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Started
**Crook Manifesto, by Colson Whitehead**
Second book in a planned trilogy about Ray Carney. Ray gets called back into the criminal life to fence some stolen jewels, after keeping on the straight and narrow for several years. Set in 1970’s Harlem. I liked Harlem Shuffle better, but Whitehead’s writing is so good
**Your Gace Belongs to Us: A Secretive Startup’s Quest to End Privacy as We Know It, by Kashmir Hill**
The product of reporter Hill’s investigation into Clearview AI. Terrifying.
* Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs, by Michael T. Osterholm, Mark Olshaker
Great book on the whole, does a good job raising alarm wrt looming infectious-disease threats and explaining basic epidemiology. Chapters that simply recapitulate events from any given epidemic and perhaps add a personal story from Osterholm’s career are the best. It can’t avoid discussing politics and that’s where there are blind spots, the authors don’t spell out outlined specific problems with healthcare funding, foreign policy etc. The writing also feels like it’s aimed at 5th-graders at times, and there are superfluous quotes from public figures such as Bill Gates or Anthony Fauci, but they usually merely say “that’s a difficult task” etc.
* Ten Myths About Israel, by Ilan Pappé
Sadly a timely topic, more than usual. It’s another instance where I realized that my education (from a reputable school) was extremely one-sided, but that’s a whole another can of worms.
* Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress, by Raphaël Lemkin
On a related note, this is where *genocide* was originally defined, and unsurprisingly it was much broader than the narrow codified version. It actually closely corresponds to settler colonialism but not only that, for example patterns of systemic oppression of LGBTQ+ people fit the bill too.
* Ulysses, by James Joyce
I’m glad I’ve persevered. It’s totally worth it even just for the “food pr0n” scenes. Yeah, that’s right.
* Hebrejky. Biblické matky, démonky, královny i milenky, by Jan Fingerland
A sort of an (incomplete) encyclopaedia of women in the Bible, discusses various interpretations of the characters, from various traditions in Judaism to modern anthropology.
Started:
**Where the Lost Wander, by Amy Harmon**
I read *Wild Hope* by Joan Thomas and very much lived it. Kind of a thriller with cli-fi eco undertones. Really Good.
Then I started *The Idiot* by Elif Batuman but I think it might be more “higher education” than I want so I’m leaning towards DNF.
I’ve just dipped my toe into Lauren Groff’s *The Vaster Wilds* and that seems much more my speed.
FINISHED:
**The Fungus, by Harry Adam Knight**
Check out the book cover of the 1985’s first edition, and you won’t have to ask why a fan of *The Last of Us* series would binge this book almost in one sitting. I’ve not heard it mentioned as an inspiration for the game but it’s hard to ignore some of the parallels. Fun fact: the author’s name is a pseudonym for John Brosnan and Leroy Kettle, the latter of whom was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his contributions, as a DWP Senior Policy Adviser, to the work that led to the establishment of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. I wonder if any of Leroy’s coworkers had any inkling as to his pulp horror hobby…
**Outer Dark and Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy**
Like a deer in the headlights of an electric car, I find McCarthy’s writing riveting. The sedate quietness of the world that he creates, for all its suffering and darkness, is a staggering experience and one from which it is impossible to tear you gaze away. He is a master hypnotist and my new favourite author.
**From the Dust Returned and Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury**
My least and most favourite read in that order. Words cannot describe how much I loved the latter book, so much so I’m now re-reading it, savouring its every word the way one might a glass of dandelion wine on a cold winter’s night reminiscing of summers past.
**My Brillian Career, by Miles Franklin**
Franklin wrote this book in her late teens. It was published in 1901, when she was 21 years old, and its blurb suggests that she intended this novel to be “the Australian answer to Jane Eyre.” To me this would stand a much stronger comparison to Hardy’s Bathsheba Everdene. An interesting read, full of teenage angst and high-spirited haughtiness, amusing and exasperating. I had a lot more fun with it than I thought I would.
***
STARTED:
**No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy** Gonna read this and *Suttree* before I commit to the *Blood Meridian*.
**A People’s Tragedy, by Orlando Figes** This will probably take me a few weeks to complete.
**A Scent of New Mown Hay, by John Blackburn** Another TLOU connection.
FINISHED:
**A Long Way Down** by Nick Hornby. Wasn’t as funny as I expected it to be, very middle of the pack. Not horrible, but not good.
STARTED:
**The Lovely Bones**. Great so far, I LOVE the writing style. On page 220 atm.
Finished:
**Everybody Loves Our Town: A History of Grunge, by Mark Yarm**
Started:
**Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke**