by J. R. R. Tolkien

Just wanted to immerse myself in more Tolkien escapism. I learned a lot.

37 was a re-read of Red Dog Farm for book club (my own pick).

38 is by my high school classmate JD Glass, originally in novel form and now in graphic novel form illustrated by her wife:

by JD Glass & Kris Dresen

I feel like in this format, the arc around “Attila the Nun” and the emergence of her softer side was not given its due. We didn’t see enough of her being a tyrant to begin with, only a page or two. And then not enough of her being the savior in the end. That was my favorite part of the original novel.

by Alexander Starritt

Whenever I see a review of any novel about characters in STEM, I grab it. It’s so rare.

This is a story of two unlikely friends who know each other distantly at Oxford, then meet up at their first job working at McKinsey Management consultancy. First they’re working on allocating funding for education, but then the 2008 financial collapse happens, and they end up (as McKinsey employees) restructuring (other) firms and laying off people. This is how they come to be in Aberdeen, where they shift gears and start up a company that is going to make turbines that generate energy from the tides.

Backing up a bit, the reason these friends are unlikely is their personalities. Drayton is a classic “on the spectrum” personality – focused and driven and bad with people. Mackenzie is a hapless and happy-go-lucky “normie”. At first they aren’t friends at all. As the novel builds momentum around their increasingly successful and spectacular energy startup, it builds their friendship, in a wholly believable and non-caricatured way.

I personally liked the appearances by the likes of Ben Bernanke and Mario Draghi dealing with the events of 2008. Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are also bit characters.

by Geraldine Brooks

This was a really dull book. Through all the different strands of plot, I kept wondering why I should care, who I should be rooting for, and what exactly was at stake. That was really the issue – nothing really seemed to be at stake.

by Julia Quinn

I watch this TV series for the dresses and the jewelry. This was my first time reading one of the novels. Jane Austen it’s not. My biggest complaint is the pages and pages devoted to conversations where the same point is kind of made over and over. E.g. “Penelope you are very clever!”… “Penelope/Colin how could you invade my privacy!” – pages and pages. Leaves less room for actual action. And the book is over 400 pages.

“All these matters absorbed his mind, drawing the world inside, into the large, chaotic space that each of us carries within like an invisible piece of luggage that we drag after us all our lives, without knowing why. Our true self.”

by Olga Tokarczuk

What did I just read? The subtitle is “A Health Resort Horror Story”. There is some horror here and there (particularly at the end) but it’s a slow build. I don’t think I fully understand what happened.

I picked this up because I loved DRIVE YOUR PLOW so much, but perhaps I loved that one mainly for the protagonist. I was sympathetic with the protagonist here as well, which kept me slogging through, even when it felt too much like THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, which was also about a sanitarium of the same era, with similar grotesque descriptions of the clientele. MAGIC MOUNTAIN I abandoned – it was too unpleasant, slow, and thick. This one at least is a pretty quick read.

by Olga Tokarczuk

Was hooked on this book right away and was totally enthralled. Fantastic narrator. Five stars and five thumbs up.

Many quotable quotables, but here’s one to share. “We have this body of ours, a troublesome piece of luggage, we don’t really know anything about it and we need all sorts of Tools to find out about its most natural processes. Isn’t it scandalous that last time a doctor wanted to check what was happening in my stomach he made me have a gastroscopy? I had to swallow a thick tube, and it took a camera to reveal the inside of my stomach to us. The only course and primitive Tool gifted us for consolation is pain. The angels, if they really do exist, must be splitting their sides laughing at us. Fancy being given a body and not knowing anything about it. There’s no instruction manual.”

by Scott O’Dell

A “juvenile fiction” novel and famous Newbery Award winner. The heroine is the last of her tribe left on a remote California channel island. She lives alone from age 12 for 18 years before a ship finally comes to take her to civilization. I was prepped for a tale of survival, stoicism, and can-do-ism with a young female protagonist. But it was a heartbreaker. So much loss. I cried when her dog died. Beautiful illustrations by Ted Lewin.

by Haruki Murakami

Just no.

by Charles Portis

I LOVED this! I never tired of hearing Mattie Ross tell her story.