Handling Sin by Michael Malone ( of Hillsboro, NC). Hilarious story with twists and turns, excellent character development, and pure southern culture. You can thank me later. Amazon is your friend. Homer Hickam’s books are good. Jack London stories and Robert Service poems for some gold rush wilderness adventure. ** Edited by DonHo-kieHi at 11/30/2025, 8:34:15 PM

Pure nihilism and drags on and on. The only worse book I tried to read 5x, and never got past page 50, was The House of the Seven Gables. BOR-ING! And I read Dumas and Verne multiple times. I can't focus anymore except on TSL. ** Edited by TomTurkey at 11/30/2025, 11:32:48 AM

I mean, I will try to read a "few" classics next year which tend to be heavy also but, like to take care of myself too reading fun, cheerful stuff. Heck, I think I'll go see the Rockettes again in NYC after new years.

"What I Ate in One Year" Stanley Tucci "Just because your uncle is an interesting guy doesn't mean you should write a book about him" applies here. Sequel to "Taste" maybe that one was good, I dunno. To the Far Blue Mountains" Louis L'Amour. Like I mentioned before, a fun romp, although I probably couldn't read too many of these in a row. "The Past Through Tomorrow" Robert Heinlein Same copy re-read this from 50+ years ago, blew through some of the short stories then, understood them this time around, One of my favorite sci fi writers, Maybe re-read "Time Enough for Love" next? "The Great Debate" Yuval Levin How to understand Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke in 250 pages when maybe 5 or 10 would have done nicely. "Sons and Lovers" DH Lawrence Good writer but a little too serious, dense psychologically for me, Good slice of life stuff I suppose. I got this book out of one of those neighborhood sidewalk/roadside "little library" kiosks. Looked like a clean copy, never read before? person turned the pages carefully? $1.95 "Viking Compass Book" printed in 1971. Kind of amused that this book sat around for 50 plus years pretty much untouched until it fell into my hands. Mary Hasenfuss put her name in it. Yeah, wonder what the story was, cleaned house? moved? deceased? Thanks Mary wherever you are. My copy of "East of Eden" similarly old but the glue was hard and it fell apart as I was reading it. Hey, it got read one more time many years later. "MiddleMarch" George Elliot. Another fusty, Victorian novel? No, really enjoyed this one, good but slow read. you rooted for some of the characters, pitied others including some of the villains and wouldn't mind meeting them. endearing I suppose. Hard to really pick out a lead character or nail down the point of the book, a lot vignetty type stuff, lot of humorous social irony maybe something like life is compromise type but take care of the details and you will be rewarded with what you need. ** Edited by `lag at 11/30/2025, 11:07:35 AM ** Edited by `lag at 11/30/2025, 11:52:42 AM

She was a babe (from the TV show "The Wonder Years") ** Edited by MP4VT2004 at 11/30/2025, 2:14:25 PM

Maybe she lost it you know? And I can return it to her in person! I used to love that show but weird. I don’t remember her just remember Winnie. ** Edited by `lag at 12/1/2025, 1:22:32 PM

I just always remembered that name.

Guess I'll rest my brain to go for 12+ next year.

I was doing one book every ~10 days for a while...

several and watched the Bosch series. Fun stuff.

I liked both the books for its nerdie 80's references and interesting thriller style. If looking for Sci-Fi reads here are a couple I liked this past year. The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch Wayward Pines (trilogy books) by Blake Crouch (mini TV series but not as good as books) Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (Apple TV series) Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (movie coming out soon) ** Edited by DallasHokie98 at 11/30/2025, 9:24:16 AM ** Edited by DallasHokie98 at 11/30/2025, 9:24:38 AM

RPO was a great read and it had a complete story arc, so, like any sequel you sort of worry about how an author messes with a perfected story line. eg, Star Wars keeps redestoying the death star type stuff. I also think RPO was tremendously humorous in a way, eg being a prisoner and having to work the help desk, or these highly elaborate gaming setups. Yeah, I'm not a young-un but remember the Capt Crunch whistle to get long-distance for free even while it was still possible (had forgotten about that...)

Like regular exercise reading is just one of those things you should do for living well and a book a month isn't too onerous, even knocked off a couple really long ones with time to spare. sorta my new year's resolution for 2025 and hope to keep it up. Y'all are fortunate I didn't book review all of them '*) I wanted to. PS I did book review the rest. ** Edited by `lag at 11/30/2025, 9:20:42 AM ** Edited by `lag at 12/1/2025, 1:21:58 PM

giving me the attention span of a five year old on Cocoa Puffs. Here’s what I’ve read so far: - Prophet Song by Paul Lynch - The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz - The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt - Unruly: the Ridiculously History of England’s Kings and Queens by David Mitchell - The Reformatory by Tananarive Due - Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler - In Search of a Beginning - My Life with Graham Greene by Yvonne Cloetta as told by Mary-Françoise Allain - Facelessness by Imre Kertész - The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene - The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig The Prophet Song and The Reformatory were the highlights for me. The less time spent doom scrolling on social media, the better.

But reclaiming your own head from all the noise out there is certainly a motive here too. Also the long-term cognition thing, that is holding lots of thoughts over a longer period of time that happens when you read a book is important. Think I’ll pick a book from your list here; read a few Graham Green novels way back… ** Edited by `lag at 12/1/2025, 1:27:17 PM

Ministry of Fear was excellent. I had previously read The Quiet American, Our Man in Havana, and The End of the Affair, all of which I would recommend. My wife and I spend a lot of time in Antibes where he lived. His grand nephew works in a bookshop there and recommended the biography of his partner Yvonne Cloetta. Greene was an interesting guy (former MI6). He also wrote the screenplay for The Third Man which is one of my favorite movies.