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The BOOK Thread

I don’t know if I’ve posted in this thread yet, but I have two books that are my favorites.

The first was given to me by my parents one Christmas. John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”. An absolutely beautiful book that has its origins in the Great Depression. A completely beautiful and stunning story. When I first met my wife, I encouraged her to read it but she hadn’t gotten around to it yet. So one Sunday morning I told her I would read her the last chapter. When I finished, she was silent so I turned to look at her and I found her with tears streaming down her cheeks. She had never heard or read anything that powerful. She finally read the entire book and it became her favorite as well.

And that book had a profound effect on my life.
 
My other favorite book is “The Prophet” by Khalil Gibran. It’s a short book, full of advice for the living of one’s life. It’s absolutely beautifully written (poetry, really) and has been translated and sold in more languages than just about any other book in the history of printing. In fact, I would put it at the top of my list.
 
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Cory Doctorow

Enshittification:​

Misogyny, conspiratorialism, surveillance, manipulation, fraud, and AI slop are drowning the internet. For the monopolists who dominate online – X, TikTok, Amazon, Meta, Apple – this is all part of the playbook. The process is what leading tech critic Cory Doctorow has dubbed ‘enshittification’. First, the platform attracts users with some bait, such as free access; then the activity is monetized, bringing in the business customers and degrading the user experience; then, once everyone is trapped and competitors eradicated, the platform wrings out all the value and transfers it to their executives and shareholders.

As a result, online public squares have become places of torment, and online retailers are hellish dumpster fires. The virtual gathering places where we once imagined the world’s problems might be resolved are now a sewer of hatred and abuse – thoroughly enshittified.

Doctorow enumerates the symptoms, lays out the diagnosis, and identifies the best responses to these diseased platforms: the monopolies online must be shattered. Companies too big to fail or to jail – and much too big to care – must be cut down to size. Only an attack on corporate power will permit effective regulation and real privacy. Tech unions must protect the workers who should, in turn, defend us against their bosses’ sadism and greed.

www.versobooks.com

Enshittification

*** Longlist for the FT and Schroder Business Book of the Year 2025 ***** Named word of the year in US, UK and Australia ***'Enshittification' will be the most talked about tech book of the year.* "Enshittification" is Doctorow's word to describe the decay of online platforms. It captures the...
www.versobooks.com www.versobooks.com
 
Peter Egan's new book.Landings in America. In the late 80's he and his wife flew around the country in a tiny Piper Cub. An airplane the equivalent of a Honda Trail 90. Six weeks and 7,000 miles. Stayed away from all the big cities. Kinda like just staying on only 2 lane roads.
 
Michael Polen apparently has a new book…
"A World Appears" is a book by Michael Pollan that explores the concept of consciousness. It delves into what consciousness is, who possesses it, and its significance in understanding humanity. Pollan combines insights from various fields, including science, philosophy, and spirituality, to examine this complex topic

He is a local. He is one of my heroes.
michaelpollan.substack.com

A World Appears: Book Tour Details

Dear friends and readers,
michaelpollan.substack.com michaelpollan.substack.com
 
Every once in a while a book I'm reading will mention another author and I'll go off and try one of their books, and now I have a new favorite author. I discovered Walter Mosley because of a reference in a John Grisham book, for example.

I can't remember who I was reading, but where it has the one sentence praise section from a bunch of publications, the author I was reading was compared to Raymond Chandler. He wrote the Philip Marlow books starting in 1939. I grabbed the second one, Farewell, My Lovely, written in 1940, and am enjoying it. I think I might read the rest of his books now. May even have to find a Humphrey Bogart movie too.
 
I find myself deep into another dead guy,
I have one book buried in storage, the rest on Kindle.
Reread A Salty Bit of Land, three times, I love how everything gets placed, full circle,
to wrap up the ending. I hope my ending is as well done., , ,

Currently reading his book on turning fifty, his 50, way better than mine.
A Pirate Looks at Fifty, Jimmy Buffett.
 
Over covid, I got library cards for Seattle Public Library, King County Regional Library and Kitsap County Regional Library.
They're free if you walk in and ask for one. Allows me to check out e-books from all of them on my Kindle using the Libby app.

Been through 500 or so since then. Downloads and searches are so easy this way.
Latest series has been _Dungeon Crawler Carl_ by Matt Dinniman, A local author about Dungeons & Dragons.

Dipped into that because my nephew and his wife are into D&D and the Cons.
 
bcj said:
Over covid, I got library cards for Seattle Public Library, King County Regional Library and Kitsap County Regional Library.
They're free if you walk in and ask for one. Allows me to check out e-books from all of them on my Kindle using the Libby app.

Been through 500 or so since then. Downloads and searches are so easy this way.
Latest series has been _Dungeon Crawler Carl_ by Matt Dinniman, A local author about Dungeons & Dragons.

Dipped into that because my nephew and his wife are into D&D and the Cons.
Click to expand...
Dude I love Libby and also OverDrive which morphed into Libby. Been using it for like 15 years and tell everyone about how easy it is to use and read books on my phone. I have a swampland library card and one from SC county so I can get pretty much anything. haven't bought a book in like 8 years.

Also loved dungeon crawler Carl and can't wait for the next book.
 
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Libby let me listen to Gone Before Goodbye authored by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon. Reese reads the lead and Chris Pine the male dude. No surprise she gives emotion to her character. Gets some deep medical stuff but I was fascinated with the Grief Bot which searches online and incorporates the departed into an Ai with personal responses.
 
SO quick update. Been on a few long overseas trips the last couple of months and have burned through almost all the Dungeon Crawler Carl books they are so addictive. I have found it best to not start reading it before bed because I get sucked in and it winds up being after midnight before I go to sleep.
 
Two books come to my mind.

The first is “The Grapes of Wrath”. By John Steinbeck. Masterfully written and extremely powerful. Some years back I finally got my wife to read it. We were laying in bed one Sunday morning and I told her I wanted to read to her the last chapter. When I finished I was met with silence. I turned to her and found tears streaming down her cheeks. She then read it. It’s a must read.

The second book is “Down All the Days” by Christy Brown. A true masterpiece of sublime poetry. It’s autobiographical and tells of his experiences growing up in Dublin. The narrative follows a young boy with severe cerebral palsy who spends much of his time as a silent, watchful observer of life from a boxcar pushed through the streets by his brothers. A stunning book. (It was typed using the big toe of his left foot.)
 
Sharxfan said:
SO quick update. Been on a few long overseas trips the last couple of months and have burned through almost all the Dungeon Crawler Carl books they are so addictive. I have found it best to not start reading it before bed because I get sucked in and it winds up being after midnight before I go to sleep.
Click to expand...

:thumbup

I’m 3/4 of the way through The Butcher’s Masquerade (book #5) … someone left books #1 and #2 in my apartment building lobby, and I thought the description of the plot was absurd, but figured I’d give chapter one a shot, and was totally in after a few paragraphs. :laughing
 
I am on Parade of Horribles right now which is the last one that is out and it's good just not as good as the others in the series. Donut has become even more unsufferable although who knows maybe that is her true feline persona shining through. :laughing
 
Had to read _Grapes .._ in high school. Sad and depressing.
Later found _Tortilla Flats_ on my own, which I found to be much more to my taste.
 
bcj said:
Had to read _Grapes .._ in high school. Sad and depressing.
Later found _Tortilla Flats_ on my own, which I found to be much more to my taste.
Click to expand...
I did not have to read The Grapes of Wrath in high school, but read it anyway, because I was interested in it. I liked the book, maybe because I wasn't forced to read it and didn't have to keep track of random trivia from it. There were two or three other books that I read that way - not being forced to in school - that I enjoyed.

I'll read two or three "classic" books a year along with the dozens of other stuff that I read, and I enjoy them more when not forced to read them.
 
I just re-read The Grapes of Wrath, recently, cuz I loved it when I had to read it in HS. :love

my wife and I are enjoying the on-line streaming series East of Eden, now, and so that’s a novel on my list to try to reread—speaking of sad and depressing. :laughing
 
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