Interesting biography of Baum. Most surprising was that what really made him a success was not The Wizard of Oz, but the dopey musical comedy stage spectacular based on it. #biography

Short. Three essays by Karl Barth, whom I had never read before. #theology

Terrific and funny and prophetic book. Like Philip K. Dick writing in the style of Woody Allen‘s short pieces. The bit about computers shirking their programming seems to be coming true. #sf #1970s #futurology #lem

Another of Durrell‘s books about Mediterranean islands. Not as good as the great Prospero‘s Cell, but still interesting with its depiction of 1950s Cyprus politics, which wound up in Zugzwang, to use the chess term, in which all moves were bad. #1950s #Cyprus #Durrell

I knew this was a classic ghost story, but a bit of me never really believed that Henry “let‘s explore consciousness” James could do something really scary. I was wrong. Also this is a great title, like if a slasher flick was called “Young Person Killed Every 10 Minutes.” #ghosts #HenryJames

Seven short stories by Chinese women written just after the Cultural Revolution and the Gang of Four. All of these stories are about intellectuals or artists coping with the Revolution and its aftermath, but there is an obvious reticence, of shying away from a horrible truth that can‘t be told. I was reminded of Liu Cixin‘s Three-Body Problem in which the astrophysicist responds to the Cultural Revolution by betraying Earth. #China #1970s #1980s

Introduced to this series by my daughter. Pretty good. Magical world with giant monsters, talking trees, animal people, etc. with steampunk elements like walking giant robot houses.

A (so-far) soothing book of reminiscences by the underrated William Dean Howells. Here is Howells with the poet, ambassador, translator, and archeologist Bayard Taylor.

For some years now, I‘ve been wanting to set down for posterity the story of Ah-Q, but time and again have quailed before the difficulty of the task... #LuXun #shortstories #1910s #1920s #1930s #China

A graphic novel adaptation of the Rapunzel story cleverly translated to an Old West version of Fairyland. It's a lot of fun. By Shannon Hale, author of the delightful superhero series The Princess in Black.

Yikes. This book looked like it would be a good recap of our understanding of the Tunguska event, and then you start reading it to find the author believes it was aliens. #science #astronomy #Tunguska

P. 176. This is terrific. Up there with Zweig's The World of Yesterday. #diary #history #Germany #1880s #1890s #1900s #1910s #WorldWarI #Nietzsche #Wagner

Didn't get any better.

Didn't get any better.

Not really feeling this book so far. A lot of the stories are "this random thing happened then this random thing" like my 7 year old would tell.

Another Alaska book in Alaska. Sitka Charley, from Muir's Travels in Alaska, is mentioned in this one.

Travels in Alaska in Alaska. (Skagway, to be precise.)

When I go on a trip, I always try to read a book having to do with that place. So in the islands near the Dawes Glacier, The Call of the Wild.