What have you been reading lately?

I recently read Maus I and Maus II.

The Saga of the Pony Express. That’s one of my favorite substories in American history. Love that era!

Of course I read the Bible each day. I am also reading Beth Moore’s Portraits Of Devotion (a Bible study). I am rereading (for like the twentieth time) Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets. I have temporarily abandoned reading Dracula, but I’ll get back to it.
Next on deck: Blood, Sweat, and Chrome, about the making of the movie Mad Max: Fury Road.

Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood

I am currently reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman (which has been recommended to me for years) and Boom Town by Sam Anderson (about the history of Oklahoma City). I am also rereading Earshot by Kimiko Hahn (a poetry collection) and The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick (a classic, but also a bit of a doorstop).

I have just finished a strange book by the Japanese writer Yoko Ogawa written in 1994 and recently translated into English. It is called the Memory Police. I liked it though it was very bizarre. I am now making a third attempt on “100 Years of Solitude”

@flutherother I loved One Hundred Years of Solitude, but magical realism can be hard to get into (never could get much into Salman Rushdie’s work).

@Demosthenes I’ve been recommended One Hundred Years of Solitude more than once but I’m struggling with all those Spanish names. I feel I should like it but it looks like it isn’t going to happen.

My own. I just finished my most recent fantasy fiction. Actually, whimsical fiction is more appropriate. The word fantasy can conjure thoughts of sex, and the most described sex in it is T-Rex mating style.
I will share the title after I publish it, which will have to wait a while. My landlord is flipping the property, so I’m about to be homeless on a mobility scooter.

@Demosthenes Right now I am reading Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult. I read House Rules by her and enjoyed it.

Several books in the past few months and a few on deck.
The Plantagenets, Wars of the Roses and Powers and Thrones by Dan Jones
The Pacific War trilogy by Ian W. Toll
The Bomber Mafia by Macolm Gladwell
Aurora EV-01 series 3 by Ryk Brown
Beowulf (Seamus Heaney translation)
The Stone Wolves by Scott Sigler
The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris
Multiple comics books and graphic novels (my latest favorite is Supergirl miniseries by Tom King)

Defenders of the Faith. Dungeons and Dragons paperback guide book.

I recently finished “Voices of the Pacific”, an historical tome with first hand accounts of the Pacific Theater of WWII. Some poignant, some down right funny. There was one account from an old vet, telling how the Japanese would yell out to them at night, “Fuck Eleanor Roosevelt!” He and his buds would yell back: “You can have her, we don’t want her!” Lol!

I just finished the 9th book in the series of the Elm Creek Quilters, by Jennifer Chiaverini (Circle of Quilters) which is an historical fiction series about a family from rural Pennsylvania, in which a hundred years later, one of the daughters turns the long abandoned family home into a quilting camp. The story goes back and forth in time, and focuses on both the original family, and other tangential and peripheral characters. Quilting is an ongoing theme within the books, but relationships between people are the more important aspects of the books.

I do not know how to quilt or do any other kinds of needle work, but I have learned a lot about it, and have become interested in it by reading these books, and have sought out other books that focus on other needle crafts, such as knitting and crochet, as backdrops for other stories.

The American Revolution: A Visual History. For a picture book, it’s surprisingly wordy. It takes me so long to read it because I have to alternate between looking at the pictures and reading the words. I also have to go back to the year summary to refresh what I learned.

Presently reading:

Cyber Smart: Five Habits to protect your,family,money,and identity from cyber criminals.
By Bart R. McDonough
———
Finished reading the following books:

The Twilight Zone and Philosophy
By Heather L. Rivera & Alexander E. Hooke

GO Tell the Bees That I Am Gone
By Diana Gabaldon (book 9 in Outlander series) and on Starz TV.

Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science
By Robert Lomas

The Stranger in the Lifeboat
By Mitch Albom

Make Your Bed…. Little things that can change your life and maybe the World.
By Admiral William H. McRaven

Norse Mythology
By Neil Gaiman
( havent read throught it htourgly yet..taking one chapter at a time, leaving and picking it up as I feel).
Same with:
Mythology ( the Classic bestseller Timeeless Tales of Gods and Heroes)
By Edith Hamilton
Just randomly going through it when I choose too.
Thus the joys of having my own library of books to read when the mood strikes me.

I like going into new territory in regards to reading books.
In the past whereas I only sought out one theme .
Get out of your comfort zone to learn different ways on thought and ideas, I say.

Escapism stuff. The Store by Bentley Little.

Under The Wave at Waimea – Paul Theroux.

Recent reading

The World That We Knew, by Alice Hoffman (fiction, 2019)
Excellent, beautiful, highly recommended

Golden State, by Ben H. Winters (fiction, 2018)
Very good, fast moving, strong messages

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, by Margareta Magnusson (nonfiction, 2018)
Quick, simple, and wise

Constance, by Matthew Fitzsimmons (fiction, 2021)
Gratingly uneven, as if too rushed for decent editing; interesting premise given short shrift by flawed execution

The Bookbinder’s Daughter, by Jessica Thorne (fiction, 2021)
Abandoned at 42% for narrative style I couldn’t stand any longer, despite intriguing storyline

Current reading

The Future Is History, by Masha Gessen (nonfiction, 2017)
Just begun; history and analysis by a brilliant author of various works on Russia past and present

And several other titles, off and on

Just finished earlier today an 35 small paged booklet, “How To Drastically Lower You Grocery Bill, by Susan Hart” Was $12 and lots of white space and easy to read. The book is for the novice shopper who doesn’t have time to watch hours of YouTube shopping videos.

Read the book in 15 minutes. Didn’t learn anything other than to read the specs of the book and how many pages, before ordering from Amazon.