I'm late! My flights were super delayed and my brains been made of jello lately.
I just finished A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. I thought the worldbuilding was pretty great although I had trouble getting past the "alien planet of dogs" concept. I loooved the galaxy level relationships though, especially the concepts of zones. Books that address Fermi's paradox in such a creative way are really fun to read.
I thought I'd take a break from all the serious books I've been reading so I picked up Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'm just over halfway through so far and it's been an absolute pleasure to read. I'm probably the last person on Hubski to read it, but if you haven't, do yourself a huge favor and pick it up!
I recently found out Brandon Sanderson released a new Mistborn book so I've just started that. We'll see how it stacks up against the others in the series.
Finished The Martian on Monday, so I rewatched the film again last night. I still like the film better, as a story. The book is better as a science geek's dream, but the movie had a more complete and sussed out story. Still awaiting arrival of Pratchett's "Tiffany Aching" series from Discworld, so am filling the time with The Mapmakers by John Noble Wilford, a look at the history of cartography, from cave paintings to space.
I'm reading one of my fabulous christmas book gifts, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It's a heavy(in the emotional way) book but a fantastic read.
I'm reading "Moonchild' by Aleister Crowley. It's halfway alright kinda nonsensical and purposely archaic but I'm half way through so I'm gonna chip through. It was one of his first book and I think it offers some insight in to where the rest of his life went. The friend I borrowed it from also lent me "A Field Guide to: Demons, Fairies, and other creatures of sinister nature" which I'm most of the way through. It's just short explanations of myths from various cultures split into the sections of: forest, sea, mountain, and plains. It's interesting seeing how different cultures created tales to scare the same message of monogamy, humility, and (surprising to me) land conservation. Morals of creating a healthy family are also covered too.
I'm about a quarter through I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son by Kent Russell. My grandparents always give us books for Christmas and this one was mine. It's interesting. I really like the writing. Just finished a chapter in which four days are spent at an ICP 'Gathering'. Horrorcore is just so bizarre to me... Still have a long way to go with the book and that's exciting. Edit: Oh, and b_b, I finished Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki. I really enjoyed it. I was a bit sad that it was missing a lot of the magic-type elements of previous Murakami novels, but for the most part, the writing still got me!
It's definitely my favourite part of Christmas. Between my grandparents and the ludicrous amounts of bookstore gift cards I usually get (my family know me well), I end up with quite the haul. I haven't reached the snake venom section yet. I watched the first part of that video on the bus home from work. Watching the blood congeal like that: No shit. I actually just tried watching more of it then, but it gave me the heebie jeebies. I don't like snakes.I don't have a medical background. I have no fucking idea what it's doing to my body... You're not supposed to inject snake venom, you fool.
I'd be super surprised to get a book line that from either of my grandma's. The mention of an icp gather makes me interested, probably because I have shit to do with the culture outside of working with someone who had a hatchet man at every job I've had the past 5 years until 6 months ago. That and I've seen the documentary "American Jugallo". Want to see where a book that covers that goes.
I just finished Lyra's Oxford and part 1 of 1Q84. Now I'm reading Jon Ronson's So You've Been Publicly Shamed, then I'll go back and read parts 2 and 3 of 1Q84. I think I'll probably read some not Murakami after that too, I'm really enjoying it.
Thich Nhat Hanh's "Peace Is Every Step." It's the most recent in a long line of similarly-geared books I've been reading. I'm making a sincere effort to integrate more mindful thinking and behavior into my daily life. I read and read and read about it and then seem to forget to really apply it.