Currently reading The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka (about 2/3 through it). It won the 2022 Booker Prize.
The basic premise is that a Sri Lankan photographer is murdered/killed during the Sri Lankan Civil War and his ghost has seven days to investigate his own death.
It’s been a bit of a challenge with the names (characters and place names) and I knew nothing about the Sri Lankan Civil War beforehand but it’s been a fascinating read, with elements of humor, mystery, thriller, politics and philosophy.
On a whim, I just read “Who Censored Roger Rabbit?” – the book “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” is based on.
Some pretty big differences from the movie – no Judge Doom or dip, for instance; also, the Toons are from comic strips, no cartoons – but a fairly entertaining “whodunit with a twist” kind of novel.
I’m currently reading How the World Really Works, by Vaclav Smil; How the World Works, by Nicholson Baker (you can be assured I’ll be an expert presently), a biography of the Buddha by Karen Armstrong, called The Buddha, and a lot of dumb / fun Star Trek novels I’m reading for homework since I had a good idea for a story.
Also I just finished–and freaking loved–Fight Night by Miriam Toews. (A last name pronounced Taves, in fact.)
Just finished The Thing in the Snow by Sean Adams. Really enjoyed it up until the end, which was such a lousy ending it ruined a great book. Maybe i missed something but i don’t think so.
I’ve moved on to a novel called The Books of Jacob which i just started so have no opinion, finishing a nice Chaucer bio called, cunningly, Chaucer by Marion Turner, and continuing Romance of the Grail by Joseph Campbell. Kind of light on the light reading!
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow finally became available at the library, so I read it last week. It was an interesting take on love and friendship, and I enjoyed it. But I’m a nerd, so I was predisposed to enjoy the setting.
MLK never wrote an autobiography, but this was compiled from his various other writings and speeches by the person who oversees his papers, and is endorsed by Coretta Scott King. It was a very good read.
The Wager is on my list. Which is taking a while to commence with because I decided to remedy one of my classics holes so am reading War and Peace. Which is wonderful and broad and funny and big-hearted.
In May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada’s oil industry and America’s biggest foreign supplier, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster melted vehicles, turned entire neighborhoods into firebombs, and drove 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon. Through the lens of this apocalyptic conflagration—the wildfire equivalent of Hurricane Katrina—John Vaillant warns that this was not a unique event, but a shocking preview of what we must prepare for in a hotter, more flammable world.
I am most of the way through The Fourth Turning is Here by Neil Howe. He does a great job of illuminating our current historical situation through the lens of generational attributes. I find it has applicability for me - an aging “boomer” - in all sorts of areas.