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What are you reading currently?
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Happy New Year! Reading Kidnapped, which covers Scottish politics from the 1740s in more detail than I expected. As luck would have it, there was a question about a decisive 1745 battle in our New Year's Eve Trivial Pursuits game. It went to the other team, but still.... Never hurts to keep reading!2
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FitMary202 wrote: »Happy New Year! Reading Kidnapped, which covers Scottish politics from the 1740s in more detail than I expected. As luck would have it, there was a question about a decisive 1745 battle in our New Year's Eve Trivial Pursuits game. It went to the other team, but still.... Never hurts to keep reading!
The more you read, the more stuff you learn. Some of it isn't very practical... I just read Practical Magic and it wasn't very practical. It was an ok book but the end was abrupt it seemed to me, I wanted more story but no, it just ended. Maybe the sequel will have the answers I seek, but I am going to read something else before I get to it.
A book that piqued my interest in a subject that I also like was the western series I recently read by William (aka his niece J.A.) Johnstone, they were drinking Lapsang Souchong smoked tea and they really liked it. I have never had any so I bought some to try (tomorrow). The Chinese tea leaves are smoked over pine, I wonder if it will taste like pine tar, or smell like pine tar medicated dandruff shampoo (yuck)? I would hope not, or one would wonder why or how it became popular?2 -
Started reading two additional books: All the Beauty in the World and Meditations for Mortals. Those were the books I bought while shopping for others before Christmas...
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Since I am probably the only person left that never read The da Vinci Code, I am starting with book 1 of the Robert Langdon series with Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. I'm almost done with it.1
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@Catfish_Fan - hope you enjoy the Robert Langdon series. I loved the first 2 books - the ones after didn't seem to have the same depth as the first ones.
I finished The Station. 3 stars on GoodReads. Didn't care for it all that much. One of the reviews said that the HBO series was much better, so I'll have to check that one out.
Next book for me will be Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. I didn't think much of it the first time I read it 25 years ago - I thought maybe that was because I loved the movie so much. After reading @Catfish_Fan's review I'm wondering if I'll still feel the same way about it. Time will tell. I will say that the other 2 books I've read in the series were much better than I recall Practical Magic being.1 -
@Btrflydog I agree with the reviewer. I didn't care for the book and was very surprised at how much I'd apparently missed (or they added!) when I watched the series. I've just started reading Peach Blossom Paradise by Ge Fei. The translator is coming to town so I decided to see what the book is about.2
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The da Vinci Code was a bit disappointing, kind of convoluted in its cryptography and far fetched that the characters would decipher all the vague clues to the mystery, and also far fetched in terms of the religious aspects, although I do admire the author for being bold enough to be so challenging to the status Christianity beliefs. I was entertained overall, so 3 stars.
I am now reading Jack Campbell's space opera series The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier starting with book 1, Dreadnaught. This is a completely different direction and genre than Dan Brown.1 -
After two of the Lost Fleet space opera novels (which is a series I intend to continue), I am breaking it up by reading a stand alone thriller by Lincoln Child originally published as Utopia, later renamed Lethal Velocity. I don't know why publishers or authors rename books, that makes it more difficult to find them in public library databases. I found the audiobook under Utopia and the kindle e-book under Lethal Velocity and they are the same book. Lincoln Child, not to be confused with Lee Child of Jack Reacher fame, is a co-author with Douglas Preston of the Agent Pendergast thriller series that I have been enjoying. It is one of Child's early books.1
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I've got so many books going at one time, but for some reason I just keep going. I finished All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley and I just started The Sellout by Paul Beatty last night. Completely different works in very different veins, but both are quite compelling, despite (in part because of?) some flaws!2
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Finished Practical Magic - Alice Hoffman - enjoyed it more this time through - though I do still prefer the movie, which is unusual for me.
Next up The Book of Lost Names - Kristin Harmel.
@FitMary202 - let us know how you like The Sellout - I need to know if I need to add it to Mount TBR.2 -
Will do! Too soon to rule definitively, but so far the authorial voice is a very distinctive and well worth reading!2
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The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman was much better than Practical Magic, and I am looking forward to Magic Lessons next up.2
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Magic Lessons was the book I was looking for in Practical Magic, the continuation of the story started there. It tied together the entire series with references to the prequels. I am glad that I read them in Publication Order, and not Chronologically. I thought I might have forgotten what happened in book 1 during the gap between, but it all came right back.
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I found this article in yesterday’s Reminder newspaper. I was recently asked about “immersion reading” and studies related to it (reading a text along with the audiobook), I think that the study mentioned below from 2013 Emory University that looked at MRI scans as people read is interesting. Might point to a benefit from immersion reading because you get more deeply into the stories, activating more areas of the brain? Just a thought, so I copied the article.
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The impact of reading on cognitive decline
Aging and change go hand in hand. Although some may bemoan the gray hairs that start to arrive or stiffness in the knees that seems to sneak up on a person in middle age, such concerns are not necessarily enough to lose sleep over. However, many people 50 or older are nervous about the potential for cognitive issues like dementia as they grow older.
The Alzheimer's Association estimates that 6.7 million people have Alzheimer's disease in the United States. The Alzheimer Society of Canada estimates that there were 733,040 people living with dementia in the country as of January 1, 2024. Alzheimer's disease and other dementias can rob people of their memories, personalities and abilities to live satisfying, independent lives. While it may be impossible to prevent all cognitive issues completely, there is reason to believe that reading could be an ally in cognitive care.
The American Academy of Neurology says that reading stimulates the brain and has been shown to slow down cognitive decline in old age. Reading also may help slow down memory loss.
The powers of reading were noticed more than 10 years ago when a 2013 study from researchers at Emory University measured readers' MRI scans as they read books. They found the deeper readers went into a story, the more areas of their brains were activated. This activity remained elevated for several days after participants finished their books. The more a person reads, the stronger complex networks in the brain become.
Additional evidence that reading can help the brain was noted by researchers at the Texas A&M School of Public Health. A 2024
study suggests that older people with mild cognitive impairment who engage in high levels of activities like reading, hobbies and word games have better memory, working memory, attention, and processing speed than those who do not take part in such endeavors. Furthermore, a 2021 study published in Neurology found that high levels of cognitive activity, like reading and writing letters, can delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease by five years among those age 80 and over.
Reading can keep brains functioning optimally and potentially delay age-related cognitive decline.
- Metro Creative1 -
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Just finishing up The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier space opera series by Jack Campbell with book 5, Leviathan. It is quite a bit better than I expected it to be.2
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Finally finished The Time of the Child so I've taken up The Sellout again. It's SUCH broad humor, really over-the-top satire, in-your-face challenging prose mocking every single stereotype about race in the US. His pop cultural references are also very broad--from Brer Rabbit to Mr. Green Jeans and Nancy Chodorow to Marcus Garvey, for example, and cover several generations. In that sense it's a madcap tour de force! Definitely not for the faint of heart, the pious, or the comfortable.... And I'm only 75 pages in!2
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Sounds fun!1
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Several people at work recommended Babel, or the Necessity of Violence by R. F. Kuang very highly. Historical fantasy set in Oxford and focused on the complexity of translation? Putting it on my list...2
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I've also got Babel on my list, I have both the audio and e-book versions ready in my pile.
I'm taking a break from sci-fi and reading a dime western, Catfish Charlie by Johnstone.2 -
I am currently 8 books ahead of schedule on my reading goal for the year so I am tackling a large one, Noble House by James Clavell is over 1000 pages. I hope I can get it done by the end of the month, with a couple of small books squeezed in along the way.1
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Woo hoo, @Catfish_Fan!! Impressive!
I finished The Sellout and would indeed recommend it, @Btrflydog. It was outrageous on every page, but witty and I appreciated the fact that while he spared no one, the book wasn't mean-spirited or full of cheap tricks. I'd love to hear your opinion if it eventually makes it off Mt. TBR.
Now I've started Babel. Not sure what my final verdict will be, but it is engagingly written! Unlikely to be added to my (growing) list of DNF....2 -
Finished Starling House - Alix E Harrow 4 stars. Was good, but I had trouble getting into it at first. I enjoyed her Once and Future Witches much more.
Next up The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah - this one has been on MT. TBR for quite a few years. Part of my goal this year is to get through some of the books that have been hanging around for years. Unfortunately, I went to Half Priced books yesterday and ended up adding 11 more books to the mountain. I should not be left unattended near bookstores.2 -
Putting Dark Matter by Blake Crouch on my TBR list. My son lives in Chicago where the book is set and by chance they filmed some of the scenes one block from his apartment. He says they must be doing another season of the series they made of it because the film crew is back!2
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FitMary202 wrote: »Putting Dark Matter by Blake Crouch on my TBR list. My son lives in Chicago where the book is set and by chance they filmed some of the scenes one block from his apartment. He says they must be doing another season of the series they made of it because the film crew is back!
I loved that book, I didn't know it was a series. I'm not very tuned in to the new shows. What channel is it on? Streaming service I mean? I might have access to it and might like to watch it? (I had to drop Netflix but still have Prime and Hulu/Disney, those are the only ones left).
Oh, I looked and it's on Apple. I'm not buying umpteen streaming services, sorry Hollyweird.1 -
My son showed me the show (mostly to see his neighborhood), and it looked like a great book. So imaginative! That came across in the series. But season 2?!? And, yeah, I'm not paying for yet another streaming service!!!1
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Maybe they will make a blu-ray disc set of the series that can be purchased (for far less than subscribing)? It sounds like it would make a great show! That is cool that it is filmed near his home.
I don't have STARZ and I have been waiting for Outlander season 7 to come out forever. I loved the books. I don't have Paramount and I buy the Star Trek shows like Strange New Worlds and Discovery and Picard on discs (the only stuff I would watch on that network). I do like specific shows, and Dark Matter sounds really interesting.
I already have the Amazon club membership Prime which comes with video, I would pass on that if I could get Prime for less money though. I had Hulu but I cancelled because it was too expensive, so they offered it to me for $3 a month with Disney for a year and I bit. I usually only watch the Star Wars shows on Disney though. The discs for that Disney Star Wars stuff are extraordinarily expensive, unfortunately.
I'm now only 7 books ahead of schedule on my Goodreads challenge because this James Clavell book is so long. I really like it, and the rest of his Asian Saga books, but to read this on audiobook you need 55 hours to spare --I have 20 more hours to go. By the time I finish I might only be 4 books ahead on my challenge and I'm ready to read some shorter books. I have Upgrade and Run queued up by Blake Crouch on my Kindle; the only one of his books I didn't give 5 stars to was Abandon. He is a very good author, I do recommend him.1 -
I learn so much on MFP! I'm embarrassed to say that I had no idea that Outlander was a book series?! I only knew about the film versions, which I haven't watched much of. (BTW I also fell for the Hulu Disney trick...) And Dark Matter was the first and only time I'd heard of Blake Crouch! So, as usual, more to go on the "want to read" list. Thank you! SO impressed that you're doing the James Clavell.
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Oh yes, the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon was awesome! The show is the show, obviously shortened and changed for television, as the books are extremely long.
Outlander, 33 hours
Dragonfly in Amber, 39 hours
Voyager, 44 hours
Drums of Autumn, 45 hours
The Fiery Cross, 56 hours
A Breath of Snow and Ashes, 58 hours
An Echo in the Bone, 46 hours
Written in My Own Heart's Blood, 45 hours
Go Tell the Bees that I Am Gone, 50 hours
If you have a lifetime to kill it is one of the best historical fiction series I have read. I didn't do it in a row, but over many years.
Blake Crouch wrote the Pines trilogy that was turned into a show on Fox, I think it went two seasons? I didn't see it. The books were great. Much, much shorter reads.1 -
Oh, my gosh, someone just recommended that Pines trilogy to me. I didn't realize it was the same guy who wrote Dark Matter. He must have the knack! The Outlander series is definitely going on my list now.2
