Starting October, I had two things in mind: one, a nod to Mental Health Awareness Month; two, a nod to Halloween that would come in either some appropriate nonfiction (I have books on blood and skeletons) or in a look at the future-horror of the atomic age, both through nuclear testing and the rise of UFO mania. I also wanted to squeeze in something about German history if I could, in observance of Unification Day. I managed….Life and Death in the Third Reich, 2 books relating to mental health, and a scattering of randos.
Classics Club
I started reading Dune. It’s not grabbing me yet.
Mount Doom
Life and Death in the Third Reich, Peter Fritszche
Survival City: Adventures in the Ruins of Atomic America, Tom Vanderbilt
Hey, two books! That’s…something. Ignore the amount of books I bought last month and this month.
Science Survey 2022
The survey was fulfilled in September, but more fuel for the fire! An Immense World and The Skeptic’s Guide to the Future brought us up to 18 books so far. We’ll crack 20 easy, but I’d love to finish the year at 24.
Mental Health Awareness Month
Unstitched: My Journey to Understand Opioid Addiction
Hooked: The Pitfalls of Media, Technology, and Social Networking (review in progress)
Newly Acquired:
The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War, H.W. Crocker II. From the author of Armstrong, the funny alt-history novel about Custer surviving Little Bighorn and becoming a gun for hire.
Adventures with Ed: A Portrait of Abbey
Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast
Faces Along the Bar: Lore and Order in the Workingman’s Saloon
Sid Meier’s Memoir! A Life in Computer Games
The Every, Dave Eggers
8 Days in the Woods: The Making of the Blair Witch Project
Okay, new goal: make it to December without buying any books. If I do, I’ll reward myself with fried ice cream from my favorite Mexican place.
Reading Freely 
Struggling with Dune, eh? Wassup?
It’s the whole in-media-res, trying to figure out the world and its characters while books and my ever-moving interests holler at me for attention thing.
Ah, I can relate… Dune certainly isn’t a casual, dip in, dip out kind of read. You have to savour, ponder, wonder a bit (indeed wander a bit). That’s not an easy prospect when you’re distracted. I found (on my 2nd reading a while ago) that Herbert creates his worlds/universe in between the sentences, rather than directly. You build his world in your mind without clearly understanding exactly how you did it. It’s almost a step beyond the idea of ‘show not tell’.
I could not get into Dune and I tried many times. I so got used to Philip K. Dick’s short and fast-paced sci-fi that even the mere prospect of understanding Dune frightens me.
I’m going to continue soldiering on! I have to, it’s on my CC list. XD
Oooh! Thanks to your post reminding me, my brother and I have just embarked on our readalong of Dune which we’ve been planning forever. We’re going to start with 1 chapter a day and see how it goes. Hopefully it picks up for you soon! Have you watched any of the films before?
I haven’t! That might grease the skids a bit, and it’s what I did for Sense and Sensibility. How far have y’all gotten?
We’re reading chapter 1 this evening, so – literally just started. 😀 The latest film is a favorite of ours and it’s only part 1, so there is a bit of motivation to read the book before part 2’s release (about a year from now).
Latest film? That implies there are multiple ones, so I am more out of touch than I thought. But…I just got around to watching the Blair Witch Project, released in ’99, so that’s just normal for me. :p
Yeah, there’s one from the 80s I haven’t seen (Patrick Stewart is in it though!). The 2021 version is the one I saw and loved.
By the way, I read chapter 1 last night and it had a ton of name- and reference-dropping. I was heavily relying on my memory of the movie to follow along. 😛
It’s really not THAT difficult guys… I’ve read it TWICE. [lol] And the 2nd book…… [grin] 3rd & 4th will be next year…