Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

It was a unique pre/post apocalyptic book. Not nearly as bleak as the road, but it took the realistic approach and was also character focused.

Starting Dust by Hugh Howey, last in his wool series.

Do reference books count? I finished a re-skimming of CompTIA Security+ 401 Cert Guide, by David Prowse. (Also passed my examination, booyah!)

Also finished Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel and started The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I've been on a dystopian fiction kick recently sort of by accident... I also have The Road by Cormac McCarthy on deck as well.

I finished:

Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl I am probably going to get crucified for this, but... meh? I am a psychologist in training and already familiar with existential psychotherapy, so it didn't present anything new for me. I'm glad many others have found it helpful, of course. I think the fact that it is so short and simple contributes to its positive reputation, since it is very approachable.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel This I enjoyed. It gets recommended a lot and for whatever reason, its explained plot does not necessarily appeal to me, but I enjoyed the writing and I enjoyed the observations the author made. I know some folks on Goodreads had criticisms about >!the timeline for getting back electricity!< but >!in talking to my partner who is an electrical engineer, we don't think it is totally ridiculous, especially given the possibility that other areas of the country or world might have been a bit quicker. He said that in a similar situation, he might suggest working on the electrical grid, but if the folks he was with needed to eat, he would work on food. He also suggested that the folks criticizing this on Goodreads might not specifically work on the electrical grid and might underestimate the amount of innovation that would be needed if there was no option to get supplies, as well as the potential for damage if things weren't shut off correctly because everyone was just dying. With that said, my partner suggested that it would be more realistic to first see new electricity with a single house rather than a town, since the scale of that is so much easier. Not my area of expertise at all, but thought it was an interesting discussion!!<

I was away from the internet a few times the last few weeks so here is a summary for my reading for all of June.

Finished:

The Anatomy of Dreams, by Chloe Benjamin : I love her writing style, although this book is a little long. Her writing definitely improved for The Immortalists.

Flight, by Sherman Alexie : normally I don't read YA but I had this one my list from a while ago and I finished it on a plane ride. Enjoyable and I love when authors portray teens that actually feel like teens.

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel: finally finished this after a few months. I was stuck about 1/3 of the way through, but I finally powered through it. I've now finished all of Martel's books this year and this is his best. But boy is mediocre. At the beginning it says "this tale will make you believe in god" and it made me wonder how simple that person's beliefs are.

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck: Wow. What an amazing novella. I've never read anything by him and I'm amazed the ending wasn't spoiled for me just through pop culture osmosis. An absolutely brilliant story from start to finish. I've put East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath on my to read list.

Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer: I normally don't read weird fiction, but this book really worked for me. Loved the setting. Loved the characters, Loved the whole world of Area X he has created. Everything about this book just satisfied me. I look forward to reading the next two books.

Reading:

Academ's Fury, by Jim Butcher: I asked last time for someone to pick a number for me and this is the book. I'm enjoying it, yet it comes in bursts. I'll read like 50 pages and then put it aside for a few days. I did the same thing with the first one as well. I think I read it over the span of 2 months?

The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood : I like this, but I find the sections with the old woman really boring.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet , by Becky Chambers: it's nice to have a sci-fi that is more character-driven and less sci-fiey. The conflict is lessened and it's just more a story in a world. I like it, but the author needs to learn to tone down the LGBT+ messages. I like the ideas, but sometimes they are just so ham-fisted it takes away from the novel.

The Tokyo-Montana Express, by Richard Brautigan: Great short, short, short stories.

Radiance, by Catherynne M. Valente: Goodreads describes this as "a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood". Light and fluffy and fun.

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel: I'm a huge Shakespeare nut so I love this book. Her writing is great and the book just flows along nicely.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman: I only picked up this book because I liked the cover and I enjoy it. I always enjoy reading about characters who are on the spectrum. No idea where it is going.

Reading: Beloved, by Toni Morrison - I like her writing, but I’m finding it difficult to annotate (as it is a book for school, and I will have to write a paper and take a comprehension test). I have decided to just read and enjoy it, letting the language do the work for me, and iron out plot details later.

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel - I really kinda love it so far (30 pgs in)- fast paced, interesting premise.

Finished:

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

I really enjoyed Becoming, even though I'm not into politics at all. There wasn't a whole lot of political stuff until the last quarter of the book. I enjoyed her writing style and the story of her life. It was really interesting to hear about the details of living in the White House. I learned about things they go through I never would have thought about.

Station Eleven was okay. I mean I enjoyed the story. But it wasn't great.

Next up is either

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

or

Circe by Madeline Miller.

I've been on the wait list for both books FOREVER and am really looking forward to reading both.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel I loved this book and couldn't put it down. It reminded me a lot of The Road by Cormac McCarthy as the book follows a traveling performing group after a swine flu wipes out a lot of the worlds population.

Becoming by Michelle Obama I'm half way through Becoming and it's amazing. I'm really enjoying getting her perspective of the presidency, race in America and also just learning more about Michelle's amazing accomplishments.

Oryx and Crakes by Margaret Atwood - Just started this book and am enjoying it so far. I really love speculative fiction and am excited to finish this one up!

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This week I finished reading:

American War, by Omar El Akkad. 4/5. Well written and fascinating, I left with a lot of question and weird thoughts about how war works, and how it affects us. I found the character of Sarat absolutely fascinating. She's big, she's angry, she's absolutely broken. I can't even call her an anti-hero. She's more of a very sad villain. Lost a star because it was hard to follow at times. I wish there was a timeline because the whole time I thought this big plague had already happened when it actually happened at the end of the book. It was also really slow and overly flowy at points.

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, by Meg Ellison. 5/5. Holy shit this book!! I honestly can't believe I read something as amazing as this novel. Gruesome and lonely, so very lonely. I think what I liked most about this was that it wasn't about survival of self, but survival of humanity itself. I cannot wait to pick up The Book of Etta.

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. Okay technically I haven't finished this yet but I have like half an hour left so I definitely will today. Great book, rounded out my dystopia/post-apocalyptic week.

I am still reading/started reading:

Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo. Honestly I'm not super interested in the plot of this book but people won't stop telling me to read it so here I am. I'm one chapter in and it hasn't caught my attention yet but I have hope. Started this after finishing Book of the Unnamed Midwife.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. So far, I'm loving this book and I am loving Dr. Chef so much.

The Grip Of It by Jac Jemc

Started reading this as part of this month’s book club. I didn’t like it at first but the story is slowly growing on me. I’m about halfway through it.

All Quiet On the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

I’ve been meaning to read this for a long time but I only got through a few pages before I got distracted.

*Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandell *

I’m about 5% through this and I already love it!

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel

Really enjoyed it! Powerful, moving, and chilling all at once.

Finished -

The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe - A space nerd must-read as every self-respecting space nerd would know. Anybody else, you'll be giddy reading about the origins of the space program, take my word for it.

And the great man recently passed away. RIP good man!

The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton - For a book written in the late 60s, damn that's some impressive hard sci-fi. Very approachable too.

Currently reading -

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel - Keep hearing good things about it. It's been an engaging read so far.

Just finished reading Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel and it was surely a great read. I came across this book on this subreddit and as it was in fact an apocalypse story it pretty much caught my deepest attention... Loved the atmosphere, characters, and diverging plot narratives and I would highly recommend it.

This week I finished:
The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin. Definitely loved this novel, it was super compelling and heartbreaking. Well, 3/4ths of it. Each of the main siblings get a part that's focused on their life (and death), and three were super fun and interesting but one was incredibly lackluster. But the rest make up for it.

The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead. I wasn't as interested in this as I hoped I would be, and I partially blame how I read it (I started this, then read the entirety of The Immortalists, then finished this). Gruesome, but interesting look at the lives of African Americans in all parts of America during slave times.

Still started and Still Reading:

American War, by Omar El Akkad. The writing in this is beautiful, the topic haunting and sinister. Seeing refugee camps in America, half of the world underwater... Feels too timely.

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. I definitely want to read a physical copy of this and I am a little confused as to where one of the main characters vanished too but it's a lovely book. At the end of the world, what is art worth?

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, by Michael Finkel

And

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel

I went camping this weekend and wanted to read some outdoorsy books. The first one really delivers, I’m almost done with it. Station Eleven is very intriguing with an interesting take on post apocalyptic fiction.

Last week I finished: Desperate Passage, by Ethan Rarick This is a non-fiction account of the donner party and its toil along the oregon trail and breaking off to go into California before becoming snowbound in the Sierras. It's really well written and comprehensive, didn't drag too much and allowed for some historical editorializing, which I really enjoyed.

Also over the weekend finished The Dog Stars, by Peter Heller This is a post-apocalyptic novel focusing on a man and his dog who, along with a sort of crazy survivalist try to survive in a world destroyed by a flu. It's based in Colorado, and perhaps since I live here I found it a great read.

Just started Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel I'm just getting started with this book, there seems to be a flu spreading, but I'm sure it's no big deal.

Just getting into Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel

I'd read a lot of these post apocalyptic books, and I understand how things spiral into chaos, but it makes me wonder. In "the stand" and in "The passage" they basically tried to form a society and get power/water/normalcy back right away. I just read the dog stars, by Peter Heller and in that world they never started to develop a society again. In station eleven, it's similar, there seems to be no interest in investing the time and energy to get infrastructure back up, they just kill each other. As an engineer, this kind of annoys me. There would still be the resources to get fuel and power, even standby generators of some kind. This roving band of actors and performers in Station Eleven seems a little silly to me. That said, so far it's a good story and I'm suspending my personal disbelief to get into this world.

I finished Last Summer, by Evan Hunter this morning, which was just so-so. 3 stars.

Started Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel earlier tonight and it’s great so far!

Onto my fourth week of the summer, and haven't read as much as I would have liked but I read some amazing books and a few stinkers too.

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Finished:

Crooked Kingdom, by Leigh Bardugo - I disliked it. I didn't like the first book much either but thought I would give it another try. I know there are a lot of fans so I will leave it at that to avoid hate DM's.

I am Legend, by Richard Matheson - great, quick read. I enjoyed it. It wasn't mind-blowing but it was solid.

The Crow Road, by Iain Banks - it took me awhile to get into it but once I did it was great. The family dynamics were interesting. The switch to a murder mystery tone halfway through was a little jarring but still interesting.

The Obelisk Gate, by N.K. Jemisin - loved it. Love the world, love the characters, love the writing. Still anxiously waiting for the next book to be available. I also found a deal on her other books on my Kobo and promptly bought them all too.

The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin - I really wanted to like this more than I did. The ending actually "saved" it a bit for me. I expected to love it, almost hated it and at the end was tepidly okay with it.

Death is Hard Work, by Khaled Khalifa - I was pleasantly surprised by this little book. I wish that I could read it in the native language because I feel like some things are always missed in translation.

Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins - not a great book but one that I plowed through easily enough. Figured out the antagonist pretty early on which made it less interesting. I like imperfect and unreliable characters though and this was chock full of them. Writing was bland.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - my favourite read of the summer so far. A beautiful book, beautifully written and I didn't want it to end. I could read about this post-apocalyptic world forever.

I'm reading Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. So far, it's pretty interesting. It kind of took a while for it to pull me in, but I'm now about halfway through it and the plot is starting to pick up.

Still reading: American War, by Omar El Akkad

City of Brass, by S. A. Charborty

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel

Finished: The Miseducation of Cameron Post, by Emily M. Danforth

Just wondering what to start after that!

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel

Just started last night and already half finished. Begins like most post-apocalypse stories, but the characters and tension really get you hooked by the second act.

Finished: This View of Life, David Sloan Wilson This was a tough read since it’s a bit out of my comfort zone. However it was on a topic I am very interested in so I had to see what it was about. From it I am fascinated how evolution applies to more than the commonly known genetic sense. 6/10 but probably more interesting to sociology interests.

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel Loved this one, I couldn’t put it down!! This was recommended to me by a friend and I relished every page. This story had me feeling back and forth, wondering if it was better to have survived the pandemic that wiped out 99% of the population or to have died within the early days of its incubation. 9.5/10 fabulous

The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq This one was gifted to me by my Reddit Secret Santa for the books exchange this month. This nice quick read was finished within a day and was not at all what I expected! I figured it was about chemistry or physicists but rather it was a story of a half dozen different characters as they grew during the tumultuous 60s and 70s and 80s. Dark pasta of abuse and neglect tied with childish love and hope. 7/10 good for a quick read but be ready for the up and down.

Currently reading:

Moneyball by Michael Lewis Enjoying this so far since I am such a baseball fanatic and the statistics behind the game. I am not sure if I’ll see the movie or not, Ive heard mixed opinions about it and don’t want to ruin the story.

Closely behind this will be a couple Roald Dahl books Boy and Going Solo. Next week I will read this month’s Reddit book club selection Radium Girls by Kate Moore. Really looking forward to her AMA on the 28th!!

Started: Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

I just finished reading this yesterday. It was a very beautiful book honestly. I was surprised by how uplifted I felt when I was finished and it kind of left me with this lingering feeling of peace. It made me wish that those Station Eleven comic books were real.

Men Without Women, by Haruki Murakami

I really wanted to read a good short story collection so I started this. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet but I feel like I can't really go wrong with Murakami.

In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, Wanted to take a crack at this since reading White City a couple years ago.

I finished Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and The Quiet American by Graham Greene

Station Eleven, By Emily St. John Mendel

finished King Lear by William Shakespeare and Fool, by Christopher Moore as well.

Finished -

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel - A very different take on the post-apocalyptic world.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak - It'd probably make you cry. But I loved every word of it.

Red Sparrow, by Jason Matthews - Some of the damsel-in-distress cliches aside, the detailed intelligence lexicon should keep you engrossed.

Currently reading -

Confessions, by Kanae Minato - Want to try something different.

I'm about half through A Stillness at Appomattox, by Bruce Catton. A friend bought me this book after we got into a discussion about american history books. It's so incredibly well written, deeply descriptive, and entertaining. It's tough material, but it's covered in enough detail to follow, without getting bogged down. Sourced well, and I'm really enjoying the descriptions of various officers.

I picked this up after finishing Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel This book was a good read and I really enjoyed it, but I entirely share the sentiments of the author of this review. As an engineer and general tinkerer, the idea that these people just acquiesced to the world of no electricity is baffling to me. Even having solar panels or something seems outside of their understanding. I'd be unable to live in that world and not try to farm or create machines that worked. Other than that, it's a really enjoyable book.

edit: I can't help but think I'm getting brigaded or something because I don't like new proposed laws or NFL rules, but please... who is going around downvoting "the books I started or finished this week"?