Sunday, March 2, 2025

February Book Report

Feb. 2025, Manchester, NH

I finished 7 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

You don’t turn a river by abruptly trying to get it to change direction. You don’t have that much power. No matter how strong you are. The river will just overwhelm you and obstinately carry on pretty much as before. You can’t make it change direction overnight. No one can. On the contrary, you have to start by flowing with it. You have to capture its own force and then slowly but surely lead it in the desired direction. The river won’t notice it’s being led if the curve is gentle enough. On the contrary, it will think it’s flowing just the same as usual, seeing as nothing seems to have changed.” ― Jonas Karlsson, The Room

Here are the books I finished in February 2025: 
  1. The Room by Jonas Karlsson, Neil Smith, Translator (3-stars)
  2. The Perfectly Imperfect Home by Deborah Needleman, Virginia Johnson, illustrator (4-stars) 
  3. Blood Rubies by Jane Cleland (4-stars)
  4. Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten (audiobook, 4-stars)
  5. The Sauvignon Secret by Ellen Crosbie (3-stars)
  6. The Searcher by Tana French (4-stars)
  7. Brie Careful What You Wish For by Linda Reilly (3-stars)

Sunday, February 16, 2025

Spinning the Classics

I'm getting this Classics Club Spin list posted just under the wire, but the number hasn't turned up anywhere I have seen it yet so I'm in. 

  1. Aesop's Fables
  2. The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck, 1931
  3. Song of the Lark, Willa Cather, 1915
  4. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, 1859
  5. Come and Get It, Edna Ferber, 1935
  6. Howards End, E. M. Forster, 1910
  7. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1967
  8. Riders of the Purple Sage, Zane Grey, 1912
  9. Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
  10. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein, 1961
  11. Dune, Frank Herbert, 1965
  12. Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy, 1955
  13. Steamboat Gothic, Francis Parkinson Keyes, 1952
  14. Russia House, John le Carre, 1989
  15. The Razor's Edge, W. Somerset Maugham, 1944
  16. True Grit, Charles Portis, 1968
  17. 3 Lives, Gertrude Stein, 1909
  18. A Tale of a Tub, Jonathan Swift, 1704
  19. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh, 1945
  20. Delta WeddingEudora Welty, 1946
Most of these are books I have on my shelves (or should be easily obtained at the library) so whatever number comes up I should be able to get it read by the April 11th deadline.

Monday, February 3, 2025

January 2025 Book Report

Feb. 2021, but it captures
the feel of Jan. 2025
I finished 10 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

I finished 10 books last month. 

There are no happy endings in history, only crisis points that pass.” ― Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves

Here are the books I finished in January 2025: 
  1. Find Your Why by Simon Sinek (3-stars)
  2. The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov  (4-stars) Classics Club
  3. Eggs Benedict Arnold by Laura Childs (audiobook, 4-stars)
  4. The Voignier Vendetta by Ellen Crosbie (4-stars)
  5. Sugar Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke (4-stars)
  6. Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+ by Suze Orman (3-stars)
  7. Snow by John Banville (4-stars) - from my obnr shelves
  8. Unsolicited by Julie Kaewert (3-stars)
  9. Leave it to Cleaver by Victoria Hamilton (3-stars)
  10. Living in a Nutshell by Janet Lee (4-stars)
I finished several mysteries this month from the various series I have been working my way through. I also finished a book each from my owned-but-not-read shelves and my Classics Club list. I feel like I am off to a good start with this year's reading.

Monday, January 20, 2025

My Best Books of 2024

These are the 5-star books that I read in 2024.

FICTION:

NONFICTION:


Sunday, January 5, 2025

The Gods Themselves

The Gods ThemselvesThe Gods Themselves 
by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain." -- Friedrich Schiller

Told in three parts, this novel features a society where scientific findings are controlled by politics and human vanity. Each of the narrators, a different one in each part, is well drawn as an individual and a full picture of what is happening develops as the narratives build on each other. Overall an excellent novel!

This book is on my Classics Club list. 

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Reading Plans 2025

These are my goals for my reading life in 2025:

During 2024 I read a lot (27,932 pages according to GoodReads) but I wasn't reading for the various challenges I had signed up for. In 2025 I am going to skip most of my usual reading challenges and just see how things go. I do want to focus on reading through some of the book lists I have made in recent years. 

December Book Report

Lincoln, NH, December 2024
I finished 13 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

“The less we cement ourselves to our certainties, the fuller our lives can be.”
― Kim Fay, Love & Saffron

Here are the books I finished in December 2024: 
  1. Rainbow's End by Martha Grimes (3-stars)
  2. Retirement Reboot by Mark Miller  (3-stars)
  3. Start with Why by Simon Sinek (3-stars)
  4. The Postscript Murders by Ellie Griffiths (4-stars)
  5. Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie (4-stars)
  6. Mastering AI by Jeremy Kahn (5-stars)
  7. What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley (3-stars)
  8. Love & Saffron by Kim Fay (4-stars)
  9. Eggs in Purgatory by Laura Childs (audiobook, 3-stars)
  10. Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos by Donna Andrews (3-stars)
  11. All Fishermen are Liars by John Gierach (4-stars)
  12. The Life Brief by Bonnie Wan (4-stars)
  13. Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler (4-stars)
I finished up 2024 without making my annual goal of 100 books read. I was very close (96) and in the last few years I have read more than 100 books annually so I am giving myself a break. Overall this was not a great year for meeting reading goals. I did read a lot of good books though, so that's a win.

Thursday, December 19, 2024

Mastering AI

Mastering AI: A Survival Guide to Our Superpowered FutureMastering AI: A Survival Guide to Our Superpowered Future 
by Jeremy Kahn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Too often we mistakenly view technological development as deterministic, as if technology were a force of nature immune to our actions. This attitude robs us of agency and turns us into mere subjects. It is a dehumanizing pose, for one of our defining characteristics as a species is our ability to bend the world to our favor. And AI is bendable. It is a protean technology. We can still sculpt its final form. The decisions we make, individually and collectively, over the next few years will determine AI's fate, and our own. If we do nothing, humanity is careening toward a cliff edge; the fall may not doom us all, but it will injure us in countless ways We can act now to avoid the precipice and steer toward a brighter future that AI will help deliver. In trying to pull off this maneuver, our greatest impediment is not AI. It's us." (p. 245-6)
This book is both terrifying and encouraging. Kahn looks at how AI is developing, what it actually is and can do right now, and what it could become (good and bad). I found the deep dives into specific areas where AI is being developed, such as education, especially fascinating. Kahn is not giving us an objective view of AI, he has a very definite message about the dangers it poses and the opportunities it offers if we (both individually and as a species) can harness this technology instead of letting it harness us. 

I rarely feel like any book is one "everyone should read," but this one is an exception.

Thursday, December 5, 2024

November Book Report

Stillwater, OK, November 2024
I finished 4 books last month.

A quote from this month's reading:

“A dog will wag and lick your face and just about knock the door down waiting for you to come in at the end of the day. But are they really thrilled? Or are they running the world’s longest con, a scheme developed over thousands of generations for better chow and a warm place to sleep?”
― Tommy Tomlinson, Dogland

I finished 1 book from my Classics Club list, which was on my owed-but-not-read shelf (currently at 135 books). 

 Here are the books I finished in November 2024: 
  1. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (4-stars)
  2. Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show by Tommy Tomlinson  (4-stars)
  3. The Year of Less by Kate Flanders (audio, 3-stars)
  4. Earthly Remains by Donna Leon (audio, 3-stars)
Not a big month for reading. I have some solid reading time planned in December which I am looking forward to.
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