what are you reading?

My wife collects Sherlock Holmes pastiches and I try to find Holmes books in other written languages whenever I’m somewhere that that’s a thing. She has a fun collection of French, German, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and… want to say Indian but can’t remember for certain (it’s been a few years).

Her favorites are the Warlock Holmes books but I really enjoyed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s “Mycroft Holmes,” series. The first one in particular tackles some big topics and was very interesting.

I'll be on the lookout for both the Warlock Holmes and Kareem's Mycroft series!

Another YA Holmes pastiche that I enjoyed immensely is the 4-book Charlotte Holmes series by Brittany Cavallaro, beginning with A Study in Charlotte, a clever play on the Study in Scarlet that introduced her great-great-great grandfather into the world. She's had a rough time of it, including several stays in mental hospitals, which is a powerful update of what it might be like for someone that borderline sociopathic who winds up addicted to opiates in something resembling the real world. You don't get to just start a business and be famous. Especially as a teen, you just get in deep trouble that nearly kills you.

They're not exactly heavy, but this lends the stories an unusual heft. There's a lot of humor, much of it deriving from her relationship with the progeny of Watson who attends her boarding school (another classic YA trope that this leans into). They're both terrific characters who are both like and unlike their famous forbears in ways that illuminate the originals.

The Holmes family in particular is greatly extended, as is the Moriarty family (both are featured in family tree diagrams in the beginning of the books), and there's a lot of great stuff on intergenerational trauma to go with it. They also lean into the family businesses of political influence, so there's some solid spy stuff to go with all of the above. You will NOT see some of this stuff coming. Really sharp storytelling here.

Holmes and Watson explore some romance, which feels inevitable, but by the time they get to it, also deeply earned. It's slow and tentative without being tedious, and fits nicely in the context of the real pain that these characters experience.

My wife and I have been talking about this while I'm writing this, and we really were both quite moved by this series. This is the best kind of YA, deeply empathetic and insightful to go along with propulsive storytelling. Anybody who reads these is gonna want to read more books this good, which is what it's all about.
 
half-way through Eileen Simpson's excellent memoir, Poets in Their Youth,
a recollection of her marriage to John Berryman and time spent w/ his
circle of artistic friends. (mostly fellow poets - Delmore Schwartz,
Robert Lowell et al - and literary critics.)
Berryman remains one of my favourite poets and having poured over most of
his work and life i have more than a passing interest in this book! 🌻
 
I read The Little Prince to my class last week... takes about an hour total, actually... There isn't simply isn't any other book quite like this...

But it is SO melancholic, and the 12-13 year olds in my group thought it was depressing and wondered aloud why I was reading it to them the week before the Holiday break... I thought a little bit of shadow might be a good contrast to "The season of light". I thought they would find the repeted line about adults never understanding anything would resonate, but...

Some had seen a movie version, but none had read the book... A travesty!
 
I read The Little Prince to my class last week... takes about an hour total, actually... There isn't simply isn't any other book quite like this...

But it is SO melancholic, and the 12-13 year olds in my group thought it was depressing and wondered aloud why I was reading it to them the week before the Holiday break... I thought a little bit of shadow might be a good contrast to "The season of light". I thought they would find the repeted line about adults never understanding anything would resonate, but...

Some had seen a movie version, but none had read the book... A travesty!
Truly a most wonderful book. When I was that age I was reading John Hersey, Steinbeck, Heinlein; Arthur C. Clark; Kurt Vonnegut; Ken Keesey; Margaret Walker... Pearl S. Buck...and just becoming addicted to Shakespeare. Ugh, forgot J.D Salinger, James Joyce...so many...
 
Re-reading The Screwtape Letters and The Great divorce both by C.S Lewis.
I’m a big fan of The Screwtape Letters. I feel like people get excited about the idea that it’s a CS Lewis book about Christianity and miss that it’s a pretty harsh critique over the pitfalls of religious-adjacent things (the pageantry or getting hung up on the drama of the congregation) rather than just focusing on your faith and having that be enough. It felt like a newspaper to the nose of organized religion or at least a call to get back to basics - or in this case the beatitudes.
 
Truly a most wonderful book. When I was that age I was reading John Hersey, Steinbeck, Heinlein; Arthur C. Clark; Kurt Vonnegut; Ken Keesey; Margaret Walker... Pearl S. Buck...and just becoming addicted to Shakespeare. Ugh, forgot J.D Salinger, James Joyce...so many..
Wow... you were reading these at 13? What a precocious reader you were!
 
I read that this year! PLEASE let me know your thoughts when you finish it because that was a book that stuck with me for a while after I finished it!
Sorry for the delay, I guess I'm a slow reader. The paperback copy I have runs 200 pages of which, aside from a few pages for things like title, copy write and the publisher, is mostly commentary and analysis. Kafka's Metamorphosis was just 58 pages.
I don't know if the English translation of the German title is accurate and if I may ignore all of the printed analysis, I believe it is a metaphor. Gregor perishes after realizing his life and more so his reality is not his own or even real.
 
Sorry for the delay, I guess I'm a slow reader. The paperback copy I have runs 200 pages of which, aside from a few pages for things like title, copy write and the publisher, is mostly commentary and analysis. Kafka's Metamorphosis was just 58 pages.
I don't know if the English translation of the German title is accurate and if I may ignore all of the printed analysis, I believe it is a metaphor. Gregor perishes after realizing his life and more so his reality is not his own or even real.
I love literature like this because people can pull all sorts of stuff out of it and I had never thought of that!

I thought the theme of the book was learned helplessness and the perils of martyrdom. Gregor gives up being happy (when he was a soldier) to take care of his family and they the family learned to lean HARD on Gregor to survive. But when Gregor was removed from that providing role that he seemed to take on grudgingly but still with some relish, they all realized they could do more if they actually tried. They all move on to better lives and Gregor dies knowing his family didn’t need him as much as he thought and that all of his self-sacrifice was for nothing.
 
I started the McCartney Legacy, and am enjoying it a lot. I'm partway through chapter 4, and realize it will take me a while to complete, not only because it's a long book, but because they of course mention various songs, and then I have to go listen to those songs, which leads to more listening, and the next thing I know, I don't have time to get back to the book that day.

But so far, for anyone interested in McCartney's solo career, I'd definitely recommend it. Actually, it starts as The Beatles are still together as far as the public knows, Let It Be has not yet been released, and McCartney is working on his first solo album. So, at the point I'm at in the book, that's the status of things.
 
Enjoyable as it is I'm taking a short break from my current Beatles tome and started reading Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld. Seinfeld picked out his favorite bits from the last 45 years, organized them by decade and then presented them in this book. The intro to the book tells of how he got into comedy and I wish it was longer because it was so interesting. I didn't think reading the bits in written form would work but as I read them I can hear Seinfeld delivering the lines and I found myself laughing out loud several times. It's a fun read.
 
Enjoyable as it is I'm taking a short break from my current Beatles tome and started reading Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld. Seinfeld picked out his favorite bits from the last 45 years, organized them by decade and then presented them in this book. The intro to the book tells of how he got into comedy and I wish it was longer because it was so interesting. I didn't think reading the bits in written form would work but as I read them I can hear Seinfeld delivering the lines and I found myself laughing out loud several times. It's a fun read.
His other books are pretty good, too. I remember one of his bit books was the first “adult,” book I ever read and I laughed throughout it all.
 
I’m a big fan of The Screwtape Letters. I feel like people get excited about the idea that it’s a CS Lewis book about Christianity and miss that it’s a pretty harsh critique over the pitfalls of religious-adjacent things (the pageantry or getting hung up on the drama of the congregation) rather than just focusing on your faith and having that be enough. It felt like a newspaper to the nose of organized religion or at least a call to get back to basics - or in this case the beatitudes.
Lewis was exposing how we are subtly influenced by less than salubrious forces such as "Wormwood" and inner reflection helps us to achieve spiritual growth and maturity.
 
I saw this book on display at our library today.
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I thumbed through it. It seems interesting. There are two people here in particular who I think would enjoy this book. Maybe they'll see this mention and take a look.
 
I’m still reading The McCartney Legacy, (stopping to listen to the music being talked about), but am now also reading The January 6 report and just got Max Fisher’s The Chaos Machine, (I’ve shortened the title - it’s about social media), from the library.
 
I got this for Christmas and enjoying making my way through it

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Just finished the audio version of “The Searcher” by Tana French (the “First Lady Of Irish Crime”). Ms. French did a surprisingly believable job of writing from the first person perspective of male protagonist Cal, a freshly retired Chicago police detective. I thoroughly enjoyed every passage but am now disappointed to learn that no audio versions of other Tana French novels are currently available through the Libby app.
 
I'm still making my way through and enjoying The Beatles: Tune In. I'm 350+ pages in and the Beatles are just on their way to Germany for the first time with Stu Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums. Without notes, credits and index the book spans 840 pages. My goal is to finish the book by mid-January. I've been reading 2 other books on the side. One is short but not getting the attention it deserves so I'll probably re-read it if not start over. The other lends itself well to reading in little bits and pieces.

My goal this year was to read 30 books and I made it to 29. My commitment to that goal was pretty neglectful and spotty at times so I hope to make at least 30 if not more for next year.
 
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