Had a great story time for adults this month, where we all listened to “The Americans”. This is a great collection.

Getting ready for adult story time at my library. Unfortunately, it seems a fitting time to revisit “There Will Come Soft Rains”...

Happy Christmas to me.
#baseball

No visit to Portland is complete without a stop at Powell‘s, the best place I know to salvage some used baseball classics. I also managed two additions to my Graham Greene collection.
#baseball

Getting ready for some Christmas stories at the library.

Never heard of this author (also used the name AA Fair) until someone in the library requested all their books. Given my dad‘s hokey habit of using the phrases “cut thin to win” and “cut stock don‘t breed” while playing Euchre, I naturally had to start with this one. For lovers of hard-boiled crime, this guy delivers the goods.

Easily the most raucous of adult story times. Dorothy Parker in particular had the audience in stitches--even causing the reader to break a couple times.

A visit back home to Atlanta means taking the nephew to Little Shop of Stories and giving him the run of the place. I could hang in the Goodnight Moon room all day.

You can find all the missing children on display at my library.

Getting the house ready for Halloween...

Some classic chills at my library's adult story time this month.

For our one year anniversary, the wife and I each unwittingly gifted the other a Folio Society book. One year in, and we're right in stride!

This book does not let up. The story barrels forward relentlessly, while Cargill still manages to build a plausible and complex world. Made me want to immediately watch "Fury Road" upon finishing.

Yep, I am gonna wear out my copy of this book. I want to make all the things...and even the writing is good!

Getting ready for my library's adult story time, this month featuring some classic women SF writers.

Finally plowed through "IT" to capture my first bingo for my library's Adult Summer Reading. I will blackout this card by the end of the year, with hopefully two more bingos by the deadline.

One of Steinbeck's great strengths is his ability to offer succinct observations of life's myriad complexities. He's quite funny too. This is on full display here, as we have the pleasure of wandering our great and flawed country alongside Steinbeck and his faithful poodle. Gary Sinise's reading only enhances the journey.

Getting excited for my library's adult story time tomorrow. Will Hercule Poirot be up to the task?

An interesting and quick read about a person trying to live on their own terms. I have conflicting feelings on the hermit and his lifestyle; it was fun hearing his story, so far as he was willing to tell it.

Getting ready for my library's adult story time tomorrow. Edward Hopper is one of my favorites; each of his paintings could tell any number of stories...

I've put off reading this for over a decade, simply because I didn't want to stop looking forward to it. I love 'kids on bikes' stories--long summers filled with exploration and mischief--and I've always imagined this as a sort of pinnacle (fair or not). With the movie coming, my hand is forced. "IT" is gonna make a great reading month!!

A weekend holiday at Cape Disappointment necessitates the right literary accompaniment. Given the Stevenson Family's passion for lighthouses, I felt it the perfect opportunity to reconnect with an old favorite.

The structure kept me at a distance, but the weird creativity makes this worthy of discovery. A unique little ghost story steeped in film and folklore.

Plus, any narrative that utilizes silver nitrate film stock to explosive effect is fine in my book!

My library offers suggestions to fulfill the Current Events square on its adult summer reading bingo card. Subjects include Putin, the Koch brothers, Saudi Arabia, Roger Ailes, anti-science, the dying Earth, and the past-is-present classic, "All The President's Men". Things are looking bleak, but it's better to know.

Getting amped for my library's adult story time tomorrow...

I finally manage to pry my eyes from the news, and this is the first line that greets me. Seems about right.

By the way, this book is pretty great.

Some Shirley Jackson with my lunch will all but guarantee that today is better than yesterday.

For such a thick book with so many characters, there were only a handful I could really sink my teeth into. But Evison did a great job evoking the beautiful and rugged Olympic Peninsula. This book was a joy to read.

There is a lot to recommend this book: the plot moves and some of the writing is quite dynamic. But ultimately, it falls short. This story cries out to be a character piece, but the author can't quite take the time to fully invest in Pat Crowe. The setting of Omaha at the turn of the 20th century held great promise, but the story as told could've been set anywhere.

"And the mind sends its ambassadors: these poodles nuked in microwaves,
bonsai kittens, sewer crocodiles, rats suckled in maternity wards.
I believe in the fatal hairdo just for the love of saying 'fatal hairdo'.
And I believe in the stolen kidney because I too have woken up with something missing."

Getting pumped for my library's upcoming adult story time!

My favorite book, by my favorite author. The new Folio Society edition is the prize of my bookshelf.
#foliosociety

A fun and light-hearted time travel yarn, as well as a sandbox full of literary allusions. You'll have fun with this one, so long as you don't get too bogged down in the logic of time travel or the labyrinthine whodunnit. Besides, if you've read a book or two, you already know the butler did it.

Goin' Out West for adult story time at the library this month...
#westerns

Very excited to have stumbled across this ARC. Law is among the best in the business, and his first book is perfect, both for the casual-to-moderate fan looking to better understand what is actually happening on the field, and for the analytically-inclined fan who wants to frame better arguments and gain greater insight into statistical application. The book is a smooth and inviting read, never getting too bogged down in the math.
#baseball

Gotta love the flourishes that Victorianism inspires. Loving this wild time travel tale so far.

A couple of strange and delightful selections at my library's story time this month.

Kind of perfect that I finished this book on a day with unexpected snowfall, seeing as how the book's protagonist expended so many misspent thoughts hoping for snow that stubbornly refused to fall. This book didn't grab me like Russo's "Empire Falls" or "Straight Man", but I enjoyed its many pleasures nonetheless.

The Folio Society produces the best books around. I've given a handful as gifts, but this beauty is the first to find a home on my shelf. I hope it isn't alone for long.
#foliosociety

I love a good simile. And Bachelder delivers:

"Her nudity was a fantastical premise, as speculative in its particulars as dark matter or quarks."

"'Excuse me, guys', Steven said, jumping like an electron to an outer shell."

"Adam stood looking out the window of Room 212 like a homesteader during an April blizzard."

"Peter's hair was wavy and wiry. It was brittle and lifeless, like something partially buried in an ancient seabed."
#similes

"The bland optimism, high ceiling, and corporate sterility of the conference room would probably have mitigated the effects of Tommy's facial hair, but here in the hot and crowded hotel room, his mustache acted as a pernicious depressant."

Pumped for my library's Adult Story Time tomorrow!

A fun read about how the small market Pirates ended a 20-year losing streak through innovative data analysis. The game is always changing, and champagne flows towards innovation. #baseball

I suspect my enjoyment of this book suffered by my own weariness. I've been running on fumes the past 6 weeks or so, and I could never quite fall in line with Conrad's prose like I have with some of his other books. Still, I recommend for the sly plot and absolute jackhammer of an ending.

There's no better gift than a book, and I got some good ones this Christmas (two of which arrived under my tree signed from author events at McLean & Eakin bookstore of Petoskey, MI). My family knows me well. #baseball

An odd choice for the Pulitzer--perhaps more of a lifetime achievement award for Welty. The book has no real weight to it. Only the title character is close to fully realized, and Fay has got to be among the most obnoxious (at times unbelievably so) characters ever put to page. Still, there are some poignant moments dealing with grief and the unmaking of a family that make it worth plowing through the low page count.

Adult story time at my library. Following "The Burglar and the Whatsit", an audience member shared that she and her late husband used to meet Donald Westlake for drinks back in the day, which is pretty much the coolest.

Now this could not be any more adorable. Checked it out from the library, then bought two copies for family.

This started off well, but tapered fast. It was as if I could feel the author working from an outline--the characters never truly began to sing. Things picked up in that last 170 pages or so, but with such a big book, it was tough to get there.

I may have to give up reading for a few months in order to catch up on all the great American TV discussed in this book. As a process junkie, I very much enjoyed the methodology employed by the authors. The write-ups on each show were a treat to read as well. I look forward to any future editions.

"Despair had a way of making tea taste bad."

Though the tea and cakes at this lovely spot in Rye will go a long way in lifting your gloomy shroud.