Books: What are you reading tonight?

I'm liking Anthony Hopkins new memoir. We Did OK, Kid. A weirdo from way back. Got off to quite a slow start there in working-class Wales, and how. Good for almost nothing but the theatuuh as it turned out.

Ofc I can't wait for the uncoming drunk stuff.

I'm currently in the middle of Traitor's Circle, taking a break. Balls of steel on these people.

Just started Grantham's autobio, Making of a Permabear.

Just finished Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Pessl. An interesting mix of The Secret History crossed with the Crying of Lot 49 set in HS.

The big plot twist I thought I would really hate when it arrived [it was mentioned at the beginning] but the story goes in a new and interesting direction.

You'll probably hate it or love it. Its long 540 pages and could have been edited down a bit but there's a lot going on.

Mark Twain's "What is Man?" Seems in conflict with one of his other late life books, "Letters from the Earth, " in terms of religious position.

I IDed someone last name Ballard tonight who lives on Utopia Avenue, so maybe some Michael Connelly & David Mitchell?

Not sure how to feel about this, but happy for Sanderson, and glad it seems he'll be heavily involved.

If Brandon is any relation to the great Derek Sanderson, I better read up on him.

Re-re-reading Pratchett's Maskerade, still hilarious.

Saw this article about Pratchett a few days ago. Can't say I know noticed, but I don't think I've ever read and re-read his books in chronological order.

https://theconversation.com/terry-pratchetts-novels-may-have-held-clues-to-his-dementia-a-decade-before-diagnosis-our-new-study-suggests-273777

The Conversation

Terry Pratchett’s novels may have held clues to his dementia a decade before diagnosis, our new study suggests

Star Talk with Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Kind of a coffee-table book, each page is on a topic with some main text, and some quotes/visuals/etc around that. Not just astrophysics stuff, one section is on sci-fi/superhero type stuff too.

A fun book.

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden - Set in Amsterdam in 1961. About the relationship between the lonely Isabel and the seemingly vacuous Eva. The legacy of WW2 is hinted at, then weighs increasingly heavily on the story.

Overall I thought it was excellent. Most of the book is solely from Isabel's perspective, whose isolation has made her angry and bitter far beyond her 29 years. Eva's unwanted introduction to her life shatters her tedious existence.

There's a c. 20 page section which is mostly the two women having fairly graphically described sex. Some may feel that this is repetitive and pointless. The sex is taken seriously though rather than being gratuitous or humorous. I think their purpose - showing that there's an enormous emotional intensity bubbling underneath the surface of a person who has been buttoned-up throughout her adult life.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark is brilliant and quite unlike anything else. Easy to read too, not even 150 pages. The famous 1971 movie wasn't even very good iirc.

Agreed!

If you like fantasy: Tad Williams, The Dragonbone Chair

or the WFA-winning Bridge of Birds, available in the trilogy of The Chronicles of Master Li and Number 10 Ox, by Barry Hughart.

Bridge of Birds is one of my top 3 favorite novels alltime. Set in ancient China, it's just amazing, breathtakingly funny, heartpoundingly dramatic, with 2 big mysteries that need to be solved by Master Li.

Just finished Electric Spark, a very good biography of Muriel Spark. The writer, Frances Wilson, has also written great books about Thomas De Quincey and DH Lawrence that I recommend.

Had an interesting discussion last night over what was the last novel to have huge HUGE sales across a broad range of demographics, i.e. the last Thriller/Jagged Little Pill of novels.

The answer we came up with was Deathly Hallows with Gone Girl for a standalone novel.

Other discussed included The Godfather, The Exorcist, Jaws, & The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. (FWIW DH has sold about as many copies as those four plus Played With Fire & Hornet’s Nest combined. And if course it was a gigantic letdown but that’s another post)

Fifty Shades was DQed for both narrow demographics and under the copies purchased had to actually be read rule.

The DaVinci Code springs to mind.

Oh wow, that’s probably the winner; 15-20M more copies sold worldwide than DH.

People read the DaVinci code? I thought they were purchased just to fall asleep under on airplanes.

I bet a lot more people finished Code than finished Infinite Jest or even The Corrections, as a percentage of those who bought or were gifted it, or who checked it out of the library.

The Great Beyond by Paul Halpern.

A history of the search for a "theory of everything", from the days of Einstein to the more current string and brane theories.

More of a history of how things developed and the people involved than an attempt to bring the thoughts down to the layman's level. That said, it did introduce to me a couple new ideas of how to think of n-dimensional space (n>4). By no means could I say I understand the topic though--just a little deeper scratch into the surface.

Not sure I can recommend; at least, not what I was looking for.

Comparing IJ to DaVinci code okay

We Are The Champions being released in 1972 was an interesting wrinkle in King Sorrow by Joe Hill

Just started reading Jane Eyre. They're being really mean to poor Jane so far.

This is fantastic btw.

This is a pretty darn good 450 page novel that raises some very interesting questions about deals with the devil, wielding power, group dynamics, unintended consequences, etc.