Lucy Ellmann - author of the fantastic Ducks, Newburyport has an essay collection coming out.
Her publisher live-tweeted one of her essays in which she lists things which are "crap". 257 tweets, and it's fun to find the thing that makes you say "now, hold on."
144/ Mindlessness ditto. #LucyEllmann #ThingsAreAgainstUs
— Galley Beggar Press (@GalleyBeggars) July 5, 2021
Anyway, that's as much as I got for reading intro this month. Half-baked crap I tell ya.
What are you reading?
While I disagree with some of the books/rankings, I've gone back to this website periodically to see if there are any well-regarded sci-fi I should read, and my most recent trip there I noticed they separated into pre-2000 and post-2000 books. Delving into the more recent stuff again, I nabbed the library's ebook of Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. I'm about half way through, and I'm still not fully sure what's happening, but it's been entertaining enough.
I have 2 friends who loved it. I had to stop 1/3 through as I couldn’t figure out what was happening and unfortunately wasn’t enjoying it. I’m getting old.
I really loved that book and series. It certainly doesn't let you get comfortable right away.
I don't need my hand held, but I have a feeling there's something basic I'm not quite picking up.
I finished Nathaniel Rich’s Second Nature and started Losing Earth: A Recent History. Both are quick reads that are excellently researched and depressing AF. The former is a group of essays that detail how humans have changed every square inch of the earth, and explores the ramifications of human dominance. The latter can be boiled down to the fact that we knew everything we needed to know (and everything basically there was to know (ish)) about climate change in 1979 and yet still did nothing because oil, gas, and politics. I’m going to switch to something lighter next and start reading Northern Spy. Wait, that’s about the future reengagement of hostilities in Northern Ireland in novel format.
Just the one book this month - The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. A very fresh take on the murder mystery genre. A recommend.
I also just got the last book in the Poppy War trilogy and I'm excited to get started.
The White Nile, Alan Moorehead
Burton, Speke, Livingston, Stanley - multiple forays into the Equitorial Lakes area to find the source of the Nile.
Also, bought my first book/magazine since the pandemic - The Atlantic - good articles on Boris Johnson, Kodak/Rochester NY/Six Months in a Meatpacking Plant/Busting Cop Unions/Bollywood vs. Modi.
Just started Oliver Twist, C. Dickens. Wow.