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    Hipster LibrarianKyle Ryan
    2/19/18 12:06pm

    I missed January’s What are You Reading, so here is the catch-up from my vacation reading, including:

    Hillbilly Elegy. Had to read it for work, and while it is not written by a hillbilly, no matter what J.D. Vance might want you to believe, the memoir piece discussing his grandparents and family dynamic is very interesting. The parts talking about how hard it was to grow up in the way that many middle class kids from divorced homes grow up, slightly less so. I already had a bias against the author, so it was hard for me to be impartial, but if anyone else has read it and has thoughts, I’m definitely interested.

    Devil in the White City. Loved it. Well-written, crazy interesting, really does read like a modern-day thriller, even though it is historical non-fiction. Highly recommend it.

    The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage. Really enjoyed returning to Philip Pullman’s world. I didn’t re-read His Dark Materials before jumping into the new book, but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment. However, if you have a chance to re-read the original trilogy, I think it would enhance the experience. I’m actually going back this month to do just that.

    Also on the docket for February: A Wizard of Earthsea (re-read), in honor of Ursula Le Guin, it is just as great as I remember, and The Power, heard a lot about it, figured I’d give it a read.

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      PseudoHipster Librarian
      2/19/18 3:53pm

      Devil in the White City is fascinating. The Holmes sections left me so disturbed that even if the Fair bits didn’t interest me I would have needed them as a breather.

      The Book of Dust is on my desk, waiting to be opened. I can feel Lyra staring me down.

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      CallMeShoeboxPseudo
      2/20/18 8:45am

      I picked up the book for the HHH parts and found myself more interested in the Fair and its construction. It almost felt like the HHH parts were added as an afterthought, or to punch up the subject a little.

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    ThoroughHenryKyle Ryan
    2/19/18 7:56am

    I’m on a feminist speculative fiction kick right now. I just finished Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and now I’m reading The Power by Naomi Alderman. Both are absolutely amazing,.

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      Hipster LibrarianThoroughHenry
      2/19/18 12:09pm

      I’ve got The Power on my list for this month too. Interested to hear your thoughts next month when we both have finished!

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    Smokin' Phil JeffriesKyle Ryan
    2/19/18 2:40am

    I’m reading Jeff Vandermeer’s Southern Reach trilogy, so I was surprised to learn that Alex Garland has adapted it (pretty loosely, perhaps.)

    The first was great, the 2nd meh, and the third pretty good.

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      TGGPSmokin' Phil Jeffries
      2/19/18 9:23am

      I think he only adapted the first book, and actually via an early manuscript version.

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    The Continental OpKyle Ryan
    2/19/18 4:39am

    Currently reading:

    • Victor Lavalle - The Ballad of Black Tom
    • Eric H. Cline - 1177: The Year Civilization Collapsed

    Recently read

    • Tim O’Brien - Going After Cacciato
    • Stanislaw Lem - His Master’s Voice
    • Walter Moseley - A Red Death
    • Clarice Lispector - The Hour of the Star
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      DarkTowerMichelleThe Continental Op
      2/19/18 11:50am

      Victor Lavalle is one of my favorite authors. :)

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      The Continental OpDarkTowerMichelle
      2/19/18 7:10pm

      He’s a terrific writer.

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    Meatwad of the New Jersey MeatwadsKyle Ryan
    2/19/18 11:35am

    I got really into reading about North Korea and so far I’ve read about 10 books, including the one mentioned above, which is unique in that it’s an American who spends a significant amount of time in North Korea, which is rare, and raises some really interesting questions about Christian missionaries in Asia. But the best one of the bunch so far has been “Nothing to Envy” by Barbara Demick, which covers the lives of several North Koreas (all of which have since escaped) during the famine in the early 90's. What puts it above the others is that Demick is both an experienced journalist and writer whose native language is English. A lot of the survivor stories can be hobbled by bad ghostwriting or only being able to tell the story from one perspective.

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      ohcleverhansyouMeatwad of the New Jersey Meatwads
      2/20/18 1:49am

      Barbara Demick’s a great writer. Her book on Bosnia during their war with Serbia, Logavina Street, is excellent as well.

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    misterbonesKyle Ryan
    2/19/18 9:33am

    I finished Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle books over the course of the last two weeks. Thank you, Kindle, and I enjoyed them. The first, Name of the Wind, is absolutely the better of the two, but they’re easy reads both. Sure, Kvothe is...at his worst, a complete power fantasy of a character, but I was somehow still hooked to keep reading in spite of that. Finishing the second book, I’m almost certain this series isn’t going to end satisfyingly, but I’m mostly OK with that.

    I’m now about 80 pages into Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts. Larson knows how to spin a non-fiction yarn better than most. Book’s good so far. I’ve also got The Witches by Stacy Schiff and The Discovery And Conquest Of Mexico by Bernal Diaz Del Castillo lined up to read next.

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      Horselover Fatmisterbones
      2/19/18 11:38am

      Hey! I’ve got Nazi stuff too! I’m about halfway through Volker Ullrich’s new biography of Hitler (published in 2016). Feel good reading for the end of winter! It’s also very excellent.

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      JeffHorselover Fat
      2/19/18 6:36pm

      I read that too. If you really wanna keep the good vibes going, may I recommend last year’s “The Holocaust: A New History” by Laurence Rees. It’s actually a pretty quick read, and I learned some new things about the subject everyone thinks they already know about.

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    PseudoKyle Ryan
    2/19/18 4:10am

    Have almost finished Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. It’s been interesting to read the “interview” sections during the rise of #MeToo. In 1999 (when originally published), I may have perceived the voices as more of an exaggeration.

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    failedtheologianKyle Ryan
    2/19/18 5:01am

    I’m reading (almost finished) Adam Tooze’s The Wages of Destruction and have recently started Ellen Ullman’s By Blood. After those I plan to start Infinite Jest for the first time.

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      Pseudofailedtheologian
      2/19/18 4:13pm

      Infinite Jest is a roller coaster. There were few, if any, emotions it didn’t spike during my reading. People often speak of it in terms of an endurance test, but I disagree with that approach. If it’s a struggle to finish, it’s not the kind of work where there’s necessarily something to be gained by sticking it out.

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      dollymixPseudo
      2/20/18 10:42am

      Dunno if I agree with this. There’s a lot of sections of it that I found to be a slog. The good thing is that none of them go on for *that* long, so if you’re struggling to get through one section, you can be assured that eventually you’ll get something fairly different. I think referring to it solely as an “endurance test” would be reductive, but I think the length and “heaviness” (this isn’t the right word, but I mean the piling on of description to a much-greater-than-necessary degree) is part of the aesthetic experience.

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    PSKnappKyle Ryan
    2/19/18 11:07am

    I’m reading The Hate U Give. I know it’s considered YA, but I chose it partly because I heard it was good (and is becoming a movie) and partly because I wondered if it’s appropriate for my daughter. (Still undecided as she is only 12.)

    Just finished Lovecraft Country, which I really enjoyed. (Definitely too packed for a single movie, so hearing it may be a series was a nice surprise.).

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      DarkTowerMichellePSKnapp
      2/19/18 11:55am

      A lot of adults read YA, I’m one of them. :)

      I loved The Hate U Give.

      What works for me about YA is that the writing tends to be really progressive, because there’s an assumption the reader is already on board with the same social issues.

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      kate mondayDarkTowerMichelle
      2/23/18 1:53pm

      I also like that YA books tend to be fast paced, and get to the point quickly - no “it really gets good around page 100" nonsense.

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    SadburbiaKyle Ryan
    2/20/18 4:31am

    I finished The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. My first Le Guin, and I have to say that I was blown away. I’m also reading The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara. There is a part of me that is critical of the fact that the book is written by a (going by looks here) white cisgender guy who is profiting from the lives of his own fictionalized versions of the lives of deceased people of colour and transgender people who can in no way receive compensation for it. The book is excellently written, though less deep-diving than I hoped—everything is very surface-level and cliche, representing exactly how these people look like on the outside (queens with knowledge of the streets and who are ready to throw shade at any moment) but not too much on who they are on the inside, there is no insight. It honestly feel as if Cassara watched Paris is Burning and few times and made a novel out of some of the people involved.

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