

In difficult times
a friend is there to light the way
to lighten the load,
to show the path,
to smooth the road

At the darkest hour
a friend, with a word of truth
points to light
and the encroaching dawn
is in the plainest sight.

Jim, to a friend in books and more this Thanksgiving

>141 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. I’ve really enjoyed our friendship over the years.

Happy Thanksgiving, Jim. And thanks again for all you do around here.

Thanks, Mark! Have fun with Jackson!

Jim, I am so very grateful for you, my wonderful friend here on LT. Thanks for all you do to make LT the wonderful place that it is. Thank you for the space fun and the book bullets.

I wish you (and yours) happiness and health on this day of Thanksgiving. And cookies. : )

Hi Jim, mate, We wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving Day from both of us dear friend.

>145 Berly: Thanks, Kim. It’s always amazing how we’ve made this great community. I’m hoping we can someday meet at a bookstore somewhere!

>146 johnsimpson: Thanks, John! I hope you and Karen are having a good week.

I hope you and Mrs Neutron had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Jim!

We did! The Son in home from Notre Dame and his semi-fiancé girlfriend is spending the weekend with us. We’re enjoying the time with them. 😀

>147 drneutron: Wouldn't that be fun! Someday we will make it happen. : )

Yay for Son being home! I'm glad you had a great Thanksgiving!

Yep, and now the ground-level Outside Christmas lights are up. Tomorrow’s get-on-the-roof day!

>152 drneutron: Be careful up there...

😂 Lights successfully installed, didn’t fall once!

>154 drneutron: ...it says here...of course, EMS-call records could tell a very different story.

😀 You know you’re getting old when the son hovers around at the foot of the ladder to make sure someone can call 911 if I fall… 😂

>136 drneutron: Why Fish Don't Exist - I just read that too. Enjoyed it a lot, but boy, I wasn't expecting the extreme right turn that Jordan took. Something I never knew

>157 mahsdad: Yep, I was definitely surprised by how he ended up.

So the family and I are watching Hawkeye - latest in the MCU. Seriously, LARP? I was dying... 😂

>159 drneutron: LARP is a real thing - they do it a lot at board gaming conventions, which is the only reason I even know about it.

>160 alcottacre: I have a LARPer in the family. It wasn't a great surprise, consider she had us fans and SCA folk as parents.

Oh, I’ve participated a bit in LARP in the past, it’s just that the scene with Hawkeye and the LARPer was hysterical! 😀

Hi Doc; just dropping by to see what's happening here.

I heard about the asteroid that we've aimed a spaceship at in the hopes of deflecting it. Probably dreamed up by the same folks who thought nuclear testing in the Pacific islands was a good idea.

>163 humouress: 😀 I promise we're not deflecting it that much. The spacecraft will impact a small asteroid (small being a relative term) orbiting a big asteroid. The impact will cause a small change in how long it takes the smaller body to orbit the main asteroid, which can easily and accurately be measured from telescopes on Earth. Fortunately, the path of the asteroid is completely determined by the bigger one, which we're leaving alone. So no chance of deflecting it on a trajectory to Earth. But it will give us an opportunity to understand what it would take to deflect something big headed to Earth.

Believe me, there are folks at NASA who are responsible for making sure nobody does something that can cause that kind of trouble. And they take their jobs very seriously.

>164 drneutron: Mmm. Well, if annoyed aliens turn up on Earth's doorstep ... it's been nice knowing you ;0)

>165 humouress:,😀

The Long-Delayed Update Time!



86. The Ultimate Evil: The Search for the Sons of Sam by Maury Terry

Saw a documentary advertised on Netflix about the Son of Sam serial killer - this is the book that inspired it. So I though I’d give it a whirl. Turns out it was written in 1987, at the height of the Satanic abuse panic in the US. And Maury Terry is deep, deep into conspiracy theory. Is it possible that David Berkowitz had help? Sure. Is it possible he was set up by a hidden cabal of Satan worshipping killers? Probably not. Most interesting thing about this one was watching the train wreck as the author spiraled down into woo-woo land. And that ain’t saying much.



87. The Library of the Dead by Tendai Huchu

Really good see-the-dead fantasy with a great mix of Western and Nigerian magic. Huchu’s got a great voice and a great eye for world-building and plotting. I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel early next year.

88. The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth by Michael Spitzer

A pretentious look at humans and our relationship to music - in our lives and our history. Lots of speculation, and intentionally obtuse. Don’t bother.

>167 drneutron: Oof, only one out of three. But the one looks very good.

Yeah, this update wasn’t up the usual. But yes, the middle one was great!

>167 drneutron: Yeah, I gave up on the documentary for the same reason.

>170 blackdogbooks: thanks for the heads up. I was considering it, but not if it’s the same.

The library has a copy of the Huchu, and lovely to hear it includes a version of Edinburgh too, so this one has gone straight on the reservation list. Thank you.

>164 drneutron: This all sounds reassuring.

>172 charl08: I’m glad you’re gonna give it a go. Will look for your review of it.

Yeah, it’s a cool mission. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to work it. We tried to get Bruce Willis to do some PR for the mission - what with Armageddon and all - but his manager wouldn’t even return calls or emails.

>164 drneutron: I seem to recall that on the Manhattan Project, for the Trinity Shot, there was a person on the team assigned to the task of making sure the bomb did not ignite the earth's atmosphere.

>174 magicians_nephew: That’s true, except I think it was more than one. It was definitely a concern going into the first test. A similar example was a group at CERN that worried about whether the high energy collisions in the Large Hadron collider would form microscopic black holes that would eat the Earth. 😀

>175 drneutron: And they still went ahead? Nice to know they had their priorities straight ;0)

>176 humouress: Fortunately, in both cases, the math showed that these things wouldn't happen. But you never know... 😀

>177 drneutron: That's okay then.

>178 humouress: 😂

Anybody else watching this sh*tshow?

https://www.librarything.com/topic/337240

Pretty amazing, really. Reminds me of some of the "Einstein was wrong" discussions I've had.

>180 drneutron: ::eyeroll::

>167 drneutron: #87 straight onto the Ammy list...as soon as they're back up, that is.

The others...PASS

Yeah, I think you'll like that one.

>180 drneutron: Well that's wow. The bit about how Copernicus only had a vague sort of notion that the Earth might revolve around the sun but presented no data to back it up is really very just wow.

I did a quick-and-dirty literature search and discovered that the author's research in "computational linguistics" has chiefly been published in a literary journal. Which tells me what I need to know.

Thanks for sharing.

>184 drneutron: Yeah, I did the same thing - and came to the same conclusion. For me, it was when she claimed to have a statistical background, but had no knowledge of the wildly popular, free system for statistical analysis. That and when the concept of validating one’s analysis before making wild claims is completely misunderstood.

>180 drneutron: I just...have no words, but spent a very entertaining hour or so catching up on that.
I'm going to bed now.

>180 drneutron: OMG... shouldn't have clicked. I wasted over an hour there, but had fun ;-)

Happy Wednesday, Jim. Sorry your Son of Sam book was a dud. I read Son of Sam back in the 80s and thought that one was very good, if you want to try another one. Is the Netflix doc worth seeing? I usually avoid the true crime ones.

>185 bell7:, >186 FAMeulstee: 😀

>187 msf59: I'll add it to my list - always up for a good true crime book! I haven't watched the series yet, but the intro of the book was written by the director of the series in this re-released edition, and he makes it clear he's coming at it from the direction of watching Maury Terry go off the deep end (but he uses nicer words). So it may be good from that perspective.

>180 drneutron: Holy. Moly.

Now I'm hungry for buttered popcorn.

>189 scaifea: 😂

Have a good weekend-ahead's reads, Doc!

Is it...dare I think...could we really see...https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/dec/10/james-webb-space-telescope-fuelled-for-launch

Yes, indeedy! Things are looking good so far for launch on the 22nd. In fact, they could have made the 18th - turns out the clamp band issue was a non-issue. But Ince they changed the date, it's difficult to change it back. Plus, this means the crew gets a couple of rest days.

After waiting for this since 1969, it feels unreal to imagine it's really happening!

>167 drneutron: Adding The Library of the Dead to the BlackHole and not bothering with the others. Thanks for the recommendation, Jim!

Have a wonderful weekend!

>193 richardderus: Yup!

?194 Great! I hope you like it - I think you will. 😀 I hope yours is good too.

>195 drneutron: Thanks, Jim.

Update Time!



89. Science and Cooking: Physics Meets Food, From Homemade to Haute Cuisine by Michael Brenner, Pia Sorenson, and David Weitz

Based on a Harvard class intended to teach chemistry and physics to nonscientists through cooking, the authors are a combination of scientists and chefs who do a pretty good job of helping the reader understand how food works as we eat it, how the processes of cooking change food to make is more pleasant, and some basic ideas from physics (for example, phase changes) and chemistry (proteins and how they work, for example). I had fun with it, and even picked up a few recipes that I want to try out some day.



90. From Warsaw with Love: Polish Spies, the CIA, and the Forging of an Unlikely Alliance by John Pomfret

As the Soviet influence over Eastern Europe crumbled, people in the Polish government understandably worried that Germany and Russia would continue to contest for control of the region, with the Poles in the middle. Looking around, they found an unexpected ally - the US. In a change driven, surprisingly, from the Polish foreign intelligence service, the CIA moved from respected opponent to enthusiastic partner, forming a Special Relationship win many ways even more special than the one with Britain.

Pomfret tells a good story, clearly with access to some of those involved, documenting how the change occurred, how the Polish intelligence service led the way in operations like rescuing Americans trapped in Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, and even to the evil of secret prisons where the CIA was given free reign to torture prisoners. The story's got heroic moments, but also some pretty bad actors, showing once again how the American government can be the worst of friends.



91. In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food by Stewart Lee Allen

A follow-up, but completely different from the earlier book on food, another Overdrive find that I thoroughly enjoyed. It's a light, but interesting look at food from the perspective of the seven deadly sins, and how food interacts with cultures around the world. There's a chapter on gluttony, of course, but also chapters on the relationship between food and violent emotions (anger, mostly) and lust, etc. It's a quick read that isn't deep at all, but was a nice - dare I say it - palate cleanser from some of the recent books that didn't work for me.

>197 drneutron: Adding all of those to the BlackHole! When I homeschooled my girls, we had "Kitchen Chemistry" class - basically what used to be called Home Ec, but concentrating more on the ways that foods worked together to produce something edible, so the Science and Food book intrigues me.

Awesome! A trifecta! 😀

There were some pretty interesting things in it on how ingredients work together and how temperature affects foods. Stuff I'll pay more attention to when I cook!

>197 drneutron: "palate cleanser"

>200 richardderus: 😂😂

>187 msf59: the documentary was not good, it suffered the same problems doc listed for the book. I gave up on it.

Happy Monday, Jim! I hope you have a great week!

>202 blackdogbooks: That’s what I figured…

>203 alcottacre: so far so good! I hope you do too.

Just saw a 60 Minutes piece on the Webb telescope, which can see 100 times more than the Hubble and is soon to be launched. Amazing stuff!!

>205 Berly: Yep! Launch is scheduled for the 22nd, though these things often don't go the first day of the launch period. I've got some good friends who've been working on that one for more than a decade who are just about to see the fruits of their labor!

It's still a go? They're going to wait until the 21st to postpone it until 2029, aren't they.

>207 richardderus: Yes, it has been delayed once or twice, but hopefully not this time. Besides 12/22/21 is perfect -- you can't mess with a numeric palindrome!!

>207 richardderus:, >208 Berly: 😀 The latest delay from the 18th was due to a clamp band issue - a clamp band is the spring-loaded device that holds the spacecraft onto the top of the launch vehicle. In the process of testing the clamp band, there was inadvertent contact with the spacecraft. When that happens, everything stops while the team evaluates whether this caused any problems, and to give the team time to evaluate and, if needed, do a repair, they decided to delay four days. Turns out, they didn't need the extra days - the contact wasn't an issue. So they kept the extra days as rest days for the team and as margin to allow for any other things that might come up. Word I get is that nothing else has come up, so it's looking good!

> Science and Cooking looks especially interesting. I'm putting that and the Poland one in the Someday Swamp. Thanks for the recs!

So cool about the launch. Crossing crossables ...

>210 swynn: Cool! I hope you like them.

Aaaaand now it looks like Webb is delayed until December 24. Looks like a ground system comm problem they'll need to fix before launch.

*sigh* 2028, here we come...one more delay will beget cancellation then ground-up redesign. Then more delays....

Dang it!!!

Dropping in to wish you a wonderful weekend!

>212 drneutron: Sorry about the delay.

Thanks! I hope yours is good too!

Hi, Jim! I know I've been mostly absent this year, but I think of you often, especially recently, seeing all the exciting news about the Parker Solar Probe. So, while the delays of the new project are disappointing, I'm more interested in the PSP and what it's up to. (Pun not intended, though it is pretty good imo.)

Anyway, hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Happy weekend!

ETA The Library of the Dead is now on my neverending TBR list.

There was a story about a probe sailing through the Sun's corona - I thought you guys were delayed??????

>218 blackdogbooks: That's the exciting news I was talking about in >217 Storeetllr:! drneutron was part of that project. Here's a link to an article about it:


https://www.iflscience.com/space/for-the-first-time-ever-a-spacecraft-has-touche...

>217 Storeetllr: It’s been amazing to me how well the spacecraft has worked!

>218 blackdogbooks: The delayed project is the James Webb Space Telescope. I’m not working on it, but I have a bunch of friends who are. Looks like they’re launching Christmas Eve. At the same time, my Parker Solar Probe finally made it down into the Sun’s corona after 3 years of flight.

>219 Storeetllr: Yep, I keep getting Google alerts on news stories!

I get so excited when I read about the PSP, you'd think it was me who worked on the project. I'm just so pleased for you and the NASA team that worked on it!

>220 drneutron: Is John Mather associated with that project? I knew him rather well at UCB.

Happy Sunday, Jim. I hope you are getting some reading time in this weekend. Do you two get out for any walks during the winter months?

Question: I am trying to add Ghosts of the Tsunami to my library. It comes up but will not let me add it. I have had this issue before. Even if I put the author in, the book is not listed. Very strange.

>221 Storeetllr: 😀 Really, it belongs to all of us. I was just lucky enough to get to build it.

>222 quondame: Yep! He’s the Senior Project Scientist for Webb, so is the lead for the science team. I’ve met him once or twice, but I doubt he’d remember me.

>223 msf59: We do, but for the last few weeks we’ve been babysitting contractors working on our bathroom remodel. And when it snows, we have snowshoes for walking in the woods by our house.

I couldn’t add it either. Not sure what’s up with that. Did you try adding it with the ISBN?

No, but I will try. Thanks! Glad it wasn't just me.

ETA- That worked. Thanks. Very weird.

By the way - we made the big time. Tina Fey made a joke about us on SNL’s Weekend Update last night. Unfortunately, it was the tried-and-true “go at night” joke, but Tina Fey!

Tina Fey!!! Hey!! Go with it. : )

Update Time in the race to 100! Will he make it? We'll see!



92. No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

Wow, this one's hard to describe. It's urban fantasy - the world finds out monsters like werewolves exist, and a group of people are thrown into a conflict between two magical secret groups. But Turnbull's writing is more like Colson Whitehead - character driven, not plot driven, using the idea of this big reveal and these characters to examine issues of how we govern ourselves and how we treat the Other among us. It was a fascinating book for me, not what I expected, but even more. And as the start of a series, I'm interested to see where he's going with it!



93. Once & Future, Vol 2 by Kieron Gillen

Second collection of comics centering around a man who is the re-embodiment of a protector knight working with his secret agent grandmother to battle a corrupted King Arthur and, in this case, Beowulf. Great artwork, fun story, interesting characters - all what I like about graphic novels.



94. Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire

Maguire's story of The Nutcracker from Uncle Drosselmeier's point of view. As with most of Maguire's books, he twists the original enough to make us care about the characters in a new way. But also as with most of Maguire's books, it tends to drag and in the middle section became a bit of a slog. Still, it scratched a Christmas itch for me, and I thought the ending with Klara was well done.

Hi Jim!

Way too long between visits, but I appreciated all the discussion of male/female/other/non-binary/etc. since I last posted. Also, I’m listening to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in the car, and with rehab 3x a week am getting there faster than I was once Delta kicked in again. I’ll re-listen to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows immediately after finishing HBP, of course.

>167 drneutron: The Library of the Dead just landed on my wish list.

>180 drneutron: *shudder*

>225 msf59: Congrats on making Weekend Update.

>228 drneutron: Just got No Gods, No Monsters for 99¢ for my Kindle. Sounds intriguing.

>229 karenmarie: Hey! Glad you dropped by!

I hope you like Library of the Dead and No Gods, No Monsters. I sure did. 😀

The sh*tshow turned out to have some interesting discussions of stylometrics and statistics, and I learned some things about this kind of analysis. Of course, this wasn't due to the original poster's work, but others in the thread. Still going on, so I'm now just watching to see how many more messages this will have before folks just give up...

>230 drneutron: I remain completely fascinated with the sh*tshow discussion. But the OP won't ever give up or learn anything, poor dear. Bless her heart.

>228 drneutron: Six more....

I liked No Gods, No Monsters pretty well. It was about the best iteration of the secret-defenders-against-secret-enemies trope I've read in ages. Just...lacking, for me, some sort of background that wasn't simply gestured at...? I ended up thinking it wasn't time wasted, barely, and so just didn't talk about it.

>230 drneutron: I'm still an interested lurker in the sh*tshow as well. It's been, if nothing else, a fascinating look at human nature and pure bullheadedness.

>228 drneutron: Once & Future looks like something i should be sticking a nose into.

Did you ever see Camelot 3000 in either comic book or GN format?

>228 drneutron: >229 karenmarie: Thanks! I followed you to No Gods, No Monsters!

>231 scaifea: “bless her heart” 😂

>232 richardderus: I’m guessing that further books in the series will open up the background. We’ll see…

>233 bell7: That’s for sure! I’m now just watching to see how long others will continue to engage. 😀

>234 magicians_nephew: I didn’t, will definitely look for it.

>235 quondame: Cool! I hope you like it!

There's this new thing I made... https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/23588/75-Books-Challenge-for-2022

Happy holidays!

This is good news!
Thank you and happy holidays to you too!

Thanks!

I was just coming over here too see if you'd started next years group. Thanks, Doc. You're the best.

I'll see you there!

Thanks for all the work you do in setting up the Group Jim

My pleasure!

I hope 2022 is a year with special moments Jim. And thanks for creating this wonderful space for compulsive readers.

>228 drneutron: I would have sworn I already had No Gods, No Monsters in the BlackHole, but evidently not. I have now added it. I have also ordered the first volume of Once & Future from Amazon so I will see if I like it. Honestly, it sounds like something I would love, so thanks for the mention, Jim!

>244 Caroline_McElwee: I hope next year is great for you too, Caroline!

>245 alcottacre: Great! I hope you enjoy both. I’m gonna cram in the third Once & Future volume before the end of the year, I think.

Happy holidays to you too!

92, 93, 94....!!! You can do it!!

>79 lauralkeet: In 2021 I tabulated 3 gender categories: male, female, and multiple authors of mixed gender. Having encountered authors in the past who identified as genderqueer, I should perhaps add that category to my 2022 tabulation.

>249 Berly: I'm mid-way through 95 and 96, with a fast graphic novel planned for 97. With a bit more than a week to go, it'll be dicey. But I'm off next week, so plan to spend some time reading!

>250 ArlieS: That was certainly an interesting discussion we had earlier in the thread. For me, the question came down to figuring out what I'm trying to accomplish, which is broaden my reading scope beyond the typical white male author I usually go to. I started with gender, since that's relatively easy compared to other issues. Next I want to tackle race and country of origin beyond US/UK. After that, sexuality, but in that case it may be very difficult to get good info on authors.

Oh, and some Christmas Cheer!

>252 drneutron: *SNORK!!!* omg I love that!

>253 scaifea: Yeah, I spewed coffee when I saw it on Facebook.

>252 drneutron: I love it too!

Or in other words: Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

>252 drneutron: Love this!

>258 magicians_nephew: Find of the season for me. 😀

"In the Land of Santa where the reindeer lie"

>260 magicians_nephew: 😂😂

https://pics.cdn.librarything.com//picsizes/d5/a2/d5a2ada47f63cf66369376c7a674368422f7345_v5.jpg 3x">

>252 drneutron: Hahahaha, okay, I think that's officially my favorite of the seasonal images I've seen so far.

>262 johnsimpson: Merry Christmas, John!

>263 bell7: 😀

Here's the Christmas readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337733

Thank you for making the 2022 group! I look forward to sharing all my reads.

>266 Deedledee: I’m glad you’ll be joining us!

Hi Jim!

>237 drneutron: Yay. Thank you for taking such good care of the 75ers.

>251 drneutron: I’ve tried for several years to expand beyond the US and the UK in my reading, and am consistent with 5%. Sigh. Good luck in your expanded goals for next year.

>252 drneutron: I hope I’m not the only one who doesn’t get it…

>268 karenmarie: It’s a play off of Lord of the Rings - the description of the One Ring and the others it controls.

Paul’s Asian Author challenge next year is going to be my springboard for non-US/UK reading. We’ll see how I do with it!

Ah, LOTR. Not my strength. *smile*

I'm also going to try to use Paul's Asian Author challenge next year as a springboard. We're in the same boat, so we'll see if we can push each other!

Sounds good!

May all your surprises be good ones this Holiday season.

Thanks, Richard!

Have a great holiday, Jim.

Thanks, Mark and Roni! I hope you have great Christmases too.

>252 drneutron: In the Land of Yuletide, where the Turtledoves lie.

Love it!

Have a wonderful holiday season, Jim!

>252 drneutron: That's hilarious and tremendous

Happy Holidays Jim!

Have a lovely holiday, Jim.

"Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain."
Zig Ziglar

With you and the group life is like a dance class - thank you.
I wish you and yours all the best in theese days and Merry Christmas!

and thanks again for your awesome work for the group!

>277 Storeetllr:, >278 mahsdad: Glad you liked it. It gave me a pretty good laugh when I saw it on Facebook. Happy holidays, Mary and Jeff!

>279 quondame: Merry Christmas, Susan!

>280 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! I hope you have a good day.

>281 cyderry: Merry Christmas, Chèli!

>282 SirThomas: It’s been a pleasure to host over the years, and I’ve come to value the people here. Merry Christmas, Thomas, and I hope 2022 is good to you.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

These were our family ornaments this year and, despite COVID, a merry time was had by all. I hope the same is true for your holiday and here's to next year!!

Happy new year!

>180 drneutron: OMG!
Just spent the last hour (wastefully) on that thread you mentioned.
That woman is a disgrace and IM-not humble-O, she lives in Cloud Cuckoo Land.
As several posters said, why on earth is LT giving her an interview slot?

(And yeah, I am way behind on your thread Jim.)
Happy new year and may LT refute that silly woman (absolutely no credibility).

>228 drneutron: Hiddensee is on my TBR now. Despite the slog & drag in the middle!

Awesome! I hope you like Hiddensee. And yeah, that was an amazingly obtuse person. But I learned some things from those answering her.

So we got bit tangentially by Covid - the boosters we got Tuesday morning have done a number on us. So I got some good reading time in! Not going to make 100 this year, but it was still a good one.



95. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

The story, told in Larson’s usual fascinating way, of the development of wireless telegraphy by Marconi and of one of the most famous murders in early 20th century London. How do these stories connect? Marconi’s wireless was first used to solve the problem of ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communication. And this new technology made a radical change in the ability to pursue criminals across oceans.

Larson effectively uses the Crippen murder and the international search for Dr Crippen to show the 1910s weren’t so different from today - sensationalized reporting, a fascination with crime, new technology used in unanticipated ways. Larson’s books are always good - highly recommended!



96. Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton

S.T.’s back! And as funny and heart-felt as ever. Had to squeeze this one in before the end of the year!



97. Once & Future, Vol 3 by Kieron Gillen

Third collection of the Once & Future comic book - thought I’d get caught up on the series here at the end of the year. These continue to be fun re-imaginings of the Arthur stories with a strong dose of monster-fighting.

Sorry you weren't (aren't?) feeling great, but yay for the booster! And more reading time!

I'm with Katie: sorry for the side effects, but yay for the booster!

I need to get round to that Larson - I've loved his other stuff.

Today’s better - we’ve stayed doped up on Advil and that’s helped. I planned us getting the booster early this week so that we’d have time to recover from any side effects. My plan seems to be working… 😀

yeah, Jim - we choose the holidays, as well - couple of days and the worst is behind you.

Sorry the boosters knocked you both for a loop, but super glad you are now boosted!

>291 drneutron: Erik Larson is one of my favorite nonfiction authors. I think I have read everything he has written and would happily re-read any of them at any time. I am glad to hear that you enjoyed Thunderstruck, Jim.

I still need to read Hollow Kingdom before I get to Feral Creatures. Hopefully I will get to it soon! I have already picked up the first volume of Once & Future, I just need to get it read.

I hope the recovery from the booster after effects is swift!

Here's the New Years readathon: https://www.librarything.com/topic/338012

Hope you and mrsdrneutron recover quickly from any side effects of the booster, Jim! I know it hit me pretty bad - on the day after I got the shot. But Tylenol and a couple of good nights sleep and I was fine. And I'd rather have a day or two of feeling ick than the actual virus doing a whammy on me.

Happy New Year!

>294 drneutron: Sorry you had side effects, Jim, glad to raed you are feeling better.

It looks like Frank and me were lucky again, nothing more than a sore arm after our boosters (Frank on Wednesday, mine was yesterday).

>299 Storeetllr:, >300 FAMeulstee: yesterday was much better - I’m pretty much over it, Mrsdrneutron has a little lingering swelling in her arm. And, yeah, I’d much rather have side effects than the virus itself!

Hi Jim.

>291 drneutron: Sorry you had bad reactions to your boosters. Thunderstruck is on my shelves, just waiting for the right time…

Much better today!

Thunderstruck is great - I hope you like it.

https://pics.cdn.librarything.com//picsizes/5d/02/5d029540654e5a9636b45767a774368422f7345_v5.jpg 3x">

Happy new year, John!

WISHING YOU GOOD HEALTH AND PROSPERITY IN 2022!!

Thanks, Chèli! And you too!

Putting a wrap on 2021!



Some interesting notes:
- My ebook reading continues to increase, roughly linearly since 2012. I had figured it would level off at some percentage, but not yet.
- My nonfiction reading is steady at about 30%.
- My reading of non-male authors increased in 2015, and again in 2018. Since then, it's sagged a bit. A goal for 2022 is to continue to push this higher.

Happy New Year, Jim!

>291 drneutron: The Larson looks good, so I'm adding it to the Swamp.

>291 drneutron: Another Larson to add to the WL! Hope you feel better ASAP. The Booster knocked me down for a day or two, but totally worth it. Happy New Year!!

>309 swynn: Great!

>310 Berly: We’re better - just taking it easy as it’s a weekend. 😀

Forget your stresses and strains
As the old year wanes;
All that now remains
Is to bring you good cheer
With wine, liquor or beer
And wish you a special new year.

Happy New Year, Jim.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year!