What are you reading the week of May 14, 2022?

I read Maigret's Dead Man which was good but a little troubling. Simenon seems to be uncomfortable with the post war situation in France with it's influx of central European displaced persons. I hope this isn't a trend.

I'm a little over halfway through Mr. Putin, Operative in the Kremlin. It's about eight years old, but it's an incisive analysis of Putin, the man, and his regime. I've read a couple of previous books on Putin (The Man Without a Face, and Putin's Kleptocracy). This is by far the better book. It's extremely readable, well documented and well reasoned. If you pair this with Vlad Vexler's YouTube channel you get a clear perspective on why Russia is the way that it is. Highly recommended.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Mary Roach's most recent book, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law. Very enjoyable.

I haven't made much progress on Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore, but hopefully this weekend I'll make a dent.

>2 rocketjk: I like Roach's books! Haven't read that one yet!

Still reading One Foot in the Fade and A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

Finishing a forced march through Machinehood; The Last Battle: Victory, Defeat and the End of World War I and How to Build Stonehenge are up next.

I'm still listening to Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts - but I'm officially halfway through.

Finished reading Unwanted by Swedish crime writer Kristina Ohlsson, and I'm reading the next in the series now: Silenced.

I'm half way through God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan. Book is about a milleniarist political/religious movement called the Taiping who lead a massive peasant rebellion in china during the 1850s. The leader Hong Xiuquan, a failed bureaucrat who created his own fundamentalist version of Christianity based on tracts from missionaries, was convinced that he was chosen by god and was the younger brother of Jesus. Hong is an amazing historical figure. He's like a mix of Jim Jones and Mao Zedong, but also had a legitimate critique of the old feudal system.

Fascinating event that I only heard about very recently from podcast, before I found this book on the subject at my used book store. Non Fiction History, but the book is written in present continuous tense which is annoying, and the writer isn't the best. The historical content and the topic carry the book more than Spence's prose. Hardcover is incredibly cool looking with and without the sleeve, and it has the fancy pages rough pages that are hard to turn, which I still like because it's fancy.

I finished and, as mentioned above, very much enjoyed Mary Roach's latest book, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law. You can find my review on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Next up for me will be the novel Conjure Women by Afia Atakora.

The Uninnocent: Notes on Violence and Mercy is a very excellent consideration of violence and mercy but so much more: the judicial system, sanity, grief, the origins of violence in the history of the nation and of families. I got this book from the library and immediately upon finishing it, I ordered a copy to keep. I don't do that often

Finished listening to the very good The Sweetness of Water.

Next up for listening is Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor.

Finished A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. Really enjoyed it. Next up is Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome by John Scalzi.

The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters With Extraordinary People
Susan Orlean
4/5 stars
I always enjoying read Susan Orlean’s books and this book has her original interviews with the famous and not so famous people she encountered. This book was published in 2001 but is still entertaining though it would be interesting to see where those people are today.

Starting this OverDrive Kindle book Alexa can narrate for me ~

Fallen Creed (Ryder Creed K-9 Mystery Series, #7)
by Alex Kava

I've posted a review of The New Breed: The Story of the U.S. Marines in Korea by Andrew Geer on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

Just finished Louise Erdrich's The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Haven't decided where to go from here -- it's a choice between a memoir, a supernatural thriller, or a humorous novel. Probably the thriller, since it's a library book and due in a couple weeks. The memoir is for an F2F group that doesn't meet for 3 more weeks, and the other is from my TBR stack.

Finished Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome by John Scalzi. Enjoyed it. Next up is An Unnatural Life by Erin K. Wagner.

Introducing the Honorable Phryne Fisher by Kerry Greenwood
The first 3 books in the best selling Phryne Fisher series. The Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and the movie was a huge hit, covering all of the novels that had been published at that time.

Finished listening to the pretty good A Far Cry From Kensington.

Next up for listening is A Suspension of Mercy by Patricia Highsmith.

Just finished The Paradox Hotel, which was well-written and pretty well un-put-downable. Time travel gone amok -- doesn't it always? You'd think they'd figure that out by now and stop messing about with it!

Next up is This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing, which is for my F2F group.

The Great Train Robbery
Michael Crichton
4/5 stars
Set in Victorian London, Edward Pierce sets up a crime with his cohorts to steal a gold shipment that will be traveling by steam train. But will they succeed? Very clever and a fast read!

The new thread is up over here.

This is farewell. I am on hospice care for Stage 4 Breast Cancer. It has been a 16 year battle and i am tired of the fight, so I have chosen to stop treatment. I am surrounded by loving family and friends, am no longer reading, so decided to say farewell. I have loved LibraryThing for many years. Home to true bibliophiles! Carry on my friends, as I prepare for the next step in the universal journey! Ferris

>23 hemlokgang: I am so sorry to hear this. You have been such an asset to LT and I have enjoyed your posts and insight about books. We have over 500 book in common. Go in peace and love. Angie

Hemlokgang I am so sorry. You will be missed here. I wish you love and peace. Maureen

>23 hemlokgang: So sorry to hear that. Prayers for you and your family.

>23 hemlokgang: I am sorry to hear your news. I wish you and your family peace and love.

>23 hemlokgang: I am sorry to hear this, hemiokgang. May your caregivers be compassionate, and may you be blessed with the courage, dignity and grace you need for this leg of life's journey.

>23 hemlokgang: Thank you for sharing with us all these years. Sending you love.