Today’s TTT is a summer-themed freebie. But first, the tease!
“Which one is that, [the passive voice]?” said Ortegas. She looked at her colleagues. “What? It’s a reasonable question. Not everyone carries this information around in their head.”
“‘Ortegas flies the ship,’” said Spock.
Erica Ortegas leaned over and clinked the side of her glass against his. “Damn right I do, mister.”
“That is the active voice,” Spock continued. “‘The ship is flown’ is the passive
voice.”
“Now hold on a minute,” said Ortegas. “Shouldn’t that be: ‘The ship is
flown by Ortegas’?”
“That is still a passive construction of the verb,” Spock said.
“I’m not sure I approve,” she shot back.
“How about, ‘The ship is flown beautifully by Ortegas’?” suggested Uhura
(Star Trek Strange New Worlds: Asylum)Hoover and Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru were once introduced at a Series game at Yankee stadium. The ovation given catcher Yogi Berra, No. 8, dwarfed both. A day later Yogi’s childhood friend and broadcaster Joe Garagiola said, “You amaze me, Yog. You’ve now become such a world figure that you draw more applause than either a prime minister or former prez. Can you explain it?” Berra could: “Certainly! I’m a better hitter.” (The Presidents and the Pastime)
So, a summertime freebie…why not go with my favorite summer ‘reads’ of the last ten years, going back to 2014? For this, I’ll consult my “What I Read In 20_____” lists and pick out books from mid-May to end-July.
2024: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce
2023: The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science, Will Storr.
2022: Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and her Crew, Michael Leinback
2021: Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
2020: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, Jordan Peterson
2019: Kill Decision, Daniel Suarez
2018: Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
2017: How To Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, Anthony Esolen
2016: Sphere, Michael Crichton (Science Fiction)
2015: The Great Cities in History, ed. John Julius Norwich
2014: American Sphinx: the Character of Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Ellis
Reading Freely 
fyi, when I click on the link to Sphere, it boots me back to your homepage here…
Must be linking to my old blogger address. Years ago I did something under the hood that makes any thisweekatthelibrary.blogspot.com url boot here.
How’s this:
Perfect. I’ll check it out fully after work.
Oh great idea, I’m going to copy your idea! I have read 3 of them, your 2018 title being my favorite.
I really need to read this Crichton title, as I recently listened to a French scifi that sounds very very close!!
Happy to help! 😉
Pingback: Top Ten Summer Books | Words And Peace
I just did it: https://wordsandpeace.com/2025/06/03/top-ten-summer-books/
The Project Hail Mary film is scheduled to come out next spring (March, possibly?). I can’t wait to see it.
That will be something!
That’s an interesting list and a great idea for the prompt. I like looking back at book lists
Have a great week!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
I like the way you approached this prompt. Harold Fry was a great book, and I have Project Hail Mary sitting in my shelf.
I loved Project Hail Mary – I would love to do a reread before the upcoming movie adaptation comes out. 🙂
I always enjoy looking back to see what I read in the past!
I’m not much of a sci-fi reader, but I really liked both PROJECT HAIL MARY and SPHERE. As for READY PLAYER ONE, I’ve tried to read it a couple of times and I just can’t get into it. The movie didn’t capture me either. Oh well. Different strokes for different folks and all that, right?
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I think RPO appeals mostly to people who are into 1980s tech and pop culture. I’m a little outside that window (born in 1980s, grew up in 1990s) but am into retrotech, so it was a sweet spot for me.