What are you reading this week of January 8, 2017?

[hermetic]

Finished both Arnaldur Indridason's Silence of the Grave and Get in Trouble by Kelly Link. Indridason's Icelandic tale of a skeleton found when a new housing development is being created is very intense at times, although there is no rush to identify the bones as they have been there for at least 50 years. This gives the detectives lots of time to discover who was living in that area back during the war years. Many dark secrets are unearthed along the way. There are some very vivid descriptions of domestic abuse, which took place back in a time where people preferred to just look the other way, which some readers might find unsettling.

All of Link's short stories are quirky and fun to read. Her imagination knows no bounds. She does seem fixated on twins, though I find no indication she is one. Perhaps it's just metaphoric for the good and evil which lies within us all.

Sticking with sci fi I decided to now read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Three chapters in and I can see this is going to be one wild ride. Although written in early 1990s, Neal is painting a future scenario which looks uncomfortably likely. Everyone is now armed and people just do whatever they please because: Murica. Our country now only excels in 4 areas: music, movies, software development, and pizza delivery. Everything is privatized. Corporations own the highways. The Mafia is a corporation in its own right. Can't wait to discover more.

And you? What are you discovering this week?

[pscot]

1. The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos

Dos Passos was born well off. He went Harvard, drove an ambulance in France and Italy during WWI, like his friend ee cummings. He became a communist and fought in Spain during the civil war and died a Goldwater Republican in 1970. Modern Library ranks his USA Trilogy 23rd among it's top 100 American novels. It spans the 1st 30 years of the 20th century. The story is told anecdotally through the lives of a changing cast of characters. 1919 is next. It's my favorite of the trilogy. Dos Passos is probably the best American novelist that no one reads any more.

[hermetic]

5. A true Renaissance man

What an amazing life he led. He was sure all over the map with his politics, though. I'm guessing he was seeking some sort of perfection but soon realized that such isn't possible in politics.

I like this timely quote of his, "The trouble with an all powerful secret police in the hands of fanatics, or of anybody, is that once it gets started there's no stopping it until it has corrupted the whole body politic."

[pscot]

7. Dos Passos reminds me of a little Tolstoy

Without Tolstoy's vision of redemption. USA isn't really about any individual character. He's writing about the country and the idea of America; what it should be compared to what it is. He seems angry and disillusioned. His later conservatism can maybe be seen as reversion to the way he was brought up. He's a wonderful story teller.

[shenmue]

2. Still on The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund

[TexasProgresive]

3. Just finished Faye Kellerman's "The Forgotten" a really good read.

Starting The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albon. It is the story of an orphan from the Spanish Civil war raised by a blind music teacher who has received the gift of music (guitar in particular) from the muse.

[japple]

4. Thank you for the thread, hermetic. Still reading

Scott Zesch, The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier
although am becoming a bit bored.

I am heading over to the library website to see if I can download an e-edition of Snow Crash. That sounds like it's right up my alley. Thanks for the rec.

[hermetic]

6. It's quite the tale, I must say

check out Neal's page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson
Pretty amazing, all the stuff he's been involved in.