Again to Carthage--#114

 This is probably the last book I will finish reading in 2024 so let me do a little re-cap of the year.  I finished with the most books read in a year for me, besting last year's 112.  I wanted to mix in some more classic type books this year & did so but not all these classics were really enjoyable.  I don't plan on a classic goal for next year but the classics will still be thrown into the mix along with everything else.  I read some really good and interesting books this year.  It was an enjoyable year of reading.  I think I said last year I wouldn't focus on volume but I did just that once I finished a bunch of books early in year.   I will say that again for 2025--will not focus on that overall number but just read what I am interested in.  Also I am thinking I probably need to cut back some on the reading and incorporate more time for exercise instead, especially on those nice days when can get outside.  I will give more thought about 2025 in the coming days.

This book Again to Carthage is the sequel to Once a Runner--a sort of cult like book from the 1970s I guess.  This was written in 2008 so many years later but same runner that is now out of college and a practicing lawyer.  He gets the running bug again--he had never stopped running, just stopped competing.  He decides that he wants a shot at the Olympics as a marathon runner.  Time is the late part of the 1970s and he again puts in crazy miles in his training.  A couple twists and turns that make an ending for the book.  A good read overall.  It has been too many years since read the first book so not much carried over for me but was still a good read.

There is 1 WL for this book on PBS so I might be posting it soon even though I don't need the credits for PBS.

Calypso--#113

 Finishing this book marks my most read in a year beating last year's 112 & year before at 108.  Not sure if I will finishing another book before the year is out--possible but just not sure yet.  This is another David Sedaris book with chapters about his life that is generally funny or ones that sort of make you think.  I enjoy his books, I think this is 4th of his I have read.  His books are keepers for me since entertaining and easy to read, likely I would go back & read them again at some point.  

There is 1 WL for this book on but not mailing off, it is a keeper.

Here is Where--#112 finished

 A really interesting book where author travels to areas where something interesting but not really known about or acknowledged happened.  He talks about who and where the first cremations occurred in the US.  He talks about court cases, civil disobedience before Rosa Parks and others, the Spanish Flu of 1919, just a truly wide array of interesting topics and happenings.  This is a really easy and informative read, really glad I read it.  Reading it was nice to offset the previous one that I had to force myself to get through.

There are 9 WL for this book but will instead be one that I will look to loan out to friends to read first since I know this is something they will enjoy.

Submarine--#111 finished

 The first couple pages started off sort of clever with a middle school/high school type kid trying to figure out his parents and life.  It was enough for me to decide to read the book and basically it went down from there.  There were moments where funny but overall the main character is a spoiled brat kid with a screwed up way at looking at life and especially people.  I thought at some point maybe he would learn and be better for it but never happened and was too far into book at point I realized this so just pushed through to end.  I really didn't like this book so much that will not bother posting on PBS, will just donate to library and hope they can get 50 cents for it from someone.

As I said, will not bother posting to PBS--not worth the cost of mailing off to someone.  I just need to make this book go away.

Natural History--#110

 This was a sort of connected short story book.  Started with a couple girls that grew up to be life long friends in a small town lake setting in New York state.  This was back in the mid 1850s.  The stories stayed in this same area and moved forward in years with a sort of attachment to the earlier people mentioned.  It talks about women in science as a kind of theme in the stories but does branch into other things as well.  They are nice stories and good characters throughout.  You kind of hope for good things for everyone you read about.

There are 4 WL for this book so will probably post & mail off at some point but no hurry to do so right now.

The Vinyl Frontier--#109 finished

 This was a different sort of book that I found at a library sale a year or two ago.  I think I had seen it at library sale once and passed it over but when back a month or so later was still there & decided to pick it up.  This is a book that sounds interesting but was never sure if it would be.  Once I started reading though I was hooked.  The 2 Voyager satellites that were launched in 1977--I was 8 at time so don't really remember this--had an album attached.  This books talks about the album that was to be an introduction to earth for any space aliens that might find the Voyager way out in outer space.  One side of the album was music and the book talks in great detail how decisions were made on the music and trying to find a mix of music from around the world and back in history.  The flip side would have photos and statements.  I still don't understand how photos were embedded in the album but the book went into detail on this too but was basically over my head.  Carl Sagan was the main person on this, he was one tasked to do this & he put together a group to get it done.  Lucky for them it stayed mostly as a self contained group because as book pointed out once word got out to Congress and/or public everyone would want input and likely been bogged down to where nothing would have gotten done.  They had a tight time frame and their ability to locate people to do the different tasks was pretty amazing in itself.  

The book itself was really interesting to me at the beginning because just thinking about this task was fun.  The book did get bogged down with the details in tech & space science some but still overall was interesting and fun read.

There are no copies in PBS system but I also want to avoid going to post office this time of year so will probably wait to post until January or later.

Under Occupation--#108 finished

 This is a WWII spy network in France novel.  This is fiction and a good quick type read about an author that gets involved in the French resistance and has quite a bit of success in helping the British.  Interesting and does sort of bring out the feelings of a person that gets wrapped up in the resistance by accident but does their best.  I couldn't help but compare this book to A Woman of No Importance that I read earlier this year--A Woman of No Importance is the hands down winner for first being a true story and 2nd just more detail and actual people and events happening at the time.  Under Occupation is a nice read but one should really read A Woman of No Importance instead.

There are 5 WL for this book in PBS so will probably post & mail off at some point.

The Underground Railroad--#107 finished

 This is a powerful story about the main character Cora, a slave in South Carolina that escapes her plantation but never really gains freedom it seems.  At times a gruesome look at her and the other slaves lives.  What a stark reminder of what being a slave was like for many, this is a reminder that many people today seem to need.  Then people need to remember that Jim Crow and the rise of the KKK as well.

This story is not just about Cora but also the other characters she meets.  The author takes the liberty of making the underground railroad an actual underground railroad, which was a little confusing for me at times but seems to work to move the story from place to place a little easier.  This is a memorable book, I am glad that I have read it, even though it was tough to read at times.  

I checked wikipedia after finishing & saw it won several literature prizes including the Pulitzer prize for fiction.  While I didn't originally call this a "classic", I think I will go back & change this because to me it would be a modern day classic.  This author--Colson Whitehead--I have read a few of this books now & he is truly one of our great modern day writers.

There are no WL for this book and no copies in system but this book will be on my keeper shelf.  I had mailed a couple other books by author out a few years ago & wish I would have kept them, his books should be keepers.  I have a couple more of this books that I haven't gotten to yet but hope to soon as well.

The Inheritors--#106 finished

 This was one of my classic books that I picked to read.  William Golding author of Lord of the Flies, I remember reading years and years ago.  This book The Inheritors, has been on my shelf for a few years and just never got to it until now.  This was a hard book to get through for me.  It is about a group of Neanderthals that has their own struggles.  At one point a couple of their tribe are lost and found to be kidnapped with another human tribe--the homo sapiens.  The language of each tribe is hard to follow and at some point became hard for me to even care about.  I couldn't picture the people of either group and was hard to follow what they were doing.  I really didn't like the book from pretty much early on but just forced myself to continue hoping to get better but by end my attitude to book was also at the end--just glad I finish so won't have to read again.

There are no copies on PBS but I also have plenty of credits.  Since it is a sort of "classic" book will probably keep it for now.