What Are You Reading?

[Pixelated]

I just finished a book I got last Christmas titled "Kay's Lucky Coin Variety" by Ann Y.K. Choi.

The young protagonist and her family have moved to Canada from Korea and her parents (particularly her mother), while not unreasonably strict, are trying to maintain some of their Korean traditions. The kids, of course, are not quite so keen ...

It was the author's first book, I believe, and she did a very good job of bringing her characters to life. My mother was the daughter of immigrants (from central Europe) and I think she might have sympathized with the protagonist (the daughter) in this story.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I just finished The Mouse That Roared by Leonard Wibberly. Next will be the other books in the series: The Mouse On The Moon, The Mouse On Wall Street, The Mouse That Saved The West, and Beware Of The Mouse.

The first two books were made into movies

I just finished the second book, The Mouse On The Moon.

That book was written in 1962. In the book their moon rocket launched on July 20. Seven years later we landed on the moon on July 20.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I have started reading Atlantis, The Antediluvian World by Ignatius Donnelly, first published in 1882.

[Pixelated]

The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic Murder and the New Forensic Science by Sandra Hempel, who is a medical journalist.

It's the true story of a murder by arsenic (November 2, 1833) and James Marsh, an unknown (but brilliant) chemist, who was given the responsibility of finding a test that could accurately pinpoint the presence of arsenic.

(DO NOT read Chapter 5 while you're eating. The descriptions she gives of the effects of arsenic on the body will put you severely off your dinner. And possibly your next breakfast and lunch as well. 😫🤢 )

[Ghel]

I finished reading A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, which was wonderful and thought-provoking. There was some life advice near the end, delivered by one of the main characters, which I'm going to try to follow.

I'm now reading Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill. I downloaded it from the Gutenberg Project. It's only about 20 pages, double sided, but it's very dense. There's also a lot of elitism. But I agree with the basic premise, that we should attempt to increase pleasure and decrease pain and suffering for as many people as possible. So I'm powering through the "it's a product of its time" parts.

[greek_jester]

Currently reading "Hollywood Wants to Kill You: The Peculiar Science of Death in the Movies" by Michael Brooks and Rick Edwards.

The book doesn't have a blurb, rather it has reviews:

A witty and informative look at how Hollywood kills us off. As a film buff and scientist I love this book., Maggie Aderin-Pocock, space scientist and presenter of The Sky at Night

A wonderful book... Delightfully varied... As with all the best science writing, this book doesn't just give answers, it also asks interesting questions., Daily Mail

Great fun and makes you feel a hundred times cleverer., Charlie Higson, actor, comedian, and bestselling author

Explores everything from the ins and outs of black holes (Interstellar) to artificial intelligence (Ex Machina)... Edwards and Brooks don't take themselves too seriously and their cartoon heads pop up throughout deconstructing the films wittily while explaining the underlying science simply., Sunday Times on Science(ish)

Deeply funny, academically accomplished, and unfalteringly engaging. Entertaining as it may be, it's difficult to escape the fact that Edwards and Brooks have just made the world of popular science much harder work for the rest of us., Ben Miller - comedian and author of It’s Not Rocket Science on Science(ish)

What really caught my attention was the first chapter, "Hollywood wants to kill you... with a virus!" I had to go back and check the copyright date (2019) as it struck a real chord at the moment.

Unsurprisingly it looked at Outbreak and Contagion, and since I've been saying since they came out that what will probably do in the human race is a sufficiently deadly virus with a sufficiently long incubation/infection period, I can't help wishing I wasn't right so often.

The book is witty, it is engaging, and it explains (without making you feel like an idiot) how these things would work in the real world.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I am now reading A Blink of The Screen by Terry Pratchett.

[AnaKhouri]

Just got an autism diagnosis for my son so I just started Uniquely Human by a doctor who studied and interacted with autistic people all along the spectrum of all ages. My mom recommended it as she thought it could explain a lot of what I see in my kid.

[Pixelated]

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, which is becoming far more interesting as i go along than I thought it would be.

UPDATE: Well, I didn't see that coming.

[It's me]

Bobiverse 4 Audible dropped.... 17 hours of audio...

[Pixelated]

I am now reading A Blink of The Screen by Terry Pratchett.

That is a great book, but then, virtually anything by Pratchett is a great book.

I've finished Gone Girl. Have to admit my opinion plummeted at the ending. It was, in my opinion, a horrific ending. Not sure if that's what the author intended.

[Mikkel]

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

[Jay 2K Winger]

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

Just finished that last night.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I just finished The Mouse That Saved The West by Leonard Wibberley.

[Ghel]

I'm a couple chapters into Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It's an alternate history set in early 1800s England. So far, Mr. Norrell is trying to bring magic back to England. It's fairly light reading with an undertone of darkness that I rather like.