"Recent" Reading
Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier, cause it had been on my to-read for awhile, and had survived the cull. Still not sure if I liked it or not.
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, Richard Feymann, borrowed from my boss a few years ago. I should give it back to his family, but I'm going to keep it instead.
The Best of Japanese Science Fiction Stories, anthology. RabidLemer had given it to Alsafi, and... it was just sitting there. And SF. And looking at me.
The Geography of Thought, Richard Nisbett. Fascinating ideas about how people think, East vs. West. Now Alsafi wants to read it. Borrowed from Troutqueen.
The Devil in the White City, Eric Larson. Disturbing. Interesting. Disturbing. Sad. About the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago (where America tried to outdo the Paris/Eiffel Tower 1889 World's Fair, so a very big deal), and the notorious serial killer who lived in Chicago at the same time.
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman. Second or third try to read this book, and never would have got thru it but that we watched the well-cast but otherwise under-budgeted miniseries of the same name. Was, okay, but I could see where it would be a lot of fun for people with a better grasp of London geography, and who like puns better than I.
Comedy at the Edge, Richard Zoglin. Why am I reading all these Richards? An overview of the major players in stand-up comedy, focused mainly on the 70's.
The Orchid Thief, by Susan Orlean. People are weird. Plants are scary. Did you know an orchard, if kept properly, never dies? Creepy.
Fantastic Voyage, Issac Asimov. Written about 50 years ago, and the social interactions are a fascinating snapshot of the times, especially the sympathetic-for-then treatment of the one main female character. Stories about the future can tell you so much about the time they were written in.
Half Life, Hal Clemment. I wanted to like it better than I did. Old school SF, with exobiochemistry, but I found it hard to care about the people. I'm a big fan of character driven fiction (as anyone could tell from what little I've written), and this wasn't.
Zen in the Art of Archery, Eugen Herriget. Not Zen -and- the Art. Written by a German ambassadorial aide in Japan between the big wars, who actually studied archery and flower arrangement as paths toward understanding Zen. Some times understandable, sometimes it lost me, but that's not surprising, for a translated work about a sociocultural spiritual journey with yet another language. And I was sick when I was reading it.
And working my way thru ElfQuest online. Cause I can. Finished The Original Quest, Siege at Blue Mountain, Kings of the Broken Wheel, Hidden Years, and Shards. Sometimes the writing is not all I would have it be, but they were truly unique and groundbreaking for American comics. And I have resisted looking for Cutter and Skywise slash, cause I don't have that kind of free time. If it doesn't rival Spock/Kirk in volume I would be surprised.